Login

Ilios · November 12th, 2011, 09:17

Thanks for the updates. Come on, you're almost up to date! smile

Ichabod · November 12th, 2011, 11:49

Just want to make clear that I'm still reading and unspoiled, Ravus. I'm not commenting on the tech choice you need to make because I don't have a full picture of your situation yet.

Ah, if you could send me one save from the next turn or something, then I can better evaluate your situation.

Ravus Sol · November 13th, 2011, 22:47

[SIZE="6"]Turn 86-90: Foreign Manouverings[/SIZE]

While I struggle to fix my mess up with the Great Prophet things start to advance in foreign affairs. More of my rivals now have contact with each other, the elves start to pass along better maps now that they have hunters and hawks. My purposeful antagonizing of the Vampires starts to stir up trouble and the growing military prowess of the Hippus makes people nervous.

[SIZE="4"]Turn 86: Power on the Rise[/SIZE]

I only took this picture because to be honest it was the only important thing that was noticeable. The Hippus Power graph starts to rise and I try to keep a track of it as it goes. I have a picture of the power graph every turn but I doubt the lurkers care THAT much. All you need to know is that it increases. As does the Elves with their hunters.

considering the Hippus thought to attack the elves the diplomacy with both of them noting each others growth is amusing and will come later.

[SIZE="4"]Turn 87: Warrens Everywhere[/SIZE]

I build a warrens in Lonely Mountain. Actually I eventually build a warrens in ALL of the current cities. Just from lack of anything else to build. My plan at this point was for temples of Kilmorph to be going up.

But no go.

Instead I'm stuck throwing warrens up and Granaries. I even squeezed in a smokehouse or two. I couldn't go overboard with units as they were starting to cost money as well and making it take LONGER to tech was not part of the plan. While it was tedious at the time, these builds will be useful, the Warrens are allways good and the extra buildings are all health ones, which will be good come the apocalypse Blight.

Here is the Empire overview. I tried to get the Capital and the two new city spots all in one shot. As you can see Isengard is building a settler that would have been timed perfectly. Now it will be more tricky. Workers and cottages might be more useful.

But I need to keep up with the BIG TWO. The Vampires and the Elves. The Elves are expanding with their golden age and expansion trait while the vampires are just leveraging their flood plains and Aristocracy for land grabbing.

The Eastern Spot is above Fangorn forest and will be called Fangorn Plains, mainly so that I can more easily remember where it is (This map is flippin huge). It should be a good economical and settler/worker pump city. With two grain resources and enough rivers for cottaging. It also grabs the third grain resource boosting the commerce of my Capital via the Brewery (+10% per grain resource)

The Western Spot is a prime location for future expansion. A hub, as it were, to base my land grab in that direction from. It also grabs me copper and marble. I'll call this spot Dunlands.

[SIZE="4"]Turn 88: Barbarians, with friends like these... [/SIZE]

Here is the Dunlands area. There is a problem. THE BARBARIANS GOT THERE FIRST. Stupid friendly idiots. Thankfully there are enough resources to have some wiggle room. We can't tell exactly where the city is, it could be north of where I expect it to be (given my luck). I also can't see exactly what is too the south but I have enough extra warriors to scout it out and see if we get lucky.

The Barb city itself can eventually be taken via the Orcish hero, but we have no need to grab the military Bronze Working tech for quite awhile.

Here is Fangorn Plains, the workers have pre-roaded right up to the settling spot so that we have a trade route straight away. Now that we have Open Borders with the Elves we can't afford to not have that +2 Commerce from founding. The Workers will also start getting the Corn farm up and running for fast growth.

[SIZE="4"]Turn 89: Taking stock, wondering who should be in for a violant takeover[/SIZE]

Here are the Demographs for the turn. My lull is becoming more and more noticeable. I really am limping at this point.

A Update on the Dunlands venture. The Barbarian city is exactly where I feared it would be. Now we are stuck hoping that the south spot will be supportable.

The top 5 cities page can be a useful little bit of trivia. You will notice that i'm falling behind, but that the Hippus Capital is not even up here.

[SIZE="4"]Turn 90: Maps and Settlements[/SIZE]

We get lucky. Man do we get lucky. The Dunlands area has a extra wheat JUST where we need it. The city won't even need a border pop for awhile with all the good spots being in the first ring. Once it expands it does pick up a grassland for farming and a hill for production as well.

Fangorn Plains is settled. I would have said it was founded but then I would have been tempted to go for another alliterative sentence.

The Workers are still 2 turns off finishing the first farm but this city should speed through it's growth. It does have everything it needs.

With the Map Trade Agreement still in operation we get some good pictures of rival lands. The Amurites exist in a ver secluded area. They were correct to assume they might be able to never meet anyone. The one passage near Mammon leads to Vampire lands. To the East is Jungle and to the South is Sea.

Ah the Vampire Map. This is where you start to worry that you simply do not have the land to compete. Nubia and Adonias are the two cities that Sareln can get easy viability on and my oh my do they look lush. Two flood plains and gold spots.

And I thought the double gems spot at the start of the game was good.

Ravus Sol · November 13th, 2011, 22:51

Ilios Wrote:Thanks for the updates. Come on, you're almost up to date!

I'm getting there! :neenernee

I'm hoping to do a spurt every time a get a turn so that i'm up to date come turn 125 so that you can see the choice I have to make. The main tricky bit is figuring out when all the different diplomatic stuff takes place as I have arranged domestic notes by turn and foreign notes by date.

Oh well. I should get to turn 100 today.

(maybe)

Ichabod Wrote:Just want to make clear that I'm still reading and unspoiled, Ravus. I'm not commenting on the tech choice you need to make because I don't have a full picture of your situation yet.

Ah, if you could send me one save from the next turn or something, then I can better evaluate your situation.

Yeah it's tricky commenting on things without knowing what's happening. When the turn comes around in a hour or so I will throw the turn up here for you to use.

Ravus Sol · November 14th, 2011, 00:52

[SIZE="6"]Turn 91-95: STILL... LIMPING... TO GOLD[/SIZE]

Gives you an idea of how long this limp took. Wow. Thankfully I have the GP to bulb straight to Priesthood afterwards for fast expansion of that happy money giving religion. But these last few turns getting there was painful. I continue to expand and basically plan to collapse the economy just as I get Runes and Priesthood. Otherwise I won't be keeping up with the Vamps and the Elves.

[SIZE="4"]Turn 91: The Founding of Dunlands and comparing Empire Sizes[/SIZE]

As you can see the Wheat was all that was hidden in the mist, but thankfully that was enough to help Dunland along. The Workers start in on the sheep and the warriors return to the Capital to guard the NEXT double settlers being built.

Forgorn Forest is out of things to build. It just popped out a double worker. And it's now stuck building a useless Smokehouse. When we get fishing this city will do better.

The Empire of my two rivals are thus so;
Elves have 7 cities
Vampires have 7 cities
I have 6 cities

The next double settlers will be a good place to settle into and build up. But I need to stay AHEAD of expansion not behind. Orcs rely on horizontal growth after all.

[SIZE="4"]Turn 92: Limping Settlers[/SIZE]

Man the Dunlands Look pathetic at the moment. You can see that in the Capital I'm just about done with the next warrened Settler duo. One is going to settle in the East of Fangorn Plains and the other is going to settle West of Broken Entwash. The problem is that both these spots need a tech. Fishing and Calendar. Otherwise the cities will be useless.

Here you can see that the Workers from Fangorn Forest built a quick cottage to help the city along. The Deforestation also help get the smokehouse finished for in time for the Runes push.

The Farm in Fangorn Plains is now finished and you can see the spot in the east which will be Fangorn Port.

[SIZE="4"]Turn 93: More settlers and money growth[/SIZE]

Another picture of Dunland growing and you can see the Settler moving to the north. What I realise here is that if I settler that northern city NOW it will be useless. I'm too far behind in teching. So instead I decide to turn that Settler around and go to the Southern 'back-up' Position that i've had for awhile. A nice little 'back to the wall' spot in the south with a Corn and Sheep resource.

It's not perfect. But it will be a nice production city eventually. As I'm out of Names I figure I can just call it the South Pole.

The Fangorn Area with the Settler moving in, The Workers have finished the two farms and another worker will start a mine for production. That will be enough improvements that I can quickly detour the workers to building a road so that the Port can have commerce.

[SIZE="4"]Turn 94: Elves, Gross National Product and Priests walk into a thread... I got nothing.[/SIZE]

The Elves found ANOTHER city. Bringing them to eight. So they have Eight nicely founded and good cities while i'm limping at 6 and soon to be crying at 8. Not good.

Mist asked about GNP around this time so here is a graph to bring it home. The Vampires are Rocketing into the lead, both in land and in research. Amusingly even while tanking my economy I seem to have more commerce then the Hippus. I know they are being held back by going military but they still havn't declared war on anyone yet. They are also still pestering the Elves for a hand out to attack the Vampires.

Overview. Look at the silly amount of smokehouses! Somehow the Orcs are going to be the Healthiest nation in Middle Earth. Isengard is growing it's cottages and the Great Prophet has gained some more beakers for when it bulbs Priesthood.

Those who are paying attention will also note I was running a low warrior empire at the time. I couldn't support a lot of troops and so the safe cities were left unguarded. Lucky me being friends with the Barbarians.

[SIZE="4"]Turn 95: [/SIZE]

Broken Entwash is chosen as our military city. It starts on some warren warriors to boost our military now that we have more cities to defend. The workers I had in the area to improve entwash and the new city spot to the West are shuffled to other places now that we have chosen to settle elsewhere until we grab calendar.

Dunlands shot, the Sheep resource has finally been finished. Took far to long. You can however see that we are finally a turn away from getting Runes.

We abandon the new Fangorn Plains for a second so that we can better guard the settler going to Fangorn Port. The Workers also start on the roads.

Ravus Sol

[SIZE="6"]Judge yea not by thy friends. But by thine enemies![/SIZE]

These exchanges too place between turns 90-95. The Mackoti-Ravus exchange was a surprise. After we called a cease fire there has been no communication from the Vampires. But it turns out my wording may have helped his parnanoia along more then I thought... I also manage to grab Mist on chat now that he is back in the saddle, the discussion is informative. I discuss this and other issues with my 'friends' the Elves.

[SIZE="4"]The, I have suspicions and you will explain yourself, blunt force trauma to the face![/SIZE]

Quote:[COLOR="DarkRed"]Hi,

Ok Ravus i see alot of power incresed what you think a nap until turn 130?
Or you and sareln are behind of the atack against me?
regards,
Mackoti
[/COLOR]

Mackoti... the Bane of my diplomatic existence!

This two line message shows exactly why myself and Mackoti would never have gotten along in a working way, even without my initial aggressive stance. The first line shows he is watching the graphs and has noticed a power spike and wants a NAP. The Second... I honestly don't know what he is implying. Does he think that Sareln was involved in my "agressive scouting?" Does he think that the Elves are prepping for a war and that i'm involved?

I mean I did try to give off a "everyone is out to get you" vibe in the first greeting but this tells me nothing.

[SIZE="4"]The, I'm honestly so confused I don't need to act confused on purpose to up your paranoia, my confused nature does it naturally as does the crazy english language. We really do mug other nations for words and now this intro is too long... intro.[/SIZE]

Quote:[COLOR="Orange"]Mackoti,

I am honestly not sure exactly what your reasoning is here.

You are smart so obviously you are talking about the power increase in general, because mine and Sareln's have not increased that noticeably. The only two nations you have not met are the Hippus and the Bannor so you must have realised that the power increase is due to one of them and wish to 'secure your flanks'.

That bit I understand, yet then you seem to imply that if I do not take your offer then you will assume that BOTH Sareln and myself are 'behind the attack against you'. Do you mean you will blame us for the power increase? Just because I don't sign a NAP? and why blame both of us if only I refuse to sign?

I am confused by your reasoning, but my position remains the same, I still do not wish to sign a NAP, especially with a nation that is no where near me. There is no point. When you killed my wolf rider for scouting you removed my only unit near you. If it will calm your mind I will reveal that the power increase is due to the Hippus building up. No one knows who they will attack but just like myself they are nowhere near you.

Confused regards,
Ravus the Red[/COLOR]

So yeah. I'm confused. I throw out hooks to try to find out what the hell is grabbing his paranoia levels without soothing it too much. I play down myself and the elves while playing up the Hippus.

But in the end there was not enough subtext in the opening message from the Vampires for this reply to have much undertone. Apart from the implied aggression towards the vamps of course.

[SIZE="4"]The, I think everyone is out to get me because i'm either that paranoid, ego centric about my future position or just uncaring about potential allies[/SIZE]

Quote:[COLOR="DarkRed"]Hi,
oh, i believed you sareln and hipus are comming fo me, which i dont think its fair.
After that i said well its just a game, so I'll do my best to defend i will end up like Ilios at leats will be quick

Have a nice day,
Mackoti[/COLOR]

Now we are into confusion because of tense structure. The initial line states he believed past tense yet the second part implies present. So does he still believe that everyone is coming for him or does he no longer?

I suppose it wouldn't be fair if we were. We would have REALLY had to have been against the vampires to organise a dogpile on someone that early. Dogpiles fail because people cannot trust each other, or work together, or co-ordinate.

Again, this shows the opposite ends of the game we are playing at. Mackoti is in empire building mode and is playing the game, not the opponents. While I am having fun playing the opponents and... well messing up by tech path to be honest.

[SIZE="6"]Testing the Misty Waters, A Bannor and Orc weighing of worth,[/SIZE]

I stumbled into a Mist chat. You can grab a summery at the end but it's not that long and if you enjoy people tap dancing diplomatically it's amusing. Mist is VERY on the ball. The Vampires might be a big empire threat but Mist is smart and introspective enough to anticipate opponents.

This is the moment where I fully started to believe that the Hippus were being pulled around by the Bannor leash whether knowingly or not.

[SIZE="4"]The, I think you want me to think you think that you want me to think this is a simple opening and not a diabolical measuring up of a evil rival mastermind. think. thing. bla.[/SIZE]

[SIZE="4"]Summery;[/SIZE]

Mist Angles for an update on my exploration of his lands.
Mist downplays his abilities with a large map.
Mist Angles for who has triple GNP figure.
I push the vampires as black sheep (again) and we break the forth wall a bit.
I give hints at the diplomatic events
Mist Surmises I am going Runes
We both subtly admit that the Vampires make a good "Black sheep" that we can both use as a distraction
I angle about Hippus-Bannor Relations (mist sidesteps the question noticably)
Mist Angles about Armegeddon, I try to handwave away.
Conversation dries up.

For such a short exchange we say a lot. But that's allways the case when there is subtext involved. Basically we weighed each other up and know we are going to be the others late game nemesis (If we can bump off the increasingly anti-diplomatic Vampires)

The information I got from this? That Mist is as savey as I feared and that he has the Hippus by the reins. He has a late game plan in motion and the time to build for it. That he's anti Armegeddon, but the fact that he admits to wanting to build the PoR as denial means I could try to use it as an excuse to build it myself.

The Information he got? Probably continues to suspect a Armegeddon play. My handwave wasn't that good. But hopefully his threat of denial isn't that meaningful. It would be a big waste for him. He goes away knowing that I will be in Runes soon which isn't top secret information. He also got some basic diplomatic information that he may/may not have gotten from the Hippus.

All in all a useful exchange. Well worth the bits of information I gave up as 'bait' so to speak. The tricky part will be limiting my communication with Mist, he is amusing to chat with and I could risk lowering my guard with a known enemy. Unlike lowering my guard with an ally like Sareln.

[SIZE="6"]Elvish and Orcish trade views[/SIZE]

This picks up where the last conversation left off. It happens in between all the other message with the Vampires and the chat with the Bannor.

[SIZE="4"]The, here is some info, stuff[/SIZE]

Quote:[COLOR="Orange"]Greeting from the Red Court

I have finally managed to re-open communication with the Amurites, So
I too have found out about their 120 NAP. The talk was alright but Amelia
is trying to paint me as a better target then himself. It's understandable
but limits our interaction. Amelia does believe that the Vamps are going
to attack someone mid game and is doing all he can to buy himself time.

I did look at the new land revealed. But to be honest I was more drawn to
the lovely choke points for the Amurites. Only two passage ways to the
West. Both easily Defended. Especially in the south with us. Considering
how hard it would have been for one of us to break through there perhaps
it is best that the Vampires and Amurites attack each other.

You must have planted your newest city in the north, my slightly-out-of-date
map still shows a one or two tile gap between your culture and the sea
so that a small force could sneak round.

I never understood a mercenary approach early game. How, after all, are you
supposed to extort money via bribery and threats without the currency tech?

The Bannor and I only exchanged a few emails. Mist is very on the ball
diplomatically, so he's getting information from the Hippus. He basically told
me that he didn't care about world events as he knew he was in the best
defensive land and was going to happily turtle up and try to out tech everyone.

The fact that he feels safe enough to try this with the Hippus next door is telling.
Either the Hippus offered or maybe even threatened and Mist paid, or he bribed
them and sent them elsewhere. Either way he seems to not be worried by them.
So I suppose that counts as a 'yes' to your question of if I think they worked
out a deal. I just don't know who made the first offer.

Teching problems are slowly getting fixed. Hopefully the infrastructure will all be
done by turn 100. I noticed the settlers. You must have been building one in every
city to push out so many so quickly. I myself was relying on Warrens and have had
hold off on settling some due to the aforementioned economy.

One last update;
The Vampires just sent a two line communication. Telling me they have noticed an
increase in power, could they have a NAP to turn 130. The second line says
"Or you and Sareln to blame for attack against me."
Due to language problems I'm not sure what exactly he is trying to say/threaten/hint.
You will however have noticed that the NAP he offered was 10 turns behind the Amurite
one. Interesting no?

I sent a reply telling them no on the NAP, I tried to ask what he was trying to imply and
then told him that the power increase is due to the Hippus.
I think he's trying to secure his flanks before assaulting the Amurites, If so, you may have
gotten/be going to recieve your own NAP offer.

Hawk flights are good, just try to steer clear of Broken Entwash and the Lonely Mountain,
thats the path that all the Barbarians take. Safer to try to stay in the Dunlands or Isengard
first to find out where any Barbs are in my lands. Hawks are cheap but you don't want
to loose one needlessly.

Regards,
Ravus the Red Wizard[/COLOR]

we finish up our chats about the Amurites and Hippus. To be honest this is mainly just a filler letter telling Sareln about what he needs to know.

I do end with the additional summery of the Vampire Exchange just as a warning in case he gets his own letter. I'm not too worried as I don't peg as Sareln as a sell out. In this game at least he is being very 'man of his word'. and the anti-vampire agreement i've tied him too should keep him honest.

[SIZE="4"]The, agreement about the vampires but we may have made him paranoid thanks to our duel similar responses.[/SIZE]

Quote:[COLOR="Green"]I have Mist pegged on a Crusade-fueled Mercurian Game. What do you
think of that Hypothesis?

Got a similar e-mail from Mackoti, told him no as well and gave Amelia
a heads up. I spun him some yarn about treaty obligations preventing
me from signing a formal NAP while assuring him that due to geography
and expansion room, there would be no logical reason for me to try and
hit him, so he should calm down, and that any power increase on my
side was to deal with a crazy hippus who would rather build horsemen
than settlers on a huge map. Sent him a power-graph to underscore the
point.

I amused that we sent him similar answers w/out coordination. Though
he's probably right paranoid now.

Hippus keep asking me for some sort of bribe to go hit the Vampires.
I keep demurring since it seems unlikely to succeed.

The capital was able to do 3 turn settlers during the GA, so most
other sites got to work on other useful projects (markets and workers
mostly)

Both my lodge cities are tied up building hunters right now, but I've
got one free hawk I can send down your way. Which city would you
prefer?[/COLOR]

I think in future I will use the fact that we gave similar responses to highlight as why the Vampires might be agressive or paranoid. It's too good a excuse to pass up.

Sareln's idea of the Bannor going Angel spam could be possible. It is certainly within the 'theme' of the Bannor. And in one of his previous games Mist went with a rush theme Doviello. However I think I will play up him possibly doing a Veil/Infernal rush so that I have an excuse to 'deny' him the PoR.

[SIZE="4"]The, i'm trying to shift your perspective ever so slightly on these topics end to a conversation.[/SIZE]

Quote:[COLOR="Orange"]On Mist, It could be, I assumed he had some late game plan. Either
Crusade, Mages, Infernals or Mercurian. Infernal would be best for pure
teching, he needs the gate built if he wants the Angels and that means
he needs production or a well timed Great Engineer.

Oh dear, If they were too similar we may have only increased Mackoti's
Paranoia. I also sent a message to Amelia. So the Amurites should be
prepared at least. His reply is just as confusing as I think he's saying
he is now convinced of an attack because we refused to sign a NAP?
It makes me wonder if he is playing belligerent on purpose. Surely any
good tactical thinker knows that to be tied down in NAPs limits your
response possibilities? I certainly want to have the option to decide to
come to the aid of someone he attacks if it will allow him passage to my
lands.

hopefully the hints about the Vampires by the Hippus are because he
plans to attack anyway and wants to be paid for it as well. If he does
come for you then you have a nice stick instead of a carrot in your
worldspell. *shrug*

I should finally have limped to Runes next turn. So I can settle the two
settlers I have in reserve. Then I can bulb Priesthood down to a 1-2 turn
research.

On Hawks, Entwash has a Barbarian close by so steer clear of there. The
best place is probably Dunlands. The only barbarian near there is fortifying
for some strange reason.

This Reply is a tad rushed as i'm trying to catch up with my thread for the
lurkers, my last real update was turn 68 or something. Only just got it up to
80. [/COLOR]

I lay the foundations for blaming Mackoti's paranoia on our double response. I also downplay his aggressive tactics. Amusingly this letter was sent during my LAST update. So now i'm up to date on where I should have been THEN.

Ravus Sol · November 14th, 2011, 04:28

[SIZE="6"]Turn 96-99: Setting up for the turn of the Century[/SIZE]

It does feel like a long time since this nation was started by a silly little dirt settler. That's something I've enjoyed about the PBEM. It really feels like you are building an empire not just slapping one together like it feels like when you play normally sometimes. You lose track of cities and write off keeping track of certain things because you are only against AI. Here every turn has counted.

[SIZE="4"]Turn 96: Worshiping the Runes. Or passing money to the Bannor[/SIZE]

Religion is IN!

Finally.

The Events show some diplomatic affairs. Mist of the Bannor got a Great Bard and is in pacifism, probably looking to leverage his safety and small empire with great people. Amelia got a Great Sage, probably used to found a Acedemy he has the cities for it. Mr Yellow is in City States... which seems silly as he isn't that large an empire. While last Mackoti of the Vampires grabbed the Great Library. Not game changing but it will be useful for him. Agristocracy sometimes means you grow faster then you should due to limited happiness resources. With minimal trade relations possible this means his sages to limit growth will provide more.

This is a look at all the cities. As you can see only the initial four are being productive. The two new ones are not bringing in much. The next two will also not be good. With FFH you have to spread the religion into a city manually if you do not found it with the religious unit you gain. From this, Isengard will be the best place to spread the religion first so it can speed out a temple and then some priests.

The Religious unit appeared in Fangor forest. Thanks to his extra movement from spirituality he gets to the capital very quickly. Next turn Isengard will finish the silly smokehouse and then move onto Religion push.

Below you can also see that the settler is moving to the south pole and also that a worker down there has pre-built a pasture for the sheep.

The Settler is finally in position to found Fangorn Port next turn. The Workers will need to run in.

[SIZE="4"]Turn 97: Lightbulb![/SIZE]

I finally pop the Great Prophet he gets me an extra 711 beakers for priesthood. Not a perfect use for him. But Priests for me are good for economy and military so it will do.

I also founded Fangorn Port but forgot to take a picture. I'm sure you know where it is by now.

Isengard starts on the temple and with a little bit of jiggling can finish it in 2 turns.

While down south the warrior checks to see if there is an extra resource hiding in the mist. This time at least, we are not that lucky

[SIZE="4"]Turn 98: South Pole Priests![/SIZE]

South Pole is founded and it grows in 4 turns. Pretty good. The workers are rushing to getting the road up quickly as well. All of the starting cities are building Elder Councils mainly from lack of anything else to initial build.

Down south you can see the barbarian fortified on a ice hill. It has not moved. Ever. I'm convinced some secret super duper resource must be on there.

Due to min-maxing I can rush out the Priesthood in one turn. Just in time as the temple finishes in one turn as well. Broken Entwash is out of things to build. (even a smokehouse). So while Isengard is going all Runes Religion Broken Entwash is filling in the expansion. It's getting out some workers and will then go for some Settlers.

You can see the worker in the Filler location getting up the sheep pasture. The other city will be the Incense location (THIS time I should have the right tech to found there)

[SIZE="4"]Turn 99: Fishing for Priests[/SIZE]

Now that Priesthood is in i'm going to limp to some useful other techs, Fishing will help Fangorn Forest and Port. Then I run for Calendar for Agrarianism and the ability to use Calendar resources. I may grab the ability to make markets after that for future expansion pushes to build them instead of Eldar Councils.

The Stonewarden now gets finished in 4 turns. That's fine. With my four initial cities, Isengard, Fangorn Forest, Broken Entwash and Lonely Mountain all having Warrens I can speed the Priests to those cities and have THEM also start building Priests.

The Civics for my Rivals. Amelia is also now in Aristocracy, which combined with what I believe was an Acedemy is helping boost the Amurite Religions.

Ravus Sol · November 14th, 2011, 04:31

Turns out that I didn't take any turn 100 pictures. I just left myself a note to take some pictures for a big update, so i'm going to scrounge around for the old save file and grab some stuff.

Ravus Sol · November 14th, 2011, 05:01

[SIZE="6"]Enemies of Elves should beware of others stabbing them in the back[/SIZE]

I nearly forgot the most important Diplomatic update of the lot. It seems that the Elves finally caved in to the Hippus prompts. For quite a good agreement. I thought that this could be a good way for the Hippus to still get gains from their military push way back. But NOW it looks to the Vampires like it could have been planned all along...

It looks like it's no longer paranoia. We are all out to get him.

[SIZE="4"]The, I value your alliance now keep your mouth shut to others and tell me if you think this plot will work, opening[/SIZE]

Quote:[COLOR="Green"]Ravus,

Big News.

Don't share this with Amelia. I suspect he would try to sell it to
Mackoti to buy himself some more turns, which is *not* something we
want. I trust that you value our friendship enough to keep this
secret.

If Mr. Yellow is playing straight with me, I've "bought" a 12+
horseman strike on Mackoti for the cost of 1 settler + more settlers
if he manages to raze certain key cities (capital, developed
borderlands).

I've been beefing up my own forces just in case the Hippus are setting
up some elaborate double-cross or weird thing, I'm sure you've noticed
that on the power graph. I need your opinion here, do you think Mr.
Yellow will play this straight?

Coordination with Mr. Yellow over the past couple days have lead me to
be hopeful that he is indeed serious about this.

However, I am somewhat worried about Mr. Yellow's competence, so I
expect mixed results. Though if he burns the capital it will all be
worth it I think.

Hopefully this translates into a crippled Mackoti, which solves one of
our lategame problems, and kills a bunch of Hippus Horsemen, resolving
another (local) problem for us. Even better if Mr. Yellow uses his
worldspell to cause more damage (to earn more reward). Even if the
strike fails though, it buys time to turn the vampire-wizard issue
into a real fight instead of a roll-over. The trick will be to
guarantee that the Amurites and Vampires do fight, instead of a pissed
off vampire trying to swing into me out of spite.

How's the Orcish economy faring?[/COLOR]

I do wonder If Sareln distrusts Amelia or is just looking to drive a wedge in there for the next war. I certainly have nothing against Mackoti I just needed a big bad scapegoat for the game.

Either way Sareln lays out his cunning plot with the Hippus and asks for my opinion on whether I think it could work and whether Mr Yellow is being honest in his dealings. The Deal itself is very good price. Especially for an expansive player. The fact that Sareln only has to pay for a SUCCESSFUL raid is big coop. My respect for him goes up another notch for making sure to include that little addition.

He is also pragmatic enough to admit that he's hoping that the Hippus half-fail. That they do enough damage to the Vampires to cull them but that the Hippus also destroy their own assault force so that "we" no longer have to worry. You also have to admire the uses of the word "we". In the mouth of a charismatic schemer "we" starts to sound the same as the word "pal" when uttered by a street scumbag in a dark alley.

[SIZE="4"]The, "we" are valued friends and I appreciate you taking the initiative against those vile Vampires which I in no way provoked, reply [/SIZE]

Quote:[COLOR="Orange"]To Sareln, Valued Ally of the Orcs

Lot's to consider with this news. Communication with Amelia has gone
dark again, I can only assume he is in a flurry of talks with the Vampires
to buy time. Now is not the time to fill him in on this. But WHEN the attack
happens we will have to decide how to spin it. I assume you will want to
handle that? Either by trying to pretend it was just the Hippus to redirect the
eventual Vampire backlash, or by taking credit to try to buy points with the
Amurites and get them more into a 'Help the Elves kill the Vamps' mood instead
of a 'Sell out everyone' mood.

It's a good deal. It's an insane awesome deal to be honest. 1 Settler payment
initially and only more if he succeeds in RAZING cities? That's good.

Very good.

On Mr Yellow; Logically one would say that betraying your first Mercenary
employer is not a good way to get repeat business. But Mr Yellow has made
illogical blunders before. I'd say you were wise to build up defence just in case.
I have been feeding him a steady course of "Vampires=Bad" For awhile. So he
should be okay with the idea. But I think he will go along for it for one simple
reason, The Bannor.

I recently had another chat with the Bannor. They were wondering who has the
top GNP score. I'd been holding back info on them since they chose to go
isolationist. But this time we both had a 'cards on table' moment. Mist is one
on the ball, smart, savy Nemisis. He knows the Vampires are the more immediate
threat and is playing his long game trying to stay under the radar (currently I'm
suspecting an Infernal play, but that could be what he wants me to think.) I also
got confirmation that he has an agreement with the Hippus.

It may be off base, but I'm convinced that If a relationship exists between Hippus
and Bannor then it is Mist pulling the strings whether the Hippus know it or not.
He is too smart and Mr Yellow has too many illogical blind spots.

To sum up, Mr Yellow can make mistakes, but Mist knows the Vamps need to
go down a peg and I think he will use whatever influence he has to push Mr Yellow
into it from his end.

Competance wise I don't think it matters. 12+ Horses should be able to find at least
one city to burn provided Mackoti only has warrior defence. If you are correct and he
suspects a attack he is probably rushing to a better unit though. Hopefully Mr Yellow
will burn his worldspell. It would be a good temptation to do so.

On my own economy. I'm going to have to stay with 8 cities for awhile while I spread
around Rune Temples and workers. Runes was adopted last turn and I get Priesthood
in 2-3 turns around the same time the first temple finishes. Next few turns will be Priest
spam in ever increasing quantities to help out the economy, defence and future expansion.[/COLOR]

I test Sarelns diplomatic muscles by asking how he wants to handle 'spinning' this to the Amurites.

My response to his plan is a mix of obvious and subtle praise. I fill Sareln in on my suspicions of the Hippus being basically Bannor Vassals. I lay it on a bit thick in retrospect but perhaps that will just come off as me being a paranoid s*d.

[SIZE="4"]The, Glad that we are in agreement now i'm off.[/SIZE]

Quote:[COLOR="Green"]Brief, from iPod.

Bannor manipulating Hippis is problematic, but a long term problem.

I am planning on telling the vamps that I've been extorted and that the Hippus seem hellbent on killing vampires. Perhaps we can implicate Mist in this.

Econ news is good to hear. I'm teching BW for copper warriors just in case. Mack built the great library in Nubia.

I still think Mist is likely going crusade/mercurian

- Sareln -[/COLOR]

This Brief end to the conversation is merely to let me know that Sareln has gotten and agrees with my message to him. It also shows that for the most part he just wanted to check that I would be okay with him making this move.

Sareln doesn't, however, seem to be going for my "Mist is going infernal" (so perhaps I should get there first to stop them) play.

Ravus Sol · November 14th, 2011, 05:53

I'm going to call it a night here most likely.

This has nothing to do with bumping the thread onto a new page so that turn 100 starts a new section...

It also has nothing to do with Skyrim suddenly being in my house.

...

Navigation

Extra Menu

About us