[SPOILERS] Tres Equis: Mardoc plays the Most Interesting Civ in the World

[Mardoc]

It's partly as Q said - warriors aren't pathetic, FFH development curve is slower (mainly due to hard to get Slavery, poor granary, expensive settlers). Hammers, in particular, are in relatively short supply, especially for someone running Agrarianism like Suttree. He's not pathetic, just weak.

That said, part of why I was willing to pick on Suttree, without much more than this, is his bottom of score position and definite bottom Power. No slavery means he can't fix low Power quickly, but he really ought to have had a little more on hand. At least his worldspell unlocked! I aim to teach him that lesson

[Azarius]

Molach must have been settling towards you big time to be so close now. It's a very good thing you have some slow adepts coming off the line. Not sure what Suttree's plan is. My guess is he must think sticking everything into Udenarat is a losing proposition with your slow and freebie elementals, so is hoping he can do some damage this way.

As far as his stack, like Q said, str 4 (bronze) compared to strength 2 in bts means warriors stay relevant much longer in ffh. So given his superior numbers it's not a stack with no teeth.

Hopefully you can cripple his forces here without losing (m)any priests and get him cleaned up before Molach makes a move. Some capture gold should go a long way towards letting your economy catch up.

[Mardoc]

Or, it's possible that the stack looked pathetic mainly because it wasn't, in fact, Suttree's whole army . I'm much more impressed with what I see this turn:



After moving up, I see this:





Why, yes, that's more paramanders in the city than I can beat, unless I use the PoW to attack rather than just summon. And more than enough warriors coming behind to clean up, if I did that. Possibly even enough to clean me up even if I stand on the defense...well, let's just see about that, shall we? I won't be able to reinforce this faster than Suttree, so let's give him his chance. I Slowed the units in the city, and otherwise just stood in place on the Tundra hill. +25% for the Ice Elementals, +35% for my living Winterborn units, and I have Medics right here for afterward. Going to be interesting to see what Suttree does IBT. I hope he slams his stack into mine, and I mostly survive.

After that...not sure what makes sense. Not sure what makes sense if we stand off, either - maybe 1S, Slow, and start throwing elementals at the stack in the open? Maybe stay put and start fortifying and taking 5% gambles on his Paramanders?

Why am I feeling particularly aggressive right now? Well, I skipped one bit of news:



Accepted. This pre-Sorcery period is definitely my most vulnerable. And I would be a fool to do anything *but* try to finish Suttree off, now that I've pissed him off. Of course Molach likely only offered this because he feels he has a chance again, but hey, one enemy at a time.

And, finally, with another EC built, I've dropped my Alteration ETA to 14 more turns. Still want to push it a little further down, but I will likely have mages to help against Suttree.

[Azarius]

That's a lot of stuff, I thought he had low power . I don't think you can realistically attack into him with a happy outcome, so hoping he hits you is your best bet of coming out on top.
How many units in the city failed to resist slow? Any idea on odds for this? I worry that he can possibly just zerg you down, especially if most/all of those paramanders can attack

[Mardoc]

How many units in the city failed to resist slow?

He has one mobile Paramander in the city, the others are stuck.

Any idea on odds for this? I worry that he can possibly just zerg you down, especially if most/all of those paramanders can attack

Not really. I could simulate it, but that would take a lot of time and ideally would have been done *before* I decided to stand fast and send the save onward .

He's got 13 warriors and 2 Paramanders, who can attack into my 2 elementals, 2 warriors, and 3 PoW.

I would guess that I'll have ~2 wounded PoW left. I've got good terrain, and lots of promos, and his units aren't very offensive. But 15 attackers isn't really enough. 7 just to wound my units, four more to finish off the warriors and elementals, that leaves only 4 to kill three PoW - each with Str 7 and +95%.

[Mardoc]

Hmm, so Molach didn't want peace, he just wanted a soft target. Yell0w's got a low Power, but that Guild just completed, so maybe he can change that in a hurry. In any event, I'm glad to see him and Molach fighting.




Suttree...is overly cautious. Neither attacked nor tempted me to. Instead, his stack in the city is even bigger, and his counterattackers are circling . Discovered something very nice, it's only 30% odds of wearing off/turn, not guaranteed; two of his units were still stuck!




Well...when he's strong one place, he'll be weak somewhere else. Slowed the city garrison and moved to the southeast, looking for opportunities.

Ahhh....this is better. I'll move south next turn, onto the sheep, assuming Udenerat remains strongly defended (and it should, with most of its garrison stuck). That sets up a nice fork of Udenerat and Cevedes, which ought to mean either Suttree forced to attack me, or me able to pound on a city with less garrison.







The war still isn't going that well - but every turn I get closer to Sorcery, and my adepts study up. Now have adept XP's like this:
1XP: 2
2XP: 2
3XP: 1

No new adepts this turn, but two born in two turns.
And as Cha, I only need to hit 8 XP for a mage Gonna be fun once I can hit him with a whole stack!

Aw...heck, I'm having fun now. Interesting puzzle each turn. Even ignoring the puzzle of 'why no WS yet?'. This is starting to look like it's not a path to victory - but who cares?

[Azarius]

Given the amount of time these games take, having fun seems like it rates higher than winning. It's not as if this isn't a possible path to winning, it just doesn't look like such an easy landgrab as we hoped. Molach going after Yell0w is a very welcome development. Being able to focus more of your forces against Suttree will make it more likely to be able to make some headway. Granted, it's a good while before we'll have the tech for mages, but one step at a time.

He must not feel that threatened yet if he hasn't broken out the worldspell. What is the tech requirement to use it again? I don't remember off the top of my head, my guess would be KotE? Which I can't imagine he doesn't have.

[Mardoc]

Given the amount of time these games take, having fun seems like it rates higher than winning. It's not as if this isn't a possible path to winning, it just doesn't look like such an easy landgrab as we hoped.

Well, yeah. I was perhaps pessimistic last night. It's still not a comfortable position to be Suttree.

Landgrab - is still limited more by cash than by available land. I need more cottage growth, more happiness to work more cottages, and probably Markets, to fix that issue.

I look forward to adding in move 2 mages with move-2 summons, in bulk. That'll actually win the war - presuming no WS by then.

Molach going after Yell0w is a very welcome development. Being able to focus more of your forces against Suttree will make it more likely to be able to make some headway.

Potentially. The only real thing I can add, though, is an adept to do my Slowing so I can have three elementals every turn. Warriors won't do much good without bronze. Or, well, soonish, I'll be able to add mages. Assuming everything goes as planned.

Granted, it's a good while before we'll have the tech for mages, but one step at a time.

13 turns, assuming one Sage can completely bulb Sorcery and my tech rate doesn't slow for any reason.

After which, probably research Festivals and Bronze. I have all these whip hammers, I need Markets to convert them into cash. And I really could use a better non-mage military, since it seems I won't be able to provoke or remove the Amurite WS anytime soon.

He must not feel that threatened yet if he hasn't broken out the worldspell. What is the tech requirement to use it again? I don't remember off the top of my head, my guess would be KotE? Which I can't imagine he doesn't have.

KotE, yeah. I...can't decide if he's not feeling threatened, or if he went Arete instead of KotE. But then I don't really understand his approach to the war so far, period.

[Mardoc]

Suttree finally accepted the losses he needed to to wipe my stack. 13 warriors for 3 PoW, 2 Elementals, and 2 warriors. Obviously I was overconfident to begin with.

But then...he offered peace?! Well, my best adept has 6XP, I'm still working on Alteration, I'll take it. Wish I'd gotten the WS out of him, but there's not going to be anything more I can do until I have Mages, at minimum. Preferably some military he can't shut down with one button press, as well.

I might even go ahead and settle another city - now that my cottages and cities are growing up, my economy is starting to have some room. Or I might wait for more tech; after Alteration, definitely need to pick up Festivals and Code of Laws, to turn my fairly abundant hammers into cash.

[Mardoc]

Decided to swap to Festivals immediately, actually. Can get it in 2 turns, and it looks like the holdup on mages is still going to be XP, not tech. Plus it'll pay for itself pretty quickly.

Yell0w and Molach are at peace as well, also inconclusive. I'm so confused...