The Orc Clan: Following the Princess Rule

[Ravus Sol]

[SIZE="6"]Orcs Diplomacy is lying so boldly that it looks like the truth[/SIZE]

[SIZE="4"]Sareln of the Elves[/SIZE]

Sareln sent this picture, the last view into Vampire lands before it was shut of via the Council of Esus shrine. Damn Nox.

It's not as bad as I feared. If each member of the Triumvirate Alliance sends 12+ units then we should be able to crash through. 36 units will make it. We will probably stall after the first or second city though.

He is definatly feasting these cities though. Both the flood plain border cities are size 14-15 at turn 130. But by turn 133 they are size 11.

I replied to his picture with basic talk about the upcoming war and I also dropped the Blight Bomb to see his reaction. If he tries to tell me no then I will claim that the Ashen Veil spread naturally and tipped the scales without my meaning.

[COLOR="Orange"]At least the Vampires explain Mackoti's recent drop in score, he's been feasting his cities with his new units.
How goes the visibility now that he has the CoE Shrine? Damn Nox will make it much harder. Mr Yellow kicked
off his mass upgrade by using his Great Merchant in my lands. The jump in his power rating is noticeable but
it doesn't fill me with glee, still doesn't seem that much of a jump.

My own units are now stationed in Ost-in-edhil at your leisure. They can head out whether you sight Mr Yellow
coming in to rendezvous' or they can restation if you spot an incoming vampire force. I included the first Ritualist in
with the Stonewardens. I didn't think I would have time but I was aiming for a turn 130 meet up. The extra time is nice
but I feel it's making Mackoti stronger much faster then we are gaining in strength. If Mr Yellow takes longer in
organizing his forces I could try to send up more Ritualists. Collateral is allways good. Especially if Amelia doesn't
cave to popping the worldspell.

As I'm sure you have noticed, but been too polite to bring up, I've put into motion a "Plan B". Or a "Plan Blight".
I didn't like the odds of us doing significant damage to the Vampires. Especially with time dragging on. I had
planned for this to be a backup plan for if the assault failed. But with the extra time and your demonic tome
i'm running a few turns ahead of schedule.

Reading up on Mackoti made me believe he was a Empire builder and along with the flood plains, would be
running his cities close to the unhealthy mark. In fact most people are lacking in resources and trade agreements so
we two will probably be the only ones able to still grow during a blight. The AC is currently Holding at 29% and I
can push it over next turn, or whenever I please thanks to the Ashen Veil founding. I thought about holding off but
pushing it now could starve his cities enough that he can't milk them for exp with Vampire Feasting.

Your Thoughts?

P.S Rantine is finished next turn and will convert the barbarian city. The Barbarians currently there will flee to Moria
but this should be the last batch you have to deal with. [/COLOR]

Basicaly this whole thing is about sounding him out. I've spent the last 20-30 turns on the down low. Sareln has been making his own plans and deal and informing me of them after the fact or while they are in play for input in how to continue onwards. Not exactly a perfect alliance, but we now get to see turnabout. Technically my plan doesn't hurt Sareln. In fact we should coast through the blight.

But his reaction to the idea and my planning things without informing him will be telling.

It's only a matter of time before he realises his forests are going to burn.

[SIZE="4"]Mr Yellow of the Hippus[/SIZE]

After Mr Yellow Completed his Trade Mission I grabbed him for a chat. I wanted to see how he'd ract

Ravus Sol: Free to talk? How goes the build up?

Mr Yellow: pretty much done
the gm mission had all i needed

Ravus Sol: Awesome.
My units are currently stationed in Sarelns city Ost-In-Edhil

Mr Yellow: ok
so ive heard mackotis been feasting yes?

Ravus Sol: Yes, Vampires spotted turn 130 just before Nox shut down spy operations
the slumps in his score point to either drafting or feasting or both

Mr Yellow: well he sure is gearing for war then, good for us i believe
and were pretty sure he'll come for us than assaulting amelia?

Ravus Sol: According to Amelia (who is the only person still talking to mackoti) the Recent chariot snipe by sareln pissed him of and turned his eyes towards the elves

Mr Yellow: excellent

Ravus Sol: Of course i'm still unsure how much Amelia can be trusted. But we will find out when we declare our assault and ask for him to pop of his worldspell to help at some point.
If he doesn't I have a ritualist along that should help.

Mr Yellow: by the way, the time we go for an attack, i've found a spot were i can snipe a city in 2 turns without being detected

Ravus Sol: Oh? Which city? And does this mean you wish to approach from a different angle while mine and Sarelns army acts as a red herring?

Mr Yellow: depending on the situation, i'll liekly be holding the line as well
but the city in question is his northern FP city
and from an angle he wouldnt expect

Ravus Sol: Interesting if you can pull it off. With Nox on it will be tricky to know which tiles are safe or not. I think Hunters can see through Nox but not hawks.
Speaking of alternate plans, My plan B for Blight should kick of next turn. My horde believe Mackoti has low health so this should stop his ability to draft and feast

Mr Yellow: ok
ive stocked up on quite a bit of food, so i should wheater it

Ravus Sol: I have spare health resources available for a valued war ally now that we have a trade connection. Check out if you need anything I have. I think you had one or two happy resources I didn't.
Sareln will whether the blight the best due to his forests but as he is on the front lines against the vamps I don't mind him coming out a little ahead from this

Mr Yellow: i got gold to trade yes, believe we can find a deal both parties can be happy with

Ravus Sol: Indeed. I'm willing to be generous seeing as I want you to be able to support your army easily enough through this
the aim is to make it hard for the vampires most of all

Mr Yellow: the best part is that he has no intel of me at all, so he'll have no idea about the size of my army and what it consist of
the power of no contact :P

Ravus Sol: Mackoti seems a good enough player to read the Demo's. He's certainly shown his worth in empire management in this game. But you should hopefully catch him by surprise.

Mr Yellow: my score though is hidden in thge demos, and im dead last in overall score

Ravus Sol: It looks like Sareln will have a combination of priests, swordsmen and hunters. 12-15+ hard to tell as he has the priests on blooming duty.
My own is merely 14 stonewardens and a shamen and ritualist. The shaman is a haste duty so if you spot a way haste could help your planning just say.

Mr Yellow: and i should have 14-15 HA ready in a few turns.

Ravus Sol: I still doubt we will exterminate him. But knocking him down a peg and taking out his two flood plain cities will allow Amelia and Sareln to build up enough to push him back.

Mr Yellow: do you know where he has Nox Noctis by the way?

Ravus Sol: No. No vision on nightwatch either
I assume it has founded in one of his new cities in the far north. He has used his golden age to expand to an absurd degree. 12 cities and holding.
But the two flood plain cities will be deadly enough. Nubia has the Great Library after all.
Plus getting in that close will allow Sareln to fly hawks and spy out his back cities. We might get lucky
if we spot the city while it's undermaned you have the speed to sneak in and smash it.
Anyway it's past midnight here. So I should vamoose.
Check out what resources you would like and think about if Haste could help your sniping plan. Once your horses get to Ost-in-edhil we can plan our approach and send a message to Amelia seeing if he can help.

Not much reaction to the Blight. No question about whether I will STOP at the blight. He did make a similar mistake earlier in the game when he assumed I would keep confidential his plans to attack sareln. But i'm figuring Mist filled him in.

I offer him a deal on health. Mr Yellow is bottom of the score and helping him out won't come to bite me in the ass. I think. He does however has the speedyist nation and if he survives to the Apocalypse he could have good reaction for or against me.

[Ravus Sol]

How do we feel about posting this in the Tech thread when Krill is summoned? :neenernee

[SIZE="6"]Enter Krill![/SIZE]

The World has changed. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air. I can see the coming fire.

It began with the writing of the books of power. One each was given to the Archmages of Patria. Lords of Elements, Divination, Necormancy and Alteration. Within these books lay the power to control creation itself. They believed themselves gods.

But they were all of them, decieved.

For another book was written. One made to not to control. But to crack open the barriers of the world. Oz-Gabbella, the first woman, poured into the book her power and her cruelty. She gifted this book to the peacful mermen whose beauty has never been rivaled. They used the book and the crack in the world sucked their underwater city straight to the centre of the world where they burned in agony.

Oz-Gabella laughed. The Water God Cried and slept. He has not awakened since.

The Book passed to the White Hand. Who in their love of statis should have smote it! But the hearts of men, are easily corrupted. With time and patience they used the Book and brought down their god of ice to walk the earth.

For a thousand years the ice endured. History became legend. Legend became Myth and some things that should not have been forgotten were lost.

But now a new era is dawning and the book is calling to be read anew. Deep in the mines of Moria elves discovered a dark demonic book. It passed through hands untill Orc eyes saw the words and Orc tongues read the lines of power.

Moria... You should have feared to go into those mines. They delved too greedily and too deep. Now they have awoken the darkness... shadow and flame.

[Mardoc]

I like the tech post.

Also, you have an error in your chat with Yellow, I don't know if it's on purpose - but hunters don't see Nox invisibility. Nothing does. The only way around it is to take away the culture that was hiding the units.

[Ellimist]

I like it, but there are some minor typos as well as excessive commas.


"Lords of Elements, Divination, Necromancy and Alteration."
"in their love of stasis should"
"Oz-Gabbella" or "Oz-Gabella"?

[Mardoc]

"Oz-Gabbella" or "Oz-Gabella"?

Tis actually Os-Gabella, according to the manual anyway.

[Ravus Sol]

I like the tech post.

Also, you have an error in your chat with Yellow, I don't know if it's on purpose - but hunters don't see Nox invisibility. Nothing does. The only way around it is to take away the culture that was hiding the units.

I need to deeper research into Krill i'd like to say that amusing him may cause him to be nicer, but it sounds too much like a monkey dancing for it's master.

No it was a none-purposeful mistake, I was living in hope and now it is crushed

I like it, but there are some minor typos as well as excessive commas.


"Lords of Elements, Divination, Necromancy and Alteration."
"in their love of stasis should"
"Oz-Gabbella" or "Oz-Gabella"?

The Excessive commas are a byproduct of once dating a english literature student. I now unthinkingly throw them out everywhere. And Capital letters. Like some kind of safety net.

I'll make the corrections before I post it in the tech thread. Turn 134 shows Infernal Pact as 8 turns away... that makes the ETA for Krill Turn 142 Just after the first Horseman comes into play.

(Hmm on second thought I might see if I can run the economy into the ground a little to squeeze that out a turn earlier.)

Tis actually Os-Gabella, according to the manual anyway.

See. She is so evil she uses different spellings of her name everywhere to confuse people and cause arguments.

[Ravus Sol]

Just a thought... Currently Mr Yellow is last on the play list (according to the tech thread). So that means he would be the one to see the Barbarians spawning? Or would that be Mackoti as the first on the play list?

If It's last then when Krill comes into play he will be the last on the play list and I don't see him telling people where the Horsemen are. I don't see Mackoti telling anyone either.

[Ravus Sol]

[SIZE="6"]Turn 132: The Weather, It's like predicting the future[/SIZE]

Hi I'm Ravus here with Bob and this is your Weather Report!

It's turn 132, the AC is a balmy 25% (34/134) with hints of a blight approaching from the lands of Isengard in the South. Races of Middle-Earth should remember to wear easily removeable layer in case of sudden Rings of Fire appearing from nowhere.

For those who didn't know, Hell Terrain will now spread to unowned lands after 25%, meaning that when the Infernals appear their hell terrain will spread everywhere. That should certainly make expansion difficult for those Demon Haters am I right Bob?

...

Oh wait I killed Bob. Got to put in a sacrifice for the family now and then, keep the evil overlords happy.

[SIZE="4"]Capital[/SIZE]

Mr Yellows Merchant makes it to the Capital! (Finally.) I forget his name. We may have forgotten to mention the Barbarian that Can get him if he doesn't do the trade mission this turn. Guess he's got no chance to do a change of plans this time eh Bob?

Oh Right. I keep forgetting.

[SIZE="4"]Nox Noctis[/SIZE]

It's allways good to keep up to date on events. You can see that the Vampires built their Council of Esus Shrine. Silly Shadow Lovers. Emo neutral vampires? Bah!

What makes a Vampire go neutral?

[SIZE="4"]Infernal Countdown[/SIZE]

I ramp the Slider back up now that I've paid for my priest upgrade but it gets stuck at 40% How depressing. The Lack of Libraries and the -10% teching power is really starting to make itself noticeable.

The Tech is down to 11 turns now. But I should be able to boost the slider to 50% once the half dozen markets i'm building come in. I needed a filler build while waiting for the Ashen Veil to get passed around.

You can also see that Rantine is nearly done. Kalocy will soon feel the soothing heat of the Armageddon lust.

I think Rosier should be built in Dunlands next. It has the production for it after all.

[Ravus Sol]

[SIZE="6"]Turn 133: There once was an alliance between Elves and Orcs. We come to honour that alliance.[/SIZE]

Economically this turn is wonderful as some of the markets come in but it's mainly a transitionary turn. It's next turn when new cities found, Ashen Veil Spreads, Rantine is finished and Blight pops off that will be interesting.

[SIZE="4"]Army[/SIZE]

I forgot to add Gandalf the Stonewarden that's been wandering around Elven lands so the Stonewarden total is actually 14. They have some nice availability for promotions that I will probably have to decide on now. Gandalf having 14 or so exp. Nothing major. But seeing as Orcs can't train against Barbarians like other nations these are technically my elite troops

Tagging alone is also a shaman and a ritualist.

Sareln has some Swordsmen allready promoted and it looks like he might send of BEARS to fight as cannon fodder as well. I'm assuming the Leaves Priests will converage on the city after finishing whatever bloom mission they were on.

[SIZE="4"]Marked Nation[/SIZE]

You can see that my marked units are up to sixteen! They really are the ones helping push out this Apocalypse. The Ritualists finish this turn, you can also see that The Gap City is building the Training Yard. It will be the city I send unmarked warriors too for upgrades later on.

[Ravus Sol]

[SIZE="6"]Turn 134: BLIGHT![/SIZE]

At the start of this turn the AC was holding at 29% (39/134) only needing one more AC point to tip it over the edge. Who was I too resist? After Hasting two Ritualists I founded two Ashen Veil Temples this turn pushing over even BEFORE the Marked units spawned at EOT.

[SIZE="4"]Capital Area[/SIZE]

You can see that I settled the two Ritualists from Lonely Mountain in The Gap and Broken Entwash, meaning entwash is finally happy again and can work the village instead of the farm.

The +1AC from each of these spreads has allready pushed the Counter to 30%! I think Blight will start at the next "turnset" So not Amelia, who is after me, But Mackoti as the first player.

While checking over all the cities I made a note of Fangorn Ports GP time. It's down to 5 turns! So I can expect the Shrine soon after, unfortunatley you can't haste GP's

[SIZE="4"]Suspicious Scouting[/SIZE]

My Archer is taking his sweet time getting home, but spots one of Mackoti's Chariots probably acting as a scout along the way. I should beef up security in Lonely Mountain and Misty Plains just in case.

[SIZE="4"]Settler Size up[/SIZE]

Here is the lowdown for the Settler teams. There is a bear that the Worg rider spotted. I'm hoping it will follow fluffy II down south and not move onto the place I want to settle.

The AI wants to settle only one city in this area exactly where the bear is allready stationed. But that would only have production if I had Archery for Lumbermills. No thanks AI.

This will close up my part of the world and hopefully help stop the RNG from wanting to spawn Krill in my backyard.

There is still the Ice and tundra. But i'm not that unlucky...

Right?

[SIZE="4"]The Future Western Empire[/SIZE]

The Possible Future sites for my empire. Just realised that I havn't posted pictures of Bannor and Hippus expansion. Sareln got their map of them in the sale so I can see them now.

The bannor is expanding in all directions equally but the Hippus has some kind of Snake game going on. I feel confident I can snatch this little part of their land mass.

Maybe more.

I will do a Big Armegheddon Countdown on turn 135 to figure out where it's all coming from and so on. And to laugh at those suffering from Blight.