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[Davion]

Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven.
- Paradise Lost

"The Prince of Darkness has vanished and the Infernal Throne sits empty.  A conclave of the Powers and Potentates of Hell will be summoned to Pandemonium to select the next ruler of The Infernal Pit.  Do you have what it takes to claim the throne and rule Hell?"

Solium Infernum is a turn-based strategy game set in the profoundest depths of Hell, created by Cryptic Comet, the developer(s) behind Armageddon Empires.

So far this has turned out to be a pretty awesome little turn-based strategy game. As the sales pitch says, you're one of several Archfiends vying for the Internal Throne at the heart of Pandemonium, the capital city of Hell; in order to do that you must accumulate the most prestige, obtained by conquering Places of Power around Hell, insulting other Archfiends, winning battles with your legions, being a backstabbing son of a bitch, or all of the above. You can even go for an all out assault on Pandemonium itself and take the throne by force if you want to be heavy-handed about it.

You can play singleplayer against the AI, or multiplayer with up to six people which is Play-By-Email (PBEM). I have a feeling the multiplayer is where the game is really going to shine, what with all the backstabbing and scheming. I am probably going to spend a couple of days looking over the manual a bit more and playing the AI and then maybe we can get some multiplayer games going or something.

For now this is a thread for discussion and to entice people to try the demo and/or purchase the game.

Spoiler: Basic Goals of Solium Infernum (click to show/hide)

1) Gain Prestige.

Prestige is basically Victory Points. At the end of the game, whoever has the most Prestige wins. There are two other victory conditions - political manipulation by using certain perks, and conquering and holding Pandemonium, the capital of Hell, for five turns. The most common way to win, though, is Prestige. If anyone has a Prestige lead, they are probably winning.

Prestige is also a resource that you use for diplomatic actions, basically in the form of a wager on the outcome. You can also spend it on certain very rare things in the Bazaar.

How do you get Prestige?

• Capture and hold Places of Power. The initial capture gets you a flat amount, and every turn thereafter you will gain more.
• Win battles. Every victory nets you some Prestige.
• Diplomacy. Insult somebody and they must either give you Prestige or start a fight, and usually it's easier to just suck it up and give up the Prestige.
• Complete your public objective. At the end of the game, if you've completed your deadly sin objective, you get a nice chunk of Prestige. This gives you something to work towards as a general strategy.
• Complete secret objectives. There are a whole bunch of these.
• Hold lots of territory (Cantons) at the end of the game. Every hex you hold gives you 1 Prestige at game end. To capture a territory, move one of your legions into or through it - and keep in mind you can't move through enemy territory unless you've started a fight with them.

2) Gain Tribute resources.

Tribute comes in four forms: Souls, Ichor, Hellfire, and Darkness. That's in order of most to least common, usually.

Tribute is your main resource - it's your gold, your lumber, your crystal, your vespene gas, whatever. Basically, all the best orders require Tribute to carry out - if you want to buy more legions, buy more artifacts, cast a Ritual, make a combat card, upgrade your archdemon, whatever, you need Tribute.

How do you get Tribute?

• Demand tribute order. This is your main resource gathering method. You can do it more than once per turn. The more you do it, though, the more your resource quality will gradually drop. However, high Charisma means better Tribute cards, and more of them to pick from. You should be demanding tribute pretty much all the time unless you have something better to do.
• Demand tribute from other players through diplomacy. This isn't nearly as effective, but it's more likely to start some shit than hurling insults. You can only usually get 1 to 3 tribute cards this way.

3) Build your army.

Even non-military archdemons are well-advised to keep an army around. Usually there's no cost to having as many armies as possible beyond the inital bid for each legion. You are limited in how many armies you can have at once by your Martial stat, and usually it's somewhere between 2 and 5.

Legions capture territory for you, which is vital. They capture Places of Power as well, which is the main early-game goal. They also defend you from other players and their attempts to take your shit - a player will be less likely to insult or demand things from you if you have a big army on his borders, because if you tell him to fuck off it gives you the right to invade.

So make sure you have plenty of legions, and that your legions are pumped up to be effective when necessary.

How do you build a strong army?

• Bid on legions in the Bazaar. You have to pay the minimum cost in Tribute cards, but if someone else is bidding as well you need to beat their score (or tie it, if you're higher ranked as an archdemon). The best bidding cards are Souls, since they count for two points of bidding superiority. If you think there might be competition, throw a couple extra Souls in there.
• Attach Praetors to lead your legions. Praetors are hero characters who can be bought in the Bazaar, and they can be attached to a legion to give it stat buffs.
• Attach Artifacts to your legions. Artifacts can be purchased in the bazaar, and usually give some neat bonuses to legions they're attached to.
• Attach Combat Cards to your legions. Combat cards stay attached until the legion fights, then they're used up and disappear. They're custom-made bonuses and debuffs that you can craft using Tribute, and the higher your Martial Skill the better the cards you can make.
• Keep in mind that if your Places of Power are being attacked, you can attach all those attachments to such locations as well, to give them bonuses in combat.
• There is a limit on how many attachments a legion can have, and it depends on the legion's level. A level 1 legion can only have one attachment, and a level 3 legion can have two - and two attachments can make a huge, huge difference in combat effectiveness.

Screenshots
 


Art Samples

[E. Albright]

Oooo... he's got it done finally? Guess that means it's time to trundle on over and see how it turned out.

[Davion]

The interface is pretty clunky, but not as bad as Armageddon Empires. So far I've been enjoying it, though I haven't finished a game. I've just been experimenting with various builds for my archdemon.

For those that enjoy screwing with other people there are many opportunities, from the manual:
 
Kingmaker - Before the game starts, the player with this Perk picks another as his Pawn, who is unaware of this status. If the Pawn wins the game by election in the Infernal Conclave (having the most Prestige at the end of the game), the Kingmaker wins in his place -- regardless of the Kingmaker’s Prestige when finishing the game. The Kingmaker, however, cannot win the game from an excommunicated status (which may be issued through Events or by his seizing, or attempted seizure, of Pandemonium).

The Power Behind the Throne - This Perk allows a player who has become a Blood Vassal to win in place of his Blood Lord (see Blood Vassals & Blood Lords). The Blood Lord must win by having the most Prestige at the end of the game for this Vassal to win in his place. Note: Kingmaker trumps The Power Behind the Throne i.e. If the Kingmaker has chosen correctly but the correct choice would be replaced by The Power Behind the Throne, the Kingmaker is still the winner.

Ritual Masking - If you have achieved a 5th or higher level in the Deceit discipline, you may target any player or any player’s possessions regardless of your diplomatic stance. This ability is called Ritual Masking. You may also attempt to frame other players as the source of this Ritual. You may target other players with Destruction Rituals through Ritual Masking -- even if you and the enemy are outside the diplomatic states of Vendetta, Blood Feud, or Excommunication (the three states in which you can attack other archdemons and take their territory). Masking also allows you to attempt to frame another player as the source of the Ritual. During the Create Order Process, the game will prompt you to declare whether or not you wish to frame another player. Choosing Yes will increase the cost of the Ritual, and if the identity check is successful in avoiding detection, the choice of framing another player will be allowed. Your turn log message will report the name of the framed player.

[Tommy2U]

Neat!

I was waiting for this game, nice to see it finished. The demo seems a bit buggy atm, not to mention it being awfully short (20 turns, c'mon), but the game looks awesome. The author himself admits being inspired by Dominions MP games so I'll sure be looking for some backstabbing multiplayer action.

[Misterstone]

I've been loving on this game serious for a few days now.  I'm starting to have some doubts about the AI and some balance issues, but the dev is still tweaking stuff, so no big deal.  It is indeed a pretty fun game, but less straight forward that AE, where the goal is to just send armies about to kick ass.  As the dev diaries mentioned, it is possible to "turtle" and win the game if you play it right. 

If you like this sort of game it's probably worth your time.

[Tommy2U]

OK, I bought the game, fun so far. There's a Steam group made by people from Rock Paper Shotgun to facilitate multiplayer games:

http://steamcommunity.com/groups/RPSatan

RPS forum thread:

http://rockpapershotgun.com/rpsforum/topic.php?id=942&page=2&replies=25

Let's get some scheming and backdtabbing going!

[Servu]

This game seems deviously interesting, though I'm not sure if I can buy it since I am unable to distribute currency over the Internet. Is there a retail version coming up perhaps?

P.S. I'm downloading demo now.

[Servant Corps]

Kingmaker

What happens if the PUPPET is the one that gets excommunicated? Can the Kingmaker still win?

[Ivefan]

As far as i understand from the description; The kingmaker can win through normal means, it's just that if the puppet wins by the method of prestige, the kingmaker wins instead unless he/she is excommunicated.

[thegoatgod_pan]

Necroing because I just found this game and I am really enjoying it. Surprised Bay12 isn't more into it: deep strategy, super indy, unconventional game, design a demon lord etc.  Who else plays this?

I just finished a playthrough, I rolled over the AI, stealing from them and incriminating my opponents, but an AI stole the victory from me in the last few turns by prestige and by stealing the artifacts I needed to complete my mission.

RPS has a great multiplayer log here: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/01/25/the-complete-gameboys-from-hell/

[TripJack]

I've played a couple 6-man matches and even managed to win the Throne once. Wish the game's manual was more thorough, but SI is easily one of the best PBEM strat games I've ever played. Very educational too, does a great job teaching you the value of being a lying backstabbing bastard

[Cheeetar]

We did play a game a while back that was pretty fun. If you organised a game, I'm sure enough people would sign up to fill the ranks.

[Karlito]

Yeah, this game is good fun, and also doesn't take forever like Dominions.

[Delta Foxtrot]

Yes, very manageable.

I have interest but no time, unfortunately. As I said in the link above I'd want to get any hypothetical SI game done by May, which wouldn't be possible any more. But I'm guessing Bay12 has enough players to get a 4-6 player game going without me. An industrious fellow could go and make a new game thread over at PlayWithYourBuddies.

To any such person I would advice to go with same or perhaps a bit shorter game settings than the ones we used. Other players of that game, or indeed people with more SI MP experience, may or may not disagree with me.

[Ygdrad]

Necroing because I just found this game and I am really enjoying it. Surprised Bay12 isn't more into it: deep strategy, super indy, unconventional game, design a demon lord etc.  Who else plays this?

I just finished a playthrough, I rolled over the AI, stealing from them and incriminating my opponents, but an AI stole the victory from me in the last few turns by prestige and by stealing the artifacts I needed to complete my mission.

RPS has a great multiplayer log here: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/01/25/the-complete-gameboys-from-hell/

I love this game. The biggest problem I have with it is finding people who want to play. I'm up for a match anytime. Just PM me or hit me up on steam(Ygdrad).