So I heard there some interest in seeing how a ridiculous game plays out. Where its AI's cheating vs OP skills/traits combos.So here we go. My plan is to not do any reloads (if heroes die they get their traits).Oh, I am taking full advantage of the auto-battle though (especially vs things like shamans in the early game).
Game setup:Faction: Empire of Igis, a Trogs faction with Lucky, Master Scouts, Cult of the 100 Eyes, and Light Plate (not that I think I'll reach this tech).http://imageshack.us/a/img835/3219/1racesetup.jpg
Sovereign: Allifur (the random name), who has the following 6 items/traits:Water apprentice, Adventurer (free heroes), brilliant (10% more XP, +2spell mastery/level), wealthy (starts with 800g) and the crown and gauntlet items.http://imageshack.us/a/img196/3827/2heroselection.jpg
World: Pretty much defaults. Small balanced random world on Ridiculous difficulty.http://imageshack.us/a/img545/2413/3mapk.jpg
Enemies: 3 opponents, even balance of kingdom and empire, and Ridiculous difficulty.http://imageshack.us/a/img838/9528/4aib.jpg
Turn 1: Amazing starting position. I have the choice of 4/3/2, 5/2/2, and 4/4/1.There is also a water shrine, horses, a life shrine, and some food that requires animal husbandry.http://imageshack.us/a/img824/8711/5starta.jpgAfter considering, I think materials will be more crucial than anything else, so I go to settle the 4/4/1.But lo and behold, I find something even better! A 3/5/1 (incidentally, this is the first time I have ever seen this).I decide to hold off my settling till next turn.
Turn 2: http://imageshack.us/a/img10/3782/6firstcity.jpg
The capital of Jital has been founded on the 3/5/1. Cast inspiration on town.As an added bonus, it's 5 tiles away from the starting position, so I can settle a 4/2/2!Research on civics is begun.Queued up pioneers, bound widow, and then logging camp.Taxation is set to none (too much unrest, and starting with 800 gold, I can take some neg gold hit in the early game).
Turn 3: Grabbed the lair south of my capital. A 10XP item for Allifur! Potential 1 picked
Turn 4: Still moving SE towards my original spot to recruit the starting champion.
Turn 5: Skuzu the weaponsmith recruited. He finds a stone mace to the east, and will be scouting northeast. Allifur will go NW.
http://imageshack.us/a/img204/1425/7skuzurecruited.jpg
Turn 6: Stone mace given to Allifur.
Turn 7: Hate stone found by SkuzuPioneers out. Heading towards a 4/2/2 location to settle.
Turn 8: Civics researched. Learning training --> Mounted warfare to get horses for these heroes!Skuzu spots a recruitable lvl 5 hero! Hero technology looks like they'll be a priority too.Meanwhile, Allifur reaches NW of Jital, and finds a whole line of lairs!
http://imageshack.us/a/img560/7570/8t8j.jpg
Allifur is attacked by a wolf and bandit, easily kills them for a mere 4 damage
Turn 9: 4/2/2 2nd settle built, named Tomo. Cast meditation and inspiration on 2nd city. Constructing Earth Shard here.Skuzu finds a lair that gives 20 knowledge. Mounted warfare complete! Researching knowledge now.Allifur buys a horse and shield, while Skuzu heads back to get one as well
Turn 10: Allifur attacks a single rockling spider lair, finds tears of cyndrum. Also engages 2 darklings and a darkling warrior. Kills them to hit level 3. Water disciple learned.
Turn 11: Darkling lair explored. Monk's staff found :/ Skuzu buys a horse and shield.Bound widow complete! Bound widow is used to scout southwest.In terms of construction, there's been a change of plans. From Tomo, a pioneer is rushed, and Jital will build a water altar after the logging camp.The 2nd pioneer is sent to settle a 4/2/1 that skuzu found before he marching over to Tomo to buy his horse/shield.Allifur attacks and kills a darkling shaman. finds rusty vambraces (for Skuzu as he already has the starting 4 defense one)Allifur is attacked by the 2 bandit, 1 wolf guardians of another lair. Kills them and hits level 4! Path of the defender chosen.
Turn 12: The lair beside Allifur gives chain boots!
Turn 13: Knowledge complete. Research towards Heroes tech begins (Charms, Shard Harvesting, then Heroes).Allifur grabs 2 more lairs (killing a 3-m bandit, a bandit, and an archer). Finds herbs and a growth potion, sadly.Skuzu finds a quest to kill a sand golem. But he can't handle it so he continues to scout NE.
Turn 14: Logging camp complete in Jital. Production queue changed to: scout, water altar, stable.Scouting continues. The spiders haven't spotted anything particularly useful, so Allifur moves to Skuzu's area for lair clearing.
Turn 15: Gilden (Ironeers) met (his scouts came from the North, spotting Skuzu.4/2/1 settled, named Fike. Inspiration cast, and study queued up.
Turn 16: Units moving.Turn 17: Scout trained, sent NW.Allifur and Skuzu have met to form a party beside a wolf lair.Gave the hate stone on Skuzu to AllifurFike rush-builds another pioneer (to settle a 5/2/1) to the NWHere's a screenshot of the cloth map thus far.
http://imageshack.us/a/img84/4909/9t17.jpg
Spiders have found a cave bear, some ogres, and a butcher.North of Jital (spotted by the newly trained scout) is a group of fire shills.the settle spot is just north of the Apiary (you can see a small litle blue dot representing essence).There's a dark mage just east of that settle spot, and north of that is a cave bear.Around my army is the wolf lair (as previously stated) and a 3rd cave bear.
Allifur is level 4 with 13 attack, 8 defense, and 31hp. Skuzu, of course, is still level 1.
Reflection thus far:- Bound widows cost 20 mana to recruit (a hidden cost?!??!) as well as the 100 production. And have only 15 hp.They do have some useful skills (web and beguile), but overall, I don't think this faction trait is worth it, especially not at high difficulty levels. I'd have been better off with free elementals from altars/shrines via Binding, especially since you don't really have the time to spend the 4 turns training these spiders.This was an incredibly lucky start. 4 settling locations, with a total of 6 essence in the first 17 turns. Still, to do so, my gold has gone down to 462 for 5 research. Not quite sure if it was worth it, but hey, I'm sure being able to get so much research helps!
I love to see how other people play, and this format really works. Thanks for posting. By the way, you are absolutely right, binding trumps 100 eyes, and x/5/1 was the right choice for the starting city.
Good luck with the game... and before you fight any AI troops, take a GOOD look at their traits. If you have not played ridiculous before, you may be surprised by what you see.
Hi Chaosti, are you playing against the Trogs, those guys are absolutely insane on ridiculous setting - I'm 90 turns into a game and those jerks have a power rating well beyond 1300. The next game I play on this setting will not include them because i seriously think they are bugged. They always pull far ahead of the other factions (the other AI faction I saw was Magnar with a score around 270).
@ Tuidjy
I don't know how you beat ridiculous with a standard faction, it seems much much harder these days
It's harder because of extra traits. The only times I've done it with standard race and by straight conquest I took out Yithril first and second. I have killed them late in the game with custom races, but that's by either slowing them down to nothing, or using the fortify+dodge+blindness combos.
At this point, if I want to make halfway sure I win a ridiculous game without restarting/reloading, I have to use one of three custom combos: fire based, earth based, or death based... and of course, they all have water for inspiration, which is not optional.
DGB: I went for a trogs custom faction (more carrying capacity = higher initiative!). I set the enemy to random, with a fair mix of kingdoms and empires, which would mean 2 kingdoms (Altar and Gilden) and 1 empire (unknown).
Not really any screens today. Very time consuming to do them, and this was mainly a lair hunting segment.
Turn 18: Charms tech complete. Shard Harvesting next, and then heroes!Attacked wolf lair. Got leather boots (equipped on Skuzu). Also picked up a defense book (+1 to pierce/blunt/cutting defense) from a lair beside the wolf's.Pioneered queued up in Tomo (as earth altar completes next turn)Spider finds Endis Steelhand (administrator), a recruitable hero! Now I can grab lairs in the SW! Turn 19: Jital has grown!With 5 materials, I decided it would be best as my military producer, so I made it a fort.Nilkoo settled, and another inspiration cast. Logging camp queued up.Going around the bears and heading eastwards with the armyTurn 20: Endis Steelhand recruited and midnight stone found.Picked up a stone mace for Skuzu.Jital Water altar complete. Stables & Bell tower queued.Turn 21: Shard harvesting complete. Heroes is next! Darkling archer lair. Summon air elemental scroll found by Allifur.Turn 22: Bear cub lair. Skuzu gains a level (Strength I)Endis finds herbs.Turn 23: Jital Stables complete. Bell tower next.Bear cub lair cleared - Adept's RobesThe Shroud found directly west/NW of my capital by spiders and scouts.Gildenshard village (of Gildens) spotted beside The Shroud zone.Turn 24: Just moving...Turn 25: Black widow killed. Potential II for Allifur, and Adventurer's Boon for SkuzuEndis finds a balanced axe.Turn 26: Heroes research complete. Ereog's Journals started.Backpack found in Black widow lair.Karnius (level 5 hero) recruited by Allurai with some great equipment on him!Equipment goes to Allurai, while Skuzu's stuff goes to Karnius (Skuzu will walk home).Allurai now has 19 defense (!), and Karnius 6. Allurai and Karnius split up to scout this area.Turn 27: Allurai kills a stalker for a burning candleTurn 28: Allurai finds a Boreal blade (!) 23 attack sword!Karnius finds an adept's robe.Jital's bell tower complete, building merchant (preparing to raise tax as I am now at 459g, and -3.3g/turn)Another Gilden city found (north of Gildenshard, but have to go around due to a canyon).Turn 29: Endis has hit the edge of the map. Will return home to use administrators ability.Allurai kills a butcherman for a wood shieldTurn 30: Allurai kills a kingdom NPC for 20g.Karnius finds a telescope.Skuzu stops by a tier 7 hero to recruit her once Ereog's Journals is complete.Turn 31: Ereog's Journal is complete. Learning Trading (for roads)Recruited Sothia (level 5 adminsitrator) beside Fike (forgot all about her she was literally sitting beside Fike).Recruited Nosmina (level 7 mage with an awesome spider mount!)Jital's Merchant is complete, building study.Karnius kills a darkling shaman for a studded collar!!!Allurai kills a rockling spider army. Levels up and gets Stun.Turn 32: Allurai finds a fireball scroll. Joins forces with Karnius again.Turn 33: Pioneer in tomo trained, beginning merchant.Fike study rushed, beginning Merchant.Sothia reachs Jital, Taxes raised to low.Allurai attacks Kingdom NPC. gets greatsword.Altar spots me (I haven't seen his towns though).Turn 34: cleared widow lair for trogs potionPicked up kidnappers quest from an inn.Turn 35: Sothia has reached Allurai's army.Paid 100 gildar for the captives (don't think I can win a strong quest, and from other games, I know winning the battle doesn't give you the pioneers).Attacked an ogre with the army. Allifur gets fire resist (several Ignys lairs around). Karnius picks up Quick.Cast tireless march, evade, and nature's cloak (now +30% for 80% fire resistance!) on Allurai.
Overall summary:
This has mainly been more scouting and grabbing the weak lairs, while ignoring the tough ones, and city development. Primarily using auto-combat still (although I might go into the battle, do a few things, and then autocombat it to increase my odds of not losing units). I've really noticed that autocombat favours high defense units. Better to send a solo unit with high defense in, than an armourless unit with that high defense one.
I believe I missed mentioning some leveling bonuses on Allifur (not sure though). Next time I'll try to pay more attention to writing the journal To be honest, one thing that really weirded me out is the complete lack of enemies met. I've only found Gilden cities, and I believe I've scouted most of the map already... are they all crammed in behind Gilden? At this point, I feel confident that I should be able to win this game. Cloth map linked below!
http://imageshack.us/a/img689/1888/10t35.jpg
Allifur has become a beast against fire lairs with 80 fire resist, and there are quite a few Ignys lairs, and a lord of the flame too! I've been ignoring them, but now I'm excited to take them down.That 23 damage sword was a major surprise, making him incredibly deadly.http://imageshack.us/a/img607/5264/t35allifur.jpg
Karnius was a surprise. Most recrited heroes have crap for HP and skills, but somehow he has defender, endurance II, and apprentice earth magic. Way better than Skuzu.http://imageshack.us/a/img210/6733/t35karnius.jpg
Nosmina has good skills, but really low hp at 22 (well she's wraith, who get that -1hp every level thing).This has mainly been more scouting and lair grabbing, and city development. Primarily using auto-combat still (although I might go into the battle, do a few things, and then autocombat it).Most amazing part of the hero is definitely that RAVENOUS HARRIDAN MOUNT! So much weight bonus, an initiative bonus, +2 move, AND a tangled web ability! I wonder if Ravenous harridan mounts can be researched on the tech tree somehow http://imageshack.us/a/img440/4610/t35nosmina.jpg
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