beginner guide and basics for the new player

very important notice: please read

please do NOT post on this thread yet, as it isn't done and i don't know how long the edit ability lasts. if there's posts by u guys in between my posts for the guide, it would be confusing and messy.

so far, i can still edit, but i ran out of room. only so many characters per post. so now i made a 2nd post. so please do NOT post on THIS thread since i have to make additional posts anyways due to limit of character length per post.

i made another thread for and that u may post your feedback about this thread here:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=309085

^ (post your feed back for this thread on this thread link above) ^
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Darkness said:

So, last night I downloaded FfH2 and played around a little bit.

Needless to say I don't have the slightest idea what I'm doing (although I've played Civilization for years and am actually fairly decent at it, but this game just 'feels' much more complex).

I could use some pointers, like:

- What's a good civ to start with?
- What must I focus on in the early game? (which techs/buildings/units are important for me to get reasonably quickly ?)
- What do I need to watch out for?
- Is there any good material to read about playing this mod (I've already downloaded Xienwolf's manual and read the tutorial, but I really need more help) ?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
What's a good civ to start with? -darkness

good civs are at top of civ selection list. neutral civs are in the middle of the civ selection list. evil civs are at the bottom of civ selection list. this (the "civ selection list") is in the game creation-setup screen where u choose your civ, # of civs, and other game settings.

good, neutral, evil effects diplomacy and many other things in the game.

religions can specifically change your alignment (good, neutral, evil) status, but i don't want to go into detail of it right now.

these civs (below, 1-5) are the mostly conventional civs. aka they are the most like civ4/warlords/bts civs. the other civs have some kind of unique features of FFH2 which can make them harder to learn for new people.

1. elohim civ. good civ. leaders are ethne the white-female and einion logos-male (best civ for new players)
2. hippus civ. neutral civ. leaders are Tasunke-male and rhoanna-female (powerful warmonger civ)
3. dovello civ. evil civ. leaders are mahala-female and charadon-male (weak after beginning of game)
4. clan civ. evil civ. leaders are jonas-male and sheelba-female (weak after beginning of game)
5. bannor civ. good civ. leaders are Sabathiel-male and capria-female (good warmonger and huge empire civ)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What do I need to watch out for? -Darkness

the new stuff of FFH2 u need to know compared to civ4/warlords/BTS:

1. the recon unit line is a major military combat line on par with melee, mounted, archery, seige, etc.
2. the recon units CAN attack-take cities (don't lose your capitol to an exploring scout who declares war on u controlled by a human player)
3. exploration is much much much more dangerous. you WILL 95% of the time lose your warriors and scouts if u leave your culture-territory
4. besides goody huts with their good and bad outcomes, there's also explorable tiles like dungeons or graveyards (that also have good and bad outcomes), barbarian unit spawning tiles (ruins, goblin forts, barrows, bear dens, etc?), special feature tiles like guardian of pristine pass, pyre of seraphs, etc (that can have good or bad outcomes).
5. barbarians are much much more dangerous in FFH2 (especially with raging barbs on, higher difficulties, and more "fogged" tiles), especially for new players. cities with 1 warrior isn't enough anymore. 3 warriors per city is a good amount to be safe for new players.
6. beware the barbarian hero unit, Orthus. make sure u got ~5 decent-good promoted warriors ready for him.
7. there's items in the game like when u kill orthos u can pick up his axe.
8. do NOT go near the barbarian city with the red dragon Acheron, until u are ready.
9. diplomacy and relationships are based on alignment (good, neutral, evil) and hardcoded mechanics for each civ, for example, some civs HATE other civs. some civs LOVE to go to war.
10. the civs are VERY unique and different from each other.
11. religions are completely different in FFH2. they are like further customation (uniqueness) for your civs. religions can also change your alignment. they have many many many additional effects.
12. FFH2 has a magic system. with it's own magic units and magic resources and improvments. both religious magic and non-religious magic.
13. the AC (armegeddon counter). as this gets higher bad things happen and the game gets much more dangerous and difficult.
14. two unique civs that can enter the game (they can NOT be picked before u start the game)
15. the spread of hell tiles.
16. the creation of ice tiles by the illian civ.
17. metal resources (copper, iron, mithril) work differently in FFH2. they add str to melee and some other units. there's a spell, RUST, that can remove these metal upgrades of str to your units.
18. HERO units. they GET +1 exp per turn until they reach 100 exp.
19. magical units. they have a CHANCE of getting +1 exp per turn until they reach 100 exp.
20. promotions in FFH2 are much much much more powerful.
21. u can get exp from barbarian units up to 100 exp
22. to go over 100 exp, u must win against other civ units. (there's a few other means as well).
23. golem units (luchiurp civ) do NOT get exp. they are unique units and work differently based off of a hero unit, Barnaxus, and buildings.
24. animal barbarians can NOT enter your culture (unless owned by another player).
25. military unit barbarians CAN enter your culture and attack your cities.
26. there's also beast barbarians.
27. the hill giant barbarian unit can NOT enter your culture (unless owned by another player. usually they are from a wonder and they are named moe, larry, or curly)
28. some units can pillage and some can't.
29. there's many many many events in FFH2. it's a good idea as soon as u can, to get and always keep 100 gold in supply for the events.
30. etc...

i'll add more later.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SE vs CE: specialist (farm-food) economy vs cottage economy

in/for the short term,

CE is superior. also, the armegeddon "blight" event does NOT remove your cottages.

however, in the long term or ultimately,

SE is superior. however, SE requires your cities to build lots of buildings, which is really bad for the short term. wasting time building buildings, instead of military units for a military force. or it jsut takes so much longer to build buildings and there's so many buldings to get the high amount of specialists (at least until u get the tech and civic that gives unlimited specialists) to get the commerce in time for your empire. HOWEVER, beware the armegeddon "blight" event. it removes all your farm improvements. make sure u got an army of workers, to quickly re-farm your empire.....

the civs:

(this is done to help new players know which civ is which and what civ they should play based on their own playstyle and some starting strategies and ideas at how u can or "should" play the civs)

good (6 civs + 1 special civ = 7 total good civs)

1. elohim. they are the "peace keeper" civ. mostly a builder civ and some warmonger civ. same "strength" for all 3 stages (early, mid, late) of a game but the ability to lower the armegedon counter is very helpful for the mid and late game. they can build monks which have a bonus against demon units and get 2 moves and has medic 1 promotion (i think). also able to counter-lower the armegedon counter. no particuluar religion goes well for them, but the veil religion shouldn't be used with them because it conflicts with them in terms of the armegedon counter and some other things. they have abilities to make peace during war.

2. luchuirp. they are the "golem" and "half-dwarf" (they can build only a few dwarven units. their selection of dwarven units is very limited) civ. mostly a warmonger civ and some builder civ. can be "strong" in early game. but they gain their real "strength" in mid and late game. they can build unique units known as golems. the mud golem (their worker unit) does NOT take food to build meaning that your city can still grow as u build them. however it takes longer to build the mud golem too. the mud golem DOES build improvements the quickest though. military golem units do NOT get exp. they can receive promotions ONLY from certain buildings AND a unique hero unit called Barnaxus. u should get barimus ASAP as the situation permits and don't let him get defeated either. dwarven units can move 2 tiles when going over hills when they only got 1 movement, aka hill tiles only cost 1 movement point for dwarven units. dwarven units get combat bonuses on hill tiles. the veil or runes of kilmorph religions goes well for them. the repair ability on spells and from the kilmorph hero bambur can repair/heal the golem units. but ANY/ALL religions are good for luchuirp as it gives them the missing military line of units that the luchuirp don't have naturally (excluding the golems).

3. bannor. they are the "crusader" civ. a warmonger civ. they have decent "strength" in the early game, but they really shine in the mid and late game, especially if/when they got a huge empire and lots of cottages and crusade civic. they have a lot of features and abilities that really give them prowess at warmongering and are able to support a huge empire at the same time. the order religion goes well for them. cottages can spawn units for u.

4. kuriotates. they are the "super city-3rd ring cities" civ. mostly a builder civ. they have good "strength" in the early game, but lose their strength into the mid and late game. take note that they can only have ~3 real cities but they have a 3rd ring. u can build settlements though for resources and such. any religion goes well for them, except somewhat the fellowship of the leaves. since keeping forests kinda defeat the purpose of having a 3rd ring, though if u get to the tech that allows for lumber mills u can have some powerful production cities for war-units or buildings or wonders. centaurs can increase their movement with sprint unit command ability. also, i think this is the civ that gets another cottage improvement stage of growth called the enclave (town -> encalve).

5. ljosalfar (*arendel phaedra leader ONLY*). they are the "good-light" elven civ. they are mostly a builder civ and a very good builder civ too. they can have weak "strength" in the early game depending how u play them, but they get "stronger" with their forest improvements (cottages or farms and huge sized-population cities) into the mid and late game. they can build farms and cottages ON forests, but they build improvements slower. they are the archer and recon (NON-assassin) tech military unit line civ. the fellowship of the leaves religion goes very well with them. they can NOT build seigecraft (like catapults) so u'll have to use other means for attacking cities. elven units can move 2 tiles when going over forests (NOT jungles) when they only got 1 movement, aka forest tiles (NOT jungle) only cost 1 movement point for elven units. elven units get combat bonuses on forest tiles. they get a +1 str bonus dextrous promotion to archery units. they also get gildan hero at archery tech.

6. malakim. they are the "desert" civ. they are mostly a builder civ. their greatest "strength" is probably in the mid game. though deserts are NOT good for their city tiles. u actually want floodplains for your cities. the units get a combat bonus when on desert tile though. also the units can move 2 tiles when going over deserts when they only got 1 movement, aka desert tiles only cost 1 movement point for their units. the emperean religion goes well with them.

neutral (7 neutral civs)

1. amurites. they are the "magic" civ. they are mostly a warmonger civ. they are weak in the early game, but pick up in mid and late game. u can either make arcane (magic) units or build the firebow unit (longbow unit tech path. requires both achery and bronze working...i think..though maybe this been changed now). if u like to use magic than this civ is for u. any religion can go with this civ. the veil or octopus overlords religion has some slight synergy compared to the other religions but not drastically so to make them better than the other religions. their hero unit can teach spells to other units. and they have some special buildings to enhance your magic ability.

2. grigori. they are the "adventure unit" and "agnostic" (NO religion) civ. they are mainly a warmonger civ and some builder civ. they are very "strong" in the early and late game, but less so in the mid game. they can't have a state religion and can't use/get any effects of a religion. they have a unit called the adventure unit which is produced from GPP's (great people points). it can NOT be built normally. this adventure unit will gain +1 exp per turn until it has 100 exp. also u can choose what type of unit to turn it into (recon, melee, medic, arcane) once u got the apropraite tech, building, gold, and etc (if i'm missing any other requirement needed). their melee unit line gives them the dragon slayer unit which gets a bonus against dragons but otherwise is a normal melee unit against all other units. they also have the unique medic unit but it's a ways off (mid game tech). because they are agnostic and can't get religions, they can instead be using that to be going for and getting the magic techs. they have some of the strongest arcane (magic) units. many people also like to go for and get/use mercenary units as support units for this civ since u don't get too many adventure units.

3. hippus. they are the "mongols-mounted unit-horse" and "mercenary" civ. they are warmonger civ. they are very "strong" in the early game. if u know history, "mongols", or literature, "LotR=Rohan". they can also utilize mercenaries better than other civs. go go mounted tech and mercenary tech lines. not that much more to say about them... any religion goes well with them, but the order religion is probably the best suited for them. the empyrean can also be a good religion for them with the blinding spell and hippus' horselord promotion + the empyrean ratha mounted unit.

4. khazad. they are the "dwarf" and "production powerhouse" civ. they are mainly a warmonger civ and a very good builder civ (though most people prefer to use their warmongering ability over build ability and play them as warmongers). they are "strong" in the early and mid of the game. they have a unique feature called the vault "building" in all their cities. what this means is that, the more gold u have the more bonuses u get. the less gold u have the more penalties u get. the top bonus is achieved when u have 400 gold in supply for each city u have. make sure u build up a supplus of gold when u play khazad. moving the slider to 0% beakers and 100% gold is often used by more experienced players to get their gold up when they need to. their units are all dwarven so that means they get combat bonuses on hills and hills only cost 1 movement point allowing a dwarven unit with 1 move to move 2 tiles if it go over hills. the runes of kilmorph religion goes well with them. when u add thier monstrous production ability and the melee line of miltary units and spam the melee miltary units out with your massive production they are definately a warmongering powerhouse and mostly agreed as being the best warmonger civ. it's really hard if not impossible to survive against the powerhouse khazad with an experienced player who knows how to play them well. go melee tech line with khazad and get runes of kilmorph religion and powerhouse over all opposition. oops, nearly forgot, khazad can NOT make mages and archmages and can NOT use arcane spells past level 1. they CAN make adapts and use level 1 arcane spells. their only way to use higher spells-magic is by getting druids (discipline-religious units) and using discipline-religious spells-magic. they also have stronger seigecraft units too. and might have some kind of bonus with gunpowder tech and units but not sure.

5. lanun. they are the "pirate-water-sea-coastal" civ. they are 50/50 warmonger and builder civ. they are decent throughout the game (early, mid, late). obviously they control the seas (ocean tiles and naval warfare). they have a special resource, pearls, that only they can see and build improvement for-on it (they can trade-give it to anotehr civ though through diplomacy-trading). they have units that get amphibious combat bonus. they also have a special improvement called pirate coves. u wanna build their cities on the coast of course. for military going the metal line makes them into decent-average warmongers. any religion can be good for them, but octopus overlords religion has a bit more synergy with them than the other religions. with falamer-male as your leader, female leaders will like u (+? to relations) in terms of diplomacy (except os-galabala of the sheim. she HATES males). i think they get +1 extra food from coastal tiles not sure about ocean tiles though.

6. ljosalfar (*thessa and amelanchier leaders ONLY*). they are the "good-light" elven civ. they are mostly a builder civ and a very good builder civ too. they can also be a decent-good warmonger civ too. they can have weak "strength" in the early game depending how u play them, but they get "stronger" with their forest improvements (cottages or farms and huge sized-population cities) into the mid and late game. they can build farms and cottages ON forests, but they build improvements slower. they are the archer and recon (NON-assassin) tech/military unit line civ. the fellowship of the leaves religion goes very well with them. they can NOT build seigecraft (like catapults) so u'll have to use other means for attacking cities. elven units can move 2 tiles when going over forests (NOT jungles) when they only got 1 movement, aka forest tiles (NOT jungle) only cost 1 movement point for elven units. elven units get combat bonuses on forest tiles. they get a +1 str bonus dextrous promotion to archery units. they also get gildan hero at archery tech.

7. sidar. they are the "assassin-sneaky" and the "specialists" civ. they are mostly a builder civ, but can be played as a decent-good warmongering civ as well. they are good in both the early and mid game. they get bonuses to specialists (better specialists and super speciasts) so u should do a SE-farm cities, AND/OR when a military unit gets to level 6 it can become a shade which can than become a super specialist (except a great priest) in a city. another great idea is to get adapts (arcane units) as they can raise their exp without combat (arcane units have a CHANCE of getting +1 exp every turn) and use them to become shades for more super specialists. using their 3 ways to make specialists and super specialists, they usually have a huge tech lead over other civs. use this to your advantage. jsut make sure u keep enough experienced units so u don't get killed. don't turn them all into shades and than into super specialists in your cities. as for military they have good assassin type units. also, while any religion is good for them, the esus religion has good synergy with them. blackmantle's post #10 at this link, http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=307149, pretty much provides expert advice/playstyle for playing the sidar civ.

evil (7 civs + 1 special civ = 8 total evil civs)

1. balseraphs. they are the "evil clown" and "culture" civ (and "insane" too if using pertanarch leader). they are mainly a warmonger civ and slightly a builder civ. they are good in both the early and mid game. they have features and abilties to generate more culture than any other civ (though kuriotates and sidar can be a rival for them in terms of culture). so if u want a culture victory a way to give u an advantage (if u do want one) is to be the balseraph civ. they can also cage the different races (human, elf, dwarf, orc) of slave units u capture as well as animal cages. as for their military, they have chaos mana from their palace so your units can be mutated with random promotions good or bad. they have loki (their hero unit) and gypsy wagons that can give u gold and lower culture from other civ-player-ai-human cities. they have many unique military units. any religion can be used with them, but the octopus overlords religion has more synergy with them than any other religion and most people use/get it for this civ. lastly, pertanarch leader has a trait called insane and it randomly after x # of turns gives u 3 new-different traits randomly choosen (u will always have 3 traits, but which ones u have or are given is random).

2. calabim. they are the "vampire" and "farm-food" civ. they are mainly a warmonger civ and also a decent builder civ too. they are weakest in the early game, but get "stronger" in mid and late game. their full "strength" is in the late game. the most glaring thing about them is the vampire (vampire-champion-maceman, vampire lord-immortal and brujah-berserker) units (melee line). vampires can FEAST on a city, lowering its population and generates unhappines but gets exp. this alows for unlimited exp which is well beyond the number of promotions available. u can get every single promotion eventually on a vampire (vampire, vampire lord, brujah) unit or vampiric unit (more on this in a short bit). u don't want or don't have to have all your cities be farm food cities. if u gluttony too much with the vampire units and vampiric units 's FEAST ability u can destroy your empire and lose the game. so have some moderation. also it takes a really long time to maximize the calabim's full potential, especially in a competitive game, so don't rely on feasting and vampires too much. their axemen (morai) has a suicidal ability making them strong units for city taking or killing something at that stage in the game. also they have the governor manor building which gives them +1 production i think for each unhappy person. so unhappiness isn't neccessarily a bad thing with the calabim once u have governor manor buildings. any religion can go with them, but usually people prefer the octopus overlords or order religions as they have some good synergy. not too many people use the fellowship of the leaves religion for them though, but it could be really good too. okay here's the BIG SECRET about the calabim that the more advanced players know about. forget getting vampires. GET LOSHA (hero unit). she's the queen of blood. the leader of the death dealers. the queen of the dam.ned. u get the picture...*grins*. so what makes LOSHA so good..she can turn ANY LIVING UNIT into a vampiric unit which means they can use the FEAST ability to get unlimited exp. would u rather have a measly vampire unit or a vampiric knight or order religion crusader unit ? how about a vampiric magic unit (arcane or discipline) able to get unlimited exp....terrifying......lastly, don't forget that vampire can eat blood pets (calabim warriors) for life (this might have been removed, not sure). can NOT build the elder council.

3. clan of embers. they are the "orc-barbarian" civ (clan civ and barbarian state have the same units but they are two different entities. one is an actual civ and the other is the "barbarians"). they are warmongers. they are "strongest" in the early game. take note that if their scout (goblin) unit kills a wolf, it becomes a wolf rider (horsemen) mounted unit at 4 str and 2 move with OUT needing to get/have the tech and the stables building. also the goblin only gets 1 move compared to other civs' scout units at 2 moves but makes up for it if it kills a wolf like i jsut mentioned already. their warren building will create another of the same military unit when u build a military unit. about the barbarian trait. the barbarian trait means that u are at peace with the barbarian state ("barbarians", both "barbarian" animals and "barbarian" military units/NON-animals). if u choose to attack a "barbarian" military unit/NON-animals than u permanently end your peace with the barbarian state ("barbarians"). if u choose NOT to attack, your unit simply moves onto the same tile as them. if u choose to attack a "barbarian" animal, it does NOT effect your peace with the barbarian state ("barbarians"). if u choose not to attack it, u simply move onto the same tile or u don't move onto the same tile (i can't remember which happens). of course if u choose to attack either "barbarian" animal or "barbarian" military unit/NON-animal than u can of course die/lose the combat or win it. ALSO take note that if your score is 50% more than the civ in 2nd place's score, the peace with the babarian state ("barbarians") automatically ends/cancels out and they will attack u now. so be careful with getting your score too high. their best military tech path is the metal line which i think still also gives them their hero unit, Rantine. rantine has a special ability that *IF U ARE STILL AT PEACE* with the barbarian state ("barbarians"), THAN u can claim/convert their cities for/as your own **IF rantine has higher exp/level than the highest unit exp/level defending the "barbarian" city**. as for some strategies on how to play the clan civ. use the barbarian trait to REX (rapid expansion) as many cities as u can ( need agriculture and farms). u do NOT need (and u can't anyways build) mage guids to build shamans (clan adapts). once u got as many cities as u can, change any farms into cottages and cottage up city tiles u haven't so to be able to deal with the cost of all those cities. get markets if u need to (festival tech). also make sure u connect all your cities with roads so they get the additional gold from trade routes too. than u need to rush for necromancy tech and have at least 1 mana node. make a death node. spam shamans (clan adapts) and spam skel warriors. use this skeleton army legion to crush all who oppose u. i can't remember if the clan can get mages and archmages or not. you can of course do a conventional axeman (metel line) rush and use rantine hero OR a conventional wolf rider (horsemen) rush (mounted line) and don't forget that your goblins (scouts) become wolf riders if they kill a wolf (independant of tech and building). making wolf riders in your cities though requires the tech and building. any religion can go well with the clan, but being that they are an early warmonger civ, u probably don't have time to get order or veil (though both are good for clan as well as the otehr religions. the veil religion can be very good for the clan if u survive that long), so that makes octopus overlords, runes of kilmorph, and fellowship of the leaves religions usually prefered. octopus overlords and fellowship of the leaves are usually choosen more by people than runes of kilmorph. the fellowship of the leaves can be very nice for the clan too. but so is the octopuss overlords. can NOT build the library and stables and mage guild. u CAN build shamans still (clan adapts) and wolf riders (clan horsemen) but i'm not sure if u can make them in the city also or just from scouts killing wolves and becoming wolf riders.

4. doviello. they are the "brotherhood of the wolf" or the "beastman" or the "viking" civ. they are a warmonger civ. they are "strongest" in the early game. they start with a minor hero lucian (axeman). he does NOT have teh hero promotion so he does NOT get +1 exp per turn. u also start out with an extra beastman (doviello warrior). in total at the very start of the game u get 3 beastman (3 warriors), lucian (1 axeman), 1 worker, 1 settler). you should go the metal path with them. they do NOT have/need any buildings to make/build military units. also they can upgrade outside your culture/territory. they can not build library or mage guild. they can still make shamans (doviello adapts). they can call upon wolves to help them with their world spell. their palace gives them -40 war weariness to help with their warmongering. about the barbarian trait. the barbarian trait means that u are at peace with the barbarian state ("barbarians", both "barbarian" animals and "barbarian" military units/NON-animals). if u choose to attack a "barbarian" military unit/NON-animals than u permanently end your peace with the barbarian state ("barbarians"). if u choose NOT to attack, your unit simply moves onto the same tile as them. if u choose to attack a "barbarian" animal, it does NOT effect your peace with the barbarian state ("barbarians"). if u choose not to attack it, u simply move onto the same tile or u don't move onto the same tile (i can't remember which happens). of course if u choose to attack either "barbarian" animal or "barbarian" military unit/NON-animal than u can of course die/lose the combat or win it. ALSO take note that if your score is 50% more than the civ in 2nd place's score, the peace with the babarian state ("barbarians") automatically ends/cancels out and they will attack u now. so be careful with getting your score too high. any religion goes with them. some people like to use octopus overlords religion becuase it is more of a warmongering religion. runes of kilmorph religion is also good too. the fellowship can be good too.

5. illians. they are the "winter" civ. they are a warmonger civ. they have about the same strength throughout the game (early, mid, late). but as soon as they kill off a civ they get to get a dragon unit called drifta. also they can make a god auric ascended probably by mid-late or late game. their main military line is melee. they are all winterborn units meaning that they get combat bonuses in ice/tundra, ice/tundra only takes 1 movement point, and their city tiles have ice/tundra act like grasslands. they can call frostling barbarians into the world with ritual. their cities can turn the land into ice/tundra when they build the white hand temple. they get unique magic ice that only they can use. they have spells that call blizards that change the land to ice/tundra. they are agnostics so they can NOT get/use any religions. if u lose auric ascended hero unit, u LOSE your leader's TRAITS.

6. sheaim. they are the "armageddon" and "summoning" and "magic" civ. they are mainly a warmonger civ and a slight builder civ. they get "stronger" the longer the game goes and the higher the armegeddon counter gets. they are "weakest" in the early game and "strongest" in the late game. they can raise the armageddon counter. they are powerful magic users and both leaders have the summon trait for longer lasting summoned units. they have an unique building the planar gate that can be built in each city. it can generate unique units based on other buildings u have. the higher the ac the more often it generates units. they have a very limited amount of units u can build normally with your city production. the ashen veil religion goes very well with them.

7. svaltalfar (check out their leader pic!!!!! wolf whistles). they are the "dark elves" and "deception" and "assassin" civ. they are more of a warmonger civ than the ljosalfar civ, but they are also a very good builder civ as well. for warmongering they are best in early and early-mid game with the assassin units (they get a +1 str bonus sinister promotion to assassin type units). but they get "stronger" with their forest improvements (cottages or farms and huge sized-population cities) into the mid and late game. they can build farms and cottages ON forests, but they build improvements slower. their hero, alazkan, gets a bonus against otehr hero units. they are a recon tech line civ (ranger and ESPECIALLY assassins). the fellowship of the leaves religion goes very well with them for empire building. for militarily, the council of esus is also a very good religion for them. they can NOT build seigecraft (like catapults) so u'll have to use other means for attacking cities. elven units can move 2 tiles when going over forests (NOT jungles) when they only got 1 movement, aka forest tiles (NOT jungle) only cost 1 movement point for elven units. elven units get combat bonuses on forest tiles. u can steal super specialists in rival civs' cities with recon units using the kidnap ability.

special civs:

u can switch over to them in-during the game once u meet all the requirements. u can NOT choose these civs before-at start of game. so do NOT try to look for them in the civ selection list when your setting up your game settings and such on the game creation screen.

good

1. mercurians. (i haven't played them enough to offer much help so far)

evil

1. infernals. (i haven't played them enough to offer much help so far)

What must I focus on in the early game? (which techs/buildings/units are important for me to get reasonably quickly ?) -darkness
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
first off, this is subjective. it depends on the situation (game circumstances like what civ are u, what leader are u, starting location, map size, map type, # of players, human or ai players, what difficulty, what are the other civs and their leaders, etc) and personal preferences/tendencies/strengths/weaknesses (self explanatory).

early game. initial "phase" (~0-50 or ~0-100 turns *ON QUICK SPEED*)

1. if you're playing a competitive game, next to other civ(s), on higher difficulties, having raging barbs option on, playing against 1 or many good human player(s), and/or having agressive ai option on, THAN u probably want/need to build warriorS and/or palisade building.

2. if not in #1 's situation(s), have more and/or useful land tiles/resources than water tiles/resources, and able to build land improvments or be able to before u build your worker, THAN build a worker first.

3A. if not in #1 's situation(s), have more and/or useful water tiles/resources than land tiles/resources, and able to build water improvments, THAN build a work boat first.

3B. if not in #1 's situation(s), have more and/or useful water tiles/resources than land tiles/resources, but can't build work boats (no fishing tech), THAN build a quick building, warrior/scout, or worker.

4. tech wise, u wanna get what u need (if u don't already have the tech) for #1-3 's situation(s).

4A. for #1, u wanna get either military techs (for better military units) and/or mysticism (for god king civic and elder council for beakers and faster techs and scientist specialist for more beakers, faster tech, and great sages for academy first than used/made into a super specialst in city for more beakers and faster techs). mysticism usually should be gotten first before going for military techs (unless u must/need to get military techs/2nd tier military unit ASAP), if your going to get both of them.

4B. for #2, u wanna get agriculture (for farms)

4C1. for #3B, u wanna get fishing tech so u can than build the fishing boats and get the water resources.

4C2. for #3A, u wanna than get sailing tech (for whale resource improvement, harbor buildings and ocean trade/trade routes).

5. after #4, for tech, u wanna get mining (for mines and/or towards axemen) or calender (for plantation or towards festical tech and its market building for +3 gold) or animal husbandry (for pastures and/or towards horseback riding) or sailing (for whale improvement and/or better naval units or buildings/wonders) or hunting (for camps or hunters) or the tech (forgot which tech) that gives u library building or whatever tech that gives u buildings or civics that grant u more specialists or whatever tech u need/want.

6. for #1 situations and after #4A, for tech, u wanna get the tech that gives u the library building for another sage specialist OR u wanna get the tech(s) that gives u building(s) that give u more priest specialists.

7A. for NON-#1 situations and after #3, u wanna use your farms-food to REX (rapid expansion) (spam workers/settlers until u can't or need/want to switch focus on other things)

7B. for #1 situations and after #4A, u wanna build the library building soon as u get the tech for it OR build the pagan temple and other buildings (when u get the tech for them) that give u more priest specialists.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
alright, i need a break!! i'll hopefully come back and eventually finish this up. (i just need to finish up the last two remain civs, the two special civs, mercurians and infernals, before i move on to new stuff to add to this thread)

P.S.

does anyone know how long the ability to edit lasts ? if it doesn't last forever and people post...it's gonna come out messy... and confusing...

i made a thread for commenting on this thread. the link is at the top of this thread for the feedback-commenting thread for u guys.

so far, i can still edit, but i ran out of room. only so many characters per post. so now i made this 2nd post.

hegemonkhan said:

the civs:

1. balseraphs. they can also cage the different races (human, elf, dwarf, orc) of slave units u capture as well as animal cages.

Click to expand...

Playing my first Balseraph game, I can't cage dwarf, orc, humans,...
I have all the animal cages (and due to gorilla event) got Grand Menagerie.
I have dwarf slaves from capturing Khazad and taskmasters are getting orc slaves.
The pdf FFH guide talks about the cages but nothing in the pedia.
How to make the cages?

dmd175 said:

Playing my first Balseraph game, I can't cage dwarf, orc, humans,...
I have all the animal cages (and due to gorilla event) got Grand Menagerie.
I have dwarf slaves from capturing Khazad and taskmasters are getting orc slaves.
The pdf FFH guide talks about the cages but nothing in the pedia.
How to make the cages?

Click to expand...

IIRC - cages need Carneval

I have all the animal cages (and due to gorilla event) got Grand Menagerie.

scutarii said:

IIRC - cages need Carneval

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

I have carnivals in every city (and GM, which gives carnival in all); animal cages could be built, slave cages no...so thanks but carnival isn't the problem. Unless the free carnivals from the GM don't work, though I still built some carnivals myself before the wonder.

What mod are you using? And have you checked that the slaves came with the correct race (it doesn't always work out well)?

Qgqqqqq said:

What mod are you using? And have you checked that the slaves came with the correct race (it doesn't always work out well)?

Click to expand...

Thanks Q

I am playing straight up vanilla FFH

I have slaves with the Orc and dwarf "buff"/property

The PDF guide says this should work. Does perpentach not do the cages but Keelyn does?

There is no building prerequisite (although I'd expect it to be a Freak Show, not a Carnival). Units have to be in the city, and the "add to Freak Show" ability is treated as a spell, so it won't work if Arcane Lacuna is in effect. I remember having problems with this ability in my own Balseraph games, but I can't help you beyond that.

Doug Piranha said:

There is no building prerequisite (although I'd expect it to be a Freak Show, not a Carnival). Units have to be in the city, and the "add to Freak Show" ability is treated as a spell, so it won't work if Arcane Lacuna is in effect. I remember having problems with this ability in my own Balseraph games, but I can't help you beyond that.

Click to expand...

Correct. To build slave cages, you must have freaks show building from freak first.

Doug Piranha said:

There is no building prerequisite (although I'd expect it to be a Freak Show, not a Carnival). Units have to be in the city, and the "add to Freak Show" ability is treated as a spell, so it won't work if Arcane Lacuna is in effect. I remember having problems with this ability in my own Balseraph games, but I can't help you beyond that.

Click to expand...

scutarii said:

Correct. To build slave cages, you must have freaks show building from freak first.

Click to expand...

Thanks guys. I finished the game, one of my fastest victories ever with Tower of Mastery (I just had all the mana available and went for it). But the cages bothered me; I'm sold/hooked on Balseraphs (the mimics were amazing!). Long story short, I had carnival and freak show in every city. I captured orc worker and dwarf worker, and I dominated (mind III Hemah) several orcish warriors/archers/etc and no cage options came up as a spell/effect/ability of any of the captured people.

You need slaves, not captures units. You can get them with taskmasters, undercouncil resolution and slavery civic.