This is a WIP playthrough of FE 1.00 and the Master's Affliction Mod v 1.0.002. Originally started this in reply #293 of Sean's affliction thread but am thoroughly enjoying this playthrough. So instead of clogging Sean's thread, thought I'd make my own.

Seanw3's Master's Affliction mod: https://forums.elementalgame.com/430587

If you are looking for additional challenge outside vanilla FE and a change in the mechanics, check Sean's mod out.

Also recommend Heavenfall's Stormworld mod for an awesome high fantasy feel. Heavenfall's Stormworld mod: https://forums.elementalgame.com/421802

Here we go...

• Karavox on medium map, insane world, expert faction, 5 opponents, dense monsters, more often random events, all other options default
• Turn 10 - my FP 17, Altar highest at 19, Magnar lowest at 9. Went with training and leatherworking, decked out sov and initial hero with full leather. Spamming custom spear units that cost 3 production. Save. Clearing immediate area, see first expansion point, moving to clear. Enjoying the fact I can spam units right off the bat. We'll see how this goes. My goodness, those mites are like roaches, they are everywhere!
• Turn 20 - FP is 30, Altar is highest AI at 21, lowest is Resoln at 15. Researching drills to get 1 more slot of cheap pointy sticks in my armies. Have two hero led stacks, each champ decked with full leather and some cool weapons found in goodie huts. It took me 10 turns to fight through mob after mob of mites to destroy their lair. Epic. Just cleaned them up, made a pioneer, going to found 2nd city shortly. Thus far other mobs on map not a challenge yet. Fighting through those mites was crazy... also discovered I'm right next door to the wildlands Curgen's tomb. Had a weird graphical glitch that affected the OS, sure hope it's not my vid card or SSD. Also got another Anna wolf. Woot for exploring! save.
• Turn 30 - FP 56, Tarth is highest at 32, Resoln is lowest at 16. Researched civics and almost done with knowledge. Have 3 heros now, each leading a stack of PMSing pointy sticks whom are kicking ass (Sean's Kraxis' ability is op). Have 3 cities now, all with great production and essence, about to found 4th. Clearing a large part of the map right now but starting to see some really nasty mid-late game mobs. Met Magnar now (FP 24) so he's timid as can be with me atm. Curgen's tomb is right next door so gonna have some future nasties rolling out of there. All in all the first 30 turns are looking pretty good. Save. I've hit turn 30 Sean, bring it!
• Turn 40 - My FP is 57. Resoln dead (mobs), lowest is Pariden at 22... and as you mentioned, here comes Tarth with FP of 74. Have 4 cities, area cleared of most low to mid mobs. Researching the low turn stuff to balance out the research. Still have some areas to expand to but biggest concern are the mobs in Curgen's Tomb. They are coming out in force. Things are about to get interesting. Still only have seen Magnar and he's way behind me with FP of 27. Save.
• Turn 50 - wow, the wildlands opened up and are attempting to stomp my face. Fp of 70. Tarth continues their rise with 117 and Pariden is bringing up the rear with 25. Still 4 cities, completely under seige from Curgen's Tomb wildlands mobs. Had two epic battles at my cities - both of which were won by the skin of my teeth. Ice Elemental stacks, Earth elementals, you name it. Faction concerns aren't even on my radar - just trying to stay alive from the wildland zerg. A Shrill Lord killer stack is moving towards one of my cities - trying to kite the mobs away if I can. Scream it Paxton, scream it! Save.

• Turn 60 - I am at war with Curgen's Tomb. That is all. My FP is 79, Tarth is highest with 147, lowest is Magnar with 37. I lost Anna (one of my beloved wolf scouts) by risking a cross-country move. Just researched heroes so I can build the Nightwatch, which will apparently keep the cities it is built in from being attacked by monsters. I can also start to throw some wardens up on outposts. I'm fully focused on thinning out the hordes of wildlands stacks, nothing else matters at this point until I can stabilize the situation. Extremely dangerous, tons of fun! Sean, this is nuts, the gates of hell. Looking to expand west if I can. Trying to kite wildlands mobs away from the cities. Save.
• Turn 70 - FP 89 (3rd). Tarth is highest with 168, lowest is Magnar with 44. Managed to settle a village out west next to a nasty 3 stack of ogres. I took my sov (risked pulling him off the Curgen's Tomb front) and 8 spear units with a settler, settled the village, and stuck all 9 units in the town. Next turn, the 3 stack attacked the town. Sean modded the city defenders to have armor and such so had an epic battle of sov, 8 overland units, and 3 armored defenders. Lost a couple of units but pulled it out. One of my towns ZOC just expanded on top of an assassin demon lair, waiting for him to move. He has 450 hp so when he moves it's gonna be dicey. Curgen's Tomb is east of my domain and they remain a constant threat. Using overland units to kite as much as possible... just trying to survive. If they come out in force I'm in trouble. Bandit hordes up north, managed to kill an army that attacked my northern town, again only pulling out because of the city defenders. At this point I'm considering lowering land west of my capital to punch through the Misty Mountains and continue settlement. I could also punch north but need to take out that bandit spawn. Feel threatened on all sides by the world. Haven't lost any cities yet. Save.
• Turn 80 - FP of 97 (3rd). Tarth at 197 and Magnar at 65. Assassin Demon awoke and I goaded him into attacking my city with sov, full stack of 9 spears, and defenders. Cleaned him up and took the lair (air elemental scroll). Western side of domain stable and quiet. Eastern front continues to be a madhouse with Curgen's Tomb mobs all over. Had a 2 stack of Ice elementals attack my northern town, which is now a fortress and soon to have a fort. Eastern front is stabilizing a bit, doing a little offense to clean out the mobs. HOWEVER, another of Sean's nasty little surprises... a lone darkling warrior lair was sitting in the northern part of Curgen's. Well, I never cleared it and all of a sudden 3-4 full stacks of darkling warriors poured out of there and are on the move. I'm trying to kite, hoping they will fight some of Curgen's mobs. Fortunately the city threatened is the fortress. Still considering expanding west, using some mana to blow a hole through the mountain range. It appears when I'm done stabilzing this area, I'm going to have a couple of Kingdom factions to deal with... they are growing in power unchecked. Save.
• Turn 90 - FP of 105. Tarth leading with 237 and Magnar at the back with 83. Each of my two cities directly next to Curegen's tomb experienced massive curgen tomb attacks, both of which were repelled with minimal losses. Sean's buffing to city defenses gives the feeling there are towering walls protecting the cities - cities are no pushover in this mod, especially fortresses. Spending my time building city infrastructure - masons, lumber mills, etc. Building night watches in each city, upgrading outposts with wardens and high towers. Trying to make that long border with Curgen's tomb a little more safe. Never really had to focus on outpost upgrades before - how dangerous the mobs are in the mod is forcing me to. Taking my sov up north to process a short campaign against the bandit hordes, may swing east to deal with the wildling hordes. If I can clear the area up north there is another settleable spot, but my border will start bouncing up against Magnar. Magnar is apparently acting as a great buffer against the 3 kingdoms. The anxiety I felt from turn 50 to 80 is starting to subside (and it's not from the valium). I might survive this after all. If the city defenses were buffed like this, and I wasn't able to spam the slaveling spear units, I would have been toast awhile ago. Save.
• Turn 100 - FP 114. Altar is in the lead with 284. Magnar is last with 92. Controlling the situation around Curgen's Tomb has really affected my ability to expand westwards. However, I do have outposts with wardens now and the night watch built - things are becoming calm on the border. The hordes of darkling riders actually attacked towards the center of Curgen's tomb - the mobs are fighting each other. I have two possible expansion points up north - one borders Curgen's tomb and the other expands northwest. Started a military campaign in the north to clear the area for expansion in both locations. Cities are growing, domain is clear, borders and cities protected. Save.
• OVERALL SUMMARY OF FIRST 100 TURNS: Epic. Was not prepared at all for the insane monster activity that unleashed around turn 40, especially from the wildlands. In vanilla the wildlands are pretty tame - not here. In fact, all monster lairs are out of control, in particular bandits, mites, darklings, etc. I plan on seeing this thing through to the end, no matter where it takes me. Haven't even really started interacting with the factions yet other than signing some economic treaties and trading knowledge.
• Turn 110 - FP 151. Altar is in the lead with 342 and Magnar is in last at 89. Magnar is at war with Pariden (134). That damn bandit lair I didn't take out is spawning incredibly powerful ruffian armies with 7 units each, total hp of the stacks are 2K+ each. Since I now have groups, I've switched my entire production to spamming cheap spear units which are trainable in 1 turn. Cast Aura of Might and Aura of Grace on my high production conclave, creating dodge build monk tank units. All 3 other primary cities are spamming groups of spears. What I can't accomplish in finesse victories, I will accomplish with numbers. Consolidated my entire military near the bandit stronghold, about to push out. Upgrading relevant outposts with armories and forts as the upgrades are buildable in 1 turn. To get through these nasty packs, planning on using pioneer units to build outposts and put these bad boys within my zoc. Slow and methodical... don't have the mana to pillar of flame the bandits. Turn 110-120 should be the beginning of my advance northwards and put an end to the ruffian threat. Save.
• Turn 120 - FP 155. Altar is in the lead with 412, Magnar in last with 107. I'm now at war with Altar and Tarth although they are far away. My war with the bandits did not go well. I settled an outpost near the bandit lair and all hell broke loose. 3 full 7 unit stacks marched towards the outpost (the bandits with 2K+ health in total). I placed Karavox there with his tanks and spears. Bandits attacked. Lost a unit in the first battle but Karavox took the first group down. Right after that, 2nd stack attacked. Pulled out everything I could, including summoning an air elemental and burning wraiths from scrolls. Took that 2K stack down as well with Karavox having 11 hp. 3rd group attacked, same turn, and Karavox charged screaming "For Malkier!". Alas, he was cut down but managed to escape. Klunni, Karavox's vassal, bravely charged around the hordes of bandits and raided their lair, permanently cutting off their supply lines. The next turn, the bandits attacked whereupon Klunni received a cracked skull. Both are recuperating in the fortress. At the moment the empire is stable with no serious threats within the borders. Time is the enemy... Save.
• Turn 130 - FP 228. Altar is leading the pack with 464, Magnar in the back with 111. Now that the bandit war is concluded and the threat of that lair is in the past, I'm turning my attention to the extremely scary darkling lair on the border of Curgen's Tomb. It appears the darklings pushed south and laid waste to the mobs inside Curgen's. The Shrill Lord stacks are MIA - I think there was a massive battle hidden by the FOW. Curgen's is becoming empty due to what the darklings did and my border cleanup sorties when they foray into my territory. Major short-term focus is to settle a town next to the darkling lair, stack it with my sov and full 9 stack of best troops, and hope they decide to bounce against my walls. Those darkling stacks are NASTY, the combo of uber range attack with the spear units is just a nightmare. My sov and his stack are entering Curgen's from the north, hoping to clean up the remaining mobs and grab some possibly epic game changing gear. Somewhere in Curgen's is the Storm Dragon... all quiet thus far with the factions. I'm still spamming the cheap units, bringing up my FP in the process. Save.
• Turn 140 - FP 253. Altar is in the lead with 545, his meteoric rise continues. Magnar bringing up the rear with 121. Changed my mind about the settlement spot near the darklings - I don't see a solution to their threat at the moment. As long as they keep heading south and wiping Curgen's mobs, fine. They did wander in and destroy a mine. Turning my attention up north but there is another bandit lair with multiple nasty stacks. Plan at this point is to combo up the outpost bonuses from armories and forts. Placed one strategically 3 tiles from the new settlement spot and bandit lair. Going to drop another, ideally 2 slots away. Will queue up the high tower upgrade and on the turn that it completes, settle the new spot. Move in my sov with 8 of my best units. At that point, have double bonuses from forts, city defenders, and 9 units including sov. Let those bandits bounce up against those walls... If I can pull this off, settlement westward should be doable. Having to fight for every single tile in this mod at this difficulty level... Save.
• Turn 150 - FP 275. Altar #1 at 627, Magnar last at 154. The last 10 turns went VERY well. Obtained 2 ogre lairs on the west and southern sides of the empire and can recruit them. The war against the bandits is about over, just need to take down their lair and game over for the bandits in the immediate area. Karavox has path of the commander, thus debuffs enemy army at start of each combat PLUS has guardian wind... archers are not the threat they once were. Stacking the outpost buffs and strategically putting the ZOC over the enemy lairs is adding a tremendous amount of attack/defense to my primary army. Am using freeze as needed to strategically debuff the enemy armies within the zoc. Obtained two more ogre lairs from the bandit campaign... soon going to have a nice supplement of ogres in my spear army. The border with Curgen's is quiet - have one of my heroes expanding to the southeast around Curgen's. Once I consolidate these recent gains, will reassess the situation with Curgens and the darklings. I have two options for expansion - westwards or consolidate Curgen's and the immediate area before pushing on. Things are looking very good for the empire at this time - borders are quiet, cities are well defended, all outposts are upgraded with wardens, high towers, armories, and forts. Save. With that said I have not been tested against Altar or Tarth as of yet... time to cherish the gains thus far. Don't worry Karavox, be happy.

• To minimize the wall of text, continued playthrough of turn 160 and further turns commented in reply #17 and beyond...