EitB AI Takeover SG

[Brian Shanahan]

Sorry for holding off on the game for an extra day.  I frankly got lazy last night, and with Q busy until Monday I was bold.

Only two screenshots this set (mainly because nothing else took when pressing print screen):







Yes, Hyborem entered the world, all the way over by the Sirdar.  He's at war with Thessa too, fat lot of good that does though as he's no way to attack her.

Over the set I got Infernal Pact, and am building the Grimoire in Slane (I could have also built it in the capital after Rosier, either city would have got it as quick).  I've turned off science, and set trickle to Code of Laws because.

In aggressive news I captured Dendrom after losing two Satyrs (the first was my fault attacking in at c75% odds, the second was rng he lost at 94%) and a monk among a lot of tigers.  healed up for two turns and then advanced on Hexam which fell (for the loss of only tigers) on turn 379.

Hyll is the nut that needs cracking.  All Thessa's top units are there (she has flurrys and phalanxes) and the units I've stood in front are not sufficient to win, even if c 1/3 of them didn't get held each turn.  Take that out and she's broken.

I stopped up on turn 380 without moving anything.  I started a few military builds in the cities that finished a build.  Aside from new plants and cities that can't get units to the front lines, everything (bar wonders) should be military builds from here on out.

We're in the tedious mop up stage here, keep advancing on cities and taking them a few a set until we hit 54% land (we're at about 30% now).  But the game's essentially won.

[Qgqqqqq]

You might have forgotten to attach the save?

[Brian Shanahan]

You might have forgotten to attach the save?

D'oh.  Must have forgotten the last bit of attaching files to posts.

[shallow_thought]

Any news from Erebus? Is every living thing dead yet ?

[Qgqqqqq]

I'll get to it tonight - I had aimed to yesterday, but life was so hectic we just needed to unwind on something easier.

[Qgqqqqq]

Looking at the save, I decide that the priority is to push hard, push fast. With that in mind, I immediately begin pushing units into Ljolsofar territory. Next turn, I begin attacking. This is my first Tiger that got decent odds:

I must have missed the screenshot for the city. We took it, anyway - though we lost some annoying high-% odds, including one of the good Satyrs. Another got sniped by a Flurry later - ah well, they're near being replaced, anyway.  

Moving onto the next city:

This one takes a tad longer - Blinding Light is a pain. But enough tigers and some catapults is enough to get us there.


The city after that is faster - units are better gathered, and there's less pesky terrain. Thessa also leaves 5 exposed mages (her remaining flock) out in the open, so BL is no longer a concern.

(Again, taken, but no screenshot.)

I adopt StW. It saves more money then Nationhood, and with Conquest, has better production.


I turn research on.

We have 1200 gold, and that's only going to rise as we take cities. Sure, if we were breakeven at 0% I'd be concerned, but it's more like 25-35%. So I decide to research Fanaticism - it'll give us Corlindale and Eidolons, and let us bulb Malevolent Designs.

Speaking of which, it takes me a couple of turns to notice we have a Great Engineer chilling in the capital. Maybe the preference was to use him for a golden age, but speeding up MD by 8t seems better to me - the game likely won't last 30t, and the sooner we can get tier 4 units out, the better.


Shortly after we have a pair of pretty screens:


I start some builds of our new super units. Remember to upgrade ritualists/monks, rather than building Eidolons fresh. I upgraded one, but the best candidates are besieging the final Ljolsofar city - which might fall next turn.



In miscellaneous news: Ars Morendai arrives:

I haven't spotted him yet. I'm not entirely sure he spawned correctly.

Speaking of Horsemen, Yersinia is attacking the Kuriotates:


We also had a unit pop through a portal, so they're wandering around in Hyborem land. It's worth exploring the dungeons, people, you never know when we'll stumble across a Great Person (not this set, though), and we have warriors who can do it.


Btw, we're now above AC 70, which means we can do some fun things - the Meshabber of Dis should now be available.

Other than that, the plan is pretty predictable - keep rolling through the AIs, build some tough units to help out along with chariots/catapults for collateral and medium hitting. I've queued some settlers, in case domination is achievable faster than Conquest.


Good hunting!

[DaveV]

Got it. I'll probably just look things over tonight, then play sometime during the weekend.

[DaveV]

Summary: everyone's dead except us, Hyborem, and Hannah. We still have a huge amount of war weariness with Hannah, but I think there's enough open space for us to win by planting cities and popping borders with disciples.

I went after Cardith right after killing off Thessa:



Then I killed off Yersinia and Ars Moriendi. Yersinia was a bit of a problem; Cannibilize meant I couldn't just throw tigers at him. I sacrificed one of our remaining marksmen and an Eidolon to redline him, then killed him with Rosier, who now has a huge amount of XP.

Here's most of our army, sitting in Kwythellar:



A couple of units in Kwythellar are holding the Athame and Staff of Souls, but I left Orthus's axe lying on the ground just south of Kwythellar.

Hannah looks like she might be getting ready to attack us, which would be a *big* mistake.

Wrath is still out there somewhere.

[shallow_thought]

Got it.

FWIW, no WHEOOHRN from Hannah. It would be nice to kill her so as to not worry about her culture, but if WW would be that bad if I kicked off, I guess I could try to build our way to victory.

[Bobchillingworth]

WW doesn't really matter at this point, we've only got like five more cities on the map to take, right?