[Spoilers] Biggus Decius and the Sucking Vampires (Bobchillingworth / Calabim)

[Bobchillingworth]

It would have only theoretically saved me 3 turns, and I didn't really see any urgency.


The azer disappeared... and then came back this turn. I thought that he had died, but apparently he just ran off to kill something else, as he now sports full health and Combat II. So I wouldn't have been able to get a head start working on the copper anyway.


He's strength 6 plus Combat II- my defending bloodpet is strength 3, with shock, combat III, fortification, and 25% innate bonus for a total of +150% strength. I think that makes it a close to even fight, so I should be able to pretty easily finish the azer off if I lose. Still a crappy situation.

[Bobchillingworth]

Founded Sareln's city this turn, and offered it for gifting.


Also killed the azer with no losses. I only got one lousy exp point out of the deal- what a rip-off!

[DaveV]

I spent some time looking at the screenshot of the priests attacking Cull. First off, the ice elementals *do* have the Homeland promotion, so retreat before death is entirely possible. Most concerning, though, is that his great leader priest already has 4 promotions, which means he only needs one more to be upgraded to high priest and gain access to Snowfall. Then Cull is dead meat.

I'm changing my tech advice: I now recommend a beeline to Construction. It seems to me that catapults are the support units you could have most quickly, and speed is of the essence.

Can you post a powergraph picture? I'm still worried about the Hippus, and it would be interesting to see if they're doing a military buildup.

[Maksim]

Most concerning, though, is that his great leader priest already has 4 promotions, which means he only needs one more to be upgraded to high priest and gain access to Snowfall. Then Cull is dead meat.

Do High Priests become available with the same tech as Priests of Winter, or does Selrahc need to research somethig else first?

[DaveV]

Do High Priests become available with the same tech as Priests of Winter, or does Selrahc need to research somethig else first?

Hint, hint . In fact, they need Theology, which requires a couple really expensive techs that are otherwise useless to the agnostic Illians. So that's not something to worry about for a while. Wrong again: I'm making a habit out of that...

[Bobchillingworth]

I have something like 20 turns left on an NAP with Selrahc anyway, so I'm not going to rush for catapults.


Cull made peace with the Illians a few turns ago anyway- I might have forgotten to post that here. He apparently got a long-term NAP, but has to give Selrahc one of his palace mana.



My first target will almost certainly be the Hippus. I need to decide whether to wait until vampires or just throw a lot of moroi at him... I'd def. need catapults if I decide the latter.

[Maksim]

Hi! Turn 100 is coming round soon - could you do an overview of your empire for that, please?

It seems like you had a pretty good rise so far, between getting a vassal, beating back the barbarians and arranging a NAP with the Stack-of-Priestly-Doom wandering the lands. Would you agree?

[Bobchillingworth]

Sure, I'd be happy to do a civ overview.



Yeah I'm in an okay position right now. I've slowed my growth a little bit by building a settler for Sareln (who arguably might not even need it, but that's not really the point...). But I'm building constant settlers / workers from Prespur, and so I should remain in the lead for expansion.


Biggest concern is whether I should continue to beeline to Vampires, which will take a while due to needing two expensive techs, or whether I should try to rush the Hippus with moroi and catapults. Going the latter route means a detour for construction and having to build a bunch of siege workshops, plus slowing down my lead for early war- but I'm worried that about the hippus growing too advanced / large if I wait for vamps. Dunno, what do you think Dave?

[DaveV]

Biggest concern is whether I should continue to beeline to Vampires, which will take a while due to needing two expensive techs, or whether I should try to rush the Hippus with moroi and catapults. Going the latter route means a detour for construction and having to build a bunch of siege workshops, plus slowing down my lead for early war- but I'm worried that about the hippus growing too advanced / large if I wait for vamps. Dunno, what do you think Dave?

Well, construction is effectively an economic tech for you, since it lets you build more aristofarms. It also gives you a discount on sanitation, which is a great tech for growth (and allows public baths for lots of happiness). Plus, catapults are very strong in FfH, although they are slower than erosion. Don't build "a bunch" of siege workshops, but build one in a city and build nothing but catapults after that. You'll be grateful to have some catapults if a stack shows up.

As far as attacking the hippus: not a good idea, IMO. You should be able to outgrow and outtech them, since you have some really good land to grow into. I'd keep building bloodpets instead of moroi: you get a 4-strength unit (5 in a city) for less than half what you pay for the 5-strength moroi.

[Bobchillingworth]

Hmm. I think I might continue on to vampires first for now since masonry -> construction -> sanitation is a pretty long detour (once I finish Carnivals... siiigh)



Hey so another question... I want to capture that barbarian city to my east... should I attack with maybe 2 moroi and 4 bloodpets (moroi are 2-3 turns, bloodpets are 1 turn from my best production city), or just 6 bloodpets, or what? Moroi are pretty great offensive units thanks to burning blood, as long as you don't mind knowing that they're very likely not going to survive.