Losing is Fun: Kandros Fir Dwarf Fortress [Khazad Spoiler Thread]

[Ravus Sol]

Hope things are continueing to go well and everything is just boring not bad.

Copper in the BFC is very good. Financial, exploited cottages, aggressive trait and bronze combines you to be a very dangerous individual.

[Ichabod]

Hope things are continueing to go well and everything is just boring not bad.

Copper in the BFC is very good. Financial, exploited cottages, aggressive trait and bronze combines you to be a very dangerous individual.

Yeah... That's where I hoped I would be...

A big problem arrived when Selrahc revealed his plan to switch to Hyborem. He already has AV and he's teching Infernal Pact (probably will bulb a part of it). I'm talking to mardoc and Sciz to try and forge an alliance, but it's going to be hard to defeat a very high strenght unit this early...

[Ichabod]

Turn 92 (and the ones before it ):


Yes, it's an update. It has been a while, albeit not many turns have passed. We are currently at turn 92.

Most of you know about the big news from the last turns. Selrahc summoned Hyborem and is currently attacking Mardoc (he appeared right besides Mardoc). The Lanun are now an AI. Selrahc already razed a Kuriotate city and is currently heading to Mardoc's capital (Mardoc settled another city near me and popped legends). I sent copper to help Mardoc, but it won't do him much good. An Hyborem rush this early, in such a harsh map, is too difficult to counter...

Here are some pictures from Mardoc's land (after map trade and hawk flight).

Hyborem's forces:

And here's Dis, Infernal capital. I actually have a pretty good map now, after hawks, map trades and scouting:

My techpath went: WotE (RoK founded in Titanic - used thane on boatmurdered, which already has a RoK temple now) --- I discovered thatg Hyborem was entering the game ---> BW (to connect copper) i> cartography (send copper to Mardoc) -> Masonry. I'm heading for trebuchets to try and counter Hyborem's threat. So, I'll head to construction after Masonry, then probably sanitation for better farms (I'll have the two prereqs after all).

Here's a shot of a bear being settled in Boatmurdered (I already settled one in Hindenburg):

The unhapiness is due to my sloppy play (the last couple of turns hasn't been my best, I'm really laking focus), letting a barb warrior pillage my furs (while I head a strongly promoted bronze warrior nearby). My hapiness problems are almost done, though, with religion/fur/animals/ale (just completed brewing house in capital, mostly for the XP to dwarven units - they get two xp upon creation if you have ale connected) and wine from the 4th city.

Yes, I have a 4th city. Just settled it this turn. I could have settled it like 5 turns earlier, but I kept the settler for a possible escape from Hyborem (I wouldn't be able to defend it if Hyborem appeared near me, anyways). After he spawned, I offered to settle a city for Mardoc with it, away from the front. Since Mardoc declined the proposal (he doesn't want to play from an impossible to win situation), I settled my 4th city, "Civilization V" (my theme is disasters after all). I forgot to take a proper screenshot, but you can see it in this overview:

And a shot from the city screen:

It has wine on the first ring and oasis and sheep on the second. Nothing special, but good enough for the map standards. It also has some hills and a dungeon. I'll try to expand the borders with a captured bear, rather than a monument.

The other cities:

Boatmurdered will have an academy next turn (just finished the GSci in Hindenburg, I ran a merchant to speed it up by 1 turn, because I felt like it). Notice the towns (3 of them, could have been 4 if I haven't screwed up the micro). I'll finish a thane here to fulfill my agreement with Sciz, then it's warriors until construction, then Siege Workshop and Trebuchets:

Hindenburg, finally off the great person duty. Will finish the Training Yard and build some axemen. Will grow into a plains hill soon:

And the unhappy Titanic, working incenses, reagents, oasis, etc. It's the RoK holy city and it'll slowly build a RoK temple. Doesn't have enough production power to help the military, so I won't bother. Unhapiness was gone at EoT due to the ale:

Here is the demographics. Like I predicted, I'm in a pretty good position (they'll look even better after the unhapiness goes away and I finish the academy). Hopefully, I can manage to not get destroyed by Hyborem.

About Hyborem, here's a message I sent to Dantski (after he offered me support against the devil without me even asking - thanks, man ), that pretty much sums up my thoughts:

Ichabod to Dantski:

Hey Dantski!

Thanks for the support. I actually hope that I won't need it, though :P. From previous games, Selrahc seems to be a cautious player, so maybe he'll go after Jkaen first, maybe even Sciz. That being said, if he goes for me, I'm actually more confident now then before. I already have BW and I have 3/4 nicely promoted warriors, soon to be upgraded to axemen. My capital can get 2t axemen and 2 trebuchets in 5 turns (I still need construction and a siege workshop, which I think is a double speed build due to agressive) and my second city can help churning out axes too (agressive with 4 xp from the get go).

So, while I'm not sure I can beat Hyborem, I don't intend to make it an easy fight. Hopefully Hyborem will be delayed enough so that I can have better defenses ready.

Kind Regards,

Ichabod

That's pretty much it... Ah, I have a captured griffon. Maybe I'll try to give Hyborem some trouble with it!

Any questions? I'll try to make more updates from now on, even if they are shorter ones.

[Gaspar]

Thanks for the update, Ichabod.

And at "Civilization V" as a city name.

[Ichabod]

Turn 93:


Turn began with the Masonry splashscreen. Next tech is construction. After that, Sanitation or Warfare (I plan on triple revolting to nationhood, military state and maybe conquest, though I'm not entirely sure about the last one). Construction was a 5 turn tech, but it went down to 4 turns after the academy.

Speaking of the academy, here's the demos from before and after it:

Before:


After:

Oh Hyborem, why were you summoned? I'd be in such a good position without you... And according to an email exchange with Dantski, there's a chance that Sciz wants to attack me too... Really, really nice...

Speaking of War and Sciz, I was planning to do some 1 turn warriors in the capital, now that the Brewing house is ready. The reasoning is that I don't want to waste turns building a training yard in the capital too. Warriors in numbers are better than fewer axemen and Hindenburg is already bulding a training yard for upgrade of the more promoted warriors. But I remember that one of my deals requires that I send a thane of kilmorph to Sciz, so I started building one of thise instead.

Here's Mardoc's front. Selrahc can't take the capital next turn, but there isn't much hope... Mardoc's second city is actually a very bad thing for me. Hyborem will be very near in a couple of turns, when he goes to raze it and he'll probably try to attack me... Hopefully he goes for Jkaen or Sciz first (I'm the second in power after all), but I don't think I'll be that lucky.

[Ichabod]

Thanks for the update, Ichabod.

And at "Civilization V" as a city name.

No problem, Gaspar. It was about time to update. There's not much sense in playing a game at this community and not update the thread.

About the city name, I confess that I haven't played much of Civ V (only at a friend house, since my computer isn't good enough), but it seemed to be worth the joke :neenernee.

[Ravus Sol]

Wow, things really have heated up in this game while I wasn't looking.

For a start it looks like those hunters and hawks are allready paying off. The bears stop you from needing the starting Monuments, But that Griffin in the south could also be very useful.

Hyborem this early is just crazy. Thankfully most nations can outproduce the b*stard. Building warriors quicker then he can kill. For me the main worry is making sure the AC counter stays BELOW 25. Once above there the Hell terrain spreads into unowned land and there is a tone of desert that could be changed into burning sands in this map.

You would be the top #1 player without Hyborem, so maybe it's... sortoff... a good thing in that it distracts everyone? If you quint at it hard that makes sense. Anyway are you going to get any adepts or Bamber to try and heal the siege units? It's something dwarves can do that should be taken advantage of if possible.

Although I suppose now could be the time to go 100% money to get those vaults up to a positive level.

If the Riders are being suspicious perhaps a long range hunter could spy over their borders with a hawk? Although the fact that he might be contemplating this is worrying. Sciz would be the best person to kill the Infernals. A quick rush or horsemen on the undefended capital while their army is harrasing the Centaurs and BAM. No more devil worries.

[Ichabod]

We reached turn 100. I should probably do a big report, even though the situation haven't changed much. Jkaen will be gone for 3 weeks or so and he doesn't have a sub for this game...

I have to say that between the rough map (it takes a lot of time to get something done), the crawling pace and my likely defeat to only 5 units (I know FfH is naturally unbalanced, but it still hurts), my interest in the game is fading. I'm still playing it with my best efforts, but I'm not making plans and such things as the first turns. When you know that your next tech will only be ready in a month, it's hard to care...

[Ichabod]

Game is moving again, thanks to bob being a very nice guy and subbing for Selrahc. Mardoc was recently eliminated by the Infernals, which is a pity, because he was my best ally in this game and the only player with whom I had a nice amount of diplo. He made me some pretty nice favours near his end, which I intend to talk about in an update as soon as I return to home.

What I'm planning right now is to work a NAP with Selrahc/bob under the condition that I attack and raze some of Sciz's cities. Sciz army is occupied attacking the lanun AI and it's not a very mobile army (cats + warriors, most likely - he doesn't even have Horseback Riding!). I have some axemen (nicely promoted) + warriors + hunters + trebs (being built) + utility units (hawk, griphon, maybe an elefant too). I'll explain the plan better later.

[Mardoc]

He made me some pretty nice favours near his end,

As long as you eventually kill the Infernals for me .