[spoilers] The Return of Summer

[xist10]

Player and civs (and place to edit if I reach a diplomatc treaty)

DaveV: Faeryl Viconia (Arcane, Raiders) of the Svartalfar

Conquered by MrCairo

Mr. Cairo: Cardith Lorda (Philosophical, Expansive, Adaptive) of the Kuriotates

Ally against Auroarcher
Gave Mana to build ToE

BING_XI_LAO: Averax the Cambion (Aggressive, Barbarian, Expansive) of the Sheaim

Short Settlementtreaty in the South
NAP as long as I fight against Auro ?

xist10: Thessa (Expansive, Arcane) of the Ljosalfar

Myself

Aurorarcher: Falamar (Charismatic, Expansive) of the Lanun

Dominant game position
WAR

coldrain: Shekinah (Creative, Arcane) of the Sidar

Ally against Auro
Helped with important Mana
Willing to give Fire for one turn to get 3 Firemana for Fire2 Mages
Is helping MrCairo right now

[xist10]

And now towards my leader choice.
You already know I took Thessa with the Ljosalfar - and relativ quickly, but why ?




First leader choice would mean, I play the Sidar.
Elves who descended into some underworld in ancient times and are now more or less living shadows.

No blocked units, and all scouting units can create a “Divided Soul” – a temporary, invisible flying unit that the scouting unit can teleport to.
It's actually quite nice, but that's all it is.
The Ghost can make itself invisible – but according to the wiki, the regular Assassin also has this ability too.

What's actually more interesting is the ability to settle level 6 units (26 XP or more) in cities – unfortunately, this doesn't create the GP and as such cannot be used for a .
Still a good boost if I get really lucky in my first turns.
In my last game I got the advantage of AGG and got my first 26 XP unit somewhere in T90 ?
So I don't really think the ability gets much use in average. - And would be primary focus for cheating with XML editing. It should be easy to increase the XP from winning even further. This besides, I think we play fair here - otherwise you shouldn't really start a PBEM.

Possible cheating aside, the last point in the quick assessment for the Sidar is the palace.

The palace gives Spirit, Enchantment, and Shadow Mana, all three mana types are moderately good.
All of them have certain uses, but are more in the nice-to-have category. One or two adepts per stack are enough. You can't mass this spells.
The actual bonus is +1 for specialists in the corresponding category (///).

Strong and I think underestimated by me.

Anyway, towards the leader:
CRE is largely unchanged compared to BtS and therefore stronger because is harder to obtain.
There are only 2 regularly buildable buildings that produce , one of which is only available in the late mid-game.
Similarly, there are only two religions with .

There are ~10 other cultural buildings with direct output, but these are limited by animal taming, religion, or UB.

ARC is a very useful bonus for arcane units, i.e. mages.
Mages have dominated recent games, and starting with this game, there is a new mod version that weakens ARC and mages themselves somewhat.

However, ARC is still one of the stronger traits because you actually need ARC (or to be more accurate, the free promotion potency) to have enough mages ready for action in time.

CRE/ARC is a useful combi.




Now to the Ljosalfar.
Before the Age of Ice, the elves were ruled by two courts - the Seeli and the Unseeli.
FFH2 follows the older interpretation of the fairy folk here.
After the god of the elves was killed at the start of the Age of Ice, civil war broke out – as far as can be judged, started by the Unseeli.
The events of the Age of Ice triggered the civil war, but paused it due to massive changes in the landscape.
As far as I know, in the end there was a nominal victory for the Seeli – now known as the Ljosalfar.
Spoiler for the corresponding FFH2 scenario

The scenario can be won with either side.
At the end of the Ljosalfar's victory, however, it is revealed that their queen, Arendel Phaedra, has been replaced by the Winter Queen Faeryl Viconia.
I think the Ljosalfar's victory is canon, but I also think the Svartalfar got only banished ?

Be that as it may, the Ljosalfar are quite interesting as a civ.
For one thing, I don't have to cut down the forests for my modernizations (unfortunately, I do have to cut down the jungles).
As a result, I am very interested in the Fellowship of Leaves.
The option to plant new forests and access Old Forests with +1 , +1 is very useful.
But even so, the +1 is very strong for some fields.

In addition, I have the somewhat poor civ trait, +1 (offensive) for archers.
Archers are generally something I consider to be somewhat underrated as an offensive option, but in the end, they are not offensive units – even with DEX.

Of the blocked units, only the Chariot really hurts. The 5/3 Chariot (with access to weapons) is right now the top entry in the list "To be nerfed next". There was no real consensus how to nerf, but nobody really disagreed that the Chariots as effective T3 unit comes too fast.
Only the Flurry is somewhat interesting among the UU. Offensive crossbowmen (13/12 (with DEX) with blitz, normal crossbows are 9/13 with defensive bonuses).
The Fyrdwell needs Wild instead of horses, bit otherwise no change.
Interestingly, the Horsemen and Knights still need horses.

Palace gives Air, Nature, and Life. A bit worse than Sidar, even if Air2 is the only freely accessible spell with unconditional direct damage and as such one massable spell.
Nature falls into Nice to Have at best, Life is only useful in rare situations.

ARC is already explained, while EXP is BtS EXP and receives an additional bonus for settlers.
The best trait for rapid expansion.

I like this even better than CRE/ARC.
CRE is "Only" convenient, not as useful as EXP.




Finally, there is the Clan of Embers.
UU are actually just reskins of the basic units (with different race promotions).
Only the Ogre has +2 (8 instead of 6 ), but costs 50% more (180 instead of 120).

The Clan of Embers is actually defined by its buildings. No access to buildings, but instead the Warren, which doubles all units built.

The palace mana, on the other hand, is very good. Fire, Body, Nature. Fire2 and Body1 are among the best spells in the game, Body2 is also good.
Only the Amurites have better palace mana ?
The clan of Embers also have a trait. This time, mostly demitrial.
BAR means -10% , with the bonus of peace with (non-animal) barbarians.

SPI retains all bonuses from BtS and is essentially ARC for Disciple Units - religious units.
Religious units do not need SPI to be fully effective, as the (very limited) spells are unlocked immediately. SPI therefore only indirectly increases combat effectiveness by providing easier access to promotions.

I don't really like this in comparison to CRE/ARC or EXP/ARC.
EXP still remains good and SPI is better than in BtS, at least because you want more civ changes in a regular game, I think.
But in the end, that is the primary bonus. Disciple Units remain useful even without SPI, because the access to the (good) spells isn't gatekeept behind XP.


I decided on Thessa pretty quickly here.
EXP/ARC was the main reason. The ability to build in forests is also quite nice.

In my opinion, the Clan of Embers is simply too slow. It's quite nice, and I think the games are probably long enough that the masses could become relevant through the warrens, but no, I don't want to take that risk. I already have problems prioritizing my (research) goals correctly.

The Sidar are interesting, but they don't really convince me. The gimmick doesn't seem particularly relevant, and in the end, they are just “one” normal civ.
The Ljosalfar are more like normal civ+ with the forests.
I really also think EXP/ARC is among the best trait combination.

[xist10]

Moving on to the opponents.

First up is DaveV with Faeryl Viconia (Arcane, Raiders) of the Svartalfar.
DaveV didn't perform well in the last game.
But that was more because coldrain played really well. Off the top of my head, I'd put DaveV's performance in third place.
Behind coldrain and Auroarcher, before my performance.

For the Svartalfar, I'll copy my pictures from my first game. But I'll correct the text.




The Svertalfar are the former Unseelie, my arch enemies.
If I were to role-play in Diplo, I would have to be at war from the start. Let's see, I probably won't do that.

The Svertalfar have the same blocked units. Just like me, this is due to the blocked siege workshop, which is actually a shame for the chariots (5/3 ).
The Svertalfar also have the Elf promotion for slower BT, more movement (and attack) in forests, and lower resistance to Cold.
I mean, the ability to build modernizations in forests is actually linked to the Elf promotion, but I'm not entirely sure. - Testgame a bit later showed, captured non-elven worker also don't chop forests.
This makes DaveV a “competitor” for the Fellowship of Leaves.
Since you get a missionary either way, it's just about the Holy City (and the possible Nature Mana from the shrine).
I'm not sure what the shrine produces per religious city, but I think it's only .

And just like my Ljosalfar, the Svertalfar have their own trait.
SIN gives +1/0 for explorers. This is significantly better than DEX, as scouts are generally more useful than archers — assassins, among others, are explorers.

The Svertalfar have 2 UU. One is a mage UU. Illusionists start with the Illusionist promotion. This means that summoned units start with the Illusion race promotion. This has 3 effects.
1) Illusions cause a maximum of 90% attack damage. This can be an advantage - XP is not “wasted” - most summoned units disappear after one turn.
Conversely, the problem should also be obvious, right ?
2) Illusions are immune to poison and death damage. This is effectively “useless” because the race of the summoned unit is overwritten. And the race of all units that can be summoned (by illusionists), are also immune to death and poison.
3) Illusions supposedly heal themselves by 100% after each battle. Defensively, however, this does not 100% work in my test.
Offensively, I also had fights where the Illusions got damaged and not healed.

The 2nd UU replaces the mounted archer and does not need horses. It is rather useless, as you have horses nearby per game rules. Still better than my Fyrdwell, as I need game. Otherwise identical in terms of stats.
Again, note that the other (buildable) mounted units also need horses.

The swordsman is simply a renaming of the axeman.




DaveV plays with Faeryl Viconia.
As mentioned, ARC is a strong attribute, while RAIder is very interesting.
The loot gold should be negligible, but what about the free command promotion?
I have to be careful with my roads.
However, coldrain showed in the last game that you don't need command to wage blitzkriegs in FFH.
Access to mobility has also been somewhat restricted in this version, but...

DaveV will be a very unpleasant opponent in war.




The world spell gives all units the promotion “Hidden Nationality” – the effect of pirates in BtS.
This allows you to do some silly things, as it allows you to bypass teleportation after declaring war.
However, DaveV already has Command, so it's one of the less important spells. Hidden Nationality is also not as strong against humans as it is against the AI.




The hero is a better assassin and should come at the relevant time.
Furthermore, the hero can create an illusion of himself.
The artifact with allows this ability can be transferred to other units. If it works correctly, it allows you to create a reasonable stack defender, as the illusion should actually be healed after every battle.
Still, I would like to point at my problems to replicate this 100% with my tests.
I also would like to point out, that the chance for Illusions to defend don't get increased. So it's a toss up, if the top defender is the illusion or the original.
Using the artefact also count as spell, so using this with a spell caster would only recreate the puppets of the Belsaraph.




The palace starts with Nature, Spirit, and Shadow mana.
In my opinion, this is rather poor. Noteworthy (but not good) are Nature 2 - +1 poison for scouts, Spirit 2 - low chance per unit that it cannot attack semi-permanently - as well as both Shadow 1 and 2. Immune to elemental attacks and ignores building defence when attacking.
Still in the 1 spell caster per stack category at best.
And all 3 spells of the 3rd level would also be good, but High Mages are actually too late and ultimately limited to 4 units.

Still, everything at all, I think DaveV has an interesting combination here.
The Svertalfar don't really want a Mage play style. The Illusionist is - in my opinion - a downgrade to the regular mage.
Even if ARC really pushes towards a Mage play style.

Still, ARC/RAI makes a really dangerous opponent in the later stages.
SIN (and RAI) is also a potential problem in the early game. 5/4 hunters can come online relative quickly ? They shouldn't be able to crack a city, but are still a huge problem outside of cities.
In the end I think DaveV has the best combination for war in the game ?

[xist10]

Next up we have Mr. Cairo with Cardith Lorda (Philosophical, Expansive, Adaptive) of the Kuriotates.
Mr. Cairo is an older player and has delivered quite reasonable results ?
My gut feeling is that DaveV is stronger, but we'll see.

Here, too, I'm using the old pictures a second time.




The Kuriotates can only found 3 full-fledged cities.
However, Kuriotate cities have 3 rings and thus up to 36 workable tiles.
In addition, after 60 worked turns (normal speed), the towns can grow to a 5th level to become enclaves (+1 , +1 compared to towns). I think this are 40 turns at quick game speed ? So ~70 turns overall ?

Additional citys become Settlements, which are limited to size 1 and can't build much.
The 2 UB give additional , the UU require neither stables nor resources, but are otherwise nothing special.




Cardith Lorda is not really anything special with PHI/EXP, but is relatively good for the Kuriotates.
ADA is also quite nice, as it allows you to remove EXP after using the bonus for the core cities.




Legends is also a rather weak world spell.
I think the curiosities are primarily geared towards cultural victory ?




The hero is quite powerful as a dragon, even if it misses the Hero promotion.
But it will most likely come too late.
It's pure endgame when that happens- and didn't really saved Auroarcher last game.




The palace isn't that good.
More war dissatisfaction is always unpleasant, and the 3 mana are also rather “useless.”
Sun2 is the only really interesting thing.
Sun2 blocks movement (and thus also attacks) for 2 rounds (effectively 1 turn in PBEM, I think).
It also can be resisted, so there is at least a reason to stack mages.
I don't think it's reusable, so it can't be used to permanently immobilize an army.

Auroarcher had a good game with the Kuriotates in the last game, but I'm not sure if Mr.Cairo can replicate that.
So I don't expect much on this front ?

[xist10]

The last player assessment for now is for BING_XI_LAO with Averax the Cambion (Aggressive, Barbarian, Expansive) of the Sheaim.

I've already written a few things about Bing.
He plays regularly, so that is my fifth game with Bing, but in my opinion he's far too passive in most cases.
Probably the weakest player in the group ?

Let's see if that changes now; I may have underestimated the Sheaim.




The Sheaim seem a bit overwhelming at first with all their UU.
These are real UU, even if some of them are indirect replacements for the blocked units and linked to the Planar Gate.
I also hope that the "can be upgraded from a Level 2 Unit" for the Mobius Witch is outdated in the pedia.
Otherwise, access to effective buildable T3 casters is a huge problem - for non Sheaim players.

The Pyrezombies are also a bit of a problem, as they are regular combat units with a kamikaze effect.
They cause damage to surrounding enemy units when they lose a battle.
In fact, access to Lifemana is quite nice here, as the zombies are undead.

I'll come to the Planar Gate later.

SUNdered is the first clue as to what the Sheaim want.
All Arcane units receive the Sundered promotion.
This gives summoned units a combat bonus equal to half of the Armageddon Counter.




As far as I know, Averax was originally a member of the Calabim.
Anyway, AGG gives Combat1 (+20% here) to (almost) all units, EXP and BAR are both already known.
Very strong in the early game, I almost expect an early attack with Pyrozombies.




The world spell is interesting. Damage to everyone isn't that good, in my opinion.
However, it also reduces and infrastructure, which serves the purpose of slowing down the other players economically.
I don't see any direct military application for it – unless you can time it right after the Plague in AC or something, so you can kill some damaged units.

Here is the second element of Sheaim that scales with the AC.




Abashi is a dragon.
The 6th strongest (or 7th?) unit in the game, and the 3rd strongest that can be controlled by the player, if I remeber things right.
Auric an Eurabates are stronger, Drifta is a bit weaker.
However, it comes very late in the game and is therefore probably not relevant.




Palace Mana is okay.
Death and Fire have some of the best summons for mages, but one of them is actually enough.
Chaos is chaos. Chaos1, like many 1st level spells, is rather negligible, while Chaos2 is impossible to assess.
The main disadvantage here is actually that Fire and Death essentially “waste” a slot.




Here is the Planar Gate, the UB that has a decisive influence on the mid and end game of the Sheaim.
The Planar Gate is the Sheaim's primary unit production facility and, in fact, (almost) the only way to obtain T3 and T4 units.
This is the main reason why the Sheaim want to have a high AC.
It is also unlocked relatively early with Knowledge of the Aether, whereas in FFH2 I think it was (significantly) later.

I don't think Bing will surprise me a second time with a (decisive) offensive action.
So I think he will fall behind in the middle game. BAR is a problem and the Sheaim seem to have a weak middle game.
Still Bing has the strongest early game here.
If Bing surprises me with a (successful) attack with Pyrozombies, I think there is a chance of victory ?

More when I posted it in my german thread.

[shallow_thought]

Great analysis - thanks for posting. Have fun in the game!

[RefSteel]

And I got reminded in my tests that Ljosalfar horsemen still need horses.

True! Fortunately, I (was aware of that and) didn't "replace" horses with game for you; I checked for game in addition to my "regular" strategic resource checks.

Also, I agree with shallow_thought: I really enjoyed the opposition analysis!

[xist10]

Thanks.

This is partly for my readers which don't know FFH2 that well, but also a good way to remember the strength of the other civs.
I also should copy my analysis of the spells in this thread again.

I'm very interested in finding out how good my predictions are.

Maybe I can finish the second half tomorrow evening, otherwise Thursday.

[xist10]

I am fourth in the order of play.
As already known, Thessa (Expansive, Arcane) of the Ljosalfar.




Already known.
Build in forests, no real useful UU (or UB), DEX is of moderate usefulness.




Here are all the bonuses of the leader traits.
As already mentioned, one of the strongest combinations in my opinion.




Here is my Worldspell.
It can definitely be used offensively, but its primary use is defensive in nature.

Not mentioned is the fact that all (Ancient) Forests are converted into New Forests.
- still +1 (i.e. -1 compared to Ancient Forest), but no movement reduction or defensive bonuses.
So effectively rather disadvantageous for me - my units have double movement in (Ancient) Forests, not in New Forests

And this is my culture, I'm expected to have roads here.




With 10 , Treants are by far the strongest units that can be fielded. Only T4 units exceed 10 .
Woodsman2 allows double movement through forests, but, just like my Elven race promotion, does not apply to New Forests.




My hero is theoretically available early on, but archery is still of dubious use.
Since the hero gains DEX, he is also a 6 unit offensively. Theoretically, he is quite suitable for a rush attempt.




Here is the palace.
Like (almost) all palaces of the ‘good’ Zivs, it increases war weariness.

[xist10]

After me, it's Auroarcher's turn again.
This time with Falamar (Charismatic, Expansive) of the Lanun.
I think Auroarcher is the player with the most (PBEM) FFH experience in the group.

Good games so far, but unfortunately, for various reasons, he never managed to win in the three games I was able to watch.
Nevertheless, always the second-best performance of the players?

Definitely a contender for victory.




The Lanun are also a special civilisation, even if this is not immediately obvious.

Pirate and Swordsman are basically normal units.
Boarding Party receives -1 , but starts with Boarding and Amphibious (and a bonus against ships).
The Wartortoise, on the other hand, is a T4 unit and receives the largest strength bonus of all UU.
+ 12 Defensive (for -2 ). This makes it an 11/19 , 1 unit with no resource requirement (and Water Walking).
Basically too late for this unit to have much effect.




Falamar has strong EXP and rather nerfed CHA.
Of course, it must be said that promotions are more valuable in FFH than in BtS. So less XP is a bit stronger, especially considering that mages can also be levelled up faster.

I probably underestimate this a little. CHA could have a similar effect to ARC for mages?




Here is the second starting technology from the Lanun.
Colossus effect from the start of the game?
Plus +1 ?




Here is the WS.
It deals damage (which can be fatal) to all units standing on tiles bordering salt water.
By fatal, I mean primarily for BT. Other units usually survive, provided there is no prior damage.
Even for workers, the survival rate is generally over 50%.
In addition, modernisations are destroyed.

So it's difficult to assess.




Here is the hero.
He is unlocked together with the boarding party and is therefore actually outside the expected tech path.
Iron processing is expensive (and the primary bonus is actually iron weapons, not the champions).

Also visible here is the effect of the ‘Boarding’ promotion, exclusive to the Lanun.

Note that the promotion can only be used offensively, as the units can attack coastal tiles (and ocean tiles from ships?) offensively, but still lack water walking and as such can't defend against ships, because ships can't attack them.
I think the boarding party lands directly in the cargo hold of the captured ship ?




And here lies the real strength of the Lanun.
The mana types are okay. Air gives access to a good type, but Water is rather below average.
Chaos is also nice to have at most.
Despite everything, access to 2 of the 4 elemental mana types can be quite relevant.
If you have all 4, you can build a national wonder for +1 for elemental (including the fireball) - something like this exists for all 4 mana groups, but the rest is a bit weaker.

The really good bonus, however, is the +1 on water tiles.
The Lanun therefore have +1 , +1 on water tiles.
LT and harbour (+1 ) are unlocked relatively quickly with fishing (and sailing), but the building for +1 on water fields requires iron working.

Lanuns are extremely powerful on water-heavy maps.
But it gets even better.




Lanun Work Boats can reach Pirate Covens. I think this is an internal spell, so that Amuriten WS can be blocked, but at least here it is not relevant.
They must maintain the same distance from each other as cities and can grow twice as fast.
After 10 rounds for +1 , +1 (and secondary bonuses). After another 20 rounds, they reach the final level.
The combat bonuses also increase slightly.




+2 , +2 , +3 and combat bonuses.

I need to test whether ‘act as a city’ allows land units to enter. Otherwise, this should only be relevant in special cases – it is normally possible to get city bonuses and enter water fields.
‘Aircraft’ do exist, but they can only fly reconnaissance missions.

Fortunately, this is limited, but it's still a good boost for the Lanun.
Single-field islands can have up to 4 of these Pirate Ports.

All in all, I don't really like to have Auroarcher as enemy here.
A strong player, a very strong civ in the right situations – and very good synergy with the Octopus Overlords, who are arguably the strongest religion - again, in the right situations.
But more on that later, if it becomes relevant.
However, I consider the civ to be stronger than they sound on paper.
Even on a more land heavy map.

Once again, a contender for victory.