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Vatrix's Two Sides Map Won in 32.25 minutes! (r6720)

PostPosted: 22 Dec 2018, 03:43
by cmowla
I always was curious to know if my quick win strategy could be used against the elite defense in the map Two Sides, especially since you are given NO initial army, half of the average starting serfs and laborers, and only just average starting resources (definitely no starting weapons, horses, or armor).

In addition, instead of penetrating the northern village's defense (which is decent, but not great), I gave it my best shot (with normal game speed) to penetrate the eastern defenses, and I succeeded. I essentially disabled the bottom two AI within the first 40 minutes of the game. However, I traded a lot of my initially given resources in order to do it. So, although this worked, it may not be a good idea to then try to build a village which equips soldiers afterward, because you don't have a whole lot of time (and you have to trade for gold and iron weapons and armor in this map, as the smithy's and blacksmiths are disabled).

So, maybe someone can finish the above game with the given start (this is just the first 40 minutes of the game...it's not finished), but
(Full-working replay)
Two Sides (Quick Start).zip
After I did the above, I reused the beginning saves and instead penetrated the northern village within the first 25 minutes.

It isn't pretty (I guess it never is for my fellow traditional players), but I then beat the rest of the map without building a soldier-producing town.

Two Sides can be won in under two hours! (The game is technically over at 1 hour and 27 minutes.)
(Full-working replay)
cmowla Two Sides (1h58m25s) (r6720).zip
I had to be extremely aggressive to penetrate this defense in a timely manner, even with starting to attack early on!

Also, I guess I am a little biased, but for those who have never played this map before (or have never been able to survive the attacks to even begin to see how difficult it is to penetrate the defense, even with AI abuse, and even with attacking as early as possible), either of these replays should display the perfection of the design of the defense in this map!

Re: Vatrix's Two Sides Map Won in 91.5 minutes! (r6720)

PostPosted: 23 Dec 2018, 07:29
by cmowla
I was watching my 2 hour replay and scratching my head. Something didn't seem right.

(Next day...)
(Full-working replay, 18 Losses)
Two Sides in 1h31m33s.zip
Now all is well! :mrgreen:

Re: Vatrix's Two Sides Map Won in 91.5 minutes! (r6720)

PostPosted: 24 Dec 2018, 06:25
by cmowla
Looking at my replay again, I noticed something that should have been obvious if I would have only looked at the AI's early development.

Two Sides can be won in 44 minutes!
(Full-working replay)
Two Sides in 44m7s.zip
  • Although I lost some units, clearly it's possible to execute this same plan without losing any!
  • I did this at normal game speed (and reloaded FAR FEWER SAVES than my 2 hour and 1.5 hour wins). Therefore, clearly this win time can be decreased when using a slower game time speed.

Re: Vatrix's Two Sides Map Won in 91.5 minutes! (r6720)

PostPosted: 25 Dec 2018, 07:15
by cmowla
I went ahead and played it again. This time at 1/3 normal game speed.

The following is a 0 loss win in 32 minutes and 14 seconds. (When you see the stats, it says that I lost 3. However, those 3 losses were the villagers from the very beginning of the game that Vatrix set for you to lose by default.)
(Full-working replay)
Two Sides in 32m14s.zip
This shouldn't be too difficult to replicate at normal game speed (at least to get 0 losses). It would just be a pain to win it in 32 minutes at normal game speed! But for now, I guess this serves to be entertainment, as the above 44 minute win replay is more realistic regarding win time.