[Spoiler]Capria Crusadin' Crew - Bannor

[Mist]

[SIZE="5"]My Esteemed Opposition[/SIZE]

[SIZE="4"]Tome I, The Uncivilised Gang of Certain Mr. Sol[/SIZE]

Meet the godfather, one Jonas Endain



who is just as nasty as he looks. Formerly a priest of deceased angel of fire now he happens to be

Spiritual - No Anarchy, Stronger Priests ( Potency + Mobility ), Cheap Temples
Expansive - +3 Health per city, Half price Settlers, Granaries and Harbors
Barbarian - Starts at peace with barbarians, -10% Research, No starting tech.

All above sums up to a carte blanche for farmers gambit. He does not need big garrisons and he can spam settlers early and often.

His big red button is called For the Horde, it gives 50% chance to convert every barbarian unit on the map with race Orc. Thanks to the rules we agreed to, threat level this poses will be significantly gimped. No lairs means no goblin archers and no Acheron means no Sons of Inferno. The scariest unit he will be able to pull for a long time is Orc Archer ( strength 2/4 ) that spawns with cities. Apart for these guys, it's all Warriors. Granted, we're playing Immortal, there will be *a lot* of Warriors. Personally I'd use the spell around turn 40 for instant full map knowledge and to meet everyone ( known tech bonus ). No idea what Ravus plans to do with it.

Apart for the big red button he has other shinies :

Warrens - a BOGOF. Build One unit, Get One Free* (* Siege, Naval, National Units and Heroes excluded ). Very troublesome thing that allows for a lossless hammer shuttling when running RoK and rapid speed AC raising. That's in addition to bog standard flooding of grunts. Comes early at Masonry.

Wolfrider - Clan Scout is called Goblin. Goblin that defeats a Wolf mounts it becoming a Wolfrider, a Horseman equivalent that comes really, *really* early and is perfect for chokes. We have doubled animals, expect these guys to cause general havoc. Does not require stables to be built.

Shaman - replaces Adept, does not require Mage Guild to be built.

Lizardman - replaces Hunter, is Amphibious and takes no penalty for attacking across rivers.

Rantine - Hero. Comes at Bronze Working and can peacefully convert barbarian cities.

There are few more replacements, but they don't make an appearance in early and mid game, so I'll skip them. Expect a description if they show up.

What they might want :
*Runes of Kilimorph
*Mines of Gal-Dur
*Blood, mayhem and general destruction
*Prophecy of Ragnarok

While there's nothing I can do about first three without abandoning the cultural plan, I can and will deny them Prophecy. I want a long ( over 200 turns ) and predictable game, high AC doesn't help with that.

And finally Ravus himself.

A strong player that prides himself on his diplomatic skill. Seems to have plenty experience in the mod and is able to spot unobvious, but strong strategies. One to watch out for.

[Ilios]

*The Great Library - +2 breakers per specialist

Actually, only one extra beaker.

Looking forward to see how you play this out.

[Mist]

Actually, only one extra beaker.

And works for sages only That will teach me to doublecheck stuff with civilopedia more often

Looking forward to see how you play this out.

Nowhere as good as I'd like to no doubt Still should make for a good game and a nice read.

[Mist]

[SIZE="5"]My Esteemed Opposition[/SIZE]

[SIZE="4"]Tome II, Mackoti who really wanted to play Flauros. But was overruled [/SIZE]

And therefore ended with Decius, which is poor man's Flauros with more bite.



The poor man is indecisiveness exemplified. He might lead up to three civs and be of all three alignments. In the same game! He is

Raider - free Commando promotion on all units except siege, +100% gold from pillaging.
Organised - civic upkeep cheaper by half, half-price Governor Manors and Lighthouses.

Vampires have been done to death by now ( two PBEMs and two duels ), but hey, why not do them again.

Big shiny button is Rivers of Blood. It raises vampire cities population by 2 and lowers everyone else's by the same amount. If they are size 3 or bigger. It can be used on turn 0 to give oneself a head start, it can be used when everyone grows to size 3 to peg them back a lot, or it can be wasted when used in any other manner :neenernee

Other shinies are outright broken and include such monstrosities as

Governor's Manor - replaces Courthouse, gives +1 hammer per city population.

Vampire - replaces Champion. Can be drafted. Can channel city population for experience. Can summon Skeletons and Spectres. Can cast haste and Regeneration.

Moroi - replaces Axeman, can be boosted with +1 Speed and +1 Strength at a cost of potential ( small ) chance of going rogue.

So yes, broken. Other perks exist and are completely irrelevant in the greater scheme of things.

I expect Mackoti to more or less beeline vampires, which he should get by turn 130 latest switching to aristofarms on the way. After he gets there he'll most likely want to stomp over the world.

Mackoti himself is a strong player in BtS, very unlikely to give up a commanding position once he gets one. He has very little experience in the FFH though, and this might cause him to do weird, wonderful and stupid things. All at the same time possibly. He also suffers from a language barrier, which will make contact difficult.

[Rawkking Goodguy]

You can use another dedlurker, right? Can't let NobleHelium have all the fun :P

[Mist]

You can use another dedlurker, right? Can't let NobleHelium have all the fun :P

Of course! The more, the merrier, and I'll have one more source of pokes to update frequently

[Mist]

[SIZE="5"]My Esteemed Opposition[/SIZE]

[SIZE="4"]Tome III, Mr. Yellows War of Revenge Against the Realms ( Beyond )[/SIZE]

Say hi to Tasunke,



The only reason he's not a barbarian is because people are afraid to call him uncivilised He sports

Aggressive - all units start with Combat I.
Raiders - all units get Commando, +100% pillage gold.
and if this was not enough
Horselord - mounted units get +1 Movement and +10% Withdrawal Chance.

So yeah, he's all about cavalry. Well led / promoted Hippus Horse Archers can breach 100% withdrawal chance. Like Loki, only more annoying.

His big shiny button Warcry gives all his combat units +1 Strength and yet another +1 Movement ( are you keeping track? It's kind of easy to get lost here ) with 5% chance of wearing off each turn.

Apart from this they do not get a lot of shinies :

Mounted Mercenary - replaces Mercenary and is, well, mounted.

Magadine - is a badass hero that is, you guessed it, mounted and can hire Mounted Mercenaries. He does come at Warhorses though, and that's pretty late.

Horses from Palace - replacing one mana.

On one hand Tasunke Hippus have potential to be a huge pain in the butt, on other, they are pretty prone to crashing the economy if you're not careful and pursue horses to early and to hard. Still, Warcry is nearly a guarantee to drag one player down, this needs to be looked at carefully.

Memo to myself - build Guild of the Nine for denial.

About Mr. Yellow. Last time ( PBEM III ) he tried an abrasive and greedy play without the muscle to back it up. Looks like this time he'll change and do an abrasive and greedy play *with* the muscle to back it up. Prone to overextending and lacks feel for diplomacy.

[Selrahc]

So yeah, he's all about cavalry. Well led / promoted Hippus Horse Archers can breach 100% withdrawal chance. Like Loki, only more annoying.

They can't.

I'm not entirely sure where breaching 100% comes from, Flanking 3 gives 50% added on to the 35% base and the 10% Horselord. For a rather paltry 95%... unless I'm missing something?

Even if you could theoretically do it, the game prevents promotions being taken that would raise the chance of withdrawal above 85%. Although having said that, this limitation can be circumvented by upgrading a unit into a higher withdrawal chance.

[Mist]

They can't.

I'm not entirely sure where breaching 100% comes from, Flanking 3 gives 50% added on to the 35% base and the 10% Horselord. For a rather paltry 95%... unless I'm missing something?

I thought captured ( Domination, Priests Command promo, etc. ) Homeland Scout upgraded to Horseman, but you're right, they can't take Flanking II and III. Not that 95% is that much of a difference. It's still a Loki, it just sometimes happens to trip over its heels

[Mardoc]

Your start: