Hyborem

[rvarnell]

I had never played as the Infernals before, so I rushed Hyborem (got him at about turn 150) and it's remarkable how quickly you can steamroll with him & the two champions in the early to mid game. Had a bit of a setback when the barbarians declared war on me (darn horsemen!) but am still surprised by how quick it has all been.

Particulars - Pangea, Monarch, Random civ selection (Sheam, Kazad, Clan, Good & Bad Elves, Bannor, & Grigori). Now its just me, the Sheam (who I started with), bad elves (my vassals), and the Clan. Sheam are next on the list for a domination win.

Question: Are the mercurians this easy to play?

 

[·Imhotep·]

They are at least as much fun to play!

 

[readercolin]

Kinda. The big difference is hyborem starts with a settler (or two), and a few units. Basium starts out with the mercurian gate city (build it in your best city if you want to play as them). He gets angels instead of manes from dead units, and they don't work the same way.

On the other hand, summoning hyborem that early means he is quite powerful. The problem is summoning him later on, he starts with the exact same starting units, and being summoned by say, turn 250 (normal speed), or later, his power is significantly less, unless there is alot of evil wars going on to provide him with manes.

-Colin

 

[rvarnell]

I also like how Infernal cities don't need food. Want a production city - mine some hills & workshop all of the rest. Want a commerce city - put cottages up everywhere. The one bad thing about the Infernals (other than they are bad & I like playing good civs) is that I couldn't summon Basium. Stinks that I can't build the Mercurian Gate & have basium as my slave. Or partner, whatever you prefer.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

The Infernals most certainly can summon Basium. They just have to spend some time without a state religion in order to do so. Only AV-State Religion players are blocked from buolding the Mercurian Gate. The Infernals leaders all have a +100 weighting towards AV and a -100 weighting towards everything else, which means that the AI will always take AV and that a human cannot use any religion but AV, but there is nothing stopping a human player from sticking with (or returning to) "No State Religion" for just long enough to build the gate. Note that once the permanent alliance is formed, thee is nothing Basium can do to end it even if you immediately adopt AV.

 

[Onionsoilder]

Question: Are the mercurians this easy to play?

Mercurians are similar in how they enter the game, but play differently:

Hyborem starts with two Champions, Settlers, Longbowmen, and 1 Worker. Basium starts with 1 Settler and several Angels. Angels are 5 , and can wield Iron Weapons(Basium has Iron in his palace just like Hyborem). Thus, Hyborem's troops are slightly stronger, but Basium has more troops.

When units with evil religions die, Hyborem gets Manes. When units with good religions die, Basium gets Angels. Hyborem has to upgrade his Manes into military units; Basium doesn't need to upgrade. This is useful because Warriors can't wield Iron Weapons, so Basium can skip Bronze Working because he doesn't need Axemen, which Hyborem does. Also, Basium can spam Acolytes/Thanes and suicide them to get hordes of angels, while Hyborem can't do this and get hordes of Manes since all his units are Demons and thus, not alive.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

Regardless of religion, any living unit with Death I or Entropy I joins the Infernals and any living unit already owned by the Mercurians returns as an Angel. Basium doesn't have to span disciples of good religions to throw away (although he would probably want to build enough to spread these faiths to other players a lot). Any unit will do, including units of Evil religions or with Death/Entropy promotions, which will become both Angels and Manes.


For each unit that dies that meets the requirements, the code gives 2 Manes but only 1 Angel. Note that these are actually chances to get units though, which are modified by the number of units the player already has and by the dead unit's xp. The chance is also for each player of the right civ, so with multiple Infernals or Mercurians in scenarios you'll get a lot more.


Also, Angels can use Mithril, not just Iron.

 

[apenpaap]

I really should try a Basium rush once, but I tend to play evil.

 

[popejubal]

Note that once the permanent alliance is formed, thee is nothing Basium can do to end it even if you immediately adopt AV.

That's hysterical. I'm half surprised that wasn't one of the trophies.

 

[Bill Bisco]

I really should try a Basium rush once, but I tend to play evil.

Basium doesn't care if you're evil, just that you aren't currently worshipping the Veil.

 

[apenpaap]

Yes, that is the Evil I usually take. But I'll try a game as a good guy and switch to Basium.

 

[Bill Bisco]

Yes, that is the Evil I usually take. But I'll try a game as a good guy and switch to Basium.

See the strategy index, and make a Basium rush using Luchiurp

 

[slowcar]

The AI-Mods make hyborem all the weaker, i rushed him asap and got stomped three times, on emperor. Meet a stack of 30 axemen on your first turns, sayonara.

 

[Onionsoilder]

The AI-Mods make hyborem all the weaker, i rushed him asap and got stomped three times, on emperor. Meet a stack of 30 axemen on your first turns, sayonara.

Oh? I dominated as Hyborem in my last game: Emperor, Standard Map. Easy conquest victory.

I am running the economic AI mod.

 

[slowcar]

i tried to play him with wild mana. succeeded after some time, but the beginning was so much harder...

 

[Tasunke]

When I play Hyborem, if its for the long-term (aka single player) my own personal trophy is to take the starting champions all the way up to immortal status, and give them special names.