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

[Gryndyl]

I would just like to point out that nowhere in this thread does anyone actually mention the name of this game other than the initials SI in the thread title...

[Chaz]

I would just like to point out that nowhere in this thread does anyone actually mention the name of this game other than the initials SI in the thread title...

Well, it's an AAR. We all know what we're playing.

Still, I'll toss it in the first post.

[ZOD]

I think we've given Raz a fairly generous grace period -- if he can't get a turn to us in a day or so I think we need to AI him and get this started again.

[razgon]

Please, if possible, do set my player to AI.

My sincere apologies for not getting back to you all, but due to some rather bad (for me) circumstances in RL, I have no real energy or willingness to play this game anymore. Sorry

[tgb]

Sorry to hear that Raz. You will be missed.

[LordMortis]

If you want someone to step in, could you change the email address to mine and I could try and figure out what he was doing. I'd hope that I'd be better than a computer AI.

[razgon]

If you want someone to step in, could you change the email address to mine and I could try and figure out what he was doing. I'd hope that I'd be better than a computer AI.

I was winning, but in a very sly and underhand way that will probably not ever be very obvious

Sorry to hear that Raz. You will be missed.

Thanks TGB - appriciate the sentiment

[Archinerd]

If you want someone to step in, could you change the email address to mine and I could try and figure out what he was doing. I'd hope that I'd be better than a computer AI.

Alright, I'll see what it will let me do. It will have to wait until I get home this evening though, which could take a long time today. Lots of snow.

Thanks for checking in again Razgon, I hope things in RL turn out for the best.

[Butterknife]

You want to take over Razgon's position? I thought we were doing a pretty good job of keeping everyone informed ...

[LordMortis]

You want to take over Razgon's position? I thought we were doing a pretty good job of keeping everyone informed ...

If you don't want me to. That's fine, too.

[Butterknife]

You want to take over Razgon's position? I thought we were doing a pretty good job of keeping everyone informed ...

If you don't want me to. That's fine, too.

No, I want you to. What I meant was "Razgon's position sucks. If you want to take over for him, we must not have been keeping you informed that Razgon's position sucks."

[LordMortis]

You want to take over Razgon's position? I thought we were doing a pretty good job of keeping everyone informed ...

If you don't want me to. That's fine, too.

No, I want you to. What I meant was "Razgon's position sucks. If you want to take over for him, we must not have been keeping you informed that Razgon's position sucks."

I won't feel bad when I lose then. I want more SI and I think it'd be a shame to have you guys get stuck with a computer AI. So it works out for everyone but Razgon who sadly had life take precedent over gaming.

[LordMortis]

It won't take me. I tried. "the .trn file is not associate with my key"

Good luck guys.

[Archinerd]

Alright, here we go again.

Spoiler:

I am going to focus on moving my Intelligence stat up to 4. I'd really like the extra order slot. I don't quite have enough resources yet, so I am spending the whole turn to get more. Butternuts has made a pathetic demand of me, 1 tribute card. He's got the guns though, so I'll let him take it. I need a plan on how to deal with him, right now I'm not in a great position to fight him.

[tgb]

Not much to do this turn except

Spoiler:

demand and consolidate tribute. I'm one turn away from upgrading to Charisma 4, which will not only allow me to steal Praetors, but give me an additional order as well. Woot!

[Cryptic D]

Hey I can fix the .trn file so that you can change players. I had to implement this protection so that the host couldn't peek at everybody's positions if temptation got the better of him or her. I might try and come up with some type of utility for this. But if it is not too late then send me your Main.sav, .trn and your serial key and I will insert it into the .trn file so you can take over a position.

[Archinerd]

Hey I can fix the .trn file so that you can change players. I had to implement this protection so that the host couldn't peek at everybody's positions if temptation got the better of him or her. I might try and come up with some type of utility for this. But if it is not too late then send me your Main.sav, .trn and your serial key and I will insert it into the .trn file so you can take over a position.

Thanks for the offer Vic, but unfortunately I think it may be too late. Razgon's Arch-demon has already been lobotomized and has been possessed by the ghost in the machine. If you think you can work miracles and reverse this, then I will gladly send you the game files.

[Cryptic D]

Oh dear

It's probably best not to mess with it as this point. Sorry I didn't get there sooner before the top of the skull was taken off. I hope the ghost acquits itself well. Any erratic behavior can be attributed to the operation perhaps

[Zarathud]

Or any erratic behavior can be traced to how Razgon's position sucks.

BTW, a photo of the lobotomized player's position on the board might be interesting for us outsiders.

[Archinerd]

Turn 23.

Spoiler:

Yikes. Turn 23 already? I'm not where I wanted to be at this point. 5/15 conclave tokens have been drawn (game ends when all 15 are drawn, and they are drawn semi-randomly... the more there are, the more likely another will be drawn).

The good news is, I've finally scrapped together enough resources to bump my intelligence up to 4. I just have to consolidate it now, and next turn I can take a bath in it or drink it or whatever it is I do with 12 souls 6 brimstone and 6 darkness. After that my plan is to hide from butterknife and take cheap shots at him whenever the opportunity arises. I will also build up my Legion so I can take Pandemonium... and I will attempt to close the Prestige gap by casting Infernal Negotiations so I can get a cut on any demands that are sure to come. Things have been very passive so far, I can't imagine that is going to continue for long. Here's the current score as I see it, as well as my pathetic land holdings...

[Chaz]

Spoiler:

I'm pretty gross now. I this turn I won the praetor that I bid on last time. He gives a +3 to ranged, and makes ranged combat happen twice. I'm attaching him to my legion. That means that with the Hellfire Ballista already on that legion, it'll have a 15 ranged attack, ranged will happen twice, and all ranged damage will be doubled. So against a legion with 0 ranged (like BK's big legion), I'll be hitting for 60 ranged damage alone. That's insane. The only thing that can mess me up is a praetor that completely negates ranged or moves another combat type to first and is able to one-shot me. I don't think any of those are on the board yet.

There is one praetor in the bazaar that does the combat type re-arranging, so I might try and grab him, hopefully before anyone notices what kind of insanity I have going on with this legion.

So it looks like I may start going military. I issued a demand to BK. Since my new praetor isn't attached yet, he doesn't know I have him. I'm going to wait on attaching him to the legion until I've got an answer to my demand. Ideally, I'll get into vendetta and then attach my new praetor. Surprise!

[Butterknife]

Not much going on this turn. Archinerd/Drenichra trembled when I demanded tribute, and gave it to me. She sent me a nice in-game message as well, indicating her interest in me:



Later, dear. I can understand how my power draws you to me.

As for strategy:

Spoiler:

I have none. I'm sort of just biding my time, hoping that the game counter ends before the High Sheriff of Hell can catch up to me. Unfortunately for me, he is now gaining on me, and he has completed his public objective, so I am in a bad position for the moment. On the other hand, Razgon dropping out has been an unexpected windfall. The first thing the AI did was dismiss the Gorgons, which was the ultra-tough unit that has been keeping me from threatening him. My strategy for now will consist of demands to the AI/Razgon and Drenichra, hoping that either will take me up on a real fight. If I can beat them, I can win enough prestige to pull ahead and end it.

One other note -- someone keeps hitting me with a Looting the Vaults ritual, and it is hurting me. I'm considering not asking for tribute, just so that whenever they Loot the Vaults they get nothing. I haven't been able to do anything with tribute anyway.

[tgb]

Spoiler:

DrunkCheerios has approached me in secret and suggested we combine forces to take down Butterfinger. I suggested she provoke a Vendetta, and I will follow up with the same next turn.

In reality, I'm hoping the Vendetta weakens her enough such that I can grab one of her nearby PoP's

In other news, I'm still one Darkness away from upgrading my Cunning (I misspoke when mentioning Char 4 in my previous post. I'm really going for Cunning 4. I use my other order to start moving a Legion to mop up some unclaimed hexes nearby.

[Archinerd]

The shit is hitting the fan now...

Spoiler:

3 demands this turn. one against me from Slorbghast . Buttercans is picking on Razgon, and Chazz is going to try his luck against Butterlick.



I've decided to pay Slorbghast, since he's still camping his Legion right next to my POP, and my Legion's aren't strong enough to stop him. It costs me 4 tribute tho, some of which are 2's. I'm going to have to figure out some way to deal with him.
Also, TGB has sent me a message... looks like he wants me to do the dirty work for him. Maybe later...
First I have to make up for a dumb mistake I made earlier and just now realized. My Necronomicon has been sitting uselessly in my vault all this time. I have to actually attach it to my Stronghold in order for it to generate Prestige. It will help, but I think its too little too late at this point.



PS. My intelligence will increase to 4 by next turn, here comes 3 actions a turn!

[tgb]

Perfect. Everyone else is making demands on each other. Meanwhile

Spoiler:

I finally have the tribute I need to go to Cunning 4 and gain an additional order slot. I also continue to claim neutral hexes. Let the fools fight it out while I quietly wait in the wings, ready for the right moment to strike.

[Chaz]

Spoiler:

I'm totally boxed in, and it sucks. I really want to declare a vendetta on BK to try and get some prestige off him. Thus, issuing the demand last turn with the intent of getting my legion up to his border. I got hosed by Robo-Raz, who decided it would be fun to march his legion through the narrow uncontested path between me and BK, completely boxing me in for no apparent purpose. I had to issue a demand to Raz to try and goad him into a vendetta so I can cut through his land to get at BK. I suspect that he's just going to give me the one card I was able to demand and I'll have wasted it.

I'm not sure what BK's going to do about the demand. If he refuses, I guess I can try and do a combat challenge, but I'm not insanely crazy about that idea, but it's better than doing a military and failing it by default.

I may also issue a demand to tgb just to try and get some prestige from somewhere. Frankly, as much as I like the idea of stealing stuff, you just flat out need a military to get prestige in this game. I'm afraid I'm starting to wonder what the real point is of going anything other than straight military. Fortunately, with my super legion, I can pretty much take anyone, but I have to convince them to fight me first, which may be tricky. I'm not liking my chances in this one.

[tgb]

Everyone's making demands of everyone else but me, while I quietly sit on the sidelines.......

Spoiler:

Made Cunning 4, which not only allows me to cast the Loot the Vault ritual and pilfer Praetors, but adds an additional order/turn. That's big. Most of the rituals I want to cast require Darkness, and I have none, so will spend the next couple of turns accumulating Tribute and unclaimed Hexes.

I only have one Ritual slot, so I may have to commit Tribute to increasing that. Meanwhile I will watch the results of the upcoming Vendettas and act accordingly.

[Chaz]

Spoiler:

I'm pretty well screwed. Unsurprisingly, BK refused my demand. Since I can't get at him on land, and his praetor is good enough that I don't like my chances of winning a single combat, I pretty much have to pass on claiming vendetta, which blows, since it means I flushed an order and 7 prestige down the toilet for nothing. BK does have the option of declaring vendetta on Raz next turn, which actually throws a wrench into things, but with BK having just moved a legion adjacent to one of my places of power, as soon as I declare vendetta, he's going to take that, so it's not really an option.

So my next move, I guess, is to wait and see what Raz does. If he lets me declare vendetta, I'm going to try and take some hexes and create a path up to BK land for a potential future vendetta. Regardless, my next goal is going to have to be doing something about the Sheriff to the south. He's right in that everyone's ignoring him, and my big legion can take out anything he has. The question is whether or not he'll let me.

I'm still basically screwed. Oh, I also put in a bid for a second legion, because I need it.

[Archinerd]

Spoiler:

Well, I got my Intel upgraded just in time. I got hit by a Looting of the Vaults Ritual. The theif made off with 4 tribute cards, and although I don't know for sure who did it, I have a strong feeling it was Slorbghast. That was a nice trick he pulled, and lucky for me he was a turn too late to really screw me over. I'm going to demand he give me 4 in return this turn. If he refuses, I'll send Malacoda in.
Both demands were refused, so Butterlips is going to war with AI-Razgon and Chazz.

I'm not doing a whole lot this turn. I need to build up my resources so I can make a super Legion to fight off Slorbghast, and to snag Pandemonium. I don't think I have a shot at the Prestige game.

[tgb]

So Buttercup is taking advantage of Calgon's abdicating to the A.I. and claiming Vendetta. Big man! Meantime......

Spoiler:

I still lack enough Darkness to do anything meaningful. I need to slap my imps around a bit so they bring the right Tribute. I also grab a couple more hexes.

[Archinerd]

Spoiler:

My Praetor is going to get some Defense training now that I have some spare actions to use up and a manuscript just laying around in the vaults. I am also going to continue gathering tribute, I need to get lots of resources to buy some cool stuff for my Legions. Speaking of Legions, my Sisters of Sorrow are going to fly to a more strategic location where they will be able to strike against Slorbghast and project power in the future. They need a Praetor and an Artifact to give them enough strength to really be effective tho. There are also a few open hexes that are in capture range from there, but I haven't decided if they are important enough to grab at this point.



The black arrow shows where I am flying them to, the red numbers are areas they can fly to from there.
You can also see that Butternuts has moved his Legions away from our border, they are off in his South land doing sick perverted things (I can only assume, I dare not scroll the screen down there).

[Butterknife]

I have to beat up on somebody. The AI seems opportune. Chaz changed his mind about declaring Vendetta when he saw what was going to happen to him ...



Since the AI can't read this thread I will point out that now that we are in Vendetta it is in a perfect position to seize one of my Places of Power ... and there's nothing I can do about it! Is it smart enough? Next turn will tell. I'm guessing "Yes". The feared and powerful Butterknife may yet be brought low ... by an AI.



Notice Razgon's unit on the right (the fat one?) It can easily move up and take the Vats of Torment, only 2 squares away. I had no idea this was where it was going to move, but it presents a pretty problem for me.

You'll also notice my flying unit right next to Chaz's Great Wheel of Pain on the bottom right. I'm sure Chaz noticed it too, hence his change of mind.

As for the secret part of my plans:

Spoiler:

My vendetta is only to take 4 hexes, something easy because I wasn't sure if I was going to have to fight both Chaz and Razgon at the same time. It shouldn't be hard to take, but if Razgon/AI takes my Vats of Torment I'm going to lose this lead fast. Bullying everyone into as many fights as possible is my only chance.

[tgb]

The feared and powerful Butterknife may yet be brought low ... by an AI.

[Chaz]

Spoiler:

Yup, BK's ass got saved by the AI blocking me off. Of course, him thinking that I was overly threatened just illustrates (at least in public) that he doesn't realize that I've got that praetor sitting in my back pocket. The other funny thing is that I could get into a vendetta, set "take one PoP" as my goal, wait for him to take my wheel of pain, and then immediately take it back. That's an interesting possibility for later.

Meanwhile, I bought the Bloody Hands legion, have both my legions sitting on the southern border with the Sheriff, and I issued a demand of him. Hopefully he takes the bait, because if not, I'm pretty much screwed. I need to start hitting someone to get some prestige.

[Archinerd]

Spoiler:

It's kind of a boring turn for me, but it's going to be a big turn for me as well. Slorb rejected my demand, and I've elected to go to war against him in single Champion on Champion combat. I'd like to buy a better praetor first though, but I'll send the one I have if I dont get one, I've got a turn or two to select my warrior.
And I'll soon have plenty of tribute to buy one with. The event card I drew this turn as Regent is a great one, it will give me a huge selection of tribute when I play it, and I'm playing it now.

I'm also going to give the Diplomatic Ritual thingy another shot this turn... I may not be out of the Prestige game just yet.

[tgb]

That little pisher Chassholeteroth had the affrontery to make a demand of me! HE DARES TO DEMAND THREE RESOURCES FROM HIS BETTER???????

Spoiler:

Unfortunately his legions are positioned such that it is best if I acquiesce - for now. In the meantime, I sent a Loot the Vaults ritual his way, which, if it succeeds, will mean a net gain in Tribute for myself.

[Butterknife]

Wow, people are starting to mess with tgb! I must confess, I am as happy seeing them go after him as he was watching them go after me.

In other good news, the AI pulled an idiotic move and ran from me instead of taking one of my Places of Power. Thanks AI! I knew you were on my side.

[Chaz]

I'm kind of at a loss for what the AI is doing over there. Other than screwing up my day.

Spoiler:

So the AI blocks me off from BK, gets into a vendetta, then runs away? Awesome. The best thing that can come from that for me is that BK might take some of the cantons from the AI, creating a border where I can access him directly. That would be nice.

Meanwhile, tgb has his legion next to mine, which makes me think he's getting ready for a fight. I'll wait and see if he refuses my demand next turn. In preparation, I'm attaching my elephant praetor to the Bloody Hand legion, which boosts their melee to 12, I think. The idea being that by delaying attaching praetors, he underestimates my troop strength. The biggest problem I'm going to have with this vendetta is that I'm going to need some time to capture the cantons between my territory and his PoP that I want. Of course, this all assumes that he lets me declare vendetta in the first place.

In other news, I'm also consolidating my cards to enable me to bump my charisma up to 3 in a turn or two, which will help.

[tgb]

The beta for 1.05b is up. Is everyone playing with 1.05a? If someone goes to b, we all have to.

[Chaz]

I haven't even gone over to 1.05a. Let me know if I need to patch.