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

[Mardoc]

Oh, really? I thought his starting units were worth that much, even though that seemed unlikely.

His palace is worth that much. Tied with Basium's palace for most power in the game. Granted, his starting units aren't nothing, but not that ridiculous either.

[Ilios]

T131 & T132:

Heroes are being created right and left:



Pretty funny that the AI built Rosier, because Darrell was asking me whether I was interested in the Ashen Veil heroes. Guess Rosier won't be working for the Vampires in this game...

A shot of En-Kai:



I will soon be needing a lot of happy resources.

The Gold/Gems deal I had with Uberfish will soon run out, losing me two happy. The Enchantment mana I'm getting from Sciz will be obviously be gone as well as soon as the Luchuirp are eliminated. And the cotton I was getting from the Dwarves is now under new management, so I'll have to find a deal with Uberfish as well...

Maybe I could convince Darrell to trade away his spare Gems, but with him taking over so much land, there isn't really something I could trade him for it.

Or I could just whip out Public Baths...


When I got the T132 save, and saw how quickly the Elves were taking over the Luchuirp lands, I decided to hold the save for a day, so I could discuss our future borders before everything is gone.

After much haggling, I've managed to seal this deal:



Instead of razing Mort, Uberfish will capture it and give it to me for 100 gold. It will never win the cultural battle with Ithralia, but it nicely fills some unused terrain in the west, and will serve as a buffer for the En-Kai approach.

Mutanbo is the city holding the golden hammers, so cannot be razed, but Uberfish will raze Tiaran, and has agreed to let me settle my original site. It will be named New Thorgrin, in rememberance of, you know, the city destroyed by that Loki creature...

This gives me access to a third raw mana node, enough to get things rolling once I have Sorcery and can built Metamagic Nodes.

I would have preferred to capture Muntanbo and Tiaran myself, but me and those silly NAP's I've been signing...

Techwise, I've switched research away from Fanaticism. I can tech it in a turn, and I'd prefer to keep it a surprise when I bulb Malevolent Designs as soon as the capital finishes the Grimoire. So I've dialed research all the way to 100% for my last turn in golden age, and have researched Military Strategy, with plenty of overflow. I'll take Ironworking after that.

[mackoti]

Well this a prove that Naps are not to good. You had the army o take cities for you but those naps tide you up, and now with vampires toking so much land with Uberfish the good cities for duarfes you'll fin your self in thir place in no time.And Btw i can't see the pictures.

[Ilios]

Yes, those stupid NAP's have certainly constrained me. Looking back, I should have just invaded Serdoa when I had the chance. I really thought he'd serve as a counterweight to the Vampires. If I had known he'd fold so quickly...

But, all is not lost!

I've managed to convince/coerce some prime land in the east and west, and I still need to fill three, maybe four sites with cities.

If Blight doesn't hit soon, I'll make sure it does when four Beasts of Agares are finished at the same time (each one increasing the Armageddon Counter by one). Uberfish, with all those forests and the Guardian of Nature Civic, should be able to survive the massive health hit. Darrell, who will soon be able to switch to Sacrifice the Weak, and can have his Vampires feed on cities, should come out of it unscathed.

Amelia will be hardest hit of the remaining contenders (I'm not counting Mist, as he seems to be out of the game as well). She needs food to build her troops thanks to the Conquest Civic, and only has the Military State Civic to get rid of excess population, allowing her to draft Swordsmen.

Even though the Lanun have not been in a (real) war in this, they still have relatively puny armed forces. I think I should be able to attack her when our NAP runs out on T150. Four Beast and four Eidolons, Iron Weapons, ritualists and maybe some Cultists/Stygian Guards should do the trick.

[Ilios]

T134:

Opening the save, I see that Darrell razed more Doviello cities, and that the AC is at 29. So, I decided to spread some more AV, and whip practically every city over size 5:



And yes, I've had to whip a couple of cities from scratch! But worth it, because this means my cities should have minimal starvation, and with every food box full, no population will be lost.

Uberfish tells me the counter reached 37 on his turn (eliminating Sciz, a good civ, increased it by 5 alone).

And Darrell tells me that information is outdated, and has reached 40! I hope Stephanos doesn't spawn too close...



That is actually pretty scary with the units I have at the moment...

Anyway, overview mappe:



Amelia is screwed...

[fire&ice]

Amelia is screwed...

what did I miss

[Darkmantle]

Amelia is the smallest of the big players, Amelia also just got hit by blight plus Ilios needs to take somebody's land and the Lanun are just perfect for that.

[fire&ice]

Amelia is the smallest of the big players, Amelia also just got hit by blight plus Ilios needs to take somebody's land and the Lanun are just perfect for that.

hm okay After I posted that I was wondering if it was because Amelia was the only one left that wasn't evil . . .

[Darkmantle]

hm okay After I posted that I was wondering if it was because Amelia was the only one left that wasn't evil . . .

Nah, that just makes it sweeter

[Ilios]

what did I miss

Amelia is the smallest of the big players, Amelia also just got hit by blight plus Ilios needs to take somebody's land and the Lanun are just perfect for that.

Darkmantle has it there. Amelia, is still stuck at 7 cities, with the largest one being size 11. Amelia's cities will be hit by Blight next turn, and they will be hit hard.

Amelia doesn't have the massive food bonus of Sacrifice the Weak, nor the extra health thanks to forests of the Ljosalfar. She doesn't have Slavery, so she won't even be able to whip out infrastructure in starving cities.

The only thing she can do is draft units, but I'm going to assume that not every city has the necessary building, so she'll have to draft <gasp> Warriors!

Considering that she is running Conquest (build troops with food - which food?), I'd say she's pretty screwed.

As for me, I've been considering bulbing another tech instead of Malevolent Designs, because the 4 pop loss when building a Beast of Agares is a little harder to swallow when your cities aren't running a 20+ food surplus...

But in the end, I've decided to stick with the plan. Theology has a higher beaker value, and it's pre-req tech Religious Law is more useful than Fanaticism (Theocracy civic, Chalid), but I've almost finished researching Iron Working, and I will be able to upgrade four Priests to Eidolons as soon as Malevolent Design is in.

Most of the core cities should be around food neutral, and will quickly grow once the Blight effect starts to wear off.

By that time, I'm thinking a big civics switch to Theocracy/Sacrifice the Weak/Apprenticeship/Conquest, for 6 exp units (mostly Corpses, at 60 hammers for 8 str (post IW) a very good deal). I will also set a couple of cities to AV Disciples, so that by the time I get Sorcery I can upgrade a couple of them to Mages.