Burn Baby Burn, Kandros Inferno: Team Sheaim Spoiler Thread!

[Selrahc]

The wraith spent a turn healing up and will probably finish healing next turn. It takes 3 turns to build warriors in RE, and I have 3 warriors and a scout in the city.

Resident Evil is doomed. But maybe I can stall the wraith there for a while. The barb kill team following on might cut the stall short though.

I'm going to need a lot of stalling. At current research power it will take me 65 turns to get to bronze working....

Haha, this is an almost comical level of suck. I'd be more outraged about the warrior "kill teams" than anything else- did the mapmakers not realize that players are going to face regular assaults of 20 warriors from the insane number of starting barb cities right next to the capital? Imagine if you *hadn't* taken that city. Ridiculous.

I don't think it would be that dangerous under normal circumstances. As long as I can get 4 warriors in my cities, I'll be safe and healed before the next wave comes. There isn't a lot of coordination between waves.

The biggest worry about the barb waves is that they could pillage me down to the ground, crippling my advancement. If I'd been able to take out both those easy barb cities before the waves started I would be in a great position.. as is, it would only be moderately good without the wraith.

As for the wraith, I guess someone must have opened a grave, lost a warrior at low odds, and then the spectral fiend immediately sped off to fight you. Which means you aren't on islands, for whatever good that knowledge does you.

Yeah, I think wheel spokes is the mapscript base. And without even meeting someone, they've already nearly taken me out of the game. I'd actually bet they got pretty annoyed when the graveyard they pillaged contained a spectre.

[Selrahc]

Maybe I underestimated the kill teams a bit? The northern kill team I thought was going to head towards the capital and be easily dealt with, but now it looks like it is linking up with the Wraith and company to take down Resident Evil.

IBT the Wraith killed a warrior and is now at 5.8 str. It'll almost definitely take a turn out to heal. The southern warriors will be in a position to attack though, and with only 3 defenders there is an outside chance they could take it next turn. If they don't, next turn the other 4 warriors will be in a position to attack again, as will the wraith. Resident Evil has a 1-2 turn life expectancy.

In the best case scenario I win all the battles this turn, promote up for next turn when another warrior will have been finished. Then survive another wave... That could give me a fighting chance, as between local production and a trickle of troops from my other cities I should be able to get almost a warrior/turn into RE.

[Selrahc]

(Pace of the game has really picked up recently, we're on turn 30 now while a few days ago we were on turn 17)

Some good news this morning.

The first kill team all suicided against my army causing no losses.
Now they did heavily injure the two warriors, but I'm not actually that worried for a few reasons.
The second kill team is on the far side of a river, so if they attack this turn they'll have a hefty penalty. If they spend this turn crossing the river, then my units will be healed.
I also got a shock promotion on the two warriors, which healed them nicely and gives them even better odds.
I finished training a third warrior, so the city will have more defenders.
And lastly it's looking like the wraith may spend another turn healing.

Keeping the wraith in mind for the future though, I've dispatched a few warriors from each of my cities to reinforce. Any attempt to take over new barb cities will have to wait. If I've got a chance to keep RE I'll take it.

[Square Leg]

In the maunal it says this under fear:


Unless opponent is immune to
Fear, there is a chance they are
not allowed to attack
■50% base chance of being
Feared, adjusted by difference
in Unit Strength and Level.
Minimum of 10% chance to
avoid fear guarnateed

So one of your warriors may be able to attack the Wraith...

[Selrahc]

Yeah, if the wraith is ever properly redlined I'll definitely be giving it a shot.

At the moment though, I haven't seen the wraith drop below 5 strength and with combat 4 and sitting on a forested hill... not much I can can do to hurt it even if I could get past the fear.

[Selrahc]

And the other kill team suicided against Resident Evil causing no kills. In a much much more friendly situation now with 4 defenders in RE and just the wraith threatening.

I also learned something interesting about Wraiths. Skeletons are Melee units. Spectres are Melee units. Wraiths... are not. Now what that means in practice is two things. The shock promotion I put on my warriors will be useless against it. But I'm willing to roll with that, because far more importantly it means that the Wraith will be receiving no more promotions. It will remain combat IV.

That's a good thing, because if it had started working on drill line promotions or just gotten more and more promotions from the battles over the next few turns, even the Pyre Zombies would have a hard time shifting it.

[Irgy]

And the other kill team suicided against Resident Evil causing no kills. In a much much more friendly situation now with 4 defenders in RE and just the wraith threatening.

Congratulations! I have to say, I had a similar situation in the game I once died to a wraith in*, the barbarian warriors that came along were a bonus if anything, giving my warriors experience without actually killing any of them.

I also learned something interesting about Wraiths. Skeletons are Melee units. Spectres are Melee units. Wraiths... are not. Now what that means in practice is two things. The shock promotion I put on my warriors will be useless against it. But I'm willing to roll with that, because far more importantly it means that the Wraith will be receiving no more promotions. It will remain combat IV.

Sorry, why does this mean it will get no more promotions? Because it gets less experience per fight? Or am I missing something?


* Just to cheer you up a bit, the game I "died to a wraith" in involved not just a wraith (generated similarly to how yours appears to have been), but also a charged up Orthus, a hostile named ogre lair pop on my borders by a rival, and Samheim. The wraith was the worst of them individually, but it was the combination that really did it.

[Selrahc]

the barbarian warriors that came along were a bonus if anything, giving my warriors experience without actually killing any of them.

I think the first wave was very dangerous, since I only had 2 warriors and a scout in the city, none of them with a large fortification bonus. I could have easily lost the city, or been left with a very poor situation.

This second wave wasn't too scary. Definitely more of a boon than a threat.

Sorry, why does this mean it will get no more promotions? Because it gets less experience per fight? Or am I missing something?

Units are eligible for promotions based on their unitcombat. There are multiple different types from arcane to recon. A unit has to have one to be eligible for promotions. Units without a unitcombat are most commonly things like settlers or workers, but range all the way up to Luchuirp Golems or Auric Ascended. They can receive XP if they win combats but are not eligible for any promotions and so can't level up.

I'd thought Wraiths were melee units like spectres, but apparently they have no unticombat(like the elementals). No level ups for them.

[Irgy]

Units are eligible for promotions based on their unitcombat. There are multiple different types from arcane to recon. A unit has to have one to be eligible for promotions. Units without a unitcombat are most commonly things like settlers or workers, but range all the way up to Luchuirp Golems or Auric Ascended. They can receive XP if they win combats but are not eligible for any promotions and so can't level up.

I'd thought Wraiths were melee units like spectres, but apparently they have no unticombat(like the elementals). No level ups for them.

Right, I finally get it. That explains a lot of things actually. I knew it was why flesh golems and adventurer's couldn't take promotions, and come to think of it I'd already noticed that my own sheaim summoner-extended wraiths couldn't take promotions in some test games, but I'd never put it all together. Thanks for that!

[Selrahc]

And.. doomed again.

Lost the capital, in what I assume was a *very* bad RNG result. I had 3 aggressive warriors defending with 20% cultural defence against 4 combat 1 warriors, and lost. Would have had more troops in place, but I'd just detached some to go and relieve Resident Evil.

I can probably retake the city quickly since it is held by one heavily injured warrior and I can recall the troops I sent out to relieve RE... but now 8 more barb warriors have rolled out of the fog on the borders of RE and the wraith is fully healed.

I think it would have actually been a struggle to hold on even without an awful swing of luck like that.... but now I'm massively overstretched and down a capital. :thumbsdow

Fricking wraiths... This would have been simple without that malign reminder of my own doom sitting there, draining my resources and killing my troops. Like the sword of damocles hanging over my empire of the damned.

I fear I'm fated for an early exit. I'd held out some faint embers of hope, but I think that has now been safely smothered. No raging inferno here, just a damp squib.