Do we have a group here? The only place on this site I found that discusses the game was the /dom/ general of all places
dunno but maybe try gamedate.org too
>>2350696I want to play but even the start menu makes my fans go on overdrive. Why did they make this a resource hog? Wish I could still play the original
>>2350721Yo that site looks nice>>2350770How? Im not having any such issues.
Where can I find the original 09 version of this gameThe one that doesn't look like shit
>>2350914kys
>>2350914This
>>2350770try setting a fps limit maybe?
>>2351038rude
>>2351450I'm sorry :(
Is the community still alive? And can I have some decent matches in singleplayer? I know MP is the focus but I want to mess around in SP for a while
>>2350914did you try GOG?
Oh hey! A game made by league of geeks!Not trying to hijack, but a different game from this developer is extremely good and has a cult following. Armello, pic related. Do you think it can be discussed on this board? It is sort of an strategic game.I ask because games like Plants vs Zombies, despite being strategic too, get purged and given permanent bans.
>>2355637Oh, I remember playing this over a decade ago.The only strategy that I had any success with was going full unga-bunga with the wolf guy.
>>2354739There is a campaign for each demon. It usually involves challenges, some pretty basic like having X item/location at the end of the game, and some more interesting, for example gaining victory without ever attacking anyone, or making a specific demon your "puppet" and helping him win. If you want to do these challenges they will become puzzle-like, since you have a limited time to win and the starting map/characters/items are not random. Otherwise you can just do quickplay against AI.>>2350696Its sad that they made it look like a cheap Civ clone, when its completely different>political machinations>literary references>asshole tactics like forging your enemies units orders>praetor combat and market licitations can also lead to mindgames>amazing art>easy to understand combat that emphasizes predicting enemy movements>most items warp game rules, not just give stat bonusesBut to be fair, there are negatives that I experienced>archfiends look okay at best>not much map variety>asshole tactics can be used against you>random events can fuck your plans up>the turn limit feels a bit short>some skilltree paths are clearly better then others
>>2351892Ok no problem then bro ;3>>2355632>>2355632Its not on there, I mean the original one made by Cryptic Comet that is a 2D tile game not the current 3D one. It was on the Gog dreamlist at one point.
>>2357190Original SI is lost media at this point. Not even abandonware sites or archive.org has it. Best hope at this point is trying to find one of the old players and hope they still have their copy to share
>>2357572You can download it from Web archive or rutracker.
>>2350914>>2358560
>>2357572>archive.orgTo be precise, it hadn't been there until today. I've procured it from rutracker, and reuploaded to archive.org today.
>>2358566NTA but thanks for doing that. I'm glad the game is properly archived now
>>2358566thanks
>>2358674>>2358692Today is also the first day I've played this game at all, lol. I've read the manual, and launched a game on a small map vs 5 AIs using the default character. I'm kinda getting a hang of it. At least I managed to bully a rival AI by demanding tribute from him, declaring a vendetta when he refused, and challenging him to a trial by combat. I got a pretty good praetor (basically an officer that can fight in duels or boost units stats depending on what you need), but since he didn't get any praetor of his own to put against me I won by default. I didn't see much threat from AI yet but the place of power (strategic point) I conquered at the start revolted against me. I strongly suspect it was due to someone's machinations but I easily reabsorbed it with my starting legion.I also found a much more interesting AAR from a multi-player game here:https://waltoriouswritesaboutgames.com/2017/07/09/the-complete-hell-or-high-water/
>>2358566Wow thanks, I'm >>2357190been asking every time this thread pops up didn't think anyone would have it. I was lucky to have Armageddon Empires before the original Crpytic Comet site went down but never acquired og Solium Infernum. Thanks bro
>>2358783My pleasure. SI has been a long time on my radar, and this thread prompted me to do some searching. Do you play singleplayer only or would like to try mp? I used to play Diplomacy online quite a lot, this game looks pretty interesting in this regard too.
>>2358800nta, but I'd be interested in giving MP a try if we can get a few people
>>2358566>malevelant>>2358753I gave that copy a try and now I have an appreciation for the remake's UI. The original one is so damn clunky.
>>2358753Yeah the main problem with this game was the AI was poor, multiplayer was apparently good though.>>2358800I might be up for it, need to run a few practice campaigns against AI so I know what I'm doing first.
>>2350721lol the first session I click on immediately has some retard posting >trooncordto complain about people setting up gamedates on Discord. I image he scours the posted sessions and posts that every time he sees Discord links.
>>2358930well linking everyone to discord does defeat the point of gamedate
>>2359328I don't know, the way I see it from the perspective of these random niche games is >Discord is for a community of regulars>could be a TS server or whatever>Gamedate is for scheduling game events and advertising it to randosI think they compliment each other
>>2358808>>2358875Same here. Would be pretty cool. I have a trooncord btw in case we want to coordinate somewhere.>>2358868>and now I have an appreciation for the remake's UI. The original one is so damn clunky.I can see that. Never played the Steam version but I agree 2009's UI is a tad cumbersome.Gonna bump with my ongoing campaign. Maybe something of it would be useful to other anons even at the cost of revealing my tactics.While I was bullying Belial I wanted to hire a second legion beyond my starting one. Instincsts pushed me to expanding the army. There were pretty cool legions but all of them had maintenance cost except for the absolutely shitty Dark Stalkers.So I got the following plan:1. buy the Throne of Skulls which triples any stat boosts granted to the legion by a praetor;2. hire a praetor with most stat boosts;3. assign them to the Dark Stalkers turning them from shitters to a good legion with zero maintenance.To make purchases cheap, I played the "decrease the bids" event card. Basically it decreases the minimum bidding cost on legions by 3 in each resource (but no less than 1), and on praetors/artifacts/relics by 2. As far as I checked, it has no effect on manuscripts. Btw if you right click anywhere on the bidding window, it rearranges your tribute cards into columns.
In two consecutive turns I have been outbidden to Malocada and Raum, praetors with juciest stat boosts. But much worse, my elephant bro lost the duel against Belial's Zuul. I didn't know if Belial had a praetor, nor did I check the ones that were hired. I simply assigned a series of guarded attacks which block physical damage and deal damage to enemy praetor at the same time. After I spent all my attack (skulls) and defense (shields) points, I picked infernal burst (costs 3 infernal points and randomly deals 1-6 damage which can't be blocked).So here how it played out:1. Zuul's infernal burst dealt 5 damage. My attack (4 skulls + 1 luck) scored 3 damage vs Zuul's defense (2 luck).2. Zuul's melee block (4 shields) completely shut down my attack (4 skulls).3. Zuul's melee block again shuts down my attack.4. My infernal burst did just 1 damage, and she went on the offense having spent her shields dealing 5 damage.5. I have no points to spend, and she finishes me off in the 1st round.Basically what happened I went all in on the offensive early on which failed against her initial defensive stance, and then I got obliterated since I had spent all my points. Nominally I had 20% more stats and HP, but AI superior tactics crushed me.
>>2359352would be cool to get a fourth player at leastmaybe we could indeed try this gamedate thing is no anons here are interested?afaik this game can work through e-mail?
My resource base was stiflingly low, and just in time when the event for the decreased bid cost run out, bazaar got flooded with 3 great artifacts: the key of Solomon, Faust's contract, and the Iron Maiden. The former two increase diabolism by 1 (which would let me collect 3 tribute cards instead of 2), while the latter bumps the quality of cards. Frantically demanding tribute, I managed to collect enough darkness at least for the Iron Maiden.Meanwhile I refitted my original plan for my starting legion. I recruited Baraqiel, a charming coomer with +3/+3 to ranged and melee, which under the Throne of Skulls turned into whooping +9/+9. The resulting monster of a legion I strategically placed next to Belial's territory, and demanded a tribute from him expecting a refusal, which would let me declare vendetta and take some stuff from him.>>2359382>maybe we could indeed try this gamedate thing is no anons here are interested?I guess we're in no haste but yeah we could leave a message here. What kind of timeline we're speaking - this weekend?>afaik this game can work through e-mail?It can, yeah. Not sure if the Steam version has other ways of playing multiplayer.
Belial actually agreed to my demands leaving me no options to declare vendetta against him. I suspect he did that because he simultaneously made a demand to Shax. Anyway I decided to switch targets and pursue Paimon. He was neatly situated to the south of me, had one of the diabolism relics, and his two legions were pretty crappy. Although he was one of the tops in prestige somehow.
>>2359397>I guess we're in no haste but yeah we could leave a message here. What kind of timeline we're speaking - this weekend?This Sunday can work for me, but I don't know if I'll have the time to look into the rules.But if we can play by e-mail then I guess there isn't a hurry.
Being limited to 4 turns to conduct my vendetta, I chose destroying Paimon's two legions as the most realistic objective. Here is the first possible problem with the AI I encountered: it doesn't seem to understand that it should position its legions on the neighbouring hexes to get support. 50% of another legion's stats is a pretty substantial boost. My legion did get hit with a spell for 3 HP but the combat against Paimon's first legion went lossless. Just in case AI did use support I also equipped the Walking Fortress artifact. With +10 HP and 5/5 ranged/melee resistance it makes legions virtually indestructible in battle. Its major drawback is that it limits speed to 1, so I had to return it to the vault while my legion was on the march, and get it back when engaging enemy. >>2359415Sunday is fine with me. We need to get 3rd anon's confirmation.
On turn 30 I crushed Paimon's second legion, promoted mine, and finished the vendetta. I still need 2 more vendettas against him before I can declare blood feud and take his stronghold and relics.After collecting some shekels, I hired the Gorgons - I eyed them from the start but 2 darkness per turn was prohibitively expensive. On turn 34 I suddenly reunited with my elephant bro: one of the AIs played the event that returned one dead praetor for each player. I sent out another demand to Paimon, and positioned myself to immediately take one of his places of power with the coomer's legion. I intend to appoint the elephant bro as the Gorgons' praetor, and move them south to deal with Paimon faster. His reformed body guard is weaker than before, and the Vile Apostates' gonna melt way before they get to the infernal phase of combat.
>>2355637Armello always makes me mad as fuck for some reason
>jaded boomers instantly hijack this thread and make it about their flashgame looking trashKindly fuck off and make your own thread
I could play the remake.Vic had really good designs, but for some reason made them in fucking Adobe Director.
whats weird is the archdevils look even worse than the armello avatars. I genuine dont get why they went with that style.Still the animations are superb and I love the interactions they have and the voices. It just oozes style
My freshly hired Gorgons got destroyed by "the act of wrath", oh well. Paimon proved impossible to humiliate - he again conceded 4 tribute cards to me. No matter how many insults or demands I make, this submissive slut takes it all. It earns me some prestige but makes impossible to capture his stuff. So I decided to switch back to Belial. But first I spent quite some time to collect resources to bump by charisma from 2 to 3 for an extra tribute card, and wickedness from 2 to 4 for an extra order slot.Meanwhile someone (who is 99% Belial) played an excommunication card against Shax. I guessed nobody would support this dumb accusation, so I voted nay and earned myself extra 10 prestige.>>2359577>but for some reason made them in fucking Adobe Director.What a madlad.>I could play the remakeI dig the original art style. Plus, it appears the remake is different mechanically, like there are titans combining what was legions (the Beast) and artifacts (the Walking Fortress) in the original. Plus not all of us have easy access to Steam.
>>2359717text formatting could use some work though...I'd gladly play the new one, but I'm stuck on a shitty laptop, can't even play Offworld Trading Company anymore
On turn 40 the unholy crusade event came up. I wasn't sure if it was an elaborate way to kill my legion or a legit thing, so just in case I recruited a disposable Grinning Legion and nominated it for the crusade. The manual says, 'The more Legions that embark, the better the chances of survival'. It implies that if little to nobody participates in that, it's suicidal to volunteer. However, I didn't check the prestige penalty if you refuse to participate, so I dunno how severe it is. AI appears to take it seriously, at least there is no other explanation where Paimon's Sons of Typhon disappeared.>>2359720Given that it's mmade in Adobe Director it probably should be easy to edit. I will try to look into it later. Are you the same anon as >>2359382 ?
By turn 46 I suddenly realized that 14 out of 15 conclave tokens had been drawn. Basically any time now the game could end, and I was trailing 10-20 points of prestige behind the leaders. First of all, I bought the Odd Portrait - it grants 30 prestige when the game ends, and drains 1 prestige per turn, so it was the best possible moment to acquire it.Secondly, I arranged for a vendetta against Belial. Turn 46, demand. Turn, 47 declaring vendetta. Beforehand I hired the Beast, so I figured the quickest and most profitable option would be taking out one of Belial's places of power by flying right into it. To be on a safer sides of things, I picked 3 turns to accomplish that.
>>2359727>Are you the same anon asyes
On turn 48 the unholy crusade ended, and the Grinning Legion returned from heaven. Out of maximum possible gains (+3-8 HP, +2 Loyalty, +1-4 Ranged, +1-4 Melee, +1-4 Infernal) it got +3 HP, +2 Loyalty, +1 Ranged, +3 Melee, +2 Infernal. Kinda decent if a bit on a lower side. No way I would risk an actually strong legion, but sending cheap disposable trash in case it gets a massive boost seems like a good idea.>>2359747It appears we do need some conf to coordinate before lurking for players on other resources to get our numbers straight. Maybe even trooncord What do you say?
One major flaw of the interface in 2009 is that all rivals are colored black, and the border insignia may be poorly distinguishable when zoomed out. Because of this I missed that the hex next to Belial's legion between the chasm and the river belongs to Paimon. Without vendetta neither of us can enter it. I noticed this only when my own vendetta vs Belial was set in motion, and I had no means of getting my bodyguard legion over this obstacle. I had moved the Beast in the striking distance of Belial's PoP, so in theory it should have taken it in one turn. As a backup I ordered the Grinning Legion westward so that they could reach the Bronze Pyramid in 3 turns should the Beast fail.
The PoP couldn't use ranged attack because it was moved to the last phase due to the Beast's ability, and the raw melee power killed it instantly. Mission accomplished.
Turn 50, the final token drawn, and I win by prestige. Just in case I read the log for that turn to make sure I wasn't piggybacked by a king maker. It appears not, I actually won my first game in Solium Infernum.
I'm kinda curious what infernal terraforming is like since I heard it was the older game and the update is coming out soon.
On the very same final turn Shax (of course, the game doesn't tell it was him but it is easy to deduce by the diplomatic history) ripped Belial a new one by playing the infernal rift. It created a two-hex chasm swallowing Belial's legions and completely cutting off his stronghold from outside world. His remaining legion of the Hell Spawn can fly but no foot forces can get in or out.
holy shit dude nobody cares. and the fuck you mean not everyone has access to steam
>>2359754>It appears we do need some conf to coordinate before lurking for players on other resources to get our numbers straight. I'm sorry, we need some what?
>>2359985Discord or something like this. >>2359941Who hurt you?
>>2359941battle reports are the most fun part of /vst/
I setup a session to look for players on gamedate https://gamedate.org/s/735w5u2m4 and linked a Discord channel https://discord.gg/wEdpeNCg created specifically for this purpose.Anons that want to play old Solium Infernum >>2359747 please join either session, channel, or both.
>>2358808>>2358875And whoever was the other anon (hard to keep track here) please also join: >>2360710It's not necessarily we will start playing this very Sunday just looking for concrete players to coordinate games maybe this week or a week later.
anyone extracted the art from it? probably the best part of the remake
>>2360726I can't say art in the remake (except for the archifiends) is bad but it looks like an attempt by a generic artist to imitate something truly inspired. And sometimes, like in the case with the lance of the Leper King, for example, no attempt is even made.Original art, imho, is much more emotive and sometimes on the same level as Wayne Barlowe's art.
>>2360726As for the original game, you can extract art from the file FlavorPics.cxt in the main directory by using Director Cast Ripper version D10 (https://github.com/n0samu/DirectorCastRipper/releases/tag/v2.5). Extracted folder contains pics and the file members.csv (can be opened by Excel or Notepad) containing file numbers and object names.
>>2360710Sorry, I >>2359747 don't think I'll have time to get into this game and play in the foreseeable future
A new DLC to be in an open beta test this March (the news is from February 23).https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1893810/view/501724652288082612tl;dr planned changes:>empty “slag" cards will be offered if you demand tribute from minions too many times>non-excommunicated legions will be able to provide support to Pandemonium attacked by a usurper>some new edicts to vote on (no specifics)>rituals to alter the landscape (akin to the event card opening a chasm >>2359798 in the original version)I'm actually surprised that the latter feature haven't been implemented in the remake. I mean, it has fewer stuff like legions and archfiends, and on top of that, less features. Weird.>>2361184Oh well. Sorry to hear. And I haven't heard from another anon at all. Kinda a bummer.
>>2361366Hopefully they'll slowly add the missing content from the original back to the remake
>>2361385Yeah, I check the remake wiki for this or that sometimes, and pretty often I can't find a legion, artifact etc. present in the original. But lack of archtwink Paimon hurts the most.
>>2361366glad to hear League of Geeks is still alive and kind of kicking about
>>2361665They simply remade an older game with less functions. How do they compare to Slitherine & MuHa's Master of Magic remake?
>>2361746I meant that they had gone on sleeper mode on july 2024 and that Solium Infernum and other projects were on indefinite hiatus, and I feared they would disband altogether
>>2361962I know this but come on:>They simply remade an older game with less functionsWould that be really such a loss?
I downloaded the remake demo, reading the in-game wiki, and I already see they revamped the duel mechanics in the ways I find sus.First of all, I dislike that in this new rock-paper-scissors system, they hard-locked praetors in what they can learn. No matter how strong a praetor is, he's gonna suck against someone who has 2 "rocks" against his 2 "scissors". It kinda eliminates the aspect of planning your combat moves and fostering a champion with multiple moves - it boils down to just hiring the right counter-praetor. I yet to try the system myself, but this is what I got from the description.Second, wtf they were thinking with "bribing judges". Sounds like a poorly-thought addition. Charisma is already the best trait in the game because it increases your resource collection from which everything else derives. And they boosted it even more by allowing to buff attacks without bothering with manuscripts and leveling up in combat. And I can't even conceptualize how does bribing helps deal additional damage in a duel to death.
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1893810/discussions/0/7257046178096799256/?ctp=3>Currently, as a participant in a duel, all you learn is the outcome. Who won, who lost, who was banished, etc. You don't see what technique your opponent played, or how your two techniques interacted with one another, or the outcome of the bribery, or what the final damage totals of each side were. I assume that this is intentional, leaving the winner potentially overconfident and the loser potentially confused. I see some value in that, but I see greater value is allowing all of the details to be known to the participants.What the hell. It doesn't even doesn't let you pick the moves. Why bother remaking a game and replace a great mechanic with the far worse one.
Just in case, a renewed game session for the original: https://gamedate.org/s/5j3n2k0y2So far, two people have joined the discord channel making it up to 3 (including myself).
Btw if you're looking for players in the Steam version, there is the official devs discord https://discord.gg/fZ97bGxW
>>2365006I'm on that server and I'm seeing people complaining about the craziest bugs. People having two vassals at once, excommunicated players still being subject to diplomacy rules, ongoing matches disappearing from the game list and being unable to join again...basic stuff being broken this way is unacceptable.I even added funds to purchase it but now I'm having second thoughts
>>2365823Are you sure these are not old bugs that have been addressed?
>>2366025Two vassals bug was from a couple weeks ago. Even a dev reacted saying they had already fixed it but was surprised to see it happen again. The other bugs are even more recent. And now I see someone complaining about completing a scheme (Hades Heel) but the game doesn't register it.At least the guy complaining about disappearing games said they restarted steam and that solved it.
>>2366193From what I gathered on the server, serious bugs occur, but in vast majority of cases games go without them. I'm too much sucker for this game, but unfortunately it's hard to find people to play the original, so seeing the sales on Steam I caved in and bought it. First time I ever bought anything on Steam and just for the sake of MP.
>>2362071>What the hell. It doesn't even doesn't let you pick the moves.it does, you blind pick a move and face off against the other praetor that way. there is strategy involved though because you can use manuscripts to modify a praetor's moves before the fight actually starts so you can catch the other guy by surprise by teaching your praetor a skull move or something ect. also most praetors only have 2 of the 3 orbs, serpents, and skulls by default so investing in your praetor by teaching them a third move lets them reliably win the rock paper scissors duels
>>2368015>pick a move and face off against the other praetor that way.Yeah, already learned that.>most praetors only have 2 of the 3 orbs, serpents, and skulls by default so investing in your praetor by teaching them a third moveAll praetors have 2 or 3 moves by default, but they can belong only to 2 out of 3 sources - skulls, serpents, or orbs. Any new move you teach a praetor must be the same source as the preexisting one unless you reach charisma 4, then you can respect into the 3rd source.
I gathered people to play a 4-player MP game in original SI. 2 spots are still availablehttps://gamedate.org/s/6h6m2b5b6
>>23687326/6 people gathered.
Is the OG Solium Infernum ____fun_____
>>2370425game is cursed, satanic.
