[Spoilers] Noble Intentions: Thessalonica of the Elohim starts her quest!

[Northstar1989]

Welcome!

So, I'm new to competitive online play of Fall From Heaven 2, and decided to jump in head-first (and way over my head) by joining into this PBEM game! I would GREATLY appreciate lurkers and advisors as I match wits with old hands like Q and Kragoth!

(Note: I'm also currently trying to start up PBEM XXXX here: http://realmsbeyond.net/forums/showthread.php?tid=7243)


I will be playing as Thessalonica (Spiritual/Industrious/Tolerant) of the Elohim:



(Pretty, isn't she? )


That's right- the Elohim!

I know it's an odd choice, but I accurately predicted ahead of time that Jonas Endain would be in play this game (in the hands of Q- who seems to love playing as the Clan in PBEM games...), and the Elohim are the best counter to the Clan. Their world spell gives them a lot of breathing room against Clan rushes or attempts to choke the Elohim, and if played right the mere potential value of their world spell allows them to heavily invest in economics early in the game and benefit from the snowball later on... (right when the Clan is really starting to feel the pain of their -10% tech penalty)

This is a mirror map, as I understand it, so I can't hope to be located too far from the Clan. So my strategy will have to rely on balancing early economic investment with not leaving myself so vulnerable that one of the other players (or even the barbs) forces me to fire off my world spell before it will really benefit me...


My opponents are:

Qgqqqqq: Jonas Endain of the Clan of Embers (Spi/Exp) - I expect a LOT of trouble from him (he likes to bash other players with Clan hordes early on).

Dreylin: Kandros Fir of the Khazad (Aggr/Fin/Magic Resistant/Ingenious) - I don't expect too much trouble from the Dwarves, as they are more of a builder faction (still, Dwarven armies are NOT to be underestimated if their leader is allowed to build up a large enough war machine, ESPECIALLY under the Aggressive leader Kandros Fir...)

Kragoth: Dain the Caswallawn of the Amurites (Arcane/Phil) - I expect that Krag will attempt to tech to Wizards (the Amurite replacement for Mages) before making a magic-based attempt at world conquest (if Q becomes too powerful as the Clan, he'll probably shoot for Tower of Mastery instead...) He might have a bit of trouble with the natural Dwarven resistance to magic though...



Each of my opponents has a clearly-defined path to victory. I, on the other hand, have a lot more flexibility. The Elohim can build a powerful war machine through snowball effects of using the threat of their world spell to minimize military investment. But they can also just as easily strive for an Altar victory, or even Tower of Mastery (although I doubt the map will be well set up for that this time around).

But, the greatest mistake most players make as the Elohim is to neglect their warmongering potential- an error I don't intend to fall victim to. Who can be safe when good (wo)men cower in their cities, and evil is allowed to fester in the world?


I hope you guys enjoy my story, and once again, I would GREATLY appreciate your joining me as lurkers and advisors as I try to give the old-timers a run for their Denarii! (Denarii, singular Denarius, were an old Roman currency)


Regards,
Northstar

[Northstar1989]

OK, so this is my (our- any lurkers?) starting position:



It's a mirror map, so I can expect the other players all have the same start.

Oh, and since I'm the Elohim, I know *exactly* where all the other players started (just not who is where) as I can see the 3 other copies of Odio's Prison on the map.


I then promptly settled on the Plains to the west of the start:



I know some more experienced players are probably screaming out in horror at this decision (after all, I gave up a free +1 hammer on the city and the hill defense bonuses), there were 3 reasons behind this decision:

1. I want to get a Plantation up and running on that Incense ASAP. I need the early Commerce in order to rush Runes of Kilmorph and other religions down the line (as a Spiritual leader, my true power lies in religion- thanks to the free Favored promotion Spiritual grants my Disciple units). Getting the RoK holy city will be a HUGE bonus to me, as the Clan and Khazad both have HUGE synergy with RoK (due to its gold bonuses) and I can expect them both to run that religion (at least for a while). I'm last in the turn order, so I can't expect to acquire early holy cities without out-teching my opponents!

2. As the Elohim (with their Sanctuary worldspell) if I ever get to the point of having to defend my capital against a major assault (the only time the Hill defensive bonus will really prove necessary), I'm SCREWED anyways going to have !FUN!

3. I can improve TWO resources this way before having to do a border pop- the Incense to the northwest, and the Cattle (I know Civ calls them Cows) to the northeast. This allows me to focus on OTHER priorities besides an early Reliquary (the Elohim replacement for a Monument), like an early Elder Council, and a second worker to help me chop down forests...


Regards,
Northstar

[Northstar1989]

Hey Lurkers!

(I hope there's actually somebody reading this!)

A quick question for you guys:

What does the Dwarven "Magic Resistant" civilization trait actually DO?

This probably sounds like a noobish question (and it kind of is), but it's better I find out now than learn the hard way when I attempt to hit the Dwarves with a powerful damaging spell, only to discover it doesn't do hardly anything or something like that...


Regards,
Northstar

[Mardoc]

It gives every dwarven unit the Magic Resistant promotion.

Which, in turn...let me back up a step. Each spell has a chance to fail, as listed in this manual. That's the base amount, it's modified by a number of things. They're probably all in the manual somewhere, but a good summary is this post. Magic Resistant is one of the factors, it adds 20% to the resist chance.

So, for example, if you cast Blinding Light at a normal unit, it's got 30% chance to resist. Cast it at a dwarf unit, and he's got 50% chance to resist.

Edit: I think it also removes 20% of the damage from damaging spells, but I don't remember if it's multiplicative or additive or what

[Northstar1989]

Thanks for the info Mardoc. I think I'll have to double-check in the Civilopedia what the Magic Resistant promotion does. The key thing I needed to know though was that the Leader/Civ trait acts to confer it to all Dwarven units...

I guess the Amurite wizards and my own priests are going to have a harder time in any war with the Dwarves... I just hope Dreylin realizes how OP'd the Clan is on any land-based map (Orcs don't do well on water), and will focus on them instead of messing with my own forces as an alternative to the Amurites (Thessalonica of the Elohim is also arguably the best counter against the Clan- with the Sanctuary worldspell and her own favored priests to push back against the expansionist tendencies of the Clan...)


Regards,
Northstar

[Northstar1989]

OK, so the game restarted (for the 4th time!) and I performed my first turn *ALMOST* exactly the same as before. I say almost, because I realized the Settler could poke around to the north a tiny bit (thus revealing a little more of the map) without losing the chance to settle on the first turn. So there's that difference- not that any of my previous screenshots revealed the northernmost bits of my map knowledge anyways...

I'd still love input from any lurkers. Any long-term strategy advice?


Regards,
Northstar

[Northstar1989]

Another reset, and I decided to do things a *little* differently this time...

I started out with the same civics (note that I'll probably be switching into Nationhood when I start pumping military units- but am going Religion for the culture bonus for now)



But then decided to send my Scout north and my Warrior south for early exploration (yes, I decided to take a HUGE risk and explore a bit with my starting Warrior- before the Ruins start spawning extra Lizardmen. Hopefully this risk will snowball in my favor later on...)

Also, here are some zoomed-out screenshots so you see what I can see around my start position.




Let me know if you guys have any thoughts!


Regards,
Northstar

[Mardoc]

I'm afraid most of us aren't able to comment because we're general lurkers, not dedicated ones. I'll post a redacted version of my explanation to Kragroth here. The full one with examples is in his PBEM 28 thread, if you're permitted to read it.

I'm watching with interest. But you don't leave a lot of hooks for a lurker to jump in .

Remember, we're restricted to comments that we're confident aren't imbalancing. That's part of why it's really hard to comment on high-level strategic plans - so much depends on what the other team is doing. And no one wants a game to be decided by a careless lurker comment.

The sorts of things that we can talk about:
- Game mechanics questions (example: when exactly does a unit get their bronze weapons? What's the chance to resist a spell?).
- Decisions that are already past. The game is young, there aren't many of these yet.
- Fiction, naming schemes, etc.

I appreciate your posting your strategic reasoning, but there's not a lot I can say about it. The bigger question of 'good idea or not', well, that's not my place to say.

Your plan might work! Or it might not! Whether it does or not, I really really don't want to talk you into it, or out of it, or accidentally give the other team a hint. So it's always safer to keep my mouth shut or go post in the lurker thread

The main idea here is to make it so that you never get a disadvantage by reporting. In early games, sometimes people would stop updating, or hide things from the lurkers, out of concern that their surprise attack wouldn't be a surprise, that a wonder would be stolen last minute, etc. The general lurker reticence has mostly eliminated that, but it does have the cost that we can't say much. If you want really good strategic thoughts about the Elohim, the best place to go is to someone else's Elohim thread from a previous game. They're fairly popular, you've got a lot of options.

But just because we can't say much, doesn't mean we're not watching. I appreciate the reporting!

One minor favor to ask - could you turn on resource bubbles when you show screenshots? It makes it easier to comment on city placement.

[Ellimist]

The best generic advice I have is:

1) Always have a plan, or a reason, for the decisions you're making. For example, your workers should start building improvements before you actually need them, and you need to build the workers even earlier than that. This extends to every aspect of the game.

2) Constantly reevaluate your plans and don't be reluctant to modify or discard them as more information becomes available. Be on the lookout for any information that might be relevant, and do what you can to maintain flexibility for as long as possible.

[Northstar1989]

The gods must be watching over our people! (or possibly the mapmaker via scripted events... Though interesting fact on the word "Elohim"- it literally means "Gods" or possibly angels, and is the word used to refer to God in Genesis 1 of the Bible...)

We got EDIBLE MUSHROOMS on the start of our second turn! (I'd like to imagine the soldiers dug them up, rather than it being dumb luck...) And right where they'll help us the most too!



More updates to come momentarily, but I was just so excited about the 'shrooms that I had to announce it to you guys!


Regards,
Northstar