Surviving on an Island

Darryl · #1 March 27th, 2004, 04:04 AM

Ok, I was going through a bunch of the nations and starting games just to play a few turns and get a feel for the units. I downloaded the world map and started a game with Pangaea using a Lord of the Wild with 3N, 3F and 1B (don't ask why, I just did)

Well imagine my surprise when I began in the ocean! I thought "I didn't know Pangaea was a water nation" and I looked at the name of the province and it said "Hawaii" and thought "Oh no! It couldn't be!" But it was. As I looked closer I saw the little bits of land under my capital, completely surrounded by water AND water provinces.

So then I looked at the units and thought "Ok, I have harpies who can fly. I'll just have to mass them and hope they can beat something when I fly them across the water" (Stop laughing) It seemed like a good idea until I remebered that I can't fly across water. After some more thought I gave up. I only have nature gems, and need water or air to forge items to get across the ocean.

Could anyone succeed with this if they didn't happen to design their pretender with Air or Water? I suppose I could recruit Pans until one of them comes up with the random in water...but then they would have to defeat a province alone! Or wait until I got a few of them. At 350g a wop...on normal richness...at least I took productivity...but income is 174...I just don't see it.

If anyone is thinking "Oh, that's easy" please enlighten me.

Darryl

Norfleet · #2 March 27th, 2004, 04:13 AM

You're borked. That's one of those provinces that SHOULD have been flagged as nostart, because starting on one of them as a non-naval nation is pretty much a mulligan call right there.

Gandalf Parker · #3 March 27th, 2004, 04:59 AM

Everything has its Pros and Cons.
Hmmm.... your protected and can concentrate on research. There are travel spells. I dont think the AI uses travel spells much so other than water nations you could be in a good spot there. Death summons can give you troops that can enter the water.

[ March 27, 2004, 03:00: Message edited by: Gandalf Parker ]

Darryl · #4 March 27th, 2004, 05:22 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Gandalf Parker:
Everything has its Pros and Cons.
Hmmm.... your protected and can concentrate on research. There are travel spells. I dont think the AI uses travel spells much so other than water nations you could be in a good spot there. Death summons can give you troops that can enter the water.

I'd definitely like to hear about more of the pros of this start. By the way, how would I get my hands on Death gems, or any kind of gem other than Nature as I can't attack with anything other than a Pan which *hopefully* gets a random in water?

Darryl

Gandalf Parker · #5 March 27th, 2004, 06:37 AM

Good point. Hmm maybe you can get lucky with "Call of the Wild" and then hire a Merc to do some searching.

alexti · #6 March 27th, 2004, 07:20 AM

I can see several directions:
- wait for amphibious or undead mercenaries
- call of the wild, which has already been mentioned. You have plenty of nature gems and if you have several mages cast call of the wild on the same province you have good chances to conquer it and then expand from there.
- faerie queen, it's quite far on research tree, but you'll get access to air and the items to let troops enter the sea. This method can be used in combination with call of wild.
- Horde from Hell, you have access to blood and imps are able to conquer indies quite well. But for Pangaea, this method is slower than call of the wild

Yossar · #7 March 27th, 2004, 07:46 AM

So in conclusion it's theoretically possible, but unless you're looking for a new challenge you should start over.

Darryl · #8 March 27th, 2004, 08:28 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Yossar:
So in conclusion it's theoretically possible, but unless you're looking for a new challenge you should start over.

Yeah, I think I'm gonna start over, although I did play the first 11 or so turns. The first 8 turns were the most boring turns in a game ever though! Recruit Pan, research. Can't do anything this round, research. Not enough for another pan yet, research. Another Pan, research. A hero showed up! Great! Oh great hero, warrior of battles fought near and far, whose very name causes dragons to tremble, let me show you to the study...

I actually did get Call of the Wild and got a coastal province! I built my fortress (more hurry up and wait) and thought "Now I wait for a mercenary mage and mercenary priest to have any access to magic Users" and decided to forget it. This is my first time trying Pangaea, and I think it's already getting an unfair assessment in my mind. I like magic, and it could be a while before any mages can get near a battle. Plus I already got a national hero who's basically a world renowned researcher until mid game.

I know, I'm a wimp.

Darryl

PvK · #9 March 27th, 2004, 09:45 AM

Sounds tough, but like an unusual and interesting challenge to me. Turns where almost nothing happens do not take long to play, so I don't see getting "bored" by having to pass some turns. It gives the AI more time to develop challenging empires to try to beat.

PvK

Peter Ebbesen · #10 March 27th, 2004, 04:02 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by alexti:

- call of the wild, which has already been mentioned. You have plenty of nature gems and if you have several mages cast call of the wild on the same province you have good chances to conquer it and then expand from there.

Except for one slight detail... The only recruitable mages able to cast call of the wild without empowering or equipping are the nice Pans. And they generate maenads each turn. That increase your upkeep. That you cannot get rid of as you cannot disband troops and have nowhere to expand.

It is going to take a long, long time to research enough and then hire a few Pans and then cast call of the wilds - without going bankrupt