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

[Nyktorion]

Turn 32

The plan from 3 turns ago has concluded: Hyll was founded on this turn! Since free culture from a religion is still some time away, Hyll actually builds a monument. One nice thing is that Hyll and Evermore are already connected by a trade route (due to the coastline, which is completely within our borders), hence Hyll already pays for itself.



There have been no changes in the others' soldier count for the last turns. Probably, most have ceased building warriors/scouts, and try to get some settlers out.

[Nyktorion]

Turn 33

This turn was rather uneventful ingame: I just hit enter, and somebody has built another warrior.

The founding of Hyll triggered a little bit of diplomatic chit-chat with WK, though:

Congratulations on building your second city. Surely this is a cause for celebration for the mighty Ljosalfor emipre.

until we meet again,
-WarriorKnight
Supreme Elder Monk

Thanks! Indeed, our people are glad to settle these forests once again.

Hoping to see the Elohim empire thrive just as well,
Nyktorion of the Ljosalfar

[Nyktorion]

Turn 34

Another domestically boring turn. However, there is some news from the C&D department:

• WarriorKnight, Irgy, and Mardoc each got a tech this turn. Research time wise, Calendar seems to be a likely choice for WK, Crafting for Irgy, and anything that's still left from the first column for Mardoc
  
• Irgy lost his scout this turn; somebody other than Irgy and Sir Yellow built a scout, and somebody other than Irgy and Sir Yellow lost a warrior
  
• Demo screen numbers are starting to look nice for us; we are tied for the first place in food production now!
  

[Nyktorion]

Turn 35

Evermore has finished a warrior this turn, so it has a defender again. I decided to already start working on another worker, so we can have a third worker shortly after cottages are enabled.

We have some more visitors to our empire:



However, I'm not particularly concerned about them being a threat to Hyll.

Globally, another warrior was lost by somebody; together with our own fresh warrior, we are rank 3 in soldier count now!

[Nyktorion]

Turn 36

Another slow turn. Goblins moved one step closer to Hyll, and somebody built another warrior.

The rival best in food lowered his food production again, so now we are strictly #1 in food:



According to my graphs, rival best in food was WarriorKnight; that might mean that he finished a settler now. If this is indeed the case, we will see so in the next few turns.

[Nyktorion]

Turn 37

Our second silk plantation is finished. Remaining research time for Education: 5 turns

Foreign news:

• Torrolerial grew to size 5
  
• Mardoc got another tech (only 3 turns after his last one!), and his capital shrank to size 4; my guess is that one of the two techs during the last few turns was found in a hut, and the population decrease was caused by an event
  
• The event log showed this:
  
  
  
  Without the philosophical trait, one would have to run a sage specialist for 23 turns to get one of these; that would require researching mysticism *and* building an elder council by T14! Therefore, a PHI leader (i.e. WarriorKnight) must have gotten Tephus. In 2 turns, it should become visible in the graphs (or maybe already during the next turn in the demo screen) whether WK chooses to settle the sage, build an academy, or even start a GA (the second option seems to be the most likely to me).
  

[Nyktorion]

Turn 38

News from the elven empire:



The goblins have not attacked Hyll yet. My worker would like to build a farm on the goblin tile next. Since I can't be sure whether the goblins will actually attack next turn, I built a road next to Hyll. In any case (unless the goblins wait for at least 2 more turns) this will only cost me one worker turn for starting the farm, but gain me that road network piece instead.

Irgy got a tech (only took 4 turns of research, so maybe one is from a hut again? or did he backfill an 80-beaker tech?). Both Mardoc and WK got a pop point. Mardoc clearly regained the lost pop point from last turn.
WarriorKnight's point increase comes from founding his second city, Glens of Killybegs.

Now, let's go for the demo screen:

• Land area reveals that Glens of Killybegs has 2 water tiles in its first circle.
  
• Total soldier count increased by 4k this turn (+1k from Glens, +3k from a warrior by the strongest rival - still Irgy?).
  
• The rival best GNP on the demo screen is quite impressive, considering that it was only 30 last turn. Most likely, WK built an academy, which in conjunction with his second city catapulted him from 23 (confirmed by graphs) to 41 GNP this turn.
  

EDIT: this is a good opportunity to exchange some more nice words with WarriorKnight:

Dear WarriorKnight,

we are pleased to hear stories from travellers visiting Evermore that the Elohim prosper. They report that a second Elohim city has been founded. There are also tales about a particularly wise Elder of the Elohim, who is teaching about his knowledge in a great academy.

Our congratulations,
-- Nyktorion of the Ljosalfar

[Nyktorion]

Got the following interesting response from WarriorKnight:

Dear Nyktorion,

We send our thanks for the congratulations for founding Glens of Killybegs.

Unfortunately, you are mistaken on the identity of this 'Great Sage'. This sage has not been born in the Elohim empire, despite our Philosophical ways. Perhaps this information can help you identify who managed to acquire it?

Our best wishes
WarriorKnight of the Elohim

This is indeed surprising. As I said before, running a single sage, you need 23 turns to pop the first GS without the PHI trait. That would require starting that sage at T13 or T14. Mardoc, Sciz, and Irgy got their first techs at T12/T13/T15, respectively, so I'm rather sure these three did not get their GS by just regularly building their elder council fast enough. That would leave Sir Yellow popping mysticism in a hut at T9, and building the elder councel immediately afterwards. However, with rival best prod. being 6 at that time, and the council costing 40h, I still don't see Sir Yellow finishing it fast enough to pop the sage right now. Moreover, I don't think that the GS was just found in a dungeon, we would not have seen that global message in that case. So, if WK speaks the truth - that could leave events as the source of this GS?

EDIT: I just looked through the "FFH Editor.xslm" file, and did not find the solution in there either. I found no events that directly give a great sage (only engineers, artists, and lots of prophet opportunities). There is the literacy event, which (I think) directly gives a settled great sage, which should not be shown globally. Then there are the controversial philosopher and "horticulture" techs giving a free sage each (yielding a great sage 23 turns later). However, I'm pretty certain that nobody had philosophy (prereq. for controversial philosopher) or calendar (prereq. for horticulture) by T14.

[Nyktorion]

Turn 39

There is quite a bit of domestic news this turn. First, the goblin attacked Hyll, and only scratched the defending warrior a bit, who is now at 4XP.



Worker #1 has finished the road SE of Hyll. Evermore has finished worker #2, which has moved onto the new road tile. The two workers can jointly start building the farm NW of Hyll the next turn (note: while that road cost worker #1 one turn, at the same it gained one turn for worker #2, so it was effectively free ).

The plan for Evermore is to build another worker now, which would finish in 5 turns. However, after growing to size 5, it would only take 4 turns, so I put one turn of Evermore's production into a warrior first.

Hyll grew to size 2 this turn, and is working another 2/1/0 forest now.

On to the foreign news:

The GNP graph neither confirms nor denies WarriorKnight's latest message:



His GNP was 31 or so last turn, up from 23. An academy or settled GS would still fit in here, but he might also have reached this number in other ways. And then there's still a civ out there whose GNP rushed from <=30 to 41 last turn! Honestly, I currently have no idea on the whereabouts of this GS. I decided to send WK this:

Dear WarriorKnight,

on one hand, we are a bit surprised by your information, but on the other hand it shows that travellers' tales are not always accurate. I currently have no idea about the true core of the 'Great Sage' story people are talking about. I can not imagine how it would be possible for any nation other than the Elohim to bring forth such a great philosophical mind so quickly* after the end of the endless winter. Still, we are glad to hear that at least some of the stories about the Elohims' prosperity are true.

wishing you the best,
Nyktorion of the Ljosalfar

* At least, gaining a great sage by running a sage in the capital that early would require any non-philosophical civ to gain mysticism and an elder council by T13 or T14

I think I can share some information here with him, he is giving me some too, after all

Sciz got another tech, which took him 13 turns. Extrapolating from his research speed for other techs and his generally high, flood plains powered GNP, that would most probably be Education.

Last, another warrior was built (neither by the strongest nor by the weakest rival).

[Nyktorion]

WarriorKnight has already answered, and that was what I was missing all along!

Dear Nyktorion

While your initial reasoning is correct, you have forgotten about one important point.

There is one other thing aside from Philosophical that affects GP rate this early in the game, and that is Pacifism. Switching to Pacifism reduces the time it takes for a Sage from 23 turns to 17. That means an Elder Council needs to be built by t18-19, a much more reasonable target.

Hopefully that solves the problem.

Until next time
Einion MonkKnight
Recently resurrected ancient leader of the Elohim

My answer:

Dear Einion MonkKnight,

thanks, that was a critical piece of information I missed!
At least concerning the Bannor, I can tell you that they have been valuing religion rather than pacifism all along until now.

best regards,
Nyktorion of the Ljosalfar

Since Sir Yellow didn't start with ancient chants, he is not one of the most likely candidates for the GS anyway, but I think it doesn't hurt our relationship telling him anyway. And who knows, maybe WarriorKnight tells me about Irgy in return. Since Irgy and Sciz are the two most likely candidates for the GS now (with Sciz being a bit more likely) that would be some nice info indeed.