Dude, where's my civ? [spoilers]

[DaveV]

I thought the GLH was only +1 trade route in FFH/EitB. Been to long to say for sure, however.

No, I think it's always been 2. Maybe you're confusing it with RBMod?

Ellimist - I think you covered everything. Does this mean a trade economy is in store?

(Over/Undercouncil resolutions are Single Currency and Smuggling Ring respectively, each good for +1 route/city)

[Merovech]

I thought the GLH was only +1 trade route in FFH/EitB. Been to long to say for sure, however.

No, I think it's always been 2. Maybe you're confusing it with RBMod?

Ellimist - I think you covered everything. Does this mean a trade economy is in store?

(Over/Undercouncil resolutions are Single Currency and Smuggling Ring respectively, each good for +1 route/city)

Probably confusing things.

[Ellimist]

Ellimist - I think you covered everything. Does this mean a trade economy is in store?

Something like that. In the EITB pitboss, my team did a sort of hybrid TR economy, and it was very effective because it caused new cities to be instantly profitable. I plan on doing something similar here(and expect Mardoc to do the same), but the Calabim have some advantages that make them very well suited to it. I expect that I can get each TR to be worth a minimum of two commerce, and some of them will be three or more.

I'm planning to settle a LOT of coastal and island cities, and make them as large as I can for better TRs and Manor hammers, and may even adopt CS/FT instead of Aristo/Agrarian. I'll also utilize OO to interfere with anyone else trying to do the same.

Governor's Manors can potentially negate the primary weakness of coastal cities, and the ORG trait will cut the price of lighthouses(which I'll often want before manors) in half. If I use slavery as well, which I may, GMs will also help make use of whip unhappiness.

The reason I asked... this map seems to have a lot of islands:


Knowing where all the TRs are will help me to know how many offshore islands I'll need and when I'll need them.

[Ellimist]

We're not in Kansas anymore:




It's too bad the nodes aren't built. Still, this seems to be a pretty valuable island.

[Ellimist]

The last two turns have been relatively uneventful.

T64 brought me another event, which would have been mildly annoying if I hadn't had body mana. Instead it did nothing.




T65 bears:




Explorations:




I must be getting closer to the southern coast of the continent, even if fog reading is inconclusive due to all the islands. No signs of Mardoc yet, but it shouldn't be that hard to find him considering his capital is coastal and he's been creative all game long. My second griffon will depart in another couple turns, and may either join the first or explore for circumnavigation instead.

[Ellimist]

Found Mardoc:




HN was obviously pointless for a unit that makes contact with another civilization. With C5, even.

[Ellimist]

Comparison info of all teams:

[Ellimist]

Okay, I'm assuming you all are somewhat aware of the fact that I've declared war on Mardoc and am moving a griffon around his territory. Mardoc has updated his thread pretty consistently and I can't imagine him failing to take notice of it.

Why am I doing this? Well, there are a few reasons, but one of the simplest is that I have very little to lose by doing so. Mardoc most likely won't be able reach me with units for at least dozens of turns. The most direct route between us, as far as I can tell, will require him to be able to cross ocean tiles. Later on, Mardoc is a pragmatic/skilled enough player that he will decide whether to assist or oppose me based on how it affects his own position. So I think I can do this carefully and still maintain a possibility of not being enemies with him if the conditions are right in the future.

Additional reasons why I chose my current plan:

• Force Mardoc to build units that he otherwise would have skipped or delayed building. He may also prioritize military technologies earlier than he was planning to get them.
  
• His power graph actually started increasing shortly before my griffon moved into view. Based on the conditions I've seen elsewhere, I guessed that he was finally facing some barbarian pressure and my timing couldn't be better.
  
• Potentially disrupt Mardoc's workers or require him to use precautionary defensive units with them.
  
• Get a map of Mardoc's core area and capital terrain. This will be important for another plan I'm working on.
  
• HidingKneel will like it, and he may even get some type of information from Mardoc.

So far, I've moved around the edges of Mardoc's territory revealing the land. Due to the way that water and peaks affect goto orders, I've been able to plan ahead for most movements for a turn or two into the fog and stay out of danger. His culture indicates that his other two cities are probably to the north, and I should be able to see one or both of them on turn 72 when I move onto a peak north of his capital.




At that point, I'll have a huge amount of vision on his core area, and can evaluate what to do after that based on what I see. Most likely, I'll withdraw the unit and reveal more land in the process.

Here's a summary shot of where the griffon has been and where it's going:




As you can see, I'm also revealing his road network, which Mardoc doesn't seem to have been very cautious with. I expect that those roads will be very relevant eventually.

[Ellimist]

My correspondence with Mardoc has been rather careful so far:

Greetings, Barnum of the Circus!

Is there a role for a trained griffon under the big top?

Decius of the Calabim

Greetings indeed!

There might be a role, but only if you were willing to transfer ownership. Are you willing to sell?

Perhaps you'd be interested in an information exchange? I'm quite curious about what goodies Merovech has put in the sea.

As a sample from my end, Selrahc was eliminated by a Mistform, plus 1-2 regular barbs. Apparently Mistforms weren't converted to animal AI after all, despite the changelog.

- Barnum

Then I declared war.

To Barnum, Grand Ringmaster of the Circus,

Griffons can do so many wonderful things
They go wherever they please and behave like the king
Sometimes their loyalty can wax or wane
They tend to switch sides after sharing some pain

(ooc: clearly, I'm no Perpentach)

So far, for special terrain, the main thing of note is some typed mana nodes guarded by some spectres and a fireball spellcaster. There's also an otherwise unremarkable island with a half dozen lizardmen guarding a ruins.

That's rough to hear about Selrahc, though I admit I was relieved to see him gone. The Illians are not the easiest civ to compete against. He still made the right move popping some lairs, but sometimes that doesn't turn out so well.

If you're looking for gtAngel, he's north-north-west of you, approximately 20-25 tiles from your capital. He just adopted aristocracy a turn ago so he seems to have nearly done a beeline to it. From what I can tell, he's had a fair amount of trouble with the barbarians.

In addition, congratulations for being the only civilization to successfully navigate the River of Blood. Your demographics have certainly reflected it.

Decius of the Calabim

Here I'm trying to simultaneously get his attention in both a positive and a negative way. It'll keep him guessing and allow me to backtrack later, and in the short term probably make him a little bit more worried and confused.

In the center of the big continent, there is a portal. Presumably it leads somewhere interesting, but it's guarded by a Heroic Hill Giant, so I haven't been able to test my theory. It appears you've already met HidingKneel - but in case that was just his scout, you may know that his capital is far to my northeast.

I'm very confused - it seems there is no longer a griffon in the area, merely a swimming wolf rider. And somehow we're at war. Surely this is a mistake?

Also, I feel I should mention that my demos are not nearly as they once were, due to the massive influx of lizardmen and consequent production of lizard-killers.

Can I persuade your 'wolf rider' to stick to the seas? Or am I going to have to kill him, possibly with help from the barbs?

Here he confirms that the barb pressure was heating up when I arrived, and tries to gauge my intentions.

The Circus is certainly a confusing place, just as the legends claim. A certain amount of madness seems to be contagious.

Our envoy is quite willing to stay out of your way, but surely the people of the Circus can understand the importance of putting on a good show?

(Your shipwrecks will remain undisturbed, and it's not like I could threaten any cities anyway with one unit, but HK will think we're enemies.)

Decius of the Calabim

And here, I continue to obfuscate, but add a limited reassurance. This might help to avoid any grudges, and his power graph has already spiked pretty sharply at this point so I don't think he's likely to build many additional units.

Of course we're willing to help with the show (or, rumor has it, the
vampiric word is Masquerade?). You recognize that this might involve
realistic griffon bashing, if appropriate? So long as the griffon
doesn't threaten vital performers, though, we'll let him be.

And here he's nearly given me permission to continue. Not that he could remove me forcefully, but this is a good sign.

Sounds good.

I'd write more, but I'm a bit short on time tonight.

Ellimist

I really was short on time, and I didn't see much of a point to a longer message anyway. Mardoc seems to agree, as he didn't reply and neither of us sent anything on turn 70.

[Ellimist]

Our griffon has found a friend and a mountain range:



I'm not sure what the best move is. I definitely want to try and kill it before Mardoc can capture it, but I'm not sure whether to do it immediately or uncover more terrain first. It will probably depend, in part, on whether I even have a chance to attack it(attack exp is much higher than defense).


And I finally see some Balseraph culture that doesn't belong to the capital:



When I get the next turn, I'll know immediately which city that belongs to. (borders expand at 50 and 250) Here's the current culture levels for Balseraph cities:


Mardoc's copper is already improved and he picked up BW this turn, so his warriors will be Bronzed now. As far as I can tell, he has Festivals, Mysticism and BW that I don't have, and I have Animal Husbandry, Education and Code of Laws that he doesn't have.

The only techs I'm showing any GNP discounts on are Hunting(1), Festivals(1), Bronze Working(1), and Mysticism(3). It's safe to say that HidingKneel is the person with Hunting, and gtAngel seems to be falling behind with just two cities.

Map of the known world:


I'm using the hiatus to work on some stuff like dotmaps and longer term planning. My short-term tech plans are to stockpile a lot of gold and pick up Mysticism and Fishing, but I'm not completely sure what comes after that. The top priorities at this point go in a few different directions, and there are some less critical goals that may be worthwhile as well.

Possibilities:
Fishing and Sailing for lots of amazing water things
Message from the Deep for happiness and religion stuff
Festivals for Carnivals and Markets
Bronze Working for jungle chopping, Moroi, and copper
Philosophy for slavery and possibly bone palace