[Spoilers] Peace and Purity - Einion Logos of the Elohim

[WarriorKnight]

T171? That was somewhat faster than I expected, congratulations

Actually it's T172. Still, I'm also surprised how quickly it went.

My army is now en route to the Thoth front, but I doubt I'll be able to get there before Sanctuary runs out. Fortunately he doesn't seem to have much units on his border with me so at least I might be able to damage him a bit, have to wait and find out.

Demographics after the Sheaim war:



Main worries are production and soldiers (keep in mind Infernal Palace gives me a million more soldiers than I have). Fortunately Thoth is in a GA right now and that should end in a turn or two, but it's still a pretty big production lead. My food would be decent if Thoth wasn't in StW. The only good news is that both Mardoc's and Thoth's GNP aren't that great (Thoth's will be worse once the GA ends) although since research isn't that important anymore it may not be that much of a downside.

I'd like to be able to build some more units but Blight is keeping all my cities on health buildings, so drafting Longbows is really the only thing I can add. Fortunately it seems the worst of Blight is over and I should be able to get back onto military shortly. Probably will be too late to matter though.

[WarriorKnight]

Well, things aren't going so well for Mardoc:



His diplo screen says he's lost about half his cities. Combined with his loss of Hemah I'm not sure how much longer he can hold out. Maybe there's something I'm missing being so far away but unlikely. Game may be over very shortly if I fall like that.

I might get to have a little fun though:



Arguably a waste of cash, but what else am I going to spend it on? I finished the last node this turn and I captured a slave from the Sheaim war to knock off the 'rush on the first turn' modifier so I could just rush it from scratch this turn. If I can't win (which is likely at this point), I may as well have fun with some Tier IV units.

[Mist]

Heh. What would you bulb? Righteousness?

This seriously sucks, with Mardoc folding down like a house of cards I can't really see a way to win. Thoth will outrace us to Tower, even if we slaved whole our civ to get there and there's not a lot of hope of us holding him back on the battlefield, hammer disparity is just too big.

Yeah, going out in a blaze of glory with some t4 units might be the fun thing to do. If you can't have victory, try to get fireworks

[WarriorKnight]

Heh. What would you bulb? Righteousness?

It's either that or Strength of Will. Strength of Will would be the 'better' option since thanks to Tolerant I can upgrade to a Eater of Dreams, and I have a prefect candidate that could be summoning several 4 move Fire Elemental's within a couple of turns (plus I'll need this if I even want to compete for the tower, so I'm leaning to this right now).

Righteousness gives Paladins and Sphener. Sphener would be fun to play around with if nothing else (he's pretty awesome despite lacking a collateral spell that all awesome units should have) and Paladins wouldn't be too bad either, but given that Thoth is running around with several C4 Cultists, Ritualists, Stygian Guards and Eidolons, they probably won't be strong enough to be worth picking (or in Sphener's case, won't last long enough to promote from hero).

Shame, I spend approx. half my game focusing on a Order strategy and it turns out it's not that great because almost every other religion is better. Don't get me wrong, the shrine was nice since it spread quickly and Valin and Bless was pretty good too, but aside from that there isn't much to boast about (compare it to AV for instance, the Priests give early, mobile collateral and the Grimiore allows quick access to Malevolent Designs). In comparison, Thoth has played a superb religious game and has probably got more from religion then everyone else combined (although as Varn I guess that's what you do).

[Mist]

I'd say go Strength of Will. Even if it's not really possible to get the Tower before Thoth, it shouldn't stop us from trying our best to make it happen ( as the only not impossible win condition right now ). At least we'll give him a run for his money.

[WarriorKnight]

Dunno why the game wants me to choose Astro, at least it's recommended the best choice.



Say hello to my little friend.



Can't wait to use him against Thoth. Problem is, if we're racing for tower then declaring now is quite a silly thing to do. We need time more than anything to finish the tower (although we likely won't be able to finish it before the NAP runs out) and Thoth's GA should end next turn. Given how much land he's conquering he may have significant financial troubles (although I think he's more likely to go for domination rather than tower, he won't need much of my land to win that way). Time also gives the chance to prepare a little better for T195.

[Selrahc]

Eater of Dreams are incredibly powerful units to stop an invasion. Park them in a high growth city, and when an army comes near summon a dozen fire elementals to stop it. If you've ever gotten twincast on them it's even crazier.

They're a little worse as offensive units since it is harder to guarantee a supply of populace to fuel spells, but they're still fairly handy.

[WarriorKnight]

I'm starting to think that, since we can't finish the tower before T195, we forget about trying to build the tower ASAP and go back to the 'blaze of glory' plan. We would still try and build the tower, but now that nyktorion is gone and Mardoc is crippled, it's better to hit now that Thoth's units are out of position.

I'd like to wait a few turns for Valin to get enough experience to level up though, that way we can put Commando on him and send him deep into Thoth's core to raze whatever weakly defended cities we can. Sure we'll probably lose him, but the game is nearly over anyway so taking some cities in exchange sounds reasonable, and his 85% withdrawal rate should keep him alive for a while anyway (he also has a healing salve that could be useful). We can probably find a few cities with minimal defense in his core (I can see his HE city defended by 1 warrior for starters), and blitz will mean that we can't be stopped by one unit. With Thoth having several cities all over the map, I wonder if losing some core cities would put him on strike?

[Mist]

Well, if you wait few turns, Thoth might not be out of position any more. If Mardoc keeps shedding cities at this pace, he'll be out of mainland soon and not even a distraction for the Malakim.

Won't it be better to hide Valin behind the front until he exps, and then just sneak through while Thoth is focused on your army somewhere else?

[WarriorKnight]

Well, if you wait few turns, Thoth might not be out of position any more. If Mardoc keeps shedding cities at this pace, he'll be out of mainland soon and not even a distraction for the Malakim.

Won't it be better to hide Valin behind the front until he exps, and then just sneak through while Thoth is focused on your army somewhere else?

Given that Valin still needs 4xp, your probably right. I'll keep him hidden for now. I can get the Eater to my front city next turn, so I'll declare then and see how much fun I can have (I can take at least 2 cities, maybe more depending on culture).