Conquest of Elysium

This is a /v/ related article, which we tolerate because it's relevant and/or popular on /tg/... or we just can't be bothered to delete it.

From the creators of Holy God War, the video game, comes a quicker Roguelike game; instead of Gods and nations duking it out, it's smaller scale warlords fighting each other to rule the land of Elysium (though that is secondary to the fighting off the wildlife).

Like in Dominions, the goal is to kill all your rivals, but because of unforgiving RNG, it's more about avoiding randomness longer then the enemy, trying to not get swarmed by animals with a taste for human flesh, and hoping you can quickly close one of several random apocalypse portals, or at least the swarms of demons/undead/etc. Kill your rivals first.

This is a game where you're going to play each class a few times on easy just to learn them while hoping you don't start resource-deprived and/or have having your starting citadel destroyed by a roaming elemental/kraken/dragon/demon/bear/moose/deer/etc.. before you can capture your backup.

Classes

Your Factions let you pick one, each with their own unique mechanics, and often requiring the procuring of a unique resource to fuel their rituals.

Baron

The classic medieval landlord, is one of the easier classes to pick up as they don't get unique resources but instead double down on the production of the two universal and most important ones, Gold and Iron. They can recruit well-equipped human soldiers and knights, getting a yearly supply of free infantry based on the number of settlements you control while being able to upgrade your holdings to produce more gold while raising levies and appointing a knight to defend them from the wandering bunnies. Easy for a new player to deal with problems of the early game while getting to know the intricacies of the game like spell casters and commander powers.

Necromancer

The name already implies your turing old and recent battlefields into army recruitment centers. Getting the powerful ability to quickly raise troops this way comes at the cost of the casters sanity (losing control in an RG-heavy game is a deadly thing). They can cast strong rituals using the normal resources, in this case using Hands of Glory, the left hands of hanged men, which you get from villages, and graveyards. Higher levels they can travel to Hades, the mirror realm of the dead as means of fast travel and additional resources to conquer. Necromancers main goal is to transform themselves into a powerful undead or vampire so they can recover the sanity they lost from raising massive amounts of undead.

Demonologist

Elysium is that kind of place where performing blood sacrifices to summon powerful demons from the Inferno is a tolerated practice because they deal with the local deer infestation. Summoning Demons is your bread and butter, From conjuring Imps to Powerful infernal Lords (especially when the foot troops know some spell). Always a chance that they will turn on the summoner and your get a ritual slider, so when you conjure, you can take it safe by paying more than normal or pay less and pray (ie. save scum).

Barbarian

Humans built differently because their ancestors had migrated from the land of the dead. Almost no armour but main troops are just too angry to die. Their spirit guides can summon their ancestral ghosts to conquer Hades, and they have allies with the four Amazon tribes with their tattoo magic which can stack buffs and become late game supersoldiers.

Druid

The Greatest evil you can perform on Elysium is being pro-animal. They are all about summoning and controlling animals, taking ancient forests into spawn more of them. Late game your summoning Beholders and Fey Gods.

Warlock

Considered the lowest pecking order of mages on Elysium as they have to make packs with Elementals for power. Warlocks have one of 4 classical element specializations, Earth lets you dig and make earthquakes, Water gives you the TM Surf and how to drown bitchs, Air lets you fly and conquer the cloud nation with sentient clouds, and fire is considered the weakest but does the holy duty of burning down forests.

Dwarf Queen

Over sear of a Dwarf hive. Ya, Dwarf in Elysium is weird Hivemind bugs, with the wider known greedier Outdoor Dwarfs kind being some kind of aberrant mutant. Are for the player that likes to play turtling. Gold means very little except for highering the selfish freethinkers as scouts. Queen hatches a dwarf egg once per turn, and you use Resources to turn patches of worker dwarfs into another kind of heavily armored Dwarf you need. They are durable and ignore all that mountain and snow movement penalties. Your job is to send out the dwarf lords (dwarfs that eat an outdoor Dwarfs egg so they can obtain some minor independence) to claim new mines and create a new dwarf fortress.

Voice of El

In lore, they're a church on the run from the cult of Baal, Fleeing across the ocean to Elysium with his High Priestesses in hot pursuit. Game-wise, El is another easy-to-learn nation, especially when they get going. Their commanders know not strong but handy Prayer magic, especially the ability to steal enemy humans to bolster your own ranks. Your main goal is to convert presences to your faith so you gain your cut of the yearly church tithe and to break the seven seals so El can descend to cleanse sin. As you progress, you spawn flagellants, Saints, Crusades, Inquisitors, and Angels to run around and fight the enemy for you. Also, if you find a portal into heaven and break into God's fortress, He is a chicken with snake legs.

Illusionist

Illusion has been defined by Elysium schoolers as any form of trick which would unentencaly include all kinds of mondain sleight of hand and Swindlers fast talk, but Your wanting the actual hard magic. Illusionists can be hard to play but can pay off when you can create more spell casters then any other class. This class is the definition of a Pure Blue Deck, Displacing Glamours, Killer Illusions, plus classic D&D spell and monsters from Phase Spiders, Displacer Beasts, Color Spray, Sleep, Fear, Simulacrum, to Confusion (the latter also has a chance, but not as straightforward as other classes charm spell, of permanently stealing enemy units). The majority of your ritual Revolve around using Gems and mirrors to cast spell, Often turning them into portals, Battalions of phantoms, additional spell casters, or for fast travel. Gems mines are often not close by and are heavily guarded so your going to be starting slow and weak.

Gallery

• 
  The apex predators in this game. Roaming the world to sate their hunger for man-flesh.
• 
  How most new players lose. Not shown is the part where they get gored and eaten.
• 
  Never use goats for demonstrations.
• 
  Are undead made from laziness or forgetfulness?
• 
  Cabbage, one of the few things in Elysium that are not hostile to human life, yet...