Divvu
Warlord
Sidar have not been changed at all; Adventurer spawn is the Grigori.
Ahem... Always get the two mixed up, I never play Grigori either
Still, my advice is valid, there are some good tipsin FFH strategy forum!
Your Top Ten Tips for Your Favorite Civ
- Thread starter razzach
- Start date
Ahem... Always get the two mixed up, I never play Grigori either
Still, my advice is valid, there are some good tipsin FFH strategy forum!
Saucetenuto
Chieftain
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2010
- Messages
- 15
Here's what you do:
1. Take the Charismatic leader, I think his name is Mirrough.
2. Set up a reasonably good production city.
3. In that city, build the Ride of Nine Kings, a Command Post, and the Hippodrome.
4. Build the Form of the Titan.
5. Adopt Conquest and either Apprenticeship or Civil Service.
Congratulations! You now have a city capable of producing Horsemen with 20xp, which with Charismatic is enough for level 6. Enjoy your mob of free settled great people.
If you prioritize the horsemanship line of techs, this is entirely achievable by the midgame. Once you're there it's hard to lose; if you're too lazy to crush the rest of the world under your iron heel you can just settle a bunch of Great Artists and win by culture.
I'm actually doing that strat now - though I doubt I'll finish the game since the outcome has already been decided. The thing is though.. how are you supposed to survive until the mid game? Most of the other nations get some sort of commerce bonus. I don't think the +1 science from those 1-3 science specialists really cuts it. The only nations that don't get a commerce bonus get a war bonus (bannor, hippus, grigori). By the way, to that note.. bannor are insane in the membrane with their chain of command. That last strat posted for them was what I did to the letter. Funny thing though.. I managed to get a mage somehow in charge of the highest level of the normally highest level of chain of command. He had 800xp at the end of that game.. and could only cast level 2 spells - har.
isthmus
Warlord
It seems pretty odd that in order to get the most out of the sidar you need to be
a) using your people like cannon fodder and
b) also be a warmonger.
Stop me if I'm wrong but isn't this not particularly fluffy? I know there's plenty of strategy tips like OO sheaim here that are good but not fluffy either, but this seems the only way to properly utilise the original mechanic of the sidar, otherwise you may as well be playing a generic civ - which is a shame. In some of the other strategies listed here it still feels like you are playing as unique civ, but there is a variation to the obvious route.
I've always thought of the sidar as quite isolationist, preferring to study away their extended lives as they begin to lose interest in outside affairs. Any intervention they do undertake is done through the undercouncil and assassins. It's a shame that trying to play in this manner isn't too effective or interesting for the sidar since they're lacking in unique mechanics to do this.
Hi
I was thinking to test he doviello once the new patch come out (mostl with the baron to test the new emergent leader system) got any tips (as i am not a good player
Hello
The whole idea of the doviello is to get on top in the very early game.
I tend to play the doviello very aggressively, you start with Lucian, a pseudo-hero who is only really useful for the start of the game since he's only strength 4, and promotions gained help extend his use to the bronze axemen/archer era. Therefore you need to be hitting civs hard and fast before they tech too far up the tree to maximise this advantage.
Make loads of warriors and send them with lucian straight to your nearest neighbour's capital. You get free wolves which have 3 movement spawning in your capital to start with so scout out the location of your neighbours early with them - they can even enter territory without open borders. If the enemy is hard to shove then start duelling your troops and get a few warriors nicely promoted to help soften the defenders. When you get to bronze working you can actually upgrade warriors into axemen (sons of asena) in the field, so there's no need to send them back to friendly territory, just keep pushing on and taking out other civs (or bargining for free techs) until you have a significant enough advantage to establish yourself a strong empire for the rest of the game.
You're also at peace with the animals which is so much more useful in RiFE because animals are so much stronger in this mod than in others, and will prevent other civs from expanding quickly, whereas you can afford to be a bit less careful with sending a few warriors to escort each settler.
You're also likely to start out in tundra since the doviello have flavour for that area, so once you have bronze working then go straight for the recon tech line to reduce build times on the excellent yaranga improvement which grants food and production on ice/tundra tiles.
For religion, fellowship of leaves has quite good synergy since yarangas do not remove forest and will give you very nice yields when coupled with ancient forests, plus if you went down the hunting line to start with then it won't be difficult to get anyways. Guardian of nature + yarangas in ancient forests = massive elflike cities
sorry, that was really long..
isthmus
Warlord
Can't say I've made any extensive use of the kindred promotions themselves other than them being a handy bonus - you'll be making a lot of military so put the good animal den buildings like bear or mammoth in the high production cities to get a lot of troops with the free promotion, but your most experienced units are likely going to be older and won't have any of the kindred promotions. Still, it's handy for any of the new units that make it to higher levels.
I think that building the totem in a city allows you to start spawning that type of animal however, which means that you can start spawning mammoths at horseback riding.
Mammoths are great because they can be upgraded to strength 9 mammoth riders which are pretty handy to have around even past iron working.
I'd advise looking at the Doviello+ help tab in the fall from heaven concepts section of the pedia if you havn't already, it's got a good description of the new features for the doviello. Think it's a little out of date, but only by a couple of versions since council of the wilds isn't in game anymore but some of the additions mentioned are pretty recent so you could probably rely on the information in there pretty solidly.
I think that building the totem in a city allows you to start spawning that type of animal however, which means that you can start spawning mammoths at horseback riding.
Mammoths are great because they can be upgraded to strength 9 mammoth riders which are pretty handy to have around even past iron working.
I'd advise looking at the Doviello+ help tab in the fall from heaven concepts section of the pedia if you havn't already, it's got a good description of the new features for the doviello. Think it's a little out of date, but only by a couple of versions since council of the wilds isn't in game anymore but some of the additions mentioned are pretty recent so you could probably rely on the information in there pretty solidly.
Valkrionn
The Hamster King
Actually, the info there is up-to-date for the newest version. Just not for the team version; Large changes there.
Council of the Wilds is very much in game, it's in the Membership category.
I'm surprised noone's mentioned Scavenger; So long as your units keep fighting, they are maintenance free. And steal weapons. Allows the Doviello to fund a massive army, if they make sure to use it.
I have been lurking here for a while, but I finally decided to contribute since I have found these forums to be so helpful. In full disclosure, I am not an expert by any means (in Civ4 or FFH+mods), but I think my points have some validity. Maybe one of the resident experts can fix these up. So, without further ado...
Cualli
1. Population Rush. I never really knew what this term meant until I played the Cualli. The Cualli reap amazing yields from the jungle terrain where other civs cannot, especially if there are food resources nearby. What will limit your city size is happiness, but this will not be an issue. Make sure you use your population to your advantage (see below).
2. Inherent Terraforming. Lands under Cualli control will slowly change towards wetlands and will eventually be covered in marsh. This is great for food, without a doubt. However, I have been unable to build improvements on the marsh, so if your city needs production then crank out those workshops. You can take the food penalty since your other tiles should be producing more than two food. The natural climate change also mean that you can settle wherever you want. See a clump of resources in the desert but have no water I adept? No problem, as long as you are patient (but the water adepts do speed things along).
3. Starting Position. Flavor start will put you in the jungle, but you may or may not be along the coast. I would recommend against settling the coast for the first city unless there are two or more resources in the BFC since the jungles are just plain better. If you do settle the coast, you might want to plan on the Heron Throne.
4. Woodsman Promotion. Gives a great boost within your borders, and hopefully a significant amount of terrain outside is jungle as well. Really helps with early exploring, especially since all lizardman units get two (double?) move in the jungle.
5. Tech Priorities. I would not prioritize worker techs for the Cualli. You will only really be building improvements on resources since marsh will take over, so look for Mysticism (God King) followed by an early combat tech or two depending on your situation. Hunting is always nice in RifE, Archery will help if you are being invaded, and Bronze Working will allow you to go on the offensive (though this may be skipped, see below). Standard stuff there. However, from here I suggest beelining to Priesthood and Way of the Wicked, in that order.
6. Happiness Comes From Resources. Due to the tech priorities, you will not be getting a lot of happy buildings. As a result, focus on keeping your population happy with resources. Luckily for the Cualli, the jungle is full of happy resources: dye, sugar, gold, and, most importantly, gems. If you do not have gems you will need to go to war to get them.
7. Priests. Just because you are agnostic does not mean you can ignore the priest line in RifE. It just means your civilization cannot adopt any of the major religions. The Cualli Priests of Agruonn are a force, as are their upgraded Shadow Priests. Furthermore, the hero is obtained by upgrading a Priest or Assassin. To get Shadow Priests, you need gems. See how it all ties together? Anyways, these units are no joke, and can easily replace swordsman with bronze weapons since both units are strength 5 and can take city raider promotions. What truly makes the Priests effective, though, is their body and shadow mana spheres. Keeping two Priests with each stack is a great strategy, especially when invading. One priest focuses on body magic for haste and regeneration (when those pesky archers defending the city use ranged attacks on you) and the other for blur and shadowwalk to negate some of the defenders' advantages. While I have not played that far yet, I bet Graft Flesh is perfect with these guys too.
8. Blood and Sacrifice. This unique starting civic is essentially a modified version of slavery. Don't change out of it. Ever (well at least through the mid-game). This one civic in conjunction with the fact that your cities will be growing out of control (literally, you won't be able to assign enough specialists) means that you can sacrifice population almost whenever you want to. This allows you to pump out early buildings (elder council, library, etc.) to really give you a boost, and then when your cities get really big (and unhappy) you can rush early wonders when they are halfway done. This civic allows you to keep up with your building infrastructure while churning out units.
9. Conquest. It takes a slight balancing act to know when to use food for population to go into buildings and when to use it for units, but the point is food = production. If a city will grow to unhappy, make it produce units for a bit. If a city is unhappy because you just whipped its population away (yes, it's easy to get carried away), make it produce units until the unhappiness goes away and it can grow again. Again, this takes some balancing. I would go for conquest once you are ready to make priests, but before would never hurt.
10. Slave Drive. The Cualli World Spell creates a Slave Pit in all of your cities, which essentially gives you four free citizens (ie. hammers). As you can guess, this spell is best cast when you have a large number of cities. I see two points where you might cast this effectively: once you have captured your continent (or hold an optimally large number of cities), or if you go on a city-founding spree. New Cualli cities take a while to get running since they likely do not have a lot of hammers and do not yet have a large population, so if you spam a few cities and cast your world spell it will help them get off the ground that much faster.
Comments and critiques are more than welcome. Like I said, I am no expert and refuse to post my difficulty level due to embarassment. I can assure you it is not Settler
And, of course, thank you to all contributors to FFH and modmods (and modmodmods etc). We need more activity and discussion about specifics of strategy and gameplay around here, and I am more than welcome to contribute and ask silly questions.
Cualli
1. Population Rush. I never really knew what this term meant until I played the Cualli. The Cualli reap amazing yields from the jungle terrain where other civs cannot, especially if there are food resources nearby. What will limit your city size is happiness, but this will not be an issue. Make sure you use your population to your advantage (see below).
2. Inherent Terraforming. Lands under Cualli control will slowly change towards wetlands and will eventually be covered in marsh. This is great for food, without a doubt. However, I have been unable to build improvements on the marsh, so if your city needs production then crank out those workshops. You can take the food penalty since your other tiles should be producing more than two food. The natural climate change also mean that you can settle wherever you want. See a clump of resources in the desert but have no water I adept? No problem, as long as you are patient (but the water adepts do speed things along).
3. Starting Position. Flavor start will put you in the jungle, but you may or may not be along the coast. I would recommend against settling the coast for the first city unless there are two or more resources in the BFC since the jungles are just plain better. If you do settle the coast, you might want to plan on the Heron Throne.
4. Woodsman Promotion. Gives a great boost within your borders, and hopefully a significant amount of terrain outside is jungle as well. Really helps with early exploring, especially since all lizardman units get two (double?) move in the jungle.
5. Tech Priorities. I would not prioritize worker techs for the Cualli. You will only really be building improvements on resources since marsh will take over, so look for Mysticism (God King) followed by an early combat tech or two depending on your situation. Hunting is always nice in RifE, Archery will help if you are being invaded, and Bronze Working will allow you to go on the offensive (though this may be skipped, see below). Standard stuff there. However, from here I suggest beelining to Priesthood and Way of the Wicked, in that order.
6. Happiness Comes From Resources. Due to the tech priorities, you will not be getting a lot of happy buildings. As a result, focus on keeping your population happy with resources. Luckily for the Cualli, the jungle is full of happy resources: dye, sugar, gold, and, most importantly, gems. If you do not have gems you will need to go to war to get them.
7. Priests. Just because you are agnostic does not mean you can ignore the priest line in RifE. It just means your civilization cannot adopt any of the major religions. The Cualli Priests of Agruonn are a force, as are their upgraded Shadow Priests. Furthermore, the hero is obtained by upgrading a Priest or Assassin. To get Shadow Priests, you need gems. See how it all ties together? Anyways, these units are no joke, and can easily replace swordsman with bronze weapons since both units are strength 5 and can take city raider promotions. What truly makes the Priests effective, though, is their body and shadow mana spheres. Keeping two Priests with each stack is a great strategy, especially when invading. One priest focuses on body magic for haste and regeneration (when those pesky archers defending the city use ranged attacks on you) and the other for blur and shadowwalk to negate some of the defenders' advantages. While I have not played that far yet, I bet Graft Flesh is perfect with these guys too.
8. Blood and Sacrifice. This unique starting civic is essentially a modified version of slavery. Don't change out of it. Ever (well at least through the mid-game). This one civic in conjunction with the fact that your cities will be growing out of control (literally, you won't be able to assign enough specialists) means that you can sacrifice population almost whenever you want to. This allows you to pump out early buildings (elder council, library, etc.) to really give you a boost, and then when your cities get really big (and unhappy) you can rush early wonders when they are halfway done. This civic allows you to keep up with your building infrastructure while churning out units.
9. Conquest. It takes a slight balancing act to know when to use food for population to go into buildings and when to use it for units, but the point is food = production. If a city will grow to unhappy, make it produce units for a bit. If a city is unhappy because you just whipped its population away (yes, it's easy to get carried away), make it produce units until the unhappiness goes away and it can grow again. Again, this takes some balancing. I would go for conquest once you are ready to make priests, but before would never hurt.
10. Slave Drive. The Cualli World Spell creates a Slave Pit in all of your cities, which essentially gives you four free citizens (ie. hammers). As you can guess, this spell is best cast when you have a large number of cities. I see two points where you might cast this effectively: once you have captured your continent (or hold an optimally large number of cities), or if you go on a city-founding spree. New Cualli cities take a while to get running since they likely do not have a lot of hammers and do not yet have a large population, so if you spam a few cities and cast your world spell it will help them get off the ground that much faster.
Comments and critiques are more than welcome. Like I said, I am no expert and refuse to post my difficulty level due to embarassment
. I can assure you it is not Settler And, of course, thank you to all contributors to FFH and modmods (and modmodmods etc). We need more activity and discussion about specifics of strategy and gameplay around here, and I am more than welcome to contribute and ask silly questions.
Valkrionn
The Hamster King
Very nice writeup.
I should mention that the Cualli WILL gain a new mechanic (not in the next patch, though, as it requires some new code to do correctly), but it's one that should mesh well with all the others; Really, it differentiates them better from the Mazatl (and other civs) in a fun way. And should only hurt you if you don't play as you should.
I should mention that the Cualli WILL gain a new mechanic (not in the next patch, though, as it requires some new code to do correctly), but it's one that should mesh well with all the others; Really, it differentiates them better from the Mazatl (and other civs) in a fun way. And should only hurt you if you don't play as you should.
To be perfectly honest, I didn't realize that heading for poisons was such a strong move since I am midway through my first game with them right now. The civilopedia says that Assassins can upgrade to Shadow Priests, but I would definitely recommend upgrading a Priest first to get the Hero with Body III and flesh golems with water walking (also comes on the priests).
Come to think of it, spamming Priests with xp makes for a pretty mean "early" flesh golem as the Cualli.
I guess I will put in a request while I am here for the Khadi. I haven't heard any discussion on them (aside from the lore basics), and the other civs just plain catch my interest more in terms of unique playstyle. What do Khad and his followers have going for them?
Come to think of it, spamming Priests with xp makes for a pretty mean "early" flesh golem as the Cualli.
I guess I will put in a request while I am here for the Khadi. I haven't heard any discussion on them (aside from the lore basics), and the other civs just plain catch my interest more in terms of unique playstyle. What do Khad and his followers have going for them?
Valkrionn
The Hamster King
Honestly, the Khadi have nothing unique going for them. They are the bastard offspring of the Amurites and the Sheaim, and impinge on both civilizations.
They are the only civ currently planned for complete removal. All that will remain is an Amurite specific event.
SupremeShogun
Chieftain
- Joined
- Feb 15, 2010
- Messages
- 14
Can anybody share some Mechanos tips? They look fun so I started trying them. They are! Just I have no idea what to tech for and build.. or in what order.
Most every game I shoot for ancient chants -> mysticism which gives the "God King" civic.
Most every game I shoot for ancient chants -> mysticism which gives the "God King" civic.
Saucetenuto
Chieftain
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2010
- Messages
- 15
God King is very strong, though depending on how much room you have to spread out you may wish to consider going straight to Cartography (for City States and the always-awesome Pact of the Nihlorn) in place of Mysticism.
Your other major tech priority is Construction. This gets you Organ Guns, which are awesome, and the Artisan's Workshop, which lets you run an Engineer specialist, which lets you get Great Engineers, which lets you build the Steamworks and the Master Siegesmith. The Siegesmith offers special promotions to siege weapons in exchange for gold; they're very expensive, but also very powerful, and as a bonus you get free gold and engineer GPP.
The Mechanos' major advantage in war is the sheer brokenness of their siege equipment, so grab onto that with both hands. If you want an easy game you can load some guns into a transport and fire in safety from there, but honestly I'd consider that an exploit. Up to you though.
Your other major tech priority is Construction. This gets you Organ Guns, which are awesome, and the Artisan's Workshop, which lets you run an Engineer specialist, which lets you get Great Engineers, which lets you build the Steamworks and the Master Siegesmith. The Siegesmith offers special promotions to siege weapons in exchange for gold; they're very expensive, but also very powerful, and as a bonus you get free gold and engineer GPP.
The Mechanos' major advantage in war is the sheer brokenness of their siege equipment, so grab onto that with both hands. If you want an easy game you can load some guns into a transport and fire in safety from there, but honestly I'd consider that an exploit. Up to you though.
As above, but here are some other tips:
- Make use of your heroes. Goliath, Lenora, Ferris, all of them are strong and can often be used in conjunction with each other.
- Dominate with Machines. Try not to waste hammers building LIVE units, but rather Mortars, Airships, and Organ guns. If you do build living units, use Handgunners (Longbow UU) since they are super powerful with ranged attacks and strong offensive capabilities.
- Attack from the Air: Handgunners on Dirgible Fleets make for some of the strongest, mobile forces you will have. Ten handgunners = ten ranged attacks that you can make and move around, even over water. This is even better when you use Lenora's Letters of Marque to gain HN for all air units in the stack.
- The Ordo: Spread it ASAP with your Adeptus unit and build Clock Towers in your cities. They provide Science, Culture, and slots for specialists. They're your "Temple" of sorts, and the Steamworks will get stronger for each city that has Ordo Machinarum in it.
- God King: Use it. You want the bonus to stack with the Holy City and Steamworks bonus, and you can support a large empire (12 cities~) if you really pile the bonuses in your capital with God King active.
To Summarize: Your primary Tech Lines will be Magic for Adeptus and Adeptus abilities and Refineries, Construction to give you your siege, and Bowyers to give you your Hand Gunners. Make use of your Aerial fleet to dominate your foes, and spread the Ordo Machinarum to all your cities while collecting Refined Mana to pump your Steamworks and keep your empire supported off of your capital.
isthmus
Warlord
Definitely the construction tech line is THE line to go down as the mechanos, the quicker you get those steam tanks the better. They are just a little bit awesome
As for the magic line, it's important to get the extra spells that the alteration/divination/elementalism/necromancy techs give the adeptus units, but there's no real need to go any further up this tech line than that.
I believe that the ordo machinarum is due for phasing out at some point, I think Valkrionn's mentioned its removal a few times already, so spreading the religion for boosting the steamworks won't be a strategy to count on for much longer. That said, for this version at least it's a no brainer to go spread the ordo far and wide, it's a very good religion to have given that you're assured the holy city.
Two things I'd like to add though, and firstly it's the ease that the mechanos can access great engineers. Clock tower and the holy shrine allow you to get some early great engineers that most civs will only be able to get slightly later on, and at a greater cost if they've already popped a few great people already. This can get you almost first choice on any wonders that become available on the tech line of your choosing.
Engineers are by far my favourite specialist to get, due to their wonder rushing, or founding master buildings, and for mechanos a great engineer will bag you the ordo shrine (again, not for long but oh well
) as well as their tech discoveries being linked to the two lines that matter most - construction and metal lines. I'd advise running exclusively engineer specialists in your cities for almost all of that game (possibly sage at some point to get academies or to quickly access the adeptus abilities)Secondly is the affinity that's been talked about already in these forums. As it stands, mechanos have an affinity for refined mana which is +1 ranged str and +10% damage cap to ranged attacks. The palace and steamworks each provide 1 refined mana so you're basically assured +2 ranged and +20% cap on all siege units. Get yourself a refinery on one more mana node and you've got yourself organ guns that have a ranged attack which can kill units outright since it has a 100% damage cap. No other unit IIRC can kill with a ranged attack so while I'm not in favour of such a powerful siege unit that's available as early as construction, this would be the way to cause maximum pain to your enemies as mechanos. This can be devastating if combined with high mobility flying transports, as mentioned above.
Valkrionn
The Hamster King
Definitely the construction tech line is THE line to go down as the mechanos, the quicker you get those steam tanks the better. They are just a little bit awesome
As for the magic line, it's important to get the extra spells that the alteration/divination/elementalism/necromancy techs give the adeptus units, but there's no real need to go any further up this tech line than that.
I believe that the ordo machinarum is due for phasing out at some point, I think Valkrionn's mentioned its removal a few times already, so spreading the religion for boosting the steamworks won't be a strategy to count on for much longer. That said, for this version at least it's a no brainer to go spread the ordo far and wide, it's a very good religion to have given that you're assured the holy city.
Two things I'd like to add though, and firstly it's the ease that the mechanos can access great engineers. Clock tower and the holy shrine allow you to get some early great engineers that most civs will only be able to get slightly later on, and at a greater cost if they've already popped a few great people already. This can get you almost first choice on any wonders that become available on the tech line of your choosing.
Engineers are by far my favourite specialist to get, due to their wonder rushing, or founding master buildings, and for mechanos a great engineer will bag you the ordo shrine (again, not for long but oh well
Secondly is the affinity that's been talked about already in these forums. As it stands, mechanos have an affinity for refined mana which is +1 ranged str and +10% damage cap to ranged attacks. The palace and steamworks each provide 1 refined mana so you're basically assured +2 ranged and +20% cap on all siege units. Get yourself a refinery on one more mana node and you've got yourself organ guns that have a ranged attack which can kill units outright since it has a 100% damage cap. No other unit IIRC can kill with a ranged attack so while I'm not in favour of such a powerful siege unit that's available as early as construction, this would be the way to cause maximum pain to your enemies as mechanos. This can be devastating if combined with high mobility flying transports, as mentioned above.
Ordo Machinarum will be removed, replaced by Airandamar. A religion which the Mechanos do NOT found; They're going back to Agnostic.
As for ranged affinity... It is staying, but the units are being nerfed. And some will lose access to it.
Definitely the construction tech line is THE line to go down as the mechanos, the quicker you get those steam tanks the better. They are just a little bit awesome
As for the magic line, it's important to get the extra spells that the alteration/divination/elementalism/necromancy techs give the adeptus units, but there's no real need to go any further up this tech line than that.
I believe that the ordo machinarum is due for phasing out at some point, I think Valkrionn's mentioned its removal a few times already, so spreading the religion for boosting the steamworks won't be a strategy to count on for much longer. That said, for this version at least it's a no brainer to go spread the ordo far and wide, it's a very good religion to have given that you're assured the holy city.
IIRC, you still need to tech to Alchemy or something for Refineries, which is on the magic line.
And yes, even if the Ordo is removed, I was basing it off of the current version. Because of the breadth of changes for the next version, it's going to require an entire new set of tips because the strategies will be so different.
Valkrionn
The Hamster King
Refineries require Steam Power, which requires KotE. Alchemy is on the construction line, actually.
All the magic techs the Mechanos want are KotE and it's offshoots; Steam Power and the 4 schools.
