[SPOILERS] Lurkers Thread - Well someone has to do it

[Mardoc]

I do think the game will come down to Uberfish vs Ilios.

Don't count out the Calabim quite yet. They didn't really invest that much in this attack on Ilios, they aren't really reachable until he takes out Serdoa, too, and they're just about to Vampires with no chance in hell of being a dogpile target themselves anymore.

I'd put them in the top three as well.

[NobleHelium]

The Calabim will soon get visibility over the death node once they get a monument at the sheep city. I wonder if they'll have anything to say about it; it's obvious it's from the Sepulcher.

[fire&ice]

Well first off a blue streak and maybe congradulations too uberfish for hiding that from them for long. Then I think they may start trying to get a trade for it. I expect with their army going off to die they won't backstab uberfish for it for awhile atleast. And then Uberfish I expect will be harder for them to take down.

[Ravus Sol]

An Extra Death node is allways good but can it still be "harvested" once the Sepulcher has been popped? I was under the impression you needed to manually build a new Death node on top of the Death mana to get it?

With or without the extra +1 to spectres, Vampires are allways a power. I agree with Mardoc that they are in the top three for threat potential.

[Thoth]

An Extra Death node is allways good but can it still be "harvested" once the Sepulcher has been popped? I was under the impression you needed to manually build a new Death node on top of the Death mana to get it?

Correct. Once the Sepulcher has been popped it no longer provides Death mana until an Adept builds a node. (The Pyre works the same way)

[DaveV]

Correct. Once the Sepulcher has been popped it no longer provides Death mana until an Adept builds a node. (The Pyre works the same way)

The way I remember it, the node is already a death node; I've just had to research Necromancy to make the death mana available. The Sepulcher provides death mana without having to research necromancy (ideal for vamps).

Too bad Serdoa didn't follow his earlier plan of building a few catapults. Then they might have been able to raze a city or two. As things stand, I'm not sure the attack is going to do anything more than give XP to Ilios's units.

[NobleHelium]

The death node is like any other resource in the game. It needs an improvement on top of it before it's connected. Pretend the death note is a pigs resource instead. You can either build a pasture on top of it, or a fort, to connect the resource. Likewise, you can either build a death node improvement or the Sepulcher on top of a death node resource to connect it. The Sepulcher is special in that it waives the technology requirement for connecting.

[Thoth]

The way I remember it, the node is already a death node; I've just had to research Necromancy to make the death mana available. The Sepulcher provides death mana without having to research necromancy (ideal for vamps).

The death node is like any other resource in the game. It needs an improvement on top of it before it's connected. Pretend the death note is a pigs resource instead. You can either build a pasture on top of it, or a fort, to connect the resource. Likewise, you can either build a death node improvement or the Sepulcher on top of a death node resource to connect it. The Sepulcher is special in that it waives the technology requirement for connecting.

I think we're all trying to say the same thing here.

The (unpopped) Sepulcher acts as an improved Death node.

Once it has been popped, there is an unimproved "death node" left behind that requires Necromancy and an Adept to provide Death mana.

[NobleHelium]

Interesting. Mist is giving Sciz peace. That surprises me greatly. Maybe he's really concerned about Ilios and wants Sciz to contain his expansion?

[SevenSpirits]

I'd now say that the players are doing proportionally well to their civ/leader traits + skill/choices. Current score rankings are:

1) Ilios
2) Serdoa
3) Uberfish
4) Darrell/sunrise
5) Amelia
6) Mist
7) Sciz

Which, given that score is only loosely related to actual position, is not definitive, but it's a relatively fair statistic. And yes, I am totally putting Sciz there as his own fault, for not paying off Mist. That was a really bad choice.

Anyway I am curious what the lurkers think about the map balance now that we are almost 100 turns in. I have a few things I would change (mainly, I didn't systematically account for plains hill starts, which was really silly), but overall I am pretty happy with it.