Happy to see a new game starting.

password:

Hope the Switch version works well with the 1.0.2 patch!  The update certainly took a long time to download.


The difficulty is Hard, since Supernova sounds like a bad idea for a blind playthrough.  It's not going to be a solo challenge either, no matter how tempting the Lone Wolf perk might be.


My character was named Netanya after a friend who moved away, but otherwise bears little resemblance to the real person.  Our hero got Average stats in Body and Mind, and Very High in Personality since this is an Obsidian game and I want to test out the non-combat options.  Dialog and Leadership got the Skills points, so she started with high Persuade, Lie, Intimidate, Inspiration and Determination.  Dialog is for speech skill checks, and Leadership gives bonuses to companions in combat.  Tossball Team Mascot was Netanya's Aptitude.  +1 Inspiration sounds like a bonus that's not worth it, but it fit the character theme. 



Phineas Welles the outlaw defrosted Netanya and informed her that the stranded colonists on the Hope could only be revived if she cooperated with him.  Due to the bounty on his head, she would have to do the work.  The plan was to smuggle Netanya down to the nearest planet with Hawthorne's help.  Hawthorne was too stupid to stay out of the landing zone, however, and was promptly squashed. 


Netanya advanced through the sneaking, jumping, and sprinting tutorial section.  So far the game played similarly to a Bethesda type RPG (Elder Scrolls, Fallout).  Netanya greeted the injured Guard Pelham and offered to help defeated the marauders.  She Persuaded him to give up his Spacer's Choice Light Pistol and set out for Hawthorne's ship.  The marauders were difficult to fight directly without many points in gunplay and because I was still adjusting to playing a 1st person shooter on the Switch.  Netanya got around the 2nd group of enemies by dashing past them to Lieutenant Mercer.  She informed Mercer that Pelham was "Bleeding and delirious, but still kicking".


Netanya goaded Mercer into fighting the bandits with a 5 Persuade check:  "Do Spacer's Choice guards back down from a challenge?"  I may regret this choice later.  I don't even know if she's dead or alive, since I never found a corpse.  Netanya trespassed on the Unreliable, and ADA the ship's AI tried to scare her away.  But she called ADA's bluff by asking "What are you going to do?  Self-destruct?"  ADA tried to eject Netanya, only for my character to point out that the ship had landed.  ADA was programmed to only work for Hawthorne, so Netanya had to assume that identity for convenience's sake. 


Netanya passed a 1 Lie check and told ADA that "Marauders killed him" instead of the truth about his ignoble demise.  ADA's response?  "Thank you for your patience, and for your honesty".  This may be as silly as my Revan fooling the Jedi council in Knights of the Old Republic with low Persuade.    



Our hero leveled to 2 and distributed the Skills points into Dialog and Leadership.  She gained a "Combat Dialog Ability" that debilitates targets if they're "the correct type".  Don't know how to use that yet.  Companions can also use their Abilities on a selected target, but I don't know if that's based on my stats or whether all player characters can do that.  Netanya's a low level charismatic character, so Deadly Demonstrations for +50% experience per companion kill looks good for the Perk.

There so I can get a screenshot or whatever i need.

password is SVol

Roster:

(January 24th, 2021, 14:24)naufragar, with traits edited in Wrote:     DaveV
    Kuriotates-Cardith Lorda (Phi (Adaptive) / Exp; Sun/Spirit/Water) 

    mackoti
    Luchuirp-Beeri Bawl (Ind / Fin; Enchantment/Life/Earth)

    Miguelito
    Svartalfar-Volanna (Agg / Cre; Shadow/Mind/Nature)

    Aurorarcher
    Khazad-Arturus Thorne (Ind / Org / Ing; Enchantment/Law/Earth)

    Mr. Cairo
    Sidar-Shekinah (Cre / Arc; Shadow/Enchantment/Spirit)

• the start takes forever and you build lots of warriors
  
• Are we playing without huts? Because normally you get a few techs from there and lairs (which Dave already commented are disabled), so it's not that slow, but I'll assume we don't have that.
  
• you still start worker first
  
• barbs are serious business
  
• summons are very powerful. I'm pretty unexperienced in that regard and have never used spectres or skeletons in SP (or at least can't remember), being a good guy at heart   
  
• civs are very different. Lanun is the strongest but I'm not too interested even if they were not banned.
  
• everything moves super fast. Mobility promo + haste spell > everything. There are even leaders that get commando on all units, wtf
  
• people say that cottages are bad, and there is that word aristofarming, but how do you get there without cottages?
  
• games usually are decided with tier 2 (axes, horsemen, adepts, ships) or tier 3 (chariots, mages, ?) units. Don't plan a game around archmages.
  

Here's the opposite of SpaceOWL's threads: I'm one of the worst players here, but I won this one easily. Medium, impossible, Klackons, 5 opponents. It's a 1oom save, I don't think it can be loaded in old-school MOO. Map spoiler:

Attached Files

  1oom_save1.zip (Size: 2.6 KB / Downloads: 2)

Password is Horseman, because a Centaur is a horse plus a man. Bah dum tish. Thanks, I'll be here all week.

So, Cardith Lorda of the Kuriotates. All the Fall from Heaven civs are substantially different from each other, but the Kurios and Balseraphs are the ones with the most unique features.

The starting point of the Kuriotates' differences is that they can only have three cities. To make up for that handicap, each city can work three rings instead of the usual two. They also get +3 happy, so the Kurios are the ultimate case of "tall" instead of "wide". The Kurios can build settlers and establish or conquer cities beyond the limit of three, but those cities are settlements. They have no build queue, generate no income and cost no maintenance, but can be useful for claiming resources. On a very large map where the other players will probably have 15 or more cities, it will be hard to win with only three.

On the plus side, all horse units are replaced by Centaurs. These units don't require a building to enable them, unlike the other players' horse units. In addition, they get defensive bonuses and can gain +1 movement at a cost of -10% strength. The Kurios also have two unique buildings: the Tailor, available at Crafting, gives the unique happy resource of Fine Clothes and +10% gold for each of Dyes, Cotton, and Silk. The Jeweler, available at Smelting, gives the unique happy resource of Jewelry, and +10% gold for each of Gold, Gems, and Pearls. So, with a Tailor, Jeweler, and Deruptus Brew House, and the appropriate resources, one city can have +90% gold; the other two can have a mere +60%. One would also hope that Fine Clothes and Jewelry can be used to buy friends. There is a real danger of getting stuck in builder mode with the Kurios, though.

Also, Cardith is an Adaptive leader. I can pick a new second trait (I'll always be Expansive) on a 75 turn interval, starting on turn 70.

I probably have to mention pocketbeetle's winning game as the Kurios in the very first FfH game on Realms Beyond. It was well written and entertaining for the lurkers, but, as a dedlurker to Bobchillingworth I found it snide and condescending to the other players upon reading after the game was over. Sorry if you're still around and reading, pocketbeetle.

Players, you shouldn't be here.










(Are they gone?)

I thought that I'd write a post about Teamfight Tactics since it feels like the kind of game that many people here would enjoy. Teamfight Tactics (TFT) is an autochess PvP online battler developed by Riot Games and first released in 2019. It's a free to play game that runs through the League of Legends client. For those unfamiliar with the concept, the player creates a team of different pieces (using the League of Legends characters as the "chess" pieces) and duels with seven other players in a series of bouts until one player wins the overall match. Each character has two or three attributes that combine together to active different traits; for example, pairing together different tanky characters grants all of them extra armor, while grouping up a bunch of spellcasters makes all of their abilities deal more damage. Three of the same champion combine together into a stronger "2 star" version of that champion, and nine of the same champion (three 2 stars) combine into the rare 3 star version. Finding that many of the same champion doesn't happen much in TFT and 3 starring a key unit typically means victory. The champions and items that appear in TFT are random, with some limited player control over each via rerolls and item carousels, making the whole setup akin in many ways to the probability-based gameplay in FTL: Faster Than Light. The combat in TFT is completely automated once it begins and therefore this is entirely a strategy-based setup, with little room for fast mechanics. Knowing what team compositions to play and how to manage the in-game economy is much more important than being able to roll through the list of available champions quickly.




I'm bringing this up now because there's going to be a new set releasing tomorrow for TFT. Everyone is going to have to relearn the game all over again which will make it a perfect time for newcomers to pick up the game. We have a small group that's been discussing the game on the Sullla Discord channel and playing together on Fridays during my Livestream but it would always be great to find more kindred spirits. I've written several articles and posted a bunch of YouTube videos discussing TFT's gameplay in some detail:

Teamfight Tactics: Reflections on Set Four
Set Three/Four YouTube Playlist

There was a point in time in 2010-2011 where a big contingent from Realms Beyond was playing League of Legends and learning the game together which was a lot of fun. I have no idea if there's similar interest in Teamfight Tactics but I figured it was worth typing up a post and seeing what happened. We'll be testing out the new set tomorrow if anyone wants to join!

(Originaly posted on OW Discord - reposting here to improve the game visibility. Please tell me if that's not OK)

After 47 years of reign as Queen of the eternal City-State of Wasset, Hatshepsut the Glorious passed away, having laid the foundation of the kingdom.
Her Daughter Neferure was also a builder Queen, but she wasn't very young anymore when she rose to the throne. After only eleven years of reign, her doctors and diviners prophesized her imminent death and she had to face hard decisions.

You see, the prophecy foretold that the golden age of Wasset would come of following the Path of the Sage Builder.

Not of great Justice, not of zeal, not even of tactics.

The Heir of the kingdom city, Khufu the Judge, head of the Thumotsid family, didn't have the right inclinations to take the mantle of kingship and lead Wasset to its promised golden era.




The second heir of the Kingdom, Duke Senusret the Cunning, wasn't any better. He prioritized justice over building like his father. The third heir of Wasset Throne, Nebet the tactician, was more preoccupied with fighting the barbarian hordes than with the constructions of the wonders that would come to define this age.

Queen Neferure The Surveyor, on her death bed but with too many witnesses to silence, named Akhenaten, fourth in line, as sole heir to the throne.

Akhenaten was appropriately passionate about building.

He was only 29 years old, and just married with Hetepheres.

It is important to note that Akhenaten was insane. An unfortunate mercury poisoning during his philosophy studies had struck him. He was swift and coureagous, but while he had promising abilities as a child, the **cinabbar tragedy** had left him with quite otherwise unremarkable abilities.




59 years after the founding of Wasset, Akhenaten became King.

Two years later **his own wife** and queen, Hetepheres, hatched a complot against him with **Duke Khufu**, the bypassed heir.

Akhenaten had no choice but to get them both thrown in jail. Duke Khufu was still the Oligarch of the Thumotsid Family. Until his death **23 years later**, he would boil with inchoate rage against the King from the depth of his gaol, driving citizens to many revolts and insurections.




Akhenaten knew he wouldn't be the strongest of governors.

Exceptional as it was for Egypt in these times, he appointed another to be governor of Wasset, and took command of Kushites charriot to protect Egypt in this most perilous and unstable time. Spearheading Wasset pitiful forces, his unit is estimated to have delivered the killing blow to no less than 14 units of enemies.


While Wasset had excelent relations with the Neighbooring Kingdom of Assyria in these times, the Scythian tribes of the western plains and the Danes of the north were launching relentless pillaging raids, and Rome harassed Egyptians along the south border.

The famed Egyptian workers lived under the constant threats of Barbarians. Even if Akhenaten was only known for Egypt armies eliminating 54 bands of roving barbarians under his rule, he would probably still be held as the saviour of Egypt.

Over his 46 years of reign, Akhenaten earned the respect and love of his people (but not of Duke Khufu), and came to be known as Akhenaten The Great.
He built many great wonders (The Mausoleum, The Necropolis, The Acropolis and The Great Ziggurat).
Egypt would make 22 major scientific discoveries.

Akhenaten would secure peace and even alliances with the Gauls and with Assyria both, while fending off tribes and romans incursions alike.

Akhenaten became romantic and after her treason, his first wife and queen died furious in prison. He married a young gaul zealot, Queen Mehaa, who deeply loved him.



He was finally rewarded in his old age with the death of Duke Khufu, instantly restoring good relations with the entire Thumotsid family.


Even after he was too old to lead Wasset armies in person, he still left the logisitcs of governing Wasset in the very capable hands of Api the Scientist.

When he died, elderly, at 76, he had led Wasset to a legendary status among nations and brought back the city kingdom to the prophesized Path of the Sage Builder.

Let Akhenaten the Great, Insane King of Wasset, be remembered for all eternity.