Some of your units have gone on to serve the Mercurians in the Afterlife?

[suedenim]

I got the above message a couple times after my Khazad razed cities in The War To Keep Me From Building the Tower of Mastery.

What does it mean, and what happened? I didn't notice any units lost, and didn't lose any of my guys in the battle for the city. It sounds like some sort of "razing cities is bad, m'kay?" message?

 

[Kael]

I got the above message a couple times after my Khazad razed cities in The War To Keep Me From Building the Tower of Mastery.

What does it mean, and what happened? I didn't notice any units lost, and didn't lose any of my guys in the battle for the city. It sounds like some sort of "razing cities is bad, m'kay?" message?

It means that some people died (those in the razed city) and became angels for the mercurian player. Its a little misleading because at the time the city is razed it belongs to you (not the Khazad player) since you have already taken it over.

 

[suedenim]

Ah, interesting. So if you're allied with the Mercurians and want to help them out, you might want to raze enemy cities?

 

[xienwolf]

Only if those enemies are Good or Neutral.

 

[Fenboy]

Yeah, killing evildoers will send their souls to the Infernals as Manes (if they're in the game).

 

[Mewtarthio]

Ah, interesting. So if you're allied with the Mercurians and want to help them out, you might want to raze enemy cities?

Yes, this does mean that Basium is encouraged to raze Good cities. This also drives up the AC, bringing the world closer to the Apocalypse, which in turn means that he gets a nice slew of Good souls while all his enemies besides the Infernals are severely weakened. I picture his philosophy as the one in Good Omens: The point isn't to save the world, it's to win the war when the world's destroyed.

Plus, I mean, just look at the guy. Can't you picture him screaming something to the effect of, "If you will not pledge your bodies to our righteous cause, then I will take your souls instead!"?

 

[suedenim]

Yeah, killing evildoers will send their souls to the Infernals as Manes (if they're in the game).

Ah, yes, I remember seeing that message in an earlier game and being confused by it as well. Now it makes sense.

 

[MrUnderhill]

I understand what Mewtarthio is saying, but I still don't like it that the Mercurians get benefits from killing the other good civs.
IMHO the Mercurians should only get angels from civs they're not at war with. Basium should be dragging his allies into fighting the Infernals and their ilk via diplomacy, the Overcouncil, grandiose threats like "you're either with us or with the demons", etc., not killing them off himself just to get more troops. Save the backstabbing for Hyborem.

 

[Perkin Warbeck]

I understand what Mewtarthio is saying, but I still don't like it that the Mercurians get benefits from killing the other good civs.
IMHO the Mercurians should only get angels from civs they're not at war with.

Naw, Basium isn't that bothered about the mortals- he really just cares about sorting out those infernals. I agree with Mewtarthio's view of the guy.
Also I'd disagree with anything that further weakens poor Basium, and if you feel bad about razing cities, you just sanctify the remains and pretend it never happened

 

[MrUnderhill]

On some level, you're right, but as it is now, if I were playing as the Mercurians, I wouldn't give a darn about the Infernals, because killing them wouldn't give me anything, whereas killing good civs would give me a fresh batch of troops.

It's better for the Mercurians to go after good civs than evil ones, and that seems flavor-breaking to me. Moreover, if I were one of the Mercurian's victims, why would I join the jerks who just killed me? I can see that sort of thing with the Infernals (temptations for power, moral corruption, rejection from the other gods, etc.) but it doesn't make sense for the Mercurians to do it, too.

 

[xienwolf]

Well it could be coded fairly easily so that if the unit dies at the hands of the Mercurians the chance of gifting an Angel is skipped. Basium already gets the advantage that all of his own living units are able to be reborn as Angels, whereas Hyborem has no such chance to recycle his own units into Manes.

 

[GePap]

Moreover, if I were one of the Mercurian's victims, why would I join the jerks who just killed me? I can see that sort of thing with the Infernals (temptations for power, moral corruption, rejection from the other gods, etc.) but it doesn't make sense for the Mercurians to do it, too.

Well, as Basium you could pound other good civs to the point that they become vassals, thus saving them from their obviously flawed path.

 

[Perkin Warbeck]

=It's better for the Mercurians to go after good civs than evil ones, and that seems flavor-breaking to me. I can see that sort of thing with the Infernals (temptations for power, moral corruption, rejection from the other gods, etc.) but it doesn't make sense for the Mercurians to do it, too.

I know what you mean, in that there is more of a reward for Basium to kill a good civ than an evil one but this reward is just an aspect of the civ itself. It's more about the idea that his allies return to serve him- thankfully you don't need to rely solely on the stream of dead allies (or enemies) to survive.
As much as it feels annoying when you're in the game it makes sense that the good souls serve Basium and he gets nothing extra from eradicating the evil from the world. Thanks to the overcouncil it's really easy to drag your allies into wars, and even more fun as you know their deaths will not be wasted!

 

[Mewtarthio]

Also, bear in mind that it's probably more efficient to let Good souls die in the course of a war against Evil than it is to attack them yourself. Thus, Basium is actually rewarded, not for attacking Good civs in general, but for attacking those complacent fools who sit behind their city walls and cover their eyes while Evil lurks outside.