Welcome to my first game diary hopefully this will go over well. Last week I talked about Solium Infernum and with my play by email game going slowly but surely. SI is an interesting TBS as you can effectively define your strategy in the game by your stats at the start. For this diary I’m going to create an archfiend, choose a random map and go nuts, while trying to explain everything along the way.
In Solium Infernum you play an Archfiend who is trying to become # 1 in hell. The basic way of winning is having the most prestige at the end of the game, however things aren’t that simple which we’ll talk about in a later entry; starting out though you’ll need to create your own embodiment of hell.
Starting at the top, your picture and name is self explanatory moving on we get into the details. First off is your rank in hell, starting out every player has a starter legion (unit on board). The higher your rank the better starting legion you have which means less need for bidding on new ones (more on that later). . Also when making demands of other players, if you out rank them you can ask for more (once again more on that later).
Below rank is a public goal that you may choose, each one based off the seven deadly sins (this is hell of course). There are no penalties for not completing the goal, but you would lose out of bonus prestige at the end of the game. Below that is where you can choose 3 perks to have, which fans of Fallout should remember the basics. Advantages cost points to add to your characters while disadvantage perks will give you points which in turn can be used for more tweaking. Obviously the list is too big to put here so you’ll have to read the manual for that.
Last and definitely not least are your attributes which is where the whole defining your play style shows up. Each one of the 5 stats gives you access to a different game system and a specific ritual tree (think spells) that goes with it. Martial Prowess allows you to create combat cards that provide bonuses when attached to your legions. The basic ones enhance their stats and the better ones can alter the rules of combat. Cunning gives you access to rituals that can be used to steal just about anything from other players and while it is a one trick pony, you are able to use these rituals no matter what diplomatic stance you have. Intellect gives you more ritual slots allowing you to use more in a turn as well as giving you access to rituals that let you spy on the other players and learn information about what they have and such. Wickedness gives you destruction rituals that allow you to do direct damage to enemy legions. Why try to bribe them away when you can nuke them into dust? The only disadvantage is that you must have a vendetta or blood feud going to use these rituals (once again more on that later). Lastly is charisma that determines the quantity and quality of resources you’ll get as well as giving you access to rituals that can enhance your resource gathering.
Phew now that the first screen is done, I can actually start creating my archfiend, in previous games I’ve focused on using my cunning rituals to take what I want from the other players. This time I’m going to focus on martial prowess to get a combat build going. The reason is that combat is an important part of the game and by focusing on it I can delve into a lot of the game systems for this diary. Here is my build for this game:
I’ve chosen Wrath for my public objective which is I have to completely remove another player from the game by taking their stronghold. The perk Warmaster allows me to put an additional attribute on the combat cards I’m going to create with my martial prowess skill. Charisma is a vital stat as it directly affects how quick I can build up my resources. Personally I would at least put 1 point into it, just so that you aren’t limiting yourself early on.
And last before we begin, my map settings, I’m playing with 5 other random AI on a normal map with normal game length. Up next I’ll talk about what you’ll see and what you can do on your first turn.
Josh.
