RBPBEM FfH #1 [SPOILERS] Sareln of the Svartalfar

[Sareln]

Sent to both PB & Bob

Selrahc's Hammer:

Riuros (Priest of Winter) Str. 9 (6 +2 Cold +1 Fire): Channeling I, Channeling II, Combat 1, Divine, Great Commander, Homeland, Ice I, Ice II, Ice Resist, Medic I, Medic II, Orthus' Axe, Winterborn
Anagantios (Priest of Winter) Str. 7 (5 +2 Cold): Channeling I, Channeling II, Divine, Homeland, Ice I, Ice II, Ice Resist, Medic I, Medic II, Winterborn
Dumannios (Priest of Winter) Str. 7 (5 +2 Cold): Channeling I, Channeling II, Divine, Homeland, Ice I, Ice Resist, Medic I, Medic II, Winterborn
Sleet (Warrior) Str. 3: Combat I, Combat II, Combat III, Combat IV, Healing Potion, Homeland, Shock I, Winterborn
Hail (Warrior) Str. 3: Combat I, Combat II, Homeland, Winterborn
Frost (Warrior) Str. 3: Homeland, Winterborn
Snowflake (Warrior) Str. 3: Homeland, Winterborn
Blizzard (Warrior) Str. 3: Homeland, Winterborn

Priests of Winter + Support I could probably stand against, but the great commander and Orthus' Axe turns a implausible situation into an implausible one. I'll be fleeing, but I may just be delaying the inevitable by a handful of turns. I'll try not to feed him any more XP then is necessary to prolong myself .

[v8mark]

An implausible situation into an implausible one?

Sympathies on your situation. Your regular updating and informative posts have been very good for us lurkers...

[Sareln]

An implausible situation into an implausible one?

Sympathies on your situation. Your regular updating and informative posts have been very good for us lurkers...

Yeah, I caught that when I was putting it into the e-mail. Implausible into an Impossible.

[Sareln]

Okay, leaving 3 units in Thariss gives me a guaranteed extra turn, since he won't be able to move-summon-kill more than two, Unless he proc's XP on his underleveled priest of winter. Maybe I should detail 4? Survivors can evacuate the city and outrun the Illians. He will see my settler, so survivors of the city will head south, while the settler heads north with the forces previously evacuated. I'll be honest, I've not much of a chance to make a clean escape (that settler needed to be ready a couple of turns earlier) but we're going to try it!

[Sareln]

So, there is a way for me to buy more time wandering the wilderness, but that requires a certain amount of ... charity on the part of one of the other players that I find highly unlikely.

Let's use Bob as an example, mostly because I know the name of his "extra" city - and find a positive response from him much more likely than from any other.

1. Bob and I cut some sort of deal, one that in all likelihood subordinates me to him rather completely. I would honor that deal without any likelihood of betraying it.
2. Bob gifts me Nubia.
3. I get my settler into place.
4. I settle.
5. Bob takes Nubia back (quicker than me rebuilding the capital, I think I need 4 cities to do that?)

Let me turn this into a proposal.

Bobchillingworth,

I finish my settler this turn, and can make a delaying action in my capital which will buy me a total of two turns to move my settler before having to settle or be eliminated. This is not enough time to flee the warzone in an effective manner. With that in mind, I have a rather... unorthodox proposal for you.

I want to borrow Nubia.

I have no idea what state it is in, but borrowing a city is pretty much the only way I can survive this. I have stockpiled about 80 GP, which will be about 100 GP by the time the capital falls, give or take a few either way - so I should be able to sustain my settling party as I move into the southern Jungles, where it will be difficult for the Illians to follow.

Once I have found a new place to settle down, you would retake Nubia by force, which would relocate my capital to my own settlement.

I am offering to subordinate the Svartalfar to the Calabim. A complete offering of my maps and recon each turn, whatever health and happiness resources you need, whichever mana you need from my capital (mind strikes me as particularly relevant with +3% to total research), a source of elven workers, and control over my diplomacy.

This is not a partnership, it is a capitulation - though it may, and probably should, be kept quiet from the other players.

To show that I can actually be valuable to you, a detailing of my assets:

Technologies:
Agriculture
Animal Husbandry
Exploration
Hunting
Ancient Chants
Mysticism

Units:

All units have commando and elven.

Warrior: C1, C2, C3
Warrior: C1, C2, Woodsman 1
Warrior: C1
Warrior:
Scout: C1, C2, Woodsman 1, Shock
Scout:
Worker
Worker
(next turn) Settler

My current recovery plan would involve starting on education immediately for cottages and apprenticeship while building hunting lodges, hunters, ravens for intel - following that with FoL.

You will be the only one I offer this deal to, and time is running out for the necessary interactions to take place. If you gift me Nubia, I will rename it for the interim to attempt to throw others off the scent. The Svartalfar will disappear for a while, I think.

-Sareln-

What do the lurkers think? It is clearly a rather drastic move on my part, but I'm out of the game otherwise, and I somewhat like playing .

[Sareln]

In case it wasn't clear, I haven't sent that proposal to Bob yet.

[T-hawk]

What do the lurkers think? It is clearly a rather drastic move on my part, but I'm out of the game otherwise, and I somewhat like playing .

Will you like playing in this marginalized position for several months to come? Or might you lose interest after a while, and end up handing over to Bob after all? This game has a long way to go even if you don't.

[Sareln]

Playing in the marginalized position won't be easy. This game has already given me an opportunity to try a few things out (optimizing the Hunting/FoL rush w/out cottages and marginal lands using elder councils and Great Sages for instance) that I've never done before. Underdog play is not a position I'm used to, so I'm curious what changes and what sort of out-of-the-box behaviors and thinking I'll have to use to recover.

So, yes, I do think I'll be able to keep myself interested in this game - I'd expect the game to go about 350 - 400 turns or so, so effectively another year.

[Sareln]

No other lurker commentary?

[sunrise089]

Speaking only for me, in past games where a player has been in a tight spot and had two very different directions to go we lurkers have tried to not influence the decision, since it's both an important one and one very vulnerable to spoilers.

For instance had Selrahc posted in his thread "I wonder if I'll be able to use my stack of 10 warriors hidden in the fog above/below Sareln's land" it would be pretty much impossible for us to offer advice without that having influenced us.