Posts from 3rd annual offline tournament "Best of the best"

I’ll briefly tell you how it went.
I’m writing from outside the house, so there might be some minor inaccuracies.

Before the game, I made a list of the heroes I would use, so as not to play with the same hero twice.

Day 1
Izra and Vedomina produce approximately 400 liches.
I take a treasure chest and kill Pasis.
With the help of Pasis, I capture the Necropolis with the Grail, and using the same principle with the killed heroes, I capture another 25 castles.

Day 2
I dig up the Grail and take it to the Bird Farm, where the guild is built to level 5 over the next 3 days.
I start developing the Necromancers with large armies.
I collected the 2nd set of Necromancer artifacts.

Day 3
2 Mariners caught 3000 fish (zombies).

Day 4
I remember vaguely, it seems like nothing special happened.
On average, the daily increase in zombies was about 12,000 (they were mined by 13 heroes).

Day 5
Level 5 was built, and almost all heroes learned to cast spells, jump, and fly.
Another 4000 zombies were caught in the sea.

Day 6
The map is empty, we start to get cocky, we don’t attack small enemies, we look for something bigger.

Day 7
I played almost online, there were no normal armies, I flew wherever I wanted.

If you need daily saves, I’ll send them a little later.

My mistakes

I messed up with the red computer, left one alive (-300 zombies).
I put a slow assistant in the sea, as a result, about 7 ships remained (-300 zombies).
Since I played days 3-7 in one go (about 20 hours), I didn’t explore the map thoroughly enough (-1000).

P.S. If I hadn’t figured out how to use the digging tool (95%), I would have abandoned the map in the first 2 days.
In general, a checkpoint should have been made after 3 days for this map and this task.

Could you please explain how you raise zombies? For example, I killed a red companion and received 150 of them, not 300. What's the trick here?

I want to say right away that if my result remains the best, it will be only by a lucky coincidence. I certainly assumed there would be mistakes, but for this to happen... In the Walkthrough, I completely ignored obelisks and the very concept of the "Grail." And if Dirty had set 90% or say 80% toward Wizardry from the start instead of 100%, my result would have been among the last.
Regarding the description. I will post what I manage to today.
I believe describing the Walkthrough statistically, given the size and density of the map (and consequently the number of steps), is pointless. I'll describe it instead in a way that is as useful and clear as possible. That is, for each day, I will first provide a strategic plan and then detail the tactical actions to execute it.
I apologize in advance to the experienced players, but we have to introduce and train the same newcomers somehow. When only a few people reach the finish line while others quit—that's not a good thing.
So:

Day 1.
Strategy.
Pre-game reconnaissance reported that the layout of castles and numerous portals is such that all castles on the map fit the "One-move Tavern" rule. That is, if we treat all castles as potential taverns, while also considering all external taverns, it is theoretically possible to get from any tavern to any other within one game day. Problems with "one-movability" only arose when crossing to the Inferno continent, but that's for "zero" heroes; by that time, we should already have at least a few bought out computer heroes with Logic and Air.
Based on this intelligence, the strategy was obvious. On the very first day, "disable" all computer heroes without letting them kill a single unit of neutrals. Of course, killing all computers using only Necromancer heroes was unrealistic, and there will certainly be zombie losses with such an approach. But I figured these losses would be much lower than if any of the computers were left alive.
The strategic plan for the first day also included a second task: freeing all 4 prisoners from jail (ideally). Or at least several of them.
And finally, once more on the importance of reconnaissance. Before the game, I had a sheet with a full list of computer heroes, including their skill layouts. Also, after testing, I had a full list of all Necromancer heroes with a pre-determined and selected upgrade tree. Priorities: Air, Earth, Logic, Path, Intelligence.

Tactics.
Tactical freedom on the first day was greatly limited by the condition "With minimum number of battles and zombie losses." After all, I had to fight mainly not as necromancers. But at the start, you can't do without it entirely. But where is that golden minimum? At first, I chose the option to take only 47 liches with Vidomina and gave up on capturing the Grail Necromancer castle right at the start. All out of greed. :) However, upon reaching the fight with fairies near the prison with Nagash, I realized that in this battle alone I would lose a lot without the 20% bonus from the Grail necro-castle. I had to return to the very beginning.
At the start, I solved 2 tactical tasks: taking Worm Warren and getting the +12 helmet. The very first moves are always very important; I'll describe them in more detail.
Straker takes a 2K chest in front of him and that's it. His MP is especially worth its weight in gold. We pick up the rest of the "cabbage" at the market. After gathering 2500, we buy Tamika in Coldreign. She isn't for battles yet; she collects everything in her path except for the chest on the road with 1000 experience (for Vidomina) and a pile of stones near the ghosts by the shipyard (we fire her). We put whoever is available in the window; I got Ash.
We buy Ash (Ksi). Ash collects everything she can at Sanctum (we fire her). But Ksi is needed to fly for the helmet, so only a necro-mage with 20 mana had to be placed in the window. While Ksi lingers in the window, we buy Vidomina (Moner). Vidomina is clearly for liches, while Moner prepares for the trip to the Grail castle.
Vidomina takes the experience chest (expert Necromancer), Straker dives into the portal and Vidomina takes artifacts and 66 zombies from him. Then Vidomina fights troglodytes on the road (24 liches), gets the Mana Talisman, and goes back to the portal. Before the fight, of course, we build enhancers in both castles.
Important! The fight with troglodytes gives exactly 1K experience, and Vidomina can already take basic Air.
We buy Moner (Aenanin). This guy with the ugly last name is a very important character; later he will play a star role with his basic Air and 30 mana.
Before jumping into the portal, Vidomina drops the now-unnecessary 66 zombies to Moner. We emerge at the medusa's place. DD now costs 20, so immediately DD to the flag; we stand between goblins and nomads. Then we attack the flag with a battle, then fight nomads and a battle in the medusa's place. Total: 4 battles with 4 squads, 235 liches. That is the initial minimum that had to be turned into liches for the sake of taking Worm Warren.
Now Moner with his 1900 MP. He leaves zombies in the castle, enters the portal, takes the liches and fights hippopotamuses. Battle without losses (single units don't count); terrain folds were very useful. :) Some skeleton singles blocked the liches themselves, and some blocked a narrow 3-cell passage for those wanting to enter from the flank. Setup: 235l – 10s-1s-1s-1s-1s-1s.
We buy Ksi (any mage-20) in Coldreign. We buy this "any" in Worm Warren to deliver liches and artifacts back to the waiting Ksi. Then Ksi, with Flight, fights for the castle and the +12 helmet is ours. Now we can move to the second part of the debut.
Tactics of starting castle capture.
This is where Straker comes into play with his initial 50 mana. His goal is taking Utopia for money, which will be needed in very large quantities later. Also, taking the first and, by the way, only currently reachable castle—Death’s Gate (plus there's another Magic Enhancer there). Having received liches from Ksi, Straker uses a first DD to fly to the respawn, second DD to the well, third DD to Utopia. By the way, I could have taken the Courage trinket immediately here, but I simply forgot. In Utopia without losses; refueling at the well with the +12 helmet allowed summoning Earth Elementals, and on the first move of the fight, they hit skeleton singles.
After the battle in Utopia—DD to the castle and its capture. So, we have: the first foreign captured castle, a boost of 40K money, and big plans for the future. :smile26:
In Death’s Gate, we buy anyone, refuel at the well, DD over the mountains and Ceald is also ours. Pasis, standing in the gates, looks around nervously, seeing this bustle behind his back and sensing something bad. And our next goal—the coveted 5 adult Dragons behind Wazzar castle. From Ceald it seems far, but we have Aenanin. :smile13:
We buy him in Ceald and go straight to visit Pasis. He actually flees on the second move, but for 5 killed birds, you get the necessary level 2. No losses; birds hit a single unit standing next to liches. We raise Aenanin's Air to advanced. Now DD to the well by the road. We sweep away the hobbits there; after the well, we take another nearby experience chest—and thus level 3 is ours. With expert Air, it's now possible to jump to Wazzar. On the way, we also visit a stable.
So, Wazzar and 5 dragons are ours. Where to move next? The overall goal was, while capturing castles, to advance toward Nagash, visiting the tent there (to free Silva and Rion). Later, however, it turned out you could do without the tent, but for now I decide to move toward the swamp castle, to visit Tazar. On this path, the next necessary castle is Snow, at 59-82. But breaking through there proved harder than I thought. I chose Serena. The plan was DD to the portal (125-46), fight hippos, then fight Primal dragons on the other side of the portal, get basic Path and capture Snow. (Saving even 1 single unit after the dragon fight to carry neutral own dragons didn't work). In reality, it turned out that basic Path doesn't save you; Serena still lacks 1 movement cell. I had to spend on another mage hero. He took the hat, activated Flight, gave the hat back to Serena, and flew to the portal after her. A gremlin single was stationed there at the portal. Serena, after the fight with dragons, returned to the other side of the portal, took the single unit and went to Snow with it.
In Snow, we buy a mage-30. For me, that was Halon. No fuss for him. DD to Rock (50-68) and capture. From here, Tazar is within arm's reach. We take another mage-30 (Gelare), DD across the sea to the path and along it to Tazar. After taking down Tazar, we immediately put him in the tavern window. In general, there was a lot of work at this swamp respawn. As many as 6 heroes were bought. I cleared the respawn with Vokial (including event), visited the lighthouse, and pulled Silva out of prison (thanks to Tazar). Right here, by the way, it turned out that the tent is not mandatory for freeing Silva (and Rion). If you correctly direct the flight trajectory at the quest post itself, the battle automatically activates in flight, and after the fight, the hero will already be behind the quest post, right in front of the prison. And most importantly, I sent Sandro into the portal to Nagash. For the fight with fairies, 10 fairy Dragons from Silva were added to the 5 old dragons.

I'll continue tomorrow.

I've put together my second Necromancer build.

Where can I find out more about this?
I've searched everywhere, both in markets and elsewhere, but I can't find the necklace... I've seen the cloak and boots, but no necklace... Did you find it in the ships?

Pre-game reconnaissance revealed that the location of the Castles, as well as numerous portals, is such that all Castles on the map fit within the "one-turn tavern" rule. That is, if we consider all Castles as potential taverns, taking into account all external taverns, then theoretically it is possible to get from any tavern to any other within one game day. Problems with "one-turn travel" only arose when moving to the Inferno continent, but this is for "level zero" heroes, and by that time we should already have at least a few redeemed companion heroes, with Logic and Air skills.
Based on this reconnaissance data, the strategy suggested itself. On the very first day, "disable" all companion heroes, without letting them kill a single unit of neutral creatures. Of course, killing all companions only with Necromancer heroes was unrealistic, and the losses in zombies with this approach would certainly be significant. But I decided that such losses would be much lower than if I left any of the companions alive.
In strategic terms, on the first day, there was also a second task: to free all 4 prisoners from the dungeon (ideally). Or at least a few.

In my case, this was spread out over 1-2 (and the rest on the 3rd) days. On the first day, I only took the Castle with the Grail, the helmet, and the Stalker was standing in front of the fairies - which he couldn't reach in one step.
On the second day, Tazar was killed, Sylvia was freed, Pandora was taken by Monera (with Sylvia's army), and 3/4 of the Castles were captured (with the exception of the lower right continent and the snowy area).
I defeated the creatures guarding the Castle with 128 liches and 59 skeletons (they accidentally ended up in the army ^_^, only level 1 units were needed there). I used Luna to do this.
I defeated the fairies with an army of 120 liches and 197 zombies (losses were around 20 liches).
Pandora was defeated by Monera with 9 skeleton warriors, 9 mages, and 91 liches. Losses varied depending on the tactics, but ideally, I managed to save about 5 dragons and 60 liches.

where can I find out???
I searched all over, even at the markets, but I couldn't find the necklace... I saw the cloak and the boots.. but no necklace(((.. did you find it on the ships??

What's that saying of yours - "he who has eyes, let him see"?:)
You yourself placed a bunch of drowners in the water. Well, one of them has it in his pocket...

El, well done!!! Will you be playing in co-op? You wanted a small map, right? :smile08:

How is it with you - "he who has eyes, let him see"?
You yourself placed a bunch of drowned corpses in the water. And one of them had in his pocket...

honestly speaking... I didn't even scout the water—since I didn't even think about going down there...)) and I completely forgot about yet another source of artifacts when scouting(((especially since I'm a noob at Heroes.. I can be forgiven for that =D

I'm in shock, you had to go to such lengths! I'm glad I didn't take on the map. I definitely wouldn't have scored over a thousand points. First, I read Perepolken's post and was stunned. Then, when Vbn wrote that they completed it in 4 days, I was even more impressed. I don't even belong here.

Okay, I more or less understood how you managed to capture castles on level 111... But how did you manage to gather 80,000, when after completely clearing the map, I only got 20,000+ :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: ? Did you pull them out of thin air :D? I also found the Dungeon and the hero in the prison with a bunch of zombies :). Or am I missing something about the bonuses from the Grail and Izra with Vidomina :confused:? Because at least one of them couldn't raise zombies anymore - after the liches! You're all cheaters, that's what it is :smile29: !:p :)

Well, I'll write too, even though my result is inferior to the other two.

I re-read Eldegernon's description. My general approach was the same with minor differences. So I'll keep it much shorter.

Regarding the overall strategy: after a quick glance at the map, I noted 2 things: 1st — all castles can be captured in one day. 2nd — the map is basically fully clearable. But I didn't take risks right away, and only on the 5th-6th day did I dive into all the live meat, though some ships at sea remained untouched. I missed a brilliant move, though I was apparently very close to it.:) Otherwise, the number of creatures could have been increased at least twofold.

Day 1. My actions differ slightly from Ela's. So, Stracker takes two chests. After that, he remains idle for a long time. Tamika and Vidomina enter the scene. By manipulating the chest pickups, we ensure Vidomina retrieves the Helm, getting about 190 Liches in her army. Then, with a scout hero, I collect gold piles, dig up Grindan, and use him to kill a crowd of monsters, having previously leveled him to Expert Slow. I capture the castle with the Grail. OK. Then I return the army to Stracker, he uses Dimension Door to the island with the Dragon Utopia, takes the last remaining Necromancer castle, and breaks through using the redeemed Ghost Dragon and Liches against the Titans for the Pandora's Box. We open the Pandora's Box with Lacus, who gets the Necromancy skill and 10 Crystals. The Dragon Utopia is taken. (I don't remember the exact order, maybe I took the Utopia first and then opened the box).
After that, it got easier — using Dimension Door, with mage heroes having 25-30 mana, we capture castles, buying Necromancers along the way to break through large stacks. When I need to cover a long distance, I use killed enemy heroes. And acting this way, we kill all enemies except one. Along the way, I also freed all quest heroes except Rion, and stood Tant on the Grail to dig it up immediately.
I didn't see any hidden teleports or artifacts (only found one on day 116), so I went with a brute-force approach. Dimension Door, Flight, Town Portal, and when it was far to go, I bought back killed enemy heroes.
Galtran boarded a boat on the Inferno island.
I found a 2nd Cloak of the Undead King, but after thinking it over, I decided not to assemble it, as I saw no need for it.
Day 2: First, I stuck the Grail in a Necromancer castle, but immediately realized it gives no bonus. Annoyed, I place the Grail in the Conflux. Now all Necro heroes go through the Grail castle if needed, and visit stables. On the first day, I naturally built black magic amplifiers everywhere.
I develop heroes so that Logistics, Air, and Earth are leveled first. Besides Necromancers, Lacus and Nagash — who got Necromancy at level 5 — are involved in raising skeletons.
Day 3 and all the rest — clearing the territory, completing quests. To transfer troops, I use Rion, Dessa, Labetha, Grindan — they have Earth and Air.
In the first 3 days, I had severe money problems, despite taking the Dragon Utopias right away. After that, everything became fine.
On days 5, 6, and 7, I also engage in sea gameplay.
On day 4, I discover that the enemy has Vidomina. And on day 6, Xsi also appeared in his tavern, which upset me greatly. :D :D I miss the trick with Necromancers that could have given not just one extra dozen thousand Zombies.

Found the 2nd Cloak of the Undead King, but after thinking it over, decided not to assemble it, as I saw no need for it.

well, here you got a bit carried away)) an extra Cloak of the Undead King, in a tournament for gathering undead — I think it's never superfluous)))

At first I stuck the Grail into the Necropolis castle, but immediately realized it doesn't provide any bonus

eh.. while playing the blitz, I also found out for the first time that you still can't restore more than 100% )) eh.. but I wish I could =D

I missed a brilliant move, even though I was seemingly very close to it.:) Then the number of creatures could have been increased by at least 2 times.
I'm overlooking a trick with the Necromancer that could have given not just one extra dozen thousand zombies.

It would be interesting to know exactly which trick you mean. And when did you discover it? After sending the save?

Continuation.
In my opinion, the scheme for capturing castles on the very first day has already been discussed enough. Further, I will only focus on the key moments of the first day.
After freeing Nagash, the priority castles to capture were Electrising and the elven one (141-2) in the very top right corner.
Electrising was needed because of the Raper's "white mushroom" in the form of 55 joining elementals (money was chronically short, sold them in the mercenary guild). Besides, this castle provided access to 141-2. After capturing the corner castle, Nagash was immediately delivered there and took a position by the path. From that moment on, all necessary heroes were bought in 141-2. They were all first sent through Nagash's lecture, then through the stable. Then, those who could, cast Portal, the rest were grounded against the harpies and bought back wherever needed.
I was stuck for a couple of days solving the puzzle of reaching the Inferno respawn. In front of the portal leading there stood 400 storms. Too big a chunk to take down with a non-necro hero. Teaching necromancy to a computer hero (via a pandora) also pinched — such a hero would almost immediately get advanced necromancy and then become useless. In the end, I found Inteus, who received not only necromancy from the pandora but also Air-2. Then he portaled to the elven one (40-1), along the way expertised Air, hopped to the flag near the portal, farmed speed on neutrals (including those 400 storms), and that was enough to capture Fire.
It turned out comically with the island where the prison is. Initially, I left Sandro there, who was fighting for the prison. According to the plan, Sandro, after getting the 2nd Cloak of the Undead King on the second day, was supposed to clear it all solo in 3-4 days. Then I realized that Sandro was getting both Earth and Air in his skills, and he would be more useful hopping across continents. I dismissed Sandro at the end of the first day and brought Vokial to the same position by the end of the second day, for whom Air was not in the cards. And at the start of the third day, I disbanded Vokial from there too:), completely abandoning the second Cloak of the Undead King. Vokial didn't manage to clear it all there by the 4th day, he did it differently.
Well, and with the red computer, I also had problems, like some others.
I fell for it — Adrien standing there nicely behind a column, and I decided to leave her alive, not capturing that last castle. The plan was to later remove the column, after first clearing that entire respawn, wait for Adrien to come out of the castle, and kill her for the quest. But Dirty outplayed me here.:) Only when it was too late to roll back and replay did I find out that in the editor settings, Adrien has the command "Stand still." Thank goodness a solution later appeared on how to kill Adrien without winning and ending the game.
I put only the specialist Woy on the water, near the grail castle 21-34, to take a pile in the water worth 100K.

Day Two.
Simple strategy. Level up the skills of all the main necro-cutters who can get Air. There were 7 such people. This task perfectly combined with the second — to resolve all the problematic battles requiring a large army for the fight during the day. Since at the end of the second day, 40 Black Dragons were planned to be sold in the guild for money, leaving the bare minimum for further battles.
On this day, I put two necros with navigation on the water for 2 fights with the fish.
Woy, on this day, after collecting the gold, crashed on the "ship," removed the column by Adrien, and got back into the water, but now at point 27-143. For a cruise to another "white mushroom" — 10 Black Dragons behind the volcano.
As waiters for the necro-cutters, I used similarly — Rion, Dessa, Labetha, and I also ran Malcolm around.

Day 3, 4.
Strategy — final global cleanup.
Tactics monotonous, tedious, but extremely effective. Speed farming at the oasis in Dunwal. For ordinary heroes without Air, it made no sense — they went into negative MP, but for heroes with expert Air, each lap at the oasis (castle-oasis-thieves) gave at least 150 MP. Accordingly, my best necro-cutter Tant, after 100 speed farms, had +15K MP. And there were seven necro air specialists in total. Plus Inteus too. I also speed-farmed him, but he only handled the small fry — his experience was already pre-critical; at level 20 he would get advance-necro anyway.
There was doubt whether there would be enough money to clean up only this way. So, along the way, I hedged my bets and also cleared with the other loh-necros within range of the castles.
As a result, 21 Crystal Dragons and about 100K gold remained.
On the last, 4th day, two more necros conducted 2 battles with the remaining 2 stacks in the water. The fight with 4K fish was done only with zombies — I sent a hero with Tactics and Air (for mass haste).
Ships were also not all taken. There are 9 of them in total, I think; I took about 4.

El, well done!!! Will you play in a co-op game? You wanted a small map

Thank you!!!:)
I confess — you really upset me when you announced your "Air Magic."
I, like vbn, don't like large maps. But I still got involved, got bogged down in it, and completely exhausted myself. And then you announce the map of my dreams...:smile05:

A trick with Necromancers — Vitaliy told me about it after sending the save. I saw Vidomina at the computer myself. I thought for a long time about whether I could somehow create skeletons for her, but gave up on that idea. And here's the mega-super trick — Necromancers restore skeletons from a clone. We attack her with, say, 30 zombies, making sure she doesn't immediately flee. We clone them a few times. She restores the skeletons. Then we buy peace, give her the elixir. And then we waste her in the "restroom." You could also give her a second Cloak of the Undead King, but you'd have to bother with liches afterwards.

Well, my question — how did you deal with the Oasis like that?

P.S. I got to the Inferno town on the island on the first day, through the lower Tower. With Malcolm, I think. Fly, then teleport to the fairy dwelling, then Dimension Door further, and we take the castle and still have a normal amount of movement left. Also, you probably could have gotten there through the system of hidden teleports.

Thank you!!! :)
I must admit, you really disappointed me when you announced your "Air Magic."
Like vbn, I don't like large maps. But I still got involved, got bogged down in it, and completely exhausted myself. And then you announce a map of my dreams... :smile05:

Come on... The deadline is March 16th. I think there's more than enough time! I personally completed it in two evenings. So, let's wait and see! ;)

El-molochga! You made me in an oasis; I completely forgot about that. My walkthrough is similar to El's. There are a few differences: I took the Necropolis with Pasis and 4 skeletons, used the Flight spell, collected gold and artifacts, and tricked the monsters into attacking the castle. I reached the far continent using the Demigriff of Air.