Wrap up time
To say that I was non plussed about getting Fomoria is an understatement. After getting Jot in the last YARG and going E9N6 for the first time I didn't care to be at the helm of another giant race where E9N6 is supposedly a no brainer. And so with trepidation I went with an imprisioned Divine Serpent E9N6 T1L3M1. In hind sight a minor bless from a rainbow would have been better.
My opening was non stellar, I actually failed to attach turn 5 I think and staled. That said I then had Marv's PoD on my cap, but took it out with ease with N. Champs. I then decided to counter with everything I had and eventually ground out Marv with the use of sailing/call of the winds. So all of a sudden my opening situation actually looked pretty good I had a good chunk of territory, a second cap, and some astral.
I then looked around at my neighbors. TC was in the south east and seemed to be as strong as me. TNN to the north - definately not someone I wanted to fight due to glamour raids, and our affinity to Air magic (a feeling which stuck with me most of the game). Ermor to the East - many a times I thought of going after them, but all plans that I came up with posed the possibility of costing too much for little gain. That left Helheim to the west, again a glamour air nation, and ideally not something I wanted to deal with.
In time Helheim went after Mictlan and so I decided on a multi approach attack, using my sailing kings, and the few W kings that I had who I kitted out to be SCs. The attack went great. Some raids but all in all Hel decided on trying to cripple Mictlan.
So with Hel out and my TNN/Ermor/TC neighbors being the same I then went after Mictlan, which went great until I started sieging his cap. Mictlan had over a hundred vamps and strong dominion and so I couldn't dent his walls and was getting attacked by vamps every turn. To minimize the losses I had to cast gem rec battlefield spells, and so as the useless siege went on I was spending gems for no gains. For awhile I actually thought of withdrawing to think of something else, but then buckled down and analyzed what I had to work with that could possibly end in my victory. I tried fighting dominion for awhile but that didn't work. Mictlan also had the habit of sending the vamps out to raid and then sneak them back into the cap, which allowed me to start penetrating his walls, so I tried timing a crumble, but that didn't work. My last resort was...siege monkeys <3! At least that's what I decided to call the pale ones that I recruited en mass. And as soon as the monkeys started showing up leprosy spam began. The monkeys did the trick and I was able to breach the walls and take the cap, but the cost to the Fomorian war effort was pretty heavy. Gem stocks were low and my large stack in the west was riddled with diseases and dying.
For a time I was elated! I was tied in terms of caps with TC and Ulm and the TC/Ulm war was stalemated! If that stalemate continued I could pick away at my neighbors and secure the win. I had eyes on everyone, thinking of my next step, but then Ulm was subbed and the flood waters broke.
An aside on my views of TC. I watched many a battle from when they fought Hinnom, Kailasa, and Ulm. It became more and more apparent as I viewed them that I was behind in terms of power. I had some unmarked champ thugs, and just a smattering of SC W-Kings most of the game. My luck on the kings generally resulted in getting the A4D2 variety or the A3D3 variety and so my attack forces pretty much relied on moving large stacks around backed up with Air buffs. I felt that tactic against TC would fail as they had Air as well and a whole lot of other paths which I pretty much lacked, so win on the battle spell front. Then when TC started sporting his djinn and bane lords and tarts I was out classed on the thug/SC approach as well. Finally TC had a huge income and just put forts up everywhere...not great for a quick attack approach, especially since TC had astral as well and so could gate troops to wherever I attacked. Credit to Psycho/Dimaz as they set my tempo! I would watch what TC had and thought holy **** I'm behind! I need to catch up! I set up two tart factories, multiple morrigan factories, a gargoyle factory, played around with hidden in snow, demi liches, fairy queens, troll kings, etc...spend spend spend!
All of this was going on after Mictlan and before Ulm was subbed out. I started planning on an invasion of Arco. Many an hour I sat there planning.
Taking stock all the troops, mages, spells, I had access to, planning attack vectors, etc. Truly that was the most fun I had in this game.
But then the Ulm defense broke and all of a sudden I had to think of something...quick. I contemplated taking Lanka or Van from Ulm, but 1. My western forces were still plague ridden, and 2. I had that Rlyeh beach head to worry about...worst case scenario I go after either and Rlyeh goes in and takes Mictlan, cutting supply and wiping out my west. I then thought, well I know I'm not the only one scouting out TC/Ulm. Probably Rlyeh is too and that beach head is going to go and grab Lanka!
So I turned back to my original plan to take Arco and then included a staggered attack on TNN, of course modifying my forces to account for the 4 way attack on 2 medium sized powers. Finally it was time I had sights on being on Caelum and Arco in two turns. Niefelheim in 3 turns and TNN in 4 turns, with the plan to then blitz Abysia or Van for the fifth and the win.
Seeing how both TNN and Arco lacked domes on their caps and had the majority of their forces parked there my idea was murdering winters/leprosy on TNN caps and flames from the skies/leprosy on Arco's cap. So essentially nuke what they had and go in. TNN no problem as they went AI after that. Arco thought the same thing as me and nuked my Arco force with FftS's. The Caelum force broke through but with the Arco division wiped out there was no more point...TC had won.