First tournament!

[Catwalk]

I'd prefer keeping the restriction as is for purposes of this game, as it's already started and some players have played some of it out. For future tournaments all rules are up for discussion, these rules won't set a precedent.

[robinh3123]

I'd prefer keeping the restriction as is for purposes of this game, as it's already started and some players have played some of it out. For future tournaments all rules are up for discussion, these rules won't set a precedent.

Yes, I can honor the rule this time.

Yet you did not clarify what it means by "Capturing 3 cities (5pop+) before attacking fortress."
My questions about many waves of attacks, does it count?
re-capture a city, how many does it count?
.. etc.
Perhaps I just set it as is, and interpret the rule to the extend which favors me the most...?

Also, Do we turn on random events or not? OR perhaps either is OK, since it is not mentioned in the rules.

[I like Serena]

I have just reached januari 1412 with my Lizardmen and thought it might be nice to show an update how far I am. I'd like to see how it compares to other races on the same map, since it would be logical that some races go faster and others slower.

Here's my history graph and my power graph.
[ATTACH]1541[/ATTACH][ATTACH]1542[/ATTACH]
As you can see I've already eliminated red.

Currently I'm running around with a stack of 8 Elite Javelineers and I have summoned Shalla the Amazon. And since I feel she should have an Axe, I'm creating one for her.
I can't really use Shalla though, because Blue would instantly Lightning Bolt her, and I like her, so I want to keep her.

Oh, and my power base is currently 43. That means I still have 157 to go...

Anyone willing to compare notes?

[Nad]

Hi I like Serena and the others,

looks good what you did so far. Not sure whether Shalla will lead you the way, imo she's very vulnerable without life magic or serious buffs. Looking forward to the rest of your report.

I took the challenge and am leading the glorious half-elves in order to master the first tournament. Thought of using their native magic bonus to finish this game early. At the end of year 1412 I made some progress.

I was able to conquer the adjacent city very early and kept red from founding any settlements (may be an exploit). I crushed him fast, meanwhile Jafar settled his side of the continent. Luckily, red granted me the sprites spell which served as excellent scouts and suffered Jafar's mindblasts instead of more valuable units. Was able to take over his archipel with my veteran longbowmen and cavallery and then stormed his fortress. Usually, I like to keep the AI wizards around for a while and use them to harvest fame, but this time it didn't look wise. The choice of spells (either starting and via apprentice) is quite annoying, e.g. only crappy death spells.

Green recently traded me water walking, I summoned Shuri to my fortress and killed the guards from the first surveyer. I guess I'm ready to roll and prepare to conquer a few nodes... Power base went up to 77.

A few notes on my first insecticide game:
- was happy to see Jafar summoning nagas
- was happy to see AI heroes equipping items (before I killed them)
- experienced some odd hesitations/moves during city battles
- do not like the one hellhound lairs or nodes
- do not like the distribution of heroes (seems unchanged compared to the original game), I always held a gold reserve of 100+, collected fame and still no hero showed up during the first 100 rounds

One question: Is it possible to insert pictures without uploading them somewhere else (I was requested to insert a url rather than a path)?

[I like Serena]

- experienced some odd hesitations/moves during city battles
- do not like the distribution of heroes (seems unchanged compared to the original game), I always held a gold reserve of 100+, collected fame and still no hero showed up during the first 100 rounds

One question: Is it possible to insert pictures without uploading them somewhere else (I was requested to insert a url rather than a path)?

Yes, when I invaded Red, I went inside his City Walls and his War Bears wouldn't attack me?! I posted it as a bug for Insecticide with save game.

I've seen before in Vanilla that heroes sometimes simply don't come.
Is it possible that if you have a steep growth curve, that heroes come by less often?
This might be a balancing effect.

And you can upload images using the upload-mechanism related to posts.
If you insert a picture as an attachment it will be shown in the post.

[Catwalk]

I've actually had some weird streaking of no heroes for a loooong time in recent games as well, using Insecticide. Think the RNG in Vanilla for this stuff is bugged?

[kyrub]

There does not seem to be anything false about the routine (I checked that already twice before because of scattered reports of "no heroes" incoming).

Does anybody have a save with no hero and many many turns passed? (>100 turns, 1409 (?), are goodish - <4% chance of getting no hero, 50 turns are rubbish - 20%).

I have a slight suspicion, but I really need to see a save (or even 2 saves from different people, if there are some) before getting a concrete idea. Yes, I am lazy to search all that somewhere in the code bush. Please, help (important issue).

[Nad]

@ IlS
Thanks, searched the reply-mask over and over again, but didn't investigate the bottom thoroughly. BTW, Serena served me a great deal in the last game.

@ Heroes
I've been playing this game for more than a decade now and have experienced the lack of heroes during the majority of games. Even selecting famous and charisma (and additionally casting just cause doesn't seem to change the odds dramaticly). The AI wizards usually pile up 3 - 6 heroes even if they face a miserable start...

From my naive point of view their may be two things keeping heroes away from the player wizard:
1. The use of death magic leads to bad reputation among the other wizards and heroes, mercenaries, etc. don't like the bad guys either. I use death magic a lot
2. Using the save/load cheat which I tend to do often may influences the odds (but my IT background tells me it shouldn't)

@ Kyrub
Sorry, didn't keep the savegame, but will think of you in future games.

First tournament
Finally, two screenshots of my game at the end of year 1412. I finished the game of few years later via capturing most of the nodes in my neighborhood and casting dark ritual on all cities with temples or better religious buildings...

[kyrub]

I think I saw a computer player not able to get a hero (in my spectator games).

The problem is IMO not in the choice routine, but in the way the game tracks the heroes already present in the given game. Once a hero is called by an AI player, you cannot get him again (it seems). If he dies, he's blocked for resurection (I think). Since first 0 fame heroes are cca 10, there's a good chance that all these get hired or killed. (With 8 of 10 heroes dead or hired, you have a 10% chance of missing out a normal Hire Hero screen, with 9 of 10, it is 33%.)

Now, again, I need a savegame to verify this hypothese. And even if I do, I've no idea how to correct it. Maybe reducing the AI 10% bonus on hiring heroes might help. (And let's not forget it probably cripples AI as well).

[I like Serena]

( Self deleted)

And... recalled to the plane "Explorations with the Tweaker" .

Btw, edited post for a correction on Famous.