Secret Satan - Completed !

[Chaosguy]

Turn 10. We've had a +1 order slot PoP in the game, so results of this experiment are going to be slightly skewed. (In the land of the blind the one eyed are king, & with the majority here having crap tribute, getting it 50% faster will likely decide our winner).

So far there's been some minor territorial manuvering to take advantage of the census, and only 2 praetors gone off the bazaar. As you would expect, a significant portion of the turns are being directed at tirbute to stabilize the builds players have been given. Still, 4 diplomatic challenges have been made, but no one has been dog-piled on... yet.

& None-the-less, playstyle over build is the hallmark of the game as expected. That +1 order PoP was in reach of the 2nd strongest starting legion, who also had the initiative in the turn order. That player didn't fully account for his opponents' efforts and it wound up going to Marble Mouth who's starting legion had a total of 10 points (vs. the Vault of Avarice's 4,4,4).

With borders starting to take shape, I expect the diplomatic game to heat up even further now...

[Chaosguy]

Turn 16, 3rd conclave token has been out for a turn or so, and the number of diplomatic demands to have been played is now around 7-8.

The first vendetta has begun between MothBones and Marble Mouth. They started with the 3rd & 2nd weakest legions respectively, but the latter has had the +1 order slot PoP for 7-8 turns, so it'll be interesting to see how this turns out.

There's been an elevated amount of diplomatic effort so far this game, but its been tempered by a heavy usage of order slots by all to demand tribute. The former stems from seeing the weakness in your opponent as he plays a build he didn't expect, and the latter as people scramble to try to improve their stats, most likely diabolism. One gets the impression the devilish nobility is spending a lot of time blustering in the conclave council of Pandemonium while their minions feverishly scour the land for resources behind the scenes. Two more praetors have gone off the bazaar and more interestingly so has the Orb of Oblivion.

[Chaosguy]

Turn 24 the 6th conclave token has been out for a while and someone has unleashed the angelic incursion... on the same turn my vendetta with the lead player, Kaira begins-- muwahaha!

So far, there's been one praetor battle between MatchstickMan (Gusion) & SupaDupa (Zepar), and another upcoming outside of my own situation. Players seem to be shying away from ground combat with their relatively weak legions in favor of that. Or perhaps a lot of them got stuck with the 'arena gambler' trait.

Edit, occurs to me to mention that the +1 order PoP did change hands in the one ground combat we'd had so far. He who was first now looks to be last.

[Chaosguy]

Turn 33, I manage to win a single combat duel by the skin of my teeth and the conclave erupts in activity. Mad Jeremy (MothBones) whose champion lost said duel, has gotten ahead of himself and scheduled another duel for the next turn versus GoatyMCGoat (Kaira). He also has trouble from Marble Mouth (now heavily gimped since the changing of hands of the Vaults of Avarice) who is in the driver seat of a refused demand of his own. Meanwhile Supa has refused the demand of Misery (MatchstickMan) which could go to a ground war vendetta, or just fizzle out.... /popcorn

[Moth Bones]

So, the Vaults (+1 PoP) is now in the hands of its third different controlling fiend. An excellently democratic game thus far.

[Chaosguy]

Well they're MINE now, so democracy is over!

Turn 39, second turn of the 10th conclave token. Kaira's GoatyMcGoat archfiend has been cast down leaving 5 of us. I'm now locked in a 3 way battle with MarbleMouth and MothBones. Each having one demand outgoing and incoming with the other two. Marble's in last place but with Faust's Contract having been bought up a few turns back, we now see the 1st Burnt Offerings ritual out of him. Of the remaining five fiends, its still anybody's game.

[Marble Mouth]

As requested, now that the game has concluded, here are my builds:

I submitted
Lord of Hell
Objective: Sloth
Unnatural Prescience
MS: 1
Cunning: 1
Int: 3
Wicked: 1
Cha: 1
[This section edited. I must have changed my mind at some point, because Sord and Supa agree that this is what I actually submitted.]

I played
Duke of Hell
Objective: Wrath
Toughness
Playing For Keeps
MS: 1
Wicked: 1
Cha: 2

Though I did not win, I am pretty pleased with the calculated risks I took, and I lost for good reasons... some critical underestimations of my opposition and failure to adapt quickly enough. I am amused to see that the build I submitted did much better than I did. Glad you liked it, Supa.

[Chaosguy]

Yep a rather quick game as well-- ending on turn 45 with victory for Supaswing. Two keys points are, this was his second game and he was up against at least 2 good veterans, and he won with "Sloth" as his public objective (completing it). This was a fun game for me, and I think the other players would agree- the random factor added a fun new twist, forcing people to play outside the typical decit build or charisma build.

I Submitted
Marquis of Hell
Objective: Greed
Arena Gambler
Iron Tower of the Mind
Ichor of Rejuvenation
Wickedness: 1
Charisma: 1

It was the 'worst' build I could think of, and as a sense of ironic justice, Sord gave it back to me (I had suggested to him that one person randomly get back the build they had submitted-- damn, was I annoyed! ). I had the weakest starting legion and starting position, but without bragging had enough luck & bluster to get myself into 2nd.

A long,rambling, and possibly even interesting account of the game from the notes I took along the way can be found here: http://www.crypticcomet.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2586&p=14079#p14079

[Moth Bones]

I submitted the build that Marble Mouth received, and I realised it straight away as he was the only Duke. Ironically he did get to use the 'Playing for Keeps' perk against me, but this would have come back to bite him on the arse had the last token not been drawn.

The build I received was as follows:-

Prince
Martial 3
Cunning 0
Intellect 0
Wickedness 1
Charisma 1

I confirmed my own estimation of my abilities, which is that I'm better at adapting to situations than forcing them. I feel that if I'd played a bit more forcefully in the last 12 turns or so then I'd likely have won; I didn't take full advantage of a smooth game where I was never deceit-targeted and where I had Cha up to 6 before the late event.

I enjoyed it a lot and would definitely recommend this exercise to anyone who feels that their SI experience may be becoming a bit jaded.

[Matchstickman]

The build I blessed a lucky punter with (I did spot who it was off the bat but I've forgotten after all this time)

Lord, Pride, Glory in Battle, Unnatural Prescience
1-1-1-1-1


The build I was cursed with

Rank: Prince
Public Objective: Gluttony
Martial Skill 1
Cunning 1
Intellect 2
Wickedness 1
Charisma 1
Arena Gambler
Playing for Keeps
Obscure

I thought I was going to be OK when I got one of the new praetors... only to see him crushed in the very first combat... that meant I had no clue what to do instead. I looked to my borders with Mad Jeremy frequently but never got up the guts to go challenge him, I always thought I would be in a better position next turn, more fool me!
In the end I released the Beast into the wild to see what it would shake loose, not that it did me any good.

Fun game even if I ended when I did.