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

[Mist]

Yeah, +50% is right. I meant that all along, but the keyboard gnomes sabotaged my word choice

[DaveV]

Should I ... just stay silent and prioritize him on my hit-list?

This. You're not ready for a war yet, so you'll just have to add this to the list of his provocations. Here's my best guess on his army:



So I think he only has a total of 8 centaur archers, and he has at least two of them in the new city (not sure what else is in the stacks). That city seems more aimed at Sareln than you, although he may be planning a raider-enhanced raid into your territory via Sareln's roads. I see a Stooge walking up, but they're not really a concern since you can 'pult them to death pretty easily. What kind of promotions do his centaurs have?

Something to note is that centaurs, unlike normal horse units, benefit from defensive bonuses.

For now, I think your best bet is to keep building your way to vampires, then take the offensive.

[Bobchillingworth]

Alright, sounds like a plan.



Speaking of plans, Cull actually messaged me last night and without any prompting asked if he could be my vassal! Of course I accepted (although I can't make it official until Feudalism). His reasoning was that he wanted me to win over everyone else (well actually he wants Sareln to win, but I'm second :P ). Thanks buddy! If/when you read my thread later, please ignore all the parts where I talk about burning your cities to the ground. That was only, mostly inspired by your occasional lapses in remembering that you were in fact still playing in this game. All has since been forgiven.



Although you managed to forget to send me the actual turn last night arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh



Anyway, Phase 1 of the master plan looks like a lock!

[DaveV]

Your diplo in this game has been pretty good. I think both PB and (obviously) Selrahc have managed to rub people the wrong way. Iskender is a key player now: if PB thinks he has a safe flank, he can devote his full attention to killing you before vampires start popping out.

Can you get Cull to close borders with PB and Selrahc? That would hurt them a little and help you. Even better would be if Iskender were willing to close borders.

PB has 3 trade routes per city, so 12 total; Selrahc has 1 per city (why hasn't he researched trade?) for 11 total, so PB would lose one external route and some of the remaining external ones would be to Selrahc's new cities.

One piece of advice once Feudalism rolls in: run 100% gold and upgrade your well-promoted bloodpets and moroi to vampires.

[darrelljs]

One piece of advice once Feudalism rolls in: run 100% gold and upgrade your well-promoted bloodpets and moroi to vampires.

Promotions don't matter so much with Vampires .

Darrell

[Bobchillingworth]

At least one bloodpet is definitely getting upgraded- he's Combat IV and Shock II. I think he was one of the starting pair and got tons of exp killing lizardmen and skeletons.


I don't want to spend too much money on other upgrades though, for a few reasons. Like darrell points out, it's easy to get promos on vampires. I also want to still have enough money on hand in case I get that awesome free great engineer event, and I'll need some extra cash to make up for the heightened expenses that come from having vassals.

[DaveV]

Um, my advice with the upgrades was meant to deal with centaur archers knocking at the door. Cash upgrades would be faster for the first couple vamps than waiting for them to build normally.

And promotions would matter if you're trying to throw those upgraded units straight into battle .

I'll need some extra cash to make up for the heightened expenses that come from having vassals.

... and to pay for all those summoned skeletons .

[Bobchillingworth]

Should I summon many skeletons? I figure that Death II should be the first promo for most vampires (followed by several combat promos and/or mobility? I'm still not sure on this), and so Specters are more likely. I can probably save a lot of cash on expenses by simply deleting any specters after they've done whatever I summoned them for.


One thing that I'm really looking forward to is getting Gibeon. His mistforms should be outright deadly since I'll have access to *three* shadow manas (my capital's, Sareln's, and the one from the Noctis). I can also play fast + loose with his Mind III for a while, since it should be fairly easy to just feed a couple times to restore the ability once he loses it. I'm thinking my first Domination targets will be the Goblin Poison Archers hanging out in the NW forts, and any undeclared Hill Giants still lurking about.


Theoretically I could also mind control Sareln's hero once he spawns, since he'll start with Hidden Nationality, but that would be mean

[DaveV]

Should I summon many skeletons? I figure that Death II should be the first promo for most vampires (followed by several combat promos and/or mobility? I'm still not sure on this), and so Specters are more likely. I can probably save a lot of cash on expenses by simply deleting any specters after they've done whatever I summoned them for.

You can delete skeletons, too. I had them in mind as extra bodies to protect your cities. You're going to be in kind of a bind for a while where PB can hit several of your cities with his fast units and you need to protect them all. Once you have enough firepower to kill off the centaurs, you can delete the skeletons so you don't have to keep paying for them. Don't delete the skeletons too early, though: better to pay some extra maintenance than lose a city. Spectres are unquestionably better summons, since they're maintenance-free, can move on the turn they're summoned, and don't cause war weariness when they die.

Death II and mobility should definitely be your first two promotions, then combat.

One thing that I'm really looking forward to is getting Gibeon. His mistforms should be outright deadly since I'll have access to *three* shadow manas (my capital's, Sareln's, and the one from the Noctis). I can also play fast + loose with his Mind III for a while, since it should be fairly easy to just feed a couple times to restore the ability once he loses it. I'm thinking my first Domination targets will be the Goblin Poison Archers hanging out in the NW forts, and any undeclared Hill Giants still lurking about.

You are aware that you need Way of the Wicked as a prerequisite for Deception? Gibbon is a long way off still.

[Bobchillingworth]

You are aware that you need Way of the Wicked as a prerequisite for Deception? Gibbon is a long way off still.

Ah, I thought Way of the Wicked was only for the Veil. Hmm, thankfully it's a cheap tech, at least.