[SPOILERS] Tales from the Enchanted Forest - Thessa of the Ljosalfar

[Nyktorion]

Turn 23

Blitz session has started!

Good news already: the third goblin could be fended off without suffering any wounds. The worker has finally woken up and finished the road 1N of the corn this turn (this way, he can start a silk plantation next turn, and no worker turn is wasted). Also, after hitting enter, Evermore got its third cultural ring:



In foreign news, only WK got any point increases this turn, and that was due to his second capital ring kicking in.

[Nyktorion]

Hmm, seems like we are missing one player, so probably no blitz session after all, today

Some diplo I did with WarriorKnight in the meantime:

Dear WarriorKnight of the Elohim,

it has been a long time since we had our last contact. There are certainly a lot of griffons and goblins running around out there, making it rather difficult to explore this land, and hence also making it difficult to get any meaningful news to report to each other. Our scouts already met their end, the Bannor scout we met devoured, and we have heard that yours did not fare much better; our belated condolences on that.

The specific reason why we are getting in contact again is that the NAP we signed is going to run out soon. Since we wish to continue living in peace with you, we hereby would like to offer you an extension of our NAP by another 20 turns; that would make its expiration date T45. Would you agree to this?

wishing you the best,
Nyktorion of the Ljosalfar

This prompted the following chat:

WarriorKnight: hey
Ich: hi
WarriorKnight: since we're both online, its probably easier to sort things out over chat
Ich: Sure
Just wanted to start the formalities already, too
WarriorKnight: true
for the NAP, yes its about to run out
t45 sounds good to me
Ich: or should we even do something larger already?
like 30 turns?
WarriorKnight: eh, im kinda not interested in increasing the length that much
otherwise wecan get long term NAP's and such
but ill sign one until t50 for a nice round number
Ich: Right, tying up one's hands too much is not good either
and it's quick speed, after all
okay, if we do something till T50 now, then we have nice round numbers for future NAPs too
So T50 sounds good to me
WarriorKnight: ok, signed by me
Ich: /signed, too
WarriorKnight: shame there isn't really much else to discuss right now, but that's FFH early game i guess
the sheaim also lost their scout near our land
so it seems that the animals rule the world now
Ich: yeah, with those griffons, we got one of the worst draws concerning barbs
bears you can at least dodge... sometimes
and spiders are the same (for scouts)
WarriorKnight: sometimes, sometimes you end turn right next to them
Ich: well, those animals will lose their rule soon enough :P
WarriorKnight: soon as in the several turns it requires us to settle erubus or whatever its called nowdays
Ich: Illyria was the suggestion, I think
WarriorKnight: but yeah, they'll be gone soon enough
ok, ill have to remember that

And here's the formal confirmations:

Dear WarriorKnight,

hereby we formally acknowledge the NAP extension until T50, which we just agreed upon in our discussion.

best regards,
-- Nyktorion

Nyktorion

I acknowledge the NAP extension, agreed until t50.

WK

I hope this keeps up some good relations between us. Both of us only have 2 warriors each, so war wouldn't make sense for anyone, anyway, and a NAP keeps up nice relationships, and is also in some sense a counterweight to his sanctuary for us
Also, some little information sharing keeps up the nice tone between us.

[Nyktorion]

Turn 24

Not much happened during this turn: I just moved the worker onto the silks, and started building a plantation, which will take 7 turns.



Cahir Abbey grew to size 5 this turn. Both WarriorKnight and Irgy got a tech. Irgy used 9 (or rather 8, if he revolted to God King) turns on getting this tech, so I it fits nicely with agriculture (or exploration, though agri is more likely). He used 16 turns on that, with an average GNP of a bit more than 12, so he probably has mysticism now. If his free tech was crafting, it could verey well be mining, too.

[Nyktorion]

Turn 25

Nothing happened in the Ljosalfar lands, so I just hit enter.

Sciz's capital grew to size 5. Oh, and in the last two turns, two civs got a warrior each (neither Sir Yellow nor WK, it seems).

So, how are we doing compared to the other civs? Here is the demo screen:



In these numbers, we are falling behind a bit. This is mostly due to our capital still sitting at size 3 (considering that, our food is actually looking veery god). Still, I am not worrying too much. Very probably, Hyll will be the first non-capital, non-barbarian city on all of Illyria, and with Cottages coming in soon (again, I think that we will be the first to reach those), Hyll can become actually useful right away. Also, once Evermore does start growing, it should be able to work mostly improved tiles (just as Hyll); for that reason, I'm planning to get another worker after that settler in Evermore.

EDIT: some looking around the graphs revealed that the scout built at T22 is Sir Yellow's

EDIT2: looking in the event log revealed that WK indeed got mysticism last turn, as he switched to God King

[Nyktorion]

Turn 26

Another turn without anything happening in the Ljosalfar lands.

Sciz got a tech this turn, 8 turns after his last tech. Since he got agriculture (79 beakers) in 5 turns, this would fit for calendar or fishing (160 beakers, 20% bonus). With his flood plains start, calendar is the most likely choice by far. Irgy built another warrior, and there a fourth +1k increase in global soldier count. Maybe a scout died, and another warrior was trained?

[Nyktorion]

Turn 27

No point increases for anyone else this turn. Upon hitting enter, we discovered ancient chants. Somebody built another warrior this turn. Graphs reveal that the lost scout last turn was Sir Yellow's, and the other warrior was WarriorKnight's. So rival worst soldier count (8k) is no Yellow instead of WK.

Of the graphs I looked through, this one was particularly interesting:

[Nyktorion]

Turn 28

We got ancient chants this turn!
Next project will be, as planned, education, for spamming cottages on all non-special tiles within our city borders (and making Hyll and the following expansive cities profitable).

Again, we got hit by the "eaten something that does not agree" event:



Luckily, it was just a warrior this time, and not the worker again!

Mardoc got a tech this turn. Global soldier count remained equal.

WarriorKnight kept up his high production from last turn - being in God King probably convinced him to get even more hammers for good measure. I wonder whether he will be cranking out warriors, or rather be getting a settler like this. Watching his power over the next few turns should tell us more here.

[Nyktorion]

Turn 29

Nothing really to report for this turn; I just hit enter, and nothing notable is happening in the other civs' land, either. So I'll take that as an opportunity to consolidate some information.

First, the movement plan for the next three turns. After hitting enter on the next turn, the settler in Evermore will be finished, and I plan to found Hyll at T32 unless barbarians force me to change my plans. Next turn, the plan is to start moving the future defense for Hyll into position (incidentally, the "does not agree" event for the 3XP-warrior will wear off at that point).

After finishing the settler in Hyll, I plan to get another warrior or two in Evermore, since there will be some time until more worker power is needed for cottages. I want to finish the second worker around the same time as Education is researched. Therefore, I'm playing with the thought to move both of Evermore's warriors into Hyll.

Red arrows are planned warrior moves, and blue is the color for the settler:



Now, a summary of the C&D information we have about our contenders.

WarriorKnight:
Techs: Ancient Chants (T0), mystery free tech (T1), Agriculture (T8), Mysticism (T24)
Military: 11k soldiers (9k from 3 warriors, 2k from 5 pop)
Capital: size 5 (since T24), landlocked
Misc info: NAP until T50, has met Irgy, southwest of us, worker start

Irgy:
Techs: Ancient Chants (T0), Mysticism (T15), Agriculture? (T24)
Military: (assuming they're rival best) 16k soldiers (12k from 4 warriors, 2k from 1 scout, 2k from 4 pop)
Capital: size 4 (since T11), landlocked
Misc info: has met WarriorKnight, south of WarriorKnight, non-worker start

Sir Yellow:
Techs: Exploration (T0), mystery free tech (T9), Fishing (T15)
Military: (rival worst) 8k soldiers (6k from 2 warriors, 2k from 4 pop)
Capital: size 4 (since T21), 1 water tile in first ring, 3 water tiles in second ring
Misc info: hasn't told us about other contacts yet, west of us (desert inbetween), worker start

Mardoc:
Techs: Seafaring (T0), Fishing (T12), mystery free tech (T12), mystery first column tech (T19), mystery second column tech (T28)
Military: sharing 22k soldiers with Sciz (18k from X+Y=6 warriors, 4k from 5+5 pop)
Capital: size 5 (since T22), 3 water tiles in the first ring, 5 water tiles in the second ring
Misc info: non-worker start

Sciz:
Techs: Ancient Chants (T0), Mysticism (T13), Agriculture? (T18), Calendar? (T26)
Military: sharing 22k soldiers with Sciz (18k from X+Y=6 warriors, 4k from 5+5 pop)
Capital: size 5 (since T25), landlocked, has 5-7 flood plains
Misc info: non-worker start, great merchant settled in capital

[Nyktorion]

Turn 30

Everything went according to plan. The warriors were moved towards the prospective location of Hyll. The worker finished his first silk plantation. This cuts down research time on Education:



Nothing new to report on the other civs. However, I was surprised a bit that we are still #4 in GNP despite our new silk plantation:



Note: the graphs suggest that ranks 5 and 6 in GNP are inhabited by WarriorKnight and Sir Yellow.

[Nyktorion]

Turn 31

The settling plan for Hyll proceeds just as expected:



The score increase of Sciz surprised me at first; however, I just realised that this is just the effect of his capital gaining its third cultural ring 20 turns before.