The Kuriotates: A Tale of Centaurs, Hubris, and Unbridled Enthusiasm

[HidingKneel]

So clearly the answer is to raze once it lands there, before Bob converts the next turn.

That sounds like an excellent idea. All we need now is a force capable of doing it .

So, turn 20 is in. The first thing I did was pop the barrow:



That's a nice result, but unfortunately the barrow is still there. So we will lose some worker turns, and won't get that incense as quickly as we might like. I'll pop again next turn; meanwhile, the workers are off to farm some corn.

We're just at the limit for the number of free units our city can support, and I figure we need more upkeep right now like a hole in the head. So I switched Naggarond and Avelorn to producing granaries. We get them for half-price, they'll help us with our health concerns (especially when blight hits), and they'll help speed our growth. Besides, we don't have too many other options for things to build right now. (I think tailors can wait a bit.)

Kwythellar produced a worker at EOT, so we should be able to work the reagents next turn.

Breakeven science rate: 20% and climbing.

[Mardoc]

We're just at the limit for the number of free units our city can support, and I figure we need more upkeep right now like a hole in the head. So I switched Naggarond and Avelorn to producing granaries. We get them for half-price, they'll help us with our health concerns (especially when blight hits), and they'll help speed our growth. Besides, we don't have too many other options for things to build right now. (I think tailors can wait a bit.)

Although I agree, I think as soon as Mining comes in we'll want at least two more workers. So when it gets close I would be inclined to knock out the workers in advance. We should have grown to a higher unit support cap by then, anyway.

And yes, Tailors can wait until Exploration . But they are really nice, once we do have the silk and dyes and cotton hooked up - remember, that's +30% Commerce, not gold, and it therefore stacks with things like God King.

[Mardoc]

The first thing I would advocate, is to run some test games. An AC rush game goes *fast*. Once you have warrens and prophecy up you don't really have to input commands, just Alt build goblins and click end turn until you win. Normally being done in about 20 minutes real time. See what kind of times you can get to AC100 in a 6 player game.

Interesting...Selrahc is really relying on those horsemen, hmm? ~8-10 warriors, plus a million goblins, isn't really that impressive of a defense force, not when he needs the goblins to survive. Particularly if someone's got units outside his city, attacking in.

And Bob's stoppable too, if we can manage to raze AV at the right moment.

The tricky part, of course, is execution! I really wish we could negotiate with Plako, give him responsibility for Selrahc while we take on Bob.

[HidingKneel]

Although I agree, I think as soon as Mining comes in we'll want at least two more workers. So when it gets close I would be inclined to knock out the workers in advance. We should have grown to a higher unit support cap by then, anyway.

Kwythellar will be cranking out workers from this point on. We ought to have at least three more by the time mining comes in.

Stopping both Selrahc and Bob will be tricky. I suspect it's mostly on us: we've got the quick start, the good rush units, and the mobility.

I'm now thinking we should activate the 7pines right before the Avatar of Wrath comes out. The horsemen we might be able to deal with (both us and the Elohim have spirit mana). The more we knock off of the Armageddon counter, the more we slow down Selrahc and put a drag his economy.

[Mardoc]

I'm now thinking we should activate the 7pines right before the Avatar of Wrath comes out. The horsemen we might be able to deal with (both us and the Elohim have spirit mana). The more we knock off of the Armageddon counter, the more we slow down Selrahc and put a drag his economy.

My fear is Buboes, with his War. That adds +1 to the AC every time he kills a living unit; that's the point where Armageddon becomes self-perpetuating. He's AC 50. Although any horseman who starts razing cities boosts AC as well.

In any case, though, Selrahc doesn't care about economy anymore, I don't think, at least not beyond avoiding strike. He's got the tech he needs, now it's just a matter of putting in the hammers and staying alive.

[HidingKneel]

Another turn in. The first thing I did was pop the barrows again:



Hmm. That's going to slow us down some more. I promoted our warrior to C2, so it should defend at 5.60 against the assassin's strength 6 and 1 first strike. Odds are < 50%, but non-negligable. The other possibility is that the assassin makes for Naggarond. It has pretty poor odds on the warrior defending there. But it's possible that we lose the city next turn.

Moved the workers out of the way, so we lost another turn for that crew. In other news, our eastern worker team finished a plantation on the reagents.

Breakeven science rate: 30%.

[Mardoc]

Dang! I suppose our luck had to even out eventually; at least we got the good stuff first, and the bad luck later.

And...who knows? Maybe this will turn out to be good luck, in that our warrior ends up ridiculously experienced .

[HidingKneel]

And...who knows? Maybe this will turn out to be good luck, in that our warrior ends up ridiculously experienced .

No such luck, unfortunately. The assassin killed our warrior, and has now parked itself on the barrows. Since it was a close battle, I imagine it probably earned itself two promotions. So it'll be a pain to take out.

In other news, a barbarian paid Kwythellar a visit this turn. I attacked out with our C1 warrior. Killed the barbarian, redlined our warrior, who can now take another promotion. I'll have him heal up in Kwythellar; he can spearhead the assassin-removal project in a few turns.

Since we can't work the incense, our workers are on other projects. Eastern team is farming the wheat south of Kwythellar. Western team is starting a sugar plantation, and will move on plantation the cotton and build a winery. Produced another worker in Kwythellar this turn. Next turn I'll start another warrior. We're going to need a bunch of those to take out the assassin.

Screenshot from EOT:



I moved our warrior out of Naggarond. Since the assassin is likely to stay parked on the barrows (unless that AI behavior has been changed in EitB), I figure it's safe to give that wolf a little nudge next turn so that Naggarond can pick up some more commerce.

Just-under breakeven science rate: 40%.

[HidingKneel]

Another turn in. Warrior from Naggarond took out that pesky wolf, allowing us to work the winery. Producing warriors in Naggarond and Kwythellar now. The plan is to have them rendezvous at the barrows on turn 28: I'll bring four from Kwythellar and two from Naggarond, which ought to be enough to take out that assassin.

Meanwhile, workers are slowly improving our terrain, and I noticed a lone barbarian warrior heading my way.

Screenshot from EOT:



Breakeven science rate: back down to 30%.

[Commodore]

Well, that could be worse. At least he's stuck defending the barrows, right? Or will he be free next time it spawns a skelle?