Chaosti Chaosti

Insane/Insane Challenge [Huge Map - Completed on Turn 79]

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Insane/Insane Challenge [Huge Map - Completed on Turn 79]

from Elemental Forums

joeball123 told me to try to beat the game with the following settings:
Insane world, 3 insane AI teamed up, huge map.
So I just thought I'd create a thread and update it as I play through :)


I'm using an (utterly OP) custom faction and hero since I want to make the game as short as possible:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=149388370

Map Settings:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=149426994
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=149427053
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=149427108

 

Beginning Turns:
Turn 1    Settled a 2/4/1, Cast Meditation on Capital, Started a 'trailblazer' (scout with road building)'.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=149427175
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=149427251

Turn 2    Started research on Knowledge (should of done last turn), Grabbed a Champion's Club.

Turn 3    First trailblazer recruited, started 2nd trailblazer
    Killed the wandering bandit + wolf, picked up a Trog's blood.

Turn 4    Death Shard consumed with AM.
    Meditation replaced with Inspiration.
    Picked up a sand golem item, attacked mites and won.
    Kieri is level 2: Mage class.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=149427334

Turn 5    2nd trailblazer recruited, logging camp started.
    2 timberwolves attacked.  Militia killed, 1 timberwolf converted.
    Kieri is level 3: Prodigy I learned (spell mastery: 89).

Turn 6    Picked up 8 gildar and amulet of defense.
    Noblewoman escort quest revealed.
    Attacked Skeletons.

Turn 7    Logging Camp complete, started 3rd trailblazer.
    Soldier's Cloak picked up, Nocht Nightbringer recruited (Death magic).
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=149427412
    Dark Candle, Whetstone picked up.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=149427471

Turn 8    Picked up Vial of Poison, Enchanted Backpack.
    Moved Kieri to a position where she can attack multiple enemies next turn (positioned beside a mite camp, bandits, a wandering mite mob, and close to an ogre/hergon sow) :)

37,073 views 26 replies
Reply #26 from Elemental Forums Top

OK something definitely has to be done about certain traits. I just won a insane/insane no city challenge with a modified version of this build. No cities meant no road building abuse and (almost) no technology, and no horses(!), but that didn't hinder much.

I used lucky as the fourth racial attribute to boost the mauls which worked well. Towards the end my cave bears defaulted around 105 accuracy which got further increased with the swarming bonus. I consistently got 4-8 hits with them.

For the sov I went with just death magic and then Brilliant (for the exp and spell mastery), Wealthy (I was hoping to be able to buy some horses but it not possible to shop with no city), Sovereign Bond, and Tactician and Cautious (might be useful since the game is lost if the sov is defeated, but I never needed to use it). Cruel as the negative trait (No brainer in no city challenge).

I had to hold off engaging enemies for 5 turns to get to 50 mana to be able to consume my first shard, but it was all pretty easy from there on. I managed to research Mounted Warfare using Libaries, but it was not possible to get any horses. After that I grabbed Drills for the extra army slot which helped some but was not critical. I got a few more techs from trading, but none of them useful. I'm sure it can be done completely without researching anything and completely ignoring the libraries.

Chaosti: I don't agree with your suggestion that consume should be reduced to 30-40 mana, because it would make it quite boring as a trait. One idea could instead be to requre the shard to be in a city's borders to be consumed. This would reduce the consumption pace but still make it an interesting trait for an endplay where you harvest all your shards before the final battle (quest or conquest).

Beastmaster is overpowered the way it currently works. My suggestion here is to nerf it by only allowing taming of beasts which are same or lower level than the caster. It would still be an interesting pick but not allowing it te be abused like now. With a level limitation it could even be a little cheaper mana wise or with less cooldown, greater range or AoE.

The road building trait should be nerfed by (a) increasing labor cost, (b) consume a step or end the turn when used, and (c) be available to all races.

Cull the Weak should be changed so as to only be allowed to be cast on trained units; I agree with that.