Love
Deity
Getting an Isolated doviello as second h2l civ isn't fun at all.
High2Low-Most fun ever !
- Thread starter Rod
- Start date
OzzyKP
Deity
My latest game I started as the vampires, then switched to the Malikim. The Vamps shot ahead quickly and before I was able to take the lead they vassilized three civs, boosting their score well over 500 points over the nearest civ. Ugh. The score benefits to vassilization are too much to overcome.
fuzzy_bunnies
Prince
- Joined
- May 28, 2004
- Messages
- 325
Curious to try this... how often does the switch happen? As soon as you're number one? What happens if there are only 2 civs left? Do you just keep flipping back and forth as the score goes up?
Kael
Deity
High to Low switches as soon as you start the turn at number 1. You switch twice. So potentially if you get down to 2 civs before your first switch you could switch from the highest civ to the only other civ in the game, and then when you make that the highest civ in the game back to your former civ. But thats pretty rare.
Keeper_GFA
Prince
You switch twice. So once you get to the third civ, your goal is then to win.
Nikis-Knight
Deity
I love this option as well. I like to play it with scores turned off and play each iteration like it is my last, meaning the ai civs I started will be quite challenging.
heisenberg
Lost in Erebus
- Joined
- Sep 15, 2008
- Messages
- 337
that does take quite a bit of self-discipline not to click on the score button, just like trying not to reach for the reload button when your hero dies on a 97% lol~
Love
Deity
I had Gilden killed at 99.9%
Keeper_GFA
Prince
Hehe, in vanilla BTS I lost a tank at 100%. 
I haven't lost too many 99% in FFH, but I have lost a lot around 92%.
I haven't lost too many 99% in FFH, but I have lost a lot around 92%.
Blackmantle
King
Yea. Sometimes 90% rather feels like 60% 
. (lost many near-shades 20 XP+ to battles like these 
)
But its all (or mostly?) just the human mind...
Drill 1-4 + Commando + Blitz + possible other sources of first strikes (and at best Aneron's Chosen or cannibalism added into the mix of course...
) are your friend in that circumstances... Have yet to lose a 99%+ Battle with Drill 4 (+commando mostly) to a unit without first-strike immunity...
Drill (1 and 2 at least) could still use some! improvement. But for making battles sure, it works out very well...
(still always bring some reinforcements, they will still be hurt in some way rather often...)
. (lost many near-shades 20 XP+ to battles like these )But its all (or mostly?) just the human mind...
Drill 1-4 + Commando + Blitz + possible other sources of first strikes (and at best Aneron's Chosen or cannibalism added into the mix of course...
) are your friend in that circumstances... Have yet to lose a 99%+ Battle with Drill 4 (+commando mostly) to a unit without first-strike immunity...Drill (1 and 2 at least) could still use some! improvement. But for making battles sure, it works out very well...
(still always bring some reinforcements, they will still be hurt in some way rather often...)
reverend oats
King
I just had a really fun game.
I started as Beeri Brawl on a large pangea emperor difficulty. Had 1 gold in the BFC, but wasn't doing so well because for some reason my mud golem didn't fight the units that attacked it. But I got lucky with the Amatheon constellation event, which gave me a great prophet with which to bulb RoK. Then the fun starts...
I switch to the sheaim. They had just lost their capital to Orthus and a bunch of Frostling archers. They had only one city, one worker, 3 warriors, and tech progress lacked agriculture but had BW. I quickly chopped out some warriors but fortunately Orthus stayed in the city for a while. However, Mokka decided to come my way. He refused to attack my city but instead danced around preventing me from building improvements. I had to sacrifice 2 warriors and a pyre zombie, but I killed him, and the warrior that did the deed got to level 5. I named him The Last Hero. A period of relative peace ensued, in which I built an elder council and founded a pretty mediocre city on my little peninsula, as the rest was blocked off by the powerful elves. Then the Illians casted Stasis, which was quite annoying. Still, after it ended I got a GS and bulbed KotE and got an adept out, just in time to take out Orthus. I used my adept to make skeletons to weaken him, and finally was able to take him down with the Last Hero, just in time for my former capital to be captured by the orcs
. I couldn't have that happen, so I declared war and finally retook my capital. I then marched a tiny force of two adepts, two skeletons, a pyre zombie and the Last Hero into the far off Clan, razing several cities and pillaging many cottages.
Then the elves declared war and it was all over.
Thanks for this great option, Kael and the dev team!
I started as Beeri Brawl on a large pangea emperor difficulty. Had 1 gold in the BFC, but wasn't doing so well because for some reason my mud golem didn't fight the units that attacked it. But I got lucky with the Amatheon constellation event, which gave me a great prophet with which to bulb RoK. Then the fun starts...
I switch to the sheaim. They had just lost their capital to Orthus and a bunch of Frostling archers. They had only one city, one worker, 3 warriors, and tech progress lacked agriculture but had BW. I quickly chopped out some warriors but fortunately Orthus stayed in the city for a while. However, Mokka decided to come my way. He refused to attack my city but instead danced around preventing me from building improvements. I had to sacrifice 2 warriors and a pyre zombie, but I killed him, and the warrior that did the deed got to level 5. I named him The Last Hero. A period of relative peace ensued, in which I built an elder council and founded a pretty mediocre city on my little peninsula, as the rest was blocked off by the powerful elves. Then the Illians casted Stasis, which was quite annoying. Still, after it ended I got a GS and bulbed KotE and got an adept out, just in time to take out Orthus. I used my adept to make skeletons to weaken him, and finally was able to take him down with the Last Hero, just in time for my former capital to be captured by the orcs
. I couldn't have that happen, so I declared war and finally retook my capital. I then marched a tiny force of two adepts, two skeletons, a pyre zombie and the Last Hero into the far off Clan, razing several cities and pillaging many cottages.Then the elves declared war and it was all over
.Thanks for this great option, Kael and the dev team!
Squirrelloid
Warlord
- Joined
- Sep 26, 2007
- Messages
- 263
High to Low strikes me as providing too many incentives for meta-gaming, although I did enjoy most of the games I tried doing it.
(The notable exception being one game where I switched to the Ljosalfar to find them buried so deep in jungle that they had basically no productivity in their one city at turn ~75. And the was forest just outside their BFC to the north. I mean, I don't mind taking over the low score, but that wasn't just low, that was brutally gimped.)
Optimal strategy seems to be start as Calabim, burn River of Blood sometime near turn 50 (you can't switch before then) - if you can snag a second city beforehand, great - and you're almost certain to go to the top of the board. Then as your 2nd civ, beeline Trade and (as necessary) the seafaring line to find everyone and hand the low score nation all your tech shortly before the swap. (Possibly many or all nations if you think you'll put the low score ahead of the next guy by doing so). Then you just have to deal with bad positioning rather than a tech disadvantage and bad positioning.
Amusingly, the game I tried this in I went for a pure econ start as the Calabim, switched on turn 50, and then ~15 turns later they died. Apparently my lack of focus on military units plus their insane desire to enter the nearby Pristin Pass was a deadly combination. Silly. (I had studiously gone the other way).
(The notable exception being one game where I switched to the Ljosalfar to find them buried so deep in jungle that they had basically no productivity in their one city at turn ~75. And the was forest just outside their BFC to the north. I mean, I don't mind taking over the low score, but that wasn't just low, that was brutally gimped.)
Optimal strategy seems to be start as Calabim, burn River of Blood sometime near turn 50 (you can't switch before then) - if you can snag a second city beforehand, great - and you're almost certain to go to the top of the board. Then as your 2nd civ, beeline Trade and (as necessary) the seafaring line to find everyone and hand the low score nation all your tech shortly before the swap. (Possibly many or all nations if you think you'll put the low score ahead of the next guy by doing so). Then you just have to deal with bad positioning rather than a tech disadvantage and bad positioning.
Amusingly, the game I tried this in I went for a pure econ start as the Calabim, switched on turn 50, and then ~15 turns later they died. Apparently my lack of focus on military units plus their insane desire to enter the nearby Pristin Pass was a deadly combination. Silly. (I had studiously gone the other way).
Epic speed, Emperor, Huge Erebus map, 18 civs.
Started as Hannah with a coastal river city. It was a great start that got even better when I freed a great engineer from a dungeon and rushed the Heron Throne. It was like coming out of the gate on a rocket. I flipped to low within the first 75 turns....which made me kinda worried. I knew it would be hard to catch Hannah with whoever I got next.
When I ended up as Charadon, I knew it was going to be a long march to the top. I quickly wiped out my nearest neighbor, Sabathiel, and used the proceeds to research bronze working. Orthus spawned nearby, so I tailed him with a well promoted Lucian, watched him wipe out the Illians, and then declared war on the barbs because I coveteth the axe. Lucian (Combat 5, First Strike 4), two well promoted Sons of Asena, and an heroic strength adventurer scout are now my primary means of cash flow. I've alternated war on Thessa and Faeryl. I capture 2 cities, declare peace, and liberate the cities. Then I declare war on the other elves. Wash, rinse, repeat. I can keep my gimped (-10%) research at ~50% and build a decently sprawling empire. I'd keep the captured cities but paying for them is too hard on the treasury. I'm in second place at ~turn 300, and steadily catching Hannah. Meanwhile, she's just built the Great Lighthouse...
I know I'm definitely going to flip to my third civ and hear the announcement that both elves have been wiped out shortly thereafter. Lucian can take an archer defended city without losing any health. Then I imagine Charadon will begin his slide to mediocrity, due to poor AI cash management. The AI never seems to play him well on an Erebus map. I just hope whoever I get is nowhere near Hannah or Charadon when the time comes...
Beeri is the lowest score I know of, but there are still 6 civs I need to meet.
I think this game option may be my favorite addition to FFH2. It really makes you work at the game. Once you hit the top and things get ho-hum, you get to take on a whole new challenge.
I wonder, would it be possible to have a "grudge match" option? A two stage H2L where once you top out the second civ you are put permanently at war with the first civ you played. The game ends once either civ is wiped out.
Anyways, cheers for adding more fun to an already great game!
Started as Hannah with a coastal river city. It was a great start that got even better when I freed a great engineer from a dungeon and rushed the Heron Throne. It was like coming out of the gate on a rocket. I flipped to low within the first 75 turns....which made me kinda worried. I knew it would be hard to catch Hannah with whoever I got next.
When I ended up as Charadon, I knew it was going to be a long march to the top. I quickly wiped out my nearest neighbor, Sabathiel, and used the proceeds to research bronze working. Orthus spawned nearby, so I tailed him with a well promoted Lucian, watched him wipe out the Illians, and then declared war on the barbs because I coveteth the axe. Lucian (Combat 5, First Strike 4), two well promoted Sons of Asena, and an heroic strength adventurer scout are now my primary means of cash flow. I've alternated war on Thessa and Faeryl. I capture 2 cities, declare peace, and liberate the cities. Then I declare war on the other elves. Wash, rinse, repeat. I can keep my gimped (-10%) research at ~50% and build a decently sprawling empire. I'd keep the captured cities but paying for them is too hard on the treasury. I'm in second place at ~turn 300, and steadily catching Hannah. Meanwhile, she's just built the Great Lighthouse...
I know I'm definitely going to flip to my third civ and hear the announcement that both elves have been wiped out shortly thereafter. Lucian can take an archer defended city without losing any health. Then I imagine Charadon will begin his slide to mediocrity, due to poor AI cash management. The AI never seems to play him well on an Erebus map. I just hope whoever I get is nowhere near Hannah or Charadon when the time comes...
Beeri is the lowest score I know of, but there are still 6 civs I need to meet.
I think this game option may be my favorite addition to FFH2. It really makes you work at the game. Once you hit the top and things get ho-hum, you get to take on a whole new challenge.
I wonder, would it be possible to have a "grudge match" option? A two stage H2L where once you top out the second civ you are put permanently at war with the first civ you played. The game ends once either civ is wiped out.
Anyways, cheers for adding more fun to an already great game!
Nikis-Knight
Deity
I wouldn't recommend it. Your score changes to the lowest three times, which means you'll probably end up on the settler difficulty if you switch at the wrong times, even if you are doing well.
