[SPOILERS] DaveV and Averax end the revels

[DaveV]

From Shakespeare's The Tempest:

Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits, and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp'd tow'rs, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on; and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.

I memorized this in junior high, after a character quoted it in a book I read. It fits pretty well into the Sheaim "destroy the world" philosophy. Not to mention that the Tempest character Caliban is a Cambion (human/demon crossbreed), just like Averax.

[DaveV]

DaveV:
Averax of Sheaim

The whole point was to take some of the lesser-used civs and leaders. I think there will be combat in the early mid game, so I picked leaders suited for that. Averax is built for a farmer's gambit, but I may not be able to keep that up long before I start bumping into other players. Mid to late game - an Armageddon push?

TBS:
Charadon of the Doviello

Another person who followed the spirit of the game. Charadon is the only leader to get +1/+1; we'll see if that compensates for his badness. TBS played a very good game in EitB 28, winning a Tower victory over some tough competition. Like me, his best strategy is an early farmer's gambit.

Bob:
Decius of Calabim

Obviously, Bob didn't think the handicaps were enough to offset the obvious strength of this pick. Can Bob keep his economy out of the tank while rushing simultaneously to Ashen Veil, Vampires, and mages?

Superjm:
Dain of Amurites

Superjm dominated in EitB 24, as far as I can tell from the sketchy reporting. That game had a terrible turn pace; I hope he can keep up with a turn a day here. No one's managed to win with the Amurites yet; I think their goodies are just too late in the game. Their worldspell doesn't prevent zombies from exploding.

Tholal:
Rivanna of Svartalfar

Tholal's picks were a little odd, with Svart leaders as first and third pick. Not sure how he was planning to get Volanna if he couldn't get Rivanna. Tholal's skills put him in the middle of this field, IMO.

Fun stuff: with two Barbarian civs, the other guys may have to deal with a flood of orcs before the wildlands are filled up. The "no lairs" setting removes one of the weaknesses of the Barbarian trait.

[DaveV]

The password is Caliban.

[DaveV]

Reserved #3.

[DaveV]

Turn 0. Here's the overview after settling and moving my scouting units.




I have a shade who's caged and stacked with a held super Valkyrie (between the cow and wheat to the east). To free the shade, I need to move a unit onto the tile and cast Release from Cage. Since the tile is Burning Sands, my current units can't move there. Cute. If I weren't Barbarian, I'd just delete the shade; there's no point in paying maintenance on him for hundreds of turns till I'd have a chance against the Valkyrie. As it stands, however, I can move into the tile once I have a unit with fire resistance (randomly through Chaos mana mutations, or naturally at Bronze Working). I'll have to do some worldbuilder testing, but I suspect that Release from Cage will also free the Valkyrie, which would completely break the game.

In case the map isn't completely broken, I did a few more screenshots:



Pretty crummy terrain for first-turn River of Blood ...



... which is reflected in Bob's less than spectacular demos. Also of note: someone moved his settler and has eight land tiles instead of six. Almost certainly Bob moving 1E in my setup, since that would match up with the way Q said he was going to move the rice tiles around.

[DaveV]

Houston, we have a problem.





Note that the Valkyrie is no longer held.

Just in case we figure out a way around this, here's my turn 1 exploration:

[DaveV]

Actually, I guess it's another example of the old joke:

"Doctor, it hurts when I do this."
"Then don't do that!"

Since I very much doubt wandering Valkyries were what Q intended, I think the answer is to delete the shade when it starts costing maintenance, like I originally thought.

[DaveV]

... and this is yet another example of why mapmakers shouldn't try to get too creative.

[Qgqqqqq]

Or why players should remember that the mapmaker may place specific Unit_AI's just in case However, are you sure your Valkyrie doesn't have Hidden Nationality?

[DaveV]

are you sure your Valkyrie doesn't have Hidden Nationality?

I double checked, and it does. So there, says Q.