[SPOILERS] You know nothing, Mahala Tholal

[Tholal]

Turn 101:

Stumbled upon the Sheaim lands as I was moving some troops out to secure the next city site location. He's even closer than I had feared. He just recently built a city right near where I was about to place my next one. We'll need to do some diplo to hash out boundaries.



Here is the Sheaim diplo info. I have two more cities that he does. We also see how he finished the Bone Palace first. He's running God King and Slavery. Presumably he'll switch near the end of his Golden Age.



Current city status.



Urslo will build a National Epic next. I might even get another Great Person before my Golden Age is done. WotE landed in Heimster (and got two free spreads!). Not a bad spot. they'll build a Temple and start making Thanes.

Demos


Six more turns on my Golden Age. I can research Currency or Priesthood but not both. I'll go for Currency and see if I can also squeeze Sailing in.

And I finally put together a larger map. (click on tagfor full-size view)

Looks like my open directions for expansion are East and South. The Sheaim lands seem to be to my Southeast. Hopefully my Workboat can find some decent islands to the West.

[Tholal]

I kind of mucked things up a bit. It looks like I wont be able to complete Currency until the same time as the GA is expiring. I've already put some research into it but I'm considering switching over to Sailing and then Priesthood. Thoughts?

Not sure that I want to revolt into Conquest after all. I should be able to pump out Stonewardens at a decent pace (assuming I go for Priesthood) and with my new Public Bath system, the Doviello people are somehow a little less clean but a lot more happy!

My first Hunter comes out next turn. He'll need one victory before he can start capturing animals. Looks like there are plenty of bears to the north. I'll create a couple of more Hunters as backup.

[The Black Sword]

That sucks.

I guess Currency is no use if you don't switch to Consumption, Money Changers are quite expensive to build. I wouldn't leave Agrarianism while in an Aristocracy economy tbh, particularly with everything so peaceful. If you have too much food, maybe revolt to Slavery instead?

Also, maybe revolt to Religion(not sure what you're in in that column) if you're going to be building Temple's everywhere? 80h for 3gpt and 4 happy isn't a bad deal certainly. You could also research Military Strategy first, build the Heroic Epic, then Priesthood and change that to 40h. Given that the tech is useless apart from the HE, you probably need to build about 8 Priests to pay that back, maybe not.

Another thought, looking at that map was Construction, it would be fairly useful to farm the off-river tiles too.

Still, I agree Sailing is probably the best. Even if you can't find any seafood, the city will make 13gpt immediately on founding and the tech is very cheap.

[Tholal]

OK. Switched to Sailing. It will be finished at the end of next turn. I'll have to reduce my tech rate to 40% after that.
Only four turns of Golden Age left.

Speaking of Golden Ages. Brian's just ended and he also completed the Prophecy of Ragnarok. He's definitely planning on running up the AC. It's currently at 5%.

We've had some communications recently. First I sent him this once I saw his borders to my south.

Hail Builder of Bones! It seems that our borders have grown close with the placing of your latest city. I had a Settler on the way to build in almost the same spot. Perhaps we should discuss a division of territory so that we don't run into these issues in the future.

Mahala,

regarding my city placement, it was sited even before I knew where your borders were, at least ten years ago.

I am not currently interested though in planting cities north of my northern most outpost, my last two cities were placed to control the pass on the West/East divide in case of aggressive action from that direction. I have plenty of good land to my east and south that I am interested in settling some time in the not too distant future (as I'm sure you have similar land in your vicinity).

There is a line of mountains to the NE of Grottiburg (my most northerly city), I have interest in one site south of them (where the BFC will abut the mountains), and apart from that I can agree that everything north of Grottiburg's BFC is more naturally your territory.

It seems I might have misjudged where his city is placed. He seems to be implying that what I'm seeing is a border from a more-developed city (since he's creative, any city placed 10 turns ago would have long since expanded its borders)

I'm not sure exactly what mountains he's referring to. Hopefully it's not the Goblin Mountains. I need to get another Scout down there to help fill in the gaps in the map. Good to hear that he wants to expand east and south.

My reply:

This is agreeable to us though I am not sure exactly which mountains you are referring to. Our maps are incomplete in that area. If you are referring to the mountains with goblin forts on the northern side, then I will have to protest.

He wants to send a Great Merchant my way. I think a future map trade is a fair enough request on my part.

To the leader of the freezing north, congratulations on learning the proper way in which to worship rocks, may much gold come your way as a result!

I have a merchant travel a long distance to to your borders in order to set up trade opportunities. Perchance you could see it in your heart to allow him to settle in your white and frosty land.

That should be fine. Though we request that when such a time comes that we may trade maps that we do so. That way my people will not fear that your Merchant was sent in to spy on us.

[Tholal]

Turn 107:

Golden Age finishes at the end of this turn. Also just finishing up research on Knowledge of the Ether. Unfortunately, someone (likely the Hippus) has already finished researching Ashen Veil. Not sure why he hasn't switched yet, but I have no chance to winning a race to Infernal Pact. Think I need to buckle down, keep expanding, prepare for Blight and research Currency.



I discovered Pearls off my NW coast. I'll build a city where the Hunter is standing and use a Thane to expand borders. I'll either send a Workboat from the south or build one on site -- whichever is faster.


I also have Whales off my Northern coast. We'll get a city up there soon for another Happy boost.



There is a pretty crappy chain of tiny islands to my West. I have a Galley ready now and another Settler finishing at the end of the turn. This one will be slated for my first 'overseas' colony. I think I'll just drop it on the island closest to my shore.




I now have two Hunters who can capture animals. The Dancing Bear brigade should start soon. There's also a Giant Spider lurking about. With Animal Handling I can get Silk, which might be a bit easier than trying to get a city in the jungle regions to the south.

Hear back from Brian after my last message.

The fires of our pyres rejoice at the agreement. Our great merchant gives thanks for the infornation. In return he promises not to fleece you too much.

Regarding the west, it appears to be very narrow, as there is much water in my south west quadrant.

I guess that he hasn't explored very much to his West. I have a Settler on the way to Bjarkavig, He'll found a city either in the pass to the south or near the lake to the SW. I need to get a better look at the area myself. Have a bit of a Barbarian issue at the moment though -- two Lizardmen and two Goblins outside of the city. I have four troops of my own inside, including Rattleshirt, a level 4 Sons of Asena. None of the incoming foes can pillage, so they should all dash themselves upon my troops in the city. I'll send out a scouting party to the south after that to finalize a city site or two.

[Tholal]

Turn 120:

The Armageddon Counter shot up to 26 pretty quickly so I was expecting Bilght to hit by now. It's stalled at 26 for several turns now, though Brian can move it up whenever he wants with the Prophecy of Ragnarok. Unfortunately, Blight is a bit bugged.

Demos:




I should have done the expansion before the Golden Age, and then used the Golden Age bonuses to get the new cities up to speed quickly. You can see in the graph my rather precipitous drop in GNP. I'm starting to recover now with Markets and Courthouses going up. I have both the Winter and Summer Palaces under construction at either end of my realm. I'm funneling Workers in both directions and will get improvements up quickly as well as several Forest chops in (especially useful for the Winter Palace as I get double points for owning Marble).

I also should have researched Horseback Riding so I could currently be funding my economy by pillaging my enemies with Hasted Horsemen. That was my original plan when starting this game but I moved away from those plans when it seemed as if the map was endless then got distracted with expansion when I should have been eying the Sheaim as a victim. Guess that's still a possibility though the Sheaim have now switched to Aristocracy and have a much improved economy while I'm struggling to finish Currency.



Pearls are now available...


(unfortunately, I didnt have enough map exposed in that region to realize that I should have placed the city one spot to the west )

as is Whale oil...




Making lots of Economic and Health buildings. I'll soon start a slow flow of new Settlers to grab some sites in the south (Dyes, Sugar and Mana) and fill in the marginal land to the East.


Overview map of my area:


You can see that I had a Great Commander born at the end of the turn. This is the second in a row unfortunately. Now I'm glad that I used my first one to make a Command Post in Urslo. Another 13 turns for the next Great Person from Urslo. I'll save this Commander to hopefully start a Golden Age then, though if it's a Priest, I'll be tempted to make the Tablets of Bambur.

[Tholal]

Turn 127: Completed Currency a couple of turns ago and switched to Consumption and Slavery. It improved my economy quite a bit, but I still lag way behind the leader, whom I have now met.







Just finished researching Cartography this turn. Offered Open Borders to both the Hippus and the Sheaim. I bundled the offer to the Sheaim with a Map Trade which I had requested when he moved his Great Merchant into my lands.

Hail Lord of Bones. Per our agreement, we wished to inform you that a Trireme from the Hippus has passed our northern shores and so we have contact with the Master of Horses. They did little more than offer a perfunctory introduction.

Also, we have discovered the ways of drawing up maps so we offer an exchange of Maps and Open Borders so that both of our peoples may prosper from increased Trade.

Researching Writing->Trade now. Kind of sucks that Writing is otherwise useless for the Doviello, but the +1 trade routes per city at Trade is just too useful to pass up, especially if I can get some foreign trade routes going.

Using Slavery to whip a few buildings. Coastal cities are actually pretty decent with a Harbor and Lighthouse.



Plan to expand south next, hoping to grab some Dyes and Sugar to the south. Looks like there is a Barbarian city down that way as well. I'll send out a couple of troops to scout.



I already have a Hunter with Subdue Animals down that way. Looks like he'll be capturing this Griffon next turn unless it moves away instead of attacking.



Bears continue to flow in from the North. I even have a Worker building a road and a Shaman casting Haste to help them get to my cities faster.



The Armageddon Counter has been fluctuating quite a bit. I even got an event myself to reduce it by 2. It's just a matter of time though.

In some other news, mostly bad, the Hippus have Nox Noctis, Mardero and the Ashen Veil Holy temple!

[Tholal]

Turn 130: Argh. Again I messed things up. I thought that I would get a better advantage from trade routes with the Hippus so I offered Open Borders. Unfortunately, there is one single unrevealed coastal tile that is preventing me from connecting to his cities. He, however, does have trade routes with me and is getting at extra 65 commerce!

I have a fast Galley on the way. It will be 5-6 turns before he reveals the offending tile. I also have a Scout on the way as backup. He should arrive at about the same time.

I met the Illians a couple of turns ago. We traded maps and I have Open Borders with both him and the Sheaim, but no routes! Working on building a road into the somewhat backwards Sheaim empire. That should link me up with everyone else.

Met the Balseraphs this turn. They have Loki inside a Barbarian city to my south. A city I already have troops on the way to capture. I informed him of my claims to this city (and another nearby). Hopefully he will be reasonable as this is a good distance from his lands.

I'll get some screenshots up tomorrow.

[Tholal]

Update on diplomatic missives over the past dozen turns or so.

First, the Hippus:

Greetings from distant shores,

It would seem that our voyage has finally taken us to the land of the savages...

Greetings Lord of the Horse and Master of Demons. We began to wonder if rumors of your existence were mere fairy tales!

No fairy tales. We are very real, though quite some distance away.

We've accepted your offer of open borders, and have taken the liberty of sending our galley into Doviello waters. But you needn't be concerned; our intentions are merely peaceful exploration.

Speaking of which, I don't suppose you could offer directions to the Sheaim?

Then the Illians:

Auric of the Illians sends greetings to Mahala Tholal and his winterborn brethren,

We've finally met in game. I don't have time to write a full message tonight, but I am hoping that the rest of us can work together to slow down or stop the leader.

I've sent you an open borders request as well as a map trade. Please do not accept the map trade unless you agree not to trade maps with HidingKneel. If you do accept it, then we should be able to get trade routes with each other as long as you're connected to Brian.

Hail Lord of Ice! We
have heard of your peoples through the Sheaim but it is good to
finally meet. We have accepted both the Open Borders and the Map trade
(and the stipulation that comes with the latter). We have met the
Hippus just previous to meeting your people via a Galley on our
Northern Coast.

Our lands are not yet connected with the Sheaim, though we are
working on correcting that issue.
The Hippus do indeed seem to
be a powerful and dangerous foe. have you any contact with the
Balseraphs who seem to be their closest neighbor?

We do have contact with the Balseraphs, and
have discussed various plans with him to potentially prevent or delay
the triumph of the Bad Horse.
Btw... If I'm reading the
demographics right, you're giving the Hippus 63 commerce from trade
routes without receiving any in
return?

Unfortunately, I am

I had thought that I would get more benefit than he would but there is one single unrevealed coastline tile that is preventing my trade routes from reaching his cities. I'm working to amend that situation but it will be a number of turns. I may cancel the deal once I can if the network through the Sheaim proves to be profitable enough.

I see that you have declared war on the one who calls himself Bad Horse. Is this the beginning of the conflict or are you merely removing scouts from your territory?

Congratulations for realizing what Brian and Dave didn't seem to. The Bad Horse had reached my territory with a chariot, and had placed it right next to where I'm my newest city this turn. It seemed prudent to remove it before he could scout any more or cause mischief.

Do you think you may have a chance to scout HK's territory? If you can get hawks or floating eyes into his cities while you have open borders, that could provide some very valuable information. I can lend you metamagic mana (or other mana) once we have a trade link.

I can try and do some scouting. I have Galleys headed his way from both directions and I have a Shaman not far away that can catch up to the boat at some point. Working on network connection still. Hoping that the Sheaim will provide some help by building road infrastructure at their most northern city.

Encountered the Balseraphs this turn. Looks like Loki is about to try and convert a barbarian city that I consider part of my territory. I'm sending him a missive as soon as I'm done with this one and hopefully he will be reasonable.

I have a griffon headed in that same direction, but it looks like your galley is moving at the same pace he is.

I'm planning to complete the Deepening, btw, within the next 5-10 turns. I'm hoping that it will affect HK worse than the rest of us because StW will allow him to avoid the worst effects of Blight while the rest of us will already have seen our cities starved a bit and lost the tiles that produce the least food.

Good Luck with the Balseraphs.

Then the Balseraphs:

Greetings Furia of the Balseraphs. It seems that at last our people have met!

We see Loki visiting a barbarian city by the name of Sludgehome. We are not sure of your intentions, so we wanted to make ours clear. We consider Sludgehome and the nearby city of Zbolub to be part of the Doviello domain. As I write, there are troops on the way to bring these rogue colonies into the fold. We hope that your are agreeable to this and that we have beneficial relations in the future.

Greetings and well met.

I see this game as being a de facto alliance of the world vs. HidingKneel, and he'll probably still come out on top. Given that situation, I have no objection to you taking the two barb cities, especially if it would expedite a trade connection between our two empires. I plan to build a city in the Plain Cow, Wheat, 5 Silk site in about 6 turns, and will work on building roads in your direction.

In fact, I'd be happy to convert either or both cities with Loki and gift them to you once your guys are in position to garrison them. Loki gives city visibility, so I know that Sludgehome is still three turns from growth and building an axeman with 26 turns to go.

I offered open borders and a map trade. Ellimist already traded me your map, but I'm not sure how up-to-date your maps are.

Let's keep communications open. I'd like to make HK work for his win.

Open Borders and Map trade accepted.

I will take you up on the offer to convert the cities for me. My troops can be in Sludgehome in 2 turns and Zbolub soon after. My Workers are lagging a bit behind but we'll definitely work on establishing a trade connection on our end.

I wasn't clear on the timing, so I converted Sludgehome and offered it to you. I don't know whether the archers will be booted out of your borders if you accept the trade (they're hiding under Loki, presumably on the way to join the garrison at Zbolub), but I'd recommend testing that before you accept the trade.

While I was collecting screenshots for my spoiler thread, I noticed that you have open borders with Mr. Bad "Ridiculous Graphs" Horse. Why are you giving a boost to his already outrageous economy?

Those Archers should be set to UNITAI_CITY_DEFENSE which means they should just beeline for Zbolub, but since my guys are another turn out, I turned down the city offer. Please offer it again this turn.

Yes, I had offered Open Borders to the Hippus. I met them just before Ellimist and I was hoping that I would get more benefit out of the trade routes than he would. But I mucked it up. I'll cancel the deal when I can, in the meantime, I'm trying to get a couple of Galleys to explore some of his territory and I'll be glad to share any new map info I receive.[/color]

I offered Sludgehome again, but you're going to be on your own for Zbolub; Loki was killed by Blight damage. I should have seen that coming, but had gotten used to thinking of him as unkillable.

==========

I forgot about the potential unit damage from Blight. I bet that I lose a couple of wounded bears I had ready to build Dancing Bears in my new cities. Bummer.

[Tholal]

And here are a couple of those promised screenshots.

World Map:


Here is the unrevealed tile that is keeping me from having trade routes with the Hippus.


And to the west, we see that the Hippus are actually a lot closer to me in this direction.