Solium Infernum - out on Wednesday OMG!

[Syt]

I have managed to download.

[Jaron]

I have managed to download.

report back soon!

[Drakken]

I have managed to download.

Omnes relinquite spes, o vos intrantes.

[Jaron]

I have managed to download.

Omnes relinquite spes, o vos intrantes.

you are going to hell for that one!

[Syt]

I have started the game, mucking about without knowing what I do. I managed to get into a situation where the game expected the second move for my legion (round icon with a "2" in it), but at the same I had somehow managed to get the "Move Legion/View Legion" menu to pop up, so the game wouldn't response to any input attempt (buttons unresponsive, ESC didn't work).

May have to check the manual tomorrow.

[Tamas]

I have started the game, mucking about without knowing what I do. I managed to get into a situation where the game expected the second move for my legion (round icon with a "2" in it), but at the same I had somehow managed to get the "Move Legion/View Legion" menu to pop up, so the game wouldn't response to any input attempt (buttons unresponsive, ESC didn't work).

May have to check the manual tomorrow.

I also ran into something like this during my first try, haven't since. I play windowed however, since the map is fixed to 1024*768, and the rest is just filled with greyness in full screen

[Syt]

So much of the stuff in the game sounds like metal band names or metal song titles.

Rite of Impure Sacrifice, The Harbingers of Phlegethon, Legion of the Damned (which is, indeed, a band name), The Sons of Typhon, Tongue of the Liar, ...

Plus, the flavor text for the unit "The 300" is, uhm, creative.

[Tamas]

Again I won on a large map against 6 AIs with my Charisma build with no real effort from my side. 

You see, high Charisma means high starting Diabolism, which results in all those resource cards you can get. But of course if you start with Charisma 3 like my guy, you dont have points for much else and you suck in everything except getting tons of tribute.

I am not sure if that build is not unbalanced in MP as well, but you see at least there is way to fight it: put it down as early as possible, so it can't raise its other attributes through resources. But the AI doesn't seem to care about that.

[Syt]

I read elsewhere that the AI is better in epic games on normal or small maps, because they're pushed into conflict sooner.

[Tamas]

this guy explains it well and it seems I did manage to find the überbuild because thats basically exactly what my avatar looks like:

As a first thing, the avatar build aspect looks quite varied, there are theorically thousands of possible combinations, but there is one build, with a few minor variations, that in my opinion completely shadows the others: Charisma 2-3, with Infernal Cardinal and especially Devoted Minions perks(respectively +2 to all tribute rolls and +1 draw of tribute cards) lets you get so many resources from the very first turns of the game that, from there, you can easily empower all other attributes, and buy any +order or +tribute relics on the bazaar(nobody will manage to get the required resources as fast as you), and your resource-gathering ability just grows exponentially from there. With such an obscene gain of resources, you can buy pretty much anything you want and need.
There is no need to waste creation points on other attributes: you have more than enough resources to augment them all in-game. Same for the perks: just keep buying relics(and you'll have way more resources than other players to do so) and you'll obtain many "perk-like" advantages.
I've played a couple of games against the AI with this build concept, and I totally beated them on every aspect, from military might to prestige. I think that there needs to be some sort of limitations on the "demand tribute" order: a major increase in the "multiple tributes in a turn" penalty would really help, as perhaps would an increase in the cost for raising the other attributes at levels 1 and 2; with an high charisma, those 6 creation points you could use to bring another attribute to 2 are better spent on an additional perk, because you'll be able to raise that attribute through orders in a matter of a few turns.

[Drakken]

Bought it.

Just created my first Avatar, Asmodai, King of Hell and Archdemon of Lust, Head of Hell's gambling tables.

So, who is up for a first PBEM game to see who rules in Hell? 

[Jaron]

Bought it.

Just created my first Avatar, Asmodai, King of Hell and Archdemon of Lust, Head of Hell's gambling tables.

So, who is up for a first PBEM game to see who rules in Hell? 

[Drakken]

Next update tentatively set for Monday by Lucifer in person. No detail has been said about its content.

Sorry Ladies and Gents. It's been that type of day. I woke up at 0 dark ugly and both the website and the forums were down. The website came back up but the forums were gimped for the day. I've been catching up on bugs for the update on Monday (tentatively scheduled).

[Syt]

I quit my recent game after 30+ turns and 10 (of 25) Enclave Tokens out of boredom.

After the initial land grab nothing happened, except for me and the AI doing the occasional ritual and bidding for stuff on the bazaar. In my previous game the AI at least made demands or hurled insults, leading to vendettas.

Meanwhile I start hating the tirbute management system. While I appreciate what is attempted with the different size cards and limited bid spots when you buy something (i.e. having to use orders to consolidate small change into bigger currency) the actual management of the cards is a total mess. It's a quaint card game feeling when you have to shuffle through all the tiles, but it's useless tedium that adds nothing to the game ("Where is that tile with 3 souls? I know I have one!").

[Tamas]

Yeah, altough it is also an integral part of the system with the diplo action of demanding tribute cards and such, so I think it is here to stay.

Drakken, maybe we should wait for Monday's patch, then I am in for an e-mail game, at least we see how tedious it is.

BTW, is Google Wave good for comfortably exchanging pbem files, and if yes, can we all get in on it?