Uncommonly Good: A Story of Elves

[Mardoc]

Gaspar, you're leaving out the palace hammer. Plains hill plus plains hill forest is enough, and so is normal city tile plus Remnants on plains.

It could be RG. I agree it would be a silly move, but this is a noobs game, after all. I think the best indication there is if it disappears next turn, then we know his lurkers yelled at him and he listened .

I agree that we likely want to expand north and west, not south until we run out of room or scouts discover the jungle to be small.

[gingereagle1969]

After your cogent argument in the Organising Thread, and considering the fact that I might just be talking to myself if I start an actual lurker thread, I’ll continue ded-lurking here until you throw me out: :neenernee

A lurker thread has been started if you're interested

[Gaspar]

A lurker thread has been started if you're interested

Don't go chasing people out of my thread, GE!

T2 has arrived, what wonders does it bring? A free Great Bard? Discovery of Dragon Bones at the next city site? A Mistform at the capital? I dunno, haven't opened it yet.



Nope, just a crappy constellation event. :P

Oh, and temptation won out, I went ahead and popped the hut near the city, with this result:



Normally, I'd be unexcited about that, but... nevermind, I am indeed unexcited by that. I then moved the scout's 2nd move SW, showing me this:



Not sure if you can make it out in the fog, but below the Ivory (not bad either, by the by) you can barely make out the sign for the Pyre of the Seraphic in the fog there. If we can settle there, that's free fire mana, which will be important for us down the line as collateral. Might need to move BW slightly up the priority scale so we can claim that site as our own sooner. Don't want any pink dot moves from whomever is south of us. In the north, the scout revealed 2 resources and a dungeon. Pretty eventful stuff for T2, if I do say so myself.



In foreign news, everyone has settled their city now. My free tech puts me in the lead, muhahaha. Here's this turns demos:

[Ravus Sol]

Damn. You lucky tech popper! Although as it wasn't anything important i guess the balance is preserved... for now :neenernee

So are your two scouts tempted to press their luck and pop a dungeon?! It's the ultimate start question. Many have been lured to their deaths by mistforms with stories of free Savants and Great Sages and Adventurers early in the game.

You keep mentioning needing BW to cut down jungle... is this because you think that method is best or do you not know about the OTHER way?

[Gaspar]

Damn. You lucky tech popper! Although as it wasn't anything important i guess the balance is preserved... for now :neenernee

So are your two scouts tempted to press their luck and pop a dungeon?! It's the ultimate start question. Many have been lured to their deaths by mistforms with stories of free Savants and Great Sages and Adventurers early in the game.

You keep mentioning needing BW to cut down jungle... is this because you think that method is best or do you not know about the OTHER way?

If there's another way to cut down jungle, I don't know it. I assume some sort of fire based deal would clear it out, but I don't really want to be starting fires in my tree-laden territory, no? If I'm missing a game mechanic, please do share.

I'd say the temptation to pop the dungeon will be tough to resist, but I'll try to resist it. I make no promises, however. In SP I almost always pop them right away, but the consequences are obviously much lower. :P I won't be popping the Pyre, because I believe the Epic dungeons have even nastier consequences, plus if I don't pop it, I only need to road it connect the resource, yes?

[Ravus Sol]

If there's another way to cut down jungle, I don't know it. I assume some sort of fire based deal would clear it out, but I don't really want to be starting fires in my tree-laden territory, no? If I'm missing a game mechanic, please do share.

I'd say the temptation to pop the dungeon will be tough to resist, but I'll try to resist it. I make no promises, however. In SP I almost always pop them right away, but the consequences are obviously much lower. :P I won't be popping the Pyre, because I believe the Epic dungeons have even nastier consequences, plus if I don't pop it, I only need to road it connect the resource, yes?

FIRE!!

Yep the level 1 fire spell blaze burns down forests and jungles into Burnt forests that then become new forests. Nice circle of life thing.

I think it can spread with a low chance, but only if a forest/jungle is in a tile next to the fire. So yes it could very well end in tears... but it's an option!

I shall look forward to your efforts to resist dungeon popping with glee. As for the epic mana dungeons, they do need a node to be rebuilt before becoming re-usable if they get popped.

[Gaspar]

Yeah, I figured that was what you meant. Had forgot that Blaze did that precisely, but I'd say its highly likely we'll grab BW before KotE. It is an option though, since I really don't have designs on the melee line. Clearly much faster to burn stuff than chop it, but yeah, have to be really careful about where one uses fire when one is an elf.

I'd say there's a 100% chance that next turn I intend to walk right past that Dungeon. I'd say there's a 50% chance that the next turn report begins with news of the mistform I just popped.

[Man Behind the Mask]

Free tech! Woohoo! Pyre! Double woohoo!

Might need to move BW slightly up the priority scale so we can claim that site as our own sooner.

BUT, FFH has sprung its trap. From a nice clear plan, revealing one tile leaves you coveting techs from all over the tree (BW and Mages)

Having said that, you definitely want to claim the Pyre. In addition to the value for the elven army in particular, we also have: i) Denial; ii) compatibility with palace mana for Tower purposes, and iii) having it in the borders makes it significantly less likely someone else will pop a nasty (look out for Loki).

I’m surprised not to see any tundra yet as you go north. Undiscovered northern civs notwithstanding, there could be a good amount of space to settle. That does risk our southern neighbour being closer, but with similar backlines. In the south, Ivory is good given the desire for early hunting. I do hope everyone else has fewer rivers!

The mystery 6 manufacturing persists, and the Rival Worst Food is 3, so I’m not sure how that fits with Mardoc’s possibilities.

Sorry for the scattershot post – I probably should have broken it up to maintain the lead in the post count.

[Gaspar]

Free tech! Woohoo! Pyre! Double woohoo!

BUT, FFH has sprung its trap. From a nice clear plan, revealing one tile leaves you coveting techs from all over the tree (BW and Mages)

That is no doubt not only the devilish part of FFH, but in particular my greatest weakness in the game. Your and Mardoc's job is to stop me from being my own worse enemy.

Having said that, you definitely want to claim the Pyre. In addition to the value for the elven army in particular, we also have: i) Denial; ii) compatibility with palace mana for Tower purposes, and iii) having it in the borders makes it significantly less likely someone else will pop a nasty (look out for Loki).

Loki enters my borders = immediate wardec as far as I'm concerned. While he can't flip me easily as Cultural, I am not in the least bit interested in letting him scout my lands for free, nor in taking any opportunities should they present themselves. I'll make that clear in diplo as soon as he's built. He can take advantage of someone else.

I’m surprised not to see any tundra yet as you go north. Undiscovered northern civs notwithstanding, there could be a good amount of space to settle. That does risk our southern neighbour being closer, but with similar backlines. In the south, Ivory is good given the desire for early hunting. I do hope everyone else has fewer rivers!

Well, I already see 2 potential city sites in the north, plus one in the SW, plus one east of the capital. Obviously more map knowledge is pretty necessary before we make any concrete plans, but I'm relatively pleased with the start thus far. I do agree that I hope other teams are less riverful, especially the Hippus.

The mystery 6 manufacturing persists, and the Rival Worst Food is 3, so I’m not sure how that fits with Mardoc’s possibilities.

Maybe its plains hill plant plus an unimproved hammer resource on a grassland tile? We've seen an Ancient Forested ToS, so the maps obviously been edited. Would grassland forested marble/ivory do it? That gets 3 food, and I'm pretty sure 6 hammers. Hard to say. Maybe the prophets could have been working on that instead of some Bronze Owl bullshit. *fires prophets*

Sorry for the scattershot post – I probably should have broken it up to maintain the lead in the post count.

Sir, I love the way you think. We are destined to lose the post count war if I don't start getting more creative again, however, and both Kyan and RG have 347 lurkers. Bastards.

[Mardoc]

Sir, I love the way you think. We are destined to lose the post count war if I don't start getting more creative again, however, and both Kyan and RG have 347 lurkers. Bastards.

With this in mind, I'll be replying to each post with my thoughts (or trying to, anyway). I tend to want to write one gigantonormous post instead, so we'll see if I can resist the urge

Oh, and temptation won out, I went ahead and popped the hut near the city, with this result:

Ooooh....

Normally, I'd be unexcited about that, but... nevermind, I am indeed unexcited by that.

Hey, a tech's a tech. I'm sure we'd have wanted it eventually, for trade or eventual coastal cities, even if we didn't want it soon. Much better than just a map.

Not sure if you can make it out in the fog, but below the Ivory (not bad either, by the by) you can barely make out the sign for the Pyre of the Seraphic in the fog there. If we can settle there, that's free fire mana, which will be important for us down the line as collateral. Might need to move BW slightly up the priority scale so we can claim that site as our own sooner.

Wunderbar! Without catapults, fireballs are pretty much our only choice for handling city defenses. not that we'd ever plan on conquering the world .

And of course Ivory is going to be one of our early available resources, since Hunting's on the way to WoTF.

I think I'm going to have to agree with Ravus, here, on the best way to acquire the site - any tech we can skip, we should. We need KoTE anyway, but Bronze working is decidedly lower priority if we're fighting with Hunters, Archers, Priests and Tigers.

It would likely pay to get our hands on some water mana first, just in case, but with the Sheaim threat, we need to do that anyway. And, for that matter, if this is like PBEM3, there's bound to be lots of desert - and if we can Spring it, plant forests, and grow them to ancient, we're looking at nice places to live still!

Hmm. Although, on the other hand, Bronze Warriors are the highest efficiency defenders in the game...well, we need Way of the Forests promptly anyway, so we've got plenty of time to reevaluate. I find FFH to be really good at inducing tech dilemmas.

Finally, a mostly random thought - so far we see jungles, forests, and grasslands. Grand Menagerie may be possible.