Posts from The “Farewell, Valya and Shakhter!” tournament (starting hero is chosen randomly). Auto-translated

I will be available to play almost any time in the next four days. I'm sure we'll be able to coordinate during that time. Sorry for the delay.

numOne (red, castle, random, Rion, Tazar) def Kash (blue, Rampart, random, Alagar, Kirry), 2sm4d(3), 147

Tazar-vs-Kirry - that's random for you :)
In a nutshell: I got a decent respawn with hidden caches of griffins and angels, and my own secondary skills, while Viktor didn't have it so smooth. Starting from the third week, I went on the offensive and took the opponent's dungeon-secondary, but Kirry didn't bother returning and hid in the treasure zone; not thinking twice, I headed to my neighboring treasure zone. We each spent about a week eating through resources, and there was plenty to eat (both had 3 Dragon Utopia, boxes, etc.), though I preserved more troops after the maneuvers - 10 angels, etc., but they were of little use in FB; instead, diamond golems saved me: fully equipped, I attack Kirry who is holed up in the dungeon, and get an Armageddon for 2000+ ))), which wiped out everything for both of us except my 24 golems :)

2:0

Thanks for the game!

numOne (red, Castle, random, Rion, Tazar) def Kash (blue, Rampart, random, Alagar, Kyrre), 2sm4d(3), 147

Tazar vs Kyrre - that's random for you :)
In a nutshell: I got a decent respawn with external dwellings of griffins and angels, native secondary skills, while Victor's situation wasn't as smooth. Starting from week three, I went on the offensive, taking the opponent's dungeon secondary town, but Kyrre didn't deign to return and instead hid in a treasure zone. I didn't think long either and went into my neighboring treasure zone. We each spent about a week eating up, and there was plenty to eat (both had 3 Dragon Utopias, boxes, etc.), though I preserved more troops after the maneuvers - 10 angels and so on, but they were of little use in the Firebird fight. What saved me were the diamond golems: I, fully armed, attack Kyrre holed up in the dungeon, and receive an Armageddon for 2000+ ))), everything for both was wiped out except for my 24 golems :)

2:0

Thanks for the game!

That was some fun :)
Twice I got a decent Ivor at the start; on the third try, Kyrre shows up.. I should have taken RE, since there was nothing else good, but for some reason I didn't. Didn't build the Castle at all... The first Griffins were even in the Fort) Then I ran around a bit, took the dungeon via pathfinding, go down to the second basement - see a red flag at the Griffin Conservatory, damn, gotta take it. I take it - level 3, very few troops, but had Mass Slow. Costing all my mana, I barely took it. Then right in the snow treasure zone, Path Finding is offered - I didn't refuse. I find 4 Dragon Utopias there, which I have no way to take. I check the nearby one - small. I swap an angel for Boots of Speed, shake 24 Wyverns from three Dragon Fly Hives, now check the nearby one - it's big, damn.
Meanwhile, Lojpek finds an external dwelling of Nagas near the fourth Dragon Utopia. I run there with the goal of taking it on week 1 day 4 1 - no more growth bonus; on the way, I also find 3 angels with poor luck - great, hope appears. The Dragon Utopia required Wings or, at the very least, a Mana Well)) Level 2, a Chalice, and Plate Armor, well, okay. Week 1 day 4 2 growth arrives, I take another level 2 without mana - more Plate Armor and Arrows. Week 1 day 4 3 another level 2 - КО and some other junk.
Nothing to do - I ran to retake the dungeon, got mana and the Castle.
Kyrrusha with Boots of Speed and stables - just a monster.
No troops left, but she moves - holy crap...
Many small nasty tricks with poor luck, and in the final - a brain freeze: I simply forgot I had Anti-Magic - I already grabbed it on the opponent's respawn, didn't even remember it. I calculated the damage and fired Armageddon, forgetting about those damn golems too =) I thought both would die, and I'd hold the Castle - 3 angels could have decided things. Kyrre couldn't dig up with 35k)

Thanks for the game, too bad I made many mistakes, could have been more fun

So, Hermit's opponent has been determined – it's numOne. You have 2 weeks to play 2-3 games (until Sunday, December 27, 2009, inclusive). Good luck to Kirrey and Tazarov!

Yeah. I guess the finals will be after the New Year. Just letting you know in advance that I'll probably be in Kingisepp from the 3rd to the 7th, and I'll also need a few days to recover after that.

Yeah. I guess the finals will be after the New Year. Just letting you know in advance that I'll probably be in Kingisepp from the 3rd to the 7th, and I'll also need a few days to recover after that.

Of course, I can start the finals as soon as the winner of the last semi-final pair is determined, and that could be a week or more earlier.

numOne (red, barb, random, Jabarkas, Gunnar) def Hermit (blue, tower, random, Astral, Octavia), 2sm4d(3), 134

Roads are fast, both have their native secondary (opponent only took his on the second week though).
Gunnar arrived - him to the folders. Stable on the road, I clear gold from chains, from pickups - only goblins. On the first week I placed 1-6 in the Citadel dwellings and in the secondary 1-5, without 4 in the Fort.
On the second week - I found a +2 shield, took the Medusa horde at 8, Dwarf Cottages at 15 and at 10, upgraded orcs and birds, approached the opponent's secondary (also barb) off-road, upgraded goblins and dogs there.
On 131 I have a decent army. I move to visit on the snow. Took another secondary - a dungeon in the basement, got a +6 shield, finally mass Haste! I didn't have to attack, because Octavia came running herself:
Gunnar (16 7 3 4): expert Archery, Air, Tactics, advanced Defense.
18 Harpies, 65 Orcs, 8 Cyclopes, 102 Hell Hounds, 50 Goblins.
Octavia (7 5 8 4): expert Attack, Earth and basic Tactics.
115 Master Grendel, 24 Magi, 9 Nagas, 1 Giant, 2 Genies, 2 Golems and 30 Grendel.
I set up defensively, I got mass Slow, in return I cast mass Haste and kill all the Magi and Nagas in one round, the Grendel are blocked. Victory!

Thanks for the game.

numOne (red, Barbarian, random, Jabarkas, Gunnar) def Hermit (blue, Tower, random, Astral, Octavia), 2sm4d(3), 134

That's how it was. I even had some money on respawn and bought two dwarven strongholds, level 15-20, but I still couldn't buy everything. Maybe I shouldn't have built that sky temple. Because I still didn't have enough dragon shards to buy giants, and I had to attack with an incomplete army. I hoped that Gunnar didn't have mass haste, or better yet, no haste at all. But that wasn't the case. With mass haste, and with an advantage in combat parameters and army, the opponent kills almost everyone in the first round.

Thank you for the game.

numOne (red, Rampart, random, Alagar, Arlash) def Hermit (blue, Tower, random, Astral, Mephala), balance, 125

I have 4 castles, a lot of money, and good prospects, but Vladimir is losing on the group demons on lava.

Thank you for the game.

2:0

numOne (red, Rampart, random, Alagar, Arlash) def Hermit (blue, Tower, random, Astral, Mephala), balance, 125

I have 4 castles, a lot of money, and good prospects, but Vladimir is losing on group demons on lava.

Thank you for the game.

2:0

That's some pace! Congratulations.

When should we start? On weekdays, I don't get home from work until 8:00 PM, considering the time difference, should we aim for the weekend?

numOne (red, Rampart, random, Alagar, Arlash) def Hermit (blue, Tower, random, Astral, Mephala), balance, 125

I have 4 castles, a lot of money, and good prospects, but Vladimir is losing on group demons on lava.

Thanks for the game.

2:0

That's how it was. Very little money on respawn. Only mages in the Fortress stood on the first level. On the second, I lost to 49 group demons on lava. But even if I hadn't lost, the probability of winning, considering the opponent's pace, would not have been high.

Thanks for the game. And the balance is still the most interesting template.

numOne (red, Castle, random, Rion, Edric) def PReDS (blue, Fortress, random, Broghild, Dragon), panic, 144

Archers didn't come with the heroes, but there was an external dwelling of pikemen along the way, so on the first day, pikemen decided the outcome :). I painted the necro village (nearby external market), external dwelling of archers, houses 1-6, without 5 in the citadel, Edric in the walking dead, already with expert Tactics.
On the second day, I break 2 dwarf dwellings (maximum and pre-minimum), a lot of gold, I upgrade griffins and crusaders, buy everything out, break into the necro village, buy a spell book, nearby Griffin Conservatory - I'm about to take it. I checked the enemy - a triple, I go in. I only had mana for 2 Slow spells, so they roughed me up a bit (minus crusaders, 15 Marksmen, and cavalry), but got 3 Angels and a Castle-Rampart castle with an external dragon dwelling and 2 clue scrolls glows nearby - I head there. I broke through 80 Air Elementals and 30 Psychic Elementals, managed to paint the external dwellings of dragons and unicorns by day 127.
On the third day, I rebuild the Rampart, paint 2 more villages, break hives (4+4+6), another maximum dwarf dwelling, buy a Cuirass +2 and Shield +6 from the Black Market, scout with the View - the enemy is very close - behind an unbreakable guard. On day 137, I break through with all my army, capture the barbarian village, kill the enemy. Dragon appeared with 1 Fly on my secondary hero on swamp terrain, ran around a bit and broke back home. I have expert Air Scouting - the enemy's movement is like on slow.
On day 141, I buy 4 dragons, unicorns, Marksmen, and cavalry, move toward the blue capital. We traded a few heroes, I already have 8 castles against the enemy's 2. Dragon attacks:
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Thanks to Mass Haste and Ice Arrow on day 170, I managed to easily win, preserving more than half of the army.

Thanks for the game!

numOne (red, Castle, random, Rion, Edric) def PReDS (blue, Fortress, random, Broghild, Dragon), panic, 144

...

Thanks for the game!

Confirmed. Not much to tell, as I was getting familiar with the template. Now I'm sitting here studying the red player's saves – gaining experience. :)
Thanks for the game.

P.S. We both forgot: numOne - PReDS 1:0.

numOne - PReDS 1:1

PReDS (red, Fortress, random, Bron, Alkin) def numOne (blue, Dungeon, random, Lorelei, Kyrre), 2sm4d(3), 144.
On the map pool were Dungeon, Stronghold, and Fortress. numOne, having forgotten that the hero was random and the rest was according to Shakhtyor, chose Dungeon, but refused the offer to redraw – he had long wanted to try Dungeon without Shakhti. We played with 3 rest points. As for the rests – 1 at the meeting point and both had 111 I think. It gave a great respawn with built-up Lizardmen, 2 native heroes (though Bron without Crocodiles), a pillar for 1000 experience, 2 Gnoll external dwellings right next to home in a cage by the road, a Hydra external dwelling again not far from home, and a bunch of gold. On 111, 7 heroes, including a silver specialist – so I'm already planning on Hydras in the Castle. The potential GG Alkin – because of the starting skills. He took either a max or pre-max Crypt, a corner of the Griffin Conservatory was revealed behind Fanatics, but the passage is blocked by the guard of the Hydra external dwelling from a group of Nagas – they are also guarding an artifact, so we don't touch the external dwelling on the first week. On 113, I took a Stronghold secondary, bought Alkin a spell book there, Aiden in the crosshairs, who was running the other way, revealed 2 Dwarf Cottages, 2 Medusa Storages, a Crypt – all along the road; armor +4 to magic behind a horde of Swordsmen, a small axe +2 behind a tray of Archers, GO from Archers – all on the road, but the terrain allows bypassing 10-19 Vampires guarding the passage to the grass. Broke through there on 115, immediately revealed a couple of Crypts. On 116, I took a Castle secondary and found an external market nearby. As a result, 1-7 without Bulls in the Castle at home, Birds at the Stronghold's, the humans have economy, in one of the Crypts I got the Spirit of Oppression. Everything is super, but no one has Log ((. On the second week, I took the Hydra external dwelling, 4 Hydras with the company took a level-3 Griffin Conservatory (the Basilisks suffered the most). Alkin on Greater Imps and 3 Angels dove into the subway: the number of castles is 3:3, so there must be a passage to the blue secondary somewhere here. Cuthbert, meanwhile, on Fortress's Pestilence went to clear Dwarf Cottages and Medusa Storages, Malekith on Roc birds and a spell from a scroll to collect freebies at the Stronghold's. In the subway, I saw a piece of Dragon Utopia and a Tree – maybe there's a hole into the treasure zone somewhere nearby! The entrances from my secondaries are a bit far. Around the middle of the second week, I saw Kyrre in the tavern – scary. The passage to the treasure zone turned out to be a dead end, the passage to the Necropolis secondary – also a dead end, I looked at it over the hill, but how to get there is unclear, I took a Dragon Fly Hive for 8 Wyverns and galloped back. On the bright side – Rozik picked up a spell from a scroll, Earth Expert, and it wasn't in the 3 guilds. On 133, Alkin is standing not far from the GO on Angels, having taken the small axe and armor, has basic Tactics. Scout heroes are recouping gold, including an untaken Naga Bank (minimum) – with the help of the external market, Gnolls, Lizardmen, Wyverns, Imp creatures, and Hydras are being upgraded. On 134, at the cost of a couple of Imps, a Basilisk, a machine gun, Lizardmen, a few Gnolls, and one shield, the Archers die – I forgot to put on the Spirit of Oppression, but only 1 stack suffered from morale failure, while 8 Greater Hydras ruled, then with Mass Slow, a horde of human Cavalry die at the exit of the elevator, this time with the Spirit. I manage to attack the blue castle at the 5-second mark with single Skeletons, I run in, but I only manage to drop Gnolls into the garrison, the Hydras spend the night with Alkin. Then there was reconnaissance of blue territory with skirmishes of mage scout heroes. At the Stronghold's, a hut that had been an eyesore for a long time was checked, and there was Log, which Alkin finally learns on 137! Bron, by the way, by that time, with 2 Cats from the camp, Archers, and Pikemen from the Castle, had explored one of the treasure zones, finding 2 Dragon Utopias, an Angel external dwelling, a Tree, a quest artifact, but it's a long way to go. However, from the blue territory, a passage was found to the Dragon Utopia that had been teasing us with its sight since the second week. I take it on 142, the dragons devoured 2 Wyverns out of 16((, gave armor +4 attack/defense, the Book of Fire, a Sphere of Permanence. I turn back thinking to bring up the growth and go to the Dragon Utopias scouted by Bron – chasing Kyrre without Control is hopeless. On his day 143, he shows up himself – chases off Cuthbert, and the only Angel resisted a Bolt for 220 and returns the starting one – here Rozik managed to kill 4 Greater Cats, the turrets damaged the Evil Eyes – parameters 2-3 times higher than Alkin's. On 144, I position Alkin in the elevator on top, bringing him all the resources from the Fortress: 35 Greater Lizardmen, 1+17 Greater Imps, 3 Angels, 18 Greater Wyverns, 12 Greater Hydras, 17 Greater Basilisks – Sphere, +1 Morale, has Expert Tactics. In blue's turn, first a scout hero on single Butterflies attacks, thanks to native ground and Expert Tactics I kill him without letting him find out about the TP. Then Kyrre attacks, fewer resources, battle stats something like 14-30 against my 9-14, but KS 20 with 100 mana on tilt. I also have 4 squads with abilities. In the first round, 9 Evil Eyes and 35 Lizardmen exchange damage for 20 each. Greater Imps weaken Greater Gogs, through a wait the Wyverns hit them, not taking off much, but poisoning, then the Angels. Well, 12 Chaos Hydras without magic are impossible to kill – Alkin's defense equals Kyrre's attack + Expert Armorer. Blue admits defeat.

Thanks for the game.

PReDS (red, swamp, random, Bron, Alkin) def numOne (blue, dungeon, random, Lorelei, Kyrre), 2sm4d(3), 144

That's how it was.
I spawned at the bottom, Lorelei showed up, but there were 2 native heroes in the tavern, dug up Kyrre - I decide to play. On the second day, I took a secondary town, thought it was a native, but it turned out to be Necropolis, and basically besides the castle there was absolutely nothing there - bare bones. On the second road, a passage to the top, but guarded by upgraded Harpies and unknown what's up there - I decide not to go up yet, grind some gold. I captured 2 Troglodyte external dwellings, by the end of the week found a Minotaur external dwelling, took it, but couldn't build them at home due to a complete lack of Dragon Blood Crystals(. Result 1-6, without level 5 in the Citadel.
On the second week, I simply have no money for buying, barely managed to buy Eyes and Minotaurs through the markets + Troglodytes from the external dwelling, I go up. Near the exit, I got lucky to clear a prison behind the Gold Golems, which contained Brissa level 10 with Expert Air and Defense, thanks to her I got a bit more rolling, otherwise it would have been really tough. I painted Conflux, took 2 Crypts and 2 Dwarf Cottages, grind gold intensively, have Air and Earth external dwellings, build up Conflux. Kyrre with Expert Earth, but no Slow nor Shield (only at the end of week 3 I got the needed spells through a scout hero with Scholarship). Brissa scouts the Air every turn.
On week 3, I move Cats, Minotaurs, and Eyes for an upgrade, just managed to get everything out (except Harpies and Medusas, for which I didn't have enough gold) when 2 enemy heroes lurked near the GO on their side. My capital was taken from me (I already knew red was doing well, but 8 upgraded Hydras at the start of week 3 is something), Kyrre runs to the treasure zone, picked up a Titan's Cuirass there behind Vampires, a Dragon Fly Hive of 8, visited the University, nothing else. Sad... I decide to check the Dragon Utopia on the Conflux respawn and if there's nothing decent, I'll resign, but it gave a Chainer and Sentry's Shield - I decide to keep fighting. I recaptured the capital. Having a Bolt on 610 and Defense 30 let me hope, if not for victory, then at least to trim the Hydras for sure, and then whatever will be will be... But the red Orb put an end to my already not-so-successful game.

Thanks for the game! It was interesting.

numOne - PReDS 1:1

So, the holidays are coming to an end, and the decisive match still hasn't been played... My mistake: I didn't set a deadline. Well, I decided not to rush things:) - due to the general post-holiday slump and a bunch of other important and interesting tournaments, I'm giving you until January 31, 2010, inclusive. If not, then so be it, friendship wins:) .