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

[DaveV]

* He thinks that PB might have gone Overlords in order to march Stygian Guards after me, since Stygians resist the death damage from specters. Interesting if true, but Stygians are expensive and slow, so I'm not terribly worried about them at the moment. It does mean that I'll want to get some hawk coverage going on my eastern coast.

I'm pretty sure Stygs can take the Mobility promotion, so they can move 4 on your roads (6 if PB has researched Engineering).

Something else that occurs to me is that I can start building mage guilds now, and then Mind I adepts. Is it worth it to have inspirations in most of my cities, or would building all of the necessary adepts just be too expensive?

No. Each adept will cost 1 gold + inflation. So, you'll be paying about 1.5 gold (?) for 2 beakers (2.5 beakers with a library). Not worth sidetracking yourself, IMO. It's worth building *one* mage's guild and a few adepts to build your death node, and so they can cast haste or summon skeletons and allow all of your vampires to concentrate on summoning spectres. It takes *forever* for a 0-XP adept to grow into a mage (and you don't have Sorcery yet anyway, right?). I think your hammers are better invested in mass vampires.

[Bobchillingworth]

Excellent point about the adepts, I totally forgot about the unit upkeep. Yeah, just one adept with Body I and another with Law I might be enough. Possibly a third with Blur.

[Bobchillingworth]

Military is now 17 vampires, 2 chariots, the full compliment of 4 Royal Guards, and more chariots and vamps completing every turn. Science has suffered a bit due to my eating scientist specialists and some unhappiness problems, but I don't really care. New vampires are being constructed every turn, new chariots as well.


PB's power is now only about a third higher than mine... I'm starting to feel a bit more secure.

[DaveV]

Is the AC still at 29? You could raze one of his settlements to bring on Blight (and take away some of his health resources ).

[Bobchillingworth]

Still holding at 29... I don't want to start a fight yet, since my power is clearly growing more quickly than his, and I'd like to surpass him or be at parity before we go at it, but I get Corruption of the Spirit in just a couple turns and so I think I can get it to 30 just by using the free savant (assuming I want to bring on the blight- it does hurt me as well, just not as badly as PB)

[DaveV]

Still holding at 29... I don't want to start a fight yet, since my power is clearly growing more quickly than his, and I'd like to surpass him or be at parity before we go at it, but I get Corruption of the Spirit in just a couple turns and so I think I can get it to 30 just by using the free savant (assuming I want to bring on the blight- it does hurt me as well, just not as badly as PB)

I'm not sure whether it will take two more points or one on the actual counter to bump the displayed counter, so spreading AV to another city may or may not bring on blight. But I'll agree with a conservative approach when you're outproducing him. Time is on your side. Keep converting population to vampires and XP, and blight shouldn't be much of a problem.

[Bobchillingworth]

For your consideration / edification:






Looking a lot better now. Three more vampires and a chariot complete next turn. Of course some of my power spike is specters... but temporary or not, they also represent a significant military force at my disposal.


Veil comes in at the end of next turn as well. To quote Mr. Han from Enter the Dragon: "We are investing in corruption"

[Bobchillingworth]

Good lord, I have a mini-heart attack every turn when I hear the marching boots as it loads- thankfully, it has always been due to a lizardman lair thus far. My power is now only a few vamps below PB. I'll post battle plans in about six turns, anything before then is probably premature. I *think* I'll be ready to commence hostilities within 10-12 turns. That gives me enough time to get Bridgit, Rosier, about 6 ritualists, a hawk, a death node, and a couple more rounds of large-scale drafting in. Hopefully Cull will build the chariot auxiliaries I've requested as well, although I'm not going to hold my breath on that one. Alas I don't think that Sareln will be anywhere near assassins in time.


I also note with some amusement that my red, populous nation resembles modern China on the minimap

[Ilios]

I also note with some amusement that my red, populous nation resembles modern China on the minimap

Hehe, it's true!

Show us the Military Advisor screen? Thanks!

[Bobchillingworth]

Perhaps my vampires are Jiang Shi



Some pictures:





(Cue Satanic guitar solo)

Seriously, those Veil farms look badass.


My military:




More vampires complete every turn, but a couple production cities are stuck on infra builds for the moment- I need those veil temples for ritualists, and one city has to build a mage guild. I also need to regrow a couple cities- my score is actually falling due to all the feasting. I think I'm going to borrow a lot of gold from Cull now, need to start rushing-building things.


And finally, the latest power graph:




I have been scouting Feiss, or whatever PB's closest former Hippus settlement is called, every turn with a specter. I think PB has taken this as a sign that I'm going to strike there, and so he's stockpiling lots of CA- about ten in there now. Which is exactly what I want; if he groups them all together, then when I do attack, I can do a lot more damage to them all at once through collateral.