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

[Mr. Yellow]

This turn starts with an event.



Which of course, don't matter to me. Kinda irritating that it's the RoK.



Else there's little going on. Plantation almost done, goblin hasn't suicided yet and the scout is being moved towards west. Speaking of west.


From turn 48

Didn't notice it untill now, but there's a clear coastline bleeding in the western and some of the south tiles. Which could possibly mean there isn't much land west of me and is uninhabited. If that's the case then i better get a look of it now.

Other notes:
WK and Nyktorion gained pops.

Anyway, been having more diplomacy with the elves and nomads. Still going on currently, but have already gained some juicy info out of it. Will be posting the exchange next time.

[Mr. Yellow]

Right, i had concerns of Irgy these last turns and didn't want to be at the end of a PZ rush i couldn't see. So i started asking Nyktorion if he had heard from more civs around.

[COLOR="Cyan"]Hello, Nyktorion.

How has your search for other civilizations gone? Some time ago we have made contact with Sciz of the Malakim, situatied somewhere south.
At the time of contact Sciz hasn't met any other civilizations other than us Bannors and were gonna search for more west. Haven't heard from him since then.
Our current concern are the mysterious people called the Sheaim, hiding somewhere out there. Were deadly afraid of what they could do and our mystics believe they will take the path
of aggression soon enough. It would be greatly apprechiated if you could share some news of your peoples journeys and the possible location of the Sheaim.

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

[COLOR="SeaGreen"]Dear Sir Yellow,

I am afraid to say that we have not made any contacts beside your empire and the Elohim, which we have told you about upon our initial contact. However, we can indeed offer you a bit of information about these "Sheaim", which the Elohim have told us about. According to Einion MonkKnight, their supreme leader, a Sheaim scout has reached their borders from the south.

Thanks for telling us about the Malakim! Am I correct in assuming that they are rather located south of your own empire, which would amount to something southwest of our scouts' initial meeting point? We have heard rumors about the great prosperity of these desert people, do you know more about the extent to which they are true?

It has been a long time since we last met, how have things been going for the Bannor during that time? As for the Ljosalfar, we have largely stayed within our own borders, and were largely focused on the prosperity of our own people so far. Also, travelers coming to Evermore have told stories about your empire developing in a similar direction; according to them, your initial city of Torrolerial has already grown quite nicely, and there are also stories about the recent founding of another Bannor city; congratulations on your empire's thriving!

Last, some of the recent stories that came to my ears were quite terrible: they talk about a brutal orcish king marauding the lands, but there is no information about his whereabouts yet. Do you know more about him? Luckily, we have not spotted him next to our own borders yet.

wishing you the best,
-- Nyktorion of the Ljosalfar[/COLOR]

So the Sheaim got in contact with WK. From the sound of it they are apparently directly south of the Elohim.
Anyway, this is a nice catch. Just the pirates left then. It's pretty clear Nyktorion wants to build a trusting relationship and since i have no current plans for the east, he could be an excellent trading partner. Would certainly like to get my hands on their dyes.

[COLOR="Cyan"]Us Bannors are doing fine for now, although our exploration trips have gone badly so far. Our scouts having seen little more but sand everywhere we've been and were sadly mauled by monsters and one of the rare dune bears.
We have seen nothing of this orc king, but are being plagued by an infamous mutated giant named Dagan-Gannd roaming the nearby lands. I got suspicions that the Malakim may have awakened this foul beast. Hope your situation isn't as dire.
Speaking of these Malakim, I have no idea of exactly where they might be in the south, but we're sure their lands are quite prosperous and their wealth intimidating.

We will look out for possible trading oppurtunities in the near future and have heard rumors of good quality dyes begin made in the eastern woods.
Maybe we can offer you something of worth by then. [/COLOR]

[COLOR="SeaGreen"]We have similar scouting problems as those you are mentioning. While we have not seen any giants or dune bears yet, there are quite a few goblins and griffons around our lands.

We are not producing any dyes in our lands. Still, I can imagine quite well see how those might have reached you, and these rumors do indeed have a piece of truth in them. In fact, I am quite pleased with the silk we have in our lands. While we are of course open for trades with other nations, I fear that our distance currently makes finding a good route for transporting any trading goods difficult. Of course, this may change later.

Speaking of these rumors about dyes and silks, I have knowledge of rumors, whose accuracy I estimate to be of a similar quality, about the Malakim. They say that, even though the Malakim generally live in the sands, the have settled in an area where a significant portion of the land has been made very fertile by a nearby river which floods these lands occasionally. Further, we have heard the tales of a religion praying to the earthmother being founded by an enlightened prophet of the Malakim. Finally, there are less consistent rumors about another great man who is very rich and joined the Malakim only a few years after the end of the ice age. Since you live closer to the Malakim than we do, you might have more accurate information about them; can that confirm or deny these rumors?
[/COLOR]

Ok, so i was wrong about them having dyes. Have to settle with their silk.
Also, this message can basically be shortened into "Do you know something more about the Malakim?"
Speaking of the Malakim, Sciz popped in with a message during the exchange.

[COLOR="Yellow"]Hey! His holiness just dialing in to see how it's going for you guys!
Haven't heard from you in a while, I trust everything is well? Got any
contact with any more civs? You're still our only contact, it's really
odd. Can't find anyone else. If we do I'll let you know of course!

Cheers,
Sciz, Divine Councilor of the Malakim[/COLOR]

[COLOR="Cyan"]Hello councilor.
We haven't heard from any other civs yet and have had rather bad luck with our exploration trips (one can be
attributed to a mutated giant named Dagan-Gannd, ringing any bells?).
Our current situation can be described as piss poor, though you've certainly had it better.
Founding the Runes of Kilmorph before turn 50 is no mean feat, nice work on that.
We have found oppurtunitues for expansion, but haven't seen any civs so far and it's possible some of it might be in neighbouring lands.
Where exactly is your peoples location compared to us? It would be apprechiated to know. Your fool was spotted to the south-west of our capital by the way.
Also, curious if you've seen any of this Orthus that has recently appeared.

Sir Yellow, frustrated Chief Advisor of the Bannors[/COLOR]

[COLOR="Yellow"]I do hope your situation gets better! I believe I am somewhat directly
west of you. Maybe a bit south as well, but not much. Mostly west.
Sorry about that Hill Giant, an unfortunate warrior did manage to pop
it from a lair, though luckily for you and us Hill Giants don't enter
territory, which can't be said about the Fawns who invaded my lands a
while ago. Though do note that I popped this lair to the west of me,
far from your borders, I wouldn't attempt to pop any lairs near you,
that would not be a neighborly thing to do.

I have it on good authority that Orthus will be "taken care of" next
turn. Or so I am told, anyways. What does an old spiritual man like me
know? You'll have no trouble from him, I'm happy to say.

May Kilmorph be with you,
Sciz[/COLOR]

I left our the part with the Sheaim intentionally, they are the strongest current civ right now and have the Sheaim pick Sciz as their target would be my ideal scenario.
I wasn't very sure what he meant regarding Orthus, but he did show up in Sciz lands and got killed soon after. I'm glad i didn't have to deal with Orthus at the moment, even though the axe is sweet.
Ah well, will have to settle with Dagan-Gannd and the glory of slaying him.

Those keen eyed may have spotted how my situation is described in each response. How did my situation go from fine to piss poor? I'll show you in the next turn.

Suprised me though he actually came from the west! I was pretty sure his lightbringer came from the south.

Anyway, sent one final message to Nyktorion after the exchange with Sciz.

[COLOR="Cyan"]Just had a chat with Sciz of the Malakim. Apparently they are to the west of me, not south as i first thought.
In addition Orthus has appeared over there as well, though Sciz is rather vague about that topic. That's all i got from it.
We haven't discovered their lands yet in case you wonder.[/COLOR]

So here's what i've gathered. Contact so far have been chained from person to person. That is Sciz - Mr. Yellow - Nyktorion - WK - Irgy. With the pirates either having really bad luck and is still isolated or gained contact with Irgy, continuing the chain.

More importantly though. Who really is situated in the south?! There's a huge amount of land in that direction, not to mention the Ruins of Patria even.

I see 3 possibilities:
1:
There's a coastline below i'm not far away from discovering, meaning land both me, Sciz and WK will contest for.
2:
The missing pirates are somewhere in that direction.
3:
The Sheaim could possibly be situated there!

And that is a big possibility, Nyktorion said their scout came in contact with WK from the south. But it's quite possible that their scout have been going east all day and then north.
If this is the case then that leaves me with a serious issue...


[SIZE="1"]..or an interresting possibility.[/SIZE]

[Mr. Yellow]

The next 2 turns, trouble came near the capital as expected.



What i didn't expect is that Scalie brought Joy and Compassion with him for the attack. Bah, this just a few turns before i'm done with the settler.
Anyway Hampshire brought back and stayed there for the next turn (which is quite possibly a bad move, consider there's one tile in the backyard that isn't farmed. But do i really need more farms?)

Also, scout was moved to the east to see if he could draw the attention of the skeletons. Sadly though, he didn't.



The scout was at the end moved on to the hill Dirk was, before he had to turn around. At least this time there are no lizard blocking the path now. Maybe this trip will be peaceful.



At Vallus, the first cotton has finally been improved! Bringing up a total of....2 commerce.
Dang it! Should have checked that cotton gives quite little compared to other luxuries.

So, my piss poor situation hasn't improved much and have to wait for Mining now to finally mine the much more valuable gems.
Speaking of Mining, i really hope there's some copper around.

Score notes:
Sciz, Mardoc, Nyktorion and WK gained pops.
Irgy got yet another huge boost in score (Daym!), 28 points. One has to be a tech. Should check if there's any signs of Bronze Working next turn.

[Mr. Yellow]

Next 2 turns got interresting. Really what is it with the AI?



Scalie actually caught on the scout and is in pursuit, the skeletons though....just wanders around. Anyway, time for some preperation for the settler. Moved one warrior to the hill next by to be the escort, while Hampshire is moved on the gems to start roading and then mine it.



Settler got done next turn and both he and the warrior is on the sheep. One of the skeleton moved closer in direction of Hampshire, but he has clear way back ot the capital and i even have a warrior to use if it gets closer.



Capital adjusted to get a warrior out in one turn.



At Vallus, the 2nd cotton is getting improved and Nutters is moved out to join the settler escort and check for spiders.



The scout has little to do now other than moving east. Thankfully no spiders in the first wood.
Next turn, scout was moved on the hill next, getting a nice view of the lower lands. Glad i went there as there is a scorpion near the river.



Hope to see Sciz soon!

Other notes:
Nyktorion found anew city on turn 55. At the same time Sciz found Calendar and switched to Agrarianism, boosting his food by a lot.

WK got another pop.
Irgy another tech. His big boost few turns ago can't be a tech then.
Nyktorion gained 19 points, 6 from new city. The rest not sure, could be pops.
Mardoc got 22 points. Not gonna check on that.
Sciz gained 11 points from finding Calandar.


Aaaand i'm depressed now. Everyone looks like they're running away from me. Their GNP is far superior to mine and the upkeep is starting to empty my vault.
Maybe i shouldn't have gone so far for the 2nd city, but there were hardly any good spots nearby, except maybe the lake southwest which i didn't get a clear picture of untill later.

Soon as i'm done with mining i need to get Festivals (especially), Education and Carthography ASAP. But all of this will take quite a lot of turns to research.

[icewolf34]

Aw, don't be depressed! The gems ought to help the commerce situation.

Just to make sure I'm understanding the situation: you are purposely misleading Sciz in saying that you haven't contacted any other civs yet, right? Is there a specific plan with that, or just general policy to not help him too much?

[Mr. Yellow]

Sciz is playing as one of the techer civs and made quite an achievement in getting Runes of Kilmorph before turn 50!
I consider him a big rival here that better not run away with the game.
It's preferred he is a little in the dark now regarding other civs, as i'm looking at the possibility of the Sheaim being my southern neighbours. If they are indeed going for a Pyre Zombie rush i will try to negotiate with them to target Sciz, this would benefit me even if i have to pay big for it. Of course this will raise the Armageddon counter as well, but really, screw the counter for the moment.

Speaking of Sciz, here's the latest discoveries.



I don't like this at all. First of all look at the nearby river. This is a pretty excellent spot for a city that i plan to grab for my 4th. Then we have Sciz too close for my liking.
He is still on 2 cities, so it's quite possible that he might grab that spot for his 3rd. I would have certainly gone there for my 3rd if i knew this before, but i couldn't get the info earlier cause of the damn lizard blocking Dirk then!

So i'm wondering if i should get some diplomacy going here, dig a little and see where he is expanding. Secondly Scalie is still in pursuit of the scout (Scalie and scorpion in the fog behind), so maybe i can get Sciz to let my scout enter his borders (fake war) and explore his lands a bit.



Anyway, warrior is done at the cap and have another one at queue. Irritates me a lot that i'm so close to finish Mining, but can't get it done in 1 turn.
Hampshire has finished a road, but has to sit idle for 1 turn before he can start mining. Finally, it looks like the skeletons are gonna suicide.



Crossing my fingers here. Nutters is in range if the first forest and we'll see if there's any spider in it. If not he'll check the rest of it. Hopefully there are none and that will guarantee my 3rd city in a few turns.
Even if there are any spiders, my warrior should have good odds here.
3 + 3*0,40 = 4,2 Warrior vs 5 - 5*0,40 (river penalty) = 3 strength Spider looks pretty good.

In addition the 2nd cotton has been improved, getting me a little more commerce. Elder Council done next turn as well.

Score notes:
WK, 31 points. Looks to be in a pretty good situation. Curious how it looks to him.
Nyktorion, 11 points. Tech. His GNP however, isn't that much better than mine now though.
Sciz had another pop, 6 points.

OK, feeling better now. My situation isn't as grim as i thought first, but i certainly am struggling a bit.
Plan for now is getting a few warriors then go straight for the next settler. Soon i get 4 cities i'll lay down a bit and improve my situation, before continue expanding.
Maintanence is gonna hurt though, so i better get Festivals next for markets.

[Mr. Yellow]

Right, so Sciz has been found. This turn those borders popped.



Anyway, time to see whats behind the shroud. Besides i don't have much choice with Scalie trailing behind.



....really? Gold and flood plains next to his border? Needless to say if Sciz settles on that desert hill next to the gold and the flood plains, i'll be royally pissed!
He's still on 2 cities as well, so it could be any moment that a settler pops up form the west. It's possible though that there are other lands in his sight at the moment, but there isn't much that beats a flood plain and gold combo.

Now, i think i should talk to Sciz about this. Neither of us are gonna like it if the other guy settles there.

That warrior by the way is undoubtably the slayer of Orthus. He got 5 combat promos, the axe and some other i've yet to check. He's currently guarding the mountain pass it appears (as well as keeping a burrows in check).



I've started paying unit maintanence this turn, so no more warriors from here. I considered what to build next and either a Elder Council or Worker would be the best, but i decided to get my next settler up. I need to grab that the southwest land fast.
Not sure about grabbing the gold (it's a bit too far away for my liking and i don't want to settle next to Sciz), but i'll certainly get the flood plains. Think i'll settle next to the lake on the desert, on the tile which i've marked.

Hampshire sadly had to sit idle this turn, waiting for mining to get done.
One thing i've overlooked though is if the gems really are connected. I need Fishing to use the river, even though i've roaded all the necessary tiles. Have to see once it's mined.

Finally the skeletons have gathered, ready to strike next turn. Soon that threat is gone, a few warriors will scout the land in the west.



No spider from the first woods. Sadly a goblin spawned this turn and i didn't like the possibility of a spider and goblin combo to attack poor Nutters if he moved over the river, so i fortified him on the spot.
I wasn't sure what to build in Vallus next. Units weren't needed at the moment (another scout was tempting, but with that bugger in the mountains watching us, that plan was scrapped).
For buildings there were the granary, herbalist and the monument. Health is needed, but a herbalist takes a lot of hammers to get done and it gives hardly much. I got grain at the cap for the granary health bonus, but it will still be some time till a road connection is made.
So i decided to go for the monument. Best to grab the rest of the farmland now before the city gets too big.

Other notes:
2 turns ago, Nyktorion did a triple revolt! Apprenticeship, Nationhood and God King.
WK gained 12 points, a tech.


Ending the turn finishes Mining, which means copper was revealed! Checked around and spotted 2 of them. One close to the west.



And another far to the south.

[Mr. Yellow]

Not hard to see the stir of activity in the lurker thread, after my recent updates.
Makes me wonder what it could mean, the most prominent being: "I'm about to screw up, i'm about to screw up!"

Right, recent news on Sciz border is that it's the captial shown there, not his 2nd city. That's...closer than i would have like. The Malakim warrior moved away from the burrow this turn and a skeleton popped up. Apparently he was farming it for XP. Does he want the Form of the Titan?

Moved the scout on the gold next and looking at the peculiar spread of the border, it's quite likely his 2nd city is close by to the south. Else there's nothing but sand below.



Nothing interrested happening in the capital area. Hampshire started to mine and only 1 of the skeletons suicided.

At the eastern area. The goblin suicided against Nutters, dropping him down to 2.3 strength and giving him the poison promotion. Would have liked to heal a bit before continuing, but the settler is only 1 turn away from the destination and i need complete info on the area. So Nutters was moved on the destination spot, checking the last 2 woods.
If Nutters gets killed, i'll retreat back and instead go west to grab the lake and river for 3rd.



Went for Festivals next. In addition i'll be running 0% science a few turns soon to take advantage of the 50% gold from God King. Almost out of money and the tech isn't important till the settler and monument is done.



A shot of the demographics. I've looked at the recent graphs as well and it's clear Sciz isn't the leader in GNP anymore. Someone else is running high and it's either WK or Mardoc.
My GNP situation is better now than before and i'll even be close to the pack once i get gems.

Score notes:
Irgy, 6 points. Pop
Mardoc, 11 points. Tech.

Finally, i sent a message to Sciz, voicing my concern about the land.

[COLOR="Cyan"]Hey Sciz, recently discovered what i believe is the location of your 2nd city. Even the slayer of Orthus stood there proudly, watching over the valley.

But anyway, i'm having slight concerns regarding land here.
As mentioned before, i have it a little rough currently and availible land is one of the issues.
Right now the entire south is barren, north is coastal and i am restricted to west and east.

So when i scout west and see a gold + flood plain combo next to your border (and quite close to me), i can't say i was pleased.

So really, i'd like to talk about this.
Now i'm not saying you are forbidden to grab it, but take note that it will annoy me to great lengths if this area turns yellow (especially considering the current GNP situation).
Also, curious how you got a GP so early in the game.

Sir Yellow, wishing for little rain[/COLOR]

[COLOR="Yellow"]I'm aware of your concern, but that area is just around my doorstep,
and to be frank I'm not giving it up. I need at least one buffer city
to my capital, and from what I see you are much further away from that
area than what I am.

I don't want any hostilities between us, but I believe I am justified
to take that spot. You can still expand east of that though, there are
flood plains to your direct south.

My GP generating was how you normally get GPs, a priest specialist
from our desert shrine

Wishing you well,
Sciz[/COLOR]

Wishing you well? Yeah right.

My message did sound a little whiny, but i didn't want to let it pass silently. Either way, Sciz doesn't really care. He is gonna grab it sooner or later.
So screw this! That land is too important to pass by. The gold is out of reach, but that river will be mine. We got a race!
Let's see if i can get a settler down in 10 turns.

And the snippet about the GP is a clear lie. He got the spike in GNP around 10
turns into the game and you don't even have Mysticism by then. This was rather minor info and wants to even hide that. Not a player i'll be trusting much from here and will be keeping him close.

[Mr. Yellow]

One player switch later and it's a different situation.

[COLOR="Yellow"]Hi!

Thoth from RB here.

I've taken back over the Malakim from Sciz (I managed to get Frankenputer running again and he's feeling Civ burnout).

He hasn't posted much in the way of diplo correspondence in our spoiler thread, but he did post your last exchange.


I understand your concerns about land, I've been feeling similarly. There is a *lot* of desert to the south and I have coast to my north and west which will hamper my short term expansion. The borders your scout was seeing belong to my capital not my second city.

Close proximity is awkward. I would prefer to negotiate a settling agreement and a NAP with an eye to long term co-operation and trade, however I will be settling to claim the gold and some of the floodplains in the near future. I did have my eye on the marble, but given it's proximity to your capital I would be willing to concede settling rights to it.

In regards to future trading possibilities, I would like to borrow your water mana for 10 turns once I've got some adepts in play. I could provide you with some of my own palace mana in exchange, or perhaps spread RoK to a city or two of yours (we would need open borders for that of course).

I would also like to borrow the marble for awhile at some point in the future, perhaps in exchange for a loan of copper? There is a copper source to the far south that you could claim, but it's a long way away and may be difficult to claim in the face of barb activity.

GNPwise.....I'm not all that far ahead of you (bear in mind my numbers are being inflated by Creative culture + Holy city culture).
Someone has a GNP of 80+. Him I'm worried about. I don't know who it is, but my best guess is the Lanun with multiple pirate ports and an Academy. I *really* hope they have the Sheam as a close neighbour.


Anyway, that's probably enough for an introductory email.

Hope to hear from you soon,

Charles (aka Thoth, aka Varn Gosam aka WTF is my name anyway?)[/COLOR]

That's quite a different reponse and one i'm willing to respect.

[COLOR="Cyan"]Hey Thoth, that's a muuuuch better response than what Sciz gave.

Right, i can see your situation from that view. But that middle land is just too important and want to come to an agreement on who settles where.
I am willing to concede the gold, but it's the flood plains that's the issue. There's only one good spot for me there (which is the desert tile to the west of the lake) and it would grab a lot of it.
The only other good spot is overidden by a lake tile and the optional one lacks hammers.
My ideal agreement is that you settle on the tile north of the gold, while i take that good spot. You get gold and cows that way, but hardly any flood plains.
For that reason i am willing to sweeting the deal a bit by offering some additional goodies if we do it like that.

Speakling of water mana, i don't have any, but i do have a node close by that i am gonna turn into water. This area seriously lacks rain.
Regarding copper, that won't be an issue as i have another source close by.
Still i'm willing to trade later on and i do have an interrest in some of your manas and possibly Rune of Kilmorph.

I've been holding off info a bit cause i weren't sure about your friendliness. From the current talks with the elves it's quite possible the Sheaim are located to the south of us.
Haven't made any more contact though.
Regarding the one with 80+ GNP. While Mardoc is a good guess, it's quite possible WK could be in lead too.

Sir Yellow, Chief advisor of the Bannors[/COLOR]

Completely changed my stance now. No more hostilites for now and another player i'm willing to cooperate with. Finding out who gets what land is gonna be the big issue, but i feel we can get somewhere here.

[icewolf34]

Wow, nice timing for a switch. Maybe you guys can work something out.