Help!! I'm feeling oppressed

[1000yd_stare]

this is still early in the game, just about turn 30 or less, so I shouldn't have to worry about the dragons just yet. Mariginon, here I come!

Thanks guys!

[Taqwus]

Incidentally, in such a setup it'd be sorely tempting to try to start something between Abysia and Marignon. For instance, if you can get a fire-3 caster (not exactly easy as the Ashen Empire unless your pretender has it; dusk elders only get 1 random, and even spectre randoms tend to be different) flame bolts at Marignon might be blamed on Abysia for instance.
In the high likelihood that you and Jotunheim both use cold, and both may use some undead, and both have reason to worry about dominance by fire/astral folks, an at least temporary partnership there might be appropriate.

[Zurai]

Originally posted by Taqwus:
For instance, if you can get a fire-3 caster (not exactly easy as the Ashen Empire unless your pretender has it; dusk elders only get 1 random, and even spectre randoms tend to be different) flame bolts at Marignon might be blamed on Abysia for instance.

On the other hand, if you CAN pull it off, that just makes it less likely that they'll suspect you. After all, Ermor isn't exactly known for its strong fire magi.

[Wauthan]

Oboy! Ashen Empire in MP is most likely the worst faction possible because of the age old saying "If facing many opponents, kill the walking dead guy first".

And you're up against Marignon as well.. While I'm sure you know what you're doing it might not hurt to make a few searches in this forum to find what have been said about the factions in your game.

Going after the exorcists might seems like a very good idea, but then again your giant and flaming friends are counting on you doing just that. You seem to have picked a game of polar opposites as far as factions are conserned. If at all possible try to worry less about the Jotuns. Their cold winter can be shrugged of with a rigor mortis grin. The eternal fires of Abyssia are not so easy to deal with.

To add what little wisdom I have I recommend you hurl a quality, not quantity, force into the oceans where you have a large advantage. Only Jotunheim can follow you there any time soon and that faction is very vulnerable to undead swarming, while the others are not. If you "devour", meaning you pillage them into dust, the oceans then you will have a nice amount of gold to bring some living units against Marignon.

[ February 19, 2004, 21:12: Message edited by: Wauthan ]

[ywl]

Originally posted by 1000yd_stare:
In our mp game, my peace loving Ashen Empire, which never attacks first, will soon be attacked by jotun, abysia, and maybe mariginon.

Attempts at negotiation have fallen on deaf ears, (or could it be the mere fact that my troops are all muttering "brains.." in the background? nah.), so some advice on who to atta- er, 'defensively advance' on would be appreciated. My limited intel puts abysia and then jotun as the stronger of the 3, with marigion a bit back.

Right now I have the usual massive armies of fodder, and death gem income of about 12 a turn.

Sorry to discourage you - but you're probably doomed . There is no peace-loving Ashen Empire while your dominions is killing the world .

You shouldn't attack Marignon. Rather, you should bribe him and lure him into a false sense of security, saying that he has nothing to fear from you - beacuse he's Marignon. Concentrate on Jotun or Abysia. But I suspect that he might not listen and would just join in the fun.

Marignon has powerful priests but versus Ermor Ashen Empire, there is nothing that can't be done by 10+ cheapo holy 2 priests. So, both Jotun or Abysia is equally deadly versus your force.

You only advantage is defensive. You land is hard to attack because of the lack of supply. So, you should go after Jotun or any one with decent access to nature magic, e.g. druids. Ghouls are your friends as they make your fortress virtually unbreachable. Use Bane Venome Charm and Black Servant. The charm can poison your attackers while it has no effect on the undeads. It's especially bad for seiging army as they have no where to dodge.

I don't think any diplomatic tricks would be too useful as they're not hard to see through. The only card on your hand is that you can drag any one of them down to dirt by pillaging, poison. Pick the one who initiated the alliance and make sure that he fears you in the next game. If you get lucky enough, the maneuver might be painful enough for him to back off and let you survive for a longer time.

[Wauthan]

Solid advice, Ywl. But then again it's the Jotuns that will be hurt the worst by Ashen Empire dominion considering the amount of supplies needed to keep the giants a threat. Abysia, with their resistance to the death scale, are more of a worry. Especially if they start bringing in bloodsummons to rip the frail ermorian commanders to shreds.

Too bad you're not running an AAR 1000yd Stare. Win or loose. It would be an interesting read.

[ywl]

Originally posted by Wauthan:
Solid advice, Ywl. But then again it's the Jotuns that will be hurt the worst by Ashen Empire dominion considering the amount of supplies needed to keep the giants a threat. Abysia, with their resistance to the death scale, are more of a worry. Especially if they start bringing in bloodsummons to rip the frail ermorian commanders to shreds.

Too bad you're not running an AAR 1000yd Stare. Win or loose. It would be an interesting read.

True.

There are other tricks usable by Ermor but since Ermor usually has a slower research, I don't know how many can be used now without advance planning.

Turn 30 is probably just enough to get the research to level 6 in one of the paths... If there are enough death gems and Conjuration 6, cast "Spirit Mastery" and "Summon Ghost" (pretender need to have 7+ level in death for the latter to be effective). For earth income, "Clockwork Horror" or "Troll King" (expensive). For nature and access to druid, Vine creature. Winter Wolves are not bad if dominion is cold and plenty water gems. If you had Alteration 6, equipped the Dusk Elders, cast "Soul Vortex" and put them into melee combat.

Diversify.

The hundreds of soulless or longdeads are quite useless in a MP game. The only useful undeads are the Unholy knights, who are blessable and should have a lot of bonus from the pretender's magic. And the "Wailing Ladies" if there are enough gems. The ladies blessable, ethereal and their wailing is deadly. If there are spared Nature gems and the time, might as well give them "Gift of Reason". They're deadly with some armor and "Ring of Regeneration".