Alcinus the Mad

[WarKirby]

Getting confused about this guy in my Scions game. He went barbarian, as was almost inevitable. So, as per the pedia entry, I killed him.

Then I get a message that Alcinus has been created in a far away land.

I have no idea where that is, but it's definitely not my capital. What's going on?

I thought I was supposed to get him back after killing him? How am I supposed to finish the dark council now?

 

[lordrune]

He's programmed to sometimes (often, in practise) come back in the service of another civ.
It's a frustrating mechanic actually - because he will go rogue with such frequency, that aside from the special building he makes, and the dark council ability, he's way too unreliable to use.

 

[Brokenbone]

I thought that was intentional as far back as I can think, the idea is to keep hunting him down and slaying him in the hopes he comes back to your capital long enough for you to do the Dark Council thing... he can be reborn elsewhere though which means you may have to keep hunting him til he eventually, randomly, ends up in your capital under your control.

Maybe you're willing to go to war with his new "owners" to accelerate this random event, maybe you're willing to wait to hunt him as a barbarian... again, he's an irritating little guy, but key to the Dark Council business. He and all the other councilors are "free" units, guess it figures that one of them has to be annoying to keep on hand.

 

[Sarisin]

Getting confused about this guy in my Scions game. He went barbarian, as was almost inevitable. So, as per the pedia entry, I killed him.

Then I get a message that Alcinus has been created in a far away land.

I have no idea where that is, but it's definitely not my capital. What's going on?

I thought I was supposed to get him back after killing him? How am I supposed to finish the dark council now?

I'm not sure if there was a change, but you have to track him down and kill him, or no dark council. It was the only thing I didn't care for while playing the Scions as I use a huge land map and it was like finding a needle in a haystack.

I think T was working on some mechanism that would assist you in tracking him down.

Very frustrating, but I think after I did track him down, the next kills deposited him back in my city where I could keep an eye on him while building the other 3 needed for the council.

 

[Tarquelne]

I think T was working on some mechanism that would assist you in tracking him down.

For awhile now (at least since 050) "Emperor's Daggers" units can both determine his location on the map and assassinate him without declaring war on the civ he's mistakenly loyal to. Easy peasy. Just takes some cash, and maybe a boat.

With the next patch he'll be "Crazed". Rather than a 2% barb. chance every turn he'll have that chance only when Enraged. So he should be going barbarian a lot less often.

It'll be easier to get an Emperor's Dagger after the patch, too. But you'll only be able to have one at a time.

What happens when he dies is unchanged: There's a good chance he goes back to the Scions (1/3? I don't remember). If that fails then all the non-barbarian civs, including the Scions, have an equal chance at getting him.

 

[Nameless One]

How do I use Alcinus for anything special? I got him with Chisev, probably when he defected from another civ, and the civilopedia entry says he can construct a special building, but I never get an option for that. Aside from being an accomplished spellcaster for my civ which can even make adepts yet, I really have no idea how else I can use him.

 

[Valkrionn]

For any civ but the Scions, he does nothing. Aside from being a free mage.

 

[PPQ_Purple]

Has anyone considered doing some tweking to allow the player to trade him back to the scions?
I meen, it would make sense that I could sell him back to his former masters for some gold or a tech, and the AI could be made to find this offer quite good.

 

[Breez]

I got him once when playing against the Scions...

I sent them a nice thank you Fruit Basket!

 

[WarKirby]

For any civ but the Scions, he does nothing. Aside from being a free mage.

You sure about that?

Take a look at the "Unleashed" promotion.

 

[Tarquelne]

For any civ but the Scions, he does nothing. Aside from being a free mage.

He also both boosts Rituals and makes you more vulnerable to them.

 

[Valkrionn]

Which with the current set-up for rituals has never really been useful... Although it will be, once Xienwolf finishes the system he has planned.

 

[ZeroZeroSix]

I played Scions often lately and as soon as he build the magic keep I send him "exploring' lol. This is not to have him go bersek in my land while I dont have units able to handle him properly.

I promote him the more lethal I can with air 2 or the like so if another player get him he can be a real pest for the new hapy owner.

 

[Iceciro]

I generally give Alcinus a bunch of garbage terraforming promotions so I don't miss him when he's gone and he doesn't come back to bite me in the butt like he did one game.

 

[WarKirby]

I find it fun to give him Death I. Then use him as a free xp source when he goes crazy and summons skeletons repeatedly

 

[Deon]

Hehe, Alcinus saved my austrin capital yesterday. I've moved a couple of units leaving a single old scout there because I had a war and all my cities were quite far away, and then frostlings spawn, and i get a fr. wolf rider 2 turns from my capital with no strong units nearby... And then I get Alcinus .

 

[Iceciro]

He wasn't saving you, he was saving your population for later undead-izing by the Emperor.

 

[Deon]

AI is too dumb for that .

 

[Iceciro]

Shush you. AI does not equal lore.