Heroes (and adventurers) give 4x the XP of other units. XP is awarded based on the ratio of modified strength (taking into account all modifiers for both units). That ratio is multiplied by 8 on attack, 4 on defense (32, 16 versus heroes), then truncated to an integer.
To answer your question from post 28, a super-promoted warrior and an unpromoted warrior give exactly the same soldier points.
"That was fun!" said melisandre, after an orgy of blood filled the cups and spilled out into the street. Now that the rules of the nation were codified into public law, gaining bloodpets for the weekly blood orgy was easier than ever. All they needed were a few trumped up charges against a few unsuspecting vagrants, or even a farmer or shopkeep that is behind on taxes.
Flauros, however, was not impressed. For him, fulfilling the desires of the flesh just wasn't that entertaining anymore. It was a simple matter to kill someone, or to use their flesh, but an act in its simplest form has no inherent meaning. Its just a basic, animal act, and has no more entertainment value than the context in which it is set. For instance, if you haven't had sex for awhile, having it can be quite fun ... but if you have plenty of meaningless sex, you start trying to find meaning to it. Similar with murder of course. Devour one person's soul and its a rush of power and Ecstasy ... but to have been doing it for hundreds, if not thousands of years, and it simply grows dull. You have to learn how to play with your food, to make them run scared. If you have all of the power, no one runs away, and you can get anything you ever wanted, then where is the challenge, where is the excitement, where is the mystery of what will happen next? To put it simply, Sex and Murder just weren't all that fun anymore.
Flauros knew, deep down, that there was a better way. Yes, playing with your food could be fun, but what if you watched your food kill each other? What if one bloodpet slept with the other's bedmate? To toy with people's lives, and watch their every joy and sadness, see their desires stripped away and their dreams crushed .... far better than actual sex and murder, this would be vicarious sex and murder on a massive level, something to stir an old man's heart. It might even be fun to make an actual human able to rise to power, through the law ... and watch as a wealthy nobleman saw his entire family devoured ... Yes, this 'playing with your food' had a lot more potential than first realized, and Flauros saw immediately to hiring several screenwriters to set things in place.
Thus 'Drama' was discovered
.... and he immediately had said screenwriters executed.
But! The idea was struck, and before long you had Soap Operas, Songs, Ballads, Ballet, Discotek, Novellas, and even Mash Pits. The Odyssey as an ancient epic was passed down through oral histories, and now a grand stadium was scheduled to be built within the next century, where massive groups of people could put on the grandest play in history, to act out the struggles of Oddyseus on return journey from the Trojan war.
Over time, Flauros began to grow impressed with his new creation, and so he learned to enjoy himself, once again.
It is amazing how much a single tile can make a difference. I wonder if I should express my thoughts on land-territory to Kragroth or not. Regardless, the boundary line (or at least his) is already fixed into my head, on what I can tolerate and on what I cannot.
For instance, if he settles 1 tile South of the Barrow, there must be war .... but if he settles 1 tiles South West of the barrow (or literally anywhere west of the barrow's line of latitude), it is peace, trade, and prosperity.
Do you (the lurkers) think the message is clear? Or is there some room for confusion in the northern sector? I think I might open with something like "I'd like to open borders with your nation, for mutually beneficial trade, are you willing to discuss borders at this time?" sort of thing
ey bill, thanks for the Diplo, be sure to read my response ?
Tasunke Witka
7:57 PM
Sure. If you want maps but no open borders, fine with me
BillBisco2 • 8:36 PM
oh its not that, I guess I could discuss the details of what I sent
Tasunke Witka
8:37 PM
Sure
BillBisco2 • 8:38 PM
Like, this turn does seem a bit premature, tbh, unless u want maps to better help with territory negotiations?
But like ...
I want Open Borders for trade routes of course
once we have an open route
and if there are any teams to ur west, Id like to reserve the right to send a scout or two west (thru ur lands if need be) in order to meet them and establish contact (and the 7% tech bonus)
Tasunke Witka
8:40 PM
BillBisco2 That's fine
BillBisco2 • 8:41 PM
ok ttyl, Son is calling ^_^
...
so tell me, are you willing to discuss territorial boundary/guidelines at this time?
because Im willing to discuss it at this time
like, how far west you are willing to let me settle, how far east I am willing to let you settle, that sort of thing ....
ttyl
Tasunke Witka
8:52 PM
So in closing, if you could reply by email in long hand, both on your thoughts, your intentions, etc .... I'd appreciate it. Otherwise we will most likely eventually have TR for routes anyways because its the practical option. Thanks, Tas
Tasunke Witka
9:09 PM
BillBisco2 um
borders are finish
although you're trying to claim incense for yourself
If you want open borders now or later
doesn't matter to me
BillBisco2 • 9:10 PM
By borders are finished I guess u mean we just go south from what we have?
Tasunke Witka
9:10 PM
BillBisco2 no. I'm just saying that without irony
you're trying to claim the incense side
the more valuable side
which is ok
I'm fine with those borders
There is another civ to my west
you'rewelcome to travel through to say hello
BillBisco2 • 9:12 PM
ok, all sounds good to me
tho, u say my side is superior b/c incense ...
by that logic, I have something to tell you, which you may or may not know
your side has dyes
Tasunke Witka
9:15 PM BillBisco2
if that's true then preliminarily I am ok with that
sounds good
---> I also sent him the picture from the previous post, regarding the border. He said I was trying to get the "superior land" b/c of the incense ... idk about you, but that Dry Rice looks pretty good to me! :P
I told him that he had Dyes on his side (which I can just barely see from another angle), and he said he was 'preliminarily satisfied with this ... "if it were true"' ...
Summary: Kragroth is cagey, untrusting (or faking distrust), and is likely witholding information. Quite possibly this deal he sees as quite favorable, and perhaps I could have gotten more land by refraining from diplomacy. Step 1, see if he honors the agreement, Step 2, see if he can be a (semi) reliable ally/ economic trading partner. Hopefully his diplomatic response will be fundamentally more forthright.
However, at face value this was a great success. He will not threaten my position directly south of my borders, and he will allow me to send my scout through his lands (when the time comes) to more easily meet the other civs. On the other hand ... perhaps I *should* trade maps with him, if he indeed is willing to give me his maps as well .... its something I have to think about.
(Oh, I preface this with the fact that he offered me Maps and Open Borders ... so yea ... interesting stuff ^_^ .... I just would have felt a bit better about it if he had attached a lenghy e-mail detailing the pros (and cons)? of what led him to this decision. However, as its a classic opener in many a simul game I have played, one might think "Duh, do it" ... on the other hand PBEM logic is generally to not actually trade 'maps' ... but since he already has had visibility on my capital, I might be foolish not to trade maps ....
Yea ... I felt that if I kept things restricted to what was within the e-mail (that I might get a better response to live chat) that I could just cover things in the e-mail.
However, I'll have to wait and see if I do get an e-mail response. This exchange was well after I had already sent the save (and Kragroth had not yet received the turn), therefore I felt that it was still within the spirit of the restriction.
It is possible that this restriction is the reason for Kragroth's less verbose answers, and if so, I guess I can wait a few turns to see if he has much more to say. Nothing about these negotiations requires immediate attention.
EDIT: I will no longer perform any Diplomatic acts (within this game) over 'chat' functions, and will restrict all future diplo to the e-mail format.
Seems important to keep around, although I think perhaps placing it on facebook would be a bit too .... extreme.
Every time you spend money in order to save a life with some probability, you establish a lower bound on the monetary value of a life. Every time you refuse to spend money to save a life with some probability, you establish an upper bound on the monetary value of life. If your upper bounds and lower bounds are inconsistent, it means you could move money from one place to another, and save more lives at the same cost. So if you want to use a bounded amount of money to save as many lives as possible, your choices must be consistent with some monetary value assigned to a human life; if not then you could reshuffle the same money and do better. How very sad, how very hollow the indignation, of those who refuse to say that money and life can ever be compared, when all they're doing is forbidding the strategy that saves the most people, for the sake of pretentious moral grandstanding...
the best time to build a vampire would be at population 16, 15 or at population 15, 15, 15
Vamps need ...
14 pop w/ +4 xp (command posts + apprenticeship)
15 pop w/ +2 xp (apprenticeship)
16 pop w/ no xp bonuses active
Therefore the most efficient 'price point ' is on a range between 14 - 16
Interestingly enough, if u add +6 xp ... you still get 14 pop as your lower threshold.
-----------------------------------------
Now, alternatively, if you want something a bit more food intensive, with a bit faster XP return, even if its a bit less efficient ... or if you just have larger cities than this ....
There is an upper threshold. This allows for about, on avg, 33% less feasting cities.
If you have +6 xp, you need 19 pop. +4 xp, 20 pop. +2 xp, 21 pop. 0 xp, 22 pop. (19-22)
--------------------------------
If you go a bit more wide, and would like to use 33% more # of cities for feasting (to get the same result of course), you have a different option.
0 xp = 13 pop
2xp = 12 pop
4 xp = 12 pop
6 xp = 11 pop
--> So if you had 4 cities of 11 pop, and +6 xp in your production city, you could get a lv 7 vampire in about 8-16 turns, or 4-8 turns (move1 vs move2) depending on the traveling salesman solution. Any sensible person could cut it down to about 4-6 turns of course.
Alternatively, if you had 1 city of 21 pop, you could get a lv 7 vampire in 2 turns.
Now, what is the *most* utility you could get out of having lv 7 vampires?
If you go Mob1, C4, Death2, for instance, u just get 40% stronger spectres. Which, granted, IS important ... but it's not particularly *critical* especially if the idea is to mass produce vampires, for a Spectre spam, in which case the higher number of vampires, the more food you will need to make them all 'better', and at some point you will know that you will just have some 'good' ones and some 'average' ones and what was the point of it all? Granted Civ IV combat favors (+1) more than, say, Civ V, so having a 40% stronger spectres is worth, perhaps, even more than having 2 vampires with a 0% stronger spectre. But I'm not 100% certain that this is the case, because there is the difference between a single strong combatant, and two weaker combatants that can cover more ground, do a variety of different things, etc. And we can't eliminate the randomness of FFH2's RNG, which Kael made specifically so that a massed group of weaker units could defeat a stronger one .... MORE OFTEN than is possible in base Civ IV. Therefore, you should look not at a slightly buffed Spectre as your MODUS OPERANDI, even though it is certainly an option worth consdiering when all others have been explored
So Death2 is the obvious choice for a mass production of level 3 vampires (Mob1, Death2), but what about level 7s? Should they be made to spit out summons? Is that really the best you can get out of them? Hardly.
We have a number of good options but they basically fall into 2 categories. Commando and DPS.
Now, you could also get Mob1, Dril 4, Blitz .... but that's more of a 'stack defender' sort of build, rather than DPS, and shouldn't be the primary focus, just like Mob1, Combat 4, Death 2. and of course Mob 1, Body 2 + anything, is, while necessary, strictly a supporting role ... and doesnt' really need any excess levels beyond 3 or 4.
You also have the somewhat less desirable build of Mob1, Combat 2, City Raider 3 ... strictly speaking, its only strength is its versatility, therefore it is only useful when the enemy is employing a wide range of unitcombat types.
Combat 5 = 100%, C2/CR3 = 130%, C2/Cover2=140%
*C2/CR3 is actually 150% when attacking into a city filled *only* with melee units. However in all other cases it is 130%. Meanwhile Shock2/Cover2/etc is 140% effective, wheter attacking or defending, but truly .... it could be considered even better than that when attacking units of a higher strength value.
However, lets look at a level 3 vampire ... which is at best 9.6 vs a moroi's 7. And a lv 3 vampire is what you get when you don't optimize for Food -> XP. Therefore, under unprepared conditions, Vampires are strictly worse investments.
Yet lets also look at the case of SubOptimal conditions (Diversified enemy portfolios)
Vamp = 13.2, 15
Moroi = 7
In this case, a pure Combat 5 Vampire has an Off/Def of 13.2, while a CR Vamp has a 15 str while attacking cities.
This makes enemies with a diverse portfolio a bit trickier to launch an offensive against, with Vampires at least. Also, without Burning Blood, Moroi are 6 str instead of 7. Additionally, Enchanted Blade affects Vampires only 0.2 str more than it affects Moroi, so enchanted blade has no real effect on the data.
Strategic Insight
Mass Production of Vampires should only be attempted with at least 2 death manas. The more death manas, the more attractive that route is. And Calabim do not start with Death mana.
Selective use of 'super vampires' is only acceptable once you have size 14-16 cities. This gets really interesting when you have a few size 22 cities, especially if you are willing to feast them down to about size 16, and then grow them back up, or have them constantly in a flux between 16 - 22 in order to feed newly built 'super vampires'. And from a 'wide' perspective, all you really need is four size 12 cities to make the investment of ONE supervampire worth it. However with a collection of size 16-22 cities, you could build an ARMY of supervampires.
t62 .... 77 points higher than 2nd place, 84 points higher than closest neighbor ... feels good to be king :P
Still though, it isn't hard to do when you A) pop a Great Bard from a Lair, B) use Bard to pop Drama, and C) use Drama bard to pop Sanitation ....
So in the time it took me to, say, tech to Festivals and Bronzeworking .... I gained an additional 2 techs! :D
And now here we are at t65 ^_^
Quite significantly, I'm not leading in Population, not leading in Soldiers, not leading in Production, and certainly not leading in land-territory.
No, I am (quite specifically) only the leader in
1) GNP
2) Food
3) Score
And it is quite possible that, if not for the tech pops, I might not even be the leader in score. So quite possibly, Kragroth would normally have been score leader ... and that bring me to this
My Friends, Amurites, Calabim,
I fear that the vile Sheiam shall attack me soon. A free border city or settled location of your choice and gifted to you, shall you come to my aid.
--Kragroth
UPDATE: So ... I can't actually respond (again) until I get the save .... and yet it seems he might be holding the save hostage? And if so, its for all the wrong reasons
A) We specifically set a limit to 1 message per turn SPECIFICALLY to prevent turns being held hostage due to diplomatic messages.
B) IF this is the case, then maybe it should be made clear/ clarified .... or otherwise restated that messages should only be sent when the message sender holds the save. It wasn't something I was adhering to specifically b/c I thought it was increasing the speed of the game ... but if it causes other people to abuse the system, then perhaps I should restrict myself so that I can justify calling for others to be likewise restricted
C) If however, it is all some misunderstanding, or something .... idk. Best case, problem is temporary/ gets solved, Medium case, a team-mate is added to the orcs, Worst Case, game drags onto a crawl and I join in the war against Kragroth purely fore PYFT reasons.
