Battle Realms WotW: Skirmish - Lotus vs 4 Players Team (Kill the Keep, 7 - Off the Beaten Path)

Описание: Tower/bridge defense against 4 allied enemy players (all clans). Vanilla GOG version + widescreen patch without fov modifications.

Game Type: Kill the Keep (destroy prebuilt Keeps of players, protect yours)
Map: 7 - Off the Beaten Path
All settings max (40 population etc.)
Normal game speed

Player | AI | Clan | Team | Handicap
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Red | --- | Lotus | - | Standard
Blue | Random (Utara) | Dragon | 1 | Standard
Green | Random (Utara) | Serpent | 1 | Standard
Orange | Random (Otomo) | Lotus | 1 | Standard
Purple | Random (Utara) | Wolf | 1 | Standard

(no handicaps, cause I thought it was going to be difficult as Dragon or Serpent, but it really wasn't)

Timeline:
0:00:00 - skirmish setup
0:00:12 - start
0:05:36 - first enemy attack
0:08:27 - inb4 Zymeth in play
0:14:08 - four towers
0:16:49 - first real test (multiple players attack)
0:20:40 - Koril summoned for more fun
0:27:05 - major enemy onslaught
0:31:10 - Zymeth vs Zymeth
0:35:20 - getting some master warlocks for variety
0:41:55 - another Zymeth vs Zymeth battle (featuring Dragon)
0:43:48 - last defense before moving out
0:46:15 - attack on Wolf
0:50:40 - attack on Lotus
0:58:45 - attack on Serpent
1:02:05 - attack on Dragon
1:04:10 - victory and stats

This is a very specific setup I like to do on this map, which is normally designed for 7 players, with 3 starting positions at the top and 4 at the bottom. The only way to get to the other river bank is through a narrow patch of shallow water in the middle. This makes it an excellent defense point as long as there are no enemy players on your side of the river.

There are two main challenges in this scenario:
1) securing the chokepoint in early game so that no enemies are able to get across and attack your base anywhere else;
2) choosing the right time to venture out and take out the enemy players while not compromising the river pass. I made it a bit easier for myself by selecting "Kill the Keep" mode instead of "Survival". This also makes the duration of the match shorter.

After having quite a lot of troubles with Serpent in this challenge, Lotus seems like a piece of cake. Their towers are just too good, any army will be destroyed with lightning charges from four towers, but it was rarely necessary due to exceptional quality of ranged attackers the Lotus clan has. And you can even make them immune to enemy projectiles with the most basic staff adept battle gear.

For moving out to take out opponents, the Lotus has two major advantages over other clans:
channelers don't need stamina to heal
their units don't depend on fire to be effective against buildings, which means they are not inhibited by rain like others, Serpent especially

Casualties in this 1h match: 11 units and 0 buildings.

Versions for other clans:
Dragon:    • Battle Realms WotW: Skirmish - Dragon vs 4...  
Serpent:    • Battle Realms WotW: Skirmish - Serpent vs ...