[SPOILERS] Iskender and the Sidar

[Ellimist]

EOT: Finished Infernal Grimoire No Balor.

Do you mind expanding this statement a bit? Does a Balor sometimes spawn when the Grimoire is finished?

[Iskender]

Do you mind expanding this statement a bit? Does a Balor sometimes spawn when the Grimoire is finished?

Yes, there's a chance a Balor will spawn. I had moved 2 more units to the capital in case it'd happen. I'd suck to lose close the capital along with 7 settled GM to a lucky Balor

Just a hint. There is no such thing as unbreakable peace treaty if Mardoc can catch any of Hybo's units in his RoF. The damage will force a war.

Nice trick with RoF. Mardoc didn't use it though, he seemed to have moved the Ritualist back east.

T168:

Disciple of Leaves upgraded to 19th Priest, then a switch to Ashen Veil and Sacrifice the Weak.

Cities before:

After:

[/url]

StW gives me roughly 80 additional food, coverted to hammers by Conquest. Definitely worth dumping FoL.


Mardoc moved the SoI a bit east, either to fight Hybo, counter my eastern stack:

or surprise me with something nasty (hope not). If I spread culture onto the tile marked with yellow X, I should be able to hit Sorodh, if not, Renegade Hill is also in range.


Cevedes is no longer in range of Clan's fire elementals, I improved my stack over there.



The city is defended by 6 Axes and 2 Warriors. It'll be easy to grab if I get a Rust adept in my stack (in 2-3 turns).


Sidar and Clan forces in the west:




EOT: Discovered Poisons (at last)

[Iskender]

T169:

A few splashscreens. First a Furs<-> Earth mana trade and map exchange with the Luchuirp. TBH i lost track on our deals. We trade Silk for Cotton and I'm giving them Horse and Marble in exchange for later Life and Earth mana. Did I agree to give Furs as well? Anyway, the last splashscreen is what I've been looking forward to:



Highlighted Rathus Denmora, the Sidar hero. Alone, he's a moderately weak assasssin (5 str instead of 6/4 and +50% vs melee instead of -50% city attack), but the real prize is the Nether Blade he starts with. It's a +2 death item that I'm going to use to buff various units, ie. Tigers.

But that's not the highlight of the turn. This is:



I flipped the critical tile last turn. It allowed workers to road it and move the stack onto the forest and then Haste it. What you see above is the Sorodh garrison after receiving 2 RoF and Rust. There's also my literate pet tiger just after reading the Grimoire. I hoped for Wither, but a Spectre will also do.


First attacked a CR2 Emp4 tiger, summoned by a Balseraph war veteran before he'd settled. He lost at 73%.

Then his CR1 buddy won at 70%. Next four tigers died at 65-55% and the last of the pack won at 69%.

After that, 4 redlined units remained in Sorodh. I wanted to pull back the stack after combat to avoid exposing it to an Axe/Lizardman counterattack from Renegade Hill, so I used mobile DS. All three were sever-souled and promoted with C1 or C2. All won at 96-99%. Then the last defender was defeated by the Grimoir Spectre.



Burnt. Manes pumped Dis to size 12 and Despero to 8. AC rose to 26.

I moved the stack back NW, out of reach of Renegade Hill Axes but still within range of fire elementals - Mardoc parked SoI 4 tiles South of Sorodh. Deleted the victorious Tigers so they don't fall prey to Mardoc's Lizardmen, who could beat the tigers for exp and get Subdue Animal. I forgot about this little detail:



Noob! I deleted the educated Tiger and dropped the Grimoire. I can't even delete it because it's an item. Which is interesting - means that the Orthus Axe might be out there somewhere, but where? Anyway, I covered the Grimoire with the Spectre hoping that it'll scare off Lizardmen and Axes and make Mardoc use an elemental if he wants to get it. He'd rather want to get the stack that burned Sorodh I believe so I moved 2 archers to hide the Priests behind them.



I hope you haven't eaten all your popcorn already cause there's more to come. With SoI no longer making zone defense for all the western cities I was able to make a move with the western stack. Here it is vs thrice RoFed Cevedes Garrison:



Once again first hit the tigers losing 8 battles at 18-22% odds. Then PoL and Ritualists winning 4 times at about 85% and then several times at 95%+. It ended with this:



I didn't have enough troops to defend Cevedes if captured so I summoned new Tigers in place of the lost ones and left it that way. Mardoc can reinforce the city with some lizardmen from Udenarat and possibly train Axes/Warriors in Cevedes. Nothing that would prevent the city from falling next turn. He could move the Udenarat 20 Axes west - they would reach Cevedes in 2 turns, but only after suffering heavy RoFing.


In the north first Mage appeared



I am a sucker for Blinding Light. Without my own Rathas this guy will have to do. He got C2, but I'm not sure if it makes spell resist less likely.


EOT:

A GM was born in the capital, he'll make a trade mission to the nearest Luchuirp city.




Hyborem built Prophecy of Ragnarok with the GE. Looks like the Blight is around the corner. When it hits I should be the least affected thanks to StW. Actually I'd like to give it a little push if I could though Cevedes is too good to burn.


WW has also hit with full force, but this should be counteracted with Gambling Houses in a few turns.



Peekaboo is building an adept and will finish Rathus with overflow next EOT.


A little diplo dump with Square Leg (after I msg'd him that Sorodh is razed). He's considering conceding the game if we manage to beat the Clan. That's indeed something to consider if the scenario after defeating the Clan would be a standstill and a race for the Tower, which I find awfully boring.

Square: Woot!
ja: booyah
Square: was the tile flipped?
ja: yes
Square: Send Florina over
no problem at all
where do you want the Ratha to head to
I am building many now that I have swapped back to emp
ja: for now to Oop Be Gone or south of it
Square: ok - noproblem
did you notice the nightmares?

ja: yes. cool
Square: +1 muscle will be useful
ja: can I borrow them pleease
Square: Seriously? are you going to be building horses?
ja: i think eventuall
y
Square: mechanic question - it is only new units that are built using nightmares that get the +1 muscle isn't it? Old units don't upgarde
ja: dunno, i think old ones get it too
Square: hmm... - well - I'll despatch some mud golems to connect them first
I have a round of rathas completing that could do with the benefit. I'm sure we can share them when you are ready to start building horsies
the emp guy should be with you in a couple of turns
ja: AC up to 26
and hybo built ragnarok
blight will hit soon
Square: urgh
I will draft a load of radiant guard then
I can sanctify some ruins to delay if necessary
but it is going to come soon regardless
ja: btw. i think I'll need Life in 2 or 3 turns
i could give you wheat to compensate for health loss
Square: that would help
thanks
did you accept the earth mana trade?
i figured wall of stone would have some use to you
ja: yes, accepted
map exchange too
Square: cool
ja: nice island with Letum Frigus
Square: yup
and acheron
according to bob - before he left us - acherons city is full of SoI - like 15 or so when he last saw
he had a crazy plan to go dominate them with Gibbon
ja: at least the clan got only 4...
Square: any more and it would be over by now
I hope Mardoc kill Hybo
s
It might make the SoI vulnerable
ja: i should have some ghosts ready in 2 turns
Square: oh - mardoc had 2 diseased corpses near the SS last turn for some reason
not sure what they were doing - they were still diseased too
ja: maybe a failsafe in case he doesn't get IW
Square: perhaps - you are doing a good job of messing with his economy!

ugraded any adepts yet?
ja: yes, 1st one this turn
Square: cool - poison blade?
ja: blinding light
i luv it
Square: lol - plenty more of that on its way!
Square: If we work together to beat the clan up, I am willing to concede this game to you. Beating the Clan will be enough fun for me!
ja: i was contemplating a post clan world. it'd probably be a race to the tower. can't imagine anything more boring
Square: Just wanted to let you know so that we can get on and work together beating on them without having to worry about post clan
ja: well, if you beat clan in the east your chances of winning are quite high, with chalid, rathas and golems that fart on my poisoned blade ghosts
Square: sry for going missing
perhaps - dunno - just want to be able to work on clearing out the clan without having to worry about post clan.
Square: Not particularly interested in going for the tower so if I were to go for a win then it would have to be a conquest one. Lets face it - i'm in no position at the moment. The only way I could attack the clan safely in the sheaim lands would be if the SoI were occupied in the west
ja: atm they are and mardoc might move them west once again as I'm threatening Cevedes at the moment as well
it's possible that he'll say goodbye to the west
and focus on fighting us on 1 front
Square: His ex-sheaim cities aren't well defended. Do you have a hawk I can borrow?
ja: i'll see if i could spare one next turn. got only 2
i wanted to train another one to fly the nether blade but forgot
Square: don't mess up your defence network but if you can spare a turn to scout from Kobe into ex-sheaim lands that would be cool

[Ellimist]

Wow, congrats on your progress.

Do you have any plans to eventually deal with the Sons of Inferno?

[Ilios]

Great moves Iskender, it would be quite a coup if you win this game with one of the worst leaders in vanilla FFH.

[Iskender]

Wow, congrats on your progress.

Do you have any plans to eventually deal with the Sons of Inferno?

If Mardoc doesn't get any units with Guardsman (Rantine is a likely candidate) then I'd like to make a series of kamikaze attacks by Ghosts on preferably Blinded SoI. Otherwise I might just ignore SoI and move the bulk of the forces to Luchuirp lands to strike E and SE from there.

The worldspell NAP still holds. Mardoc decided to use elementals for more proactive defense

[COLOR="Orange"]Just an FYI - I think it's become clear this is now a defensive war
for me. You'll be seeing Elementals now. I won't attack your cities
with them, but anything within striking range of mine is fair game.

- Mardoc[/COLOR]

Acknowledged. I have no problem with that.

Iskender

Great moves Iskender, it would be quite a coup if you win this game with one of the worst leaders in vanilla FFH.

That's been the plan from the get-go, and the odds once again have increased. T170:


Mardoc parked the SoI in Renegade Hill and used an elemental to kill my wandering archer. The elemental had been left at only 1str so I took the opportunity to feed xp to a Ritualist. The Sorodh stack moved to Nowhere




Cevedes garrison gained two more Axes, for a total of three. After Square Leg's declaration I'd decided not to worry about the post-clan situation and went ahead and razed the city.



Then a Priest of Leaves died at 95% trying to get xp on an Axeman across the river. Two Ritualists and some tigers exacted revenge and the stack withdrawn onto the NW hill.

That's the third capital captured by the intrepid Sidar and second that has been set to torch. I could get used to that

The real news though is that the razing pushed the AC to 30. The Blight should strike next turn, I believe at the very beginning. All of my cities are ready except this one:





However, with some tile-swapping:



The city should be OK, but Rathus is delayed by 2 turns. Mardoc will have a harder time fighting the Blight, but I think he started drafting already. Square Leg will probably be the most hit - he's got few health resources and is currently in Aristocracy/Conquest, and I forgot to offer him wheat, sorry


On T170 first Ghost appears, upgraded from a DS.



First four actually, with fith completed EOT.

Also EOT: Discovered Alteration. Body and Nature nodes will be handy. I'm nearing a full stop on research. Now Sailing and maybe HBR and after that 0% tech.

[mackoti]

why are building a gambling house? i see that you research at 100% with very low minus and i think you'll keeep slider there because of your razing cities.

[Iskender]

I would keep teching if I found it worth the effort, but IMO it's not.

I could take the AH->Feral Bond->Commune with Nature route. It'd require roughly 5000 beakers and 500 hammers if CwN were taken via Tower of Divination. This would give me Satyrs, Rangers, Duin and Druids. On the other hand, I can use this 5k commerce for gold (netting even more than 5k due to higher % modifiers on gp - GK and Bazaar) and use it for 2500 hammers worth of upgrades (+ another 500 for the Tower). More valuable hammers because they're becoming available with every turn.

IOW I'd rather have more units now than be able to build better units in the future.

[Iskender]

Turn 171:

The Blight hit. Thanks to StW no city should suffer a pop loss. Still, it doesn't look pretty:





I hawked Jubiland for Square Leg (and had a deja vu)



Only 2-3 units in each city's garrison. Wow. I wish I had some units there already. Maybe SL will be able to cause some damage there, although he might be busy elsewhere:



Howls Castle is within reach of Mardoc's elementals and it's defended only by one Dwarven Slinger. Maybe it's my fault for not giving SL exact location on the SoI. I sent 4 Ghosts over as a distraction, but he'll probably just go ahead with razing HC and then hide behind an elemental or two (it worked vs Bals).

I sent SL the news along with the above 2 screenshots

[COLOR="Silver"]First bad news: Mardoc can raze Howls Castle this turn. I've moved 4 Ghosts as a bait/deterrent, but he'll probably ignore them. If you get a chance to Blind the SoI go for it. Immobilizing just one or two would be perfect - it'd force Mardoc to either split the SoI or stand in place with all four. In 2 turns I should have enough Ghosts to take out one or more Sons (if Mardoc doesn't protect them with Guardsman).

The good news is the Jubiland on Screenshot843. DC = Diseased Corpse, R = Ritualist, S = Shaman. I'll try to smuggle a decent stack in the area as soon as possible.

Iskender[/COLOR]

The east stack remains parked in Nowhere to heal up the Blight damage. I deleted several Tigers in the west stack and summoned them here to put pressure on Renegade Hill.




The west stack after razing Cevedes moves is heading east:



I ignored Clan's budding cities along the souther coast and let them be the gc/hammer sinks they are atm.


EOT:

4 DS trained. To be upgraded next turn with the GM's trade mission money. Golden Age ended. Demographics and graphs out of GA:

[Iskender]

Turn 172:

Mardoc did raze Howl's Castle. He parked the SoI within the reach of my four Ghosts, but blocked the way with 2 axes and 1 lizardman:



Two Ritualists and a few Tigers from Nowhere were enough to remove the obstacle, allowing the 4-move Ghosts (Mobilit I + Haste) to access to the SoI stack.

First Ghost killed the Shaman at 99%+ odds. This exposed Levi, the Son most hit by the Blight.

Second Ghost lost to Levi at 30%, bringing his health down to 4.5.

Third Ghost lost at 56% redlining the Son down to 1.5 health.

The last Ghost hit at 99.5% and:



[SIZE="4"]One Son of the Inferno dead.[/SIZE]


Three to go.

I covered the surviving two Ghosts with 3 tigers, but they can be reached by hasted lizardmen from Renegade Hill, so the Ghosts might not survive Mardoc's wrath. No biggie, I'll train more.

I did in fact. The GM made trade mission to the Luchuirp city of Earthsea for 603gc, which was more than enough to upgrade 5 DS trained last turn to Ghosts.

Two turns ago an adept built a metamagic node NE of the capital. Last turn I upgraded him to Mage and promoted with Meta I and II. I offered the mana to Square Leg so he can do scouting on his own. In a few turns I'm converting the node most likely to Nature to buff DS and Ghosts.

EOT:

The Sidar hero [STRIKE]Rathus[/STRIKE] Nether Blade has been created in Peekaboo.


Slowly but surely the Blight is wearing off. Cities are handling it well. Another batch of upgradeable DS to be completed next turn.




No substantial changes in military since the last F5 screenshot 3 turns ago other than the appearance of Ghosts and two Mages (Meta and Sun).