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swanchikaTo circumvent the problem of the Infernals not being playable through the regular way (switching to the Mercurians is fine, though ; and yes, I'm an idiot for not having remembered that they will never join a follower of the Ashen Veil), I tweaked the XML files for Erebus in the Balance (I never play this mod otherwise, making it the preferred playground instead of Fall From Heaven II or Rise from Erebus) and made them available for human players. Here's how it went.
Starting from scratch is probably harder than being summoned, because it is hard to get Manes when the rest of the world is just barely developing - creating Hyborem does make it easy to wage war, since he's available from the start and grossly overpowered thanks to the Manas provided by the palace, but finding evil people in the first place can be tricky, especially in Erebus-type maps where you can easily be trapped by mountains. But founding cities is incredibly easy, given that the truce with the Barbarians (apparently, they're not divided in factions in Erebus in the Balance, which is quite an advantage here - it also seems to works for the Clan of Embers, which makes it a little weird when the Horsemen of Apocalypse spare them even though they have no particular connection to Agares) makes Settlers relatively safe in uncharted terrain.
Speaking of the truce...
Naturally, as the leader of Agares' most monstrous followers, I had a duty to make the Armageddon counter rise as quickly as possible, and to make it even quicker, I had the "Last Days" option activated. So instead of being creeped out when sinister messages foreshadowing the arrival of the Four Horsemen started to appear, I cheered, for once. So far, so good. They destroyed my mostly evil rivals one after the other, giving me plenty of Manes - especially thanks to my pro-Ashen Veil proselytism campaign.
And then, Ars Moriendi appeared and the Barbarians decided that I had grown too civilized for them. OUCH. Well, I had built up my defenses, but it was mostly in anticipation of an attack of the Svartalfar or the Clan of Embers ; I was certainly not expecting 30+ power units to go and raze my cities one after the other. And they (my cities, of course) went down very fast, in no small part thanks to Buboes' Blitz. Meanwhile, Hyborem had been killed by a senseless attempt to plunder Acheron's lair... So it was a matter of wearing down the Horsemen with the defenders of my two remaining cities until I felt confident enough to just Zerg Rush them and take the kill - and their precious weapons with it. I was counting on Rosier the Fallen, but he disappeared at some point even though I have always been a faithful follower of the Ashen Veil. Well, at least he hasn't turned against me.
Was it over ? No ! Because the Avatar of Wrath had also spawned ! That's what happens when you build archers en masse in the city with the Prophecy of Ragnarok. Well, it was the same (lack of) strategy than with the Horsemen, and one more Unholy Weapon for the taking.
By this point, only Jonas Endain and I were left standing, making the endgame much simpler (and less stressful) as I only needed to create Duin Halfmorn, outfit him with all the weapons (along with Orthus' Axe, that had ironically landed in the hands of some Barbarian), flank him with two Eidolons and send him on a wolfy rampage in the Clan's territory. And boom, Conquest victory for the Infernals ! But the moral of the story is, if you play with the Infernals, it's not really worth trying to build a civilization, as it just makes you a prime target for four angry abominations, plus an even angrier tentacled giant. Of course, it must be a little more balanced when the Barbarians are split between Agares, Bhall and Cernunnos's servants, though I wonder which faction the Horsemen belong to...
In other news, this over-consumption of Erebus gave birth to an Epileptic Tree. I mean, nobody seems really sure of what Grima is. The solution ? Well, he's obviously Ceridwen. Yes, I was initially about to say Agares, but Ceridwen is the actual patron saint of the Sheaim (of which the Grimleal is obviously a substitute, complete with an evil sorcerer as the leader) and has, surprise, an affinity for Dimensional Mana ! And I guess that would make Grima a "she". Following the flimsy trail, Naga could be either Sirona or perhaps Sucellus (angel of self-sacrifice ; okay, all the sacrifices in this game are complete jokes, but it's the intent that counts ?). And the Risen are Manes, seeing as they are available in every class (and the ones who stayed as Manes are called Revenants), meaning that Hyborem is also here somewhere in Ylisse. Now, where is the DLC chapter where you end him, perhaps along with Stephanos, Buboes, Yersinia and Ars Moriendi ? (The Avatar of Wrath obviously deserves a map for itself) Their weapons would make good rewards, no ?
Now, I think I have to go and hide somewhere... Considering how violently people of the CivFanatics Forum reacted when it was pointed out that the Grigori cities' names are lifted from FF7, I can't even imagine how they would appreciate some random idiot making links between Fall From Heaven and Fire Emblem.
Starting from scratch is probably harder than being summoned, because it is hard to get Manes when the rest of the world is just barely developing - creating Hyborem does make it easy to wage war, since he's available from the start and grossly overpowered thanks to the Manas provided by the palace, but finding evil people in the first place can be tricky, especially in Erebus-type maps where you can easily be trapped by mountains. But founding cities is incredibly easy, given that the truce with the Barbarians (apparently, they're not divided in factions in Erebus in the Balance, which is quite an advantage here - it also seems to works for the Clan of Embers, which makes it a little weird when the Horsemen of Apocalypse spare them even though they have no particular connection to Agares) makes Settlers relatively safe in uncharted terrain.
Speaking of the truce...
Naturally, as the leader of Agares' most monstrous followers, I had a duty to make the Armageddon counter rise as quickly as possible, and to make it even quicker, I had the "Last Days" option activated. So instead of being creeped out when sinister messages foreshadowing the arrival of the Four Horsemen started to appear, I cheered, for once. So far, so good. They destroyed my mostly evil rivals one after the other, giving me plenty of Manes - especially thanks to my pro-Ashen Veil proselytism campaign.
And then, Ars Moriendi appeared and the Barbarians decided that I had grown too civilized for them. OUCH. Well, I had built up my defenses, but it was mostly in anticipation of an attack of the Svartalfar or the Clan of Embers ; I was certainly not expecting 30+ power units to go and raze my cities one after the other. And they (my cities, of course) went down very fast, in no small part thanks to Buboes' Blitz. Meanwhile, Hyborem had been killed by a senseless attempt to plunder Acheron's lair... So it was a matter of wearing down the Horsemen with the defenders of my two remaining cities until I felt confident enough to just Zerg Rush them and take the kill - and their precious weapons with it. I was counting on Rosier the Fallen, but he disappeared at some point even though I have always been a faithful follower of the Ashen Veil. Well, at least he hasn't turned against me.
Was it over ? No ! Because the Avatar of Wrath had also spawned ! That's what happens when you build archers en masse in the city with the Prophecy of Ragnarok. Well, it was the same (lack of) strategy than with the Horsemen, and one more Unholy Weapon for the taking.
By this point, only Jonas Endain and I were left standing, making the endgame much simpler (and less stressful) as I only needed to create Duin Halfmorn, outfit him with all the weapons (along with Orthus' Axe, that had ironically landed in the hands of some Barbarian), flank him with two Eidolons and send him on a wolfy rampage in the Clan's territory. And boom, Conquest victory for the Infernals ! But the moral of the story is, if you play with the Infernals, it's not really worth trying to build a civilization, as it just makes you a prime target for four angry abominations, plus an even angrier tentacled giant. Of course, it must be a little more balanced when the Barbarians are split between Agares, Bhall and Cernunnos's servants, though I wonder which faction the Horsemen belong to...
In other news, this over-consumption of Erebus gave birth to an Epileptic Tree. I mean, nobody seems really sure of what Grima is. The solution ? Well, he's obviously Ceridwen. Yes, I was initially about to say Agares, but Ceridwen is the actual patron saint of the Sheaim (of which the Grimleal is obviously a substitute, complete with an evil sorcerer as the leader) and has, surprise, an affinity for Dimensional Mana ! And I guess that would make Grima a "she". Following the flimsy trail, Naga could be either Sirona or perhaps Sucellus (angel of self-sacrifice ; okay, all the sacrifices in this game are complete jokes, but it's the intent that counts ?). And the Risen are Manes, seeing as they are available in every class (and the ones who stayed as Manes are called Revenants), meaning that Hyborem is also here somewhere in Ylisse. Now, where is the DLC chapter where you end him, perhaps along with Stephanos, Buboes, Yersinia and Ars Moriendi ? (The Avatar of Wrath obviously deserves a map for itself) Their weapons would make good rewards, no ?
Now, I think I have to go and hide somewhere... Considering how violently people of the CivFanatics Forum reacted when it was pointed out that the Grigori cities' names are lifted from FF7, I can't even imagine how they would appreciate some random idiot making links between Fall From Heaven and Fire Emblem.
