[SPOILERS] ARRR Ye Scurvy Dogs! Hannah the Irin

[Mardoc]

Ah, just like Drowns that don't change cost either. I do have to admit, 5 gold/hammer is a really poor conversion rate.

Any thoughts on civic choice?

[DaveV]

Any thoughts on civic choice?

I haven't ever played the Lanun, so I'm used to aristograrianism being the one right answer. You need construction and maybe sanitation to make that work, though. Since you're getting plenty of food from water, city states probably makes more sense, and agrarianism is less necessary.

Consumption can be really good with the 20% boost to gold; expenses can get pretty high with a spread out empire and a decent-sized army (and inflation). Currency is good to research for the extra trade route and the money changer (half price for financial civs). And gambling houses are really, really good - at least three happy faces at this stage of the game, and your expenses have to be super high for the 10% extra city upkeep to be higher than the 3 gold boost.

Military states and conquest are very helpful for producing an army in a hurry. Drafting probably doesn't make much sense for you, since your melee line is weak. As you said, slavery is probably better, although it's nerfed in FfH compared to BtS. Another nice thing about slavery is the 25% chance of generating slaves from combat - I usually cash these in for hammers, but sometimes they're helpful for bringing conquered cities on line, since they tend to be generated right at the front.

I guess my vote is city states + consumption + slavery + foreign trade. Net +10% gold, city states to reduce upkeep.

[Mardoc]

Alright, sounds like a plan. I will probably go for Currency next, then, and plan to revolt about the time my currently in production settlers are on their way. After Currency, Optics, of course, to try to get my trade routes foreign again.

I think I may abandon the Great Lighthouse idea, since I should be at 5-6 trade routes for my coastal cities anyway by the time I do that revolt; even with open borders to the entire rest of the players, I doubt there's enough foreign trade routes for me. I suppose it comes down to the question of whether 30 domestic trade routes are worth 400 hammers, but if I'm going to war with Thoth, I probably should save my hammers for war.

Also, have some diplo

[COLOR="DeepSkyBlue"]
I'm sure I could spare a Confessor to send to you but getting him over there will be a problem, since the Malakim now completely block the land route to you. I'll have to build a few boats to get him to you, which I'll probably have to do for defense anyway thanks to all those Malakim Cultists running around. I'll let you know later on if I can spare a boat to send one your way.

Some cultist support in exchange to bombard the Malakim coastal cities will be invaluable. His own Cultists are irreplaceable, so while they are quite powerful on the seas losing any of them will definitely be painful to him.

BTW, congrats on founding CoE. Irgy would like me to pass onto you that another way the two of you can make contact is via the Undercouncil. While Deception isn't on his priority list now that you've taken the holy city, he could still be interested in taking the research detour to Deception and Undercouncil provided you don't burn the free Great Sage resolution (which you probably haven't since you need 2 people to start resolutions anyway).[/COLOR]

[COLOR="RoyalBlue"]
Glad to hear the Confessor thing might work out. I do feel the need to rule the seas, and of course I have the tools to do it, once I build them. But you're right, if you can't tolerate Malakim cultists during a war, I really really can't tolerate them. You've had Hawks for a while now; do you know how much of Malakim lands are coastal?

Thoth tells me that he's arranged a staggered pattern of NAPs again, Nyk at T150, you T160, me T170. Are we going to be able to coordinate something when T170 rolls around? I doubt he'd be willing to sign a 10 turn extension, so conversely, are you willing to run without one until my hands are untied?

Thanks on CoE. I figured Nox Noctis would be invaluable when the inevitable war hits, and Undercouncil goodies are a nice bonus. Thoth has actually contacted me about it as well; he's planning to join the Undercouncil and we'll start getting our goodies around T135. Anyone who wants to join is welcome, although I acknowledge that might be a challenge for you now that you've built Sphener.

Finally, a bit of info you likely already know; Thoth claims his current goal is Iron Chariots. He seemed to want to make sure that's public info; you might consider verifying that, but then taking Formation promotions on your monks.[/COLOR]

[Ilios]

The Elohim have built Sphener???

[Mardoc]

The Elohim have built Sphener???

Err, no, make that Valin. Still a strong reason not to switch religions, though.

[Mardoc]

So, Thoth managed to get Empyrean last turn; all the religions have fallen now. Given that he said he wants chariots, I would be entirely unsurprised to find his eventual force to be chariots + Chalid + Empy High Priests + Ratha. Is there any counter to Blinding Light short of hitting them before they hit you? I don't think so. Maybe a Metamagic mage could do something, but I still think I'll need to make my node into a Fire one.

Aside from that, not much new. Started on Currency this turn, continue building stuff for new cities - settlers, cultists, warriors. Hunting came in, so I need to pick a location for a Hunting Lodge and get a couple Hawks built. I'm thinking MafiaBoy may be the best spot, since it has decent production but no food surplus; it won't help much with workers, settlers, etc. And of course I need to pick a spot for a Mage Guild, too, and get some Adepts in the pipeline; maybe Phoenix or Phiber Optik make sense here, although I also want to get them both working on Sea Havens and Lighthouses.

I got my second Sugar online, but I'll wait for next turn to offer Thoth the trade for incense, since all the cities at their happiness cap are still working on settlers. After this batch, only 4 more to go!

Getting Slavery online ought to really help. I figure the obvious first things to slave out are things that make Slavery work better - Granaries, Smokehouses, Lighthouses. After that, build whatever I want with the whip.

[DaveV]

Is there any counter to Blinding Light short of hitting them before they hit you?

Base resistance to Blinding Light is 30%.

There's always a minimum 5% chance of resisting. You get +10% for being in a city, +20% for a hero, +25% for Jade Torc, +20% for Magic Resistance, +20% for Tower of Alteration, +20% if cast by puppet.

He gets -10% for channeling II and another -10% for channeling III, -10% for Potency, -5% for each level of metamagic, -20% for Tower of Alteration, -50% for Avatar.

[Mardoc]

So there are counters to Blinding Light, but they're mostly entirely passive based on the unit type. Not a whole lot I'll be able to do, then, except tactically.

Very little happening in Lanun. Have some diplo instead:

[COLOR="DeepSkyBlue"]
nyktorion is the one to ask regarding Malakim cities, since he has several hawk/hunter pairs around the map scouting around the map. However, I know he doesn't have many cities on the southern coast. He undoubtedly has more coastal cities on the north and western side, but I can't verify how many given my distance (unless I can scout from your cities or something).

Yeah, the staggered NAP's are a bit of a problem, but there wasn't much of a way to suggest a 10 turn extension without arousing suspicion. Although since he wants to make Iron chariots public information, he probably already knows that somethings happening. We will decide for sure later on but some of us will probably have to run a few turns without a NAP.

I don't really like the idea of Thoth getting the Undercouncil sage, but that might just be since I'm the only good guy (BTW, I wish I built Sphener, but it's actually Valin). I've informed Irgy and nyktorion about your plans for the Undercouncil and I presume they'll join in if they switch civics.

Iron Chariots huh? I haven't heard of that before, but it seems to be useful information nonetheless. Thanks for that.

Also, Irgy tells me that he's finished building his own Dreptus, so next turn I'll offer you Ale for pearls.[/COLOR]

Excellent, I would like to try to catch up to a size 18 Golden Lean to, and I can't do that without happiness.

[Mardoc]

I boosted my tech slider a tad to ensure Currency comes in this turn; that's worth ~30 beakers/turn between start and end of the turn. Next turn I'll revolt to that set of civics I'll be keeping quite a while - City States/Consumption/Slavery/Foreign Trade/Undercouncil, and we'll see what kind of impact it has. I'm expecting good things .

I have my incense for sugar trade to Thoth and Pearls for Ale to WarriorKnight started this turn, but I end up deciding to stick with settlers in Phoenix and Captain Crunch anyway, for the moment; now that the end of my settling days is in sight, I really want to make it there. I have a good chunk of infrastructure to build, at least sea havens, lighthouses, and libraries, and probably also granaries and smokehouses, which should give me plenty of time to grow the cities up to their caps.

[Mardoc]

Currency came in this turn, and totally turned Lanun society upside down, with the revolution!

I took a 'before' shot of the finances screen; next turn we'll see after and can decide if it was a good move or not.