[MOD] Fall from Heaven II

[Nikis-Knight]

Assuming that you are using the BtS version (25), there are game options to slow or remove the armeggedon effects. Also if you have life mana you can cast sanctify on city ruins to lower the counter a bit.
There are two bugs currently with regards to lowering the counter that will be fixed next version (killing units with prophecy mark and razing Ashen Veil cities should lower the counter more than it does at the moment, sorry.)

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?

Adepts with life magic can remove hell terrain around them by casting sanctify. But it is a losing battle in to do so for your whole empire, rather you need to go kill the Ashen Veil & Infernals (With apologies for the aforementioned bugs)

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.

I would recommend you turn the counter off or use the option that slows it's growth.
For surviving apocalypse (AC=100), try to get some non-living units beforehand, or be ready to build some after. (There may be some changes about this too, can't say anything though.)

 

[Omegon3]

Where are the options for turning off the counter or slowing its growth? Sounds like a great solution, at least until I'm a little more adept (sorry, bad choice of words for FFH) at playing the game. Does this have to be done before you start the game (probably!)?

Also, is there any end to the warriors pouring into your empire in the event that you do fall into Armegeddon? I thought that I was doing great in my first game... While they (the barbarians) had taken two of my cities (including my capital!), I had poured what troops I could into the next city in line. I must have killed 20-30 barbarians and I was thinking that I might have them whipped. Then I looked at the stacks of invaders still pouring in... There must have been three times still coming as what I had already killed!!

Thanks.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

The Order religion is most useful in combating evil, and its shrine and heroes lower the AC. Also, it changes your alignment to good. Since you said "good" religion and hell is spreading in your lands (which it doesn't do in good lands) I assume you mean the Runes. Building the holy shrine of the runes decreases the AC slightly, but spreading it doesn't. The Order shrine would lower it more, plus spreading it would also lower the AC slightly.

The terrain you are speaking of that destroys all the good land is Hell (since you say its burning, I assume you mean Burning sands, but that is just one type of Hell terrain). Hell terrain can be reverted to the normal form by using the Sanctify spell (requires Life I and channeling), which is available to mere adepts with life mana or to an Elohim UU (devout. This is an assassin without the marksman ability, but which can move through rival terrain without open boarder agreements and sanctify the land). I believe that using this spell on tiles with ruins (or is it city ruins? ) also lowers the AC by "1" (it lowers the real value, not the displayed one. The display is the percent of the maximum real value for that size map with that many civs). This only effects the tiles inanimately around the caster, and is only temporary; each tile has an invisible counter that keeps track of a number from 0 to 100. If that number reaches 20, then the tiles turns to hell. If it drops below 20 then it reverts back. A tile's counter is heavily influenced by the counters of the surrounding tiles, so if you sanctify a tile (dropping its counter to 0) it will soon rise again if the surrounding tiles have high counters.

All Tiles controlled by the Infernals have a counter of 100, while all those under Mercurian control have a value of 0. In addition, lands owned by good aligned civs never have their lands turn to hell (although I think this should be changed). Below an AC of 25, hell spreads only in lands owned by evil players, then also in unowned lands, then neutral lands (I forget the exact cut off ACs). Also, hell terrain won't begin to spread until the Infernals enter the world.

If you really hate the rise of the AC, I have 1 suggestion: Turn it off. In BtS there were several new game options added for custom games. The "Consecrated Ground" Option eliminates the AC entirely; it would be like ti was always at 0, no matter how evil the world is. Hell would only spread in the lands of evil players, and nome of the Armageddon events would occur. There is also the "Compact Enforced" option, which would prevent the Infernals from entering the game, thus preventing the spread of hell regardless of the AC (Actually, I'm not quite sure of this. One of the 4 horsemen spreads hell terrain, but I'm not sure if he does so if none already exists.)



You can't turn on these options mid game, but I you could enter worldbuilder and make a worldbuilder save. You can then load this save as a custom senario, which would give you the same options as if you were starting a new game.

 

[Omegon3]

The worst I saw was in my last game and, come to think of it, I was the angel dude who cannot have a state religion (i.e. he is neutral). However, I have had the Order and dutifully spread it to all my cities. Yet, I saw the counter seemingly going up as fast as ever...

I guess that I'll try the "Consecrated Grounds" option (initial "custom" game selection form I assume?) and hope for the best. I really hate turning it off altogether, but when I'm spreading my "good" religion as fast as I can and see the counter shooting up to the sky, I get depressed. I think that FFH is a "neat" game (heh!! I'm a "geezer" and am allowed to use the word), but... This morning I started a game where Leaves was my initial religion -- counter was shooting up faster than I ever saw it. I switched to the Order after founding it and got it into all my cities; the counter kept shooting up. When I came into work I was a little past turn 250 and the counter was already up to 65. While the bad dudes that arise at this point aren't really a problem (in my last game my marksman killed three of them -- each of which were over 20 in strength!!), the Burning Lands bug the heck out of me.

Thanks for the advice!!

 

[Nikis-Knight]

I guess that I'll try the "Consecrated Grounds" option (initial "custom" game selection form I assume?) and hope for the best.

Yup, choose custom game to see the FfH 2 specific options, several were added recently.

I believe that using this spell on tiles with ruins (or is it city ruins? ) also lowers the AC by "1"

Definately city ruins. It's to allow you to mitagate, somewhat, the effects of razing cities.

 

[Blakmane]

The worst I saw was in my last game and, come to think of it, I was the angel dude who cannot have a state religion (i.e. he is neutral). However, I have had the Order and dutifully spread it to all my cities. Yet, I saw the counter seemingly going up as fast as ever...

I guess that I'll try the "Consecrated Grounds" option (initial "custom" game selection form I assume?) and hope for the best. I really hate turning it off altogether, but when I'm spreading my "good" religion as fast as I can and see the counter shooting up to the sky, I get depressed. I think that FFH is a "neat" game (heh!! I'm a "geezer" and am allowed to use the word), but... This morning I started a game where Leaves was my initial religion -- counter was shooting up faster than I ever saw it. I switched to the Order after founding it and got it into all my cities; the counter kept shooting up. When I came into work I was a little past turn 250 and the counter was already up to 65. While the bad dudes that arise at this point aren't really a problem (in my last game my marksman killed three of them -- each of which were over 20 in strength!!), the Burning Lands bug the heck out of me.

Thanks for the advice!!

Have you been razing a lot of barbarian cities? this raises the armageddon counter pretty quickly. Otherwise, your best bet is just to assault any AV civs as soon as they appear as they cause a steep AC increase, and to eliminate the infernals as SOON as they appear.

It's just about managing the AC. As long as you are keeping it in mind when you choose who to war with, what to raze etc it should always stay very low.

 

[dwhee]

Hey guys. Long-time lurker.

I think the haste spell should be limited to being cast at the beginning of the turn, before any movement. It's overpowered otherwise. For example, I can move my Vampire one space into a forest in enemy territory. I can then cast haste, have another movement point instantly, and move somewhere else. If he can only cast at the beginning of the turn, it costs the full two movement points to move into the forest. When I use this spell as efficiently as possible, it feels like I'm exploiting the way movement works in the game.

What would be even better is to have the character's new movement point value be a function of the mp value when the spell is cast. So if you've used your movement already, you don't get anything.

Other issues- I think fear is somewhat silly. Acheron should not just be able to scare everything off. Also religion alignments, but that's getting fixed I know.

I'm amazed at all the new content in the BTS version. Keep up the good work guys!

 

[ichbinsehselber]

The armageddon counter rise or fall really seems to be random from game to game. From what I read other players seem to experience a fast rising AC.
In my current game I have set the counter to rise double the normal speed but it did not help, because it is still 0 (0 * 2 ), Ashen veil not founden, when I feel like I have already practically won the game (it is the year 211 normal game speed, monarch). The second best civ has approx. half my points (1174 vs 646). I am not usually so far ahead on monarch. I think the lubruskum game option helped me and hurt the AI civs.
Perhaps try a higher difficulty level? Where can one see what the difficulty levels exactly affect? Is it in the xml files?

 

[Gyromancer]

Hey guys. Long-time lurker.

I think the haste spell should be limited to being cast at the beginning of the turn, before any movement. It's overpowered otherwise. For example, I can move my Vampire one space into a forest in enemy territory. I can then cast haste, have another movement point instantly, and move somewhere else. If he can only cast at the beginning of the turn, it costs the full two movement points to move into the forest. When I use this spell as efficiently as possible, it feels like I'm exploiting the way movement works in the game.

What would be even better is to have the character's new movement point value be a function of the mp value when the spell is cast. So if you've used your movement already, you don't get anything.

...

I agree-- it's some of the more annoying micromanagement in a war, especially one across rough terrain. What about making it double current movement points? Then a hasted horse unit could really move...

 

[Snake Pliskeen]

I report a bug: after built Arena I wanted to try to cast with my swordman the arena spell (I suppose it's as my warrior fight in arena) just to see his effect, as there is nothing in the pedia, but the game simply crashed. Anyone else tried the same? I have always CTD at the start of the game when I select archipelago map setting a custom game. Any solution found?

 

[Kael]

I report a bug: after built Arena I wanted to try to cast with my swordman the arena spell (I suppose it's as my warrior fight in arena) just to see his effect, as there is nothing in the pedia, but the game simply crashed. Anyone else tried the same? I have always CTD at the start of the game when I select archipelago map setting a custom game. Any solution found?

That bug was fixed in one of the patches. Are you sure you are using patch "l"?

 

[Hangly Man]

I hate to belabor this, but is anyone looking at the problems with the AI in the BTS versions ? The AI civs just aren't building military units.

Yesterday at around turn 500 Os-Gabella declared war on me and invaded with just 5 pyre zombies. That's it. And her cities were fortified with nothing but warriors. This despite her being way ahead of me in score, empire size, and tech.

Or am I the only person this is happening to?

 

[Dragonlord]

I hate to belabor this, but is anyone looking at the problems with the AI in the BTS versions ? The AI civs just aren't building military units.

Yesterday at around turn 500 Os-Gabella declared war on me and invaded with just 5 pyre zombies. That's it. And her cities were fortified with nothing but warriors. This despite her being way ahead of me in score, empire size, and tech.

Or am I the only person this is happening to?

Haven't seen this - the AI always seems to have plenty of units in my games.
BUT - they aren't always used appropriately. Since .25 I keep seeing the AI using Chariots (later War Chariots) to hold their cities and escort Settlers. Totally stupid, since these don't gain defense bonuses and are stronger on offense than defense ... somebody should look into this.

Also, of course, the AI still doesn't seem to know how to use spells. I've yet to see them use a fireball or meteor against me - even ONCE! That is, with 'built' units... the Red Dragon threw some meteors at me in .23, and the Lich King ..whatsisname.. certainly knows how to summon units... oh yes..

 

[Snake Pliskeen]

That bug was fixed in one of the patches. Are you sure you are using patch "l"?

Ops! I forgot to install the patch! Can you tell me what happens when I cast Arena Spell? Thank you so much!

 

[Hangly Man]

Haven't seen this - the AI always seems to have plenty of units in my games.
BUT - they aren't always used appropriately. Since .25 I keep seeing the AI using Chariots (later War Chariots) to hold their cities and escort Settlers. Totally stupid, since these don't gain defense bonuses and are stronger on offense than defense ... somebody should look into this.

Have you gone to war with anyone? What are they fighting with? What's garrisoning the AI cities?

Also, of course, the AI still doesn't seem to know how to use spells. I've yet to see them use a fireball or meteor against me - even ONCE! That is, with 'built' units... the Red Dragon threw some meteors at me in .23, and the Lich King ..whatsisname.. certainly knows how to summon units... oh yes..

Hell yes, I love the liche king. Him and Archeron are the best things in the game so far. Archeron should be able to summon things and maybe move around a bit though.

Seems odd that the barbarians would be able to use magic but the AI civs can't.
Come to think of it, since .25 I've only seen one AI spellcaster. An orcish witchdoctor guy. I was so excited I put a weaker unit next to him to see what he'd do. He just attacked me of course. And died.

 

[Kael]

I hate to belabor this, but is anyone looking at the problems with the AI in the BTS versions ? The AI civs just aren't building military units.

Yesterday at around turn 500 Os-Gabella declared war on me and invaded with just 5 pyre zombies. That's it. And her cities were fortified with nothing but warriors. This despite her being way ahead of me in score, empire size, and tech.

Or am I the only person this is happening to?

The short answer is its fixed in 0.30. The problem was that the AI was valuing buildings that enabled units correctly. Specifically Training Yards, Hunting Lodges and Archery Ranges. It did know that siege workshops and templs enabled buildings so it made plenty of those (which is why you get attacked by so many catapults, chariots and disciples).

 

[Dragonlord]

Ops! I forgot to install the patch! Can you tell me what happens when I cast Arena Spell? Thank you so much!

The Arena spell will randomly either kill your unit or give it experience - I believe the chances are 50/50. If the unit lives, it will gain experience but have lost some health - consistent with having been in a fight.

 

[Hangly Man]

The short answer is its fixed in 0.30. The problem was that the AI was valuing buildings that enabled units correctly. Specifically Training Yards, Hunting Lodges and Archery Ranges. It did know that siege workshops and templs enabled buildings so it made plenty of those (which is why you get attacked by so many catapults, chariots and disciples).

Hooray!

Do we have to wait until December for 0.30? We do, don't we...

 

[Kael]

Hooray!

Do we have to wait until December for 0.30? We do, don't we...

Yeap, December 16th.

 

[ma.KaBre]

Yeap, December 16th.

Hmm, all the time I thought the number in your pic is "days till 0.3" obviously that's not the case...
So WHAT IS the number in your pic???

[disclaimer]In case you think this is OT, I do not Everything concerning Kael is FFH-related in my book [/disclaimer]