[SPOILERS] DaveV: The vampire bites! Goodbye level 9.

[DaveV]

The warriors both moved onto the wine tile. I won the 97% battle, and the 53%. I wouldn't have minded losing the second one; I have one more scout that needs a Subdue Animal promotion, and he could have gotten it by cleaning up a wounded warrior. And unit maintenance is killing me. But I really can't complain about another shock warrior, can I?



See the bear in the north? I'd love to sign him up for some dancing lessons.

I'm working the cottages, even though it's one less foodhammer and break-even on commerce, because I need to grow them. Note to self:



In the east, another barb warrior is incoming. Are the other guys not getting this level of attention, or are they just letting them pillage? Or are they having the same RNG luck I am?



Demos show rival power is still rising.

[DaveV]

Turn 46 was uneventful. The warrior in the east sat in place, which usually means he's going to attack on his next turn. With a shock bloodpet sitting in a forest, I'm pretty confident of winning that one. He has a friend coming in from the south.



In the west, I still have just a goblin incoming. My shock bloodpets are still healing north of the river, but any of the scouts can hit him when he moves north (probably - the barbs like to attack on a diagonal).



No change in rival power; rival population is still growing.

[HidingKneel]

So are you thinking of punishing some of your neighbors for running so light on military? Or just hoping the barbs will do it for you?

[DaveV]

So are you thinking of punishing some of your neighbors for running so light on military? Or just hoping the barbs will do it for you?

I'm not sending out my bloodpets to be eaten by griffons and spiders, if that's what you're asking .

If operation Scorpion goes well, my neighbors may be seeing (or not seeing ) some HN animals.

[DaveV]

I took a couple screenshots, played the turn, and went to the My Games/Beyond the Sword folder to upload the screenshots, and the Screenshots folder was gone. I've never seen that before . I created a new Screenshots folder, and grabbed a couple after the fact screenshots.

Setting the scene: The northern warrior moved onto the floodplains instead of attackng. The southern warrior moved onto the cow; the goblin moved onto the western floodplains.

Summary of combats:
75% C1 bloodpet vs. warrior: win
75% C1 scout vs goblin: win
97% C1/S1 bloodpet vs warrior: win

Leaving this situation:




The capital has just completed a settler; Bag of Holding has just completed a worker. Rival population is still growing; rival power is flat.



The RNG has to be saving up some bitter losses for some critical combats. For now, I guess I should enjoy my streak.

[DaveV]

I'm moving into position to settle the silk city. The settler is north of Bag of Holding; the new worker is roading the tile east of that. Only five turns behind the competition . Moving the warriors revals some previously fogged tiles. It appears the body of water two tiles northeast of the sillks is salty.



In the west, a barb warrior is approaching:



Demos show a slight rise in rival power.

[DaveV]

Turn 49 opened with an event:



This one gives temporary happiness if you pick the right option for your current government civic; temporary unhappiness otherwise. Unless you're in Despotism, in which case it's meaningless. I picked the first one, since it doesn't matter. A no-harm event is probably a good thing, since some of them can be pretty bad. Some can be game-breakingly good, too, of course, but I may have used up my good RNG luck already.

When we last left our intrepid hero, before all the takeover drama, I had a couple exposed warriors moving into position for a new city. I'm happy to report that they survived the barb turn, and I now have a nice little stack in position to settle next turn.



In the west, a goblin has appeared to join his orc brother in menacing my capital.



Demos:

[DaveV]

I settled my new city:



In the west, bad guys continue their approach:



Turn 50 overview:




Demos:



Turn 50 graphs:

Analysis: after using my world spell early, I should be clearly in front. Instead, my demos are embarassing and Thoth is not only keeping up with me in cities but generating culture in his second city (event? dancing bear?). I obviously still have no clue how to play this game .

[DaveV]

Turn 51: the barb warrior moved onto the wine tile near my capital, as expected. I attacked with my shock bloodpet at the usual 97% odds ... and lost. Since that's only the second unit I've lost, I can't really complain, especially since I had a 9/10 XP bloodpet to clean up:



The capital is building another scout to take the 75% shot against the incoming goblin. If he fails, there's another 9/10 bloodpet waiting to finish off the intruder.

In the east, operation scorpion is set to commence (the stack is on the tile SW of Magic Whistle):



Next turn, the scouts move onto the forested hill 3S of Magic Whistle, and hope for good hunting. Note the polar bear teasing me in the north.

Demos (still as bad as ever, even with one less bloodpet eating maintenance):

[DaveV]

In an impressive display of PYFT, the save came back in about 6 hours. I moved my stack onto the hill, as planned. No sign of the scorpion, but this looks like a really good spot for my next city:



I can see the edge of a desert where the scorpion probably spawned. I'm hoping I won't run into any hill giants.

In the west, the RNG continues to exact its revenge for my earlier good rolls. The newly built scout attacked the barb goblin and died, so I had to clean up with the backup bloodpet:



Demos: