Viscious Circle 3

[Squirrelloid]

Ok, that looks like an official we're done, since Hinnom finally weighed in.

I have a mere 5-6 kitted tarts I think. Plus some random spellcasting tarts and a couple monstrum that came as commanders. However, I'm summoning between 2-4 tarts per turn - my limiting factor is definitely nature gems. I wasn't planning on relying as tarts for SCs in general (although raiding is definitely a possibility, but EKs also do that well).

I have ~12 un-GoRed Monstrums, which make a pretty convincing hit squad when Weapons of Sharpness is dropped on them and Army of Gold is cast (both trivial to accomplish)

I have a several dozen EKs fully kitted (I think the actual number is over 50), plus another dozen or so anti-demon/undead kitted EKs equipped to quickly eliminate tarts and uber-demon threats. (pretty minimal gear: Boots of Quickness + appropriate weapon + a useful armor to reduce fatigue accrual) These are all easily cloud trapezed at a moment's notice with my 500+ air gems that I've been stockpiling.

Full kit includes a flamebrand, shield of gleaming gold, silver hauberk, horror helm, boots of quickness, AMA and luck pendant. (They're also sacred and i have an E9N4S4 bless)

I have somewhere in the ballpark of 70-90 clams and am producing 2/trn every turn. I also have some number of bloodstones and am producing a little less than 1/trn.

I can drop about a dozen penetration +5 mindhunts at a moment's notice, in case anyone tries to raid me with non-astral combatants. Producing more is trivial - i could easily scale up to around 20 in a turn.

I have all 6 of my national summon uniques + a QoA.

I have quite a few Yazatas, and can summon vast numbers at a moment's notice. (Easily a couple hundred if i needed them).

I only use thunderstrike when I know my opponent is not prepared against it. It is hardly the most effective weapon in my arsenal.

I have around a dozen liches, most with staves and boots of flying. (4 of them are my tart summoners)

I have a Conj 20 site, and an Ench 30 site.

I have pretty easy access to E5, W5, A6+, S5+, and D7. I have limited access to F5 and N5. Almost all of this is teleportable or cloud trapezeable.

I have about a dozen stone spheres (mostly produced recently) with which i've been scanning the globe over the last 5-10 turns to see what the situation looks like.

If it wasn't for the chalice tug of war I was thinking about overcasting AN with a 999 gem investment, but I kept having to blow S on wishing for the chalice =p

So my endgame strategy was to (1) figure out who I'm at war with next, (2) figure out where they're vulnerable, (3) Use my capability to rapidly redeploy in order to sequentially eliminate all relevant assets with overwhelming force.

If both Hinnom and Helheim came after me, I was planning on killing Helheim first while dispatching whatever raiders Hinnom fielded. I was sort of hoping one of Helheim and Hinnom would go after the other, and I could hop in on the side of the losing participant (and this looks like it had a 50% shot of happening, based on Hinnom's comments). The Grigori sort of worry me, but I'd have to see them in action (something I have thus far managed to fail at doing).

But really, i didn't want to have to actually micro all that. I'm not joking when I say that I was seriously considering 1-turn 80-province air drops wherein the occasional fully geared EK was an acceptable loss.

[GrudgeBringer]

Wow...and my only strategy was to cast Burden of time a(as I have been hoarding boots of youth and a couple of other spells.

Is 999 the top amount you can put in a global because I thought I put more than that into AN.

It has been a learning exp and if everybody is done with the Micro-management and cringing at another 50 turns, I will call the game....But PLEASE can I hear 3 definite YES answers as I feel I owe that to you guys for letting me be the buffer and hanging around long enough to try stuff I have never done before,

I must say I have enjoyed this game as much as any I have played, I have played with new and old friends and watched them weave their magic. I am not near the same level as you guys but be careful...you guys have raised me several levels and you might...just might, find me in your backyard one of these days when you least expect it.

Let me know a definitive yes or no answer...I don't see a CLEAR winner and I know it is like kissing your sister, so i will leave it in your hands.

There will not be another turn hosted until we have a consensus.

Thanks for making my first real attempt at hosting a game a success!!!

[Squirrelloid]

Originally Posted by GrudgeBringer

Is 999 the top amount you can put in a global because I thought I put more than that into AN.

Base cost of global +999 is max. When I said 999 I actually meant 999 extra. (so 1149?)

[aaminoff]

call the game: definite YES from me.

Interesting. I think I was right in guessing that Caelum was the bigger threat between H and C. I also think I was right in guessing that I was actually the weakest power of the 3 of us. I just took too many casualties in my wars with Tir na Nog and Sauro. Likewise, I used up too much of my gem supply in those wars - I ended with only about 60 air gems stockpiled, which is not enough for a serious late game cloud trapeze airdrop.

And I was right in suspecting that it was late enough that Caelum had diversified what they can do and lightning resistance alone was no longer important.

Domkill: that is a good idea, though I think by itself I could have countered it with my own blood saccing once I saw what was happening. Combined with raiding to destroy my blood hunting however it could well work; but in a full on war we would presumably have mutually destroyed each others blood economy with raiders. I had an income of around 50 blood slaves per turn at the end.

It is really impossible to say what would have happened. I think Hinnom and I were clever enough to figure out that Caelum was the biggest threat and ally against them. Would the two of us + Ulm have been enough to take them down? Who knows. Would fighting among the big 3 have weakened all of us to the point where Ulm had a chance? Maybe.

Very interesting game, indeed.