Nations - MA, CBM 1.6, max lvl 6, NI, Assimilation - Olm/Man and Louist/Ulm win!

[Elanaew]

Hi All, Elana subbing for louist/ulm. What a wild game this is! Louist has given me directions about what he wants done. I have some flexibility, and some extra earth gems (smile). Maybe a new castle, who knows... let me know if you wish to discuss anything.....

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ULM NEWS

Palace announces temporary appointment of "Snuggles" as Ulm's new ( Temporary) Minister of Foreign Relations. No rumors appear to be circulating. One coachman lamented, "oh, yea, more o' the same, I be sure.'

Royal Steward of Castles is seeking a reliable and experienced castle re-decorator.

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[Olm]

Originally Posted by Valerius

Not sure what you mean by 40 gems, though. Faery Trod is 8 gems per casting. Not cheap, but I'm more worried about losing that army than about the gem cost to get them in position.

Well, thats a CBM change. Vanilla price is 20 gems. For 16 gems total its O.K.

You put up quite a fight in Arcoscephale. I thought you had no chance, when I saw the lineup, but you nearly pulled it off! But I have to say I was happy to watch this carnage just as an observer. The losses were grave for both of you.

Now do I observe correctly, that your ancient ally Eriu has betrayed you and now lays siege to the castle of Griphons Spires. If thats so, I really have to think what consequences this has diplomatically.

[Valerius]

Originally Posted by Elanaew

Hi All, Elana subbing for louist/ulm. What a wild game this is! Louist has given me directions about what he wants done.

Welcome, Elana! And quite a way to kick things off - that was some brutal evocation spam. The first time viewing a battle I like to just watch it and not click on various units and that was a fun one. I thought maybe, just maybe, my berserkers would pull it off (it's always nice if your side routs but your berserk troops keep fighting and end up winning the battle ) but point blank magma eruption wiped out those hopes. If only your mages had been a bit more fatigued at the end...

The stale the previous turn cost me - not because I could have won the fight if I hadn't staled but because I could have gotten enough troops inside the fort to withstand a siege and thus avoid the fight (Olm is quite familiar with that strategy ). As it was, Ulm ended up besieging an almost empty fort and I was lucky the walls weren't breached the first turn. Although with the way things turned out maybe that would have been better as I wouldn't have had a chance to get forces in place to try to break Ulm's siege. As it is, I lost a lot of my best troops this past turn.

It looks like Arco is the place to be for action packed fights! We'll see if Ulm can break the curse of the place and hold on to it (in my time controlling it I only recruited one mystic since it took several turns to bring down the unrest caused the presence of my revelers and by my foolishly overtaxing while besieging Arco).

Btw Elana, I'm sure Louist mentioned the big change with this game regarding limiting magic to level 6 but, in case he didn't mention it, another change is that you can recruit some units from a conquered opponent's capitol. The big prize with Arco's cap is mystics (you can also recruit some of his troops). Not as big a deal to Ulm as to the other remaining nations since you have some astral magic already (that was obvious from the gifts from heaven castings) but still a nice bonus.

Originally Posted by Olm

You put up quite a fight in Arcoscephale. I thought you had no chance, when I saw the lineup, but you nearly pulled it off! But I have to say I was happy to watch this carnage just as an observer. The losses were grave for both of you.

I felt confident about the combination of curse of stones and iron bane against Ulm's troops. Where I made a big mistake was forgetting that it isn't really about his troops but about the cheap mages. And for some reason I didn't think he had quite that many mages in that army - and, frustratingly, they all survived.

Originally Posted by Olm

Now do I observe correctly, that your ancient ally Eriu has betrayed you and now lays siege to the castle of Griphons Spires. If thats so, I really have to think what consequences this has diplomatically.

No, that's not an attack. That fort and Arco's eastern provinces were always intended to go to Eriu. But you are right that my fate is in Eriu's hands. If he sides with me then we'll have a 2 vs 2 fight and there's still hope for Pan. If he sides against me then I'm history. If he keeps out of this round of wars I'm likely also history but there's still a small chance.

In any case, this is fun stuff. I really like mid game battle magic more than SCs or late game magic.

[Olm]

Originally Posted by Valerius

No, that's not an attack. That fort and Arco's eastern provinces were always intended to go to Eriu. But you are right that my fate is in Eriu's hands. If he sides with me then we'll have a 2 vs 2 fight and there's still hope for Pan. If he sides against me then I'm history. If he keeps out of this round of wars I'm likely also history but there's still a small chance.

You are too honest for the game
Had you told me Eriu betrayed you, that would really have lessened my motivation.
Just another level of gameplay I discover for myself. And another reason why scouting and knowledge is key in this game.

[Olm]

By the way: I have been wondering for some time, why you keep employing Black Bone. What do you do with him?

[Valerius]

Originally Posted by Olm

You are too honest for the game
Had you told me Eriu betrayed you, that would really have lessened my motivation.

I'm willing to sneak attack if I don't have a NAP with some and to dogpile someone (though I'll sometimes feel bad about that) but I can't get myself to flat out lie to someone in order to manipulate them (especially if it will result in an ally being attacked).

I'm curious, though, if Eriu did attack me would you be less motivated because you would feel it wasn't fair? I don't think you should let that trouble you. While it can be great fun to have an evenly matched fight it can also lead to a stalemate that takes both parties out of contention while other nations are winning easier victories. And of course the trick will be avoiding being the odd man out once the current round of fighting ends and the next dogpile begins.

Originally Posted by Olm

And another reason why scouting and knowledge is key in this game.

Yes, scouting is really important. One of the things I like about Pan is their great harpy scouts. The fact that you can quickly get them where needed isn't only good for scouting purposes but in case you need some decoys to absorb, say, mind hunts. And on that note, a harpy scout was felled by a mind hunt last month. Pangaea thought it had made the world safe from this foul magic by eliminating Arco but apparently some nations are still engaging in these dark practices.

Originally Posted by Olm

By the way: I have been wondering for some time, why you keep employing Black Bone. What do you do with him?

Lol. He's cheap enough that I keep him around thinking I may want to use him, though I can't imagine for what. It's got to be the easiest merc job ever as he doesn't do anything.

[Valerius]

I've postponed hosting so that we can coordinate returning control of Ulm to Louist.

[Louist]

I'm back everyone. Elana seems to have left Ulm in better shape than she found it

I've had a quick look at the latest turn, but I wont be able to actually do anything with it until this afternoon.

[Valerius]

So, I went from having an army devastated by magma eruption to having one devasted by thunderstrike. Knew I shouldn't have tried to storm that fort but kept moving instead.

It also kind of funny how the AI Arco is still alive. One water province, no army or gold, but still enough dominion to avoid being killed.

[Olm]

Originally Posted by Valerius

So, I went from having an army devastated by magma eruption to having one devasted by thunderstrike. Knew I shouldn't have tried to storm that fort but kept moving instead.

I told you it was a bad idea to bring your troops into my backyard. No way they could live very long, or be really effective.
A small annoyance for me and a great cost for you.
I am much more satisfied with my raiders. Stealth really helps in raiding, and I guess I cause much more annoyance with those rather small groups, than you did with your large army.
Talking of stealth: I wonder where your glamorous friend is.I don't see you standing a chance against Ulm and Man without him for long.
And talking of annoyances: That castle in Giants Rest is really annoying. I know it must be a huge effort for you and it binds lots of troops, but still I would rather conquer the province.
Is there any spell that helps besieging, like Iron Walls for the besieged? I guess not...

Btw: Those diseases in Retha are caused by a plaguewater stream. Not so nice.