[SPOILERS] - Tredje and Mardoc are Sheelba of the Clan of Embers

[Mardoc]

I should also add that I do not have as much faith in our Archers' ability as you do Mardoc.

Sorta PBEM2 spoiler:

(Especially after seeing Serdoa's Hero Warrior being taken down in FFHPBEM2 by 2 Priests.)

Well - do keep in mind that was Str 5 Priests, combat II/shock, with Shield of Faith for a total of +90%, taking on the base str 4 hero. I do agree we shouldn't hang out next to 4 warriors (and definitely not 6!), but 2 I think we can handle. And I would really like to get Shock onto these guys - looking at the save, the injured Archer, if Shock-promoted, and still injured, has 54% odds against Sareln's warriors on the forested hills. Which means we're probably looking at 95%+ if he were attacking a flatland warrior at full health. Basically what I'm saying is that promotions are valuable enough that if we can farm XP, we should - that's the only thing that can transform this from a choke to a kill, or from a breakable choke to a locked one. With the archers in particular, though, you're right that they're quite vulnerable on the offense, particularly to an immediate counterattack, so it's only worth doing if we can at least prevent that.

I'm not arguing for any different moves from what you've done so far, just to make sure you keep in mind the possibility of offense if it does become available.

I agree with the goals posted by Gaspar. I would like to add my desire for a NAP while we go after Bob (since our Sons won't be able to harm the Amurites while their Worldspell is cast anyway.) The question is how do we go about achieving them. Unlike you Mardoc I am not so sure he will agree to a settlement deal AND firing his Worldspell after a long choke. If I was on the receiving end of a choke that significantly harmed my chances of winning, I think I might say "Screw this! You ruined my game. Now I will only focus on hurting your chances." I guess the crux of the matter is how will Sareln respond to being choked and offered a not-so-favourable deal.

I suppose I was brainstorming in an ideal world what we could push for. How much we get depends on how much damage we can do, and for that matter, how much we can credibly threaten. I would honestly accept the worldspell over the settling deal, though - we can always renegotiate ala Vader .

On the other hand, you have a point on Sareln in particular, PBEM 1 he spent most of the game looking to hurt Selrahc.

[Tredje]

you have a point on Sareln in particular, PBEM 1 he spent most of the game looking to hurt Selrahc.

I imagine that his thirst for vengeance can only grow after being rushed in two consecutive PBEMs.

[Gaspar]

Well, he was silly enough to take two late developing Civ's in both those games. In my mind, those are the logical rush targets. So while it won't improve his countenance, if you're the Svarts and you have the Illians close by or if you're the Amurites and you have the Clan close by, none of this should be a surprise.

I'm on board with slightly cautious play by the archers. However - you must not let him settle copper. If he does play for it, then you have to take risks to stop it. That's the lousy part of a choke in FFH - it only takes 1 turn of having it connected to screw you.

[Tredje]

Turn 58:

Our Eastern Archer was destroyed by a Giant Spider. Crap! First our Goblin at really good odds, now the Archer. The RNG is unkind.

Sareln's move:

He has moved out with two Warriors and a Settler. I expect that he wants to settle on the Copper, and I think we need to make an effort to stop that from happening. One of our Archers is moving to intercept the settling party, and the Wolf Rider should meet up with him in 2-3 turns. Please not that there were 2+4+2 Warriors visible last turn, this turn we can only see these 2 + 3 in the capital. This means that there are at least 3 Warriors hidden in the fog somewhere. It could be that they are in the south, and that he intends to settle somewhere down there. Not sure if that would be a sensible move. I pillaged the northern Silk with our second Archer for 4 gold.

[Mardoc]

Our Eastern Archer was destroyed by a Giant Spider. Crap! First our Goblin at really good odds, now the Archer. The RNG is unkind.

Dang it! I'm not even sure the RNG was that unkind, since we were injured from the Baby Spider attack last turn, but it still hurts. Alright, consider my offensive lobbying against Sareln smaller, given that we've got less to work with.

He has moved out with two Warriors and a Settler. I expect that he wants to settle on the Copper, and I think we need to make an effort to stop that from happening. One of our Archers is moving to intercept the settling party, and the Wolf Rider should meet up with him in 2-3 turns. Please not that there were 2+4+2 Warriors visible last turn, this turn we can only see these 2 + 3 in the capital. This means that there are at least 3 Warriors hidden in the fog somewhere. It could be that they are in the south, and that he intends to settle somewhere down there. Not sure if that would be a sensible move. I pillaged the northern Silk with our second Archer for 4 gold.

That's all? 2 warriors is easily something we can clean up with just the wolf, at least on flatland. In fact, I would try to make sure that he gets far enough from home that he can't run away successfully. But hey, free Worker!

Unless there's something we're not seeing, anyway. Maybe his 4 warrior stack is following behind? Although if that were the case, then maybe the smart move is to ignore the settling party and see if a Combat III wolf can take an Amurite Capital.

[Gaspar]

Yeah - big opportunity there. If we can somehow eat his settler, it gives us a lever for negotiating a favorable treaty.

[Tredje]

Turn 59:

Bad news. The Warriors that I didn't see in the last screenshot were moving to the Copper site, and the Settler has now caught up with them. I don't think we can stop him from settling the Copper site, unfortunately. move on my part, sigh. I don't think we could have stopped him, since we can't really attack 4-6 Warriors, but we definitely could have moved our Archer to block his way and delay him for a couple of turns.

He had a weakened Warrior next to the Copper site, which I killed with our Wolf Rider for some easy xp.

The Wolf Rider now has 3.3/4 health and 8 xp.

So, where do we go from here? Sareln will get Copper, but it will not be connected with his capital yet. I think it is imperative that we do not allow him to finish his road to the new city, or at least delay it. The crucial tiles to control will be those grassland tiles where he will need to road at some point. I think we need to get an Archer and the Wolf Rider in place about 3-4 turns from now to threaten the area. In the meantime I think we should exploit the fact that he has a 5-6 Warrior Settler escort and pillage what we can outside his capital.

The way I see it Sareln now has to defend:

• 1: His capital and its surrounding tiles
  
• 2: His new city
  
• 3: His Worker
  
• 4: Every road tile
  

Don't get me wrong. I think it is really bad that he will have 5-6 Warriors with access to Copper (Mardoc, can you do some C&D action and see if he actually has the tech. I'm guessing he does not and that he is teching it.) But we can't give up now, we need to continue putting pressure on him.

[Mardoc]

Ooh, good job on the Wolf - promote him to Shock and we might have this under control yet. Because the wolf only has to engage when we want to, he can probably whittle down any amount of warriors over time. I definitely think we can prevent him from getting copper hooked up, even if he has the tech; he's got to build and protect 4 tiles worth of road, one of which is on flatland.

And for the moment, anyway, I'd definitely keep pillaging with the archers; put them together and we ought to be able to even pillage the tiles right up next to his capital; 3 warriors might have an outside chance to beat 2 archers, but I can't see risking losing them when it would cost you the game. And if we can cut off most of his food and production, that gives us much better odds of whatever attrition we need.

I'll have to think about the C&D front, if it's possible for me to figure Sareln's tech out or not. Part of the problem was that I lost track of everything during the werewolf game, but another part of the problem is that I never did figure out how to decide which tech in particular he has at any given time.

[Tredje]

Turn 60:

Sareln continues his trek towards the Copper. I pillaged his farm on the Cows and will pillage his second source of Silk next turn. That should make one of his citizens angry unless the fog hides another improved luxury resource.

It is quite obvious what will happen now. Sareln will settle on the Copper next turn. He will then try to connect that city to his capital. I do not think we can stop that, but we can try to delay it. I am a bit concerned that he should move some of his Str.4 Warriors against our homeland, so we might need to build a bunch of Warriors for defense. However, if he sends a strong force eastwards, we are free to pillage at leisure.

We now have trade routes between our cities, and the Gems are connected. With the gold we have pillaged the e.t.a. on Fishing is now 4 turns. I will settle our third city at that point, working a lake tile for commerce. The Warrens in our capital should be done in 7 turns I think, at which point we might want to spit out some Warriors for increased safety.

[Mardoc]

I do not think we can stop that, but we can try to delay it. I am a bit concerned that he should move some of his Str.4 Warriors against our homeland, so we might need to build a bunch of Warriors for defense. However, if he sends a strong force eastwards, we are free to pillage at leisure.

Don't give up just yet! He's got to build and keep for a turn 4 tiles of road, plus 2 tiles of city, with currently 9 total warriors. Assuming he plans to keep at least 2-3 warriors per city, then that leaves just 4 for guarding the road and workers. And any time we can catch a single warrior alone, or any warrior on flatland, we ought to be able to eat him with the wolf. For instance, we probably could kill off one of the escorting warriors this turn, if the wolf is at full health. Warriors are a lot weaker outside of cities.

And remember, every battle we win gives us precious XP, too!

Probably eventually we'll slip somewhere, but 9 warriors to guard 6 tiles is a bad deal. Plus, well, we only have to keep the choke on for as long as it takes to get to Sailing and get our first Son coming back. We might even be able to take his Copper city before he knows we have them and causes the Lacuna.

Training a couple warriors might not be a bad idea, though. In addition to whatever defense you have in mind, they would also be quite handy as an extra body to throw at a defending warrior before we send in the wolf or archer. If we can use that to take his Worker (which he probably only has 1 of), then we set him back still further.