RBPBEM FfH V [SPOILERS] Sareln of the Amurites

[Sareln]

Now that we're caught up on turns for the time being, it's time for YACWB!

... Previous stuff is RBPBEM18APP Spoilers ...
(1:45:30 PM) BobChllingsworth: because I can research lots of stuff surprisingly quickly
(1:45:36 PM) BobChllingsworth: but I have like no production
(1:45:56 PM) BobChllingsworth: kind of the opposite problem from PBEM V, heh.
(1:47:05 PM) Sareln: heh
(1:47:27 PM) Sareln: you should tech Cultists and sink Tredje's Sons at Sea...
(1:47:33 PM) Sareln: just sayin' :P
(1:48:10 PM) BobChllingsworth: you are the second person to tell me to do something like that
(1:48:35 PM) BobChllingsworth: as if only I can build boats! Which I actually can't, because I don't have sailing :P
(1:49:31 PM) Sareln: yeah
(1:49:39 PM) Sareln: are you going to let the Clan steal OO from you?
(1:49:59 PM) Sareln: also, who was the first?
(1:52:11 PM) BobChllingsworth: SL
(1:52:18 PM) BobChllingsworth: I think you got him alarmed
(1:52:35 PM) BobChllingsworth: also surely the Clan have better things to research than the overlords :P
(1:52:46 PM) Sareln: like BW? :P
(1:52:49 PM) Sareln: and Archery
(1:52:55 PM) Sareln: and anything else really...
(1:52:57 PM) BobChllingsworth: festivals, maybe?
(1:52:59 PM) BobChllingsworth: yeah :P
(1:53:05 PM) Sareln: not even clear that they have mysticism yet
(1:53:16 PM) Sareln: but I reserve the right to laugh really really hard if they nab OO...
(1:53:22 PM) Sareln: unlikely as it may be
(1:53:59 PM) BobChllingsworth: if they really go out of their way to grab it, at the expensive of critical military and economic techs, then I reserve the right to laugh at them and just take it for myself :P
(1:54:44 PM) Sareln: Ah, so you'll be clear of the NAP in that time-frame then?
(1:54:52 PM) Sareln: or is this a more nebulous future-time sort of thing?
(1:54:56 PM) BobChllingsworth: the later
(1:55:12 PM) BobChllingsworth: I'm more worried about serdoa
(1:55:26 PM) BobChllingsworth: he complained to me that he wasn't able to get enough land from SL
(1:55:31 PM) Sareln: why? SL killed all his PZ's didn't he?
(1:55:33 PM) BobChllingsworth: who he surely now has an NAP with
(1:55:38 PM) Sareln: oh, yeah, that problem
(1:55:50 PM) BobChllingsworth: yeah all the PZ are dead, but he can just make more
(1:56:22 PM) BobChllingsworth: I have a tech and production advantage, but I still don't wan to be embroiled in a stupid war with him
(1:56:32 PM) BobChllingsworth: I asked him for an NAP, but no response. Of course.
(1:56:56 PM) BobChllingsworth: So, I'm thinking that maybe he has to go. Sigh.
(1:57:20 PM) BobChllingsworth: Was hoping to avoid having to get my hands dirty, and there's other stuff I want to focus on.
(1:57:52 PM) Sareln: at least you don't have the threat of Disciples/Sons of the Inferno bearing down on you like a 100 ton freight train...
(1:57:54 PM) Sareln: :P
(1:58:09 PM) BobChllingsworth: to be fair, if it's just a discipline you're fine
(1:58:15 PM) BobChllingsworth: and might not even be one at all
(1:58:22 PM) BobChllingsworth: maybe they just got more goblins
(1:58:45 PM) BobChllingsworth: even if it's a Son, you could swarm it with copper hasted warriors
(1:59:02 PM) BobChllingsworth: should only take, idk, 6 - 8 of them :P
(2:00:04 PM) Sareln: I can actually answer that question definitively (how many it takes)
(2:00:08 PM) Sareln: they're str. 8 ja?
(2:00:16 PM) Sareln: who though that was a good idea?
(2:00:17 PM) Sareln: :P
(2:00:20 PM) Sareln: *thought
(2:00:27 PM) Sareln: (Str. 8 Archmagi)
(2:02:00 PM) BobChllingsworth: it's to make acheron's base even more difficult to take
(2:02:07 PM) BobChllingsworth: also they're such a cool looking unit
(2:02:11 PM) Sareln: no promotions on either side is hopefull
(2:02:13 PM) BobChllingsworth: too bad it's so difficult to grab one
(2:02:19 PM) Sareln: only aobut 4 copper warriors do the job
(2:02:36 PM) BobChllingsworth: normally have to zap them with metamagic II and then mind control, I think
(2:02:39 PM) Sareln: but since it's an archmage, and assuming he took the sensible promotions (Fire II, Fire III, C1, C2, C3)...
(2:02:45 PM) Sareln: heh
(2:03:15 PM) BobChllingsworth: not the promotions I would give.
(2:03:33 PM) BobChllingsworth: Fire II, Fire III, Spell Extension, Body I, Body II
(2:03:36 PM) BobChllingsworth: way better :P
(2:04:08 PM) Sareln: good point.
(2:04:15 PM) Sareln: of course, that does make him easier to kill...
(2:04:28 PM) Sareln: and he won't have spells to support him in all liklihood
(2:04:41 PM) Sareln: dislike having to burn my world-spell, but I hate dying even more
(2:04:54 PM) BobChllingsworth: oh yeah, worldspells!
(2:04:54 PM) Sareln: incidentally, don't count on having magic available once he lands the sons/diciples...
(2:04:58 PM) BobChllingsworth: holy crap
(2:05:02 PM) BobChllingsworth: I have a worldspell!
(2:05:05 PM) Sareln: oh yeah
(2:05:05 PM) BobChllingsworth: I just realized that
(2:05:10 PM) Sareln: golden-age dude
(2:05:14 PM) BobChllingsworth: yeah forgot about that
(2:05:15 PM) Sareln: how did you forget that?
(2:05:16 PM) BobChllingsworth: lol
(2:05:17 PM) Sareln: lol
(2:05:20 PM) BobChllingsworth: it's a good one too, haha
(2:05:25 PM) Sareln: srsly...
(2:05:39 PM) BobChllingsworth: huh, wonder when I should use it.
(2:05:53 PM) BobChllingsworth: anyway. Yeah.
(2:06:10 PM) Sareln: up to you I suppose
(2:06:23 PM) Sareln: though it'll def. paint a huge GNP target on your back
(2:06:25 PM) Sareln: just sayin'
(2:08:07 PM) BobChllingsworth: man your worldspell is jerks
(2:08:16 PM) BobChllingsworth: going to mess up all my loki inspirations
(2:08:29 PM) Sareln: sorry, but them's the breaks...

[spellman]

C3 Fire elementals. eeeek

[Sareln]

C3 Fire elementals. eeeek

CIII Sons of the Inferno -> Empower III Fire Elementals iirc. So not quite as bad as you're thinking, but still pretty nasty.

[Sareln]

Clan up to 5 cities. Leaves my line of sight. Education due next turn, churning out adepts from the capital. Copper hooked up and warriors equipped.

[Sareln]

Bad sign / Good sign from Iskender:

[COLOR="Gray"]Hey Sareln

I'm writing to tell you that I have signed an NAP and a confidentiality agreement with the Clan, both up to Turn 130. Before I agreed for the NAP I made sure that Clan will honour the friendly relationship between the Amurites and the Sidar and respect the agreements between us. I offered my assistance in a peaceful resolution of the conflict. If you think there's anything I could help with let me know.

Iskender

[/COLOR]

The bad sign is that he signed the agreement. The good sign is that he told me about it, even with the confidentiality clause. Better sign is that I still get the manas and happy resources that I wanted.

Still thinking about how I want to react to this. Iskender and I have an NAP until T100 that we need to talk about, the T85 renewal discussion talk just came up.

[Mist]

I'm not surprised. That allows him to run farmers gambit way longer. Crippled neighbor ( you ), shaken neighbor ( luchuirp after PZ rush ) and a neighbor that just ruled out fighting him till forever is just about the best he could wish for.

It's nice of him that he decided against doing a coup-de-grace on you and still wants to honor the deals. He didn't have to. But it's probably self-serving, he wants you alive as an insurance against dragon archmages.

I don't think there's a lot you can do about this, you can't afford two out of two neighbors being hostile. Unless you can pull off a peace with the Clan stay mum. And harbor a grudge

[Sareln]

I'm not surprised. That allows him to run farmers gambit way longer. Crippled neighbor ( you ), shaken neighbor ( luchuirp after PZ rush ) and a neighbor that just ruled out fighting him till forever is just about the best he could wish for.

It's nice of him that he decided against doing a coup-de-grace on you and still wants to honor the deals. He didn't have to. But it's probably self-serving, he wants you alive as an insurance against dragon archmages.

I don't think there's a lot you can do about this, you can't afford two out of two neighbors being hostile. Unless you can pull off a peace with the Clan stay mum. And harbor a grudge

Yeah, I think a short note saying "Thanks for letting me know" and "I've got copper up now for whenever we get our trade routes up" (to leak back to the clan) should be about all that's necessary.

[Sareln]

Diplomacy:

[COLOR="Magenta"]Iskender,

Alright. Thanks for giving me a head's up, and thank you for making sure that you could still honor our deals. My copper is hooked up and my warriors are equipped, so we can do the mana for copper trade at any point after we get a trade route up.

As far as brokering peace between the Amurite and Clan, thank you for offering your services. I will give serious consideration to any deal that allows me to expand out to a total of 5 real city sites, with at least one of them coastal. From my perspective, to do otherwise would basically be signing away any relevance in this game. I don't know if that's even possible given Clan/Amurite placement. I'll know better soon enough.

-Sareln-

[/COLOR]

Let's see just how serious Iskender is about that last line there

I wonder if he remembers that our NAP has an expiration date (T100) unless we extend it? I don't know if I want to extend it yet.

Higher-level perspective/plot:

Investigate the possibility of a Clan/Sheaim hit on Balsarephs and a Luchuirp/Amurite hit on the Sidar. What I need for this is a peace ( or secret peace) between Clan and Amurite, and to coordinate with Squareleg (I think that he and Serdoa have the NAP in place now).

Before even floating the idea though, I need to get a good sense of what the Lurchuirp's condition is. Same with the Sheaim's. Iskender and Bob are clear frontrunners right now, and even though the clan has rabbitted out to 5 cities, that -10% malus puts them in a worse spot than Sidar/Balsareph. This is something to ponder and think upon...

[Sareln]

Not a peep from Iskender.

In other news, we're totally screwed as Tredje has brought 2 C5, Spell Extension I sons of the Inferno to bear. I've fired the world-spell and am spamming warriors, but I don't see an out for me in this.

[fire&ice]

Not a peep from Iskender.

In other news, we're totally screwed as Tredje has brought 2 C5, Spell Extension I sons of the Inferno to bear. I've fired the world-spell and am spamming warriors, but I don't see an out for me in this.

That stinks