Handling Armageddon Counter

The problematic part is if you kill them on a resource, the mana won't appear. If riders go pillaging, they often stop on a resource, so you don't get anything.
 
I've never noticed the free mana from the horsemen either. I think I did see some mana lying about near where they died in my last game (As Sheaim, I annihilated anyone who didn't adopt Veil, then most who did, and got the AC to 100), but I just assumed they had pillaged a node that an automated Mobius Witch had made.

There is one more thing that makes the Luchuirp a little more AV like-the Arcane golem's entropy magic. Of course, this doesn't depend on the religion or on mana, so they can use the darkest of all magic without upsetting their Good allies. It kinda seems that they are only pretending to be good. ;)

One thing I am surprised that no one mentioned is that a high enough version of the Altar (consecrated?) prevents any hell spread in your territory. The civilopedia does not mention this fact, but Kael has stated it and I have found it to be true. Or course Evil civs cannot build it, but it doesn't disappear when a good or neutral civ takes the plunge into darkness. If you build this and then switch to the Veil you are immune to much of the harm you are causing to the world. I especially like making the Calabim follow runes for just long enough to shield their lands from hell, then switch to the Veil to take advantage of Sacrifice the Weak. You still will suffer from blight and the other AC catastrophes, but there is no better way to keep the populations high.

Personally I still think that the good civs being immune to hell spread is really broken balancewise. I'm fine with hell terrain reaching them latter, but never? This also makes sanctify a much less important spell (defile should also raise the tiles hell counter, if not make it hell immediately)
 
One should mention the 4 civs, that can get the most out of high count:
-sheiam:
<50 1-7 freely produced units per city with planar gate
<75 2-14 ...
<100 3-21 ...
100 4-28 ...
And not realy bad units.

edit to add: This are actually only the maximum numbers, the speed of respawning is also count dependant, you get free replacements after some time. In terms of hammers , this can mean, that a planar gate with carnival(chaos marauder, equals maceman 120 ham), veil temple(tar demon, worse than longbow,better than archer about 90 ham) and mage guild(moebius witch, as mage, 120 ham) "produces" until the maximum number of the respective units is reached the following(the factor 0.5 because the units you get are not always, what you need and normally produce, also units are inexperienced):
<50 (120+90+120*0.0601*0.5)=~10 ham
<75 ~15 ham
<100 ~20 ham
100 ~ 25 ham

With the 4 other building types present and count 100, the unit output per turn can be equivalent of 100 hammers, depending on whether you need those units and can cope with their inexperience.

- doviello(with right leader) and clan and infernal(hope i'm right with this, i never tested):
Aren't they at peace with barbs?
So:
60 Stephanos enters the world (barbarian hero who converts units like an inquisitor)
63 Buboes enters the world (very strong barbarian hero)
66 Yersinia enters the world (barbarian hero who spreads hell terrain wherever he travels)
69 Ars Moriendi enters the world (barbarian hero who raises anyone he kills as wraiths under his control).

are you're allies. Their main weakness is, they start without xp and might die at the first city. Therefore keep a mobile forces on ships ready at various places before the counter hits the values. When they appear, normaly an icon shows where - rush there and protect the horsemen while he is still inexperienced, fireball city defences, use healing ...

70 Hellfire
* 2.01&#37; of the flatland (no Hill or Peak) land tiles which are not city tiles, and have no unit will gain the Hellfire improvement. One Sect of Flies (owned by the Infernal, or the Barbarian State if the former is not alive) is spawned at each new Hellfire tile at this time.

If hyborem isn't there more allies, but hyborem should anyways be you're ally(or you are hyborem), especially if there is a lot of barb land. Raze a lot of cities beforehand(since the 4 riders come along shortly before, there should be some razing)

90 Wrath
* Avatar of Wrath is generated.
* Every land, non-unique unit owned by any player other than the Barbarian State has a 31% chance of being taken control of by the Barbarian State, and teleported to Avatar of Wrath's location.

Build many units(50% more than you can sustain without problems) before count hits 90 and upgrade them as far as possible.


And for Infernals:
100 Apocalypse

Every Player that does not have Fallow as a trait has a 61% chance of loosing each living unit, and has each city reduce to half its present population (minimum 1).
 
The Hippus can also profit under good circumstances nicely from controlling counter(also not tested just thought up now):
Their hero Magnadine captures all barb units he defeats. If Magnadine is gotten early enough and leader is Tasunke(aggressive, raider->more xp for magnadine and 1fsc), Magnadine has str13(11+2 hero), combat 5(+100&#37;), formation 1(+40%), drill2(1-2 fs) and enchanted with dance of blades(1fs), he will bring against a rider 13*2.4=31.2 with 2-4 first strikes and is guranteed to convert him on victory.

Now the same anyone can attempt with inquisitors, their beaker requirement is similar, but they fail 50% of the time controlling, they are weak, so need other units for softening up(and maybe killing the rider instead).

The main advantage of Magnadine is, that he is terrible fast(mv 4 + commando), so will reach the rider in time before he dies or levels to much, if on same continent and that he levels fast, starting with combat 1 and getting +1 xp per battle.
But his levelling speed turns ridiculous if he gets all 3 flanking promotions and orthus axe, then he can attack 3-4 times a turn without risk and is guranteed to gain at least 1 xp(2 xp if below 100) per combat. (Also assuming he stays out of range of ring of fire and other direct damage stuff)
And if he needs something to soften a rider, he can go to any nearby city and get loyal(=fear resistant) mercs for 120 gp.

Getting 4 str 29 units with individual special stuff(command, plague carrier, wraith creating) would be a huge advantage.

Getting Avatar of Wrath seems more difficult, because he starts with lot of units(softening up difficult) and combat 3.
 
Actually, it only works on living units. The 4 horsemen and the avatar are demons; therefore, they cannot be converted.

Damn, I knew i should have tested, it couldn't be that easy. Bad for Hippus, but Doviello, Clan and Infernal can nonetheless profit from horsemen, as they do not try to convert them.
 
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