Sanctuary and bloodthirsty conquest

Does the Elohim worldspell, Sanctuary, work on recently captured territories, specifically those captured after the spell was cast? I'm planning to conquer "enlighten" the Ljosalfar, and I'm wondering if I can use Sanctuary to create the ultimate unstoppable blitzkreig, rendering captured cities invulnerable. As you've guessed, the irony of using a spell meant to protect a holy order of monks for a cold-blooded war against wood elves has not escaped me! So it seemed logical that the spell might be set to not work on anything captured after the casting.

Yes, it works on recently captured cities

Actually... this could just be an exploit...
Humor me here. So I've been playing with an Esus/Elohim strategy. I was feeling rather envious of my Ljosalfar neighbors. So I built an army of horsemen and monks, then sent in Gibbon, giving me 10 turns of freedom to screw with the treehuggers.
I sent the main Ljosalfar army as far away as possible, triggered their worldspell (that's GOT to be unintended), and emptied out their cities.
Then as soon as the time is up and I return to the Elohim, I triggered MY worldspell and swept in with the calvary. Now, the Ljosalfar army far outnumbers mine, but I merely need to capture as many cities as I can as fast as I could, after which I can leave them undefended.
I've been flying up the score charts this way. And when the Sanctuary wears off, I've got Corindale waiting in case my elven friends aren't willing to talk.
So, I essentially doubled my empire at the cost of a hero and a worldspell, leaving no possible counter-attack.
EDIT: Nearly forgot to thank the good Magister for confirming that this mad scheme was worth trying. Thanks!
EDIT 2: I should clarify that I've not finished this game yet. This plan of mine may yet backfire hilariously on me, in which case I shall say as much.

giving the AI ten turns to ruin my economy and disband my army is not really worth a helpless enemy - except it is the last.

Yeah, curious what did AI do to your empire?
I've always been too afraid to let it to the control panel of my civ.

On the topic: offensive use of Sanctuary is in the best ironic style

slowcar said:

giving the AI ten turns to ruin my economy and disband my army is not really worth a helpless enemy - except it is the last.

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Marksman77 said:

Yeah, curious what did AI do to your empire?
I've always been too afraid to let it to the control panel of my civ.

On the topic: offensive use of Sanctuary is in the best ironic style

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@Slowcar: It was, coincidentally, the only other AI on my island and the most probable risk to my completion of the Altar. Close enough.
Oddly enough, the AI in charge of my lands managed to avoid doing anything too stupid. It shuffled my horsemen, actually built a few more, and generally kept things running in a relatively decent manner. I don't know if this is because I only had my neighbors to compare myself to, or possibly a testament to the philosophical Elohim leader's AI being a bit smarter than most when given an empire to manage...
I did a bit of foolproofing before sending in Gibbon, such as making sure I didn't have any Great People coming up in 10 turns, and holding off on a revolution until just before sending in Gibbon (to keep the AI from screwing with my civics).
Coincidentally, I play with AI building requirements off. So when I came back, it was to a batch of freshly trained soldiers that I could not, technically, have built myself in such scales... although I also lost some production on account of the axemen being trained without training yards suddenly becoming impossible again...

What's actually annoying about Sanctuary is the offensive use of it. They would be able to attack and have their stacks hiding in the terrority and I wouldnt be able to strike at them, esepically when Elohim share a border with me, and the border surrounds a border city.

I fear that the new favorite Multiplayer strategy might be forming. Unrestricted Leaders to get Raiders on the Elohim, rush to Nox Noctis, then do a blitzkrieg ninja-attack with units they can't see coming, and no need to guard your rear flank.

That would be horrifyingly ugly.

Unrestricted Leaders

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People actually use that in MP?

Well, I can't imagine much standing up to Kandros Fir of the Bannor if that's the case.

There are way more powerful unrestricted combos then raider elohim, which is why no one in their right mind would play unrestricted MP in the first place. Just my opinion though...

I actually love the fact that the options are open enough that players can find multiple ways to play with them. The Gibbon/Elohim rush that KillerClowns mentions is a great example of immegent strategy that is possible if the game has enough depth. It was never intended or imagined by the designers, but I think that makes it all the more fun for the player.

If it was to powerful, we may change it (I dont think it is). But we would be more likely to strike at the most powerful component (putting a spell delay or gold cost on gibbons ability, or shortening its duration or increasign his build cost) than to try to keep a strategy from working. We aren't likely to change it because it has a devious use that doesn't match the civs ideology.

I still say that Impersonate Leader is a horrible spell because the AI that takes over your civ often messes your civ up about as much as you can mess up the rival's. I really think it should be made to play like a Hotseat game for a few turns. Simultaneous Turns be damned!

MagisterCultuum said:

I still say that Impersonate Leader is a horrible spell because the AI that takes over your civ often messes your civ up about as much as you can mess up the rival's. I really think it should be made to play like a Hotseat game for a few turns. Simultaneous Turns be damned!

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i think, actually everyone suggested this, but I think Kael did not figure out how to give th player control of two civs simultaneously for 10 turns.

Maybe it could be made so that the AI basically does nothing while it has control of your empire? Could you block it from changing production in cities, changing civics, etc? Then you just set production loops or things that will take longer then 10 turns to make in all your cities. Of course if someone declares war on your civ while you're away there could be a problem. Could it be made so that in that situation it automatically switches all production except wonders to units, switches to war civics and moves unit to the fornt line?

IMO, having it do basically nothing would be better then letting it ruin your empire.

Cool strategy though.