[Spoilers] Cometh the Messiah - Varn Gosam and the Malakim

[SevenSpirits]

Yeah, the GNP figure includes your gold income per turn (which is -10 in this case).

I'm loving all the screenshots!

[Rowain]

I'm loving all the screenshots!

Seconded

[Ilios]

Yeah, the GNP figure includes your gold income per turn (which is -10 in this case).

I'm loving all the screenshots!

Seconded

Well, I'm glad you guys appreciate the effort.

In other news, my portable pc has just died. I'm almost certain it's the battery... No, I'm pretty sure it's the adaptor... Wait, no, it must the fan?... In any case, I must have pissed off some feminist laptop god for not giving my girlfriend the attention she deserves. Hey... maybe SHE sabotaged my window to the world!!

Anyhow...

I've had to reanimate my trusty desktop, remove all the dust, and install the patch etc etc.

The good news is that the game is working, and I've been able to play the turn. =)

The bad news is that updates will be reduced to the bare minimum for the time being.

[Ilios]

T55:

Things are looking up in the Malakim Empire:



I'm sorry if the image is too large. I haven't figured out how to crop it. So you'll just have to scroll, nah!

Augustinus has finished the Gold Mine at En-Kai, while the Workers around Ra have finished a Winery.

Ignatius has put a turn into a desert Mine, and will be able move to the copper tile next turn, with Thomas finishing the road.

The unhappy citizen at Helios was bribed by the Gold resource flowing into the capital, and has been set to work the unimproved copper tile (true yield 1/3/0 thanks to God King).

Demographics:



Another turn will be shaved off Way of the Earthmother next turn, when En-Kai finishes the Elder Council and hires a Scientist.

C & D:

The Luchuirp have gained another pop, most likely in their second city.

The Lanun have discovered Mining.

The Calabim have lost 3 points... Technology discovered and lost a pop? Has Orthus made his first kill?

[NobleHelium]

What happens with animals that end up inside the border due to new city/cultural expansion anyway? Are they programmed to move out immediately on the next turn, or do they have a choice to stay put or move out, or do they get expelled automatically, or what?

[Ilios]

What happens with animals that end up inside the border due to new city/cultural expansion anyway? Are they programmed to move out immediately on the next turn, or do they have a choice to stay put or move out, or do they get expelled automatically, or what?

If the animal is completely surrounded by culture, then it has no choice but to stay put.

As you can see in the screenshot around Ra, this is not the case. Ra's borders have popped 2-3 turns ago, and the Bears haven't moved yet. In SP games I've seen this happen as well, and they should move outside my borders after a while, alltough I don't know if there is a trigger. I do know that if I were to put a unit outside of my borders next to one of the Bears, it would attack the unit right away.

I'm hoping they stay put ofcourse, so I can give them a party hat each and set them to entertain the deserving masses of the Malakim Empire! :hat:

[NobleHelium]

Okay, so clearly the programming logic says that animals can only move onto tiles that are not within cultural borders, and the current tile of the animal is irrelevant.

[Ilios]

Good news! I have sacrificed my dog to appease said feminist laptop god, and lo, the computer works!

So without further ado...

T56 & T57:

Quiet turns really, workers do their thing etc:



Helios finished another Warrior, Moseh de la Cruz, who will take position on the plains forest hill south of the Copper.

The next turn the capital put just enough hammers into another warrior to not finish it in a turn, allowing a switch back to the Settler next turn. I'll switch it back to the Warrior just before finishing the Settler to serve as an additional escort.

The city has grown into unhappiness again, which should disappear once I get the free RoK thane to spread Way of the Earthmother.

Thomas and Ignatius will finish the Copper Mine, after that one of them will build a road section and the other will move to the plains river hill and mine.

The Workers on the plains Reagants hill have finished a road first, in case a Lizard spawns on the Ruins, and I need to move them into safety, allowing them to easily move back to finish the Mine once the Lizard has been killed.

En-Kai has finished the Elder Council:



And is now responsible for half the Beaker production in the Malakim Empire. :hat:

The city will switch to a plains forest right before growing to size 7, finish the Desert Shrine and hire a Priest. I can't touch those lovely Incense and Gold tiles, so I'll have to remove a grass farm, which will result in 1-food-deficit per turn. It will only take another 5-6 turns to get a great person, so no harm done.

Switching Civics:



I'll be switching to Religion Civic once I pop a GP.

Demographics:



Serdoa is still the clear leader in MFG, due to building Expansive Settlers and/or Philosophical Elder Councils.

You can see that everyone has about the same Power rating, which brings me to this screen:



Growing the capital to size 8 has increased the Empire's free Units to 11, which means I'm currently paying for one extra unit. At 17 pop, I have double the population of say, the Lanun. So if some of my opponents have the same number of units, they must be paying a lot of gold to pay for the upkeep of their units.

City Maintenance is really starting to hurt, I can't wait for RoK to soothe my financial worries...

C & D:

T56:

The Balseraphs have gained land points for their city by the Dragon Bones, and have gained a pop.

The Lanun have gained a pop.

T57:

The Calabim have gained 22 points... I really need to review them soon if I want keep track of them!

[Ilios]

T58 & T59:

Couple of Events:



A Great Merchant! Looks like someone explored a Dungeon/Ruins/Barrow. Or the Calabim have had the Festivals tech for a while and have been running a Merchant Specialist after building a Market (only 20 hammers for Financial Civs).

The Luchuirp have build Barnaxus, and will be killing Barbs to get him up to Combat 5, then retire him to the Dwarven Capital while he increases the Strength of every Golem built by 50%.

The Balseraphs have discovered Calendar, and have revolted out of Pacifism and to Agrarianism and Nationhood.

Ending the turn pops both En-Kai's and Helios' borders, so time for new overview map:



Another Unique Feature has been located, almost as good as the Tomb of Sucullus.

The Standing Stones count as a source of Earth mana. Yay...
I want the Mirror of the Heavens!

Workers are preparing the addition of a new city to the Malakim Empire:



Augustinus has moved to the west of Moseh the Warrior. He'll farm the grass forest, and should finish when the new city is founded. Two chops should finish its Monument before the switch to Financial.

Thomas has moved on the plains hill, and will add a much needed even number of hammer tiles to the capital (the God King bonus rounds down).

I'm hoping the circled tile reveals Horses, which not only is a decent tile to work in the beginning at the game (riverside, so 2/3/3 with Financial), but also because I need them to build Chariots and Rathas.

Next turn, we'll know if I get to found Way of the Earthmother.
Will likely be founded in En-Kai, which should allow me to culturally dominate the lands around, especially if I manage to pop a Great Savant for an Academy.

Demographics:



Someone just leapfrogged me to first place in GNP...



And it doesn't seem to be anyone I've met. My money is on the Calabim who settled the Great Merchant.

C & D:

The Balseraphs discovered Calendar (T58 )

The Calabim have gained a pop (T58 )

The Lanun have discovered another tech, Festivals? (T58 )

[Ilios]

T60:


So apparently, it was the Orthus-killing Lanun who had the audacity of beating me to first place in GNP:



As you can see in the demographics:



Wait, no...

The Malakim are back in the lead! :hat:

Thanks to:





This calls for a celebratory quiz!

Behold this screenshot, taken before ending turn:



It's not quite clear, but Huldrych has put a turn into a chop, meaning next turn he'll finish it.

Question:

What is the most important reason for clearing this particular forest?

The winner gets to pick my next city's name (provided it stays within the same theme).

Any takers?