[Spoilers] Cometh the Messiah - Varn Gosam and the Malakim

[Ilios]

T118:

Taken after ending turn (with Currency coming in):



As you can see, the Calabim have been saving up quite a lot of gold. I can't think of any other reason than to upgrade troops. I don't see Darrell rushbuying stuff, since he still needs to switch to Military State for that. Over the weekend, I will be updating the second post of this thread, so I can get an overview of techs known by my rivals.

Ze empire overview:



En-Kai has grown into unhappiness, but that will be solved next turn as a Sugar Plantation will be finished. The Temple of the Veil will increase the happy cap even more, and I plan to upgrade the Lightbringer Horus is building to a Leaf Priest, to be converted into another temple for En-Kai. I haven't made up my mind yet, but I think I'll get all three religions in the big Four of the Empire (Helios, En-Kai, Ra and Horus).

I'll be grabbing both Sailing and Horseback Riding for the full prereq discount for Trade (I think I can get all three of them in three turns). Then the switch to Ashen Veil and on to Infernal Pact, which I will start (hopefully) around the time the Bone Palace finishes.

[Ilios]

Dear Lurkers, I have now added some explanatory text to the screenshots in the previous post for your reading pleasure.

You also implied that she can't have the city site if she doesn't give you the pig.

Bah, semantics...

Seriously though, I wasn't planning on attacking her, just making a point I could crush it like a bug should I choose to do so. Moohahahaha!

On a side note, if you look back at the Empire overview in the previous post, you can see that Al-Shams has popped its borders, cutting off the land access completely from the Lanun heartland to the new city.

I still want that Pig though...

Your welcome

Ooh, you cheeky bastard!



Diplo update to follow when I feel like it.

[Ilios]

Diplo dump:

I sent this to the Calabim:

D.


How are things?

I still haven't made up my mind on the AV Heroes, but I should be able to tell you in a couple of turns.

As for the NAP, I'd like to discuss some things with you before agreeing to one.

In the meantime, do you think you could trade away your Wheat for one of my resources?


Oh, and I don't know if you noticed, but Serdoa got a free golden age from an event. :/


Regards,


Ilios

To which he replied:

Yeah. He got that golden age by popping a ruins. Inside my borders. Not happy. We've had some tense e-mail exchanges right now, as a result he's moved his army back towards our border. I still have mine sitting mostly in Prespur, but one vamp can haste them to the border if he moves in. My power is now pretty equivalent to his, so I'm no longer worried.

I'm embarrassed to say, but I can't remember if I have a spare Wheat resource. If I do, I would certainly be willing to trade it.

Sounds good also re: the AV heroes. We probably need to make a decision where to tech next very soon, but the first few techs are common in any case. Since, uh, we don't even have Mysticism ;-).

What's on your mind re: the NAP?

Darrell

Ooh, that was a pretty dastardly move by Serdoa! But I suppose one should get used to it now...

Good thing that Darrell is paying attention to the game...

I then get this from Serdoa:

Hi Ilios,

I talked today with the calabim and I will be at war with them from now on. I will get the tech for spirit mana end of next turn and my adept will be finished in 3 more + 2 turns travel time + whatever it takes to improve the node. So roundabout 10 turns from now till I have spirit mana. Not sure if he will wait so long before he attacks.

I am also in a GA right now (as you probably noticed) and if you could help some forces, I'd be willing to pay for the help I receive. I know that units cannot be gifted, but I could pay for every unit of the Calabim you kill? And if we actually take cities together share the gold 50/50. What do you think about that and do you even have any units to spare?

Kind regards,
Serdoa

I kind of told Serdoa how to beat the Vampires...

As for the second point, no, I don't think I'm going send over some troops before I'm ready...

Notice how he didn't mention the reason why the Calabim are coming for him.

So I went fishing:

Wow,


Any idea why Darrell is gunning for you now? Good thing about the Spirit Mana, you will need it!

I'll need to think about whether I could spare any troops. As you can see, my Power rating has basically remained flat for the past couple of turns, and I hadn't actually planned to build new troops in the near future. Unless the Elven Power rating keeps shooting up ofcourse!

I'll get back to you as soon as I can.


Regards,


Ilios

I almost get an immediate reply (Serdoa seems to be very prompt when he needs something from you):

Yeah, we talked about it and basically they meta-gamed and came to the conclusion that they have to attack me. Not sure if I would agree but I can understand it.

I also understand if you can't spare troops for a longer time. Though if you would have 3-4 units which you could spare for maybe 5 or so turns and put them into our border city in the south that would be great. It would make him only able to attack at one city and I could pile my defenders there without having to be nervous about a sneak attack on the other side. I will try to secure that city but that simply needs some more turns, especially if I have to defend against vampires.

Kind regards,
Serdoa

They meta-gamed? What does that even mean?

I need to think this over...

I sent this over to the Calabim:

Aha, I'd be pretty pissed off if someone pulled off that kind of move on me.

Yes, you even have two spare Wheat resources!

That is quite a large pile of gold you are sitting on, very useful for upgrades?

I am assuming that our ongoing discussion will remain confidential?

Because I can tell you that Serdoa has asked for my help against you, offering gold for every Calabim unit I kill, and splitting the pillage gold for every city of yours that has been captured/razed.

I haven't answered him yet, but he does seem certain that war will break out soon. Can you give me any details?

Regards,

Ilios

[Ilios]

Moar diplo:

Yes, definitely still confidential. I did notice in game I have 3 Wheat resources, so I'd be happy to trade it for your spare gold. If that's acceptable feel free to propose it in game. It does not escape my notice this gives you a 10% commerce boost in your beer city, let's just call it a little apology for previous bad behavior :-).

We will be at war next turn I guess. I had a chat with him and he plans on coming in. I, uh, no longer have all that Gold. I do have several shiny new toys to play with though. It would have been nice to deficit research for the next 50 turns or whatever, but cest la vie. Frankly I think this war was inevitable after the previous debacle. In fact, I'm quite certain he planned on invading before this, but pulled back at the last second when he saw I had vamps. Its the only thing that explains his troop movements. Its interesting he put a bounty on my units, you should make him pay you for all the ones that died covering his stack earlier ;-).

Darrell

Bah, why did I agree to such a long NAP with Serdoa? I've still got more than 40 turns to go. Hopefully Serdoa and Darrell fight themselves to a standstill, until I come in with a million Zombies, Ritualists, Camel Archers, Mages and a Parrot.

As you know, Serdoa has now asked me to station some troops in his Dragon Bones city. I might agree to it, provided he pays for their upkeep. It's not like they have to actually help defending the city...

From Amelia:

Agreed, i have traded the pigs to you.

:hat:

[Ilios]

T119:

Amelia pulls through:



And Malakim fast food restaurants can finally build hamburgers...

Currency splashscreen:



Gives me extra trade routes, and allows me to build cheap Moneychangers (+25% gold) while I'm still financial.

The local wildlife needs to make some room for industrial farming:



I threw a Tiger at the 'Phant, and then sent in Jeronimo, who would either die ignomiously, or grab some fat exp!

The result?

See below!

An exclusive view of the Balseraph Homeland:



Serdoa still hasn't gotten that Rice improved and connected! Coombe View is the city he'd like me to station some troops in.

Darrell's upgrading binge:



Uberfish has been building some Priests.

Demographics:



Pretty decent...

Oh and Sciz got thiz:



He better not have grabbed Philosophy and rush the Bone Palace, or I'll have to kill him... Yes, Jeronimo won the battle!

Running Military State and having a big population has its benefits:



Zero unit upkeep! =)

[Ilios]

Chatting with Uberfish and Amelia... Everyone is freaking out because of the mass upgrade thing the Calabim just pulled off.

[Ilios]

Lots and lots of things happening now. I'm not planning on posting all the diplo I've had in the past couple of days (unless someone asks me to), so here's a resume:

- Calabim: NAP signed until EoT 140. Agreement from Darrell they will not head for Coombe View right away.
- Balseraphs: Agreement with Serdoa to station Priests in Coombe View as "deterrent". He will be picking up the upkeep tab.
- Luchuirp: NAP signed with Sciz till EoT 140. He was asking for one till T150. The way he's pissing me off makes it look like this will be the last NAP extention. Better get that Enchantment mana he owes me soon.
- Lanun: Open Borders agreed with Amelia. She will be spamming Horse Archers for the foreseeable future.
- Ljosalfar: We'll monitor the Calabim-Balseraph situation closely. Has an NAP with the Calabim that runs out the same time as mine. (I mirrorred the duration). Has just founded Deception. Tentative agreement to switch to Undercouncil Civic in about 10 turns, so we can benefit from the free Sage and the half priced Gambling Houses (167h, +3 gold, +1 happy per 10% gold slider, so maximum of 10 happy faces)

[Mardoc]

Tentative agreement to switch to Undercouncil Civic in about 10 turns, so we can benefit from the free Sage and the half priced Gambling Houses (167h, +3 gold, +1 happy per 10% gold slider, so maximum of 10 happy faces)

As I understand it, they're actually quarter priced. Am I wrong, or can you look forward to an even bigger benefit?

[Ilios]

As I understand it, they're actually quarter priced. Am I wrong, or can you look forward to an even bigger benefit?

To be honest, I have absolutely no idea. Uberfish was doing some Worldbuildering while we were talking. Would be nice though, especially if you can grow your cities to size 35-40 quickly...

[Ilios]

especially if you can grow your cities to size 35-40 quickly...

Hmm, scratch that, I'd still need to find the health somewhere!