[SPOILERS] You know nothing, Mahala Tholal

[Tholal]

Turn 87:

Big things afoot this turn in the Empire. Brewing House will be completed, and six of my cities will grow without any anger due to the influx of delicious home-brewed suds!



I will also complete the research of Masonry, and the borders of Stavgrad will expand to include the nearby Marble tile. I have two workers in place already, guarded by Tormund and a Warrior. The third Worker didn't quite arrive in time, so I think it will still take me three turns to build a Quarry.

Demographics:



Here are the charts for myself and the Sheaim. Brian's power has been growing rapidly. I'm guessing that he's upgrading Warriors to Pyre Zombies, though he claims to not have met any other player, and since he has the Barbarian trait, he doesn't have to worry about any threat from that quarter. I'm not too worried as I could quickly upgrade all of my Workers to Beastmen and then upgrade the Beastmen to Sons of Asena.











Urslo is becoming more renowned.



Finances:

[The Black Sword]

Looks like Urslo is dealing with those happy problems.

That rival best food is ridiculous. It's curious that neither of the other two demos seem to match it though. It seems like someone getting that much food in Aristocracy must have a higher GNP.

The Bone Palace will be a great help if you can land it.

[Tholal]

That rival best food is ridiculous. It's curious that neither of the other two demos seem to match it though. It seems like someone getting that much food in Aristocracy must have a higher GNP.

Not sure. The Hippus do have a significant score lead. I finish Sanitation in 4 turns, so we'll see how much that helps my food output. I also have a lot of Pig tiles in my area. If he's harvesting lots of Pigs that would increase his crop output.



I did manage to complete the Quarry this time. Turns out that sending out some defense with the work force was a brilliant idea as the Ruins spawned another Lizardman.



Went for max production at my capital and the Bone Palace will now be complete in 9 turns. I'm feeling pretty good about it, though I do know that Brian has Philosophy and has switched to Slavery as well. As the Palace gets closer to completion, I'll see if it makes sense to try and do a Slavery rush finish.



Latest Demos:



After Sanitation, I'm going to tech Fishing so I can begin some water exploration. I finally found another happy resource (Sugar), but it's a good distance to the south.

I could probably use some advice on tech choice after that. Given the distance between civs and the number of available mana nodes (I already have two and will have one more soon. Another lies in the Tundra to the north and two more are about the same distance away to the east and south), I'm expecting this game to end with a Tower victory.

[The Black Sword]

Can you put any chops into the Bone Palace to speed it up?

I'm a bit out of the loop regarding techs, maybe post the tech screen. Has the GC fallen from Military strat yet? If not, then that'd be good, Heroic Epic too.

Picking some long term goal, like the Tower, and working the techs toward it seems like a good idea.

[Tholal]

Can you put any chops into the Bone Palace to speed it up?

Just one. And as far as I can tell it wont make a difference.

I'm a bit out of the loop regarding techs, maybe post the tech screen. Has the GC fallen from Military strat yet? If not, then that'd be good, Heroic Epic too.

OK. I'll try to do that next turn. Great Commander has been taken already.

[Tholal]

Turn 94: The Sheaim finished the Bone Palace this turn. I was still four turns out. Looks like he whipped 5 population in his capital to complete it.

Oh well. I put some folks into Specialist positions and should have a new GP in 5 turns. They'll most likely be used for a Golden Age. I'll have a new Settler ready on each of the next three turns. Time for expansion!

[Tholal]

Turn 97: Hunting completes next turn (decided that trying to snag some Bears for extra happiness could be useful - didnt realize that Hawks had been moved to Animal Handling though ). Will have a GP in 2 turns, most likely a Prophet. I think a Golden Age would be best here. I have extra cash from losing out on the Bone Palace so I should be able to run 100% research during it.

Speaking of Golden Ages, not only did Brian get one via the Bone Palace, but someone else is also celebrating the success of their empire via a Great Merchant (or so it seems).




I'm guessing it's the Hippus again, though the Illians have moved up in score a bit.



Brian has a Scout on my eastern borders who is now gobbling up some Bears.



Interesting that he chose to Declare Nationality. Presumably he's keeping the Bear as a scout? Not really sure where the Sheaim are but I'm guessing somewhere over here. He's founded several new cities since we first met, so he might have already expanded in areas I had previously explored.



It would be an unfortunate shock to find out that he's in that unexplored bulge just to my southeast. We'll find out soon as I'm planning on putting up some cities in that direction. One in two turns. I'll have two other cities going up next turn. Both south of Urslo, one on the other side of the strait past the goblin forts.

And speaking of explorers, my intrepid scout who has dodged numerous dangers on his Great Trek has finally met his match.


(both of those stacks have 3 Lizardmen each!)

I've been getting an ebb and flow of barbarians from the nearby lairs (and some skeletons from unknown lairs, but havent seen any stacks until now. I don't have to worry about the lairs in my territory, but I should make sure to reinforce the outer cities. May need to do some upgrades to Sons of Asena.

Having a hard time deciding what to research. Here are some thoughts.

Archery - I'm working quite a few unimproved forest tiles for hammers. Would be nice to get some extra production there.
Way of the Earthmother - still no religions founded. I'm thinking that converting to WotE and Conquest and then using my high food production cities to create Stonewardens->Temples in my cities might be a useful economic gambit
Knowledge of the Ether - I still think a Tower victory is going to be the way this game is won. Might be nice to get some Shaman out early. And Haste is always useful.
OO, Order, WotF - Cultists are almost always useful; Order might be good if someone starts pushing the AC up; Lumbermilled Ancient forests are also nice
Priesthood - would be the most likely followup to any religion
Sailing - reveals Pearls (would be helpful!) and gives me the chance to try and found some overseas cities for better trade routes
Currency - Consumption
Smelting - Iron and Forges
Horseback Riding - good for Mobility and access to Horsemen and Chariots.
Military Strategy - Heroic Epic. GC already taken
Writing - Pretty useless to me except for being a gateway to other things
Drama - GB taken; not so useful anymore

Dont really have any need for military buildup at the moment though, so I'm thinking that economic and growth techs are the best bet at the moment.

[Tholal]

Received the latest turn about 20 minutes after my last post. Went ahead and pushed the turn along.

Started researching Archery - 2 more turns - possibly 1 with Golden Age. Brian the Cambion's Bear moved off into the fog before healing. Must be heading home to be Caged. That means that Brian is fairly close.

Miraculously, none of the Lizardmen attacked my Scout! He moved away and should be able to stay ahead of the pack should they choose to follow.

Great Bard born at end of turn. Definitely time for a Golden Age.

[The Black Sword]

Sounds like I'm a bit late but here's my 2 cents.

I'd probably go with Sailing first. That's fairly cheap and should pay for itself pretty quickly with intercontinental trade routes. Archery is also nice and cheap, so it's also worth picking up if you have the worker turns spare for the lumbermills.

Those would be my top 2, but if you're going for a golden age, then making sure you have consumption and a religion to revolt into by the end is important. I'm not sure what religion is best tbh, I'd be tempted by FoL if you already plan on lumber-milling a lot. That can get you a lot of extra food without having to invest anything. The other thought I had, if you're planning a Tower run, is the Veil. You need Omniscience and Strength of Will for the ToM, that's 2 very expensive techs and the Doviello are not known for their research potential. The infernal grimoire could be important.

[Tholal]

Finished researching Archery (2t) since there seem to be so many trees around. I was completely off about my research potential during a Golden Age. I'm running 70% research and losing 51 gold per turn. So I decided that I needed some more income and started researching WotE (also 2t - still unfounded), following up with Priesthood so I can switch to Conquest and use my food-heavy cities to create Stonewardens for temples and religion spread. Not planning on taking Bambur or Arete, so I can switch to another religion later. I thought that a brief switch to FoL fter I get a bunch of lumbermills up might be a plan.

Good point about the Grimoire. I always forget about that. And you're right about the research. Kind of weird to find myself in a Tower race as the Doviello.

Hope to get some current screenshots and commentary up whenever I get today's turn to give a better picture of where we're at.