The Orc Clan: Following the Princess Rule

[Ravus Sol]

Ummmm the mini map seems to be revealing the overall layout of the map... Just in case someone else hasn't pointed it out yet.

[Mardoc]

Ummmm the mini map seems to be revealing the overall layout of the map... Just in case someone else hasn't pointed it out yet.

There are three spots prerevealed, on purpose. That purpose will become clear shortly, I hope.

[Ichabod]

Well, I'll give some ideas regarding the start.

1st. I think is absolutely necessary to keep the wine tile in the BFC of the capital. It's a good source of commerce and it's in the way to mining (gem site).

2nd. Is it worth losing the city center hammer bonus for a better long term capital (getting one of the sheep)? If so, go south or north?

In the beggining I thought: yes, it's worth moving. You'll tech AH quick, I guess (getting the sheep + gems site online as a second city is going to be a major thing), so the sheep could be online quick. If you do so, going south seems best -> more grassland, it seems (albeit you get a useless lake tile on the BFC and you won't be able to work the wheat for the first turns, losing some commerce).

But a PH city center will speed your worker and other builds, so I'm not sure. It might seem as not much of a help, but it's a great bonus in the early game.

The gems site is a 2nd or 3rd city site, IMO, not worth moving the settler there (you'll have abismal tech for the first 50 turns if you move). If you tech well and have AH + mining when the first settler is ready -> second city. If teching is not so fast -> go to the incense site first (but you'll need a border pop for working the good tiles... Ancient Chants + expensive monument... not good).

My tech path would be: agri -> crafting (no discussion here, IMO) -> calendar -> AH -> Mining. Maybe AH first, then calendar.

I wouldn't go for Mysticism early. It seems to be the standard play for most of the FfH players here, but I don't like it. GK is overrated, because it doesn't boost commerce and the production for settlers/workers comes mainly from food (overpowered agrarianism) and Elder councils aren't worth building when there's better things to build (use the hammers for settlers and workers, especially with some nice real estate near, like this map -> I find elder councils useful only for the specialist slot). Barbarian leaders beakers are very, very important, so wasting them with non essential techs is a big mistake.

Of course, these are just suggestions. The worst thing is having to decide when the turn comes.

FFH PBEM VI Spoiler (Khazad lurkers can read):

I'm going crazy trying to decide my tech path and my third city location... Gah! It's so hard!

Anyway, good luck!

[Ravus Sol]

[SIZE="6"]First Thoughts[/SIZE]
[SIZE="1"]No wait Ichabod beat me, this is Second Thoughts[/SIZE]




Well this is certainly a fun start. I hope everyone has such a grassland poor area. It is however balanced out by the joy of that many gems in forests!

Combined with the Wine, I'm right agreeing with you Ichabod, it makes me very tempted to rush to mining and push out a second city very early. Even if it only works the sheep and two gem mines it's allready coming out economical plus!

I'm actually thinking I should push this out ASAP. Orcs have too little to do early game, Just exploration and struggling to claw economical equality. Even if I don't have AH working the unpasturised Sheep and a Mined Gem would be good.

But again... Settlers get so much more speed from Calendar, that going Calender and getting better farms and the incense would also be good... I'm thinking I will have to hold of making a decision till the units have explored around the sites. Either way I am going Agri first. I agree Mysticism first for the Orcs is NOT a good plan.

Unit Plan: Settle in place, Goblin heads East, Orc heads North

Tech Plan: Agriculture -> Crafting -> (If East then Animal Husbandry, If North then Calender) -> Mining -> Ancient Chants -> Mysticism -> Way of the Earthmover

It's a shame the dungeon from the Broken Speluncher is gone. Yes it's a dungeon. But without it I can't use the node untill necromancy. It would have been a very big boon to have early death mana. I could have rushed for Adepts and between fire and skeletons they could have kept me going till midgame.

Looks like all the forests are connected for a huge forest fire if needed!

[Tredje]

Hmm, an interesting start to be sure. Those two Gems made my mouth water. Mmm, early commerce.

Some thoughts:

But again... Settlers get so much more speed from Calendar, that going Calender and getting better farms and the incense would also be good...

How do you think Calendar will speed up Settler production on this map? Are you thinking about Agrarianism? Won't Agrarianism make what is a 2F1H tile into a 3F tile? And since you are expensive you will lose the bonus hammers. The only reason I would go Calendar before Mining would be to hook up the Incense and get to Mining faster, but I'm not sure if that is worth it. I would probably go Agriculture -> Crafting -> AH -> Mining. The reason I would go AH before Mining is that you can improve the Sheep and have your second city grow to size 3 as fast as possible so that it can work both Gems.

The Gems will give you enough commerce to get to the first tier of techs quite rapidly. How do you plan to establish a mid-game economy with so many plains? Would a cottage economy be a possibility?

It appears that we have started close to the southern edge of the world. This means Wolves and possibly Wolf Riders. I am not sure on what turn Animals start to appear, but I would recommend to have a Goblin ready for wolf slaying duty sometime after T20. An early Wolf Rider or two could possibly allow you to choke a neighbour.

[Ravus Sol]

Hmm, an interesting start to be sure. Those two Gems made my mouth water. Mmm, early commerce.

Some thoughts:

But again... Settlers get so much more speed from Calendar, that going Calender and getting better farms and the incense would also be good...

How do you think Calendar will speed up Settler production on this map? Are you thinking about Agrarianism? Won't Agrarianism make what is a 2F1H tile into a 3F tile? And since you are expensive you will lose the bonus hammers. The only reason I would go Calendar before Mining would be to hook up the Incense and get to Mining faster, but I'm not sure if that is worth it. I would probably go Agriculture -> Crafting -> AH -> Mining. The reason I would go AH before Mining is that you can improve the Sheep and have your second city grow to size 3 as fast as possible so that it can work both Gems.

Sorry I was in a rush, I meant that it would speed settler production in the north provided that has the average amount of grassland. Orcs get settlers so much more quickly it could be more profitable to make the second settler in the second city working agrarianism farms.

It's a shame I won't be able to build a farm on the sheep. Hopefully there will be more food to the east of that sight. I know what you mean about getting the sheep profitable quickly, a part of me just doesn't want to go AH before mining, I figure i'd get more out of mining quicker, I could mine the hills for the capital and premine the gems while using the unpasterised sheep to grow to size three. but i know AH would be useful... I'm just a stickler for a fast plan

The Gems will give you enough commerce to get to the first tier of techs quite rapidly. How do you plan to establish a mid-game economy with so many plains? Would a cottage economy be a possibility?

It may be profitable to go for cottages. It's a shame that the capital is so food poor. I would normally want to make the capital production heavy for orcs. It will probably have to be a little of everything this time around.

Mid game i'm mainly planning on using Way of the Earthmover priests spammed like there is no tomorrow for money and Soldiers of Kilmorph will help rush the elder councils to help the tech level.

If this is mainly a whole land of plains... well its sort of annoying seeing as no one asked for it, so i'm hoping it's just most of the capital area or I got unlucky. But If Aristofarms are out then I will have to try and get a few cities focused on teching. The north incense seems like an easy one to focus on grassland farms and plains cottages. Either way I don't need many techs. Once I Summon the Infernals a after turn 100 I should only need to grab Fanaticism and maybe a few economical techs.

It should all be about protecting the AC raising troops.

It appears that we have started close to the southern edge of the world. This means Wolves and possibly Wolf Riders. I am not sure on what turn Animals start to appear, but I would recommend to have a Goblin ready for wolf slaying duty sometime after T20. An early Wolf Rider or two could possibly allow you to choke a neighbour.

Yes! I just tried a few test games near the south pole and you can get ridiculous amounts of wolves if lucky! I'm thinking I will try to get at least two more goblins out before the settler. If I manage to get even two wolf Riders I will have to start pondering on who to choke...

[Ravus Sol]

Turn 0 Played!

Just uploading the pictures now

[Ravus Sol]

[SIZE="6"]The Mystery of the three Treasure Islands[/SIZE]

[SIZE="5"]Ygdrasil Island[/SIZE]

[SIZE="5"]Dragon Island[/SIZE]

[SIZE="5"]Patria Island[/SIZE]

Thoughts:

1. Obviously If we were pirates we would be laughing all the way to endgame.
   
2. The Yggdrasil island is just to the East and is covered in jungle and bananas.
   
3. With so many tempting island spots we should beware Cultist sea attacks.
   

[Ravus Sol]

[SIZE="6"]TURN 0: Pretending to be Civilized[/SIZE]

[SIZE="4"]Isengard:[/SIZE]

We work the Wheat and went Worker first.

Not anything more to do here turn of settling.

[SIZE="4"]Clan Lands:[/SIZE]

The Orc, renamed Gork heads towards the north. While the Goblin, renamed Mork heads towards the east.

However strangly enough... I seem to have been given a barbarian goblin with +1 poison instead of the normal Clan Goblin. This seems good but now I'm wondering if this goblin can tame a wolf and become a Wolf-Rider...?

Anyone know for certain?

Agriculture starts being researched first. It will be done a turn after the worker. I may switch over to the wines at some point to see if that can be speeded up to coincide so that the worker isn't standing around.

[SIZE="4"]Demographs:[/SIZE]

My lower GNP is obvious straight away.

But the higher food yield from a rival shows that we have different starts.

The 4000 Soilders is from the Elves as they start with 2 scouts.

Any extra thoughts?

[Ravus Sol]

NOTE: Should the screenshots be larger in the future? I'll try to double the size. Didn't mean to resize them THAT small.