Rock and a Hard Place - LA game - finished - Abysia wins

[Ragnarok-X]

That is interesting. Marignon did actually agree to forfeiting the game, is that correct ?

[Immaculate]

If the game gets called i would like to hear about Vagr's game. What was with your army graph for example? What were your research goals and in what order? Expansion policy?

[Ossa]

I'd agree to concede this game to Abyssia. I wouldnt stand a fighting chance either.

[vargr]

Ok. So I assume that we can finish the game then. I'll close it tomorrow unless there's a last minute change of heart.

Thanks everyone for the game! All in all a very easy game for the admin, subs were found quickly and not too much staling etc.

Originally Posted by Immaculate

If the game gets called i would like to hear about Vagr's game. What was with your army graph for example? What were your research goals and in what order? Expansion policy?

I'll try to answer this with a short recap later. Also some feedback on the elemental royalties.

[Ragnarok-X]

Hm. I only played like 4 or 5 turns. Damn.

[odeoderok]

Yeah, good game, thanks to everyone. I read in a strategy guide that sloth 3 could be good for LA T'ien C'hi. Well, it wasn't. Less than 100 resources in the capital with holys costing 31 res each was not good. It also didn't help that my first expansion army was killed by indies.

So considering all that, I did better than I expected, although I never had a snowball's chance in hell against vargr. Thanks for the game!

[Immaculate]

I think Marrignon decided the game by not attacking Abysia. Am i wrong?

[vargr]

I guess most of the advantage in teaming up was already lost. The majority of my forces in TC were released from that war and now ready to move on and support those dedicated for Marignon. Only few turns away from Marignon heart lands.

Odeoderok, I agree completely. You rallied admirably after a miserable start and then went on to beat Mictlan and grow into a contender for the late game. It was inspiring to watch!

[vargr]

As requested, here's a summary of my game:

My pretender was Conqueror Worm, the Green Dragon. Dom 9, growth scales. Dragon for fast expansion, year one rush deterrent and to free money for research and early forts. High dominion for spreading the joy of warm weather to my enemies and advantage on the battlefield. I didn't aim for a domkill victory but I did quite a lot of blood sac anyway, and unless I'm mistaken, Ulm was technically domkilled. Nature dragon to diversify into high level nature and later air magic. As for scales, I still can't play any game without G3. The 0.3% / tick is just that good. Doubly so with a blood nation and then there's the old age thing.

Early reasearch was basic Evoc, Blood and Conj (battle magic, Smoulderghosts). Thau 4 (Prison of Fire) quite early as well. Then Const 6 (boosters) and I squeezed Ench 6 (Eternal Pyre) and Blood 6-7 soon after. Few turns to Conj 6 (Zmeys, Spectres), then switched to Const 8 and back again for Conj 8. Normally I would put priority on Blood but as I said in the OP, I wanted to test the new elemental uniques. So Blood 8-9 came late, but I got Gorilon the heliophagus (for vampires) on the first try and actually all the Demon Lords in the end. Pazuzu gave me the Air Queens so I didn't need much of the Faerie Courts. For the end game, Evoc 7 (Fire Storm), Alt 7-8 (Fog Warriors, Will of the Fates, Disintegrate), Conj 9 (Ember Lords) and Ench 8.

Throughout the game, the bulk of my troops was mixed squads of Smoulderghosts and Light Abysian Infantries. Both relatively cheap, easy to mass, FR100 and map move 2. The tower shield / ethereal is nice and the Smoulderghosts buff overall morale. Indy crossbowmen and heavy cavalry were used as well. Later on I had several hundred vampires. I used them as patrollers and counter riders in own dominion. I like vampires, especially the lords: immortal, Life for a Life, Disintegrate, stealthy, flying.. I had some sea troll courts, living statues, dark vines etc as well but those in smaller numbers. Decoys and such.

I summoned the following elemental royalty: Pyriphlogos, Rhuax, Antrax, Nephele, Thuella and Pedoseidon. At least in this game the CBM buffs worked well. Pyriphlogos is awesome with the F8 battlemagic, Rhuax with automatic Heat from Hell especially for Abysia. Mists of Deception (Nephele) and obviously auto-Storm (Aella) should work well for air nations. Didn’t get to use Thuella’s thunder weapon or fight against the Earth Kings/Water Queens.

Zmeys continue to be very good. They do ask for a reinvig item in prolonged fights now but other than that, pretty badass summons still.

Early expansion went well as expected. My neighbors were Bogarus, Ulm and TC. I feared Bogarus the most for their good diversity and research so I decided to attack them while I was still bigger. Marignon actually raided some of my coastal provinces around that time (damn sailors!) but that was resolved with the courage of my infantry and the silver tongue of my diplomats. I got them as an ally in the end but still had to bear the brunt of Bogarus forces. Special mention to Bullock who nearly trampled me with a 30+ mage communion. The decisive battle was actually fought at my capital!

TC fought Mictlan and Marignon attacked Atlantis. I used the opportunity to invade Ulm but I did promise support for Marignon and kept that promise to consolidate good relations later. Atlantis suggested I attack Marignon instead. While I agree on Immac’s assesment of Marignon's late game power, I think I made the right decision: I didn't want to be in the finals with a water nation, I didn’t want to deal with the possible Burden of Time, and I estimated that with this setup both Marignon and Atlantis would be locked in an exhausting war longer than me. Of course Ulm with the freespawn hordes was a pain to root out and I spent far too much time sieging their cap, but as I hoped, the Atlantis-Marignon and TC-Mictlan wars lasted long enough for me to be ready for the next war.

By the time TC declared war, Marignon was still busy with Atlantis and I was more than ready to attack TC anyway. In the end I had about 200 blood slaves / turn without pushing it or hurting gold income (did I say growth is good), ability to summon and kit a Zmey / Ember Lord per/turn while still accumulating F gems and access to many of the high level A/N/E/S buffs for several armies. TC fought well but I just had way too much of everything. So yes, in retrospect, maybe I should have been ganked earlier but I didn't honestly realize this myself either until in the very last couple of turns.

Again, thanks everyone for the game! I hope you enjoyed it and looking forward to seeing you in other games.

[Immaculate]

How did you establish your death gem income for the smoulderghosts, site-searching?