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

[Ilios]

Nice response.No go and build some army

Thanks, I'm pretty happy with it myself.

Now, for why Ilios thinks Ashen Veil's a better choice now, today, than OO - well, it's his thread

Only three words are needed to explain why Ashen Veil is better than Octopus Overlords:

Rosier the Fallen!

He's so handsome...

Not like that big, ugly meany, Saverous!

Stygian Guards are a pretty effective unit against vampires. They're demons, so they are immune to fear from spectres (also immune to Poison, Unholy, and Death damage - the last immunity makes skeletons and spectres considerably weaker against them). They have March so they can heal if they win, Water Walking so they can stand on water tiles and be immune to counterattack, or take shortcuts across lakes and inlets. Their biggest disadvantage also stems from their demon race: they can't be Hasted. Mobility is often key in FfH, and Stygs will always be potentially a step slower than equivalent living units.

Edit: to answer specifically the question about unholy damage: it's a specific type of damage, which just adds normally against most units. It is ineffective against demons (so strength drops to 5), and half strength against undead (so strength=6). So if a Stygian guard (5+2 unholy) attacks a skeleton (2+1 death), the final strength after applying resistances is 6 vs. 2.

So, if understand this correctly, a Bronze Diseased Corpse vs Skeleton would be Str 6 vs Str 2?

[DaveV]

So, if understand this correctly, a Bronze Diseased Corpse vs Skeleton would be Str 6 vs Str 2?

Yes. -2 strength for the (cured) corpse, -1 for the skeleton.

[Thoth]

Rosier the Fallen!

He's so handsome...

Up until the point where some opportunistic bastard hits him with a pair of Tsunamis and then snipes him.

[Ilios]

Yes. -2 strength for the (cured) corpse, -1 for the skeleton.

Minus 2 for the Corpse? So that's str 5 then vs skellies...

Up until the point where some opportunistic bastard hits him with a pair of Tsunamis and then snipes him.

He doesn't take well to the cold...

Ok, so lots and lots of diplo,

Darrell:

Ilios, your reply rings true and makes me feel quite a bit better.
I'm looking at the map now and will send you something shortly.

Darrell

I won't charge him for this session.

Followed by:

Iliios,

Okay, that site is not really great for me, but I can still squeeze a city in the gap left over.

Is the other city Guadium? I will raze that city, but prefer that we try and do the same thing as on the south, i.e. you settle one a bit closer to your borders than the spot you are talking about, to leave me room to squeeze a city in between.

On the subject of me being the "rogue nation", I prefer the moniker "tall poppy". Serdoa planned on attacking me (at your directive, remember?) so its not like I was betraying a close friend. Just because our combat actions have been very successful doesn't mean we are rouges :-).

Darrell

After which we started chatting (skip if you prefer):

20:50 ik: uh, i never told serdoa to attack you
just wanted to make that clear
20:52


17 minuten

21:09 Flauros: He claims you did
Honestly, it doesn't matter, I don't hold it against you if you did since we were at war.
21:10 ik: sneaky bastard...
wow
he really is something
Flauros: I was warned by several people about him. To be fair, he's been very cordial in our communications. But that doesn't mean he's been honest.
21:11 Not a huge fan of where your settler is because of the bones, but looking at it I don't see much other option if we are both going to squeeze a city in there
I think there is more flexibility in the northern region
21:12 ik: i'd need to have a look ingame
21:14 check out your mailbox

Sent Darrell the email I got from Serdoa, where he claims the vamps were to blame, and telling me he will attack them

21:15 that was immediately after destroying your stack
Flauros: wow
sunrise089 was right then, and I'm easily duped
21:16 ik: i don't think i'll have the turn tonight
21:17 but if memory serves me correctly, moving the northern site would lose both it's food resources
but like i said, I need to check ingame
Flauros: gimme a sec
21:18 I am not sure that we are talking about the same location, I guess can you take a screenshot next time you open a save (even an old one) and sned me the city you want razed, and where you want to plant?
ik: sure
21:19 hey, we might even get that wheat trade going some day
21:20 Flauros:
I have to say originally I thought you broke your NAP with serdoa and me both with your actions
ik: but let me ask you
honestly
Flauros: I am glad I did not play the turn and slept on it first
ik: yeah
me too
21:21 would have been more entertaining for the lurkers though
Flauros: They were asking me what I was going to do in my thread
that stonewarden was wounded too
ik: same here
you'd have killed one stonewarden?
21:22 Flauros: well, it was in anger if I did, because he razed MY city
ik: no he didn't
Flauros: how'd he get wounded then?
oh, you mean it wasn't mine :P
ik: a tiger sprung out of thin air
killed every last man woman and child
and disappeared
21:23 Flauros: treacherous bastards all of them
ik: hungry mostly
Flauros: serdoa must have gotten another warrior then
ik: he's got a thing for warriors
21:24 Flauros: well, he's been building lots of swords lately, which also don't seem to fare very well. Eventually he's going to run out of room
ik: yeah
so, tell me
21:25 who initiated the cow?
Flauros: give me one second
21:29 man I've posted a lot lately
trying to find the post on this subject
21:30 ik: i look forward to reading your thread
Flauros: yeah
ik: you did put some pictures right?
Flauros: I was gonig to link the post to you, but it has some other things in it that I can't really disclose
So I am going to summarize
21:31 Basically, the are:
1. We did send the e-mail out to talk about how to implement it, but the CoW was already decided on via chats prior to that time.
2. Amelia was the most reluctant, I think she just wants to be left alone.
21:32 3. We complained that we were not getting anything out of it, but we were still willing participants because otherwise we thought you would run away with the game.
Last paragraph of the post was:
Anyway, that's not really the point. Assuming Serdoa really did blame the whole thing on us, the problem isn't whether it was true or not. The problem is how can we trust someone when we think we are cooperating together, and then they turn around and sell us out at the first sign of trouble? Now again, we have no proof Serdoa did this, but at the least we have to be very careful until we can confirm or deny it.
ik: haha
21:33 well, you all did slow me down
Flauros: So if you are assiging blame, maybe 40% for us and seroda and 20% for amelia?
ik: that moment when amelia realised she was all alone against my armies
21:34 ...
Flauros: the biggest thing we got out of it, as it turned out, was serdoa didn't use his production edge on us until we got vampires
ik: golden
Flauros: well, not all alone...you were still at war withme
we had a brief talk after serdoa made peace without consulting us
ik: which army wa s that
?
Flauros: yes yes
ik: anyway, i kind of felt that amelia was not really into it
21:35 or she wouldn't have stumbled into the war after it was effectively finished
too bad really
Flauros: the whole thing was a predictable fiasco
ik: i couldv'e used that axe...
Flauros: the axe is sweet
she still has saverous on my border with it
bit nervous about that
ik: you're kidding, right?
21:36 Flauros: only a little
I'm a big scaredy cat maybe
she'd be foolish to attack with her paper military
ik: yup
Flauros: I have no idea why you haven't attacked her yet
ik: because other people keep attacking me and my neighbours
i'm like the UN
21:37 Flauros: well, this mess is mostly behind us so...
ik: i reserve the right to complain about it as much as i want
well
maybe once a week
21:38 on a sunday
Flauros: granted
ik: you are too kind, good sir
for a vampire...
Flauros: well, its been an interesting diplo game so far that's for sure
serdoa has brought that at least
ik: it's just so tiring reasoning with the guy
21:39 he only understands brute force
Flauros: That's unpleasant, but its worse when you can't trust what someone is saying
ik: yup
21:40 Flauros: I am still trying to figure out why he teched currency or divination
21:41 ik: i told him to tech divination
i told him to tech divination
Flauros: Out of love no doubt
ik: yup
21:42 all he had to do was tech OO
build/drown drowns
if you did attack
i can assure you
i'd have given you a better fight
21:43 Flauros: well duh
you have a diverse stack of highly promoted, potent (and mobile) divine units, and production/tech equality or superiority
21:44 ik: the hammer bonus of the gov manor doesn't show in demos, right?
Flauros: Err..of course it does. Totally shows up. My MFG is terrible. And what governor's manors? I don't have any of those.
21:46 ik: hehe

Summary:

- Serdoa fooled a lot of people
- darrell was pretty angry. my message (charm person) seems to have soothed him
- we're going to hammer out a land divide. Darrell wants me to move a site. I don't think I want to.
- War has been averted.

[Krill]

- we're going to hammer out a land divide. Darrell wants me to move a site. I don't think I want to.
- War has been averted.

For now.

[Ilios]

For now.

Bloodthirsty Lurkers...

Back to Darrell:

Darrell,


The site is indeed Gaudium. Unfortunately, I cannot found it closer to my lands without being forced to found on plains Incense (blasphemy!), and losing out on two food resources

Here's the screenshot:

Wait and see...

[mackoti]

Ty Dave for all the answers, and Ilios you said no war, well i am sad now.

[Ilios]

Ilios you said no war, well i am sad now .

Don't worry, soon the Malakim's motto will be:

War is Peace
Freedom is Slavery
Ignorance is Strength


Anyway, moar diplo!

So I was chatting with Uberfish, and I mentioned Sciz was asking for an NAP extention. Turns out, Sciz is asking Uberfish for one as well. Just for the fun, we forwarded each other the respective message. I'm sure Uberfish already posted his, but I'll post it anyhow:

Comparative Diplomacy, or spot the seven differences:

From Sciz to me:

On another note, I really need to start discussing future plans with
you. I like to think that we've been friendly for a long time, and you
have a lot of more hostile enemies on your other borders than me. My
major problem in this game is Uberfish. As you probably have noticed,
his power has spiked for a long time and is now higher than yours. If
we could somehow agree over some kind of long NAP or maybe mutual
defense or something it'd be really nice. Surely you don't want
Uberfish to just gobble me up? Because he could easily do that if he
wanted to right now, especially with our own NAP being so short, I
can't be sure of your own intentions. I am working towards peace with
Mist now, and it will hopefully be resolved soon, which will help me
reinforce my border against Uberfish better. But still, anything we
can work out would be very beneficial to us both. Either a long NAP,
enabling me to go very easy on my eastern defense and wholly
concentrating on keeping Uberfish out, or maybe you helping me out if
he attacks me. In return I will help you if the old coalition attacks
you again. I am not so strong of course, but I can get WGs and
catapults to your border and I am negotiating with Mist to get
Barnaxus back to get my WGs stronger. I am also on my way towards
Gargoyles which could also help you defend if you really need it.

In my eyes, I am your only safe border. You might have longish NAPs
with Amelia, Serdoa and Darrel, but they all obviously will want to
continue to curb your expansion, since they still have a shot at
winning this game. I don't, I just want to survive and develop as much
as I can, and you're my best hope here, and my worst enemy is
Uberfish, OR you if you decide in that direction. But remember that I
am much more likely to help you than your other neighbors, and your
other neighbors all have anger towards you for their failed assault.
It wouldn't surprise me if they try again, and if they do, wouldn't it
be better with an ally completely defending one of your flanks? If you
decide to attack me you will suddenly border Uberfish, the second
strongest player in the game, with currently the biggest power. If you
don't attack me but also don't renew our NAP and just let it go, I
will have to reinforce my border towns to you and it will be a
cakewalk for Uberfish to take over my lands. Then, uberfish suddenly
borders you too, and with a much larger territory, he might even grow
stronger than you overall.

A long message I guess, but I feel that I might not have much long to
live if I don't send this now, so if we can work something out it
would definitely be in both our favors.

-Sciz

From Sciz to Uberfish:

Now I know I have brought this up before, and that you declined then,
but I feel like I must ask you again. A NAP. The reason is Ilios. My
negotiations with Mist are starting to look better and we might get
peace soon. Not much has happened in the war lately anyways. But i'm
still stuck in a big problem. On my two flanks I have the two biggest
powers of the world, you and Ilios. I currently have a NAP with ilios,
but it runs out on t140. He doesn't want any longer NAP, and says we
will renegotiate on t135. To me it sounds like an invasion. I won't
have a good chance to prepare in 5 turns after all. And on t140 or
t145 (forgot which) he switches traits. Wouldn't surprise me if he
chooses raiders. If i must continue to defend both borders, against
you AND Ilios, he will completely steamroll me and he will have won
the game. You still have a chance of beating Ilios, definitely, but
that chance will disappear if he runs all over me. If we could get a
NAP for a pretty long amount of time, it would at least make it much
harder for Ilios to kill me. I could leave my west weakly defended,
and put up a decent fight against Ilios. Maybe some of the old
coalition will attack Ilios from behind while I hold him off from a
while. But it all depends on how much I can trust you. And just now, I
can't. So i'll leave this offer in the air. Last time you said you
didn't want one. But right now it would only be to your benefit. It
would help you by harming Ilios, which surely is what you want in this
point of the game. This will also give you time to grow and grow your
cottages and forests, which might propel you past Ilios.

If you are deciding to attack me instead, you will either be too late
and Ilios will already have killed me, or Ilios won't have attacked me
yet and I will beg and plead to Ilios and have him help me defend, and
that wouldn't be very good for you. You could take me one on one but
if Ilios helps me with some concessions for me, I am pretty sure you
would be outmuscled. I don't want to threaten you, I just think this
would be the best for the both of us. I definitely don't want to make
any concessions to Ilios, I want to keep my autonomy, and if we could
get a NAP, it would help me defend my eastern borders against Ilios,
thereby also helping you.

Cheers, Sciz

Charming, isn't it? Working both sides is never a good idea...

I replied (to my message, ofcourse):

Hi,


I'm sorry I didn't reply earlier, but I was engaged in some pretty intense diplo with the Calabim concerning the Balseraphs. (Basically, I razed a Balseraph city right before the Calabim were about to capture it)

A very contentious issue was in fact NAP's, and their implementation.

I've had too many problems being tied down because of these NAP's, so I have decided not to sign them anymore. Suffice to say that in my experience they are more of a hassle then an asset.

I have noticed the Ljosalfar military build-up as well, and am about to take appropriate action.


Regards,


Ilios

Notice how I imply I will attack the Elves...

[Rowain]

FFHPBEM 3 reloaded Poor [strike]Mr.Yellow[/strike] Sciz

[Thoth]

FFHPBEM 3 reloaded Poor [strike]Mr.Yellow[/strike] Sciz

The Malakim are a peaceful builder civ. I can't imagine what you are talking about.