I'm still fairly new to this game and probably the newb at vanilla civ as well, but I understand most of the basic concepts. For fun I decided I'd aim for the Ashen Veil in this current playthrough and summon the demons of hell. I chose to remain in control of my civ (Amurites led by Valledia) and had the Infernals set-up camp near my borders. At first I thought it would be a good idea, I'd end with a powerful ally or something to that effect and basically expected they'd be useful. Currently, all they've really down is spread their fires, which I'm constantly repelling with Adepts.

Basically, as a human player, aside from being an ally, do they have a use? If not, I'd quite like to go slaughter them :lol:

[It's worthy of note that as a newb, this isn't at a particularly high difficult level, my game is currently just about me learning the ropes of the game].

Also, how come Ashen Veil doesn't have a temple I can build in the holy city? =/

To build the Ashen Veil wonder (Stigmata on the Unborn) you need a Great Sage, rather than a Great Prophet.

As far as Hyborem goes, now, I've found him useful when it comes to drawing attention away from me through the use of the Patriarch of the Ashen Veil. (Declare war on everyone, have him join you, then start invading enemies while he pulls some of the heat.)

Hell terrain itself is quite useful, stop repelling it and let it spread. Many of your religion specific units gain bonuses on hell terrain, some of the summons do as well, an excellent companion for your amurite casters are eidolons, if you upgrade well, a diseased corpse gains cannibalism, which makes the upgrade to eidolon a near invincible, mob proof defender. With sheut stones, the hell replacement for cows, you'd have a further +1 death damage on your units as well, the trade off 10% vulnerability to holy damage is fairly mild by comparison. Get water mana and turn all your deserts into plains first and the detractions from hell terrain are less than the benefits after the initial destruction of improvements.

Get water mana and turn all your deserts into plains first and the detractions from hell terrain are less than the benefits after the initial destruction of improvements.

Note that you can do this after hell spreads by:
1) casting sanctify near the Burning sands, followed by spring on the Desert (once the flames are out).
2) Casting Spring twice with 1-2 spellcaster(s) with sufficient fire resistance to enter Flames.

Thanks for the answers. I didn't realise the hell terrain was actually useful, I kind of saw it spreading and thought “crap, I’m doomed”, I guess I’ll let it spread then. So many wasted turns, heh. I don't have Spring yet but I have a nearby Mana resource I can nab for it.

And BCalchet, thanks for the info, didn’t realise I needed a Sage. I suppose he’d make a useful war ally to I guess.

Quick Q though, is it worth spreading the Ashen Veil to other civs or will they reject it? (I figured the evil guys would accept it and maybe a few neutrals but is it worth it?)

Spreading your religion is always worth it.

You'll get revealed cities on the map, and free research from the Stigmata on the Unborn - not to mention increased Armageddon counter values. If you spread it enough, you'll also have the chance to convert others to it, which, with a patriarch, will give you an additional war ally when the final battle comes.

Spreading your religion is always worth it.

You'll get revealed cities on the map, and free research from the Stigmata on the Unborn - not to mention increased Armageddon counter values. If you spread it enough, you'll also have the chance to convert others to it, which, with a patriarch, will give you an additional war ally when the final battle comes.
Interesting, I suppose that's something to take on to my next game I guess.

I take it that demon cities don't suffer from starvation ? I saw a screen shot of a city on another thread at size 308. I cant see how this is possible otherwise???

Infernals in fact have no effects whatsoever from food. Though that means to grow they need war (though not neccesarily involving them :evil: )

Yeah their cities grow by sacrificing manes, which they can get when other civilizations units or population die.