Posts from Playing in St. Petersburg.

Nagan -4 (blue, Knight, Ergon) – Horn (red, Barbarian, Phineus), 7 Lakes, 147.

Sasha and I met again for some HoMM2. We played the previous game on 7 Lakes for a long time and agreed to a draw, so we decided to play it again. We rolled Knight vs Barbarian.

Week 1. A sorceress arrived; I was happy about the possibility of quickly gathering resources. However, I got two empty chests in a row and three empty trees there, which slowed down development. By day 117, seven heroes had scattered across the map, and I captured two villages.
Week 2. Both nearest computers – a green sorceress and an orange wizard – weren't giving any openings, so I decided to take the central castle. Barbarian Ergon and another barbarian arrived; I sent them into the swamp in the lower-left corner of the map.
I spent the whole week roaming there, ignoring the development of my starting castle, saving money for future troop buyouts.
The second hero fights dwarves, hobbits, and other riffraff for resources.

Week 3. Via teleports, I reach the central island—a warlock's castle! Ergon breaks through the guards; I upgrade dragons to black ones, so now I have three. On day 137, I attack the Dragon Utopia at the bottom of the map and take it, but on its last breath, a green one finishes off one of my blacks—I'm devastated. But it's +2 dragons every week.
Meanwhile, Sasha's barbarian starts emerging from his teleports with a small army led by 7 djinns capable of halving any stack; a useful lamp was located in the desert zone in the upper-right corner.
I get shut down and go to take the shield +2 attack and defense. I break through the guards, but wisdom is required to obtain the shield. I have a barbarian, a strength build; he honestly broke through the guards but cannot take an artifact for combat skills—neither the main hero nor the assisting barb-girl has any wisdom. Dragging a mage into the swamp takes too long and Horn's heroes are in the way.
As things went on, it turned out that Horn ignored the development of his island castle and had completely built up the warlock village from scratch by this time!
It's amazing how he managed to do that, plus there is a yellow warlock castle at 5 o'clock on the island, and Horn takes it.

Week 4. There's no more room for delay; I go to storm Horn's castle to prevent him from gathering double growth from 2 Dungeons.
Day 147 is the final battle.
Blue – Ergon (9,4,1,3) – 8 Black Dragons, 12 upgraded minotaurs, 15 griffins, 10+1 gargoyles. 30 mana. I couldn't bring the hydras; they were too slow.
Red – Phineus (13,8,2,4) – 3 Black Dragons, 15 hydras (Sasha brought 5 of them from the island castle), 11 gargoyles, 42 orcs, 185 goblins.

The catapult never broke through the castle walls, so the minotaurs stood there for nothing. Horn's black dragons turned out to be very resilient.
I was left with 2 Black Dragons and 12 minotaurs; Sasha had 1 Black Dragon, 10 hydras, 30 goblins, 6 orcs. I bought my way out. It's a pity—I lost 6 Black Dragons to 2; the loss of other troops cannot compensate for this.

We played all night and were already zoning out. I started counting. I had three armies: people led by 13 horses, the main army where on day 141 there would have been 7 Black Dragons, 15 hydras, 17 minotaurs, fifty dwarves, and many centaurs.
There was also a small army with the second hero.
Horn had double army collection from Dungeons, Black Dragon growth of +6 vs my +5, a more developed hero, and djinns who, in skilled hands, could halve a stack of dragons.
I congratulated Sasha on his victory. Recalling the intricacies of the game and map was tough for both of us. I feel that I missed my chance in week 3; I should have played more energetically and taken the yellow warlock's city on the island myself—then the number of Black Dragons and double growth would have outweighed any artifacts.
Although Horn had djinns and could hit the dragons with them several times, so the struggle would have been long.
Most likely I messed up, but I don't regret it; the game was high-energy.
Thanks for the game.

A match with a dreadful number of mistakes on my part. :mad: Since we were playing for fun, I didn't properly scout the map, and only on the 4th week, when I saw the opponent's Castle, did I check the properties of my central town and realized that it had been fully built from the start. I, on the other hand, had given it away, along with 5 gold mines on the Erathia islands, to Eric, and started building up the nearest village. A foolish head leads to clumsy hands. :smile29: I also completely forgot about the guards in ships, pyramids, and abandoned mines, so I didn't go near them at all until the 4th week; on the way to the Necropolis, I captured a crystal mine, but I passed by a sulfur mine, even though I had already decided to abandon building up my own castle; I lost a dragon during a harmless assault on a Castle... and also spent several nights at the entrance to a building, and in the morning tried to press the "spacebar." In general, the fun nature of the match and the lack of practice had a very unfortunate effect. But I was lucky with the heroes (two barbarians leveled up with the Log skill) and artifacts (two compasses, boots, +3 to attack and defense).
Before the next game, I need to at least reread my own manual, because I've forgotten everything in 15 years. :smile05:

We could then describe a couple of games in Odessa.

Then we can describe a couple of games in Odessa.

Yes, Horn told yesterday how he and Dust fought Barbarians against Necropolis on Lost Continent, we're waiting for the report, :smile13: it was a great battle.

What’s so great about it? Eight skeletons, liches, and vampires came and beat the menu on 1.3.7. :smile05: Even if I had waited for the increase in creature damage, a double attack would have probably decided the outcome. Lexa is awesome; in 2 weeks, he built not only his main town but also a zero-level village.

What's so special? Eight skeletons + ghouls + vampires came and beat the Necropolis on 1.3.7. :smile05: Even if I had waited for the creature damage increase, a double attack would have probably decided the outcome. Lexa is awesome; in 2 weeks, he built not only his home town but also a zero-level town.

Last night, we played a 2-player game with Tolya; he came with Pavel from Moscow. It was on the 7 Lakes map. I'll make a game report when we finish; it's interesting so far.

Sasha, could you upload the Dust maps here in an archive – the remade 7 Lakes, Lost Continent, etc.? I want to take a look at them.

Sasha, could you upload Dust's maps here – reworked versions of 7 Lakes, Lost Continent, etc., in an archive? I would like to take a look at them.

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I don’t understand. All these maps are available in an archive in the Michurinsk topic. You already have them. Specifically, Dust's version!
/topic/at/466659/

I don't understand. All these maps are available in an archive in the thread about Michurinsk. You already have them. Specifically, it's Dustov's edition!
/topic/at/466659/

Qwerty, where did you see Lost Continent or 7 Lakes in this folder?

I am aware of the League versions of these maps for offline play; they were created by GreatGenius in 2005.

Perhaps we can arrange a second club tournament, and I would definitely like to include these two maps.

Finished 7 Lakes, postponed it twice, will post the report tomorrow. Barbarian is awesome.

Sasha, could you upload the Dust maps here in the archive – the reworked 7 Lakes, Lost Continent, and so on? I'd like to take a look at them.

It simply removes the strict faction restrictions (you can start with any faction regardless of the color) and that's it; everything else is the same as in the original version.
In Lost Continent, I also removed the built shipyards in the cities, but we decided to do that right before the game with Lexa in Odessa. You can leave them in if you want.

They simply removed the strict race restrictions (you can start with any race regardless of the color) and everything else remains as in the original version.
On the Last Crusade map, I also removed the built shipyards in the cities, but we decided to do that right before the game with Lexa in Odessa. They can be left as they were.

OK.
I still can't finish describing the game on the 7 Lakes map. I played as the red Barbarian against the blue Wizard, and we only finished on turn 225; there were many battles.

You are glad (red, Barbarian, Giorgioш) - Tolik (blue, Wizard, Ambrosius), 7 Lakes, 225. 1 week. I've seen many games on 7 Lakes, and everyone tries to take the Necropolis town in the lower right corner for the blue player right away. Why waste an entire week, placing reinforcements under the walls of a town that is, in general, not very useful? I focused my main forces on the rich desert in the upper right corner of the map, and several heroes are heading there. I forgot to send one to the center of the map to take the free dwellings, money, and warlock's village. This forgetfulness proved costly, as I ran out of money. I only built ogres; I didn't have enough stone for the troll bridge. Tolik made Ambrosius, a Knight, his main hero, giving him pathfinding and logistics skills. Due to my mistake, by the end of the week, I only had 6 heroes against Tolik's 8. 2 weeks. Tolik captures the Sorcerer's castle on the island. He has 2 towns and 3 villages. Besides the castle, I only have one village in the sands, but I captured two lamps, which gave me 6 Djinns. I almost reached the teleport in the upper right corner. One hero fought in the lower part of the map with troops from the dwellings, gathering many slow-moving units. The path to the treasure and resources was blocked by dwarves. There was nothing else to do, so I attacked. Those nasty halflings almost wiped them out; only one dwarf survived. I was very upset. I built Cyclops in the capital. 3 weeks. On day 133, I reached the built central town, which turned out to be a Rampart. The secondary heroes take another lamp for 3 Djinns and several artifacts. Logically, I should rush to Tolik, but there are so many useful artifacts around, and I couldn't resist, so I went to collect them with two armies. That was a mistake. At this time, Tolik captures the Wizard's castle from the computer, which it had built from a village, and begins to build troops there. I didn't see this yet. 4 weeks. Tolik makes some very long moves and takes the castle in the upper left corner. Around this time, I discover that he has the Wizard's castle in the center of the map, so he has three Towers. I didn't know that two of them were built up to Giants and one to Mages, plus there is a Sorcerer's castle built up to Unicorns. But due to constant battles, he has almost no troops left by the end of the month, and he also needs money to upgrade Giants to Titans. While the opponent hasn't gathered an army, I rush to him. When my Barbarian came to take the Wizard's castle in the center of the map, it was empty; the troops were spread out, and there was no money for defensive towers. 5 weeks. Although he has only 2 towns and a village, he has a lot of money thanks to the collected resources and mines. I can't let the Wizard have a double growth bonus, so I'm going to take the blue Tower in the upper left corner of the map. I'm building up troops. In the lead is a secondary hero with a small army, followed by 2 heroes with Djinns, divided into single units, against a possible group of Titans. Then comes the main hero with an army, and a couple of weaklings help him carry it. Another Barbarian hero is fighting with a small army in the upper part of the map in the sands, and another hero took an army from the capital and is collecting resources in the lower part of the map. A blue scout with a small squad suddenly appears out of nowhere, attacks one of the heroes with Djinns, and kills one to save the rest - I pay him off. I attack with the main hero, showing Tolik my army, and his hero manages to escape. I reach the Wizard's castle in the corner - it's fully built up to Giants, but almost empty. I lose a few units, but the Mage troops have been evacuated. At this time, in the upper part of the map, in the sands, my second Barbarian, who was doing well, is ambushed by a secondary blue army - from the Rampart. 8 Unicorns, 11 upgraded Druids, 18 upgraded Elves, a few Boars, and Fairies destroyed my 30 Nomads, 25 Combat Gnomes, and a few Wolves. My second Barbarian manages to escape. I buy him in the center of the map, give him a Barbarian army, which is already quite large, and he levels up. At this time, a yellow computer with a large army attacks Tolik's capital. The blue main hero is fighting in the swamp at this time, so a weakling is defending to save the castle. Tolik bought a few Giants, and the computer managed to knock out a couple of them. Tolik still doesn't have enough money to upgrade to Giants. 6 weeks. I'm moving all my forces to the blue island capital, the main hero with an army, and two heroes with Djinns, to defeat the Titans. But I can't land them; Tolik will simply place the Titans one by one against the Djinns and defeat them. I land one far from the castle, but a weakling with a small army attacks the hero, and I pay him off. I land the main hero. At this time, my second Barbarian traps the Necromancer's main hero in a village, kills him after a long battle, and collects several excellent artifacts with parameters, but it takes a long time to transfer them to the main hero. I decide to attack the castle, the final battle. Giorgioш (9,10,11,11) - 12 Phoenixes, 17 Unicorns, 22 Elder Druids, 26 upgraded Elves, 134 Fairies. Ambrosius (9,11,4,3) - 6 Titans, 5 Giants, 34 Steel Golems, 25 Boars, 125 Hobbits. Both had only 3 levels of magic. I placed quite a few troops under the walls, but due to the magic advantage, I won.