Whilst still going through the 500~ish maps I now I have, I stumbled across 3 AI files. Wqaopl's Zombie AI files. I love Zombies. George Romero, Resident Evil, and all. So I picked one, tweaked it a bit (removed Fire Demons) and went to work. Thinking that without the Zombe Hordes playing 'spotter' for a band of Fire Demons, I assumed it would be fairly cake. I was wrong. The biggest difference they would have made, however, was that once I got my defenses up I would have continued to micro-manage to keep them up. Those Fire Demons shooting from the Fog of War can really mess up your defenses. Anywho, here's the After-Action Report.
I chose a map called Blood and Ice, feeling it was befitting the idea of Zombie blood being cold as ice. And I really wanted to see some dead bodies on the snow-scape. Thank you Whitehammer, wherever you are, for the map. I began in the southwestern corner, which was arguably a god-send since it was flanked on the north by Mountains, and a trap since I couldn't easily break out once the Zombies were all about. And all about they were!
Zombie1: Surrounded (Gametime: 30 minutes)
I chose to go up against Three enemy Taros Players all on a team. 3v1 isn't easy any time, but I thought Zombies would be different. After all, they're mindless! No such luck - the vastness of the 500 population limit meant that I had to scramle in the first 10 minutes to get defenses up. By 30-ish minutes in, I was getting a steady stream from all three enemy players. And I do mean steady. Red Taros was kind of stuck on the mountains, so he had a narrow approach and into direct fire, Orange Taros to the east had less mountains in his way but wide open killing grounds. Yellow Taros just had a nice oblique approach to get slaughtered on. The colors show the avenues of approach, Kirenna is on hand for some quick rescues, and I moved the defenses to Passive for all of 5 seconds to show the enemy before they were to be disintegrated into rotting clouds. Please note that just those 5 seconds cost me to Watch Towers.
Zombie2: Shambling Dead (Gametime: 35~ minutes)
Just a quick shot of the meshing of the hordes as they probe the line. I mean, I know its just the NPC and they're attacking en masse, but it really felt like Probing when I would get hit one at a time, then all at once.
Zombie3: Rear Guards (Gametime: 45~ minutes)
Once I got the outer ring set up, I began to come under attack by small bands of Dark Priests, Iron Beaks, and Sky Knights flying over the undefended mountains into my underbelly. So here I am setting up some Anti-Air defenses.
Zombie4: Breaking Bones (Gametime: 1:01:35)
Another shot of the enemy assaulting the main line of defenses, but in the mini-radar map you can see a blue arrow. It is pointing to my first offensive out of the Mountain passes. I'm going due east to take out the Orange Taros player. The time is now about 1 hour into gameplay. Oh, by the by, some of those Bastions have 2-and-300+ kills already. In fact, most of them do. The Watch Towers range from 20-90 kills, as well.
Zombie5: Showdown (Gametime: 1:03:05)
Almost immediately into my assault, I find a Tarosian Temple almost on my doorstep. As soon as its put to the torch, another wave of Orange troops arrive and begin to stymie my advance.
Zombie6: Air Cover (Gametime: 1:04:21)
That is, until my Sea Dragon arrives with some additional support. It was neat to actually see the Orange troops turn tail and run when my Dragon dove in and Waved those bastards! This Sea Dragon (the 1st of 3!) would continue to aid in this push against Orange and wrack up over 100 kills, and holding the flank against Yellow he ends up being taken out by two Dark Priests and a dozen Skeleton Archers. I just wasn't quick enough to get him clear.
Zombie7: Fire and Ice (Gametime: 1:10:30)
We have you now! Orange Lokken immediately waves after this picture was taken, killing 8 or so of my Verunans before falling under a hail of arrows and crossbow bolts. One down, two to go!
Zombie8: Death in the High Passes (Gametime: 1:31:31)
Twenty minutes have passed since Orange fell, and now the interesting part begins. And by 'interesting' I mean "damn tough!" Once Orange was gone, it was kind of eerie to see the Yellow Taros immediately shift all of its focus due south on my army and fledgling forward bases. It was in the two or three passes like this one which probably cost me most of my troops, hence why its been 20 minutes and nothing has changed. The back-and-forth fighting is where the Sea Dragon went down. I was eventually able to build up Bastion-Tower bases which held against the Horde. Please note the Mini-Map/Radar where you can see the passes in question and the shifting of Red and Yellow's priority approaches.
Zombie9: A Shift in Priorities (Gametime: 1:52:01)
Since I was getting nowhere in the choking passes after another grueling 20 minutes, I left my defenses to themselves and began a march upon the Red Taros in the Northwest. This shot shows my troops from my newly built production areas (on Orange's grave) crossing the killing grounds in front of my main base. The fighting against Red was harsh and pitiless, all the while Yellow was hitting my flanks as I marched and continuing to press the Passes for a breakthrough. I would lose the 2nd Sea Dragon against Red without even getting a picture. He was very shortlived compared to the first, killing only about 20 before succumbing.
Zombie10: A Welcome Surprise (Gametime: 2:31:48)
The fighting up around the mountains which had before been my salvation was now costing me dozens of troops as I had to squeeze through my defenses under Yellow's assaults and push against Red. My flanks were non-existent in that area until I sent a couple of Priestesses on a suicide mission of constructing Lighthouses. I couldn't see far so my ranged troops were little use to me... until I got a chain of these things built and I began to whittle the enemy's defenses. Coming up on the southern edge of the northwest mountains, I was shocked to find my troops under fire (from the Fog) by fireballs. Lokken-shaped fireballs. I had assumed he'd be farther north and I'd have a long narrow pass I'd have to fight up. Nope. Here he is and he dies shortly after this shot is taken.
Zombie11: Terrifying Shadows (Gametime: 2:32:38)
As soon as Red went down, I shifted everything to stabilize the front with Yellow ASAP. This stabilizing didn't go nearly as well as I had hoped. As I was busily trying to construct some defenses in Red's old base and get some new lodestones up, I realized my troops were getting creamed. So I have a look-see and get this picture taken just before he waves the center of my troops pictured herein. I call on my 3rd Sea Dragon to chase him away, but his Dark Priest cohorts manage to chase my Dragon off instead. I then decide its no longer time for holding back and turn all of my factories on patrol into the Northeast corner.
Zombie12: Lihr Be Praised! (Gametime: 2:42:15)
Kirenna had just finished the Angel of Lihr when I turn all of my factories on full. Since his radar is impressive and his Line of Sight is mind-boggling, I throw him into the mix as well. But if you think he turned the tide and won the war, you're mistaken. He gets about 20 kills before he himself is killed. Seriously! I KNOW! How crazy is that?! I've always felt Kirenna is the most bugged of the monarchs, sometimes freezing and not attacking properly. Well, Lihr has the same problem. I put him on Passive while I separated him from my armies and when I turned him back to Aggressive in the heart of the enemy, he didn't do anything. He just got surrounded by Zombies, Skellies, and a plethora of enemies and died. I'll bet those Zombies never thought they'd taste God-Flesh. How friggin' disappointing!
Zombie13: Back to the Meat-Grinder (Gametime: 2:43:26)
Now that Lihr is out of the picture, I go back to my usual means of combat. I have two main thrusts - one from my base due Northeast - and one from my secondary base just beyond those deadly High Passes. Cranked on full, and with the short-lived aid of Lihr's stupid-impressive Line of Sight, I'm able to crush all in my path. Notice the mini-map for the main thrusts. The one from the south which ends up going up the far-right-hand side of the map is the one which finally corners Yellow Lokken and kills him. He died too fast so I don't have a screenshot. He was, despite the damage his armies caused, a bit of an anti-climax. But let's face it, after Lihr's death everything was!
Zombie14: End Game (Gametime: 2:49:21)
That's right. Over Eleven Thousand kills. Poor Orange Kevin... he was useless to the Tarosian Cause. Anywho, I don't think I've ever gotten over 50,000 points before. Just mind-boggling.
So... what do you think?
Subject: Veruna vs OMFG Zombies!!! 
