RBPBEM FfH #1 [SPOILERS] Sareln of the Svartalfar

[Sareln]

Oh right, I played a turn today too!

Turn 57:

Scouting mission. The south moves away from the barbarians and out of TheArchduke's sight. I think I'm heading right/east to the Calabim, but I sent Selrahc a location sketch just to be sure. The north is beginning to loop back around, and has discovered some resources which would be quite valuable... and are probably in Cull's sphere, but we'll see.





The capital location is pretty similar to last turn. I've moved my worker and settler onto the various hills. I chose not to cover the workers since losing the settler would be crippling, whilst the worker would be annoying. The threat is basically from 2-move barbarian animals which fly... also called griffons.



I'll settle the city next turn and begin work on an elder council while starting to improve the pigs. I think the right thing to do is to work a hammer tile until the pigs are online, but I'll double-check after the founding.

[Sareln]

That looks roughly correct. No news on the Kuriotate capital, and my last batch of explorers are dead, so not expected for a little while.

Good, I'm glad we're on the same page map-wise. Onward to the Calabim!

After I finish scouting the locations of each side, I think it would most benefit me to attempt to deep-scout the jungle area of the map.

[Sareln]

Turn 58:

I am either the 2nd or 3rd to 2 cities. I'll know when I meet Bob. I would expect him to have lain the 2nd city at this point due to his scoreboard increase.



Once the pigs are pastured it will take me two turns to grow, regardless of whether or not I work the pigs now. Therefore, I'm maxing hammers in an attempt to get that elder council done as quickly as possible, since it, and the scientist I can hire from it, are worth +5 beakers to me.



The area around the capital is relatively quiet. I'll finish the elder council this turn and then remicro for production. I need to build up some workers to get me road net sorted, and then start in on the next settler. That settler will go north again, to the river-corn.

The south scout got surrounded by barbarians, but none of the goblins went for him, so I'll be able to run next turn.



The north scout is almost done charting the territory. I took a chance and moved him into the interior to get a look at what's going on there. Next turn I'll move to the plains hill before moving back to the coast and then south around the dwarves.

[Sareln]

I think I mentioned it earlier, but I've planted the most western city
I have planned for our northern border this last turn ( 58 ). I aim to
have another city down before I found a religion, so hopefully the
holy city will not land on our shared border (and put your own city
under cultural pressure). I don't view this as an aggressive plant,
and it should not interfere with your stated desire to control Letum
Frigus.

-Sareln-

Just being talkative.

[Sareln]

Turn 59:

Two in one day, not bad at all. Though now that we're resynchronized with our preferred playing times, I wouldn't be surprised if we settled down to 1/day from here on out. Here's hoping that good subs and good communication let us keep it up!

Capital finished elder council, respecced to work on a worker, hired a scientist, gained +5 beakers.



Southern Scout is having an adventure in pictures:





Northern scout is just about done mapping the northeast. One more turn and then start talking with Cathlete about a split.

[Sareln]

Some diplo back & forth with Selrahc.

Yeah, I saw it. Don't worry, I'm not going to get all offended over the location. Looks perfectly in line with our discussions to this point.

I guess you're going for leaves fairly soon then?

Relatively soon yes. You're agnostic, so I'm glad I'm not in a race
with a 13 turn lag!

-Sareln-

[Sareln]

Forgot to attach save to the e-mail I sent Ilios/Archduke. Fortunately he caught me online and it was resent with a minimum of delay (~15 minutes).

Well I'm pretty sure if I had been going for a religion it wouldn't have been leaves. I leaf that tree hugging to you elves.

Selrahc makes a horrid little pun...

[Sareln]

Turn 60

Lizardman has popped out of the fog on the northern scout, so I have to dodge north. Hopefully he doesn't pursue and I can carry on with my mapping.





The southern scout runs east and runs into the desert. one skeleton followed, so next turn is one south and then into the desert (or not desert hopefully, we'll see).



I realize that I have a warrior with +40% and go kill the goblin sitting on my ivory and remicro the capital to get more research out.





Overall I'm feeling pretty decent, when I've got the second worker out I'll be able to get the road net down in a serious manner, and will probably chase the worker with another settler (using my second city to build more military.)

That new city will go next to the corn on a hill to my north. There's no rush to exploit the jungle to my south due to bronze-working being a far off dream right about now.

[Sareln]

Turn 62:

Did the food math wrong, oops.

Continued scouting - in the north I get a decent view of the coast, but on the interturn the lizardman is back on that hill, so I'll need to dodge north to get the scout home. I suppose this is enough information to begin talking with Cathlete about a land split.

The issue here is that the land is not-that-good and I want the mana node / fur / whales spot at the northern tip. I'm pretty willing to surrender most the rest of it, but basically the river territory is what I want.



The Southern Scout found an oasis to duck into, so he went there, he'll continue into the forests next turn, still searching for those vampires. The skeleton followed him at the end of turn.





The overall kingdom is here - the pigs finished pasturing this turn, I'll start the worker on a road, and then get the two cities hooked up, then the resources, and then start roading to the next city. I think I can just sneak another settler out right now - after the worker.



At the interturn a skeleton stepped out of the fog near the northern city. I'll probably try to take him out aggressively, and will bring my scout up from the capital to see if I can get the XP on the scout (needs just a little for another promotion.)

[Sareln]

Turn 62:

Found the vampires! I now have all contacts. I quickly check the diplo screen, and yup, I'm the second one with a second city (behind Selrahc). Now, that's cool and all - but I'm glad it doesn't put me at the top of the score pack .



As mentioned last turn, I dodge my northern scout north, to try and get around the lizardman that's down there. If all goes well, I should be able to either return that scout to the empire, or bring him to scout the southern jungle around the dwarves.

Now that I've found the vampires, my south scout will break north as well, to get a good view of the jungle.



I began roading the pigs, and moved my (slightly) wounded scout into position to challenge the skeleton next turn. I'll have good enough advantage to go for it, IMO.



On the interturn we've got a lizardman coming down from the north as well.



Finally, I sent off a greeting message to Bobchillingsworth. Hopefully I can get a sense of him in short order and see if I should start working more closely with him, rather than with Cull (due to his consistency advantage).

Hail and Well Met from the Court of Winter.

We have ventured far to meet you, guided by the words of the Illians,
and look forward to many conversations with a similarly long-lived
people. For now, we will offer the fact that we have met all other
civilizations, and if you are missing some contacts, would be more
than happy to facilitate contact ourselves.

-Sareln-