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Sasha came with his son; today we walked around the city and talked our fill about "heroic" topics, thank goodness there is so much to remember after all these years. We played one game on Lost Continent; I was Knight, Sasha was Necro. I got a bit lucky and won; now we are playing a second one.
The same thing with the Knight: you can always build up even in the worst-case scenarios. The first chests gave artifacts for morale and luck, there was an empty chest at sea, no stone, and I didn't even place horses on the first week. On the other hand, my seventh hero turned out to be a Barbarian—and not just any Barbarian, but Kreg Heck; it's a small thing, but pleasant.
I cleared everything I could, placed a "loser" hero by the black market, put horses and paladins on the second week, fought through and captured the Warlock; there is level 4 magic tower there.
Plenty of stone and sulfur; I'm ready to place dragons on the third week.
The game became interesting, except for Horn's wild bad luck—not a single one of those "free" piles of sulfur—and he didn't build liches... no liches means no dragons.
Now we've started the second one. Sasha thought and thought about whether to take Knight or Sorceress; he took Sorceress. I also thought and thought, Barbarian or Knight; in the end, I took Knight again. We are playing for now.
Guys, it's a pity you didn't come, but I think we will meet again and play together.
Added after 13 hours 30 minutes
We decided to play the second game on Lost Continent as well; the map is classic and very interesting. I played it with Pavel relatively recently; I had a Barbarian, and by the 2nd week, I was attacked by an aggressive Knight. We fought, completely trading off armies. Only after capturing the computer Wizard's castle and placing titans—with 4 of them—did I defeat the Knight, so there is no talking about the weakness of the Castle here.
Report on yesterday's game. My castle is Knight, at 11 o'clock; Horn has a Sorceress at 3 o'clock.
By day 4, I had 6 heroes, including a sorceress on a boat and a Barbarian as the main hero.
There were no problems with stone; I placed horses on the first week, but didn't make it in time for paladins. The passages were blocked by two stacks of shooters; thanks to the numerous army from side heroes, I didn't lose anything important.
It is clear that the goal for both players should be the Warlock's castle, which is located between our zones; this is strategically and tactically advantageous, as dragons are very hard to kill.
The main thing is to gather resources. I fight my way to the center of the map, to the black market, then back up to the snow toward the Warlock; heroes work in a chain, passing armies for battles in different locations.
On the second week, I took a secondary castle on the snow—a Rampart—already built by the Warlock. I move toward the capital; on 126, I see that the Warlock is sitting in the castle with his entire army, which I cannot possibly push out with my battered stacks.
I position myself: main hero and army slightly to the side, and a "loser" hero on the road so the computer can reach him. The computer runs out with the army, kills the loser; the units are still sitting in the capital, but they are now manageable.
On 127, I storm the capital. I could have placed paladins at my own place long ago, but I specifically saved money until the end. If the storm becomes impossible, I'll buy them out in a neighboring castle, place paladins in my capital, pull them through the chain and look for another chance to storm.
But having taken the Warlock's capital, I build a green tower there and buy a dragon. The computer returns; the Warlock turned out to be an excellent mage and apparently killed almost all my troops with magic, but nothing can be done about the dragon. On 127, Horn's troops land by the castle, but you can't take the castle with a dragon present. By 131, I have 4 dragons.
Afterward, Sasha said that resources were tight; he could have placed phoenixes on 127 via trade at the black market for mercury, but it would have been extremely difficult to deal with the dragons.
Today we'll try playing again and swap castles; now Horn is Knight, and I am Sorceress. I'll try to write a report.
Added after 22 hours 51 minutes
Played a third game with Horn on Lost Continent, the most interesting one.
We swapped castles; Sasha took Knight, I took Sorceress. Again, "Expert" level—named after the famous St. Petersburg player Expert.
At first, there were problems with chests—either empty or minimal. Because of this, I didn't build anything for the first two days, although I bought heroes, put them on boats, and fought for resources. On 117, I placed druids. 8 heroes spread across the map; a lot was cleared. Aside from side stacks, an elf would be lost now and then, but phoenixes are more important. I fought my way to the black market.
At sea, I built a chain of 3 boats, two of which had sorceresses; I transferred all troops and by 126 was ready to land with the army near the Warlock's castle.
Actually, it wasn't the main hero Barbarian, but a Sorceress who was going to land.
At that time, a "loser" hero from Sasha parks his boat at the point near the castle; because of this, I can't land right by the castle and have to get out slightly further away.
In the Dungeon sits the Warlock's hero with an army and a purchased dragon!!!
Great—if Sasha attacks the Warlock now, both armies will suffer irreplaceable losses. There is nowhere to buy a dragon, and I can attack and finish off the remnants.
Sasha calculated this well; instead of the computer, his Barbarian hero attacks my detachment on 127.
Sorceress: 1 Phoenix, 2 unicorns, 8 druids, 8 elves, 40 fairies.
Knight: 7 red horses, 7 gargoyles, 10 blue swordsmen, 11 spearmen and 45 blue archers.
We fight; I kill a horse, several gargoyles, ten archers; I lose the phoenix, unicorns, druids. I buy out with the remnants; despite the rout, I am satisfied with the results.
I reduced Sasha's army, his hero lost a turn, and the Warlock had already bought more troops—taking the castle became even harder for Horn. Unbeknownst to me, I made a mistake in battle: I should have killed the gargoyles at all costs, even if it meant losing the remaining troops.
I didn't know that then and waited to see what Horn would do.
Sasha hadn't built paladins; because of preparing for the Warlock's rush toward the black market, he couldn't break through. He lost many scouts; if he doesn't take the Dungeon, he has lost. If he does, he is better off, but not more. By the time he upgrades his three dragons to black, my hero with phoenixes and army will be far away, leveling up and trying to take the Wizard's castle at the bottom of the map to get titans there and possibly Dimension Door—thankfully basic wisdom appeared and could be upgraded.
But here I get a lucky streak: Phoenix week, which is +5 fire birds in the castle. Horn is in shock; there's nowhere left to turn. On 131, he storms the Warlock's castle.
Knight: 6 horses, 4 gargoyles, 35 archers, ten swordsmen and spearmen each.
Warlock: 2 green dragons, 3 hydras, 3 griffins, 23 centaurs.
I didn't kill the gargoyles; they flew up and hit the dragons, who in turn burned them and all their own centaurs. Then, horses and swordsmen provided excellent cover for the archers, and instead of hitting the archers with magic, the Warlock hit the horses, although he could have just held his ground. An excellent storm; Horn took the Dungeon.
On 131, I have 8 phoenixes in my castle; Sasha potentially has 3 Black Dragons. But it will take him time to upgrade and buy them out.
In terms of HP and stats, 3 Black Dragons seem cooler—900 HP versus 800 for phoenixes. But phoenixes strike first, so the chances of victory are excellent.
Sasha is sitting on a narrow strip at the top of the map, from his capital to the captured Warlock's castle, gradually upgrading the tower to black.
The most unpleasant scenario for me was if Horn's hero spent the whole week in the castle; the growth of dragons and phoenixes is the same, and 6 dragons would defeat 11 phoenixes or trade off evenly, which also isn't in my favor.
There are no powerful artifacts on the map; only patient leveling of the hero is needed. I plan to take my main hero to the Wizard and capture a fully built castle in hopes of Dimension Door. But then I see the opponent's main hero fly out of the castle briskly on a Black Dragon. The thought occurs to me to catch him and shoot down a couple of Black Dragons; I can see him through scouts, but he can't see me yet.
Horn's hero leaves the snow to level up on the grass, and the Warlock's castle is essentially left empty. My hero moves in with phoenixes, speeding up, still in Sasha's blind spot.
On 135, I am just one cell away from the city! I could have easily taken it. On the other hand, it's like a trap—no one can leave the city and no reinforcements can be brought in. The Knight's main hero is far; if he breaks into the city, I'll kill him easily. If a "loser" hero approaches with 3 Black Dragons, I'll kill the dragons.
The option of meeting the main hero on dragons simultaneously was excluded.
And then a side hero attacks me with 5 Black Dragons. Now I am in shock; it turns out the Warlock built dragons as early as week 1 for defense, buying only two. By 131, Horn became the potential owner of 5 Black Dragons.
Later he carefully ran around with two of them, just in case, fearing my attack from the darkness and keeping money for buyouts. Although if phoenixes had hit, one would definitely have been taken out by the first strike.
The final battle was short.
Mine: Hero 7,2,2,2. 8 phoenixes, 5 druids, 12 elves, 11 + 11 fairies.
Horn's: Hero 1.2,2,4 with artifacts. 5 Black Dragons, three single gargoyles.
Of course, I should have positioned the phoenixes 1+7, but as we saw later, it wouldn't have saved them. The phoenixes took out one Black Dragon; that one got a lucky roll in response—minus 4 phoenixes. Finish.
Although we looked later and most likely it was a loss everywhere. A 1+7 phoenix formation wouldn't have saved them from paralysis, weakening, and destruction.
Even if I had enough hero moves to capture the Warlock's castle, on 137 there would still be an effective counter-attack by Horn's main hero with 5 Black Dragons.
The best plan would have been the original one, but even leaving and taking the Wizard's castle wouldn't have helped; I would have received 4 unbought giants and a fully built useless magic tower. In that time, Sasha would have cleared the center with Utopia (dragon hire) and djinns, which would ensure victory.
Due to an incorrect assessment of the number of Black Dragons, I lost on 135; with more correct play, I could have dragged it out for another two weeks with the same result.
But that's just reasoning now; during the game, there were many tense moments.
An excellent victory for Sasha, but I also got a sea of pleasure from the game.
Nagan-4
