Chief Tain - May the Svarts be with you! [Ilios Spoilers]

[Ilios]

Thanks Mardoc.

So, I changed my mind on the next city spot:



Instead if the filler spot south of Heishan, I'm taking the northern spot instead. I really need the extra happy (Cotton), and it will be a better addition to the empire than the filler spot.

I'm not entirely sure what to tech after Crafting, but I think I'm going to grab Hunting. I should grab Writing for half-priced Libraries, but building Settlers/Workers takes priority for now, if I ever want to catch up with this:



Thoughts?

[Ilios]

T70 Played!

I move my Gorillas-in-the-Mist-searching-Scout one tile, and just like that, I meet Tholal ingame.



Pretty strange, considering I don't see any borders. Also, where is that damn Gorilla...



Ilios, having again forgotten who Tholal is playing, checks the cheatsheet, and finds out Tholal is playing Thessa (Arcane, Expansive) of the Kuriotates.

Let's see how we're doing vs Tholal:

GNP:



That spike could be a Megacity finishing a Tailor (I'm assuming everyone has access to the same Calendar resources, which means Tholal's megacities can spam those Clothiers for an extra 10% commerce for access to Cotton, Dyes and Silk).

MFG:



Power:



Did he go for Horseback Riding and Centaurs already?

Crop Yield:



Now this is interesting. He should be miles ahead of me, with those third ring tiles and Expansive bonus to Settler production.

How many cities?



Hmmm...

Anyway, I have again delayed Hunting, and have decided to quickly grab Mining instead. There aren't a lot of mines that can be built, but at least I'll find out if I have Copper and where it is located. In case of an emergency I should need only about five turns to grab Bronze Working (which is partly the reason I've been stockpiling gold).



I'm really falling behind the people with economic traits that don't suck.

[Ilios]

T72 played, new Settler in position, will be founded next turn.

End of turn, Copper is revealed:



Ha-ha...

Screw it, Hunting next! (braces for the inevitable anti-Svart rush)

[darrelljs]

You only have 4t in the Cottage and the MFG on this map is crap...mine it!

Darrell

[Ilios]

You only have 4t in the Cottage and the MFG on this map is crap...mine it!

Yes, let me build a Worker at the Capital first.

T76:



Hunting and seventh city in two turns.

I met Tholal's Scout, who had just captured a Bear. I'm afraid he got my Gorilla as well...

[Ilios]

T77:

Barb city!



Finally, I'll have some training dummies!

I'm also going to try and capture that Griffon, so I can cross that northern water and Mountains.

[Ilios]

So, Hunting should be in end of next turn.

What's next?

Well, I'll be heading straight for Fellowship of Leaves, hopefully landing the Holy city around T85.

I should have my second GP by that time as well, which I plan to use for a Golden Age.

But, I want to be able to switch to Aristo/Religion/MilitaryState/Conquest (more on the switch later), which means I'll need Warfare, and its pre-requisite, Bronze Working.

But before that, I want to grab Writing, to start building those half-priced Libraries (thanks to Dain's Philosophical trait).

So, I will probably have to wait for a couple of turns before firing the Golden Age with the GP.

I'm planning on running lots of Merchants as cities approach their happy caps, and Heishan will finish the Brewing House in about 8 turns as well, for an extra 30% commerce.

Mavromati will head straight for a newly minted Palace, once the Market is done.

So, if all things go to plan, I should be in economic good shape around T100, because right now, costs are really killing me:

[Ilios]

Someone grabbed Way of the Forest and founded Fellowship of Leaves! I don't care who did it, but I'm going to kill the guy that did.

[Mardoc]

Someone grabbed Way of the Forest and founded Fellowship of Leaves! I don't care who did it, but I'm going to kill the guy that did.

Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! :duel:

[SIZE="1"]What? I'm a lurker, I'm allowed to be bloodthirsty[/SIZE]

[Ilios]

Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! :duel:

It was Ichabod that got the FoL Holy city. Shouldn't have gone for Mining after all...

T83 played:



My Academy city has finally finished the Brewing House, and is turning into a great city (making 20 base hammers already). It'll bang out another Settler, which should finish by the time I get my measly sole FoL missionary in there and convert the city, and build a FoL Temple (worth 2 happy while running Religion and with access to Incense once I get Philosophy).

Mavromati will soon finish the Palace, which should save me good upkeep money (and will finally pop its border, nope, still no Monuments in this game! ).

As you can see, a Barb city has sprung up, which I plan to take with Bronze Warriorpults.

So tech path is currently looking like WoF -> Bronze Working -> Writing -> Warfare. As mentioned before, the plan is to use a soon to arrive GP to fire a Golden Age, which needs to be timed for me to switch to Aristo-Religion-Military State-Conquest before it runs out (I'll be switching to FoL at the beginning of the GA).

Demographics (cringe):



I'm doing ok I guess, Lewwyn and Ichabod are the clear leaders, with me and Ellimist behind (quite far behind), and then another drop, with DaveV and Tholal.

Speaking of which:



In my feeble defense, I'm making close to no culture...



Elf economy. Nuff said.



I'm really surprised how far behind Tholal is. As Kuriotates, this is really the part of the game where they should be surging ahead, before their limited cities lose out against the other civs.

I'm torn now, because I have Casus Belli vs Ichabod for stealing the Leaves holy city from under my nose, but I think Tholal will be a much, much easier nut to crack (especially if he's going mage heavy).