Freezing the World below Absolute Zero - Illians Succession Game

[DaveV]

@DaveV: are you playing the set?

Yes, isn't it my turn?

[Mardoc]

Yes. Saw your screenshots were in the inherited turn so I wasn't sure you knew. Apparently I'm being overly pedantic today.

[Aurorarcher]

@Dave: Looks like I have never read that white text...

@Mardoc: Of course we can do both, and we will. What I meant is that we want our best production city to be working on Ascension (Innsmouth, 57h/t currently), and the 2nd best production city can get to around 40h/t => 18 turns to finish Birthright Regained. Innsmouth can finish Ascension (1200h) in 21 turns. So we get the benefit from GA for 3 turns which probably won't speed it up anymore (regarding turns).

Meaning we can't speed up Ascension much, if at all, by triggering our WS again.

Innsmouth has Pillar of Chains meaning unhappy citizen give +1h. If we could get enough war weariness somehow (do summons like spectres give you penalty from dieing?) we could speed up Ascension by 5 turns (in theory). But that's not easy to do. The city could add 13 unhappy faces and still be happy. Drafting is another possibilty but we lack the civics and it'd eat population.

What I'd actually suggest is turning a lot of the tiles around Innsmouth to Workshops and researching Guilds (3t research currently and we have tons of money), those 4h workshops are awesome. Even those lovely cottages need to go. There are 8 workers around Innsmouth already. Omniscience is only 6t research and with current expenses we only need 7200 gold to research both of those techs (and we have 6400g atm). By doing all that Ascension takes only 14 turns to build in Innsmouth (86h/t) if I did my math right.

Putting all that together we could have our Monster out in 23 turns from now.

[DaveV]

Yes. Saw your screenshots were in the inherited turn so I wasn't sure you knew. Apparently I'm being overly pedantic today.

I tend to spend a lot of time looking at the save before I make any moves. The lack of advance in the turn number doesn't indicate a lack of thought or time spent.

What I'd actually suggest is turning a lot of the tiles around Innsmouth to Workshops and researching Guilds (3t research currently and we have tons of money), those 4h workshops are awesome. Even those lovely cottages need to go. There are 8 workers around Innsmouth already. Omniscience is only 6t research and with current expenses we only need 7200 gold to research both of those techs (and we have 6400g atm). By doing all that Ascension takes only 14 turns to build in Innsmouth (86h/t) if I did my math right.

I like this. So shall it be! Guilds is also a good economic tech (+1 trade route), so the diversion may not cost us too much.

[Mardoc]

The lack of advance in the turn number doesn't indicate a lack of thought or time spent.

It doesn't indicate much of anything, which I should have realized instead of jumping to conclusions

I like this. So shall it be!

Me too. I think Auror is overlooking one little detail: the Draw halves the population of all our cities. But I still think Guilds + workshops will be our fastest method, even if the details change upon losing population.

I would still try to build Birthright Regained. We don't win when Auric is born, we win when we've conquered enough for Domination. Granted, Auric + Drifa + our current mages can probably do that, but I think adding in the Stasis for our enemies will speed things up noticeably.

[Aurorarcher]

Regarding The Draw/Ascension: True, I actually completely forgot to take that into account. That indeed messes up all the details but the result should be the same anyway.

Auric doesn't guarantee the win on it's own automatically. Besides, our top rival will get a big boost against it with Godslayer (+1000% against Avatar); though AI is probably too dumb to use it properly. But I still believe that with smart playing we'd win the game even with our current forces. If you consider how easy it was to outplay Lanun (even when they had superior power advantage, and still have). Things could change some when we're at war with everyone, but all the AIs are at war with other AIs as well, which will only help us.

But I agree that we should definitely build Birthright Regained anyway, it'll speed up things a lot for sure.

Offtopic: Did you forget to play XLV, Mardoc? Or just been too busy? I think it's almost 30 hours on you.

[Mardoc]

Auric doesn't guarantee the win on it's own automatically. Besides, our top rival will get a big boost against it with Godslayer (+1000% against Avatar); though AI is probably too dumb to use it properly

If I remember right, Auric's main relevant ability is that he can kill with his blizzard/snowfall spell. He really shouldn't be in combat directly at all. Just stack him with an archmage and watch everything within two tiles of him freeze to death.

But I still believe that with smart playing we'd win the game even with our current forces. If you consider how easy it was to outplay Lanun (even when they had superior power advantage, and still have). Things could change some when we're at war with everyone, but all the AIs are at war with other AIs as well, which will only help us.

Yeah, if we couldn't handle war with the world, I think we'd have known a while back. And wouldn't have Innsmouth to build rituals in, for that matter . I mean, we'll still have to play intelligently but I don't have much doubt on the outcome. Would be tempted to call it off now except I want to play with Auric and Drifa...

Starting to consider what makes sense for a next SG. Although maybe what makes sense is to take a month or two off to recharge.

Offtopic: Did you forget to play XLV, Mardoc? Or just been too busy? I think it's almost 30 hours on you.

Thought I got it yesterday morning, but I must not have. I'll get it in a few hours when I'm off work.

[Aurorarcher]

I don't recall Auric's snowfall being able to kill, I think it's just normal snowfall. But I could be wrong as the last time I've played with Auric was when FFH2 was new and just released... and that's a long time ago . Nevertheless, all the dust and dirt flying in the cyclone around Auric is making it pretty cool unit already, whether or not he can kill anything with his spell.

I agree that maybe a pause after this one might be the way to go. Maybe we can even find an interesting SG theme for our next game while we're resting.

[Bobchillingworth]

I believe Auric's snowfall spell is different and can indeed kill. Given that he heals slowly and can't collect exp, he's mostly a really powerful artillery piece. Might be wrong about that though, it's been forever since I built him.


If you guys are looking for a new SG variant, I suggest playing with increasing difficulty + Final Five + High to Low. It makes for a pretty intense experience!

[Mardoc]

If you guys are looking for a new SG variant, I suggest playing with increasing difficulty + Final Five + High to Low. It makes for a pretty intense experience!

I'm sure! Although it's not thematic: more a challenge than a variant to me.

That said, the pace lately (not just the up player, we're slow on bumps and comments as well) makes me think we could use a break before we pick up a new game. Maybe in a couple months we'll be rejuvenated and raring to go on a new game, but right now I think everyone needs some time off.