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Day Four (concluding)
Apparently most people felt the approach of the inevitable tournament final, along with our merry festivities, so from the evening and through the night they had more than just one shot of sorrow — some had so much that no one could wake them until departure (hey Max :D ). As usual, I got up early, and Kostya woke up almost at the same time, because we had to gather the people (some in pieces!). Anyway, after having some tea, we slowly started to pack up, quietly thinking to ourselves, how are we going to play the final... we only have a tiny apartment nearby. Leaving mountains of mess for the poor cleaner, we moved our belongings to the apartment, everyone scattered to grab a bite somewhere; by the time we returned, the concentration of people per square meter exceeded all imaginable limits, so we couldn't sit anywhere except stacked like cordwood — that's how we spent about 3 hours, first trying to rent another apartment, but some issues came up with that, and people started slowly heading home. We decided we couldn't waste any more time, and after a small rearrangement of the room, we more or less settled in to play! We sketched a diamond, red Barbarian vs blue Conflux... and the first spawn was played, where from my lookout I see a Griffin Conservatory deep in my respawn and 2 more at the exit... super :smile44:! Just need to collect all this before the opponent arrives. Wars with neutrals begin; the first turn had a pretty terrible spread + one road blocked by 20+ Grand Elves, and for nothing... a chest of 2 piles :smile21:. I immediately dive into the underground, grab an Inferno town there, but further the road is a one-way and a block; I keep going, there's a Rampart town and another native town after it, and the lookout near it reveals 2 fat Pandora's Boxes and an Orb of the Firmament behind Vampires! I start quietly rejoicing — a stack of Angels and the starting Ballista with the Orb should just destroy everything. I break through to the portal leading to the Inferno computer, and there's another Griffin Conservatory! But then, suddenly and unexpectedly, from the side of the 2 Griffin Conservatories, the opponent appears, scares off the Tower computer, and is clearly preparing with a bird shipment to take out 50+ Orc guards at the pass. Nothing to meet him with yet; I couldn't level up Artillery, kept getting Defense or Earth Magic, so even with neutrals there were problems. Luckily, I had enough resources at the external market, and gold wasn't much of an issue, so I put Mages in the Castle. But the opponent didn't wait; on day 117 he breaks through to me and drives me deep into the respawn. My red color was my only saving grace. On day 121, I buy 3 Bears, 8 Roc, plus a bit of extra; the opponent checks the Griffin Conservatory and with a shipment takes it down without major losses (a level 2, naturally). I'm panicking from 4 Birds and 2 Angels, plus Breeza with Lightning and likely 6 (or 7) spell power. I break into a native town for the Gurnison, bring in all the goods, money and resources down to zero, everything on the line. Headlong, I rush first to the Dragon Fly Hive for Archmagi, but it's a low-level one; on his turn, the opponent makes some vague hero manipulations without revealing the look-out in the middle of the respawn, which would have made clear where to strike (but it turned out everything there also went into trade). Immediately I dash to the fattest Pandora's Box with 50+ Grand Dendroid Soldiers, and there are 78 of them, but I have 11 Attack and Expert Offense. Despite all that, the dirty wood things don't care about my micro, and at the critical moment three of them get morale and NAIL my poor birds :smile05:... nothing to be done, I sacrifice them to take out 2 stacks of logs; the rest are dealt with by micromanagement without much trouble... and they give 15 Thunderbirds, a lovely gift! :smile03: Immediately I hit a stack of 100 basic Vampires for the Sphere; they eat one Thunderbird. Artillery and Defense reach Expert, and I'm 300 XP from Expert Earth Magic. I calm down — now he has to scramble to turn things around, and judging by how he bypassed the second Griffin Conservatory, it was level 3-4 with a Grail — which suits us perfectly! :smile51: Next turn, I take a small Pandora's Box with 80 Goblins, capture the Rampart, build a Mage Guild, which let me down — no Oil (Slower) or Shield, but at least Stone Skin, and that's okay... By this time my main had been taken from me, and PReDs set up a very careful chain for retreat that I had no way to break. Next turn, the max Griffin Conservatory is taken! The opponent retreats, splitting in different directions — Breeza on a bird slipped into the underground, where she fortunately found an exit... I take back my main, drive out the roaches, and by day 125 chain together all the Griffin Conservatories. My productivity basically ends there until the end of the game. From 4 Griffin Conservatories I get 10 Angels (4+1+4+1). I decide I need to push with such an advantage, but the opponent reveals a batch of defeated computers, which significantly increased his income, making it tough to fight off his magical roaches' onslaught. However, I squeeze him slowly, take the only Dragon Utopia on the map — a level 1 one, which gives +4+4 stats and +3+3 Morale/Luck — not bad either. But money problems are so severe that I don't even dream of upgrading Bears. I took his towns very slowly; I did manage to get the Bracers of Protection on his respawn. The lack of Logistics was a big issue, but my battle stats with 10 Angels and 5 Bears were around 20, which let me run around with the remnants of Thunderbirds with impunity. In the end, I only managed to fully take over his corner by the middle of the third week, and the Castle as well. With 12k income, it seems you can sit and upgrade, but no — I spotted him with one of the lookouts, saw the underground he was heading for, and even though the Tavern told me his army was larger there, I went to intercept him. Honestly, I wanted to catch him exiting the underground, but the movement didn't line up, so I couldn't catch him by surprise. Dima combines his army and decides to attack himself. The meat advantage is there: 6 Firebirds, 25 Medusae, 4 Angels, 28 Monks, 25 Air Elementals, 70 Faeries, and 8 Psychic Elementals with stats 16 12 (but without Defense, which mattered a lot, as did -1 Morale and zero Luck), against 10 Angels, 7 Brown Bears, 1 Roc, and 4 stacks of 3-4 Goblins + Ballista and First Aid Tent, 19 16 +3 Morale +3 Luck... After the Tactics setup from the opponent, to eliminate the retaliation with Faeries, a very pleasant thing happens — negative morale on the Faeries and Medusae. Nimble Goblins, at the right moment, block the Wyrvens and Angels, and my Angels with Wait charge into the Birds, cutting down 5 out of 6... In response, a Bird blasts away both Goblin blocking stacks with its breath and removes the retaliation from an Angel — I wisely fly it away... After that, it's easier. The Ballista spares no one, and the approaching Wyrvens take -3 from a direct arrow. On the new turn, my 10 Angels neatly chop down his 4, and the Medusae get demoralized again. After all the Angels attack, he still has 6 left, and that's considering I only got luck on the Ballista once; I didn't even dream of morale... But then the Bears showed that their claws aren't just for show, and with a morale + luck proc, they tear into the Monk stack. After that, no chance remains... VICTORY!!! :smile03: :smile49:
The award ceremony follows, which you can watch in the video. And despite the tempting offers to stay and make up for lost time — to play poker with the guys leaving only the next day — we decide to set off, since our driver had slept it off, and Griza had to get up for work in the morning. We had a stirrup cup, said a heartfelt goodbye, promising each other that this meeting would not be the last, got into our UAZik, and were gone :smile28: :smile14: The return trip passed in a pleasant half-drowse with a feeling of complete satisfaction. After getting home, I checked the stream and collapsed unconscious! Well, that's how it was, gentlemen. I'm incredibly happy to have met all these wonderful people — such moments are etched into memory seriously and for a long time, and my plans include refreshing them regularly! Thank you everyone, you're all free and did great! :smile47:
