Arise, Riders of Rohanna! Ride for Molach! [SPOILERS!]

[Qgqqqqq]

You sure thats a ruin?
Looks like a dungeon to me...

[Merovech]

It's a dungeon.

[Molach]

It's a dungeon.

Do these old eyes of mine deceive me? Sure do. No worry then, and Warrior can march forth.

I suppose it's not frowned upon to surround the tile with spawn-preventors? I don't think I'll need units on the water.

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Don't have list just now, but GM will surely bulb currency if I avoid writing. Mabye even then. I'd expect it to be right at top of the list.

About the quick currency, that was just a quick idea that came into my head - rush with mounted mercs. I first wondered if it would enable me to get defenses up sooner in case of any rush attack seeing as the mounted mercs had no requirements - no stable, no HBR, but it just doesn't. With normal expansion I'd get it (the Guild) around turn 90. So no good in defense. Also seems a bit slow for a regular attack, considering they will be str 5 unpromoted at time of attack.

But anyway, I'm going to grow a GM naturally, just need 1 city running a merc, so after BW/Construction teching for chariots & catapults, quick CoL and a currency bulb is a good way to use him - the econ benefit is decent enough. Free up time to grab other, more fun stuff. Deception. Second GM builds Nox...

Building the GotN is also a sink of hammers, but thinking to the future, nice to have when the shooting does start. Instant defense, instant 4-move reinforcements if I take a city.

I'm about ready to see the lay of the land...(no saves yet)

[Merovech]

Surrounding the lair is kosher; however, you will need units on the water as Azers, which can fly, might spawn.

[Ichabod]

Currency is number 1 on the GMerchant bulb list. So, no need to plan around that.

Let's cross fingers for a Great Enginner event so we can rush the Guild of the Nine. :P

[Ranamar]

I'd forgotten lair pop GPs... Yeah, that'd be even more fantastic.

I started up another game to play around with the quick-Currency possibility. I'm just shy of T100 on Quick and I'm partway through building GotN... and I bet it could be done better than I did, with better planning, even if that game turned out to be a little cooked. (Settler dropped right next to Patria, Dragon Bones were easily accessible... and I popped something like 4 techs, including Code of Laws, from huts, so far.) It's not really a rush, I'd say, but it seems to have potential.

A tentative tech plan:
[start with Agriculture]
Calendar
[Animal Husbandry if we need it for food]
Ancient Chants [When we want to expand]
Exploration [When we want roads]
Festivals -> build Market in capital -> start merchant
Mysticism -> revolt to God King
Education -> revolt to its civics?
Code of Laws
Crafting
Mining
Bronze Working
[Drama -> Bard bulbs Sanitation]

23T after we start it, probably not too long after Code of Laws, our merchant will come in and we can bulb Currency while we make a grab for Bronze.

One important question will be whether we want to revolt to Aristocracy when we revolt to Consumption. I think this depends on the where we want to build the Guild (i.e. whether the capital is significantly better for production) and how many farms we've got. If we do manage to pull off the Drama/Sanitation slingshot, we can have +1F +2C farms with Aristocracy and stay in, for example, Conquest.

However, note the following tech groups that I have ignored in my proposal:
HBR
Construction
Writing
Trade
Religions
(Arcane, of course, but we've never been seriously discussing it)

This also basically means we have no notable units (although warriors will still be capable at this point) that we can actually build rather than buy... because it's not like we're doing an axe rush.

I assume our next targets would be trade and construction, and maybe the trade religions. However, there is another option I haven't looked at too closely... Currency is in the economic tech tree. We'll need Writing for Trade. Writing also leads to Mathematics. That opens up Engineering (Guild of Hammers) and Taxation (Republic civic, +1C to hamlets and up). Trade also gives us Foreign Trade. Finally, on beyond Taxation are various very expensive techs that boost specialists.

I think what I'm trying to get at and haven't really figured out yet is that, since our cavalry units are already made available by our economic techs, we have some options for our economy. If we go for Trade, we'll already have the core building for a specialist economy, but we'll also have one of the cottage-boosting civics. Meanwhile, since we went for Currency, we'll already be close to access to the other of the cottage civics. (Taxation isn't cheap, though...) I guess the upshot of this is that, since Fin no longer makes Aristocracy absurd, we actually have a choice of what long-term economy we use.

Ichabod, do you know if any of the earlier PBEMs had someone use the EitB buffed cottage civics?
... and not as the Elven Economy!

Edit:
Just saw this in one of the older lurker threads:

Reading the Kurio/Angel thread these days sounds like me when I play SP games. "Well, if we just get <insert every tech in the game>, we can build <insert every unit in the game>." Commodore talks the most sense, but he's afk now and they don't listen to him anyway. I like Ilios to win at this point.

Take my econ hypothesizing with a grain of salt. We should probably just get to Aristo/mercs/maybe Empyrean, turn off tech, buy a big army and overrun someone.

[Molach]

Rhoanna faced her people. "Loyal people, free riders of Hippus. Too long have we wandered in the night. Winters we have endured, children we have raised, friends we have lost. But the world is changing. We must change with it. Weather is warmer. We can plant grass and harvest their seed. No more shall we roam the world. We shall settle and build a great civilization to stand the test of iron, blood and time!"

Several in the crowd murmured assent.
"Safer with solid houses.."
"Easier to fend off wolves.."
"No more going hungry after..."

Encouraged, Rhoanna continued. "I will lead you as we settle the world. I will make us fertile, we shall grow and prosper, and dominate the land about us!"

While a few nodded at this, most were angrily shaking their heads
"Tasunke is stronger than you..."
"Tasunke is a man, we need..."
"He fights more aggressively..."

Rhoanna raised her hands. "But I shall manage our resources better! He is male, but I'm the older sister. I will make us prosper, I will make us rich!"

A few old and wealthier men seemed to grasp the point, but every young man assigned warrior duty were raising their clubs in the air. Even the slimmer, nimbler scouts refused to see her point
"We can raid our enemies at will..."
"..more plunder..."
"Strike first, strike well, and you may never need strike again..."

Fighting off despair rising within her, the chieftess played her last card. "But I've got these trusted ministers all ready. Look, prime minister Molach, minister for the interior Ichabod and minister for technology and religion Ranamar."




A brief look, and the whole Hippus tribe started chanting, "Tasunke, Tasunke!" Rhoanna shrugged her shoulders. "Very well. Ichabod, wake my brother and bid him come take up his earned place as our leader, if you please."

A few minutes later, Ichabod came back out. "People of Hippus. Tasunke has suffered a sudden attack of blood poisoning in his sleep. I fear he has passed away". One of Ichabod's guardsmen seemed about to open his mouth, perhaps to add the information that the poison stemmed from the poisoned blade lodged between his shoulder blades, but after he quick jab from a sharp elbow he realized that this was totally irrelevant.



Tasunke, Aggressive Raider, was killed in his sleep night 0

Ranamar stepped up. "As there are no other trueborn to take up the mantle of leadership, by the power invested in me by our future deities, whichever we may so choose, I hereby declare that our leader for life and death to be Rhoanna, horsemaiden, fertility goddess, gold-digging lady of Hippus. If any have any thing to say about our succession, speak now or forever hold your tongue" he added with a quick look at Tasunke's chief lieutenant Bahiar and a marked emphasis on the word 'forever'. There were no objections.

Rhoanna spoke up. "While we grieve for my brother, there is much to do. We must find a suitable place to settle, we must all prepare to till the soil and reap the harvest of the earth. This will take time. While we work in the day, at nighttime I want everyone to think good and hard about how seasonal change and length of days can be used to improve our time of planting and harvesting. Dagor, take your company of warriors northwestwards, and try to make contact with some ...allies our ministers have kindly provided for us. Bahiar, take your scouts south. Climb the ancient tower south-southwest to get a look of the land. Your mission is to learn as much you can from the land, find suitable places to settle villages, question any natives you happen across and see if you can make contact with other civilizations there might be out here. If you come across wolves, attack them to learn better how to fight as a unit. Watch out for any barbarians, lions, tigers, gorillas, bears, griffons, hill giants and scorpions...." Bahiar had already left, ashen-faced, and missed the final 3.

[Ranamar]

Hehehehe

Did you get the turn? Do we get map pictures?

[spellman]

I think the key is to figure out what the core items of you plan are. What is the state of game you ideally want. Converge on a huge Mobility-fueled stomp? Aim for GPP spam? Large sprawling cities with cottage spam?

Obviously this get adjusted as the game continues, but it will also help focus where you want to specialize. The rest of planning is build enough support in the other areas to pull it off efficiently. i.e. if you want to rush horses, make sure you don't tank the economy, etc.

So, if this is your plan:

Edit:
Just saw this in one of the older lurker threads:

Reading the Kurio/Angel thread these days sounds like me when I play SP games. "Well, if we just get <insert every tech in the game>, we can build <insert every unit in the game>." Commodore talks the most sense, but he's afk now and they don't listen to him anyway. I like Ilios to win at this point.

Take my econ hypothesizing with a grain of salt. We should probably just get to Aristo/mercs/maybe Empyrean, turn off tech, buy a big army and overrun someone.

have at it!

[Molach]

A turn??

No such luck. But now I'm just about ready for when it comes. There will be pictures & demographics I guess.
Won't be story every update, that I solemnly promise. Maybe after big events if turns are slow.

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I even thought about a naming scheme. Good thing, never been done before and will last as long as I need it to last. Bad thing, only novice or zakalwe might understand it. Capital will be named 'Javiel'.

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I've been writing a bit about that 'damn PanZer zombie rush' to the point of boredom. Perhaps I should just accept the fact that such a rush will effectively take me out of the running, and that there is no way to really fix that. If I beeline straight towards HBR or catapult counter, I cripple my growth potential anyway, taking me out of the running as well. So perhaps main plan is just 'hope I don't get attacked early'. Keep enough warriors to give them a run for their money, grab BW, but otherwise just and tech & prepare for a sledgehammer hit around turn 105-110, with massed chariots/catapults. And by the time my forces roll over a border and hopefully take a frontier city, I'll have the means to instantly buy 15 mounted mercs to carry on the raid. Who needs healing, erase/replace 'em instead.

God King gives some gold, but as I grow bigger aristo will be increasingly better for commerce. God king also cuts build times by 1/3, which should mean 6-7 turns quicker Guild of Nine. Tricky. Got a feeling aristo is the best when I'm ready to build the guild, but conquest could be good too and that doesn't work with aristo without sanitation.

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And yes, the plan is the mounted sledgehammer with light ranged support. Turn 105, give or take 10. I think I decide "turn off tech & smash the world" vs. "kill A but keep teching to take on B, C and D when I can" after I get closer. Perhaps I won't have the choice, upkeep will eat my whole budget. Testing showed that I could make around 250 gold at turn 100, enough for 2 mounties each turn - and home cities producing replacements. Military state also offers opportunity to turn cash to smash, but I was thinking about GotN's ability to keep my troops going, maybe getting stronger after taking an easy city.