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

[Chaz]

Especially what? ESPECIALLY WHAT?!

As if I couldn't hate you more...

[tgb]

Nothing significant to report......my plan continues to develop.

[Archinerd]

Spoiler:

First off, I am abandoning my goal for and extra intellect (and order) momentarily, because an opportunity has presented itself. Here it goes.
First off, I have put a bid on an object that will give me an additional +1 prestige per turn.


Second, I am going to play this special event. After this it will no longer look like I'm doing as well... and by keeping a low profile I hope to buy time to raise my intellect and eat some souls to complete my public goal. Butterknife and Sheriff will continue to appear to be winning and hopefully duke it out.



To further confuse things, I made a demand against Butterknife last turn for some tribute, I will be receiving his response next turn. Hopefully Sheriff will see that I've made a move against him and then they will start something between them...

And here's a picture of my local board position, because I haven't shown it in awhile.

that's butterknife down in the bottom right corner. The 3 legions hanging around the north end of my territory make me a little nervous.

[Kelric]

Would you guys mind all giving us some updated screenshots of the map? Tough to visualize everything at the moment.

[tgb]

Would you guys mind all giving us some updated screenshots of the map? Tough to visualize everything at the moment.

Two things on that - the map doesn't change that much throughout the game and it will be tough to see in a screen shot who controls what territory. The other thing is no single screen shot will give you a big enough picture. There is no mini-map, and you can't zoom out that far - it's not a game breaker, but it would be nice to do.

I forgot to mention that on the last turn some nitwit played the Harrowing of Hell event, which causes everyone to lost 1/2 of their "Souls" resources. Bastage.

[Chaz]

Yeah, whoever that was is a jerk. It certainly wasn't me. It was probably you.

Spoiler:

No, it wasn't me. I had a good number of souls already, so it didn't hit me too hard. My legion was able to take the PoP with no trouble this turn. It didn't last past the first round of ranged combat. It had 0 for ranged, I had 12, and the Ballista doubles any ranged damage, so I did 24 points in the first round. It had 11 hp.

tgb is right about the map, it's a pita to try to stitch together. I tried, but it's too early in the morning. So here's some pics from my neck of the woods.



Here you can see what's going on to my south and east. The Sheriff (and yes, I realize I misspelled it in the pic, I haven't had coffee yet) has just moved that legion up to my bridge. I'm not sure what he's planning, but I don't like it. You can also see Evil Wilson's territory next to mine, and then Silbroghast's farther over. Sil's been awfully quiet. I'm not sure what he's planning, but I don't like that either.



Here's the picture to the north. You can see Raz's interesting use of Infernal Geography, as he's Pac-manned his legion all the way around the map to approach Butterball's other side. I'm not certain why. You can also see Evil Wilson up north there, illustrating the strangeness of Infernal Geography,

This turn, and probably a few turns after, are going to be mostly gathering resources. I need five more to boost Deceit another notch to 4, at which point I find out how much stealing I can get away with before people come knocking down my door.

[tgb]

Not I. I think it was Arkinoid.

[Chaz]

Not I. I think it was Arkinoid.

That's exactly what you'd say if it was you.

[razgon]

Hello, I'm still in the game...and someday, you WILL notice it... *I hope*

[tgb]

Not I. I think it was Arkinoid.

That's exactly what you'd say if it was you.

Two Archfiends know for sure that I didn't do it - myself and the one that did. And when I get my talons around him, look out.

[Archinerd]

Not I. I think it was Arkinoid.

I take this as a compliment.

[AWS260]

Spoiler:

puppies!

Oh snap.

Spoiler:

kittens!

OH SNAP.

[Archinerd]

If you're just doing that to mess with me, it's working.

[Chaz]

Holy crap, I want to look at spoilers!

[tgb]

Hello, I'm still in the game...and someday, you WILL notice it... *I hope*

Minor demons are beneath my contempt.

[Kelric]

Would you guys mind all giving us some updated screenshots of the map? Tough to visualize everything at the moment.

Two things on that - the map doesn't change that much throughout the game and it will be tough to see in a screen shot who controls what territory. The other thing is no single screen shot will give you a big enough picture. There is no mini-map, and you can't zoom out that far - it's not a game breaker, but it would be nice to do.

Hence why I asked if you would all mind updating with maps. That way we may get to see who controls what PoP and whatnot.

[Chaz]

I posted maps! I suspect that between those two screenshots you can see 75% of the world map.

[Butterknife]

Not I. I think it was Arkinoid.

That's exactly what you'd say if it was you.

Two Archfiends know for sure that I didn't do it - myself and the one that did. And when I get my talons around him, look out.

Fools. Naturally, I did it again. I promised you more treachery, and yet you still refuse to acknowledge that all your ills come from me! I promise not to annoy you with another event ... until the scepter is passed to me again, of course. Mwuahahaha! I enjoy all of your misery!

Archinerd decided to threaten me this turn. Although his demand was only for 2 tribute cards, I laugh at his pathetic lone legion at my border. My praetor has already proven his worth in the arena, and he is only stronger after winning. Expect him to attack me soon, or to back down when he realizes his mistake. I don't mind either way -- I enjoy absorbing his prestige.

I continue to enjoy my lead. tgb has access to a +3 Place of Power, yet he cannot take it without further strengthening his armies. Until then, the gap only widens. You may all surrender to me now, if you wish. I promise only a minimum of pain and suffering -- just enough for our mutual enjoyment.

[Kelric]

I posted maps! I suspect that between those two screenshots you can see 75% of the world map.

I know. And I appreciate that. Especially the labels.

[tgb]

Not I. I think it was Arkinoid.

That's exactly what you'd say if it was you.

Two Archfiends know for sure that I didn't do it - myself and the one that did. And when I get my talons around him, look out.

Fools. Naturally, I did it again. I promised you more treachery, and yet you still refuse to acknowledge that all your ills come from me! I promise not to annoy you with another event ... until the scepter is passed to me again, of course. Mwuahahaha! I enjoy all of your misery!

Archinerd decided to threaten me this turn. Although his demand was only for 2 tribute cards, I laugh at his pathetic lone legion at my border. My praetor has already proven his worth in the arena, and he is only stronger after winning. Expect him to attack me soon, or to back down when he realizes his mistake. I don't mind either way -- I enjoy absorbing his prestige.

I continue to enjoy my lead. tgb has access to a +3 Place of Power, yet he cannot take it without further strengthening his armies. Until then, the gap only widens. You may all surrender to me now, if you wish. I promise only a minimum of pain and suffering -- just enough for our mutual enjoyment.

I quake at the words "Bow before Butterfinger".

[Archinerd]

Alright Butterknife, I'll surrender to you. You will accept me as your Blood Vassal, yes?

Spoiler:

Blood Vassal?! Unlikely.

So I have gone ahead and done something stupid. Since Butterballs won't give me any of his tribute I went ahead and declared Vendetta on him. I had a couple of choices, but in the end I went with kill a Legion within 6 turns. Let's look at my targets... I'm hoping to kill the Creeping Doom and take his Praetor with it, but I'll take what I can get.



And this is my secret weapon which I hope will help me, it's a Ritual that is available with the Wickedness/Destruction stat. My Wickedness is only 1, but one of my places of power does give me better chances of success (+2), hopefully it's enough. It only does up to 6 points of damage though, so I'll have to finish him off with my own Legion or take more than one turn. Let's hope butterballs underestimates me.


In other news, my Prestige should look pretty pathetic to the others now since I played the False Modesty event. And I won the Necronomicon and will be installing it this turn so I can start getting Prestige from it as soon as possible.

And just for fun, let's take a look at where the scoreboard stands right now... remember to add 30 to Sheriff though, he has already achieved his public objective, for now... maybe Razgon can be encouraged to fight him for it.

[tgb]

Well, well, well.......

Spoiler:

Remember that Hellfire Balista I had my one good eye on? Turns out it was Drazzilroth who won it in the auction. I unfortunately lack the resources to cast the ritual that will make it mine.....for now.

I'll get you, my pretty. And your dog, Buttercup, too.

[Butterknife]

I will accept all of you as Blood Vassals. But don't keep me waiting.

[tgb]

Whatever, Butterball.

[Kelric]

I could have sworn someone not named Butterknife had achieved his objectives...

[Chaz]

Spoiler:

Slow turn for me. Spent the last turn gathering resources and am spending this turn as well. I need two or three more darkness to bump deceit, and then I'm good.

It looks like Butterknife's about to be in a vendetta, which is good considering his commanding lead. I'd like to poke at him, but my military options are limited because of Raz's around the map trip. I do have the option of challenging him to single combat, and that may be the best thing. I'll hold off on that to see what Raz has up his sleeve first though.

[Chaz]

Spoiler:

Yup, Arch declares vendetta on Butterbutt. I really don't know what he's got up his sleeve, since one of Butterbutt's legions is pretty gross right now, and he's got them arranged to support each other. Barring some kind of ritual or event card, I'm not sure how Arch survives.

I got enough resources, but ran into one of the problems with making big purchases. When paying for something, you can use a maximum of eight tribute cards. At my current low charisma level, most of my cards are worth 1 or 2. Boosting deceit to 4 costs 15 darkness and 6 souls. I didn't have enough high value cards, so I was unable to fit the final soul I needed on the board. So before I can do that, I had to spend an order to consolidate a bunch of cards onto one big card, then I'll be able to upgrade next turn.

I also put in a bid on the big elephant-looking praetor. Dude's a beast in single combat, which is what I anticipate being involved in soon. I was only able to afford the minimum bid though, so if there's competition for him, I don't like my chances, but it was worth the risk to try and get him.

[Archinerd]

Spoiler:

Wish me luck!

[Butterknife]

Archinerd decides to declare Vendetta upon me! The battle begins. So exciting! I wish I knew what he had in mind. There have sure been a lot of spoiler tags going on lately ...

[tgb]

Yep, things are heating up. Here's the resolution of the previous turn:

Spoiler:

So Drenichazilla had claimed the big V on Butterchurn. But look at their positions:


Drunkula only has one Legion compared to Butterspread. Which must mean that Drenchedallwet is planning single combat between Praetors. But Butterfat's Praetor is enormously powerful and won the Olympics, so this too, would probably be suicide.

Here's how things stand with the drawing of the third Token:


I've sent a message to Drazzilroth saying that this would be a good time to ally against Butterfinger. At the same time, I've cast a ritual to steal the Hellfire Balista away from him, which, if the roll goes my way, will give me the edge I need to take that +3 PoP.

Ain't I a stinker?

[tgb]

I just found out there is a beta of 1.04 available. It's only accessible from Vic's blog. Do you guys all want to try it, or wait for the official release?

[edited to add] - I just got an email from Vic informing me that 1.04 and 1.03 are identical as far as PBEM goes, so if some want to try the beta and some want to wait, it won't affect our game.

I may install it tomorrow just to see what it does for single-player.

[Archinerd]

I just found out there is a beta of 1.04 available. It's only accessible from Vic's blog. Do you guys all want to try it, or wait for the official release?

[edited to add] - I just got an email from Vic informing me that 1.04 and 1.03 are identical as far as PBEM goes, so if some want to try the beta and some want to wait, it won't affect our game.

I may install it tomorrow just to see what it does for single-player.

I saw that too, but decided to just wait for the full release. I didn't want to chance breaking the game. After all, I'm winning, you just don't know it.

[Chaz]

I'm okay with waiting so we don't find out there's some crippling bug in there. Unless the bug is that I get double prestige and invincible legions for the rest of the game.

[tgb]

Spoiler:

That went.......poorly. The ritual failed, and a lot of Tribute I really can't afford to lose went down the crapper. Not only that, but someone has hired Temechulus. Things are about to get ugly.

[Butterknife]

Here is the state of things at the beginning of turn 15:


As you can see, I was able to purchase a third legion, bringing my total to three. Archinerd's unit is to the NorthWest, it is the flame-haired icon. This is his only unit. I expected him to rush in to my lands to attack, but instead I got this:



Another ineffective attack. My enemies persist in their foolish hopes of victory, which will make crushing them all the more sweet. Because of his ritual attack, I'm pretty sure I know what his goal for our little vendetta is. Lesser demons following along may also be able to guess it.

[Chaz]

Spoiler:

Butterball's lead is becoming concerning to many of us. Arch is making an effort to stall him, and I'm jumping in too. I was able to bump my deceit up to level 4 this turn, and also issued a demand. The Sheriff sent me a message that makes me think he's going to try to start something too. The problem with that is that there's only one clear patch to BK's territory for both of us, so we can't both go with a ground war.

My current thinking is to try to steal his one praetor and then issue a single combat vendetta if he refuses my demand. If I can pull that off, he'll either have to buy a new praetor, or lose the vendetta. If I don't get to steal the praetor, I can make the attempt at combat, and probably lose. Fortunately, I've got an event in hand that lets everyone retrieve one praetor from the dead pile, so even losing won't be the end of the world.

[tgb]

Here is the state of things at the beginning of turn 15:


As you can see, I was able to purchase a third legion, bringing my total to three. Archinerd's unit is to the NorthWest, it is the flame-haired icon. This is his only unit. I expected him to rush in to my lands to attack, but instead I got this:



Another ineffective attack. My enemies persist in their foolish hopes of victory, which will make crushing them all the more sweet. Because of his ritual attack, I'm pretty sure I know what his goal for our little vendetta is. Lesser demons following along may also be able to guess it.

[raises hand] Ooh, Ooh. I know.

[ZOD]

Tired of sorting his trinkets into piles labeled 'shiny,' 'shinier,' and 'brightly pulsating with the writhing souls of the damned,' Slbroghast rouses himself from his couch of Eternal Agonastic Splendor and issues a demand for tribute from Drenichera, whose Wall of Envy he has been, well, envying since turn 2.

Spoiler:

Before my plans were derailed by the damned infernal Olympics -- in which I lost a rather nice Praetor -- my intention all along was to push against Archie in the south. Now that his single legion is six spaces away and he's embroiled in a vendetta, I figured now was the time to issue a demand. Getting some extra tribute, or going to war, both suit me fine. And it doesn't take a Prince of Hell to figure out my goal will be his place of power that I've been camped outside of for thirteen turns.

In other news I recently acquired the legion The Scourge of God, whose three moves a turn I've been using to occupy some of the dead space between my realm and Razgon's. With some buffs it should prove a decent enough second tier unit.

[Archinerd]

Spoiler:

So, as you've seen from butterballs post, my ritual was a failure. I'm going to try again. If it doesn't work a second time, I'm going to play the event card I just drew, whcih ends all vendettas... because if I don't win this next turn, its not going to go well for me.

[Archinerd]

Spoiler:

The ritual failed again. Time to play my get out of jail free card, aka Dangerous Bickering.
Slbroghast the opportunist has demanded 4 tribute cards from me while I'm busy with Butterballs. I can't say I'm surprised. Luckily I don't have to give in to his demands because of my Event Card.

I'm also putting a bid in on these hotties. Their flying 2 is the primary reason I want them, they can move around quickly without being slowed down by my Avatar's sloth trait.