The Trials and Tribulations of Mr Floppy

[Flop]

First of all, I'd like to say that this is the first AAR I've ever written. That shall be my excuse if it somehow turns out to be a disaster.

I've been working on it for a while, but have restarted several times due to poor avatar builds. Finally I decided to wait for the release version, since I was unsure how many changes would be made to the game.

I'll try to explain as much of what is going on as I can, but if anyone has any questions, they are more than welcome to ask. Comments are welcome, too, of course.

Anyway, here goes:



This is the avatar creation screen, where you decide the stats, perks, rank and public objective of your arch fiend.

You have 30 points to spend on your arch fiend, but you can get more by selecting negative perks, or a particularly difficult objective.

I've decided to spend most of my points on two things: raising my charisma attribute to 3 and raising my rank from lord to marquis. A charisma of at least 2, preferably 3, is pretty much a necessity, since charisma directly influences how much tribute you will get throughout the game. Demanding tribute is the only reliable source of getting resources, which are necessary for most actions in the game, so a high charisma is important. Attributes can be raised later in the game, but that can cost a lot of resources, and if your starting charisma is low it will be a while before you can get gather enough, which means you will be at a disadvantage in the early game.

Rank isn't quite as important, but it's still a good idea to buy at least one or two ranks, since it influences a lot of things in the game, most importantly your diplomatic interactions with the other players, and the quality of your starting legion and stronghold.

I still have 10 points remaining, so I'm going to spend 6 of them on the perk "Prince of Lies", which gives me a +4 to any deceit rituals I initiate. I'm going to try to build my strategy around a cunning character that relies mostly on stealth and intrigue, and deceit rituals will be central to that strategy. It's unfortunate, therefore, that I can't afford to raise my cunning attribute to more than 1, since that attribute governs your deceit level. I'll have to make raising that attribute a priority.

Since I'm trying to build a sneaky character, I'm going to choose Envy as my public objective. This means that if, by the end of the game, I have managed to bribe 1 praetor and steal 1 artifact, 1 relic and 10 resource cards, I get an extra 30 prestige points. The player with the most prestige wins the game, and sometimes 30 points can be the difference between winning and losing, so trying to achieve the objective is important. I'll need a cunning of 5, though, in order to steal relics.

I now have two points left, which isn't enough to raise either the charisma or cunning attribute, so I'm just going to spent it on raising my intellect to 1. Maybe I can get it to 4 down the road, which will give me another order slot.



This is the game creation screen. I've chosen 5 random opponents and default settings, except for map type, where I chose Acheron's Locks. There are 4 map types, but to be honest I'm not really sure what the difference is, since by the time the map has been created I've usually forgotten which one I chose.

I'm not playing in Ironman mode, even though it is available. This is because of the small chance that a crash bug might ruin the game. The game is very stable at this point, though, and I haven't encountered one in a long time, but better safe than sorry. There'll be no reloading, except if I encounter a crash bug, I promise.

[imperialus]

looks very cool Flop. I look forward to reading the rest of it.

[Flop]

@imperialus: Thanks. I've always been fascinated by the concept of AARs, but I've always been a bit intimidated by the thought of doing one myself. Hopefully, I'll be alright.

The game is afoot. The first sight any player sees in any turn, including the first, is the turn log:



I have 4 tribute events. Due to my charisma, each event lets me pick 3 resource cards from a pool of 4. That means I get a total of 12 in this turn. After perusing the loot, I end up with 1 soul, 5 ichor, 4 hellfire and 13 darkness. It's too bad there was only 1 soul in there, since that's really the most important resource. I won't be able to buy anything this turn.

Also, it seems I'm the regent for this turn. The regent gets to move first, but it doesn't really matter at this point. I do get to pick an event card, though:



Hmm, this isn't really helpful. It costs 15 prestige to use the event, and I only have 10. Besides, it's kind of a long shot to just use it on a random player, since Power Behind the Throne is a pretty expensive perk (at 15 points), and thus relatively rare. Oh well.

Let's take a look around:



Zooming in a bit on my own position, it looks like this:



I have 2 Places of Power nearby, The Vaults of Avarice and The Testament of Tyrants, each of which will grant me +2 prestige every turn, if I manage to capture them. Unfortunately my starting legion isn't quite strong enough to capture either one yet. The Slaves of Mr Floppy isn't a bad legion, but it needs a bit of oomph before going up against a PoP:



See those two empty squares in the bottom left of the picture? Those are slots that can be used to attach praetors, artifacts and combat cards to the legion, in order to buff it. Since my Martial Prowess attribute is 0, combat cards won't help me much, but I should look into buing an artifact or hiring a praetor at the bazaar. I can't afford that at the moment, though.


I also have Pandemonium close by, so if all else fails I can always try to capture it and win that way. It's a last resort, though, since you have to hold it for 5 turns before winning, and attacking Pandemonium leads to immediate excommunication, so everyone will be able (and probably more than willing) to attack you. Still, it's a possibility to keep in mind.

Anyway, since I'm so low on souls, I won't be able to do much. Also, I only have 2 order slots, so that's another limitation. I'll use the first slot to march the Slaves of Mr Floppy north, hoping to secure the hexes around at least one the two places of power, before the competition gets there. The second slot will be used for demanding tribute. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that some souls will be forthcoming.



And that concludes this turn.

[Wravburn]

Oh this looks very good. I tried the demo, barely had a clue what I was doing, and decided to wait a while. A playthrough so fast is wonderful! I even just bought the game because these few posts removed the last inhibitions.. Thanks! Now if only the download would hurry a bit

[Flop]

Oh this looks very good. I tried the demo, barely had a clue what I was doing, and decided to wait a while. A playthrough so fast is wonderful! I even just bought the game because these few posts removed the last inhibitions.. Thanks! Now if only the download would hurry a bit

Thanks a lot. Glad to hear you've decided to get the game, hopefully it'll be down soon.


Turn 2.



Nothing major going on. Murmur bought The Accursed Company and the scepter has passed to Paimon. Since I was regent last turn, I'll be last in the turn order this turn. Then there's the tribute:



A few souls this time, although I'd been hoping for more. I now have 4 souls, 5 ichor, 8 hellfire and 13 darkness. I still won't be able to do much with only 4 souls, so I'll have to demand more tribute this turn. Let's take a look at the bazaar to see what's available, though. Once I know what I want to bid on, I'll know how many souls I'll be needing.

Legions:



Hmm, none of my favourites are here, although The Usurpers Own can be a decent melee-based legion, if properly buffed. The Sons of Typhon are good, but they require an upkeep of 2 hellfire each turn, which I won't be able to afford for some time. I can actually afford to hire The Usurpers Own, but let's keep looking before making any decisions.

Praetors:



There are some pretty good praetors available, actually. Eligos and Decarabia are both good, and can be used as both an attachment and for gladiatorial combat. As attachments they're best used with a range-based legion, though, since they both give a bonus to ranged combat. Decarabia gives +3 ranged and has the Ranged Twice ability, which means that the ranged phase of combat will occur twice in each combat round. Eligos has a whopping +5 bonus to ranged combat.

Relics and artifacts:



Now this is very interesting. The Throne of Skulls is one of my favourite artifacts, and if used correctly, it can be devastating. It triples the combat bonus of the praetor that is attached to the same legion as the throne. Imagine if we attached both Eligos and the throne to a legion (say, The Slaves of Mr Floppy). It would get +15 to ranged combat, and would be able to singlehandedly take down most Places of Power, without even breaking a sweat. I want it, but it costs 5 souls and 9 hellfire, so I'm short one of each. Maybe next turn. There's nothing else of interest here at the moment.

Manuscripts:



There's nothing much of interest here. It usually isn't a good idea to buy a piece of a manuscript, unless you already have at least one piece. There are a few 1-piece manuscripts, and those are good to buy, but none of those are available at the moment.

Let's look at the map:



The Slaves of Mr Floppy have moved north a bit, and to the east of them is The Testament of Tyrants. Further to the east is the fortress of Murmur, and as you can see he now has two legions, since he just bought another one. I'm going to try to get as many of the hexes around the Testament, before Murmur gets there, but it's unlikely I'll get them all. Even if I don't manage to deny Murmur access to the PoP, I don't think he is able to defeat it just yet, so it's still up for grabs. To the west is The Vaults of Avarice, but no one else is particularly close to it, so I have some time yet to secure it.

So, like last turn, I will spend my first order on moving the Slaves and the second order on demanding tribute. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for souls and hellfire.



And that's the end of turn 2.

[Flop]

Turn 3.



Hmm, two of my opponents have captured a Place of Power. Murmur captured The Theater of Sloth, while Asmodeus took possession of The Summit of Mount Erebus. Each of those grant +1 prestige per turn to the owner, which obviously isn't as good as the +2 of the two PoP's that I have my eyes on. Unfortunately Murmur and Asmodeus gets their bonus starting now, which means everybody else will start to fall behind in the prestige race. Hopefully I'll be able to take a PoP soon.

Also worth noting is that Paimon and Balphegor bought the services of The Defilers and the Lethean Phalanx, respectively, and that the scepter has passed on to Murmur.

Finally, there is the tribute, which amounts to 1 soul, 3 hellfire and 3 darkness. Once again I got screwed in the souls department, but that's ok, because now I can afford to place a bid on the Throne of Skulls.

Before issuing orders, though, we should take a look at the map:



This the are to the east of my domain. You may remember that I was concerned about not being able to take all the hexes around The Testament of Tyrants, but it seems Murmur isn't interested in it. Instead he chose capture the Theater of Sloth, using one legion, while sending the other south towards The Summit of Mount Erebus, but arriving too late to take it (haha).

This is great, since that means that The Testament of Tyrants is almost certainly mine now. I'll be able to box it in, by taking all the surrounding hexes, thus making my opponents unable to reach it, except with flying legions.

Meanwhile all is quiet on the western front:



No one seems to interested in the Vaults of Avarice, which is fine, since I plan to capture it. Hopefully, things will stay this way until I can get the PoP boxed in or captured, but I doubt it. Right now, though, I have to get the other PoP boxed in.

With that in mind, I'll spend my first order slot on moving The Slaves of Mr Floppy south, around The Testament of Tyrants. I'll use the second order slot to place a bid on The Trone of Skulls:



The top half shows the resources I'm committing to my bid, while the bottom half shows the resource cards in my vault. There's definitely room for more.

I would have liked to also demand some tribute, but I'm out of order slots. Some time soon I'll have to try to get one more.

That's it for turn 3.

[imperialus]

@imperialus: Thanks. I've always been fascinated by the concept of AARs, but I've always been a bit intimidated by the thought of doing one myself. Hopefully, I'll be alright.

Yeah, I had a lot of fun with my AE AAR. It's a lot of work, but a ton of fun too.

[Flop]

Turn 4



As you can see, Belial has hired The Tormentors. This means that Asmodeus and myself are now the only archfiends to have just one legion. It would be nice to have one more, to help with the land grabbing, but otherwise I don't really need one right now.

In other news, I won the auction for The Trone of Skulls. This is great, although it won't help me immediately. Until I get a praetor, The Throne won't actually do anything.

Finally, the scepter has moved on to Balphegor.

Here's what the map looks like:



My plan to box in The Testament of Tyrants has worked like a charm. It looks like Murmur was trying to get there with The Accursed Company, but he was too slow. A bit to the north he's closing in on the palace of Gluttony with his starting legion, but he won't be able to take it right away.

The situation to the west is beginning to look dire:



It seems that Balphegor has started to move towards The Vaults of Avarice, and I won't be surprised if Belial does the same with his newly bought legion. This isn't good at all, since either one of them can take the bridge, which is my only access to the region, in only two turns, while The Slaves of Mr Floppy will take 3 turns to get there. My chances of acquiring The Vaults are beginning to look slim, but I'm still holding on to hope.

I guess this would be a good time to take a closer look at the competition:



This is the diplomacy tab in the ministerium. Here you can see the portraits and names of all the players in the game, as well as their relations. In the top left is my threat list. The higher on the threat list a given archfiend is, the cheaper it is for me to cast rituals and initiate diplomacy against that archfiend. It can be rearranged at any time, but you need to spend an action to do it. During the first 10 turns, however, it can be done for free. Now let's take an even closer look at the other players.

Paimon:



His attributes are unknown, which is usually the case. The only way to find out the attributes of your enemies, is to cast a Dark Augury ritual, which belongs to the prophecy group of disciplines. This is also the only way to see an opponents perks, vault, ritual chamber and secret objective (if he has one). What we can see, though, is that Paimon is a Baron of Hell (and thus has a lower rank than me) and that his public objective is wrath, which means he has to eliminate a player, by capturing that players stronghold.

Murmur:



Murmur is a Marquis, like me, and has the public objective envy, also like me. What a poseur.

Balphegor:



The fat guy is a Baron and his objective is pride. Pride means that he has to end the game without having either sent or received an emissary. Emissaries can be sent to your opponents in an attempt to bribe them to leave you alone for a while. I don't use them much, so I guess pride is actually not a bad objective to take.

Belial:



Belial is a measly Lord, the lowest rank possible, and like myself and Murmur he has envy as his objective. It's starting to look like I can expect a lot of stealing in this game.

Asmodeus:



Like Balphegor, Asmodeus is a Baron and has the public objective of pride.

As mentioned above, the chances of taking The Vaults of Avarice are beginning to look pretty slim, but I'm going to try anyway. Therefore, I spend my first order on moving The Slaves of Mr Sloppy back the way they came. The other order will be spent on demanding tribute, since the purchase of The Throne of Skulls really set me back in the souls and hellfire department.

And that's it for turn 4.

[Flop]

Turn 5.



Asmodeus bought the Sisters of Flame, leaving me as the only archfiend with one legion. Some tribute arrived, bringing me to a grand total of 1 soul, 7 ichor, 3 hellfire and 19 darkness. The scepter moved to Belial.

The map:



It seems my fears were justified, as both Balphegor and Belial are moving straight towards the Vaults of Avarice. Most likely Belial will take the bridge on the next turn, but I'm not giving up, so I spend the first order on moving The Slaves of Mr Floppy closer. I'll use the second order to demand more tribute.

That concludes turn 5.




Turn 6.



Nothing much is going on, but I did receive some tribute. Unfortunately, my stupid minions didn't bring me any souls.



Success! Well almost, anyway. Belial didn't take the bridge, which means I still have a shot at acquiring The Vaults of Avarice. He's last in the turn order now, because he was regent in turn 5, so if I take the bridge as my first order, I will get there before him. I'm not able to actually capture The Vaults, though, but neither are Belial and Balphegor. I need to get a praetor soon, so I can take advantage of The Throne of Skulls.

As the first order, I move The Slaves of Mr Floppy onto the bridge and then back to their starting hex. The second order is used to demand tribute.

And that ends turn 6.




Turn 7



The scepter has passed to me again, and I get to draw an event. Since I can only hold one event at a time, I'll have to discard the one I already have, but that's ok since I'm not going to use it anyway.



Infernal Perfidy. This might be useful, especially since I still only have my starting legion, while everyone else have bought a second one. The starting legions have infinite loyalty, so they can't fail the loyalty check, while legions bought in bazaar can. I should probably use it before buying any new legions.

I also received some tribute, 3 souls and 3 hellfire, bringing my grand total to this:



That's enough to place a bid on Eligos who, if you remember, gives a +5 ranged bonus to the legion he's attached to. With The Throne of Skulls that's tripled to +15, which if attached to The Slaves of Mr Floppy, is more than enough to take both The Vaults of Avarice and The Testament of Tyrants.

Here's what the map looks like:



I took the bridge and from it I can attack The Vaults, once I buff my legion. As expected, Balphegor and Belial haven't attacked the Place of Power, as they would have lost if they tried.

The Slaves of Mr Floppy will get to rest this turn, while I spend one order on placing a bid on Eligos, and one order on demanding tribute.

And that concludes turn 7.

[Flop]

Turn 8.



Not much going on for the other archfiends, it seems. But I won the auction for Eligos and can now attach him and The Throne of Skulls to Mr Floppy.



Then there's the tribute. It's not particularly impressive, and my stash of darkness keeps growing and growing. After paying for Eligos and receiving tribute, I'm once again low on souls. I'll have to demand some more tribute, before buying anything else.

The situation on my western border hasn't changed much, although Balphegor is moving his legion away from The Vaults of Avarice, and it seems like I now have a very good chance of taking it, before he or Belial can do so.

I'll spend both my orders for this turn on attaching Eligos and The Throne to The Slaves of Mr Floppy. That way, I'll be able to attack The Vaults next turn.



And with that, turn 8 is over.




Turn 9.



Wow. That was an incredibly uneventful turn. The scepter has passed to Murmur, and that's it.

The Slaves of Mr Floppy have been upgraded, and are now ready to attack The Vaults of Avarice. Let's take a look at the upgraded legion, before ordering the attack:



Their ranged stat is now a whopping 19, while they still have a bit of melee and infernal. The last two stats are not high enough to do much damage to anyone, but they will help negate the damage that The Slaves will take from melee and infernal.

Now let's look at The Vaults of Avarice, to get an idea of what we're up against:



It has pretty low stats, although neither The Slaves, nor the legions of Balphegor or Belial were able to take it until now. Now that the Slaves have been buffed, though, it will be a cakewalk. It will fall during the first phase of the first round of combat.

I order the Slaves of Mr Floppy to attack, while demanding tribute with the second order.

And that ends turn 9.