[SPOILERS] Vampires again... It looks like a bookstore! Alexis of the Calabim

[Ichabod]

Well... when you said Festivals I was thinking early GMerchants. Focussing GBards from the beginning of the game is certainly innovative. I'm not entirely sure where the teching power comes from though. If you are worried about culture, surely an easier solution is to Lightbulb an early religion?

I have no idea if it would work. I've certainly never tried it.

I only need to worry about teching power until Code of Laws (or education, since cottages are enough to take me away from any hole I can possibly dig), then it's the standard Agristocracy economy.

One of the beauty of this plan is that I won't deviate from the normal vampire tech path too much. Calendar, Mining and CoL are obvious techs.

To get there, I'll rely on the cotton and proper gameplay (I hope :neenernee) -> For example, by founding my second city on top of the cotton 1N of the Oasis + farming the cotton northwest of the cap instead of plantationing it (since I wouldn't be working it anyway while building workers/settlers), I'll get 6 commerce as soon as the city is founded (2 from farm, 2 from city center, 2 from trade routes), while still working a very nice surplus of food. 6 commerce = 3 elder councils.

After enough growth, I can plantation the cotton back. Working the 4 cotton plantations inside my borders (and I'm considering that the second city hasn't popped its borders), I get 15 commerce. That's 3 riverside towns. It's enough commerce to get me quickly to Code of Laws.

If I don't like my test results, I can go for Education before Festivals. Building a monument in the second city will let me work 2 incense for a total of 12 commerce. A size 6 second city (possible with the hapiness from the Pool of Tears) could potentially work 3 foodplain farms, a cotton plantation and 2 incense for a total of 20f/2h/22c (counting city center and trade routes), which is crazy good. And I only need Agri, calendar and AC for that (+monument and worker turns, so I'll plan to not need to pop the 2nd city's borders).

This is a very commerce rich map, so I'm not worried about it. It's pretty possible that I'll go for education before Festivals. Cottaging the two plains tiles in the capital will help stagnating it while giving nice commerce.

The problems with religions are: I am planning to neglect mysticism until I need slavery; which religion to go for? Runes of Kilmorph doesn't give culture in cities, FoL is outside my tech path (mainly because of hunting), the others are too late to help me early; religion will still require a lot of hammer investment to build temples/spread.

You will probably think I'm reasoning after having taken the decision already. That's likely a right assumption . But it's more of a case of "look at all that I can get for such a low investment". I'll get 2 GPs for the price of one, I'll get Sanitation (a key tech) and I'll solve my culture issues to boot.



Now let's just wait for the reality making me crash and burn!

[Ichabod]

[SIZE="3"]Turns 6-7:[/SIZE]


The save opened without anything extraordinary, so that means Sareln kept being a gentleman and didn't go for a possible early kill. That's a very important thing to have in mind: Sareln can be a very good ally. And will probably be needing allies in the future, after some developments that happened this turn.

Here's what a "war that did not happen" looks like, with the likely movement of Sareln scout too:

The other interesting thing about turn 1 is bob's capital growing to size 2 (score increase + biggest city screen showed what happened). It's not very likely for the Lanun to go worker first, so I've seen that coming. Nothing out of the ordinary.

The most interesting news happened in between turns, when Sareln sent me a quick message:

Sareln to Ichabod:

Ichabod,

I ran into one of Ellimist's scouting warriors about 5 tiles south of
your capital BFC. So much for luck right?

-Sareln-

I quickly responded to him, trying to look calm and cool. It's always about what you show, not about what you really are feeling, right?

Ichabod to Sareln:

Haha,

Well, it would be very hard for him not to be close, since the map is very small. What I hope is that there are other players closer :P.

Thanks for the heads up,

Kind Regards,

Ichabod

Good news is that bob is probably Ellimist other neighboor. The bad news is that we are tied with bob as good early rush targets and Ellimist is playing a civ that kind of depends on a sucessful early rush to have a chance. So, I spent some time thinking about what to do to avoid being attacked by the Doviello and what to do in the case that being attacked is inevitable. I'll post some thoughts about this whole issue later.


Turn 7 started with an event. Oh my! I haven't had an event in ages. The last one I remember was the coin constelation in FFH PBEM IV, that gave me 40 gold.

It's a very nice event too! The immigrants one! I didn't have the gold for a settler, obviously (I'd needed 100g to choose that option), nor the techs for the other ones. So I was left with +1 pop in Santa Monica or 60g (a special Calabim option, in which you sell the immigrants to a nobleman's banket). As much as I'd like to play with flavour, the pop seemed to be a better option than the gold. Maybe I'm wrong here, but early pop = early food and early food is always good. Now, if I decide to go for a 2 workers opening (very, very risky, I know), the second worker will be ready in 6 turns, rather than 7. Coupled with the world spell, that's 3 free pop very early in the game! Nice!

Santa Monica after housing the immigrants:

Our little crazy scout is still lucky and haven't gone crazy yet. Maybe renaming him was a smart thing to do after all. The terrain seems to be pretty good, too. I'm hoping to find Sareln so I can start thinking about which land is possible to claim and which land is too far. The good news is that we already have 2 nodes. Spectre spam is looking good already.

Mist's capital grew too this turn. While is not that obvious for the elves to not go worker first, it's understandable. They do start with two scouts, after all, so they are in a very risky position. I won't complain! Worker first is risky, but it makes you grow very quickly afterwards. Ah, one of the good side effects of the event I just had is that everyone will think I didn't went worker first, since I grew a pop too. They are probably thinking "Ichabod is playing it safe". Little do they know that I'm just a very lucky guy (at least in this turn ).

And the upgraded demographics, after the pop growths. Interesting thing to notice is that Mist hut tech was Agriculture, most likely. Elves start with exploration, like the vamps, so going Agri first is almost always the right play. Since they didn't discover a tech this turn, it's very likely that they got Agri from a hut and now are researching something different.

Finally, the overview of the empire in 2 pictures, northeast and southwest:

Northeast:

Southwest:

Lear. Make no noise, make no noise; draw the curtains.
So, so, so. We'll go to supper i' th' morning. So, so, so.
Fool. And I'll go to bed at noon.

[Ichabod]

[SIZE="3"]Turn 8:[/SIZE]

Yet another uneventful turn. We were greeted by the agriculture splashscreen and Calendar was chosen as the next tech. It's due in 13 turns, although I can get it down to 11 if I worked a riverside cotton tile (2/0/2) instead of a grassland forest one (2/1/0).

The scout found Sareln's borders, very close to my capital indeed. I zoomed in in the northern part of the recently discovered terrain to see that there's coast just due north. Expansion must be quick if we want to get a decent amount of land.

Finally, the demographics:

Worker completed on the EoT, so we finally will have some action in the next turns...






[SIZE="2"]WAIT A MINUTE!![/SIZE]

Let's take a look at that demographics again:

So, someone is down to 1 scout of power. As we all know, scouts make very bad city defenders, so it's very lickely that there's an undefended capital somewhere in this map.

Who's capital is it? It's not the Doviello, since they are the power leaders due to Lucian. The elves started with 2 scouts, while the lanun and Khazad started with a scout and a warrior -> could be any of them. But, the lanun and the Elves are at 2 pop already, so the lowest power they could have would be 3. Sareln it is, then. Nice to know!


WAIT ANOTHER MINUTE!!

What have we just found in this turn???

Yes, I already drew it for you. We can reach Sareln undefended capital in 2 turns! I'm sure it's undefended, since his scout went south of my capital (he found Ellimist this way) and that's all his troops.

The food graph and prouction graph + score reveals that Sareln is working a 3f tile while building a worker (since he hasn't grown yet). He hasn't changed his working tile this turn (the EoT graphs revealed it), so, even if he started building a warrior this turn (the turn he lost his warrior), he won't be able to finish it before I can attack. With his current production, he'll need 8 turns to get a warrior (at 2h per turn) and I'm positive he was building a worker for a long time, so he couldn't have started on a warrior so early.

Yes, my friends. We are close of capturing a enemy capital at turn 10, a new record. And we are close to rushing poor Sareln yet again. I studied a lot of possibilities, and there's little to no chance of I being wrong. Heck, I'll even have visibility in Sareln's capital next turn.

His only chance is if my scout gets killed next turn or if he goes enraged (remember, he has the crazed promotion). That'd be pretty unlucky, but the chance is very low, if the manual is right (3%). Even if that's the case, it'd have to happen next turn, since an enraged unit will attack an undefended capital from a player that you are at war with.

EoT graphs revealed that Sareln is indeed the low power player:

Yup, the next turns are promising to be very thrilling !

[Ichabod]

Well, my guesses were right. Sareln indeed had an undefended capital when my scout reached the hill in the next turn. I'll do a proper update later today, hopefully the next save will arrive and I can show you my second city.

Yes, I decided to attack Sareln and keep his capital. Hopefully, the maintenance won't be too high (my tests on similar settings gave something like 4gp of maintenance). I really don't know if the standard play on a situation like this is keep the city or raze it. Seeing as this is FFH, where the settlers are very expensive and expansion is usually slow, I think that keeping the city might be best.

Seeing that I can raise my population with the world spell and that Sareln's capital has some nice rivers (I can already see marble, but I'm pretty sure there's a 3f tile in his 8 first ring tiles - hopefully a good calendar resource too), hopefully I won't tank my research so much that I end up throwing the game away.

According to my sandbox, I can get a 2nd (now 3rd) city before turn 40 going 2 workers first. That's what I'll do. The 3rd city will be positioned differently from my previously exposed thoughts. It'll go on a hill next to the Oasis, getting 3 cottons and 2 incenses on its first ring. There are 2 reasons for this: hill city to protect against the doviello and more commerce, which I'll definetely need.

[Ichabod]

[SIZE="3"]Turn 9:[/SIZE]

Unfortunately, I haven't received the save today, so I can't post the results of the Sareln war. I'll give you a quick update instead.

First, domestic news. I completed a worker and started on another. Yes, going double worker in FfH is crazy risky, but I got most of the ends covered. I can build a warrior in 3 turns and there aren't many directions that barbs can come from (and I destroyed the only barrow I've seen so far). The screenshot is wrong, the worker will be completed in 6 turns:

On foreign news, someone got some crazy event/lair pop and is now at 28 GNP! Seriously... What the heck is that? A settled GArt maybe? An academy? It simply doesn't make sense, it's too high.

FFH PBEM II Spoiler:

Uberfish settled a GSci very early in the game an he only had a GNP of 20.

Maybe it's 2 Great People... But that would be really, really lucky... Who might it be? It's not Sareln, nor Ellimist, as far as I can tell. My guess based on demos is that it's Mist and his Ljosalfar. Whoever it is, it's one lucky guy!

Regarding Sareln, I moved the scout as planned, which revealed:

Marble in the second ring. I'm positive that Sareln has a 3f resource at his inner rings. If he has 2 dyes at his inner ring too, I'll be very happy . C'mon, my starting position was very good, it's only fair that his is as well!

The diplo that followed:

Ichabod to Sareln:

Hey Sareln,

I'm sorry to say that I just declared war on you on the last turn of the game.

My scout found your undefended capital, and I'm almost sure you can't reinforce it next turn. The reason why I declared war this turn is because my scout has the crazed promotion, which gives a small chance of the unit getting the enraged promotion, making it be controlled by the AI and be very agressive. I tested in a single player game if an enraged unit would attack an undefended capital of a civ you are at war with and I found it to be true, so I'm playing it safe by declaring war this turn. I'm not closing all the doors to diplomacy, just to make things clear.

I know you are probably enjoying your holiday, so you have better things to do then PBEM diplomacy. I can hold my next save if you'd like to, so we have the time to discuss this.

Anyway, I'm sorry to be declaring war so early. I was looking forward to play with you, but I can't lose an opportunity like this. Hope you can understand.

Kind Regards,

Ichabod

Sareln to Ichabod:

But will it go for the capital 100% of the time? :P

I don't begrudge you the war-dec, a little upset at myself for not
changing my original plan when it became clear that we were all as
close as we were.

As to wheeling and dealing? What sort of deal would you find
acceptable for my life? I've got my extra happy resource, I have
palace mana. I'm not going to do anything like sign a game-long NAP
or otherwise forfeit all chances in the game on Turn 9. Would rather
die in that case, and I've spent enough time as a vampire vassal for a
lifetime! .

I am planning to tech RoK if I survive, so I could spread religions
and such at you. But other than that, I'm at much of a loss for what
is worth more than a civ-elim.

Here's the best I can come up with:

- 1 free death mana from dwarven mana nodes
- 1 of the Dwarf Happy Resources (Gems)
- Free Spreads of RoK
- NAP through T150
- Joint settlement agreement of our in-between lands with 2 vetos of
dwarf proposed cities, good faith on the Dwarf part on settlement.
- Sharing of all Dwarf scouting
- Confidentiality Agreement

-Sareln-

Ichabod to Sareln:

Hey Sareln,

Sorry about keeping you waiting.

If my scout hasn't gone enraged next turn, I'll take your capital. I can't afford to lose a chance like this and I agree with you that comitting to some kind of vassalage-like deal by turn 10 is too much.

I'll try to keep your capital and I'll probably fail in the game because of it. But it's what seems right for me to do. It's a pity, since I'm conquering a neighboor without deserving it just one bit. But guess that's how the game goes.

Hope we can play together again in some other game, under more fair circumstances.

Kind Regards,

Ichabod

Sareln's offer was very good and very fair. And I agree with him that being a vassal from turn 10 onwards takes the fun away from the game. So, I decided to kill him. It's very disppointing to be doing it, since Sareln is a nice guy and I was hoping that we could play together. But - even though I play for fun, not to win - I need to play like I wanted to win to have fun and to let all the others have fun. So, I think the best play is to conquer Sareln, so I'm going to do it.

Well, there's a chance I won't be able to do it, so let's not act as it's a given yet!

[Ichabod]

Update later today, if I have the time.

I conquered Sareln's capital, but it auto-razed, unfortunately. I thought that a border pop avoided auto-razing, but guess I was wrong.

I would have kept the capital, since I wouldn't need to divert from my tech path. Why? Because Sareln's capital had double gems. Ah, it had wet corn, grass pigs, grass cows and marble too. Together with 1 floodplain, lots of riverside grassland and hills, it was one gem of a city.

I'm kind of lost right now. I can try to expand quickly, but Mist will probably get there first. I'm almost sure they got a settled GArt, since they are already at more than 21000 land (more then second ring).

I just hope my other rivals capital's won't be that good. And I also hope I can convince Ellimist to go for Bob. Sareln probably sold my position to the doviello already, so I need to get contact with them somehow. If Ellimist attack Bob, I may win the settling race against Mist. But if he's close enough to get Sareln's capital as his second city, the game is almost over.

[Square Leg]

Update later today, if I have the time.

I conquered Sareln's capital, but it auto-razed, unfortunately. I thought that a border pop avoided auto-razing, but guess I was wrong.

The city needs to grow. If it was size 2 it would have stayed. If it was size 1 after being whipped back down it would have stayed too.

[Ichabod]

The city needs to grow. If it was size 2 it would have stayed. If it was size 1 after being whipped back down it would have stayed too.

Yes. I guess that when you are playing against the AI, both a border pop and a pop growth make the city capturable. Against humans, only a pop growth will work.

[Sareln]

Yes. I guess that when you are playing against the AI, both a border pop and a pop growth make the city capturable. Against humans, only a pop growth will work.

Good to know

[Ichabod]

Good to know

Hey Sareln!

Don't take what I said as a fact, because I'm really not sure. From my single player experience, a city with a border pop can be captured without being razed, even if it's size 1. And I remember a thread from civfanatics saying something like that, but maybe I'm mistaken.

If you already read my thread, you'll see that I was really lucky by going in an almost streight route to your cap.

I'm still not sure if I made the right decision. Guess only time will tell...