The Fearsome Foursome [Spoilers- Map and Lurker Thread]

[Qgqqqqq]

I never even considered where he might land up! It will actually mean they will land there and be unable to move (if borders are closed), although the teleportation of a war Dec could be interesting...

Is Elli going for tower, btw?

[Bobchillingworth]

I think so, yeah. He's currently trying to research / Grimoire mithril weapons for his troops. He has a very strong economy, but his military is fairly light and currently heavily based on the threat of Ratha without many units to actually take advantage of Blinding Light. He doesn't have even a single collateral unit, although I imagine he'll build some Ritualists now.

[Qgqqqqq]

This is actually a really interesting game atm. Most interesting ffh game since...probably XXVIII? And I didn't even get to follow that as it happened.

I wonder how valuable that is as a diversion...it must delay a tower victory considerably. And with the strength HidingKneel has available long term it's quite risky - at the end of the day, Ellimists dominance is going to reduce.

A pity Kredom and Commodore have, for whatever reason, turned out as a bit of a pusharounds for the other two (at least that's how HK is viewing). And that Ellimist isn't in a reporting mood.

[Bobchillingworth]

Mithril weapons are... interesting. +2 strength over Iron Weapons (+4 total) is a massive boost to a wide array of units. At the same time, it's thousands of beakers which are easily countered by an adept spell. Phalanxes are good units too, although not much better than much cheaper Beastmasters.


I believe he is also considering the Guild, which would help him a lot.


I have no idea why Sian decided to adopt the Veil. Seems to have been a terrible mistake, Kredom is getting hardly any benefit out of it- those beakers needed to have been invested in approaching Gargoyles or Iron Golems instead. Also, shouldn't he have a ton of Great Engineers from his WS by now? Not sure what's going on there

[Qgqqqqq]

I feel I've missed how HK/Mardoc plan to deal with blinding light. Even presupposing all the surrounding improvements being lost, it still looks to me like Ratha's will be able to reach their stack from where they start. And I'd be very surprised if even that formidable force can take the city in one turn.

Regardless, the climax should be interesting.

[Bobchillingworth]

Is this even the climax? Certainly Ellimist needs to be stopped / slowed down, but it seems a little silly that the game would be decided after literally the first serious battle. Say his forward city is crippled / razed... the other players still seem like they're genuine contenders.

[Qgqqqqq]

It is for sure A climax. If he loses one of his only three his cities then that is massive, and HK losing Gibbon and most of his mages is in a similar ballpark. I see the other two as potential contenders, but not in much of a condition to be so yet - Kredom doesn't seem very militirized with both his heroes exposed like that and Commodore's albeit large force is mostly quite weak units, and their economies are significantly behind.

I dunno, I feel like it would take the two each sustaining considerable damage for the dwarves to have a chance, and I don't see that happening.

[Bobchillingworth]

Something I hope he's *not* doing, but have no way to really tell: He could be 2-3 turns away from Airships. He's got Mathematics, Engineering, and Sailing (and iron and mithril), so all he needs is the 2500 beakers of Optics and Astronomy. Airships would basically add 3-5 movement to any unit he has.

Based on what Ellimist has told me of his plans in the past, I believe this is in fact exactly what he is doing.

[The Black Sword]

Awesome, I hope he updates a bit for any Airship attacks, it will be really cool to see those used in a tight game.

[Bobchillingworth]

Why is Kredom chasing Eidolons? They're good units, but he'd be so much better off finally unlocking core troops stronger than Wood Golems. He doesn't even need their Death resistance to take on the Balz, golems come with that already!


Thrilling stuff in the Ellimist vs. HK battle... not sure who will come out on top here. If I had to guess, I think Ellimist will hold the city (my understanding is he can hire quite a lot of Mercenaries in a pinch), and the Balz will be in some real trouble once Ellimist sails over Airships which can reach their stack.

He's bringing a couple of reinforcements in (there's a phalanx on the road, carrying the Grimoire). Note: seven Rathas in the city this turn. Floated some more eyes but couldn't see where the other two went. Presumably back into Kuriotate territory, but it makes me nervous.

HK should be nervous- Ellimist almost certainly sent them back to be loaded on an Airship and used to paralyze his stack.


This could be the first game where we see Air Elementals deployed- they should get odds on Airships even before you account for potential Empower promotions.