[SPOILERS] DaveV: The vampire bites! Goodbye level 9.

[DaveV]

That's a lot of vampire production! Remind me, what are you planning for them if not 'defend against dogpile'?

Metagame thoughts: Thoth and plako are the biggest long-term threats. Ichabod doesn't have a good late-game civ, unless he comes up with something creative that hasn't occurred to me. Serdoa is a piñata waiting for someone to start whacking him to collect his goodies. Thoth's civ is the one that's the least vulnerable to Vampiric summons, since his top melee unit is immune to death damage. I've had peaceful relations and a low-tension border with plako all game, and he's not a fan of dogpiles. So my current plan is to build up an overwhelming attack against Thoth and eliminate him while I try to hold my ground on the other fronts.

So, attack Thoth. That indirectly hurts Ichabod by depriving him of some trade routes. If things go well against Thoth, he has some road connections to Ichabod. hammer

I'm hoping that having Ichabod close to me in the demos will forestall a dogpile. I need a few more turns to build up; I'll be able to switch to Military State and start drafting in 3 turns.

Don't forget, you'll be drafting Moroi, not Vamps. EitB change.

Yes, I knew that. A good change, IMO; draftable Vampires are too much. My plan is to build vampires and draft Moroi.

[DaveV]

My drown is on his way to circumnavigation, if the stupid barb warrior doesn't kill him at 3% odds. I guess I should have risked my boat to put the drown on a better defensive tile.



The barb warrior chose not to attack Griffon #1, so he was able to move onto the lake tile. It doesn't look as though those barb warriors are giving Ichabod much trouble.



Demos:



At EoT, I finished Sanitation and my first Vampire, leading to nice jumps in food and power.

[DaveV]

Turn 119. The drown survived unscathed from an attack by the barb warrior, but griffon #2 wasn't so lucky:



The drown can now move along. It's kind of cute how water walking units can bypass heavy terrain.



I whipped the governor's manor in Holy Water, then it was finally time for what are most likely my end-game civics:



Then I drafted my three western cities. It's fun to be able to whip and draft on the same turn.

Two more vampires completed at EoT; with the three drafted Moroi, I think Tacitus is now ranking my power as "obscene".

[DaveV]

Turn 120. The drown is still walking/swimming to the east.



No one else is pumping soldiers. A good sign.



My cites are a little smaller and unhappier than they were before.




Which hurts me a little in demos.



My army, after ending turn and building two more vampires.



An overview of the future battlefield.




I've been one-turning techs for the last several turns: hunting, now KotE, next Masonry and Construction while I build a Mage Guild, then on to Necromancy for super spectres.

[DaveV]

Turn 121. Someone popped a Great Sage.



But the big news of the turn is that I declared war on Thoth.



Griffon #1 is trying to take a shortcut back to relevance rather than the roundabout safe route.



The drown is still on his way to circumnavigation.




Surprise! It would be amusing if the drown can raze this city.

The western front:




Sorry, I can't do stack composition composites on my laptop. My stack on the forest is something like 10 Moroi, two Zealots, and my Giant Spider. If Thoth has enough Pyre Zombies nearby, he can put some hurt on this stack, but I can see several PZs that are out of position to hit it, so it seems like a good time to take a chance. Everyone but the spider has Regeneration, so they'll heal 15% at the start of next turn if one of the Zealots survives.

If Thoth doesn't attack my stack and doesn't reinforce Road Hockey, I can hit that city next turn. My goal here is to take out his army on flat ground; if they're all piled into the Dragon Bones city, that is a good spot for a showdown.

[DaveV]

Turn 122. The turn opened with a diplo screen from Thoth.



The diplo interface just doesn't work for multiplayer. Diplo proposals are a pig in a poke: you have to accept or decline without knowing all the details, and once you decline, there's no way to change your mind. I used the F5 screen to check what I could; I saw a badly injured, high-XP Moroi, and my Giant Spider was still alive. So I refused.

Thoth apparently had more Pyre Zombies in range of my stack than I thought: when I checked the log, I saw good news followed by lots of bad news:



After many pages of Pyre Zombies blowing up, units started dying:



He fell two units short. But my workers are still sitting on that forest, which opens up his stack to counterattack:




I didn't keep track of individual battles, but I lost several combats at favorable odds, and didn't win any at low odds. on the positive side, I didn't lose any Vampires. I had to use Burning Blood to capture the city after running out of units, which I blame on some of those 70-80% losses.




He has two warriors southwest of Road Hockey that I assume he'll stuff inside the city for next turn. If I can capture Road Hockey, I suspect I can cut through his soft underbelly with ease.

My circumnavigating drown sees some interesting news: a turtle ate Thoth's galley.



Griffon #1 is dodging bears and trying to reach a safe lake tile.



My power number is somewhat inflated by the spectres I still have on the board.



City list. No war weariness yet, although the number is 169.

[Mardoc]

Thanks for the nice war update!

On diplo proposals - I always think it's fair to reload the turn after looking at the situation, to accept if you want to. It's not like you change anything by just looking.

[DaveV]

Thanks for the nice war update!

You're welcome. I know well that lurkers are the only creatures more bloodthirsty than my vampires.

Maybe the only thing lurkers like more than blood is a poll. Here's my dilemma: since Thoth is before me in turn order, I can effectively double-move him by sending a Burning Blood Moroi deep into his territory, then deleting it (which doesn't actually delete it, but instead turns it to a barbarian unit). The barbs would then be able to do whatever undoubtedly sub-optimal thing they came up with on their turn.

What do the lurkers think?

A. Legitimate use of game mechanics.
B. Abuse of game mechanics, and well outside the RB spirit.

I lean toward B, but I'd welcome input.

[flugauto]

When Burning Blood Moroi join barbarians naturally: at the end of your turn or at the beginning? If at the end, then, I think, it is legitimate.

[HidingKneel]

It sounds legitimate to me.