Bearing the flag proudly, Sabathiel of the Bannors [SPOILERS]

[Ravus Sol]

Damn unlucky with the Griffin. But at least you managed to get contact with the Elves. They are built more for defence and economic turnover late in the game so they could be a good civilization to make peaceful overtures too. Try and find things to talk about past the initial scouting information exchange.

Um. A 1-warrior escort in FFH is pretty risky. Especially if you are heading TOWARDS known enemy forces. If that griffin comes back around then you are pretty much screwed for the game. I'd encourage 2 warriors so that you can deal with pesky goblins and do a small exploration circle around the Capital if out of other things to do.

I'm still Ded Lurking this only so i don't have much clue on the other nations stuff.

- Ravus

[Mr. Yellow]

Haha, i'm not that crazy to just escort a settler with just one warrior. You might as well not give it any escort at all in that case.
What i am actually gonna do, is to send BOTH warriors with the settler. Leaving the capital unprotected, which will hastily produce another scout/warrior to THEN immediately reinforce that group (so that it can fall back on some more protection should it be needed), then another warrior for protection.

....ok maybe i am that crazy.

I've also sent a couple of e-mails to Nyktorion regarding WarriorKnight and expansions. Will post it once i get a response.

[Mr. Yellow]

Now! In this turn....



















*suspense*





















[SIZE="6"]Nothing really happened![/SIZE]


Cept that the farm is complete


Thanks for visiting though!

(stay tuned for diplomacy with elves....whenever that comes)

[Ilios]

Doth my eye spot a Worker finishing a grassland river farm instead of the Corn?

[Selrahc]

Doth my eye spot a Worker finishing a grassland river farm instead of the Corn?

There were some pesky little goblins stopping him from farming the corn. They suicided, but not before he had half finished the grass farm.

[Mr. Yellow]

Doth my eye spot a Worker finishing a grassland river farm instead of the Corn?

Barbarians, Ilios. Erratic freaking barbarians. As early as turn 10 too. Really love how the goblin wandered around my city aimlessly and THEN deciding to suicide.

If i understand the barbarian mechanics right, they focus on one civ at a time in different time spans.

Which means i'm not gonna have any peace for the moment...



Yes, a lizardman came within my view...approaching from the DESERT! Wonderful!

So farms are gonna be delayed, again.

Anyway, in other news. Both me and WK gained a pop last turn, which means we've played identically so far. Doubt that's gonna stay unless he got plagued by barbs as well.
Ending this turn i research Ancient Chants, gonna go for Mysticism next.
Irgy researched a tech this turn as well.

[Mr. Yellow]

Now, 2 days ago i sent an e-mail to Nyktorion for info regarding the Elohim and expansion plans. Here’s how it went:

[COLOR="Cyan"]
Hello Nyktorion

Hope the griffin haven't caused you much trouble.
Anyway, i came here regarding the Elohim. I've been looking at the demographics and curiously, one player has no power to speak of.
Pretty sure that player is WarriorKnight, since he started off with worker first. So i wondered if you know anything of what happened down south that got him into that situation?
Having no military to speak of is quite a gamble, though i know he's pretty safe thanks to Sanctuary. Still loosing this "extra life" would make him a more vulnerable target later on.

Sir Yellow
[/COLOR]

And later, an extension.

[COLOR="Cyan"]
Another thing i wanted to talk about are expansions. I dunno how your lands looks like, but i haven't had much luck in my explorations except for a few great locations.
So regarding the desert we met on, unless there are any objections i would like to border that area between us for now.

By the way, when i said vulnerable target i meant it in the general term. Not that i've already decided on who to oppose already.
If there were any thoughts of that. :P
[/COLOR]

The reply came a day later.

[COLOR="SeaGreen"]Dear Sir Yellow,

sadly, the griffons seem to really trouble this desert. We saw your scout get devoured by one of the beasts, and give our condolences about that; also, one of our own scouts met the same fate.

Our scouts can confirm your your observations abut the Elohim. According to the reports we received, indeed all of their soldiers have perished by now, and their settlement is training their citizens in civilian rather than military matters. Since we were the first civilization they encountered, and they did not send any calls for help, we can only assume that wild animals or goblins are responsible for killing the Elohim military.

We have received your suggestion about making the desert we met in the border between our rising nations. While we appreciate the approach of pre-planning the division of land rather than racing for settling land, I am afraid that we can not make any formal agreements concerning this issue. We should make a decision where both of us are well-informed about the shape of our land, and I am afraid that we are not quite well-informed enough about the land between our nations yet.
Therefore, at this point I can only tell you that we plan not make our first settling moves aggressively against you, and we would of course be happy to know that you do not have such plans, either.

wishing the best to you and the Bannor people,
Nyktorion of the Ljosalfar [/COLOR]

Well he certainly likes to act like an elf.
Anyway i’m good with that. They have expectedly more important land to concentrate on than the sandy pass we met on. So i will not have to worry about any expansive civs clashes.
Still that doesn’t stop me from grabbing the cotton/flood spot for my first.
Also, sad to hear no new info regarding WK, other than what i already knew. Ah well.
The griffin news is worrying though, can certainly expect at least a combat I griffin when i march units over there again.

Sent a small reply.

[COLOR="Cyan"]
Worry not about that. We have no plans for expansions through the mountain pass.
And the info does confirm the recklessness of the Elohim. Will be interresting to see how they will go on.
Sad to hear regarding the incident with the griffin.

Sir Yellow, Chief Advisor of the Bannor.
[/COLOR]

Looking at the graphs, Nyktorion did indeed lose his scout the turn after i lost mine.



Now, when i actually look back to past (demo)graphs i can confirm my when trying to decipher the numbers. The scouts were indeed 2k all along and so my reads on the largest power are all wrong again.
Still i'm quite curious to why the Ljosalfar didn't start with the same power as us.
Do the elves start every game with 2 scouts or something?

Now, there will be a change in my expansion plans. All those farm delays makes me want to get another scout instead, before i start on a settler. Besides i really want to see whats below there.

[Bobchillingworth]

Do the elves start every game with 2 scouts or something?

Not all civs start with the same units. The Dovello get Lucian, the Khazad have two warriors, anyone with a warrior or scout replacement gets that unit instead, etc. You should be able to find the answer to your question pretty easily by starting up a single player game

[Mr. Yellow]

Not all civs start with the same units. The Dovello get Lucian, the Khazad have two warriors, anyone with a warrior or scout replacement gets that unit instead, etc. You should be able to find the answer to your question pretty easily by starting up a single player game

Thought only Doviello had a somewhat different unit start.
And the fact that Nyktorion said "one of our scouts" should have hinted me to it.
Ah well, the more you know.


Next turn greets me with some nice luck.



I expected the lizard to move on the plains hill directly south of the capital. But since he moved to the more defensive hill east, I can start farming the corn!

However, it is now in range for an attack on the city. With the bonuses calculated in, it’s gonna be a 5.55 vs 3.20 fight in Birger’s favor, pretty good odds. In addition it’s pretty likely the lizard is gonna wait a turn before attacking (and might position itself in range of the worker).
Still, I’m not taking any chances.



Working the hill will give me enough hammers to complete the 2nd warrior for next turn.

I’m not gonna start working a settler after that. The output is too low at the moment and i’d like to get more tiles in work before starting it.


Now, for the planned route to the cotton flood spot (decided to settle on the hill), i got 2 (or 3) of them. A southern one and a northern one.



The northern route looks to be the least safe. It leads to a split were I have to either take the forested path (and run into possible spiders) or the lower one and take a turn resting on a desert tile in danger of goblins. Hence why I called that path ”unfortunate fork”.
After that I’ll be in danger of goblins attacking from the fort, though the river should give me a good barrier against it.

The southern route avoids all that, but runs the risk of getting attacked by griffins possibly nesting on those peaks, which I am unable to hit back on. If a griffin (or 2!) does appear I’m likely doomed. Still it’s the safer route however.
Travel time is gonna be 10 turns unroaded...so yeah, i don't expect to be the first to settle the 2nd city.

Small notes:
Nyktorion lost his 2nd scout last turn.
Mardoc gained a pop last turn.
WK still has no military.

[Mr. Yellow]

Warrior completed next turn, christened (Cadet) John. That should guarantee my survival.



Anyway, the lizard didn’t attack last turn and is waiting right outside Torrolerial now. However, it is not in range of the farmer so no interruptions there. Unless lizards actually can double move over hill, which in that case I’m gonna cry a river.

Next in line is another scout or more accurately, the respawn of Dirk the Daring.



He’s been waiting patiently in the cellar, eager to get another chance in the wilds again (and possibly score a princess). Let’s hope he doesn’t succumb to any dangers on his ”first” try again.

Small notes:
WK finally finished a warrior this turn. Expect him to gain a pop the next.