Fall from Heaven Questions

[Omegon3]

OK... I'm lazy. I could weed through the 40+ pages of correspondence on the "Fall from Heaven" link, but I'm hoping that someone (?) might point me to the exact threads that will help.

Since I downloaded FFH and started playing it, I'm finding that it takes Civ 4 to an entirely new level of play. However, I'm getting a little frustrated by my inevitable charge towards Armegeddon -- especially since, for whatever reason, my wife doesn't seem to progress nearly as fast...

I have three basic questions right now that I'm hoping that someone can answer or indicate where I can get further information:

1. How to slow the progress towards Armegeddon. I read one link that indicated that if you destroyed the city that founded the Ashen Veil this would take some off the counter. Well I did so and... it dropped exactly one (1) point. I figured if I razed a few more Ashen Veil cities this would drop if further. Unfortunately as soon as I did so it ROSE the counter by five; didn't figure I had better destroy any more cities. I don't go after "bad" technologies; I don't build "bad" wonders; I don't adopt the "bad" cult. I spread "good" religion just as fast as I can... Yet, inevitably, the counter rises quickly. My last game (going fairly well) is already up to 62 and I'm hardly past turn 250. And, to top it off, I'm only playing at CHIEFTAIN level!!

2. I'm not quite sure what you call the burning terrain that lays waste to all of the good land but, due to the above, inevitably the land around my cities turn to wastelands. My previous game my CAPITAL (quite religious and quite cultural!) had nothing BUT wastelands surrounding it. My question is whether or not one of the mages or conjurers (or their next level) have a spell that willl reverse this? Will "bloom" help?

3. OK... My very first game I actually went to the Armegeddon level (quite fast actually!). Much to my surprise practically my entire army (and all but 2 workers) vanished. Is there a way to combat this (i.e. do either mages or conjurers have a spell to help you KEEP your people -- like loyalty, courage, or something else)?

I'm hoping there are some things to combat these problems since I really enjoy playing this mod, but I am getting frustrated by the Armegeddon counter and its effect on both your land and people. As I said before, I've only made it all the way to Armegeddon once -- mainly because I quit the game before reaching that state.

Thanks in advance.

 

[White Elk]

I agree that the Armageddon Counter (AC) can be a real bear at times. But it can also be alot of fun and it helps to alleviate the late game doldrums. In the latest version of the mod (link in my sig) you can turn the Armageddon Counter off. You can also make it so that the Counter increases twice as fast.

Razing a city with the Ashen Veil (AV) religion does decrease the counter. But the counter will still be raised due to the population loss... its just that it is raised one less. The bigger the population, the greater the rise. However in the next release of the mod (December 16), razing any Ashen Veil city will lower the counter regardless of population size.

To avoid the cost of razing cities I will often capture the cities and then gift them to a nearby ally. And sometimes I will beeline to the Divine Right tech so I can build Inquisitors who can remove non-state religions from your cities. The AC will go down by one each time you remove the AV from a city.

Certain units will raise the AC when they are created. But when you kill them the AC will go down. The demon Hyborem for instance, adds +5 to the AC. So when he spawns organize a campaign to take him out. But be forewarned that he is immortal and will have to be killed twice.

If you play as the Elohim there is a repeatable ritual called the Hallowing of the Elohim which reduces the AC.

The spell Sanctify will lower the AC when cast over the ruins of a razed city. You can also use this spell to remove the hell terrain (wastelands). The spell Spring turns deserts to plains. And the spell Vitalize will upgrade any terrain.

When the AC hits 90 the Avatar of Wrath enters the world. When he spawns he causes other civs units to join him in his barbarian horde. The spell Loyalty is supposed to kill units that would flip to the Avatar rather than have them join him. But that isn't working in the BTS Test version. I'm sure that in the December 16th release of Shadow Loyalty will work once again. As far as I know that is the only way to prevent units from joining the Avatar (well besides keeping the AC down).


You'd probably get better answers by posting your Armageddon questions in the FfH forum. Especially for spellcasting which I'm not well versed in yet. Also check the FfH Wiki for spell lists and more detail regarding the AC. See my sig for links.

 

[Omegon3]

Thanks. When I wasn't getting any responses to my questions on this thread, I posted it on the FfH one (got answers within only a few minutes!!). It is a cool game and I really don't want to completely turn off the counter, but it is so frustrating when I dutifully spread a good religion like the Order and, as was the case this morning, see the counter shooting up faster than I've ever seen it.

I'll try the "Sanctify" and see if that does the job. I always build a couple of adepts in each of my cities so that they can evolve into mages and conjurers (along with at least one disciple). Perhaps I should build even more of them...

Thanks.

 

[Methos]

Besides in the FtH forum, you should have posted this in the BTS Mods/Scenarios sub-forum. Moving it there now.