Anyone up for an EitB SG?

[superjm]

Since happiness is an issue what do you all think about getting Dereptus soonish? Probably in either the capital or Radonnor?

[haphazard1]

Deruptus could be useful, but it is a lot of hammers. Do we think we can overtake the Malkim peacefully, or should we be putting our hammers into war preparations?

[DaveV]

Got it, will play in about 8 hours, in case anyone wants to voice an opinion in that interval. My goals, without having looked at the save yet:

- More workers!
- A settler for the gold site. More happiness will help, even if it won't be a great city.
- Build up for an attack against Decius. I'm in the camp that thinks we're not going to pass him in score without going to war with him.

[haphazard1]

Sounds like a good plan to me. We conquered two barb cities and settled one, plus finished a tech during my turnset, and still did not close the gap with Decius at all. So I think you are correct that war with the Malakim will be necessary.

Good luck!

[Brian Shanahan]

Got it, will play in about 8 hours, in case anyone wants to voice an opinion in that interval. My goals, without having looked at the save yet:

- More workers!
- A settler for the gold site. More happiness will help, even if it won't be a great city.
- Build up for an attack against Decius. I'm in the camp that thinks we're not going to pass him in score without going to war with him.

If at all possible we need to kill both him and Tebryn before we change, I honestly don't think Tebryn is doable.

[haphazard1]

I do not see how we would destroy Decius? Unless one of the unmet AIs has an even higher score, then once we have taken maybe half of Decius' cities wouldn't we trigger the switch?

Tebryn is in a pretty difficult spot, but that is almost always going to be the case in High to Low. And one of the unmet AIs may be even worse off, so we can not be certain we would switch to him. (Not a totally comforting thought, I know. )

[DaveV]

Emulating one of the AI's favorite tricks, I sent a horseman into Sabathiel's territory, and another into Decius's. The one in Bannor lands encountered a Lanun unit, and Falamar was happy to open borders with us:



Sabathiel also had a spare wine that I talked him into sharing:



Later, Falamar wanted to trade for our map. It seemed like a pretty one-sided trade, so I refused.



I also sent our diseased warrior for a dip in the Pool of Tears:



And our hunter found an unpromoted bear to pick up the XP for a Subdue Animal promotion.



He's healing in a nearby Malakim city. Note that there are some bears to the west of the Sheaim, one pinned between Sheaim territory and the mountains to their south, and another between the Bannor and Lanun. If a future player captures an animal, make sure you declare nationality on it immediately so the AIs don't steal it from us.

The slope on the score graph is not looking good:



But the power graph looks a little better:



Worker notes: the three guys 2S of Radonnor should probably head over to start pre-roading to the gold city site.



We'll need some workers to improve the dyes by Murousbane in seven turns when the borders finally pop (and it would be good to have a workboat ready too).

[DaveV]

One more thing: Sailing means at least +5 commerce in trade routes for us, which is why I turned on research. It also may reveal some pearls for more happiness.

[haphazard1]

Looks pretty good, DaveV. We get contact with the Lanun, who are not very powerful. I believe there is one more AI somewhere?

Decius just seems to be getting stronger and stronger, at least as fast as we are. It really looks like war is inevitable if we want to top the score board. What do we think is our best option for fighting? We have quite a few options available to us, but just spamming cheap units may be the most cost-efficient approach. Throw in a few stronger ones to take care of particularly difficult enemies, and it might work.

[Brian Shanahan]

Crapola didn't cop the game was back to me will play this evening.

Will look to see what I can do to Decius.