Winter Wonderland: Selrahc's FFH 2 thread

[Selrahc]

So the game is now pretty much done. I was thinking the vampires were going to put up a lot more of a fight!

I didn't end up contributing that much to PB's war effort. But I'm sure his major concern was making sure I didn't end up on Bob's side. Mission accomplished for him I guess? Ugh. My chance of victory was pretty much screwed the moment he blitzed through the Hippus in 5 turns flat. I think the only chance of anyone combating him after that was a combined effort, which I wasn't available for. Kudos to PB, for some excellent diplomatic manoeuvring as well as two well fought wars.


Anyway. Even though I don't have much of a chance to win now or to get Auric Ascended I've got two sideshows running in the twilight turns of the game.

The first is to actually make a little use of the army. I've sent them to go and kill Cull.



First battle was this turn and it went as well as you might expect an experienced, supported tier 3 army attacking a tier 1 army in the open field to go. I locked down and maelstrommed his stack. Slammed 4 Ice Elementals into it, then got some kills with the mobility rangers(which were the only units who could reach this turn). Killed 7 of his units, and the rest will be wiped out next turn. I sent some floating eyes over the field and there isn't much behind the lines. It's looking like I can just waltz into the dwarf lands, which is pretty nice. This is exactly the kind of scenario that the Baron would have excelled in, and it's a pity that I haven't got him built.



The second sideshow is another crazy scheme. But this time it isn't mine! Bob is planning to switch to Hyborem, use the Infernal Grimoire to get the malevolent designs technology, then use his worldspell to steal and raze the Ashen Veil holy city, which is one of PB's super cities. It won't change the result of the game, but it is a pretty damn effective screw you. I've promised to give him a city if he spawns in the danger zone, and vassalize him under my protection. I've got a NAP with PB until T220, so Bob should have time to enact his scheme.


I've got until T220 to get together a military force that can challenge the centaur horde. My 30 adepts, and maybe even a few more, will have matured by then. I'll have a good complement of rangers. Baron Duin Halfmoon will have been completed. I'll have Hyborem in support, with Beasts of Agares and Eidolons. Even with all that, I'm doubting I could stand up to PB. Mainly because he'll be straight up Tier 4, with his innumerable hordes of mercenaries backing up his forces.

I'm willing to grind it out though. Maybe. Somehow. I'll get really lucky, land a devastating knock out blow on his army and.. I don't know.. clouds of geese will swarm in and transmute his soldiers into candy? That is my current plan.

This post is me formally admitting that PB has won. But I'm working to change my mind.

[Sciz]

It does sound like a fun plan! Looking forward to it

[Selrahc]

It does sound like a fun plan! Looking forward to it

The magic goose plan? Yeah. I'd say that one is a tactical masterstroke.

Bob's plan may also be fun.

[Selrahc]

You know I think if you were going to choose a military force to serve in on this Erebus you'd pick the Illians. I haven't taken a single casualty all game.

[zakalwe]

Haha, that's pretty awesome.

[Selrahc]

I say that then immediately one of my troops dies.

Lost a ranger on 95% shot. Blargh.

Took Hallowell, possibly be able to take Khazak next turn. Got a 5gp bet riding with PB about who can get to a capital first.

[Darkmantle]

How goes the wager with PB?

[Selrahc]

I lost.

By a turn. Could have won it too, if I'd been willing to put rangers into 60% odds battles, and leave them unsupported on redlined health with a stack of warriors next to them.

I'll get a picture of the warfronts next turn. I've taken three cities, should be taking another one next turn. Lost 2 rangers now, both in over 90% odds battles. It saddens me. Especially since one of the rangers killed was "Auric's Smile".


Also, lost the Crown. I was expecting that though. The city that was building it got absolutely ruined by the blight. Went down to size 3 at one point. The fail gold has been pretty handy.

[Darkmantle]

I suppose that having fewer farms and more cottages doesn't work out that well for Blight because you don't have spare food capacity to fill cushion the blow.

Pity about the rangers but at least you get to beat on somebody again after all this time!

[Selrahc]

The T200 report got too long and daunting, and I'm working on an essay.
Hopefully I'll finish it up on monday.

Let me summarize some important things, in no particular order.

1. Cull was eliminated for no further losses. I also founded a city to grab a mana, and took over a barb city to grab reagents.
2. The biggest part of my military plan was to get Strength of Will and my own Snowclear missile launchers. This has failed.
3. It has failed because I am once more on the brink of economic collapse. I ran deficit research into Strength of Will and got about half the tech. But then had to cut short. I was only barely making a profit on 0% science, whereas before the invasion I was around a 60% sustainable rate.
4. So.. I'm a pushover. I can't afford to upgrade my army of adepts into mages. I can't afford to build new troops. I can't afford to research better troops.
5. The only course available is to fix the economy... and hope PB doesn't invade soon. Which is.. um.. suicidal? Maybe.
6. With that in mind I've researched Code of Laws and started up the two forbidden palaces. That should cut maintenance. I'm also going to be deleting some of those old warriors. barbs aren't a threat anymore and they're a drain on my resources.
7. To further fix the economy, I'm doing an elder council/inspiration/sage specialist push towards currency. It's like being back on turn 90!
8. With a collapse of my production potential and a lot of merchat specialists I've pulled my sustainable rate up to 20% research.
9. Conquest isn't working out too well. Really, I should have cut my losses when blight came in and switched back to foreign trade. Well, I'm going to do that now. I still need to regrow many of my cities after blight.


PB might well have already won. My proportion of land is only around 30%. He only needs 64% to win, so I don't have a veto. At the moment though, he only has 45% of the surface under his control. Maybe with an absorption of Hyborem and border growth of his newer cities he'll grab the win. If not... well I honestly can't see myself being able to defend every border city in my quite inflated empire from the super speedy centaurs.

My hope has always been that I could oppose him with population if a situation like this one arose. And I think I could definitely do that. But again, it would need a much more solid defence at the border cities than I could currently muster.


If a war breaks out, I think I'm going to make it my objective to raze one of those monster cities. Without archmages, that may be impossible. But I'll give it a try.




I've got the Tower of Elements just about ready for completion. Going to be starting on the Tower of Alteration soon. The main difficulty is getting dispel mages in place for mana switch overs. If I'd saved some more money for promotions, that wouldn't be a problem. By T220 I should be well on the way to three towers, and starting the fourth. If I was assured of peace construction on the Tower of Mastery would probably begin around T250-60, with completion from there depending on how much gold I could amass.

I hope that tides you all over. As I say, I've got a more comprehensive report somewhat done. I'll get that up as soon as I can.