The 3rd stage of the annual John Van Caneghem Tournament (2007).

Hello everyone!
I'd like to discuss a faster way to complete the game by eliminating the Golden Dragons (I didn't have time before).
In my opinion, the lack of snipers in a playthrough that's faster than 8 days can only be compensated for with a larger amount of mana.
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It's not possible to do it in under 7 days. I don't have time to reach the Green Castle. And I don't know how else to compensate for the lack of snipers. There's an option to repeatedly attack the Golden Dragons with an explosion (terrorism), but that also takes longer.
Best regards.

I might be talking nonsense, and I don't have time to try it out. I heard that you can supposedly take the Eastern Underground Castle by the end of the 4th turn. Near the Angels, you need to actively use the external tavern. Is it possible to take the Eastern Castle with a non-main hero? Use heroes from the external tavern to transfer troops between the main hero and the non-main hero who is taking the Eastern Fortress. Then, the main hero can immediately go to the Golden Dragons using the "Explosion" spell to escape after the first attack and reach the Eastern Fortress for the mana doubling. And then, with troops and mana, go for another battle with the Golden Dragons. The question is whether the main hero will have time to learn the "Shield" spell before the first battle and whether he will have enough mana to inflict at least some damage to the Golden Dragons with the "Explosion" spell, plus he needs to be prepared for the first battle. This task is probably not feasible. So, it seems that the map's time limit is 7 days