[SPOILERS]- Crazy Keelyn is trippin’ Balz: Bobchillingworth of the Balseraphs

[DaveV]

Yes, I could play for you. What's the political situation (NAPs, expirations, etc.)?

[Bobchillingworth]

NAP with the Clan ends turn 120 (three turns left). No NAP with anyone else.


Serdoa is willing to supply a loan of Death Mana upon request- it will be needed for skeleton spam. He's free to name his price (within reason) for resources / mana to be provided in return, but Earth and Mind are off-limits until the Sons plan is completed (he knows that I'm not willing to hand them over yet, but he doesn't know the actual reason). I also owe him a seperate 10-turn loan of a mana type at his request, due to him allowing me to settle a certain spot. Don't give him Mind or Earth before Gibbon is out, though. Much better if you hold on to Earth until Acheron is dead and the Eearth Elementals aren't as important.


Square Leg is to get a free spread of the Leaves religion from the Discipline I have approaching his borders- he'll have cartography in next turn, and so can open borders at that point. Ask him where he wants the religion spread. In return, he will supply one loan of any of his mana for 10T. I want Earth mana, to be received the turn before Gibbon is created so that he will have free Earth III (in conjunction with native sources) and will get the strength boost on the Earth Elementals for taking out Acheron.


The Clan are likely to attack at turn 120.




I'll post empire management suggestions / instructions tomorrow if it's clear that my computer will be inoperable until I get the hard drive replaced. Until then, I'll hold the save- the other players should be aware already.

[Bobchillingworth]

Hey Dave, thanks for agreeing to take over again.



I still have internet access via University computers, so I should be able to handle any major diplo & can provide instructions if some sort of critical situation arises. You have a mostly free hand, although I do have a somewhat specific plan which I'd like followed. Keeping the empire alive comes first though. Like I said in the Tech thread, I'll probably be without Civ access for 1-2 weeks... depends on how long my new hard drive & Windows CDs take to arrive.



Anyway, the big Plan is the Grab the Sons Operation, which I've discussed in this thread previously.


For this plan to work, you need to get Gibbon ASAP. That means that tech path must go Trade -> Deception. Deficit research is allowed- I don't care if it eats up my Events gold. Pop the world spell once the current Golden Age ends.


Gibbon will need Earth III on him to start, so you'll need to convert the two raw nodes in Balseraph territory to Earth Nodes before he's born, and be receiving the Earth mana from SL. If you can research warfare before you build Gibbon do so, and then switch to Conquest so that he'll start with +4 exp. Gibbon also must have Mind III, so don't give away the Mind mana if anyone requests it until he's set.


The plan itself is to stick him on a boat and sail with a fleet of 3 cargo capacity Triremes (plus maybe a 2 capacity galley) over to Mulcarn's Folly. Use Gibbon's super-powered Earth Elementals to destroy Acheron- you should be able to attack with two via puppet by land, and another by sea. Take a unit along with the Timor Mask to suicide against Acheron to remove his Stone Skin promo before the Elementals go into action. Once Acheron is dead / no longer the top defender, Dominate the Sons. Ship dominated Sons back home, unless they won't be safe there (due to an invasion). If faced with defending warriors, eliminate them however you see fit. Only one or two will be needed to garrison the town after you capture it. Absolutely do not raze Mulcarn's folly, as it has access to Ice mana via the Frigus.


The Clan are free to attack at turn 120 and are likely to do so. You can keep an eye on them via Floating Eyes- I have a single adept with Metamagic I, so you should be able to create two Eyes a turn with puppets. I would prefer that you keep this adept alive, since he will be important for dispelling nodes in the future, but it's not critical that he live. There is also a single adept with Body I, currently in Jubilee. He may be critical for a defense if the Clan attack.


If you believe that an attack is imminent (all four Sons moving to striking range is a fairly obvious indicator), request a free loan of Death mana from Serdoa, who has agreed to hand it over. Use this to spam skeletons like mad wherever you think the Clan will attack (this will almost certainly be Coombe View). Make sure you spam the skeletons using puppets, rather than the adepts themselves- the goal is to produce more units per turn than the Clan can reasonably kill off. Keep a garrison of healthy warriors / swords / other combat units safely out of Fire Elemental range, to skirmish with any melee units Tredje moves within combat range. I stupidly used auto move for a few units recently, so you may need to shift defenders around to get them in place- the "possessed" devil Shock + Combat II warrior near Hexam def. neesd to move back towards Coombe, as does the highly-promoted Orthus Axe warrior. There are several warriors currently garrisoning the Standing Stones city which can move back to protect Coombe as well. You can convert to slavery at any point to do an emergency whip, but I would prefer you hold off if you can as the Apprenticeship exp helps a lot and is necessary for Gibbon.

Make sure that every single adept summons a puppet every turn, even ones not near the likely front lines. This is to keep the power level high and possibly give the Clan pause. Loki and the Jubilee Haste adept currently summon puppets every turn needed to keep inspirations going (in all three different coastal cities in total). Keep doing this unless they are needed for defense somewhere.



For city specific instructions-



Coombe: Adepts, adepts, adepts. I believe that 10 adepts should be able to spam enough units to keep the city indefinitely safe, but you'll know best. It's entirely possible that the Clan will not attack, but keep building adepts anyway. Promote one to Earth I and use a puppet to create a Wall of Stone. The rest should go Death I, and then save a promo, probably for Entropy I. If you have a lot of adepts in the town, consider a Palisade. If things look really safe, Coombe requires a library.


Coastal City south of Coombe: I can't remember the name. Anyway, after the Trirme (needed as a Gibbon / Sons transport), either build another one or a galley. And then maybe a third or a warrior or something.


Standing Stoens City: Finish the market, I guess. Most workers should head over to improve the town. If the Clan move on here instead of Coombe, the same defense instructions that would be used for Coombe apply. I have a Freak heading over to build a Show, but Serdoa has complained about my culture, and so don't add him for now until the city is at the happy cap.


Jubilee: Adept pump to help out Coombe. If you have a lot of adepts, build a library. Also build Gibbon here. The scout currently in the city has two purposes- the first is to sail over the the Eastern Island and pop the hut (there is already a transport in the area, promote in in-dock to allow for more cargo capacity). Then give the scout the Timor Mask (mask held by a Freak somewhere), and suicide him vs. Acheron to remove his Stone Skin once the time comes to take on Mucarn's Folly.


Coastal city south of Jubilee with lots of plains forests: I also forgot this town's name. Finish the Sons transport Trireme, then build another. Then build either defense units or a library.


City north of the plains forests coastal city: Not sure what to build here. I was thinking of warriors, to be shipped over to the Eastern Island to engage the Pristine Pass and kill the Gargoyles off via attrition. That island will be very useful.


Hexam: Finish the settler, which is for the Eastern Island. Build another settler for that island if you can. Also needs a library, and can produce adepts. The finished settler can build wherever on the island you feel is best. A city out of fireball range would be nice, in case the Clan overrun everything else but you're able to get Gibbon on a boat in time. But I think such a city will miss most of the good resources and the game would probably be over if worse game to worse anyway.


Final Coastal City (Furthest East): Finish Elder Council, then produce units to clear and defend the Eastern Island.




Whew! Anyway, yeah, I have internet access to if you have a question you can post here and I can probably get back within some hours time. I can also handle most of the diplo myself still, although you can send messages if you like. Please don't sign me up for any NAPs or whatever without consulting me first, though

[Bobchillingworth]

As if that wasn't enough, a couple other things I forgot to mention:


Jubilee will pop a great person this or next turn. If it's a priest, save him for the Noctis. If it's a scientist, I was going to save him for a later golden age, but go for an academy if you think it's worth it (or a sorcery bulb if he can do that, although I think other stuff will have greater bulbing priority). If it's a low-odds artist, save for a future golden age.


Also to be clear, while I do have a specific plan for Gibbon, if it comes to pass that he's desperately needed for the defense of the civ and you think he'll be able to kill the Clan's Sons on his own or something, then do that. We can discuss more here if that sort of situations comes to pass.

[DaveV]

Ok, I made some executive decisions. Since the goal is fast research, I deleted the treasure chest to cut down on expenses. I increased research on Trade to bring it down to 2 turns, at about a 50 gold deficit. When trade comes in, we pick up an extra trade route in each city, so that should improve the economy.

Jubilee's great person turned out to be a sage. Since fast research is the primary goal, I used him for an academy:



I'll post a few overview screens. Demographics:



Cities:



Military advisor:

[Bobchillingworth]

Cool. Clan moving the Sons in yet? Might as well get the Death mana from Serdoa now, you can always hold off on the skeletons if the Clan keep to themselves.

[DaveV]

Cool. Clan moving the Sons in yet? Might as well get the Death mana from Serdoa now, you can always hold off on the skeletons if the Clan keep to themselves.

No, the Sons are still parked in a city. Are you going to hit up Serdoa for the Death mana, or are you asking me to?

[Bobchillingworth]

I have already asked him for the loan via email, and he has agreed. But you will have to be the person to request it in-game, as I wasn't able to do so before I lost Civ access. No need for diplo required, just request the mana in the trade window. Probably best to do it soon, like this turn.



Note- bear in mind that Tredje has Body I on at least one of the Sons, so they can reach Coombe quickly.

[DaveV]

Requested the death mana, but I should have done it two or even three turns ago. This was probably the worst possible time to have a change in leadership.

The good news: Trade came in, four turns to Deception at -5 gpt. And, um, that's about it.

If you were hoping for salvation from the hut on the Guardian Isle, it's not going to happen:



As anticipated, Tredje has a pretty beefy stack poised to attack:



The feeble Balseraph defenses:



Sorry, Bob, I may have hosed up your game. If Serdoa doesn't come through with the Death mana, it may be game over.

[Bobchillingworth]

Argh. Yeah, would have been nice to have had the skeletons a couple turns earlier. I should have been more clear about the urgency in my instructions.


Well, hold out as best as you can. Whip Gibbon to completion if you have to. He can attempt to kill off parts of that stack with Earth elementals. Maybe dominate the Sons.


Speaking of which, make sure you get those Earth nodes up, and request the Earth mana from SL now. And like I said earlier, Coombe needs a Wall of Stone.