Research Priorities

So with easy research, I'm setting the following plan for my research:

Conj 1 (yazatas)
Evo 4
Enchant 4 (seeking arrow, cloud trapeze)
Thau 2
???

I get enchant 4 in the first half of year 2, if I send my pretender out to site search after Evo 4. In terms of other research, my main question is where to fit in Construction 4/6. I'll need it as Atlantis can't forge air items, but obviously not a big priority. Alt 3 is also pretty important.

For the rest, Atlantis obviously has conj and con as priorities, but what will you be shooting for first?

Im going to shoot for Mistform first... however my research basically doesnt exist until I set up my first fort. So my research goals are kind of moot.

One thing I can say tho is that to force-multiply my raiders, I am going to need barkskin amulets or bracers of protection. If we can make it a point to get a couple of those forged and sent over to me it would be a great help.

Ironhawk wrote:One thing I can say tho is that to force-multiply my raiders, I am going to need barkskin amulets or bracers of protection. If we can make it a point to get a couple of those forged and sent over to me it would be a great help.

Depending on how much and early you want them, skipping Conjuration and Tiamat I can get Const2 by early fall. Bracers of Protection I can do for sure, Barkskin Amulet only with the help of some tribals. Of course that would cut into my research budget, but can't have it all.

Tentative research plan:
Const 2
Conj 4
Const (alot)

Switching to Alt 4 (Ironskin, Destruction et al) and Conj 6 (Shark Attack) if it would appear that you won't be able to keep the newbs off my back while I forge.

There is no hurry for the barkskins / bracers. Worst case I just double up my thugs instead of sending them in solo.

My plan is:

Thoum 2
Alt 3
Evoc 2
Conj 3
Alt 4
Lastly, a bunch of const or evocation depending how intense things are.

Of course, like Ironhawk, none of this is really happening until my second fort. But all I need is the fort, no labs or temples.

I'll get by on the rest.

Jarls seem to be OK without any equipment for the early game, so don't worry too much about the amulets. They would be nice to have, but with base equipment I am winning and not getting afflictions in almost all battles.

Yeah well, I noticed that in order to get N mages to search for Kelp Fortresses I need Const2 for Rings of Water Breathing and access to some nice indy tribals. And since every free fort's worth 800 gold I want them soon. So, Const2 to start with it is.

I've been toying with awake E3 dom9 Wyrm with Order 3 Cold 3 Magic1 scales. Dunno what extra, I could take couple death to suit your guys' dominions, but where to put those points? Dom10 for extra awe? E4 for reinvig on thugs? Luck? Bleh, decisions, decisions...

My build is an imprisoned Master Druid, with F2, E9, N9. Dominion 6.
Order3, Prod1, Cold3, Misfortune2, Drain2. I will be researching construction first, though don't expect much research out of me. The build is meant to field as many SC Jarls as quickly as possible, and they won't be hanging around the castle researching. Each one can take indy provs by itself.

I will still be dependent on you guy's extra money each turn early on, to pay for the Jarls. If I was playing solo, I would go for a more conservative bless, so I could make more money. I'll be dependent on at least a few hundred gold each turn to actually afford the Jarls with any kind of efficacy.

LOL. We are like Team Master Druids

My bless is even more aggressive than yours but my strike forces are much cheaper. I should be able to send some gold your way early on and send a LOT once I rack up a couple of provinces. Between all 5 of us, I'm sure we can scrap together enough extra money for Hinnom and Neifel in the first couple of turns.

You know, it has just occurred to me, that we have taken some strong early bless rush nations, but the game is supposed to be focused on magic. Hence, the early truce, and easy research. Are we making a mistake here? Will our bless rushers be trounced by strong magic, when it actually comes time to engage the noobs?

Just a thought. I don't really feel like changing anything at this point.

True, but our mages are no slouches either tho. And I'd bet more on our ability to run a bless and then compensate for weaker magic later, rather than hand the noobs the upper hand early and try and survive again. We should, however, gives seriuos thought to the counter-bless strategies we are likely to run into. I am willing to bet that like all they are talking about on the noob forum is "how do we beat an E9N9 neifel rush?". Its probably the sole reason for the silly 10-turn NAP thing.

So, what are the likely counter strates we are gonna see?

you should get on IRC. Everyone else is there, including Atul.

I think we'll do ok if the game comes down to a magic contest.

In terms of bless counter-strategies, their team is heavy into death. We might see undead spam or skelly spam. Is darkness reachable early? If it were me, I'd use a swarming + debuffs strategy against our heavy blesses. Earth meld + destruction is only Alt 4. Argatha is dangerous if they go this route. Really we could see strategies across the board, since there are 10 of them. I'd expect their air nations to have thunder strike ready to play and their death nations to have raise skeletons once the 10 turns are up.

Darkness is Alt6, so reachable at some point. Agartha might be dangerous, but it is really hindered by its cold-bloodedness. Enc 16 or so on the mages in Cold3.

Anyway, as to Darkness + undead spam, my mages and troops have Darkvision 50 or 100 and I've got either H2/3 priests or W2/3/4 casters for Evo4 spell Cleansing Water. Not much help if they use undead just to block raiders, but should they go undead-heavy big army route that manages to get lightning resistance somehow just call your friendly neigbourhood toad-men.

Rings of lightning resistance are Const0, right? Caelum should probably forge a few just in case Vanheim comes Thunderstriking.

Hey I've forgotten - how do you upload a pretender to a specific game on the llamaserver? Cant find a FAQ or anything

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showpost.php?p=529316&postcount=2

In short:
- E-mail the file to: pretenders[ at ]llamaserver[ dot ]net
- Crucially, you must have the game name in the subject line of your e-mail

Wow, this is like the most secret forum ever now. Mind if I let some other players in? Namely Micah.

I don't have problem with good guys being in the forum.

Up to mr. Admin to tell who are the good guys.

I wouldn't object to Micah having access to this forum, no. However I don't think we should just casually extend the invitation to any player from IRC tho. If we need to share info with the rest of the channel at large, we can just do so via the channel itself.

Yes, sorry. I let Micah in specifically so he could be familiar with the game, in case we need a good sub.

Actually, more specifically, for advice. Since he is the best player of Dom.