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Tomash (red, Castle, Valeska, Valeska) def Ariputra (blue, Dungeon, Shakti, Shakti) 2sm4d(3) 127
We selected all restarts, among which there was a wildly sweet layout with a native adjacent zone behind light guards and an external dwelling of archers and angels... but had to play with what there was.
Valeska brought only 11 archers; the first 2 days I mostly just scouted, fought off the scouting, saw ГО, and part of the opponent's respawn with a stable and a descent into the metro. Found the archer external dwelling, upgraded it, got a stack of 30, cleared a crypt, went to check the Griffin Conservatory and Dwarf Cottage, Griffin Conservatory 100+, Dwarf Cottage small, turned out to be 15, took it. Lots of money; foolishly invested a thousand, and immediately realized that either horses or the Citadel, something would have to be sacrificed... scouted the descent into the metro on my own respawn, and a passage along the road to the swamp, lost a day moving Valeska, but managed to clear both in time, I think. On the other side of the metro 50+ Magogs, decided not to mess with them, went into the swamp, reached the castle on day 161, built a Wyvern, in the home castle horses without the Citadel. According to the tavern, the opponent hadn't taken the adjacent zone yet; I feel a tempo advantage, and the growth of archers and horses+Wyverns suggests rushing through the metro, which judging by everything should be a common adjacent zone.
The last day of the week I spent scouting the swamp, clearing a chain of treasure chests and a +2 SP artifact; this allowed buying both Wyverns and horses on day 121, but due to greed the chain didn't work out, so the Magogs were cleared on day 122, also managing to find another Griffin Conservatory 100+ behind Grand Elves; I wasted 1 horse on them due to morale, and scouted another one in the swamp. Valeska only entered the underground on day 123, but reached the castle the very next turn, bought a spell book, started scouting, and then I see activity on the opponent's respawn, and Shakti is going into the metro... In the tavern I see he has already taken the adjacent zone, and the tempo advantage is no longer so obvious, especially if fighting in the underground with expert tactics and Troglodytes with speed 7... I think it's worth leaving the dungeon, returning to the main, taking at least 2 Griffin Conservatories on day 131, and then attacking; at the same time, I scouted in the swamp that the Griffin Conservatory is also 100+, so a stack of 9-12 angels by day 131 becomes more and more tempting, and the prospect of fighting Shakti in the underground becomes more and more unpleasant.
Before I could think all this through, the opponent emerges from the darkness and stops 1 square away from Valeska. He has 10-19 Evil Eyes and Medusas, 5-9 Minotaurs, and a measly 50-99 Troglodytes; I have 50 archers, 6 Swordsmen, 54 Pikemen, 3 horses, 4 Wyverns. I couldn't decide what to do for a long time; after all, if they block my shooters... To start with, I ran into the castle; there, behind the walls, the victory of my 50 archers is obvious. I built a Vortex, 80 mana is already something. The opponent apparently thought completely differently, decided he had no chance and, standing in front of the castle, wrote for me to attack and end the unsuccessful game for him; the respawn seemed poor in money... Well, I felt my advantage, especially the potential one in the form of 3 Griffin Conservatories 100+, and didn't want a trade-off, but seeing that the opponent had exposed himself like that, I also built a Mighty Gorgon in the dungeon, got Bolt and Lightning; Valeska with SP 4, 80 mana and expert Water Magic could cast on day 130 for 6 mana - I decided I could attack.
There was no battle as such; having the same speed as the Troglodytes and Minotaurs, my archers, because I was attacking, moved first, and the opponent set up on tactics for a direct arrow shot, resulting in immediately losing a stack of Troglodytes, 130 damage from a Bolt to the Minotaurs, and Ariputra surrendered.
Thanks for the game; I don't know if I assessed our strengths correctly, but the ending seemed to me like it could have been tense if Shakti had managed to attack Valeska before she had Bolt, only with the Arrow spell at 70, and having the advantage of first strike due to the hero's attack. Then, most likely, there would have been a trade-off, maybe in my favor, but definitely with the loss of the archer stack, and without archers I wouldn't have taken the Griffin Conservatories; taking the castle from the dungeon with just horses and Pikemen is almost impossible. In short, we could have kept fighting, probably.
Regardless, thanks for an excellent game; I got a ton of adrenaline
