Cultural Domination in Balance: EitB Succesion Game

[Qgqqqqq]

A SG based around the goal of domination through overwhelming culture.

We are playing Perpentech of the Balseraphs with the aim of winning Domination in a Always Peace game.

Roster:
- Qgqqqqq
- Molach
- Mardoc
-

Signups are still open, if anyone wants to join.

Settings:

Not pictured are no religions banned and Acheron, Orthus and Duin allowed.

I rolled us three starts:

Start 1:


Start 2:


Start 3:


I really want to play start 3...but its probably a bit overpowered.
I'm fine with any really.

Edit: For those viewing this later, the lack of images is because dropbox changed their functionality. This is a common problem across the fora.

[Mardoc]

Well, we're here to have fun, not to show off. I'd say, go for the start that looks most fun, even if it does look OP. Probably settle on the plains hill by the silks, head straight to Calendar. And worker first if you bring a starting warrior home to defend against goblins.

If you'd feel guilty about that, go for #1. It's the middle ground, still pretty strong but not quite as OP as #3. But move to the plains hill north of Odio's. I think we start with Agriculture, so we don't have to research that first. I think I'd go for Crafting first, wines.

I will vote against #2, spending ages to get to Mining before we can improve any tiles seems kinda boring. Happy to play either of the others.

[Mardoc]

Oh, also, before we go too far: are we playing with or without the Nox fix?

[DaveV]

You have barbs enabled, right? Don't do #1! The barbs will get the defensive bonus from Odio's Prison, and will pillage you back to the stone age.

[Mardoc]

You have barbs enabled, right? Don't do #1! The barbs will get the defensive bonus from Odio's Prison, and will pillage you back to the stone age.

Is that worse than having a goblin fort first ring?

[Qgqqqqq]

Oh, also, before we go too far: are we playing with or without the Nox fix?

With. I know Molach has it, and I'm pretty sure you do as well - sorry I should have mentioned it.

Ok I went with start #3:


Settled on the SE floodplains, we've plenty of food and this avoids the health penalty, gets us some hills and picks up both gold.
Dialed up a worker and calender - I still think calender is best for this sort of start, as crafting->mining takes ages.
I'm liking the surrounding water for an early OO.
The two huts got us 74g and a map, I brought the warrior back early to defend against the goblins.

Met Sheelba turn 6:



This sucks early on for swarming us with barbs, especially as we have 2 or 3 forts and a barrows nearby.

Traits change turn 8:


Industrious is useful for a faster worker, can't remember if it had any effect, but started working the plains forest.

Popped the Pyre for the Rod of Winds turn 16:


Awesomely, this is legitimately useful with our starting mana

And met Faeryl turn 17:


As well as Decius (Bannor) turn 19ish.

At home the worker has finished, built a corn farm and put two turns into a floodplains farm. I think we should improve the incense before finishing it though, and calender finishes in two more turns.

Sorry for playing this before some more discussion, but I thought it was best to get started while we can.

Roster:
- Molach UP
- Mardoc ON DECK

[Molach]

Got it.
Slightly hungover so playing this evening...but taking a look-see now.
---
Good job on the scout, he might actually survive a bit now.
Shouldn't be too many decicions this turn - farm some tiles, spam warriors, enruse city is safe and set up a sentry net.

Crafting-mining after Calendar?

We wanna stick some quick cities to box off our neighbours - but with barbs I guess we need to be able to guard them well. And maintenance could get bad, but I suppose we got gold and incense to pay a fair bit. Not like we need critical military tech vs the AI.

Mid-goal - found OO first or ensure we get the free bard from drama? Don't know how hard the AIs prioritize drama, perhaps we can get both?

Will play later, a bit hungover now.

[Molach]

Turn 20 – End turn.

Turn 21
Two barb units appeared. A lizardman near our city,


and a spectre near the scout.

Scout moved west across the river into the woods. I kept my warrior on the hill, but switched capital to plains forest tile to speed up warrior build.

Interturn, the scout defeated the spectre.


Turn 22
Tech: Calendar. New tech selected: Crafting.

Lizard did not attack, but moved next to warrior. I think he plans to attack next turn. Warrior has +25% defense from hill and +25% from fortify, so he should win. If not, Lizard will gain much exp and later be very dangerous vs. a city with just 1 warrior…worker is moved to safety onto the incense and starts a plantation.

Scout has 4 xp. Moved SW then S onto a dungeon.

Interturn, lizardman attacks and loses.

Turn 23
Level up the warrior – I find that combat I is a no-brainer early game, so I take that. Now he can defeat lizards more reliably. 4 vs 5,4 is low odds.

Worker back to farm the floodplain, and scout starts exploring. If it’s bad hopefully sheelba will catch the worst of it. Scout will gain 1xp and be eligible for another level, which will be good.

I revolt to agranism (held off revolt earlier because of lizard – wanted a warrior in town). We lose 6+2 foodhammers and 10 beakers. But will gain +1 food now, soon +2 food so after 12 turns or so we are even. Not worth waiting for myst or edu or anything.



Turn 26
Our scout is trapped in a cage. Need another unit up there to free him. Warrior finishes in our capital. I leave it to fortify. Capital is on desert, -25% so warrior with +25% defend like on flatland. But it is combat I, so with 25% fortify it will defend at strength 4,5. Should be enough to kill or at least severely weaken a lizardman.

I train another warrior. Scout would be nice, but already getting late for them. There are two goblin forts that will spawn poison goblins, so I think we need effective defenses here.

Interturn scout kills a gorilla that I never even saw.

Turn 27
Take combat II promotion on scout to keep him alive longer. Guess he can spawnbust for a while. FP farm finishes, I start another one. After that one I’ll get the incense.

Turn 28-36
Train a warrior, send it out to the scout. It came out mutated, with +visibility (good at this point in time) and heavy (very very good for us). So I dare send it out solemio.
New warrior after this, and I sent that out too, but where to is a bit more open. NW-wards so far, but perhaps he and the heavy warrior needs to escort settler to new location.

We now have 4 warriors and a (trapped) scout plus a worker. I start a settler. I wanna plant a city near the orcs and block them from settling towards us if I can. Or rather, if next person can.

Turn 39
Skeleton has picked up our trail, but I move towards the scout anyway. Reveal this:

Never knew that lizardman was there. I think scout is good to win, 3 + 40% + 25% fortify. Heavy warrior is now 3,6+30%+50% jungle hill, so he is untouchable.

End turn

Turn 40.
No need for a new screenshot Lizard moved away, dunno where.
Plantation finished.

I save and zip the game.

Assessment of turnset:
-scouting was not good during my turnset.
+survived with all units alive. We have:
1 scout - combat II with +1 str rod of winds.
4 warriors - all combat I, one is heavy +30% strength.
1 worker. He has farmed 3 tiles and erected a plantation.

To discuss:
Where to settle? I suggest 1 SE of the Clan rice. Not great location without jungle removal, but 3 tiles from clan capital. Can probably steal rice culturally and grow off that.


And what to research after mining? I’m for a quick exploration for roads. After that maybe festivals? Freaks are decent, either quick culture or solid army. But perhaps god king so capital can spam them. But need OO and drama before too long too.

Also how to clear out those annoying goblin forts? No goblins spawned, but they are right in our backyard. Is it possible to lend rod of winds to unit, have it attack, then next unit picks up and fights same turn? In that case we save cost on sacrificial warriors, I guess the warriors trade union will appreciate that. Anyhow +1 str on one warrior is good too. Maybe the heavy should get it…

[Mardoc]

I am a bit disappointed we only have 1 worker. I'll have to rectify that on my turnset.

Yes, the Rod can go from unit to unit in the same turn, but only if the holding unit dies to drop it. Just like Orthus' Axe. I do think combining it with a few warriorpults ought to clear out goblin forts, yes. Do we explore them, or just park a unit on top to prevent spawns?

I see the case for aggressive plants, but for our second city? Before we can chop jungle, that's a pretty sad location, even if we can win at culture. I'm inclined toward something more like the plains hill by all the silks, to boost ourselves first. Perhaps go for that suggestion with city 3, while researching Bronze.

Although yes, Festivals is awesome for us, too. Freaks are good, and we could put up Carnivals in appropriate locations, work Bards - bulb Drama, Sanitation, etc, while researching toward either OO or econ.

[Mardoc]

Also, can't play now, I've a few things I need to get done. Will definitely play today, though, hopefully early enough for Q to get in another turnset too.