Christmas 2012

Lord Jesus, Happy Birthday!!!

I thank You for being the world's indescribable gift. Although we do not deserve You or the sacrifice You have made, You still came to this world to redeem us from the bondage of sin. Thank You because in You, we have eternal life. Thank You for giving us hope.

I pray that anyone who wants to receive You - the gift of salvation - will receive Your grace and mercy and be blessed and have peace. Thank You because by faith, we can come to You and receive Your pardon. And even when we are weak, You are strong. Thank You because no one can snatch us away from Your hand.

Thank You because You reign, and Yours is the victory. Thank You because You are our coming King and ever-living God. And on the day of Your second coming, the world will no longer see You as a baby in the manger, but as the righteous Judge and eternal Ruler of creation.

May all who call upon You be saved. To You be glory, majesty, dominion, and power for ever and ever, Amen.

Alteil Set 12: War Heroes Crimson Hero / Dilate

Alteil Set 12 was released today. It is kind of early, considering that EX 11 was recently introduced, but I guess the developers are trying to cash in on the holiday shopping spree while people still have money.

In my opinion, some of the cards in this set have been overnerfed compared to the Japanese counterparts previewed in the Alteil forums. I guess, it is to be expected since Alteil Set 11 was a "strong" set which allowed even newcomers to the game to compete in Folrart Arena.

Perhaps it is still to early to predict whether or not Set 12 will result in new meta files. But one card I see becoming integrated with mid Gowen BKR Winston files is the new Crimson Hero /Dilate - an early to mid game version of Bringer. Let us analyze the card.

For a level 4 Gowen unit, his HP might be considered sub-par, but the AGI and the AT are okay. Being a level 4 unit is always great in avoiding Returns and the much abused Withdrawal Strategy cards these days.

The most useful skill in my opinion is his Open, Scream of Red Death which is as powerful as Bringer's and costs 1 SP less. But the 6LP or higher restriction  means you have to use Crimson Dilate early in the game. This card is good for killing that pesky Diondora, Eskatia, or Alliria.

Nightsinger's Blessing as a start skill is probably a bonus of sorts, unless you intentionally splash an Eskatia type card which changes the battle-time to night. The recent EX card, Violet General has proven that even a AGI-1 skill can be an advantage during certain matches, but this being a time dependent skill on Dilate makes me question how effective it will be. It will certainly help against Eternal Night files, allowing Dilate to attack before say Fenrir or even Eskatia. 

His trait allows him to gain attack x2 and "send to cemetery" immunity along with say, Bringer if Song for a Hero is played on Bringer.

Finally, the action skill Crimson Death seems better than the Dilate Set 10 skill since it has no "number of enemy vs friends" restriction or Falkow level penalty. I don't know though if Crimson Dilate will still be around by the late game when your LP is down to 4 or lower. I guess this could be a different way of playing Crimson Hero Dilate, instead of taking advantage of his Open skill, you take advantage of his "mass wiping skill" ala Samurai Girl.

The soul skill is "meh" compared to Thunderbolt or even Russell. There are times when you want SS pinpointing. Why not just design the skill so that you select the specific units you want to target instead of creating an instance where the skill might not hit any units at all. But I guess Crimson Hero wasn't intended to be a staple SS.

Even thought it's early, I will say that this card is one of the best Gowen card of Set 12. Even better than the 5-star Gowen card. I think developers are intentionally making 5-star cards suck since these are auto-rewards to high level players gaining a "tenth" level. So if you want players to spend, make it more difficult to get the better card. I'm probably over-thinking this conspiracy theory.

Still, check out Set 12 which is sure to add variety to the decks you currently see in Folrart.

Ikariam Pirate Fortress Level 17 Capture Run Options

Finally completed upgrading the Pirate Fortress to level 17. Below is the list of all capture runs that can be done at this level.

You can check out my original post on the pirate fortress here.

Ikariam v 0.5.3 The Pirate Fortress

There's a new building in Ikariam version 0.5.3 called the Pirate Fortress. Below are the details and some images.

New building slot for the Pirate Fortress

New building available after researching Piracy

You can increase your Pirate Crew's strength in the Pirate Fortress

There are different options available under Capture Run once you increase the Pirate Fortress level

0.5.3

17.12.2012

Feature - Piracy: The new research option `Piracy` enables construction of the Pirate Fortress building on a new building slot located off the coast of the town. The slot is only available for this building`s use. The building and its 30 levels enable the following new actions: Capture runs - Pirates can be sent on 9 different capture runs in order to loot gold and capture points. Raids - Pirate Fortresses belonging to other players that lie within range can be raided in order to loot their capture points. When successful, all enemy capture points will be looted. Convert capture points - the individual capture points can be invested in your crew`s strength, however implementing this takes time. The higher the strength of your crew, the better they are able to defend the Pirate Fortress and raid other players. Converting capture points can be sped up by using Ambrosia. A new highscore list for capture points has been created, which runs for a set period of time and whose final score is visible until the cycle of the next judgement period. A detail of the capture point`s highscore list - in the Pirate Fortress, your own position and those of the 5 players above and 4 below you will be displayed. This display will be refreshed once a day. The 50 players with the most capture points in their account at the end of the several days worth of judgement period will be rewarded with a generous treasure of resources: up to 16 fold of the safe storage capacity of one of each resource in every one of the player`s towns for the person who achieves first place in the capture point highscore during this time period. After distribution of the prizes, all capture points as well as the upgraded crew strengths will be reset to zero and the pirate hunt for resources will begin afresh!

Show Me Your Glory Chords - Hillsong

Here's my chord pattern attempt at the song Show Me Your Glory by Hillsong. I hope you'll be blessed.

Intro: G7sus - G7 (repeat pattern)

Stanza Pattern:
G7sus - G7
I hear the sound of angels wings
G7sus - G7
And the anthems they all bring
CM7
To You our God

Repeat Stanza Pattern
Here i stand on holy ground
Let the beauty of Your face
Shine on me

Refrain Pattern:
D         Em            CM7    
In the shadow of your wings
D         Em            CM7
In the shadow of your wings

Chorus Pattern:
G             D
Show me your glory
G             D
Show me your ways
Em   C        D
I will surrender
Am   C             D
Let me know your truth

Stanza Pattern:
G7sus - G7
Here the power of Your voice
G7sus - G7
As You speak into my world
CM7
And I am new

Repeat Stanza Pattern:
And the promises unchanged
You have breathed into my heart
Eternity

Refrain Pattern:
D         Em            CM7
And forever I am Yours
D         Em            CM7
And forever I am Yours

Chorus Pattern:
G             D
Show me your glory
G             D
Show me your ways
Em   C        D
I will surrender
Am   C             D
Let me know your truth

Instrumental:
Am C D (4x)

Bridge Pattern:
Am   C             D
There is only one God
Am   C             D
There is only one Lord
Am   C             D
I will surrender my life
Am   C             D
To You, To You

Chorus Pattern:
G             D
Show me your glory
G             D
Show me your ways
Em   C        D
I will surrender
Am   C             D
Let me know your truth

Outro Pattern:
Am   C             D
Let me know your truth
Am   C             D
Let me know your truth
Am   C             D
Let me know your truth
Am   C             D
Let me know your truth

Autodesk Homestyler

Check out what I was able to do after playing around for a few hours with Autodesk Homestyler. All you need to do is sign up for a free account and you can start immediately. No hassles of software downloads since it is web-based.

The closest competitor to Homestyler in my opinion is Roomle. But I just wasn't satisfied with my experience with Roomle.

In today's fast paced environment, rapid prototyping software can help improve the customer experience, allowing a client to immediately visualize an Architect or Interior Designer's idea or concept. Sure changes will happen to the plan eventually, and sometimes, the plan is even better looking than the actual product.

I would suggest using the 3D option for touring the design. I was searching the Homestyler forums for options so that the embedded design defaults in 3D but could not find any tutorials for such. But feel free to view the image in 3D mode, pan around, zoom in and zoom out.

Alteil EX 11: Gregory

If you specialize in the Gowen sphere, you'll be glad to know that one of the strongest cards in the new EX 11 Set is Exiled Swordsman Gregory. Let's check out the cards skills and stats.

The Start skill, Void Slash, allows Gregory to wipe out a single enemy row every turn as long as his Attack power is zero. And this is a Start skill that essentially bypassed DEF and gets to trigger before anything else. Of course, the condition is that the unit has to be focused and has an AT value of zero. How does one get AT to zero? Grim cards like Brave Strike, might be an option, allowing you to hit possibly 2 units in the back rows and the entire front row gets wiped out when the Start skill takes effect. Angel's trumpet is another grim that could be of use in Refess Gowen hybrids. Hunter Rosa and EX Brahma's soul skill even combos nicely with Gregory. 

The Action skill, Reason to Fight has turned Gregory into an effective buffer. Of course, the ideal target would be a level 3 unit so Light Heierrat Fighter, Heierrat Broadsword Soldier, or Heierrat Field Commander are ideal candidates. Field commander helps generate the SP needed to trigger the skill too. But I've seen players buff Jack Winston, Heierrat Revolver, and even Bear Killing Axe-man for kicks.

In case you didn't have the SP to trigger Reason to Fight, you can still focus Gregory by standing by. So even if his Start skill doesn't wipe out the enemy row next turn, the HP of the enemy units is still reduced to 30 HP.

While Gregory is slow, his HP and DF can more than compensate for it. He fits nicely in a Mid Gowen build, where BKR and Winston used to be the mainstays. Gregory along with other Mercenary Nation / Warrior types can serve as a bonus for a late game New Hunter Alisa.

I want to see him work with a pure Mercenary Nation build, but I haven't seen an effective one yet.

So if you miss playing Gowen, and are tired of the current Refess Meta, Gregory might just be the card that might breath life into that sphere.