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

[Tredje]

Something else that occurs to me, in general about the game. I'm no longer convinced that Iskender's making a mistake by helping us take down Bob. I was underestimating the Balseraph position.

Fact is, we needed his help.

I definitely agree with this. I wasn't sure what forces Bob would be able to muster, but with all his summons he is in a really strong defensive position. On our own I think we could have caused him some damage, and maybe even razed a city or two, but I don't think we would win the war. And once Bob gets his hands on a proper damage dealer he would be miles ahead of everyone else.

So yes, Iskender is definitely making the right choice in attacking Bob with us. Sure, that might lead to us winning the game, but I think that is less probable than Bob winning if Iskender had decided not to participate in the war. Let's just assume that our attack had been postponed five turns. Bob would have even more Adepts and possibly Gibbon as well. That would have been nasty. Basically I think that Bob was winning this game by a clear margin, and only by combining our forces do we have a chance of stopping him.

[Tredje]

Turn 125:

Scouting:

Ok, let me just say it: Puppets and Skeletons are frickin' annoying. Bob also has 24 Skeletons and 2 Puppets in Coombe View. Me and Iskender discussed attacking the city, but he thinks Ocells is the bigger threat right now. According to him every unit has a 20% chance of acquiring CoE every turn, so the sooner that city is gone the better.

What I decided to do was to kill the Puppets on the road to Ocells and pillage the road. I sent two Elementals to protect Iskender's stack against the Skeletons in Coombe View. Next turn I might head for Ocells and raze it, or I might combine stacks with Iskender. It really depends on what Bob decides to do.

Two Cargo Triremes are heading our way, so I am trying to get some defense up in our coastal cities + a couple of Triremes.

[Mardoc]

Ok, let me just say it: Puppets and Skeletons are frickin' annoying. Bob also has 24 Skeletons and 2 Puppets in Coombe View. Me and Iskender discussed attacking the city, but he thinks Ocells is the bigger threat right now. According to him every unit has a 20% chance of acquiring CoE every turn, so the sooner that city is gone the better.

I thought it was just a 20% chance for each new unit trained there - but regardless I agree with the conclusion. In the event you think we can keep it, though, do so. You're in a better position to judge that than I am, but every unit inside our borders invisible and hence immune from attack is a very nice potential prize. Free earth mana isn't so bad either .

What I decided to do was to kill the Puppets on the road to Ocells and pillage the road. I sent two Elementals to protect Iskender's stack against the Skeletons in Coombe View. Next turn I might head for Ocells and raze it, or I might combine stacks with Iskender. It really depends on what Bob decides to do.

Two Cargo Triremes are heading our way, so I am trying to get some defense up in our coastal cities + a couple of Triremes.

Sounds reasonable. Bronze Warriors are actually pretty strong now. Assuming you're building Triremes to attack his, make sure to give them the buccaneer crew promotion/spell/whatever it's called, so that they fight with +1 Str.

I see that Bob withdrew his main adept stack beyond where we can easily hit it - the good news is that means he can't reinforce the skeletons, either. Coombe View ought to fall once we can afford to hit it.

And..after Knowledge of the Ether, we really ought to consider putting Hunting in the queue. We won't be allied with Iskender forever, and this intelligence makes an enormous difference in the way.

[Tredje]

Turn 126:

Aerial surveillance shows this:

Add 24 Skeletons and 2 Puppets in Coombe View and you have what we are facing right now. Me and Iskender decided to deal with Ocells once and for all, so I chase Loki away and hit the city with 3 Elementals. The fourth Elemental went to protect Iskender's stack. Next turn I will raze Ocells (yes, Loki could just recapture it if I didn't, and I don't have the forces to protect it anyway.) After that we might hit Coombe, it depends on where Bob positions his forces.

[Mardoc]

Oh, right, I forgot about Loki. Good call, then.

That is a freakin' lot of Balseraphs. I would probably hit Jubilee if nothing changes, to clear out some adepts, but I can see the argument for heading back to Coombe View instead, in order to clear the path for reinforcements and start it actually contributing to the empire. How's our Son to be Regen coming along?

[Tredje]

How's our Son to be Regen coming along?

One Son got Regeneration last turn. I'm not sure if Iskender cancelled the Body Mana loan himself, because I didn't. Will have to check next turn. I haven't been able to cast Regeneration yet, though, as I needed all four Elementals last turn. All our Warriors except two have now lost the Bronze Weapon promotion to Rust, so they are weaker than I would like. At least our Axeman is still strength 5 and has Melee II.

[Mardoc]

One Son got Regeneration last turn. I'm not sure if Iskender cancelled the Body Mana loan himself, because I didn't.

It's not required, he already had Body I, and it's only the first tier of spells that requires you own the mana source to take. After that, it checks for the previous one (Body II requires Body I, not Body mana).

Which, on the one hand, means that Iskender will eventually have Regen and Flesh Golems himself, and on the other, means that we can count on eventually getting Spellstaff-wielding archmages if the game goes on that long.

I'm glad he finally ticked over to that 65'th XP, so he had the promotion to take, though. I'll feel a lot more secure when our stack starts healing (and after that, when we can get into a city connected to our bronze).

Edit: Not that destroying Balseraph troops makes us less secure, mind you...

[Tredje]

I don't have time for a real update today, let me just inform you that Ocells has been razed, that we have merged our stack with Iskender's stack, that Regeneration has been cast and that we got the free Great Engineer event and had the required amount of money.

[Mardoc]

I don't have time for a real update today, let me just inform you that Ocells has been razed, that we have merged our stack with Iskender's stack, that Regeneration has been cast and

Good, sounds like the war is going to be under control, then. I suppose it's now time to just simply start dismembering Bob.

that we got the free Great Engineer event and had the required amount of money.

:2dance::2dance::dancing5:

Well. What to do with him? Unfortunately, I don't think our tech position is anything to write home about, so we probably don't have many wonders available. We could apparently bulb Smelting, which would get us access to Forges and show us Iron. We could simply settle him somewhere for the bonus hammers and gold. Or, we could straight up go for a Golden Age; if we golden aged about the time we took the last Balseraph city, that would be excellent for building Courthouses and Warrens everywhere, setting us up very nicely for whoever's next.

[Tredje]

Good, sounds like the war is going to be under control, then. I suppose it's now time to just simply start dismembering Bob.

I wouldn't go as far as this. Bob still has tons of units and the only way I think we can grab any cities is to move to an area where we threaten several of them. Should we then be able to capture a city, we might have to raze it since we can't spare the units to hold it. And we aren't actually hurting Bob's military capacity, as he can just summon new Puppets and Skeletons. It seems to me that to win the war we will need much more units, and right now we aren't able to reinforce. I am actually contemplating if we aren't better off pillaging every improvement he has and choking while we wait for more units. I do think we should be able to capture one or two cities before we need to change strategy, though.

Well. What to do with him? Unfortunately, I don't think our tech position is anything to write home about, so we probably don't have many wonders available. We could apparently bulb Smelting, which would get us access to Forges and show us Iron. We could simply settle him somewhere for the bonus hammers and gold. Or, we could straight up go for a Golden Age; if we golden aged about the time we took the last Balseraph city, that would be excellent for building Courthouses and Warrens everywhere, setting us up very nicely for whoever's next.

Bulbing Smelting seems like a waste to me, as does settling him at this stage. A Golden Age is a possibility. Another option is to tech Warfare and rush Form of the Titan. Or we could tech Cartography and rush Pact of the Nilhorn for Hill Giants, which would be a valuable asset when sieging cities.