Posts from Winter evenings, map “Will and Reason”.

From the very beginning, I want to wish all participants good luck, and may the strongest win. :smile49:

Tournament rules and regulations.

1. The tournament will be held on version HoMM IV: Equilibris 3.51. You can download it here.

2. You can connect via Hamachi (download) in any subnet.
As an alternative, a subnet has been created:
Name:
Winter Evening
Password:
Winter Evening

3. Tournament start dates: from 6.12.08

4. On this map, the tournament is played using a double elimination system; you can find a description here. In short,
It saves time for those who haven't lost yet. There is a chance to recover. Lose two games and you are out of the tournament.


5. The deadline for one game: 10 days.
During this time, players must play their match and provide a report. If, for some reason, the game takes longer than expected, players must request an extension. The maximum extension period is 3 days. If, after the specified period, a player has not played their game, they will be given a technical defeat.

6. One (or both) players may choose a random race for the game. The first player makes the choice (whether or not to play with a random race). Then the second player does the same. If one of the players plays with a random race and the other doesn't, then the player playing with a random race eliminates three races from the list of possible races for the opponent. The opponent chooses a race from the remaining ones.

If both players decide not to play with a random race, the selection of races is also done by eliminating them from the list. All available races for each color are listed. In total, there are 12. After that, players take turns eliminating races until only one remains uneliminated in each list – these are the races they will play. At the same time, you can eliminate both "bad" races from your list and "good" races from the opponent's list. The elimination sequence is as follows: 1-2-2-...-2-1 (that is, the first player eliminates one position, then the second - two, the first - two, ..., the second - one). The second player starts eliminating.

7. The first player creates the game (via GameSpy, Hamachi, or standard game methods, depending on the technical capabilities of the connection between the two players).

8. Both players have the right to request one restart before the end of their first turn (before passing the turn to the opponent). To do this, simply write the message "restart" in the chat and wait for the opponent's response "ok". After the restart, the first player recreates the game with the same parameters.

9. A player who has lost all their cities and armies, or has lost all their cities and not captured a single city within the next 3 days, is considered the loser (standard defeat conditions).

10. It is advisable to make regular saves (for example, at the end of your turn) to resolve controversial situations that may arise during the game.

11. In case of disconnection or game crash, the last save is loaded. Players must accurately repeat all their moves up to the point of disconnection or game crash.

12. If you dig up the Grail, a save with a completely open map puzzle is required; otherwise, the action will be considered cheating.

13. In the event of battles between players, a stalemate situation may occur. For example, one player has 10 Imps left, and the other has 100 Ogres. The Imps fly around the field, and the Ogres cannot catch them. In this situation, the attacking side must retreat or surrender (at their discretion). If the Shackles of War artifact is involved in the battle, then the battle should be completed in Auto-Battle mode.

14. A report on the played game must be posted in this thread:

[First player's name] ([race]) [def/lose] [Second player's name] ([race]) - [map name], [game end time in "month week day" format]

15. Violations of the rules during the game will result in a technical defeat. Cheating (which is prohibited) will result in disqualification!

16. All controversial moments in the game are decided by the organizer, so please notify them promptly when they arise.

17. The organizers reserve the right to make any changes to the rules!


18. It is forbidden to use cheats, bugs, or any programs that allow you to increase the number of resources, units, or other actions that act as cheat codes during the game!


19. Last but not least: Respect your opponent. Value both your own and your opponent's time! Do not avoid games and do not delay the match and individual battles!


After the draw, the following pairs were drawn:

Round 1
Pair 1 CTPAHHuK - LeSHiJ-MaX
Pair 2 LordZezuk - Pashagreen
Pair 3 oxygen_hl - Dr Motor
Pair 4 Lu41k - Lee

Round 2[/COLOR]
Upper bracket
Pair 1 Pashagreen - CTPAHHuK
Pair 2 oxygen_hl - Winner of Pair 4, Round 1

Lower bracket
Pair 1 LeSHiJ-MaX - LordZezuk
Pair 2 Dr Motor - Loser of Pair 4, Round 1



Map and author's descriptionWill and Reason

The first round will last until December 20, 2008 inclusive. If all games are completed earlier, we will move on to the next stage faster. Please do not forget about the World Championship

I wish everyone good luck.:smile02: :smile02: :smile02:

P.S. Only reports in this thread. We arrange games and discuss them, here...

LordZezuk (nature purple) los. pashagreen (nature green) Power and Reason (expert 146)

Basically, since I didn't know the map well, I just ran around in circles, not knowing where to go. I wanted to make a Chaos Knight, because there was a book on the island, so I started making a GM runner of level 4. Naturally, it didn't turn out to be a good tactic, but I ended up with two GM nature units and a GM Chaos Knight, plus a ranger and a runner-tactician. But the opponent had a life-boosting spell and a well-leveled tactician, plus he attacked, and I didn't expect it, so my army was standing in a bunch. In the first turn, he used phoenixes to remove the immunity from the druid and the runner, and then he cast Sanctuary. I didn't have any more vodka. I was waiting for reinforcements. In the end, I didn't have time, as always. And his powerful unit went in like a tank, buffed with Giant Strength and Dragon Strength, and stomped all my army. I couldn't find a dispel spell.
Thanks for the lesson :)

Leshij-max (death) lost to CTPAHHuK (nature) with Will and Intellect 135, (Expert, 8 min)

He started by developing an Archer, a Runner, and a Tactician… by level 115, he had brought in unicorns, valkyries, elves, and leprechauns from the metro. The meat squad immediately moved towards the gold mine, where they encountered the heroes. Together, they defeated the earth elementals at the gold mine and began exploring the south… waiting for Laifer to arrive from the castle on a phoenix.

At level 122, the Archer, Runner, Tactician, Laifer, Phoenix, a dozen Elves, and 3 Valkyries boarded a boat and, clearing everything along the way, sailed to the island. The next day, they captured the shield-relic and the gold mine in the center, and near the tree, they met the Druid from the prison. At level 125, an elf dug up the gloves and immediately passed them to the heroes… and they ran to teleport to the castle.

He pondered where to go next. It was too early to go to Spartacus; the cyclops would quickly overwhelm the weak mages. Going on a circular journey also didn't appeal to him – he was tired after the sailing… So, he decided to repeat the maneuver of exploring the south while waiting for the 6th hero.

At level 131, five heroes together with the young druid left the city and headed to bypass the round mountains. After a while… at level 134, they all returned to the city. The Archer was already a Paladin 5355+2100, the Runner was a Ranger 5550+5500+2100 (nature), the Tactician was a Guardian 5333+2100+1002 (war), the Nature Warrior was 5550+1001, Laifer was 4555, and the Druid was 4330… On the same day, Mantissa flew to the bridge.

At level 135, all the heroes and 4 Phoenixes rushed to Mantissa on the bridge. Instead of the young Druid, he took Mantissa into the army to counter the cyclops attack and because it was necessary to block them sooner. He attacked, and all 64 Cyclops were in one group… Mantissa and her units went first, binding the Stone Golems… and then it wasn't difficult; the summoned creatures hindered the enemy's movement, and he won. As soon as he cleared the island, he leveled up his heroes, and Leshij reported the defeat.

LordZezuk (nature purple) los. pashagreen (nature green) Power and Reason (expert 146)

Actually, this was also my first time playing an online game. Before that, I played through a map a couple of times... and read the forum. I immediately saw the Book of Life in the dungeon and decided to go for a Lifemage. Then I ran around, doing something. I kept forgetting to collect all the resources with my lords. As soon as I got the Manticores, I decided to sail to the island. I arrived, took everything, and then immediately messed up, forgetting that there were 2 Megadragons in the mine. They attacked, their morale was high, and it was a disaster... I fled. On the second try, I managed to take the mine. I lost 2 Manticores and 2 Phoenixes during the game, which wasn't essential. I got 3 spellbooks for the game (Life, Nature, Death), which was great. I only used Life, though. For the last hero, I took the Tactician, leveled him up as best as I could, and ran towards the dragons. It's quite easy with the Sled. I jumped out, saw Lord standing there, and attacked. There were plenty of Immortals, though. And it was quite fun without Cancel/Dispel.
4 Phoenixes remove the Immortals on the first turn, and then attack the Sled. The Dragon and Giant's strength is used for buffing... I got lucky.)))

Games from the first round.
The following games need to be played:
Pair 3 oxygen_hl - Dr Motor
Pair 4 Lu41k - Lee
Also, CTPAHHuK can play a game with Pashagreen in the upper bracket, and LeSHiJ-MaX with LordZezuk in the lower bracket. They have some extra time :).
We are waiting for reports from the other players, don't delay.

oxygen_hl (Necropolis, green) def. Dr. Motor (Preserve, purple) — Will and Mind 213, (Expert, 6 min)

Devils on day 4. GM runners also on day 4. Sent a fool with a grand swimming skill to the sea. And then he started wandering back and forth around the preserve. He couldn't figure out what to do. As a result, he only got the gloves on turn 131, and the mine in the center was taken a little later. There's not much to say about the game itself: I went to the opponent's preserve, searched through the bushes, and killed him.

My awesome heroes:
General 17 (approximately): full tactics skill tree, combat skill 4002 (approximately)
Ninja 18 (approximately): GM of Death, GM of Running, combat skill with resistance, high speed, mass cancel, hand, VT.
Assassin 14 (approximately): GM of Death, combat skill with resistance, mass cancel, hand, VT
Ranger 16 (approximately): full combat skill tree, GM of Swimming, attack 100, Sword of Swiftness.
Battlemage 15 (approximately): GM of Order, combat skill with resistance, mass slow, mirror of pain, phantom.
15 devils
18 venoms

Enemy army:
4 phoenixes
2 manticores
Master of Nature
Master of Life
GM runner (ranger, approximately)
General (archer, approximately)

Unfortunately, I don't remember the enemy army very well. There's no point in describing the battle.

Thank you for the game.

oxygen_hl (Necropolis, green) def. Dr. Motor (Preserve, purple) — Will and Mind 213, (Expert, 6 min)

Ugumk:smile01: Exactly how it happened. He didn't show any gameplay at all - he just wandered around the base, poking around in the corners - and didn't come up with anything worthwhile, and started the planned cleanup too late... as a result, he had absolutely nothing to oppose his opponent with - as can be seen from his description. The battle can be said to have lasted only one round.
Well, you could say it was my first real battle, in a way.

Thanks to my opponent for the game, and for the lesson.

oxygen_hl (Necropolis, purple) def. Lu41k (Preserve, green) — Will and Mind 211, (Expert, 6 min)

Devils on the fourth level, Grand Master running is also about the same. I seem to be lucky playing Necromancer against Nature on this map. It's getting a bit too specialized:smile10:

In general, I decided to level up the Order skill, while dreading Mind Shield. A freed lord goes to the sea, transformed into a guildmaster for 6000 gold. The guys clear the respawn point, take the dwellings and mines. Freed ghouls from the dungeon bring a guard robe, after which they all die together in a battle for the gold mine against ifrits and minotaurs (2-4).

On 2-7, I take the gold in the center and, forgetting to visit the enemy's tree :smile39:, I go to the dungeon.
On 3-2, I defeat Spartacus, losing one devil. There is no Vampire Touch, and I'm afraid to go into the utopia. I go through the trees and towards the exit (I walked around for too long). On 4-7, I break through to the opponent's respawn point and head straight to the castle. They meet me, and we fight.

My guys:
Assassin 13 (Grand Master of Death, Armageddon, Masscancel)
Battlemage 12 (Grand Master of Order)
Battlemage 14 (Grand Master of Order)
General 15 (all branches of tactics, except leadership, leadership - advance)
Ninja 14 (Grand Master of Death, Armageddon, Masscancel)
11 devils
15 venoms under a sniper crossbow

Guys from the local area:
Paladin 14 (combat branch, archery master)
Bard 14 (Master of Nature, missing one level to Grand Master with a book)
Crusader 14 (master of tactics, Grand Master of Offense, master of defense, expert of life)
Beastmaster 7 (Expert of Nature with antimagic)
13 griffins
8 phoenixes
35 tigers

We clashed, and then they were defeated.
Thank you for the game.

forgot to visit the enemy tree

Fixed it so they wouldn't dare do it again! :smile29:

/topic/at/209872/

I didn't play with Pasha. I can't continue the tournament. My apologies.

oxygen_hl (Necropolis, purple) def. Lu41k (Preserve, green) — Will and Mind 211, (Expert, 6 min)

We played a random map and decided that we'd only take a restart on the first day, and that's how we went into battle :))
I had only played this map twice, so on Day 1 I was wondering where to go. I managed without restarts. The first day passed in a frantic haze of rushing and wondering who to send where... And only during the opponent's turn did I start to look closely at what I had generated... I looked and got upset... In the level 3 dwellings, I got Earth Elementals... The opponent has the Guardian's robe in the underground. I immediately realized he's playing Death... I thought, "Well, I'm doomed." I felt miserable, but I kept playing. Everything was going quite well. I hoped for 3 dwellings and an army in the underground... Neither happened... only slow-movers... I looked at the artifact lying in the underground on my territory... the Book of Death... Oxy should have had it, not me..
Meanwhile, I'm clearing the territory, taking dwellings, and freeing the army from the underground... The Dark Lords are leveling up in the meantime and brazenly stealing artifacts from under the noses of the stunned neutrals..
After taking the level 3 dwelling with earthworms, I headed for the Book of Nature, guarded by nightmares and medusas... The Ring of Power is there too... My spirits lifted, and I continued to develop. I wanted to go to the island, but I felt I wouldn't make it in time... There were crosses and monks at the gold mine; I brought the army out of the underground and took the mine.
The Phoenixes weren't in a hurry to be built... only on 121... Oh well..
We played out the first week and went to bed... we probably met again a week later, and all my plans had flown out of my head))
Oxy sailed to the island, took the mine and the Book of Chaos; he didn't go for my tree, which surprised me :D and made me happy. While I was clearing the respawn and thinking about what to do next, Oxy crushed the Barbarians and Cyclopes. I flickered there for a bit, but you can't push against Order Mages, Death, devils, and venoms :) It was clear that no matter what I did, I'd be killed anyway :) And that's how it happened; they cast all sorts of nasty things on the cyclopes and shamelessly slaughtered them. Instead, to my horror, I saw 5 well-leveled Heroes... And only then did it occur to me that I was still running around with 3... My stupidity knew no bounds..
I bought 4 Heroes... a druidess, hoping to have time to level her up... visited 2 stones near the city, took a free fight in the hut... And only then did I remember that I wanted to study Death... Cursing myself once again, I went to the university... During the opponent's turn, I thought for a long time about who to actually make her... Now she'll be neither here nor there... But I still decided to buy Death for the sake of Dispel Magic, which I never actually learned, because the druidess turned out to be a fierce opponent of necromancy and flatly refused to study it (which is what I feared); in the end, she grew to expert Nature, I learned antimagic at the nearest shop, and settled for that.
Meanwhile, the main army sailed to the island to get experience, the prisoner, and the treasure. Evil mermaids tried every way to seduce my monsters, but they either didn't have time to move, or I cast a swarm of wasps on them. That's how I quickly sailed, cleared the territory with the dwelling (earth), and went for the Hero (whom I remembered by that point), jumping into a portal... I saw no one, thought I was in the wrong place, and jumped into another portal. I stared in shock at my own city and thought only one thing: then where exactly is the prison??? No matter how hard I tried to find it, I couldn't... I went to ICQ and started grilling the cartographer, who kindly informed me that the prison should be in the underground on the island... I looked again... no prison... I thought that Oxy had captured it and calmed down. I ran further to level up, trying to make a GM Druid and Life out of my heroes... They stubbornly refused to level up as needed... They never grew... And I was hoping for the Sanctuary.. :)
I noticed the opponent started taking suspiciously long turns... The thought flashed that my death was near... I started looking closely at the top right corner and waiting... I had no chance against his army, but I decided to at least die beautifully... and not in one turn.
Noticing my death, I gathered the army, bought drinks (almost for the first time in the whole game; the ulcer-patients were teetotalers)) and decided that hiding in corners didn't suit me... I said goodbye to everyone and went to meet them.
We met. My half-baked Heroes and his super-macho :)
The Tactician with the Guardian's robe was, of course, untouchable... I wanted to cast antimagic on the phoenixes so the evil guys wouldn't cast all sorts of filth on him... But I didn't have time... The phoenixes were cut down by the Hand of Death, after which there was no point. Realizing that I couldn't finish off his Heroes with 4 phoenixes, I decided to resurrect them, secretly hoping to bite someone... later... It didn't work :))
Mass Dispel Magic, of course, didn't let the tactics unfold... With the Druid, I summoned a swarm of Wasps to cover the Tactician. He covered, and at the same time cast weakness on the devils. :) But the Devils decided to break through by killing the druid... They broke through... In short, my army began to melt before my eyes..
It ended quite funnily: my tigers fell victim to hypnosis, and Oxy started playing with himself :) In the end, one (I think) miserable tiger remained, who decided in retaliation to bite the Hero and fall by his hand :)
So that's basically how the battle ended.
After the game, it turned out that Oxy hadn't taken my prison and I simply didn't notice it :( I guess it's time to go to the optometrist..
What else to say at the end..
I messed up a lot (I'd even say too much), gave up too early, and didn't squeeze the maximum out of the situation..
The apprentice hasn't yet grown into a Master :) Need to play more :)

PS thanks to everyone who read to the end :D

Dimka, thanks for the game :)

Allow me to engage in a bit of debate.

the book of death... It should have gone to Oxy, not me...

Brrr. Why would I need a book of death with a castle and a can of food? It would have been perfect for you. A fast assassin, made from an archer, with all the speed crystals pumped into him, would have surprised me with his first mass cancel.

the druid turned out to be a fierce opponent of necromancy

There needs to be a clarification here. Because she wasn't a druid, but a bard. That is, the class has already been changed. And for a bard, the probability of obtaining skills from the death branch is minimal, and for the death base itself, it's zero.

Here's some information: if you take a hero of a basic class (archer, druid, etc.) and they get a new skill (death magic, for example), then on the next two levels, they will definitely be offered skills from the new branch (even if the schools are antagonistic). If you don't take them, then the standard probabilities will apply, which can be found on Google.