The Orc Clan: Following the Princess Rule

[Ilios]

How is Skyrim?

[Ravus Sol]

[SIZE="6"]Turn 100: Overview of the Empire and the World[/SIZE]

This will be a bigger update for the ded-lurkers and for global-lurkers to see what I can see about the world. I've included my save file for Ichabod, the password is the same as before so just overide it.

I will also do a Diplomatic overview after this and then continue on with the 5 turn updates.

[SIZE="4"]Worldmap: The Elvish-orc Perspective[/SIZE]

Due to the map trade agreement with Sareln, my worldspell and his hawks have given us what is probably the best map in the game.

My Empire is holding equal with the Elves. But while Sareln is the big target in the centre of the world I have some nice Defensive borders. Meaning I can be more lax in defence.

Once the Forward city goes up I will only have to man the defences against the Misty Mountains and with my expansion push to the West. Hopefully the Elves will settle across the Misty Mountains soon as well so that any agressive force has to pass through their lands to get to me.

In the Amurite and Hippus lands you can see their first Rune Cities worshipping. So that's four nations now worshipping these hairy dwarves. A lot of money for the Bannor if they get that shrine up and running like they threatened too. No wonder Mist is running pacifism. He can probably taste the money from that shrine.

The Bannor-Hippus side of the map has less detail but it is still enough to get the general 'gist' of things. Due to both the Hippus and the Bannor being lax on expansion this side of the world seems to have a LOT of space.

But this is fine for me as I have a perfect line of expansion into this area via the south. Eventually My empire should stretch all the way to the pre-settled barbarian city of Ahpeter.

Spread Veil around an empire that big and you are laughing.

[SIZE="4"]The Rival Empires [/SIZE]

Vampires

The Known Vampire Land does not paint a pretty picture. Acaia has double Incense and the other two cities have flood plains and gold. Each of these cities is as large as my own capital. It is also a good defendable layout. Most likely mirroring my own, Mackoti has his back to the sea and to his flank the North Pole. He doesn't have many fronts that will need defending and can concentrate all his troops in the border cities in the desert.

This close up of Nubia reveals where the Great Library is. Normally I am not good at picking out the individual buildings in cities but with the different cultural differences in cities the white marble library wonder stands out in the Gothic architecture. It's good that he built this wonder in what will eventually be a border city but I am surprised he had enough production there to finish it quickly.

Amurites

Amelias Northern Territory. He most likely will not expand beyond here due to the ease of defending the Mammon Pass from Vampire Incursions. Unless Mackoti attacks by sea that is the only way into his land.

The Southern Amurite Territory also has a defendable pass to the West. In fact placing a city 1NE of the clams would block of the whole passage from foreign armies while also grabbing some good resources.

He also has a extra bit of land reachable via a peninsula in the South East. Not sure if Amelia has explored it and how good the land is down there.

For the actual land he allready has... Well Amelia is certainly rolling in Calendar Resources. You can also see where he has his Rune City.

[SIZE="4"]The Empire[/SIZE]

This shows the cities allready founded. Due to God King still being used, Isengard is pulling in a LOT of the gold and production. It's basically supporting the empire with both the money and the production necessary to push out priests.

Fangorn Plains is certainly pushing itself with growth as you can see and Broken Entwash and Lonely Mountain are building up to being production cities of their own.

The Financial Screen sums up the cost of the Empire. The Unit Cost is starting to mount even with the extra cities. Military State will eventually help but not for awhile. Being able to run Minimal Military is helping. The Main cost is coming from the city maintainance. Switching from God-King to City States will help as long term I plan for a HUGE Empire.

The Military Screen shows the troops I have and how I am actually running a late game farmers gambit. My Two archers are taking a LONG route home and I have barely enough troops to defend my cities. At this point if the hippus came for me without warning I would be screwed. Thankfully they are distracted with the pending war against the Vampires.

The Technology Screen. I have only shown the top of it as it has basically all the technologies I plan to grab while limping the last few yards up here. Fishing and Calendar will help the cities and grab me some new resources. Festivals will get me markets, seeing as many of my cities now lack something to build that isn't troops.

We also have cartography which I will end up grabbing to switch out of God-King so that I can continue Expanding.

The Demographs for the nation on turn 100. The GNP REALLY brings it home how much the Vampires are speeding ahead. Agristocracy is litterally that good in the right terrain. But the Fact of the matter is that even with tanking the economy someone is doing worse.

Land area I am behind on which I least like.

[SIZE="4"]Graphs[/SIZE]
Score

There is a clear first and last place in the pack at the moment. The Hippus have tanked their economy worse then myself with only a potential military way of getting back in shape while the Vampires are racing ahead. I'm just glad that I have turned around as not long ago I was trailing with Mr Yellow.

GNP

The Vampires Bouncing GNP Graph make me think he is also min-maxing even while in Aristocracy. The Bannor are still doing well and the Amurites are now holding steady with them due to their shift into Aristocracy. I'm trailing with the Hippus.

Production

I'm still ahead with Production but others are catching up. The Bannor are the noticable last place due to focusing on economy.

Food

The Vampires have some noticable jumps. Due to their worldspell and the floodplains. Myself and Sareln's mass expansion pushes are noticeable. While The Hippus and Bannors lack of Expansion is becoming more noticeable.

Power

The Hippus-Elvish-Vampire Build up is laughably noticeable at the moment. First the Elves, then the Hippus then the Vampires.

Myself and the Amurites are running less military and the Bannor have close to NONE.

[Ravus Sol]

How is Skyrim?

My room mate grabbed it first so all I can say is that it LOOKS good!

[Ravus Sol]

[SIZE="6"]Turn 101-105: Religious Fervour from the Deep Dark[/SIZE]

Not so interesting a turnset. Still just trying to push my nation into a better position globally.

[SIZE="4"]Turn 101: Waiting[/SIZE]

Just waiting and waiting. Nothing much happened this turn. Just waiting for the next two settlers and the first warren doubled Priests.


[SIZE="4"]Turn 102: messed up[/SIZE]

This Picture is a bit silly as I took after clicking 'end turn' But never mind.

[SIZE="4"]Turn 103: Priests finished and fishing discovered... a connection?[/SIZE]

Fishing is in and I can finally create some double Workboats in Fangorn Forest.

Calendar is selected next. For reasons allready stated.

[SIZE="4"]Turn 104: Spying and Praying[/SIZE]

It's getting really annoying for this archer, He keeps trying to leave through the West pass but Animals keep blocking the way! Litteraly! It's like there is noah's arc around here that I don't know about. At least the Elephant won't attack me this time.

The Two Initial Priests found temples, boosting the Economy. They also do it in time to switch my secondary production cities over to spamming priests as well. With three cities now spamming double priests I should be getting some good growth soon.

The Vampires get trade so other nations can now see what techs they have. They allready have a lot of minor technolgies that I don't have. But I have the more expensive Priesthood technology.

[SIZE="4"]Turn 105: Riding through sea and field[/SIZE]

Calendar is in! So we can switch to Agrarianism. But thinking about it I decide to hold off untill Cartography is in so that I can do a double swap. At least now the workers can make a plantation on the Incense.

We select Cartography as the next technology. While we have God-King we are leveraging the extra production into more Priests. You can also spot the extra Goblins that I built in Fangorn Forest (litterally nothing else to build.) These goblins are going to join the other one I allready had in Broken entwash and then head off to the West to find more city spots in the West.

The Workboats head out to grab the two sea resources. Untill Fangorn forest gets a temple founded it is stuck building warriors.

[Ichabod]

I'll take a look at the save when I get home. But to make aquick comment: the Bannor must be beelining either the Infernals or the Angels. Keeping a food graph like that while being that isolated is too suicidal not to be part of a plan.

Is either that or he decided to work a lot of cottages and is having problems with expansion. Plains cottages are nasty in the early phases of the game if not used with care, since they are only a 1f, 1h tile. But I agree with Sareln, I think he's goung for Basium. Seems to be the likilier choice.

[Ravus Sol]

I'll take a look at the save when I get home. But to make aquick comment: the Bannor must be beelining either the Infernals or the Angels. Keeping a food graph like that while being that isolated is too suicidal not to be part of a plan.

Is either that or he decided to work a lot of cottages and is having problems with expansion. Plains cottages are nasty in the early phases of the game if not used with care, since they are only a 1f, 1h tile. But I agree with Sareln, I think he's goung for Basium. Seems to be the likilier choice.

I agree with you privately, Bannor go thematically with angels the same as Dovellio with rushing which matches mists usual approach. But Publically i'm still going to pretend I believe he is going for the Infernals so that I can try to use it as reasoning for my own rush. Although the time when handwaving and double talk can disguise my intentions is soon coming to a close.

I'll try to push update to turn 120 seeing as it looks like i'm now doing an all-nighter.

[Ravus Sol]

[SIZE="5"]The Rivals: Turn 100[/SIZE]

As turn 100 rolls around the different nations have all set up their public persona's and built up working relationships of some shape or form.



[SIZE="4"]Mr. Yellow: Tasunke of the Hippus[/SIZE]

The Hippus are the Vassals of the Bannor in all but name. Unless they drag themselves out of the Economic hell they have thrown themselves into they will be useless long term.

Our relationship has not progressed past when they bluntly angled for an alliance against the Elves. I didn't offer to help, or keep their secrets and they have closed off more while still keeping open pleasent enough lines of communication.

Recently they pulled back from their planned attack against the Elves and offered Sareln a subtle Carrot or Stick choice that Sareln refused to take and Mr Yellow kept not following through on the stick part. This held back a Hippus war for a number of turns and now his self proclaimed 12 (last remembered count) horseman attack team is not that deadly.

Suspected End game plan is for the Hippus to pick off people one by one while players wear each other down in warfare. No other victory condition but Conquest seems possible at the moment

[SIZE="3"]Our Agreements[/SIZE]

• Information Sharing Agreement
  

[SIZE="3"]Known Foreign Agreements[/SIZE]

• Hippus as hinted Vassals (Unknown arrangement with the Bannor)
  
• Raid Agreement. Sareln of the Elves buys off the Hippus to attack the Vampires.
  

[SIZE="4"]Mist: Capria of the Bannor [/SIZE]

The Bannor are a late game threat. They have isolation. Teching power. The Hippus by the reins and money from all the Runes Cities once they get the Holy Shrine up and running.

But while they have all that to look forward too, for now they are nothing and Mist is playing that as a defence. He is hiding behind the noticeable Vampire threat much akin to like myself.

End Game plan seems to be a Angel fuelled Domination push, but could also be a Tower of Mastery Victory with Caprica's Ind trait.

[SIZE="3"]Our Agreements[/SIZE]
None

[SIZE="3"]Known Foreign Agreements[/SIZE]

• Hippus hinted as Vassals. (Unknown arrangement with the Hippus)
  

[SIZE="4"]Amelia: Dain the Caswallan of the Amurites[/SIZE]

The Amurites got a rude awakening with the Vampires at their door but they have leapt well into a tech run to something to hold them off. Currently they are suspected of using every political means they have to buy time to fulfil they aim.

Any long term end game plan they had has probably been derailed at this point. Although If they get their Hero like they want they could try for a Military Victory.

[SIZE="3"]Our Agreements[/SIZE]

• Basic Information Exchange
  

[SIZE="3"]Known Foreign Agreements[/SIZE]

• Turn 120 NAP with the Vampires
  

[SIZE="4"]Mackoti: Decius of Calabim [/SIZE]

The Vampires are lead by Mackoti who is playing a very heavy Empire Game. He seems to be stepping into unknown levels of paranoia. But as the Elves arranged an attack on him perhaps that paranoia was justified.

His end game plan is most likely Military. I don't see any of the other victory conditions as appealing to a Empire player especially when paranoia levels are pinged. He will gun for Vampires and then try to rush everyone.

[SIZE="3"]Our Agreements[/SIZE]

• Cease Fire from Border Skirmish War
  

[SIZE="3"]Known Foreign Agreements[/SIZE]

• Turn 120 NAP with the Amurites
  

[SIZE="4"]Sareln: Thessa of the Ljosalfar[/SIZE]

Sareln is my long term ally. As My first contact and close bordered ally we've done well to have a trusted person at our backs.

Recently however Sareln has made enough contacts to be making diplomatic moves of his own. His chats with the Vampires may have upped their paranoia levels and his agreement with the Hippus.

End Game plan is probably a Domination play. Although the Elves are good at everything. So honestly i'm not sure.

[SIZE="3"]Our Agreements[/SIZE]

• Turn 120 NAP with a renegotiating period around turn 100
  
• Land Division Agreement, with Isengard ceding all land north of the Misty Mountain Border in Exchange for a health and happy resource (deer and silk)
  
• Map Exchange Agreement, with maps being exchanged periodically from Orcish Worldspell era to hawk era
  
• Anti-Vampire Agreement, both nations agree not to sign NAPs with the Vampires without prior consultation and also not to allow open borders.
  

[SIZE="3"]Known Foreign Agreements[/SIZE]

• Raid Agreement. Hippus have been bought off to attack the Vampires. Sareln hopes both sides will destroy themselves against the other.
  

[Ravus Sol]

[SIZE="6"]There once was an alliance of Orcs and Elves. We Honour that Alliance.[/SIZE]

With the roll around of the turn 100 we have reached the timetable where Sareln and myself agreed to reavaluate our working arrangement. So far, has it been good for me? Well yes. I'm not sure who is have been better for of the two of us, but at the Moment knowing that the only person who could rush me is occupied is very useful.

[SIZE="4"]The, I signed a agreement with another player buy you shouldn't feel threatened soothing words.[/SIZE]

[COLOR="Green"]Just grabbed an NAP from Mr. Yellow worth the duration of the Raid +15 turns.

Got contact w/ Mist via hawk, going to try and sneak that hunter back
into range to scout Mackoti.

That's one helluva farmer's gambit that Mist is running there. I
should ask Mr. Yellow how long his NAP with Mist is when we're in the
middle of the raid.[/COLOR]

The Nap he signs shouldn't be that worrying. I'm pretty sure at this point he wouldn't let the Hippus ride through his lands for me. He's on board with the idea of finding out more about the Bannor-Hippus angle and knows that Mr Yellow is the weak link in finding out information from them.

[SIZE="4"]The, I agree with you on all subjects and while we are being nice and agreeing how about signing a longer NAP as we are working so well together prompt[/SIZE]

[COLOR="Orange"]To Sareln of the Ancient Forests

The Elvish Nation has secured it's borders from the Horse Riders then, this sounds
more and more likely to be a certain plan.

Your hawks are certainly worth their weight in gold, good for scouting and recon.
It would be useful to pass information to Mr Yellow if you still fear he may not fight
the raid that effectively.

Indeed. I never got a good look into Mists lands, but just from his graphs you can
tell a lot. The fact that he feels safe to be doing this next to Mr Yellow... Has
Mr Yellow confirmed he has a NAP with Mist then? Or is this going to be a
surreptitious attempt at getting information out of him while distracted?

I get out my first double Priest next turn. I plan to use them for infrastructure. After
that I will build six more. I was thinking I could offer one of them to run around your
empire passing around the spell promotion in case you get attacked by the Vampires.

Turn 100 has now rolled around. This is when we agreed to discuss our future
NAP and working arrangement. What started as an alliance of convenience has
turned out very profitable for both of us. Especially with the world the way it is.

I would like to extend the NAP and working arrangement to turn 150. Would you
have any disagreement with that proposal?

- Ravus, the Red Wizard[/COLOR]

It's allways fun how NAP extensions are shoved in at the end of a letter, like it is an afterthought that no one needs to worry about. A small thing. No need to mention as it's obvious it should just be agreed to and ignored again.

I offer the priest to wander around his area so that I can both keep an eye on things and start to upgrade his troops now. If the Vampires attack suddenly I doubt I will have time to react.

[SIZE="4"]The, But of course it is a minor thing I've allready forgotten it and signed it escape[/SIZE]

[COLOR="Green"]More on the surreptitious side of things wrt to pulling information
out of Mr. Yellow.

I have been quite happy with the arrangement between us and happily
extend it to T150.

If you're willing to send your priest on a tour, my cities will be
happy to host him. Let me know if you need more health resources,
it's the one thing I definitely have in abundance.[/COLOR]

Sareln does end conversations well. Wrap up all the conversation points and raise no extra questions. At least we have our NAP extension. He does end with the hook idea about resource trading. This would help him more then me as I have resources to burn while he has few (seeing as he is allready gifting me two). But As he seems to be a long term ally that will soak up the Vampire hordes I don't see the problem with boosting him a little in exchange for some stuff for myself.


[SIZE="4"]The, I shall be generous to you while you plot the downfall of our enemies [/SIZE]

[COLOR="Orange"]Good luck with Mr Yellow, I noticed he now has open borders with you to
send troops through.

I've also noticed a few other things, The Vampires now have trade so we can
see their technology. They are ahead. Bronze working, horseback riding,
and trade are the most important military techs. Hopefully Mackoti is building
the infrastructure for the army to be built and not the army itself. I'll be keeping
an eye on his power from now on.

I'll confirm myself that the NAP is now extended. Consider it signed.

On resources, the only two that I would be tempted to trade from you would be
the Ivory and the Pigs, but while you have a spare pigs you only have one ivory.
Trading an ivory for another happiness comes of at a loss for you.
I suppose I could be generous untill you get more and trade you Ale, Gems and
Corn to be renegotiated when you have more resources? That comes out as an
extra happy and health for both of us. I would assume you would want the corn
for quick granaries?

- Ravus[/COLOR]

I offer some kind words and also some minor help with a trading agreement more in his favour then my own. Although I try to state it to make it clear, I mean I even state I am being generous :neenernee can't get clearer then that

[SIZE="4"]The, of course i'm going to accept a good deal but I also have some bad news, reply[/SIZE]

[COLOR="Green"]Hi Ravus,

Have been sick, sorry about the delay in response.

I'm fine with the resource trades, offer it up at the next
opportunity. At some point I think I'm going to have to bite the
bullet and transition to guardian of nature for the bloody forest
happy since there are just not enough luxuries in my sphere. Later on
when I don't need happy and you do, we can just trade in GPT or
something else (mana maybe, body and fire are both awesome).

Mr. Yellow and I were going over my intel on Mackoti's land and
there's no good place for a strike. He's got copper warriors and
Moroii all over the place with even some bloodpets promoted to
Formation! Clearly he's expecting trouble. At this point, given that
he's spent the hammers on units, I think Mr. Yellow and I will hold
off on the raid unless an opportunity presents itself. Do you think
it possible Amelia sold me out by telling Mackoti about my hawk
flights, and that was enough to trigger his bout of (well founded)
paranoia?

I think the likely way the game plays out now is peace until T120 with
Mackoti and I being silent towards each other, and then Mackoti
pushing either towards me or Amelia. If he pushes towards me, I think
I buy hippus support and then try and convince Amelia that he really
needs to join in or it's all over. This is helped by there being a
huge desert between Mackoti and I, so it's difficult to cross. If he
pushes towards Amelia, then I buy Hippus support and we try and
sucker-punch him in the middle of that war.

Do you see anyway you could help out if the Vampire tries to come for me?[/COLOR]

Well the deal is through and I have more strings tying me to the Elves. Along with the NAP we are now working together even more. He does state he could do with some more Happiness but I think I have helped out enough for now.

He then goes on to state that the Raid on the Vampires is going to be called off. Seems... silly. Especially on the Hippus part. Can his economy survive supporting those troops? AND Upgrading them? Also without an attack now to hinder the Vampires we ARE actually going to have to dogpile them essentially because the snowballing he has is just going to continue his advancement.
It seems like Mr Yellow has hesitated too long, first on the attack on the elves then on the coaxing money from the elves to attack the vampires.

He ends the message asking, basically, if I plan to support him military wise when the Vampires make their move.

Well if this raid is off I guess I am stuck helping out. Hopefully I can rush to the Veil real quick so that I have a better Troop. The Runes Priest isn't exactly the peak of military advantages.

[SIZE="4"]The, Well if you need an army maybe I should go for that handy Evil Religion... For the Collateral Damage units. Not the Apocalypse abilities. Honest, hint[/SIZE]

[COLOR="Orange"]I spotted the tech thread, so no worries

I offered the trade. It should help, and as long as you keep the Gems they
give an extra happy from Runes Temples, So if we get time to do a priest
temple swap that could give you a bit of a boost if you stay in religion.
There is some more Ivory to the east. Probably the only border city you
can get close to the Amurites, as I assume Amelia will found in the
easily defendable mountain pass.

With Copper working I can see the pillage rush getting derailed. Mr Yellow
really did take too long. He most likely did a money upgrade into Moroii
of the best warriors he had. With a good road system I can understand holding
off. Mr Yellow needs to take cities to get paid by you, and while he could do some
raid damage on the farms they are easy to replace and he won't take cities.
unless he rushes through the over defended south to the underdefended North?

On Amelia, I think he could have been strongarmed into selling out, Or have sold out
willingly to get everyone fighting and give him time. In my chat with him I basically
got the view of a man that will use every trick in the book to get just that little bit
more time to live.

By turn 120 I should be able to pump out a lot of priests. I have top production and
warrens. Just about to found two more cities and then at least two more before t-120.
It's just about supporting the army I can build. So it's tempting to go for Military
Warfare, for support and buy rushing/drafting. Also I need to make the choice of
which secondary units I use. Options are Leaves Religion for Summoner Priests,
Bronze Working for City attackers or Ashen Veil for Collateral Priests.

If you think we could work together well enough to co-ordinate then I should go
Ashen Veil. Problem is that getting and spreading around a second religion would
take till at least till turn 130. [/COLOR]

I lay out my thoughts here. About Mr Yellow having waited too long and the Amurites possible giving information to the Vampires. While I can understand the desire not to waste troops I wish Sareln had more ruthlessly held Mr yellow to the attack. I think he could have found a way to sneak through to the north. But c'est la vie as they say.

I agree to help out if the elves are under attack. After all it's better to fight the vampires in his land then my own. But of course it's even better to fight the Vampires in THEIR OWN land then either of ours. It's a shame the Hippus Raid fell through. Hopefully even with these new necessities I can squeeze in some continual expansion and build up to Armageddon. The Slip into getting Veil will help.

Hopefully I can eventually start playing the game plan I've been wanting too. Talk about a side trek. The Runes and Priesthood took a hell of detour. I could blame the map size, lack of grassland, or my own below par skills but in the end i'm just behind schedule. I was hoping to have a Blight up soon.

and we still need to get the Infernals into play.

[Ravus Sol]

[SIZE="6"]Turns 106-110: Money Money Money, It's not funny, It's a Rich man's world.[/SIZE]

I finally get my Economy back on track and my score takes a noticeable jump upward due to all my new cities growing and grabbing a lot of cheap technologies.

[SIZE="4"]Turn 106: Growing[/SIZE]

Fangorn Forest is now up from growth in 12 turns to growth in 4 turns, the extra food from the clams will help this city grow to be profitable all round instead of just a commerce boost from the Gems.

Fangorn Plains to the North is still growing dangerously quick, I may need to curtail it soon. But the Extra Happiness from Sareln and the new Incense should help allow it to continue growing.

The Filler city is called "The Gap" In a fit of intelligent design. Namers are promptly shot afterwards. But the name fits. It has some preset improvements to grow on and a elder council to build and a eventual Temple to settle.

[SIZE="4"]Turn 107: Mess up with naming[/SIZE]

I forgot to rename this city for so Long I ended up just leaving it with the Name of Braduck the Burning. I will probably shorten it to the Burning City eventually. It has a prebuilt farm but the Incense isn't up yet. It also has a cow to the West.

My Goblin Scout force is slowly approaching.

[SIZE="4"]Turn 108: Fangorn Religion[/SIZE]

This is an overview of the Fangorn Area. Fangorn Plains is growing so fast it's hard to keep up it's improvements. The Port area is also about to run out of places to work and will probably be my GP city instead.

In the south Fangorn Forest has the Runes religion spread to it and pumps out some cheaper Thanes which can push cities culture to the second ring. A Double Thane is worth the same as a single monument so it is actually more cost effective to pump out these thanes for cities that don't need a third ring.

[SIZE="4"]Turn 109: Carting Around[/SIZE]

With Cartography in we can finally change over the civics. Which means Isengard loses it's position as super city but the Empire as a whole starts to pull it's weight.

This basic overview of the main Empire Area shows that the main cities are still pumping those Priests. Which is really pulling up the Economy. Each one settled is an extra 3gpt! I also decide to grab Festivals so that the cities can builb markets if I decide I want too.

The Burning City gets an extra cottage but it's the incense that should be done next. Meanwhile the goblins roll into the city. I honestly don't care if these guys die. Less of a drain on the treasury. But I need to see more of the land to the West so that I can plot the next Expansion.

[SIZE="4"]Turn 110: Bannor Money[/SIZE]

I took this picture because it shows that the Bannor now have Currency. Seems like a strange tech choice. Accept if they get the Shrine soon they can now start bribing people with obscene amounts of money. I'm starting to be less worried about Mist, although I do worry that is what Mist hopes, But at the moment I have double his cities and I still have room and ability to expand further.

With the new better farms Broken Entwash starts growing again! Plus it's just finished Priests pan out to settle in the Gap and the Burning City. Festivals comes in next turn and I am starting to feel better about the empire.

[Ravus Sol]

[SIZE="6"]Turns 111-115: Money Leads to Corruption, Corruption leads to Wickedness, Wickedness leads to Ragnarok, Ragnarok leads to Victory![/SIZE]

With the Economy ticking along nicely now and expansion halted untill the West is explored in more detail, I turn my attentions towards the plot I have desired for a Century. The End of the World. Way of the Wicked is an easy enough tech to go for, and the Wonder the Prophecy of Ragnarok is essential to all Armageddon Rush plans. With the Soldiers of Kilmorph I can even speed up it's completion.

I also head towards the Veil. As much for the military as the end of days. With no plans to go for construction or mages my only collateral unit will be the Ashen Veil Priest.

[SIZE="4"]Turn 111: Wicked Festivals[/SIZE]

Festivals comes in, Might not have been the best move as I don't have time to build instant markets everywhere but it is useful enough to give the new cities something to build at least.

Way of the Wicked is chosen as the next technology. I'm worried about the Bannor grabbing the Wonder. And as i'm on the way to veil anyway and mages won't be that much use at the moment...

The Amurites expand into the Amurite-Elvish Pass. It's a bit egotistical of me but I believe the placement is a slight blunder, but to each his own.

This is an update on the Archer Trek, he's still trying to make his way home through the mist. He is, however, now close enough that he can help with the exploration and eventually make it home provided I don't run into any super animals.

It has been 10 turns since my last Demograph dump, and yet you can see the difference those ten turns have made. Unfortunatly even the turn around I have made of the Empire is not enough to catch the vampires.

I am proud that I'm back in the lead with land claiming. I plan to stay there. I need to win with land power both for defensive wars and for the ability to spread Ashen Veil to more cities.

[SIZE="4"]Turn 112: Prepping for the Prophecy[/SIZE]

Here you can see that some cities are prepping for the Wonder by building Soldiers of kilmorph. These are the wonderful units mentioned previously that allow you to shuffle production around your empire with no lose because of the Orcish Warrens.

[SIZE="4"]Turn 113: Growth[/SIZE]

You will note that I just can't keep up with the score jumps of the Vampires. Even after going from the middle-bottom of the pack to a secure second I just can't make the next jump.

[SIZE="4"]Turn 114: Wicked Barbarians[/SIZE]

Way of the Wicked comes in. Honestly only the wonder is useful. I don't have the food to pull off Slavery and I wouldn't want to seeing as I have enough Happiness to grow and enough Mines to get Production that way.

Kalocly, the barbarian city withing my empire sends out a nicely upgraded attack force. Thankfully no axemen but I forgot to warn the Elves about them for a few turns... so... oops? It actually wasn't intentional or part of a plot. Just kept forgetting.

You can also see the goblin scout force above looking for better city spots.

The Top Cities screen again reveals some useful information. The Calabim also have the Form of the Titan, which means for a start that he has a level 6 unit. While also meaning that all future units will be that little more experienced. Especially against one such as myself who cannot 'train' against barbarians. With no whetstone to sharpen myself against the Priests who upgrade naturally are the logically force to make an army out of.

You can also see that no Orcish cities are in the top 5. Everyone else has better cities. I just thankfully have pulled off this land grab to a all right degree.

[SIZE="4"]Turn 115: Mackoti is Cthulhu?[/SIZE]

The Events screen fills us in on some Vampire details. Their Golden age is finally over and they have founded the Octopus Overlords. Which is fine by me as this caused a noticable jump in the AC from 2% to 5%. Every little bit helps on the run to Blight.

The PoR is started in Broken Entwash. You can also see that the computer believes I can support more growth.

I choose Broken Entwash, my best productive city, to build PoR because It can build 1-turn Warriors. Warriors are more useful spam marked units then goblins so at least I can leave the marked warriors to defend the empire. The plan will be to upgrade all the none marked units to axemen to fling them at the enemy to get rid of them. No need to support unmarked units after all.

It will take 18 turns to build the PoR, but each Soldier of Kilmorph will take of about 1.5 turns and I can get 4 to it before it finishes. So that takes it down to 12 turns. Still a lot, but more manageable. In fact as it is growing soon I may be able to get that down further.

Here you can see one of the Thanes running over to pop the Burning Cities Borders. All my good Secondary cities, Fangorn Fields, Dunlands and South Pole are now building Warrens so that they too can help out with military eventually. This is because from now on Broken Entwash will be spamming Warriors so I need some more warren cities to take up the slack.

You can also see my Goblin exploration squad who still have movement to make...

The Goblin squad split up to see what they can find. It's not bad. Wheat and fish in the north and we reveal what appears to be another land bridge out of my northern land mass. A good defendable land bridge perhaps?

These guys may die soon as we have revealed a wolf and a Super Bear. I just hope I can get another turn of exploration north and south out of them to choose where my next city over here will go.

Here is the Close up of Adonias, revealing where Mackoti ended up getting the holy city. It is one of his border cities showing he has also held off on expansion for awhile. Sareln believed that the Vampires were hoping to grab a Healer unit or that he wanted a task force to bypass the defensive Amurite-Vampire border.

Either way it means that taking the Vampire Border Cities will do even more damage to Mackoti now.