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The Council of Esus Information Post
This thread was created to give new players some information on the Council of Esus. It is very different from other relgions and is thus very confusing. If you find spelling errors please let me know. Also, ther are two more threads, Synergies and Strategies. Remember, your input is valuable to making this a reliable source of information.
Esus
From The Design: Religions Thread we learn that Esus is the god of Deception, sacred to thieves and liars. His sphere is Shadow, and his alignment evil. Esus' is not like other gods, and thus his religion is very unique. He values subtlety, and thus has no temples or priests. Rather, they hide in the dark, ready to backstab the disciples of Esus' rival, Lugus.
The Undercouncil
The Undercouncil is much like the United Nations of unmodded Civilization IV. It is founded when the holy shrine, the Nox Noctis, of the Council is built, either by a Great Prophet or Merchant. The shrine signifigantly helps with your gold, as well as boosting you great merchant great people points. In addition to that, it provides you with one source of Shadow mana. To take part in the council you must be running the Undercouncil membership civic, which requires a neutral or evil alignment. Incidentally, adopting the Council of Esus chages good civilizations to neutral. After there are two players with the Undercouncil civic, a vote will take place, and randomly you will be able to take votes. All of the Undercouncil's resolutions cost money, and you need money to control it. For instance, the Enlist the Nightwatch resolution requires 25 gold per unit. Thus, there is little reason to turn down votes, unless you don't have money, don't want the unit, or want to deny your peers it. For the vote to take place at least to civilizations must be running the Undercouncil civic.
The Undercouncil & It's Resolutions
quoted from Shadow Schedule
In addition to these resolutions there are the typical open borders, defence pacts, and declaration of war resolutions.
Spreading the Council of Esus
As previously stated, the Council has neither priests nor temples. This is the most striking features in the game. Instead, any unit with the Council of Esus religion can spread it to a city at the cost of 25 gold. To find out if your unit worships Esus, mouseover it's image on the panel in the bottom corner when he is selected. A popup will appear with the unit's information, as well as his religion. Take the unit to a city without the council and the spell should appear. Note that this action does not consume the unit, thus making the Council very easy to spread.
Combatting the Council of Esus
The Council is a formidable opponent. Any outsider, or a non Esus worshipper, cannot tell whom worships the god of Deciet. If you worship any religion other than the Council, you are unable to see it's members, or the cities it is in. The best way to find them is to spread your own religion to them and see if they convert. If not, they are most likley Esus' disciples.
The Sneak Attack
One of the most ipowerful aspect of the council is the Sneak Attack ability. For normal civlizations, when you declare war your units are expelled from your enemies borders. The Council of Esus, however, allows your units to stay where they are when you declare war. Be careful who you open your borders with!
Esus and Recon
Any Recon unit with the Council of Esus religion is given several abilities. Firstly, they are given the ability to steal equipment from other players. Using this ability in a tile with another civilizations' equipment will either give you the iteam or create an automatic declaration of war.
Recon units also gain the mask ability, which gives the caster hidden nationality. The uses of this are obvious.
Unique Units to the Council of Esus
This is an entry quoted from The Shadow Schedule
The Nightwatch- Poison wielding archer that starts with hidden nationality
Shadowrider- powerful religious national unit (a player is limited to 3) with an affinity for shadow mana who ignores building and terrain defenses when attacking. Shadowriders start with hidden nationality.
Shadow- The shadow unit is no longer open to everyone, instead it is a Council of Esus only national unit.
Gibbon Goetia
The only hero for the council, Gibbon Goetia is arguably the most powerful summoner in the game. Gibbon's main power however, is his Impersonate Leader ability. The ability gives temporary control of the target's civilization to you. The AI takes over yours. You cannot make too drastic changes as Gibbon, but you can move trrops, make basic diplomacy, etc. This has two drawbacks. The AI running your civ will make lots of mistakes, and the duration can last tens of turns. Also, once you return to your original empire, yiou lose Gibbon Goetia.
The next post will describe synergies and strategies of the Council of Esus:
This thread was created to give new players some information on the Council of Esus. It is very different from other relgions and is thus very confusing. If you find spelling errors please let me know. Also, ther are two more threads, Synergies and Strategies. Remember, your input is valuable to making this a reliable source of information.
Esus
From The Design: Religions Thread we learn that Esus is the god of Deception, sacred to thieves and liars. His sphere is Shadow, and his alignment evil. Esus' is not like other gods, and thus his religion is very unique. He values subtlety, and thus has no temples or priests. Rather, they hide in the dark, ready to backstab the disciples of Esus' rival, Lugus.
The Undercouncil
The Undercouncil is much like the United Nations of unmodded Civilization IV. It is founded when the holy shrine, the Nox Noctis, of the Council is built, either by a Great Prophet or Merchant. The shrine signifigantly helps with your gold, as well as boosting you great merchant great people points. In addition to that, it provides you with one source of Shadow mana. To take part in the council you must be running the Undercouncil membership civic, which requires a neutral or evil alignment. Incidentally, adopting the Council of Esus chages good civilizations to neutral. After there are two players with the Undercouncil civic, a vote will take place, and randomly you will be able to take votes. All of the Undercouncil's resolutions cost money, and you need money to control it. For instance, the Enlist the Nightwatch resolution requires 25 gold per unit. Thus, there is little reason to turn down votes, unless you don't have money, don't want the unit, or want to deny your peers it. For the vote to take place at least to civilizations must be running the Undercouncil civic.
The Undercouncil & It's Resolutions
quoted from Shadow Schedule
Spoiler :
The Council of Esus is run by money, nearly all of its resolutions cost gold from its members. They can vote to declare war on a common enemy, and open borders to each other. There are no restrictive resolutions on the Undercouncil, they never vote to enforce a civic or outlaw anything. The Undercouncil also has several special resolutions:
Enlist the Nightwatch- all players to pay for the resolution gain a few Nightwatch units.
Develop Secret Codes- Technologies can only be traded with other Undercouncil members.
Fund Dissidents- Has a chance to create riots in non Undercouncil cities.
Gambling Ring- reduces the production cost of gambling houses in all your cities.
Slave Trade- All Undercouncil members can buy and sell slaves (in “shadow” the Slavery civic is open to all evil players and isn’t limited just to the Overlords).
Smuggling Ring- Allows access to a new building in coastal cities.
Enlist the Nightwatch- all players to pay for the resolution gain a few Nightwatch units.
Develop Secret Codes- Technologies can only be traded with other Undercouncil members.
Fund Dissidents- Has a chance to create riots in non Undercouncil cities.
Gambling Ring- reduces the production cost of gambling houses in all your cities.
Slave Trade- All Undercouncil members can buy and sell slaves (in “shadow” the Slavery civic is open to all evil players and isn’t limited just to the Overlords).
Smuggling Ring- Allows access to a new building in coastal cities.
In addition to these resolutions there are the typical open borders, defence pacts, and declaration of war resolutions.
Spreading the Council of Esus
As previously stated, the Council has neither priests nor temples. This is the most striking features in the game. Instead, any unit with the Council of Esus religion can spread it to a city at the cost of 25 gold. To find out if your unit worships Esus, mouseover it's image on the panel in the bottom corner when he is selected. A popup will appear with the unit's information, as well as his religion. Take the unit to a city without the council and the spell should appear. Note that this action does not consume the unit, thus making the Council very easy to spread.
Combatting the Council of Esus
The Council is a formidable opponent. Any outsider, or a non Esus worshipper, cannot tell whom worships the god of Deciet. If you worship any religion other than the Council, you are unable to see it's members, or the cities it is in. The best way to find them is to spread your own religion to them and see if they convert. If not, they are most likley Esus' disciples.
The Sneak Attack
One of the most ipowerful aspect of the council is the Sneak Attack ability. For normal civlizations, when you declare war your units are expelled from your enemies borders. The Council of Esus, however, allows your units to stay where they are when you declare war. Be careful who you open your borders with!
Esus and Recon
Any Recon unit with the Council of Esus religion is given several abilities. Firstly, they are given the ability to steal equipment from other players. Using this ability in a tile with another civilizations' equipment will either give you the iteam or create an automatic declaration of war.
Recon units also gain the mask ability, which gives the caster hidden nationality. The uses of this are obvious.
Unique Units to the Council of Esus
This is an entry quoted from The Shadow Schedule
Spoiler :
The Nightwatch- Poison wielding archer that starts with hidden nationality
Shadowrider- powerful religious national unit (a player is limited to 3) with an affinity for shadow mana who ignores building and terrain defenses when attacking. Shadowriders start with hidden nationality.
Shadow- The shadow unit is no longer open to everyone, instead it is a Council of Esus only national unit.
Gibbon Goetia
The only hero for the council, Gibbon Goetia is arguably the most powerful summoner in the game. Gibbon's main power however, is his Impersonate Leader ability. The ability gives temporary control of the target's civilization to you. The AI takes over yours. You cannot make too drastic changes as Gibbon, but you can move trrops, make basic diplomacy, etc. This has two drawbacks. The AI running your civ will make lots of mistakes, and the duration can last tens of turns. Also, once you return to your original empire, yiou lose Gibbon Goetia.
The next post will describe synergies and strategies of the Council of Esus: