I was largely a paper tiger this game.
5 tartarians, only one kitted for war.
7 golems in working condition all battle ready.
Gargoyle with stone sword and Aseftik's armor.
Umbral with Monolith armor.
Ether Lord "The Professor" as my primary astral mage, he came through in a blue Ether Gate that was bigger on the inside.
One naiad that cast both of my globals.
Two Tomb Oracles in the Hall of Fame thanks to TCs bountiful PD.
Sea King
Thalassa, Queen of Elemental Water with a second water queen on the way.
Very few conventional troops but hundreds of Ktonian necromancers.
I had a discount construction (20) and a discount conjuration (20) site on the same province: Debrithia (22). I had another conjuration site in another province (20). Getting half off 30 gem items is pretty kickass.
I had a relatively small income and two boosters a blood stone and a sea king.
Fire: 9
Air: 2 (None for most of the game)
Water: 14
Earth: 12
Astral: 26
Death: 21
Blood: 0
Nature: 24
Strategery
My goal in the beginning of the game was to attack R'lyeh mainly because I was the person most capable of fighting them since I rushed straight for Conjuration 5 and had a shambler producing province. That, coupled with the fact that everyone was terrified of them pretty much ensured that for as long as they were alive no one would mess with me.
Initially this meant working with Ulm to push them out of Gath. I would cede that territory to Ulm and then I'd follow R'lyeh into the sea. When Gath repelled the invasion by itself I had to revise my plan. I asked Calibron if he was cool with just invading Gath with me anyway and he was happy to oblige.
On the eve of war I told Ulm I couldn't help as R'lyeh had just massed troops on my border (I failed to mention these were aquatic troops and therefore no direct threat). He reluctantly agreed. I was happy as it kept both of these volatile powers occupied.
When Ulm invaded and Gath called for NAPs from R'lyeh and I, I gave him the following offer:
I take Omur and Tenera in order to kick R'lyeh off the land, then cede these territories back to
NAP until R'lyeh destroyed.
Gath agreed and promptly utterly annhilated much of Ulm and nearly destroyed them.
Meanwhile underwater I played grab ass with Korwin for a few turns then managed to conquer the ocean completely. During this time I courted TC to invade Gath, knowing it would set off the tripwire agreement with Man allowing me to attack both at my leisure. Unfortunately I got really scared by how quickly TC destroyed Gath's eastern army and made a promise to Man I ended up not keeping when I realized that Ancestor Vessels weren't as all powerful as I had initially assumed.
At this realization I formulated a plan to make a deal with TC whereby he would conquer all of Gath then cede it to me under what looked outwardly like a war in exchange for an NAP-3. He refused and offered me all of Gath if I could siege it. I accepted to rid Man of a potential ally to eventually use against me in another tripwire agreement.
I hoped to keep this deal secret and conquer Gath, kick Bogus out, dust myself off for a turn or two, then declare on TC while there armies were hopefully deep in Chelmian territory and my invasion would be largely unopposed.
This was foiled when Orca told Man of our deal then left the game without warning.
I was forced to immediately declare on TC to avoid a potential alliance against me. I thought this was a minor speedbump so I made a deal with Caelum and Abysia (Whom I had contact with as I had been trading with both during their war with one another) to attack Man once TC fell.
This plan fell through when I rapidly found out that TC had a far more powerful military than me when I won a Pyrrhic victory in Vath (not to mention I was still sieging Gath and would take heavy losses there as well).
I then had a ceasefire with TC hoping I could salvage my position while I kicked out Bogus (Who was sieging the fort I built on my two discount site province) and domkilled Gath (who broke my siege on the turn I succeeded in doing so).
Man found out about this deal with TC as well when Orion threatened to tell him the turn I was ready to actually attack him. I finally started making gains in TC around the time when Abysia (and everyone not in the East) got restless and demanded I attack Man.
The rest everyone pretty much knows.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that Orion is the true winner of this game.
What was the super-weapon anyway?
