Lords of Civilization

[WraithLord]

I checked out on the Grigori wish (Unit #1). Very cool

I'd say wishing for Grigori is off limits.

[Wokeye]

Wow, those Lords are insane! 5 map move?!?

[atul]

One thing about this game I love is the occasional "up yours" attitude jokes by devs, like this wishable Grigori thing. Anyway, unless it's meant to be real gangsta, one "the" is mistyped as "tha" in the description.

[MaxWilson]

I don't think it's a joke so much as an attempt by KO to prevent Wishing of that unit without requiring code changes from JK. Pure pragmatism.

-Max

[Zeldor]

I think it is worse idea to have uber powerful SCs only for few races.

[atul]

Well if it was due to pure pragmatism the description wouldn't be like that. It can't be that I was the only one to find that one humorous.

[WraithLord]

I'm not sure I agree from the standpoint that I prefer a more diverse game. Exact balance in the way of making the exact same strategies available to all nations is boring.

This is what bothered me with tartarians, that come end game everyone will rush to spam them.

As for super SCs available to Hinom - the nation is very powerful that's evident but it has its weaknesses. And most important, in an MP game sometimes being too strong is a disadvantage (the gang up on the leader syndrome).

Bottom line, I opt for more diversity in the gameplay even if some nations get situationally stronger than others.

[Zeldor]

But when you take a look there is really very limited amount of SCs available. And most of them are not available for most of the races. Just few nations have thugs and national SCs, which is really big factor later. And usually nations with strong magic get access to good SCs, making their advantage even bigger.

That B9 Hinnom ones are really very powerful. And they are given to a race that is probably one of the strongest in EA now. And access to them isn't extremely hard for them, while other ones tend to be harder to get.

[secretperson]

Lol, nice unit #1 I can just imagine the angry post of some poor soul who wished for that in MP

[MaxWilson]

Ashdod looks cool, though. Will probably need a Prod scale or two--Gileadite archers are cooler than longbowmen but cost Resource 49, and the top-line sacred troop costs Resource 88! Most important thing: the Zamzummite is a pretty cool battle mage. Decent precision (10, though no access to Air for precision boosters), some will be capable of casting D4 spells like Cloud of Death, E3F1 spells like Magma Eruption, E5 spells (with Earth Boots, which are forgeable by Ashdod) like Weapons of Sharpness and Petrify, and D3F1 spells like Banefire. They can also participate in communions with the lesser mages. A bit more expensive than Ktonian Necromancers but they fill essentially the same niche (with a better mapmove).

I might try out Ashdod.

-Max

Edit: Okay, I'll add to that. Ashdod is *seriously* cool. I hope I'm not repeating anything others have said, but here's what I saw:

Even without a pretender, they can forge boosters to get up to F5 (F6 on battlefield, think Flame Storm w/ giant-HP chaff), D6 (Darkness/Rigor Mortis/skelly spam or national summons), E5 (E6 on battlefield), and S5. National summons are interesting, and the higher level ones are incredible. The 9th level Call Merkavah spell was incredible when I tried it in a quick test game. Even naked and unblessed, the Ophanim just rolled over everything I sent them at without taking a single wound that I saw. Def 15, Prot 21, sacred, Awe +3 (or was it +6?), fire shield 9, size 5 flying tramplers with map move fly 5, I'm in love. Better than Iron Dragons stat-wise and IMHO more fun to watch ("rolling wheels of fire," heh). I didn't even do anything with the Chayot, he just stood there and watched the carnage. (Interestingly, some of Ashdod's national summons have Shattered Soul.) I didn't play much with their normal troops but they seem acceptably fun. I did note that their PD is pretty well-balanced. Nice mix of Gileadite archers, Gileadite spearmen, and Edomite somethings. PD is potentially important for resource-hungry Ashdod.

Since Earth, Death, and Astral are my favorite schools (with a smattering of Fire for the magma spells) I think Ashdod is going to become my new favorite flavor for the next month or so. Now to see how well they do at expansion...