The Orc Clan: Following the Princess Rule

[Ravus Sol]

[SIZE="6"]Turn 30-35: The Empire of Blood[/SIZE]

[SIZE="4"]Turn 31[/SIZE]

The Settler is finished! Expansion is upon us! All rejoice at the begining of an Empire.

[SIZE="4"]Turn 32[/SIZE]

The Settler and Fluffy the Worg Rider head of to the Fangorn Site. Two warriors are allready set there waiting to cover the worker and settler once it arrives. No Hidden Spiders so far...

The worker is also close enough that it will be able to start mining straight away.

Isengard Capital is putting some turns into the Brewery. Once it has grown it will switch to something else.

Dropped even lower in the top cities list. This is a good thing though! It means we are likely going to be the first to a second city being deployed. But then we DO have less to fear from barbs... Although I have yet to see any... The lack of dungeon spawning places may have had a greater effect on the barbs then we thought...

OR I could just be so friendly that all barbs naturally walk away from me. Using that super AI sense for where players are.

Demographs show us having slipped behind in... everything but soldiers.

[SIZE="4"]Turn 33[/SIZE]

All units are now positioned. Mining in soon. (But not soon enough! I lose a turn from lack of super micromanagement.) Worker is covered. Fluffy and the Settler can advance into the protected site next turn.

The Capital has grown again and is now equal to two of our rivals... Unknown who. GMork has gone missing, so our Cloak and Dagger research has gone down the toilet. I'll get it together soon. All the things I need are there.

Demographs again. We've jumped up on the GNP. I'm sensing this could be because other players are now switching to food to get out a settler.

We're number 1 in production!

[SIZE="4"]Turn 34[/SIZE]

The Goblin Scout is lost. We managed to explore a bit more to the West at least. Enough that I can see there will be just as profitable cities possible West as well as East.

You can also see that the Elves led by Tom Bombadil have changed to Nationhood and Agrarianism.

Units moved! All set to found city next turn. Time to boost that Slipping score. Mining in 2 turns. So we have definatley lost a turn of worker production.

Still a respectable Demograph score.

[SIZE="4"]Turn 35[/SIZE]

Fangorn Forest is founded. It's a wonderful little city that I know will become the jewel of the new empire. For now it works the Sheep so that it can grow large enough to work the Mines later on.

This is the Empire view. I dearly wish for Roads but i need to be conservative in my technology choices. For now we can survive. But in the future we will prosper.

Keen eyes will spot Fluffy our Worg heading North. The last message from the Elves was brief and pointless really. I will post it after this. Happy trusting relations I feel are impossible, and if you can't have friends, you should have enemies. I want to at least open negotiations for the land to the north. The Misty mountains are the minimum i want to settle for.

Is it greedy? Possibly... I have no idea how much land the Elves have available.

Fluffy will be able to explore and also be used as a possible stick in negotiations. I would really have preferred 2 of them before contemplating aggressive actions. But I also believe you shouldn't make any threats you can't back up.

Getting there with only one will also be difficult. With 2 one healthy can defend the damaged. With only one...

Well it's better to be lucky then good.

GNP has taken a dip due to the support now needed for the second city. Those mines can't come in quick enough. Apart from that we now have top scores in Food and Production.

The future beckons.

[Ravus Sol]

Last Communication from the Elves.
Sent July 17

[COLOR="Green"]Hi Ravus,

I've not seen any hobbits about, no, good luck in your search.

I lost my next scout to the same Giant Spider between us it seems; I
got your message too late to recall him. Hopefully it didn't spawn
another spider!

The turns have been relatively quiet, hopefully our pace will
stabilize at 1/day at some point.[/COLOR]

To me this is far to short. No communication since. I may try sending something tomorrow as an update before trying a "stick" approach just to see if anything can be salvaged. But i'm personally sensing that there will be no happy trust here.

[Ravus Sol]

[SIZE="6"]Turn 36-40: The Urbanization of the Forests[/SIZE]

[SIZE="4"]Turn 36[/SIZE]

Mining is discovered! We can now build Mines, See Copper deposits and Chop down forests. All useful abilities... but for us it's the Mining that is most useful.

Also the hope that we can go from this technology and slingshot into the Runes of Kilmorph Religion.

Taking the words of our wise Horde advisor Ichabod, we start research into Animal Husbandry. The Extra food will get us to the needed population to work both gem mines for the commerce.

I've also been tempted into the idea of a third city. But i need better commerce then just mines and plantations. Soon I need to beeline either cottages or Aristocracy.

The worker will take five turns to complete his mine. The chopped forest will also add some minor production to Fangorn Forest. The city itself is building a Warrior. Not anything greatly useful but extra units built here free's up the capital for other work.

You can also see Fluffy just before he heads of to the Tower...

Fluffy gets to the tower and see's the future lands.

Yeah.

I'm not sure I can make this run alone... Need a few promotions to become more powerful. Lets see how the first lion rush effects him next turn.

This is the Griffin that killed my last goblin!! Evil sucker.

Still painfully low on the GNP mark.

[SIZE="4"]Turn 37[/SIZE]

The capital is chugging along nicely. The Brewery isn't insanely useful yet. We need the other two corn resources first. The Rice is up north near the proposed "Ent-Wash" site and the other resources is to the East near the "North Fangorn" site.

Fluffy lives but dangerously low on health. Annoying. But our super unit for the moment survives. I plan to retreat him back home to heal and promote the unit to Combat one. If we get him up to another promotion we could do a lot of damage to... someone...

The Empire Overview shows that the Capital has switched production to a worker. Now that we have the new ability for the workers i feel another one would be useful. After that a settler, with a possible military unit thrown in before hand.

We're NUMBER #1!

I'm still getting my settling senses tingling. The other Rival Capitals must either be lacking in an extra happy resource or they are making babies. With a map this large... It's going to be all about the land grabbing.

This is the area where our next city will go. You can see Broken Ent-Wash in the north. This city area could catch a lot of river tiles and hills for good growth and production. It could also grab Rice and Incense but for now the later resource is useless.

The other possible site is one that could grab both sheep, marble and the newly revealed Copper. Production would have to come from the copper and marble resources. But it could be a healthy site...

I'll do up a proper dot map later on. But for now the river to entwash and it's ability to have easy trade makes it more tempting.

Still VERY low GNP Luckily with our -10% and being only 1 gnp below our cloest rival, I can feel confident the high scores means someone started with some useful resources in their BFC in the Capital. Annoying but understandable.

[SIZE="4"]Turn 38[/SIZE]

Unless you are close to a "sucker". Orcs are boring. No Barb Threats. Less teching power. We are once again in a boring set of turns.

The Empire view shows that nothing has happened. Still waiting for numerous things to finish. Worker works. Fluffy heals. Cities build.

Same old, same old.

[SIZE="4"]Turn 39[/SIZE]

Working...

Small bit of news, it looks like My settling senses were off for the most part.

[SIZE="4"]Turn 40[/SIZE]

The Mine finishes and Fangorn Forest has grown enough to work both the Sheep and the Gems. Nine more turns till we can start work on a Pasture of the sheep. Ichabod had the right idea and getting both Mines worked will support my economy through another city and into Mysticism and Cottages. I now just have to resist the lure of Exploration or Masonry as a technology. They are both very useful but they side track from getting more commerce up and running.

Demographs, the first mine is in and we are allready back into second GNP place.

[Ravus Sol]

There, only two turns off what we are up to at the moment (T42)

Currently the game has hit a snag. The Tracker went down and slowed everything up. Then lots of people became busy etc. (me included). But also now we seem to have ended up repeating a turn somehow. I think it's either through Mackoti or Mr Yellow. We've all just passed it around anyway and hopefully it will get back on track and not repeat again.

[Ravus Sol]

Once again I have gotten bogged down with stuff. It all seems to pile on at once. So I'm not surprised I seem to have lost some of my Lurkers. I apologise to you if you pop back in to take a look. Going to try and update all this while I have time today. A lot of stuff has happened.

[Square Leg]

I will keep coming back - always enjoy your updates!

[Ravus Sol]

[SIZE="6"]Turn 41-45: Biding Time[/SIZE]

[SIZE="4"]Turn 41[/SIZE]

The Completed Warrior heads back to the Capital Isengard to help protect the upcoming Settler. Fangorn Forest also starts to build a Goblin. I think i'll plonk him on the tower in the north east to act as an early warning system and see if I can spy when some Barbarian Warrios get built.

I'm high in all the scores... Yes you know this can't last.

[SIZE="4"]Turn 42[/SIZE]

Fluffy starts yet another attempt to get out into the world to either explore or do damage. But with all the setbacks he wouldn't be much of a threat even if he legged it to the Elves doorstep. But at least the shock of him suddenly appearing should help in negotiations.

The Empire is still growing, soon the Settler will be completed.

We are still high on the Production and Commerce, But the low Food is worrying. It Implys that all of Isengard's rivals have gotten a second city out and that they have chosen a easier grown location then my own Fangorn Gem Site.

[SIZE="4"]Turn 43[/SIZE]

Positioning still happens.

Tick tock tick tock.

The person in the lead continues to advance. I don't recall checking the exact point score but I think at this point the I suspected the leader to be either the Elves or the Bannor. Neither is a good outcome. Bannor can steam roll eventually. While the Elves are horrible to try to organise dog-piles onto if they get their religion up and running.

[SIZE="4"]Turn 44[/SIZE]

Fangorn Finishes the Goblin which heads towards the tower. Fangorn starts on a Granery for Faster growth and lack of things to build. We are allready pushing the military unit limit and none of the other buildings are that useful.

We start to drop again in the score rankings.

The Top city rankings gives an idea of the way things are. There are only two other nations with a capital as grand as ours.

[SIZE="4"]Turn 45[/SIZE]

Fluffy FINALLY heals and sets out after the third setback. At this point the Worg Rider is only useful as a threat or bluff. An actual attack with it could be easily defeated by a double or triple warrior-pult.

The Warriors are in position for the Settler to be built. Three cities should be enough to grow with and then spring into an expansion with. Really can't wait for Mysticism and education after this detour to get Animal Husbandry. Feeling very behind.

The Demographs show the growing gap between myself and the others. Obviously some of them have gone for economic techs that have given equal or better returns then my own, combined with my -10% it's not looking good.

[Ravus Sol]

I will keep coming back - always enjoy your updates!

I shall seek to entertain then! Even if it leads me into crazy territory. I'm just glad to be out of the first 50 turn bore-fest. Unfortunatly with the size of the map i'm going to have to try for a land grab before pushing the Armeggedon Counter to be a viable power late game.

I have 10 more turns and some communication to write up after this too.

Enjoy!

[Ravus Sol]

[SIZE="6"]Turn 46: Animal Upset[/SIZE]

Animal Husbandry finally comes in. We can now see horses on the map and make pastures for the sheep. It opens up more opportunities. It was the right decision. Ichabod was right in his advice. But the crawl to this Technology before Mysticism or Education has been felt.

So what shall we research next? Well it's obvious, We need monuments anyway for our new cities. But also we need to choose between Mysticism and Education once it's done.

I think i'm going to stick with the original plan to get Mysticism second, for God-king, Elder Councils and the Pagan Temple to try and do a Bulb to the Runes Religion.

Could be tricky but I think I can still pull it off.

The Tricky bit is that the position for my third city, "Broken Entwash", has been derailed by the horses now there...

Any position south of the spot would leave it too far from the hills to be a production boon. While any position North could cut of the river for trade. Also I was hoping to have the Grain resource in the original city border so that it can grown and become productive quicker without having to wait for the Monument and border pop.

Fluffy continues to advance north. With a 3 move unit it is much easier to dodge the animals. But it's starting to get annoying about the lack of barbarian units. I feel like i'm getting nothing in exchange for my Barbarian trait.

The Size 7 city is interesting. What could be the answer... does someone have two extra happiness resources allready or has someone grown to large without realising. That's quite hard to do on a PBEM.

The GNP position is looking even worse. Hopefully Fangorn Forest will finish it's pasture quickly so that it can work both mines.

[Ravus Sol]

[SIZE="6"]Turn 47: Settling Difficulties[/SIZE]

Fluffy the Worg Rider. The Great hero of Isengard braves the Misty Mountains to get to the Elves and perhaps further.

Isengard finished the Settler. I decide to respec the capital for production and finish the Brewing house. The Beer resource is an extra happy and gives +2xp to dwarfish units which will be usefull in the future.

It also gives +10% Commerce per grain resource and soon I will be able to get 2 or 3. Depending on when I plant the Fourth City and Grab the Roads Technology.

The Position that the AI behind my settler has chosen is an allright position. But I wish the Horses had been one S. The position it chooses would not get me any growth resources and would need to complete the Pasture and then the Monument before growing... But it does get trades...

Decisions decisions

My GNP drops more and more. The Cost of having the units outside the city and the Settler finishing along with the Capital switching to a Production heavy build.