War, Inc.

[Mardoc]

Mardoc and Mist moonlight as the Mounted Mercenary Marauders and the Moneygrubbing Midgets

[Mardoc]

So, Mist and I had a bit of an e-mail exchange while anticipating: here are some of the conclusions we reached:

The arcane line will be mostly a waste of time - Khazad literally cannot climb it, while Hippus have the issue of no Arcane/Charismatic to help out. Plus between the two palaces we only have 4 mana, air, nature, law, and earth - and these are mostly useless at adept level. I could perhaps see a use for Wall of Stone, and if we're lucky in darrell/Ilios' land, a use for treetop defense. Depending on the circumstances, we might pick up KoTE for utility spells, but it certainly won't be a priority.

Similarly, several of the religions aren't worth any worry: Esus is a work in progress, currently nerfed until Sareln figures out a decent solution. Leaves is a bad idea in always war, providing 50% defensive terrain all over the place in our territory (and neither of us is elven, so ancient forests aren't as helpful anyway). OO - well, it's very situational, but the combination of Stygians moving to later in the tree and neither of us liking water tiles anyway probably means that we won't want it. It's excellent for dominating the sea - but that's pretty much all it's good for anymore, and it'll probably be easier to ignore the sea than to own it.

That leaves Kilmorph (yes, please! - probably our first target), Ashen Veil, Empyrean, and Order. Each has value in the right circumstances, but probably all things considered we'll have to see how things develop.

I, as the Hippus, will be the main warmonger of the two of us. Mobility is just that important. That means our military path will be toward chariots and maybe horse archers (Trebuchets would be a nice bonus of a chariot path). It also means that I'll need frequent advice/handholding - I just don't seem to have the right instincts yet. Still - easy access to speed 5 units ought to help matters here.

We ought to be in perfect position to test DaveV's contention that catapults are now OP, though - with every reason to head to construction, and our other realistic collateral choices being non-spiritual Priests or withdraw-promoted horses, I bet we see much use of catapults and trebuchets. If circumstances are right, we also get to see Guerilla dwarven slingers.

Some aspects of the new Financial approach:

• It makes markets/temples to Kilmorph more powerful
  
• It'll help fill the dwarven vaults.
  
• Good reason for binary research
  
• It's nerfed. But then it was OP before, so that might be justified.
  

We've both got to read the changelog yet and maybe play some practice games, so there's perhaps going to be something that surprises us with a slap to the face. But hopefully the PBEM pace means we can catch up with the mod as we make decisions.

And, finally, I'm starting to wonder how darrell and Ilios expect a turn/day pace when they are still holding the save

[Kuro]

Esus is THE religion for the Hippus now. Only Empyrean really seemed worth it otherwise for them, but even then...

[Mist]

Esus is THE religion for the Hippus now. Only Empyrean really seemed worth it otherwise for them, but even then...

Once we get to Warhorses? Maybe, for those 4 extra knights it unlocks. But even then it is not a must have and might loose comparison to a mass of horselord Rathas. Before then it has absolutely nothing to offer to either of us, especially after tithing went out of the window.

While Mardoc will be out there bashing heads, my game plan is to see how much mileage can be pulled out of stacking all these gold % on top of each other. Financial, Consumption, God King, Mercantilism, Bazaar at one time look very good on paper. I expect to stay in RoK for most of the game ( +hammer bonus * vaults * dwarven forges ). Order was given serious consideration, but ultimately it's a religion for Arthurus "Say Hi To Zero Maintenance Empire" Thorne. And yes, there shall be a lot of Merchants and Prophets spawned. If it all comes together according to optimistic predictions we should have a small river of gold flowing towards Hippus war machine supported by piles of shiny siege all over the place.

But we shall see.

[Thoth]

Just out of curiosity:

What do you plan to do if your foes hit your nice shiny siege with a stack of nasty, dirty assassins?

[Mist]

Just out of curiosity:

What do you plan to do if your foes hit your nice shiny siege with a stack of nasty, dirty assassins?

Don't really expect any of them to go for Poisons. Both Bannor and Luchuirp have plenty of other much more important priorities in a completely different part of the tech tree. But if I do spot them having Poisons... I guess scouts are cheap and weaker than trebs, I'll just start carrying a bunch of body shields with my siege stacks :]

[Kuro]

Definately for once you get to Warhorses. If you want, you can get an army of Rathas anyway, because they don't disappear with switching out of Empyrean: However, Warhorses was drastically reduced, it's only 2000 beakers now! It's technologies cost 1000, 1400 and 480 respectively: However, Hippus badly want Stirrups anyway, so the only detour is 1880 worth of beakers, for a total of 3880 beakers.

At that force, you get three things:
4 11/7 Knights, which have 3 movement. Awesome. They can also use metal: 12-13 STR, really.
4 more Shadowriders, which are a flat 11, with a +1 Shadow Mana affinity. 12-13 STR due to metals. Unless you're using your mana for something(You won't, since you're ignoring magic), you can convert your nodes to Shadow to power them up
Magnadine, which not only gives you a 90% retreat chance on him after 5 turns if you are so inclined, but has Hire Units.

Ideally, the Hippus grab the nessecary econ techs(Calender/Crafting/Mining for commerce resources and Education), head up Deception, head up Currency, build/rush Guild of the Nine, immedietely beeline Warhorses and conquer the world with a hireable army backed by around 9 STR 11 units.

Once you get Warhorses, just set research to 0%(Unless you want to power units w/ iron) and hire Mounted Mercenaries alongside your fighting force. Unfortunately, not only did you not choose Tasunke(Dunno why, if EitB is a balance mod and this is a test...and pretty much everyone should be choosing Tasunke), but adding another civilization means that you have other techs to worry about.

Fortunately, the Khazad are also Financial, so once the Hippus war machine gets going it can be funded even easier, and two teams means faster teching. You really got some anti-synergy, though: Khazad want nothing to do with the mounted line and Hippus want nothing to do with any other line. Mobility Catapults still won't keep up with Hippus horses, especially if Warcry brings them up to 4 movement(Which is why you want Raiders!).

If you really wanna show off Rhoanna being special, you have REXing and...that's about all the advantages she has over Tasunke.

[plako]

You really got some anti-synergy, though: Khazad want nothing to do with the mounted line and Hippus want nothing to do with any other line. Mobility Catapults still won't keep up with Hippus horses, especially if Warcry brings them up to 4 movement(Which is why you want Raiders!).

What. No love for Boar riders or Hornguards .

[Amelia]

Plako, i burst into laughter when i saw that sentence. That's the power of the Boar Riders for you =)

I really should make a Khazad Boar Rider team someday, so that my opponents can laugh to death...

[Kuro]

Plako, i burst into laughter when i saw that sentence. That's the power of the Boar Riders for you =)

I really should make a Khazad Boar Rider team someday, so that my opponents can laugh to death...

Next team PBEM, get the Khazad and Luchiurp on one team andb eeline Boar Riders. Win.