RBPBEM FfH #1 [SPOILERS] Sareln of the Svartalfar

[Sareln]

I have the nagging suspicion I'm going to need to hold the settler in the queue for a bit instead of rushing out to 3 cities, here's why:

I need some sort of response to the power graph spike that Selrahc has just pulled. Ideally I want apprenticed hunters, but I'll need to inflate my warrior/unit count a bit before then so that he doesn't get too many strange ideas about how tasty my cities would be.

However, I'm at unit maintenance limit, and any additional units will hurt my tech rate / economy. An additional city would also hurt my economy while signaling to Selrahc that I wasn't building scouts, but rather a settler. He may have already figured that out, but to confirm it might sway him to actually come for me, rather than just entertaining the thought, and marking me as the fast-expander in the game.

So over the next 4 - 6 turns (as I research hunting) I'm going to aim to get out an addition 3 warriors or so, bringing standing forces to 7 units before transitioning to hunting lodges and hunters. That way, if Selrahc gets hungry for cities, I can stack enough guys in the city to make him think twice about going for it.

I should probably come up with some diplo to compliment this. We'll see.

[Ilios]

Those are solid GNP figures!

Sareln, off-topic, would you know what the goody Elf ability "Dexterous" means ingame? I can't seem to find anything decent on the internet...

[sunrise089]

Dark elf special trait is +1 attack on hunters, right?

Good/neutral elf special trait is +1 attack on archers instead.

[Sareln]

Dark elf special trait is +1 attack on hunters, right?

Good/neutral elf special trait is +1 attack on archers instead.

Sunrise has the right of it.

Sinister, +1 Attack of Recon Units.
Dextrous, +1 Attack of Archery Units.

Eg. a Hunter is normally a 4/4/2 unit. For the Svartalfer it's a 5/4/2. An archer is normally a 3/5/1 unit. For the Ljosalfar it's a 4/5/1 unit.

Keep in mind that archers can use the first two metal promotions (or at least, longbows can).

[Sareln]

Turn 73:

Took the opportunity to review my standing forces, 7 units, 2 scouts and 5 warriors. Means I don't have to hit the panic button quite yet. Capital can be respecc'd to 1 turn warriors if needed.

I twiddled the science rate, trading 2 points of research for 2 GPT. Hunting still gets done on time, and now I'm at +1 GPT so I can start building a stockpile for when I go on mass units after finishing hunting and starting education.

Another lizardman invades, I double promote the warrior and set to heal (1 turn) so I have to choose whether to chance it or not next turn at 70% - I'll probably lead with the unpromoted warrior.

[Dantski]

Put simply, longbows in the hands of a good elf leader have equal attack strength to champions. They are the same hammer cost too.

[sunrise089]

Put simply, longbows in the hands of a good elf leader have equal attack strength to champions. They are the same hammer cost too.

Versus the AI, any reason to build them over champions? I'm thinking no, but I may be missing something.

[Dantski]

well look at the pros for each

champions

can take city raider promotions
25% vs melee units
Can build them at the same time that you open up Iron weapons

longbows

30% chance to do 15% damage to an attacker
1 First Strike
Standard 25% hill and city defence bonus
Can unlock them earlier than Champions

A good way to approach this is to think of longbows being available at a similar time to swords in regular civ.

[darrelljs]

For some reason I thought Longbows couldn't get Iron weapons, but you are correct they can!

Darrell

[Sareln]

For some reason I thought Longbows couldn't get Iron weapons, but you are correct they can!

Darrell

Dexterous, Sinister, and Metals for Archers were all added when the team/playtesters discovered that no-one was going archery. The given reason was that it was too weak compared to a beeline down the metals tree. Even elves would only pick up archery for their hero, before going down the metal tree.