Solium Infernum - PBEM the Third

[NickAragua]

In fact, Zarathud, you're in the lead (for now at least). Good luck vs Zord and Slutalia though.

Spoiler:

I don't have anything exciting to do this turn, but I did get a "destroy a random non-personal-guard legion" event card which I'll be playing. I don't have any legions that aren't my personal guard, so I'm safe, and I'm fine with screwing someone over.

[El Guapo]

Anyone out there want to take over for Zord? He's requested to be AI'd, so I thought I'd check to see if anyone is interested first.

[ZOD]

Yea, sorry about that, just don't have the time or energy.

It's not too bad a position, and I have a pretty decent main legion if anyone is interested.

Have fun guys, I'll keep an eye on this thread to see how the game goes.

[El Guapo]

Here's the basics of Zod's position. First the current prestige situation:



Here's the map situation, with various parties highlighted:



In the map you can see Zord's personal legion, which is very strong. Basically Zord's situation: he can claim vendetta on Zarathud to his south in the next turn. Zarathud is fairly weak military-wise and can't stand up to Zord's personal legion, so unless I'm missing something important it's pretty clear that Zord will take back the +3 prestige/turn PoP that's between them (highlighted on the map). Zord's currently trailing in prestige but the +3 prestige/turn PoP should bring him back into the hunt.

I'll probably wait until the end of the day tomorrow to see if anyone's interested before zombie-fying Zord, unless there are any objections.

[Archinerd]

Guapo... your threat list is showing.

[El Guapo]

Guapo... your threat list is showing.

Oh hey, how about that. I didn't realize that was the threat list - I always assumed it was just a list of players, and that you needed to press the "Adjust Threat List" button to see your current threat list.

In any event, it's gone now. Thanks!

[Zarathud]

Hey, I'm not a threat! Or am I? Hehehe.

[El Guapo]

So, uh, how does one make a player into an AI anyways?

[Archinerd]

So, uh, how does one make a player into an AI anyways?

Its in the Process Turn screen when you click on the End Turn button. Wait until you have everyone's turns in, then do it.

[Zarathud]

Game on.

Spoiler:

This should be an interesting test of the AI. Zord was in position to easily take my +3 Prestige eventually, as long as he kept up the pressure of constant demands. Let's see if the AI can follow through on that threat. In most single player games, there's typically one AI that's been a royal pain in the ass but nowhere as consistent a threat as most human players.

Update: Crap. The AI not only declared Vendetta, but wagered 15 Prestige. That's a serious committment to aggression.

[El Guapo]

Just need Sepiche's turn to process.

[NickAragua]

In this one, I'm holding on for dear life, as Slutalia and Zarathud have apparently decided to team up on me (perhaps intentionally, perhaps not, who knows), both making demands and declaring vendetta within a turn of each other.

Spoiler:

The "tower of lust" or whatever it is that I need for my lust objective is pretty secure against Slutalia's "Tentacleface McJerk" guy, since when he attacks, he'll catch a whooping 2d6+2 Infernal penalty. The garden of pain (or whatever) to the southwest of my fortress though, that'll be harder to hold.

Pictures coming tonight, as this is actually an interesting tactical problem.

[El Guapo]

Well, you are currently winning, and you *do* smell funny. Also, your mom dresses you funny.

Spoiler:

Interesting strategic situation going. I declared vendetta and was about to pounce on the Temple of Lust with my uber-infernal personal legion, when I saw that he had a combat card there. Seeing as how I just upgraded my intelligence to 4, I decided to try out my newfangled "infernal eye" ritual (amongst other things, it lets you see what the opponent's combat cards are). Good thing too, since he put down a nasty -8 to enemy infernal combat card; if I rushed my legion in it would have gotten slaughtered.

The tricky part is what to do about it. Fortunately I saw that there is a praetor on the bazaar that negates enemy combat cards (also boosts infernal and level). But, too expensive. So I spent a turn raising tribute, then bought her. Infuriatingly, you can't swap out and swap in a praetor in one turn (which is dumb), so I have to spend this next turn taking out my current praetor, then the following turn putting in my new one. Finally I'll have to drop in an artifact (negates ranged damage) and perhaps a combat card of my own before attacking. So just setting all of this up is taking a number of actions over 4 or 5 turns. Good thing I set 6 turns for the vendetta (also a virtue of having a high rank - lets you set more generous terms for your vendetta).

It should work, but we'll see.

Oh, and honestly I'm getting more and more skeptical of Zarathud becoming my blood vassal. For one, he's got significantly more prestige and his situation isn't that bad now that Zord's a bungling AI. Especially if he gets more prestige out of his vendetta with NickAragua. He may present a promising next target, but we'll see after this vendetta is done.

[El Guapo]

BTW I'm pretty positive that Paschetti is planning on setting off the "minus charisma" machine sometime soon. He's been collecting those manuscripts from the bazaar.

[Toxo]

I'm just using them for wallpaper decoration. The guy on the manuscript looks just like my avatar!!!

[NickAragua]

That was a little anti-climactic, our two legions fighting to a stand still.

Spoiler:

Not sure what those two were trying to accomplish. Zarathud's legion just stood there, while Slutalia's probably tried to attack my fortress (and attacked my legion instead, since I moved it into place). Now, due to turn order, the two of them get a free shot at my legion, but my temple of the damned should be free and clear at least.

[Zarathud]

Spoiler:

The AI let the clock run down on the Vendetta. I'm not sure why it left my Place of Power alone, but I'm happy to get the Prestige gift. It left me free to attack Aragua aggressively.

I added a combat boost before attacking last turn. Since Slutalia and Aragua moved before me and ended up battling each other to the north, I bounced off Slutalia's legion (invalid target). Hopefully he'll finish off Aragua. I have 1 turn left on the Vendetta, so I'm completing that objective in the safest way possible.

[Zarathud]

Not dead yet.

Spoiler:

Here's the situation --


AI Zord is surrounding my vulnerable Place of Power, so I went on the offensive against Aragua to the East. I noticed there were two Combat Cards on the Place of Power, which can be scary. Luckily, I had decided to engage in a territory Vendetta against Aragua and could win by simply taking the territory to surround it. Slutalia has surrounded Pandemonium and I'm not sure he's willing or able to set up the Blood Lord/Vassal relationship I proposed anymore.

I'm doing much better than I should with Prestige. Aragua is in the lead but seriously beaten up. He still has +4 Prestige a turn, but both of his Places of Power are threatened.

[NickAragua]

Been a while since I wrote about this game - my initial lead has crumbled, as both Zarathud and Slutalia beat the living bejeezus out of my legions and strongholds.

Of course, now, there's an excommunication petition going around, vs Sepiche. Not sure who in their right mind would vote to excommunicate him - he's got more armies than the rest of us combined, and is within striking distance of pretty much every stronghold except Slutalia.

Spoiler:

The good part is that, since Zord went AI, I've been able to freely call vendettas on him, picking off his weaker legions for objectives. I'm also about to increase my charisma to 2. I'm voting no on excommunication, since Sepiche will be able to reach my fortress in pretty short order.

I made a demand of Slutalia, we'll see how that goes. I'm powering up my (useless, reformed) legion with some combat cards just in case.

[Zarathud]

Spoiler:

I've decided to focus on building an economic machine this game because of opportunity. Last turn I've grabbed the second Relic that gives bonuses to Tribute collection!

Still, the move has reduced my influence in the game. The AI still hasn't crippled me yet, but I think it's busy fending off the others. Aragua is no longer a threat, while Slutalia has surrounded Pandemonium and is a strong contender for the lead. He's going to have to be watched. I'm looking for a rabbit to pull out of my hat any turn now.

[El Guapo]

Sepiche is spared excommunication. Or should I say, we are spared from Sepiche's excommunication, since holy hell would he have kicked the shit out of us.

I wonder if Sepiche was the only one to vote in favor.

[Zarathud]

No kidding -- someone has massive Marital Prowess!

Spoiler:

I am the dwarves this game. I must hide in my Mountain, and keep digging for more loot. The downside to massing huge armies is that everyone knows you're a threat. I must look weak, then pull my big nasty beszerking suprise.

[El Guapo]

No kidding -- someone has massive Marital Prowess!

Which his wife is certainly thrilled about.

[Sepiche]

No kidding -- someone has massive Marital Prowess!

Which his wife is certainly thrilled about.

Come on guys... every demon learns at some point it's not the size of your legions that matters, only how you use them.

[El Guapo]

No kidding -- someone has massive Marital Prowess!

Which his wife is certainly thrilled about.

Come on guys... every demon learns at some point it's not the size of your legions that matters, only how you use them.

Also, if you can tear yourself away from your marital prowess for a moment, I only need your turn to process.

[Zarathud]

Note to self - posting here while playing is probably not such a smart idea.

[Zarathud]

My, my. That's some...progress, you got there.

Spoiler:

Let them mock my "marital" attributes, as I add to my trinkets. This new Relic grants me an additional Order. Now I can focus on crafting a device to send their minds into the gutter. The Bazaar has 2 of the 4 items I need. Now it's only a matter of getting lucky finding the remaining portions. And I feel lucky.

[NickAragua]

Spoiler:

I just insulted Paschetti, since he doesn't have any shared borders with me, and appears to have no legions (probably died in battle with Slutalia). Speaking of Slutalia, I'm playing a "destroy random legion" card on her, as well as sending an insult her way, since it looks like the nasty personal guard and Tentacleface McJerk are nowhere to be seen. Need that prestige, and temple of lust!

[El Guapo]

When it rains it pours. Don't you jerks know that Zarathud is winning?

Spoiler:

Had some serious losses recently, mostly in vendettas with Paschetti. In the first he declared vendetta shortly after I captured the Temple of Lust from the Lord of Aragua. Would have gone fine, except he used that blasted "secret manipulation" ritual to move my personal legion away from the fight, which gave his slow legion time to walk over to the Citadel of Wrath and capture it, winning his vendetta.

Then he declares a second one. Right then someone steals my "infernal first" praetor away from me (I'm guessing Paschetti, but who knows), which was poor timing for me since my legion is weak in everything but infernal which otherwise goes last in combat. Fortunately I did have the "wicked wain", an artifact that negates ranged damage. So I slapped that on my legion right before I engaged his personal legion - after negating ranged damage, my legion was strong enough to take the melee damage - at which point the infernal destroyed his personal legion. Hooray! Then I quickly had my personal legion run over and recapture the Citadel of Wrath. Hooray! Then Paschetti hit my weakened legion with an Infernal Affliction ritual, destroying them. Boooo!

But no problem! I had picked up the Tormentors, a sweet 4-4-0 legion that can fly four spaces. Stuck Temeluchas and a ranged combat card on there, bringing them up to 7-9-0. But now they're hit with an event that destroys them (and Temeluchas with them), presumably played by Aragua. So now I'm left with one crappy legion, and otherwis all of my legions and artifacts have been destroyed.

The good news is that I'm gaining prestige fairly quickly, and should be in the lead soon. At this state, though, I'm not sure how long that will last....

[El Guapo]

Just need Sepiche's turn to process.

[Zarathud]

Spoiler:

Aragua insulted me, probably to get some easy Prestige. Too bad for him that I re-purchased The Sons of Typhon. They'll be a little slow to arrive, but they crush enemies DEAD with a base stats of Ranged 10 / Melee 10 + Rage. I've prepaid enough upkeep for the duration of the Vendetta to avoid my earlier mistake.

[El Guapo]

Just need Sepiche's turn to process.

[El Guapo]

Just need Zarathud's turn to process.

[Zarathud]

Hit I'm first with a -1 Charisma event, now everyone's hit by the Machine of Gluttony. And the turn clock...does...not...advance. Someone needs to die to slack my thirst for punishment and retribution.

[El Guapo]

On the plus side, almost no one seems to be messing with you directly despite your large and growing lead.

[Zarathud]

When you have a ridiculous amount of spare Tribute that's worthless to you, buy a beefy Legion like The Sons of Typhon to spend it down. Then nobody wants to mess with you, unfortunately.

[Zarathud]

And now nobody gets to mess with nobody for 4 turns. Tribute is lessened by 1, and we're at 11/15 Conclave Tokens.

All hail your new Prince, beyatches.

Spoiler:

Paschetti realized that he would need some protection from his evil Machinations, and avoided my wrath by becoming my Blood Vassal. That boosts my Rank by 1 to Prince -- making it more costly to engage me in Diplomacy.

Current standings:
297 Prestige - Zarathud (250) + Paschetti (47)
210 Prestige - Sluttalia (180+30 for holding court at the Temple of Lust)
128 Prestige - Lord of Aragua
111 Prestige - Sepiche
055 Prestige - Zord

Between us, we're earning +9 Prestige a turn. Sluttalia earns +5, Sepiche and Zord are only getting +2, and Aragua gets 0 for losing all of his Places of Power.

Too bad, Sluttalia. Your teasing behavior shall be punished. And I will like it, so very very much. Now I forget who attacked first (oh ya, that was me), but Sluttalia expanded too aggressively to qualify as my minion anymore. Slutty's also in control of the territory around Pandemonium, but too weak to actually think of taking over.

I feel really good right about now -- 2 awesome Legions, a stable of Praetors, and some nice toys (the Throne and the Dune Wyrms). And Paschetti's chomping at the bit for kibble. Time to practice my evil laughter....

[NickAragua]

Spoiler:

Since I last posted, three major things have happened:
1. Paschetti went Vassal to Zarathud. He didn't have much prestige to start with, but it still adds up.
2. There's a "threat of invasion from heaven" which prevents vendettas (I'd been gathering prestige from Zord to make up for my lack of PoPs).
3. I'm going to attempt to vassal myself to Slutalia. I have more prestige than Paschetti had, so we ought to be able to take the two of them in terms of raw prestige.

[El Guapo]

Just need Sepiche's turn to process.

Spoiler:

So, I'm pretty boned (you may notice that as a theme in my AARs). Zarathud has a significant lead, and on top of that he just accepted Paschetti as a blood vassal. Paschetti's prestige isn't tremendous, but it's significant (about 50), and his personal legion is still pretty strong. And we're closing in on the end of the game.

So...I've pretty much got one hail mary left. NickAragua has offered to become my blood vassal if we can get my prestige to more than double his (which isn't too far off). He's sending an emissary that I'll spurn. The plan is this: he's got a strong flying legion (the Darkwing legion - possibly the strongest flier in the game), which is at something like 8-8-3 IIRC. I'm planning on picking up "The Beast" from the bazaar, which is an uber-strong flying legion that's 0-14-10 flying 3, ranged last. So the thinking is this - he moves the Darkwing legion into position to strike at Zarathud's stronghold. I buy The Beast and move it into position to strike Sepiche's stronghold. Hopefully in the interim we've managed to get our prestiges such that he's now my blood vassal. One of us launches a ritual at Pandemonium which gets us both excommunicated. We then strike at Zarathud and Paschetti, hopefully defeating their strongholds and knocking them both out of the game in one fell swoop.

They would be the first targets since they both have formidable militaries and could stop us if we don't catch them by surprise. Paschetti and Zord shouldn't be a huge problem afterwards if all goes well.

We don't have a lot of time, though. If this is going to work we'll really need to be ready to attack strongholds during a turn when both Nick and I go before Zarathud and Sepiche so that they don't have any ability to react once the trap is sprung. That's only 3-4 turns from now, though, and we need to do a lot in the interim. If not we have to wait for the turns to go around again, and we don't have a lot of time left.

[El Guapo]

I got Sepiche's turn and will process tonight.