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theShevanesian (red, Stronghold, Crag Hack, Crag Hack) lose wowa (blue, Dungeon, Shakti, Ignissa) 8MM6a@137, fast roads
that's right — red lost, not blue won; for blue to win, quite a bit of suffering still lay ahead
overall, a heavy and unpredictable game, despite the boundless advantages acquired.... and with a sudden conclusion
on day 111 I build the experience stone building, and — oh wonder — the fire elemental gets diplomacy))) there were 2 days of restarts left, but in my joy I didn't even look at the respawn, and there was something to see — to the right and below, right next to the castle, mountains towered, behind which was barbarian land; the respawn was essentially a quarter to the left and up
Shakti takes an external dwelling by eye and crawls to the Troglodyte external dwelling and a scroll, while Ignissa, planned as the main hero, runs right along the road, squeezed by mountains also from above, gets the army, runs past the entrance to a one-way portal and through the stables dives into the underground, passes a couple of experience stones and crawls to the Inferno of the green bot
thoughts of combining demonology with diplomacy didn't cheer for long — there was, of course, a catastrophic lack of money, not a single treasure chest on the native respawn at all :( raised some money from green, but couldn't scrape together enough for either rebuilding or the tavern — by day 111 had 5 heroes, by day 117 barely bought the 6th
rebuilding was also poor — built Medusas in fort+portal with Eyes, the computer built me demons and a thousand
and diplomacy wasn't progressing, of course :D and it wasn't progressing doubly — Shakti, who had reached the experience stone, also becomes a diplomat besides a logistician; I switch to him, refused earth magic at 4th level, but at 5th they offered it again, decided to take it since they're offering
in week 2, struggle for money and leveling up the uber-skill, but futile (so Shakti died with basic diplomacy)))
I finally decide to dive into the one-way portal, although the exit near me, blocked by a weak hero, ruled out any thoughts of returning the army home
but near the 2nd exit there's a demon external dwelling, behind it a cartographer and a necromancy shield behind a group of shooting fish, and the shield was taken for free, but the cartographer — no way! Ignissa with a powerful army fights and somehow experts diplomacy! and immediately recruits thieves, but no one seems willing to join, only for money, which is absolutely not there
on day 131, having bought everything I could with the last pennies, I attack the herrings with Shakti; they bit back quite a bit; had to trade to open the cartographer
and right away a surprise — red, less than a day's travel away along the road, makes complex maneuvers; I see a Dragon Utopia being taken
on my turn, joins finally start coming! Ignissa, now level 7, is the main hero again, and Shakti, level 11, is the weak hero; I decide to risk him and try to push with the joined troops toward red, since the armies visible to the cartographer there weren't impressive))
I leave him at a boost point closest to red, but at night Crag Hack, running on his own business to the lift, turns around, barges into us, hitting Shakti along the way with a marksman (there was some tactics there too) and stops at the one-way portal
red's main army isn't that strong; I think about trying to drive them off with whoever I can reach, but first I check: stats over 20, plenty of mana, and no doubts about scrolls)))
so Ignissa carries the main army to orange's barbarian capital and stays there for the night
meanwhile, Crag Hack turns away from the one-way portal without lighting up the cartographer; I wonder — either it's not needed anymore, or I was just lucky)) inspecting the map detects no other cartographers, and the next day red visits the lookout and everything becomes clear — I was lucky!
Meanwhile, Ignissa crawls through the swamp toward the Dragon Utopia and necromancy boots (the grave was a starting artifact, expert necromancy is available, and I'll figure out the cloak somehow on the revealed map))) although there's not even a hint of control yet; the rest of the map is cut off from us, and there's only one thought: if they chase me, I'll buy them off with diplomacy
they gave chase, they'll catch up soon; I recruit for 18 thousand — 6 ghosts (I have 1st turn))) and trade from 3 markets everything down to zero
at night I rerolled for blue color — money trickled in, but I was just slightly short to buy them off... only after an implosion on the Azure Dragons, of which one remained)))
in the morning I buy myself out of the tavern and run to the underground, where weak heroes scouted the Dragon Utopia; in front of it, 44 Crushers also want to join for money — 17K and change :)
nearby is a gold bank + 6K from the castles; there's hope of scraping together enough, and after the Dragon Utopia it'll be easier ;)
but it never came to that — at night Crag Hack gives the army to Halon, who runs to the former orange capital, while he himself stays on 1 angel! I have 2 weak heroes nearby with remnants of the joined main army; a decent Xyron from prison with about 50 wolves and skeletons, 8 Medusas, and singles, SP 5, reaches Crag Hack; the thought was one: drive him away and get some money for the angel and a weapon to make scraping together the nearly 18K for the Crushers' join easier
but Crag Hack, on tactics, didn't run; instead, he cast protection from water! I have 30 mana and a schooled-up lightning bolt for 135; I hit in round 1 with Inferno and Medusas; Crag Hack pounds them; the angel could have cast stone skin in return, but got a morale boost and finishes off
round 2, last chance to buy off, but the opponent didn't calculate all the options, or maybe the Inferno from the specialist threw them off; whatever the case, lightning finished off the little angel, and while I was thinking how to save the dropped artifacts from Halon, the opponent quit
GG, the gift was quite unexpected, but thanks not for it, but for the game itself :)