[SPOILERS] ARRR Ye Scurvy Dogs! Hannah the Irin

[Mardoc]

Well, I think the Mirror's proved, if the look at the Erebus Continents script hadn't, that this is not my own island. Lots of desert, complete with pointy poisonous bits. It could make a good natural border - settle the floodplains eventually, but no one's going to want the desert further north.

Or, actually, no one's going to want the desert - pre Knowledge of the Ether. Afterward, one adept with Spring and it could turn decent . And guess who has water mana?


And, now that I know peaks and hills block visibility no matter how many bonuses to visibility you get, it's not worth keeping my warrior here for barb/animal suppression.

I think my warrior's going to divert SE next to explore along the coast (aka the valuable parts )

[Mardoc]

Well, the blitz is over, and as expected, it sped through mostly boring turns. Kept exploring, and found some more nice coastlines - I think I'm mostly going to just spread out along the western coast, planting coves and fishing along the way, with whatever incidental land I pick up as a nice bonus. The only inland site that looks nice is the Mirror/floodplains spot, but that can probably wait a while; I don't expect anyone to hop over the desert to claim it, and if they do, I'm likely to be able to evict them.

The peak wall to the east is more of a hindrance than I was expecting, honestly. That might be the impetus for that floodplains city, depending on what I find to covet along the coast there.

Finally, demographics. I'm going to have to sit down with these and the old saves later today, because someone made it to 28! GNP . And I thought truffles was a good event!

All I can think of to justify a GNP that high by turn 10 is a free Great Person, either from an event or a lair.

[Mardoc]

Free Ancient Chants from a hut!


I haven't had the time to do C&D analysis yet, but I did at least check the event log - nothing doing. I guess the Great Person must have come from a hut or lair, because if he came from an event, I presume I'd have seen it there along with my truffles. Unless - do I need to know the civ to see their events?

Also, a Realms Beyond customs question - is it kosher to open up my old saves to get the demographic and score information I didn't save at the time? I assume if I were to actually move units that would be a no-no, but just looking at the interface is info I could have had all along, right?

[Ilios]

Also, a Realms Beyond customs question - is it kosher to open up my old saves to get the demographic and score information I didn't save at the time? I assume if I were to actually move units that would be a no-no, but just looking at the interface is info I could have had all along, right?

Yup no problem there.

And grats on the free tech!

[Mardoc]

Past couple turns have happened, without too much RL time to post reports or do C&D work. Fishing came in, and I switched immediately to a work boat instead of finishing my warrior. Scouts continued onward, and this turn I found something...odd. Just realized I forgot to mouseover the 2 Strong Woodsman Fawns when I took that screenshot. Pretty sure my scout is dead, though.



I wonder if that's why someone's stuck on 0 soldier points?

I'm pretty sure that Fawns don't spawn naturally, but they can be minions of a big nasty from a lair, right? I spent half an hour looking through the python and XML, but I can't find anything relevant. The other question is whether I need to immediately stop the fishing boats and train some emergency warriors; I hope not, but it would be embarassing to die to fawns.

I'll most likely spend some time Friday or this weekend going through my old saves and seeing what I can figure out cloak-and-dagger wise.

[DaveV]

Look in the exploreLairBigBad function in CustomFunctions.py.

Fawns are possible henchmen of a lair boss. They're somewhat more dangerous than lizardmen - they have a bonus attacking or defending in forests or jungles, and they don't have any malus to city attack. There should also be an Azer that spawned with the fawns, unless he died attacking someone.

How many warriors do you have in the capital? I'd recommend at least 2 and preferably 3, just to prevent your game from ending early. Someone out there is apparently exploring lairs pretty freely, so you may see even more bad spawns.

Edit: Is that a barbarian war elephant, not a regular elephant, in your earlier screenshots? I don't think they can spawn naturally nor from lairs, so either this script causes some strange spawns or the mapmaker is having a chuckle at your expense. Watch out, because war elephants can attack your units, although normal elephants can't.

[Selrahc]

I hope not, but it would be embarassing to die to fawns.

Fawns as the greatest potential threat to civilizations? It's more likely than you think.

When most people think of the soft spoken woodland critters, they may picture something like this.



An adorable woodland tyke, ready to lead a gang of youngsters into a magical adventure in a mystical paradise filled with religious allegories...

But think again!



Demented, half naked, flute players. Who will keep you up half the night with their relentless renditions of popular melodies as re-imagined in woodwind. Particularly a tune they refer to as "1980's Dead or Alive hit, you spin me right round." This is particularly perplexing, as we are stone age farmers and fishermen, who have no conception of who or what dead or alive and the 1980's even are. But wish those bloody Fawns would shut up and let us get on with our subsistence agriculture and truffle snuffling.

Fawns will gather in groups or "bands" of up to five, and harass weary travellers until given soup or sweetmeats. If not appeased a Fawn may become enraged, and write a bad review of the travellers for their personal newsletter, "Fawns Fawning".

Remember, keep the world safe. Shoot a fawn today.

[Mardoc]

Look in the exploreLairBigBad function in CustomFunctions.py.

Fawns are possible henchmen of a lair boss. They're somewhat more dangerous than lizardmen - they have a bonus attacking or defending in forests or jungles, and they don't have any malus to city attack. There should also be an Azer that spawned with the fawns, unless he died attacking someone.

How many warriors do you have in the capital? I'd recommend at least 2 and preferably 3, just to prevent your game from ending early. Someone out there is apparently exploring lairs pretty freely, so you may see even more bad spawns.

Edit: Is that a barbarian war elephant, not a regular elephant, in your earlier screenshots? I don't think they can spawn naturally nor from lairs, so either this script causes some strange spawns or the mapmaker is having a chuckle at your expense. Watch out, because war elephants can attack your units, although normal elephants can't.

Ah, thank you for the update. I'll have to go find that section for myself for knowledge's sake. And get my garrison of 1 warrior beefed up a tad; I was hoping to speed through my workboats and then finish reinforcing Cap'n Crunch, while it was still just animals out there, but 2 Strong Str 4 units could definitely roll over 1 warrior, and probably roll over two. Certainly it's not worth betting on.

And no, that's a normal elephant - for some reason my install of FFH switches the animations of various units from time to time - half my skeletons and wraiths look like warriors, but if I scroll away and back, or end a turn, they'll look right, for a while.

Fawns as the greatest potential threat to civilizations? It's more likely than you think.

That's awesome, Selrahc. And mildly terrifying.

Although, given Murphy's law, they'll only attack if I fail to reinforce; otherwise they'll hang out in the forests, breeding with the rabid Balseraphs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9heS667LUHE
Or worse, with the wildlife: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5Bw-QufB...re=related

[Bobchillingworth]

Don't forget Torgo, the most fiendish Fawn of all!





I-I take care of the place while... the Master is... away.




Actual content!:

And no, that's a normal elephant - for some reason my install of FFH switches the animations of various units from time to time - half my skeletons and wraiths look like warriors, but if I scroll away and back, or end a turn, they'll look right, for a while.

It's due to selecting "frozen animations" in the game options. Undo that, and they'll look normal. Probably worth doing, as otherwise several different units will all show up as bts swordsmen and warriors and so forth.

[Mardoc]

Don't forget Torgo, the most fiendish Fawn of all!
I-I take care of the place while... the Master is... away.

I never saw that connection before! I...I think I'd best not research Way of the Forests. But if I do, my first fawn is Tumnis, and my second is Torgo!

Actual content!

That's overrated

It's due to selecting "frozen animations" in the game options. Undo that, and they'll look normal. Probably worth doing, as otherwise several different units will all show up as bts swordsmen and warriors and so forth.

Heck, that's worth doing anyway just to make the game more fun - it kinda breaks immersion when the units keep flickering back and forth. Thanks!