Arise, Riders of Rohanna! Ride for Molach! [SPOILERS!]

[Ichabod]

It was a weekend and I was feeling good 3 days ago, but was very nervous today.

Pretty good result. It's a useful tech, for sure, and we'd want it sooner or later. I also think HAs could be our attack beeline units. But I would still go for BW, you need to clear all the jungle around and get the commerce from the resources.

I think you should focus more on peaceful expansion than what we initially planned at teh start of teh game. You destroyed your closest neighbour, so you have loads of free land. You don't need to fight to get it right now.

[Molach]

I'm actually a bit scared of Serdoa - so thinking defensively, or counter-attackingly. I think Serdoa may be up to no good. Low tech, high power. Barbarian clan sure don't need soldiers to defend against barbarians...

[Ichabod]

I'm actually a bit scared of Serdoa - so thinking defensively, or counter-attackingly. I think Serdoa may be up to no good. Low tech, high power. Barbarian clan sure don't need soldiers to defend against barbarians...

It's World Spell residue. He probably won't delete archers and good units. He has low tech due to barbarian trait and starting with no techs. Not saying he won't try a choke if he has a goblin archer nearby, but I wouldn't think he plans to attack or something.

[Molach]

I'm actually a bit scared of Serdoa - so thinking defensively, or counter-attackingly. I think Serdoa may be up to no good. Low tech, high power. Barbarian clan sure don't need soldiers to defend against barbarians...

It's World Spell residue. He probably won't delete archers and good units. He has low tech due to barbarian trait and starting with no techs. Not saying he won't try a choke if he has a goblin archer nearby, but I wouldn't think he plans to attack or something.

gtAngel going down...serdoa keeps building warriors by the look of it. And he doesn't need barb protection.
His MfG is also high on graphs.

Turn 37

Demon warrrior continued his business, and found gtAngels borders.

I can't get past and back to my lands SE-wards due to border and mountain. Without declaring war, that is.
Warrior is in a good position to choke, I suppose, if I wanna be a jerk about it.

Rest of my lands.

Lazy worker finished farm, gonna mine something. Probably the grass hill to the north to avoid losing a turn. Then plains hill, I'm thinking. And then use the production to build archery range and 3-4 archers. They _are_ good defenders, after all. Barbs would be just minor nuisance then, so easier to stake out new lands for settlers.
But a hefty investment in hammers. I set build to just ...one...more...warrior for now

Scout moved out, he is gonna sweep and defog my SE-S-SW if he lives that long. I'm guessing gtAngel's scout died down there soon after he met me. New warrior produced, spectrekiller healing up and warrior sent up from amon harad.
Demo:

[Molach]

Hm demos were looking weird this turn...



While it's good to be ahead in so many categories, not sure which of these really will help me win the game. One of the first MP game threads I read on the site was the Sullla/Speaker pitboss 2 game, and remember well the 'crop yield is king' from there.

Techwise, I turned down tech, inspired by other threads it pays to have some money to handle events, both to stave off bad things and to exploit good things. I won't need roads for 4 turns yet, and since I'm still on the fence about tech path...

BW (13) - clear jungle. This took on another level of importance, as some jungle grew over some dyes I could have claimed with a southern city. Also I can plop down the gems city which should instantly pay back it's founding cost plus increase pop in all my empire. I can also found a city to claim copper to my north (unless scout finds something close S) and enjoy str 4 warriors, (even though I want a city in Sian's former lands to claim 2 new happy first).

I think this is first.

After, though.

AC - Myst, revolt god king. Capital should be working quite a few hammer/commerce tiles by then. Or add education for double revolt to apprenticeship.

Festivals - put up some quick markets in new cities, start growing a GMerc.

Masonry - Construction - get siege workshops up in production cities, build some defensive/counterattacking catapults.

AH - HBR Enable chariots/Horsemen.

...something like that. Plenty of peaceful builds possible, build archers/warriors for barb/defensive duties.

Cities:
SW: I want Sian's former area - 2 happy resources. Can grab without border pops.
N: I want Bronze. No need for ~17 turns. Very poor land, so will be a crappy city for a long while.
NE: I want gold. Will also expand border towards Orcs.
SE: I want gems in southern area.
S: Now-jungled dyes are mine. River there, so good city pretty much no matter how the land/resources are there.

NE-N might be contested. SE and S not, SW in Sian land is of course my location, but further west I'll meet gtAngel.
Will put up some shots and signs later so we can discuss which

[Ranamar]

It looks like Sandalphon may be running a specialist, if his food is so low... that, or he's being choked, I guess.
How would the Orcs be able to cause trouble for Sandalphon if they aren't at war? Maybe you should check the diplo screen to see if they're at war.

Getting archery for free and not having a good access to bronze does make HAs seem a lot more attractive than they would be otherwise. Also, if you start running out of things to build you can build archers and then upgrade them to HAs.

[Molach]

Thanks for input. I'll see if anyone are at war.

I actually think I can and will grab bronze with 3rd or 4th city, mabye 20-25 turns from now. Because I've almost talked myself into the myst-God King thing too.

But another thing. I'll play turn in about 5-6-7 hours...my demon warrior can pillage two mines. Testing show about 20 gold per mine. This is a significant boost. No NAP so I won't be violating anything, even if only in spirit. I notice that 'my' spectre pillaged my mine (iron?) directly north of Rochirost, so presumably barbs will pillage as well - might as well take the cash before barbs do it, eh?

I actually am leaning this way. I'll make amends if gtAngel sees me do it.

[Molach]

Turn 38

Not much.
* Demon warrior moved on to a grassland mine near gtAngel lands.


It's not copper. So iron or mithril. I will destroy +2 hammers tile yield. However I'm pretty sure gtAngel has vision on the tile from his lands from forest grassland hill. This is not a friendly act. Now the only question is, do I care. +40 gold or make friends.

In my lands I found that my regular worker builds mine in 3 turns, lazy worker 5. Ooof. No sign of mistforms yet. Spectre killing warrior was named Dae-Dagnir, 'shadow-bane', healing one more turn. Building worker and warrior in cities. Perhaps a fourth worker before a settler is best, workers are only 4-turn build from capital.

Demos, civics and relations.

Yeah smart checking these. Noone is at war. And only guys with different civics are the Orcs with agranism. Sidar did revolt, so they went out of pacifism and into nationhood, I think? If they start in pacifism makes sense.

[Molach]

Turn 39

Pillaged mine for 11 gold. Too low. Gonna see if gtAngel responds.

I obviously double back when I pillage the copper mine, but can maybe proceed back to my lands and help guard the copper city. Or see if the graveyard in the icy wastes is still up for looting

It appears that Clan declared on gtAngel. Probably a Right-of-Passage thing with the quick peace - I think if Serdoa was serious he could really have done damage with a choke.

Also belated scouting reveals a gold hill. I'm leaning on city on the Grassland Hill, defense bonus is just good. Good commerce, also good production even if I waste a hill by settling on it.
I also turned tech on.

Does anyone have a link to a list of events in BTS, or remember by heart how much gold I need to be able to cover _any_ need I might have with random events?

Some demos:

[Ranamar]

Does anyone have a link to a list of events in BTS, or remember by heart how much gold I need to be able to cover _any_ need I might have with random events?

The most expensive FFH/EitB is the refugees event. You can pay 100g to buy a free settler. The next most expensive one is the Great Engineer one, where you can pay 50g for a Supplies or 75g for a Great Engineer.

Regarding the city site, do you have a plan for feeding that city? It looks like it's almost all hills. 2S of the marker will grab a floodplain but make you a bit more spread out. Actually, I think there are forests on a couple of riverside grasslands, so that's probably a good way to feed people. You'll probably want to pre-farm the grassland 1N of the marker, too, since it's already in your territory.