Posts from Diamond Monster

BA/IEHOK (Red - 800 Inferno, Kalh, Kalh) def JustObserver (blue, Castle, Valya, Orrin.) 132
Thank you for the game.

BA/IEHOK (Red-800 Inferno, Kalh, Kalh) def JustObserver (blue, Castle, Valya, Orrin.) 132
Thank you for the game.

I participated.

17.3.2013: twaryna (blue, Dungeon, Shakti, Shakti) def Pupa (red, Stronghold, Crag Hack, Crag Hack) Diamond 132

We used all the respawns, and in the end it worked out great.

111. Started in the underground, average roads, spread out to 4 heroes, revealed a free Minotaur external dwelling, a couple of experience stones, free stuff, etc.
112. Shakti took the external dwelling, got Earth Magic, everything is fine, only trouble with money. 5 heroes.
113. Scouting, collecting free stuff.
114. Took a Necro town with a noob hero. Shakti fights on the respawn.
115. Another +2 towns: Dungeon and Necro, Shakti got Logistics, I'm preparing to hit the Giant external dwelling on the adjacent zone.
116. Took the Giant external dwelling. Running towards the secondary area, where an enemy noob is visible, there I can see a chest behind Diamond Golems and a Dragon Utopia.
117. Chase away the enemy noob, put Shakti in the town. Another Giant external dwelling, a Naga Bank, and a Dragon Fly Hive are visible. 6 heroes, Minotaurs at home in the fort + 2 portals.
121. Build caravans for supply, position Shakti at the Naga Bank.
122. Do the supply, break the guard of the Naga Bank and loads of other stuff, Shakti has to take a Scholar - they give Luck. I take the Naga Bank, in the last seconds I hit Master Genies for the Dragon Fly Hive and enter the Hive, in the end I don't manage to take the Wyverns, lose 4 units and half of the main hero's turn.
123. Take the Giant external dwelling, kill the Diamond Golems for the chest.
124. Position Shakti to break the Monks on the next zone, the chaff goes to pick up Shackles of War.
125. Pick up Shackles of War, Shakti breaks into the next zone and takes a Gladius there behind demons, minimal noob wars begin. I capture the enemy town.
126. Shakti takes a Rampart town, a Dragon Fly Hive with 8 Wyverns, a box with 5k experience.
127. Shakti stands at the Dragon Utopia.
131. I take the level 2 Dragon Utopia - they give Tome of Air Magic and a medal +3 Morale and Luck. I track Crag Hack's movements, position to break and trap Crag Hack.
132. I see the chaff on a noob hero - I split up, use Dimension Door to kill the chaff on the noob hero, chase down and kill Crag Hack.

Thanks for the game!

17.3.2013: twaryna (blue, Dungeon, Shakti, Shakti) def Pupa (red, Stronghold, Crag Hack, Crag Hack) Diamond 132

We used up all the respawns, in the end it ended well.

111. Spawned in underground, medium roads, dispersed into 4 heroes, revealed a free external dwelling of minotaurs, a couple of experience stones, free stuff, etc.
112. Shakti took the external dwelling, got Earth magic, all good, only trouble with money. 5 heroes.
113. Scouting, collecting free stuff.
114. Lich took a Necropolis town. Shakti fights on the respawn.
115. Another +2 towns Dungeon and Necropolis, Shakti got Logistics, preparing to hit the Giant external dwelling on the adjacent zone.
116. Took the Giant external dwelling. Running towards the secondary zone where an enemy lich is visible, there I can see a Genie behind Diamond Golems and a Dragon Utopia.
117. Chase away the enemy lich, sit Shakti in the town. Another Giant external dwelling is visible, a Naga Bank and a Dragon Fly Hive. 6 heroes, at home Minotaurs in fortress + 2 portals.
121. Build chains for logistics relay, position Shakti at the Naga Bank.
122. Do the logistics relay, break the guard of the Naga Bank and lots of stuff, Shakti has to take a Scholar - they give Luck. Take the Naga Bank, in the last seconds hit Master Genies for the Dragon Fly Hive and enter the Dragon Fly Hive, as a result I don't manage to take the Wyverns, lose 4 units and half of the main hero's turn.
123. Take the Giant external dwelling, kill Diamond Golems for the Genie.
124. Position Shakti to break the Monks on the next zone, the meat army leaves to pick up the Shackles.
125. Pick up the Shackles, Shakti breaks through into the next zone and picks up the Sword of Ruin (Gladius) behind Demons there, minor lich wars begin. Capture an enemy town.
126. Shakti takes a Rampart town, a Dragon Fly Hive for 8 Wyverns, a box of 5k experience.
127. Shakti stands at the Dragon Utopia.
131. Take the tier 2 Dragon Utopia - they give the Tome of Air magic and a medal +3 Morale and Luck. I track Crag Hack's movements, position myself to split and trap Crag Hack.
132. I see the meat army on a lich - I split, use Dimension Door to kill the meat army on the lich, chase down and kill Crag Hack.

Thanks for the game!

Thanks for the game, the spawn was not great, not a single external dwelling + a quarter of the respawn with Goblin external dwellings was blocked off by a cliff. I wanted to rematch on meeting, but it didn't work out because of a road block.

17.3.2013: WiZarDX_576 (blue, rampart, Ivor, Ivor) def stre (red, castle, Valeska, Clavius) Diamond 132

Started without restarts.
Week 1 - roads in all directions. Broke into all treasure zones. External elf dwelling. Dragon Fly Hives. Build - horses in the Citadel.
Week 2 begins with collecting 3 Dragon Fly Hives. Ivor experts Earth and Wisdom. I have 18 Wyverns, 13 elves (merged somewhere earlier), 5 horses, 2 Dragon Flies, and 1k [creatures] - I attack 80 cows for a Pandora's Box. They moraled as they should - in the end I came out with Grand [Elves] and 8 Wyverns. And the Pandora's Box for 20k gold. But at least there's money for buying.
131 - Ivor takes the 3rd level Griffin Conservatory without trouble. The opponent is spotted near a recently cleared treasure zone.
132 - we split up - catch Clavius - he apparently has no money for a ransom - gg.

His army was split. Didn't reach Clavius. In the end the opponent decided not to continue.

Thanks for the game.

17.3.2013: WiZarDX_576 (blue, rampart, Ivor, Ivor) def Stre (red, castle, Valeska, Clavius) Diamond 132

started without rests.
week 1 - roads in all directions. broke into all treasure zones. external elf dwellings. Dragon Fly Hives. build - horses in the Citadel.
week 2 starts with collecting 3 Dragon Fly Hives. Ivor experts Earth and Wisdom. I have 18 Wyverns, 13 elves (merged somewhere earlier), 2 Dragon Flies and 1 other - I go for 80 cows for a pandora's box. their morale acted up as expected - ended up with Grands and 8 Wyverns. and the pandora's box gave 20k gold. but at least I have money for buying.
131 - Ivor takes level 3 Griffin Conservatory without issues. opponent shows near a recently cleared treasure zone.
132 - we split up - catch Clavius - he has no gold for ransom as it turns out - GG.

his army was divided. didn't make it to Clavius. in the end the opponent decided not to continue.

thanks for the game.

that's how it was
I'm trash

16.03.2013 Anry (red, Rampart, Kyrre) def GoedenDag (blue, Stronghold, Gurnisson) Diamond 135

Started without restarts.
Week 1. Two native heroes arrive. Griffin Conservatory and Pandora's Box are revealed. Dungeon and Inferno villages are taken. Horses in the castle.
Week 2. Pandora's Box with 50 dwarves. +3 villages and the enemy's Dungeon is captured.
Week 3. Pink enemy is killed. Pandora's Box with 10k XP is taken with 20 champions, and Griffin Conservatory 2-a. Heading to another treasure zone, but the opponent shows up with 3 bears. I attack the 135, he buys peace and types GG.

Thanks for the game.

03/16/2013 Anry (red, Rampart, Kirrh) def GoedenDag (blue, Stronghold, Gurnisson) Diamond 135
Thank you for the game.

Thank you for the game.

is the next round already available?

... continued ...

10. Order of Actions

In a game with short control, there is always a risk of not having enough time to complete everything planned. Therefore, it is important to set priorities—what to do first and what to do later.

a) Buildings in castles. Usually, the turn should start with them. This is because it only takes a few seconds, but the benefit is great—it can be very unpleasant to get bogged down in a tough fight at the end of the turn, exhaust your time there, and consequently fail to place certain buildings. This is especially critical during the 1st week.

If there are not enough resources for construction at the start of the turn, but they may appear later, you should plan backup options—what to do if there isn't enough time to clear the resources. For example, playing as Castle, if the last fight is a dwarf den that will provide money for horses, you should estimate before the fight whether there will be enough time to take it. If there are doubts, place the citadel or griffins instead, and get the horses on the next turn.

b) Collecting freebies. Again, this takes little time but provides a ton of benefit, so on the first week, this is the second priority after buildings.

c) The main hero's move. In the late game, this is a higher priority action than resource gathering, especially if the game has entered the contact phase with the opponent. On the first week, the main hero can often even skip a turn, or stand by for a momentum boost near another guard post.

d) Chain management. Perhaps the lowest priority action; often, you can set them up haphazardly or not at all, intending to regroup somehow later.

If the chains have completely scattered, you can even dedicate a separate day specifically to restoring the transport network. It's not a very profitable turn, of course, but in the absence of pressing circumstances, you can easily do this once or twice per game. There is an additional bonus here—accumulating time for more important turns. Usually, such "unload" turns are made on the last day of the week—rather than spending a long and painful time breaking through tight guards on 117/127, it is sometimes more profitable to simply position the heroes so that on 121/131 you can break through everything quickly and easily with the growth boost.

The VT timer has a bug: if time runs out on the map and the player performs no actions (takes hands off the keyboard and mouse), the turn is not automatically passed; it hangs in a zero state. This allows for extra time to position heroes, calculate chains, etc. The main thing is not to enter towns and not to fight anyone (not even a quick fight), otherwise the turn will be passed immediately.

11. Checking if everything is OK

Usually at the end of the turn, when all actions are completed, players spend some more time checking if anything was forgotten, whether to buy another hero, or move a hero in a chain left or right—or simply for peace of mind.

This habit must be ruthlessly eliminated, as such actions have extremely low efficiency—they almost never bring benefit, but they burn through the timer significantly.

What's done is done; you should reflect on mistakes during the opponent's turn, not your own.

Example: if a message pops up when passing the turn saying that one of the heroes hasn't finished moving, but a visual inspection of the move-bars shows everyone has moved, it means someone has one extra cell left that isn't reflected in the move-bar. With long control, it makes sense to find this hero and try to utilize that cell, but with short control, you should pass the turn immediately, as the 5-15 seconds spent here are not recouped in any way.

12. Demonstrating Threats

If you and your opponent have established visual contact or are about to, you should reveal the threats coming from you at the last possible moment, giving the opponent no time to analyze them.

For example, if you place a hero for a momentum boost in front of a guard blocking the path to the opponent (which the opponent can see), the opponent will immediately start analyzing the situation, rebuilding plans, adjusting chains, etc. The more time that passes between the demonstration of the threat and the passing of the turn, the more time the opponent has to make the correct decision.

Therefore, such actions should be performed immediately before passing the turn. Ideally, as the very last action—reposition the hero and immediately pass the turn.

A variation on the same theme is flickering your heroes on the edge of the opponent's line of sight. This will force them to review the turn, perhaps more than once, thus wasting precious time.

Another trick is to occasionally flicker a hero in a lift/teleport that the opponent can only see from one side. This will force them to consider a possible momentum attack, a possible "bait fight" in that lift/teleport, and generally force them to think and be paranoid, which is useful in terms of spending their mental energy and time.

In general, when entering an unexplored lift/teleport, you should do this: enter and immediately hit space to fall back out. Only then move the screen and examine the opening perspectives. This is because, with short control in the contact or near-contact phase of the game, the opponent doesn't go for a smoke break during your turn; they carefully watch for possible appearance spots of your heroes, even with peripheral vision on the minimap. That is, as soon as your hero appears, they will immediately see who it is and what army they have. It is better not to give them such information.

Also, if they happen to be distracted and don't notice your hero flickering, it could backfire—either they will be too lazy to redo the turn and won't notice the threat at all, or they will do it and be forced to think about how to survive while the timer is ticking.

... to be continued ...

no news from the opponent for the second week, I wrote to him on ICQ and sent a message on the forum.

Please remove me from the tournament; I couldn't mentally prepare myself for the 4-minute matches.

Replacement in the draw:

herolwy - ~no1_knows_me~

Dear participants, there is only one week left until the end of the first round, but only half of the scheduled matches have been played. Please inform us in this topic or via ICQ if you have any problems completing your matches. If there is no response from one of the partners, a decision will be made based on the words of the other. Since this stage of the tournament is not yet critical, individual matches can be completed after the deadline for the first round without affecting the draw. However, you need to inform us about this in advance. Currently, the pair Palach_HP - Piterius has requested a postponement due to both players being on business trips.

Dear organizer, please be very strict with those who don't meet the deadline and punish everyone immediately :D