Mod Test IV: Fall From Heaven II

Oh... great. So I just killed a God (albiet a re-incarnated one). That makes me fell MUCH better.

I prefer the zombie leader

Oh, and no more gaming for the next 2 or 3 days... I have assignments coming out of my ears...

digitCruncher said:

Oh... great. So I just killed a God (albiet a re-incarnated one). That makes me fell MUCH better.

I prefer the zombie leader

Oh, and no more gaming for the next 2 or 3 days... I have assignments coming out of my ears...

Click to expand...

He's a god according to him, but then again so is Howard Stern.

Why would Auric consider Howard Stern a god?

I'm supprised that he even knows who he is. You wouldn't think that the people of Erebus had access to our world's media. Maybe Mulcarn's spirit spent some time in the real world before in wandered back into Erebus to be reincarnated in mortal form.

No, Howard Stern's Divinity transcends the ages. (And boundries of realite)

Year 305: My scout captures a bear. It was an injured bear with Combat II, so my captured bear ALSO has combat II. Also, unusually, it seems to have got some extra XP, so I can promote it to Combat III!!

Year 308: Begin construction of my first Adept...
Adepts are spell-casters, which are units that can cast spells. They are weak (3 strength), and can't use metal weapons (but can hold 'special' weapons such as the scorched Staff). There power comes from their ability to get a slow (VERY slow) trickle of XP, which is why I am building them early, and protecting them for a very long time...

Also, with the addition of *3* new slaves from barbs attacking the roading project, roads now take only 1 turn to build a road! The roading project increases its production rate by 100%

Year 310: Lizardmen are spreading through the land quickly. These are weaker than my axes, thankfully, but are still a force to be reckoned with, due to thier 2 movement points, enabling them to race and capture undefended workers!

Year 311: My first adept has been created. He can learn 2 spells.
Fair Winds: Gives the Fair Winds promotion to all naval units on that tile. This gives the ships a +25% withdrawl chance, +1 movement, and has a 5% chance of wearing off each turn. Its a useful spell (one that I SHOULD be using more often >.<), in rare occasions.
Treetop Defence: Fortifies all units on the tile. Requires the tile to be a forest. This gives the full +25% bonus.
He can also use spell extention I (Gives +1 movement to all summoned creatures), and Combat I (Gives +10% strength to all summoned creatures, +5% spell damage, and +20% strength).


Year 312: I get my first luxury resource: Cotton.

Wait... what!?

I haven't researched Calander yet... but ironically, it needs no resources! Thus, by building a city on it, I managed to get some cotton!!
(That said... this map is REALLY cotton spammy... in fact I only have 5 resources! About 8 (!) Sources of cotton, 2 silk, 5 sources of cattle, 2 deer, 3 clams, and 2 crabs. I will need trading partners to survive...)

Year 319: Close up the gap, and grab me a source of fire mana. My adepts can learn a new spell...
Blaze. This creates a smoke on the tile (the tile must be a woods of some type). Later, the tile will catch on fire, which will then spread to adjacent tiles. A large forest can remain on fire indefinitely!! The forest will then become a 'new forest', which then grows to a regular forest.
Also, my axeman with the Scorched Staff gets +1 fire (NOT regular) damage.


Year 322: "True power is always costly. However, I can safely say that the rewards far outweigh any of the possible costs. Who cares for sanity, when you can burn the people claiming you to be insane to cinders with a thought? Who cares for purity, when this taint is so much more vitalising? Who cares about the soul, when the mind can break all boundries without it?"
-- Tebryn Arbandi

I found the Ashen Veil!!
The Ashen Veil is arguably the most powerful religion in the game. But that power comes at a harsh cost.
Each city worshiping the Ashen Veil increases the AC by 1 (and Ashen Viel cities are good to raze, each Ashen Veil city razed decreases the AC by 1).
Also, unlike most religions, which give a gold bonus, the Ashen Veil gives a SCIENCE bonus instead. The Ashen Veil has a slightly higher spread rate than the other religions (as it comes significantly later). It has a very strong priest unit, and its missionary unit can also be used to discover technologies.
Now, it also enables two VERY nice units.
Diseased Zombies: These are religious units, which will abandon the civ if my state religion changes. They are 4 strength units, with 2 death strength, and the following abilities:
Immune to Death damage, Poison damage, and fear
-50% resistance to holy strength. +50% resistance to Unholy Damage.
Heals an extra -10% health each turn.
Heals all units on the same tile by an extra -10% health each turn
-30% strength
Occasionally passes the last three abilities to other units in combat.

Rosier the Fallen: 7 strength (+1 unholy), 3 movement.
World Unit (1 allowed)
+40% vs. Disciple units (Priests etc.)
Is a hero (+1 XP each turn until 100 XP)
25% withdrawl chance
Doesn't recieve defencive bonuses
Cannot get diseased, nor plagued.
Building this unit increases the AC by 2 (destroying it reduces it by 2)

Finally, it enables THE most insanely powerful civic in the game with Infernal Pact (but at the price of unlocking Hyborem), Sacrifice the Weak (No upkeep, 1 food cost per population (instead of 2), +4 unhealthy in all cities, +10% science and tax, -20% GP birth rate)


Thier 'missionaries' are 3 strength units, which start with Medic (a promotion you can't normally get!!). They only have 1 movement.

In addition, improvements look different, dependant on your religion:


Year 323: My scout picks up the scourched staff, giving it 3 strength, instead of 2. Its a big bonus. It then heals, and then goes south to hunt some bears...

Year 326: Runes of Kilmorph are founded.
These are an amazing source of gold... each city with this religion yields +1 gold, even without the shrine.
They also have a range of mediocre units, (which we will see how much I underestimate thier power later on ), but allow the Arete civic (with the state religion). This civic increases the production of mines by 1... making production rates increased by a not-insignificant amount, and allows gold-rushing... good synargy with the gold production from the cities innate gold production already!!. Thier shrine also produces earth mana, increasing the chances of these mines to pop resources. This religion turns evil civs neutral, and leaves good and neutral civs alone. This religion synergies nicely with itself, making alot of mediocre traits VERY worth-while

Year 329: My recent change of religion gave me +2 "You are evil" with the Clan... but an equal -2 "You have fallen under the wrong religion" penalty, which increases to -4 after time. It leaves me worse off than what I was before!!


Year 331: A bear attacks my scout. The odds of success are a little under 9%... but it still wins (great). Thus, I lose the scorched Staff. The very next turn, the bear picks up the staff (!?) and uses it. I now need to go on a hunting mission to grab it back... And the fact that the bear now is combat III, and nearly fully healed is gonna make that VERY hard, even for my veteran troops (IE. Not 99% odds )

Year 333: Use the one captured bear to create the dancing bear building (+1 happy, +3 culture). That city needed the happyness anyway (this is the old Illian capital)

Year 334: My four elite units are named. Savant is a regular savant, who is only there for its medic ability. Then there is Ethlered the Untrained, a combat IV, March, Shock II, Commando axe. Then there is Numarkan the Guard, a combat 5, Shock I, Commando, march axe, with 1 more promotion ready. Finally, there is Elisis the Consecrated, a Combat III, March, Shock, Commando axe, with 2 more promotions (it gets to Combat V).

These 4 shock troops will march south, capture the staff (and it will switch between the weakest troop constantly), then move north to fight barbs, level up, and become generally super-powered troops. Ideally, I should have 3 Amphibious axes REALLY soon, for a naval invasion on the nearest "Good" civilisation. Ideally one with the Fellowship of Leaves religion, as the chances of getting the Ashen Veil there are slim to none.

Year 335: Get a great Sage. Then, use him to build "Stigmata on the Unborn". This is the shrine to the Ashen Viel, and has many abilities.
* +4 culture, +2 GPP (Great Sage)
* +1 science per city with Ashen Viel (Instead of +1 gold)
* Provides 1 Entropy Mana (Enables Rust, which is a complex spell. First, it removes the weapons promotions from units in adjacent tiles (but not friendly nor neutral) (Bronze / Iron / Mithril only). Then it gives the Rust promotions to those units (-10% strength). If the units are on cities with access to bronze/Iron/Mithril, at the beginning of next turn, they get them again. This is a REALLY powerful spell in the early game... rusting an Iron axe, for example, turns it from a 6 strength unit, to a 3.6 strength unit!!)
* Spreads the Ashen Veil
* Can turn two citizens into priests, and 1 citizen into a sage.
* +5 to the AC
* Gives all units built in this city the Stigmata Promotion: +X% strength, where X is half the AC. For example, at AC = 14, it gives a 7% bonus...

In addition, as that city is ALREADY a commerce city, its going to become an INSANE science city... with both world wonders giving +100% each, hopefully!!

Year 336: I get this lovely message from someone. I think it is my secret admirer.

I can imagine this world, it will be BEUTIFUL (BTW, this is what happens when the AC gets to certain limits. At 10, 40, 4 points between 60 and 70, 70, 90 and 100, we get these messages. Each of which is more terrifying than the last. At least... until we hit AC = 65, the highest I have ever got...)

Year 339: Prophesy of Ragnarok is made. This wonder gives the "Prohesy Mark" on all units built in this city. Which do NOTHING, except make the AC go higher. (1 per unit). If a unit carrying this mark dies, the AC goes down by 1.

Year 340: Recapture the Scorched Staff.

Year 345: Research sailing, which enables trade over coast.

Year 346: Find a source of gems near my commerce city. This is another happyness resource. Thankfully!!

Year 347: Build my first Trireme. Give it longshoremen (-1 cargo capacity, +1 movement. I used triremes, as this promotion is not available to any units without any base cargo capacity) Forget to give it "Fair Winds" from my adepts.

Year 350: Summary.
My rivals cities:

My cities:

Religious spread:


A few comments/questions:

Can religions spread even without knowing that the civilisation exists? Its helpful to know, but I am 99% sure they do (as long as they are connected by a POSSIBLE trade route... IE. control a coastal city connected to my coastal cities)
This is a world desperate to kill itself -.- I have never had the AC rise so quickly... its already at 13, and likely to rise even faster with the Prophesy Wonder being built, no doubt in a military production city...
Finally... how long can I leave the Infernal Pact?? I would REALLY love to play as Hyborem, which means I need to be the first to research it. Is it high on the list of 'techs AI researches'?

digitCruncher said:

A few comments/questions:

Can religions spread even without knowing that the civilisation exists? Its helpful to know, but I am 99% sure they do (as long as they are connected by a POSSIBLE trade route... IE. control a coastal city connected to my coastal cities)

Click to expand...

Yes

Finally... how long can I leave the Infernal Pact?? I would REALLY love to play as Hyborem, which means I need to be the first to research it. Is it high on the list of 'techs AI researches'?

Click to expand...

Hard to say. But as long as noone else has the Ashen Veil tech AND the religion, it's safe.

The more techs you get before you summon him the better. (Since he get all you have)

And also, if nothing has changed, you also get the Stigmata promotion on units built in the city with the Stigmata shrine.

Which do NOTHING, except make the AC go higher.

Click to expand...

This aint actually true
It gives a promotion to 50 units built in that city witch increases their strenght by X were X is AC/2. So if the AC is 80 your units get +40% to strenght. //yup, it is the stigmata promotion Grey Fox mentioned

He was talking about the Prophecy of Ragnarok wonder, which is as he describes, a way to increase the counter but doesn't directly help the troops produced there.

Stigmata on the Unborn still give Stigmata. This is the only way for a non-demon to get Stigmata. Stigmata give the unit that has it a percentile strength bonus equal to half the Armageddon Counter.

Yip, as stated (but which I need to clarify)

Prophesy of Ragnarok gives the Prophesy Mark promotion to all units built in that city. This increases the AC by 1 each time a unit is built, and decreases it by 1 each time a unit is killed.

An effect of Stigmata of the Unborn which I will edit to add, is to give the Stigmata promotion to all units built in that city. This gives +0.5% bonus for each AC. With 13 AC that gives +7.5% strength.

Rather useless in a science city, I might add

Science is overrated

@digitcruncher:

Diseased Corpses -- and lower-tier religious units generally -- will not abandon you if you change religions. The only units that abandon you because you change religions are the religion's heroes and the high-level priest units. Council of Esus is an exception, because it doesn't have priests, so the units that abandon you are the Shadowriders.

Hmm, then I must have played in some other game then :] I was sure it also did give you the stigmata somewhat ago.

Playing my parallel game... I learned alot about the Infernals that I didn't know before... they start with some INSANE buildings, for free. But Hyborem (the unit) is surprisingly weak when he first appears... it takes some time before he becomes even a remotely dangerous foe. Also, it seems that it is best to pop the Infernals as fast as possible, so that the free units they get have a chance vs. the enemy!!

Finally, in my parallel game, I had 4 continent. The balseraphs were on one (alone, but within coastal reach of the other 2), I was on another, isolated from everyone except the Bannor (who I made evil ^.^), and there was an INSANELY large island, where no less than 7 civs lived. It was so large, that there were 5 barbarian cities making a sort of 'mini-empire'. Finally, there was an empty island.

This custom-continents map script is surprisingly annoying. I expected 3/3/2/2 civs on each island. Instead, I got 7/2/1/0!! That said, Fellowship of the leaves became the single-most worshipped religion (like this one) with about 40% of the populace following. And sure enough, Hyborem spawned surrounded by good civs running the Fellowship... and everyone was +13~+16 relations. Even on noble, it was a tough fight for survival!!

And one last thing: Manes appear SO RARELY. Either it was a bug, but entire stacks of the Clan (who were evil) were being wiped out near my territory, and I only ever got around 10 manes... my population came from capturing the enemies lands!!

Enough about Hyborem... to my game!!

(And I apologise about how short this post is... there are no other civs in this game, no routes to any of them... all in all I feel lonely. And nothing interesting is happening!! But in 100 turns or so, its gonna be HUGE!!)


351: The venerable Bede says I am the second most advanced civ in the world... and the Clan is the third (!) most advanced civ in the world.

354: A player has cast River of Blood. This is a world spell, and was REALLY bad for me... it reduces the population of EVERY city by 2 (globally), and the civ that cast it gets +2 population in each of thier cities.

358: Cast Fair winds on my second trireme (I remembered this time ), and send it off to explore further south.


362: What poor goblins... stuck there for so long.

364: Religious update: Fellowship is up, to 17%. Overlords (and the Viel) are both down, to 11% and 12% respectively.

365: The Necronomicon is built (this is the Octopus Overlords 'shrine'). It is indistinguishable from a standard shrine, except it also provides 1 Water mana, and adds 3 to the AC.

367: Jumping to the conclustion that I am isolated, and thus my only tech trading partner is the Clan (Oh MAN I am desperate ), I sign Open Borders with them.

374: Found a new city, surrounded in floodplains. When the Infernals come, that city is going to be WORTHLESS.


379: Combat III bear loses to a 'green' bear. 3% odds. And I lose them. And whats more, 2 slaves died as well (the bear was guarding them (!?))

381: Build the chaos node. I was only getting it for the mutation chance. Dance of Blades isn't a bad spell.

386: Research Mathematics, and unlock the gambling house. +3 gold, +10% maintanance, +1 happy for 10% tax rate.
With the undercouncil, this is a VERY nice source of happyness. I generally get 4 happy faces from it! (The undercouncil decreases the cost of this building by 75%)
In this year, Order is founded. Order turns every civ 'good'. I have never seen the Order ever become a super-power. So lets ignore it for now... it always gets founded by some civ with a religion already... and never spreads.

389: Give Fair winds for the final exploration with the Trireme.
390: Fair winds wears off. Return to dock
391: Give fair winds for the final exploration with the Triremes. Slap the adepts until they can get a wind that lasts for LONGER than 1 turn

And sure enough, there is no coast linking me to another continent...

396: My chaos mana source has been razed (I was sure I had a screeny of the mages building a chaos mana source...) Unfortunatly (and I found this out before), after making a mana source, the ONLY way to remove that mana node and turn it into another type, is to get a mage with metamagic II, and cast "Diffuse magic", which reverts a mana node to its raw mana equivelent, which enables us to 'pick and mix' our mana sources.

400: Song of Autumn is created. +1 gold per Fellowship of the Leaves city, and provides Nature mana.

Religious advisor confirms my worst fears... FoL has increased to 24%, Order increased to 3%, Overlords dropped to 11%, Veil dropped to 10%, and the Runes of Kilmorph are steady at 0% (But founded. Obviously in a VERY small city...)

This confirms my hypothesis that everyone else is on one big continent...

My tech order will be Astronomy -> Infernal Pact. Then I shall try my luck as the Infernal...

Or would it be more entertaining to continue as the Hippus??

Also, I have remembered to keep my save... the next post will be HUGE, as I expect to meet every civ in the game... thats 7 remaining civs!! Also, I will research the Infernal pact (bringing the Infernal into the game, which is a 'goodbye world' tool).

Lemme ask a personal question... why do you play with so few civs on such a big map?

City razing aside, only units following AV or OO will give you manes.

Hyborem with combat 5 and all 4 heroic upgrades is very strong. Hyborem with mobility, blitz, march and commando - yumie

Yeah Unfortunatly he doesn't start with many upgrades I got him with Combat V, March, City Raider I & II, and Cover I. I was planning on getting him blitz, but I had yet to get to the 122 XP limit for the 12th promotion

And @personal question: I play default. 10 civs, on a huge map. I must have got given a GIANT island, which I was supposed to share with the Illians... and we all know how that turned out.

But thanks about the manes... I thought it was only evil units that died that gave manes... obviously not!! Since there was only one Ashen Viel city on that island, it must have meant that digitCruncher (my old civ) must have died to some barbs... nothing shocking there.

So... that makes spreading the Veil all that more important!! Sadly, its also going to be almost impossible

digitCruncher said:

And @personal question: I play default. 10 civs, on a huge map. I must have got given a GIANT island, which I was supposed to share with the Illians... and we all know how that turned out.

Click to expand...

Yeah 10 on huge is a bit few to me. I play with 8 civs on standard at least.

401: I am the third most powerful civ in the game... and the Clan is THE most powerful civ in the game... nasty!!
Also, in this turn, the Ratcatchers Guild is founded.

Guilds in FFH use the same format as a corporation in Civ IV. And that is where the similarity ends.
No guild increases maintainance, consumes resources, nor do they give resources. Very few guilds have 'executive' units that spread the corporations.
The Ratcatchers guild is founded when a city with a high crime rate, and large population, exists. If there is another city with a higher crime rate and larger population, the Ratcatchers guild headquarters moves there. The Ratcatchers guild increases the crime rate, but also allows more 'interesting' solutions to those problems.
The only problem: I have NEVER had an event that spawned due to crime rate. Even with cities with +40/+50% crime rate, they never made a nuicance to me. Maybe this game... but all in all, its a guild that isn't worth noting much.


402: Move 1 tile east from what I have seen before... and meet the Sheiam. (They were SO CLOSE!!).
The Sheiam are strong spellcasters. Thier traits (Arcane/Summoner) just scream out "Use magic fool!!". Since Arcane/Summoner aren't regular BTS trairs, here is what they do:

Temporary Summoned units last two turns longer (they last 3 turns, instead of 1).
All Arcane units gain the Arcane promotion (Which reduces the targets spell resistance by 10%, Increases the rate at which they get XP, and allows thier world spell: Arcane Lacuna)
Double production speed of Mage Guilds

The Shielm's worldspell is World break (less overpowered than it sounds). It does damage equal to half the AC, to all non-Shielm units in cities, and starts fires all over the world.

Finally, thier replacement for the Axeman (Pyre Zombie) is a devastating unit... 3 strength, +1 fire strength, causes collateral damage. And can use all types of weapons, as per a usual Axeman. Unfortunatly, they have been cut off from the rest of the world, thanks to the Dragon...

The Shielm are the civ who built the Pact of the Nilhorn, meaning they have 3 hill giants wandering around thier city.

404: Find Acheron, the Red Dragon (Remember him? The 21 strength, 4 first strike, super unit which can't move?) He is cutting the Shielm off from the rest of the continent. As a result, the Shielm only have 3 cities (but are doing a fine job at keeping tech parity!!)

406: Avoid the meteors of the Dragon, and meet the next neighbour...


Alexis of the Calabam
The Calabam are a race led by/are all (I don't know which one ) Vampires. Vampire is a promotion (a racial one at that), which gives the following abilities:

+10% strength
+5% heal rate everywhere
Enables Feast (Reduces population of a city to empower it (I assume it means give Empower promotions, which is a +10% strength bonus))
Enables Feed (Sacrifice a bloodpet (the replacement for a warrior) to replenish the unit (I assume it means heal))
Enables Gift Vampirism (Makes a lvl 6 unit or above a vampire)

Alexis is Phi/Agg.
+100% GP birth rate
Free Combat I promotion to all melee and mounted units.
Double production speed of Library, Shipyard and Stable

BOTH civs don't have a state religion, implying that they are isolated too. With only a few turns before Astronomy, I can have 2 continents worshiping the Viel!! Yay!!

However, Alexis is VERY friendly... Trading Horseback Riding and Code of Laws for Bronze working, Calander, and Fishing on her first turn!

408: Trade Trade (Which enables tech trading) for Knowledge of the Ether.

410: Council of Esus is founded. The Shielm convert immediatly.

Council of Esus is another religion that rarely gets powerful enough to do anything. Its most powerful effect, however, is its SHRINE. The shrine makes all units in the civ who are NOT in a city, and within its cultural borders INVISIBLE. This isn't the standard "Giant Spider" invisiblity, however. There is no way to detect these guys. Invading Shielm lands just got a whole lot harder!

The Council of Esus is also wierd... it has no priests, High priests, or Diciples. Instead, all units that aree built in a city with the Council of Esus religion can spread that religion, by paying gold. As a result, instead of getting a Disciple of some sort when you research deception, you get a Nightwatch which worships the council of Esus... 3 strength, +2 Poison strength, 1 First strike, Starts with hidden nationality

412: The Order shrine is built.

Again, just like a regular shrine, but also provides 1 Law Mana.
That turn, meet Ljosalfar.

He has the shrine to the Fellowship of the Leaves...

The Ljosalfar are Elves, which gives the racial promotion "Elvish" to all its units (and its slaves). This gives double movement in Forests and Ancient Forests, and +10% strength in Forests and Ancient Forests (But -25% resistance to cold damage)

They are strong archers, thier UU replace Crossbowmen and Horse Archers, and their UB is a building that gives +1 attack strength to all archery units!

Alemancher is Raider/Defender.
Free Commando promotion AND Homeland promotion to all melee, archery, recon, mounted and disciple units.
The Homeland Promotion gives +10% strength while inside cultural borders, and +10% withdrawl chance.
+1 XP from combat
Double gold from pillaging.
Double production speed from palisade, walls, and Ljoslfar Archery Range.

Thier World Spell is March of the trees... a VERY dangerous spell. It turns all Ancient Forests (Note: NOT regular forests) into Treants (10 strength units... we covered them in the first post )), which can smash an invading stack to little tiny pieces.

Finally, they have one massively powerful ability. They can build improvements WITHOUT cutting down the woods that it was on. This means that a farmland/Ancient Forest with agriculture and sanitation yeilds an insane 6 food!! But ancient forest plains cottages are MUCH more useful. They cannot build lumbermills however... (apparently)

Trade Hunting and Carteography for Masonry and Knowledge of the Ether.

414: Make a welcome discovery:

The FoL (Fellowship of the Leaves) Shrine and holy city is coastal. This means (rather nicely in fact) my amphibious axes can take it easily...

415: Emperion is founded in a distant land. Again, a rather weak religion, but it enables Overcouncil (The opposite of Undercouncil)

There are two 'UNs' in FFH. The Overcouncil is for Good and Neutral civs ONLY. They function very much like the UN in BtS, except you cannot win via a vote.
The Undercouncil is very much different... they vote on things that increase crime, and all thier votes cost gold! The Undercouncil is restricted to Evil and Neutral civs. Neutral civs can only belong to one council.
Both councils have a '1 vote per civ' rule... IE a weak little civ has the same amount of influence than a strong civ. There are exceptions: Controlling certain units will allow you to increase your number of votes to 2.

In this turn, my Axeman manages to withstand TWO lizardman attacks... and walk away with 0.8 strength left!!

417:

Meet Capria of the Bannor. (They follow the Order!! Thats the first I have seen an order state religion. They are also the Order holy city owners)


The Bannor are a noble people (and, as a result, VERY fun to corrupt with the Veil ).
They have no UU's, and thier UB gives the Guardsman promotion to units (making the Bannor immune to such units as the Assassin). As a result, they can use Mages and Adepts with almost impunity, as nothing will ever touch them, unless the entire stack is destroyed!

Capria is spi/ind. This gives her:
No anarchy
Free mobility I to all Diciple units
+50% wonder production
Double production speed of Temples and Forges.


420: Circumnavigate the globe.

422: Find another continent, with the only remaining civ on it... and they aready have Ancient Forests (IE: FoL religion...)

423: Alexis converts to the Veil! I have a friend.


424: Meet Valledia the Even of the Amurites.

Thier world spell is Arcane Lacuna. It does two things: Makes all mana nodes raw mana, and grants XP to all spellcaster units equal to the number of upgraded mana nodes in the world. Its a rather weak (ish) spell, but REALLY annoying.

They are Org/Arcane. This gives them:
-50% civic upkeep
Free Arcane promotion to all Arcane units
Double production speed on Mage Guild, Lighthouse, and Courthouse.

Thier wizards (replace mages) start with a Spell-staff. This is a one-use weapon, which can allow a mage to cast a SECOND time in a turn. It comes handy if there are some serious problems occuring in a war... it can easily turn the tide of war!

Thier fire-bow is a wierd weapon. It is a longbow unit, but starts with Fire I and Channalling II. I ASSUME it means that you can use 1 promotion to grab Fire II (Which enables fire-balls).

Yet again, these guys are FoL followers... But are still willing to trade a world map for Animal Husbandry!

Then... I start a revolution. I change to City States / *Religion* / Slavery / *Foriegn Trade* / Fend for themselves.

This gives +1 happy in almost every city, even when Nationhoods bonus is taken into account, due to the extra +1 happy for religion, and +1 happy with the Temple of the Veil. Foriegn Trade makes my farms produce 1 less food, but makes my overseas trade with some civs VERY profitable (By giving 1 extra trade route, 1 extra trade route for all coastal civs, and -10% gold, +20% culture in all cities (offsetting City States cultural penalty)

427: Meet Varn Gosam of the Malakim.


The Malakim are nomads... starting with the nomad promotion, giving them +20% desert strength. Unfortunatly, desert is the only terrain type with a NEGATIVE defencive bonus, meaning that the net result is a 5% reduction. As a result, a Hippus mounted unit is a better option to cross a desert than a Malakim melee unit (the former getting no defencive bonus, the latter getting a -5% bonus)

However... Varn Gosam has THREE traits: Cre/Fin/Adaptive. This gives him:
+2 culture per city
+1 commerce on all tiles with 2 commerce already
Double production of Carnival, Obelisk, Money Changer, and Market
Periodically changes his second trait (in this case, Financial) to any trait he wishes.

His traits are pure gold. Financial is over powered anyway. And Creative is powerful when the only other source of base culture is religions, or Obelisks! And if Financial isn't good for him, he can always change it!!

He has no state religion as of yet. I trade Wine, Wheat, and 4 GPT, for copper. (Copper doesn't scare me. Rust will destroy that bonus anyway!!)

427: Load the troop into the transport. Just awaiting a few more promotions for the axes. My cleverness knows no bounds... I am chunking an adept with Fair Winds INSIDE a ship, meaning that it will ALWAYS get that bonus!! Oh yeah!

428: Meet Chardon of the Doviello. These guys are little more than barbarians. In fact, their traits reflect that!!
The Doviello decend from someone who observed wolves, and realised that they were onto something, with thier killing of the weak, and nomadic life.

The Dovello have many strong early units, thier warriors have +20% city attack, making a 'quecha-rush' of sorts plausable. Chardon is Agg/Barbarian. This means that he:
Gets a free Combat I promotion for all Melee and Mounted units
Starts at peace with the barbarians
As soon as his score exceeds 50% more than the second place persons score, the barbarians will declare war on them.
Gets -10% science (which remains even after the barbarians declare war)
Double production speed of Shipyards and stables

Thier world spell is rather nice. It makes a wolf for every military unit. This wolf is linked in strength to the unit that it came from. It also gives all animals a +1 strength bonus, globally.

429: Get Dovello to convert to the Ashen Veil.


433: Declare war on the Elves. Firstly, my adept casts Rust, where all but one warrior's weapons fall apart. Then my shock/Amphibious/Combat V axes come rushing in, obliterating all it thier path. Within seconds the city is captured, the caravels move in for protection against the nearby trireme (3 strength vs. 5).
The capture made a slave... but unfortunatly, there was no room on the tile for him. Instead, he appeared 3 years sailing away to the south. The next turn, a hunter recaptures him (and, interestingly enough, he remains a slave )

The city is netting me 21 GPT (after reductions due to civics are taken out), due to the FoL shrine I captured. Finally, it is JUST out of cultural range of the elvish capital. Thankfully.

434: Charadon declares war on me, adopts FoL. Casts Wild Hunt. Grabs tons and tons and tons of wolves. And does almost nothing, as he is MILES away, on the wrong continent, without astronomy...

436: Naval war is much more deep in FFH. In 435, I attacked a Trireme (28% odds, 36% withdrawl). I forgot to keep it to have enough movement to withdrawl if I need to, so I was stuck on the coast. I attacked, and withdrew. I was left with 4HP, and the trireme was left with 5. The next turn (436) the trireme attacked my privateer, and the privateer FLED from combat (into my city). I healed (my Savant gave a bonus for healing), and attacked the next turn, with 98% odds. All in all, that privateer fought that Trireme no less than 3 times before one of them sunk!

439: Gilden Silveric (The Ljoslafar Unique Hero) is born.
This unit is a 6 strength unit (5/6 base, with Dexterious, which gives an additional +1/+0 strength) with a first strike, +25% city defence, +25% hills defence, and can use all sorts of weapons (making him a 7 strength unit with bronze weapons). He fortifies in the Ljoslafar capital... making it VERY hard to capture.
He also gets Hero, and the Elven bonuses

440: An orphanage burned down in Shielm lands Everyone is sad.

The FoL shrine is open for buisness... pulling in 21 GPT. Unfortunatly, the maintainance costs for this city are HUGE, even with City States. They are 5 GPT maintanance (I don't know what for!!)

They are also angry (-7 unhappyness), so I whip them, to grab an obelisk.

441: Council of Esus moves to my lands.

444: My sages say that I am about to sign an Infernal Pact, meaning that Hyborem, the leader of Hell itself, will enter Erebus... I give the world, and my spirit enters the infernal...

445: "I pledge my body, to gain your strength. I pledge my mind, to gain your insight. I pledge my soul to gain your obediance"

I allow the Infernal to enter the world:


The starting location:


Oh great. Just PERFECT. Again, surrounded by a GOOD civ. Even worse, the entire world is GRASSLAND, which, for the Infernals at least, is the worst type of terrain possible. (Thier fallow trait means that they don't need food)

Thier capital.


Now about Hyborem.

Hyborem is the only leader of the Infernals. He has 4 traits: Fallow/Barbarian/Exp/Summoner. This gives a plethora of abilities.
* Food has no effect on cities (Cities do not grow and shrink due to food)
* Summoned creatures last 2 turns longer
* +3 health in all cities
* Compassion civics require no upkeep
* Double production speed of Granary and Harbour
* -10% science
* Starts at peace with the barbs
* Barbs will declare war when the civ gets 50% more points than the second place civ.

He also starts with the Hyborem Hero
7 strength (+2 unholy strength), 2 movement.
+5 to the AC
Can use all types of weapons.
Starts with Iron weapons (+2 strength)
Starts with Gela (a peice of equipment, giving +2 unholy strength, to 13 strength overall)
+10% Hell strength
Immune to Death, Poison, and Unholy damage, and immune to fear
+20% resistance to Fire damage
-25% resistance to Holy damage
Is a Hero (+1 XP each turn until 100 XP)
If he dies, he respawns at the capital, but only once.
Is required to unleash the Hyborem world spell.

This makes him a VERY strong unit!!

In addition, Hyborem starts with two longbows, an Imp (replaces an adept),a worker, 3 Manes, and 2 champions (6 strength melee units, which can use all sorts of weapons, and have +25% vs. melee).
All the units except the manes, the workers, and Hyborem start with mobility 1.
All the military units, except the manes, start with Iron weapons. In addition, the Infernal Palace starts with a source of Iron, meaning Iron weapons, even without the tech!!

Manes are a unique unit, in more ways than one. If Hyborem doesn't grow or shrink its city sizes due to food, how DO they grow? The answer is simple: Manes can sacrifice themselves to grow the size of the city. Manes cannot be built, but spawn whenever a unit which is worshiping the Ashen Viel religion, or Octopus Overlords religion, dies. Note: It isn't enough that the civ has the Viel / Overlords state religion. The only requirement is that the unit was built in a city with the Overlords religion.
They are also created when an evil city is razed. All in all, they come VERY rarely, and must be protected at all costs. As a result, whipping is a VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY bad idea. Manes can be used as a military unit (2 strength, +1 unholy. Yeah right), upgraded to any military unit, or used to hurry production on a city.

The Infernal World spell can convert 3 cities worshiping the Veil to the Infernal cause, as long as they aren't capitals (I choose the Ashen Veil Holy city ). Unfortunatly, that will take a while... I need Maleviolent Designs first.

Oh, and all units built by the Infernals are demons, giving them
+10% Hell strength
Immune to Death, Poison, and Unholy damage, and immune to fear
+20% resistance to Fire damage
-25% resistance to Holy damage

What is this Hell I keep on mentioning? Simple, Hell terrain is a replacement for regular terrain. Different terrain types (and some resources) change when Hell reaches them. The Infernal capital is the source of all Hell Terrain, and Hell terrain spreads, depending on the AC. After the AC hits 25 (Which it nearly has, for a second time ), it can spread to un-owned territory. After the AC hits 50, it spreads to evil territory, and at 75 it spreads to neutral territory. It never spreads to good territory.
Most Hell terrain is like regular terrain. However, resources change drastically. Also, hell can 'creep under' tundra, ice, and over oceans, giving no observable difference, but still allowing Hell terrain to spread to other islands. Otherwise, hell just creeps, 1 tile at a time, until the world is covered in it. We will see some Hell-ified resources very soon. But Hell terrain also kills all woods, and floodplains (meaning I was stupid in researching Sanitation... its not like the Infernals are ever going to have jungle in thier BFC )

Finally, the last comment on the Infernals. Every city they capture, and every city they build, starts off with several buildings (Note: These are default for ALL cities).
Demonic citizens: +1 unhappy, no unhappyness in this city. No unhealthiness due to population in this city.
Elder council: +2 science. Can turn one citizen into a scientist
Forge: +1 unhealthy. +25% production. Can turn one citizen into an Engineer.
Mage Guild: Can build Imps (replace Adepts)
Obsidion Gate: Can airlift one unit per turn.
Training Yard: Can build Axemen, Champions. +1 happy with Nationilism.

Finally, all cities also start with the Ashen Veil. Although it is POSSIBLE to have a good Hyborem worshiping the Order, its also possible (to use a FFH II quote ) to ride a donkey and use a teapot for a helmet Its not easy... put it that way. Much easier to rely on the Veil, which comes for free.

Adopt God King, Religion, Slavery (for the free semi-workers), Foriegn Trade (pays off later), and Basic care (so the elves don't kill me RIGHT away... I will adopt Sacrifice the Weak soon...)

446: My old civ casts "Warcry". Its a spell I rarely use... I just can't find the right time! Nonetheless, it does alot of good, really quickly...

448: Meet a familiar face

digitCruncher of the Hippus!! Long time no see!!


I open borders with him... and get a fair bit of extra commerce!!

Now... with that all done, I can discuss about the game.

If digitCruncher wins, then I consider it a victory for me. After all, since I am better than the AI, and the AI still won from that condition I left them in, I must have been able to win if I stayed as the Hippus. If I (Hyborem) win, then obviously that is ALSO a victory for me.

As is, the Hippus are in a VERY good shape. They are recently decimated the Elves (they have captured another city, I know this because I can see them ), and control two shrines, one increasing gold, and the other increasing science. The Great Library is also nearing completion. Finally, they own an entire ISLAND, so its gonna be hard for them to lose...

I, on the other hand, am bottled up. I will have to attack two elvish cities to expand, and meet the rest of the civs (again). Eventually, I should become buddies enough with digitCruncher so that I can trade maps with him, speeding up my advancement of finding all the other civs. But I am not attacking until the elves unleash "march of the trees", as that spell could possibly kill Hyborem (once). Better just to wait and see.

I am grabbing Smelting so that I can spam workshops. Food is no problem for me. Hyborem, with his no unhappyness, and his no requirements to... well... eat, means that there is one thing that needs to be done. Build units, capture cities, adopt city states, repeat, until the world is yours. Or you build the Tower of Mastery.

I feel sort of bad decending the entire world into a fiery hell... is that normal?? I am going for a conquest victory here... which will take a while with 11 civs (10 after I killed the Illian )

The "what!?" moment is their world spell: Arcane Lacuna. This is the SAME world-spell as the Sheilm. Since we already know what THAT does, we will ignore it.

Click to expand...

World Break is the Sheaim world spell, which damages all units = AC