Balancing the blesses

[B0rsuk]

Death bless and casters: I guess it would depend heavily on what spells I'm going to use, and what enemies I am to face. Mass afflictions wouldn't be of much use against maenads or other chaff.

[Rytek]

I havent played any multi player games yet. But seems to me Death 9 bless would make for interesting multiplay diplomacy. Do you really want to start a war knowing even if you win your armies may be crippled?

On a side note, I am really enjoying my late era giant game with e9, nature8 Earth Mother. I recruit the level 1 sacred giant priests everywhere and thug them out. They have really impressive stats when equipped with a bracer of protection and ring of warrior. Team 1 up with their shapeshifted werewolf spell caster using a sacred shroud, ring of warrior and some kind of weapon. Stack them on top of each other. Script the Priest to cast bless then attack. Script the Skinshifter for quickness and attack.
One thing about the earth bless I noticed: If a Sacred is equipped with 2 bracers of protection the bless effect stacks. A blessed Priest has an Armor factor of 30 when using 2 bracers. I dont usually stack the bracers though. Earth gems are in too high of demand. A ring of the warrior fits so much better in the second slot.

[MaxWilson]

Rytek said:
I havent played any multi player games yet. But seems to me Death 9 bless would make for interesting multiplay diplomacy. Do you really want to start a war knowing even if you win your armies may be crippled?

Good point, although you'd want to change your play style to maximize afflictions instead of trying to keep territory. When I was running those tests, it occurred to me that a weak army would fail to take the province vs. 30 PD, and a strong army would get wrecked by the death-blessed Fire Storm. The obvious countermeasure is to send in a tiny little force and try to make Abysia waste gems casting Fire Storm, but it's non-obvious how many men you need to send to make the combat AI still think it's worth casting. Combine the D9 blessing with a "scorched earth" policy of pillaging your own provinces for extra gold vs. an invading army and you could become a really unattractive target.

(Of course the optimal situation is for everyone else to *believe* you'd pillage your own provinces, and thus avoid attacking you, while in reality you leave them intact and thus still have a chance of winning the game.)

-Max

[Foodstamp]

I just tried death 9 out with firestorm using EA Abysia. OUCH! Afflictions for everyone have a nice day.