Posts from BLITZ TOURNAMENT

As mentioned before,...
The sixth stage is unofficial, and it won't count towards the rating!
Best regards.

:) Maybe we shouldn't call it the sixth stage, but rather something else. Otherwise, the next five stages for rated blitz games will follow, and it will be confusing to keep track of the stage numbers. It would be better to count them in groups of five, and unofficial blitz stages should not be included in that count, in my opinion.

Even though it's a minor detail, I agree with Iron – the stage number should be removed.

So, what's the point? This will still cause confusion... If you continue numbering them, it would probably be more logical to continue numbering the ranking as well. I think this is a bit impractical... It would be better to mark the next blitz tournament as "Second BLITZ TOURNAMENT for HoMM III"...

Currently, there are two possible scenarios.

1. If the quorum for this stage is recognized as valid, then the FT6 stage will count towards the blitz.

2. The absence of a quorum will prevent the stage from being counted, but its number will still be reserved for it. There will be no confusion, as it is not a given that all stages of the blitz will necessarily be divided into groups of five. This is not a critical point, and there is nothing wrong with combining only four stages into the next count for convenient scoring.

I remind you that tomorrow is the last day to submit save files.

Good luck to all players!

I don't think it would be entirely fair to evaluate this stage, as this map has already been completed by some participants who are not competing today. Since these people are not participating, their result is "0," and with this outcome, they lose their qualifying points.

I don't think it would be entirely fair to consider this stage, as this map has been completed before by some who are not participating today, for this reason. Since these people are not participating, their result is "0," and with this situation, they lose their ranking points.

I agree with your position. There are indeed such players, and they declined to participate precisely for this reason... Makes it easier... :) I hope that for those who were not previously aware of this task, it seemed interesting.

I hope that for those who didn't know about this task before, it seemed interesting.

That's true, my brain almost melted in early July trying to solve it, but unfortunately, I couldn't manage it.

I don't think it would be entirely fair to count this stage, as this map has already been completed by some who are not participating today, for this reason. Since these people are not participating, their result is "0," and with this situation, they lose ranking points.

But in any case, Amber "adjusted" this map, and the task of completing it has become different now...
And therefore, I believe that it is not worth awarding ranking points for it, because not everyone will complete it (I hope that the initial save will not be counted as a result :D), - which means a large number of points in the ranking will be awarded to those who completed it :)
And changing the number - in general, I think it

The sixth stage is complete, and first of all, as promised, I want to announce the name of the author of this masterpiece, both in terms of graphic execution and context. This map first appeared on HeroesPortal a little over a year ago and was submitted for public judgment by one of the strongest players on the Portal, in my opinion, HateYou. The map is designed in the form of this player's coat of arms, which he uses on HP, and many who have previously visited the Portal recognized the authorship by the appearance of the map.

Well, and here are the results:

HMM III BLITZ TOURNAMENT stage 6
Place	Participant	Days	Gold	Rating
1	Radik	1	32670+	-
2	Монца	1	27670+	-
2	Yaroogle	1	27670+	-
3	Botinki	1	23170	-
3	Dark Monarch	1	23170	-

I would like to thank all the players who found the time to complete this very challenging map. Special thanks from me personally to Botinki and Dark Monarch for sending their saves, even admitting that they failed to fully solve the quest. I suspect that if everyone who was forced to drop out had done the same, there would have been significantly more final saves...

But nevertheless, one can make allowances for the vacation season. Once again, I express my hope that everyone who played this map enjoyed it, regardless of the final result.

***

Below are the walkthrough descriptions for map FT6 provided by the players.

Radik

1. With Gleb, we leave the faerie dragon in the castle and take the peasant, visit the oasis, and attack the chaos hydra – naturally, we retreat.
2. We buy back Gleb (he appeared in the left tavern slot for me) and again visit the oasis and attack the hydra – once more, we retreat.
3. We buy back Gleb again (he was in the left slot again), Straker appears under him; we take the faerie dragon, run into the oasis, kill the hydra, go back to the oasis, and run to the prison (money 10800).
4. We free Sharapov, give him the speed boots and the faerie dragon, and also take his troops (Sharapov is left with only - a faerie dragon, nomad, and wolf raider, arranged exactly in that order).
5. With Sharapov, we run into the oasis, kill the peasants, go back to the oasis, and run to capture Magnetic (not forgetting to visit the unity flag on the way).
6. Then with Sharapov, we kill Gorbaty.
7. We buy back Jelu and move him up to the garrison.
8. We buy back Straker (Dragon is under him), take one sniper from Jelu, give this sniper to Sharapov, taking the faerie dragon, nomad, and wolf raider from him.
9. With Sharapov, we attack Murka (with troops - 1 sniper) and intentionally perish (all artifacts go to Murka; importantly - before the attack, Sharapov must put on the clairvoyance charm, and the life charm should be moved to the backpack).
10. With Straker, we leave the faerie dragon, nomad, and wolf raider with Jelu (who is still in the garrison) and run with one zombie to visit the obelisk.
11. We pull Jelu out of the garrison (take the faerie dragon, nomad, and wolf raider into the army, leaving snipers in the city), take three steps down (Jelu has 1600 MP left), then take a step right (actually staying in place since Straker is to the right), take the zombie from Straker and give all available troops) – Jelu has 1500 MP left and one zombie in the army..
12. Open the hero window (Jelu) so that the MP reserve is recalculated, and dig up the grail.
13. With Straker, we take the Grail from Jelu, dismiss Jelu (so he doesn't get in the way), run to Magnetic, place the Grail, leave all troops in the city, take only one sniper, and attack Murka – cast Wave of Death, resulting in both heroes dying (Straker and Murka; however, the artifacts Sharapov gave Murka remain with her). Money left 5800.
14. We buy back Dragon (Murka is under him), take a step down.
15. We buy back Murka; with Dragon, we take the life charm and the nomad and wolf raider from Murka, run with Dragon to the seer Sky and exchange the charm for 5000 gold. Run back to Murka and give her all troops, taking a skeleton from her (money is again 5800).
16. With Murka, we buy a spellbook (learning all magic in the process; Murka has 100 mana points since she has the helmet of heavenly thunder) and run to the seer Horus, where we exchange the clairvoyance charm for 10,000 gold. Money becomes 15300.
17. Then with Murka, we use two dimension doors to the upper right corner and run into the oasis. Speed up at the oasis (killing peasants) and run up to Torgrim.
18. Stop halfway between castles so that the mountain portal throws Murka into Equinox.
19. While in Equinox, activate flight and attack Torgrim, who is sitting in Marshwall (the helmet of heavenly thunder must be removed before the battle).
20. Troops – 7 snipers, 1 nomad, 1 faerie dragon, 1 wizard, and 1 wolf raider. Mana 29 points. After the battle, only the faerie dragon and 5 mana points remained (at the start of the battle we cast anti-magic on the faerie dragon, then fire wall twice; it is important that the faerie dragon triggers lightning – chain and ordinary (ice also works but deals less damage), as other spells do not work on Torgrim).
21. Then with Murka, we open the question keeper, pick up Armageddon's Blade, and visit the hut of seer Kendrick, where for the sulfur ring (taken from Torgrim) we receive 15000 gold. Money becomes 30300.
22. Build markets in Brittany and Equinox (minus 1000 gold and 10 wood) and exchange remaining resources for gold, which brings our treasury to 32670.
23. Approach the observer with Murka (but unfortunately he cannot be killed, as the game will end and a final save cannot be made).

That's all, Game Over!

Sincerely, Radik.

***

Монца

I will break the walkthrough description into points based on where I made saves.

Abbreviations:
FD - Faerie Dragon
L - Peasant
H - Hydra
N - Nomad
WR - Wolf Raider
S - Skeleton
C - Centaur
P - Pikemen

1. Gleb speeds up on hydras. (15800)
Leave FD in the castle, take L. Visit oasis, attack H, retreat. Buy Gleb, leave FD in the castle, visit oasis, attack H, retreat. Buy Gleb, take FD with him, visit oasis, kill H (the battle should not be difficult), visit oasis. Now Gleb has enough strength to reach the prison.
2. Gleb saves Sharapov. (10800)
Gleb reaches the prison and saves Sharapov. Takes a step toward Sharapov and swaps with him (Sharapov should keep all artifacts, FD, N, WR). The army must be arranged in the following sequence: FD, N, WR. Now Sharapov is ready to perform the technique known as "neutral carry" (this consists of the fact that if there are neutral troops in the army (nomads, mummies, etc.), and for the rest of the troops the terrain they move through is native (i.e., the terrain penalty does not apply to them), then the penalty can be avoided for the neutral troops as well. For this, it is necessary to place unit stacks with the hero such that neutrals are to the left of other troops. FizMig, point 2.19, sub-point 2.6).
3. Sharapov speeds up on peasants. (10800)
Sharapov visits the oasis, kills L, visits the oasis. Visits the rally flag. Now Sharapov has the strength to catch Murka.
4. Sharapov kills Murka and takes Conflux. (10800)
Sharapov reaches Murka and kills her (without losses; the battle should not be difficult). Captures Conflux (also without losses, does not enter the city).
5. Digging up Murka. (8300)
Buy a hero in the tavern, the left one (Fury for me), Murka is hiding under him.
6. Opening the obelisk. (13300)
Fury took the Life Pendant from Sharapov. Visited the black obelisk (learned the location of the grail), exchanged the Life Pendant with the left seer for 5000 coins.
7. Digging up Coronius. (10800)
Buy Murka in the tavern, Coronius is under her (why him specifically will be clear shortly).
7. Digging up the grail. (10800)
To dig up the grail with Murka, it is necessary that her MP at the start of the next day equals the remaining move for the current day. Murka's MP = 2000; if she is given WR and N, then Murka will move without penalty. There are three steps to the grail, so Murka will have MP = 1700 left. This MP corresponds to a creature with speed equal to 6, for example, a centaur. (Actually, any beast with speed 6 would suit us, but we can only get a unit of maximum level 4 (a monster above level 4 is not given to the hero in the tavern), un-upgraded, and not just any. Effectively, we have a choice between a centaur (all Rampart heroes except Ufretin), gargoyle (hero Pikedram, gargoyle specialist), harpy (hero Lorilei, harpy specialist), and wolf raider (hero Tiraxor, wolf raider specialist)).
Buy Coronius; Loins turned out to be under him for me.
Coronius takes WR and N from Sharapov, leaves them in the castle. Murka takes N and WR, leaves S in the castle, performs "neutral carry" (arrangement: N, WR), takes three steps to where the grail lies. Coronius takes S and C and approaches Murka, takes WR and N from her, gives C. Now it is necessary for Murka's MP to be recalculated (this can be achieved by opening the hero window). Murka successfully digs up the grail. Coronius takes the grail and C from Murka, and leaves S. Coronius returns to Conflux and builds a rainbow. Coronius gives WR and N back to Sharapov, who performs "neutral carry" (arrangement: FD, N, WR) and takes one step toward Gorbaty. Coronius takes WR and N from Sharapov. Sharapov attacks Gorbaty (Sharapov's army has one FD), casts blindness, then fire wall; FD steps into the fire and dies. Coronius leaves WR and N in the castle, attacks Gorbaty (Coronius's army has one C). Casts earth quake and dies along with Gorbaty.
Now, why such complications?! If we simply kill Gorbaty and then buy him, he won't have time to reach the oasis. If you open the map editor, you can see that Gorbaty has all skills upgraded except logistics, and that he is a first-level hero; thus, to rise to second level, he needs 1000 experience points. With Sharapov's help, we level up Gorbaty and give him all artifacts (500 exp for the hero and 500 exp for FD; since there is nothing else to upgrade, Gorbaty upgrades logistics). This battle is interesting because Gorbaty always wants to flee. We don't allow this: we learn blindness and kill ourselves. But! Sharapov doesn't have enough move to visit the castle and learn blindness, so Coronius learns it (that's why we bought him specifically; he has a centaur and the scholar skill). Also, Gorbaty gets speed boots. If we now kill Gorbaty with Coronius, the artifacts will pass to Coronius, which doesn't suit us (Gorbaty won't have enough mana points for spells and without boots he won't reach the oasis). Therefore, the only chance is for both to die; that's exactly what the Earth Quake spell is for. After such a kill, Gorbaty can be bought with the full set of parameters we are interested in.
8. Digging up Gorbaty. (8300)
Buy Loins, Gorbaty is under him. Exit the castle.
9. Buying Gorbaty. (5800)
Buy Gorbaty, go down to the castle gates. Loins takes the Inner Sight Pendant from Gorbaty, runs to the seer and exchanges it for 10000 coins. Gorbaty buys a magic book. Leaves C in the castle, takes WR and N, performs "neutral carry" (arrangement: N, WR).
10. Flight. (12800)
Gorbaty casts dimension door and flies from the castle gates to the upper right corner. Visits oasis, kills L, visits oasis, kills L, visits oasis, kills L, visits oasis, kills L, visits oasis.
11. Speeding up on peasants. (12800)
Approach the castle with Torgrim, remove the Thunder Helmet.
12. Battle. (12800)
Torgrim only has meteor shower, and meteor shower does not affect air elementals. On the first turn, summon air elementals (22 will be summoned). After that, cast fire wall three times and force P to run through it (screenshots show positions to achieve: first - battle1, second - battle2). 10 P should remain; fight with elementals, leave 1 P, cast restoration on N and kill P. Enter the castle.
13. Victory. (12800)
Buy a hero in the tavern; he takes the Inexhaustible Sulfur Ring, runs for the blade, exchanges the ring for 15000 coins.
14. Exchanged. (25300)
A few resources left. Build two markets (in the castle and tower), exchange all resources for money.
15. Final save. (27670)

***

Yaroogle

Gleb takes the peasant, leaves the faerie dragon in the castle. Oasis. Attacks the hydra, retreats. Is bought back in the castle. Oasis. Attacks the hydra, retreats. Is bought back (Tan is under him), takes the faerie dragon. Oasis. Attacks the hydra, kills it. Oasis. Runs to the prison. Gleb gives Sharapov all artifacts and the faerie dragon, takes a pegasus, gargoyle, dragonfly, and cerberus.

Sharapov does something silly from the 2nd blitz: places the rider to the right of the faerie dragon and nomad. Oasis. Peasant. Oasis. Flag. Kills Murka. Captures Conflux.

In Conflux, Tan is bought (Murka is under him). Tan takes all creatures and artifacts from Sharapov, leaves a gremlin and life charm. Tan goes into the garrison.

In Conflux, Murka is bought (Straker is under her). Here we need specifically the Murka we killed to be dug up, not just a new ordinary hero Mutare. Murka takes the rider and nomad from the garrison (rider to the right of nomad). Visits the obelisk. Stands on the grail digging spot. Murka spent 500 MP. A monster with speed 3 (zombie) is needed for digging the grail.

In Conflux, Straker is bought (Someone Unimportant is under him). He gives the zombie to Murka, takes the nomad and rider. Murka digs up the grail. Straker takes the grail from Murka. Tan leaves the garrison. Straker passes the grail and the nomad and rider to Tan. Then he takes the life charm from Sharapov, gives him a skeleton. Straker exchanges the life charm with the seer for money.

Tan builds the grail in Conflux. Then he gives the nomad and rider to Sharapov, teaches blindness and other magic. Sharapov takes one step toward Gorbaty so that he can later reach him without the nomad and rider. Tan takes these creatures from Sharapov and leaves them in the Conflux garrison. Then Tan attacks Gorbaty with a faerie dragon and all artifacts (helmet removed to increase magic power). The goal is to give him all artifacts and raise his level (1000 needed: 500 for the killed Tan and 500 for the dragon) so that he maxes out logistics. Battle: blind elves twice using 20 mana, while we use faerie dragons on ourselves for area magic. You have to pick it right to get at least two meteor showers.

Sharapov attacks Gorbaty with a skeleton. On the first turn, the enemy doesn't manage to kill our skeleton, so we blind an elf. Then he summons elementals. Kills our skeleton with magic. Then we finish off the elf. Both die. But we gained the ability to hire Gorbaty in the tavern and preserved all his artifacts.

In Conflux, Someone Unimportant is bought (Gorbaty is under him). He leaves the castle, takes the clairvoyance charm from the newly bought Gorbaty and exchanges it with the seer for money.

Gorbaty takes the nomad and rider, buys a magic book and makes a dimension door to the upper right corner. Runs to the oasis. There he increases moves using known technology. Gorbaty attacks Torgrim's castle (helmet removed). On the first turn, he summons air elementals - Torgrim's meteor shower does not affect them. Gorbaty manages to kill the peasant, but the nomad and wolf perish. Then he makes fire wall 3 times so that pikemen walk completely through the wall twice. Remaining pikemen are killed by air elementals. And on the last turn, he resurrects a nomad or rider with the last mana so as not to lose the battle.

In the swamp castle, any hero is bought; he takes the sulfur ring from Gorbaty, opens the border guard and exchanges the artifact with the seer for money. To increase the amount of gold, two markets are built and all resources are exchanged for money in them.

***

Watch, comment, draw conclusions...

Sincerely,
AmberSoler

In principle, I managed to solve the entire quest, but I couldn't implement everything, specifically, I couldn't dig up the Grail in one day. But overall, a huge thank you to **AmberSoler** for the interesting map, and you certainly made us think hard.

I would like to thank all the players who took the time to play through this very difficult map. Special thanks to Botinki and Dark Monarch for sending their save files, even though they admitted that they couldn't solve the quest completely. I assume that if everyone who had to drop out had done the same, there would have been significantly more final save files...

Ah, I thought the tournament ended on the 31st :confused:, but I probably wouldn't have sent a save file anyway. What would I send, when I have a log instead of a brain?

Yeah, there were very few participants, despite the long time allotted for the tournament... I feel like many people just didn't bother submitting their save file... :(

When will the next stages of the BLITZ TOURNAMENT be? I hope it will be soon; it's incredibly interesting to see what happens next.

We are all looking forward to the announcement of the next Blitz. I feel like Amber is working hard on it :D

We are all waiting for the announcement of the next Blitz. I feel like Amber is working hard on it :D

Unfortunately, I don't have time to work on new maps right now... If you have any ideas, feel free to suggest them...