Posts from Reports from fan battles.

CTPAHHuK (Death) def. LordZezuk (Order) Spleen 212

We started playing in February and finished in April. It's practically impossible to reconstruct the details. In the final game, Zezuk brought heroes that were 4-5 levels higher than mine, and his defense was about twice as strong. He had a Tactician with over 100 defense, a Paladin, a Battle Mage, and a Rogue Mage with 16 Titans, 30 Nagas, and 3 Sorcerers. A classic Narbor build. My weaker build included a Tactician, a Demonologist with Venoms and a 4th-tier Necropolis, a Battle Mage, a Ninja with a 4th-tier Castle, and a Chaos Knight with a 4th-tier Fortress, plus 3 Death Knights with 6 Devils. The only advantages of my game, or rather, my setup, were the Guardian Robe on the Tactician and two spellbooks – Death and Chaos. Everything else was just standard.

The battle started with my Devils destroying three of Zezuk's Sorcerers and immediately coming under attack from his Nagas, Titans, and Priest. Zezuk's Mage moved the Nagas behind my heroes. Then the chaos began. My Necromancer raised the Sorcerers, they canceled Immolation, Disintegration started, Venoms and Ice Demons were summoned, and attacks were made on Zezuk's heroes. In the end, only my heroes remained on the battlefield. I'm happy.

Thank you for the game.

LordZezuk (Necropolis) loses to CTPAHHuK (Preserve) eldorado (expert 8 min) 147

I'm almost embarrassed to say anything. I messed up a lot, and even if I hadn't, it wouldn't have helped. He has Sleds, I don't have Robes, so I can just give up. Even though I was in a hurry, I still couldn't outrun that lightning speed :P
Thanks for the game.

CTPAHHuK (prezerve) def. LordZezuk (necropolice) Eldorado (expert 8 min) 147

I played this map for the first time. I decided to level up an Archer along with the Druid I got at the start. On day 8, I bought him a Priest. But in the second week, I realized that instead of the Archer, or at least instead of the Lifemage, I should have taken a Tactician. The Archer was only good in the first week; after that, he just made battles faster and easier, but he wasn't particularly useful. He only got GM ranged attack on the day of the final battle and GM speed in the third week. He also knew Advanced Order, but there was nowhere to learn level 2. But I had a useless Apprentice book.

Even though I planned my heroes poorly, the GM Priest helped me a lot in the end. Without him, the immortal Tactician and the Priest himself could have died at the end of the first round of the final battle, but the Skeletons and Zezuk's Devils came out of wait mode and didn't attack anyone. In general, the first round of the final battle was interesting. Morale was given to my Druid, the Phoenixes, and Zezuk's Tactician. For some reason, my Druid went first, and I could remove the immunity and Heart from the Tactician, and the Phoenixes had a certain chance of taking him down. Zezuk's Tactician had 240 health, and after calculating, I got a damage value of around 200-300. Then I realized that I had messed up and didn't account for the +25% from the morale. So, the Tactician was guaranteed to die. However, at that moment, I panicked and decided to plan the Tactician's death for the second round. Zezuk didn't have a way to resurrect him, and I was afraid to send all my 7 Phoenixes at once to his hordes of Venom and Devil. His monsters' stats were about 50% better than mine. My cowardice was justified.

The point is this: my only hero useful in battle – the Druid with Phoenixes and Manticores – was also the only one who had Cancel. So, I immediately put him in wait mode. The Phoenixes followed him. The second Druid Master summoned Velites, and they pinned down Zezuk's Dark Knights. The Archer cast a Cloud of Disappointment on the Venoms and Devils. The Priest Master cast Morale +10 on everyone. My Tactician tried to use a scroll to confuse the Devils, but there was a protection spell. Too bad.

Zezuk used his heroes to remove the immunity from my Priest-Skeleton and Tactician. And his Tactician and Necromancer Master stayed in wait mode.

They come out of wait mode. I immediately dive into the Skeletons. And Zezuk's army moves. They don't have much to do; some summon Ice Demons, others just run around, and at the end of the turn, I fly in with a Phoenix to remove the immunity from the Necromancer Master, hoping to finish him off in the second round. Zezuk's Tactician adds +10 to his luck. Finally, my Druid moves, removing everything from Zezuk's Tactician.

The second round begins. Zezuk's monsters skip their turn due to -10 morale, while my army gets +10. The Phoenix moves to attack the Tactician. Zezuk reports.

By the way, Elementals are easily defeated. All that's needed is 3-4 Phoenixes, a Master of Nature, and a Martyr. Velites are there for cover. The Whirlwind doesn't hinder the rush at all. Moreover, you don't need to fight a second time when you come out of wait mode. I cleared it with zero losses.

I'm not an expert on this map, but with a determined attitude, the map can be completed in less than 20 days.

LordZezuk (Haven) lost to CTPAHHuK (Academy) in Circle of life (expert 8 min) 146

He started well, but then he seemed to get scared and ran after the sled, losing all his time. As a result, my heroes remained underleveled.
Thanks for the game.

CTPAHHuK (ORDER) def LordZezuk (Heaven) Circle of life (expert 8 min) 146

I never liked this map. That's why I still don't know how to play it. Lord was on the arena, so he couldn't get GM by the last day, and he had 4555. Lifter managed to become 5550 only on the last day. Also, on the last day, the tactician became 5551. The runner Takit was an Expert. 4 dragon golems, 13 titans, 40 djinns. No GM spells. Zezuk had Skeletons and Resurrection plus three Druids - master and expert.

I cleared everything on my side and a little on Zezuk's side, but the heroes were weak. That's what happened. In the finale, I attacked Zezuk with illusions, teleport, and a berserker. That's how it was.

LordZezuk (Necropolis) lost to CTPAHHuK (Haven) on Plains Of Despair (expert, 8 minutes) 144

As always, the mighty sharpshooter rushed into my territory at the beginning of the fourth week and defeated me within two days)). His tactic worked, and then I used the same tactic to defeat him, but his Armageddon left only his chaos knight alive out of all the heroes who entered the battlefield)).
And he successfully completed what he started)).
Thanks for the game :smile17:

STRANNiK (Chaos) def LordZezuk (Death) Plains of Despair (Expert, 8 min) 144

Started with a Thief and immediately sent him down the river for the Boots. When he returned to the castle, the Wizard had already become an Expert, having captured the Sulfur and Crystal mines along the way. On the sixth day, hired an Archer at the tavern and sent him to the Tactics altar. On the same day, I built Dragons, but couldn't buy them — I didn't have the money. So I rushed to the Nature Bank, where I sacrificed all my level 1 and 2 monsters. The next day, I took the free chests at the respawn for gold, bought a Dragon, and went to rob the Monk Bank. Along the way, I took a bag of gold from the Unicorns.

On the first day of the second week, with the Archer-Tactician, Runner, Wizard, and Druid with a Black Dragon, I dashed to the second castle, reaching up to 82 steps along the way. The movement range was satisfying. On the 4th day of the second week, I cleared the corner with the gold mines and the level 4 dwelling, where the useless Hydras lived. I spent another couple of days clearing and then started thinking about what to do next.

The Wizard was 2 levels short of GM, the Druid was 3 levels short of GM, the second Druid acquired at the second castle was 1 level weaker than the first, the Tactician was at 3131, the Runner was GM but knew only Pathfinding besides running.

Ideally, I could have dashed back to the respawn, stopping by the School of Magic along the way, finish off the Cyclopes, rob the Griffins, and visit the Tree of Knowledge. That would have been enough to get the Wizard to GM Chaos. With that approach, the Druid would become GM at the first castle on the stones. But then the second Druid would remain only a Master. However, I could have reached Zezuk as early as the start of week 3. I decided to do things differently.

I decided not to rush — I was tempted by the Nature book in the backwater by the river, past the Raging Bulls. So I headed there. Along the way, I stopped by the Mage Tower, obtained Exorcism, learned Tactics, Life Magic, and Order Magic for the Runner. In short, I spent a week running around. And at the start of week 4, I attacked the Pyromancer. I didn't rob the Dragon Lady; I didn't even set foot in the sands.

My army consisted of a GM Wizard, GM Druid, GM Druid, Tactician 3153, and a Runner with Advanced Order, but only level 1 Order spells. All heroes had basic or advanced Pathfinding and Resist. As for monsters: 3 Black Dragons and 19 Efreeti. First, I cast all sorts of buffs on the dragons, killed them, and then finished off the Hero.

I dove into a one-way teleporter, but came out in the wrong place — somewhere on the river near Zezuk, from where, with the Sailor's Hat, I crossed the river in one day and captured Zezuk's first castle. The next day — Zezuk's second castle. And the day after that — Zezuk himself.

Casted Armageddon twice, and on the battlefield, only the hero, the Black Dragons, and the Efreeti remained. Thanks for the game :)

CTPAHHuK (necropolice) lost LordZezuk (Nature) Heroes (expert 8 min) 113

Zezuk took the castle on day 2. How? I don't know. On the second day, I cleared a couple of banks. Then there were two choices: free the Venom or take the castle. There were ballistas at the castle and tigers at the Venom. I chose the latter, and they defeated me. There were no other options. Zezuk was doing well. It's pointless to load. I conceded the victory. It's all fair.

Pakobakov's map. In the swamp.

LordZezuk (preserve) def CTPAHHuK (necropolice) HEROES (expert 8 min) 113

Started with a bow, decided to build a bow-based hero, took a druid, leveled him up to 2, and used him for scouting, then ran to the second castle, learning the "Sartir" spell along the way. I hired a tactician from the tavern and leveled him up near the second castle. On the second day, I killed a gargoyle with centaurs near the castle and captured it; luckily, I had a mana potion in reserve. On the third day, STRANNiK decided to end his life :smile49: I decided not to reload.
Thanks for the quick game :)

CTPAHHuK (Blue, Death) def Zybr (Red, Order) 141 Heart of the Winter

Restarted because of what turned out to be a useless 40-unit stack; in response, I got dragons. Didn't reveal the secondary stack on the first day, bought the "Tactics of Life" artifact, but the secondary stack was Chaos. Found a lot of junk in the chests (in about 4 of them), and as a result, on the third day, I barely managed to acquire Titans with a buyout. On the same day (or the 4th), a dragon stack dropped, and I only managed to buy one. I went to take a mine, and sacrificing that iron golem, I cleared out the birds. (I only use "Cowardice" from magic; there's simply nothing else available). Then, I fought on several fronts, but the runner levels up poorly, and out of desperation, the third hero becomes a Necromancer. On two Titans, I slightly leveled up the "Tactics" hero, earning some money and acquiring more or less decent artifacts; the mage attacks the Djinn stack. All armies converge at the Castle, and with three Titans, a dragon, Djinns, and Hobbits, I attack the third Castle. Then, I ran around, leveled up, sailed to the island, but against the Death faction that had established itself with Devils and Dark Knights, I couldn't offer much resistance. The finale turned out to be a mere formality.
Thanks for the game; I remembered some of the basics!

CTPAHHuK (Life) def Zybr (Nature) 147 Danger Zone Equilibris 3.55

Earlier, neither I nor Rus had played this map much, so we decided to run it for fun. We found many bugs, but overall the map left the most pleasant impressions, as did the game. I played steadily myself, without any throwaway losses, outperforming my opponent in army size for almost the entire game while playing without diplomacy. Well, one thing at a time.
I started the game with fairies, tigers, and wolves. For heroes, I took a priest, a druid, and a tactician. Among the spells, there was a lot of junk, but some good ones too, namely martyr. I played through him for almost half the game. In the beginning, 2 strike stacks — tigers and wolves, with fairies serving as a distraction. Later, the wolves took a backseat, and I started running with just the tigers. I play at a not-too-fast pace, exploring the map. With the appearance of griffins, broader clearing opportunities opened up. Troubles arose only once, in the forest (tigers + wolves). Apparently it was the maximum one. The tactician and druid fell there, but both strike stacks at that time (griffins and tigers) suffered no losses. That was more important. I also plunder a garden and head back to the chaos castle. On day 126, I finally build phoenixes (at the start of the game, I thought they simply couldn't be built O_O, hence the delay. But luckily, my opponent went into diplomacy, and he also lacked the money for angels for a long time. He only built them on day 127). I, meanwhile, take the chaos castle on day 127. There was an incident there: 12 medusas, dealing 10-15 damage to the griffins, took all 3 down at once with petrification! I was, of course, stunned. But one way or another, the phoenixes are already built, and I don't have to mourn the loss of the griffins too much. After that, I started actively leveling up and plundering everything in sight.
On day 144, I noticed that my opponent had taken the central town. I was just heading through the metro underneath it. On day 145, I see that only monks, djinns, and arbalesters are left in the castle. I decide to go there just in case. I scout everything ahead with griffins. I planned to make a pyromancer, a demonologist, and someone else from the priest for the late game. I break two evil eye caves and one griffin nest. On day 146, I see the army is already gone from the castle. Too bad... I return to the original plan of clearing the central metro, but still keep in mind the thought that the troops can still be killed. On day 147, I see my opponent's heroes with angels. I check his parameters with a griffin. There are two Mages Guilds, Life and Order, and a strong tactician, but all without immunity, and 4 angels. I have 5 phoenixes, two griffins, a Life mage, a Nature mage (8 mana), and an almost complete tactician. All with acid and under mass blessing. I thought it over and decided to attack anyway. The angels, as expected, went into wait; I hit the enemy tactician with phoenixes right away. He died. But then the Life mage goes. And he turns out to have resurrection :( I wasn't given it in either castle! But that wasn't so critical in principle. On the last mana, I cast anti-magic on the phoenixes. But the opponent's next move decided everything — his tactician cuts down mine with Hand of Death!
And then the Order mage goes immediately, casts phantom, and 2 angels finish off my tactician. My Life mage only went after them... If I had had the money, I would have ransomed him, but as it was, I thought it over and decided not to continue. Still, the game left the warmest feelings. If I had been a bit luckier, I could have celebrated a victory.
Thanks for the game:) It was fun.

CTPAHHuK (Life) def Zybr (Nature) 147 Danger Zone Equilibris 3.55 (confirmed)

Yes, the map is very interesting :) We explored it together - neither I nor Zybr really knew where to go. So, a couple of times during the game, I wandered around, passing the same place twice. I won't describe my wanderings; the path was uncharted, and I was mostly going by guesswork. I'll give a description of the map instead.

Complete guide to Danger Zone 1.53
The following are blocked on the map:
1. Death and Barbarian castles.
2. Melee, Resurrection, Necromancy, Stealth, Scouting, Shamanism, and Charm skills.
3. Sanctuary, City Portal, General Dispel, Summon Ship, and Quagmire spells.
4. Artifacts - all footwear, all books except Nature and Chaos books, Amulet of Life, Nectar of Immortality, Shackles of War, Rider's Gloves, and some others.

Home territories:
Each player's territory can be divided into 11 squares. One of them – the first – contains the starting castle; another 4 squares contain neutral castles of different types, excluding Death and Might; on the 6th square, you can learn Diplomacy; the 7th square – the largest – is a swamp, contains the opponent's mines, and is connected through the central part to the opponent's similar square; the 8th and 9th squares are connected to each other by a central underground part and contain three dwellings of level 3 (Nature, Life, Chaos; the Order dwelling is located directly on the territory of the neutral Order castle), the Rushers Anonymous quest, where Rider's Gloves and Boots of the Explorer are sold for 6000 gold (their combined effect is similar to the Pathfinding skill – attention! there are many banks on these squares, so hurry to get here and empty them); the 10th square contains 15 stacks of neutral monsters of level 2 and 2 stacks of neutral monsters of level 4, connected to your castle (come here to recruit them when you have Grand Master Diplomacy!); the 11th square contains 3 taverns; this is where you start the game, and the connection of this square to another territory is broken on the 3rd day.

GAME RULES:
1. You cannot buy a BARBARIAN hero.
2. You cannot take potions of immortality out of the castles. To buy Immos, there is a quest ~~ Potion Shack ~~ in the dungeon, where you can buy it at a "fair price" for 7500. YOU CAN DRINK IMMOS IN CASTLES, but if you try to take the potions out of the main monster castle with monsters, the bridges will start to collapse!!! Monsters cannot take Immos out of other castles either; they will drop them into the river.

On this map, you can only have 3 heroes and upgrade them to a very strong advanced class. Moreover, you cannot buy a Barbarian; otherwise, you and your opponent will receive a message about your defeat.

Neutral territories:
1. The central northern part is a winter sea, the islands of which are inhabited by Ice Demons. This is the most accessible neutral area for your heroes. You can get here as early as the 2nd week if the orange player visits the red tent, and the green player visits the blue tent. Both tents are located on the squares of the Order castle; their guard is very weak. The gates will release your army into the sea along with the heroes. This means you can meet your opponent here.
2. A little to the south is lava; you can get here from the 7th swamp squares and take level 3 monsters from your dwellings from here (there will be many of them here!).
3. The center is sand, the smallest square; there is a random castle and an entrance to the neutral metro zone. This square is also connected to 7 player zones.
4. The central southern part is a swamp; there is all sorts of stuff here and the only market on the map. You can enter this zone, as well as the 7th squares, with heroes no earlier than the 22nd day; otherwise, you will be attacked by 500 creatures!!!
5. The central part in the metro is similar to the sea; you can encounter heroes here, but the gates will not let your heroes through. The same 500 creatures are waiting for you for the first 3 weeks!

So, you can encounter heroes in the first three weeks only in the sea, but there is not much to do there at the beginning; if you send a swimmer there, it should only be a lord  Starting from the 22nd day, you can encounter each other in the metro or on land in the central southern swamp. Getting to your opponent requires destroying 8000 peons of level 4 with a strength of 8000 on the Expert difficulty level to get a key (blue for orange and red for green) or breaking through the guard behind the tower to the neutral zone of your opponent's Life castle – there are only two ways to get to your opponent, BOTH REQUIRE THE AMULET OF LIFE.

There are shackles; you need to get to them through a whirlpool in the central northern sea.

Calendar scripts:
1. Notice (1 day) – a message about the map rules.
2. Blue and Orange (1 day) – removes access to the neutral castle that matches yours. That is, you will have ONE CITY OF EACH TYPE, except for Death and Might, excluding the central random city.
3. Creatures1 (1 day) – forms a guard on the mines in the 7 squares in the form of castle monsters of level 2, 30 pieces each on the Expert level. The guard is connected to the opponent's race. Try to recruit them too!
4. Joiners Club is also initialized on day 1; it allows you to buy the Expert Diplomacy skill in the Diplomacy square for 7500.
5. Bombnohero (22 day) – destroys the 500 creatures script, opens the passage for heroes to the neutral zones.
6. Blueoraclepurple – blows up the stones behind which there is a treasure with the Sword of Gods in the 10th squares, where there are monsters for joining.

Recommended path:
Having gathered your entire army, head to the Chaos square, level up in the stables, take gloves and, if you're lucky, level 3 monsters from the dwelling from the metro. Then clear the storages on the Chaos square and do the same on the Nature square. From there, teleport to the Diplomacy square, buy Expert Diplomacy, free the lord, take the amulet of diplomacy. It is also best to take the tent. Then teleport to the Life square, and finally to the Order square. Here you will get the key to the northern sea and the gates to the metro. Now you are strong enough to go to the metro and rob the rich banks and the center. When to start negotiating in the 10th square is up to you!

Tip: build a caravan!!! In just 2 days, it will deliver your baby monsters from the dwellings, and in 4 days, it will bring your level 3 monsters from the central neutral square!

In the finale, there should be hundreds of level 2 creatures, dozens of level 3 creatures, and a few level 4 creatures. May the best win.

Zybr and I didn't manage to finish the game, but it's interesting to see what the finale will be like with a numerical advantage in favor of level 2 baby monsters and a limit of 3 heroes :)

LordZezuk defeated BrennusWhiskey in Circle of Life. Good game. Thx.

Thx for the game, Brennus!