Favorites, to battle! - 8 - The Battle of Favorites! - 8

Thanks for the game.

I was left without resurrections, the start was average—on the first week I killed my own Tower and Conflux—in the latter I unfortunately didn't even have time to place Psychic Elementals. I rode to the last Rampart computer, but realized I wouldn't make it by week 1 day 7—I transferred the army to defend the external dwelling of horses at my native respawn. I broke through the unexpectedly strong guard (Minotaurs), but clearly couldn't paint the external dwelling itself—I only did it on day 21. With the second hero I was taking Skeletons at the Conflux respawn, while the secondary Necromancer rode toward the Rampart. Wokia broke into the underground, where there was an immediate block of up to 99 Grand Elves—nothing to take them with yet. The insolent Rampart scout thrashed my Necromancer, who had about 70 Blue Gremlins and a few Gargoyles for cover—I had to go there. :mad: Riding to the Rampart—I was stunned: there was a castle, Galthran sitting with 70 Skeletons, 14 Wood Elves, Ettins, Dwarves, and Centaurs... :( The auto-combat said pass, I only got out of there with the horses, all the Skeletons were killed by the towers :mad: and that was only because I cunningly forced the gates to open in round 2.
So what do we have: from the overviews of all respawns we see 1 Hive and a treasure box, no Skeletons and 5 horses in the army on day 25 with no clear game plan. The opponent reveals Angels in the Den of Thieves and 20+ Wyverns on a mule, visible from the overview. :o Although I initially thought it was worse—since all the opponent's computers are alive.
I start farming Skeletons at the Rampart respawn; at the start of the third week I brought the growth and took 4 Wyverns, plus a treasure box for 10 experience from Bears, then dove into the underground. There seemed to be some Hives there... However, the army was depleted, and what trickles in gets spent. Also, the Sharpshooters refused to run from the guard of the club for an attack—80 Skeletons... I fought very badly against Chaos Hydras for a box and a Hive, thought they were regular Hydras—auto-combat said pass again—but I pulled through, losing a significant part of my power—I had to fight them for passage. Around the end of the third week, Alkin flew in through the Town Portal and landed in Necropolis, then hung around and reached the Rampart. I quickly reclaimed both the capital and the Rampart through clever chains, and Alikin—seeing he wasn't welcome there—flew back where he came from.
On the fourth week there were still some minor blunders, sometimes I fought without artifacts (forgot them on the mule), sometimes with the wrong hero. Nevertheless, Wokia leveled up nicely to level 24 with Attack, Tactics, Earth, Defense, Logistics, Wisdom. He pounded with the Ballista like hell, plus I recovered the Golden Bow. The treasure box gave all the Earth spells. The two Necromancers weren't far behind either. Finally I started moving through the underground without fear, though I wasn't ready for the final showdown yet. I think I took a mediocre Dragon Utopia...
On the fifth week I had to buy off Alkin, fortunately he was without Shackles, and I had nothing to field against 100 Monarchs with combat stats of 25 and 42. Plus I had no mana left for Implosion. I rode through Conflux into another underground—there was little of interest, 2 external dwellings of Necropolis horses, a bunch of other external dwellings, 2 Hives; I took a Dragon Utopia with a Red Book and a Blue Hat. Alkin is hot on my heels with full control, but there seems to be no logistics there... I think I teleported through a wall into another treasure zone and took a Dragon Utopia with an Earth Book.
On the sixth week I went through Tower into yet another treasure zone. There was +2 HP, +2 speed, a Hive; I sat down to replenish mana. Then I aimed for a Dragon Utopia (which gave a Pendant) and wanted to teleport into the opponent's uncleaned treasure zone—visible from the replay and partially from the overview. But I guess they spotted me from the replay, and Alkin teleported through a wall into the darkness—this time with Shackles. And my army was on the move.
I played poorly; I had chances. The opponent had a clearer and more dynamic plan—3 Hives and 2 Griffin Conservatories at the native respawn provide development certainty.
Thanks for the game! :smile44: