[SPOILERS] A threesome becomes a twosome

[plako]

Good city with lots of hammer potential. I suggest converting to Esus and starting Gibbon immediately. We're playing against humans that have potential to ruin our plans, if we delay things too much.

I forget to send you the money . I say we try to grab Great Commander next and Elementalism after that.

[DaveV]

I'm not sure whether my attempts at diplo did any good or not. I got an incoherent PM from Yellow, to which I replied that I don't think any non-public diplo is allowed. It's clear that there's no chance of anything other than kill or be killed with Team 1. And it sounds like Yellow hates us forever for killing his scout; I'm hoping that Team 4 at least keeps an open mind.

I didn't think about starting that diplo offensive right before we racked up two techs in a single turn; it makes me look like a devious guy instead of just someone who wasn't planning ahead.

Agreed with Military Strategy -> Elementalism.

[plako]

I think we should probably suggest continuing this game without diplo. Game is better without it. Unfortonately timing is now bad for suggesting it.

[DaveV]

Well, it's a good thing we have all those signs in-game, or I would have been lost. I'm building Gibbon in the Esus holy city (Atrium of Time), ETA 6 turns. He won't get the extra promo from Shrine of the Champion, but having him several turns sooner (and not having to spend 67 gold for a spread into Nessus) probably makes up for that.

My Metamagic node will finish next turn (bad planning with my adepts). I hit the wrong key and moved my Stoneskin Freak onto flatland instead of his jungle hill. I have one Adept ready to promote to Mage (yay!):

[DaveV]

The turn rolled before my bedtime but after plako's. I finished my Metamagic node and promoted a few adepts to Meta I. Floating Eyes show a bunch of Moroi and Catapults in Vampire territory. Defensive forces or attack party?

Meanwhile, Centaurs and Polar Bears are incoming from the East. Is this Warbaxia's answer to my diplo attempts?

I still have lots of units to move, but I'll take another look in the morning. Normally I'd feel some pressure to finish my turn, but I think we should spend some extra time and discuss things here.

[NobleHelium]

A centaur and polar bear offensive reminds me of...

[plako]

I think only truly worrisome area is near Saltus. There are lots of mobile units and also combat workers there. I would fortify most inside city at this point and try to move extra units towards that region.

In the east it is just couple of Centaurs. Nothing too worrying.

[plako]

I traded all our metamagic mana to Ilians. They've couple adepts that could be promoted to Mages and we could use dispel magic. I'll dispel your meta node at some point so we can cancel the trades and give you all our meta mana in time. We need 4 Meta mana nodes. Fifth node is still up for depate. We could try to get to Alteration before Gibbon is finished and make it Enchantment. So Gibbon would get MetaMagic III+Enchantment II. Pretty good combo.

[plako]

There is also settler near Saltus. They might be planting between us. They've also Artist from Drama so aggressive culture bomb is possible too.

[DaveV]

I think only truly worrisome area is near Saltus. There are lots of mobile units and also combat workers there.

Remember that Vampires are born with the ability to cast Haste, and Moroi can cast Burning Blood for an additional +1 move. So they'll have mobility out their ears .