[SI AAR] Octopus Underlords - WE'RE ALL DONE!

If it's a video game it goes here.

Moderators: LawBeefaroni, Arcanis, $iljanus

Post Reply
User avatar
Chaz
Posts: 7381
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 7:37 am
Location: Southern NH

Re: [SI AAR] Octopus Underlords

Post by Chaz »

Go Dumbo!
Spoiler:
Not a lot to report. My swiped elephant guy totally dominated his single combat, so that was nice. I am now absolutely swimming in every resource other than darkness, but everything I want to do, including rituals, buying some relics, and raising my stats requires darkness. It's getting frustrating. I'm sending a demand for a tribute card over to Slb. Because of his higher diplomatic rank and position on my threat-o-meter, it's pretty expensive and can only be for one card. I suspect I get it it, but if not, I can take out the legion that's been eyeing me from our border, and hopefully some additional territory and prestige.

I'm actually starting to catch up with BK, which is good. With the extra prestige from Dren's imminent blood vassal status, I might have a shot at winning this thing.
I can't imagine, even at my most inebriated, hearing a bouncer offering me an hour with a stripper for only $1,400 and thinking That sounds like a reasonable idea.-Two Sheds
User avatar
Archinerd
Posts: 6837
Joined: Fri Aug 25, 2006 11:18 am
Location: Shikaakwa

Re: [SI AAR] Octopus Underlords

Post by Archinerd »

Spoiler:
It's going to come right down to the wire on this one.
Image

I've got my petition in to Chazz to become Blood Vassal. I think he'll accept, even if he has doubts. From what I can tell, it's his only chance to beat Buttertits. And if it works, I'll beat Buttertits too. :) Of course, this pact between Chaz and I needs to be finalized before the game ends, and that's where things get dicey. 14/15 conclave tokens have been drawn, this game could be over any second. Fingers crossed.

Other things happened this turn as well, but they seem insignificant when compared to the whole Blood Vassal thing.
Namely The Beast. He attacked my only PoP that's not my Stronghold, and turned it neutral. I go last in the turn order too, so the chances of me getting it back are almost none. Fortunately Chazz is the first human to go this turn. I hope he realizes that I can't get to it before Sblrog and grabs it first.
Butterknife
Posts: 2673
Joined: Mon Jan 10, 2005 4:36 pm
Location: Utah

Re: [SI AAR] Octopus Underlords

Post by Butterknife »

I think I see a bug:

Image

Notice how my legion is sitting on a canton that isn't red? I kind of thought I would take that canton away from tgb/High Sheriff of Hell when I moved over there. :)

It isn't a big deal of course. There is something far, far more important going on:

Image

Wrap it up, my minions. I have plans for you.
Spoiler:
The game will end within the next few rounds. I do think I am on my way to winning, but you never know. My biggest surprise of all awaits. Soon I will unveil something that I have kept hidden from all of you this entire game -- even those reading along at home. My biggest secret!
User avatar
tgb
Posts: 30690
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 10:33 pm
Location: Tucson, AZ

Re: [SI AAR] Octopus Underlords

Post by tgb »

Spoiler:
Too little, too late - I pick up another Praetor and cast a Loot the Vaults at Pantsareoff, but it will take a miracle for me to come back now.
I spent 90% of the money I made on women, booze, and drugs. The other 10% I just pissed away.
User avatar
Zarathud
Posts: 16434
Joined: Fri Oct 15, 2004 10:29 pm
Location: Chicago, Illinois

Re: [SI AAR] Octopus Underlords

Post by Zarathud »

Butterknife wrote:Notice how my legion is sitting on a canton that isn't red? I kind of thought I would take that canton away from tgb/High Sheriff of Hell when I moved over there. :)

It isn't a big deal of course.
That canton isn't connected to any of your other territories. I'm not sure about the exact rule, but I'm quite sure that you can't conquer a single canton out of the middle of another player's territory.
"If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts." - Albert Einstein
"I don't stand by anything." - Trump
“Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.” - John Stuart Mill, Inaugural Address Delivered to the University of St Andrews, 2/1/1867
“It is the impractical things in this tumultuous hell-scape of a world that matter most. A book, a name, chicken soup. They help us remember that, even in our darkest hour, life is still to be savored.” - Poe, Altered Carbon
User avatar
Chaz
Posts: 7381
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 7:37 am
Location: Southern NH

Re: [SI AAR] Octopus Underlords

Post by Chaz »

Yup, in order to claim an enemy's hex, it must border one that you own. I had to confirm this earlier in the game due to reasons.
I can't imagine, even at my most inebriated, hearing a bouncer offering me an hour with a stripper for only $1,400 and thinking That sounds like a reasonable idea.-Two Sheds
Butterknife
Posts: 2673
Joined: Mon Jan 10, 2005 4:36 pm
Location: Utah

Re: [SI AAR] Octopus Underlords

Post by Butterknife »

Oh sure. Now you tell me.
User avatar
Chaz
Posts: 7381
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 7:37 am
Location: Southern NH

Re: [SI AAR] Octopus Underlords

Post by Chaz »

Spoiler:
The Beast knocked out one of my lil' buddy Dren's PoPs. It's now sitting between mine, Dren's, and Slb's territory. All of us have a legion in striking distance. My legion isn't buff enough to take it without a praetor. Dren's and Slb's are. I move first this turn, but am passing on taking it in order slot 2 (order slot 1 would be used to assign the praetor) because, well, I can't and one of them will likely take it first, so I don't want to waste the order.

I sent off an insult to BK. He's still in a fight with the Sheriff, but that'll likely be over in time for him to feel comfy hitting me with a vendetta. Waiting to hear back from Slb about that insult. I'm kind of hoping for ground war, but will probably get a single combat.

Still swimming in other resources with no darkness to be found. Too bad, because I'll be wanting to use deceit rituals in a potential vendetta.
I can't imagine, even at my most inebriated, hearing a bouncer offering me an hour with a stripper for only $1,400 and thinking That sounds like a reasonable idea.-Two Sheds
User avatar
Archinerd
Posts: 6837
Joined: Fri Aug 25, 2006 11:18 am
Location: Shikaakwa

Re: [SI AAR] Octopus Underlords - NEARING THE END OMG!

Post by Archinerd »

Ah yes, turn 47.

Image

...just kidding.
Spoiler:
It looks like the Blood Vassal request made it in time. I think.
Chazz didn't take the PoP back that I lost to The Beast though, as I had hoped he would. To make matters worse, his Legion that could have was destroyed by an event.
I'm too late in the turn order, but I'm going to give it a shot and try and take it myself. Maybe Chazz will help me out in some way? Who knows.

Other than that, I'm not doing too much else. I'm shuffling my Legions a bit to get them in better positions for any possible last minute Vendettas. I'm also half assing a Dark Augery at Butterknobs. If I manage to learn anything from it, it's probably too late in the game to make use of it, but I might catch him in a state of undress. titillating.
User avatar
tgb
Posts: 30690
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 10:33 pm
Location: Tucson, AZ

Re: [SI AAR] Octopus Underlords - NEARING THE END OMG!

Post by tgb »

Spoiler:
:grund: :grund: :grund:
I spent 90% of the money I made on women, booze, and drugs. The other 10% I just pissed away.
Butterknife
Posts: 2673
Joined: Mon Jan 10, 2005 4:36 pm
Location: Utah

Re: [SI AAR] Octopus Underlords - NEARING THE END OMG!

Post by Butterknife »

Mwuahahaha!
Spoiler:
I don't even have to read tgb's last spoilered comment ... I can guess what he said about me. *snicker*

Anyway, as I found out, it is quite impossible for me to actually conquer the 5 cantons that I need from tgb in order to win the vendetta. That is a crying shame ... and it is what convinced me to go after his legions. I slaughtered his main legion without taking any damage. A few more prestige to seal the deal ... I'm sure he'll move his other legion so I don't land on it and destroy it, but if he doesn't he'll wish he did. I would love to take his capital (and I would be strong enough to take it) but unfortunately we have to be in a blood feud for me to do that, so I won't be able to accomplish my public objective of Wrath. No big deal though -- I never planned on accomplishing it anyway. I chose that objective to hopefully scare people off in the beginning.
User avatar
Chaz
Posts: 7381
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 7:37 am
Location: Southern NH

Re: [SI AAR] Octopus Underlords - NEARING THE END OMG!

Post by Chaz »

Spoiler:
We're coming down to the end. With just one token left to pull, I'm pretty much just playing for the last few points I can steal.

Dren's blood vassalship came through. Someone killed off my mini legion, but that's fine, they weren't going to be doing anything anyway. The Sheriff is stealing more things from me. I hate him, but don't care that much. I'm swimming in tribute (except for darkness) without much to do with it. He's probably going for his "steal stuff" goal, but if he hasn't gotten the tribute part of it by now, he's been lazy.

Unsurprisingly, Slb refused my demand, so we're going to fight. Because of our different political standing, I have very few options for my terms. The longest I can set it for is 3 turns, which isn't enough to do much. However, since the best I can do with this vendetta is take out one of his legions that's within striking distance of mine, I set it for one turn and the minimum stake. To hopefully ensure I get it, I also cast a ritual that will prevent that one and two other of his legions for moving for a turn. I'm not sure how the mechanics on that work, so we'll see what happens. I may need to cast it again next turn. Either way, not that important. Also, I'm finally bringing out my double ranged combat praetor.

Frankly, I think I'm playing for third. I don't think anyone's going to catch up to BK. His lead got too big, too fast. I probably should have been insulting him earlier. I suspect the Sheriff has some goals and such that are going to boost his final prestige count at the end. So based on where we all stand right now, I take second. Because I'm a pessimist, I wind up in third.
I can't imagine, even at my most inebriated, hearing a bouncer offering me an hour with a stripper for only $1,400 and thinking That sounds like a reasonable idea.-Two Sheds
User avatar
Archinerd
Posts: 6837
Joined: Fri Aug 25, 2006 11:18 am
Location: Shikaakwa

Re: [SI AAR] Octopus Underlords - NEARING THE END OMG!

Post by Archinerd »

Dead Last.
That's where I came in. The game is now officially over. I'm only spoilering this so the others can find out for themselves when they open their turn. The Blood Pact made it through in time, but it was too little too late. I end with 0 prestige, and the lowest rank possible. I not only did not win, I am less than I began. :doh:

Here's some final game junk.
Image
Enlarge Image
Enlarge Image

The big surprise here is Slbrog had a nice chunk of hidden prestige, and was doing considerably better than he appeared.
Last edited by Archinerd on Sat Feb 06, 2010 1:59 am, edited 2 times in total.
User avatar
tgb
Posts: 30690
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 10:33 pm
Location: Tucson, AZ

Re: [SI AAR] Octopus Underlords - NEARING THE END OMG!

Post by tgb »

Image

And there you have it.

In hindsight, my two biggest mistakes were not adequately defending the Temple of Lust, and thinking that I could just quietly fly under the radar stealing everyone's stuff while they went after Butterknife. And I would have gotten away with it too, if not for those nosy kids. Of course, someone (I still don't know who) playing the event that made it impossible to cast rituals for a number of turns didn't help either.

Losing the Temple of Lust and the Vendetta to Chazzteroth sent me into a death spiral from which I just could not recover. And Slbroghast making both his Public and Private Objectives knocked me from third to fourth.

Good game, all. Now to go back to Page One and read all the nasty shit you wrote about me.
I spent 90% of the money I made on women, booze, and drugs. The other 10% I just pissed away.
User avatar
ZOD
Posts: 90
Joined: Fri Jul 20, 2007 6:51 pm

Re: [SI AAR] Octopus Underlords - NEARING THE END OMG!

Post by ZOD »

Good game indeed. I still have yet to read everything, so I may have more to comment on.

I was quiet for much of this game -- both on the forums and in the game itself. Much of the reason was that I didn't have much to really do -- many of my turns were grabbing tribute and buying things. Beyond that, and in hindsight, I realize I didn't have much of a plan -- and that's another reason I didn't write much for the AAR, most of my turns were just me doing things that seemed right at the moment, or just doing what I could.

My demon was focused on getting tribute and keeping it, having the infernal cardinal and paranoid traits. Early attribute increases went into deceit. I got some great relic grabs, including the amulet that bumps tribute and a very early steal of a book that grants an order slot. I think for most of the game I was pulling in one more orders than my competitors.

Not that it did me a whole lot of good. My starting position was crap, to be sure, but a more aggressive use of my assets could have made a difference (it wasn't until I attacked the sheriff and started getting a bit nastier that things started coming together for me). One of my problems was the myopeia I had over the oh-so-aptly-named Wall of Envy, bordering me and Drench. Drench proved time and again his ability to wiggle out of vendettas -- one of the things that takes some getting used to in Solium. However, I wouldn't discount a quiet approach if you can get your opponents to ignore you -- and, by in large, that's just what happened. I don't think I received a single looting the vaults ritual, or other nasty targeted event or ritual until the very last turns of the game.

A lack of planning pretty much prevented me from attempting to win the game by taking Pandemonium. I had the legions for it, and was in the neighborhood, but Drench's ability to wriggle out of vendettas (or fight them on his own terms, as in the phony champions duel he didn't show up for!) meant that by the time the strategy even occurred to me (ironically, because Drench himself suggested it in a message to me -- ha!), it was really too late to get to a state of Blood Feud that would make my barging through his territory possible. So, even though I had the ability to purchase an extra legion (the gorgons) and a praetor and toy or two to defend my home castle in case I took Pandemonium, I was never able to get Drench to agree to vendetta.

Looking at the final standings, I am surprised that few players managed to do much with objectives, public or private. I got lucky and drew an objective that complimented by strategy pretty nicely, namely sacrificing tribute cards. Because I had a massive amount of manuscripts that never amounted to anything, I was able to throw a lot away without dipping too much into my resources. I'm very curious to see how a higher intelligence demon (who can draw many cards and pick the one they wanted) would fare in taking a shot at a whole handful of secret objectives. The rest of my end level prestige came from the odd portrait (after I learned the hard way it ate one prestige per turn -- figure it cost me almost as much as it returned!), my public objective (gluttony seems fairly easy if you are geared for tribute), and my cantons. I noticed I had a higher than average number of cantons this game -- much of that is due to the 3 move Scourge of God legion I bought early on, which skated around with my extra order per turn to suck up some unattached spots. Not once did my neighbors think to threaten any of that -- in fact I'm not sure I didn't fight a single war that I didn't initiate (other than in the last turn, when I was in one with Chazz that never manifested itself).

In retrospect, there's plenty I would have done differently, but you live an learn. This was my first game against people, and really something like my fourth or fifth overall, and I still don't feel like I've gotten over the learning curve. The highlight of the game for me, I think, was playing spoiler against the Sheriff -- he sat right next to his Temple of Lust, which he needed for his public objective, and never seemed to pay our border much heed. Storming in with two tooled-up legions without any sort of resistance felt . . . diabolically good.

Great game everybody, I'm sure we'll be facing each other in other games here and there (and may already be doing so -- I swear I can't keep all these straight). SI is a really finely balanced piece of work, and very manageable through PBEM. Easily my best purchase of 2009.
Butterknife
Posts: 2673
Joined: Mon Jan 10, 2005 4:36 pm
Location: Utah

Re: [SI AAR] Octopus Underlords - NEARING THE END OMG!

Post by Butterknife »

I promised a surprise in my last spoiler, and here it is. This is the secret that I couldn't even trust to a spoiler -- how to build a winning avatar!
Image

I draw your attention to 2 important things: 1st, that I pretty much sucked. I didn't increase any stats throughout the game, so I ended with what I started with -- +1 Martial, +1 Charisma. I had +2 Wickedness from a Place of Power, but I only had that for the end-game. So what did I spend all my points on? Why, King-Maker of course! Hahahaha.

Any guesses on who I thought was going to win on the first turn? You only have the first turn to decide, so after carefully evaluating everyone's positions I anticipated that the big winner was going to be ... Archinerd/Drenichra! :) So if you had won, Archinerd ... I would have won anyway! I figured that with King-Maker my chances of winning went from 1 in 6 to 1 in 3, so there you have it. I had a really hard time picking between Archinerd and tgb, but in the end I figured Archinerd had a better starting position. What was really ironic was turn 2 -- when I realized that Archinerd had taken Sloth and that he could only move 1 square at a time! No! Never take Sloth! It is never worth it.

So what do I owe my great victory? Well, I'd have to say quite a bit of luck. I drew several good event cards. I was able to win the Great Games at the beginning, and even though my praetor never got any better I think that scared people off from some vendettas. I was able to assault the AI when Razgon left. I had 2 incredibly good units -- the Creeping Doom which could fight off most units in the early and mid-game, and the Tormentors which ended up being my favorite unit -- their ability to fly 4 hexes let me bounce them all over the place.
tgb wrote:Of course, someone (I still don't know who) playing the event that made it impossible to cast rituals for a number of turns didn't help either.
I thought I made this pretty clear earlier. All your event woes can be traced back to me, and this was my last one. I knew I couldn't cast any rituals, and your constant Looting the Vaults ritual was probably the worst thing that happened to me throughout the game (well, I assume it was you -- I have to read the thread still). I pretty much spent the entire mid-game in a constant stalemate, unable to actually do anything because I didn't have any tribute! At one point I considered just giving up on tribute entirely, but it did come in useful at the end to fend off unwanted demands. I never actually bought anything from the Bazaar after the 1st third of the game, which was not how I planned it at all.

Anyway, great game everyone. This was my first play-by-email and it was a lot of fun. I'd start another one with you guys but it is surprising how hard it was for me to remember to log onto my email every day. Plus, you would use all my dirty tricks against me this time. ;)
User avatar
ZOD
Posts: 90
Joined: Fri Jul 20, 2007 6:51 pm

Re: [SI AAR] Octopus Underlords - NEARING THE END OMG!

Post by ZOD »

Damn, Butterbean, after looking at your demon I'm a little depressed at having lost to it...

After reading some of this thread I realize that I probably could have Blood Feuded Drench, and gone knocking at Pandemonium. I thought we actually had to fight three vendettas, not him acceding to three demands (maybe it's both) Shit, I think I need to go back and read the directions again.

Next time you bastards!
User avatar
AWS260
Posts: 12664
Joined: Wed Feb 08, 2006 12:51 pm
Location: Brooklyn

Re: [SI AAR] Octopus Underlords - NEARING THE END OMG!

Post by AWS260 »

I really enjoyed following this AAR. Thanks, gents.
User avatar
Kelric
Posts: 30196
Joined: Thu Oct 14, 2004 5:20 pm
Location: Whip City

Re: [SI AAR] Octopus Underlords - NEARING THE END OMG!

Post by Kelric »

ZOD wrote:Damn, Butterbean, after looking at your demon I'm a little depressed at having lost to it...

After reading some of this thread I realize that I probably could have Blood Feuded Drench, and gone knocking at Pandemonium. I thought we actually had to fight three vendettas, not him acceding to three demands (maybe it's both) Shit, I think I need to go back and read the directions again.

Next time you bastards!
I don't know all the rules to this game either. It is going to take a while since I play exclusive PBEM right now.
User avatar
tgb
Posts: 30690
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 10:33 pm
Location: Tucson, AZ

Re: [SI AAR] Octopus Underlords - NEARING THE END OMG!

Post by tgb »

Butterknife, you were slick as.....well, butter. While it was not me who was throwing those Loot the Vault rituals at you (not until the end, anyway) - well played, sir.

Just goes to show that in Hell, anything goes.
I spent 90% of the money I made on women, booze, and drugs. The other 10% I just pissed away.
User avatar
Archinerd
Posts: 6837
Joined: Fri Aug 25, 2006 11:18 am
Location: Shikaakwa

Re: [SI AAR] Octopus Underlords - NEARING THE END OMG!

Post by Archinerd »

I just finished reading this, with the spoilers. Epic.
This was great.

And looking back, its easy for me to see where the turning point was. If I had been able to destroy butters Legion just before he took the Face in the Sand, I would have been in a better position... but since I had lost it, I wasted valuable turns trying to figure out what my new strategy was. I flip flopped between trying to catch up and grabbing Pandemonium. I should have just went for Pandemonium... which would have been nice if I had accomplished it, as it would have negated Butterlips Kingmaker trait. :)

Also, it was surprisingly hard to become Chazz's Blood Vassal. If I had known it was going to be that difficult, I'm not sure I would have even considered it.

And Sblorg. The Blood Feud count resets when I make demands or insults of you I think. That was the true purpose of the sham Praetor combat.

P.S. Slothful is not worth it, but maybe it is if you start as close as I did to Pandemonium.

All in all, a tense game. Well played Butterpits.
Butterknife
Posts: 2673
Joined: Mon Jan 10, 2005 4:36 pm
Location: Utah

Re: [SI AAR] Octopus Underlords - NEARING THE END OMG!

Post by Butterknife »

I just finished reading through the spoilers. That was very entertaining! I had no idea that so much in-game chatting was going on -- nobody sent me a message the entire game, except for Archinerd's terse "Meow". I must say that the Blood Vassal there at the very end was a huge surprise, as was Sblroghast/Zod's big unveiling of hidden prestige! I particularly enjoyed how I was mentioned in almost every spoiler. ;)

Here are some thoughts I had while playing that I didn't spell out. First, Archinerd got robbed every time we went against each other. My initial plan had been to actually feed him prestige through vendettas, gradually "losing" to him and putting him into a 1st-place position. I could then calmly sit back, look non-threatening, and wait for him to "win" so that King-Maker could take effect and I could take his place. There was some risk that he would take Pandemonium in the meantime, but I figured that if he were out in a big lead he wouldn't risk it.

With that plan, I started up a fight with him as soon as possible. What I didn't really expect was to start winning those fights. I was really surprised when his rituals didn't destroy one of my legions -- I didn't have any defenses, after all. Between that and winning the Great Games (also something I hadn't planned, even though I launched that event) I changed my entire strategy. First, I trumpeted how ineffectual Archinerd's attacks had been, with the hope that everyone else wouldn't consider even trying to do it again (even though I had just been lucky and didn't have any defenses). Winning the Games gave me a huge advantage -- everyone thought my Praetor was hot stuff. In reality I just got lucky, and I should have lost my fight with Zod.

One big thing -- I had no idea of the threat Chaz represented to me. I really think he could have taken me if he had started making demands from me earlier. Once I noticed that he had that ultra-tough unit, though, there was no way I would get into a knock-down drag out fight with him. The whole middle part of the game was pretty boring for me, actually. I couldn't afford to buy any new units (thanks to the constant Looting the Vaults rituals ...did anybody not cast one of those at me?) Pretty much I just strutted around acting tough and praying that nobody would scry what my Avatar really looked like.

Thanks all for an exciting game. Believe it or not, I kept expecting to get knocked off my pedestal the entire time. I thought for sure Drenichra would kill my unit next to The Face in the Sand, I thought Chaz would certainly raid my Places of Power, and I never expected tgb to get raided and lose his (very secure-looking) 2nd place position along with the Temple of Lust. I thought the AI would take the Vats of Torment away from me when I messed up and pretty much gave it away.

I think the biggest surprise of all for me was the turn-around of the AI near the end. I had planned on beating it down, taking advantage of its stupidity to consolidate my lead. What surprised me the most was how quickly it put together a set of legions that I couldn't defeat -- mostly because it had an artifact that added full stats as support to adjacent legions, which it then parked in the middle of them. I really had expected to beat it down again, but had to back off. Even worse, I couldn't move my Creeping Doom down to deal with the bigger threat (Chaz) because I was worried about losing The Face in the Sand to the AI!

Chaz, I didn't leave one of Razgon's hexes there as a blocker on purpose. It was a happy accident.
User avatar
Chaz
Posts: 7381
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 7:37 am
Location: Southern NH

Re: [SI AAR] Octopus Underlords - WE'RE ALL DONE!

Post by Chaz »

Wow, that got really interesting at the end. I'm actually fairly surprised that the gap between me and BK wound up being only 23.

Yup, I'm 90% sure that most of those Looting the Vaults that landed on Butterknife were done by me. I'm incredibly happy to see that they had a measurable effect. Speaking of stealing, it was pretty funny watching the Pilfer war that tgb and I had going on. Turns out we had very similar builds, I think I had a slight edge because of the Prince of Lies trait I had. As a result, I got to watch his pilfers bounce off my Ballista several times.

My favorite moment was stealing Temeluchas back just in time to send him in to settle that vendetta toward the end. Sorry tgb, that was a total dick move which I feel mildly bad about. I honestly didn't expect it to work.

What did I learn? That insults need to be used. I really didn't figure out their utility until halfway through the game. I was really wrapped up in the notion of being able to control the terms of the vendetta, which demands let you do, but the flip side is that if they give into your demand, all you generally get is tribute. With an insult, you can't control the vendetta, but as I talked about in an earlier post, that can be good. More importantly, them giving in nets you their prestige, and being able to control the vendetta terms might be enough to convince a recalcitrant opponent to fight. Then you surprise them with hidden resources.

My main problem in dealing with BK was first in getting him to fight (probably due to my not using insults), and then it was getting hosed by the AI Raz's creation of a DMZ. That really put a big damper on things, as I wasn't able to physically get at BK for quite a while.

My lack of darkness at the end was also pretty crippling. For the first 2/3 of the game, I was able to toss out deceit rituals regularly, as BK can attest to, but then just stopped getting the tribute I needed, so most of my skills went to waste. I think the only ritual I was able to cast toward the end was the one to steal back Temeluchas.

This was really an excellent time, and reading the whole AAR afterward has been a great capper. I liked how many times people thought I had their reactions figured, when really I had no idea. I'm very glad that a deceit-based build is actually viable, and also that you can get away with almost no military (I only bought one legion through the entire game).

And BK, before you go thinking that you were the source of all event evils, I should remind you that I let the Beast out. I also had the Heavenly Host event at the end, but decided not to use that. And I remain sad that I never got to actually use my giant legion with 15 ranged, ranged twice, 2x ranged damage legion.
I can't imagine, even at my most inebriated, hearing a bouncer offering me an hour with a stripper for only $1,400 and thinking That sounds like a reasonable idea.-Two Sheds
User avatar
ZOD
Posts: 90
Joined: Fri Jul 20, 2007 6:51 pm

Re: [SI AAR] Octopus Underlords - WE'RE ALL DONE!

Post by ZOD »

Btw, Chaz, I'm the one that killed the Iron Hands with Capricious Wrath -- I bet I sat on that card for half the game waiting to use it...

I definitely think I want to try a higher INT build -- holding more cards, drawing more secret objectives and picking from them, a little scrying . . .
User avatar
tgb
Posts: 30690
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 10:33 pm
Location: Tucson, AZ

Re: [SI AAR] Octopus Underlords - WE'RE ALL DONE!

Post by tgb »

Chaz wrote:Yup, I'm 90% sure that most of those Looting the Vaults that landed on Butterknife were done by me. I'm incredibly happy to see that they had a measurable effect. Speaking of stealing, it was pretty funny watching the Pilfer war that tgb and I had going on. Turns out we had very similar builds, I think I had a slight edge because of the Prince of Lies trait I had. As a result, I got to watch his pilfers bounce off my Ballista several times.

My favorite moment was stealing Temeluchas back just in time to send him in to settle that vendetta toward the end. Sorry tgb, that was a total dick move which I feel mildly bad about. I honestly didn't expect it to work.
Yeah, it never even occurred to me that Chaz and I were essentially playing the same build. As for stealing Temeluchas back, that REALLY pissed me off. It was a dick move, but that's what the game is about. :ninja:
I spent 90% of the money I made on women, booze, and drugs. The other 10% I just pissed away.
User avatar
Chaz
Posts: 7381
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 7:37 am
Location: Southern NH

Re: [SI AAR] Octopus Underlords - WE'RE ALL DONE!

Post by Chaz »

Zod, no worries. That legion was actually pretty useless at that point, so losing it didn't hurt too much.

tgb, you stole him in the first place! I was just...fixing things. :horse:
I can't imagine, even at my most inebriated, hearing a bouncer offering me an hour with a stripper for only $1,400 and thinking That sounds like a reasonable idea.-Two Sheds
Cortilian
Posts: 1590
Joined: Fri Jan 14, 2005 10:30 am

Re: [SI AAR] Octopus Underlords - WE'RE ALL DONE!

Post by Cortilian »

I've been following the entire AAR. Has been very enjoyable. Thanks guys.
User avatar
Chaz
Posts: 7381
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 7:37 am
Location: Southern NH

Re: [SI AAR] Octopus Underlords - WE'RE ALL DONE!

Post by Chaz »

The holidays mean work is slow, and something gave me itch to re-read this. Damn, I still remember this game, and it was really entertaining to play. Good work, everyone. :D
I can't imagine, even at my most inebriated, hearing a bouncer offering me an hour with a stripper for only $1,400 and thinking That sounds like a reasonable idea.-Two Sheds
Post Reply