Favorites, to battle! - 9 - The Battle of Favorites! - 9

I don’t even feel like writing anything about the game; let me explain why. First, I’ve been playing about five to seven games on Anarchy, and not only is this an L, but it also deals such poor maps that it’s completely unacceptable for Anarchy — I’m saying this based on my 15 years of experience. Second, the rules are dumber than dumb; for example, there’s no block rest. It’s an utter disaster — I had one of my rests right at the castle exit, with an orc horde standing guard over an artifact and a Pandora’s Box, and considering the 200% difficulty, that block is impenetrable until the third month. P.S. Even 15 years ago we played with rest rules for such situations, or when there were no roads from the castle... something like that. (With this opponent, I’m sure such a problem wouldn’t have arisen, but I don’t want to generalize since I don’t know!!) Third, 2500 gold and 5 ore is just some idiotic innovation when playing on 200%, along with rebuilding the Mage Guild — this is still Anarchy, the classic of the genre, gentlemen.
As for my previous post, I’m not insulting anyone, don’t misunderstand; I genuinely believe that Conflux has no advantages in picking a starting hero, because Logist or Luna are totally useless in Anarchy, so that’s correct.
My conclusion is that Anarchy needs to be adjusted — make it HL+U, and even more in HotA!
Happy gaming to all who prefer Anarchy.

Template #2 dropped. Played without rebuilding. Opponent reveals a diplomat on week 1 day 6. I have 2 Necros. The road from the capital connects 4 neighboring zones with neutral forts, and there was only one road to the lift into the treasure zone, from which the opponent emerged at the start of the third week with a force of 100+ Grands, 50+ Crosses, and Vamps. There was nothing to beat that with. The opponent took three towns, but for some reason didn’t push further.
I didn’t find View of Earth for 3 weeks, and during that time I rebuilt the Castle and found a path into the underground treasure zone via a no-road route along the map edge. I also already had two Necro artifacts from the set for raising Liches, but never found the Boots until the end of the game.
Right after the entrance guard in the underground treasure zone, there was an underground Cartographer that reveals 3 Dragon Utopias in that treasure zone.
The Dragon Utopias turned out to be big — two maxis and a triple — but weak in content: the triple — Captain’s Hat, Boots of Levitation, and a shield +12; maxi-1 — Blackshard of the Dead Knight, Helm of the Fourth/Fourth, Boots of Resistance, and a gold purse; maxi-2 — Chalice, Sandals, and Helm + Armor for +10. The Mage Guild in the Inferno village in that treasure zone gave Town Portal, but still no Dimension Door. Since the opponent wasn’t active, he probably didn’t have it either. The Pandora’s Boxes in that treasure zone also didn’t grant control.
I set up Archers, had the first turn for battle, and planned a hit-and-run magic attack, but without Air Control it was hard to pull off.
On the final turn, the opponent jumped into my Inferno — killed two leveled-up heroes there who were refilling mana, learned Town Portal there if he didn’t already have it, and went for my remaining towns. On my turn, I tried to dig, but failed. I had to attack without Hit-and-Run; in terms of battle stats I was weaker, and in army strength as well. Even if the battle had turned in my favor, the opponent could have retreated and mustered more forces.
So I attacked essentially to avoid surrendering without a fight after such a long game.
Thanks for the game.