[Spoilers] Biggus Decius and the Sucking Vampires (Bobchillingworth / Calabim)

[Bobchillingworth]

Yeah, the city W of Prespur is next in line- I already have a bloodpet headed toward the hill, and will build a moroi next turn. The worker Prespur is building is going to start pre-farming the area, after the worker is build Prespur will start the 4-turn settler. Obviously I want more than 2 units on the defense there, but just two should be sufficient for right now against barbs, I can add more once I get closer to my NAP with Iskender running out.


One building I need to start spamming relatively soon are machine shops, so that I can start building chariots in numbers once Trade comes in. I think (hope) that copper bloodpets on the defense and chariots as rapid response should be all the defense I need until vampires (and possibly even then for a while).



Thanks for the confidence regarding our position... I have to admit, I'm not really sure how I can actually win this game though. Cull is the obvious next target, but I'm really not sure what to do after that. Do I attack Iskender, and hope that the others don't try to pounce on me while the bulk of my military is occupied? Do I try to ally with Iskender to attack one of the others? Do I try to pillage the crap out of PB and burn his isolated settlements? Should I pick a fight with Selrahc, on the assumption that if I can beat him the game is probably won? If I were fighting AI it would be obvious, I'd just rampage my way counter-clockwise across the map starting with Cull, but I really have no idea how to deal with capable human players.

There's also the issue of time. I can build a super-army with vampires, those T2 Veil guys, Losha, Bridgit, and Rosier, but by the time I get all that together Selrahc will probably have an empire twice my size, PB will have most of the tech tree finished, and even Iskender could be packing a really nasty army of HA. But I'm at a disadvantage economically (alright, I probably should have chosen Flauros, whatever), so I can't just sit around and build up forever either.


Oh well, should be interesting at least!

[DaveV]

Do I try to ally with Iskender to attack one of the others? Do I try to pillage the crap out of PB and burn his isolated settlements?

I vote for a combination of these two. Send in spectres to pillage PB's enclaves and you cripple his economy and production. If he kills them, so what? He gets a couple XP and you send in another batch the next turn. And you get a nice payoff from your raiders trait (part of which you could use to bribe Iskender).

[Bobchillingworth]

Uh-oh.



I was playing one of the SP scenarios as the Illians when I suddenly realized why Selrahc has a mind node (besides the obvious inspiration adepts).

He's almost certainly going to try to rush the Tower of Divination, and take Theology as the free tech for the Ice III super priests. Since he starts with free enchantment mana, he'll have enough nodes to make it work. Getting enough exp for Ice III won't be an issue for him, with plenty of barb lairs still around to grind.


I'm not sure, what counters a high priest of winter? If he keeps all three together they'd all have to be killed in a single turn, or they'll just heal each other back to full health. Plus he's sure to build plenty of support units. Maybe they don't really have a counter outside of something equally ludicrous, like a highly promoted Mageldine or 40 pyre zombies.

[DaveV]

Uh-oh indeed. He may not even have to farm experience, since his priests have been alive for a long time, with a chance of gaining XP each turn. Maybe you should go back to building catapults.

Edit: he would also need a spirit node and a sun node to build the tower - does he have those?

[Bobchillingworth]

Last I saw he just had mind, but I haven't had visibility on the other nodes around him for a long time, so I don't even know if he has settled by them yet.


If I were him I'd probably hold off on the Sun and Spirit conversions for a while anyway, at least until monotheism to avoid freaking everyone else out until it's too late.


I'll need to watch his cash level, it costs like 300 gold to upgrade a priest I think. I can't get much advance warning that way, though.


He could well just be spamming inspiration adepts or want the research boost, but it seems like a really obvious play to me. If I were the Illians I'd at least want them ASAP as security if nothing else.

[Bobchillingworth]

Just got a map trade in from Sareln, and I now have almost a complete picture of the world.


Selrahc has this won. He has about twice the land of anyone else, due to knocking out Sareln early, and Cull apparently allowing him to settle all over his first ring. He also now sports a spirit node, so he's obviously gunning for the Tower of Divination. I'm not sure, do you think it's even worth trying to get the other players alarmed about it? I really doubt that Cull will or can do anything about it, Iskender might be sympathetic but he's the most poorly positioned and pretty weak, and PB is terrified of Selrahc and I suspect may have already struck some sort of bargain for his life.


I get writing in at the end of next turn, I'll send you the save file then so that you can take a look at the map (too large to post here), and if you want to do tech analysis (don't feel obligated, though).

[DaveV]

Don't despair, Bob! Snowfall is a very effective spell, but limited in range and cast by slow-moving units. You still should be able to offer a decent defense if he attacks you, and dodge his high priests if you go on offense. If you can orchestrate a gang-up on Selrahc, go for it!

[Bobchillingworth]

Whee diplomacy. I'll post the emails in a little bit (I expect a few more within the next couple hours), but here's a summary of what has been confirmed / said lately:


- Cull is giving Selrahc his Law Mana, since he had promised he would long ago as part of his peace treaty, and really doesn't have any way to resist Selrahc.

-For what it's worth, Cull is willing to declare on Selrahc if Selrahc moves against me or Iskender, since he's not going to win the game anyway.

-Selrahc completed the Bone Palace last turn.

- PB is givng Selrahc free Sun Mana. Selrahc in return will give him mana to help PB finish his own Tower of Divination after Selrahc completes his.

- PB now sports Raiders. It seems clear that he's got some sort of NAP arrangement with Selrahc and I assume is planning to take on Iskender while Selrahc goes after me.

- A barb city appeared next to the "nice spot for sareln" location in the south. I'm sending a small group to take it, but Iskender heard about it and now is throwing a hissy fit about how it's within his "sphere of influence".

- That aside, Iskender is interested in working together to prepare for what looks to be an inevitable War of Northern Aggression.



I'm probably doomed, but should be interesting regardless! I actually have a pretty commanding second place position on the score board and I'm doing well in most demographic categories, but I just need too much time to prepare. Damned vampires take forever to set up right. I think most of our play has been exemplary so far though, so no regrets there.

[Ravus Sol]

Does Cull's agreement to help you if the Winter Devils go on the warpath change your plans to eventually take his land?

[Bobchillingworth]

Maybe. If I can get some sort of security from Selrahc, then no. If Selrahc doesn't go for the High Priests but instead wastes time with a less dangerous tech and I feel better able to handle him, then likely no. My favored course of action now is to build the vampire army, march it to Cull, and then demand he become a vassal (capitulation is enabled). I'm pretty certain that he'll cave him, and I'll get some security, world land percentage, and happiness out of the arrangement.