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NOT MY RUN!!!!!!!!!
See more speedruns at speeddemosarchive.com
Author Paul 'Lag.Com' Davies
Author comments
ABOUT THE GAME
Arcomage is a cool little minigame involving a set of cards, two rival wizards and a lot of numbers. Originally it was part of the Might & Magic series, but it can also be played on its own. It's quite easy to pick up. You are a wizard in a Tower, protected by a Wall. The size of these objects varies as the game goes on. You also maintain stockpiles of resources, of which there are three types
Bricks Red cards; and generally revolve around building up your Wall
Gems Blue cards; usually make your Tower bigger or theirs smaller
Recruits Green cards; usually directly attack the other wizard's Wall or Tower
For these to accumulate you need Quarries, Magic and Dungeons respectively. There are numerous cards that deal with increasing your own numbers of these and decreasing your opponent's. There are also some cards that increase both player's counts. Balancing the need to stockpile resources to pay for more expensive cards with the ability to keep your Tower from being destroyed comprises the core gameplay. There are two main ways to win
Destruction this happens when your opponent's Tower reaches 0 size
Building if you manage to reach the maximum height with your Tower (by default, 50), you achieve this victory
Wall if both wizards 'win' at the same time, the size of their Walls is compared. I don't know what happens if they are equal too
I've done runs of the first two, though I do have a recording of the third one occurring.
The deck itself is always made of the same set of cards. Some cards have multiple copies in the deck, I refer to these as Common, and the others as Rare.
BUILDING RUN
In opposition to the Destruction run, this time I need to efficiently gain Tower and also protect it from damage by maintaining at least a passable Wall. On the other hand, I could try to ruin my opponent's Recruit/Dungeon count so that they can't pay for the damage in the first place. Important spells
Crystallize (8g) - gain 11 Tower, lose 6 Wall
Power Burn (3g) - gain 2 Magic, lose 5 Tower
Quarry's Help (4g) - gain 7 Tower, lose 10 Bricks
These spells are very cheap for what they do, although they come at a small hit to other resources. And of course, they are all Rare. Power Burn may seem counter-intuitive because of the loss to Tower, but it very quickly makes up for itself.
This time my opponent goes first. This isn't always a bad thing, in fact, this time it was very good!
-- TURN 1
Enemy MadCowDisease (0) - all players lose 6 Recruits
Me Quartz (1g) - gain 1 Tower, play again
Me Spell Weavers (3g) - gain 1 Magic
The enemy's first play pretty much destroys their ability to use green cards for the rest of the match. Bad decision. Quartz is one of the small group of cards that has a miniscule effect then lets you take another turn. Generally these are very useful though their effects are tiny. It ended up being extremely important for me. Spell Weavers is the second cheapest way to gain Magic, so I was glad to draw it.
-- TURN 2
Enemy Reinforced Wall (8b) - gain 8 Wall
Me Dwarven Miners (7b) - gain 4 Wall, gain 1 Quarry
Neither of these cards has a huge impact, but that additional Quarry will help me play the few red cards that increase Tower.
-- TURN 3
Enemy Amethyst (2g) - gain 3 Tower
Me Spell Weavers
I don't care how tall my enemy's Tower gets as long as I outrun him. The second Spell Weavers gives me all the Magic I should need to finish quickly.
-- TURN 4
Enemy Crumblestone (7g) - gain 5 Tower, enemy loses 6 Bricks
Me Crystallize
Losing Bricks sucks, but I can deal with it. Crystallize makes its welcome entrance.
-- TURN 5
Enemy Goblin Mob (3r) - 6 Damage, you also take 3 Damage
Me Foundations (3b) - If you have no Wall, you gain 6 Wall, otherwise you gain 3 Wall
Luckily I had enough Wall left over after the Crystallize to block the Goblin Mob's attack. Foundations gives ma tiny boost to my defenses.
-- TURN 6
Enemy Basic Wall (2b) - gain 3 Wall
Me Quarry's Help
The other power Tower-gain card appears! Only 11 left to go now, and I have a Sapphire in my hand for that. I still have 6 Gems, so my 4 Magic will give me enough to cast it next turn, as long as my opponent doesn't play Imp, Discord or Thief.
-- TURN 7
Enemy Minotaur (3r) - gain 1 Dungeon
Me Sapphire (10g) - gain 11 Tower
He didn't play any of those 3 cards, so I win, hitting exactly 50 Tower.
See more speedruns at speeddemosarchive.com
Author Paul 'Lag.Com' Davies
Author comments
ABOUT THE GAME
Arcomage is a cool little minigame involving a set of cards, two rival wizards and a lot of numbers. Originally it was part of the Might & Magic series, but it can also be played on its own. It's quite easy to pick up. You are a wizard in a Tower, protected by a Wall. The size of these objects varies as the game goes on. You also maintain stockpiles of resources, of which there are three types
Bricks Red cards; and generally revolve around building up your Wall
Gems Blue cards; usually make your Tower bigger or theirs smaller
Recruits Green cards; usually directly attack the other wizard's Wall or Tower
For these to accumulate you need Quarries, Magic and Dungeons respectively. There are numerous cards that deal with increasing your own numbers of these and decreasing your opponent's. There are also some cards that increase both player's counts. Balancing the need to stockpile resources to pay for more expensive cards with the ability to keep your Tower from being destroyed comprises the core gameplay. There are two main ways to win
Destruction this happens when your opponent's Tower reaches 0 size
Building if you manage to reach the maximum height with your Tower (by default, 50), you achieve this victory
Wall if both wizards 'win' at the same time, the size of their Walls is compared. I don't know what happens if they are equal too
I've done runs of the first two, though I do have a recording of the third one occurring.
The deck itself is always made of the same set of cards. Some cards have multiple copies in the deck, I refer to these as Common, and the others as Rare.
BUILDING RUN
In opposition to the Destruction run, this time I need to efficiently gain Tower and also protect it from damage by maintaining at least a passable Wall. On the other hand, I could try to ruin my opponent's Recruit/Dungeon count so that they can't pay for the damage in the first place. Important spells
Crystallize (8g) - gain 11 Tower, lose 6 Wall
Power Burn (3g) - gain 2 Magic, lose 5 Tower
Quarry's Help (4g) - gain 7 Tower, lose 10 Bricks
These spells are very cheap for what they do, although they come at a small hit to other resources. And of course, they are all Rare. Power Burn may seem counter-intuitive because of the loss to Tower, but it very quickly makes up for itself.
This time my opponent goes first. This isn't always a bad thing, in fact, this time it was very good!
-- TURN 1
Enemy MadCowDisease (0) - all players lose 6 Recruits
Me Quartz (1g) - gain 1 Tower, play again
Me Spell Weavers (3g) - gain 1 Magic
The enemy's first play pretty much destroys their ability to use green cards for the rest of the match. Bad decision. Quartz is one of the small group of cards that has a miniscule effect then lets you take another turn. Generally these are very useful though their effects are tiny. It ended up being extremely important for me. Spell Weavers is the second cheapest way to gain Magic, so I was glad to draw it.
-- TURN 2
Enemy Reinforced Wall (8b) - gain 8 Wall
Me Dwarven Miners (7b) - gain 4 Wall, gain 1 Quarry
Neither of these cards has a huge impact, but that additional Quarry will help me play the few red cards that increase Tower.
-- TURN 3
Enemy Amethyst (2g) - gain 3 Tower
Me Spell Weavers
I don't care how tall my enemy's Tower gets as long as I outrun him. The second Spell Weavers gives me all the Magic I should need to finish quickly.
-- TURN 4
Enemy Crumblestone (7g) - gain 5 Tower, enemy loses 6 Bricks
Me Crystallize
Losing Bricks sucks, but I can deal with it. Crystallize makes its welcome entrance.
-- TURN 5
Enemy Goblin Mob (3r) - 6 Damage, you also take 3 Damage
Me Foundations (3b) - If you have no Wall, you gain 6 Wall, otherwise you gain 3 Wall
Luckily I had enough Wall left over after the Crystallize to block the Goblin Mob's attack. Foundations gives ma tiny boost to my defenses.
-- TURN 6
Enemy Basic Wall (2b) - gain 3 Wall
Me Quarry's Help
The other power Tower-gain card appears! Only 11 left to go now, and I have a Sapphire in my hand for that. I still have 6 Gems, so my 4 Magic will give me enough to cast it next turn, as long as my opponent doesn't play Imp, Discord or Thief.
-- TURN 7
Enemy Minotaur (3r) - gain 1 Dungeon
Me Sapphire (10g) - gain 11 Tower
He didn't play any of those 3 cards, so I win, hitting exactly 50 Tower.