Challenge: Barbatos Isle

[White Elk]

Since Barbatos is likely to be tweaked a little in the upcoming release of Shadow, I though it would be fun to try and defeat/survive him in a scenario where his summons are within range of a well endowed starting city. In this post westamastaflash had posted a very nice river start with two Gems, Cattle, Sugar, and the Remnants of Patria. So I decided to recreate that start and give it a whirl. Then I decided to post the first turn save here in case anyone else wanted to share this challenge. It is my hope that this may be the first of many Community Challenge games from our FfH community.

Since Shadow is just days away I made this a tiny mapped, quick speed game. Its a three civ Islands map with each civ having their own island. The challenge for this game is to defeat Barbatos. If you can do that then there is a bonus challenge to conquer Dragon Isle. But be prepared for this may prove to be a greater challenge than Barbatos!

The difficulty is Prince and you play as Hannah the Irin. As an added bonus you start out with the Fishing tech to help spur research. This challenge is just for fun and is not a contest. There is no deadline and posting savegames is unnecessary. A creative story or a brief account of your game is all that is required. Feel free to restart as desired. However using the World Builder and reloading due to combat losses is discouraged since this would detract from the shared experiance. Good luck and enjoy!

Requires FfH2 version 0.25 L

EDIT: Deleted the barbarian Sailors Dirge. Added new save.

 

[Rex rgis of Ter]

Sounds Fun! What Difficulty is it?

Barbartaros sounds like Barbarossa...
Pirates... Caribbean.....

 

[westamastaflash]

Heh. My original game was standard speed fractal on monarch with 7 civs, hopefully on quick you can get adequate defenders in time before the wraiths come stomping.

 

[westamastaflash]

Heh. My original game was standard speed fractal on monarch with 7 civs, hopefully on quick you can get adequate defenders in time before the wraiths come stomping.

Hmm - undead slaying may be helpful here....

 

[westamastaflash]

Spoiler :

Omg, the sailors dirge dropped off 3 skeletons on turn 8. Managed to survive that!

And on turn 25, an Str 14 Ogre Warchief showed up and leveled my city.

2nd game, won a conquest victory because the gold dragon traveled on the sailors dirge to go kill the 2 AIs first.

 

[White Elk]

Spoiler :

Omg, the sailors dirge dropped off 3 skeletons on turn 8. Managed to survive that!

And on turn 25, an Str 14 Ogre Warchief showed up and leveled my city.

2nd game, won a conquest victory because the gold dragon traveled on the sailors dirge to go kill the 2 AIs first.

Spoiler :

Oops

I deleted the Dirge. Sorry 'bout that, I never figured that those units would leave the Island. Now you have a taste for whats in store for you on Dragon Isle lol. Thanks for using the spoiler tag!

 

[White Elk]

Sounds Fun! What Difficulty is it?

Barbartaros sounds like Barbarossa...
Pirates... Caribbean.....

Its Prince difficulty. I was hoping a middle ground level might apply to more players. If people want I can modify the difficulty somewhat by adding a tech(s), Academy, and worker; or by taking away the bonus Fishing tech, Scout, and ?.

Hehe.. The first time I saved the community version of the game,
I accidentally saved it as Barbados Isle.. an island country in the West Indies.

 

[White Elk]

Turn 1 ~ Seeking to rapidly increase the speed of research, I queue the techs of Crafting and Mining. And work the unmined Grassland Gems in lieu of the Remnants of Patria saving 2 turns of research. I begin the training of five Warriors. The western village on the outskirts of Innsmouth yields a
worthless map.

Turn 3 ~ The people of the SW village gift us with 83g's to join our pirate band.

Turn 8 ~ Crafting is learned and Innsmouth grows to pop2.
I now work the Remnants along with the Gems.

Turn 13 ~ Trained 5th Warrior and begin on Worker since Mining is near. A worthless map is found in the North Eastern Village.

Turn 18 ~ Learned Mining and finished Worker who immediately begins on Grassland Gem mine. Still at 2 pop and now work the Grass Gems and a Coast in order to quicken research. Queued the techs of Ancient Chants to Message From the Deep. Scout is killed by a Giant Spider lurking east of the capitol. Begun training yet another Warrior.

Turn 21 ~ The Grassland Gems Mine is built saving 12 turns of research on
the long path to Message from the Deep. Work begins on the Hills mine now.

Turn 23 ~ Innsmouth grows to pop3. I work 2 coasts
and the Grassland Gems mine saving another 4 turns of research.

Turn 26 ~ The Hills Gems are mined.
Now working it, the Grass Gems and a Coast saving another 3 turns of teching.

Turn 29 ~ Mysticism is mine and I adopt the
God King civic. Begin decoding the Message from the Deep.

Turn 31 ~ The Invention of the Tower Shield grants all melee units the Cover promotion.



Turn 32 ~ The 8th Warrior is ready for duty. Work begins on an Elder Council.

Turn 38 ~ Innsmouth has grown to a pop of 4. Working both Gems, a coast
and the Remnants. Last turn the Elder Council was built and the 9th Warrior trains.

Turn 39 ~ The 9th Warrior is ready for duty, preparations for a settlement
have begun. Two Warriors are dispatched to reconnoiter the settlement site.

Turn 44 ~ Message from the Deep is learned and Octopus Overlords is founded in Innsmouth. It is adopted and research of Mind Stapling has begun. The Zealot is sent to meet the recon Warriors.

Turn 49 ~ A Jungle grows North of Innsmouth which removes the threat of Barbatos's Summons (until he gets spell extension 1 and Wraiths). So I redeploy 2 more Warriors towards the settlement site, 1 to the capitol, and three to explore the Eastern wildlands.



Turn 50 ~ Settler is ready, I begin on another.

Turn 51 ~ Orthus enters the world in some distant land.

Turn 53 ~ Founded the city of Dunwich on the Western Coast. The overzealous Zealot immediately spreads Octopus Overlords. I queue 2 Workboats and work a Grassland Forest to quicken their builds.



Turn 59 ~ Settler is done and I was going to build a worker but that blasted Spider killed a Warrior and is now lurking near the settlement site. So I must build a Scout first.

Turn 60 ~ Dunwich grows to pop2 and finishes its first workboat which heads to the Crabs. I work them and stay with the Grassland Forest for now. Next turn Dunwich finishes its Bronze mine so I will switch to that.

Turn 63 ~ Have learned Mind Stapling and now queue Exploration (need to get started on roads) and Agriculture to Animal Husbandry. I'm anxious to get started on Saverous and Lunatics in Innsmouth but decide I need a Zealot for the new city ASAP so I begin building a Temple of the Overlords.

Turn 64 ~ Founded the city of Kingsport along the Eastern coast. Queued 2 Workboats. Meanwhile Dunwich finished its last Workboat so I queue an Elder Council and then Asylum.



Turn 70 ~ Innsmouth finishes its Temple and begins the Zealot. Next turn Animal Husbandry is learned so I queue Sailing then Festivals. I picked Sailing for the Lighthouses and I'm now losing money at 100% science so its past time for Markets. The Kingsport Winery is in business and the Pirates rejoice!

Turn 73 ~ The Zealot is ready and begins his journey to Kingsport.
Innsmouth begins training Saverous.

Turn 76 ~ Saverous is born and the world weeps. Innsmouth begins work on an Asylum.

Barbatos Isle at Turn 71



Part 2: The Death of Barbatos is coming soon....

 

[Rex rgis of Ter]

Good game, I lost really early to a wraith, so I'll just listen to your updates

 

[White Elk]

Turn 78 ~ The first of Barbatos Summons enter my lands. Barbatos has spell extension 1 so Wraiths can threaten each of my three cities. But Earth Elementals will still fall short of reaching the cities. The Wraiths head towards Kingsport. Fortunately they will have only one strike at each city so its just a matter of maintaining enough defenders in each city to survive a couple waves worth of attacks. Kingsport and Innsmouth frantically switch production to Warriors, and man I wish I had taken the time to adopt Slavery.



Turn 80 ~ One Wraith is killed on the slopes of Kingsport and one brave Pirate now drinks with Davey Jones. I've learned Festivals and think its long past time to have learned Bronze Working so I promptly begin researching it now.

. .

The Warrior built in Innsmouth this turn is an odd mutant. He's got the Light promotion which grants +1 movement bonus, but its canceled out by the Heavy promotions +1 Terrain movement cost. And the Heavy strength bonus of +30% is lessened to +10% due to the Light promotions -20%. But he keeps the 10% Withdrawal bonus from Light. In addition he gets Heroic Defense and gets +1 Visibility due to the Sentry promotion.



Turn 81 ~ Dunwich finishes its Asylum and since my economy is in the red I take a chance and build a Market instead of a Lunatic. Next turn Innsmouth finishes its Asylum and I begin building Lunatics there. I let Innsmouth become the designated Lunatic factory since its Remnant fueled production rocks. And so on turn 83 when Kingsport finishes its Warrior I start on a Market there as well.

Turn 84 ~ Learned BronzeWorking and let loose a sigh of relief upon seeing my military become better armed. Decided to go for Optics as I was thinking its about high time to build the Black Wind to pester my opponents with piracy, and also to begin raking in some overseas trade routes. And then capitalize on them with the Great Lighthouse. Plans change though...

I was feeling confident with Innsmouths high production of Lunatics so when Dunwich
finished its Market I began a Worker to start building some river side Cottages.

Turn 87 ~ The turn before Kingsport had finished its Market I had begun a Lighthouse, but since Barbatos just sent in another pair of Wraiths headed towards Dunwich I decided its time to put an end to him once and for all. So I switch to an Asylum and decide that after finishing my current tech I will go for Education so I can adopt Apprenticeship.

Turn 88 ~ Oof! Barbatos sends in a second wave of Wraiths towards Dunwich on the heels of the first wave. I just finished the Worker and had a Lunatic queued in advance, but now I must build some quick Warrior fodder.



Turn 89 ~ Nice! I killed both Wraiths attacking Dunwich but Barbatos summoned a third consecutive pair of Wraiths who are also headed to Dunwich. Barbatos is hell bent on capturing Dunwich. I deploy Saverous and a Lunatic to provide some backup to Dunwich.

.

Turn 90 ~ A Wraith beheads my Lunatic while his evil buddy dies at Dunwich. Barbatos summons yet another pair of Wraiths, this guys getting serious now This latest pair heads towards Innsmouth. I let Saverous pick off the wounded Lunatic killer and hope the next pair choose the weaker defenders in the city of Dunwich over my lone Saverous in the Forest. I order the Lunatic guarding the road between Innsmouth and Kingsport to backup the Warriors in the capital.

.



Turn 91 ~ I learned Optics and begin Smelting for the Forges. One Wraith dies attacking Dunwich while the other one foolishly goes after a Worker.. it will unsummon next turn before it can capture him!?



The other two Wraiths may also be attempting to capture a Worker as they head towards Kingsport instead of attacking Innsmouth. They had the opportunity to take a second strike on the city if they had survived the first.



Turn 92 ~ The Wraiths attacked Innsmouth and died quick deaths.
Thats the last of them... for now.

Turn 93 ~ Well that didn't last long, two more are summoned and are headed for Innsmouth. I decided to put Smelting on pause and switched to Education since its such a quick tech now. I'll need Religion soon so I can pop some happy caps, and I could use the Apprenticeship xp bonus.

Turn 95 ~ Learned Education and resumed Smelting. Adopted Apprenticeship, Religion,
Slavery and since Agriculture didn't cost an extra turn of anarchy I took that as well.

Last turn the Wraiths had moved adjacent to Innsmouth, but instead of attacking this turn they instead moved towards Dunwich. Now they will harmlessly unsummon before they can attack. I think once again they were tempted by the easy prey of a Worker. But they couldn't reach him before being unsummoned anyway. Makes me think the AI can't properly plan its movement in regards to temporary Summons.

Turn 97 ~ A Lunatic went nuts (Barbarian) so Saverous had to put him down.

Turn 103 ~ One of the other civs founded Runes of Kilmorph.


Reached the Image limit.
The final battle with Barbatos 'continues after these messages... '

 

[Tiarilir]

I love the story ;D

 

[westamastaflash]

Just wait until he gets spell extension II. :-D

 

[White Elk]

Turn 106 ~ Learned Smelting and choose Knowledge of the Ether so I can start preparing some fire mages to go after Dragon Isle. Saverous finally got his 6th Promotion (Heroic Attack) so I assemble him and 9 Lunatics and march off to battle Barbatos. Since he is about to die, I begin a Settler in Innsmouth so I can settle the Northwestern portion of my Isle. And I task some Workers with building roads towards the new settlement site. Then I begin building a Forge in Kingsport and pop rush a Lunatic in Dunwich and queue a Forge there as well.

Turn 107 ~ Barbatos summons two Wraiths but they head away from my assault force.



Turn 108 ~ Barbatos spawns 2 Earth Elementals who thankfully decide not to stick around to help defend him. I move past them and will be in position to attack next turn. The two Wraiths also decide not help out and they head to Dunwich. Which sucks since I was planning on having a Worker pre-build a Cattle Ranch for the new city and had two other Workers building a road from the capital to the new city. They all had to retreat back. But at least Barbatos summons have no sense of loyalty to him lol.



Turn 109 ~ Barbatos summons a second set of Earth Elementals who stay with him this time. The first set moves past my assault force and will unsummon before they can ever threaten my city. The Wraiths will also unsummon before they can attack since they moved away from Dunwich and towards Innsmouth. If all his summons had stayed to protect him I may have been unable to defeat him.



Two Lunatics die...


And two Lunatics are victorious...



And finally Saverous meets Barbatos...




The End

 

[White Elk]

I'm glad he never managed to get Spell Extension II. I would have had to have many more units in the cities and with some of the choices I made I may not have been able to survive. In the end I was really lucky that his summons didn't stick around to defend him. I might not have been successful if all six had stayed. And by the time I built up another force he may have had it.

I was going to keep on playing to take Dragon Isle. But the Barbarians disbanded the 3 Dragons, an Ogre Warchief, and a Pitbeast... and perhaps more. They did manage to build the Pact of the Nillhorn and Form of the Titan. They may have built other wonders also. And Orthus spawned with them. But Shadow is very nearly here and so I won't go in and WB the units back in. Was a fun challenge and his summons got hectic for a time there.

 

[westamastaflash]

Very Nice. I killed him on turn 114 with a load of Stonewardens and Enchanted Iron Weapons-Wielding Swordsmen (courtesy of the mines of gal-dur and Bambur).

 

[White Elk]

Sweet. I considered going for ROK but figured that Lunatics might do better vs Fear. Did you have much problems with Fear? And did any Jungles grow north of Innsmouth to limit the Summons movements? The luck of that Jungle growth made a big difference in my game I think. It prevented Earth Elementals from reaching my cities and they probably would not have died as easily as the Wraiths did.

 

[westamastaflash]

Sweet. I considered going for ROK but figured that Lunatics might do better vs Fear. Did you have much problems with Fear? And did any Jungles grow north of Innsmouth to limit the Summons movements? The luck of that Jungle growth made a big difference in my game I think. It prevented Earth Elementals from reaching my cities and they probably would not have died as easily as the Wraiths did.

No fear issues, luckily. I didn't get any jungle growth, but my culture didn't pop to lvl 4 as soon as yours did, since my holy city was Dunwich (founded in the same spot as yours - and it built my Mines of Gal-Dur).

Runes really helped my economy too .

 

[Mesix]

Just curious why you let Barbatos get so powerful?

You had 9 warriors on turn 39. That was probably enough to kill him off before he started summoning wraiths.

I personally have never seen him summon wraiths. He has spawned on two or three maps that I have played on, and I always take him out with a stack of warriors early on. I like to hit Orthus the same way when he spawns near me.

 

[skallben]

This was pre-Shadow, Barbatos was stronger.