[SPOILERS]- Crazy Keelyn is trippin’ Balz: Bobchillingworth of the Balseraphs

[DaveV]

Beware of being too candid in your chats. In PBEM1, I think you discussed attacking each of the other civs, and word got around. Unless you want to roleplay a crazy clown, it's better to establish friends early and try to nurture those relationships.

[Bobchillingworth]

PBEM 1 was odd, from a diplomatic standpoint. I ended up being last second-allies with Iskender... a few turns before he was invaded and very shortly thereafter died. Cull and Sareln were vassals, although for very different reasons. Selrahc and I both pretended to be more friendly with each other than we really were, although we never did come to actual blows. And PB was apparently my archenemy from before we even had contact



But point taken, no evil gloating / sharing of sinister plans. FWIW both SL and Serdoa were the ones who first broached the subject of wars, with each talking about attacking the other. For my part I said nothing about any military plans of my own, besides suggesting to Serdoa that I might be able to assist him with Loki. My tenuous Gibbon rush plan is & shall remain a secret


Diplomatically I think I'm just going to be myself, with all the rambling chats and grammatical errors that implies. If I do drift into RP Land at all though, I'll aim less for Selrahc's Keelyn-as-Twisted-Alice, and more for slightly different Princess:




(Azula is lookin' good... and smug.)


And then when everything breaks down, I can really get into some roleplay! :



(Like all classy ladies, Azula knows when to let her hair down)

[Bobchillingworth]

Met both Sareln and Tredje, leaving only Iskender to go. Tingle ended yesterday's turn next to a Giant Spider and seemed lost, but mercifully one of Sareln's explorers ended turn right beside the same Spider & got eaten instead.


I chatted with Sareln for a bit, mostly about the map, and I now have what I think is a more-or-less accurate representation of everyone's starting positions:





Note that I still have no idea what the coastline looks like, or how close the Clan are to me. The data I'm basing my map off of is as follows:


* Tredje met Sareln on turn 5 or 6, arriving from the east.

* Iskender is about 10 tiles diagonally NE from Sareln's capital.

* Iskender's capital is close to parallel with SL's.

* SL is about 16 tiles north of me (I keep forgetting to do an exact count)

* The Clan are to my west.

* Serdoa's capital is 12 tiles distant SL's, almost parallel (a couple tiles more to the south).

* General consensus among players is that we're on a Terra script, with Acheron & the Frigus on the "New World" landmass.




As for the Clan, this was Tredje's introductory email to me:

[COLOR="DarkOrange"]It was a lovely Sunday morning.

Queen Keelyn, having spent all Saturday in the arena, was incredibly bored.
She gathered her advisors around her and asked them to come up with something for her to do on such a grand day.
The first advisor, a balding man with a worried look on his face, was urged to step forward.
His lips trembled. It was obvious that he knew the consequenses of failure.

"Perhaps the Queen would wish to visit the Zoo? I have been told that we have received some fresh elven specimen."
"NO! Elves are boring! Even dwarves are more interesting than elves. Guards, off with this man's head!"

The advisor threw himself to the floor, begging for mercy, but to no avail. The guards decapitated him on the spot.
Then the second advisor was called upon. He was a younger man with his hair colored pink and he wasn't wearing any pants.
He was Keelyn's most trusted advisor.

"The Queen must bathe! In the ocean! And we must bring carrots, lots of carrots! And we will throw them into the ocean.
And then, when the seals come..."

Queen Keelyn waved her hand and the trusted advisor was removed. Then she stated: "Yes, I will go swim in the ocean."

An hour later Queen Keelyn and her retinue had arrived at the coast. After enjoying her favourite snack of deep fried pigs ears,
Keelyn exclaimed that it was time for her royal higness to go for a swim. No one was allowed to be closer than a hundred yards from her,
because although she was crazy as a loon, she was still a young girl and very insecure about her own body. She made sure that she
was alone and jumped into the water. It was so refreshing, and she giggled delightfully as she practiced her breast strokes. But then, suddenly,
she heard squabbling voices in the bushes not far from where she was swimming.

"Let me see pretty lady! You already see much! My turn!"
"No, you wait. I not finished."
"I hit you if you not move. I serious."
"If you hit, I... Oh, she notice us! Run!"

Quen Keelyn, now in full panic, called for her royal guard. When they searched the bush from whence the noise had emanated, all they could find
were footprints in the mud. A speedily assembled search party could not locate the culprits. Queen Keelyn went home feeling angry and slightly violated.
She knew. She knew that someone had watched her practice her breaststrokes.[/COLOR]

Alas I didn't have a clever story of my own to reply with, so I simply sent a rather pedestrian response:

[COLOR="Yellow"]Hehe, well done. That's now totally canon. Maybe Sareln can make it Hafgan the Purger's civiliopedia text if he adds him to his balance mod :P

Did we get contact outside of my capital or did you meet one of my units?


Hit me up on Google chat sometime if you want to discuss the map / other civs / whatever.


-Bobchillingworth [/COLOR]

Tredje had a very impressive power spike recently. Considering his text about the Orcs making contact with me quickly & then darting away, I think the best explanation is that he found my borders with a goblin Wolf Rider, before running back west.

[DaveV]

If I do drift into RP Land at all though, I'll aim less for Selrahc's Keelyn-as-Twisted-Alice, and more for slightly different Princess:

Does that mean you'll be going for early fire adepts? And if we're going with Avatar avatars, I should by rights get the old guy:

[Hesmyrr]

Does that mean you'll be going for early fire adepts? And if we're going with Avatar avatars, I should by rights get the old guy:

IMAGE IROH

Great, you beeline for the best character straight away. People in this forum will rob every best available choices away the very moment you make a mistake

Hope Serdoa don't take your Loki comment as actual commitment, though of course depending on later power development you may choose to do so anyway. Which civilization do you find to be bigger threat out of Sheaim or Luchuirp? I don't think you ever managed to complete rival analysis on the dwarves.

[Bobchillingworth]

Less fire Adepts (although...), more encouraging my "friends" to kill each other Subtlety and discretion are the goals, though- no fiendish twirling of mustaches or rubbing of hands in malevolent contemplation.



I was actually being genuine when I told Serdoa that I might be able to bring Loki. Consider: Loki is expensive, but my capital has several hills, is built on a plains hill, is working a pastured plains cow, and will soon have the Godking bonus. I want to build Loki before I switch to Aristocracy and lose the 50% hammer advantage, so I likely will have him out & about anyway by the time Serdoa is ready to attack.


Hmm, I do still need to do write-ups for the Clan and Dwarves. I had put those aside once the game started running and I had actual turn reports to post, but I'll try to put something together for them eventually.

For a brief answer as to who I fear most of the Luchuirp or Sheaim, it of course depends. PZ and Wood Golems are both alarming (PZ more so), which is why I'll be very happy if both if SL and Serdoa try to kill each other. In the long term however I'm more worried about SL- I think that I can handle summons from Serdoa with my own mages + Stygian Guard if he specializes in specters. I'm at a loss though for reliable counters to Iron Golems- my mimics have too low base strength to be reliable counters, and none of my mage summons will be very effective against them. So my preference is to back Serdoa if they do indeed fight, with necessary qualifications to ensure that he doesn't then immediately turn his PZ on me. Both SL and Serdoa have been friendly in chats, so right now my decision on who to support is based entirely on future strategic concerns rather than immediate self-preservation.



I also had a brief chat with Tredje today. Not a whole lot to report, we mostly exchanged map info. He said that he's about 14 tiles to my west, and that most of the land between us is junky desert. He thinks that he's around 10-12 tiles from Sareln- apparently they both sent their starting units toward each other and met half-way. I'm getting the impression that Iskender and I have the most distance between ourselves and our opponents, but I'll await more visual confirmation of that fact before celebrating.


Oh and Sareln is getting choked badly by the barbs. Apparently lizardmen are constantly attacking him, with a CI lizard running around his BFC, preventing him from improving tiles and refusing to actually attack. He's had to put settling on hold, and will throw warriors at the lizards until he can clear them away. If he's weak then he looks like a better Clan target, so I suppose this benefits me indirectly.

[Bobchillingworth]

A slightly eventful turn 34-





25 gold for a grave isn't too bad (especially when the other option gives a permanent -1 health). I have a badly injured Combat II Shock warrior who could open it once he heals up, but he's slated to garrison my first expansion as an anti-Orthus / rush measure. So I'll just leave it in place for now.





Located the Clan lands, and they're distressingly close to me. Assuming my settling party isn't delayed, I'll settle my first expansion 1S of the ivory in four turns. Hopefully there isn't an Orc party arriving more quickly. The ivory location will cut off Clan access to my lands from the west, so it's a clear priority. I'm tempted to then throw my next city 2E of the northern cow. That will be a fantastic future location, but more isolated than I'd like for very early on. I could also risk antagonizing the Clan, although I think they're looking right now like my optimal first target.

[DaveV]

I'll settle my first expansion 1S of the ivory in four turns.

How about *on* the ivory? Plains ivory isn't the greatest bonus tile even after you have hunting (which is in the distant future, I think), but gives a 2-hammer city tile, which is a big deal.

[Bobchillingworth]

That's actually where I first placed the city when I was drawing up my initial dotmap a week or two ago. Settling on the ivory misses a FP though, which I won't be able to get with a city further south unless I settle a suboptimal location which misses a fish.


One thing I neglected to mention is that with enough properly positioned Overlords priests, I should be able to cover all western and northern approaches toward my capital.


What do you think about setting my second expansion 2E of the northern cow?

[DaveV]

Settling on the ivory misses a FP though, which I won't be able to get with a city further south unless I settle a suboptimal location which misses a fish.

What do you think about setting my second expansion 2E of the northern cow?

The northern cow/gems/bananas is a very good city site, but it's hard to believe that the Orcs will let you have both those sites. It will also require bronze working before it will really pay off. Settling these two cities leads to a very spread out city pattern, and pretty much forces you to build a weak city northwest of the capital as a transportation hub. Maybe it's time to reexamine your dotmap? I don't have time to do it right now, but I'll try to come up with a new dotmap. Maybe there's nothing better than what you already cooked up.