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

[Mardoc]

Looking at the save, there's a few pieces of general news. Luchiurp got a tech, and a Great Engineer was born (probably their first from the Golden Hammer).

Now that we have the Sidar graphs, it's apparent that they, not the Balseraphs, have been the GNP leader for a while. As they're not Creative, this does mean that their GNP of 26 to our 16 means they're out researching us by a factor of 2 to 1! Granted, Mining and Dragon Bones ought to help close the gap a little, but it's another piece of why I'd like Aristocracy.

Our saving grace is that Warrens doubled production can still really count - 2 warriors will usually take down an axe, 2 axes will usually take down a champion. As long as we don't fall *too* far behind, we ought to be decent at war regardless.

[Tredje]

I agree, we can't be aiming for tech parity. We just need to have much more of slightly worse troops and we should do fine.

Iskender wrote a reply:

Welcome Orcs and Goblins!

Can you see us? So much for the disguise... The Divided Soul who suggested that black denim and plenty of eyeliner would make a good camouflage will have his soul divided by zero.

As a token of friendship the messenger was given a pair of the hippest Sidar shades and a message written in black and dark purple gothic letters:

"Hi

Other than yourself, I've met the light purple wizards in the southwest and the dark purple wizards somewhere in the southeast. I should make contact with the dwarves of the east soon. No signs of the crazy clowns so far. If you travel east look out for the scorpion prowling in the southern desert. If you take a northern route, there's also a scorpion east of my lands, a named one, probably unleashed by the dwarves.

The Sidar are secretive society, so please burn this note after reading. Enjoy the shades!

Iskender"

I wrote him a short reply informing him of our position on the map and where the Clowns can be found.

[Mardoc]

Awesome reply!

Maybe we should aim for an alliance of roleplayers vs. everyone else.

[Tredje]

Funny you should say that Mardoc.

This morning I receive this mail from Iskender along with the save:

Too bad that the Clowns are that far away. I wanted to crash their party by doing the "I'm the invisible man" trick.

Speaking of which, I have an offer for the Clan. I'm going to trigger my world spell rather sooner than later. Not at the moment - a portion of my military is in form of hammers in the queue waiting for my conversion to Appretinceship, but early enough for everyone to have little chance of having Hunting. I think I'll declare war on several players, triggering a general feeling of paranoia, but actually pick on only one.

My offer is this: we could coordinate our world spells to cause greater havoc. We could make a deadly strike vs one player or just mess with most of them. I'm mostly concerned about the Balseraphs (don't like the idea of Gibbon summoning Mind III or Air III puppets), but alas they are far away. If we're unable to coordinate our world spells we could just make some kind of anti-mutually-asserted-destruction pact to make sure we don't waste our world spells on each other.

Now this I find interesting. Iskender intends to fire his worldspell early and he invites us to cooperate, or at least not go after each other. I must admit that the thought of For the Horde + a bunch of invisible Sidar troops is appealing. But what would be in our best interest to do? My immediate thought is to go after the Amurites. We could secure the entire western portion of the continent for us and the Sidar by going after Sareln. Of course this would benefit Iskender as well. In terms of threats I would actually prefer it if we went after the Clowns, or even the Dwarves. The problem with going after the Clowns is that they are so far away from Iskender, and the logistics of such an operation would be a nightmare. The problem with going after the Luchuirp is that it opens up a lot of land for Serdoa, and not that much for us.

[Mardoc]

Yes, that is an interesting proposal. Of course Iskender won't join in to any plan that doesn't benefit him some, but we should absolutely jump on the NAP-like deal he proposes, at the very least. I can definitely see the value in slowing everyone else down, and helping out with that.

I agree on the target priorities, but I'm not sure how to translate that into proposals. Another advantage of hitting the dwarves potentially is that they're in the center of the map, so our Hordelings would only have half a continent at most to travel to get to him.

Honestly, I think the best outcome is to create general paranoia and military builds; even 2 vs 1 I don't think we are likely to kill anyone, but we could slow them all down.

All in all, I think I'm in the same boat as you - interested, but unsure on how to respond. Maybe further thought will enlighten.

[Mardoc]

Also, now that I've looked at the save, there's a couple C&D notes. Sareln grew to size 6, and Luchiurp got a 23 point increase that I'm having trouble explaining. It's not population - Totoro is still size 5 and they have no cities for trade. It's not land, because the timing's off. Their production did not increase, though, so they didn't settle the GEng, and a wonder only works mathematically if they also grew, which they didn't. That pretty much only leaves them having somehow gotten two techs in a turn, after getting a tech last turn too. Mathematically, it makes sense, but I'm having real trouble trying to figure out how they might have managed it in game!

On the one hand, they did just get a Great Engineer who might have bulbed something like Bronze Working. If they were lucky with a hut or lair exploration, that might explain the second tech, and it's been long enough since their last tech that they could have researched it naturally. It's still have to credit, though, 3 techs in 2 turns. That would put them up at 6 techs plus their free one, to our 2, soon to be 3. And if the huts are that nice, it starts me wishing we'd popped the worldspell turn 1 or 2 just for hut claiming!

If that is what's going on, then Luchiurp ought to really be our main target for a potential Iskender deal.

[Tredje]

A crypitcal message arrived today from the Luchuirp:

The Clan watchtower was a quiet place at this time of day. Many of the goblins were snoozing on the grassy bank and the orcs were playing poker... well, they using a hot poker on the rats to pass the time. All of a sudden a shout came from the top of the tower.

"Errr boss... there seems to be a movin castle on the horizon."

"What d'ya mean, castles no move" Said the orc captain with a sneer towards his junior scout.

"Av a look yerself boss" the nervous scout replied.

The orc reluctantly climbed the tower and took a look:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/18370161/FFH2PBE...Castle.jpg

"Dats a moving castle fur sure..."

No sooner had the orc said that and Howl was stood next to him with a casual smile on his face and an apple in his hand. He was dressed in fine clothes and carried a cane in his free hand.

"Good day to you my friend" Howl announced. "How is life in the Clan lands?"

"Err..." the orc replied slightly perplexed as to how the elfish dwarf had managed to get past the sleeping goblins... "Gud" he eventually grunted.

"I have come give your master a message, a message of insight regarding the clowns. Beware, they have many spy's in the wilds and so do not spread this word to another soul, only your master. Beware of animals with large shoes - they are certain to be the clowns in disguise. I saw a bear on my way here with a pom pom on his head." Howl was in full flow now as he started to tap his cane to a beat.

"If you find yourself pressed for space,
A conspiracy it might be,
The Clowns are a dastardly race,
I wonder if it was she?

You can trust in us, we won't partake,
Our master thinks too much of you,
The magic civ's, they may act fake,
A crazy plan they seem to brew......"

And as fast as he had appeared he was gone.

"De castle's movin boss..." the goblin scout yelled.

What do you make of it? Square Leg is definitely trying to warn us that the Clowns are organizing some sort of conspiracy against us. The words "if you find yourselves pressed for space" makes me think Bob is trying to organize a joint venture where every one of our neighbors settles in our direction. As for the castle in the sky, I am no native speaker, and I am not sure what that implies. I thought castles in the sky was a phrase usually used about people who make big plans and just dream about it. And who are the magic civs? The Balseraph, the Amurites and the Sheaim? I can understand that Sareln would want to push against us, because otherwise he will be pressed for space, but I am unsure what Serdoa would stand to gain from this. And animals being Clowns in disguise? After Hunting I could understand such a message, but I'm not really sure what this is supposed to mean.

All this is based on the assumption that Square Leg actually has insight into an actual plan. That may not be the case, but I definitely think it is a warning that should be heeded. This also makes me consider teaming up with the Sidar to cripple a neighbor, if only to ensure we don't get sandwiched by everyone close to us. Too bad the Clowns are so far away, I'd definitely like to make their life difficult.

[Ichabod]

The castle thing is just a joke.

It's from a movie "Howl's Moving castle" by director Hayao Miyazaki. It's the continuation of the "Howl" messenger from before, since he's showing up with his moving castle this time.

Well, at least I think is just a joke :neenernee

[Tredje]

The castle thing is just a joke.

It's from a movie "Howl's Moving castle" by director Hayao Miyazaki. It's the continuation of the "Howl" messenger from before, since he's showing up with his moving castle this time.

Well, at least I think is just a joke :neenernee

Thank you Ichabod for providing a plausible explanation. From now on whenever Square Leg says something I don't understand I'll just assume he has taken it from that movie

[Selrahc]

Square Leg is using a Studio Ghibli theme, so you might see other references besides just Howl's Moving Castle.