[Spoiler] Another collection of Sianic Games

[Mardoc]

There's really not much to see that I haven't shown before. But I reopened the turn, just for you.




More than I can crack this turn...but not all that much total, really, not compared to the Illian front. My southwestern cities are all pumping Moroi to join this force (while the eastern ones work on cats for HK). Manors mean that they each average a Moroi every two turns, so five more in time for D-day is perfectly possible. Maybe I can add in a couple Bloodpets too from places that would otherwise have too much travel time; I'm pretty sure I can find a use for them .

I'm staging out of Ghoul itself. I'm pretty sure he can't see the city, it's one turn away from Brakkah, and it makes good insurance in case he has a surprise available.

Looking at the culture and the roads, I think there's a city 1N of the mana (to the NW of Brakkah) and another city to the north of Brakkah. Or, well, if I'm wrong about the exact tiles, I still can just follow the roads til I find the cities that have to be in the area somewhere.

I can likely hit them both on the second turn of the invasion; if things go as well as I hope I'll have about ten healthy Moroi to peek into his two ex-backlines cities. Presuming two warriors each, that's still two more city takings. Going any further than that requires a good bit of luck, and HK to stay off my back so I can direct reinforcements this way. Which is why I think the most likely outcome is that I simply raze those to clear out room around Brakkah, and back off. Wait and see.

And if I have the game open anyway, I guess I can show you what I meant about demos.


Note that the rest of the world produces 204 hammers, just a smidge more than my production.



The Power graph should show pretty well why I am nervous about HK but feel I can find opportunities against the elves.

And in the next three, you can see why I'm worried about Kragroth's long term potential. He's also got three of the Top 5 cities. But he has fewer cities than I do, which is why I think a heavy strike with my commando Moroi might manage to cut him down to size.







Also, you can see I was a bit too dismissive of Brian. He's coming along, on par with us blood-feuders anyway. Would still lose to the elves if nothing is done, but something will be done

[Mardoc]

Hmm, I guess I do have another option. I could take advantage of the fact that Kragroth switched from an offensive composition to a defensive one. When it was all Hunters and Fawns, I had to get the first strike. But against PoL, Warriors, etc? Maybe what I should do instead is advance to the ancient forest 1W of Brakkah and dare him to hit me. That way I've got the +50% terrain bonus instead of attacking into the cultured city on a hill filled mostly with full-fortify warriors (+85%).

And if he doesn't counterattack, then I still ought to be able to reach his backlines cities from there! Doesn't matter too much if he holds Brakkah if I can remove him from the Top 5 list

Depends on how much I can expect from a pair of cats, I suppose. Might be that they can do enough that the terrain defense doesn't really matter. Probably should run a sim.

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In other thoughts, starting in five turns when I know how my elf-cripple attempt turns out, I may need to put some Hunters Lodges in production, and supplement my stacks with hunters. They'll make the threat of tigers considerably less. I do have Hunting researched already, I wanted the ivory, so it's just a question of scraping up the hammers.

[Mardoc]

Still thinking...there is another hand to that ignore the city thought.

The scorpion and the Tiger will not get city defense bonuses. The scorpion and PoL are both important to kill; the warriors maybe not but those two have a lot of long term potential. I'm frankly shocked that Kragroth is using the scorpion directly at all instead of keeping him as a Poisoned Blade caster. So from a pure 'destroy the army' standpoint, he's got some valuable targets there.

On top, Moroi get +10% vs city, which at least negates the culture. And Kragroth will get +10% attacking into forest. And his units likely won't actually have full-fortify. So the difference between attacking and being attacked isn't *as* high.

And, also, tactically: divide and conquer is extremely true in civ warfare. Outnumber his stack, fight half in one place and half in another with healing in between, and I won't take nearly as many casualties.

There's another bit, too. I've been writing off the city itself - but frankly a size 6 city with elven improvements and good resources is not actually negligible. It's probably currently worth ~15 hpt and moderate commerce, and growing. That puts it at about a seventh of Kragroth's production power. Leave it intact, and it's worth a warrior per turn at least (more if Kragroth goes full hammers here). Plus, likely, a tiger per turn. Is the value of fighting with the terrain bonuses worth that extra stream of units? Not an obvious answer, but I lean toward 'no' on further consideration.

Honestly, I have to take or destroy that city in any event. The only real question is whether it's part of my first strike or later. Let it stand and I have no chance of keeping anything beyond it, and it'll eventually take control of my city's BFC, too. Plus I'd have to leave more troops behind in Ghoul against possible counterattack.

So all in all, although it's a fun thought to bypass his city (and Yell0w shouldn't have made that possible), I think I won't.

[Mardoc]

Had T122 today. Nothing much to report, though. HK pillaged the neutral territory roads with elementals...I may need to watch for him in the west, but I definitely have my breathing space.

Other than that, just moved troops toward Kragroth and kept building. Back to #1 power for the moment, one turn closer to Feudalism.

Kragroth added a warrior and a second Priest of Leaves to his garrison. And the warriors all got bronze, as predicted. I'm starting to think I may not have my ten leftover Moroi to hit deeper with - but at least I'll be able to do something.

[Mardoc]

Random strategic musings:

Maybe I should pull even more from the HK border? All I've got so far is seven Moroi/2 cats. I have about thirty other units, probably 20 of them are Moroi, just sitting in preparation for an assault that's...maybe not coming.

Pros:
Obvious: That would really let me put a hurting on Kragroth. My current plan of ~20 Moroi/bloodpet/cats is likely to get me one city, but I think they'll stall out before I can gut him. But a second wave of another 20-30 assorted units could probably finish the job.
Secondary: Moroi are getting into the use it or lose it phase of their lifespan. Pretty soon other units will start showing up who they can't handle. I ought to try to get my use out of them while they're still worth something
Tertiary: My unit upkeep costs are very high. Best way to cut them down is to use the units up.
Quaternary: I might just get a few Moroi to level four, at which point they can upgrade to Vampires IIRC.

Risk: HK, of course. He's backed off...but there's no particular reason to think that's a permanent state of affairs. We don't quite border anymore, but he could still go from his capital to my border cities in 3-4 turns. As soon as he gets to Sorcery, he'll be able to watch my border garrisons.
Those Moroi, plus the cats soon to be born, are capable of stopping his current army. Arguable what they could do about a summoner army: depends on details, I'm sure.

Also, if I do pull the garrisons, I'll be using them up. I'd have to rebuild them, rather than simply return them.

Fundamentally, I need to decide whether I can win by playing conservatively.

But for the moment, I think I will pull the Moroi back, oh, two turns of movement, and leave the bloodpets in place. That would still let me react if HK advances (and with cats and summons in the picture, I want to be attacking out, so I don't care about lost fortification bonuses). That will give me time to think, and more information. In particular, that ought to let me see how the battle for Brakkah goes, and maybe a peek into Kragroth's next cities.

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Other topic: tech

I don't think anything will be a gamechanger as much as Feudalism will be. So I'm pretty much committed to finishing that. But afterward, I get to pick between military and economic routes. I think I'm leaning economic.

Economic: Sailing! Get wines, gems, maybe pearls, some ICTR, lighthouses in existing cities...this could easily be worth 3 pop and 2 gpt per city. With just the things I currently see. Supplement this by building out some of my filler city options. Follow up with Sanitation

Military: Boost vamps. I need to check if Spectres have death affinity in this version - if so, KotE/Necromancy is very strong. If not, Iron could be handy, or I could definitely benefit from unlocking Command Posts.

Mixed: Ashen Veil. Go all the way to Infernal Pact and Sacrifice the Weak. Provides collateral and lots of Feastable population.

Fundamentally, though: I have about 70 bpt. I can probably go to Sailing first and get to my military option before I could just with a beeline. And then, I don't expect to have much surplus hammers for a while, between massing vampires and taking advantage of Sailing. So I think Sailing - Sanitation - Iron or Necro - AV iff the game is still on makes the most sense.

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Hammer plans? I've got this fundamental frustration: do I pay more attention to the short term, the medium, or the long?

Short term use: win the battles(s). Which means Moroi and/or bloodpets.
Medium: Cats. Any stack diversification, like Hunting Lodges/hunters. Workers.
Long term: Settlers! Vampires. Ashen Veil.

The trouble is, if I can't win the battles, long term investments are wasted. And, well, if I can conquer Kragroth, those Moroi magically retroactively become long term investments.

But if I fail to grow, then I lose eventually anyway, no matter how well I do in the battles now. So it's really hard to find the right balance.

For the moment, I think I'm going to stick with mostly short term focus, and a smidge of medium term. Mostly because I'm feeling optimistic that I may be able to achieve the magic and convert those to long term investments in elven blood sources. Which would not only be a help to my production, but also remove a front and let me safely swap a lot of production to longer term investments. But, within five turns or so I need to find a way to stop that. Which, practically, means resolving Kragroth-front.

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So after all that rambling, do I have any conclusions? I think so. The next five turns or so is going to be crucial. I'm going to make a serious attempt to kill Kragroth. If that doesn't work, I'll try to at least get a better battlefield (cultural control, roads, enough distance for first strike with cats.

But...I can't make this a super long term thing. In ten turns, I need to swap away from the short term all-Moroi build queues. Win, or make a good stalemate. Now that Kragroth has PoL, and HK is barreling toward mages, I can't afford to keep trying attrition with Moroi. Maybe can resume that with vamps...maybe.

Course, those ten turns may take until September. But at least it's a goal.

[Qgqqqqq]

Spectres get death affinity, but no fear.

Moroi can be gifted Vampirism with level 4, but they can always upgrade to Vampire (the unit).

[Mardoc]

Spectres get death affinity, but no fear.

Then that's probably the best direction to go after Sailing (and maybe Sanitation). KotE is en route to AV anyway. High Str spectres are super nasty, as HK will remember from our Balseraph game. But there aren't many counters, really; IIRC the only effective counters were undead and demons. Only Brian is en route to those naturally; everyone else would have to divert to grab some. And this is a boost that doesn't require much investment to take advantage of: one mage guild, a couple adepts, and some time.

Plus, well, I'm pretty much going mass Spectre whether or not anyone finds a counter. Might as well aim to make them extra-effective. Not much point rejecting Rock before I know if the opponents even have Paper.

(and, ahem, if someone does go for Eidolons or Beasts? A couple vamps with Combat V/Shock/etc and so on might be able to handle them, letting spectres slaughter the rest of a stack).

Moroi can be gifted Vampirism with level 4, but they can always upgrade to Vampire (the unit).

Ah, right, that fun little quirk of all the Calabim abilities with very similar names. I wonder if it would be worthwhile to rename some of these in EitB to be more distinct? Or if that would just confuse anyone who already got used to them in FFH (which has got to be most of the audience for the mod).

Doesn't really change my analysis, though. XP on the Moroi is the least of the benefits of pushing the pace against Kragroth.

I hope you've got a warmer for that popcorn! You're going to be munching for a very long time. No prospects for increasing the pace here, I think. If I find the time to want more games, I'll see about starting some of my 2nd phase duels instead of trying to speed this one up.

[Mardoc]

I certainly hope the next turn comes around before my vacation. I expect it to be fun!




In the Red corner, we have 2 catapults, 4 bloodpets, and 19 Moroi: 25 total
In the Grey corner, we have five warriors, two priests of leaves, a scorpion, tiger, and fawn: 10 total

Even presuming he adds at least one unit to the city, I'm pretty sure that next turn will look good for us. We may even achieve a favorable hammer exchange ratio

I did remember wrong on the Illian front, I only had nine Moroi to pull. Still, adding them in with two more turns of production should get me a second wave of 15-20. I think it'll be worth doing, assuming HK continues to stay in his own borders for now.

Two more cats finished at EOT, and this time they're going to stay on the Illian end of things. I'm willing to have a gap in protection, but not to abandon the idea entirely.

[Qgqqqqq]

Should be interesting

[Mardoc]

And the turn is already to HK! So we could see it any moment. (or he could continue to be busy and we could see it in four days)

Which means I'll need to decide whether to try to keep Brakkah. Right now I'm thinking yes, keep the place. I think I can manage to hold it. FoL already in the city means the borders will pop on their own, which helps.

Well, I guess it really mostly depends on how many survivors I have. If the cats don't do that much and the RNG hates me, I may end up with ~10 very wounded units as my sole survivors. If the cats are awesome, I might have 10 unused units and 10 wounded-with-promotion-available. Those are very different propositions, when it comes to the question of 'what next?'

I'm still hoping, and scared to hope, that I can take and keep a large chunk of Kragroth's empire. A lot depends on how this fight goes, and if he has anything behind it. If he's just got token warriors, and I end the turn with enough hitters still healthy to push at least one more row of cities....then: . He's only got seven or eight cities; Brakkah plus its neighbors has got to be about half of his total empire. If I destroy his main army and cut his production in half...then I have every confidence in being able to finish the job.

If he's got more than I see, or if Brakkah eats up my stack, then he'll be able to resume the stalemate. Just, y'know, a bit pruned back. I've got to keep this possibility firmly in mind, and raze Brakkah if I have to. I can come back for him with Vampires if I have to - but only if I maintain enough initiative and control of the battlefield to finish Feudalism and build a death-stack.