Posts from Favorites, to battle! - 7 - The Battle of Favorites! - 7

Gave up the double and the final was a one-way street.

Thanks for the game.

I rested poorly; I passed the turn on 112 and only then noticed that the opponent had Necromancers. My layout was decent, but not perfect—a few available Hives, good upgrades for the folder. However, the prospect of necromancy combined with Castle troops was scary—I could have arrived at the final with even fewer bones. Moreover, against PReDS, I need a layout that is above average. After thinking long and hard, I took a rest on 113; as it turned out, there were as many as 3 Necromancers there, including Izra and Tamika. It seemed like resting wasn't in vain, but the opponent got a double while I got an average layout. At first, I guessed the direction wrong and ended up in a dead-end village; luckily, I passed through the chain and killed a Rampart. Hives were spotted on stones far from the road. One confluence—which I also decided not to visit, but instead rush straight to the center. There turned out to be strong blocks—one at the prison, another at the box. I killed a Hive with 6 Vivs, passed to the stones for the next Hives. On the third, I took 3 Hives (4+6+6)—already not bad, but I realized I was falling behind. Passed to the center, where I cleared a couple of prisons with level 10 and 5 heroes; in the box, they gave me 50 wolves. Confluences weren't visible, but a couple of Dragon Utopias were standing—there is contact with blue. On the fourth week, I enter the Dragon Utopia—I give a diplomat's ring and a bag of money :mad: —the opponent captures my Rampart and later the capital. In the second Dragon Utopia, they gave me a dragon tooth crown and shackles of war :mad: There are more Dragon Utopias, but here scouting finally spotted a couple of confluences—on the swamp and stones. I decide to take another Dragon Utopia through them, but I didn't understand how the opponent ended up in my rear and caught up with me very quickly—Valka with log, pathfinding, boots, and stable, plus she ran very far with DD. Galtran didn't even have time to put on the +2 speed cloak before the final.

Thanks for the game!

Group A
90 marks were awarded for the Dungeon. Although, even without that, the odds weren't particularly in our favor. Thanks for the game.

Group A
90 marks for the Dungeon were justified. Although, even without that, the odds weren't particularly good. Thanks for the game.

17 lives for Pandora and the Scroll were justified. Thanks for the game :D

The birds became entrenched in the Fortress, 3 cons on the main hero, perfectly timed – a level 1, 2, and 3 unit, a hidden stash of air units and elementals, so life was manageable... the road was narrow and long, and only towards the end of turn 2 did I manage to gather everything, and then I moved towards the company, but I received news that it had fallen.

Thanks for the game.

I confirm. I was responsibly drunk throughout the entire game. Accordingly, I once again failed the game. Thank you for the game!

I completely retired (two of them 111 due to blocks), my opponent still had 111 left, a spread of 5 heroes, my opponent had fewer, but the restart doesn't take. Immediately ran to the swamp computer, as it turned out via the longest road in 3 days, killed Vistan, Bron with 8 wasps, took the computer on 113, on 114 captured Conflux, killed Monere and the scout hero, took the shield +5, 117 falls and the necro, scouted 2 Griffin Conservatories but all 100-249, no Dragon Fly Hives, gathered the Logisticians' band (Kyrre, Dessa, Pire), on 121 with 4 Wyverns, 5 horses, 17 crosses and archers, I position to break into the Conflux treasure, but news of the defeat arrives. Thanks for the game!!!

At the respawn there's a stable and Boots of Speed; it felt somewhat bugged and for some reason I captured a pink Rampart on the first week. 122 Naga Lord 4 and Griffin Conservatory level 2, 125 max Griffin Conservatory. By the end of the week not a single Dragon Fly Hive, but instead I have 14 Angels. 131 mini Dragon Utopia, 132 Dragon Utopia level 3. Thanks for the game :D

At respawn, stable and boots, felt kind of buggy and for some reason I captured a pink Rampart on the first week. 122 Nagash 4 and Griffin Conservatory 2, 125 max Griffin Conservatory. No Dragon Fly Hives until the end of the week, but there are 14 angels. 131 mini Dragon Utopia, 132 Dragon Utopia 3. Thanks for the game :D

Thanks for the game!

The opponent took 1 re and we started.
Labeta came in, then I dug up Aislin in the tavern, thought about who to make the main. Decided to ask the scholar for advice, ended up with Aislin having Navigation, Labeta as main. On the respawn I found a stable and 4 crypts, nothing else good really, but the money for the m-ke is oh so needed. I cleared the crypts, broke through to the secondary, took a Necro village. At home, the Mage Guild had neither Haste nor Mirth, so I built another Mage Guild in the village, and there it had both. I found a +4 Hat for 10-19 gr demons and 2 Gold Mines for gr wolves and mages. I took the wolves right away with Haste, decided to take the mages right away too, since the location wasn't very convenient and I didn't want to come back. I attacked them with Labeta using skeletons + zombies from the village, beat them with shooter, ran away and finished them off with a scout. The army left had 10+ air elementals, but the income became simply wonderful. By week 1 day 7, I had levels 1-4 in the citadel.

On the second week, I started thinking about what to do next. From the secondary, there were 3 passages — along the road for 50+ elves, along the road for 50+ gargoyles, and off-road for 20+ ogres. I broke through the gargoyles, took an Inferno village. Labeta has Water Magic expert and Advanced Earth. I opened the overview, saw that in the area behind the ogres there was a Shield+2, and it was wanted in a hut for my Flax. I ran to claim it, and then the opponent arrived in that area, took a Castle village and broke through the guard of the Dragon Fly Hive. On my turn, I bring 15 Ice Elementals, claim the quest artifact and attack the red player's hero with an army. There were 4 Wyverns, 3 Basilisks, about 20 gr Lizardmen and a few other units. I cast Mass Bless and kill everyone in a few turns, while I lose 2 Ice Elementals and 4-5 Air Elementals to shooter fire. I enter the Thieves' Guild with a scout and see with surprise that the red player's army is still stronger. But on day 2 week 7, I turn in the artifact, they give me 20 Crusaders, I set up Birds, bring everything to Labeta, and seeing this, the opponent types gg.

Thanks for the game.

We started without rests. Opponent has a native computer, but I have stables under the Castle and overall it's not bad. On the first day I captured a village, took 3 external dwellings of archers, 1 of swordsmen and spearmen, 8 heroes with horses + griffins in the Citadel. Vido is decently leveled with 40 shooters and the rest. On turn 121, Red surrenders.
Thanks for the game!

We started without restarts, my opponent had his native town, but I had stables near the castle and overall it was decent. On [month] 1st I captured the village, took 3 external dwellings of archers, 1 of swordsmen and spearmen, 8 heroes, horses + griffins in the Citadel. Vido was well leveled with 40 archers and the rest. On 121 [day] red should surrender.
Thanks for the game!

Confirm.Thx for game.

All the time there was a shortage of gold, few heroes... due to the distance of the ore and wood mines, construction was delayed. In the first week, I reached the computer and took an external dwelling of Wyverns in the intermediate zone, and also through the portal. Built an Eye of the Mage in the Citadel.
In the second week, I explored a treasure zone with a village. Gathered 31 Wyverns and a couple of Angels. At the beginning of the third week, I move to the center and immediately run into an attack by the blue player.
Shakti: 12, 9, 5, 145 mana, 1 Angel, 31 Wyverns, 87 Troglodytes, and singles. Magic: Expert Earth, Slow, Arrow for 120 :)
Shiva: 19, 10, 6, 40 mana, 2 Angels, 5 Harpies, 5 Evil Eyes, 8 Wyverns, and singles.
Shiva attacked without scouting, clearly not expecting a fat stack of Wyverns.
Long fight with Slow from both sides, single Haste... Arrow for 120... etc.
The presence of a huge mana reserve for Shakti played a role, and Shiva had to surrender with 2 Harpies and 4 Evil Eyes, while I had a stack of 26 Wyverns left.
On the next turn, I attack a hero from the tavern, he surrenders and erases Shiva GG.
Thanks for the game!

I took my rest on 112, then my opponent took both. The surface spawned, there's Galthran – can't rest at all. I took a small crypt, I see two dwarf mines. However, Stracker and two native heroes came in – i.e., nothing to get a boost, and only 66 skeletons.
112 – in the experience stone, I immediately upgrade Necromancy for both Galthran and Stracker, and Clavius. Vidomina starts from the very beginning with an advanced skill. Only 4 heroes so far, which is bad. Roads are average, one of the exits turned out to be on snow and behind the higher elves.
113 – the second road leads to GO... We're screwed. I broke through to the snow off-road, bought a hero with a gremlin. I took both dwarf mines, but they are minimal. I placed Liches, but managed to buy only two.
114 – on the snow, a Griffin Conservatory and a prison behind skeletons are scouted. I found an off-road exit – swamp – also not an option. The last exit is through a portal, which takes several days to reach. No choice, I run there.
115 – in the prison, Pikedram came in. Bad, but I'm trying to somehow reach the Tower with those Gargoyles and Cyra. Everything turned out to be cut off. I took another small crypt, got a sword +3. Galthran got Logistics! Maybe it's not all bad yet...
116 – I take the Dragon Fly Hive for the stats.
117 – I break through the portal. On the other side – a horde of Gogs, stone golems, and some remote corner. Again, very bad. How to rush?.. Especially when GO – Arch Devils... I placed Knights in the Stronghold and even upgraded them. 130 skeletons gathered.
121 – the Griffin Conservatory on the snow was minimal, but I didn't have enough heroes in the chain to take it – everything is very stretched. So I just brought 3 Knights to Galthran, killed the Gogs, found a portal to the treasure zone. The treasure zone turned out to be an underground with lava, it threw me into some other corner.
122 – I sent Vidomina into the treasure zone. The guards are hostile everywhere, it's too early for this. I transfer troops home, +1 Angel. Not far from the Tower town, I found a portal to another treasure zone, so I'm thinking of running there.
123 – I finally take the secondary town, breaking through the elves. At the end of the turn, there was a planned split of Galthran, which actually happened against the Griffin Conservatory. Very frustrating, but the army couldn't be recovered. I stop near a horde of Stone Golems for Pandora.
124 – there turn out to be 100 Stone Golems. Not bad, 10k experience and the most useful skill possible in this situation – Pathfinding. I also grabbed Attack along the way. On the way to the treasure zone, I grabbed a Dragon Fly Hive, 6 Wyverns.
125 – I burst into the treasure zone. It turns out to be a narrow underground passage. Besides a Dragon Utopia at the entrance, there's practically nothing. And it's too early to take the Dragon Utopia. I run for luck.
126 – didn't get much luck. A couple of skeleton guards, a Dragon Fly Hive for 4.
127 – reached a dead end, where I looted a Devil cache. I turn around, I need to take the Dragon Utopia at the start of the third week, almost 400 skeletons already. At home, I built a Castle, because I'll get money from the Dragon Utopia.
131 – I transport troops, run to the Dragon Utopia.
132 – the Dragon Utopia turns out to be a two-stack. I lost 6 Death Knights there, because the dragons decided they were tastier than the Wyverns. They give Thunder Helmet, Necklace +3 to all stats, and Ring of Speed. Well, not bad. Meanwhile, Clavius on the stones finds another Dragon Utopia near the untaken Griffin Conservatory. Obviously, I need to run to it. For now, I split troops and replenish mana.
133 – while Galthran runs, Vidomina takes the maximum Dragon Fly Hive and a +2 health potion at the home respawn.
134 – Galthran is still running...
135 – almost reached it. I took the Griffin Conservatory – it's a minimal one, damn it.
136 – the two-stack Dragon Utopia goes down very easily, I lost a Vampire Lord and a few skeletons. They give poorly – Red Sphere and a Bag of Gold. Alright, I head out to that underground treasure zone where I already was over a week ago scouting.
137 – Pandora behind the Monks turned out to give experience, I took the prison. At home – Bone Dragons, and Stracker farms skeletons with the remaining Knights. Golems are gathered and upgraded – in total, over 150 bonus guys came out.
141 – I took the Dragon Fly Hive from Magic Elementals, but profiteered, forgetting to remove the sword. Minus 100 skeletons. But a shield +3+3 and 6 Wyverns. The Pandora, for which I actually ran here (100 Grand Dendroids) also turned out to give experience.
142 – and the treasure zone ended, basically. I found a Barbarian town off-road. I probably need to take it and split troops there. But I still decided to check one more nook. At home, meanwhile, a Dragon Fly Hive for 8 was taken.
143 – not finding anything worthwhile, I split troops to the Tower. There's already GM4 with useless Resurrection (not even Earth Magic to properly raise Wyverns).
144 – I set GM5. Fly. Well, at least something, but if only I had it earlier...
145 – I also set up an Artifact Merchant. I buy Vampire's Cloak and a Morale badge. I take the Barbarian, having gathered the entire army first, split troops there, run along the road to the opponent. On the way, I took the Speed Cloak. This added confidence – 700 skeletons and 36 Wyverns with 20-14 stats running across the entire field – that's not bad. Especially since, according to the tavern, the opponent's situation had been pretty bad since the first week and still was.
146 – I reached the grass. Nimrus found a Dimension Door scroll! Just what I need.
147 – I settled in the capital. It has the bare minimum of buildings (Horses-Swords-Bows-Pikemen with a Castle). I learned Dimension Door for Galthran. Now I can be completely calm.
211 – blue heroes are nowhere to be seen, scouting, Dimension Door, I settled in the swamp, more scouting, I control almost the entire map. I upgraded my Wyverns, bought the growth – got 39 Monarchs. The opponent is in the grass treasure zone, but from Air Scrying it didn't seem rich. Actually, that's how it turned out, surrender follows.
Thank you for the game!

group O.

The game turned out to be quite something, of course. We cheesed as much as we could. But let's take it step by step.

All the Ramparts were picked, +1 in the block. The worst surrenders came from all sides, well, as usual.
The only road led to a village in the center, behind which there was an immediate block of 50+ Evil Eyes. Everything else was off-road.
Monja without Air, second hero - Kalt with 5 Fish. Ended up with an army of 11 Fish and Fairies. First week in the Citadel, Xsi is there.
123 - native town of Necropolis. Poked around a bit, ran the Fairies through the Converter. After a couple of Nagashis, Griffins were built in the Castle.
Found 2 Griffin Conservatories 2+3, which were taken on days 127-131. Cheesed up 400 Skeletons.
Heading to the center.
132-133 - Dragon Fly Hives +6+8.
135 - Xsi there takes a box of all Air Magic and Necromancy Cloak after a Green 10. High time to buy Air Magic at home for Xsi.
Monja on 2 Griffins ran off to scout, sensing the trail of the Red player.
(After the game, as it turned out - during this Pandora's Box on the same day, Kleva was taking a Dragon Utopia with КЗ).
On day 141, the opponent reveals his entire domain (Town Portal + Meteor Shower) and 4 Angels. Definitely not worth charging in headfirst. Still unknown how many Skeletons he has.
Week 4 ended with 2 Dragon Utopias and two Mage Guilds lvl 4. Gave some stat boosts. Xsi levels Air Magic. The second Mage Guild gave Town Portal. Not bad. Though Skeletons didn't pile up much. Xsi found a Pandora's Box for the entire 5th level. Now we have Implosion too.

Start of the 2nd month, the game is dragging on. Deesa arrives. Decided to level Logistics. Built Mage Guild lvl 5 at home - Dimension Door. I thought - yes, we have it! Taught everyone Town Portal and Dimension Door. Vokial also got leveled up - Logistics + Earth + Air. Began capturing the map with 3 heroes under full control. Meat from the villages goes to Skeletons whenever possible.

Sometime in the middle of the 2nd month, we revealed each other's cheese. Nearly 2k Skeletons each. He got Archangels. I had a stack of Griffins, Beholders, and Swamp Drakes cheesed up.
Constant back-and-forth intercepting strategic villages that were in the center of the map. Captured a Castle - upgraded my Angels. With the boost on Earth, Xsi's Implosion hits for 4k. I have more Skeletons, but not by much, while he has twice as many Eliks and Archangels.

Towards the end of the 2nd month, I built a Legions, gave it to Deesa, confronting the opponent in bracers with 4.5k movement points and 2 Dimension Doors. Skeletons are being amassed at a furious pace with Necro artifacts, the boost from the town, and all the meat from the villages.
In the last Dragon Utopia, we got a Catapult. Found a Cape for +2 Speed. Finally caught the opponent's main hero. Though I lost mine a few times.

In the end, +3 Speed, Red Orb, x2 stack of upgraded Power Liches. I have a slight edge in stats. Nothing to fear. Though I almost got caught out with Vokial carrying the army and missing key artifacts (and offensive magic was only on Xsi).
Captured the Castle yet again. This time, I won't give up the Archangel growth. And the opponent attacks himself.

GG, thanks for the game!

The opponent messed up the super shock. If he had known it would turn out like that, he wouldn't have agonized over the blocked auto-attack:D. Kirryushi had a pretty tough time...

Thanks for the game.

There was a constant shortage of gold, few heroes... the distant ore and wood mines slowed down building. In the first week, I rushed to the computer and took an external dwelling of Wyverns in the intermediate zone, and also through the portal. Built the lookout in the Citadel.
In the second week, I scouted the treasure zone with a village. Collected 31 Ducks and a couple of Angels. At the start of the third week, I move to the center and immediately run into an attack from Blue.
Shakti 12,9,5, 145 mana, 1 Angel, 31 Ducks, 87 Troglodytes, and singles. Magic: Expert Earth, Oil, Archery at 120:)
Shiva 19,10,6, 40 mana, 2 Angels, 5 Birds, 5 Psychos, 8 Ducks, and singles
Shiva attacked without scouting, clearly not expecting such a fat stack of Wyverns.
A long fight with Oil on both sides, single Haste... Archery at 120... etc.
Shakti's huge mana reserve played a role, and Shiva had to buy herself off with 2 Birds and 4 Psychos, while I had a stack of 26 Ducks left.
Next turn, I attack a hero from the tavern, he buys himself off and wipes out Shiva. GG.
Thanks for the game!

In the first week, birds weren't built, since I'm not Red and there was less chance of finding Mercury — and of course, I didn't find enough. Each location had a convenient well — perfect for scouts Bрисса and Ciel. Built Psychos in the Citadel. Shiva leveled up decently and was the main hero (Fire was only offered on the 4th). The Green computer was blocked by a box with Ghosts. I killed it as early as the second week. That's 10k experience. In the Necromancer's castle — a municipality :cool: and building up to Vampires. On his respawn, I found a level 2 Griffin Conservatory and +4 Chain. Then I broke into the main area and from there ran to the treasure zone, where I entered the library. A Dragon Fly Hive was visible behind Ghost Minotaurs; without upgraded Oil, I didn't want to attack, especially not with scouts. By the end of the second week — birds in the castle.

On turn 131, I bring 3 birds (so 5 total). If I had traded, I could have bought another bird, but I thought it wasn't urgent. Broke into the swamp zone — there was a Crypt. Then a box for experience behind Medusas. I was given Air. And then I noticed Red :confused: Shakti with an army. I see two uncleared Dragon Fly Hives in the zone. A Prison nearby. I free Octavia with Advanced Logistics and a boosted Gold skill + another +350 specialty — that'll be my undoing)) I take a Dragon Fly Hive with her — 8 creatures — and return the army. I don't have enough moves to check Shakti, I trade for a ceasefire, then attack with Shiva. The goal is to deal damage, since there's no way to take out such a stack of Wyverns and a million mana. We fight, I buy myself off. I don't buy back in the castle because I don't have enough gold. I save the game, since the battle dragged on time-wise and I needed to leave. Then we continue on my turn. I have enough to buy one bird and a couple of tier-1 Fairies. I pass. After Octavia's attack, I buy myself off — after all, such a profitable hero. Yeah... Then my turn. In the tavern — that very Octavia and Inteus with third-week meat. GG.

Thanks for the game)