So I heard there some interest in seeing how a ridiculous game plays out. Where its AI's cheating vs OP skills/traits combos.
So here we go. 
My plan is to not do any reloads (if heroes die they get their traits).
Oh, I am taking full advantage of the auto-battle though (especially vs things like shamans in the early game).
Game setup:
Faction: Empire of Igis, a Trogs faction with Lucky, Master Scouts, Cult of the 100 Eyes, and Light Plate (not that I think I'll reach this tech).
http://imageshack.us/a/img835/3219/1racesetup.jpg
Sovereign: Allifur (the random name), who has the following 6 items/traits:
Water apprentice, Adventurer (free heroes), brilliant (10% more XP, +2spell mastery/level), wealthy (starts with 800g) and the crown and gauntlet items.
http://imageshack.us/a/img196/3827/2heroselection.jpg
World: Pretty much defaults. Small balanced random world on Ridiculous difficulty.
http://imageshack.us/a/img545/2413/3mapk.jpg
Enemies: 3 opponents, even balance of kingdom and empire, and Ridiculous difficulty.
http://imageshack.us/a/img838/9528/4aib.jpg
Turn 1: Amazing starting position. I have the choice of 4/3/2, 5/2/2, and 4/4/1.
There is also a water shrine, horses, a life shrine, and some food that requires animal husbandry.
http://imageshack.us/a/img824/8711/5starta.jpg
After considering, I think materials will be more crucial than anything else, so I go to settle the 4/4/1.
But lo and behold, I find something even better! A 3/5/1 (incidentally, this is the first time I have ever seen this).
I decide to hold off my settling till next turn.
Turn 2: http://imageshack.us/a/img10/3782/6firstcity.jpg
The capital of Jital has been founded on the 3/5/1. Cast inspiration on town.
As an added bonus, it's 5 tiles away from the starting position, so I can settle a 4/2/2!
Research on civics is begun.
Queued up pioneers, bound widow, and then logging camp.
Taxation is set to none (too much unrest, and starting with 800 gold, I can take some neg gold hit in the early game).
Turn 3: Grabbed the lair south of my capital. A 10XP item for Allifur! Potential 1 picked
Turn 4: Still moving SE towards my original spot to recruit the starting champion.
Turn 5: Skuzu the weaponsmith recruited. He finds a stone mace to the east, and will be scouting northeast. Allifur will go NW.
http://imageshack.us/a/img204/1425/7skuzurecruited.jpg
Turn 6: Stone mace given to Allifur.
Turn 7: Hate stone found by Skuzu
Pioneers out. Heading towards a 4/2/2 location to settle.
Turn 8: Civics researched. Learning training --> Mounted warfare to get horses for these heroes!
Skuzu spots a recruitable lvl 5 hero! Hero technology looks like they'll be a priority too.
Meanwhile, Allifur reaches NW of Jital, and finds a whole line of lairs!
http://imageshack.us/a/img560/7570/8t8j.jpg
Allifur is attacked by a wolf and bandit, easily kills them for a mere 4 damage
Turn 9: 4/2/2 2nd settle built, named Tomo. Cast meditation and inspiration on 2nd city. Constructing Earth Shard here.
Skuzu finds a lair that gives 20 knowledge. Mounted warfare complete! Researching knowledge now.
Allifur buys a horse and shield, while Skuzu heads back to get one as well
Turn 10: Allifur attacks a single rockling spider lair, finds tears of cyndrum. Also engages 2 darklings and a darkling warrior. Kills them to hit level 3. Water disciple learned.
Turn 11: Darkling lair explored. Monk's staff found :/ Skuzu buys a horse and shield.
Bound widow complete! Bound widow is used to scout southwest.
In terms of construction, there's been a change of plans. From Tomo, a pioneer is rushed, and Jital will build a water altar after the logging camp.
The 2nd pioneer is sent to settle a 4/2/1 that skuzu found before he marching over to Tomo to buy his horse/shield.
Allifur attacks and kills a darkling shaman. finds rusty vambraces (for Skuzu as he already has the starting 4 defense one)
Allifur is attacked by the 2 bandit, 1 wolf guardians of another lair. Kills them and hits level 4! Path of the defender chosen.
Turn 12: The lair beside Allifur gives chain boots!
Turn 13: Knowledge complete. Research towards Heroes tech begins (Charms, Shard Harvesting, then Heroes).
Allifur grabs 2 more lairs (killing a 3-m bandit, a bandit, and an archer). Finds herbs and a growth potion, sadly.
Skuzu finds a quest to kill a sand golem. But he can't handle it so he continues to scout NE.
Turn 14: Logging camp complete in Jital. Production queue changed to: scout, water altar, stable.
Scouting continues. The spiders haven't spotted anything particularly useful, so Allifur moves to Skuzu's area for lair clearing.
Turn 15: Gilden (Ironeers) met (his scouts came from the North, spotting Skuzu.
4/2/1 settled, named Fike. Inspiration cast, and study queued up.
Turn 16: Units moving.
Turn 17: Scout trained, sent NW.
Allifur and Skuzu have met to form a party beside a wolf lair.
Gave the hate stone on Skuzu to Allifur
Fike rush-builds another pioneer (to settle a 5/2/1) to the NW
Here's a screenshot of the cloth map thus far.
http://imageshack.us/a/img84/4909/9t17.jpg
Spiders have found a cave bear, some ogres, and a butcher.
North of Jital (spotted by the newly trained scout) is a group of fire shills.
the settle spot is just north of the Apiary (you can see a small litle blue dot representing essence).
There's a dark mage just east of that settle spot, and north of that is a cave bear.
Around my army is the wolf lair (as previously stated) and a 3rd cave bear.
Allifur is level 4 with 13 attack, 8 defense, and 31hp. Skuzu, of course, is still level 1.
Reflection thus far:
- Bound widows cost 20 mana to recruit (a hidden cost?!??!) as well as the 100 production. And have only 15 hp.
They do have some useful skills (web and beguile), but overall, I don't think this faction trait is worth it, especially not at high difficulty levels. I'd have been better off with free elementals from altars/shrines via Binding, especially since you don't really have the time to spend the 4 turns training these spiders.
This was an incredibly lucky start. 4 settling locations, with a total of 6 essence in the first 17 turns. Still, to do so, my gold has gone down to 462 for 5 research. Not quite sure if it was worth it, but hey, I'm sure being able to get so much research helps!
