[Spoilers] Defining the phrase "€˜Hung Like a Horse"€™: Pb & the Kuriotates

[pocketbeetle]

When I get back, I'm going to try harder. I want my title of "Most evil player" back.

Veez sneers at your feeble threats!

Ok, after I read your newest bit of his masterplan

1. You get Sareln to tell you his location
2. You ask Cull if he wants peace with Selrahc and tell him you can do it for just one palace mana for some turns
3. You tell Selrahc that he can receive Sarelns position for just one palace mana for some turns

If everyones agree, you get 2 x palace mana for just losing 1 x palace mana and you save the good Dwarf and let both evil powers destroy each other / hold each other back.

Getting there, you've certainly got the gist of it Serdoa!
I also get the impression you figured it out earlier, but just couldn't post for spoilers, so that's definitely worth half a cookie:

But you need to aim higher on the details. ^^
Veez isn't doing all this work for a mere 1 x loan of palace mana, and he doesn't give a human's ass about the Rockheads!

[pocketbeetle]

Turn 91:

Still quiet over in Kurio land.

Bobbo completed roading the Wheat at Kwythellar, moved W of the cow. He can road one more tile, probably the oasis, before moving up to start cottaging.
Bob-A-Long is sitting in Caledor, will join Bobbin (who's roading) at the Sheep North of Caledor.
Bobby Moore started pasturing the Pigs, Bob moved onto the forested hill at Avelorn to chop and build a mine there.

The OO Zealot has also reached Kwythellar, but I've just fortified him for now.
Kwythellar still has no religion, and with 3 Holy Cities connected to it, you'd have thought a free spread would have happened by now.



In good news, Kwythellar’s tundra mine finally reverted back to gl so Kwythellar now starts growing at 1f/t.

Avelorn also reached size 5.
I can’t get the city down to a 2t growth without the Pigs, so next turn it'll try to get the market completed.

Maintenance costs grew from -8 to -10gp/t, inflation at 11% starting to rear its head.
Will definitely have to take a breather after Education comes in.

Demographics:

Sareln gained +1 pop to size 2, his borders also expanded.
Bob’s GNP jumped significantly, from 44 to 53 for some reason. Mfg Goods decreased a bit, so I’d guess he’s just working more farms at his capital.


Updated!

[Adlain]

Really enjoying this PB - just one thing, could you link back to your Grand Plan after your turn update?? - im Lazy and dont want to scroll up after every turn update

[pocketbeetle]

Really enjoying this PB - just one thing, could you link back to your Grand Plan after your turn update?? - im Lazy and dont want to scroll up after every turn update

Adlain, are you trying to tell me you got all that fancy hardware for your computer, but forgot to buy a scrolling mouse?!?

Yeah sure.

[Adlain]

no i have one of those aswell (Microsoft X8 Sidewinder)

[Profane]

Does the Masterplan by any chance involve monopoly on religion?
Stab SareIn once by selling away his map, stab him twice by founding FoL.

[pocketbeetle]

Does the Masterplan by any chance involve monopoly on religion?
Stab SareIn once by selling away his map, stab him twice by founding FoL.

Oooh, that is evil! But no.
I've had enough with religions for now, any further chasing would just ruin any chance I have of being a significant faction this game.

Serdoa was on the right track, it's all about saving Cull at the (unfortunate) expense of Sareln.
I'm just aiming for a lot more than a couple of mana loans.

I'm expecting the other players to follow any agreements they sign, so to do less myself would be...undesirable.
(But it should be noted that my agreement is with Sareln only. If he should disappear...)

Talking about agreements, one of my huge worries when negotiating with Sareln about FoL was that he would include a non-disclosure clause.
So concerned have I been, that until Selrahc's side is wrapped up (still ongoing) I've been...slightly avoiding him, ducking out of IM when he comes online etc.
Fun and games!

[pocketbeetle]

Turn 92:

More quiet rounds, just counting down to the Giants and the GSci vs GC showdown in 2-3 turns.

Bob Marley moved to the tile S of the bear, will start improving the Sheep next turn.
Bob started chopping the glh forest at Avelorn, which managed to (just) scrape together enough hammers to complete the market.
Bob-A-Long joined Bobbin on the Sheep North of Caledor and put in a turn of pasturing.

Finally Bobbo is doing some make-work roading of the tile 1N of the oasis between Kwythellar and Caledor.
I will eventually want a road going through the desert peak gap to Avelorn, but the oasis tile itself would have taken too long.
I want that guy cottaging the moment Education comes in.



Concepcion found something useful in the South, I’ll post a screenie next turn.


Demographics:

• Included the power graph.
  Looks like Selrahc’s thoughts are pure (evil).
  
  
• Selrahc gained a tech.
  
  
• Selrahc has the Wheat at Jingle Bells farmed now, although not roaded.
  
  
• Iskender gained a whopping 27 points. Sounds cultural.
  That’s…actually quite confusing. Oh dear.
  Second city founded T68, we’ve already counted the base tiles on T88, and there’s no chance he built a monument in the 4 turns between T68 and T72 (T72 + 20 = T92 cultural score added). Capital culture? No chance. So not culture.
  That leaves a 22 point tech and one pop increase, or an 11 point tech and 3 pop increases. Hmm.
  One option is that he used the GSci he popped a couple of turns ago to bulb KotE. I think that would be a very daft move, everything we’ve seen so far suggests that the Hippus need all the beakers they can get. But it’s possible.
  Let’s play count the beakers.
  

Iskender:
Last turn that he researched a tech: T72 -> Assigned AH.
Next turn he researched a tech: T78
Therefore gap = 6 turns
GNP during period: 16-17 ie research 14-15
6 * 14.5 = 87b
Umm, does he still have a level 1 tech undiscovered?
Ah yes, Exploration, it’s all good.
I’m still assuming that Iskender is the worst GNP, although Selrahc is certainly putting up a good fight for that title.

Iskender:
Last turn that he researched a tech: T78 -> Assigned Exploration.
Next turn he researched a tech: T92
Therefore gap = 14 turns
GNP during period: 17 ie research 15
14 * 15 = 210b

I’m taking a wild guess with the GNP now - I just wanted a ballpark figure.
Sareln has masked the worst GNP for quite some time, so lacking Calendar and Education, I have to assume that Iskender has remained at roughly the same level.
I can’t see any 22 point techs in the 210 beaker range (best match HBR at 390b?), and I think 3 pop increases all at once is pretty damn unlikely.
He founded his third city on T85, which makes this the right time for at least one pop increase: size 1 to size 2.

So…until I find out otherwise, I’m going to have to say he’s used his GSci to bulb Knowledge of the Ether.
But I really don’t like it. :thumbsdow
The Hippus only get two palace mana, Air and Nature, and neither are worth an early bulb of KotE with weak research – they have naff level 1 spells.
Plus why the delay?
When I finally find the guy and get contact, I’ll be checking the graphs for a beaker/+4 culture jump of an Academy being founded or not.


Selrahc:
Last turn that he researched a tech: T85 -> Assigned Cartography.
Next turn he researched a tech: T92
Therefore gap = 7 turns
GNP during period: 20-30 ie fluctuating wildly ~23
7 * 23 = 161b Bleh.

I’m going to have to announce my surrender to following Selrahc’s tech.
I suspect that he’s deliberately switched his research to lose me – there was a 15t gap between him researching Mining and Cartography, which at 215b (plus a prereq bonus) implies a research rate of ~14b/t.
With an Academy.
Yeah right.

Any attempt to count the beakers up will just be foiled by unit supply in enemy territory and maintenance, combined with the switching into Civic States.
So until I can get the necessary tech to view opponent’s technology in the trade diplo screen, I’m stuck with following the turnlog.
I’ll be keeping an eye out for when he finally reaches CoL and switches to Agristocracy.


My precious demographics are failing me!


Edit: AHA! For Iskender:
Average rival pop increase of (223.4k – 218k = 5.4k), multiply by 5 as we know no-one else gained pop gives a 27k increase.
That’s not a size 1 -> size 2 city growth.

We know his cities were size 5, 3 and 1 last turn.
Does a pop increase for all add up to 27k? Not a chance.
Looks like it’s a size 3-> size 4 growth, ie only his second city grew.

So it is a 22 point tech. So I’m still stuck with a KotE bulb.
Other 22 point techs it potentially could be if Iskender has somehow pulled off a miracle and got the Hippus teching like a beast: HBR, Philo.
Philo would be bulbable with a GPro if he got a similar event to the Kuriotates’ one, but I’m not even sure if there is a ‘neutral GPro’ event (definitely good (Amathon) and evil (Ceridwen), but neutral?).
Sigh.

Veez updated.

[Twinkletoes89]

Lol Veez is devilishly brilliant! I love how you managed to get the maps off him!

[pocketbeetle]

This wasn't supposed to take longer than a week to complete!

Updated!