[SPOILERS] DaveV and Kandros Fir sing songs about money

[DaveV]

Other players, you don't belong here!

[DaveV]

The dwarves: lots of advantages, a few big disadvantages.

+ Half movement cost for hills. With Civ 4's weird movement rules, this means warriors become a 2-move unit if they hang out near hills.
+ +25% worker rate. This means 3 turn farms and plantations, plus the bonus movement makes this the FfH version of the fast worker.
+ Magic resistance on all units. This might be a big deal if we reach deep into the tech tree like last game.
+ Catapults are replaced by Trebuchets, which have 50% more strength and have a higher collateral damage limit.
+ The Repair spell, which heals non-living units (e.g. Trebuchets), even if they moved.
+ Bonus of +2 XP for units built in the city with Deruptus Brew House. I need to build this national wonder earlier than usual (will also help with the happiness penalty).
+ Bonus of +20% culture defense in all cities. Dwarven cities are very hard to conquer.

- Every city comes with a dwarven vault, which gives bonus happiness and production if you have a ridiculous amount of cash on hand, but gives a happiness penalty if you have a normal amount of cash. The latter is the better choice if you don't want to be several techs behind the other players. At least the palace gives enchantment mana, which reduces the happiness hit from -2 to -1.
- Horsemen are replaced by the Boar Rider, which only has two moves instead of three.
- No mages or archmages. The dwarves are limited to level 1 spells.

[DaveV]

The cast of characters:

Aurorarcher is Tebryn Arbandi, ARC/SUM leader of the Sheaim. Crystal ball says: lots of Mobius Witches.

DaveV is Kandros Fir, FIN/AGG/ING leader of the Khazad. Crystal ball says: lots of siege units.

superjm is Cassiel, PHI/IND/ADA leader of the Grigori. Crystal ball says: lots of hero units.

Mr. Cairo is Arendel Phaedra, SPI/CRE leader of the Ljosalfar. Crystal ball says: lots of forests.

mackoti is Sandalphon, PHI/IND leader of the Sidar. Crystal ball says: lots of invisible, high move assassins.

[DaveV]

The password is Cash.

[shallow_thought]

The dwarves: lots of advantages, a few big disadvantages.

+ Catapults are replaced by Trebuchets, which have 50% more strength and have a higher collateral damage limit.
+ Bonus of +2 XP for units built in the city with Deruptus Brew House. I need to build this national wonder earlier than usual (will also help with the happiness penalty).

- Every city comes with a dwarven vault, which gives bonus happiness and production if you have a ridiculous amount of cash on hand, but gives a happiness penalty if you have a normal amount of cash. The latter is the better choice if you don't want to be several techs behind the other players. At least the palace gives enchantment mana, which reduces the happiness hit from -2 to -1.
- Horsemen are replaced by the Boar Rider, which only has two moves instead of three.

Are siege able to take mobility in EitB? I seem to remember that being part of the balancing. Not being able to use haste is pain enough.

I was thinking that the Khazad might be more practical than "normal" if the rate of expansion is as slow as it seemed to be last game. AGG/FIN/ING is a pretty good trait set, and you should be prickly for a while with C1, dwarven movement, ale-based XP  and (eventually) enchanted blades. But I do wonder where you're going to find that mid-game power spike, relative to some of the competition.

Of course, if you stay neutral and the game goes on forever, you get Dwarven Druids, but I note you didn't list them in the advantages - has any PBEM ever gone on that far?

Some other minor disadvantages:
- According to the civilopedia dwarven slingers can't be upgraded to longbows - in fact, I'm not sure you can even build longbows as Khazad? You probably don't care.
- No horchers either IIRC.
- Maros is pretty useless as a civ hero; too late, too defensive.

Anyway, I have a soft spot for the Khazad: they were the very first civ I played in FFH. I'll be lurking here unspoiled for a little while, wishing you better luck than last time .

[naufragar]

Commenting just to say that that's the most legible Dwarf Fortress picture I've ever seen. Good luck!

[DaveV]

Are siege able to take mobility in EitB? I seem to remember that being part of the balancing. Not being able to use haste is pain enough.

Yes. All my catapults in the last game had mobility. Unfortunately, siege units don't get the dwarven racial promotion.

I was thinking that the Khazad might be more practical than "normal" if the rate of expansion is as slow as it seemed to be last game. AGG/FIN/ING is a pretty good trait set, and you should be prickly for a while with C1, dwarven movement, ale-based XP  and (eventually) enchanted blades. But I do wonder where you're going to find that mid-game power spike, relative to some of the competition.

Financial is really good for keeping the economy afloat. Running specialists doesn't fit very well with a low happy cap, though. And the big advantage of starting with C1 is that you can take shock or subdue animal as your first promotion (and Guardsman is a little more achievable). Chariots and trebs are good enough for mid game, probably; I'm expecting to rely on religious units for late game.

Of course, if you stay neutral and the game goes on forever, you get Dwarven Druids, but I note you didn't list them in the advantages - has any PBEM ever gone on that far?

I think a couple games have gone very far into the tech tree, but those were at relatively low difficulty. I'm expecting tech progress to be pretty slow in this game.

Some other minor disadvantages:
- According to the civilopedia dwarven slingers can't be upgraded to longbows - in fact, I'm not sure you can even build longbows as Khazad? You probably don't care.

Yeah, if I have to rely on longbows for an advantage I'm in real trouble.

- No horchers either IIRC.

Chariots are better anyway (and share their (half price!) enabling building with trebuchets).

- Maros is pretty useless as a civ hero; too late, too defensive.

The world spell is not very exciting either.

Anyway, I have a soft spot for the Khazad: they were the very first civ I played in FFH. I'll be lurking here unspoiled for a little while, wishing you better luck than last time .

Thanks!

[DaveV]

Here's an overview from the first turn:



Apparently everyone has a green zone surrounded by jungle. I foresee jungle growth being a problem since it can grow on top of pigs and rice. Land looks a little tight, only 842 tiles for five players. Lots of happiness, lots of commerce; tech pace will be rapid.

[DaveV]

Overview from 3rd turn:



Demos from 2nd turn:



Apparently everyone else has only a single lake tile in their inner ring. Conclusion: starts are not mirrored.

On my naming scheme: it's often hard to fit a song title into 15 characters, so I'm naming the cities after bands with a song about money. Capital city is named for the O'Jays "For the love of money":

[DaveV]

Overview from turn 8:



My second warrior will scamper inside my borders next turn. More map speculation: I played around a little with map types, and a small highlands map is 52x32, which seems in line with my unskilled flying camera map checks. That would be 1664 total tiles, though, which would mean Bob used the "Seas" setting or added a lot of water. So far, every bit of water I've seen is fresh water.

I finished Agriculture at EoT. Aurorarcher and superjm both have their first tech; Auro at the same pace as me, superjm a turn earlier. The demos are telling an odd story:



I'm apparently alone in second place for GNP. I'm gaining two bonus beakers for known tech bonus, which means Auro is not researching Calendar. That seems like a very obvious choice to me, but Auro is a smart guy and will no doubt prove later to have made a smart decision. Beelining Bronze Working, maybe? As for superjm, he must have received beakers from an event or been sacrificing food for commerce. He also is apparently not receiving a known tech bonus. Maybe neither of these guys had a tech queued up?

Someone also has been trading three food for two hammers, an odd choice.