Re: KingMaker - let the Ascension War commence!
 

Were those water-nymph warriors supposed to be chaff or lowborn soldiers? I guess so. Also, I think my Earthquake killed quite a few of the Smiths as well, so you can't claim to have killed all forty-five of my smiths, since I have the dubious victory of denying you their heads :)

Thanks for the great game Tichy (and Xietor, and everyone else for that matter :D). I had fun, and will continue having fun right up until Monny dies. What? You didn't expect me to go AI, did you? I said I wouldn't. ;)

Re: KingMaker - let the Ascension War commence!
 

Tichy your god had 1 hp that whole fight. I was just watting for him to die from some dumb random spell or effect. Why would you risk your god in enemy dominion?

Re: KingMaker - let the Ascension War commence!
 

Because sometimes I don't do the smartest thing.

Re: KingMaker - let the Ascension War commence!
 

I was going to wait until you were officially dead, but great game Darkwind. You did wonders with MA Ulm, and ultilized the new features that KO added quite well.

And you played a smart game. Triple teaming Evilhomer early on and taking out LA Mictlan likely saved MA Ulm, EA Ctis, and MA Ctis from early exits. Though it was not fun or fair for Evilhomer, That was a smart move to get rid of a powerful bless nation with an excellent player before they ever got rolling.

Attacking me likely was a mistake. As you got my attention for several turns before I got jumped by Atul and Admiralzhao, and you lost many armies and mages. Your better bet was likely to attack EA Ctis who was still recovering from LA Tien Chi's assault on him.

But it was your 1st mp game, and i do not think you realized that 2 baneloeds would be able to kill 150 of your best castle bought troops even with 20 mages backing them up.
So it was a learning expereince for you. Not many races have castle bought troops that you can rely on through the midgame. And just because your spells work well against some foes, does not mean they work well against all.

With your strong Earth Magic, for the midgame your best options to counter banelords(you had ea ctis, ma ctis, and la tien chi as neighbors-banelords were inevitable):

1. Alteration: petrify

2. conjuration troll kings-trolls. Can contact trolls for 1 e gem. Troll king can also with summon earthpower and earth boots cast petrify. Petrify will stop banelords and most everything else.

3. Mechanical men-construction

4. conj 8 Earth attacks. these are brutal.

Iron Angel-I do not like the Iron Angel so much because its special attacks are not inherent. You cant give it a fire brand and a shield. I think the penalty of not having magic or being capable of having magic is enough. It can never travel(cloud trapeze, teleport). It can never buff like a harbinger, who can also travel and fly, and cast battlefield spells(fog warriors, arrow fend, wind guide) and evocations(thunderstrike) in combat.

I also do not like how the new alteration (cheap at 2 water gems)green lion has a special attack that seems tailor made to cripple these iron angels, and not other magic beings. shrug. In fact I made a few just in case an iron angel ever made an appearance.

But conj 8 is still a high priority goal i think for Ulm for Earth Attacks.

In any event, thanks for playing Darkwind. It was great having you in Kingmaker. And take my advice on Ulm with a grain of salt. I realize Ulm is limited in its research capabilities, and you likely did the best you could to reach the spells you did get with the very hard research mod in place.

I do hope you used a ton of lightless lanterns though. Anytime you play a race with
research limitations, lightless lanterns are your friends. I realize skull mentors come earlier, but i just never make those unless i am playing pangaea and take 2 drain(a very very research challenged race). I can almost always find a better use for my death gems than a skull mentor.

Re: KingMaker - let the Ascension War commence!
 

Good game Darkwind. My advice would be to get anyone with death magic, which is pretty easy to get into, even with some indies like Deer Shamans or whatever and cast Dust to Dust or Wither Bones once you have some boosters or spectres summoned. Having lost a number of Bane Lords in another game, I find them rather fragile once you are prepared for them.

On another note, feel free to donate any research aids to the Utgard School of Blind Orphan Werewolves. I am sure we are last in research and these little cubs need an education to survive in the rapid pace of today's modern KM economy.

Re: KingMaker - let the Ascension War commence!
 

First things first-this was actually my second MP game, though it was definitely still a learning experience (boy did I learn when I realized the early game was over as my almost-magicless army was steamrolled by yours!). I also played Ascendant as EA R'lyeh first, and lost roughly as miserably to a combination Sauromatia/T'ien Ch'i, even with Abysia, Caelum, Kailasa, & Atlantis (at least) taking the brunt of the conflict. I just finished my 3rd MP game (the first Corruption; I think there were two) though, in which I think I did fairly will with LA C'tis, even arming a couple SCs (that probably weren't so super but hey) before Pan was declared winner. So there you have it a summary of my MP experiences so far :) I don't think Monny was really built that well, either. Earth instead of Air would probably have helped, since those stupid birds can't do anything right.

@bane lords: I figured Earth Meld might help hold them, although looking back on it I think Earth Meld depends upon morale, making it good for elephants but bad for SCs. I thought that, at worst, my massive Smith army would toast them (though in the battle chaff was targeted over bane lords to do the most damage per spell). I probably would have won the battle at Ulm, actually, if not for that Storm that added so much fatigue. So yeah I was pretty defenseless against the Bane Lords.

@research: I didn't forge any Lightless Lanterns, instead relying on imported Skull Mentors (of which there were quite a few from EA C'tis). I might have started making them but my pitiful gem income (from pitiful site searching) stopped me in my tracks.

@DC: I said I'd give Two-Eyes something, right? ;)

Re: KingMaker - let the Ascension War commence!
 

Quick question: was Mists of Deception modded in some way for this game?

Re: KingMaker - let the Ascension War commence!
 

(looks at mod file)

Nope. But the game itself has been patched so that when a caster retreats battlefield enchantments are cancelled, hasn't it?

Re: KingMaker - let the Ascension War commence!
 

Yes, it has. I just noticed some strange results from a battle.

Re: KingMaker - let the Ascension War commence!
 

I think MoD was altered with Twans mod, fairly late on, just before the game started. But I could be wrong.