[Spoilers] Defining the phrase "€˜Hung Like a Horse"€™: Pb & the Kuriotates

[TheBagelProblem]

More and more CAs were "produced" back in the Kurio mainland... :neenernee:

[pocketbeetle]

Do my eyes decieve me or did the CoA + 1 pop really increase your research by 193?

Yup!
I'll post a screeny next turn, but with the Jeweller in Caledor, the Crown of Akharien is worth ~220bpt.
Not a bad return on a 603 hammer wonder.

After you use the cultists to explore the wreck do you have other plans for them? Perhaps foundng OO temples in the former Calabim lands?

I have a few settlements that could do with OO temples, but most are on the existing Illian border not in Calabim lands.

A couple of the Calabim cities have a monument and will expand borders naturally.
If I start looking at the Domination limit and wondering, I can always use a civic switch (eg Caste System: specialists = +2cpt) to pop a bunch of borders quickly.

This can readily be proved by looking at the combat log and seeing each unit always does the same damage at every point in the battle be it 13 or 26. So a low odds unit defeating a higher odds one will get a string of 13 with only the occasional 26 in response.

8 first strikes doesn't mean a sure win at all. Think of a strength 3 archer with that versus a 15 cavalry. The archer doesn't get 8 free hits on the cavalry. It gets 8 rounds of trying to hit where the cavalry can't hit back, but each try is only at a 3/18 chance and does little damage.

Thanks you two, looks like I'm spouting hot wind again.
I knew the First Strikes in themselves were only chances to hit, but I thought the relative strengths (and therefore damage dealt per hit) were recalculated dynamically as a battle between two units progressed (yeah it's been that long since I've seen a combat log).
Went on a refresher course here, it's a good article although probably outdated in a few places.

In FFH though there's the different issue of the free damage that comes along with the same units and promotions as first strike ("retaliatory strike" or something). Is that damage effectively before or after combat - i.e. does it reduce the attacker's combat strength? And does the combat odds calculation account for it correctly (I doubt it accounts for it at all)?

Aha! Defensive Strikes.

If a unit hasn't engaged in combat during its turn and has the Defensive Strike property (units with Drill promotions or typically Archer type units), it gets a chance to fire a Defensive Strike on any enemy unit engaging either it or the stack it's part of. The chance is fixed, the damage dealt as an average percentage of a unit's health (modified by relative strength).
So for Elatus in this screenshot, he has a 60% chance to do ~30% damage to an equal strength unit attacking any stack he's part of. Literally, Elatus getting a Defensive Strike will take an attacking unit from 100% to, on average, 70% health.

The damage is applied before combat between the attacker and actual defender starts (doesn't have to be Elatus) and before the relative strength modifiers have been determined. We all know how important current health is for combat, taking 30% damage before the fight even begins can easily mean a guaranteed loss for the attacker.
So it's actually a very powerful ability if it hits for the full whack (or more).

If Elatus fails on his roll and doesn't get a defensive strike (note we're still working on the assumption he didn't attack during his turn), then the enemy goes ahead and engages the top stack defender anyway.
But if another enemy comes along and then another, Elatus will continue to get to roll that 60% chance of a Defensive Strike until it procs, at which point he's considered to have attacked during his last turn.
Defensive Strikes become slightly quirky when Blitz gets factored in, as now you have units that never get the "cannot attack again this turn" property, which means unlimited Defensive Strikes...

That's why I've gone to the effort of gaining xp on two Drill CAs (Elatus and Thaumas), but haven't concentrated lots of CAs on it.
One or two Blitz Drill IV units in a stack is plenty.

More and more CAs were "produced" back in the Kurio mainland... :

Could swear I've seen that somewhere before, can't recall where.
Definitely belongs in this thread though. =)


Oh, and in other news, Mardoc gets a cookie:

...for catching me spelling "weird" weirdly.

Plus I owe Darkmantle a screenshot:

There's three adepts in there just waiting for me to get sufficient Fire nodes before being upgraded to mages.
I'd maybe like a few more but with Hemah, Gaelan and RtM; I'd say my magical requirements are pretty much catered to.

Still trying to decide whether I should group all my CAs together and tell Gaelan to throw the Mutate button...

[pocketbeetle]

Diplo:

Selrahc sent me a note with the next save:

Who will win the race?! You've got a turn! I could have done it this turn, but I decided five gold wasn't worth potentially throwing away rangers and getting a nice city razed in reprisal.

Aww he’s so cute. I haven’t the heart to tell him that I took Prespur a couple of turns ago.
Let’s treat it like a race between him taking the Khazad capital… and me wiping out the entire Calabim civ.


Bob posted in the tech thread asking about where the save was, I reminded him not to disturb The Old Man of the Lake during his naptimes.
He then dropped me a message:

Subject: Speaking of whether I've been eliminated yet or not...

Hurry up and kill me already- I wanna start a new FFH PBEM and I can't patch to O until I'm out of this game :P
At a minimum at least finish off Cull quickly so that we can get turns moving faster than one every other day!

I decided to yank his chain a bit.

Darling Bobbicus Hyboremus Maximus,

What in the hells are you talking about?!?
Nononononono.

I'm thinking of sending Cull an offer of vassalisation next turn, with a free 500 gold sweetener if he accepts.
I was planning on giving you around 50 turns to get established and show off Hyborem to the lurkers too, but I suppose I could extend that to 100 turns?

If you really really want, I guess I could finish it quicker, but you might have to make me an offer for that.

The Kuriotates are a peaceful race remember!

Kind Regards,
Pb, Pacifist Boy-King

I’m sorry if it comes across as slightly mocking or kicking a guy when he's down, but the possible paradox of someone actually making me an offer, in order to be eliminated faster, was just too amusing to pass over.

...And he bit, which I had to chuckle over.

Aughhhhhh, come on man! Unless you're planning on keeping poor Mr. A.I FIGHT alive as well to feed me manes, I think we can leave the task to showing off Hyborem's true potential to one of the other games, where most of his cities won't be stuck at size 3. If it matters, I formally abandoned my thread about a week ago, and have no intention of posting there again (and wasn't planning on making a new one for Hyborem). I switched mainly because I wanted to go out in class, as the Great Satan's errand boy

At least finish Cull off so that I can either get out of this game more quickly, or maintain some degree of interest if you really want me hanging around for a little longer. I think Selrahc is pretty close to killing him anyway, so leaving Cull alive at this point is just kind of sad.


Honestly everyone knows that you have this game won, and I'd really rather not spend another three months playing a foregone conclusion when I can have a fresh start in a new one. I know that Sareln wants to play in a new PBEM as well; perhaps you could join us and show off Hyborem yourself? =)

Oh alright then, let’s put him out of his despair.

I'm getting the impression that he's taken most of my daft messages on face value.
Probably made me look a bit silly at times...

Hey Ben,

My friend, you need to learn to take my in-character communications as the joking stupidity that they are.

Seriously, go back and read my diplo, but this time assume that I'm taking the piss no matter what's written.
They'll suddenly start making a lot more sense, I promise you.

I've got absolutely zero intention of offering Cull vassalisation, and if I can have it my way, he'll be the next player to be eliminated.
If I could have engineered it, I'd have made him the first. He's played to lose this game imo.

Either way, as you noted, Selrahc is on the case. The Dwarven turns are numbered in the single digits.
I promise I won't try and make you hang around for longer than necessary too.

Although on a positive note, you are on 13 pop in your capital you know...

Pb =)

(And before anyone highlights it, I'll add a *in hindsight* tag to the "engineering a Khazad elimination" comment.)

what can i say im just too kindly & trusting!

Yeahyeahyeah.
And I'm a pacifist going for a culture victory.

You know I can play this game too!

[Krill]

Are you dead? If not, where are the updates?

[fire&ice]

you said turn every other day. so acording to your logic you have played 2.5 turns already so wheres our turn reports. Diplo any thing.

[Darkmantle]

LOOPA(League of Obviously Obsessed Pocketbettle Addicts) humbley requests that we receive an update before the LA50 reaches 7 days.

[Cyneheard]

Sareln's death will go unrecorded? That would be a shame.

[pocketbeetle]

*Pokes his head into the thread.*

Wha? Is this game still going on?
Have the other players not capitulated yet? Pffft!

Are you dead? If not, where are the updates?

you said turn every other day. so acording to your logic you have played 2.5 turns already so wheres our turn reports. Diplo any thing.

LOOPA(League of Obviously Obsessed Pocketbettle Addicts) humbley requests that we receive an update before the LA50 reaches 7 days.

Sareln's death will go unrecorded? That would be a shame.

Hey guys,

Apologies for going quiet, I haven’t been on the forum much recently.
In part that’s because life has been busy, but truth be told, I also needed a break.

However, you're all very right: it would be a shame to have documented the last 200 or so turns, and then not give this PBEM the send-off it deserves.
So I'm going to promise a bare minimum of a turn a day until I manage to catch up, and since they’ve been relatively mundane turns, probably two or more.

To ensure this happens, I’m also agreeing to a forfeiture policy.
Should I fail to post at least one turn per day until caught up, or should I in the future fall behind excessively and without warning, such as has happened currently; I agree to delete one of my precious Centaurs for each failed day, which Centaurs to be chosen by the lurkers - either by popular vote or by mandated bastard (please...not him).

Since it’s almost guaranteed that I’m going to fall foul of this at some point, I’ve decided to get my begging in now …be gentle won't you?


So.
I suggest you buckle your seatbelts, we’re on the final stretch.
May the Great Rat God have mercy on all those in our way.

Let’s go.

[pocketbeetle]

Turn 193:

Since there’s been a decent gap, let’s summarise what’s going on.

To the uninitiated, it may seem like I’m running away with this game with a big gleeful expression on my face.
However! Wise lurkers will know this is lies and propaganda, spread by the Illians to induce overconfidence in loyal Kuriotates subjects.
We will not fall foul of such low tactics and continue to be watchful of treachery.

This turn, the Crown of Akharien was completed and ensconced in the capital, Caledor.

In the NorthEast, Vanilla Ice has survived a crossing of the dangerous Dwarven lands, currently wracked by turmoil and war with the Illian frost mages.



For some reason the Dwarves have taken to renaming themselves “fly boy - real fly”.
Sages are at a loss to explain why, the theory currently en vogue is that they wish to flee this continent and are inventing aeromachines in order escape the warmongering Illians.
Knowing that only the Kuriotates have control of the air however, I have ordered the sages to reapply themselves tenfold to this mystery.

Speaking of the Illians, their Chief Advisor, Selrahc, has chosen to cancel his Enchantment mana loan and has made peace with the Devil. The reasons for him winning the last Somnium tournament are becoming clear.

Hyborem meanwhile remains quiescent:



Nothing much happening, he seems content to sit and gather manes. His worker is 1E of the hill between Dis and Despero, currently building a workshop.
I sent Dictys out of Murousbane to pillage the road 1W of Dis, removing any threat of a one-turn strike.

Then it’s time to finish off the Calabim, once and for all.
Pina’dom falls to a couple of 99% battles:



Krinera is up next.
Rust adepts fail to make a sufficient dent to the defenders - that top warrior is str 4 with a whopping 135% bonus, so I need to bring in some collateral.



Unfortunately Hemah was not within range, so I was just reaching for the withdrawal CAs, when one of my old schemes resurfaced.
I had originally intended to try and rush a cultist to the lake tile 1E of Krinera via Khazad lands. Doing so would have meant the cultist could have cast Tsunami on the Calabim city each turn with impunity, and the spell doesn’t just damage units, it can destroy buildings. Cull vassalising put a bit of a crimp on that, but I hadn’t forgotten.

Luckily I’d brought along a cultist medic for this little push.



One Tsunami later, and we’re looking at much better odds. Up steps Elatus:



14xp for Elatus. Mimas & Co finish the job.



Itos falls not long after.



For again reasons unknown, Khazad workers have been streaming South towards the Lightly Scorched lands of the former Calabim.



Since I don’t particularly want the Illians to get their hands on them (but neither do I want to cause any diplomatic incidents) I captured the ones nearest me while deleting those closest to the front.
Some pillaging in the South also ensued.

That left one final Calabim stronghold, a hill city which had been spamming bloodpets for a few turns.
Hemah had been delegated to deal with the vermin in his customary fashion.



You know what happened after that.



And with that red text, the Calabim were removed.
I think the best way to describe this pictorially would be the following:

A cookie to whoever can name the game.
Those with long memories might be able to find a clue somewhere in this post.

Bob at this point had had enough, and so bowed out with this finale in the tech thread, leaving DaveV in charge of Hyborem.

In the meantime, there’s more pillagin’ to be done, including a shot of my now astronomical civic costs thanks to all the excess (and useless) population.



Ending turn completed two Jewellers, plus a cultist in Kwythellar.
Have I mentioned I’m building cultists there to explore the shipwreck? Think so.



But what’s that other line? A new resource?
Ooooh!



KK’s prospects as a production centre have seen a sudden rise recently.
Avelorn also grew in pop.


Demographics:

I now have quite a few settlements…

Also a shot of Caledor, now that it has the CoA and a Jeweller there.

Gold is not yet online, but when those former Calabim settlements come out of disorder, the border expansion will bring (several) sources of Gold in, providing another +10% raw commerce which will equate to another ~ 37bpt.


The keen-eyed may notice that I left a small ingame message for Bob.
Childish maybe, but it had to be done.

[Irgy]

The trapped leader definately looks like Alpha Centauri. I don't recognise the actual leader that's there though. Could be Myriam but I don't think it is.