Mooooooo.... wait, wrong animal. Neeeigghhh

[Square Leg]

So much has happened since I have been away that I feel a little lost with this right now!

I think in general things have gone as well as could have been expected. If we had known abou the deal with Serdoa sooner we could have probably held off researching bronzeworking and headed straight to CoL sooner, but actually, it has worked out ok as the added strength to our warriors means we won't have any barb worries for quite some time, if at all. It is nice to see some barb cities spawning now as we will want to milk them for the xp. That one near the standing stones will be good for our horsemen once they get going as it is founded on a desert tile.

Like I said in chat yesterday - we are always going to be behind in the demographics, so long as it doesn't get too silly I will be happy. The Clan are going to be massive in this game and I think we should be looking to hit them first with the Illians. I think the Illians are going to be scary mid term, but the long term threat is the Clan. We have a metagame advantage in our location too that we shouldn't overlook. I very much doubt the Clan are going to be willing to march all the way over here to fight us in our lands, us on the otherhand have every intention to march to the otherside of the map to pillage and fight.

I can start playing th saves again but I have noticed that they are coming in fairly thick and fast at the moment. Iskender - shall we say that I play them in the evenings and you in the mornings? Just to keep things flowing? Both of us seem pretty good at updating the thread so we should keep on top of things pretty well.

[Square Leg]

Turn 79

Decided to dive back in!

First off, we have our 3rd grain resource nearby. Perhaps the next city should go in this direction.

The gems mine was completed this turn also which meant that the capital could grow another size. I grew whilst building the brewery... I didn't know if this was what you had in mind Iskender but we should probably finish it here. Even working the hills, the capital is going to generate a decent amount of commerce, sticking a library here is a little bit counter productive in that it could have been horses, but I think it is probably worth it.

Next I moved Mardoc out of the city (mana node) even though he wasn't fully healed. He can attack that gobbo next turn with 95%+ odds if it moves onto the desert tile. There is another full strength warrior (Ichabod I think) there to cover him or take the kill if we don't fancy the odds on the plains tile. We should be aiming to get someone to 26xp.

I renamed the 2 newest cities and the unamed warriors - here they all are:

I moved the scout in the centre of our territory to the south. I'd like to see if there are any huts along the western edge of the map that Elimist had missed before being killed.

Ended turn and passed the save.

[Iskender]

Yes, I decided to finish Dereptus in the capital - it'd take dozens of turn to build it it in the other city. The idea was to also let Ascot and Epsom grow to size 9 and 8. I think both cities could start working on a settler next. The one from Ascot would go east of west and from Epsom maybe SE to settle the Dyes and some more river grasslands. There should be enough workforce to preimprove a few tiles for the new cities.

Aintree would resume growth after building a worker. Once pasture is improved Aintree should hit the happy cap relatively fast and join the worker/settler production.

[Square Leg]

Yes, I decided to finish Dereptus in the capital - it'd take dozens of turn to build it it in the other city. The idea was to also let Ascot and Epsom grow to size 9 and 8. I think both cities could start working on a settler next. The one from Ascot would go east of west and from Epsom maybe SE to settle the Dyes and some more river grasslands. There should be enough workforce to preimprove a few tiles for the new cities.

Aintree would resume growth after building a worker. Once pasture is improved Aintree should hit the happy cap relatively fast and join the worker/settler production.

Excellent as I grew both on their current builds. We need more workers!

[Iskender]

T80:

Improving tiles mostly. Mardoc strategically retreated to Aintree. Some shots of the land:

[Square Leg]

15:51 Square Horse Leg - Booyah damn - sorry - I closed my browser.
Serdoa the Ice Princess - lol np, I am doing that all the time
Square Horse Leg - Booyah lol
15:55 I just wanted to have a chat about 12
now that we have met and signed a nap
Serdoa the Ice Princess - lol ok
15:56 Square Horse Leg - Booyah I'd like to empasise that we are really keen to work with you even though we were looking for a shorter NAP than you were
15:58 Think of it being like in pbem5 a little actually where iskender and I worked hard together to take the clan out
Serdoa the Ice Princess - lol Yeah, I think it will be necessary to work together if we want to take Krill out - if one of us starts to work with him, then we probably can as well concede the game to him
Square Horse Leg - Booyah agreed
16:00 Long term I think the warrens strategy using Soldiers of Kilmorph to spread production (Hero Epic and civics make it silly good) is going to be pretty hard to counter
16:01 Serdoa the Ice Princess - lol well, yes, that is something I hadn't thought about when the game started tbh and only realized it like 60 turns into the game
Square Horse Leg - Booyah When is you nap with Krill until?
16:02 Serdoa the Ice Princess - lol As long as with you unfortunately
Square Horse Leg - Booyah Ok - that is done now so I'm not going to hold it against you!
Serdoa the Ice Princess - lol well, I had a wolf rider near my door steps with 3 warriors defending at that time
16:03 and that wolf rider did have promotions as far as I remember - I think Krill could at least have slowed my rush by a good 15-25 turns. Which in turn would have not let me rush Ellimist at all.
16:05 Square Horse Leg - Booyah I understand why you signed the deal. I would have done something similar in your boots too.
In the meantime I'm not going to try to meet Krill in game.
Serdoa the Ice Princess - lol I think he is still working on Amelia.. what acutally surprises me as Amelia seemed certain to be gone soon
Square Horse Leg - Booyah I'd like our first meeting to be a swarm of HA's running through his lands when he isn't ready!
16:06 I can't be arsed doing fake diplo with him in the meantime
Serdoa the Ice Princess - lol Well, that certainly would be a sight. Any idea how to accomplish that though?
as for fake diplo: Doesn't work with him anyway. Don't know why but at least as far as I remember, he always expects the worst from anyone else anyway
16:08 Square Horse Leg - Booyah It would have just been me saying - oh hi krill - and he'd say - want a nap and i'd say no, and then he'd be all, oh please and i'd say no and that would be it.
Does your nap with him prevent ROP?
16:09 Serdoa the Ice Princess - lol Yes, I think so at least.
16:10 Square Horse Leg - Booyah ok - fair enough.
We will be in econ mode for a while now but I hope to hit krill before he is ready.
Our tech path only involves going so deep into the tree.
then it gets turned off and we have some fun.
16:11 Serdoa the Ice Princess - lol Well, as I have time till T150, my plan actually involves going to Archmages to hit Krill with some icestorms :D
16:12 Square Horse Leg - Booyah Superb - I must say - both Iskender and I have been quite impressed with how well you have leveraged your start
We have just caught up in cities though!
16:13 I will try to defog the coast between us - we might be able to get trading going as there are lots of rivers. We will need carto and fishing of course
16:14 I Don't know what was up with Amelia - have yet to meet him, but I imagine the wolf rider that hassled you went up there
16:17 Serdoa the Ice Princess - lol well, I invested some time in micro plans but otherwise I really think it is at least partly the luck with hut techs and popped / evented GP. Though I have to say I seem to be the only one without Mining-happiness resource nearby - at least as far as I could see. Quite lucky that I popped Hunting, otherwise I would have got the priests later, Ellimist might have been better prepared and so on... anyway, for trade routes, I think you need also Sailing to get them along the coast
16:18 And yes, Amelia probably simply got unlucky with the wolf raider. It is a strong harassing unit, especially with some promotions on it. And Krill starts with C1 on all units anyway.
16:20 Square Horse Leg - Booyah Sailing isn't of much interest to us really - meh never mind. resource trading will be good though. We will have 2 gems online and spare sheep and pigs for sure in the fullness of time.
16:21 Serdoa the Ice Princess - lol well, I will settle on city on the gold spot near mists old capital soon (like 5 turns). I guess you scouted there already and know what spot I mean right? From there it seems not too far to your lands for trade routes. I could build another city some tiles above that one and then it probably is like 8 tiles of roading or so
16:23 Square Horse Leg - Booyah yeah - I know where you mean - the double gold spot.
Serdoa the Ice Princess - lol yes. that spot is ridiculous imo
16:26 Square Horse Leg - Booyah yup - It is a nice spot! Have you managed to kill the Azer on the Pyre?
Serdoa the Ice Princess - lol yes, priests are awesome for that. Do you have something similar in your lands?
16:27 Square Horse Leg - Booyah Yes - there is a wraith C2D4 if is remember on the broken sepulcher
He will take some time to shift
16:28 Serdoa the Ice Princess - lol oh, well. should have told me earlier, I probably could have run 2 of my priests up there, was in the direction anyway but then found your borders and made them turn around. Didn't want to make you nervous
16:29 Square Horse Leg - Booyah don't worry - we will get the death mana as it is on a river. I'd like to pop it one day but not desperate - last I popped the sepulcher i only got a scorpion and gold - oh - and pz rushed...
16:30 Serdoa the Ice Princess - lol oh, well, no PZ this game at least
Square Horse Leg - Booyah yeah - damn glad about that! It is a strange game though now that we are down to 4 already
16:32 Serdoa the Ice Princess - lol yes, that happened quickly though I somehow expected that tbh. Hippus are setup great to rush someone early, Illians HAVE to rush early (imo) as there is nothing meaningful late game for them (I mean, Auric is a joke, the dragon is a joke, the rituals are a fuc... joke). Grigori could have rushed someone with their Adventurers, Sheiam with cheap upgrades and AGG are setup to rush someone with PZs .. really everyone except Sidar and (partly) Clan is setup to take someone out early. And Clan only has to get lucky with getting Wolf-Raiders imo
16:34 Square Horse Leg - Booyah yeah - it was always going to be a rush game - you got both kills already though. Stasis did for the Sheaim.
16:35 Serdoa the Ice Princess - lol well, that was the thinking of popping it a little bit later. And had I known that Amelias golden age would not be running while Stasis is going, I would have waited 2 more turns to make it even more devastating insert maniac laughter here
16:36 Square Horse Leg - Booyah *Mwah mwah is pretty maniac
16:37 Serdoa the Ice Princess - lol lol
for me that sounds more like a crow :P
16:38 Square Horse Leg - Booyah deeper tone... do it deeper....
16:39 Serdoa the Ice Princess - lol oh now I get it, now it works
Square Horse Leg - Booyah Would you be ok with sharing some info on the clan down the line?
16:40 I'm thinking no of cities etc...
Serdoa the Ice Princess - lol yeah, sure.
16:42 Square Horse Leg - Booyah ok great. I'd appreciate that! Iskender is playing our turn at the moment and he seems to think that there is a river that may allow us to trade going south to near the double gold site you'll be settling - we have a scout nearby who will try and defog it a bit.
brb
Serdoa the Ice Princess - lol Oh, well, I can tell you, sec.
16:44 yes, I'd need to road 4 tiles, then I would connect to this river which goes up till it is next to your gold site


8 minutes

16:52 Square Horse Leg - Booyah ok that s good
16:53 Serdoa the Ice Princess - lol yeah, I guess 10-15 turns max, then I should have that done. Just need to get one more worker there then I thought
16:57 Square Horse Leg - Booyah Superb - we will certainly be up for sharing resources with you once we have alink
16:59 Serdoa the Ice Princess - lol Great. I am thinking what to do best with Mages and I certainly can see summons. I think spectres should get stronger with the Tower of Necromancy right? If so, a loan of Death Mana could certainly help. Also I have a spare silk and gold soon but I think you have both of them. Ivory I should have 2 soon as well I think. Health is an issue though. Have to see if there are somewhere Corn, Wheat, rice, whatever... even Cows would be nice
17:01 Square Horse Leg - Booyah well - you are more than welcome to the death mana we will get from the sepulcher - I don't know if we need to research necromancy to get it though...
Serdoa the Ice Princess - lol oh, true, that could be. well, we cross that bridge when we come to it. Will take several more turns anyway.
17:03 Square Horse Leg - Booyah yeah - I'm sure there will be some deals to be had! I've gotta go now - talk again soon - laters.

Serdoa the Ice Princess - lol cya

[Mardoc]

Mardoc strategically retreated to Aintree

Boy, that was a PBEM5 flashback! Did a lot of *ahem* strategic defense/retreats there .

I don't know if we need to research necromancy to get it though...

As long as you don't pop the sepulchre, it gives you the mana. If you pop it, then you need necromancy to hook it back up. Same is true of the Pyre.

[Iskender]

Boy, that was a PBEM5 flashback! Did a lot of *ahem* strategic defense/retreats there .

:neenernee


Re: chat with Serdoa

Call me paranoid but I think there's something wrong here. If Krill had secured an early long NAP with the most dangerous neigbour and started growing unbothered, his demographics would have been much better than they are now. As of T80 Clan's his GNP, MFG and Food are at almost the same level as ours and we're not even FIN (and we researched BW and AH). I think although everything Serdoa said so far is true, he could have left out some details to downplay his own potential.

[Square Leg]

Yeah - I have a habit of being a little loose with information and intentions that will undoubtedly come back to bite me in the bum sometime.

I shall guard it more like this in the future:

[Iskender]

You handled the chat perfectly well. It's just that I think there's something behind Krill not being #1 (or at least ahead of us) already. Maybe it's just because he had a fair share of barb trouble early on.


T81:

Mardoc wins!

15xp, head to head with Illios.

The scout in the NE is trying to make his way east. Next turn he should have an opportunity to take a look around from a forested hill.