The Orc Clan: Following the Princess Rule

[Ravus Sol]

ughh, how do I allways manage to get so far behind in updates. I have like a hundred screenshots taken and only half have been labeled.

Oh man! We have the chance to summon Krill into the game as Hyborem. That'll probably go pretty well with the plan of bringing the Armageddon to the world!

buh, wuh,

have you only just realised this? :neenernee I mentioned Krill being the ultimate summon in the first page. Of course that was when I thought I might need him as a distraction or an ally.

Man have some things gone so right and so wrong this game. Hippus alliance I wanted passed me by but I got the Elves instead. Got bad land for Aristocracy but got a LOT of Expansion space in exchange. Lost the Runes religion but oh my lord did the smear campaign against the Vamps work.

I'm not even sure I can take full credit for it. Yes I did intentionally try and piss them off and yes I was trying to paint them as a big bad to everyone. But Mackoti annoyed the Amurites by himself and the Elves have the fact that he is THEIR neighbour to get worried about him. Either way It's worked.

Anyway i'm going to do, yet another, of my now patterned update dumps. As soon as I organise what needs to updated and what I last said.

- Ravus

[Ravus Sol]

Yeah, but didn't someone else found it first anyway? So not that much of a loss.

I think RoK tends to be a bit overrated most of the time (there are quite a few low tier buildings with comparable ROI to religion spread + RoK temple building) but I imagine it's pretty good when you get 2 stonewardens for the price of one.

It is overated for most people. For the Orcs it's perfect for expansion with the Warrens. The thanes stop you from needing monuments in back lying cities and the Stonewardens let you rush build those low tier buildings for no hammer loss.

[Ravus Sol]

Allright I don't even know If anyone will even check these updates anymore, apart from loyal Ichabod. People probably gave up on me

But anyway I have like, 5 screenshots per turn, which is fine if I was up to date, but when the last turn I did was in the 60's and we are now in the 90's... well I think I will just to a speed update.

Anyone against? yes? no? good

[Ravus Sol]

[SIZE="6"]Turn 69-70: Recap of Empire's Current Nature[/SIZE]

[SIZE="4"]Turn 69: Last time, on Orcish Thuggery[/SIZE]

It's hard to think back to when I merely had three cities. Currently I am on 6 with two more Settlers moving into position. Fangorn Forest is still building infrastructure. Entwash is building a worker and Isengard is getting a Settler.

At this point I was undecided on where the fourth city would go. There was the nice place to the West, lots of resources but very out in the open. To the East above Fangorn Forest is two corn resources and a river, a good place for a Economic city. To the North is a medicore spot, but it allows a road network to the elves, which would help in economic expansion.

It seems that this turn was where myself and Sareln sorted out our agreement to build a road ASAP. This warrior tried to spy out a place for the settler but ended up getting eaten.

The Opposition Lands. Elves, Vamps and Wizards. Around turn 69-70 I had brief diplomatic exchanges with the Vamps and the Wizards. The Vamps... well I basically tried to be agressive without being too flat out in saying so. The wizard I tried to warn about the vamps, playing them up as a threat.

I'll post these exchanges next.

Here is a close up on the Vampire cities I can see. You can see that he has got enough warriors in his border cities to be unconquerable.

Recap on my Empire's Demographs, At this point my GNP was wavering in the middle as the Vamp, Bannor and Elves start to slip into economic lead. My Production is still high but not by a huge margin anymore. Crop yield is low, It was here where I knew I needed to start building up for my expansion, Via Warrens and Runes.

My archer defends from a griffin, he's getting some nice experiance. At this point in time I still had not made contact with the Bannor.

[SIZE="4"]Turn 70: Vampire Run[/SIZE]

Some other things happen this turn. The Warrior in the north got eaten by a bear, the Archer searching for the Bannor started to heal, but in the end this is the important bit.

I place myself deeper into Vampire territory and took out a road for now. A minor pillage and I next planned to kamikaze deeper into the Red territory.

[Ravus Sol]

[SIZE="6"]Ravus and Mackoti, we both have a way with words...[/SIZE]

Here is a repeat of the first email that Mackoti sent.

[COLOR="Red"]Mackoti of the Vampires here, says hello to the mighty Red Wizard and to Flufy the world strongest wolf rider.

As you see i am in the north of the map , in my corner , are you coming in peace or you want to wreak havoc? I am not very good at diplomacy but i think we can work toghether peacefull for now , what you think ? I will seat on the save untill you came back with an answer so i know what i have to do(yea i am a litle concerned about that wolf rider if you want to scout its alright if you want somethin else well i have to take some preparations).


I propose a 20 turns Nap. I wait to hear from you.

Regards,
Mackoti[/COLOR]

You can re-read what I wrote about this before. Basically I don't want the NAP because I want to paint the Vampires in a negative light.

[SIZE="4"]The, I'm going to be coy while trying to appear reasonable, response[/SIZE]

I basically try to handwave here. If it was anyone else I might have tried adding more words, questions and revelations to cloud the issue. But with Mackoti that won't work anyway.

[COLOR="Orange"]
To Mackoti of the Vampires

I'm sorry you emailed at a bad time and now i've only just woke up again to reply. I'll be quick so that you can decide what to do.

You are the last person I have met, all others have been found. And from your position a NAP would benifit you and not me. You arn't offering anything along with the NAP deal so i'm going to have to decline. If you want to take preparations that is up to you, for now fluffy is going to scout around a bit more.

Ravus - The Red Wizard[/COLOR]

I try to come off... well I was honestly playing a little by ear here, what I want is to up Mackoti's paranoia levels enough that it will effect how he interacts with everyone else while still allowing myself to come of semi-innocent looking when explaining things to allies.

I got this in response;

[SIZE="4"]The, I'm suspicious of who could be plotting against me, I know I am powerful, don't you want to be my friend and not my enemy, monologue[/SIZE]

[COLOR="Red"]To Ravus The Red Wizard
Well i was many time accused that i dont give peace a chanse for that i proposed a Nap , what do you want in exchange?, do i have something to offer?Probably if i am last to met you already have a deal and some pact with others saying well lets go atack vampires they are dangerous.

I was thinking that we can be allies and divede world between us but look like i am a crazy vampire.

Regards,
Mackoti[/COLOR]

Well 'a chance for peace' is a unusual phrase. But it shows how Mackoti likes to have things labeled and laid out properly. It really does make me feel like a heel when he offers to let me set my own NAP and ask for what I desire. If I was a nice person I would ask for something and sign. If I was a sneaky person I would try to set too high a standard before letting negotiations collapse in a way that makes him think I could be trusted. But in the end... I WANT him to not like me.

The fact that he tries to make a half assed joke/hint about a possible pact against the vampires is good. It means either he is allready aware he could be a target for someone or his paranoia levels are getting pinged.

I do allow myself a small moment of regret. It would have been nice to be the Vampires ally and divide up the world. But at the end of the day we just play this game too differently. He likes Empires, I like Diplomacy. It would never work.

I send my reply;

[SIZE="4"]The Evil-Stupid act, the, I'm not hiding something at all, really, people COULD be annoyed at you but i'm not going to flat out confirm or deny anything...[/SIZE]

[COLOR="Orange"]Mackoti,

The diplomatic situation is not as bad as you think. But everyone can see that you and the elves are the dangerous 2 of our game. You upset everyones plans with your worldspell, but no one has publicly stated any deals or pacts.

I don't think you have anything you can offer that would make me feel less threatened by you long term. A NAP now just lets you feel safe and continue to rush towards vampires. With the map so big the only nations that are dangerous military wise are those with eventual speed.You and the Hippus. Orcs cannot compete against Hasted-Mobility Vampires military wise. A NAP now will mean quicker death later when you start gobbling up the other nations near you. While I may or may not attack you, any turns you waste building more protection "just in case" is in my best interests.

Cordially
Ravus - The Red Wizard [/COLOR]

Do you think I got the 'Evil wordy bastard' vibe good enough? You can never tell with language barriers. Personally I think it looks just good enough like I am trying to be coy and smart. The inept kind of trying. Where your very word and tone gives away your future plans.

I want Mackoti to think that the world is against him. But that the world doesn't want him to know that they are against him. A secret shadow cabal. I even try to give not-so-subtle-but-trying-to-be-coy hints, to back up why the nations might fear/dislike him.

I wasn't sure how well my words got to him untill quite some time later. But his reply easily let me see that i'd at the very least made him feel threatened or annoyed. Either or;

[SIZE="4"]The, GTFO response, said in a politically nice way of course[/SIZE]

[COLOR="Red"]Hi,

As you will find out when the saves return to you I declared war on you and cleared your mighty Wolf rider.I can't accep like someone whos hostile to me to map my land and after to sell to others.If you want peace you can propose in game if not its alright you messed with my plans anyway.

Good day,
Mackoti[/COLOR]

I could have tried to pretend to be friendly, or acted outraged, but I figured the best bet to help along things was just to allow a communication black out to happen. No more letters were exchanged with the vamps untill turn 96

[Ravus Sol]

[SIZE="6"]Amelia wants to be isolated... Between the Vampires at the gates and the Orcish diplomats slimy words he is going to have to ponder picking a side...[/SIZE]

You can see from the map that the Vampires had settled in the face of the Amurites. As the person in diplomatic control of the game, having open communications with everyone and a good map, I considered it my duty to talk to the Amurites first.

Give them my world-view.

[SIZE="4"]The have you looked outside recently? Opening.[/SIZE]

I feel it only Fair to warn you that the Vampires are right on your doorstep. I hope you have realised before this. Adonis, one of their newer cities (they have 5) is just outside your capitals borders to the North-West. Have you managed to make contact with them already yourself?

This was just a quick and dirty opening, no formatlity gives it a sense of urgency. It is of course, a total play. Anyone who thinks about it deeper will realise that I could have merely looked in the Diplomatic screen in game to see if the Vamps and wizards had made contact.

I knew they hadn't. I was just trying to build up the inevitable meeting into something to fear.


[SIZE="4"]The, maybe you should give us some real information instead of just enough scraps to worry us prompt[/SIZE]

Erm, no i don't have contact with them actually. I never knew they were that close.... there was a scorpion in the middle that stopped all contact. Is said scorpion dead?

The Response is about what you'd expect from Amelia. Trying to figure out exactly what is going on. Information first, panic second, so to speak.

I send my reply;

[SIZE="4"]The still not giving direct details, but a direction enough for you to feel worried if you trust my word reply[/SIZE]

I can't see. I'm on the other side of Adonis scouting out their cities with a Worg Rider called Fluffy. Getting more and more unnerved. I'd estimate it is 9West and 6North if you start from your Capital tile. Which considering I remember you stating you had expanded in that direction should put it just a border pop away from your second city.

I don't mention why i'm worried. Anything I say won't be as good as what he could imagine. But I give directions and warn of how close the Vamps should be.

Unfortunatly the last reply from the wizards doesn't give me anything. I can't figure if they are worried or accepting or what.

[SIZE="4"]The, I will keep an eye out confirmation.[/SIZE]

My second city has border popped already, but i scanned and there was nothing there. I have at least 6 warriors on duty though, and in emergency i can take out my city defenders, giving me 9.

Not what I was hoping for. But Hopefully it did some damage to the vamps and made me seem like a bit nicer person for giving the warning.

[Ravus Sol]

[SIZE="6"]Turn 71-75: Founding of Lonely mountain and dealing with the Vampire Fallout[/SIZE]

This period of the game was all about dealing with the Vampire fallout. They kill Fluffy with a force of three warriors. I allow the Vampires to go dark communication wise, then knock up the Hippus and the Elves for the smear campaigning.

I will post the pictures of the realm here, then the communications, then do a overall summery of where I stood now.

[SIZE="4"]Turn 71: Vampires suck and Teching Rocks[/SIZE]

Here is the screenshot of Fluffys final resting place. Damn those Vamps! Well... no. Damn me really. I'm enough of an evil player that I knew that Fluffy would be sacrificed. I wished I could have survived for a bit longer and done more damage. But the Diplomatic effect of the Vamps declaring war on ME first helps a lot when trying to paint them as the bad guys.

The Rock technology comes in, pretty useless for most players, but a god-send for the Orcs. Warrens are that awesome.

With masonry finished the next tech was easy. At this point I am sure I was still working of a plan for the economy. The Warrens would allow the cities something important to build. Education would give the Workers something to do once they came out Warren doubled. And it should all finish at the same time that the GP finishes.

[SIZE="4"]Turn 72: Explores die and plans derail[/SIZE]

This is the Killer bear, not only did it take out my initial warrior to secure this City site. But it's also sticking around. I end up having to divert more troops for defence and workers to help road quicker.

Lurkers and even Ded-Horde members may not remember this area. There used to be a warrior here. But he did zero exploration. Every time he set out he got attacked and had to retreat back to heal. Worst. Explorer. Ever.

At least now that he is dead I no longer have to pay his upkeep. Not that I'm evil or anything...

[SIZE="4"]Turn 73: Animal spotting and Settling preperation[/SIZE]

Here is one of the only two long range explorers I have left now. As long as the archers stick to the hills they should be okay on the defence. He is still trying to find the Bannor.

Ah yes. This was when I still held out hope that the eastern part of the Misty Mountains may have ONE resource. This little goblin ventured bravery into the animal infested plains trying to find anything that could make it profitable to settle here.

none.

zip.

Here is the full settling force. Due to Animal excursions. Two workers nearby to speed do a road, two warriors so one can be eaten while defending the settler for a turn.

It should work.

[SIZE="4"]Turn 74: Elephants are awesome[/SIZE]

Best. Animal. Ever.

[SIZE="4"]Turn 75: Forced to Settle.[/SIZE]

Surrounded by that many bears I had no choice but to settle in place. I'm just glad they all ran away afterwards. The workers also managed to finish the farm on the same turn, so the city could grow quickly.

[Ravus Sol]

[SIZE="6"]Hippus and orcs turnover new information while watching each others reactions[/SIZE]

I've been keeping talks open with the Hippus. Even if I'm trying to slowly hint to the elves about their duplicity, the Hippus are good to chat too, I can turn information over with them and try to keep myself labeled as a "chatty ally that doesn't actually offer real military worth" instead of "threat" or "target".

With our time differences we normally don't get to chat, which Mr Yellow prefers, and instead have to use email. The Hippus's first email is in response to my failed attempt to catch him on chat straight after the Vamp debacle. Amusingly, once again when I replied he came online. So we have a chat straight afterwards.

[SIZE="4"]The, what's up? Here's some basic info now give me some, was there anything important blunt opening.[/SIZE]

[COLOR="Lime"]Not sure when you'll be on, but yeah i was busy the time you poked me. What is it that you wanted to say?

Anyway, i got a pretty nice view of Sareln's realm and i believe i'll be raiding pretty soon (Will be producing horses pretty soon). Haven't checked what he got at the moment and what he's en route to, but i'll do it later. Now this will simply a jab at Sareln to bring him back to our level, i plan to keep most of the cavalry for the vamps wherever they are.

Speaking of the vamps i'm suprised that none have seen mackoti at all.[/COLOR]

We have an information exchange agreement, at least that's why I assume he is still passing on facts about his Elvish attack. He could still want to tempt me into helping him, but my tactic responses never offering anything concrete should have pinged a few alarm bells by now. Oh well. Information is information.

The Vampire opening is perfect.

[SIZE="4"]The, I allways tell the truth, it just happens that the truths I utter paint the world in a certain way[/SIZE]

[COLOR="Orange"]Horselord Yellow,

You must have missed it in the events section. The Vamps have been found and they already declared war on myself. They sniped my Wolf Rider with three Warriors and said that if I wanted peace I would have to ask for it. Not amused.

That was what I was trying to talk to you about when I spotted you, I figured you would want to know where they are. they are actually North-East of the Elves and seem to expanding agressivly towards the Amurites. What information they did send said something about not wanting me to be able to "sell" information about their lands to others. So I'm sensing that they are getting ready for their own war. And while they don't have your horsemen they do have land and production power. I managed to spy a few cities before biting it and they have mining and 5 cities. Mackoti plays aggressive so he could be going for a bronze Moria rush... or he could just be trying to get as much land as possible to draft Vamps later. I'm not exactly in a position to fish for information diplomatically.

But anyway that is the last person found. Seems a strange positioning. It means that the Bannor probably have the most defendable lands and most isolated position.

Ravus - The Red Wizard[/COLOR]

The summery of events with the Vamps is amusing. Because from a certain perspective it is true. With Sareln I might have given more details, he's very diplomatically on the ball, but with Mr Yellow I feel confident that this mere summery should be enough to help him see the Vampires as threats.

What followed was a chat conversation that is below. I know many don't like to read chat's so i'll summarise at the bottom.

[SIZE="4"]Hippus and Orcs weigh up threats and try to tempt each other into joining forces against those apposed to us[/SIZE]

Basically I play up the vamps and he plays up the Elves. Much fun.

Hans-Kristian: oh hi there

Ravus Sol: lol
you have perfect timeing
JUST sent you a message reply

Hans-Kristian: and just recieved

Ravus Sol: The message fills most of the information. I'm still annoyed about the loss
I originally tried to contact you when I found their borders
I tried to warn the Amurites...
probably should have left them to it as they ignored me for the most part. But I don't want the vamps swallowing them up this early

Hans-Kristian: find it a little weird mackoti goes on the attack already now.
is he catching the amurites at a vulnerable moment

Ravus Sol: The Amurites had been playing an isolation game untill I found them. So they are low on military
It could just be land grabbing and not flat out aggression
but the newest city adonis is JUST outside the Amurites Capital culture

Hans-Kristian: oh my
exciting times ahead

Ravus Sol: I know
Can't believe i lost fluffy. Had him up to shock promotion and everything
sigh
But yeah, do you want exact directions to find him yourself?

Hans-Kristian: i could use that yes
though you up for a map trade when i get Cartography?

Ravus Sol: Let me just find my notes for exact distance instead of n estimate
Probably not. I have the best map at the moment and i'm going to milk that.
Unless you have something extra to sweeten the deal of course

Hans-Kristian: we'll see
i have no need of furthwr map info at the moment

Ravus Sol: you've scouted out the elves right?

Hans-Kristian: i have yes, was gonna continue west and get the whole picture
then got eaten by a spider

Ravus Sol: okay, going from the edge of their capitals NE border the Vampires are 11E and 11N of there
oh... that's probably the same spider I was feeding before
last count had it up to combat 4

Hans-Kristian: well its between their cities now

Ravus Sol: ha

Hans-Kristian: Sareln parked his 4th city SW of the incense, next to the coast

Ravus Sol: Yes I thought as much.
It's a very good position
both in resources and defence
Only possible weakness would be from OO priests

Hans-Kristian: little interrest in razing cities, but i'll be seeking oppurtunities
Sareln southern realm looks pretty juicy

Ravus Sol: You mean the bit that he just stole from me? Or parts above that I havn't seen?
I did spot that he had far too many hunting resources
almost forcing him to go hunting

Hans-Kristian: i mean his overall positioning. There are spots there where i can threaten a lot of targets

Ravus Sol: Yeah
Maybe the map maker did it purposefully?
Gave him really good land
but put him between 4 nations
Orcs, Vamps, Hippus and Amurites

Hans-Kristian: i dunno, still he's settled quite far

Ravus Sol: He does have expansive
I'm about to settle my own 4th city
but none of us are keeping up with the Vamps
I KNEW they shouldn't be left alone

Hans-Kristian: yeah, but the distance between would make defence of it all rather hard
however, i'll not be wasting units on elves

Ravus Sol: oh?
oh you mean you won't do kamakazi shots?

Hans-Kristian: it's simply a raid. Find spots of weakness and target them

Ravus Sol: Yes

Hans-Kristian: i got speed remember

Ravus Sol: to be honest if you weren't going to do that allready I would try to encourage you to do so
Mainly because I have fears of the Amurites selling everyone out and throwing information and agreements at the Vamps so they don't die. Have a horrible feeling it might allready have happened

Hans-Kristian: Mist have not met the Amurites though

Ravus Sol: Not surprising. He really is off on his own. I still have two archer units coming in to find him. One from your direction one from the Amurites. So i should have some idea of the distance either way when i find him

Hans-Kristian: pretty sure there is at least some land between him and Amelia, he has had little luck in exploration

Ravus Sol: I was more implying that The Amurites know yours and the Elves location and could sell it to the vamps in exchange for being left alone if targeted. Mist is in fact looking in the best position in the moment
my fears of vampire agression none-withstanding

Hans-Kristian: btw, curious about what you'll do with the vampire issue

Ravus Sol: I suppose I should go to the table and get peace for now. But a part of me hopes he will worry and build useless warriors if I leave it awhile

Hans-Kristian: well remember what i said about not wasting units against the elves? I plan to use those units for an attack on the vamps right after

Ravus Sol: way to keep up the offensive
I hope that If you find yourself in further need of targets you will at least offer me the chance to bribe you before you attack

Hans-Kristian: heh

Ravus Sol: The Vampires actualy have very fortofied cities from what i saw
at least the two newest ones are hills
so you would be forced into another pillage run instead of razing

Hans-Kristian: that works good for me
he cant do much with no farms

Ravus Sol: He has ridiculously high food
The highest food is his

Hans-Kristian: im aware about that

Ravus Sol: He also started near flood plains and has been leveraging them
Anyway i'm sure i've bitched enough about the Vampires for one night, I'm sure you milked enough information out of me while i was being talkative. Was there anything else you wanted to chat about quickly before I go? It's just past 11pm here and sleep is calling me

Hans-Kristian: nah, basically just the vamps

Ravus Sol: the vamps
grr

Hans-Kristian: good night

Ravus Sol: night

[SIZE="4"]Summery;[/SIZE]

• We exchange opinions on the Vampires
  
• I fudge on exchanging a map without revealing my Elvish Alliance
  
• Elvish south is good land, Mr Yellow remarks on how the elves shouldn't have it, I play along and pretend that the Elves stole it.
  
• Mr Yellow states fully that his planned build up is for raiding not capture
  
• Brings up a plan to turn survivors from the Elvish attack against the Vamps. (I make a note to try to encourage this and hint it towards the elves.)
  

I try to play up that i'm being talkative and giving away information because of the Vamps, Hopefully it comes across that i'm worried and not that i'm being manipulative. Mr Yellow hasn't shown negative response to our talks so far... His offer to turn onto the Vampires after the elves would be nice. But by then i'm sure the Vamps would be powerful enough to repel them.

personally i'm trying to come up with a way to get the Elves to threaten them into turning onto the Vamps when the Hippus Riders appear. Perhaps a few hints about how to do a carrot and stick approach. With Religion as the Carrot and the hunters and Worldspell as the stick.

[Ravus Sol]

[SIZE="6"]Update on the Orc-Elvish Alliance[/SIZE]

The Elves told me they had just gotten Cartography so that we could start up our map trading and open borders.

[SIZE="4"]The, here's some info we can be casual now that we have designated a future target for both of us yes, slippery letter[/SIZE]

[COLOR="Orange"]I offered you a map trade then so that you can look around on your next turn and see the exact layout of things to come. Open borders we don't need untill we get the road up. My city founding got delayed by a Bear sitting in my spot. Damn Animals. The assault on the Vampires didn't amount to much. A bit pillaged and then sniped by three warriors. He seems to know that he is the biggest military threat as he mentioned not wanting to let me get any further into his land to sell maps of it to anyone else. I'll probably have to draft a final letter and let things simmer for now.

The Amurites and the Hippus have been told about where the Vampires are. The Amurites said they couldn't see them even with them being so close... That is worrying to my mind. Sounds like the Amurites are going to be taken by surprise or have allready signed some kind of confidentiality agreement. The Hippus were as blase' as usual.

If you have any other questions on the map or anything else just drop me an email. Hope you get to FoL quickly. That shiny defensive worldspell button will be looking pretty desirable right now.

- Ravus[/COLOR]

My emails with Sareln continue to get more informal and less... convoluted, now that we have both designated the Vampires as a target. The Elves now prosper a lot from this alliance with such a large aggressive nation to their north a secure south is needed.

I let him know about the hold up in our connecting cities and while the information about what I've told the Hippus and Amurites is useful, it also should remind him that he is trapped between oh so many nations.

[Ravus Sol]

[SIZE="6"]Turn 76: The Diplomatic and Information gathering banzai, Also the end of the Begining Era![/SIZE]

Some like to split up the usual times of FFH into quarters. 0-50-100-150-200. I prefer thirds. 0-75-150-225.

With the passing of turn 75, well a lot of things happened. I gained contact with the Bannor. I finished mopping up the Vampire fallout. I finally got to see all the graphs and weigh my position fully. I got to be the only player who had full diplomatic power over everyone. Most other nations only knew two or three contacts at most.

[SIZE="4"]Turn 76: Vampire Aristocracy[/SIZE]

The Civics screen still has it's uses in knowledge gathering. Everyone has God-King except for the Vampires who are cruising into the lead with Aristocracy. The fact that he also has Flood plains is just painful.

Most everyone also has Agrarianism. I really should grab that soon. But the Economy keeps demanding attention instead. In fact i'm only going to be getting it around turn 100 based on the newest tech plan.

*sigh*

The demographs paint a sad picture. Last in GNP. thankfully not by much. But it's clear that i'm just waiting for Warrens to come into play to launch into expansion now.

[SIZE="4"]Turn 76: Graphs & Thoughts[/SIZE]

SCORE

Score. Blegh.

GNP

The Bannor GNP is a marvel to look at. Mist has certainly leveraged his isolated start, and if Mr Yellow is to be believed then he got some good resources to help his desired tech spree as well.

Everyone else is hovering around the same level. It might LOOK like the Vamps are low down, but that's only because their Aristocractic change over has not come into effect on the graphs yet. It leaps up. Way up.

FOOD

Just look at the Vampires Food. That's the power of Floodplains leveraged into Agristocracy! I did want them to be a threat to people and looking at it I doubt I will need to do much more to convince people at this rate.

The Bannor are clearly staying isolated this graph and their meager two cities show that Mist is after teching power not land power.

PRODUCTION

The Vamps really are the allround leaders at the moment. They even match me in production. What with having researched mines to get the Gold that seems to be scattered over their flood plains.

Can you feel my jealously?

I hope so.

POWER

You can see the drop caused by Fluffy's death. Poor Fluffy. The fact that their is no coresponding drop in the Vamp power makes me think he did in fact go warrior building mad for a bit, just in case. The elves still have the highest power while the Bannor sits happily with minimal. The lucky isolated sods.

[SIZE="4"]Turns 0-75; Short Summery[/SIZE]

Diplomatic updates and summery will be done later. But in terms of just statistics what is happening?

Orcs = Currently going into statis and building up for a large expansion push. Our Production is the best, perfect for Warrens. Our land is unchallenged. We need a way to support the expansion and I picked Runes, Easier with the Orcs then Markets.
Elves = The Elves are heading towards their religion to get some ancient forests. This is how they are going to combat the sparse food land. They are allready growing Towns and have some good plantations. The future see's them trying to grab land while playing defence.
Hippus = The Horse riders are sacrficing both growth and technology for a building up for a minor pillaging war. At this point it is not IF they will attack. But WHEN and WHOM. They are now too far down the line, they can't turn back. They probably have stables out at this point and are starting to build horses and roads to the east.
Amurites = The Wizards were trying to go for an isolated teching grab. This was derailed by the harsh surrounding land and being found out. The Wizards are hovering nicely at the middle of the pack in all things.
Vampires = The Vampires are the lucky SOBs that have flood plains, so they can run a Aristocracy economy better then everyone else. This plays perfectly to Mackoti's play style of Empire building. He is grabbing land quickly with farms and will be making some sort of middle game military push. Vampires seem the most likely option but a Moria rush could be feasible.
Bannor = The Bannor lucked out on the best isolated start. They have been in the lead technology wise and look to stay there. How they plan to leverage this is unknown. The Bannor are a late game military nation and could explode outwards in the future.