Saturday, February 14, 2015

Warlock 2: The Exiled - Part 8: All Glory to Helia (Now Give A Guy A Break)

After the supression of the Conclave's rebellion against the last Great King, many rebellious priests were exiled from the kingdom. But many of them later returned, upon hearing of the disappearance of the King. The former High Priestess of Krypta, sister Seina Sacrificeous, foremost among them. Upon returning, she won back her title in a short but brutal duel, took upon herself the name of 'The Empress', and began a new policy of what she called 'sacrificial cleansing'. Sure enough, the rule of such a determined High Priestess would give fruit, and the Temple of Krypta returned to its former grim greatness and terrifying fame.
From "The Overall Description of Everything" by Master Alfus Bumblegate

So it seems to me as if the AI is not all that smart. King Lich is trapped on his own little plane and has never come to contest my dominance over his next world.  However the United One's Lieutenants seem to always hit me when I can't respond all that quickly.  Though as I'm writing this paragraph, the horrible reality seems to be dawning on me:  What if King Lich is building up a massive army to sweep through.  What if this Let's Play ends on a 'All Glory to The Bony One' note?  Now I'm tempted to launch the game up and build up a giant army, possibly with actual giants.

Okay, time to move past the paranoia!  While my army was busy dying to the Dremer (again, I'm on Casual mode.  Either the difficulty settings are laughably off, or I'm laughably bad, or the Planestriders laughably suck), the Empress launched an undead invasion.

The invasion is less scary than it seemed.

Maybe this is where the difficulty setting comes in to play.  But there's just two mirrors with two undead each.  Sure, that second mirror is where I was taking a settler to go build a city, but they weren't quite there yet so I was able to pull them back. It takes a bit to kill them, yes, but the mirrors have no defensive capabilities.  I don't know if the Empress was supposed to be impressive but the only one of the lieutenants so far to scare me has been Elspiritster.  His wrecking attempts couldn't be killed with a few spells.

Last part I introduced you to Kerran Vaderson, the Chosen Warrior.  What I did not tell you, and, indeed, what I did not notice because I thought he was just a normal 'Fighter' unit when it happened, was he died.  Unceremoniously, by the hands of the Dremer.  Well good news everybody!

Bad news is he wants 700 gold that I don't have. And his upkeep is horrible.

What I find interesting is how little Melee and Missile resistance he and the Dragon (RIP Dragon) have.  I guess it's because "Spellcaster" but that is really low.  Plus side, he has a lot of HP.  Once I have the money I guess I'll hire him.

So I'm dealing with the Dwemer killing my army.  I'm dealing with an undead invasion.  So this is when my *God* decides She wants me to do something.
You too, Helia? Give a guy a break already!

Oh here's a mistake I made.  See where it says Spell Ready there?  Well apparently once a spell is ready you *have* to cast it. There is no cancelling it. If there is then I ran into a horrid bug.   That spell is the highest level spell granted to me by Helia (That I had to research) that I have the favor for. Descending Flame.  It kills a building in one hit.  Useful for taking out defensive buildings that guard cities.  What it doesn't work on?  Lich Mirrors.  Since those don't have a defense, I can't actually cast it on the mirror to destroy it. And I can't cancel the cast.  So there it will sit, turn after turn.

Two turns later, I remember the Sorcerers exist.  When they attack my capital.

When I defeat the Sorcerers, I gain the spell "Sun Blindness" as a reward.  However I do not have enough of a relationship with Helia to cast it.  I wonder if this was her way of going "Sacrifice more to me! Look what you get!"   Oh, and if you can see in that upper corner.  I have 0 gold.  Because in that city, hard to make out, is Llsorr the Cold One the High Koatl.  Here's a better screencap of him.
He looks suitably bad ass.

I head back into the Dremer lands, and at that moment the Goddess Krypta gives me a quest to kill some 'Paladins of Life'.  I say no and...they don't spawn. So that's nice.  I do hope saying no to a God doesn't come back to bite me later. 

One of my units rushes to the bridge on the Dwemer's plane and...
A Shadow Realm!

Even the Fog of War looks different.  He later gets killed by some kind of elemental in a move so sudden and shocking that I was still processing it after the screen had moved on. So uh, no screencap. Enemy came from nowhere and oneshotted him.

So that's why my units can embark. Glad I built that.

The downside to modern game buying is no instruction manuals, of course.  I built a Harbor because it looked like a good idea at the time.  I didn't know it was going to be that vital in my early game.

The thing is, either through overpowering army, a slowly upgraded army, or my own increase in skill, the Dremer become defeatable.

Also Llsorr's a badass at range. Best 700 gold I ever spent.


The annoying thing about the realities of war is the logistics of moving your army around.  If someone is cut off they can die, if you have trained reinforcements they have to get to the battlefield.  In this game, that is exacerbated by the multiple planes you can be at war on.  What I wouldn't give for a road mechanism.  But magic solves everything, doesn't it?
That cost though, makes it not as useful as it could be.

Next Time: New Bridges are opened!  The Dremer are Wiped Clean!

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