TURN 91-100
At beginning of turn 91, I have 1,300 gold income, gem income 33F/5A/10W/11E/12S/11N/12D + 39B (this turn).
Incidentally, I been leaving out a few details about the C'tis war. In addition to the Lesser Horrors, I have been profligate in my use of Fires From Afar. I've been dropping 1-3 of these a turn on C'tis armies as well, and killing 7-13 troops a pop. At 10 Fire gems each, this has been keeping my Fire gem supply in the 50-80 gem range, although it has been as low as 30 on the high-panic turns. You don't question the waste factor when the game is on the line, but this is a terribly inefficient way to use Fire gems. (No, finesse has definitely
not been my strong suit this game.)
Now I will build for war with Man (who seems to be doing better than Caelum), and absorb the C’tis holdings, such as they are. I’ve learned how effective blood sacrifices are to spread my dominion, so this slows up Devil and Arch Devil summoning, as I divert slaves to this activity.
The Blood Sacrifice process is a pain, though. I have to pool Blood Slaves or spend a lot of time finding individual hunters, but pooling means I have to reload every single priest who is using the Blood Sacrifice command in a province with a Lab. The only way to keep play moving that I can see is to load a priest with Blood Slaves, move into a province before it has a Lab, and totally convert it to my dominion first. Sheesh. I hope that’s changing in Dom 3. Nothing like having to deal with something like this to drive home a point.
On turn 100, my income is 1,252; down a little because blood hunting is up; gem income 34F/5A/10W/13E/14S/15N/14D + 42B this turn.
The C’tis Pretender is finally snuffed this turn. I own the East!
In the west, Man enters the seas with a huge force (60 Trolls and 2 Sea Kings); my assassins also reveal he has a 130 troop aquatic force on his coast, still uncommitted. Phooey! I needed to clean out the ocean Independents before he got active. I have been taking old Oceania provinces in the south—these are in the 200-300 Unrest range, and have scant production. I think I have the capital fort province, in the narrows between the east and south continents, but since I’m using only Water wizards, I can’t get into the fort until I build Sea Trolls. I have small Ichtyid forces building on the northeast coast of the west continent at the Fish Fort, but at the rate of 3-4 Ichtyids per turn against 60 Triton Guards in the only adjacent sea province, it’s taking a while to build up.
The inland island magic site on the east continent has been producing Shamblers, but with no leaders, I’ve had to walk over Fish Men commanders from the west continent. I expect Man will likely grab most of the seas between us, greatly complicating the defense of my coast.
I’ve been hit by several Earthquakes recently—this is most likely Ulm, although I caught a Pythium spy as far north as Hundred Isle a few turns back. I’ve strengthened a lot of my PD to 10 to stop infiltration, and I'm slowly seeping southward through the desert. (Say THAT at 4 am!)
I finally get my Faery Court. The Manticore comes back, too, without the Feeblemind (I forgot you sometime lose afflictions when a dead Pretender is revived). I ignore the irony, and fly him over to the old C'tis capital, where I put him to work as a researcher. He needs the rest, and insists on being re-empowered as soon as possible. The C'tis capital province is completely dead, population 0.
Meanwhile, I think I have located all the capitals except Pythium, and have gotten a small foothold in a major city on the north coast of the southern continent (the one just east of the north coast special site).
I cannot expand from there without coming directly between Pythium and Ulm. Since they are at war and touch at only two chokepoints (the other is blocked by an Ulm fort), I think putting myself between them would be a
bad idea. So I’m just building a Citadel in the city and will use it as a Blood Slave source. In keeping with my earlier thinking, I’m not building a Lab here until the dominion is securely mine through blood sacrifice. I assign a Demonbred to shuttle Blood Slaves to the occupying priest.
As a side note, I’m building a rainbow mage in the capital (Demogorgon 1F/0A/2W/2E/3S/1D/1N/3B—he’s getting Fire empowerment this turn, but it will be a while for Air). By the time I get Construction 8, he should be able to build a lot of the artifact items himself. My Schools: Conj 8, Alt 1, Evo 8, Cons 7, Ench 6, Thaum 5, Blo 6.
Also, my Salamander priest with the Lycanthropos Amulet turned Skinshifter, so I forge a lot of magic items to equip him as a thug. Empowered a mage for Air site searches, and top Fire priest for the Second Sun spell. I forgot to pay the mercs again and they all left (too bad, I had built my Faerie Court and the Celestials were being healed).
Scores:
For provinces, I dominate. Man is second at about 50%; Ulm at 45%; Pythium about 22%--the war has been going badly for him; Caelum last at 5%.
For income, I lead, Man 95+%; Ulm about 45%; Pythium 15%.
For gem income, I am first and hyperaccelerating--the Eternal Pyre is in place. Man is next at 45%; Ulm 40%; Pythium about 5%.
For research, Man leads; I'm next at 90%; Pythium 30%; Ulm 15%.
For dominion, Ulm leads, but is stagnant. I’m about 80% and climbing. Caelum has gently faded to 35%. Pythium and Man are about 15%.
For armies, Man leads by a wide margin. Ulm 50%; I’m 25%; Pythium 15%; Caelum 10%.
I dominate the Hall of Fame, with two live and three dead heroes. Man is next, with two live heroes. The Caelum Pretender is here—and has been killed six times! Obviously, Man holds his capital, and is just killing him as he returns each time. The C’tis Pretender is here, too--I killed him five times, and good riddance. Finally, Pythium owns the top spot by virtue of Orion’s death on his watch, many, many turns ago.