Posts from [HMMI TOURNAMENT OFF] Swamp Lord.

..............apologies, of course, for not meeting someone's expectations. I'm slow, and with a limited amount of time, I can only consider one option at best, which is what happened. So, 9 days. I physically couldn't force myself to start playing even a week ago. The main thing isn't that. I haven't recovered from the New Year's binge, and I have absolutely no idea how to play better. So, I'll lose fairly.

OH MY GOD!!!!!!

7 days... that's unbelievable!!!...Vampire - take back the 1000 bucks :)

...modestly: 8 days, 22 parameters, and 30 mercury...

lol)) I'm almost rich =FFFF =DD

RAPER

But you said the magic word sort of..., because I can't even imagine how to do it: I take all 3 castles on day 7....but what about the 7-9 Heroes?))).

Hehe, I'm almost rich =FFFF =DD

By the time I earn them, you'll already be dead)))

In short, don't scare me... otherwise, I won't be able to sleep: 7 days - it's unthinkable (how could you torture a computer to the point where it commits seppuku)!!!?

I believe that both VDV_forever and Kamikaze achieved the same thing as I did....

to Prorock
You are right, I have 8 days... but there are rumors, so let's wait for the official information.
PS: By the way, I lost to you in terms of stats ;)

Hello,
Thank you to everyone who found the strength and participated in this tournament. The map was quite easy, but to showcase an excellent result, a lot of generation (computer turns) was required.
For VDV - 7 days, 15 skills, 5 mercury. The table will be available later, sorry... but my computer crashed this weekend (the motherboard failed).

What I know at the moment:
VDV - 7 days, 15 skills, 5 mercury
Prorock - 8 days, 22 parameters, and 30 mercury
Kamikaze - 8 days, 20 (0-1-8-11), 5 mercury
Romanuel - 9 days.
Monza - 10 days, total 18, approximately 25 mercury.
WOLVARINE - 11 days.
RAPER - 12 days, 21 parameters, 3 mercury

I don't know the result of Necromancer and Elcidere yet. Maybe they will share it themselves?
VDV is already writing a description. :)
Prorock and Kamikaze also need to do this. ;)

Good luck.

VDV - 7 days. 15 skills. 5 mercury

Well, that's it... I guess I'm already out of the game... the generation of Champions inevitably changes!

My congratulations to VDV_forever!:smile20:

P.S. As a final request, I would like to see the daily saves of VDV_forever, Kamikaze, and Romanuel.

Sincerely,
Prorock.

Well, that's it... I guess I'm getting old... the generation of Champions is inevitably changing!

My congratulations to VDV_forever!:smile20:

P.S. As a final request, I would like to see the daily saves of VDV_forever, Kamikaze, and Romanuel.

Sincerely,
Prorock.

1. On the contrary, I'm glad that another real competitor has appeared! I'm talking about you ;) I already know the others, but Fireball wasn't here this time. So, the tournament can be given the highest rating.
2. I join in the congratulations, 7 days is very strict, you're with us...:smile12:
3. Saves are easy. I am very interested in the saves of the winner.

I'm actually glad that another real competitor has appeared!

That's true! The more strong players there are, the more interesting it is! =)

By the time I earn them, you'll already be dead)))

Well, considering that I'm only 18, I think you'll have time to earn them =DDD. Besides, the Lord of all Vampires is immortal! )))

So, where are my 50 bucks? =DDD =RRR, haha =DD

Thanks for the congratulations. :smile41:

It's a great pity that many were unable to take part in this wonderful tournament! A huge thank you to all of you for participating and, of course, to Kyle for the organization!

Instead of working, I spent the whole day writing the description :smile33:

9th offline tournament "The Swamp"

Introduction

When I said on the forum that the tournament is difficult, I meant its difficulty in terms of optimizing the result. That is, for me personally, the tournament turned out to be one of the longest, requiring 4 real-time days (thankfully, the New Year holidays allowed this :) ).

The first rough draft was done in 1 hour, with a result of 9 days. The second run was more thoughtful and time-consuming, resulting in 8 days. Having achieved 8 days, I began to think about the minimum possible result on this map, and the more I thought, the more it frightened me. It frightened me because the theoretical limit on the map is 6 days. Nevertheless, brushing aside the wild thought, I decided to first aim for 7, and I must say, I did it quite quickly by preventing the AI from straying too far from their home castles. After resting a bit and celebrating another New Year with relatives, I made titanic efforts to achieve a result of 6 days, but in vain; I was short by 500 gold to take all the castles on day 6. But even if I had figured out where to get the missing amount, something else became unclear: how to kill off all the rapidly multiplying AI heroes? In the end, I noted for myself that this is practically impossible!

And then came the moment when it hit me to improve secondary skills—specifically, to implement the 2nd victory criterion stipulated in the HW rules (taking into account the artifacts equipped on the hero).

Here I had to not only rack my brain over this problem but also think about how to keep the AI within reach. Thus, a result of 7 days was achieved with a sum of primary characteristics equal to 11 (previously it was 6), which made me incredibly happy! Realizing that I could improve it by another 2, I played again and finally succeeded! After another drinking session (as the holidays continued and my wife was already angry with me), I decided to sit down at this map once more, as having free time suggested that skills could be improved by another 1 by taking a chest of 1500 experience instead of money! And it was this fact that turned me into a complete maniac; I had to make titanic efforts to develop a strategy where the sum of skills equaled 15 instead of the assumed 14, and also apply a clever method that I had not used in tournaments before due to lack of necessity. Not to mention the real time spent implementing the plan...

That is, for 7 days but with improved skills, there are 4 runs: with 6, 11, 13, and 15 skills, all using different strategies ;)

Strategy

1) In the home castle, as well as in captured castles, we build and buy nothing.
2) Money is spent exclusively on buying heroes.
3) With the 3 main heroes, we take nothing extra, moving only toward the castles.
4) The "Father" must definitely take boots, a chest, destroy monsters and heroes, and take the farthest castle.
5) The "Father" must be given the "Great Scroll of Knowledge" artifact, which increases knowledge by 5 units.
6) All main breakthroughs are made using the dragon, who is passed along a chain in the first few days.
7) At the start of the day, all heroes should be accelerated by fast monsters whenever possible.
8) AI heroes must not stray too far.

Day 1

After analysis, it becomes clear that a second hero can appear only in one case: if the starting hero Ariy takes 2 chests located exactly south of the starting castle, which we successfully do without any problems by wiping out a pack of ogres. The 2 chests bring a profit of +3000 gold to the treasury.

Naturally, we buy a Barbarian class hero—Atlas; this is obvious since only Barbarians lack a terrain penalty.
After him, a Warlock must appear (not a Barbarian) to accelerate other heroes using gargoyles. In this case, Rasmont was under that slot.

Atlas, leaving the entire army in the castle and with one goblin, takes 2 steps left and one up, ending up right behind the hill by the castle. He does this so that on the next day he can attack the ogres to the north who block the passage in the southern direction. The calculation was made so that Atlas would not make unnecessary moves, while Ariy would spend his entire movement allowance exactly for an exchange with him.

Turn transition:
When I said that the game version could be determined 100%, I meant the following:
- all AI heroes on turn transition in the Bukovska version 1.1 leave slow units, which are orcs 100%; in the English version 1.0 (DOS), he will take them with him!
- when attacking ogres, we see the battlefield: in the English version 1.1, there is only a stump as an obstacle; in the Bukovska version, there are 2 snags and a bush between them.

Green: Sundax takes the ore mine and heads east, spending the night by a chest.

Red: Antony takes mercury and the sawmill.

Yellow: Ergon takes the ore mine and heads south.
There was practically no one generated since there are very few AI. It is essential that Green runs east for free troops—thieves (wagons). This is the first important point! Because if he doesn't run there on the first day, he will definitely send other heroes the next day and won't make it back to the castle by day 7, and we don't have an extra 2500 gold to catch him.

P.S. It made me smile that buildings are completely absent in the starting castle, thanks Kyle!

Gold 500.

Day 2

Ariy spends his entire movement allowance (as planned) on an exchange with Atlas.

Atlas takes 2 steps up, one step northwest and attacks the ogres, earning 680 experience. He increases the treasury by 1500 by taking a chest. With 3000 gold in the treasury, we hire Rasmont (4 gargoyles, 9 centaurs); under him is Barbarian—Kelzen (though it's better to dig up Yog, as his starting army is larger than Kelzen's)!

Next is a very important 2nd point: Rasmont leaves the entire army in the castle and with 1 gargoyle heads WEST, taking 3 steps! Atlas moves close to Rasmont (see figure 1).

Rasmont—specifically Rasmont—performs an exchange with Atlas, swapping the gargoyle for a dragon! The remaining moves are just enough for Rasmont to easily wipe out the Elves and take a chest, thus replenishing the treasury by another 2000 gold!

The amount obtained is just enough for one more hero—a Barbarian, who becomes the previously "dug up" Kelzen (3 orcs, 23 goblins)—the FATHER!

Atlas spends his remaining movement allowance (2 diagonal steps) moving south.

Father, transferring the entire army formed from purchased heroes from the garrison and leaving only 1 gargoyle in the garrison (necessary for another hero), namely: 2 gargoyles, 45 goblins, 6 orcs, 9 centaurs, runs to exchange with Ariy (gives him 1 gargoyle, receives 1 green in return) and attacks the nomads who guard an important passage to the EAST!

This simple tactic leads to victory with losses; only 1 gargoyle, 3 orcs, and 31 goblins remain alive, which is exactly what we need. He dismisses the remaining army except for one single gargoyle.
Then he takes the chest "above," enriching the treasury by 1500 gold. I had to take money because monetary infusions from the castle on the next day would not have allowed hiring another hero, and there was no prospect of obtaining 1500 gold on day 3.
Thus, Ariy, Atlas, and Kelzen were accelerated by gargoyles by the end of day 2, while Rasmont remained with the dragon—where else could he be!

Turn transition:
The AI hires a second hero with 100% probability, which is very inconvenient for us, but what can you do.
Green: Sundax grabs a chest and moves toward the wagons. Tsabu takes the sawmill.
Red: Antony collects ore and gems. Jojosh takes the ore mine
Yellow: Ergon crystals and wood, ignoring gems for obvious reasons. Craig Hack takes the sawmill.

No one was generated!

Gold 1500.

Day 3

Father, accelerated by gargoyles, runs east without stopping and spends the night 2 cells away from wolves.

Rasmont has just enough moves to exchange troops with Ariy (Dragon for gargoyle).

Atlas, knowing that nomads in a quantity of 25 have a status loyal to joining, runs toward them. He stops 1 step before attacking.

Ariy, performing the same procedure as Rasmont, receives a gargoyle instead of a dragon during the transfer with Atlas.

A satisfied Atlas easily joins the nomads and, with words of gratitude, passes the dragon back.

Having funds of 2500 gold, we hire Yog (Sandro is under him). We give him the previously left gargoyle, while his army remains in the garrison—though it can be dismissed, as it changes absolutely nothing now. We run after Father.

In the end, this strategy leads to the creation of an excellent chain for passing the dragon from the farthest hero to Father on the next day!

Turn transition:
The AI hires a third hero with 100% probability, which makes me even angrier, but there's nothing to be done! Total: 9 enemy heroes!
Green: Sundax still moves toward the wagons. Tsabu runs south and grabs a chest. A lady named Trojan also goes south, grabbing sulfur.
Red: Antony takes gems and the "Great Scroll of Knowledge" artifact! Jojosh mercury and a chest. Barok wood from the south.
Yellow: Ergon clears his territory in the north, grabs mercury and gems. Craig Hack grabs gem deposits in the south. Lord Haart grabs a chest in the east.

No one was generated!

Gold 0.

Day 4

Executing the plan we've been preparing for 3 days regarding the transfer of the purple dragon.

Ariy runs toward Rasmont, stopping 2 tiles short; Rasmont takes the dragon from Ariy and passes it to Yog, who in turn passes it to Papa!

Papa attacks the wolves and earns 520 experience, TAKES THE EXPERIENCE CHEST +1500 Exp (+1 attack, +1 defense) - this is a very important moment, as a result of which skills were increased.

Knowing that we'll have to pay for the boots, we leave Kelzen alone for a while.

Atlas plays the role of the money tycoon, easily taking 2 chests (+1000 and +1500) on the way to Green's castle.
Returning again to Papa.

The 3rd, and perhaps one of the most important moments: DO NOT RECRUIT THE SWORDSMEN, but instead attack the ogres who are ready to join; knowing how slow they are despite their strength, we politely decline and use them for experience +400 Exp.

For 2000 gold, we buy the boots and sleep next to the mercury.
Rasmont uses his remaining 3 moves to go East, following the main heroes in hopes of picking up a stray pile of gold and thereby making life slightly easier for player Yog; following PAPA, he enters the swamp and follows the right side.

Turn transition:

Green: Sundax, finally reaching the wagons, turns back with the prospect of taking the djinns guarded by riders (but due to the AI's suicide, this was not meant to happen since Atlas disrupted his plans). Tsabu takes the campfire and turns north for a chest!. Trojan takes the ore and, realizing that the swamp is not her element, also goes north for a chest.

Red: Antoniy runs down. Jojosh takes the northern chest near the castle and heads toward the eastern chest. Barok, however, takes the southern chest and heads south for the "necklace" artifact.

Yellow: Ergon moves from one swamp to another to grab the remaining resources and campfire. Crag Huck grabs ore and mercury and heads for a chest. Lord Haart grabs the chest by the castle and heads toward the southeastern swamp.
What a greedy, smart AI!

There was only one seed/generation: green Tsabu must go north, not south - this is the 4th mandatory moment!

Gold 1500.

Day 5

Ariy, realizing that the treasury needs gold more than ever, rushes full speed for the northern gold hidden in a chest guarded by dragons.

Atlas cannot be stopped now; he heads toward Green's castle and, before the decisive battle, decides to spend the night by the oak.

Rasmont, also aware of the money problems, runs to the swamp for the gold supposedly guarded by swordsmen (whom PAPA ignored) and falls asleep a step away from it.

Papa takes mercury +5 and recruits 11 nomads who nicely block the exit from the central swamp.

Yog takes all the nomads from Papa.

Papa hits the dwarves +380 Exp (+1 attack) and sleeps 1 step away from the gemstone mine.

Yog sleeps by the statue (Now I realize that it should have been visited the next day to make life easier during the castle assault, but in principle, I managed without it).

Turn transition:
Green: Sundax takes lumber and has exactly enough moves to reach his own castle the next day. Tsabu takes a chest and runs east for another chest!. Trojan, apparently calculating that the castle is under threat, takes the chest by the castle and goes on defense.
Red: Antoniy takes ore and heads up for the last resources in the form of a pile of gold on the swamp. Jojosh collects the last resources at the castle: gemstones and a chest. Barok takes gemstones and makes camp 2 steps from the "Necklace" art.
Yellow: Ergon's actions are quite adequate (acting like a seasoned offline player), running up, grabbing crystals and ignoring ore (apparently he already has enough). Crag Huck takes a chest and heads for the next one located south of Lord Haart's castle; Lord Haart takes mercury and heads for the "Powerful Scroll of Knowledge" art.

The seed was again with green: Tsabu and Sundax had to stand as shown in Figure 2 – mandatory moment #6!

Gold 2500.

Day 6

Ariy takes the chest, enriching the kingdom by 100 gold and heading toward the gold by the unicorns.

Atlas attacks Green's castle, where Trojan is stationed in the garrison - the 1st hero out of 9!

Atlas: 25 nomads.
Trojan: 17 fairies, 4 dwarves, 5 wolves, 11 orcs, 6 goblins.
Turn 1:
Nomads move to the 2nd column from the bottom. Fairies, archers, and orcs attack, taking 3 nomads.
Turn 2:
Kill fairies. Archers and orcs kill another 2 nomads.
Turn 3:
The wall is breached, we kill wolves; remaining moves are automatic.
Remainder: 12 nomads.

Rasmont on the central swamp takes 2 piles of gold, 500 each.
Kelzen (PAPA) recruits 10 riders. And moving via keyboard, he attacks Ergon, the 2nd hero out of 9. Having earned 581 Exp from Ergon, Papa recruits 21 brigands, after which he attacks dwarves, increasing his IQ by another 460 Exp. Not stopping there, he attacks nomads blocking the path to the northern swamps +400 Exp (+1 Attack). Ignoring 7 mercury, he sleeps near an inconspicuous bush by the sulfur mine.

We don't touch Yog for now; we leave him for last and will observe the AI's behavior depending on how we move Yog.

In Green's castle, we hire Sandro (with Falagar under him).

Taking all the army from Atlas, leaving him only 3 nomads (though 4 or 5 should have been left), Sandro leaves in the castle garrison 4 nomads, 3 gargoyles and 10 centaurs, keeping only 5 nomads for himself!

And HERE COMES THE MOST IMPORTANT MOMENT IN THE GAME - 7!
Sandro attacks green Tsabu with 5 nomads!... and.... pays them off, spending exactly 500 gold!!!

The remaining 2500 gold is just enough to buy Falagar (who follows him no longer matters).

Falagar takes 3 gargoyles and 4 nomads from the garrison, leaving 10 centaurs in the castle garrison. Thus, there are 20 centaurs in the garrison.

Falagar takes 2 chests already on enemy territory (taking 1 chest exclusively via keyboard) 2000+2000 gold (see figure 2).

After experiments with Yog, the preferred option turned out to be passing through the swamp, although as it later turned out, this didn't matter at all...

Thus, Yog sleeps 7 steps in a straight line from Yellow's castle.

Turn transition:

Green: Here two developments are possible and both are positive.

1) Sundax attacks his own, now our castle Sundkaser!
Using centaurs and the castle archers, we easily shoot down all his army.
Tsabu meanwhile either attacks Atlas (where he also suffers defeat) or goes for art and a chest, but still ends up within reach! Option 1 occurred; thus, the 3rd hero out of 9 was killed!

2) Sundax attacks his own, now our castle Sundkaser! Breaking the wall, he kills more than 3 centaurs, but still loses the battle.
Tsabu then with 100% probability attacks the castle and dies in 2 turns.

Red: Antoniy, apparently realizing that PAPA is already close, rushes full speed to his home castle, ignoring gold.
Jojosh runs into the castle, recruits archers as much as possible and wolf cubs, and most likely rides for mercury.
Barok, having taken the "Necklace" art, gets away from me, realizing that he's finished next turn.

Yellow: Crag Huck sweeps up all chests in the south.
Lord Haart takes the "Powerful Scroll of Knowledge" art and a chest and moves very far from the castle, which is not great. All my attempts to force him to go for mercury were futile.
On top of that, the AI buys another hero – Castor, who, taking orcs, wolves and archers, runs northwest for resources and also ends up very far from the castle.

The seed was with yellow: It was interesting which hero the AI bought and where he ran! Characteristically, the AI clearly didn't fear my hero Yog, which wasn't the case when Yog approached the castle with Nomads and swordsmen (in a previous run).

Gold 4000.

Day 7

Gold 6000

Ariy takes the last pile of gold on the swamp +600.

Yog attacks Yellow's castle "Dragon's Fang" (4 ogres in garrison). Without straining, he wipes them out with losses. Total: 9 nomads. The main thing is that during the battle, on the 1st or 2nd turn, the wall must be breached.

Who do we hire in the captured castle? Of course, Sandro, who paid his way off on day 6 with a full move reserve and 5 nomads!

Sandro (specifically Sandro, not Yog) takes 5 nomads from Yog! Now Sandro has 10 nomads! 3 of which he leaves in the castle garrison.

Yog with 4 nomads uses his last step to attack Crag Huck (the 4th hero out of 10!), and easily and effortlessly wipes out his entire army consisting of 25 goblins (by the way, you can win with only 3).

Papa attacks Barok at a right angle (via keyboard) (the 5th hero out of already 10!!!), and as soon as he reaches him, he immediately retreats (buying him is forbidden by rules, of course)...; nevertheless, 50 Exp for 10 centaurs are still given.

Next, also at a right angle (via Keyboard 2), we attack Jojosh (6th hero out of 10), wiping him out in auto-battle, losing 11 thieves and gaining 769 Exp. The remaining moves are just enough to attack the castle! Its defense also falls in auto-battle, +720 Exp (Attack +1). Losses no longer matter.

In the captured red castle, we buy a Warlock hero – Visper.
Visper in auto-battle hits the last red one – Antoniy (7th hero out of 10) and takes from him the coveted art adding a full 5 units to knowledge (Great Scroll of Knowledge)! He successfully passes it to the main hero Kelzen, whose sum of primary characteristics reaches 15 (6+2+1+6), and hero level is 6!

Sandro, leaving 3 nomads in the castle, attacks Castor with 7 and using spells "Bless", "Protection" and "Curse" sends the latter into oblivion (8th hero out of 10).

In the "Dragon's Fang" castle, Georgios is hired, who with 3 nomads and 19 goblins easily takes down the last yellow Lord Haart (9th hero out of 10). Attacks through trees, via keyboard!
Atlas finishes off the last enemy green hero Tsabu (10 out of 10, the last enemy hero).

Victory occurs on day 7, skills 15, mercury 5.

Gold 1100

Respectfully, VDV_forever

Next time, I need to be stricter with myself and at least theoretically consider the most unrealistic plans! ...It's a shame that I didn't even try to complete it in 7 turns. I'm uploading my save files... but they might only be useful in the "hero leveling" and "mercury gathering" sections, which is becoming relevant in the current competitive environment. The description will be added later... Sincerely, Prorock.

to Prorock: And most importantly, there's a place to showcase your skills ;)
Today, the first stage of the Van Kanighem tournament will begin. :)

Good luck.