Psyche_7(red,Dungeon,Lorelei,Inteus) def Avern(blue,Castle,Ingham,Marius), balance, 211Writing this still a bit emotional, right after the game...
I "rerolled" until I got a weak draft, and now I'm just sadly reminiscing about the previous setups. Though by 111 things seem okay: 5 heroes, I have a Conservatory, although it's not yet clear who will be the main (Deemer?).
112 - Caitlin hits a block of imps guarding the passage to the secondary zone. Deemer already has 4 sp. (+1 sp bought for 1000, spendthrift). Building the Eye.
113 - With Deemer, I'm forced to beat 20-49 gogs for a chest and a witch hut, spending all mana. Shiva reaches the lookout, and I immediately understand where I've landed. I can see part of the swamp respawn (the passage is guarded by 5-9 upgraded liches :)), there's an external dwelling of medusas, but...money is terribly low. Building...the Mage Guild. Got Slow.
114 - In the hut — Scouting (most of my secondary skills already have Scouting anyway). I return Deemer to the castle. Building...Mana Vortex.
Inteus along with Caitlin go to capture the native secondary zone.
115 - The secondary zone hasn't been captured yet. Deemer sits in the castle. Building a chain to return troops to him. Running to the sands isn't far, the guards are either a horde of upgraded unicorns or a scorpicore. Building medusas.
116 - Hmm...Inteus got Logistics, interesting. In the main — Minotaurs, in the secondary — a Tavern. Catastrophically low on money.
117 - Only enough money for a Citadel. Checked the Conservatory — level 1 without upgrades. A faint glimmer of hope.
121 - Inteus runs to the Conservatory. After all, he'll probably be the main. 1000 in the main.
122 - Building Mage Guild level 2, got Lightning Bolt. Inteus spends the night in the main. 1000 in the secondary.
123 - Due to a misclick, I attack with Inteus and one Harpy against a horde of Goblins. Shot an arrow, decided not to request an auto. Inteus is back in the castle refilling mana — a tempo lost (.
124 - Broke through to the swamp on off-road. Sent Ajit there. Barely take the Conservatory. Inteus already has Advanced Fire Magic and Basic Earth Magic. Building markets in both castles.
125-126 - The army is being chained back to Inteus. Deemer beats the Liches and prepares to beat a horde of Magma Elementals for a Pandora's Box (he has Advanced Wisdom, enough mana for one Inferno), passes the army to Ajit, who captures the swamp secondary zone. Meanwhile, Inteus runs further along the road.
127 - I capture an artifact for +4th level growth with Ajit. Deemer easily breaks through the Elementals. In the Pandora's Box — 5000 gold. A second ray of hope.
End of week 1 — in the swamp: +1000, in the main: 12345 in the castle. Sad.
131 - Running to the grass secondary zone through a long, narrow passage (. Inteus stumbles upon a Well (!). However, further on I have to kill a horde of Witches, so I return and spend the night at the same well. Blacksmith in the main.
132 - Inteus was one step short of capturing the Conflux secondary zone. Near the castle — a Naga Bank. Meanwhile, the external dwelling of Medusas is being captured, and Minotaurs and Eyes are being brought in.
133 - Inteus easily takes the minimal Naga Bank, levels up Earth Magic, and prepares to break through the horde of Swordsmen blocking the way further down the road. I see another Naga Bank, not sure yet who will take it (maybe Deemer with Lightning Bolt at 185?). 2000 in the main.
134 - Inteus gives the army to Deemer and runs himself to the horde of Gold Golems (guarding the passage to the stone respawn). Enough money for a Capitol.
135 - The chain gets stretched due to a large detour on the grass respawn. Between capturing the Naga Bank and taking the Crystal Mine, I choose the latter (money for now, but few crystals for the Mage Guild). Inteus, getting the army from Deemer through the chain, breaks through to the "Barbarian" respawn. And there — a Necropolis secondary zone, right away a Dwarf Cottage and a Helm +4 behind 100 upgraded Skeletons (!). Only the Dwarf Cottage is taken. Wisdom, Logistics, and Fire Magic are already at Expert. Something will be shoved in next). Mage Guild level 3 in the main. I see blue flags in the sands (their army is probably stronger than mine) on the other side of the Unicorns. If the opponent now breaks through the GO and tears up my chain, it's GG for me.
136 - The blue flags disappeared. Intuition tells me that if there's going to be a GO breakthrough, it won't be before 141, or maybe the opponent, feeling untouchable, will run to clear the treasure zone. At home — Manticores (finally).
Capture the Necropolis secondary zone, take the Helm. Buy a scout (Kyrre), who reveals the stone respawn with the lookout, as well as the road from the opponent's respawn through the sands to my GO and the blue secondary zone (Dungeon). By this time, I'm starting to feel time pressure, unaccustomed to playing without pause in battles. Starting to get nervous. With Inteus, I capture a Cuirass +3 sp and send him back along the road (either to get wrecked next turn or to run and take the Naga Bank — unclear). The army is with Kyrre, who will capture gloves the next day.
VERY afraid of a GO breakthrough at this moment...I have more castles, but as for stats...
137 - Panic — there's no other word for it — I break through back home. Deemer scouts the grass respawn. Already found +3 and +4 Attack artifacts (if only I could capture them...). Not building Dragons, no real resources for it, and money won't hurt by 141...Waiting for aggression...
141 - ...But it doesn't come yet. Building Mage Guild level 4. Oh no — Water Walk and sorrow.
It's moments like these WHY I'M FOR DISABLING WATER ARTIFACTS AND SPELLS!!!!
Nowhere special to run. For now, I visit +1 sp with Inteus. Meanwhile, the scout hero finds a Berserker scroll (!). Well, that's something. Waiting for Mage Guild level 5.
142 - Mage Guild level 5. Summon Water Elemental. And now that's it. Nowhere to run. The treasure zone is lost. Wyverns are already gathering there. No control, only a faint hope for Berserker. But against a horde of Wyverns...
The scout heroes are preparing to capture a Ring +1 Attack/Defense and a Chain +4.
Inteus sits in the castle.
143 - I position Inteus near the GO, maybe I'll at least tear the blue chain and jump into the Teleporter — I'm pretty fast with movement. Meanwhile, Deemer advances Air Magic and runs to learn View Air.
144 - I break through the Unicorns, straight into the Teleporter, land in the snow, capture Boots there too. One step short of reaching the blue scout with my own, oh well. My army power is consistently lower, and that's not surprising...
145 - Deemer finally learns View Air and...turns out there's no chain home for the blues, and most of the enemy heroes are running around the treasure zone. I kill a blue scout and confidently speed up with Inteus on Harpies and an Angel. Hoping to quickly reach the blue castle. At least I'll deprive them of growth ).
146 - I check how far the blue heroes have advanced toward me. One is especially close. I run my scout to look, see the Teleporter, and hurriedly send the scout there. And on the other side, I'm met by a blue mage scout. 1:1 in scouts killed. But what do I see? Next to the Teleporter stands Marius on two Bone Dragons (!). Inteus catches up. I kill one Dragon, Marius shoots me in the eyes with an arrow and runs.
So, the blue army is trapped in the treasure zone. And their main is far away.
At that moment, I got so worked up that I sent another one of my scouts to the slaughter.
147 - The blues boldly haul out all the loot from the treasure zone with a scout. Joyfully, I attack.
However, killing 58 Wyverns turned out not so simple. But Mass Slow still pulled through — the blues could only counter it with Dispel. In the end, the opponent ran out of mana, and I managed to split and block the shooters (summoned Elementals came in handy). Shooting down the Wyverns with Eyes and Medusas and hitting with Lightning Bolt for 300+, I managed to reduce the opponent's main stack by more than half. They offered a surrender. I had left: 23 upgraded Medusas, 41 upgraded Eyes, 9 upgraded Harpies, 1 Angel (!).
Bought a Shield +3 on the market.
211 - Maybe the opponent had no moral or material reserves left to continue the fight — Marius attacks me (probably resurrected in a snow secondary zone) with about 20 Wyverns. Mass Slow and GG.
Thanks for the intense game!
