Iron Faith Ulm

PDF · #1 December 22nd, 2003, 09:04 PM

Ywl, some thoughts about yours

1/ I agree, the random pick makes the difference between standard, rigid Ulm and a much more versatile Ulm IF
2/ I disagree on this one : as I've said I'm playing Ulm currently in MP with a RB, and did expand at the same rate than others- except one nasty Abysian SC (and played by Pocus

!)
The standard Ulmish troops, with some Guardians for morale, some extra-ulmish archers, a merc band and a couple mages are enough.
3/ Maybe, I think that my first tries were disappointments because I played IF as if it was standard Ulm - big mistake undoubtly ! However I can't find any incentive for playing IF...
4/ Yes, I even think that Magic 0+ is a good idea with IF
5/ Ok too, you can't build a MP game around a dozen of Templars avoiding casualties ...

Pocus · #2 December 22nd, 2003, 09:10 PM

actually its not a SC, its a rainbow mage* which has a bad temper.

* : try the ghost king. He is awesome.

aldin · #3 December 22nd, 2003, 10:27 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by PDF:
4/ Yes, I even think that Magic 0+ is a good idea with IF

I'm starting to wonder if I'm missing something. Doesn't IF require a scale of at least -1?

~Aldin

ywl · #4 December 22nd, 2003, 10:31 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by PDF:
Ywl, some thoughts about yours

2/ I disagree on this one : as I've said I'm playing Ulm currently in MP with a RB, and did expand at the same rate than others- except one nasty Abysian SC (and played by Pocus !)
The standard Ulmish troops, with some Guardians for morale, some extra-ulmish archers, a merc band and a couple mages are enough.

I have the suspicion that you're not play with very aggressive players

. Well, I don't know unless I can see your game. Let's use a benchmark - has anybody got 15 province by turn 11 to 12?

Mercenary of course could be big help to Ulm's expansion but you don't always get the good ones.

ywl · #5 December 22nd, 2003, 10:39 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by aldin:
Zen,

ywl,

May as well do drain 3. You HAVE to do drain 1 to access IF. Since your mages are gonna be stuck at 1 research regardless, take the 3 and the points.

~Aldin

3 research points at Drain 1 and 1 research point at drain 3 is a big difference... For Ulm, you can easily have 10+ Black Priests, which will be 30+ points versus 10+ points - though, if you're lucky, you could find fire or death gems to forge research item early enough. But to me, that's not a very safe bet.

SurvivalistMerc · #6 December 22nd, 2003, 11:14 PM

I have always found death sites to be plentiful, even more so if I have at least 3 picks in death. And there are a number of other sphere sites that generate death gems also.

I find that if I take both air and death on a rainbow type mage then I can safely go to drain 3 with ulm IF. Because you will get random air magi capable of making owl quills. And I think you are certain to get one or the other of death or air gems early in the game. (There have been games where I didn't get air early on but never where I didn't get death.)

Construction 6 takes a very long time to reach with just your pretender doing the research. Those lanterns are nice...but they aren't much help early on as they are construction-6.

I have had success with drain 3 every time except my initial experiment when I didn't know what I was doing. The way I look at it...the extra points from the drain scale paid for my RB mage's death and air picks, which more than makes up for it.

If Stone Idols weren't high construction, I suppose you could use them in your research province (secondary castle) early on.

PDF · #7 December 22nd, 2003, 11:23 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ywl:

quote:
Originally posted by PDF:
Ywl, some thoughts about yours

2/ I disagree on this one : as I've said I'm playing Ulm currently in MP with a RB, and did expand at the same rate than others- except one nasty Abysian SC (and played by Pocus !)
The standard Ulmish troops, with some Guardians for morale, some extra-ulmish archers, a merc band and a couple mages are enough.

I have the suspicion that you're not play with very aggressive players . Well, I don't know unless I can see your game. Let's use a benchmark - has anybody got 15 province by turn 11 to 12?

Mercenary of course could be big help to Ulm's expansion but you don't always get the good ones.

As for the benchmark, we are under that - less than 10 provinces each - but the map only has some 56 provinces for 7 players, so ...

And I admit I was dreaming about IF magic scale - indeed Drain-1 is a req... this should kill the theme