[Spoilers] Cometh the Messiah - Varn Gosam and the Malakim

[Ilios]

Nevertheless, your GNP is crazy. One thing I've been realizing in the FfH PBEMs is that the players aren't being able to get a good economy going. Everybody just seem to think: "well, I'll head to aristocracy some time in the future, so that settles it" and this is not a good thought, in my opinion.

Honourable exceptions exist, of course, like you and pb.

I agree and I'd add that good worker management is the key to civ success.

1. Why haven't you settled Thordin 1S? I'm guessing you didn't want to annoy Sciz by doing it.

Funny you should mention it, because I got this message from the Luchuirp earlier today:

Did you really settle that city in my NE / your NW? I mean seriously now.

Without even talking to me. Thanks for that. You know I have barely any space

I haven't replied yet, and have instead instructed the Malakim Diplomatic Corps to find me a way to answer Sciz in a polite and soothing way, while at the same time implying that there isn't actually a lot he can do about it. And does he really need to sound so whiny?

But to answer your question, yes, 1S would really have been a little too much "in your face Sciz!"...

Also, at this stage of the game, getting the extra hammer from founding on the plains hill isn't really necessary, and I'd rather mine and work it, since the site is otherwise hammer-starved.

And as mentioned previously, all those Ice tiles can be Scorched into Tundra, which gives the same yield as a plains tile while running Aristocracy/Agrarianism.

2. What's do you think about the spiritual trait in FfH?

I think it's fantastic.

The ability to switch religions at leasure is much stronger in FFH than Bts, because of all the nifty things you can do with each religion.

I could switch to Way of the Forest to get me some Priest of Leaves and transform all my lumbermilled forest to Ancient Forests, then switch to Ashen Veil for a couple of turns to pop my Worldspell and get a Ritualist for every city I own. Then switch back to Kilmorph to revert from Evil to Neutral alignment, and grab Arete to build the Mines of Gal'Dur.

I've even been thinking to switch to no religion for a couple of turns, to benefit from all the passive effects of having a religion in a city. (for example, I'd get 1 gold from Kilmorph, 2 culture from Overlords, 1 beaker from Ashen Veil in a city, provided all three religions are present)

Those half-priced Temples are great as well, and I plan to make good use of them. I'd really like Kilmorph, Leaves and especially Empyrean Temples in each city.

And I plan to switch between Civics a lot, depending on my empire's needs.

And finally, having every Divine unit start with both the Mobility and Potency promotions gives me access to fast-moving troops for either offense or defense, gaining passive experience quickly. If my first Priest hasn't reached Combat 5 twenty turns after building/upgrading it, I'd be very disappointed!

[Ichabod]

I think it's fantastic.

The ability to switch religions at leasure is much stronger in FFH than Bts, because of all the nifty things you can do with each religion.

I could switch to Way of the Forest to get me some Priest of Leaves and transform all my lumbermilled forest to Ancient Forests, then switch to Ashen Veil for a couple of turns to pop my Worldspell and get a Ritualist for every city I own. Then switch back to Kilmorph to revert from Evil to Neutral alignment, and grab Arete to build the Mines of Gal'Dur.

I've even been thinking to switch to no religion for a couple of turns, to benefit from all the passive effects of having a religion in a city. (for example, I'd get 1 gold from Kilmorph, 2 culture from Overlords, 1 beaker from Ashen Veil in a city, provided all three religions are present)

Those half-priced Temples are great as well, and I plan to make good use of them. I'd really like Kilmorph, Leaves and especially Empyrean Temples in each city.

And I plan to switch between Civics a lot, depending on my empire's needs.

And finally, having every Divine unit start with both the Mobility and Potency promotions gives me access to fast-moving troops for either offense or defense, gaining passive experience quickly. If my first Priest hasn't reached Combat 5 twenty turns after building/upgrading it, I'd be very disappointed!

I couldn't agree more.

I had a hard time justifying my choice of Jonas Endain (expansive/spiritual) over Sheelba (agressive/organized) in the FFH PBEM IV game. Since it's a no settlers game, expansive is hindered, but I think spiritual still make up for it.

The problem is that spiritual is a active trait. You have to change your gameplay in order to get the benefits from it. Agressive, financial, organized are way more passive, threfore, people tend to like them more.

I'm a big fan of BTS' spiritual trait (spi and creative are my favorite traits while playing immortal/deity) and FFH's is even better. We have more civics, with a lot of them making for big gameplay differences. The flexibility of the spiritual trait make it possible to instantly change your Civilization focus when its needed.

Coupled with double production of temples (way better then the BTS counterpart) and stronger religious units (potency + mobility is a crazy combination, it's very, very good) and you have a killer trait.

I'm surprised to see that a lot of people don't realize it...



It has been a pleasure to read the thread so far, Ilios. Keep up with the good work.

[Ilios]

It has been a pleasure to read the thread so far, Ilios. Keep up with the good work.

Obrigado!

[Ilios]

Remember this?

Yes, the little fucker inside my borders is Loki. Serdoa moved him there last turn, which means he knows I will claim it. He better not do anything tricky... like convert the city to the Balseraphs, since it has zero Malakim culture.

I'm sure Serdoa wouldn't be that crazy... Right?

Well, turns out he is. Serdoa hit me up on a chat, implying he'd use Loki's Convert ability, unless I'd pay up.

I made him know in clear terms that I don't appreciate blackmail, and that he needed to think this through very carefully.

I really didn't like that conversation, with all the inuendo's and implications.

Serdoa actually held on to the turn, thinking maybe I'd be fretting all night, and send him flowers in the morning or something.

The next day, I got something by email, which sounded a bit like this:

You vill give me ze Sudetenland und two little Vorkers, or Loki will huff, und puff, und blow your Thordin away.

To which I replied, more or less:

Nuts!

I then got a confusing reply that I better watch out, because Serdoa was doing so well in his other games, well except for PBEM 8, and blah blah blah.

So, needless to say, when I got the save, Thordin was gone...

I think this accurately conveys my feelings at this point.

More later...

[Ilios]

I've had a very busy weekend, so apologies for the low resolution turn update!

T85:

I had expected all of my units to find themselves in the wilds when Thorgrin got converted, but they were handily teleported back inside my borders. The workers were set to improve the tiles around Ra, with the units covering them in case Loki pops up around my borders.

With hindsight, it might have been better to hold off founding the city. But I hadn't counted on Serdoa basing his diplomatic interactions on a North Korean foreign policy textbook!

I still don't quite understand why on earth he did it, other then he likes pissing people off. Especially now that the Calabim have fired their Worldspell, River of Blood, which seems to have been specifically targeted at Serdoa, who only recently switched to Aristocracy.

The loss of food means that Balseraph cities will take a long time to regrow, with most '"large" Balseraph cities stuck at size 4-5.

The Calabim Worldspell had a minor effect on the Malakim cities. Except for the capital, they were already working either unimproved tiles or specialists. think.

I will delay converting to Aristocracy by a couple of turns, to give the cities a chance to grow back.

Which brings us to punishment.

I will not let Serdoa off the hook, but I won't declare unprepared either. Priesthood will give me access to hardhitting mobile troops, but I need something extra to have any chance at taking Balseraph cities without taking heavy losses myself.

The way to go seems to be Ritualists. If I can get access to those, I can fire my Worldspell, and get collateral damaging troops instantly. I won't get a lot of experience on them from the worldspell, but since they will be mostly be used to soften up defences, and their Ring of Flames spell is capped at 40% damage, they won't really need Combat promotions to increase their spell damage.

Getting the required technology is another matter. I'd need Knowledge of the Ether and Way of the Wicked to be able to research Corruption of Spirit (which founds the Ashen Veil religion giving access to Ritualists) for around 1400 total beakers. By the time I finish Priesthood, I hope to have around 175 beakers per turn, so we're looking at around 10-15 turns research time.

Unfortunately, this would mean skipping important economic techs like Construction and Writing, so I'll need to check if it is worth holding back my civ to get back at Serdoa.

I think I'll need to pick up Hunting at least to give me access to Hawks.

[Ilios]

T86:

Tech splashscreen:



Which means I could switch to Aristo, should I choose to. As mentioned before, I will probably stay at least two more turns in God King, because food surplus currently looks like this:



I'd actually prefer to stay in God King until most cities have hit their happy caps, but I would really like to convert to Apprenticeship/Nationhood for the extra experience.

Sciz has told me he has a shot at retaking Cotton Valley next turn, which would get me another happy...

Brian, I present to you, Lugh!



Lugh has started on a Workboat, and is working the Horse tile currently, so should finish it just in time for a Thane to arrive. Lugh won't be doing any cultural battles, so no need to build a Monument if I can just mini-culture bomb the city. (at the same hammer cost)

Meanwhile, over at the eastern border:



I really have no idea what Serdoa is up to... What does he think he'll accomplish with a five-unit-stack?

Anyway, troops are moving east, and I've already come up with a little plan should the Balseraphs declare next turn.



I've got four Kilmorph Soldiers and a Warrior moving in from the east, two more Warriors are coming in from the south and the Sentry promoted Thane is joining the fray as well.

The Capital has finished a Training Yard, because I wanted access to stronger troops while waiting for Priesthood to come in, and should be able to build a Swordsman by the time the Balseraph stack moves within two tiles of the capital. The Training Yard will also give Helios an extra happy while running Nationhood.

Maybe all this is just a ruse to get me to empty my Western borders for Loki to move in?

Finally, demographics:



I briefly ceded a couple of categories to the Calabim, but have since moved back into first place in most of them.

[Thoth]

But I hadn't counted on Serdoa basing his diplomatic interactions on a North Korean foreign policy textbook!

[Ilios]

It's a pity I've got Serdoa to deal with, because it would have been funny to make a run for Octopus Overlords after Priesthood, convert, launch my Worldspell to get Cultists, and Tsunami the hell out of every Lanun city...

If I do head for Corruption of Spirit, it might make sense to build a couple of Adepts and borrow Enchantment mana from Sciz, but I'm not sure Enchanted Blade works on Divine units.

[DaveV]

I'm not sure Enchanted Blade works on Divine units.

Nope, melee units only.

[Ilios]

Nope, melee units only.

Pity, alright, thanks DaveV.

In any case I think I'll go for Hunting after Priesthood, so I can see what Serdoa is up to, and to find and meet the Calabim. I'm hoping we can coordinate a strike on Serdoa, with them hitting from the Southeast, and the Malakim from the West.