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23.02.2010 - 07.03.2010. Kluka (blue, Castle, Valeska, Vokial) draw Hermit (red, Inferno, Pyre, Galtran) 8mm6 247, time limit = unlimited
I took rest 111, and we began.
111. Big corner respawn. Roads are fast. Archer towers are built. There are 2 Necromancers in the tavern. Two chests turned out to be minimal, so only 3 heroes :(
112. I hire a 4th hero. I open the scouting, nothing particularly interesting. Red also has 4 heroes. I find a stable on the respawn. A Dragon Utopia guard blocks the road :) I respectfully go around it. I stuck 1000.
113. I take the amulet against death wave. I break through 15+15 archers at the cost of 6 of my own; Necromancy = expert. In the battle, I killed 2+2 archers with a death wave. The amulet works :) Although it probably would have been more correct to cast bless on the archers. I passed by 2 level 1 dwellings like a know-it-all. Probably a mistake.
114. Nothing.
115. I fight through a block of about 40 stone golems, ending up with 10 archers and 40 skeletons. Probably shouldn't have been greedy and should have bought a hero and ballista for 5000.
116. A well gives me 40 mana (forgot to give Vokial the +1 knowledge artifact). With 10 archers, 41 skeletons, and 3 death waves for 25, I go out to brown's (Dungeon) respawn.
117. Stopped in front of a crowd of archers blocking the road a few tiles from green's castle. A scout could easily have reached a scouting spot whose edge was visible from the darkness, but I didn't notice it for some reason. And then I had no chance to take it for a long time.
Week result - horses in the citadel.
121. I build a market, hire a hero and all 5 horses. I take the empty Dungeon, there are 1-4 in the fort, Mage Guild 1 and 1000. Green attacks with 1 harpy and dispels my speed :( I build Mage Guild 2 - a bolt for 85 appears. They offer peace. There isn't a single barbarian/swamp/snow terrain on the map, and all visible respawns also lack difficult terrain. While I was thinking, the computer decided that expert Wisdom is more important for me. Oh well.
122. Septienna got Logistics from the stone instead of advanced Sorcery. I freed Xsi from prison, level 10, with expert Necromancy, Wisdom, Learning, and advanced Archery. And 7 spells. Sent him to the Dungeon (studying lightning for 185), there's an Imp dwelling nearby behind 10-19 Monks.
123. I took the Imp dwelling, and nearby Green is wandering around. Had to destroy him. As he left this world, he gave the Undertaker's Amulet :) Then the army goes to Vokial, he takes Ring+1, Pandora's Box with 100 Imps, and the max Dwarf dwelling; gets Earth. Then the army goes to Septienna, and she breaks through to another passage from the home respawn. Forgot about one of my heroes who could take a few skeletons from her after each battle - lost about 15 skeletons because of this. Further down the road, a passage guard of 20+ Crusaders - I don't want to fight just with horses (why did I leave the skeletons with the scout?).
124. Finally take the scouting spot and break through the passage for 6000. Made some noob mistake and thought it was a corner treasure zone, although I saw a guard for 12500 nearby. Vokial gets Logistics. Xsi takes the Imp dwelling and tries to gather skeletons, but due to constant morale penalties on the horses, almost all the Imps are lost.
125. I ignore the Griffin Conservatory and the Naga Bank - I don't want to go in without Slow and Haste, even though I have 300 skeletons. I head towards the village. I take 4 Wyverns. Then a block of 15 Efreet for Shield +3+3. The horses and wyverns of course get demoralized, I break through losing 50 skeletons.
126. Vokial goes down the road and runs into Solmyr on 2 Gremlins. Having no shooters, I spend my last 8 mana on a death wave. Nearby I take +2 health for diamonds at the cost of 1 horse. Vokial faces a fork in the road. I exchange resources, build Angels, split Septienna (advanced Necromancy - should have done it with Xsi who has expert), buy an Angel, and go gather skeletons around the starting castle.
127. My unforgivable noobishness came back to bite me from the darkness. Pyre attacks. Vokial 8-10, Pyre 4-7. I have 257 skeletons with 9 health; 4 Wyverns and 4 Horses. Pyre has 13 Wyverns, 6 Pits, 1 Efreet, 22 Gogs, 12 Dwarves, 44 Imps. And mass Haste against my complete lack of mana. Each has a ballista. I buy peace with 80 skeletons, destroying everything on the opponent's side except 12 Wyverns, 5 Pits, and 10 Gogs. I should have taken the Naga Banks in time :( and the Griffin Conservatory :( and the 2 beehives :(
Here is what the participant in the events himself, Lord Vokial, had to say.
So, I decided to take a walk to the center. And then the demons pounced on me. And I, you see, didn't have registration in the center. So they started searching me. First they took my gun and broke it into pieces. Then they started beating me. First on the flesh, and then on the bones. They would run up - hit - and run away. That's their game. And I move very slowly. Well, in short, when they broke most of my bones, I managed to slip them a bribe of 2.5, you see. And they let me go. All fair and square. Never mind, I'll be back to the center, and I'll shoot these demons to hell.
Pyre doesn't go in my direction, and rightly so. Mullich wins 1:1 over Ignat (1 centaur def 1 centaur with +1 defense and no magic - Mullich's visit to the +1000 experience pillar wasn't wasted :))
Week result - Angels in the citadel.
131. Jenova chops Mullich. Urgently need heroes with magic to counter red's scouts. Xsi doubles his mana and heads towards the enemy. Or towards the Naga Banks which are on the way. Don't know yet. Vokial takes the beehives 6+4.
132. Vokial gets 1 Angel (not enough gold for the rest) and sets off to find the corner village. Septienna took a mini Crypt.
133. Jenova ran into Xsi, turned around and fled back. Vokial takes a minimal Griffin Conservatory and finds an Inferno village. Builds Mage Guild 1: has Haste. Septienna takes a minimal Dwarf dwelling.
134. Vokial went to capture the Air Sphere but noticed a Library and decided to increase his Education by two points in each primary skill. In the battle for the sphere, I overlooked 1 Wyvern. Noob happens.
135. Xsi takes a level 3 Griffin Conservatory and upgrades his Air to expert - to view air.
136. Nothing
137. Septienna takes a min Cyclops dwelling; Vokial takes a home level 2 Dragon Utopia. Stupid not to buy a meat shield: in the Utopia, they ate 2 Angels and 4 Wyverns. Gave +2all, +4+4 Attack+Defense, +2+2 Knowledge-Power, and +3+3 Morale+Luck.
Week result - castle finished.
141. Vokial doubles (=280) mana in the Dungeon. I buy up the army, forget to buy a ballista. Vokial and Xsi return to the central village respawn. Naga Bank - level 3.
142. Another Naga Bank for 3 Nagas. Just in case, I built Mage Guild 5 in the Dungeon - and there's Fly... probably not needed in the subway, but useful on the surface.
143. Captured the village in zone 11; confirmed the passage to purple's square isn't broken through. Pulled up the chain. Septienna stands near the entrance to her zone 18, but is afraid to split off part of the army. In zone 18, the Cloak of the Undead King is visible. Built Mage Guild in the village, - no Slow.
144. I go through 2 teleports to the opponent's starting location.
145. I capture the opponent's capital, but don't have time to enter. I hire an additional hero who speeds up Vokial and gets speeded up himself. Scouts show that there's no one nearby.
146. I build Mage Guild 4 in Inferno = Meteor Shower. I split into the Dungeon and finally learn Fly. The army is given to Septienna, who finally enters the treasure zone. But I made a mistake and left the artifacts with Vokial. I didn't fight 35 Cyclops guarding the passage to the Cloak of the Undead King with Septienna. And do I even need that cloak?
147. I split in Inferno and go where a concentration of red flags is observed.
I noticed the opponent has 110+ Demons, 300+ Skeletons, 30+ Wyverns.
We postponed.
211. A scout discovered the red's corner village with Gosha sped up there. Vokial kept 7 archers for himself and attacked 35 Minotaurs for the Arena. The chain makes strange maneuvers, and the army gets stuck somewhere in the middle... Gosha apparently used Town Portal to the Tower and destroyed everything I had except the Skeletons and 3 Angels... I bought peace for 28K gold, depriving myself of the ability to buy the growth from my own and the opponent's capitals.
212. I send Vidomina to reclaim the Cloak with whatever army there is. Gosha splits into the starting town.
213. Gosha casts Fly and retakes his capital. I didn't buy the growth there. But I built Mage Guild 4 there (Resurrection). The opponent was very happy about that - meaning his Town Portal isn't from the Earth spell book. So, probably Town Portal is in the guild in Rampart, near the nearest computer to the opponent's starting location. Vidomina takes the Cloak of the Undead King and the Imp dwelling. Xsi splits into the Dungeon, doubles mana, and shoots some reason still alive low-level neutrals with his bow (+ wolves that had doubled population). Vokial gets 2 Angels and flies into the treasure zone, taking a Naga Bank for 3 and 2 more Imp dwellings.
214. Red retakes the village in zone 11. Vokial takes a Pandora's Box for 15k gold.
215. The scout heads in the direction Vokial can reach. Nothing happens on my end. Vokial takes a min Imp dwelling and, saving mana, doesn't reach 1 tile to the prison.
216. Gosha runs through the center in my direction. Vokial opens a scouting spot. Nearby Marius with probably 200 creatures in his army, but I don't attack to stay sped up on Angels.
217. Gosha opens scouting in zone 20, which I used to guard, and keeps running towards me. Xsi picks up a Fly scroll. Vokial makes a dash for the Tower in zone 19, but instead of running on the road, he flies over the mountains for some reason and doesn't make it.
221. Gosha captures the Dungeon, doubles mana there, casts Town Portal... but not to the Tower. I ask if he intends to attack, and get the answer "if I have enough moves." *SHOCKED* But then he does portal to the Tower... and doesn't attack. And doesn't even speed up. Noob happens.
Vokial spends his last mana on Fly hoping he won't get caught. Xsi takes the army and artifacts from Vokial (leaving 7 Wyverns and 20 Eyes) in case he dies and heads towards pink's Inferno.
222. Gosha portals to the Dungeon, thus making it pointless for me to bring growth anywhere. Builds a Citadel there.
Xsi captures Inferno with a Capitol in zone 8, there are 7 unrecruited Pit Lords and meat. Attacked a horde of Fanatics, they took down 90 Imps. I didn't mind - got 10 Demons (and I didn't put on the +3 health artifacts :( noob happens). Blatantly run past Gosha and retake the Dungeon.
223. Gosha ignores the Dungeon and goes to my starting respawn. Nagash is freed, level 5, with expert Necromancy. Vokial runs into Pyre. Pyre casts Meteor Shower (-1 Angel, -4 Wyverns, -40 Skeletons) and buys peace for approximately 20K. On the lava, I open scouting, see a Pit external dwelling. Xsi finds a Resurrection scroll! Septienna splits into the Castle, takes the growth, and flies to the portal (she hasn't been in the Dungeon, and the scroll didn't remain with her, so I still have to meet her).
224. Gosha approaches my capital. Deemer with some amount of meat smashes against my scout. I pick up the Lightning Pendant - together with the Cloak of the Undead King, not bad. I enter the Castle without a fight (apparently, purple's starting location). There's 1-4 in the castle with Mage Guild 2. Finally have Slow, but not with Vokial yet. For some reason, I rushed towards a nearby red scout and ran into a Dragon Utopia. Lucky, I guess. I approach it with Vokial. I speed up Vokial before the Utopia and Septienna somewhere on the marsh in zone 24 (where he flew from the starting respawn).
Pink enters the red's village in zone 11.
225. I lose my starting Castle. I take a level 2 Dragon Utopia: Fire Book, +15% resistance, Helmet+4, and +3+3 Power+Knowledge.
226. Red destroys Crimson. I run somewhere and do something. Can't say exactly what. Vokial can't think of anything smarter than learning Slow in the Castle. Built Angels there.
227. Pyre intends to take the central village from pink. Gosha blocks the teleport for me, cutting Vokial off from the army. Bad. I have to bring the army by another route, where Pyre is standing. I stupidly fought the battle, losing all Angels, Horses, and 150 Skeletons, killing almost no one. Pink's Marius, holed up in the village, having a speed advantage and facing a noob-playing opponent (that is, me), killed with her trash... 150(!) of my Skeletons, and all the Eyes. But, dying, she gave the Vampire's Cloak.
231. Gosha captures the castle where I built Angels. Annoying. I take the Tower in zone 11. Vidomina drags 968 Skeletons to Vokial.
232. Pyre goes to retake the Tower. Well, I don't intend to defend it for now. Scouting the area around it, I find... an untouched Griffin Conservatory. Having already passed the turn, I discovered that the Vampire's Cloak is still with Fafner. He'll have to split. For now, I take a max Naga Bank.
233. Made myself vulnerable again. Pyre retakes the Tower; Gosha reaches Vidomina with his full army, - I buy peace for 35K gold. I buy myself out in Inferno (tried twice to get the needed hero in the tavern, but both times I was lucky) and wait for an attack.
234. Gosha hesitates near Inferno, where Vokial is holed up, approaching 1 tile at a time. He stood 2 tiles from the castle for a long time, blocking the passage, but eventually left.
Vokial sits in Inferno.
235. Gosha portals to my starting Castle.
Vokial sits in Inferno. Xsi decided to save a hundred moves and attacked 130+ Cavalry, losing an Angel, Pit Lords (Demons from everything within reach were already made), and 50+ Skeletons. Also took a Pandora's Box (what if it's level 4 magic?!), but just 10K experience. I see the outlines of a Necro village (zone 14), and a Dragon Utopia nearby.
236. Gosha heads to the Dungeon.
Xsi refills mana in the Necro village. Vokial is smoking in Inferno. Vidomina and a bunch of scouts try to evacuate low-level growth towards Inferno.
237. Pyre retakes the Dungeon. Xsi takes a level 3 Dragon Utopia - gold bag, Captain's Hat, Sword +12-3, and Sword +5all.
241-243. Stuck in place. Even forgot to build Sulfur Clouds in Inferno :(
244. Gosha attacks. 348 mana for Gosha and 349 for Vokial. An advantage, though :)
Now to business. Vokial has the Cloak of the Undead King and the Lightning Pendant; bolt for 10 mana for 840. Galtran has the Amulet of Blindness and Ice Bolt for 6 mana for 430.
At the start of the battle, the connection was lost; the screenshot from the start of the battle is from the first launch and therefore not entirely correct. When synchronization was finally restored, the following happened.
Round 1.
Red: due to low morale, Archangels and Wyverns freeze in panic.
The catapult resists the spell. Red launches a bolt at the Monks.
The rest stay put.
Round 2.
On the tower's turn, I take out the catapult with a bolt, finishing it with the towers. Archangels fly in and hit the Pit Lords.
Round 3.
After that, we exchange bolts. We fooled around a bit with mass Haste - mass Slow. Then mass Dispel - Protection from Water. Probably should have worn +15% resistance instead of the Sandals of the Saint. Then I ran out of mana, and the bolts rained down on me. Then Gosha ran out of mana. But the number of Skeletons turned out to be greater, and the shooters on the walls continued the barrage. The battle ended when red had enough gold to buy peace.
Gosha bought himself out in the central village; his army - remaining Skeletons, 10+ Efreet, and 20+ Pit Lords. And Demons.
Vokial refilled mana and headed towards the opponent, while Xsi with 1 Skeleton and Titan's Gladius (!) and 2 other artifacts crawled out into territory the opponent could easily reach. Built Mage Guild 3 in the Castle - there's Anti-Magic. Spent Septienna there.
245. Gosha doubles his mana and fights a series of long battles against low-level monsters. Apparently, raising Demons. No one touches Xsi.
Xsi takes a Troll external dwelling with 1 Skeleton and dives towards Orange. With 3 heroes (Vidomina, Xyron level 8), I stand near the border from where I could try to fly into the opponent's Elf castle (unlikely to make it, of course). I enter the Tower village without a fight. Vokial splits (almost makes it) into the Castle.
Orange attacked on his turn with 20 mana (4 stacks of archers, exactly 40 each), but expert Resurrection allowed me to climb out with 1 Troll (+45 Skeletons). And I had 15 mana left for Fly.
246. Red retakes the Tower; however, they leave the Rampart (which, in my opinion, contains Town Portal) with single creatures.
Elleazar passes the army, artifacts, and Fly scroll to Xyron (can't reach Vidomina); Xyron grabs onto the only visible tile of the adjacent respawn - an Elf external dwelling. The guard hadn't been broken yet, had to fight, also had to take a chest for this. Opened the scouting spot, and the turn ends; I cast Fly with Vidomina, checking... barely enough reach for the castle. But how do I get the army from Xyron? Then I see a prison, left by the opponent, apparently due to the limited number of heroes. I take a risk, I take the army from Xyron with Vidomina, open the prison, there's Wystan... but level 5 and with 2 units of knowledge! Wystan casts Fly, - and the Rampart is mine!!! And there, as I assumed, is Town Portal!!!
The opponent's heroes are wandering nearby: one - with a horde of Magogs and 6*20 Demons. Another - with Pit Lords and meat. Pyre on 1 Efreet. The last two are approximately 1800 and 2000 moves from the Rampart. I split Vokial into the Rampart, attacked the first one, for some reason decided he was experimenting with Vision - but there really are 119 Demons. Probably should have hit with Armageddon immediately - didn't think the opponent had the gold to buy peace, since he had recently bought peace. But he did. Oh well. Just in case, I cast View Air and see a hero through the rock. I send a scout, - Gosha himself. I don't dare hit the second scout - can't get the army back. I turn around. But then Nagash appears in the tavern, next is Laura, and behind her Fafner - heroes I had previously dismissed, so with 2000 moves. I hit the scout with Pit Lords and meat with Nagash. With Laura, I make a misclick - it happens. It took about 4 heroes to drag the army back. But then another hero with 2000 moves appears, one who was dismissed today. You can't hire a dismissed hero on the same day offline, but online you probably can. I decide to hit Pyre (what if it blocks the hero with Demons in the tavern?). I attack with 3 Power and an Ice Bolt, - but Pyre casts Cure :( Didn't think of that :( But then again a hero with 2000 moves! I give the +2 Knowledge/Power artifact, attack. Pyre summons a stack of Water Elementals. I happily kill the Efreet with a bolt and, having no further target, run (what if expert Resurrection). And I get a message in the chat that I made a hit-and-run :(
A setup, of course :) Noob happens.
In the morning, we load the save before the battle. I attack. Pyre summons a stack of Water Elementals. Something gets wiped out by Meteor Shower, something gets killed by the ballista... in short, 1 Skeleton survives. I kill the Efreet with a bolt and kill myself with the Skeleton against the Water Elementals.
247. Gosha attacks Vokial in the Rampart with Efreet and 500 Skeletons. Mana 254 for Gosha vs 250 for Vokial.
First turn - Meteor Shower from me immediately on all 3 stacks (they were clustered) and an explosion on the Skeletons (-191) from the opponent.
Then Anti-Magic on my Skeletons (I know the opponent has mass Dispel). The opponent finishes off some of my meat.
I could have won quickly by finishing the Efreet and casting Armageddon, but I slipped up and let a cast through. A Resurrection of the Efreet followed.
But then I did finish off Gosha, because 2 Efreet minus a few were killed by 1 bolt, and I had the first turn thanks to my artillery.
Considering my violation with the hit & run, we agreed on a draw.
Thanks for the game!