[Spoilers] Amelia, Tempest of the Seas

[Amelia]

... Did we enable the "Erratic Barbs option"?

Or at least the "Erratic Lizardman option?"

Anyway, here's how the turn started.



For one heart stopping moment, i thought my Bronze was going to die and put an end to my dreams of a Str 7 Warrior. Thankfully, he finished the Skeleton.

I moved my GC warrior down with Combat 3 to protect said Bronze Warrior from THE Lizard.



Yes, the Lizard moved from the Cotton to that spot... what's wrong with it? Also, a Skele appeared. Free Exp for Bronzy. I'll station Commander Bronzy there to handle future Lizard and Skele attacks from the South, and since i've seen nothing from the North so far it should be good.

[NobleHelium]

I'm not 100% sure on this, but I think barrows inside national borders don't spawn anything further, so you didn't have to keep a warrior on it.

[Amelia]

Welcome to Radiata City, people. Skeletons are not welcome, neither are Lizardman and Orcs.



The Lizardman has returned to where it tries to ambush the Stationary Warriors. But this time, if it goes back, there's no escape...

[Amelia]

The Lizardman decided to go NW. I decided to stay and heal. If he moves W NW, i have a slight chance of getting eliminated!

Also, Settler is done. The 2 turns became 1 after the last Port improved. I'll show a screenie next turn.

[Amelia]

I've been doing some thinking during the night where i can't sleep.

Again, i'm playing this game like SP. Just me and the barbs, and if the neighbours come, well, i'll think about them later. This is MP. If they find weakness in me (And they will thanks to no espionage power graph), they'll attack. And if i play normally ignoring Military like i always do (With the exception of a few Heroes), I'll be screwed...

[SIZE="5"]Early Game![/SIZE]

Hill Giants

Let's see my defenses. My biggest and best defense right now is my double Promotion Str 5 Warrior. Really, that stops anything coming early game, with the possible exception of 3 Hill Giants.

And if 3 Hill Giants along with 10 + Warriors come at me, i don't see how i can stop it anyway! Maybe if i stack up on Drowns, but that would mean i will start losing economically.

P.S: Possible food for thought, when playing Doviello or CoE, rush Giants to kill with them?

Warrior Rush

So what else? A Warrior Rush? That can only be done by the Doviello, Mist, and well, i have a Str 5 Warrior to fight off Lucian, and a Str 3 Triple Promotion Warrior. Along with a GC who i can pass around. I don't really see much threat from that angle. If he comes pillaging, he can pillage my roads for all i care.

Pillaging Galley?

Unless he brings in a Galley from like 20 turns away, and i'll have a Trireme by then. Or i can even just Mass Drowns the Galley (Sir, we're under attack by UNDEAD).

[SIZE="5"]Medium Game![/SIZE]

Axeman Rush? I'm not too worried, to be honest. It will come say turn 100, and by that time I should have my own Axemen, a few Adepts, some Horses (If there are some around), some Drowns, my own source of copper. If i'm good enough (and thanks to the insane cities here, i think i can), Boarding Parties, Priests, probably Saverous. Guybrush? Doubt i can reach Mages though. Horse Archers?

Horse Archer Rush? Who are Raiders here? Malakim might take it. Perpentach might get it. The rest? Nope. Not a problem then. Unless Perpentach gets Agg/Cha/Raiders, then i'll be scared (And shit if that happens I'm doomed).

[SIZE="5"]Late Game![/SIZE]

Vampires!

Vampires. I'm not too worried again, to be honest. By the time they have Vamps, i'll probably be running away with the game. And if nothing works, i'll just throw Horse Archers at them. Maybe get Basium in a Hammer city as an ally so that he will have to contend with Angels? (Ok, AI Angels, depending on how it goes) but those angels are pretty strong.

Golems!

Luchiurp Golems? On one hand, i want to ally with them. Golems are pretty much the safest bet against Vamps, especially if they can throw Fireballs (Ok they come pretty late in the game to do that though!). On the other hand, if they really can throw Fireballs, and he sends like 150+ Mud / Wood / Iron Golems at me, i'm pretty much screwed. My only option would be Mass Ritiualists or a super strong Chalid, since Blinding Light doesn't even work on Golems!

Religious Fanatics?

Let's see. Elves have FoL, meaning that they're defensive for a long time. Doubt it's a problem...

RoK Heroes? Nah, they're all defensive. Mith Golem not going to come out lol.

OO? I'm taking them all. Unless i switch out and someone gets Hemah, but I'll save that for a later post titled Magic Users.

CoE has nothing.

Order? I don't think so.

Empyrean? I want them myself, and i will get them myself.

Which leaves... Ashen Veil. I'm raiders though, so it's harder for them to take advantage against me. Ring of Fire only works against, well, first ring. I'll be attacking from second, third or even fourth (HAs).

Now, food for thought. Cultists can and will disembowel my cities and slaughter my citizens. Tsunamis are good against Cities next to water. Guess who's next to water...

Mages!

What do i have against Mages? Lots of HAs, my own mages, a few of my own priests. Assassins? Should i tech for those as well? We'll see.

Late game will come later i guess. Now let's return to short term!

Short term again!

I definitely need Short Term OO though. Saverous + Drowns are needed to stop a determined Mist Rush. Maybe a few Cultists, but those are strong on offense, not on defense where they can destroy my own tile improvements =(

Also, i do have a trump card. It's called Raging Seas. What, never heard of that before? Yea, me neither. I thought the Lanun didn't have a World Spell at all =(

Ok, joke aside, there's one good reason why most of my cities are water-based. If my enemies forget about it (And seriously, there's a good chance, I don't think anyone ever used Raging Seas before), I can wipe out a solid stack taking minimum losses.

P.S: Food for thought, Raging Seas when Orthus comes out? If he suddenly attacks a city which got Raged, and someone gets evicted because of it, i'll be laughing all the way in the game (until i get killed as well!)

Also, another reason why i'm not afraid of Orthus. Bait him with a warrior next to the ocean, and slaughter him with my World Spell, if really needed.

We'll see.

My dotmap will come next turn, where you'll see my awesome defense structure!

[Amelia]

Did i say i hate erratic Barbs?

Really?

Because i kinda love them now.



Please go far far away, please.

Anyway, the Settler is done. He's chilling on the ice with the two str 4 Warriors. Based upon the score i seem to be last in settling cities, but that's ok, I will soon be first.


DOTMAP

Anyway, here's the dotmap. Ok technically it's a sign map, but it should explain more then enough.



My current settler is heading towards the City site N of the Pigs. It'll be in the middle, so i can expand borders with OO to have a good defensive city. It gets Pigs, Incense, and Double Coves. It will build more and more work boats for the other two cities, needing a total of 4 more (1 for the Cotton City, yum) and 2 coves for the right city / 1 Clams.

I desperately needs health though, i got a 7 happy cap, but only 4 health. I just finished another work boat from Radiata, which will scout around.

[Amelia]

Contact!

But first, my settler made his city, and started on a Workboat. I've got 2 Warriors in it, with a 3rd coming to protect it soon.

My elder council is done, with a sage in it. 23 more turns to the academy.

Also, it is with sad news that my exploring workboat, full of hearty pirates, were surprised by a bunch of Griffins. Not a single man survived.

Work has started on a worker, and although Pirates find it hard to get their landlubber legs, ARRRRR, they still work fine. Better than any elf, in fact.

Anyway, here was the message from our newest contact, Illios, of the Malakim.

[COLOR="Orange"]Dear infidels,


It has come to our attention that your lands are in fact not populated by two-headed fishmen.

This information relieves us greatly, and allows us to extend our hand in friendship.

With your permission, our Scouting party led by the Vagabond Kind would like to move west along your northern borders. You see, their mission is to boldly go where no Malakim has gone before etc, etc.

Prior to making contact your great nation, the Vagabond King spotted a creature of the Lizard persuasion (one-headed), heading west. We would appreciate it if you could inform us of its current location. It had a foul look, and our Scouting party would like to avoid tangling with it for the time being.


Hoping to hear from you soon,


Yours, faithfully,


Ilios "The Voice of God"[/COLOR]

What an insult! He called me an infidel, accused me of having two-headed fishmen, thought that i might have let loosed a lizard on his scout, and he lives in the freaking desert! No glorious Pirate will ever live in the desert, with the sole exception of Floodplains. Any other deserts will be springed. SPRINGED I TELL YOU.

Anyway.

After about 10 seconds of fury, i changed my mood again. Living on the sea for so long has made me calm and happy.

[COLOR="DeepSkyBlue"]Dear Illios, Voice of God,

Greetings, desert dwellers and nomads! My loyal officers scoured Radiata City to look for the two-headed Fishmen, and happily reported that no such beings were detected. They were even questioning my sanity to look for such fishmen. Maybe you were mistaken, and that Erebus does not contain such beings?

We extend our friendship to you too, good sirs! However, we do have to ask a question, have you seen any insidious barbarians prowling around? Those belonging to the Tundra variety, led by that person we call, Lucian.

However, we no longer see any Lizardman or Scout party running around, so we are afraid that we cannot give any help in that quarter. My own scouting party was lost to some Giant Spiders, however, that is very far north. Since you are going west, that should not be a problem.

Yours, tempestly,

Amelia, "Happy Tempest"[/COLOR]

With that said, screenshot coming tomorrow, and OO will be founded in two turns! (End of next turn, actually!)

[Amelia]

Teaser image!

[pocketbeetle]

What an insult! He called me an infidel, accused me of having two-headed fishmen, thought that i might have let loosed a lizard on his scout, and he lives in the freaking desert! No glorious Pirate will ever live in the desert, with the sole exception of Floodplains. Any other deserts will be springed. SPRINGED I TELL YOU.

Anyway.

Congrats on OO!

[Amelia]

Speaking of Spring and the Malakim...

What if i were to send an army of Adepts, springing all his juicy Flood Plains into normal Plains...

Worth a though if he ever gets on my bad side. Could be a warning "Hey look, you pissed me off enough times, now look at your food / commerce go down the drain. Your hammers might go up though".