Abysia CB 5.0 AAR

[RedRover]

TURN 71-80
All the action is on the East continent this period.

On the northeast/east bridge front, by hitting the C’tis with two Lesser Horrors a turn, I hold them off and kill lots of them. I need more Fire sites. If I can put up the Eternal Pyre global spell to get a Fire gem surplus, I can eventually cast Purgatory (Thaum 7) to keep the undead hordes under control. Most of the C’tis armies are Ghouls; without them his military would be insignificant, I think.

The timely arrival of the mercenary Arco phalanx (Agyraspides) allows me to siege and take the coastal fort before C’tis can get there. It turns out to be the old Arco capital; lots of Astral gems, and all for me! The irony makes me chuckle--in later histories (which I will write), we will be the liberators!

I take the whole small local area bounded by rivers, then start pushing south and east. I have my eye on another abandoned fort southeast of "Fort Arco" and inland (province #87). Also, my deep-ranging scouts detect that Ulm has crossed onto the eastern continent and is moving north. Cue the *Darth Vader theme*, Ulm is on the march!

A second timely arrival, God’s Enforcers, allows me to besiege and take the inland fort! Hah! It has a laboratory and Azure Wizards—I finally get a Water site searcher! Incidentally, I have built a force of Shamblers, equipped a Salamander priest with a Ring of Water Breathing, cleared the waters around the magic site island, and built an underwater Temple there (a full 50 turns after I took the island magic site!). If I can send Lesser Horrors to a C’tis coastal province and rout the army there, the Shamblers can pop out and raze another C’tis Temple or two.

Turn 78, the C’tis Pretender pulls off a vertical envelopment of my main army on that front, materializing behind it with 120 Ghouls. Holy crud!

I hit him with four Lesser Horrors and try to break through to friendly lines. Without waiting, he moved north, destroying my local troops there, so the trapped army didn’t catch him, but he didn't annihilate my most important army, either.

Of note: The commander of my Devils had picked up a Lycanthropos Amulet turns earlier, which I ignored (bad idea). He changed and charged berserk in this battle, dying immediately. This stranded my big Devil unit (by "big" I mean 14-15) next to 1,020 hostile troops (three provinces full of Ghouls). Worse, the commander had been carrying a Cauldron of Endless Broth, so the rest of my army, now one province north, starved next turn! My main force followed the enemy Pretender, while the leaderless Devils basically fought a round and retreated when they were attacked the next turn.

In the center of the east continent, the two mercenary phalanxes from the coast circle the mountain block north of the big desert in opposite directions. I may not be able to hold this ground, but grinding up the C’tis temples in this area is my main goal, anyway. Best case, I will clean him out west of the river line near his capital and meet Ulm coming up the continent. I am now working toward a number of goals: Eternal Pyre/Purgatory/Second Sun, the Faerie Court/Couatl, binding Arch Devils, Mind Slay (for the Manticore, once I fix him).

My gold income on turn 81 is 1,014 gold, gems: 10F/3A/3W/7E/9S/8D/6N, and I'm pulling an average of 30-40 Blood Slaves.

My earlier panic has subsided. I'm feeling like things are starting to come under control, though there is much to do. Finally some breaks are going my way.

[Scores? Maybe later...]

[shovah]

i know its a little late now but if you ever need magical dicversity you should trying going for lamia queens

[RedRover]

shovah: Thanks for the suggestion. At this stage in the game, I've been grabbing every tool I can to put C'tis down, although bludgeoning him with Lesser Horrors has been my most successful strategy so far. (I'm afraid I will get no awards for finesse or style this game!)

I am at this point mostly set up for Fire and Blood magic--most of my Nature magic is going into supply items--the C'tis ghouls have really stripped the eastern provinces--I can hardly go into them without starving. I don't have a lot of Death magic, either, and most of my Death gems at this point are going into Skull Mentors to boost my research so I can get things like the Eternal Pyre and Faerie Court (to un-feeblemind the Manticore). We may see some Lamias before I am done, though.
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TURN 81-90
I take the desert province southeast of Fort Azure. I also put pressure on the C’tis west river line. By disrupting his large armies of undead with Lesser Horrors, it is now proving fairly easy for my much smaller ground forces to push into his provinces and raze his Temples.

I won’t get much from the C'tis nation provinces, because all his Ghouls are killing his population and making his provinces useless for supply and taxes. Also, putting more than two Lesser Horrors into a province has proved to be a waste, unless his Pretender is there.

On the south continent, it looks like Pythium got the green west half and Ulm got the desert right half. My deep scout looking for capitals down there is discovered and slain, I quickly send another.

Turn 88-89 sees the decisive battle for the C’tis capital. After taking the province and besieging the fort on turn 88, I am pushed out by a huge force of Ghouls. I kill the C’tis Pretender for the fourth time. I have units enough left to launch one final attack on turn 90, preceded by four Lesser Horrors and a Horde from Hell; there were still 1,040 undead of various types in the capital.

The province fell again and, even with no C’tis relief forces left, I haven't got enough troops left for an assault, so I choose to go for a strategic dominion snuff, and start constructing Temples. *wheeze*

Side Note: One of my really good Salamander Priests picked up the !@#$%@# Lycanthropos Amulet after the capital battle. I thought I was rid of that thing! (WE are NOT amused...)

On west continent, the Fish Fort (remember that?) is finally finished, and I start building Ichtyids there. This may not bode well for Caelum and Man, since control of the ocean provinces is one of my milestones on the way to extended west continent operations. Stay tuned...

[I have been slacking off on the score graphs. I'll do them next time, promise.]

[shovah]

i thought commanders kept magic even if they morphed? o well. and if possible you might like to try swapping to normal horrors soon (research allowing). after reading most of your report i started my own abysia game and am currently owning with sending horrors and lots of assasins (but on a smaller map, urgaia to be exact) and with 2 6000 pop provinces with 3 hunters each i can easily meet my slave demand, its around turn 70 and ive just got pyre up and im cranking out spells and items now

i also found a site right next to my base to let me get shadow seers (S3) and grey knights (etheral 30 move knights) and have been making etheral crossbows for assasins (which i believe warlocks may also make)

[RedRover]

shovah: The problem with the Demonbred with the Cauldron was that he died, and the Cauldron was not recovered. A cursed shapeshifter doesn't use magic, he charges and melees--and Demonbreds can fly, so he just tried to take on the whole freaking C'tis army by himself, and they killed him.

Apparently the Lycanthropos Amulet was picked up by a C'tis commander, because--as you can see by the latest post--I've got it again.

The reason I'm going the Thug route with the Salamander Priest is that I can't rely on him to cast magic anymore. Since when he changes he's going to charge into melee anyway, and since he won't outrun his support, I may as well give him enough tools to do some damage. I suppose there are better commanders to give magic to, but I roleplay my solo games, and I like the way that doing this fits into the story of my Ascension War.

At this point Doom Horrors (Blood 8) are two levels beyond me--remember this is a low-magic game and research is very slow. Will you see them? A very safe bet, IMO...

I am jealous of your Shadow Seers, the coolest independent I've gotten has been the Azure Mages.

I occasionally make Ethereal Crossbows. As I recall there was a bug in them that prevented them from working properly. I have no idea if it was ever fixed. I still build them every once in awhile for thematic purposes, but tactically I really can't say I've ever seen concrete results from them. I haven't made any this game.

I have been keeping a reserve of Astral gems for dispelling enemy globals, and even though I haven't seen any of those, I am reluctant to use more Astral gems than I absolutely need. I have tapped my supply on occasion to make Fire gems, or add enough other gems (4-8?) to rush an Empowerment, but I try not to do that, as there are some really nice Astral globals that have hit my radar screen.

[RedRover]

Note: This update is really quick, because the actual posting of my last update was delayed by almost 7 hours when the Shrapnel server was down/busy last night. Events proceed apace.


TURNS 101-110
On the western continent, Owleye’s Retreat (province #206) is driving me crazy. Even though I haven't been able to afford an Acashic Record, I have searched all gem types to 9, and Holy to 3 and there’s nothing there! I could check Holy to 4 by building an Anathemant Dragon for the purpose, but it seems a bit of a long shot. All special sites on this map were supposed to have something…SOMETHING!

In the east, I try to establish my dominion, build Temples, sacrifice, research, and weep over the half dozen totally depopulated provinces I have won at bitter cost. The Prince of Death has made my new lands a desert. (I console myself with the other dozen provinces I took from him that are merely damaged to some degree.)

On the east continent south of the mountains, I burn out an independent group of Trogs in the south central desert. This province is the best site for a southern desert fort, and I will need an advanced outpost against Ulm's encroachment.

I sent in 10 Abysian Heavy Infantry and 8 Crossbowmen, backed by a Salamander priest. I won only because I had the foresight to pack a few Fire gems. The Trogs hacked up the infantry, and would have overrun me with ease, except the priest summoned a Fire Elemental, which routed them off. I start building the fort. This turn I reach Thaumaturgy 6.

My oceanic adventures mostly fail. A unit and a half of Ichtyids from the Fish Fort in the north perish at the hands of the Triton Guards—I sent them in about two turns too early. My Sea Trolls and Gibur the Water Mage merc attack an Independent in the south sea provinces (where I am trying to prevent Man from sealing me off--most Sea provinces are still independent). The Trolls prevail, but Gibur dies. *Ouch!* The surviving 12 Trolls are too weak to break out into the main ocean, so they hold, at once victorious and frustrated.

I recruit another Water Mage at the Azure Academy, but as soon as he steps into a coastal province, new Trogs attack and kill both him and the Salamander priest pacifying the area! I hate Trogs!!

The very first Oceania provinces I took just begin to produce units on turn 106. I send my replacement Water mage into the battle to kill the Trogs and, while I won, I left the mage too close to my Abysian leader and he fried! And my other unit commander picked up a Lycanthropos Amulet!! (I won’t repeat exactly what I said, but I think it freaked out the neighbors.)

On the eve of war with Man, I finally get into the water in the north, but Man takes an independent province and seals off my sea expansion in the south.

I actually had put together a large surplus of Nature gems,so I have put up both the Gift of Health and Wild Hunt global spells as part of my war prep. First victim of the latter was Aenos the Prophet, an Emerald Lord of Pythium. Not my first choice, but he should have stayed out of the woods.

Next turn, I kill a Serpent Lord in the same province—why do I have the rotten feeling that this spell hits Forests in ascending province number order? If so, this was not a good choice—it really helps Ulm against Pythium, just when I’m about to go to war against Man.

Otherwise, I prepare carefully. I could attack Man on turn 109, but I hold because there is a tournament—maybe Man will send a powerful hero and lose it.

I finally get a look at the small island “Jaw-Breaker.” Somebody has a sense of humor…

[RedRover]

TURN 110-112
Owlseye, the fourth special site, my obsession: OK, I built the Dragon, and he found nothing. I built a Mound Fiend to check for Unholy sites…nothing. I finally divert enough Astral gems to cast the @#$%&! Acashic Record…NOTHING!

(The Cone is not the only thing smouldering in my capital now!)



Furious, I attack Man.

First priority is to clear the forces of Man from the ocean provinces off my coast, which will greatly simplify my homeland defense.

Second priority is to take Man’s border provinces, most of which have by now changed to my dominion.

I have used my gem supply for items prepping for war; the only global I really want to see at this time is Strands of Arcane Power (after all, the Pretender is strong in Astral magic), although it may be more efficient play to go for Gaia’s Bounty and expand the blood hunts. I might just punt the Wild Hunt once GB becomes available.

Total Income end of turn 110: 2,819 gold, gem income: 37F/6A/11W/18E/19S/24D/23N + 51B this turn. I can see I must be careful to build a Lab in every province I hunt. I had two hunters this turn that released slaves because they were full. Focus, idiot!

Turns out, Caelum has been driven totally into the sea. He holds three Sea provinces and maybe a lake. He has to have a priest or Prophet also, because apparently he can still call his god.

Scores:
For provinces, I dominate. Man and Ulm at 45%, Man is on steep decline, Ulm spiking up; Pythium 15%; Caelum 5%.

For income, I lead; Man 90%; Ulm about 50%, sharp spike up; Pythium and Caelum 10%, with Pythium strongly down.

For gem income, I dominate. Man and Ulm tie at 35%; Pythium 5%, Caelum flatlined.

For research, Man leads; I'm at 90% and losing ground; Caelum flatlined at 45%; Pythium 25%; Ulm 20% and accelerating.

For dominion, I tie Ulm. Caelum is auguring in* at 25%. Man is at 20%; Pythium is approaching dominion snuff at 5%.

(*You've heard of "crash and burn"? "Augur in" is the next level of intensity.)

For armies, Man leads by a wide margin, but is starting to spike down. Ulm 50%; I’m 35%; Pythium and Caelum 10%.

The graphs urge me to hurry and grab as much of Man as I can, before Pythium goes under…

…but I miscalculate badly…again. While I was building infrastructure, gem hunting, Arch Devil buffing, and so on, I let my mage- and troop-building lapse. In the meantime, it looks like Man has put every halfpence into cheap troops for the last 50 turns!

Man has materialized an army of 580, and another of 390 right on my border! These are all junk troops, plus a few summons (disproportionately many Cold Drakes), but seemingly impervious to waves of Lesser Horrors and intense concentrations of Fires from Afar.

They overrun a large army of mine led by the Spectral Mage merc with no difficulty at all, destroying him utterly. This distracts me so much I forget to renew the mercs again (Perceville is gone for good, but I manage to rehire *smudge*—Couatl? without incident).

I am still two levels out from Greater Horrors, and find I don’t have a lot of army-killing magic to hand at this point. I hold the oceans for now, but if I can’t keep my troop-building sites on the west continent, he’ll force his way into my east continent core.

And I thought C'tis was trouble!

[RedRover]

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.