[Spoilers] Cometh the Messiah - Varn Gosam and the Malakim

[Rowain]

Thanks for your explanations and (at least for me) your civ-change seems to make sense.

[Ilios]

You're welcome Rowain!

I'm not always sure I'm explaining stuff most people know, and boring them to death...

T33:

Nothing much to report, Dappa and Gabriel Goto moved outside of the borders northeast from Blue Dot. No Barbs to be seen, here's hoping there isn't another hungry Spider waiting!
The Settler moved to the staging area northeast from his escorts.

The Calabim gaining 12 points last turn, and I can't figure out what it could be. A technology discovered gives you 11 points. A pop increase gives you 7 points, or 8 points in multiples of three. (so that's 7 points at 1 pop, 7 points at 2 pop, 8 points at 3 pop, etc).

The only things I can think of at the moment, is that the Calabim got a free monument earlier, and have popped their borders for the third time 20 turns ago, and what I'm seeing are the point gains for land held. (would include water tiles).

Or, you get 11 points for the first five techs, but 12 points for the one after that, then back to 11 points, etc.

We'll see how much I'm off target once I actually meet the vampires.


Oh, and Merry Christmas everyone!

[Ilios]

I sent an message to Sciz recently, asking him if he'd met anyone else. He replied he'd met the Elves, who were located to his South-south-west.

I then asked him if he'd seen any barbs yet. This is what he replied:

Yeah there's a few skeletons walking around, and there's a lizardman
in a ruin between you and me, but I can't see if it's started to move
yet.

This is pretty interesting.

If you have skeletons walking around, it usually means they are actually walking around IN your lands, being annoying and forcing workers inside the city, until they commit suicide and attack the city. I haven't had any significant Crop or MFG increases from the Luchuirp in a while now, so I'm guessing Sciz has lost quite a few worker turns, setting him back a bit.

The second sentence is good to know, because it means Sciz knows about the double floodplain, double wines spot I'd like to grab after the Gold/Incense spot. Hopefully he won't have the balls to found a city so close to a Lizardman Ruins, and cedes the spot to the Glorious Malakim Empire!

Here's the spot, for those too lazy to look back to the first page:

[Ilios]

T34:

Dappa and Gabriel Goto have moved to Blue Dot together with the Settler. No barbs in sight, so hopefully a new city will be added to the Malakim Empire next turn!

I'll post a screenshot tonight, but I can already tell you that moving the Settler into position reveals more jungle. A border pop will put some Peaks to the south inside my borders, which will reveal some more land, and a Unique Feature, Aqua Sucellus. The feature will give an extra happy if a city has it inside its BFC, and will add another Life Mana (+1 extra Health). It also gives extra healing.

I've finished another Scout (The Vagabond King), who'll scout the north a bit and then head over to Luchuirp lands to try and meet with the Elves.

Ending turn finishes another Warrior, Vrej Esphanian, and grows Helios to size 6, into unhappiness. I'll be mostly building Workers and Settlers now, and I will be connecting the Wines in about 7-8 turns, so no harm done.

C&D:

The Balseraph capital has grown to size 6. The MFG graphs shows that Serdoa is still building Settler, so I'm guessing Serdoa got a pop from an event. Since Perpentach is not Charismatic anymore, Jubilee has grown into unhappiness as well.

The Ljosalfar have gained their third border pop points. One or two water tiles are inside Elven borders.

The Lanun capital has grown to size 4.

The Luchuirp have gotten a cheap tech, either Exploration or Ancient Chants. I'm guessing the former.

[Maksim]

Off-topic: Gabriel Goto is such a wonderful name - the first time I got it, I did have a chuckle. Then again, Stephenson always had great character names (who could forget "Hiro Protagonist" - the main character from Snow Crash?). Are you going with the rest of Jack's band for the initial set of warriors, then?

On-topic questions:

1) Are you planning to settle Yellow Dot after Blue Dot straight away, or later on, once you have the forces to take out the lizardmen ruin? Do you have any further ambitions to settle in that direction, or will you consider that the extent of your border with the dwarves?

2) How can you see Perpentach's traits in-game? Can you tell us what they are right now? Do you monitor these regularly, or just happened to notice?

3) It's the Creative part of your leader's traits that's changeable, right? Are you aiming to change it at first opportunity, or do you want to let it do the job of expanding your borders for a bit?

4) What is your tech path beyond Mysticism\Mining?

5) What do you think in general regarding your neighbours - Balseraphs and Luchuirp? Which one is more dangerous to you down the road?

[Ilios]

Are you going with the rest of Jack's band for the initial set of warriors, then?

Yevgeny the Raskolnikov is next...

1) Are you planning to settle Yellow Dot after Blue Dot straight away, or later on, once you have the forces to take out the lizardmen ruin? Do you have any further ambitions to settle in that direction, or will you consider that the extent of your border with the dwarves?

Yes, I've decided I need it right now. Other sites are mediocre, or have resources that cannot be improved right now because I won't have access to the tech right away (Bronze Working to clear jungle, Animal Husbandry, Fishing). Yellow Dot allows me to claim premium land between me and the Dwarves. Two or three fortified Warriors should be able to hold their own against the Lizards (Lizards have an effective strenght of 3 when attacking cities, against 4.5 strenght for a fully fortified Warrior inside a city, not even counting cultural bonusses). I'll try to clear the Ruins once I have access to Bronze Warriors or Soldiers of Kilmorph.

I will not be expanding (peacefully) towards the Luchuirp after Yellow Dot.

2) How can you see Perpentach's traits in-game? Can you tell us what they are right now? Do you monitor these regularly, or just happened to notice?

You can check his current traits by hovering over the Score Display. I've been doing this right after checking the event log from the beginning of the game. Perpentach is currently Financial/Philosophical/Expansive. That is a killer combo, but has come too early for Serdoa to really benefit from it (except for the Expansive trait which gives him double hammers when building Settlers). Hopefully, he'll change to more reasonable traits soon... Half priced Markets and Elder Councils will be a big advantage in about 30-40 turns, provided Perpentach keeps the traits.

3) It's the Creative part of your leader's traits that's changeable, right? Are you aiming to change it at first opportunity, or do you want to let it do the job of expanding your borders for a bit?

Yes, I'll be able to switch Creative to something new on T67. I have no intention on keeping it, which is why I need to pump out those Settlers so at least 3 cities can benefit from the free culture (AND half priced Monuments, more about that later).

4) What is your tech path beyond Mysticism\Mining?

I really want a religion, because of those half priced temples and Mobility promoted Divine units. I've already mentioned Malakim Unique units aren't very spectacular, so I plan on using the Religion specific units as much as possible. At this stage of the game, I can realistically try and get Runes of Kilmorph, Octopus Overlords or Fellowship of the Leaf. We can skip FoL right away, as I have no intention on getting it's prereq - the expensive Hunting tech - any time soon. I'm a big fan of OO, but I'll have to get it's prereq first - Fishing - and I am loath to convert, because it will turn me Neutral from Good, which I don't want (yet). The Great Prophet event only happens for Good or Evil races, so I want to keep my chances of getting it. I might research it later on, because it will give me two extra happies from the OO temple (one from the Religion Civic, another from the Incense resource, once I've discovered Philosophy). All depends on my happiness situation around T100 (I've spotted Wine, Dyes, Silk, Gold and Ivory so far). That leaves RoK. Kilmorph Temples produce 3 gold (no culture), and come very cheap at 40 hammers (due to Spiritual trait). Combined with cheap Markets (switching to Financial for sure), I should be able to run close to 100% beakers, or keep me a bit longer in God King while expanding. Mining should be in around T50, and I should get the religion around T60 (research will basically be fueled by Gold Mines and Plains Incense).

5) What do you think in general regarding your neighbours - Balseraphs and Luchuirp? Which one is more dangerous to you down the road?

I'd like to do a full analysis of my neighbours in a couple of days.

[Ilios]

T35:

Behold the newest addition to the Glorious Empire!:



Here ends the good news...

As you can see, a Lizardman envoy has been sent down to enchange gifts, pointy ones!

That pisses me off! Couldn't it have waited until my worker finished the farm? Have they no respect for a thoroughly prepared microplan?

So, Augustinus grabs his shovel, and scurries over to the plains forest hill, and is joined by our newest Warrior, Vrej Esphanian. The Worker will build a road, which will connect both cities for an extra two commerce. Depending on how the Lizard moves, I'll move the Warrior closer to En-Kai, should the Lizard beat the city garrison. The warriors inside the new city will have around 80% chance to defeat the incoming barb, but prayers have been made to the Mighty Sun, just in case.

Founding the city hits me with 4 gold upkeep! Wow, I had counted on 2, maximum three, guess I'll be working the unimproved gold tile if I can't get that second farm up in time for growth...

Proof:



Over to the north, my scout makes a stunning discovery:



More gold... Wow, that's three resources I should get my hands on soon...

Looking at the rest of the land, I think this indeed will be a good candidate for a Heroic Epic port city. The scout will be moving west. The isthmus to the northeast should be mostly revealed when those peaks come inside Malakim borders (should be around T56-60).

Demographics:



Lots of numbers...

Serdoa seems to have finished a Settler, and has finished a Warrior with the overflow:



New Balseraph city should get founded soon, either by the Dragon Bones or to Jubelee's north.

[Thoth]

That pisses me off! Couldn't it have waited until my worker finished the farm? Have they no respect for a thoroughly prepared microplan?

Early game microplans in FFH should always include lots of "run away from the barbs" time.

[Ilios]

Early game microplans in FFH should always include lots of "run away from the barbs" time.

But, "run away from barbs" time wasn't slated until next turn on the micoplan!

T36:

They're round:



Scanning the point increases I spot a point increase for Serdoa. Checking the the Diplo-screen confirms it, the Balseraphs are the second nation to found their second city. Now where is it?

If I were Serdoa, I'd found directly on the Silk, grabbing Rice, Sheep and the Dragon Bones. It would block access to Balseraph lands.

Dragon Bones to Serdoa!

The tile yield is visible on the screenshot. In addition to providing Ivory once Serdoa discovers the Hunting technology, it will give an extra happy to the new city (shows up as "we love our National Parks!"). It's a good tile, but not as good as Remnant of Patria (extra hammer yield on the tile) or Yggdrasil (extra food, extra health resource, extra happy resource).

Over to En-Kai, Loser the Lizard has moved into position, and will be ready to attack next turn. This could actually become a dangerous sitiuation. En-Kai's borders haven't popped yet, and the warriors will get a 10% fortify bonus at best. Together with the innate city defense bonus, each warrior is at around 4 effective Strenght (3+25%+10%). The Lizard gets minus 20% Strength when attacking cities, so will be at an effective Strenght of 3.20.

I'm not sure, but I'm guessing the Lizard has between 30% and 40% odds of winning. Coming from someone who lost his first Settler at 4% odds in the last Pitboss game, that's not very reassuring...

Especially since the Lizard has decided to end its move in front of the city. Should he decide to attack this turn, and wins, he'll be able to move out of range to heal and promote, making him even more dangerous. So I'm kind of hoping he waits for a turn, which will add another 5% fortify bonus, 10% from the popped borders, and moving Vrej closer again.

Keep you fingers crossed!

As you can see, I've turned off research, and will be going 100% gold for two turns. I had planned on only one turn, but the enormous upkeep hit throws that plan out of the window.

Over to the north, the scout reveals some more land on his way west:



Demographics:



Someone is at 20 hammers. Overflow?

[Ilios]

C & D:

The Balseraphs had discovered a new technology last turn. I was pegging either Mining or Mysticism. But the event log confirmed Serdoa has discovered Mysticism, because Serdoa switched to God King and Pacifism (+50% GPP, - 20% Production when building units, extra War weariness) this turn.

This means Serdoa got a possible Ancient Chants pop on T24 (or a free beaker event).

I'm not convinced about the Pacifism move. Perpentach is currently Philosophical, so when his capital finishes an Elder Council, a Scientist will generate 6 GPP per turn. Pacifism will only add 1 measly GPP per turn, and the unit building malus is pretty significant in non-capital cities. To me, the Pacifism Civic works when you can run two specialists, for a total of 9 GPP per turn for non-Philosophical Civs (3 + 3 = 6 + 50% = 9).

On T34, the Doviello discovered a tech, either Mining or Mysticism. Mining on the way to Bronze Working for those Sons of Asena, or Mysticism for the Elder Council. I might ask Serdoa if Mist has done any civic changes.

On T35, the Lanun discovered another cheap tech, no idea which, but Amelia did research it in 4 turns, which to me, confirms her lead in GNP.