wowa
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The game turned out to be incredibly tense—both in real life (an unfinished virus decided to complicate things in my body) and in terms of in-game decisions, to which the map issued a diagnosis of "suboptimal":
1. I found 5 Griffin Conservatories, but all were solitary and deep in the respawn! I did manage to gather them, but had to constantly hire/dismiss peasants and chain them to the next Conservatory, barely farming the rest of the map... In total, it yielded 7 angels; if I'd known that, I could have profitably skipped a couple of distant ones, but alas....!
2. I refused pathfinding with goblins to have time to level Earth magic before the Griffin Conservatory Opening, since at that point I hadn't seen any boxes at all—but on the same turn, a peasant who picked up the purse to capture a corner village spots a fat box behind a horde of logs
Plans abruptly change—instead of taking the Conservatory, accelerating at stables, smashing for mana and running to the GO, the goblin turns toward the box, eats a ton of XP (including the guard), leveling even more slots in Earth, but the village turns out to be unguarded and the goblin has to run on foot to the well (which is more profitable than a distant dig in the main or replenishing in the village)
Instead of coming out on 122 or 123 with a running start, I came out on the same turn but on 124 and without stables; and because of gathering Conservatories in the world's rear, I couldn't move anyone toward the GO yet
As a result, I not only crawled like a snail, but also initially picked up relics in person with a penalty, even though I tried my best not to leave the roads
The opponent, besides 3 stacks of devils, had a well right next to the GO, and even bordering the road, which imho was a huge game-changer
I see Brone, the final 1st-level town, so I first had to break through a block of archdevil packs; there was no tactics; behind them, by the way, was a level-30 prison, gauntlets, an obelisk, and piles of resources, but I couldn't take them because I attacked Brone on the last move, and everything then went to the opponent
The battle was under Orb; stats were +5 attack, defense equal, but the Cloak + 2 speed decided it—the final fight against 11 devils and 38 dragons was not only won with an army of 6 angels (1 died from devils), ~300 skeletons, 10 each of horses and dragons, but I also had enough purse left to farm the center
And here I make the main mistake, which stressed me the most but also made the game fun: above, above the fork with Brone, there was a prison, bracers, and Necromancy Boots! Since some blue cleric had made a bunch of moves ahead of me along the road, I thought that Brone, if coming from above, would definitely have time to break through, and a peasant surely had enough moves to open the prison and deny my goblin such relevant goodies
So even without scouting the land (which I didn't have), I was sure—when I sent a peasant along a clear road to scout blue (instead of whom he scouted almost the entire center) and the goblin ran up the gorge—but alas, the eaten Dragon Fly Hives and then the fork with a passage to lava quickly told me how wrong I was...
At night, Brone emerges at the fork with a growth of several devils and other rabble and sits on the Dragon Fly Hive I had just recaptured; I didn't have enough moves left to attack, which saved me
Full trade, exchange, and we finally replenish mana at home from the magic taken in the box for all of 5th-level, leaving Brone without devils and without mana
But alas, the well is close, and blue tries to farm the center with chains, while I finish clearing my respawn, planning to then break into the grass adjacent zone
But plans had to be changed urgently—the opponent, knowing about Shackles, for some reason leaves Brone on the road with 9 monarchs, and the goblin from the darkness with a jump catches them on the last move—already the 2nd time this game))
Blue, meanwhile, recapturing something, tries to use peasants from prisons to carry the purse further away
The plan succeeded, but not fully—the goblin, now having a log in the 7th slot, this time didn't catch them but managed to block the path to the rest of the chain for Arlash without a spellbook
Blue has the option to either run further, knowing they'll be caught next turn, or fight 62 monarchs with what's left
Arlash went at the monarchs, broke through and even chained away the remnants of the army, but forces were weakened, and after a couple of turns blue capitulates
gg, thanks for the game))
1. I found 5 Griffin Conservatories, but all were solitary and deep in the respawn! I did manage to gather them, but had to constantly hire/dismiss peasants and chain them to the next Conservatory, barely farming the rest of the map... In total, it yielded 7 angels; if I'd known that, I could have profitably skipped a couple of distant ones, but alas....!
2. I refused pathfinding with goblins to have time to level Earth magic before the Griffin Conservatory Opening, since at that point I hadn't seen any boxes at all—but on the same turn, a peasant who picked up the purse to capture a corner village spots a fat box behind a horde of logs
Plans abruptly change—instead of taking the Conservatory, accelerating at stables, smashing for mana and running to the GO, the goblin turns toward the box, eats a ton of XP (including the guard), leveling even more slots in Earth, but the village turns out to be unguarded and the goblin has to run on foot to the well (which is more profitable than a distant dig in the main or replenishing in the village)
Instead of coming out on 122 or 123 with a running start, I came out on the same turn but on 124 and without stables; and because of gathering Conservatories in the world's rear, I couldn't move anyone toward the GO yet
As a result, I not only crawled like a snail, but also initially picked up relics in person with a penalty, even though I tried my best not to leave the roads
The opponent, besides 3 stacks of devils, had a well right next to the GO, and even bordering the road, which imho was a huge game-changer
I see Brone, the final 1st-level town, so I first had to break through a block of archdevil packs; there was no tactics; behind them, by the way, was a level-30 prison, gauntlets, an obelisk, and piles of resources, but I couldn't take them because I attacked Brone on the last move, and everything then went to the opponent
The battle was under Orb; stats were +5 attack, defense equal, but the Cloak + 2 speed decided it—the final fight against 11 devils and 38 dragons was not only won with an army of 6 angels (1 died from devils), ~300 skeletons, 10 each of horses and dragons, but I also had enough purse left to farm the center
And here I make the main mistake, which stressed me the most but also made the game fun: above, above the fork with Brone, there was a prison, bracers, and Necromancy Boots! Since some blue cleric had made a bunch of moves ahead of me along the road, I thought that Brone, if coming from above, would definitely have time to break through, and a peasant surely had enough moves to open the prison and deny my goblin such relevant goodies
So even without scouting the land (which I didn't have), I was sure—when I sent a peasant along a clear road to scout blue (instead of whom he scouted almost the entire center) and the goblin ran up the gorge—but alas, the eaten Dragon Fly Hives and then the fork with a passage to lava quickly told me how wrong I was...
At night, Brone emerges at the fork with a growth of several devils and other rabble and sits on the Dragon Fly Hive I had just recaptured; I didn't have enough moves left to attack, which saved me
Full trade, exchange, and we finally replenish mana at home from the magic taken in the box for all of 5th-level, leaving Brone without devils and without mana
But alas, the well is close, and blue tries to farm the center with chains, while I finish clearing my respawn, planning to then break into the grass adjacent zone
But plans had to be changed urgently—the opponent, knowing about Shackles, for some reason leaves Brone on the road with 9 monarchs, and the goblin from the darkness with a jump catches them on the last move—already the 2nd time this game))
Blue, meanwhile, recapturing something, tries to use peasants from prisons to carry the purse further away
The plan succeeded, but not fully—the goblin, now having a log in the 7th slot, this time didn't catch them but managed to block the path to the rest of the chain for Arlash without a spellbook
Blue has the option to either run further, knowing they'll be caught next turn, or fight 62 monarchs with what's left
Arlash went at the monarchs, broke through and even chained away the remnants of the army, but forces were weakened, and after a couple of turns blue capitulates
gg, thanks for the game))
"...the personal strengths and weaknesses of a leader are no true indication of the merits of his cause"
(с) Roger Zelazny
(с) Roger Zelazny
