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I am an unclickable option.

I am also that.

[Il Palazzo]

Yeah, don't sweat it, breaks are fine.

I honestly don't think Kailasa is stoppable at this point. They have far too large a lead in terms of research and gem income, and it's only getting worse. I'm not giving up, but I'm not optimistic. Not that I ever am, but right now I'm less so than usual.

I'd like to note that the general attitude on the allied side changed considerably since then. At least on it's land-borne part.

[E. Albright]

Well, I think having the Vannish-Kailasan border flare up for probably the first time in the game couldn't have hurt, nor could the untimely deaths of several army-butchering SCs. None the less, I remain pessimistic*, for while the gem income lead has drastically narrowed, the research lead is insane. If the primate powerhouse can bootstrap some mages up to the point where they can cast some of the endgame spells, I suspect the balance of power could swing back in their direction.

*As noted above, however, this is my default outlook, so it's not extremely noteworthy.

[E. Albright]

We're just over T-6h from the most recent postponed hosting deadline - how is your technical situation looking? Still much justified Verizon hatred?

I'll push back hosting 24h so as to let me rest easy tonight...

[slMagnvox]

Turn is in, technical problems appear well ironed out.  Fingers crossed!

The Kailasan war machine is indeed facing its toughest challenge thus far.  I don't know if we'll be able to retool effectively to counter such numerous threats.  Not looking forward to this latest turn's resolution.

[Kagus]

I was just playing the Dom 3 demo, and decided to try out a different pretender design for Kailasa than I normally might do.  I had already bored myself with most of the gods I had created, and I was looking for some different scales to experience.

I'll leave most of the specifics out, but I picked an awake Lady of Fortune with Turmoil 3 and Luck 3.  You can see where this is going.


Yeah, the Turmoil will hurt early on, but it will hurt you less than others because monkeys are so damned cheap.  After a few provinces you'll have plenty of cash rolling in to make armies of your gorillaman grunts and awesome sacreds.  And then the luck starts working for you.

It seems like the Lady of Fortune doesn't just increase the chance for a lucky event, she has a chance to generate an extra lucky event.  At least that's the way it seemed to me, because I was not used to having three good events happen on the first turn.


And if anyone doubts the moneymaking capabilities of Turmoil + Luck...   Can you say two 3000-gold events in one turn?  And can you say it again?


Karma, dude.

[Cthulhu]

Everyone loves Turmoil+Luck

[Kagus]

Spoiler: More Me (click to show/hide)

Did a little dicking around with using a thug strategy for EA Atlantis, centered around the Basalt Kings...

I've had mixed results.  I tried taking over a 70+ unit province using only three kings with four assorted gems apiece and no equipment.  They ended up utterly thrashing the independents, and barely took so much as a scratch.

Other times, I've had six kings defending a province against 40 or so Marverni attackers, and ended up losing three kings.  Or having four kings get slaughtered by some Agarthans.

Basalt King thugs, when properly equipped, are a nightmare...  But without any toys they're only so-so, and losing a 500 gold capitol-only unit hurts.  Losing seven in a single turn is beyond painful.

They have some truly excellent combat spells at their disposal, with an ability to toss out blade wind, acid rain, and magma bolts among others (not to mention the various buffs). 

Unfortunately, the AI is an imbecile, and will spend turn after turn on useless buffs and then wearing everyone out by shooting blade wind at heavily armored opponents.   You really need to be able to know what's coming, and fine-tune their spellcasting to suit.

Once they're suited up, of course, they can really dish out the pain.  I've still got one king wandering around with only a midget masher and a pair of earth boots.  He's scripted to cast earthpower and breath of winter as buffs before just smacking whatever's closest.

He routinely lays down 68 points of damage per hit.  And the earth random + boots + power combo puts him up to a natural 18 defense, with the 4 points of earthpower reinvig working against only his natural encumbrance of 3.  He could literally do it all day.  And he can even use the masher bonus on Agarthan ancients, since he's size 5 versus the Agarthan 4.

Give them more toys, and they'll smash accordingly.  A King with black steel will have 27 points of protection.  Earthpower + girdle will give you 7 points of reinvigoration, and the king is only using 8 every time he hits someone.  And the horned helmet can do some very nasty stuff when it's working with thugs who have over 20 points of strength out of the box.

Speaking of endurance, underwater nations only have a couple things to worry about when taking heavy temperature scales, the biggest of which (arguably) being the extra encumbrance from severe environments.

Kings have 50% base resistance to both heat and cold, which is enough to completely ignore the most scorching deserts and chilling tundras.  And they have the magic power to make use of either temperature range, with their skill in both fire and water.  I can tell you that those Agarthan soldiers aren't feeling too happy about having 17 points of encumbrance...


But, again, the Kings have proven time and again that they are neither invulnerable nor particularly bright.  Properly played, they can  be monsters.  Improperly played (me), they're just big targets that will kill themselves if the enemy doesn't get around to it quick enough.  All those fun AoE spells are slightly less fun when your kings are casting them at enemies two tiles away, with another King in between.


But I've been recruiting a king every turn since the game started, which means I not only have enough of them to take a couple losses, but also means I've hit level 4 in all schools except blood by the end of the second winter (easy research, but still).  And they're sacred.

I wonder if it's possible to mod in standard troops (I.E., not commanders) that have a built-in communion slave effect like the communicants do...  Might lead to some interesting strategies.

[E. Albright]

Kings are decent thugs, yes. If you look at the HoF from the current PBEM game a few pages back, you'll see Ygh'yha in 5th place. He was at 3rd with 227 kills when he died (mind hunted after getting separated from his bodyguards, though in defense of Kings as a thug chassis, that was the 4th or 5th mind hunt that had targeted him). He had a fair amount of gear, but nothing expensive.

Kings aren't SCs, though. Make no mistake about that. They have gaping weak points needing compensated for. Still, they're tough little raiders into the mid-game, and can always fall back to a fire-support role later on.

[Kagus]

You realize, of course, that "Ygh'Yha" is just an Atlantian name to me.  I have no idea who any of these people are, since I can't see the game.  It could've been a scout with some bolas for all I know.  Or even somebody's pet titan that they decided to rename.

I can't see anything unless you provide it.


EDIT:  I think I just found something.  I was looking up Xipe Totec on wikipedia (I thought it strange that Mictlan didn't have anything relating to the Flayed Lord of Aztec myth.  I mean, come on), and that happened to include a link to Tezcatlipoca, the "Smoking Mirror" (whoops, guess they do reference him).

Then I saw something kinda nifty.  One of Tezcatlipoca's titles was "Tloque Nahuaque", or 'Lord of the Near and the Nigh'. 

Sound familiar?

[Il Palazzo]

Damn those Aztecs, they were playin' Dominions hundreds of years before it was officially released.

I've been exploring some obscure nations recently. By obscure I mean "those I've never bothered to try". Anyway, the EA Sauromatia is my new favourite. Those sacred lizard riders(Oirosomethingsomething) rock! Give them a good bless(8 water, some air for arrow protection, and a minor fire), and they're eating through everything in they way like little green lawnmowers on acid. Seriously, I've never seen something like this, they hardly pause to take notice of enemy lines. Plus, their archers are probably the best thing there is, after Hinnom's own ranged troops, only like 90% cheaper. Composite bows, precision 11, and 10 gold 5 resource. You put hordes of those fellas behind a dozen blessed lizard riders and watch armies crumble.
Oh, and as a nice bonus, their heroes are really cool.

[Kagus]

I'm surprised to say this, but I think the nation I'm actually most interested in is MA T'ien Ch'i.  I'm not entirely sure why, but the concept of a militia-conscripting imperial bureaucracy filled with tax collector parties and 'thousand-year ginseng'-imbibing alchemists just tickles my thematic bone to no end.

[E. Albright]

Well, my major point in citing Ygh'yha was that a King was holding its own on a scoreboard utterly dominated by assorted Kailasa rubbish. I suppose there's little harm in posting a screenie of him, though. It's only been five turns since he died, but there's not a lot of useful info to be gleaned from ogling a dead King who was geared to kill independents and Kailasa PD.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Councilor Ygh'yha moments before the fateful mindhunts

The injury is battle fright; the heroic ability is obesity.

[Kagus]

Heh, Charcoal Shield and Frost Brand...   I've been using that a bit.  Tried a vine shield out on an attempted Basalt Queen thug.  She lasted longer than she would have otherwise.  Still not very long.

What's that little statue mean?  I don't recognize that icon.

[E. Albright]

Bonus reinvigoration from the Boots of the Messenger. He kinda desperately needed it, even with Summon Earthpower, since he was so fat and all. Prior to his weight becoming an issue, he'd been a trampler.

[Kagus]

Funny, I don't remember seeing that before...  Huh.

Anyways, I've just been sending my little ol' Ancient Kraken with Awe around, cleaning up the seas and whatnot...  Fun little bugger.  Although I just realized now that I goofed on his magic paths, so he won't be able to forge a fish amulet unless I empower him.  Bleh.

Ah well...  It's not like I'm exactly short on water gems.