[SPOILERS] Might Makes Amurite -- Tatan tries not to screw up

[Tatan]

What's up, mouse-text reader? Don't you just long, so badly, to click on this thread? YEARN, even?

EDIT: Reboot of the game starts at post #33.

DOUBLE-EDIT: I've decided to post my password here in case something screwed up happens and I go AFK.

Break spoiler tags in case of emergency!

Hey! What are you doing snooping around?! This is only in case of emergency!
[SPOILER]And yet here you are. Some people...
[SPOILER]Okay now I'm just screwing with you.
[SPOILER]Password is
[SPOILER]*drumroll*
[SPOILER]"realmsbeyond"

[/SPOILER][/SPOILER][/SPOILER][/SPOILER][/SPOILER]

[Tatan]

Yo.

So I've been in three previous PBEMs here at RB. You can ignore PBEM4 since I was a substitute in that game and it had already been long decided by the time I joined. PBEM10, my first ever MP game, saw a lot of uninspired and ultimately mediocre play on my part, until by the end of the game I had worked my way down to irrelevant vassal state. My diplomacy was all-around pretty wretched. PBEM11 I actually feel I did okay in; it's hard to say, of course, considering how isolated everyone was and how the game never got played to completion, but I feel I was in the middle of the pack at the time when I bowed out. Unfortunately my diplo there was also just overall not very good.


Meanwhile, in this game, we have two other awesome players, a good/solid player, and a player who is at the very least as good as me. Well, uhhh, it's good to be underdog? At the very least, since this is a CTON, my bad diplo won't accelerate my demise!

Anyway, Darrell's not getting back until Thurday, so I'll try to get up some more thorough enemy analysis and a basic gameplan in the meantime. I plan on keeping this thread relatively well maintained, although I cannot promise consistency in my updates.

[Amelia]

Amurites! My man, you make magic users proud.

O wait they selected it for you?

Erm... all the best =)

[DaveV]

Your start:

[Tatan]

Amurites! My man, you make magic users proud.

O wait they selected it for you?

Erm... all the best =)

Actually, no; the selection was all my own [STRIKE]fault[/STRIKE] brilliant plan. :D

Your start:

Ooo, thanks!

So let's see: one good food resource, one good commerce resource, two dubious food resources, and
[SIZE="7"]MANA[/SIZE].

I'll take it! Judging by the plains hill and the picturesque spread of resources, I'm guessing Bob meant for us to settle in place. I probably will, unless my scout finds any resources in the two forests just visible in the fog. I'll wait for my borders to pop the hut, because obviously if I pop a tech it will have a better chance of being more advanced the longer I wait.

However... one problem. Raging Seas. As far as I know, it can only kill wounded units and won't destroy any buildings, so I don't think it will be too much of a worry. But I will still have to be much more careful than usual if I ever go to war with the Lanun.

[Tatan]

Darrell: Arendal (Spi/Cre) of the Ljosalfar

Darrell's played quite a lot of games before, both BTS and FFH, and he's usually performed pretty decently if not spectacularly. Haven't followed as many of his FFH games closely, but I have noticed that he seems to have an affection for Ashen Veil; doubt that'll come into play here though.

Ljosalfar are a great choice; if you have the patience for micro, they are literally made of awesome in the late game. And, given that this is supposed to be a "builder's game," that is very likely. He will have plenty of time to get to at least longbows and probably mages by the time conflict is possible. The only reason to choose Arendal over Thessa is if you want to be playing around a lot with religion, so I expect Darrell to be doing exactly that. He will 100% need to get FoL at some point for Bloom, and it will probably be his best option late-game for Guardian of Nature's uber-cities, but another strong possibility in between is actually Runes of Kilmorph; Bambur in combination with archers would basically guerentee his safety, and building the Mines of Gal'Dur lets you get some really powerful longbows fairly early on (I think Bobchillingsworth posted his Elven Runes strategy somewhere around RB).

Luckily for me, I happen to have more outs against Darrell than most of the other players here. My worldspell, for one, can deprive him of virtually every source of collateral/disposable damage except for siege... which he can't build anyway. And furthermore, I will have easy access to Fire 1 through Firebows, Govannon's teachings, and lots of magic users in general, which means that if I have ever get a chance to attack his core a lot of his precious little forests will burn.

Still, though, Darrell is a competent player and picked a fantastic civ; he will be dangerous.


Uberfish: Os-Gabella (Sum/Spi) of the Sheaim

I don't know as much about Uberfish, other than that he has been on RB a while and won FFHPBEM2. His main strength seems to be awesome micromanagement.

To be honest, I can't figure out what Uberfish was going for with this pick. Sheaim are normally quite an aggressive civ, but with this map and the nerf to exploding damage from Pyre Zombies he shouldn't really have any rushing opportunities. Mage spam also seems unlikely given that he passed up Tebryn. So I guess some sort of religious summons plan? Only the only religious summons I can think of are tigers, which are permanent anyway, so I honestly have no idea. Uberfish is a good player, so I'm sure he has some sort of plan... I just for the life of me can't figure out exactly what that plan is.

The most popular religions used with Sheaim seem to be Octopus Overlords and Ashen Veil; since the former is banned, AV seems the most likely possibility for Uberfish. However, given that I have absolutely no idea what his strategy is, I'm not placing any bets.


Ilios: Capria (Spi/Fin) of the Bannor

Ilios is another player who I know is good, but whose games I haven't had the chance to really follow.

I find this pick quite intriguing. With the nerf of Aristofarms, the cottage economy necessary for the Bannor should be a lot more competitive; by the time mid- to late-game wars start Ilios will probably have enough towns to be able to go whole-hog Crusade. Capria will obviously also let him flip in and out of Crusade at will. With regards to religion, Ashen Veil would, ironically, fit very well with the Bannor (see: ritualists), and I wouldn't be surprised if Ilios made a play for it.

I don't have any direct counters against Ilios, but he does have a leg up against me in that most of his army likely won't care about my wordspell. I will have to be careful about early conflicts with him.


Mardoc: Falamar (Cha/Ada[Exp]) of the Lanun

I played with Mardoc in PBEM11, where by my departure he and Seven Spirits were the top team in the game. I was never quite clear on which one of them was the driving force behind that, though. Mardoc seems decent, although maybe not as good as the other three.

Picking the Lanun typically means one of two strategies: Rapid Techspansion into a distinct military tech advantage, or summoning Hyborum. Judging by Mardoc's thread title and the fact that he choose Falamar over Hannah, I don't think he is planning to summon Hyborum. Thus, I think he is likely planning to use Exp to get out an early crop of seaports, and then switching to Raiders or something.

Something interesting I might be able to pull against Mardoc: use Govannon to get Water Walking on some priests and pillage the crap out of his pirate coves.

[Selrahc]

Only the only religious summons I can think of are tigers, which are permanent anyway

Treants, Krakens, Balors. Although Treants and Krakens are also permanent summons.

Also: AV Savants can upgrade into Mages which gives all the benefits of spiritual to the arcane tree... assuming you can find enough XP to get savants to L4.

[Amelia]

I'm just going to correct you on a gameplay mechanic: Raging Seas has a chance of killing full health units. Small chance, but a chance nevertheless.

[DaveV]

Also: AV Savants can upgrade into Mages which gives all the benefits of spiritual to the arcane tree... assuming you can find enough XP to get savants to L4.

Actually, Potent Savants will gain passive XP just as fast as non-potent adepts.

[Tatan]

Treants, Krakens, Balors. Although Treants and Krakens are also permanent summons.

Oh, right, duh. I was only thinking about Priest summons when I said that, forgot Archpriests. Although I doubt getting Balors for extra long was one of Uberfish's key reasons for picking Ozzy.

Also: AV Savants can upgrade into Mages which gives all the benefits of spiritual to the arcane tree... assuming you can find enough XP to get savants to L4.

Wow, really? I never knew that. Getting Savants to 10 exp would take some work, but I'm sure it's doable... hmm... I must think on this.

I'm just going to correct you on a gameplay mechanic: Raging Seas has a chance of killing full health units. Small chance, but a chance nevertheless.

Wow, really?! Man, the manual told me there was only ~75% damage; I guess it varies a lot more than I would have thought.

Time to set up some sims!

EDIT:

Actually, Potent Savants will gain passive XP just as fast as non-potent adepts.

Ah. I thought that Potent only affected the priests. Well, then, seems Uberfish is very likely going for a mage spam after all, only they'll all start with mobility. :O Also means I can be 95% sure that he is going AV.