Armadillo - started

[lch]

Teraswaerto said:
I don't think remote attack spells are really a problem, as they have trouble breaking PD, cost more gems, and the ones like Ghost Riders and the Horror attacks leave the province in independent control.

My point was that you can find out who is putting only < 5 PD via scouts and then use the cheap Call of the * spells or the stronger ones against that province. Caelum could do Call of the Winds coupled by aerial attacks. A Ghost Riders together with "attack current province" from a scout is a winner, too. Since I'm not playing myself I don't want to tell you what to do, I just wanted to warn that 33% could be achieved easier than imagined, so maybe get the percentage higher so that it's really a clearly visible advantage.

P.S.: Oh, when you can make "hold for X turns" as a victory condition, too, then I retract my earlier statements.

[Teraswaerto]

lch said:
A Ghost Riders together with "attack current province" from a scout is a winner, too.

Good point this, hadn't thought of it.

[Reverend Zombie]

Teraswaerto said:

Similarly, win by dominion favors nations with blood sacrifice.

OT as far as this game's victory conditions go, but worth pursuing to me since I like dominion based games:

Generally, I'd argue that dominion victory favoring blood nations is less imbalancing than, for example, province victory or VP victory favoring bless nations (in early game) or air/astral nations (in later game stages).

Specifically for MA games, who in the MA can really push blood effectively?

[Baalz]

Abyssia. I've done a pretty wicked dominion push with demon breds wielding jade daggers (empowered an indie nature mage with blood). Spreads heat wicked fast, plus you can air drop them way behind enemy lines. Give them a couple fire gems to summon a fire elemental and drop them in pairs and they'll take out moderate PD, then the Abyssian PD will hold against any half *** attempts to clear you out. You only need to hold a few turns to swing the dominion 10 points if you've got a good dominion score.

[Reverend Zombie]

Baalz said:
Abyssia. I've done a pretty wicked dominion push with demon breds wielding jade daggers (empowered an indie nature mage with blood)....You only need to hold a few turns to swing the dominion 10 points if you've got a good dominion score.

I wouldn't consdier this strat imbalanced for a dominion victory game, as there's lots of opportunity costs here, no? Abysia's got capital-only blood hunters, and Demonbreds are expensive. I'd have no problem if this type of investment led to victory, and I am sure there are other nations that could pursue dominion-pushing strategies that are either as competitive or cheaper to pursue, or counter this strat by Abysia specifically.

[Teraswaerto]

You don't need to do air drops do use blood sacrifice for dominion spreading, it'll radiate outward even from deep within your borders.

Of course, cheap temples of Man and Pangaea might also be considered an advantage.

I think any kind of victory condition will always favor some nation or nations. That said, I don't have a problem playing in games with such settings, someone's going to win no matter what the settings are.

[Baalz]

Oh, I wasn't really commenting on an imbalance, I just couldn't resist answering your question on who could push a blood sacrifice in MA as I'd recently don't that myself. I will say I play blood nations a lot (often with high dominion) and I've never seen anyone move dominion half as fast as when I start dumping blood slaves into that. As I mention though, haven't been in a dominion victory game so I don't really have an opinion on if that's unbalanced.

[Reverend Zombie]

Baalz said:
Oh, I wasn't really commenting on an imbalance,

Understood! I didn't mean to imply that you were. I am trying to identify balance issues with dominion victory conditions, and I appreciate your response. I think Abysia is about the only one that can push blood sacrifice like that in MA.