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wowa (Castle, Valeska) def FireToSky (Conflux, Monere) 212, @2smd4(3)
First of all, admiration for the engine – the auto-battle is simply a miracle!!! :))) If only the simultaneous turn were perfected (like, so that with every hero purchase by either opponent, the clients synced up and wrote something to each other)))
Regarding the game: Playing Castle against Conflux for the second time in my life, and both times I've been chased around the map from the middle of week 2! Though this time, the generator dumped full control right on the street, which was ultimately enough for the win :) But the conclusion: no matter how much they nerfed Conflux in TE – it's still probably the strongest town, and letting them play is more trouble than it's worth. Good thing this time I just got lucky)))
The layout was weird – a one-and-a-half-day walk from the Castle to the "snail" (guardian creature), a passage to one adjacent zone for blue monks, to the second for mages, GO is not visible at all – meaning if Monere doesn't get cocky, he'll be breaking in soon ;) But in my area I found an external dwelling of monks, griffins, crusaders, 2 archers, 2 dendroids, and a Griffin Conservatory.
On day 116, a regrettable transfer error – I got used to the lighter version in recent days and thought I had transferred troops – but I actually transferred an empty hero! As a result, I didn't clear the treasure chest and crypt that day, didn't build or buy the cavalry that would have cleared some things, including the external dwelling of monks – 2 losers just stood idling at the castle((( And on day 117, the chain was botched, nothing substantial was cleared, Valeska had to return for the army, and the 2nd external dwelling of shooters was cleared but not flagged, the 7th level wasn't maxed, and I was short 50 gold for the cavalry – so I built a Bastion!
On day 121, Valeska, without growth, beats the ogres for the Hive and fights her way home within it, speeds up (at least the stables weren't pointless in my vain hope for CSKA))) buys a spell book and goes to beat upgraded ogres for a Pandora's Box with a prison – they slightly damage the griffins, but the Pandora's Box contains a quarter of a hundred of them! :) And in the prison is Ivor-5, and the next turn, Ivor's "Frog" army, fattened up, breaks the Hive close to the monks near the border with the wasteland – and right then, at night, Monere jumps out from there with serious intentions.
But Valeska is already halfway to the Griffin Conservatory, on the way taking revenge on some flies in the tree for the disruption.
Griffin Conservatory – a level 3, with upgraded griffins from the box and from home, no problems at all... Monere, meanwhile, chose not to play catch-up from the two paths but to pressure the capital (I don't know which he wanted more; ideally, he probably wanted me to hole up at home with Valeska: by the time of 3 birds and an angel, he had the Golden Bow!) So those one-and-a-half days were running towards me – I, on the other hand, planned to give my treasury to my chain of weak heroes, capture an intermediate town by breaking the blue chain, buy Valeska there, and rush for the capital ;) but the generator messed up all the plans: the chain was already with the weak hero and ready to start, but Valeska, with just one angel, broke into a basement where, even without scouting, a blue cap was visible behind a horde of basic Rocs)))))))
Immediately everything is turned back, nearly 80 Rocs are defeated without losses (the archers burn them))) and as a reward, Valeska gets Water Magic!! So we have a total of 2 artifacts: a +5% Bow and this strange cap :) Nearby, a dungeon is visible – I take it the next turn, and while waiting for Vortex, the main hero goes down, scouts a +3 Helm (just enough for 3 extra jumps))) and takes it, despite not making it back into town in time – and who needs it anyway, Vortex rules!!
The next turn, after taking everything from the dungeon, including troglodytes from an external dwelling with 140 mana, we prepare to explore the treasure zone lit up by cheating scouting – and meanwhile, they're running after us, running))) In the treasure zone, level 10 weak heroes from prisons help, as well as "broken skill", aka Leadership ;) IMO, when you're broke and fighting with random rabble from everywhere, it's a very useful thing! Killed a few Azure Dragons (Utopia), relics right off the ground, 3 more Griffin Conservatories, and a Dragon Utopia with a Chupacabra to top it off! Monere is in range when I combined the army with week 3 growth, but a jump to him would eat the remaining mana, and I didn't even see his stats, though mine are definitely better now.
But since all his moves are controlled, I decided to just retake my capital, even if it reveals the jump – by that point, we had Speed in addition to Haste, I run behind his back from the basement onto the grass, mana exactly for 1 Dimension Door! But I didn't chase him (you can't check the run via the lift), and I was briefly broke again, devouring the dungeon.
Start of week 4: The capital is mine, I have expert Haste, Water Magic and Speed are already there, the opponent is a one-day march from the dungeon, racing towards the +6 Helm of Everything.
From the capital, I reach the dungeon with a couple of jumps, I can buy a weak hero there so that with artifacts and the jump he could try to bump off Monere, and maybe even catch his supply cart, but it's risky: he won't make it, and goodbye to the extended game – so I hoped Monere wouldn't reach the Teapot (Dead Man's Hand/artifact), and we'd fight near it ;) But he grabbed it on the very last square :D
As a result, we ran around for another week, but full control decided it: while Monere was clearing that treasure zone where the Teapot lay on the edge (took a couple of Utopias with stats, killed 40 Azure Dragons, a bunch of Inferno troops from boxes), Valeska jumped for a revealed but neglected due to lack of mana Earth spell book, not far away lay a Fire spell book too, and the Dragon Utopia gave up 2 more, and for the first time in memory, the entire multicolored library was assembled))) Along the way, we didn't refuse to put Fire in the 8th slot, then a 2-day run from home to the opponent, and now Blue is broke :) Meanwhile, a weak hero from prison with a Cuirass and an Air spell book (SP20!))) takes 2 level-2 Griffin Conservatories using Fly and Summon Elementals, Valeska from Conflux jumps up and stumbles upon a clearing with a bunch of boxes and 3 external angel dwellings, I didn't even take one of them, preferring the Cape of Speed and the 3rd part of the Sharpshooter's Bow ;) Well, I didn't bother with building angels, even though they could be built – the task was just to buy everything up and catch the fleeing Monere, who had recaptured a couple of castles.
On day 211, a weak hero around level 14, who had gained expert Air Magic along with the spell book, using the "views" (scrying/peek mechanics) gets into a ramp (I also decided on his TE-style Mysticism, pouring in around a hundred mana points per day))) Valeska portals there from the treasure zone, takes the angels, devours another level-3 Griffin Conservatory and a box with 50 dwarves, then rushes to the capital.
At night, Monere prepared to head home via the lift from the treasure zone, but fell asleep one jump away from his former capital – as a result, in the final fight, the three-week Conflux treasury, reinforced by 40 Azure Dragons and Pit Fiends/Demons from Pandora's Boxes, couldn't stand up against a Chupacabra, 17 angels with a Banana (Celestial Helm?), one and a half hundred archers and 20 Azure Dragons with a couple of Bananas, plus over a hundred griffins, monks, crusaders, and dwarves in addition – even though 60 air elementals with Straight Arrow skill hit the archers first under the Laceration effect!
GG, huge thanks to the opponent for an interesting game, and to the WT authors for their miracle engine :)