Buddy/Ignore List
11-07-2022, 02:53 AM
(This post was last modified: 11-07-2022, 02:58 AM by VballMichael.)
What a fun game, taking over the Alchemist from The Wise One on turn 23. I won't bore with all of the details, but I will give you some highlights of how UM developed this kingdom so that I stepped in to a very enviable position. I then spent 12 turns developing armies and information and invasions to declare the Rex on turn 35. Two notes - Revelation is awesome and don't ignore Mithril.
1 AL Vball Michael 49,022 65,844
2 AN Lord Garth 54,015 77,359
3 DE Windstar 25,748 38,574
4 LY Brek 18,036 35,412
5 GN Harry O 12,924 20,343
UM likes to develop his kingdoms pretty thoroughly, especially the economy for mage kingdoms and he did so in this game pretty darn well. By turn 5, he had taken his region and had 7 Power 3 wizards working on his capital that he had moved to the city in Zamora. Alchemist was making 44,000 food and 117,000 gold. Also had a wizard tower and 200 mithril workers.
By turn 10, the Alchemist had 10 wizards (ESO) and 3 were at P5. Labs were producing 300 gunpowder and the 550 mithril workers were bringing in the mithril. The Capital had added a granary and a port and a citadel and production was about 113,000 food and 263,000 gold (pretty nice for turn 10 and only 1 medium-sized region). Influence was almost 20, but the Alchemist had attracted no visitors up to this time.
On turn 15, the Alchemist had 9 wizards at 6 and 1 wizard at 5 and most were already protected by simulacrums. Capital had added a thieves guild, a castle and a temple. All troops had long ago been eliminated, so upkeep was only for Zamora. The kingdom had a nice accumulation of gunpowder and mithril but had not used any yet.
Turn 20 saw half the wizards at level 9 and the other half almost there. The King had become Eternal the previous turn (5,000 mithril used), and we still had no troops and production was similar to turn 10.
Finally, on turns 21-23, the Alchemist started to prepare for invading. All wizards were level 9, numerous centurions were hired, some gunpowder was sold for cash, and the first troops were recruited. For Alchemists, that means 1 iron golem, then Shambling Mounds, then Gelatinous Cubes, on down the Summon Monster list (but mostly limited to 3 for the tough guys). Secret passages were now in place and then The Wise One had to go answer some calls in real life, so he shouted out for someone to step in. I took that opportunity and, as you might imagine, was pretty pleased with the kingdom I inherited. In fairness, there had been no actions by any opponent against the AL, so that certainly helps as it seems many kingdoms were engaged in battles elsewhere.
Turns 24-27 I continued to just develop the kingdom, Summoning 9 or 10 very tough creatures each turn, with the intention of having 4 teleporting, invisible, 10-man armies each worth over 50,000. I added enough Centurions to round out the leadership, and continued to develop the capital with Forge, Forum, Apothecary and Watch Towers. I cast Revelation on LI and LY as they had built no Legendary Castles and were nearby, and were likely not to have high level wizards. At the end of 26, I had my 40 troops with the 10 Power 9 wizards, and 5 Princes ready to move. On turn 27, invaded the LI region of Sword Coast with Princes and invisible groups.
Turns 28-30, I took Sword Coast with invisible armies hitting towns and Princes taking villages, then they all met at the LI capital city and after 4 meteor strikes, took the city militarily with 1% damage. Most battles cost me about .4% damage. Did Revelations on DE and GN when I had time and eventually had tight control in Sword and the LI was eliminated. I used mithril to build a Plow and it appeared at my cap, right where I wanted it. I moved troops home to reorganize and decide what to do next. Production was about 300,000 food and 388,000 gold. Alchemist was in 4th place on stats, about where the kingdom had been at each reporting. The Ancient Ones were solidly in front on points, with the FT, LY, AL, DE and LI following behind. I also created a Crystal of Seeing so I could look at occasional PCs without wasting a P9 wizard.
Turns 31-33, I invaded the Lycans in Zanthia and then Krynn. There was one scary moment when my army group of 15 landed at his capital and was surprised to find his 1LY there with 41 brigades. Oops, should have stuck to the invisible army strategy. I escaped with 40% damage, but teleported to Krynn so he could not follow. He took only 7% damage and next turn his group was 58 brigades at his capital. All 3 of my level 9 spells had fizzled due to his magic resistance (better plan against LY is to throw things like Valor that don't get affected by his resistance). Another funny incident was when that running-away group teleported to a Lycan town in Krynn only to find that the Gnome had moved 5 princes there, presumably to invade Krynn himself. I captured 2 and sent the other 3 home. By the end of 33, I had all of Zanthia except the LY capital and enough of Krynn to be just 1 village or so short of control. So, on turn 33, I sent 4 invisible groups plus 2 princes to the Demon Princes region of Mythgar and left 3 princes in Krynn to clean up the last villages. I had also started building a couple of castles and greater castles per turn, and even ended up with a few legendaries just in case the game went all the way to turn 40.
When I took Krynn on turn 34 and about 55% of Mythgar (with invisible groups at the remaining PCs), it was clear that turn 35 would be the end. While the Alchemist did win by Rex, I did so by avoiding the scary Ancient Ones who had a ton of legendary castles and lots of high wizards and 3 regions. What I don't know is why nobody EVER attacked the Alchemist. The first time a group or an emissary ever showed up at an Alchemist pop center was on turn 35.
Congratulations to the finishers, with only 5 who survived to the end, and especially to the AN who was on track to win by points. I would be interested to know about the drops, sometimes even while controlling a region or two with tight control.
Learnings: mithril is important - Eternal King, Plow of the Prophet and Crystal of Seeing. Gunpowder seemed less important, though, like ships, it was useful for Gold sometimes and I also used it to refresh troops a few times with fireworks. Be careful of which magic you use against magic-resistant kingdoms (focus on enhancing your own troops then). Use the strengths of your chosen kingdom, rather than a set pattern no matter which kingdom you play (I tend to fail at this, developing all my kingdoms similarly even though they are very different). And finally, get lucky and have nobody interfere with you while you develop, and maybe encourage it with trades or scare tactics.
1 AL Vball Michael 49,022 65,844
2 AN Lord Garth 54,015 77,359
3 DE Windstar 25,748 38,574
4 LY Brek 18,036 35,412
5 GN Harry O 12,924 20,343
UM likes to develop his kingdoms pretty thoroughly, especially the economy for mage kingdoms and he did so in this game pretty darn well. By turn 5, he had taken his region and had 7 Power 3 wizards working on his capital that he had moved to the city in Zamora. Alchemist was making 44,000 food and 117,000 gold. Also had a wizard tower and 200 mithril workers.
By turn 10, the Alchemist had 10 wizards (ESO) and 3 were at P5. Labs were producing 300 gunpowder and the 550 mithril workers were bringing in the mithril. The Capital had added a granary and a port and a citadel and production was about 113,000 food and 263,000 gold (pretty nice for turn 10 and only 1 medium-sized region). Influence was almost 20, but the Alchemist had attracted no visitors up to this time.
On turn 15, the Alchemist had 9 wizards at 6 and 1 wizard at 5 and most were already protected by simulacrums. Capital had added a thieves guild, a castle and a temple. All troops had long ago been eliminated, so upkeep was only for Zamora. The kingdom had a nice accumulation of gunpowder and mithril but had not used any yet.
Turn 20 saw half the wizards at level 9 and the other half almost there. The King had become Eternal the previous turn (5,000 mithril used), and we still had no troops and production was similar to turn 10.
Finally, on turns 21-23, the Alchemist started to prepare for invading. All wizards were level 9, numerous centurions were hired, some gunpowder was sold for cash, and the first troops were recruited. For Alchemists, that means 1 iron golem, then Shambling Mounds, then Gelatinous Cubes, on down the Summon Monster list (but mostly limited to 3 for the tough guys). Secret passages were now in place and then The Wise One had to go answer some calls in real life, so he shouted out for someone to step in. I took that opportunity and, as you might imagine, was pretty pleased with the kingdom I inherited. In fairness, there had been no actions by any opponent against the AL, so that certainly helps as it seems many kingdoms were engaged in battles elsewhere.
Turns 24-27 I continued to just develop the kingdom, Summoning 9 or 10 very tough creatures each turn, with the intention of having 4 teleporting, invisible, 10-man armies each worth over 50,000. I added enough Centurions to round out the leadership, and continued to develop the capital with Forge, Forum, Apothecary and Watch Towers. I cast Revelation on LI and LY as they had built no Legendary Castles and were nearby, and were likely not to have high level wizards. At the end of 26, I had my 40 troops with the 10 Power 9 wizards, and 5 Princes ready to move. On turn 27, invaded the LI region of Sword Coast with Princes and invisible groups.
Turns 28-30, I took Sword Coast with invisible armies hitting towns and Princes taking villages, then they all met at the LI capital city and after 4 meteor strikes, took the city militarily with 1% damage. Most battles cost me about .4% damage. Did Revelations on DE and GN when I had time and eventually had tight control in Sword and the LI was eliminated. I used mithril to build a Plow and it appeared at my cap, right where I wanted it. I moved troops home to reorganize and decide what to do next. Production was about 300,000 food and 388,000 gold. Alchemist was in 4th place on stats, about where the kingdom had been at each reporting. The Ancient Ones were solidly in front on points, with the FT, LY, AL, DE and LI following behind. I also created a Crystal of Seeing so I could look at occasional PCs without wasting a P9 wizard.
Turns 31-33, I invaded the Lycans in Zanthia and then Krynn. There was one scary moment when my army group of 15 landed at his capital and was surprised to find his 1LY there with 41 brigades. Oops, should have stuck to the invisible army strategy. I escaped with 40% damage, but teleported to Krynn so he could not follow. He took only 7% damage and next turn his group was 58 brigades at his capital. All 3 of my level 9 spells had fizzled due to his magic resistance (better plan against LY is to throw things like Valor that don't get affected by his resistance). Another funny incident was when that running-away group teleported to a Lycan town in Krynn only to find that the Gnome had moved 5 princes there, presumably to invade Krynn himself. I captured 2 and sent the other 3 home. By the end of 33, I had all of Zanthia except the LY capital and enough of Krynn to be just 1 village or so short of control. So, on turn 33, I sent 4 invisible groups plus 2 princes to the Demon Princes region of Mythgar and left 3 princes in Krynn to clean up the last villages. I had also started building a couple of castles and greater castles per turn, and even ended up with a few legendaries just in case the game went all the way to turn 40.
When I took Krynn on turn 34 and about 55% of Mythgar (with invisible groups at the remaining PCs), it was clear that turn 35 would be the end. While the Alchemist did win by Rex, I did so by avoiding the scary Ancient Ones who had a ton of legendary castles and lots of high wizards and 3 regions. What I don't know is why nobody EVER attacked the Alchemist. The first time a group or an emissary ever showed up at an Alchemist pop center was on turn 35.
Congratulations to the finishers, with only 5 who survived to the end, and especially to the AN who was on track to win by points. I would be interested to know about the drops, sometimes even while controlling a region or two with tight control.
Learnings: mithril is important - Eternal King, Plow of the Prophet and Crystal of Seeing. Gunpowder seemed less important, though, like ships, it was useful for Gold sometimes and I also used it to refresh troops a few times with fireworks. Be careful of which magic you use against magic-resistant kingdoms (focus on enhancing your own troops then). Use the strengths of your chosen kingdom, rather than a set pattern no matter which kingdom you play (I tend to fail at this, developing all my kingdoms similarly even though they are very different). And finally, get lucky and have nobody interfere with you while you develop, and maybe encourage it with trades or scare tactics.
