(I probably won't keep updating so consistently now that the Malakim/Infernals invasion is over.)
Played turn 118 and 119. I'm actually going to delay most of my unit builds until after I resettle Dis in a few turns so that they get the Sheut stone promotion. Instead, I'm building training yards and units that aren't going to fight.
I'm sending some life shamans up to hell as well to sanctify a lot of it. There's a sheut stone resource near the Ljosalfar and a sheep near the Hippus that I don't want them to have access to.
Nox Noctis is going to be awesome. I can't wait.
I researched Smelting a few turns back, and revealed two sources of iron. Then I popped iron from two mines(on consecutive turns, even.) I guess it's that earth mana from the RoK shrine. I don't have IW yet, but there's no great reason to get it this early anyway. I'll research it when I'm ready to build Ogres or Eidolons.
I have a lot of mana nodes spread throughout my territory. Investing in more shamans and arcane technologies seems like a great idea. I should be able to give quite a few free promotions to any mages I build. The three shamans I used vs the Malakim all have at least 7 exp.
I'm trying to see how I can also acquire more soldiers of kilmorph. I can't build them any more in my cities that are able to build paramanders, but paramanders require both copper and a temple of kilmorph. I'd like to get some SoKs(up to 28) for the Guild of Hammers and tower of divination.
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FFH-20: Jonas Endain of the Clan of Embers
EITB Pitboss 1: Clan/Elohim/Calabim with Mardoc and Thoth
I'm currently stalled a little on turn 121 due to grandparents visiting, but this actually isn't such a bad thing. It's given me some time to reconsider things.
I got the "crazy priest" event again this turn, this time in Malacath. It increased the AC by 5, and I used the crazed ritualist to settle a temple in Mehrunes Dagon.
That brings the AC back to 39%. Stephanos is coming. Unfortunately, Stephanos is sort of a wimp. Buboes is the one to worry about, but he's not likely to come any time soon. Stephanos comes at AC64, but Buboes requires AC79(95 and 111 for the other two.) I haven't built Prophecy of Ragnarok, so my best methods of increasing the counter are AV spreads and razing cities. That's not likely to pay off in the timeframe I expect to be working with.
Where am I going with this?
It may be time to go ahead and lose my barbarian peace:
My newer units can benefit from the exp.
I can handle any of the Armageddon units that do get summoned.
I don't need to hire any more units from goblin forts. Defensively, it's not efficient. Offensively, it's a tool that only works once.
I'll have Nox Noctis next turn(122), so the barbs will only be able to attack my units in cities.
I have access to a lot of lairs and can afford to send my more experienced units out to remove them. I can afford whatever bad results I get, and possibly get some great results too.
Even a single great person would be great. I'll get another one soon from my Nat Epic city, and 2 GPs would allow a second golden age across 30+ cities.
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FFH-20: Jonas Endain of the Clan of Embers
EITB Pitboss 1: Clan/Elohim/Calabim with Mardoc and Thoth
It started out with the Harpy event. My new city of Diagna got five unhappiness added to it in exchange for a Great Bard.
Then I built Nox Noctis in Sithis and declared war on the barbarians.
I explored a few lairs this turn, and one of them provided a great Merchant. I used the Bard and Merchant to start my second golden age.
At the end of the turn, I finished Elementalism and my third Beast of Agares. I'm going to get Mathematics next, but I queued Sorcery(4 prereq bonuses) to spike my GNP over 900.
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FFH-20: Jonas Endain of the Clan of Embers
EITB Pitboss 1: Clan/Elohim/Calabim with Mardoc and Thoth
Ugh. Sorry for stopping with the updates. I'm up to 32 cities, and the turns are taking forever to play. Usually an hour or more.
The new turn (125) is in my inbox, but I'm not home yet. Last turn I may have made a major blunder. I had planned to swap into Runes, build SoKs, then into OO for some cultists, then back to AV and StW.
I had not realized how much gpt StW was saving me with its "none" upkeep. I knew that there were substantial food benefits, but cultists are looking very expensive now. It may be better to avoid adopting consumption(stay in religion) for the 4 turns until I can go back to AV. The alternative is 6 additional turns without StW.
This is likely to set back my tech plans somewhat, which thankfully are not that extensive. There are only a few major technologies I want, and it shouldn't take that long to get them. Engineering is the top priority, for road movement and Guild of Hammers. Next is sorcery so that I can get my mages online and my nodes reconfigured. Iron Working is half researched already and I'll ToD Mithril working, and those can wait until I'm ready to fight. Axes seem like a better deal than Ogres anyway, with Sheut and Mithril involved.
I've exchanged a few messages with Tholal about an attack on Ichabod, and he seems open to it. I'm not sure when or how I'm going to deal with HidingKneel, but he's been gradually building up his forces lately.
Stephanos should spawn this turn, and I'm the most likely to be targetted. Somebody(HK?) increased the AC a lot last turn.
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FFH-20: Jonas Endain of the Clan of Embers
EITB Pitboss 1: Clan/Elohim/Calabim with Mardoc and Thoth
Woah, woah. Tholal's actualy diploing with you after you made out like a bandit last time?
Merovech's Mapmaking Guidelines:
0. Player Requests: The player's requests take precedence, even if they contradict the following guidelines.
1. Balance: The map must be balanced, both in regards to land quality and availability and in regards to special civilization features. A map may be wonderfully unique and surprising, but, if it is unbalanced, the game will suffer and the player's enjoyment will not be as high as it could be.
2. Identity and Enjoyment: The map should be interesting to play at all levels, from city placement and management to the border-created interactions between civilizations, and should include varied terrain. Flavor should enhance the inherent pleasure resulting from the underlying tile arrangements. The map should not be exceedingly lush, but it is better to err on the lush side than on the poor side when placing terrain.
3. Feel (Avoiding Gimmicks): The map should not be overwhelmed or dominated by the mapmaker's flavor. Embellishment of the map through the use of special improvements, barbarian units, and abnormal terrain can enhance the identity and enjoyment of the map, but should take a backseat to the more normal aspects of the map. The game should usually not revolve around the flavor, but merely be accented by it.
4. Realism: Where possible, the terrain of the map should be realistic. Jungles on desert tiles, or even next to desert tiles, should therefore have a very specific reason for existing. Rivers should run downhill or across level ground into bodies of water. Irrigated terrain should have a higher grassland to plains ratio than dry terrain. Mountain chains should cast rain shadows. Islands, mountains, and peninsulas should follow logical plate tectonics.
Stephanos is poking around near the Ljosalfar border. Mehrunes Dagon is stalling him for now by producing a pair of units each turn. If his strength falls far enough, I'll kill him with a Beast. My other (non demon) units are too afraid to attack, and Spirit mana won't come online for a few more turns.
Engineering finished at the end of the turn. I have 12 SoKs ready to rush the Guild of Hammers next turn, which should be enough even after one of them is eaten by Stephanos. After Engineering, I'll grab Sorcery and start setting up my ToD.
I've had something of an event spree lately, with three coming in the past 10 turns. They've gotten progressively better too.
First it was the "crazy priest" at Malacath. I chose the option for a free Ritualist with crazed and settled him as a temple.
Then it was the harpy event at Diagna. I used the great bard, along with a merchant from a lair, for a golden age.
Now it was the meteor event at Phynaster. This gives the option to either recieve gold or recieve a "scorched staff" equipment. There's also a third option for the Clan that gives a free golden age. So my current golden age was extended.
Unit maintenance is getting pretty high, but the growth momentum remains good. Things will accelerate further when the Guild of Hammers completes. I'm building up forces for now, as I expect to be fighting again soon. I'm building Sheut stone axes and have a lot of maturing shamans with 8-10 exp. Once Iron Working comes in, I'll add some Ogres as well, but probably continue to focus on Axes.
Ichabod is steadily building units and hiring mercenaries while (probably) running 100% gold. There are three main locations he could attack me at, but I should be able to avoid losing anything of significance. He doesn't have any arcane units or technologies yet, so that's pretty exploitable. For example, the most direct path for him to attack westward is blocked off by burning sands, so I can (mostly) ignore that direction and focus on Sithis and the Kurioate lands.
HidingKneel has also had a relatively aggressive posture lately, and it's probably only a matter of time for him to deactivate our earlier agreement. It doesn't look like he's coordinating with Ichabod though. We have a 13.5 turn NAP cooldown, and Ichabod can't attack until turn 140. If HK wanted to attack on T140, he would have deactivated already. I suspect he's waiting for his Tower of Divination to complete.
Tholal hasn't responded to my last message, and hasn't committed to anything yet, sonI'm probably going to have to plan for attack from all directions. I would be surprised if he does decide to attack me though... I'll have stronger units, in quantity, with support units.
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FFH-20: Jonas Endain of the Clan of Embers
EITB Pitboss 1: Clan/Elohim/Calabim with Mardoc and Thoth
I did everything I said I would do, despite the fact that I didn't have enough units to do it.
And at this point, does it really make a difference to Tholal who he sides with? He has 8 cities. I have 35. HidingKneel and Ichabod together have 31.
I can give him resources, mana, maps, and a chance to put his units to effective use.
Sorry, I didn't mean to say he shouldn't as a matter of principle, just that I would be very wary of dealing with you in his place, knowing that you got the better of me once already.
Merovech's Mapmaking Guidelines:
0. Player Requests: The player's requests take precedence, even if they contradict the following guidelines.
1. Balance: The map must be balanced, both in regards to land quality and availability and in regards to special civilization features. A map may be wonderfully unique and surprising, but, if it is unbalanced, the game will suffer and the player's enjoyment will not be as high as it could be.
2. Identity and Enjoyment: The map should be interesting to play at all levels, from city placement and management to the border-created interactions between civilizations, and should include varied terrain. Flavor should enhance the inherent pleasure resulting from the underlying tile arrangements. The map should not be exceedingly lush, but it is better to err on the lush side than on the poor side when placing terrain.
3. Feel (Avoiding Gimmicks): The map should not be overwhelmed or dominated by the mapmaker's flavor. Embellishment of the map through the use of special improvements, barbarian units, and abnormal terrain can enhance the identity and enjoyment of the map, but should take a backseat to the more normal aspects of the map. The game should usually not revolve around the flavor, but merely be accented by it.
4. Realism: Where possible, the terrain of the map should be realistic. Jungles on desert tiles, or even next to desert tiles, should therefore have a very specific reason for existing. Rivers should run downhill or across level ground into bodies of water. Irrigated terrain should have a higher grassland to plains ratio than dry terrain. Mountain chains should cast rain shadows. Islands, mountains, and peninsulas should follow logical plate tectonics.
Merovech Wrote:Sorry, I didn't mean to say he shouldn't as a matter of principle, just that I would be very wary of dealing with you in his place, knowing that you got the better of me once already.
No problem.
I wasn't sure whether he would consider such an arrangement, but it's possible so I had to ask.
If he doesn't decide to align himself with me, I'm reasonably confident that I can hold off any possible attack. His army consists of iron axes with enchanted blade, plus Bambur. I'll be able to rust away his iron weapons, dispel his EB buffs, and knock off 40% of their HP with RoF. My own units can either defend on a hill or move rapidly and invisibly through my territory.
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FFH-20: Jonas Endain of the Clan of Embers
EITB Pitboss 1: Clan/Elohim/Calabim with Mardoc and Thoth
