Posts from Battle with neutrals - 2

Since the participants enjoyed the previous giveaway, the natural thought was to repeat it. I will put the rules in the first post. So:

Players compete against each other in their skill at clearing neutrals, taking banks, etc.

All players fight simultaneously, recording the course of the battles on video.

The start happens as follows — a second (the host or his assistant) loads a specially prepared save, and the player enters the game. The second plays as red, the player as blue. Until the turn is passed, the player can examine the layout and clarify anything they find unclear regarding the rules or the task.

The player also starts the video recording — either independently or via a stream to Mikogo (in which case someone else must record). Options are open for discussion; for now, the most sensible idea seems to be streaming to a site like justin.tv — the video is not only recorded but automatically uploaded to the internet.

A mandatory condition is that the fact of receiving the turn and the second's nickname must be visible in the video, proving that the game is taking place online.

After the video recording starts, the turn is passed and the player begins the battles. At the moment the turn is passed, the second informs the host that the game has started. It is mandatory (!) to report this fact. If any problems arise, the host should be informed. After the turn is passed and the player confirms everything is fine, the second may leave the game.

The player should conduct 8 battles on the save. The order of the battles is arbitrary. I recommend starting with the simplest and most obvious ones — so that the time spent on difficult battles doesn't weigh on your mind later.

A total of 7200 seconds, or 2 hours, is given for all 8 battles. This is exactly how much time the blue player has on the timer from the start of the game. In case the time limit is exhausted, it is not allowed to finish the remaining battles the next day; all 8 battles must be conducted in one go.

A save should be made after each battle — in case of disconnects, freezes, and so on. If the game freezes during a battle, the last save should be loaded and continued from there. In this case, the moves made up to the moment of the freeze must be repeated exactly.

The host reserves the right not to count results of suspicious origin — those with crashes, freezes, re-dos, without videos, etc. To avoid this, it is recommended to keep the host constantly informed of all difficulties. Also, take screenshots and saves to document the events occurring.

If for any reason the video recording is interrupted and cannot be continued, the player should take screenshots of every key action. That is, at the beginning and end of the battle it is mandatory, and during the process at their discretion. This is so that the entire course of events in the battle can be reconstructed via screenshots. Saves should also be made at the beginning and end of each battle.

In WT there is a special key combination Ctrl-PrnScr, which takes a screenshot of the screen and drops it into a special folder. This allows for screenshots without affecting the timer.

After finishing all battles, the player makes a final save and immediately sends it to the host by email. If the video was not recorded or only partially recorded, the player should immediately send the archive of saves and screenshots to the host.

Host's email - wicforever@mail.ru

The video itself does not need to be sent immediately, as it is too large. However, it should be kept as evidence and be available upon request.

To reduce the video size, I do not recommend playing with HDmode, and I recommend using full-screen mode if possible. The winner's video will be uploaded for anyone wishing to download it.

The player's task is to conduct 8 battles while preserving as many troops as possible. Quick-combat cannot be used. You may look at what it shows out of curiosity, but in any case, you will have to fight manually.

Each hero is given a Spirit of Oppression (anti-morale). It must be equipped on the hero during the battle.

The result of the battle is evaluated by the number of conventional hits remaining after the fight. Conventional hits differ from regular hits in that the hits of particularly valuable monsters are counted with an increasing coefficient — double or triple.

Castle - marksmen*3, horses*3
Rampart - grands*3, unicorns*3
Tower - gryphons*3, nagas*3
Inferno - cerberi*3, efreets*3
Dungeon - troglodytes*3, cats*3
Barbarian - wolves*3, rocs*2, behemoths*3
Swamp - lizards*2, vivibees*2, hydras*3,
Flux - air*2, psychs*3

That is, for example, 1 marksman provides 30 conventional hits to the total sum, while 1 air element provides 50 conventional hits. Therefore, these troops should be especially protected in battle. Units not mentioned in this list provide their hits to the total sum without a multiplier, 1 to 1.

Next to each hero is a garrison where the player can drop troops they deem redundant — so as not to waste them needlessly.

When calculating totals, the percentage of conventional hits preserved will be counted for each battle. If a battle is lost, the coefficient becomes negative and depends on how many neutrals were managed to be killed. That is, -100% if no one was killed, -5% if 19 out of 20 neutrals were killed, and so on.

The player's overall tournament result is the arithmetic mean of their results across all battles. The player with the best overall result becomes the tournament winner. Players with the best results in individual battles will also be noted.

Tournament start - at 12:00 MSK this Saturday, April 16.

can I sign up? =)

funny, you can try it.

The following lineup started:

1) Satyr
2) TERM
3) Mizrael
4) Albertas
5) Javdet

Added 1 hour 41 minutes ago
Tournament results:

1) Mizrael - 86.56%
2) Javdet - 82.66%
3) TERM - 80.80%
4) Satyr - 76.36%
5) Albertas - 58.05%

I need to go now, I'll provide more details later.

Thank you for the tournament; it’s a very useful experience, and it helps you gain experience in taking such simple castles, which, as it turns out, you don’t have much of. For example, I was afraid to attack the Naga castle on the snow map and lost 40 harpies, 4 nagas, and other units. After a few practice runs, the castle fell very easily; I left only 7 golems and gargoyles there. We’ll be waiting for the next series. P.S. I achieved a good result with the castle (lost a griffin and some other units), but I don’t understand if 40 harpies are equivalent to 2 pegasus and 3 swordsmen.

Please provide videos of similar battles. I haven't ventured into these dungeons for 4 weeks.

Within the framework of this tournament, players were asked to achieve the maximum Naga Bank without a stack. The armies, heroes, and bonuses are the same as in the first tournament — Week 2 army, hero gets +4/4/1/1 to stats, +10 mana, and level 1 magic.

The participants handled it well; the only loss was by Albertas for Tower (the hardest fight because of the snow), so the overall result was low, although he played the other battles normally.

Best results (remaining army is indicated):

1) Castle - Mizrael, 83.51%, 5 Cavaliers, 11 Crusaders, 7 Griffins, 48 Marksmen, 40 Pikemen
2) Rampart - Mizrael, 96.69%, 6 Cavaliers, 9 Dendroid Guards, 12 Pegasi, 30 Grand Elves, 25 Dwarves, 51 Centaurs
3) Tower - TERM, 86.72%, 6 Naga Queens, 7 Mages, 26 Golems, 150 Gremlins
4) Inferno - Mizrael, 94.34%, 6 Efreeti, 9 Demons, 32 Cerberi, 39 Gog Magogs, 69 Imps
5) Dungeon - Javdet, 92.33%, 6 Shadow Witches, 12 Medusas, 28 Evil Eyes, 150 Troglodytes
6) Stronghold - Javdet, 88.13%, 3 Behemoths, 8 Thunderbirds, 12 Ogre Magi, 29 Orc Chieftains, 54 Wolf Raiders
7) Swamp - Mizrael, 90.59%, 3 Hydras, 6 Wyverns, 15 Basiliks, 15 Dragon Flies, 40 Lizard Warriors, 30 Gnoll Marauders
8) Conflux - Mizrael, 92.32%, 6 Psychic Elementals, 12 Earth Elementals, 15 Fire Elementals, 20 Water Elementals, 28 Air Elementals

Average of best results: 89.58%, you could say it's lossless :)

Thanks to everyone for participating!

For those who want to test their skills, a starting save is attached. The ERM file should be placed in the MAPS folder; without it, the save won't load (I forgot about this engine feature).

Thank you for the tournament; I enjoyed it. The results of the winners are impressive, and it gives me something to strive for. The first battle for the Castle went quite well, but in the second battle, I left 11 mages in the garrison and positioned my units poorly, so the outcome quickly became clear...
I would like to see similar tournaments in the future!

Thank you for the tournament, it was interesting. It took three attempts, but I finally managed to upload the video online. Second micro-tournament

Thank you for the tournament, it was interesting. It took three attempts, but I finally managed to upload the video. Second micro-tournament

Well, you found a place to upload it.

Thanks for the tournament, I'm downloading Mizrael's game because I don't know how to play Naga Bank. :)

It’s a pity I didn’t have time to participate. I thought I would, but it didn’t work out. I think the contest rules need to be revised a bit so that more people can participate. For this, the tournament should last for several days. Perhaps it would be worth announcing the task in advance, which would additionally attract more people.

My ADSL connection has a very slow upload speed and is unstable. Of all the file-sharing services, only Depositfiles maintained a good connection and didn't interrupt the download.

The pre-recorded commentary clashes with the idea of the tournament. In the game, you don't get pre-recorded commentary about what guards you'll face. We're simulating in-game battles. The biggest challenge with the timing is not knowing who will participate. If we had a definite roster, we could coordinate schedules, have some players play in advance, etc. But as it is, I don't know who will show up or how many people there will be until the last minute. And even if someone says they'll come, it's only a 50/50 chance. This has been repeatedly proven in many Heroes communities; everyone is a man of their word... in theory. Added 4 hours 51 minutes ago I've taken a break from these tasks. 1) Rampart. Here, you can get away with losing 4 peasants (99.35%). Arrangement: Grand Griffon - Pegasus - Knight - 1 peasant - 1 peasant - 1 peasant - 1 peasant. The Grand Griffon, under the effect of Bless, and the Knights take out the upper-left stack. One peasant runs to hold the lower-left stack; the rest stand in the center, at the edge of the Naga's attack zone. In the 2nd round, the Grand Griffon runs to the corner, the peasants run behind the Nagas, trying to lure them and the lower-right corner. In the 3rd round, the Grand Griffon and Knights take out the lower-left stack, the Pegasus flies to the lower horizontal, drawing the Naga's attention. In the 4th round and beyond, the Pegasus flies up and down, the Grand Griffon shoots, and the Knights finish off the enemy as needed. Perhaps there's a way to get by with 3 peasants (99.51%), but I haven't tested it. 2) Inferno. Ideally, you can get away with 3 Imps (99.78%), but in practice, I managed with 3 Imps + 1 Demon (99.13%). Much depends on how the damage falls in the 1st and 2nd rounds. Arrangement: Goblin - 1 Imp - Demons - Dogs - 1 Imp - Ifrit - 1 Imp. In the 1st round, the Dogs and the entire group attack the upper-left stack, and the Goblins attack in melee (!). You need to take it down. This works about 2 out of 3 times. The single Imps run as low as possible, but so that the Nagas can't reach them. The Nagas move, and the lower-left stack is positioned so that the entire army can attack it without being hit by the middle stack. In the 2nd round, the army attacks the lower-left stack, the Goblins are already shooting. The only danger here is killing the Ifrit. After the Dogs and Ifrits attack in both rounds, there should be 2 Nagas left in the stack. The Imps run to the right and down, luring a Naga. In the 3rd round, the Ifrits fly to the lower horizontal, luring a Naga. The Nagas are positioned nicely; you can hit 2 of them with the Dogs. But it's not recommended to use Bless on them; you need 2 Haste spells on the Ifrits; otherwise, they won't have enough movement points to control 3 stacks. You need to pull them up and to the right, not just up. In the 4th round and beyond, the Ifrits control the Naga, and the Dogs and Goblins take them down. Sometimes, one Naga unit might rush to the left; you need to kill it. This is where I lost the Demon; the un-Blessed Dogs didn't have enough damage. 3) Barbarian. Losses achieved: 11 Ogres, 2 Wolves, 1 Goblin (90.98%). Arrangement: Bears - Rukh - 1 Wolf - 1 Wolf - 1 Goblin - Wolf - 11 Ogres (leave one in the garrison). In the 1st round, 2 single Wolves remove retaliation from the left stacks, the Wolves with Bless take down the lower-left stack, the Bears and Rukh attack the upper-left. After the Nagas on the right attack, the Ogres run to the lower-right. There, they successfully withstand 3 attacks. When their turn comes, the last Ogre removes retaliation and dies. The Nagas run forward, and the Wolves finish off the stack from which the retaliation came. The Rukh finishes off the upper-left. Next, a slight problem arises: 2 retaliation attacks remain - Goblin and Bears, just on 2 stacks of Nagas, but the Nagas constantly run after the Wolves. Here, you need to find the moment when, with Haste or by chance, you can get the Wolves out of the 10-cell zone of the Nagas. This is quite feasible, although you might have to run around a bit. Especially, the Nagas get confused if you chase them up and down the right flank; they stick to the edge of the field, and Haste allows you to get out of their line of sight. The achieved 90.98% is not too great; perhaps there are ways to get through without losing Ogres. But I haven't thought about that yet. I welcome suggestions regarding the other castles.

Term suggested a way to get the Nagashir without losing any Ogres.

The setup is: bears - 1 wolf - 1 wolf - 1 wolf - 1 wolf - 1 goblin - Rukh - wolves.

In the first round, the defender from the bottom left stack is removed; the wolves from the blessing stack knock him out; the Rukh wait; the bears attack the top left stack without removing the defender; the single wolves run to the left; the goblin moves to the bottom horizontal. After the move, the Nagashir attacks, and the Rukh attack the top left stack.

In the second round, the Rukh are blessed and finished off; the wolves wait; the goblin removes the defender; another stack is eliminated with wolves, with the intention of having the wolves then hide in the top left corner. The bears wait (they will need to hide or distract the Nagashir later).

The Nagashir advances; here, it is important to separate the two stacks, which is why the wolves need to hide correctly – so that one stack can reach them in 2 turns, and the other in 3. Then, the two stacks are eliminated one after another, with the single wolves removing the defenders (the bears cannot do this because they are weak).

Losses: 3 wolves and 1 goblin, 98.3%. I am considering replacing one of the wolves with a goblin; in theory, at least one of the eliminations should be possible from a waiting position.

Vik, please list which armies are available at the start. I don't have "Armageddon's Blade," so I can't view the save file. I'm interested in knowing which units are upgraded and which are not.