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 https://store.steampowered.com/app/1893810/Solium_Infernum/ What Is This? Back in 2009, following up on the release of Armageddon Empires, Cryptic Comet (a dev studio that was mostly run as the single-person operation of Vic Davis, with occasional contributions by other independent asset producers) released the original version of Solium Infernum: an asynchronous strategy game for up to six players, in which they took the role of demon princes and jostled for position amongst the infernal hierarchy. To simplify it greatly, think of Dominions but slightly more like a board-game, and set in Hell. The game was one of those ever-common indie stories where the game had great critical success (including a pretty detailed game diary done by Rock Paper Shotgun, Gameboys From Hell), but had limited visibility among the wider gaming world, limited matchmaking capacity, and the game ran terribly because it was coded in Lingo via Adobe Air. Absent any notable breakout, Vic Davis released another smaller game, before quietly shuffling off to go design board games and then write science fiction, and that seemed to be the end of that. Except not quite. It turns out that Ty Carey, one of the co-founders of League of Geeks couldn't get the game out of his head. Even as LoG went on to make Armello, Carey kept tinkering with Solium Infernum prototypes, until at the turn of 2020-2021 he just asked Davis if LoG could remake the game wholesale, to which Davis agreed. This new game, the Solium Infernum remake, is set to release on February 22nd, 2024. (Although, given that League of Geeks has been having money problems recently, resulting in the recent cancellation of starship voyage simulator Jumplight Odyssey, it may be the very last game that the studio ever releases. Only time will tell if LoG's pride in Solium Infernum is well deserved... or goes before a fall.) A Rough Overview (Very rough. Remember my comparison to Dominions before? Let's have the game come out before I add/revise more details.)  In an attempt to try and limit the analysis-paralysis that often comes with these kinds of games, character creation is no longer pure point buy. Instead there are now 8 archfiend templates, and each starts with a unique power, slightly different stats to their own person, and different stronghold/starting units. There is still a point-buy aspect, so you can customize your archfiend for an individual game, but at least you can't accidentally hamper yourself too much at the start.    Your early turns will likely be spent doing a combination of moving units around on the map to seize hexes and grabbing tribute to buy units at the Auction House, assuming another player doesn't outbid you first. Things available for purchase at the Auction House include Legions (more units to be moved around the map, possibly to be thrown at special Places of Power in order to acquire Prestige (or victory points) for having them added to your territory either as part of public or private victory objectives), Praetors (champions that can be attached to a Legion to provide stat boosts, status modifiers, or used for duels against other champions), Artifacts (mostly permanent objects that have moderate scale effects), and Manuscripts (multi-part consumables which can range from a moderate personal effect to game-altering board-wide effects depending on how many pieces of the manuscript you have to collect).   Eventually, perhaps after bolstering your abilities some more, you'll start to push around your rivals. Since you're all at least nominally nobles of Hell, this involves providing your opponents with formal, thinly-veiled statements about their weakness, providing a specific Demand to demonstrate this, and watching as they either cravenly back down or decide that you're not fit to stand before them and refuse the Demand. Doing so gives them Prestige but allows you to declare a Vendetta on the aforementioned opponent during which you can press for a greater amount of Prestige... if you can accomplish a stated objective before a number of turns has passed.   After some last minute rituals to try and stir things up, one of you will come out on top and the other will lie broken in the dust, just in time for all your other rivals to either bully the loser or put the winner in their place. Eventually, after enough of this push and pull, the Infernal Conclave of Pandaemonium will have enough of your collective shenanigans and announce that they're about to cast their vote on who wins the game. This is usually determined by who has the most Prestige when all's said and done, but there are a rare few ways to subvert this process for especially foolhardy or desperate demon princes. Guides Eschatos posted:Been enjoying this game enough to start writing up some steam guides: Jossar fucked around with this message at 19:24 on Mar 5, 2024 |
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Feb 19, 2024 04:44
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the og game was absolutely fantastic despite players eventually cracking the meta, and I love everything the guy has ever made e: oh its not a vic Davis project? shame, but a solium remake by an obsessed fan with his blessing is still exciting also iirc he made four computer games total: Armageddon Empires, Solium, a wild west card game, and a very cool lovecraftian mansion simulator Goatse James Bond fucked around with this message at 04:47 on Feb 19, 2024 |
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Feb 19, 2024 04:45
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Is it purely multiplayer, or will one be able to fight against AIs (Artificial Infernals)?
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Feb 19, 2024 15:22
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I played the original and enjoyed it even with all the Jank Kind have been excited for this remake after I heard it was coming.
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Feb 19, 2024 15:54
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Rogue AI Goddess posted:Is it purely multiplayer, or will one be able to fight against AIs (Artificial Infernals)? At least the demo had AIs to battle against. And yeah, can't talk about Adobe Air games without bringing up Armageddon Empires! Hope thats up next...
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Feb 19, 2024 21:53
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Rogue AI Goddess posted:Is it purely multiplayer, or will one be able to fight against AIs (Artificial Infernals)? habituallyred posted:At least the demo had AIs to battle against. I'm not sure Armageddon Empires has quite the same charm that captured the attention of League of Geeks in the first place (well, it does but a different sort of charm), but unlike the original Solium Infernum, it is at least available to play on Steam in its original form: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1576720/Armageddon_Empires/ Jossar fucked around with this message at 00:14 on Feb 20, 2024 |
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Feb 20, 2024 00:09
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Game is out. 33 bucks on steam for this week.
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Feb 22, 2024 21:14
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Picked it up, enjoying the vibe. How do I improve my ability to resist hostile rituals? I keep getting drained for tokens and it's pretty annoying. Deceit specifically if it matters.
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Feb 23, 2024 04:34
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Eschatos posted:Picked it up, enjoying the vibe. How do I improve my ability to resist hostile rituals? I keep getting drained for tokens and it's pretty annoying. Deceit specifically if it matters. Increase your rank give you 1 resistance per rank for spell targeting your archfiend, increase level for your legion improve their resist as well. Your resist to specific power is equal to the level of that power, so having high deceit also means high deceit defense. You can also buy and equip relic that increase resist.
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Feb 23, 2024 07:03
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poo poo I need to pick this up. One of the best strategy games I’ve ever played with friends
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Feb 23, 2024 07:18
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Yeah, the OG was a blast despite (because of?) all the million ways to play that nobody in our rando internet group really understood. Metagaming was hilarious too. We immediately ganged up on a guy because he was a baron of hell and not a prince like everybody else.
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Feb 23, 2024 08:51
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Are we going to organise games in here, or will there be a better place to look?
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Feb 23, 2024 15:56
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I'm in the awkward position where I was a bit more psyched up by the concept of the game than I'm excited to play it, though I'll make the choice this weekend as to whether it sparks joy after all. A perfect example of ambition leading to my own downfall. I know that a couple of people in the Grognard Games thread are actively trying to get a game going, might be better to join people there for organizing games to avoid coordination problems.
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Feb 24, 2024 00:53
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I'd be down to give it a shot. Yall know how closely this is based on the original? Wondering if the wiki for that is reasonable to reference.
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Feb 24, 2024 01:44
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I think almost everything is one to one copy except fiend customization and combat resolutions is now only 1 round instead of 2. Also terrain might be new?
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Feb 24, 2024 04:07
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One issue I think this game is going to have is, at least in my experience so far, it's really unsatisfying playing against the AI. Even if given more time I'll see better play the fact is the rituals and non-combat mechanics aren't going to be something it can make full use of and really surprise you with unless you're playing on high difficulty and they're spamming more just because they can afford more (not sure if that's how the difficulty settings work yet). And it regularly gets tripped up on prosecuting vendettas, either quickly or sometimes at all. In just a couple games the number of times I've had the AI able to instantly completely a vendetta (or what I assume their goal is if it never gets completed) but fail to do so is quite frankly astonishing. I've seen AI's make a vendetta then literally not move, even when I've got nothing but the weakest legion on the map nearby. I had one instance where I'd done a deep strike to get a place of power then they eventually got around to initiating a vendetta against me and then left their weakest legion to fight it for several turns, only doing one damage each turn, until it stopped (presumably because the next fight would have killed the legion) then moved that legion away, moved another legion that could take it one hit even at full strength, and then just didn't attack with the second legion for two turns and the vendetta failed.
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Feb 24, 2024 22:35
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Don't even use my pc all that much, and it is obvious this game will live and die on its mp but I really want it to succeed. It looks so cool and I missed out on the original. I wouldn't play in it but goons should lp some multiplayer cause I think it would be so entertaining. Not really the same thing but I loved the old Dominions multiplayer games some folks did in the subforum.
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Feb 25, 2024 18:46
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Jossar posted:I'm in the awkward position where I was a bit more psyched up by the concept of the game than I'm excited to play it, though I'll make the choice this weekend as to whether it sparks joy after all. A perfect example of ambition leading to my own downfall. Can you link it? edit: never mind, found it
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Feb 26, 2024 19:05
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unattended spaghetti posted:Don't even use my pc all that much, and it is obvious this game will live and die on its mp but I really want it to succeed. It looks so cool and I missed out on the original. I wouldn't play in it but goons should lp some multiplayer cause I think it would be so entertaining. Not really the same thing but I loved the old Dominions multiplayer games some folks did in the subforum. Having played it a bit I'm enjoying it, I think it would have benefited a lot from having a mobile client. Not as the main way to play, but to make it really easy to play a turn when you have 5 minutes spare.
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Feb 26, 2024 19:52
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Eschatos posted:Picked it up, enjoying the vibe. How do I improve my ability to resist hostile rituals? I keep getting drained for tokens and it's pretty annoying. Deceit specifically if it matters. Ritual resistance is a bit mysterious at the moment. This is my best guess: Attacker uses Skill level + bonus power and some kind of random element like a D6. Defender uses target level (gold number top right of card), and bonus resistance from artifacts and defensive prophecy rituals, AND something else. The something else is one of two things: Skill level and Rank. One of these gets used as the equivalent of the target level when a spell is used directly upon the archfiend, the other is added to everything. Loot the Vaults is cast vs. the archfiend, so everything will help. Levelling deceit, ranking up, its all good. pedro0930 posted:I think almost everything is one to one copy except fiend customization and combat resolutions is now only 1 round instead of 2. Also terrain might be new? Terrain is new, the Charisma tree is mostly new and its former economic function is now split between Rank and Highest Skill, many random elements have been reduced in range by about half. The change from fiend customization to 8 fixed archfiends + Pick up to 3 perks really works for me. And yes, Kingmaker is still one of those perks.
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Feb 26, 2024 22:40
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Guess I'll get the ball rolling? Join code is 193719
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Feb 27, 2024 02:17
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So other than actually having graphics, what are the major differences between this and the original?
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Feb 27, 2024 03:01
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Gynovore posted:So other than actually having graphics, what are the major differences between this and the original? Instead of point buy you select one of 8 pre-built archfiends (and can then do a bit of customization with "gear") Full rework of power trees, no more stats (just power ranks) Title system where you spend prestige to rank up your hell office, which gets you better tribute and more votes. They also changed praetor dueling around but I didn't play the first game so I don't know how exactly
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Feb 27, 2024 03:34
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I read a LP of Solium years ago and all I remember is the name "Speedo Demon" and i think about it every day
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Feb 27, 2024 03:39
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Well, was playing the tutorial when the angels came down, killed my entire army, and the AI voted for me to be excommunicated. I think the game goes on the shelf for a bit.
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Feb 27, 2024 04:48
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TheGreatEvilKing posted:Well, was playing the tutorial when the angels came down, killed my entire army, and the AI voted for me to be excommunicated.
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Feb 27, 2024 07:21
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Senethro posted:Ritual resistance is a bit mysterious at the moment. This is my best guess: Attacker uses Skill level + bonus power and some kind of random element like a D6. After conversations on the discord, I think it comes down to a 2d6 rolloff with bonuses to both sides for the relevant skills, artifacts and rituals on top. pedro0930 posted:Guess I'll get the ball rolling? Cool, in as beel. TheGreatEvilKing posted:Well, was playing the tutorial when the angels came down, killed my entire army, and the AI voted for me to be excommunicated. That's rough but to be fair, the angels penalize everyone equally. Your starting legion will respawn, and you can potentially recruit an equal/higher level legion to get killed instead. As long as your non-strongest legions stay out of their path, they'll ignore them. Otherwise you basically gotta remove your artifacts/praetor the turn before it'd kill your legion, or late game be tough enough to kill it. As for excommunication, that can be a boon if you leverage it right. Once excommunicated you can wipe out other players freely, or just prioritize taking Pandemonium. I also tend to hold onto the cancel excommunication event if I draw it, as it'll save your rear end in this situation if you don't already have a powerful army.
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Feb 27, 2024 07:23
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pedro0930 posted:Guess I'll get the ball rolling? I'm in as Andromalus, who I haven't played before. Guess I'd better finally work out the rules for duels! I pulled this from a random website quote:Demonic scholars suggest that Andromalius's innate wisdom and acute insight enable him to see through any ruse, making him a formidable entity in situations where truth and clarity are sought. While some may find the concept daunting, interaction with Andromalius is said to encourage honesty, justice, and restitution.
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Feb 27, 2024 08:02
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distortion park posted:I'm in as Andromalus, who I haven't played before. Guess I'd better finally work out the rules for duels! I pulled this from a random website The easy summary is if you have a praetor and the opponent doesn't, automatic win. Even if they do, your ritual to boost praetor strength puts the odds in your favor. Leveling charisma to get a boost from bribery is also extremely powerful. You want to be set up to win without even taking the rock paper scissors bit into account. Once you can ensure that, spam duels as often as possible and reap the prestige.
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Feb 27, 2024 08:15
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Eschatos posted:The easy summary is if you have a praetor and the opponent doesn't, automatic win. Even if they do, your ritual to boost praetor strength puts the odds in your favor. Leveling charisma to get a boost from bribery is also extremely powerful. You want to be set up to win without even taking the rock paper scissors bit into account. Once you can ensure that, spam duels as often as possible and reap the prestige. Sounds like a quick way to become very unpopular!
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Feb 27, 2024 09:47
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pedro0930 posted:Guess I'll get the ball rolling?  This will go so wrongE: Game is on! Ihmemies fucked around with this message at 10:23 on Feb 27, 2024 |
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Feb 27, 2024 10:20
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It's really good, I did the tutorial and the Mammon scenario and they're fun even if the AI isn't very good at all. Currently getting my rear end kicked by my own hubris in multiplayer so 10/10
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Feb 27, 2024 10:59
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I plan heavily on my rear end getting kicked, so that's why I'm going to play multiple games at the same time! Maybe I'll win at least one!
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Feb 27, 2024 11:19
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Eschatos posted:After conversations on the discord, I think it comes down to a 2d6 rolloff with bonuses to both sides for the relevant skills, artifacts and rituals on top. That would require Lily to not have been sapping my vaults every turn. Oh well, lets jump into MP and get rolled.
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Feb 27, 2024 16:12
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distortion park posted:Sounds like a quick way to become very unpopular! This aint solium paradiso buddy. Ihmemies posted:
Yall on any of the goon discords? Don't feel like using in-game messages if I can avoid it.
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Feb 27, 2024 16:33
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Eschatos posted:Yall on any of the goon discords? Don't feel like using in-game messages if I can avoid it. The in-game messaging system is a much more interesting way to plan things out, given that the messages are only sent at the end of each turn. I feel like live conversation kinda ruins it.
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Feb 27, 2024 18:02
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HerpicleOmnicron5 posted:The in-game messaging system is a much more interesting way to plan things out, given that the messages are only sent at the end of each turn. I feel like live conversation kinda ruins it. Yeah agreed, a lot more flavourful. The map has a clear set of early conflict points. I don't think anyone has been really hosed over. It's a really tough decision to try and work out what the best early plays are.
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Feb 27, 2024 18:20
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HerpicleOmnicron5 posted:The in-game messaging system is a much more interesting way to plan things out, given that the messages are only sent at the end of each turn. I feel like live conversation kinda ruins it. Ok. I'll give it a shot.
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Feb 27, 2024 18:32
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It's pretty funny in the chronicle the other archfiend write to you in poems and limerick and other format.
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Feb 27, 2024 18:45
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distortion park posted:Yeah agreed, a lot more flavourful. Sit on the base and let others duke it out? I tried the tutorial and it was a pushover, probably intentionally. If someone plays the tutorial I don't recommend continuing to the end - waste of time where the AI is passive and doesn't really do much at all during the whole game. 
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Feb 27, 2024 18:52
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