The Lizardmen challenge roleplaying scenario: You are the Lizard King!
You are Taihin, the new king of lizardmen. Your father Daihin, like most lizardmen, cared for nothing but gold and as many eggs as his females could spawn. On a recent trade mission to the Nomads, the desert dwellers were insulted by his meager mud-based trade goods when they dried out and fell apart under the baking sun. Daihin died of dehydration in the desert after his escort of Horsebows deserted him to pursue more lucrative trade opportunities with the other land-bound races.
You are different, and special. After using your inborn magic abilities to kill off all of your litter mates, you are the only one that remains. You are curious about the outside world, and wish to make it your own. You have heard of the Spell of Mastery, and do not wish anyone to cast it. To make sure this happens, you will need to crush the whole world underneath your claws. Water is your element, and dryness your enemy. You will expand far beyond your single settlement of crude mud huts and shake the world. Only races that can handle the great oceans are worthy to add to your empire, all others must fall. The world is too small for all the Dusties, the wet races must conquer all!
Game setup:
Land Size: Small
Magic: 1.0x
Wizard Picture: S'ssra
Books and Abilities:
Life: 1
Nature: 4
Channeler
Charismatic
Conjurer
Mana Focusing
Sagemaster
Select Spells:
Common Nature: 3 (War Bears [because you're a conjurer], Water Walking [so your conjured creatures can swim like your lizards], Earth Lore [to see where to swim])
Race: Lizardmen
Banner Color: Green
Send swimming lizard settlers and soldiers overseas to colonize new land before the computers get there. Conquer a good naval race, build warships and rule the waves! Races not capable of building warships must be razed, they are not worthy to join your glorious amphibious empire. If you control the sea then nobody can invade you, because they've got to cross the ocean to get to your land. It's a nice strategy, and one not often taken by regular players.
Lizard population grows quickly, but their primitive society can't build many structures so they need to grow. They have just enough brain to know that they need to conquer races who have brains (but they do not see the use of taking slaves who do not share their love of water). Lizardmen like to find new places to expand, and are very curious about the outside world beyond their mud huts. Do not leave any stone unturned, every unknown square on both worlds must be uncovered either with magic spirits or ships or Earth Lore, using F2 to frequently check the world map for stray black squares. Deserts are your kryptonite, no lizard unit may enter, only non-lizards. Prioritize the acquisition of Change Terrain to get rid of them all. You may never cast this spell on swamps! Get rid of the arid! Down with the dehydrated! The Dusties must be drenched!
You must prioritize construction of the Maritime Guild over other structures. This means if you can build any structure on the road to the Maritime Guild, then you must build it before any others. However, it's not a hard-and-fast rule. Like, if you need to build troops for defense or an Animist's Guild because you're short on food or whatever, then go ahead and do that. It's not like you have to build nothing but Warships once you have the capability, it's just so the playthrough feels different. But the Maritime Guild comes before, say, a Parthenon because you want Priests. You don't have to raze non-coastal cities that can't build Shipwrights' Guilds, that's going too far. But...maybe...
At the beginning of the game, you do not know of the existence of Myrror, nor of Draconians. If you are lucky enough to discover Draconians in your game, you are awestruck by their superior culture and learning. You can keep their cities without razing because your long-lost cousins have much to teach you, and you are greatly impressed with their amazing Air Ships (you must prioritize the Ship Yard to produce them).
Your Javelineer units are good in both melee and ranged combat. They may not throw their javelins at anything but point-blank range. They must advance to within 1 or 2 squares of the enemy (adjacent or 1 empty square between) before being able to use their missile attack.
Heroes and mercenaries and summoned units of any race may be kept provided they get Water Walking cast on them to fit in. Ordinary non-Lizardman troops don't need Water Walking unless they are in a hero stack. You particularly despise Nomads due to their desert nature and must prioritize their destruction to avoid them drying out the world. Nomad cities count as deserts no matter what the underlying terrain.
Remember that even though lizards can swim, they can still board ships for faster movement. This includes galleys and triremes. They are legal to produce even though you much prefer warships.
Rule Summary. There are a lot of these so you might want to print this out before starting play.
http://masterofmagic.wikia.com/wiki/Maritime_Guild
http://masterofmagic.wikia.com/wiki/Warship
Optional Challenges:
This is just a bunch of stuff I thought of. These make the game harder, but may make it a lot less fun, or may make it more like a regular conventional game of Master of Magic. Some are mutually exclusive, so choose before you begin. You may want to print this post out (click here for printable mode) and cross out any you don't wish to use.
Lizardmen units have +1 hit points per figure AND +1 shields AND they treat all water tiles as plains, with no increase in production cost compared to other base units! This can be a decisive advantage when it's 2HP Spearmen or Swordsmen vs. other 1HP/figure low-level units. Javelineers are a cool unit that I like to use even when I'm playing another race, they are the rare unit that is good at both ranged attack and melee (Horsebows are the other). Both units benefit from advancing to within 2 squares of the enemy (1 empty space between or adjacent) to launch their missiles with no to-hit penalty, since they don't get slaughtered in melee like most other missile troops. Dragon Turtles need no introduction, although they are not a killer endgame unit due to the lack of +1 to-hit bonus for Alchemist's Guilds. The desert rules are an attempt to avoid the Stack-O-Doom concept.
I have always liked Lizardmen in games for some reason. It goes all the way back to playing B2 Keep on the Borderlands in Basic D&D in 1981. There was a wilderness encounter I really liked of "a tribe of exceptionally evil lizardmen." It was also an introduction to the great expansion my vocabulary would undergo due to D&D, as I was introduced to the word "fens". My 10 year old self wanted to forget our party of magic-users and fighters and just take the Lizardmen into the Caves of Chaos, I don't know why. I guess this scenario is a long-forgotten urge to get this nameless monster party to name level (even though monsters can't gain levels), build a stronghold, and conquer the whole world.
You are Taihin, the new king of lizardmen. Your father Daihin, like most lizardmen, cared for nothing but gold and as many eggs as his females could spawn. On a recent trade mission to the Nomads, the desert dwellers were insulted by his meager mud-based trade goods when they dried out and fell apart under the baking sun. Daihin died of dehydration in the desert after his escort of Horsebows deserted him to pursue more lucrative trade opportunities with the other land-bound races.
You are different, and special. After using your inborn magic abilities to kill off all of your litter mates, you are the only one that remains. You are curious about the outside world, and wish to make it your own. You have heard of the Spell of Mastery, and do not wish anyone to cast it. To make sure this happens, you will need to crush the whole world underneath your claws. Water is your element, and dryness your enemy. You will expand far beyond your single settlement of crude mud huts and shake the world. Only races that can handle the great oceans are worthy to add to your empire, all others must fall. The world is too small for all the Dusties, the wet races must conquer all!
Game setup:
Land Size: Small
Magic: 1.0x
Wizard Picture: S'ssra
Books and Abilities:
Life: 1
Nature: 4
Channeler
Charismatic
Conjurer
Mana Focusing
Sagemaster
Select Spells:
Common Nature: 3 (War Bears [because you're a conjurer], Water Walking [so your conjured creatures can swim like your lizards], Earth Lore [to see where to swim])
Race: Lizardmen
Banner Color: Green
Send swimming lizard settlers and soldiers overseas to colonize new land before the computers get there. Conquer a good naval race, build warships and rule the waves! Races not capable of building warships must be razed, they are not worthy to join your glorious amphibious empire. If you control the sea then nobody can invade you, because they've got to cross the ocean to get to your land. It's a nice strategy, and one not often taken by regular players.
Lizard population grows quickly, but their primitive society can't build many structures so they need to grow. They have just enough brain to know that they need to conquer races who have brains (but they do not see the use of taking slaves who do not share their love of water). Lizardmen like to find new places to expand, and are very curious about the outside world beyond their mud huts. Do not leave any stone unturned, every unknown square on both worlds must be uncovered either with magic spirits or ships or Earth Lore, using F2 to frequently check the world map for stray black squares. Deserts are your kryptonite, no lizard unit may enter, only non-lizards. Prioritize the acquisition of Change Terrain to get rid of them all. You may never cast this spell on swamps! Get rid of the arid! Down with the dehydrated! The Dusties must be drenched!
You must prioritize construction of the Maritime Guild over other structures. This means if you can build any structure on the road to the Maritime Guild, then you must build it before any others. However, it's not a hard-and-fast rule. Like, if you need to build troops for defense or an Animist's Guild because you're short on food or whatever, then go ahead and do that. It's not like you have to build nothing but Warships once you have the capability, it's just so the playthrough feels different. But the Maritime Guild comes before, say, a Parthenon because you want Priests. You don't have to raze non-coastal cities that can't build Shipwrights' Guilds, that's going too far. But...maybe...
At the beginning of the game, you do not know of the existence of Myrror, nor of Draconians. If you are lucky enough to discover Draconians in your game, you are awestruck by their superior culture and learning. You can keep their cities without razing because your long-lost cousins have much to teach you, and you are greatly impressed with their amazing Air Ships (you must prioritize the Ship Yard to produce them).
Your Javelineer units are good in both melee and ranged combat. They may not throw their javelins at anything but point-blank range. They must advance to within 1 or 2 squares of the enemy (adjacent or 1 empty square between) before being able to use their missile attack.
Heroes and mercenaries and summoned units of any race may be kept provided they get Water Walking cast on them to fit in. Ordinary non-Lizardman troops don't need Water Walking unless they are in a hero stack. You particularly despise Nomads due to their desert nature and must prioritize their destruction to avoid them drying out the world. Nomad cities count as deserts no matter what the underlying terrain.
Remember that even though lizards can swim, they can still board ships for faster movement. This includes galleys and triremes. They are legal to produce even though you much prefer warships.
Rule Summary. There are a lot of these so you might want to print this out before starting play.
- This challenge is for the v1.4n Insecticide patch ONLY. http://realmsbeyond.net/forums/showthread.php?tid=3663
- Your wizard name MUST be Taihin.
- You MUST disable soundblaster music and enable Roland MT-32 to play this challenge. Run INSTALL.EXE before playing.
- You MUST install Psyringe's PLIGHT improved help file to play this scenario. http://realmsbeyond.net/forums/showthread.php?tid=3642
- You MUST NOT cast the spell of mastery, you must win by world conquest.
- You MUST send swimming lizard settlers overseas to colonize new continents. You MUST have at least 5 lizardmen cities, as soon as you can. This total of 5 includes cities taken by conquest or any other means. Do not cripple your game to do this, rather do it when it is practical considering your position on the map. As soon as you have 5 lizardmen cities, you can stop colonizing.
- Javelineers MUST advance to within 1 or 2 squares of the enemy before being able to use their missile attack.
- You MUST raze all cities not capable of building Maritime Guilds (or Ship Yard in the case of Draconians). This means you may only keep cities built by Barbarians, High Men, Orcs, and Draconians. You MUST NOT ever raze Lizardmen cities.
- You MUST prioritize the construction of the Maritime Guild. Once built, you MUST build warships to rule the waves. It is recommended to keep them in stacks of 3 or 4, and patrol the oceans looking for enemy ships, flyers, or swimming troops to attack.
- You MUST NOT enter any Desert terrain or Nomad cities with your lizardmen units. Only summoned units, mercenaries, non-Lizardmen, or heroes may enter.
- You MUST attempt to destroy Nomad cities once you find them. It is up to you to decide how, but it must be a priority goal. Try to make up some curses for them, and shout these curses when you attack them. "From Taihin, vengeance for Daihin!" and the like.
- You MUST prioritize the research of Change Terrain or trade for it, if you are able. Once obtained, you MUST erase all the desert squares on the map. Do this at your leisure, but you must do it when able.
- You MUST explore every square on both worlds. How else can you rid the world of those deadly deserts, and those nefarious Nomads? Cast a lot of Earth Lore!
- You MUST cast Water Walking on all of your summoned units, mercenaries, and heroes. Any unit in a hero stack MUST have Water Walking cast on it.
- Choose whatever difficulty level is the most fun for you. I recommend Extreme, but all of the others are also acceptable.
- You MUST take a screenshot of your winning screen and post it on this thread. If you lose, you MUST take a screenshot of the hall of fame (if your score is high enough to qualify).
http://masterofmagic.wikia.com/wiki/Maritime_Guild
http://masterofmagic.wikia.com/wiki/Warship
Optional Challenges:
This is just a bunch of stuff I thought of. These make the game harder, but may make it a lot less fun, or may make it more like a regular conventional game of Master of Magic. Some are mutually exclusive, so choose before you begin. You may want to print this post out (click here for printable mode) and cross out any you don't wish to use.
- Raze all non-coastal cities even if they are of a race that can build shipyards.
- The entire 2-square catchment of nomad cities count as deserts for purposes of moving your lizard troops.
- Your new lizard cities outside your home continent MUST be founded on swamps (reminds you of home).
- Use a medium sized world instead of small. Kind of defeats the purpose of naval supremacy, but some people don't like Small worlds. This will minimize the lizardmen advantage of swimming and make warships less valuable, at the cost of making a more mundane game that is more like all of the other games of Master of Magic you ever played.
Lizardmen units have +1 hit points per figure AND +1 shields AND they treat all water tiles as plains, with no increase in production cost compared to other base units! This can be a decisive advantage when it's 2HP Spearmen or Swordsmen vs. other 1HP/figure low-level units. Javelineers are a cool unit that I like to use even when I'm playing another race, they are the rare unit that is good at both ranged attack and melee (Horsebows are the other). Both units benefit from advancing to within 2 squares of the enemy (1 empty space between or adjacent) to launch their missiles with no to-hit penalty, since they don't get slaughtered in melee like most other missile troops. Dragon Turtles need no introduction, although they are not a killer endgame unit due to the lack of +1 to-hit bonus for Alchemist's Guilds. The desert rules are an attempt to avoid the Stack-O-Doom concept.
I have always liked Lizardmen in games for some reason. It goes all the way back to playing B2 Keep on the Borderlands in Basic D&D in 1981. There was a wilderness encounter I really liked of "a tribe of exceptionally evil lizardmen." It was also an introduction to the great expansion my vocabulary would undergo due to D&D, as I was introduced to the word "fens". My 10 year old self wanted to forget our party of magic-users and fighters and just take the Lizardmen into the Caves of Chaos, I don't know why. I guess this scenario is a long-forgotten urge to get this nameless monster party to name level (even though monsters can't gain levels), build a stronghold, and conquer the whole world.
