I have never seen much point to the diplo alliance system either. The AIs certainly don't, given the way they instantly declare war the turn you meet. I prefer to just attempt to fight my way to victory.
The various special world types/characteristics does seem to be a Broken World thing. Some of the effects are much more important than others; maybe I will get a chance to show some of them in the future.
And now, update time.
My latest target was the tiny shard Yssirdor, a "world of death" shard.
Supposedly most of this type of shard is devoid of life, empty deserts with no population, etc. But I did not actually notice any differences from a normal shard. Not sure if there was a bug, or if the description was incorrect. Odd.
Anyway, here is the end of the struggle, with my hero having reached the local lord's stronghold and begun a siege. Note the enemy hero in the next province, about to attack in an attempt to break the siege.
![[Image: enemy-hero.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/K831kG7G/enemy-hero.jpg)
The enemy warrior failed to defeat my hero, but it was a close thing; my army had been badly mauled by the cutthroats guard in the capital province and was down to two spearmen and a healer (plus the scout, of course). The enemy warrior killed both spearmen before dying to arrows, so my scout was sieging the enemy stronghold almost by himself.
Not something I would normally do, but returning to my own stronghold to hire more troops and refit my army would have taken about 10 turns round trip. So I risked attacking with just the hero and healer, and fortunately the local lord only had a couple weak units in his stronghold.
![[Image: yssidor-rewards.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/J42yzDkY/yssidor-rewards.jpg)
Add another shard to my growing home world.
Yssidor unlocked two more tier 2 unit buildings and another tier 2 magic school, plus some tier 3 craft shops with better (and more expensive!) equipment for my heroes. Plus it would add another 5 astral energy per turn to my income stream.
I was worried about the latest rival I had met in the astral, as he had threatened to attack me. So I spent some astral energy to transfer my scout to the next shard. I had to strip away all of his troops, spells, and gear to afford it
but the hero himself had some solid skills.
![[Image: stripped-hero.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/RhPWfqbF/stripped-hero.jpg)
When I returned to the astral, I saw this:
![[Image: doh-gor-attacks.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/m2Dz4NtF/doh-gor-attacks.jpg)
Yep, Doh-gor was coming for my home world.
You might think you would have a huge advantage on your home shard -- a big empire, lots of money and territory, etc. But all you actually get is whatever free starting items (if any) you have accumulated from previous shards -- extra income, equipment in your treasury, and starting garrison units -- and the ability to see the entire map. That's it.
Otherwise you start from nothing just like any other shard.
![[Image: defense-start.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/QNS9vnx3/defense-start.jpg)
Definitely glad I spent the astral energy to transfer my hero.
I suspected something like this was coming, and having a level 8 hero will help a lot to get a fast start. If you lose when defending your home shard, you lose the entire campaign. ![eek eek](https://www.realmsbeyond.net/forums/images/smilies/eek.gif)
Here is Doh-gor's start, off to my northwest (I turned on the mini map).
![[Image: enemy-start.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/nL8CqyTv/enemy-start.jpg)
I have no idea what benefits or hero Doh-gor might have spent energy to bring into my shard. Hopefully he does not have anything too powerful....
The various special world types/characteristics does seem to be a Broken World thing. Some of the effects are much more important than others; maybe I will get a chance to show some of them in the future.
And now, update time.
![smile smile](https://www.realmsbeyond.net/forums/images/smilies/smile2.gif)
![eek eek](https://www.realmsbeyond.net/forums/images/smilies/eek.gif)
Anyway, here is the end of the struggle, with my hero having reached the local lord's stronghold and begun a siege. Note the enemy hero in the next province, about to attack in an attempt to break the siege.
![[Image: enemy-hero.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/K831kG7G/enemy-hero.jpg)
The enemy warrior failed to defeat my hero, but it was a close thing; my army had been badly mauled by the cutthroats guard in the capital province and was down to two spearmen and a healer (plus the scout, of course). The enemy warrior killed both spearmen before dying to arrows, so my scout was sieging the enemy stronghold almost by himself.
![frown frown](https://www.realmsbeyond.net/forums/images/smilies/frown.gif)
![[Image: yssidor-rewards.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/J42yzDkY/yssidor-rewards.jpg)
Add another shard to my growing home world.
![dance dance](https://www.realmsbeyond.net/forums/images/smilies/dance.gif)
I was worried about the latest rival I had met in the astral, as he had threatened to attack me. So I spent some astral energy to transfer my scout to the next shard. I had to strip away all of his troops, spells, and gear to afford it
![frown frown](https://www.realmsbeyond.net/forums/images/smilies/frown.gif)
![[Image: stripped-hero.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/RhPWfqbF/stripped-hero.jpg)
When I returned to the astral, I saw this:
![[Image: doh-gor-attacks.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/m2Dz4NtF/doh-gor-attacks.jpg)
Yep, Doh-gor was coming for my home world.
![frown frown](https://www.realmsbeyond.net/forums/images/smilies/frown.gif)
![frown frown](https://www.realmsbeyond.net/forums/images/smilies/frown.gif)
![[Image: defense-start.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/QNS9vnx3/defense-start.jpg)
Definitely glad I spent the astral energy to transfer my hero.
![nod nod](https://www.realmsbeyond.net/forums/images/smilies/nod.gif)
![eek eek](https://www.realmsbeyond.net/forums/images/smilies/eek.gif)
Here is Doh-gor's start, off to my northwest (I turned on the mini map).
![[Image: enemy-start.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/nL8CqyTv/enemy-start.jpg)
I have no idea what benefits or hero Doh-gor might have spent energy to bring into my shard. Hopefully he does not have anything too powerful....