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

[Bobchillingworth]

Thank goodness for drafting. Power power level still isn't optimal, but it's improving


(Edit: opps, attached wrong image, I'll load the correct graph next time I boot up the turn :P )


11 Vampires now, with 5 more + a Royal Guard and chariot completing in the next two turns. Ritualists in 9 turns, accounting for the revolt to the Veil. Necromancy is only a 3 turn tech for me, so I can boost those specters soon as well.


Iskender somehow still alive with the same two cities, still at war with PB. AV counter miraculously holding at 29.

[fluffyflyingpig]

Iskender somehow still alive with the same two cities, still at war with PB. AV counter miraculously holding at 29.

These last two items seem like they might be related!

[DaveV]

Thank goodness for drafting. Power power level still isn't optimal, but it's improving.

Good. I hope you're drafting and feasting everywhere you can, in preparation for blight.

Ritualists in 9 turns, accounting for the revolt to the Veil.

So, you already have some AV temples? Once you're ready for blight, you can bring it on easily by spreading AV to some of your cities with no religion.

[Bobchillingworth]

Well Corruption of the Spirit arrives in 5 turns, and then Priesthood in 4, so I have four turns to get some temples up, which is certainly doable. I may just cash-rush them to save time, actually. Thanks to my Regents they give +1 happy, too

[DaveV]

Well Corruption of the Spirit arrives in 5 turns, and then Priesthood in 4, so I have four turns to get some temples up, which is certainly doable. I may just cash-rush them to save time, actually. Thanks to my Regents they give +1 happy, too

Don't start too early on the temples: your main concern should still be bulking up your army. Once you're getting ready to go on the offensive, build some Savants for mini culture bombs.

[Bobchillingworth]

Sadly, Savants cannot culture-bomb. Instead they give you a whopping 10 beakers toward one of the "arcane" techs. It doesn't matter that much anyway, since I can't bomb settlements that auto-raze. If the blessed day comes that I can capture some actual cities from PB, I'm just going to feast the hell out of them regardless of revolt, before abandoning their ruined size 1 husks.


I want temples not so much for the happy or science boost (although that's nice too), but because I really want to be able to build those ritualists for collateral. Ritualists are almost as important as Vampires for me- they have medic II, can cause large amounts of collateral damage, and are decent combat units in a pinch. Any stack of PB's that ends up so that I can get four ritualists next to it will be destroyed very quickly.

[DaveV]

Sadly, Savants cannot culture-bomb.

D'Oh! I should have known that.

If the blessed day comes that I can capture some actual cities from PB, I'm just going to feast the hell out of them regardless of revolt, before abandoning their ruined size 1 husks.

Then what's your plan for victory? Conquest?

I want temples not so much for the happy or science boost (although that's nice too), but because I really want to be able to build those ritualists for collateral. Ritualists are almost as important as Vampires for me- they have medic II, can cause large amounts of collateral damage, and are decent combat units in a pinch. Any stack of PB's that ends up so that I can get four ritualists next to it will be destroyed very quickly.

Yeah, Ritualists are pretty cool, especially with no Amurites in the game to deactivate them just when you need them most (yes, bitter experience talking there). Your first promotion should be Mobility, of course.

[Bobchillingworth]

Yeah, Conquest victory seems like the simplest option. I'd practically have to achieve it anyway just to get domination.


Yup, mobility for all ritualists. Hopefully they naturally accrue those first two exp fairly quickly.


After CoS -> Priesthood, I might take a quick Hunting detour- lodges will give me +1 happiness and +1 health which is neat, but more importantly allow me to get my own hawks out on patrol. Sareln gives me coverage already, but thanks to the turn order I only know after I move everything whether I positioned correctly. If I were to launch an invasion, I'd have to currently rely on 1-turn old intel from Sareln, and given that PB can move his guys like 12 tiles a turn with Charge and roads I could easily run my guys into a trap. Besides, hunting is only two turns at most to research, and I only really need one lodge somewhere to make hawks.


I guess after hunting comes Necromancy, then maybe fanaticism and then the Infernal Pact. I could use the Grimoire to take Malevolent Designs for free, which means Madero, the Elodin, and that wonder that gives a free Death mana.

[DaveV]

I might take a quick Hunting detour- lodges will give me +1 happiness and +1 health which is neat.

Not to mention an instant global +1 happy from the city built on top of ivory. And hawks are great.

And you need iron for Eidolons.

[Bobchillingworth]

I had a long chat with Selrahc last night. Mostly we just talked about FFH in general, but there were some details pertinent to this game which came up as well:


* Selrahc has an NAP with PB until turn 220. He signed it five turns before PB invaded Iskender, and said that he only did it because he was terrified that PB would run him over.


* PB is really worried about the AC counter, and is trying to build inquisitors to remove the Veil from his and Selrahc's land. Selrahc wants the blight to happen, because he has slavery, lots of health resources, and low population.


* PB told Selrahc that he invaded Iskender because Iskender would not give him an NAP, and because he was scared of vampires. Yes, PB apparently invaded the Hippus because he was afraid of the Calabim.


* PB has apparently had it out for me for a long time, and tried to convince Selrahc early on to go after me with the Priests of Winter. PB built the Stooges as a Priest deterrent, which doesn't seem hammer-efficient to me, but whatever. Selrahc decided to not attack me mostly because he was worried that he'd get dog-piled if he did, and he didn't want to game to be over so quickly. Very sporting of him.


* Selrahc has made it clear that he believes PB and I are destined for an apocalyptic conflict, and admits that he's happy to sit it out and watch us kil each other. He claims that his own military will mostly just be Ice II mages, and that he'd really like to get Auric Ascended in play after about the next 80 turns, just for fun.


* Apparently nobody saw my vassalization of Cull coming. Neat.


* Selrahc signed a "no passage of enemy units through each other's land" agreement thing with me, so hopefully my north is relatively secure.


* 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.


* Selrahc acted a lot like we were suddenly allies, and advised me to simply sit back and build up forces, since PB has already largely peaked militarily, while I have plenty more weapons that I can add to my arsenal. I think that he is correct in his analysis, and that PB is in a somewhat tough spot needing to decide whether to attack me right now on my home turf, or risk allowing me to continue outproducing him.




Overall he mostly confirmed what I already knew. I suppose that he could be lying about the Ice II mages and other things, but he has been forthright with me in chats before. I kind of want to attack him now, since I know that he has low power and is busy feeding mages, but I'm not sure how I would get PB off of my back. I think that if I can wipe out the Kurios, then I've probably won, but that's a big "if". I'm just going to keep building up military for now, and I might as well backfill my remaining city sites.


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?