[SPOILERS] Tholal plays in the woods

[Tholal]

I am Rivanna of the Svartalfar.

Mainly I just wanted to play one of the elven civs and I also wanted to play one of the non-standard leaders. So here we are!

Screenshots and opening thoughts coming soon...

[Tholal]

Game Settings:


Opening Start:


Well that is certainly interesting! Don't think I've ever started a game in Hell terrain before. And just to the Northwest lies another interesting location...



That's a Shade of mine, invisible, Hidden Nationality, and held in cage. Guarding the Shade is a Valkyrie, also held. Going to be a while before that nut is cracked. I notice that the Valkyrie is set to respawn in capital on death. I wonder how that works for Barbarian units?

I move my Scouts out to explore...


Think that I will move one space West to build my capital.

[Tholal]

Found some other very powerful Angelic Barbarians. I'll post screenshots when I get a chance. Using my Scouts as an active patrol around my capital while we finish the Worker.

Basic plan is to head for Fellowship of the Leaves, build lots of Fawns, promote them to Stayrs and conquer the world! Organized will allow me to build Command Posts for extra XP. Unfortunately, my other trait, summoner, will take some work to make use of. Rivanna doesn't start with any mana types that allow summons.

[HidingKneel]

Unfortunately, my other trait, summoner, will take some work to make use of. Rivanna doesn't start with any mana types that allow summons.

Does Summoner increase the duration of the Black Mirror illusions?

[Tholal]

Does Summoner increase the duration of the Black Mirror illusions?

No it does not. The spell effect is done in python and sets the duration to 1 turn.

[Qgqqqqq]

Wouldn't Vollana have better synergy with this plan?

[Tholal]

Wouldn't Vollana have better synergy with this plan?

Probably. I didnt put a lot of thought into my leader picks. I just went for ones that I hadn't played before that seemed interesting.

[Tholal]

Here are those promised screenshots.

First we have an 'Eye of Heaven' watching over my lands.




It's held and on a Peak, so this guy is just for flavor purposes.

Then, not far to the Northeast, we have another Herald guarding a mana node.



And as for the trapped Shade, I think that a Giant Spider should be able to sneak in there and free it. Since I'll be going for Recon troops anyway, I need to keep an eye out for Spiders to capture.

[Qgqqqqq]

No unit, visible or otherwise can move onto the same tile as a unit with Hidden Nationality without attacking said unit.

[Tholal]

Turn 14:

Turns out that the mana guardians aren't so tough after all.


I hadn't noticed the -100% strength before.

The Calabim used their River of Blood spell on the first turn.



Kind of an interesting decision given the low yield nature of the basic terrain around the starting area. Perhaps he moved to more fertile lands to found his capital. I'm guessing that he's shooting to get a second city out as quick as possible and just try to steamroll from there with his Organized, Raiders machine. This game seems to be chock full of aggressive civs, Averax of the Sheaim, Charadon of the Doviello...





And here's an overview map.