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I've long wanted to run a tournament on my favorite fixed template. Initially, I planned it as 2v2. But as experience has shown, it's difficult for 4 players to find a common time to play over the internet.
Games will be played on the good old map Divided Loyalty. It will differ little from the base version; I'll describe the differences below. The main feature of the tournament is GAME WITHOUT RULES. Want diplomacy? — take it and level it. Want redraw? — no problem... Necromancer's kit, Sir Mullich, Phoenix upgrade, etc.
Castles will be random. Colors will alternate so you don't play the same color all the time. Game on 100% difficulty. Restart only once on the first day. No restart on player encounter.
Of course, there will be talk about imbalance — one player gets a good hero, a stronger castle, better artifacts... This is precisely where I see a positive aspect: this map has a layout such that even with bad draws you can fight; you just need to find your advantages, which will definitely be there, and capitalize on them — a survival course in extreme conditions :).
About the map:
With Dungeon red and blue are at the bottom; orange and green are at the top.
In the center, at the top and bottom, there is a level 4 artifact guarded by 5 to 19 tier 6 monsters. From each starting position, it takes 3-5 days to reach each of these artifacts. The same number of travel days separates each position from each other.
Now about the features and drawbacks of each position:
Red:
Starts first. Below the castle is a stable. The shortest path to the top artifact is 4 days of movement (1560 MP per turn) with a visit to the stable and moving through swamp with swamp troops; you can reach the bottom one by the start of day 5 (again with 1560 MP). With a good draw, the top artifact is easily taken on days 115-116; once I even managed to grab it on day 113 — but that was a very lucky run — had Kyrre with Boots and Gloves and a good starting army. The main downside is you don't know which is better, top or bottom; you have to choose, or go for an alternative — straight to visiting dwellings while your opponent heads to the center... Another downside: you must absolutely kill the Wiverns guarding their own dwellings if you go for the top artifact. To the right of the town there will be 8 of them; at the bottom, a random number. It's not always convenient to capture a secondary town.
Blue:
The road to the artifacts is slightly longer, which could be a deciding factor, but Blue's feature is the Cartographer. With weak guard and at least one Elementalist hero (thanks to Fairy speed), it's realistic to see the entire top and center bottom by day 2!!! Respawn is financially good too. Just below the Cartographer are 3 Orc dwellings. Near the exit to the center is a Hive, a Wivern dwelling, and a Griffin Conservatory (but there's a high chance the Conservatory will go to Orange).
Common for the surface half of the map: forts on the hill on both sides of the swamp. A pile of gold at 68/62 is not free — you'll have to beat Ogres.
Green:
Green and Orange had to be swapped.
On day 1, a free lookout — from here you can build your game strategy: if there's a good artifact in the center, go for it; if not, do other things. Archmagi on the path to the center can be a headache, but behind them are 3 external Gnome dwellings — excellent for growth or as cover when breaking through the artifact's guard. There are 2 traps: a gold pile at 20/33 and an event at 0/62.
You can use the roadside market just below the capital from day 1. Villages are conveniently located — you could have 2 of them as early as day 113. Overall, the position isn't the strongest, but you can't call it bad either.
Orange:
About a hundred free Troglodytes (always connected) slightly above and to the left of the castle as early as day 2 — some strength. And if you also get Shakti in the tavern...
The shortest path to the bottom artifact is 3 days (but you need to be able to do it), to the top one is 4 days if using swamp troops. Below the town is an underground Cartographer — not as strong a bonus as Blue's, but you can see your opponent's movement, which is also good. However, you don't always have enough pace to capture it. With a good draw (and skill, of course), you can grab both artifacts before others, around days 4-5. But if the passage to the Troglodytes is covered by 20-49 Grand Elves, Storms, or Magmas — things get tough. And the same problem as Red: you can run to the artifact and find Boots of Levitation, Sphere of Permanence, and so on. Another drawback is financial. There aren't many free chests, and guarded ones are either inconveniently placed or hard to break through. (This is IMHO).
I tried to make minimal changes to the map. Compared to the factory version, I swapped Green and Orange, placed a guard on the Wivern dwelling at 36/47, fixed the Wiverns at point 45/11 (they are always 8 now), and added 2 sacrificial altars above and below ground.
About castles and heroes: (this is all IMHO)
Mages rule! Diplomats are also an excellent choice. Among warriors, Barbarians are strong, especially Gurni (with a Ballista, of course :)). And of course, Logistics specialists.
For the top starting position, I'd rank Swamp first, provided you get a decent hero, not a warrior-swamper (Tazar and the like are among the weakest heroes here). Moves in the center can decide the outcome of the game. Also, Wivern dwellings and the Hive only strengthen the castle.
In the Dungeon, Swamp is also not the worst option if you need to break through to the surface.
I'd put Conflux second, except for Orange, where Dungeon is the undisputed favorite. If the game lasts longer than a week, Conflux becomes the favorite.
Barbarian is good if you start with at least a few Orcs and can quickly build a Bear. 3rd place.
On the surface, Castle and Rampart are decent thanks to their shooters, but Castle may lack cover for everything, and Rampart needs to either reach the fort on the hill or spend a day upgrading Elves at home. In the Dungeon, these castles aren't the best choice.
Weaker at the start will be Dungeon and Tower. Dungeon loses troops quickly; Tower is held back by high costs. But if Deemer or Solmyr is in the tavern, the situation changes. In a prolonged game, Titans and Black Dragons naturally boost these castles up.
At the bottom of the pack are Inferno and Necromancer. While Inferno can potentially get off to a decent start with good starting troops, Necromancer can only be saved by Gosh, Tant (or better yet, both :)), or an opponent who lets them develop. The lowest starting speed and only 3 Liches at best on day 3 make it the least desirable. Vampire Lords on day 2 are often irrelevant.
The map is fast; most games ended between day 116 and 131, but there were times when Dess was catching me for 4 weeks :).
Many artifacts, so combo artifacts are not uncommon.
I'm waiting for applications to participate. I don't expect a large crowd; even if 6 people sign up, we'll play. The schedule will be announced before the tournament starts. Start is tentatively on the first day of spring :).
The winner will receive a modest prize; I won't say what to avoid arguments — there's enough of that on Jebus Cross :).
Made technical changes to the map at 20-35 Kyiv time — for anyone who downloaded it, please re-download.
P.S. I ask tournament participants not to bother me with messages in ICQ like: "I don't want to play with this guy."
Games will be played on the good old map Divided Loyalty. It will differ little from the base version; I'll describe the differences below. The main feature of the tournament is GAME WITHOUT RULES. Want diplomacy? — take it and level it. Want redraw? — no problem... Necromancer's kit, Sir Mullich, Phoenix upgrade, etc.
Castles will be random. Colors will alternate so you don't play the same color all the time. Game on 100% difficulty. Restart only once on the first day. No restart on player encounter.
Of course, there will be talk about imbalance — one player gets a good hero, a stronger castle, better artifacts... This is precisely where I see a positive aspect: this map has a layout such that even with bad draws you can fight; you just need to find your advantages, which will definitely be there, and capitalize on them — a survival course in extreme conditions :).
About the map:
With Dungeon red and blue are at the bottom; orange and green are at the top.
In the center, at the top and bottom, there is a level 4 artifact guarded by 5 to 19 tier 6 monsters. From each starting position, it takes 3-5 days to reach each of these artifacts. The same number of travel days separates each position from each other.
Now about the features and drawbacks of each position:
Red:
Starts first. Below the castle is a stable. The shortest path to the top artifact is 4 days of movement (1560 MP per turn) with a visit to the stable and moving through swamp with swamp troops; you can reach the bottom one by the start of day 5 (again with 1560 MP). With a good draw, the top artifact is easily taken on days 115-116; once I even managed to grab it on day 113 — but that was a very lucky run — had Kyrre with Boots and Gloves and a good starting army. The main downside is you don't know which is better, top or bottom; you have to choose, or go for an alternative — straight to visiting dwellings while your opponent heads to the center... Another downside: you must absolutely kill the Wiverns guarding their own dwellings if you go for the top artifact. To the right of the town there will be 8 of them; at the bottom, a random number. It's not always convenient to capture a secondary town.
Blue:
The road to the artifacts is slightly longer, which could be a deciding factor, but Blue's feature is the Cartographer. With weak guard and at least one Elementalist hero (thanks to Fairy speed), it's realistic to see the entire top and center bottom by day 2!!! Respawn is financially good too. Just below the Cartographer are 3 Orc dwellings. Near the exit to the center is a Hive, a Wivern dwelling, and a Griffin Conservatory (but there's a high chance the Conservatory will go to Orange).
Common for the surface half of the map: forts on the hill on both sides of the swamp. A pile of gold at 68/62 is not free — you'll have to beat Ogres.
Green:
Green and Orange had to be swapped.
On day 1, a free lookout — from here you can build your game strategy: if there's a good artifact in the center, go for it; if not, do other things. Archmagi on the path to the center can be a headache, but behind them are 3 external Gnome dwellings — excellent for growth or as cover when breaking through the artifact's guard. There are 2 traps: a gold pile at 20/33 and an event at 0/62.
You can use the roadside market just below the capital from day 1. Villages are conveniently located — you could have 2 of them as early as day 113. Overall, the position isn't the strongest, but you can't call it bad either.
Orange:
About a hundred free Troglodytes (always connected) slightly above and to the left of the castle as early as day 2 — some strength. And if you also get Shakti in the tavern...
The shortest path to the bottom artifact is 3 days (but you need to be able to do it), to the top one is 4 days if using swamp troops. Below the town is an underground Cartographer — not as strong a bonus as Blue's, but you can see your opponent's movement, which is also good. However, you don't always have enough pace to capture it. With a good draw (and skill, of course), you can grab both artifacts before others, around days 4-5. But if the passage to the Troglodytes is covered by 20-49 Grand Elves, Storms, or Magmas — things get tough. And the same problem as Red: you can run to the artifact and find Boots of Levitation, Sphere of Permanence, and so on. Another drawback is financial. There aren't many free chests, and guarded ones are either inconveniently placed or hard to break through. (This is IMHO).
I tried to make minimal changes to the map. Compared to the factory version, I swapped Green and Orange, placed a guard on the Wivern dwelling at 36/47, fixed the Wiverns at point 45/11 (they are always 8 now), and added 2 sacrificial altars above and below ground.
About castles and heroes: (this is all IMHO)
Mages rule! Diplomats are also an excellent choice. Among warriors, Barbarians are strong, especially Gurni (with a Ballista, of course :)). And of course, Logistics specialists.
For the top starting position, I'd rank Swamp first, provided you get a decent hero, not a warrior-swamper (Tazar and the like are among the weakest heroes here). Moves in the center can decide the outcome of the game. Also, Wivern dwellings and the Hive only strengthen the castle.
In the Dungeon, Swamp is also not the worst option if you need to break through to the surface.
I'd put Conflux second, except for Orange, where Dungeon is the undisputed favorite. If the game lasts longer than a week, Conflux becomes the favorite.
Barbarian is good if you start with at least a few Orcs and can quickly build a Bear. 3rd place.
On the surface, Castle and Rampart are decent thanks to their shooters, but Castle may lack cover for everything, and Rampart needs to either reach the fort on the hill or spend a day upgrading Elves at home. In the Dungeon, these castles aren't the best choice.
Weaker at the start will be Dungeon and Tower. Dungeon loses troops quickly; Tower is held back by high costs. But if Deemer or Solmyr is in the tavern, the situation changes. In a prolonged game, Titans and Black Dragons naturally boost these castles up.
At the bottom of the pack are Inferno and Necromancer. While Inferno can potentially get off to a decent start with good starting troops, Necromancer can only be saved by Gosh, Tant (or better yet, both :)), or an opponent who lets them develop. The lowest starting speed and only 3 Liches at best on day 3 make it the least desirable. Vampire Lords on day 2 are often irrelevant.
The map is fast; most games ended between day 116 and 131, but there were times when Dess was catching me for 4 weeks :).
Many artifacts, so combo artifacts are not uncommon.
I'm waiting for applications to participate. I don't expect a large crowd; even if 6 people sign up, we'll play. The schedule will be announced before the tournament starts. Start is tentatively on the first day of spring :).
The winner will receive a modest prize; I won't say what to avoid arguments — there's enough of that on Jebus Cross :).
Made technical changes to the map at 20-35 Kyiv time — for anyone who downloaded it, please re-download.
P.S. I ask tournament participants not to bother me with messages in ICQ like: "I don't want to play with this guy."
