[SPOILERS] Balseraphs: A Guide to Mis-Management (by Kyan and TT)

[DaveV]

Should your scout live long enough, it would be wise to stand on the Mirror of Heaven after getting that third hut. The mirror gives a giant cone of vision in a random (I think) direction for every unit which stands on it- so you might reveal more land / huts / civ. It's also a great place to eventually park a unit for eternity to get vision on approaching enemies, but if you were to try that now you'd probably just lose your scout within a few turns to a roving barb of some variety.

Actually, Mirror of Heaven gives +6 tiles of visibility in every direction, but because it's a flat tile, that visibility is easily obstructed by hills, forests, and mountains. In this case, it looks like there's lots of nice flat land around it, so it would give visibility on a lot of tiles.

On the poison goblin: he can pass the Poisoned promotion to your unit, which gives you -10% strength and slower healing. Once you heal to 100%, the Poisoned promotion goes away. Once barbs start spawning in earnest, they are reasonably smart about stacking up, so you should definitely get 2-3 warriors in your city in the near future.

[Kyan]

Actually, Mirror of Heaven gives +6 tiles of visibility in every direction, but because it's a flat tile, that visibility is easily obstructed by hills, forests, and mountains. In this case, it looks like there's lots of nice flat land around it, so it would give visibility on a lot of tiles.

On the poison goblin: he can pass the Poisoned promotion to your unit, which gives you -10% strength and slower healing. Once you heal to 100%, the Poisoned promotion goes away. Once barbs start spawning in earnest, they are reasonably smart about stacking up, so you should definitely get 2-3 warriors in your city in the near future.

Luckily the goblin moved 1N and is still outside our borders. Continuing with the warrior quick build to be safe.

However, i popped a dungeon to the west and my oh my did we just gain some leverage:



Two lizaardmen. One on 5xp, one on 2. Im thinking combat 1 + shock and combat 1. Wheel around to the south east and back into capital and heal. then march north and go mess up Rawkking. If i can kill, i will. If not, i'll choke til i get the best NAP money can buy- lasting until turn 130 when gibbon will go puppet rape him.

Fun times ahead.

[Krill]

I think when maps get balanced we need to remember to keep all dungeons far away from Kyan.

[Bobchillingworth]

Haha, awesome! Personally, I'd go a bit further with the demands- maybe mana, def. land, and a NAP at a number that's a little less conspicuous and a bit longer. Who cares if he hates you for it, if you want to eventually kill him anyway. Of course the terms of whatever deal you make with him aren't something that requires my input, so go for what feels best to you. And my idea of what constitutes acceptable demands is apparently a little bit... "skewed" =)


Main issue is that he can spot those lizards with his scout, and so will likely pump warriors if he does. And he'll know something is up regardless from your giant power boost. You can't do anything about that. But you *can* choke the heck out of him if he's too hard to kill outright. Just bear in mind that his worldspell will give him close to even odds on your lizards on flat land, and even if you keep them both bunkered up on a hill and promote the 5 exp guy to shock, he could still take them out with about 6 warcry warriors. And his warriors will be fast, too. Even just making him waste his spell is a huge bonus, though. And if he uses it but fails to immediately attack for some reason, you could always just run away and wait several turns for it to wear off the majority of his units. Basically, you have a significant military advantage, but one which you could lose easily if you're careless with positioning. Keep off the desert once you reach him

[DaveV]

Im thinking combat 1 + shock and combat 1.

Nooooo! Combat 1 is great, but you should wait for Animal Husbandry to come in and take Subdue Animal for your second promotion. The ability to capture animals at this early juncture is a huge gift. If you want to choke, you can do it with bears and scorpions, invisible spiders, or flying griffons. Train up your other lizardman on a few barbs, then you'll have two animal capturing lizards.

Wheel around to the south east and back into capital and heal.

Why not northeast? I'm pretty sure the scrub tile only takes one move, so it seems like you'll reach your borders much more quickly if you go back that way, plus you have better visibility on those tiles. You should do everything you can to protect your lizards now that you have them, instead of risking them being eaten by some random barbarian unit (especially on -25% defense desert terrain).

[Kyan]

Nooooo! Combat 1 is great, but you should wait for Animal Husbandry to come in and take Subdue Animal for your second promotion. The ability to capture animals at this early juncture is a huge gift. If you want to choke, you can do it with bears and scorpions, invisible spiders, or flying griffons. Train up your other lizardman on a few barbs, then you'll have two animal capturing lizards.

I mentioned this to Bob in chat actually, leaving the promotion unused so i can keep the flexibility. I may need the lizardmen to threaten Rawkking with- possibly even kill him.

I did some quick napkin math.

Warrior = strength 3.
Warrior with warcry (hippus world spell) = strength 4

Lizardman = strength 4
Lizardman with combat 1 = strength 4.8
Lizardman with combat 1 and shock 1 = strength 6.4

Str 3 vs str 4 = ~20% odds to win
Str 3 vs str 4.8 = ~10% odds to win
Str 3 vs str 6.4 = ~1% odds to win

Str 4 vs str 4.8 = ~40% odds to win
Str 4 vs Str 6.4 = ~10% odds to win

Taking into account that warcry only affects units that exist at that moment in time (i.e. future builds wont get it) and I has a 5% chance to wear off each turn from each individual unit.

If I can get onto that forested hill adjacent to his capital…

Lizardman with combat 1 = strength 6.8
Lizardman with combat 1 and shock 1 = strength 8.4

The strongest defender always defends first so he'll likely need around 8 warcried warriors to kill them both. However, before he gets to that number, I'll try to use the non-shock lizardman to kill one from the capital so he can promote shock.

My odds on attack aren't as good as lizards are recon type units (like scouts, archers, hunters, rangers etc) and therefore get -20% on attack. Coupled with warriors gaining +25% city defence and +10% cultural defence=

Lizardman with combat 1 attacking a city = strength 4
Lizardman with combat 1 and shock 1 attacking a city = strength 5.6

Warrior defending capital = strength 4.05
Warcry warrior defending capital = strength 5.4

This implies to me that I likely cannot kill him unless I get lucky. If he has two warriors, I have around 50% odds to kill him. If he has 3 warriors, then I'd have to be very lucky. If the weaker lizard wins (at under 50% odds), he can promote shock next turn and if the stronger lizard won also, together they may be able to take out the third one. It's possible.

Why not northeast? I'm pretty sure the scrub tile only takes one move, so it seems like you'll reach your borders much more quickly if you go back that way, plus you have better visibility on those tiles. You should do everything you can to protect your lizards now that you have them, instead of risking them being eaten by some random barbarian unit (especially on -25% defense desert terrain).

Well, i was working on the assumption that Rawkking's scout might see them a he was in that area. However, his units have retreated without gaining visibility on the lizardmen...

This is crucial because whilst he can still see our hugely inflated power rating, there's no guarantee he'll check that. I'm still heavily in favour of healing them up (both are just C1 for now) and moving them in against him. The NAP will expire a turn or two before we arrive. If i have to promote shock to land a killing blow on his capital- that is worth losing one subdue animal lizardman for.

[Kyan]

Oh, the poison goblin didnt move this turn. He's just hanging around on our border. However, he now has brought a mate along also so there are two there sitting and waiting.

I can get the initial home in time and will have a second warrior out. With the moat + hill + innate defence bonus, that's safe enough. I took the spare turn from the barbs stalling to get the worker out.

[Bobchillingworth]

I would assume that he has seen the power spike. He has like a dozen lurkers, right? Surely none of them would let him get away without checking it every turn. It's too important in the early game to have that info at hand to risk not doing so. Speaking of which, how's his power look? :P



Also, it shouldn't be very difficult to get the 2 exp lizard to his next promo. Probably could do it with just one warrior kill, due to exp yields in FFH being roughly doubled. I'm sure a diplomatically creative person such as yourself can figure out a way to get the necessary exp from Mr. Hippus as part of a peace settlement...

[Bobchillingworth]

Actually, Mirror of Heaven gives +6 tiles of visibility in every direction, but because it's a flat tile, that visibility is easily obstructed by hills, forests, and mountains. In this case, it looks like there's lots of nice flat land around it, so it would give visibility on a lot of tiles.

.

I forgot to address this, but... are you sure about that? Like every time I've sent a unit onto the Mirror before, it just gives an outwardly expanding cone of vision covering one of the cardinal directions for quite a few tiles. But not in every direction. And I distinctly remember the field of view expanding in the duel I fought with you when I moved a second unit onto the mirror- in addition to giving me vision over the sea that separated our islands, I also then received vision on several tiles in the north.

[Kyan]

I forgot to address this, but... are you sure about that? Like every time I've sent a unit onto the Mirror before, it just gives an outwardly expanding cone of vision covering one of the cardinal directions for quite a few tiles. But not in every direction. And I distinctly remember the field of view expanding in the duel I fought with you when I moved a second unit onto the mirror- in addition to giving me vision over the sea that separated our islands, I also then received vision on several tiles in the north.

I decided to see who was right...



It seems to give 6 tiles visibility in every direction but is blocked by any hills/forests. It has also showed us a whole multitude of barbs. That hill giant moved 1W and gryphon moved 1E last turn so i may make a mad dash for the tribal hut.

This turn was all about the barbs as we discovered a lion, gryphon and hill giant nearby. Furthermore, the two poison goblins decided that they were brave enough to enter our borders now that they have a buddy to hold hands with...

Fiends. They shall pay by fouling up my lands with their ugly snouts. We are in no danger at all as both lizardmen could get into the capital in time. Also, our starting warrior is back and another warrior completes end of next turn if necessary. I am heavily considering fortifying the starting warrior on that hill. Both goblins are 1E of him. They would be attacking over a river onto a hill. If he could hold it- we'd gain a combat 1 shock 1 warrior who would be dominant on 'barbwatch'.