The Black Sword's Tale: For the Kurious

[The Black Sword]

Turns are crawling along .

I was left with this situation in the south:

I could cover 1 worker with Tatsu and another with 2 warriors. Or stack everyone on the forest tile. Or I could attack out as in the picture.

Pros of attacking:
Good chance of winning and lots of xp with those odds.
Workers are then free.
Other troops can move to block the orc.
Even if I lose, the goblin will be so injured that I can safely cover each worker with a single warrior.
He'll also hopefully be injured enough for Donatello to deal with him.
Tatsu isn't that important, only 16 hammers, though I was hoping to get him to lvl 4 and pop my dungeon.

Result:

Grrr, this is what I get for naming my troops after a bunch of inept bad guys. I can't really decide if I made the right decision here, wondering what anyone else would do? I seem to be the only one losing units according to the power graph, though I think both of my recent losses are covered by Hunters being trained at the same time.

Anyway, the rest of the turn:

I decided to slow down Naggarond's growth so that it'll get the Granary bonus. Avelorn is also coming along quite well, I think I may have underestimated the rate it's improvements are coming in, dyes are online next turn.


In other news, Karai finally reached the southern dungeon and Raphael found an Elephant instead of the Elohim. I also don't like this GNP jump:

[The Black Sword]

The goblin suicided on a 0xp warrior. What a waste. Here's the current situation down there:

Should be another goblin coming soon by the looks of it. Hopefully I can deal with these guys a bit better and get some xp on both hunters.

In the capital I decided to slow growth down for the Granary also. I could have worked the oasis instead of a farm, but decided to go with delay growth instead since the extra commerce wouldn't be affected by the Academy multiplier. The dyes will be ready next turn so happiness won't be a problem. Btw, the Tailor and its associated raw materials are the equivalent of another 7 happiness for each city, each of which is worth at least 6f from the Granary. Seemed worthwhile to pick this up before the growth spurt since it's double production.


Finally some lovely demos, now that I'm back researching for a while:


I did some messing around with changing techs and the GNP figure here. Turns out that none of my three known opponents have Writing or Warfare or, more importantly Philosophy and Festivals. Hopefully I can meet Yell0w before I discover Philosophy myself so I can get an idea about the Bone Palace. Interestingly, someone does know fishing. I'm slightly worried about that but I reckon it's just for the river trade ability. I don't think anyone(of these 3 at least) has settled coastal yet. I have some tough decisions to make about the Heron Throne. There's a lot of infrastructure to get through that's more immediately useful than the equivalent of 5hpt. At the least, I'm going to get the 7 hills around Avelorn mined and working ASAP.

[The Black Sword]

It's looking good that we'll be back to the usual schedule today.

Anyway, I also played matchmaker last night with jalapeno and WK in case anyone is interested:

Hey,

I see you've got a new scouting unit heading out. Heading in a straight line NE will run you into Yell0w's capitals borders. You should see them 7N-7E from your hunter's current position (my turn 53).

I've also got a unit directly north of your hunter who's looking for dwarves and grigori. Any help with directions/arranging a meeting would be much appreciated.

All the best,
Jalepeno

Hi,

Thanks for the directions, I'm sure Raphael will find them very helpful. The outer borders of the Grigori capital are 11W, 6N of the position referred to in your mail. After that you can skirt the Grigori borders southwest to meet the dwarves, let me know if you want anything more detailed then.

I'll let the Grigori know that you're searching for them, maybe they can send a unit.

Congratulations also on your recent revolt. We're still a bit superstitious about Cardith over here.

TBS.

Hi WK,

I hope the Grigori are prospering.

The Calabim have been in touch with me about trying to find yourself and the Khazad. I've given him some directions to your borders, and I also said I'd let you know he's coming in case you can send a unit to meet him earlier. The unit will be coming from the east, slightly south of your capital.

TBS.

Greetings TBS,

Excellent, I look forward to making contact with him. Sadly I don't have any units to my SE right now (that is the correct direction right?), so my borders will have to do. I'll be happy to direct him to the Khazad once he manages to reach me. I'd advise him to exert caution though, as I've had a bit if barb trouble in my E.

Regards,
WK

Not much here. Raphael starts turning up new ground next turn so you'll get some pictures then. I'm also vaguely hoping that if I manage an animal capture in time I could intercept jalapeno's warrior en route. I doubt I'll have enough time though, maybe before he reaches the Dwarves. On a further point, only two of the three have Bronze Working when I checked, which I guess are HK and jalapeno. I think it's quite likely that WK picked up Hunting instead. It seems a good route for at least one early adventurer to pretty much guarantee Aeron's chosen.

[The Black Sword]

Here's Raphael exploring, the ancient tower didn't show anything interesting in Calabim lands.


And some vertical exploration instead of horizontal:


The combat situation:

Donatello should be the top defender to get the last xp out of that orc. Michelanglo is stalking the goblin. 66% ctk currently, I'll definitely take the shot if he moves into the open.

Two more Ancient Forest growths in the capital:

I'd prefer Naggarond, since that's where food is lowest but I can't really complain. I do need to pick up Archery sometime. I'm trying to decide whether to get 1 more worker or try to deal with the 9 I have, I think both Naggarond and Avelorn are about to run out of improved tiles.

In international news, someone discovered writing, either jalapeno or HK. I think jalapeno is more likely because it also allows him to get an Academy out. I know it wasn't WK because his score increase is due to founding his 4th city last turn. Sian also converted to FoL. I might see about getting the shrine out, but I'm happy to go with a second Academy first and after that it will be a while till my third GP.

[The Black Sword]

Some barb excitement all round here. First the results of the exploration in the south:


What sort of name is that? Not really my ideal result. Capturing that scorpion would be great though, I'll have to get a turtle on it. Unfortunately, the Karai proabably can't survive all those tigers, two if she's lucky, but not 3. So the last high xp foot clan member will bite the dust. I need to decide who to explore these two dungeons with now, with all my lvl 4 candidates gone. I'll probably send a turtle up here, since warriors are so slow and use a warrior for the one in my territory.

Two other points here, 1 you can see jalapeno settled his 5th city up north there, very conservatively. Avelorns 4th ring is his 3rd. No reason for him to subsequently settle a city on that row of tiles either I think. It looks like I might just have a good relationship with these vampires after all. According to the demos, its the dwarves who are my biggest rival atm, which is very worrying, since this is when they're supposed to be having vault happiness issues. Also, you can see the lake ends. I was wishfully hoping it would continue on around and I could build a work boat to connect the crab on the other side.

In the north:

I had an 83% ctk over here. However I decided that my main aim has to be finding yell0w rather than gaining xp, and after recent bad luck, felt like playing conservatively. I doubt the tiger has enough xp to get to lvl 4, even if it does look like he just ate something. That's probably the C2 tiger I saw earlier in the game.

Finally, in the southwest, the barbs continued to be annoying.

Blocked off my road to put reinforcements on the silk tile. Hunters are waiting for them to step onto flat, while the two workers are diverted to useful tasks, just not as important as getting the silk upgraded. A full health Donatello might hit one of the barbs on 25% def, I haven't decided.
I figured I still have plenty of worker actions necessary, there's no way another guy would be idle, so he's worth picking up in Naggarond also. I might have to grab the 4th turtle from Kwythelllar with all this military activty.

Oh, and WK's 2nd adventurer was born.

[The Black Sword]

There's been some serious play by me over the last few turns(worse than the combat stuff!). If anyone wants to guess, this picture is a clue:


EOT Kwythellar configuration. I'll post the answer tomorrow.

Apart from my own play though, the game's been pretty kind to me. First event in a while, in case I ever wish to relocate:


Dungeon monster sit-rep:


Karai lives! These animals are feeling decidely lazy, 3 of them staying put and none attacking. Hopefully it will continue and my Hunters can get up there after the goblin infestastion. Speaking of which:


That's the highest attacking odds I'm going to get so I took it, got 4xp . Donatello had similar odds on the goblin in the forest, but he just needs 1 more xp so I put him on the hill for the goblin to suicide into(hopefully). I'm not sure what I'll do with the latest goblin. Michelangelo is on 0.6 str and will take a while to heal.

In the north the animals weren't quite so lazy:

Raphael promotes and will fully heal this turn, should find Yell0w on the next.

[The Black Sword]

Ok, so the clue in that picture of Kwythellar is that it's still size 13. And it's been that way for the last 2 turns despite being on 30/30 food and me pumping in about 20 food each turn. Forgot to turn that damn delay growth off .
I seem to remember logging in at some stage, the save hadn't come back to me for a while and trying to remember what I was doing.

Anyway, the most important news this turn(besides a size 14 Kwythellar!) is this


Raphael found Yell0w for me and now I've met all the big players. The Elohim have 4 cities, including their capital and their civics are GK/nationhood/apprenticeship/Agri. Using the known techs trick I see they haven't founded Philosophy. I'm feeling pretty good about both the Bone Palace and the Military Commander atm. 2 people have discovered festivals though, so I'm definitely writing off drama. The bard would be handy for a shrine, but he's not worth 600b I think, certainly not when there's a good chance I will lose him.

My graphs are almost complete now, so here they are:





A bit lower for Yell0w than I was expecting, I thought it looked like he'd had a good start. Still, you can see it looks like the Dwarves are no.2 in the demos, they must have played a really good game up to now and being behind RoB jalapeno is to be expected really. WK looks weak, but you have to remember he's had essentially no economic traits for these 70 turns and that he does have two adventurers, easily pushing him first in real power.

What's going on elsewhere? Karai is doing some exploring while waiting for the Hunters to come deal with the scorpion and friends:


In the southwest:


3 more xp for Donatello. Then I decided I needed to get rid of the final goblin quickly and get that silk improved.


Hopefully he'll suicide. I can't really put his xp to good use atm, Michelangelo is too injured and Donatello doesn't really need it, so this is best I think. Then I'm going to put 4 workers on that silk next turn and get it done.

Kwythellar plan is Hunter ->Deruptus -> Bone Palace.
With two Hunters heading down to meet the scorpion and Raphael out exploring, I'd look another Hunter for xp cleanup. It will also be maybe 10 turns before anything but corn is connected to Deruptus, so the delay is ok.
Avelorn is Granary -> workboat -> Heron Throne.
Heron Throne should be done in time for the golden age. I slowed down growth manually in Avelorn rather than risking delay growth this time.
Naggarond then needs to get me a settler for the cotton, a tailor and a library, I haven't really decided the order yet.

[The Black Sword]

Some interesting diplo with jalapeno recently:

"Kuriotate merchants are now selling caged parrots as exotic pets." :D I hope they're being humane about it!

Thanks for the directions, I just came into view (with the help of an ancient tower) of Grigori borders; 3 turns to make contact by way of a crab/rice spot with desert sprinkled around.

I've also gained site on the edge of Sian's borders. If Raphael skirts around the northern side of Yell0w's capital, then heads east (and a little south), he should find them. Yell0w can probably give better directions if you can trust them; he sent me around his borders the other way (down south), which ran me directly into a dead end against a large, L-shaped saltwater lake. I've got vision on Sian's borders from across the lake, but will need at least a dozen turns of backtracking and rerouting to get around and make contact!

Best,
Jalepeno

I'm not really sure what to make of that tbh, seems like it would be silly thing for Yell0w to do, generate animosity for no real gain. My reply:

I doubt the merchants are very reputable. The goods are being processed on the limits of our territory, out of range of the regulation of our cities(and denying me money!). Treat such 'pets' with extreme caution, they are likely to be rabid.

I'm glad to hear that you have found the Grigori. They couldn't spare a unit to meet you apparently and have asked that you be careful of barbarian activity in the area. WK says he can give you directions to the Dwarves when you meet him, but as I mentioned they are quite close, so skirting his southern borders should work fine.

Raphael is meeting with the Elohim ambassador as we speak, thanks for the directions and the advice, he'll be evaluating his next destination shortly.

TBS.

And the most interesting one:

I'll be wary of any parrots I come across, although my research advisor might not be so sensible. Calls herself a "mystic" but I'm pretty sure "reading the tea leaves" isn't the only herbal activity she's involved in. Why just this morning she came barging in jabbering something about the Kurios teching drama. I tried to calm her down (when your cities are already Legends, what need do they have of more culture?), but she was insistent that you just picked up festivals...

So yeah, I've been saving up gold for a run at drama and just turned tech back on. Are you also going for the drama bard? If so, I'd really rather come to an agreement so one of us doesn't end up wasting beakers. I'm happy with my tech rate but think it'd be a tight race, and we've had great relations so far. There are lots of options* for trading to make an agreement worth your while (or mine).

*(non-compete agreements on wonders, trade concessions, worker turns, even agreeing to be the one who techs cartography for open borders, etc)

Please get back to me asap on this. Conspiracy theorists like my advisor will have a field day if they think you're avoiding the issue (they're not so understanding about real life).

All the best,
Jalepeno

Yes, Drama is my top priority right now, it'll be quite expensive to buy me off . This made me do some sleuthing around to find out who really does have what. Yell0w definitely did have festivals before I met him, and it appears WK is the second person who discovered it on T56. Jalapeno's score increase was not big enough so I guess he's going for it now.

I'm not sure how he has come to the conclusion that I got festivals. He's known one of me or Yell0w has had it for a while, it seems he's concluded (correctly) that was Yell0w. He had not yet met WK T56, according to the foreign advisor, so he should have seen the festivals GNP jump a little when he met WK if he was careful.

Anyway, I intend to take advantage of the fact. I'm thinking a mana loan at the minute, I'm wondering if I could push him to 2 10t loans though, we'll see. Him teching Cartography would also be nice because there are so many techs I want after Military Strategy.

Also said hello to Yell0w:

Greetings to the Elohim from the land of the Kuriotates. Our hunter Raphael has been searching for your lands for many cycles, following directions given by some well-mannered fanged creatures.

How are things in the Abbey? We've had a pretty eventful few turns with all manner of barbarian infestations.

TBS.

Hej, not much going on here. Lot's of barbs probs as well. If you want we can exchange informations about the players we've met. Like where they are etc.

[The Black Sword]

The actual turn:


Finding the elves isn't too urgent, got me up to 5xp and animal handling here. In the south the goblin refused to suicide, but he left the path free to the silk.



Michelangelo is strong enough to defend now I think so hopefully this will get him to animal capture too. Naggarond was switched to Library btw, we're fast running out of turns for me to get the second GS with Philo. Speaking of which


Hmm, someone else got a sage, lets check these demos ...


Bugger. It will be interesting to see who got it from the graphs next turn. I'll put money on Yell0w and say his recent dip in GNP was him saving gold. IIRC he also got Mysticism before the Dwarves but I'm not bothered going back to check.

Meanwhile I had an unfortunate known tech bonus on philosophy this turn. It's either Yell0w or HK as you might expect. It doesn't really matter which, but I might ask jalapeno to check his pre-reqs since he knows Yell0w and not HK. If I had been smart and not run 0% last turn I could have easily finished it this turn but as it is I'm 2t behind.

By my calculations their size 9 capitals can get 25hpt x2 =50hpt. Bone Palace is 469 so I assume they can get it in 9t, maybe 8 with some good overflow/chopping management. I'm hoping they don't realise they're in a race though, they would have seen they had no known tech bonus. Anyway, I'm not willing to give up on the Bone Palace right now, I'll build a warrior next turn for max overflow, chop some trees(btw, I didn't realise Ancient forests give twice as much hammers) and my rather vague calculations say I could get it in 6t after discovering Philo. I'll put together some proper micro tomorrow.

[The Black Sword]

Spent quite a while planning on this turn. Some interesting diplo as well, which I'll post in the morning. It turns out if I built a warrior in Kwythellar for max overflow I waste a couple of hammers, it seems like I'll be able to 6t the Bone Palace with a fair bit of leeway so I built another Hunter instead. Best compromise between overflow and actually useful build. I would like to start keeping 2 units in every city in case of spiders though.

Here's the GNP graphs that alarmed me last turn:


Not one, but two of them matching me in GNP, I thought that was supposed to be the Kurio thing. Maybe I should build at least one cottage to try even the playing field.

Karai's been exploring and got a good view of an Elohim city from an ancient tower, Slane or Elephant-ville, take your pick.

That's two non-bronze warriors in the city and again I'm wishing for some Centaurs.

And my favourite goblin once again refused to suicide.

I moved the warrior out of the city to make sure Michelangelo is the top defender.

My number one problem at the moment though: What to name the last Hunter? IIRC there was a female turtle introduced at some stage ...