[Spoilers] Cometh the Messiah - Varn Gosam and the Malakim

[Ilios]

Checking in, will of course be following along Ilios!
Already loving the start of this thread, I read it with the suggested background music playing.
Completely agree with your sentiments about the damn Vampires (again).

I prefer to call them damned!

Now, the question is: how much are you looking forward to a potential all-desert start?

I've brought my sun-tan oil, just in case!

[Ilios]

[ATTACH]1466[/ATTACH]
The Balseraphs:

"I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me. "
Hunter S. Thompson

Leader: Perpentach (Creative/Charismatic/Arcane/Insane)
Palace: Chaos Mana, Mind Mana, Air Mana
Unique Hero: Loki
Worldspell: Revelry (requires Festivals tech)
Special Quirk: Perpentach's Insane trait re-rolls his remaining traits randomly during the entire game
Starting Tech: Farming

The Traveling Circus has all kinds of nifty units and buildings to advance its cause. Freaks can be built once Festivals is discoverd.
Freaks can be sacrifed to create a Freak Show, which gives happiness, culture and Great Bard points in the city it is built in.
The Arena (Training Yard replacement) gives an extra happiness, and allow combat units to fight an Arena battle. The unit is lost if the battle is lost, but it gains experience if it wins.
Regardless of the result, extra happiness in gained in the city where the arena fight has occured. Harlequins can force units to attack your stack.
Loki can do all kinds of nasty stuff to your cities, and cannot be killed.

Revelry explained:

Starts a golden age.

Conclusion:

The Insane trait can be a blessing and a curse. I've had Perpentach surge ahead in my SP games, only to find out he was Financial, Philosophical and Spiritual.
But if Serdoa finds himself with Raiders, Ingenuity and Arcane for long periods of time (the reroll has a random duration), he might have some difficulties keeping up.
All in all a fun nation to play, let's see if the winds of change blow in the Balseraphs favor this game.


Why so serious?

[ATTACH]1467[/ATTACH]
The Ljosalfar:

"I shall not be dark, but beautiful and terrible as the Morning and the Night!
Fair as the Sea and the Snow upon the Mountain! Dreadful as the Storm and the Lightning!
Stronger than the foundations of the earth. All will love me and despair!"
The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien

Leader: Arendel Phaedra (Spiritual/Creative)
Palace: Nature Mana, Air Mana, Life Mana, +10% War Weariness
Unique Hero: Gilden Silveric (Archery)
World Spell: March of the Trees (Way of the Forest)
Special Quirk: Elven workers can build improvements on forests, without removing the forest
Starting Tech: Exploration

The Elven economy is all about trees (duh!). The ability to build on forests gives the elves a distinctive production advantage. Elves scoff at happy-and health caps, once they've adopted Way of the Forest religion and Guardian of Nature Civic.
The hero, Gilden Silveric isn't that good, but can be built relatively early.

March of the Trees explained:

Transforms all the trees in your lands into Treeants for a couple of turns. Better use it as a last resource, or you're basically tree-less...

Conclusion:

We will see uberfish slowly research towards Way of the Forests, and from there build up an unstoppable economy. (if no-one lights a match in those nice little forests of his)
Arendel's traits will see him grab lots of land. I'd rather be on his side than against him (maybe I can get him to give me some Priests of the Forest).


Ooooooooooooooooooh!

[ATTACH]1468[/ATTACH]
The Calabim:

"That is not dead which can eternal lie / And with strange aeons even death may die."
H.P. Lovecraft, Quoting the Necronomicon, in "The Nameless City"

Leader: Flauros (Financial/Organised)
Palace: Body Mana, Law Mana, Shadow Mana, -10% War Weariness
Unique Hero: Losha Valas (Fanaticism)
World Spell: River of Blood
Special Quirk: Vampire units can gift Vampirism, increasing strenght and and healing rate
Starting Tech: Exploration

I won't go into all the things that makes the Calabim one of the strongest nations of Erebus. The Governor's Mansion (courthouse replacement) is a brokenly powerful building
giving an extra hammer for each unhappy face (including those countered by happyness resources, religions, etc). The Vampire units able to feed on a city, gaining experience in the process.

River of Blood explained:

Reduces the population in all non-Calabim cities by 2. Increases the population in all Calabim cities by 2.

Conclusion:

This is the Pacal of India combo of FFH. Financial for a strong economy, and Organised for half-priced Governor's Mansions.
The strongest end-game units. I hope they start next to Mahala...


One, two, three slaps... Hahahahaa!

Up next: The Malakim!

[Ilios]

[ATTACH]1475[/ATTACH]
The Malakim:

"He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. "
Deuteronomy 32:10.

Leader: Varn Gosam (Spiritual/Creative/Adaptive)
Palace: Sun Mana, Life Mana, Mind Mana, +10% War Weariness
Unique Hero: Teutorix (Blasting Powder)
World spell: Religious Fervor
Special Quirk: +1 commerce on all desert tiles, double move in deserts
Starting Tech: Ancient Chants

Lurker 1: Omg Lmaol, did you see Ilios' pick?

Lurker 2: Yeah, what a f***ing noob!

Lurker 3: He should stick to UNO if you ask me...

Yes I know, I know... In Fall from Heaven 2 there probably are better civs to pick from than the Malakim...
From the outset I was sure that the big boys (Ljosalfar, Luchuirp, Calabim, etc) would make their appearance in this game.
I didn't want my pick to be decided by a coin flip, and I was pretty certain Varn Gosam wasn't going to be the top pick for anyone...
Choosing the Malakim could come back and bite me in the behind, but I wanted a challenge and have fun at the same time.
I mean everyone can pick Flauros and do good in the game, right? (hi Sunrise!)

Let's look at the bad first:

The Malakim have - to put it mildly - unimpressive unique units.

The Lightbringers are STR 2 Divine units, which start with Mobility 1 and Sentry. Well that's not all that bad I hear you say?
Unfortunately, these units cost 40 hammers on Quick Speed (compared to 16 hammers for a STR 3 Warrior), so I won't be building them just for the heck of it.
They can be cheaply upgraded to Disciple units (FFH missionaries) if a Temple is nearby.
I might build a few to guard my borders, but once Hunters and Hawks come into play...

Camel Archers are Horse Archers replacements, that do not need a Horse resource to be built. (for those wondering, Camel resources do not appear in FFH...)

The unique building is a Desert Shrine (replacing the Pagan Temple) with adds 2 experince to every Divine unit built in the city (woohoo!)

Malakim also do not have a starting scout. This might not be so bad in BtS, but in FFH, with huts av, scouts can mean free Great People, Golden Ages, etc.

As coup de grace, The Malakim hero unit is conveniently unlocked with the Blasting Power technology, the FFH equivalent of Composites...

Looking good so far, right?


The only thing saving the poor Malakim from irrevelancy is their leader, Varn Gosam.


Handsome devil, isn't he?

The Malakim leader has the best traits in the game in my opinion. Varn is Spiritual and Creative, with Creative as adaptive trait. This means that at regular intervals I will be able to replace it with a new trait.
I should do good in the early landgrab and not worry about building a Monument (I hate building those).
By the time the trait switch occurs (around T70 on Quick Speed), I hope to have at least three, maybe four cities with popped borders. Culture should then come from religions.
I will probably be switching to Financial to get the economy going and build those important Markets (+3 gold, -1 beaker) cheaply.

Because the Malakim units are so awful, I plan on making use of the Divine units the different religions give access to. The Spiritual trait in FFH means no Anarchy when switching civics and religions, and I plan on making full use of the trait.

But Spiritual also means that all Divine units start with Mobility 1, and Potency (making their spells 10% harder to resist). The Malakim worldspell creates a Priest in every city you own (unlocked at Priesthood technology). The type of priest depends on your current State Religion. Each priest gets an extra experience points for every city having your current state religion.

The idea is to unlock the Ashen Veil religion, convert, and pop the worldspell. It should be possible to get the relevant technology between turn 120-140, by which time I hope to have around 8 cities.
The Ashen Veil Priests start with Hellfire, which is a spell that can do up to 40% damage to all tiles surrounding the caster (including friendly units, so i will need to be careful). That means I will have an instant army of STR 5, mobility 1 Priests at my disposal.
This should be the time I start mobilising my forces and pick a target.
Leading up to this moment, I should prepare a mobile army (chariots?), to back up the priests.

Ofcourse, I don't know if I can pull this off in multi-player (it obviously works against the AI).

I might head for the Empyrean religion instead, to gain access to those Sun 2 divine troops (Sun 2 gives allow the unit to cast Blinding Light, which incapacitates any nearby units for 2 turns).

As for winning the game, i'm toying with the idea of an Altar victory. The Altar of the Luonnotar is a wonder, and the first six pieces can only be created by sacrificing a Great Prophet. It can only be built by Good or Neutral nations. The final piece needs to be built (costing a cool 2680 hammers on Quick Speed). Each piece is more powerful than the previous, ranging from increased happiness in the empire, extra hammers for Priest specialist and extra experience for Divine units.

The prophets should be easy to get with Philosophical trait and the Pacifism civic. Combined with the Theocracy civic (unlimited prophet specialists) and I should be spamming them like there's no tomorrow.

Now, I'm not saying I will go all the way with the Altar, but even building a couple of pieces should help me with the kind of game I want to play.


Now why would anyone want to be named after a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle?

Conclusion:

Barring an early choke, I'm pretty confident about my chances in the game. I'm counting on the other players underestimating the Malakim, instead focussing their nervous attention to the big powers of this game (Calabim, Luchuirp, etc).

Keeping my fingers crossed for an all floodplain/plains hill start!

[Old_Lion]

Hi Ilios !
I'm now officially a dedicated lurker of this thread. Haven't and won't read spoilers.

I happen to have played and won with malakim several time, only in SP and on an FFH2 modmod called orbis. There are some differences regarding malakim between orbis and Vanilla FFH2, so I might emit some unaccurate data.

I think you did not mention important data about Malakim that need to be added :

Malakim are desert people : they have bonus in desert tiles both from an economical point of view (+1 commerce), making fearly flood plain city some science/trade booster in early game, especially with Van Gosam original financial trait.

Also, as nomads, Malakim have double desert movement and reduced desert defense penalty. So spreading desert using scorch could be an option.

Lightbringer are not as useless as it seems :
They are disciple units, and as so with a spiritual leader, they start gaining XP from turn 0. It makes experienced disciple units with sentry avalaible soon.

The desert shrine provides +2 exp to disciple units (including lightbringers), and there is an other special building : citadel of light, unlocked by sorcery, that has a strong defensive potential (damages approching ennemy units up to 40%.)

No assassins, no bonus outside desert :
it makes malakims more defender than aggressors.

Empyrean is the natural way to go because it combines well with Malakims boni regarding disciple units and desert preference. Empyrean priest have anti-illusion spells and Empyrean Hero Chalid can turn into a monster with his 7 +2 sun mana affinity.

[Ilios]

Hi Ilios !
I'm now officially a dedicated lurker of this thread. Haven't and won't read spoilers.

Welcome Old Man!

I happen to have played and won with malakim several time, only in SP and on an FFH2 modmod called orbis.

An experienced dedicated lurker, woot!

Also, as nomads, Malakim have double desert movement and reduced desert defense penalty. So spreading desert using scorch could be an option.

It would seem that Scorch has been nerfed, because now only these conversions are possible:

Snow -> Tundra
Plains -> Desert

Lightbringer are not as useless as it seems :
They are disciple units, and as so with a spiritual leader, they start gaining XP from turn 0. It makes experienced disciple units with sentry avalaible soon.

I'd need to re-check my SP game, because I didn't have the impression they gained experience in patch o.

The desert shrine provides +2 exp to disciple units (including lightbringers), and there is an other special building : citadel of light, unlocked by sorcery, that has a strong defensive potential (damages approching ennemy units up to 40%.)

Yes, I found out a couple of days ago, but I wasn't sure it was Malakim only, because Civilopedia didn't specify it was a Unique Building. In patch o it creates a Fireball if an enemy unit is within two tiles of the city at the start of the turn. (neat!)

Empyrean is the natural way to go because it combines well with Malakims boni regarding disciple units and desert preference. Empyrean priest have anti-illusion spells and Empyrean Hero Chalid can turn into a monster with his 7 +2 sun mana affinity.

I agree Chalid is something we should aim for.

[Ilios]

While we wait for the game to start, I'm going to give lurkerdom a chance to guess the theme I will be using to name my units. The story I'm going to use has nothing to do with the theme (nor the picture), but it will contains elements of it.

Good luck!

Here is the first hint:

The sun stood high in the sky. Mighty Helios shone down without mercy over the vast desert - Erimos the Cruel, the Outsiders called it.
Not so for Dan'yel Water'hus, first Lightbringer of the Sak'son tribe. He called it home.

At this time of day, even the Sand Lions had retreated to their holes.
And yet the heat didn't seem to bother Dan'yel and his Fist, even though they had been travelling for days. For his tribe belonged to a nation of desert people known as the Malakim.

It had been three weeks since Et'yen Dar'cas, leader of the Fran'qor tribe had defied the Conclave. Dan'yel had anticipated Lord Gosam's anointment would face some resistance. But he hadn't expected an entire tribe to take up arms in an attempt to assassinate the Chosen One. Blood had been shed.

Having failed to reach the Elven Prince, the Fran'qor had fled the Conclave grounds, disappearing into the night. After a while it became clear that
in the confusion, Et'yen's kinsmen had entered the Temple of the Sun, and had stolen the Spear of Light.

The orders of his father Drak, Sunkeeper of the Sak'son, had been clear:
"Take your best men. Find them."

So Danyel had gathered his Fist, and had set out to find Et'yen, and return the Spear, for the good of the Light...

Dan'yel Water'hus, Lightbringer

[Old_Lion]

1- tried lightbringers in SP.
obviously, lightbringer don't gain XP, event though they have potency with gossam. It really makes those units worth little.

2- a quick google using your theme quickly brings "The baroque cycle" up.
I've never heard of it before.

[SevenSpirits]

Have fun!

[Old_Lion]

At first glance, it looks like a suboptimal start.
Very little desert, very little floodplains.

But
- plenty of rivers. Malakim are river peoples.
- the SW river could have floodplains.

I'd say : pop the hut with the lightbringer. You won't have tech because no city, but you won't have ennemies either.
the warrior could go 1S (it is an hill, rigth ?) to check the area

possible city sites, to be modified function of new data :
- if no extra grabbable floodplain : settle in place
- otherwwise, 1W or 1SW, keeping the wine.
btw, there always is the 2N position ensuring both sheeps and wine, but it is at the cost of several river tiles arguably.


The plus : the area looks arid, with river. There could be floodplains in the larger area.

[Ilios]

Oh, I don't think the land is sub-par. I mean, we could have had an all forest start!

I think the warrior, which is north west of the settler, should move south west and pop the hut. It will have a double move, so we'll be able to move it again.

Tile bleed shows another floodplain south of the hut, which will be in the capital's BFC if we settle in place.

If the warrior finds more yummy land to the west, we can move the settler one west and found on the desert hill the same turn. We will lose the hammer bonus, but we'll gain another commerce. This will give us 12 commerce to start with: 2 from the floodplains, 2 from the central tile, 8 from the palace. (Testing doesn't seem to give the free commerce)
Founding on the desert hill will give us an instant 45% Defense bonus (+20 from desert, +25 from the hill) making it a pretty safe spot.

If there is no Calendar resource in sight, Techplan should be
Agriculture - Crafting or Mysticism - Crafting or Mysticism - Mining

With the commerce advantage we have, I'm tempted to try and grab Kilmorph religion, as soon as we have the important worker techs.

I'll keep you posted.