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I didn't want to write yet, since the photos from the tournament are still uploading, but because the process is long (yesterday the archive download failed at 2 gigs and change :( ) I'll first write about the tournament games:
Round I
wowa (Castle, Valeska) def vigo (Rampart, Kyrre) @ 8mm6a, SoD, 126
Despite Sticky's fierce criticism of Valeska, she was leveled perfectly: by the middle of week 2, I had all the necessary secondary skills
and, despite the lack of external dwellings, the horses in Castle along with the angel from the minimal guard allowed me to feel quite confident, and a boost in the form of 25K from the chest on the resp of a killed computer-Rampart + another 10 elves from its Citadel promised to crush everything later
but here my opponent proved by his example that in Heroes, cognac is better than vodka :D
because we celebrated the tournament with him drinking gram for gram almost equally, only I specialized in French brew, and Vigo in the quintessentially Russian drink -- as a result, a sad loss for blue on 126 :(
Of course it's a pity that we couldn't combine the Heroes celebration with a full game, but the fact that cognac eventually reaches the brain was proven by the start of my 2nd game with Vitalik:
Round II
Vitalic (Castle, Valeska) vs wowa (Rampart, Kyrre) @ Mini-Nostalgia, SoD, save on 132 I think
Having made a great start and killed the Necro neighbor on day 113 (could have on 112, but mixed up the paths) at the end of the week I simply started to fall asleep :smile43:
Luckily for me, not only the cognac but also the game time at the club came to an end, so we stopped almost in the middle of my turn -- I don't know what else I would have managed to mess up, but I did take the Conflux neighbor; if I'd been sober, I probably wouldn't have even gone to him :smile13:
The next day Vitalik had to go to an event, but he came back to finish the game -- respect! -- although we still didn't finish in time, we played for a little over a week more, and the game was postponed again -- we'll try to rehabilitate Kiryuha against Valya :D
... considering that in the next game, another logistician (though not a specialist) did manage to beat her:
Round III
Markon (Castle, Valeska) lose wowa (blue, Conflux, Monere) @ 6lm10a, WT without tax and experience, 146
4 Confluxes were dealt, including mine, while there is only one Castle on the map, belonging to red
On day 113 the opponent thinks for a long time whether to take the remaining re, but plays
meaning everything is fine there
We, on the other hand, have 2 fish external dwellings, a scouted minimal Griffin Conservatory and another unchecked one, plus a bunch of directions through the underground, but where to go is unclear; I really want to go to the orange Conflux ;) I finally found a pass to it through rough terrain, and the road was also figured out eventually, but Monere had already run down to kill a thrash zomb treant that was too tough for the noob behind the lift, and by day 121 he wouldn't make it back to the orange's home
Up above the zomb, a horde of lizards -- I send the main hero back to the resp to take the Conservatory and level up along the way, even eating chests, but I'm exactly one square short of standing on the crypt where level 7 was waiting... meanwhile at home, the psychs are already in the Castle
On week 2, the chain from the minimal Conservatory that I wanted to take with the noob ran home, and Monere simply marches through crypts to another Conservatory -- a two-skill!... couldn't try Vic's method of taking maximum guards without losing psychs ;)
We then run to the orange player, because the treasure zones in the underground aren't impressive; at home, a mage guild is being built along the way
On day 127 we take the empty orange Conflux -- and there's a capitol! :eek:
We immediately set up birds, at the start of week 3 we free the 10th noob from prison; at home there's a Town Portal to Monere's fire (and he also grabbed Learning))) -- we split there to learn it, and then from the orange base, where we buy water at the university, because skills are approaching expert, we run again to the treasure zone whose guard we defeated
In the treasure zone, a Dragon Utopia, looks like minimal guard, giving a shield +4 to all stats
At home, another boost from the mage guild -- Dimension Door without any rebuilding! :rolleyes:
While the main hero is DD-ing in the swamp treasure zone, the 4th level is built (Berserker and Resurrection) and the noobs find a 2nd Dragon Utopia in the basement -- this time a 3-stack (Sword +5 to All, Dragon Armor, and Shield -3 +12) but the money from there and what has accumulated from the capitol by the start of week 4 is barely enough to buy the Conflux double (birds are already built in both)
I upgraded the Magma and Herrings in addition to the psychs -- due to the Golden Bow spotted in the underground
Following a tricky route through 2 teleports, I run to it, then to a village-Tower; along the way there are 3 or 4 beehives and a Conservatory, another beehive above the village
I build a mage guild there and spend the night; my plans for the next turn are to send the former prisoner-Neelka from the prison in the swamp up there
But here, in the underground treasure zone behind the wall, Valya herself appears, takes a beehive and camps on it!
All parameters are roughly equal, except for defense -- the red main hero has almost half as much, plus the just-built 4th tavern shows my advantage in power rating -- I have to attack!
But first, Neelka takes a beehive and finds another one further ahead -- there's no time to take it and return the power rating, so the main hero does it himself!.... and as a result nearly falls for the trick of uncollected resources blocking Valya in the beehive -- but I still manage to attack with the last square! :D
FF-1
Monere approximately 27-25-16-180, 9 birds, 6 angels, 21 greater psychs, 120++ blue Herrings with Giant's Belt, 40+ Wyverns, 41 Magmas and about 50 Firebirds, expert Tactics and 3 elements except air against Valya somewhere around 25-15-15-hp_which_turned_out_to_be_very_low, 11 angels, 100+ Marksmen, over 50 Wyverns, 8 horses, about 30 Crusaders and a stack of Griffins + singles
My turn, Tactics.... and here I regretted not picking up the Spirit of Despair, not needed against neutrals in WT, but against Valya with her morale, Berserker would have channeled, but not so rock-solid -- and with the spirit she might not have moved at all ;)
Though it turned out Valya has Resistance, but for some reason it didn't trigger on any stack against the oil! :smile04:
So all of Monere's troops move first, killing almost everything except the angels -- and then it gets interesting: will there be enough for a ransom, or will he just flee, because next turn it's GG for Valya!
But there, the artifact for Diplomacy + money after the Dragon Utopia: 10 angels + small fry bring a measly 6K! :smile20:
We play on and the strategy is primitive: as long as we have the advantage, capture all castles in a row -- the Confluxes, the home castle, buy water for all noobs with Wisdom and level them up -- in short, apply pressure))
So Monere, having finally revealed the view area around the FF spot, starts a route towards the grassy patch on the border with the fog, where a beehive and a Tree of Knowledge are visible along the way
Nights 145-146 he camps next to an unpainted wood mine, hoping very much it's a Conflux mine
...as it turned out, red saw this maneuver, but nevertheless placed Valya to restore mana in the capital on a freshly built angel
146: Monere Dimension Doors diagonally; mountains prevent portaling exactly into the corner of the fog, but mouse probing lands the main hero next to red's -- alas -- Rampart!... however the ransomed noob from the view area reveals more grass behind the mountains, a stretch of road with a lift, and -- hurray -- an external dwelling of Pokemon!.. though painted brown by a Necro
We spend the 2nd DD heading that way and run along the road away from the lift, even managing to reach the red capital with time to spare -- and there, as I already wrote, the red main hero with an angel in the garrison, so there wasn't even a 2nd FF
GG, thanks to the opponent for the game, I wish him good luck finishing the game with Alex -- if they get together)))))
update: the photos finished uploading, here are a couple of overview shots (the rest need to be sorted)
