[SPOILERS] - Tredje and Mardoc are Sheelba of the Clan of Embers

[Tredje]

I actually tried casting For the Horde in a Single Player game, but that was before I upgraded to patch o. In that game I did convert a couple of Sons of the Inferno, but the only way of knowing if it still works would be to do a test game. Either way I don't think it is something I would count on. Should it happen it will be more of a pleasant surprise.

Ah, Cloak and Dagger. I know the term from roleplaying, but I see that it has a slightly different meaning here.

We actually played 2 turns yesterday, but I played the second turn so late that I didn't have the energy to post anything. Our Goblin is now heading to the Southeast, while I had our Warrior moving North. He ran into a Scorpion, and because I don't like the odds of fighting someone with Strength 5, I pulled him back around. On his journey southwards he did discover something of interest though. What we believed to be Standing Stones is actually Dragon Bones. Not sure if this is good or bad in the long run, but a city planted next to it will provide commerce right off the bat. As you can see there is also a river to the Northwest with Flood Plains.

[Tredje]

Exchanging pleasantries with the Amurites:

Tredje, Mardoc,

Greetings, and well met. We appear to be quite close together. Have
any of your other scouts met anyone? With raging barbs active I judged
it prudent to keep a warrior at home, so my own scouting is somewhat
limited. Not something you need to worry about no?

With that said, as a show of good faith, I will openly share all other
contacts I achieve and help facilitate contacts with other tribes.
Good luck to your warrior on his explorations.

Ciao!

My reply:

Salve Sareln!

Although my greeting is belated, I would like to profess the Clans joy of discovering one of its neighbors. I hope that our relationship will prove beneficial to both our empires. As you say, exploration is a bit safer for us, and one of my Goblins did actually just run into a Dwarf further to the East, and we have exchanged pleasantries with the Luchuirp. If it should please you, I could inform them of your location and how to get in contact with you.

- Tredje & Mardoc

[Tredje]

I will try to make updates while playing, but some of them will be short since I am making dinner, playing the game and watching football.

Turn 10: Agriculture done. I started Crafting -> Mining instead of Calendar as I want Mining asap. I also think that our Worker would be out of work for a lot of turns as Reagents is our only Calendar resource in the BFC. Our Warrior runs into a Lion on his way through the jungle. Hopefully he will survive.

[Mardoc]

Ah, dragon bones! I should have realized there's more than one option for *-nes. We're going to have to start dotmapping soon, I think.

Mining first seems reasonable; we probably wouldn't gain that much from Agrarianism just yet anyway. And Reagents isn't good for happiness, just for allowing us mages.

I'm in a similar boat, setting up my meals for the week.

It looks like this PBEM is swinging the turn around even faster than our does! Admittedly, not a lot to do right now except scouting, but still impressive.

[Mardoc]

I see we're building goblins? I recommend we switch to warriors after the current build finishes - higher str means we get more bonus from terrain, plus they have a longer shelf life, since they can upgrade with bronze.

Unless we find some wild wolves, that is. Then goblins all the way!

[Tredje]

Yeah, I wanted to build another goblin in case of Wolves appearing. Switching to Warriors after this one finishes.

Turn 13 and our Goblin dies to a Lion. He must have had about 90% odds and still he lost. Sad times. Also the Luchuirp used their world spell, probably for an early GE I would think.

[Tredje]

Turn 16:

And we have discovered Amurite lands + a hut! let us both play to the RNG gods that this is not a map. Also notice the fort SE of the Amurite capital. This will hopefully slow down their expansion in our direction. The capital is now size 3 and still growing strong. How many Warriors would you say we should build before the Settler. Definitely the one we are building and an additional one, but maybe a third one as well would be safest. I would like a Settler escort of 2 Warriors, and we need to keep one in the capital for safety reasons.

[Tredje]

34 gold. No love for the clan...

[Mardoc]

3 sounds like a good number. Settlers are expensive and warriors are cheap, after all. Probably only keep one per city, though, as long as there's enough barbs out there to keep us from having to worry about human attacks. The extra could either go exploring or become part of the escort for settler #2.

Where were you thinking as a good spot for the next city? I'm leaning toward the dragon bones, but we don't have enough unfogged yet to say which tile is best. There's a lot of good sites out there, though. About our biggest handicap is that it'll be a while before we have any culture production.

[Tredje]

Seeing as we have a C3 lion to the East and a bear to the North, I figure we can leave the Goblin on garrison duty, meaning we only need 2 Warriors for our first city.

I also made a quick dotmap of our land to the North/East. I am not sure whether we should settle Dragon/Pig city first or Cotton/dye city. The first one gives immediate commerce, the other one is better in the long term and gives us +2 happy. It also depends on when we want to get Ancient Chants for Monuments.