[Spoilers] Cometh the Messiah - Varn Gosam and the Malakim

[Ilios]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtoNHnR_W...re=related

[Ilios]

NAP's:

Luchuirp - T130
Balseraphs - T160
Lanun - T150

[Ilios]

T19 Dotmap:



T53 Dotmaps:

The North:



The South:

[Ilios]

Greetings and a warm welcome to what may be the most anticipated thread of this year of our Lord 2010!



Praise for Ilios' thread:

"A rewarding and enjoyable read... a commendable, necessary thread."
Thomas Mülling, Der Spiegel

"Fabulous...a highly readable and exciting introduction to the glory days of the Malakim Empire."
Conrad White, New York Times review of threads

"[A] triumph."
Will Hutton, The Observer

"Packed with thought....Profound and challenging."
Madeleine Aubry, Le Monde



[Disclaimer]

"Any resemblance between the characters in this thread and any persons, living or dead, is a miracle."

[Ilios]

Now that we've got that out of the way, let's have a look at the other players...

The infidels!

in what at the moment I believe, is each player's capability of resisting the inevitable subjugation to the Malakim Empire, least to most.

• Mist: New at RB, a self-confessed Prince level player, being helped by Sareln (see "The Great Escape")
  
  
• Sciz: Also a Prince level player, with Selrahc as dedicated lurker (see "The Great White Pride")
  
  
• Amelia: Part of the aborted FFH Pitboss game. Seems like a decent, if impulsive player. Advised by Bobchillingworth (former ruler of Calabim)
  
  
• Serdoa: I believe him to be a strong BtS player, if a bit erratic. Graduated from Krillus-Sandoverian School of Diplomacy.
  
  
• Uberfish: Hadn't heard from him before, but seems well known at RB. Playing a Civ 5 Deity Succession game with Sulla. Nuff' said...
  
  
• Darrell/Sunrise: With Darrell's diplo sweat talking and extensive FFH knowledge, and Sunrise's MP experience, the game is theirs to lose.
  I hope they get spanked on T17...
  
  

So where do I fit in this little list you ask?

Well, until about a year ago, I was a mostly casual player, discovering the Realms Beyond Forums via Sulla's website. After reading up the games that were going on at the moment (only PB1 and PB2 were being played at the time, PBEM1 was almost finished and PBEM2 had just started), I decided to take the leap and, together with Dazedroyalty and Meatbalz, started playing PB3 as Mehmed of HRE. I have mixed feelings about that game (I'm glad tech trading is off for FFH PBEM 2!), but I did learn a lot about fine tuning your game.

The first FFH PBEM got me hooked on the mod, and the rest, as they say, is history.

To come back to the earlier question, I'd place myself between Serdoa and Uberfish. I seem to be a bit more familiar with the mod then Serdoa, and I'm confident I'll do better diplomatically as well.

I'm not that experienced in MP warfare though, so might have to get someone like Krill to pummel me in a couple of games.

On the other hand, I'm pretty solid in micro and, in my humble opinion, I shine at the diplo aspect of the game.

I'm not ruling out working with Uberfish or darrell/sunrise, but depending on the geopolitical situation, I'm going to try and stoke some fears about the terrible elves and the nigh invincible vampires...


In the next post I will give a short overview of the nations opposing the Malakim Empire.

[Mardoc]

I can already tell I'll enjoy the annals of the Malakim quest to purge the infidels from the face of Erebus!

Out of curiousity - we can expect a conquest/domination goal for victory? Or will the Malakim be subjugating the infidels through example?

[TheBagelProblem]

Just an idea...

It might be still to early to consider a naming scheme for the cities/units, but as the malakim remind me of the fremen (Dune), maybe you could name you cities after sietches or something. Chalid would make a nice Kwizatzhaderak (or whatever the correct spelling is) if you even consider going for empyrean and building him.

[Ilios]

I can already tell I'll enjoy the annals of the Malakim quest to purge the infidels from the face of Erebus!

Out of curiousity - we can expect a conquest/domination goal for victory? Or will the Malakim be subjugating the infidels through example?

Hi there Mardoc!

I'll be exposing my short and longterm goals in a couple of posts.

Just an idea...

It might be still to early to consider a naming scheme for the cities/units, but as the malakim remind me of the fremen (Dune), maybe you could name you cities after sietches or something. Chalid would make a nice Kwizatzhaderak (or whatever the correct spelling is) if you even consider going for empyrean and building him.

Hey Bagel.

I've got an idea for the unit naming, but naming my cities after sietches is certainly something I'll consider!

[Ilios]

The Nations of FFH2 PBEM2:

[ATTACH]1462[/ATTACH]
The Doviello

"Brothers will fight and kill each other,
sisters' children will defile kinship.
It is harsh in the world, whoredom rife
an axe age, a sword age

Shields are riven
a wind age, a wolf age
Before the world goes headlong
no man will have mercy on another."
Nordic Völuspá Poetic Edda, referring to Ragnarök


Leader: Mahala (Raiders/Ingenuity)
Palace: Body Mana, Chaos Mana, Earth Mana, -40 % War Weariness in all cities (!)
Unique Hero: The War Machine (unlocked at Machinery tech)
Worldspell: The Wild Hunt
Special Quirk: Doviello workers can be upgraded to Beastmen (Warrior) for 10 gold (Quick Speed).
Starting Tech: None

Doviello are well set for early conquest, with an additional, strong starting unit and few building requirements for their units. Indeed, the Doviello Axeman, Champion and Archer replacements all do not need either a Training or Archery Yard.
Combined with their Worldspell, they are bound to make every player starting next to them very, very nervous.

The Wild Hunt explained:

For every combat unit, a 2-move Wolf unit is created, its strength depending on the combat unit's. A STR 3 Beastman would create a STR 2 Wolf. A STR 4 Lucian would create a STR 3/2 WOlf. And so on...
These wolves have a 10% chance at creating a Wolfpack when successful in combat, or two wolves can be sacrificed to create one. These Wolfpacks have the same stats as normal wolves, but have a 10% chance to create a Wolf unit when successful in combat.
These units get a 25% penalty when attacking cities, and don't get Defensive Bonuses, nor can they pillage.

Luckily, these units do not benefit from Mahala's Raiders trait (Commando promotion).
Ingenuity trait gives the Doviello 50 gold to play with at the start of the game (and makes upgrading units 50% cheaper).

Conclusion:

Unless something goes horribly wrong for the Doviello, they are all but certain to seriously hurt, if not outright kill at least one rival nation in the game.
However, seeing that this is a no tech-trading game, I fully expect the Doviello to fall behind the other nations in time.
Three teams are Financial, with two others possibly getting it ingame. And once the Elven economy is humming, they'll be researching at a decent speed as well.
I commend Mist for the non-cookie-cutter choice, but I'm afraid he'll not be contending for the top spots.


Down boy! Thatta boy!

[ATTACH]1463[/ATTACH]
The Luchuirp:

"I am a golem. I was made of clay. My Life is the Words. By means of Words of Purpose in my head I acquire Life. My Life is to work. I obey all commands. I take no rest."
Feet of Clay, Terry Pratchett

Leader: Beeri Bawl (Financial/Industrious)
Palace: Life Mana, Enchantment Mana, Earth Mana, +10% War Weariness in all cities
Unique Hero: Barnaxus (unlocked at Construction tech)
Worldspell: Gifts of Nantosuelta (requires Masonry tech)
Special Quirk: All Luchuirp golems get stronger as Barnaxus increases in power.
Starting Tech: Crafting

The Luchuirp are Golem making dwarves. We should see Sciz head straight to Construction Tech, so he can build a Sculptor's Studio (required to train golems), and build the civilization Hero, Barnaxus.
Golems are a bit stronger than normal units, but can't heal or promote. By leveling Barnaxus and unlocking technologies, the golems get stronger and get nifty tricks like bombarding cities.
Adepts (mages) can use Enchantment Mana to heal constructs like golems and catapults. Golems are slow though, 1-move being the maximum.

Gifts of Nantosuelta explained:

The Luchuirp Worldspell created a Golden Hammer in each Luchuirp city. These Golden Hammers can be turned into Engineer Specialists. It is possible to move these Hammers, which would allow for a very strong production center if all Golden Hammers are used in one city.

Conclusion:

They'll be slow to build up, but once their economy gets going, the Luchuirp will be hard to beat. We'll see how well they do in Sciz' hands.
Possible rival for Kilmorph religion?


Must...eat...brain... Oh no, that's zombies!

[ATTACH]1464[/ATTACH]
The Lanun:

"Believe me, my young friend, there is NOTHING--absolutely nothing--half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats."
The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame

Leader: Hannah the Irin (Financial/Raiders)
Palace: Water Mana, Chaos Mana, Air Mana, all water tiles +1 Food (!)
Unique Hero: The Black Wind (Optics), Guybrush Threepwood (Iron Working)
Worldspell: Raging Seas (requires Optics tech)
Special Quirk: Work boats can build Pirate coves, which increases the tile yield on a water tile over time.
Starting Tech: Seafaring

The Lanun are a pirate nation, doing very well on water-heavy maps. Their unique units aren't very strong, but this is compensated by the enormous bonusses they get on water tiles.

Raging Seas explained:

Does damage to all non-Lanun units that are near oceans.

Conclusion:

It is highly unlikely the map we're going to play will be water-heavy. Even so, I expect them to do very well, since Hannah is Financial, and there are bound to be coasts on the map.
If I were to play Lanun, I'd beeline towards the Mercurian Gate, summon Basium and play as the Battle Angels, leaving the Lanun to researching (summoning the Mercurians, and playing as them, leaves your civ in a Permanent Alliance with the Mercurians)


How many ways can you say "Arrrrrrr"?

[pocketbeetle]

Checking in, will of course be following along Ilios!
Already loving the start of this thread, I read it with the suggested background music playing.
Completely agree with your sentiments about the damn Vampires (again).

Now, the question is: how much are you looking forward to a potential all-desert start?