[SPOILERS]"Look at my horse, my horse is amazing"

[Mr. Yellow]

AH is done.



Lets look at viable 3rd city spots.


Numbers does not present the tile location of the city.

The first 2 i consider is to be placed next to the coast. The 1st spot holds dry corn and is quite hammer heavy. Should be good for good early production despite not having Mining yet and the corn should be all the food i need for now. Only problem is that the corn is the only resource present (unless i attempt getting marble in the ring as well, which i won't), unless there's something else hidden in the shroud, which is why i'm sending a warrior out to search.

The 2nd one has no to barely any hills at all, but holds both Marble, clams and corn. Putting next to coast will give lakes a pretty nice boost with lighthouse and looks to be a pretty good location for Heron Throne. However with current tech i can only farm corn and put down cottages. I'm gonna need Exploration, Fishing, Crafting, Mining and Masonry to get the full package, which at this moment is a bit too much considering there's very little production around.



The 3rd is of course, the wonder location with flood plains, gold and incense. But again tech is the problem, needing Calendar, Crafting and Mining to get the resources. Add in unhealthy amounts of dust and a considerable distance i'd like to wait a bit before settling there, flood plains or not.

Finally 4th is pretty dry. Didn't look viable at all untill horses popped up. If i settle on the dear i won't need culture to hook animals up, riverside location and with some cottages around. Doesn't look bad at all.

Anyway, i decided to go for Exploration next before taking Horseback Riding. Putting a sage on the job cuts the time down to 3 turns, though it delays the settler. Still having roads should help movement a lot and worth a detour from Horseback Riding. With that set i'll either pick location 1 or 4 for 3rd city.



Found Mist's location. He still doesn't have 2nd city yet. Gonna look around and see what else he has hooked up apart from the slik.



And contact with Sareln...of the bloody elves.

[COLOR="Lime"]The worlds been pretty harsh regarding animals constantly picking on my men, but after some luck i've finally met Mist a few turns ago and now, you.

So how is the world treating you? You're exploration trips gone well? Else not much to talk about at the moment, basically just saying "hi" and "how you're doing?"

- Horselord Yellow[/COLOR]

[COLOR="SeaGreen"]It's a harsh, dry, world, near as I can tell. The local giant spiders
in my south have developed a taste for both Elf and Orc, as I've met
Ravus (or more accurately, Ravus has found me). He's brought a
wolf-rider up and I'd be happy to coordinate a contact if he doesn't
become aggressive in the next few turns. We'll see. I think one
wolf-rider isn't enough given terrain and my defenses, but I don't
know if he'll see it that way.

In the same vein, I'd be perfectly happy to share contacts with you as
they occur and organize meetups. Given the size and harshness of the
world, every bit should help I think.

-Sareln-[/COLOR]

Not much to dig out, apart that the orcs are located south of the elves.
With that i have a pretty good idea of where each player is located, which is what i wanted to know from Sareln anyway.

Hmmm, i think i have plan set here on what my next actions will be. Gonna talk business with Mist tomorrow.

It's turn 50! So here's screens of my cities and the graphs!



The captial, stuck on size 5 for now. Currently hiring a sage to cut down research on Exploration, though it's gonna delay the settler for a turn or 2. Else just growing cottages.



Banana is pretty useless till i actually hook cows up, should be decent then.







(Forgot to add GNP, but basicallt shows Mist with an early lead with me and Sareln at around the same amount)

Mist and Sareln are the 2 leader in score here, with Mist leading GNP and Sareln dominating in food. Currently in the middle of the pack and there's not much else to say, but Sareln looks pretty scary right now as he has 3 cities already. Could use a good raid, but the forests are gonna make it tough.
We'll see tomorrow.

[Mr. Yellow]

Yeah.
I really need someone to consult with before attempting diplomacy.

Thing is a reward for razing cities just didn't cut it for me. Not for the kind of approach i aimed for. I wanted more if we would be going throught with this, though the words of "working togheter" did slip past me, looking at this like some attempt to keep me off his back. That's part of the reason why i approached him with this, demanding more if this was gonna happen (the other part of course is that it didn't seem lucrative enough).
Hesitated a long time before i made contact though.

19:24
Jeg: hey mist

Piotr: hi

Jeg: did mackoti just pop his worldspell?

Piotr: yup
19:25
Jeg: anyway, i've met sareln east of me and have a pretty good idea where the rest are now, how about you?

Piotr: as I said, I was less lucky in exploration, so no idea really
19:26
I lost 3 units exploring, can't afford time and hammers to send out more atm

Jeg: i see
19:27
anyway, once im done with dinner. I'm ready to talk buisness

Piotr: should I be afraid? :]

Jeg: maybe

later
20 minutter
19:48
Jeg: ok, you there?

Piotr: yes
19:49
Jeg: very well, as we all know Tasunke needs to attack someone if one are really gonna play him
19:50
however i have ambitions to reach the late game part with power and so im gonna approach this differently rather than attempting to rush and cripple someone
19:53
thing is, Hippus speed are better suited at raiding and choking. So my approach here is to demand tribute or risk getting their anything destroyed.
19:54
Your kind of deal fits nicely in the tribute part, but i'm afraid its not enough.

see, i have the choice of raiding you or the elves
19:55
and their forests just makes this approach pretty damn hard and the whole gold pre city razed is merely a bonus for me.

so there needs to be an initiation cost if were gonna work this deal out

also called "give me a good reason to attack the elves"
19:56
so heres my demands for such a contract:
19:59
5 or 6 turns of 100% gold in tribute, the exact amount will be 285 gold. Payed once Currency is finished. 15 gold per MAXED pop razed for elves, amurites and 25 per maxed pop razed for clan and vamps. shrine gold from RoK that i make and the final one; should my apprentice fail to spread RoK once its researched, you are to send me a stonewarden for temple building in order to replace him.
20:01
of you agree, youll have an initial NAP of 45 turns that i'm willing to extend for 20 turns every time theres 15 of it left as long there are viable opponents out there to attack.
20:02
in addition, i'm willing to offer other military services for a prize if needed
20:03
Piotr: okay, let's see... 45 turns from now is t97
20:05
even if I went for Currency straight after RoK, which I won't, since frankly, you're not the only threat around, it's very unlikely I'd get it this side of t100
20:06
unless you're willing to play bodyguard and have significant military presence in my neighbourhood to scare away clan wolfriders and vampires
20:09
but that's beside the point, thanks to how the map looks I'm not really prone to pillage. I don't have a single cottage and I don't plan to put any down for a while either
7 minutter
20:16
Piotr: In short, I'm not negotiating from a position of weakness, at least not yet. I can tech to priest by the time you get enough horses around to be any threat, and mobility RoK priest is generally good enough to repel horses
20:17
what I suggested, was a way for us to get along for a while
20:18
I'm not in principle against paying tributes

300g is not a huge sum

but I don't like the mindset you're approaching this whole discussion with
20:19
and your timeframes are completely unrealistic
20:20
Jeg: first question, when did you aim to get currency when you approached me with the deal?

Piotr: rough estimate of t125
20:22
Jeg: secondly i have a pretty good idea where the vamps and orcs are and can say im pretty sure im the closest of us 3
20:23
thirdly i had this mindset from the start the very moment i picked Tasunke.
20:25
finally i would say the distance and terrain is peanuts for me with 5 movement horsemen. Id still say im fairly safe i can go in pillage something then run out again and hardly scared of mobility priests.
20:26
btw im fine with currency being done around t125
20:28
what this deal basically say is the money pays for the initial NAP and the rest for the extentions. I'm also ok with extending the initiall NAP.

btw the plan is if this is agreed on, is to attack the elves then to explore where i assume where the vamps are located and attempt an assault on they as well.
20:30
on more thing, im still willing to attempt a pillage economy even if theres no cottages around.
20:31
Piotr: well, I'm half tempted to get you earn your tribute. Get you to sink all these hammers and maintenance into horsemen, so you can pillage my farms :]
20:32
Jeg: im still gonna sink hammers into horsemen ,but they would go in another direcion then :D
20:33
really though im raiders, that gives me 15-16 gold for each farm and other various non cottage improvement if i remember right
20:34
Piotr: nope

I played Mahala, remember?

8g per farm, if you're lucky
20:35
rising to maybe 12 if you get Conquest
20:36
raiders pays off on city pillage, but farms and mines are not worth the time spent on burning them
20:40
anyhow, I don't feel like buying peace just yet. I'll sleep on the problem and give you definite answer tomorrow, but at the moment I'm leaning to no
20:41
Jeg: just did a test, pillage amount differed between 4 to 14. But allright, i'll hear from you tomorrow.

Say you ever had the feeling that you came in, thinking you're prepared for this and then feel like something went pretty wrong in there that would haunt you for the rest of the day?
What i attempted was to show what kind of threat i could be with the demands i made. Instead i went through the initial goals in mind and even played my entire hand for that. Really felt like i've just been flailing my arms around.

What really irks me about this though is that i didn't get my full message through as well as making wrong assumptions. That i'd leave him alone untill the very late game and the assumption that he'd went for currency right after RoK.

21:54
Jeg: hey there
21:59
Piotr: hi

Jeg: looking back i dont think i got the entire message through
22:01
first thing, i honestly thought you were gonna go for currency after RoK when you first represented the deal to me.
22:02
secondly that if this was agreed on, then i would leave you in peace for the entire early and mid game.

Piotr: right
22:03
I can go straight to currency

but I need someone to defend me from nasty stuff in the meantime

I am all for banker-warmonger relationship
22:04
the more you're willing to war and bounce for us to, the more I'm willing to bank

but if you do push for some sort of quasi-vassal 'milk the wimp' deal, I'm not interested
22:05
it would just not be fun for me
5 minutter
22:10
Jeg: well the deal you initially represented didnt seem all that lucrative to me. That's part of the reason i came with these demands. Still up for negotiations though.
5 minutter
22:15
Piotr: deal presented was a starting point of sorts, minimal commitment from both sides, not trying to push either of us into heavy involvement
22:16
note I didn't even mention NAP back then

If you want lucrative, we can do lucrative
22:17
I'll go tech pure economy

refund half of the hammer cost of your army in hard cash
22:18
on top of sharing the shrine income and dropping an occasional emergency bag of coin
22:19
but in exchange I want a very long MDP and some of that army to station within my borders for protection

how's that for lucrative? :]
22:20
Jeg: that sounds pretty good
22:21
something im leaning yes towards.

I'll give you an answer tomorrow

Piotr: ok

Then Mist presents a deal i can actually play with. That is a lot of money, 20 gold per horsemen? Sign me on!

Besides my demands would have gone nowhere. Short of actually bringing an army up and possible get the pay. But this deal works a lot better for me than the whole city razing buisness and well worth more than my initiall tribute approach.

[Mr. Yellow]

Didn't put much thought into this. The whole deal basically says "Sign me!", sign it i will.

21:36
Jeg: hey mist
22:53
Piotr: sorry, just got up
22:54
I often leave stuff on idling

and go away somewhere
22:55
Jeg: ok, well anyway. About yesterdays deal.

i will say yes
22:56
i do want to enter this MDP
22:57
Piotr: ok, so how do we define 'very long'?

Jeg: untill the very late game i believe. When its clear one player is about to win
22:58
Piotr: okay, works for me
22:59
I'll be teching currency asap

with detour to way of the wicked
23:00
we don't want ravus to build Ragnarok and bring warren fuelled armaggeddon on us early :]
23:01
Jeg: no worries there, i know of the others positions, which ill get into quite soon.
23:03
first of all, im on route to Horseback riding, though unfortunately river of blood hit me quite hard and have to spend some turns growing back. I'm also considering some detour towards needed worker tech to get needed food/commerce.

anyway, heres how i believe the players positions are.
23:04
with sarelns info and Amelias...unfortuante screen send, we got orcs on the very southeastern corner, vamps south of me and mages to south/southwest of you.
23:06
dunno if sharing that position is right or not, but its pretty hard to look away when the screen gets put right in fornt of you on the screen
23:07
anyway, when do you want the first units sent for defence?
23:09
Piotr: I could use couple of horses for barb smashing soonish, but we need to tech cartography for open borders first

Jeg: thats a tech ill get eventually

im gonna grab city states eventually
23:10
Piotr: send something around when you start spotting kill teams wandering around

or after ravus casts for the horde

Jeg: ok
23:11
i should get horsemen in 15-20 turns

Piotr: I'll start running merchants / priests in force

first one puts down shrine
23:12
merchants will go your way for trade missions to be split in half

prophets will be used to bulb priesthood and maybe put down few altar layers
23:14
Jeg: i believe all is set for now then.
23:16
Piotr: yup, welcome to the team, let's go wreck this map
23:17
Jeg: very well, i'll send screens of the route between us tomorrow

oh ha ng on

need cartography of course

Piotr: yeah, another reason to get it
23:18
if we figure out how to set up a trade route between us I've got some spare dyes I can send up your way

Jeg: i think i'll have dyes then, but we'll see.
8 minutter
23:27
Piotr: I'm off to work, till later

And then, the Bannor and Hippus became allies.
[SIZE="1"]And now i feel bad about the earlier drama :<[/SIZE]

AHEM...

The coming days are looking brighter indeed! The newly discovered Bannors have been inspired by the words of our stalwart apprentices and have agreed to join us on our glorious quest! Although they haven't fully recognized our ways, it's just a matter of time untill they've submitted to our cause to enter this world in a new and glorious era! Which i feel the need to repeat, is YELLOW!

[SIZE="5"]Bwahahahaha![/SIZE]

-----------------------------------------------

Turn 51:
Nothing worth mentioning happened this turn.

Turn 52:
Then River of Blood hits. I'll admit i stopped caring about some 10-20 turns ago and it hit at the possibly worst moment, bumping Banana down to size 1 and needing Megayellow to spend some turns growing back. At least i got the cows set to help growth in Banana at least. Still i need to sacrifice some food to get Exploration ready for the next turn.

In other news, Sareln sent me directions to get contact with the orcs.

[COLOR="SeaGreen"]Mr. Yellow,

If you wish to make contact with the clan, you'll need to move your
warrior along the right-hand side of my border southwards (so opposite
the direction you moved last turn). He's about 9 tiles distant from
you (non-straight line) so you'll manage to meet up in about 3 turns
if everything works out right (He's got a gobbo rider so 3 move but
mostly forested tiles means a total of 3 square traversed by the two
of you each turn).[/COLOR]

Very well, then right i go!



D'OH!

Ok, the situation isn't that bad. Still have good odds to overcome this.



And won, but now i have to spend turns healing. Bah!

Turn 53:
Exploration done and workers set to road a path between the cities. Gonna take forever to tech HBR though, at least till i've grown back. Really considering taking another detour to Crafting or Fishing.



A barb city popped up west and nicely digged into the floodplain spot i'll grab at some point. Looks like i have to clear it away.



Found another nice spot to the east, with dyes, incense, FP and more corn. Would have viably grabbed it all if it weren't for that dang lower lake blocking the only good spot!

Well i'll be settling on the dyes then. Bronze working is pretty low on my priority list anyway.



Our first barbarian has has come within our sights. It's no kill team so it should at worst be a minor annoyance.

Turn 54:
I've decided to detour to fishing, the viable spots right now are near the coast and could really need the use of coast tiles, not to mention the lake tiles i already have in Banana.



The barbarian is approaching. Need to intercept him before the sits on the wheat as i really need the food at the moment.

[Mr. Yellow]

There's 2 players who are the front runners right now; Mackoti and Sareln.

[SIZE="6"]Sareln (Thessa of the Ljosalfar):[/SIZE]



It's pretty clear Sareln's been going for expansion at the moment and so been focusing heavy on food the entire time, which he has been the clear leader in that for quite a while. He was barely touched by River of Blood thanks to that and right now is the leader in both food, hammers AND GNP.

All the reason why i'd like to bring him down a notch and preferably so before he gets any of the 3 decisive techs; Hunting, Archery and most of all Fellowship of the Leaves. Even then the forests are gonna be a big pain to get through. All in all a very hard civ to succesfully attack. It's easy to see why he picked the elves this time, after being rushed and eliminated for 3 games in a row succumbing to the powers of ice, fire and a lone stranger.

However he's the only viable target at the moment now that i'm in an alliance with the Bannor.
There's 2 important factors here. One is how his surroundins looks like, finding areas suitable for harass and the second being the orcs.

Turn 55:
Who apparently met me this turn.



[SIZE="6"]Ravus Sol (Jonas Endain of the Clan of Embers):[/SIZE]



The Clans been a big worry for Mist for obvious reasons. However the fact that they're tucked in the southeast corner between the elves and vamps plays out nicely for both me and him. Sounds like great allies to have in a possibly fight against the front runners!

That said it's obvious their rush games been gimped by the settings. With no poison goblins, animals taking all the barb spots due to Wild worlds and large space between players. It's easy to see he's been in expansion mode as well, currently having almost as much food as the elves. That said i'd really like to get their war spirit up and have them assault the vamps and elves backsides.

These messages went through several turns.

[COLOR="Orange"]The Horselords Warrior was wounded and hiding near Rivendel when a Worg Rider appeared from the East. The two creatures appeared strange to his eyes. In the Horse lands their steeds were as noble as the riders, while this Worg was as potentially vicious as the Goblin upon it. He was Clothe'd in Red and White and once catching the warriors eyes uttered a greeting in a guttural tongue that was unrecognisable

"Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul,
ash nazg thrakatulûk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul."

Darkness crept upon the land as the woods grew silent. The words themselves seemed heavy enough to warp away the light within the hearts of all men.

Eventually the Worg Rider presented the Warrior with a gift to take back to his Horselord master. a Palantír, a magical artifiact that would allow the two peoples to communicate. From the misty orb came a deep pre-recorded voice;

"Greetings Horselord Yellow, the lesser son of greater sires

Late is the hour of our meeting. I, Ravus the Red Wizard, greet you in the Name of Isengard and the Clan of White Flame. Recently the Wizards of Grey and White battled over the future of our land. They both were petty and short sighted, spouting philosophies of good and evil, when all that matters is POWER, and who wields it. Thus in their foolishness, they were struck down. Now Isengard is ready to claim it's rightful place as a great power of this land.

As you can see we have allready mastered the ways of riding and are expanding further everyday. Allready the cities of Fangorn and Entwash have been founded in the south although we lost many good Orcs and Goblins along the way. Bombadil's Elves tell us that you too have had trouble with animals of the wilds, this combined with the size of the land available for exploration makes forays into the unexplored lands more dangerous then ever.

Though by now you must be wondering where exactly we are. Isengard lies far to the south. Past Rivendel and the Misty Mountains. Or have the elves allready told you this information? How has your communication with these tree huggers gone? They passed along to us the fact that you allready have contact with the Men of Bannor/Gondor, perhaps you would be willing to point us in their direction? Although we would prefer directions to the dark power that sucked the life out of our very cities. That kind of power needs to be dealt with.

-

Getting to the important matters though, Isengard can offer little because of the distance between our two nations. All we have to offer is an olive branch and perhaps information exchange. After all, knowing is half the battle. Knowing where the eyes of the Riders rest for future aggression is perhaps worth even more then half... Knowing what religion or land you wish could be even more informative.

Land around our own Capital has been quite harsh. Mostly plains and minimal Commerce resources. If not for the Animals and Grain life would be unliveable here in the south. The elves have commented that this is the same for them, but of course, they have little to worry about. Soon their forests will become Ancient and be lush enough to help support the elves with food as well as production. Is your own land just as bad or did you get lucky with more Grassland then most?

Overall I have said what I wish to, do you have anything in particular you wish to ask? Or anything you wish to share without prompting?

But no matter what you eventually decide to respond with I warn you thus. If you ever come across a small halfing with a Ring. Turn him over to me immediately.

Ravus - The Red Wizard "
[/COLOR]

OK, how am i gonna respond to this?!

Bah, screw it! I'm flipping this table!

[COLOR="Lime"]As you looked out of the dark tower admiring the scenery, a meekly looking goblin carefully approached you with a peculiar device with unknown origins in the palm of his stretched out hand. Clearly one of the messengers sent towards the newly discovered foreigners, you picked it up and examined it, wondering what this could possibly mean. As you pressed down a rather revealing button a pre-recorded message began to play:

"Doo Doo Doo!

Hello and welcome to Horselord Yellow & Co.'s customer service. As the biggest and most notorious mercenary company and horsebreeders of the whole continent, we can provide a whole slew of deals covering the shady yet profitable buisness that is war. If you're having trouble getting the pokey stick in reach of your target, then for the right price we can certainly help getting it through the last mile.

As our services covers an adequate amount of fields, please specify your needs.
If there's some pesky nasties that needs to be eliminated, press 1.
If you are in need of much needed auxiliaries to bolster the defences, press 2.
If you need a certain distraction, like a suitable raid in someone's backyard, press 3.
If you'd like to exchange information of the terrain and the neighbouring locals, press 4.
If you'd like to buy a breed of our magnificent horses, press 5
If you'd like to talk about our magnificent breed of horses, press 5
If there is something else other than above that we can be of help about, press 6
If you for some reason find us to be a target of assimilation, bring it.

These choices is not limited to once at a time and multiple or even all can be picked if wanted.

We hope to talk buisness in the future. Any potential money is in safe hands here as we will make sure our services provide 100% customer satisfaction. Thank you for taking the time listening to this and we would love to hear from you again soon."

(Also i would prefer to talk future diplomacy in the chat on gmail, if possible )[/COLOR]

Which contained no information at all except a possible interrest in going to war. Instead saying i'd like to do this exchange on chat.

And wait i did, except i never saw him online at all, guess he lives far to remote from me that chat could be used ( I never bothered to check where he actually lives ). So sent another mail, this time being informative.

[COLOR="Lime"]OK, a real response now. Was waiting around to see when you'd be online. Saw no activity so i wonder when you usually are.

Anyway, i have indeed made contact with Mist west of me. It's quite a distance away though, but nothing overwhelming. Apparently each player have a rather big area around to settle in. Although big as it may be though, it's quite arid. Plains dominate everywhere i've been and only a very few places have the luxury of flood plains around. Luxury resources are even sparser. The ones availible to me are simply not worth investing in and ignored for the moment.

As for the other 2, i haven't met them yet, BUT i'm fairly sure that the vamps are located west of you.

How's relations with the elves so far? We've barely talked though and the most was about directions for contacting you.

Anyway, as you've probably seen in my earlier mail i am up for mercenary work. I'm sure there are certain stuff we can talk buisness about!

By the way, your wolf rider is going westward yes? Shouldn't be many turns till you find my area.

- Horselord Yellow
[/COLOR]

The next day:

[COLOR="Orange"]To the Horselord Yellow, recorded on the Palantír for your later convenience.

Unfortunately I live in the Australian time zone so chances for us to be available to chat one to one will most likely be limited. If you give me your own timezone and times you are available we could make an effort to co-ordinate for something important.

You may bemoan the arid state of the land as I do, but unlike yourself I have yet to see any lush flood plains. You are indeed lucky. I believe the Elves have even less Grassland then myself although soon their Ancient Forests will make up for this lack of food. As to the elves diplomatic state; Myself and my Orcish comrades have found them to be pleasant enough conversationalists. We met early on and due to the shocking size of the land and time to travel anywhere, we made a basic informational exchange agreement. So far you are the only other we have found.

My Wolf Rider actually assumed you were to the north somewhere and has ventured far in that direction. If you are indeed to the West of the Elves instead I may circle around to the South East now instead hoping to find someone else to talk to. The Vampires could indeed be to the West of Isengard. Unfortunatley a large number of Griffins in that area have been fed enough to be deadly. I've cut off exploration there untill stronger units come into play.

As for mercenary offers, this seems bold, considering the Elves are the only other contact I have met. Plus the only other contact you have met is the Bannor. So perhaps one of them has done something to offend you? Or does one of them look particularly weak or tempting in your conquer eyes? I do admit that our armies could work well together. My easily Warren-doubled Land units supporting a slow siege army while your faster horses harass the enemy. Plus the Elves to lie nicely between our two nations.

Ravus - The Red Wizard[/COLOR]

Amusingly he was online while i read this.

13:52
Ravus: It seems luck is in for you as after just sending of an email to you about Orc-Horselord relations we also find ourselves online at the same time. If you have read it, is there anything you would like to discuss in person?
13:53
Jeg: well idont have anything particular on my mind right now, though i'm interrested in the current elves situation, who i'm considering togheter with the vamps to be the current front runners at the moment

they are nicely fit between us indeed
13:55
Ravus: Yes they are the frontrunners. Also with their eventual forests they will have the best possible land. But they also have spotted that they are between two potentially agressive nations if their boost in power is to be judged.
13:56
I agree with you for the most part although the Vampire rank higher in threat level. Mackoti is a much more ruthless leader then Sareln.

Jeg: that may be, but honestly i'd like to give an attack on them a try, rather than let him continue grow in peace
13:58
regarding mackoti, he is indeed more dangerous,but requires time before he can get vamps out. I'ts easier to handle him at this stage than the forests surrounding the elves, who will get FotL and archers soon.

besides we havent met the vamps yet
13:59
Ravus: I do agree that the Elves could do with a kick down. But due to the distance I myself cannot contemplate military actions untill Warren doubled units come into play.
14:00
So the question becomes; are you trying to draw me into an alliance against them, or merely hoping that I will not interfere?

Jeg: im interrested in cooperation to take down both the elves and vamps actually
14:01
also ive already made my target, the bannors are too far away and dont even have any cottages around, not to mention theyve been growing vertically the entire time
14:02
Ravus: And diplomatic communication with them? Or has it tapered of like your own with the Elves?
14:03
I must say isn't that a bad move? Diplomatic silence can be informative when it's a agressive nation being silent
14:05
Jeg: well i havent found much to talk about really.

Ravus: But i'm sure thats not what you wish to talk about. You most likely wish to know when I could muster an offensive force against the elves and what I could bring to the table?

Jeg: been pretty much terrain info exchanges and directions towards you
14:07
anyway, my approach here is to attempt early raids. Simply torch stuff and pick off easy targets while attempting to avoid decisive fights. Forests are gonna be a big problem, but i think hippus speed will still trumph through. I just have to scout the elven lands a bit more
14:08
Ravus: I know that their second city is placed towards myself, but you could find this out just by circling their borders. Early raiding is a possibility. it would work to just limit their growth.
14:10
I suspect they are heading toward hunting, so you probably don't have long before they have a unit equal to your Horsemen.

Jeg: well limiting their growth is what i want to achieve, make them turtle up in their cities while i go around torching stuff. Steal a worker or even take out a poorly defended city.
14:12
ill have HBR in 15 turns around, maybe too late but i really need worker techs to get stuff going. Anyway the 3 key techs to look out for are Hunting, FotL and Archery.

and river of blood hit me quite hard
14:13
Ravus: Indeed. You will be pleased to know it hit myself and the elves as well, although we got off better because we allready had another settler out and ready to found a third city that wasn't hit.

Jeg: Sareln must have barely been touched by it though, he's been focusing heavily on food the entire time.
14:14
Ravus: He seems to have an abundance of grain resources and is running Agrarianism so most likely
14:17
15 turns for HBR plus production time for 2-3 cities to build stables and horsemen will cut the assault back to at least 25 turns from now.
14:20
I don't believe I would have a significant army, of Axemen and Catapults, ready until 40 turns from now. I too have had to grab worker resources and the -10% tech rate has cut into my research time hard.
14:21
Jeg: well ii got nothing more to say about this for now. I'll report my progress though at a later time.

Ravus: Do you wish to sign a information exchange agreement? Passing along if we meet a fifth nation etc.
14:22
Indeed. You have also given me a lot to think about. Alone I doubt I could conquer the Elves and I had planned on playing expansionist untill you made your revalation. I will have to ponder on what changes to make in my plans
14:23
Jeg: vey well, as for information exchanges. I'll tell you when i find the other 2. Also i'll eventually get Cartography at some time and can give you overview at particular parts
14:24
Ravus: Good enough for now. I hope our conversations continue to be as pleasant as this one. Don't hesitate to send me a message on anything else you wish to discuss.
14:25
So long for now.
- Ravus

Jeg: goodbye then

Sounds good so far, we both have an interrest in taking a jab against the elves and later taking on the vamps before they get...well, vamps out.



Barb approaching.

Turn 56:

Time to intercept, with shock.





And wins with 0.3 health left, eek.

Upkeep cost is taking it's fair share at the moment, so i considered marching on a bumrush the city. Then again it's gonna be some time till they reach it and supply costs would take more of me. Rather get a sizable force and actually get the raze money. Besides the one warrior needs to heal.



An overview of what i've scouted of the Bannorlands so far. Nothing special seen though, except that area around the capital.

Turn 57:


Wasting hammers on scouts and warrior, do not want another unit till i've reached pop 5.

Turn 58:
Finally back to 5 pop, working on a settler straight away!

Meanwhile..



I have conflicted feelings here. I mean, yay! Less upkeep and dammit, no contact with wizards for me.

He didn't survive. Again i'm both happy ..and sad.

Turn 59:


Not gonna bother with waiting for heal here. Time the explore the elven surroundings. Looks like this city indeed is his capital.

Time for a talk with Mist.

01:23
Jeg: hey Mist, hows things going in west?
01:24
Piotr: no change :]

Jeg: well ive met the orcs, had a nice chat even
01:25
were considering a joint operation against Sareln

Piotr: did he commit to anything? or just talk suppositions?
01:26
Jeg: well we did talk of ways to take him on. Sounds like we'll try to commit to this. Nothing fully decided yet

its basically them and the vamps who are the biggest concern now

them = elves
01:27
Piotr: don't try to read too much into what Ravus says

he's good with words and won't commit to anything until he feels he's ready
01:28
but he has no qualms about theorising if it gets him more info
01:29
don't offer him too much information unless you have a firm agreement on the table

read his thread from pbem IV

there's a lot there on how he usualy deals with diplo
01:30
and it's pretty interesting

Jeg: i did check that before, can take another look later
01:31
Piotr: I believe he's going to be pretty pissed with me for grabbing RoK
01:33
Jeg: anyway what he said is that hes been focusing on expansion and hasnt considered the option of attacking him untill i presented my interrest in that. We exchanged info of when we could get armies out and what we could do with them. No tech talk though, but i wouldn't rule out the possibility of him going for Ragnarok

hes more interrested in striking the vamps, but we havent met them yet
01:34
Piotr: can't blame him, vampires are due like 50 turns from now
01:35
I'm nervous at the prospect too, but I hope to keep hidden in my little corner of the world for now
01:37
Jeg: still i want to take a jab at sareln, he currently got the highest food, hammer and gnp output at the moment and id rather attempt a atrike before he gets any of the archery, hunting and FotL techs. Even without that forests are gonna be a pain to march through. Just scouting around for now though.
01:38
Piotr: actually, wouldn't it be better to take a jab after he gets March?

make him spend that on basic horses, and he'll be soft when HAs come
01:40
Jeg: depends on how threatened he feels. He knows he got orcs to the south and mercs to the west. Gonna need a really big force i believe before he burns it.
01:41
Piotr: well, it's just an idea, generally I don't mind either way, he had a very food focused opening and hes racing ahead now

so dropping him down a peg would be nice

Jeg: indeed
01:42
dunno if ive mentioned this before, but barb cities have been popping around lately
01:43
gonna be pretty nasty with Immortal on

Piotr: to be absolutely honest, I expected much more barbs to be wandering the map

it's t60 and I have only seen animals thus far, which is surreal
01:44
Jeg: well theres no skeletons, lizards and goblins remember

and barb towns comes around turn 40-60 i think.

Piotr: yeah, but there should be loose orcs and gobilins wandering
01:45
random fog spawns, there was a horde of them in my test games

Jeg: i thought barbs only spawned from their specific locations in this mod
01:47
Piotr: no, basic goblins ( the ones without poison ) and orcs can spawn in any fogged tile outside 2 tile radius of known world

just like BTS barbs
01:48
it doesn't usually happen, because the lair and city barbs fill up the quota

but there's no lairs around, so we should have hundreds of them

unless it's all still taken up by animals
01:49
Jeg: we are playing on wildworlds, so its likely the animals all took them
01:50
Piotr: ah well, that's even better

for the horde will be weak
01:51
Jeg: still im expecting lots of barb strikes from the cities. Animal counter is gonna drop back over time.
01:53
Piotr: the problem will start once barbs get BW

warrior kill teams are free xp

axe kill teams are a problem
01:54
fortunately, I'm not top in score anymore, and they should go somewhere else :D

Jeg: vamps abnd elves are gonna have a fun time
01:56
Piotr: good, keep them busy
01:57
while I get academy and start pushing settlers
01:58
Jeg: Very well, lets see how the next turns goes

Hmm, i kinda have this uneasy feeling that Ravus might be working a little with the elves and thus sharing info of my current stance, being more understandably concerned with vamps. Especially when i get a mail from Sareln hours after our talk. Granted it's nothing that will influence my negotiations with Ravus currently, but still.

[COLOR="SeaGreen"]Looks like you made contact without too much trouble. How's everything
in Hippus-land?

-Sareln-[/COLOR]

Um....

[Mr. Yellow]

Approached Sareln on chat..

01:18
Jeg: hey there
01:19
Sareln: Hey, how goes it?
01:20
Jeg: id say decent. Communication with the orcs has been good and though river of blood hit me hard and barbs approaching, i'd say i'm getting back on track.
01:21
Sareln: oh, so you're seeing barbs?

I've not seen any yet, and Ravus seems to be saying the same thing (lack of barbs)

yeah, the river of blood threw out a half-way decent micro plan

Jeg: well animals have taken all the spots and there were no goblin forts around
01:22
looks like you got out of the WS better than most though, guess all the food helped then?

Sareln: ah, you know, that makes sense.

yeah, it's not traditional for elves to run agrarianism

but I figured that with the map so dry, I could use all the food I could get
01:24
Jeg: Anyway, barb cities are coming up and i'd expect barb stack in a short time.

wouldnt suprise me if Ravus decided to pop his WS soonish

Sareln: Yeah, though I think he's waiting on proper confirmation that there are barbs on the maps
01:25
it would be a real letdown for him to pop the spell and not have any units to grab...

Jeg: so how has talk with the orcs been?

Sareln: reasonably cordial

better than my previous experiences with the Clan to be sure :P

Jeg: heh
01:26
well you have been through the powers of fire and ice

and a lone stranger

Sareln: through is a strange word, it implies they didn't kill me in the end...

Jeg: heh
01:27
maybe striked/succumbed would have been a better word(s)

Sareln: perhaps
01:28
I hear tell though that you've met the banner? How's Mist doing?
01:29
probably fuming at the dry map nerfing his cottages...

Jeg: doing fine it seems, though growing vertical seems to have slowed him down

Mist is still having one city you see
01:30
Sareln: really?

that's very late on his part

Jeg: maybe River of Blood hit him harder than i thoguht

Sareln: I mean, I did the same thing in FfH V, but I knew I was being slow

being choked by the clan and all...

Jeg: well he did settle in very good spot with plenty of commerce
01:31
Sareln: ah

so is he the one doing the wicked ~44 commerce per turn?

I was wondering how/who was doing that

and hoping it wasn't the vamps :P

Jeg: early game? Yepp, he was the sole leader in that category
01:32
even had a 7 pop cap there
01:33
looks a bit juicy to be honest
01:34
Anything else to talk of?
01:35
Sareln: not much

I've mostly been loading the turn and hitting end-turn

teching the usual elf techs and doing the usual elf thing more or less
01:36
Jeg: boring (?) routine in other words

Sareln: well yeah

not quite boring

but definitley quiet

scouts were dead early on (bears and scorpions) and haven't had the opp to push some more out

well, I did push another warrior out

who promptly got eaten by a spider

so yeah

you seem to have had more luck with the whole scouting thing.
01:37
Jeg: nature is such a harsh mistress

funny thing actually

i was about to not gain contect with the bannors earlier

hit a spider in the lone forest, expecting to be eaten
01:38
instead, it went to the desert next to me. A desert with nothing at all.

like..huh?!

Sareln: strange

perhaps your scoreboard position?
01:39
iirc barbs have a disincentive to not hit the lowest/lower players on the scoreboard, in their AI routines

it can lead to some strange things on higher difficulties where the AI is throwing up huge amounts of points...
01:40
Jeg: still, it went straight into an arid desert next to a juicy scout. Surely it should have proritised the scout.

anyway, that oddity led me to contact with the Bannor

Sareln: nice
01:41
well, it's been fun chatting, talk to you later Mr. Yellow!

Jeg: sure, bye Sareln

I think that went fine. Even though having my warrior exploring next to his border is making me pretty suspicious. Believe i'll have to break it once i'm south. Or he's expecting an attack anyway. He has the highest current power after all.



Fishing is in. So now it's decision time. Do i do HBR now or am i gonna derail even more.?
Despite Crafting looking very tempting (could use more pop badly), i'm doing HBR now. Time to crank out some horses! Crafting and Mining will quickly follow soon after.

I've decided some time ago where my 3rd city will be, but it's neither the northern or southern spot, as i thought i'd choose. It's the marble spot.



Now the ideal spot would be the one 1W to it. But i need food badly and won't waste time getting a work boat out or hammers on monument. This is gonna leave the black spots out untill i get a fishing village out much later, but it's hardly a loss though. Won't be getting more lake spots anyway if next to coast.
Now i did say i wanted a 3rd city with adquate amounts of hammers and this spot hardly has any (unless i build Heron Throne). But i need food and commerce much more at the moment. Besides i can get a 4th settler out before horses anwyay.



Lots of interresting events happened this turn. Mist both got the Great Sage out and converted to Runes of Kilmorph, which i expected soon anyway. In addition Ravus popped his worldspell, gaining...not that much power actually (still less than Sareln). I'll count it later. However i'm curious about the numbers of the western barbarian village if he converted anyone there. Bonus if said converts are archers.



Exploring more of my south in addition to the elven borders. Gonna go westward than return back. Doing good so far despite getting into a fight with a gorilla.
Southern spots look pretty decent as for now.

[Mr. Yellow]

Ravus, having popped his worldspell came to me with unexpected news.

[COLOR="Orange"]To Horselord Yellow, in regards to the agreed upon information exchange.

I have popped off my own worldspell to help in exploration matters and have found the home of the Amurite Archmages. They are to the East of the Elves about 13 or so tiles, the fog of war makes measuring tricky. They seem to be placed between the Bannor and the Elves if I am reading the map correctly. With 4 nations in the middle of the map and 1 to the south i am now thinking that the Vampires may be in the North somewhere.

You will also be able to see one of my new Orc Archers next to your borders. It comes from Domir, a Barbarian city that has founded in the flood plain area you described in a previous chat. The land here looks very lush. I believe you have come out on top in regards to land placement.

The Bannor has just founded RoK which makes me wish they were nearby. A holy city is a very tempting rush target.

The Red Wizard[/COLOR]

What?
They met the Amurites stashed between the elves and the bannor? But i saw them placed between the 2 western islands on the west side. Is the world actually cylindrical?

10:26
Piotr: just a quick update
10:27
runes are in, I'll have festivals and second city in 4 turns

Jeg: ok

Piotr: after that about 8t to grab way of the wicked and I'm off to tech currency

Jeg: by the way, Ravus just told me that he met the amurites to the east of the elves
10:28
Piotr: toroidal world wrap?

Jeg: it cant be, i tried to scroll both from the sides and top, i couldn't. It's flat

strange really considered what i saw of the amurite position
10:29
maybe it is cylindrical

as you probably know, he popped his worldspell last turn

Piotr: yeah
10:30
Jeg: by the way, up for some score talk later today?
10:31
i've taken notes on when players teched and popped and would like to share with what you know

Piotr: sure, but in the evening

I haven't kept track lately

and the wrap is cylindrical
10:32
play with the 'go to' mode

there's a clear border in the north and south

but east-west seamlessly changes pathfinding direction
10:34
I'm actually middle of the map on the Y axis

there are 23 tiles down from my capital and 22 tiles up
10:35
Jeg: interresting

so do we have a large ocean in the north and a smaller one south possibly
10:36
or maybe my area has a closer coast line due to the remnants island right north
10:37
one interresting thing about the orcs at the moment. They haven't revolted to any other civic other than the starting ones
10:38
Piotr: which means Ravus doesn't have either Calendar or Mystycism

Jeg: indeed, so what did he research? Gonna check up on that later
10:39
Piotr: I'd guess Agri/Crafting/Mining/Masonry/AC
10:40
I'll try to chew through each players point increases today and tomorrow
10:41
but generally Mining and Agriculture should be easy to spot due to MFG and Crop yield jumps

especially for you, since you have Ravus' graphs
10:42
Jeg: ill talk about those jumps later

Piotr: ok, in the meantime I'm off to bed

will catch you in the evening

Jeg: bye

Allright, so the world is cylindrical.
Anyway, if the Amurites are indeed in the middle between the bannor and the elves, then Ravus assumption that there's a civ both south and north sounds accurate. But i'm positioned next to the northern coastline, so he can't be close to me. Meaning he's close to either Sareln, Amelia and/or Mi..oh dear.

01:54
Jeg: hey there, got a little time?
01:55
Piotr: I'll be on and off for the next two hours
01:56
I'll have time after 2:30am

Jeg: well im gonna keep this short for now

ive looked more on the mail Ravus sent me and how the world actually looks like
01:58
things is, he claims he found the amurites home 12-13 tiles east of the elves and believe they are located between youv and them. With 4 empires around the middle of the map, he believes that there's a civ both north and south of those 4. With him taking south, which means the vamps are actually located north of us.

and i gotta say this could be very true since the map is cylindrical and i never found a coastline near you.
01:59
Piotr: my capital is close to the coast from the south, but the sea there drops sharply south

and there's some sean north of me, but that's good 15 tiles to the north
02:00
and I don't have much knowledge there, scout eaten by a bear
02:03
Jeg: well now i think the world is kinda wave shaped, making space for oceans near the big 3 islands. Also you are farther away from me than Sareln is. Thinking he somewhere close north of us 2. However, Amelia more or less said he met the vamps in the tech thread, so i'm not so sure where they are anymore.
02:07
Piotr: I don't think Amelia and mackoti met

that comment in the tech thread was just about rivers of blood
02:09
Jeg: yeah, maybe i read too much into it
02:11
Piotr: but if we ( you, me, sareln, amelia ) really are in straight line with ravus south of it

I'd bet on two triangles pattern
02:12
which would put mack to the north somewhere between me and Amelia
02:13
Jeg: only problem with that though, is that one of those islands is placed in that area
02:14
now the elves are spread more south overall though, so maybe he didnt consider capital cities when talking of the position on the amurites
02:15
they could very well be more southwest of you than west

Piotr: meh, we need some map trades :D
02:16
Jeg: indeed we do!
02:18
anyway, im off to bed now. Talk to you later.

Piotr: night

Anyway, back to Ravus.

[COLOR="Lime"]Didn't look like you gained much from it, how many units did you get?
Another thing, that barb city is currently in the way of the FP area and needs to be eliminated. Curious about which defenders there were there currently after the conversion.

If you've found the Amurites east of the elves then that bins my thoughts on where everyone are. However i am located next to the northern coastline, right next to the remnants island. Maybe the world is waveshaped, making space for large oceans next to the big 3 islands? If that's the case then maybe the vamps are indeed located north of us all.

As for the FP area, it's easily the best location i've explored currrently as i've hardly seen anything close to it. It's a little too far for my liking this early though.

- Horselord Yellow[/COLOR]

[COLOR="Orange"]Only a handfull, but they have fullfilled their goal of giving me a proper map. I don't think I too a screenshot of the barb FP city but I seem to remember it had a Archer and a Warrior when I left.

It seems four nation stretch across the middle of the map with myself in the south, so the Vampires must be in the North somewhere. There is a northern section above the Elves but I would assume that if a sort of pattern is involved that the Vampires would be halfway around the world to me... Which would put them in the north between the Amurites and the Bannor.

Ravus, The Red Wizard[/COLOR]

Hmm, i'll get back to this at a later time.

Very little happened at turn 62 & 63. Bit of exploring, bit of working.



What's important though is that i finally have my 3rd settler out. Hopefully i'll get a 3rd city out before either Sareln or Ravus gets a 4th.

[SIZE="1"]More to come[/SIZE]

[Mr. Yellow]

There's quite a few things i'm curious about regarding Ravus map info. Despite what he says there is the big black nothing south of me and west of him. In addition i remember the Amurites are positioned closer to the Yggdrasil island, on the northeast side of it. He can't really be right in the middle between the elves and Mist then.

13:43
Ravus: I think from the look of it the blitz isn't happening

Jeg: cant do much if the main thread is locked off
13:44
btw, curious about your map knowledge you told me earlier

you said that the amurites were directly east of the elves yes?

Ravus: oh you mean in PBEMVIII?

Jeg: yeah

Ravus: sorry just had to shift mental gears tere

there

Jeg: not much diplomacy to do in a AW game

Ravus: yes they are around 10-15 tiles east of the Elves
13:45
true true
13:46
Jeg: well i find it weird that there is space between the elves and bannor for that, unless theyre actually positioned a bit more south than the elves. The mroe interresting question is how they are positioned among the islands
13:47
Ravus: Sorry i'm visiting the family and the internet is sporadic.

Jeg: thing is im trying to figure out were the vamps could be and i see this large chunk of darkness south of me and west of you that could either hold the vamps or just a big large ocean
13:48
Ravus: Ah. Well you are right there is a spot south of you and west of me that could be the vampires. But The sea from the Ygdrassil Isle does extend a far way from what i've been able to see. So I can't be sure.
13:49
I've currently got a healing Archer on the Mirror of Heaven, the view it's giving me makes me think the Vampires are north somewhere. There is far too much space north for it all to be unclaimed.

Jeg: well i honestly doubt theres much there at all
13:50
Ravus: The only question is whether they are between you and the bannor. Or the bannor and the Amurites.
If they arn't there then they MUST be south of you

Jeg: the coastline extend around 8-10 tiles up there and i doubt thats enough to hold a player considering the space between the bannors and me

hmm, 6-10 might be more ocrrect
13:51
secondly it cant be between a bannors and the amurites cause theres already an islands taking that position
13:52
Ravus: The Amurites North coast is extending a fair way. I have another Archer there currently making it's way north and there is no sign of stopping.

No no. The island is directly north of the Amurites

the land mass then seems to curve around the island

Jeg: oh

Ravus: let me double check my map
13:53
Jeg: that sounds like its possible theyre between the elves and amurites then?

Ravus: Yes the island is litterally about 8 tiles north of the Amurite coastland.
13:54
I do have my worg rider exploring above the Elves. It does have more space then I thought... It just strikes me as very cramped if they Vampires are there. Not to mention the elves would be in so much bad luck. stuck between the orcs, hippus, vampires and amurites
13:55
Either way, as long as my exploring units continue to survive I should find them eventually.

Congratulations on founding your third city by the way
13:56
Jeg: thank you, getting a 4th out soonish. Really need to grab mroe food

by the way, saw a elven settling party going south
13:57
Ravus: you are still around their borders?

I think I know where they are going

Jeg: on their southeast now yes

Ravus: there is a good city site he might be heading for

Jeg: does it include incest?

whoops
13:58
incense

Ravus: yes incense, pigs, clams and regants actually

if he goes for the one I am looking at
14:00
Jeg: well once i have my 4th city, ill be cranking out horses

Ravus: Do you have mining to get the Production needed?

Jeg: no, but i do have god king and loads of plains

besides mining comes soon after
14:01
the capital hardly has any hills around

Ravus: Yes i can see

you do have wines and copper though
14:02
Jeg: wines yes, but thats hardly a worthy investment i found early on if you need both crafting and exploration.
14:03
Ravus: True. The only way to make it viable early on would have been if you knew about the gold to your west and had beelined that for your second city to make use of wines and gold
14:04
Jeg: even then its a bit too far away and there is the dangers of animals whooping you on the way

Ravus: indeed

Jeg: i didnt want to repeat the 2nd city trek in PBEM3

Ravus: you have a crazy number of Girffins around you

indeed
14:06
Can i get a more definate direction for the Bannor from you Capital as a starting point? I'm going to use one of my Archers to find them

Jeg: go directly west. Its pretty far off, around 12-18 tiles away
14:07
Ravus: wow

hmmm

Jeg: just watch out for the desert spider

Ravus: that seems further then the normal distance between capitals
14:08
Jeg: theres a lone forest southwest of the FP area that held a spider

which stupidly went directly north to the desert square instead of eating me
14:09
Ravus: I think I will circle around via the north. Just to double check anyway. It will avoid the spider stuff.

Jeg: not so sure about that, theres plent yof woods north
14:10
Ravus: I should probably risk it anyway

Either they will die or gain experiance
14:11
Anyway if the blitz isn't on I should go and socialise
14:12
I will most likely get in contact with you again soon.

Jeg: allright, see you soon then

Doubt he'll do much against the Bannors anyway due to position.
Anyway, as you saw on the chat, 2 things worth mentioning.

First, during my trip near the elves border i found Sareln 4th settling party.



He has even pre-roaded tiles.
Had to stalk them.



Incest roaded and then..



4th city settled.
Hmm, i was gonna continue south to spot where the orcs are. But that space seperating the elven cities looks way too tempting to not explore. Besides i don't want to get stalked by the barb as well as the possibility of vamps situated in the west. West we go!

In the meantime, our influence grows as our 3rd city, Golden coast, was settled.



At least this city won't have the food issues of the 2nd one.

As for the warrior scouting south?



Died to a hungry spider.
Oh well, less upkeep for me!

[Thoth]

In the meantime, our influence grows as our 3rd city, Golden coast, was settled.

I approve of this city name.

[Mr. Yellow]

Hah, don't count on me continuing that though. I just found it appropiate for the location.

Anyway, what a lovely view we got here!



I believe we found the location of all 4 of Sareln's cities! :D

Pretty sure i'll be striking on the southwest side, north of the town there. Even better is that it looks like he's been roading a bit recklessly, although the big majority of it are in forested patches. Still there are oppurtunities to exploit here. I just need a look of his west side.



And then he was eaten by a spider.

Anyway, stable will be producing in 4 turns. I'll be getting a sizable stack up before turn 100 at least, but that might be too late. Gonna see when i can go.

[Mr. Yellow]

One thing that has bothered me lately is that neither i or Ravus has neither seen or heard of the vamps. It's highly unlikely none has met them this far in the game. Perhaps someone is holding information back (Amelia?)

Well Ravus tried to contact me some days ago, no response since i was busy. I sent him a message some time later.

[COLOR="Lime"]Not sure when you'll be on, but yeah i was busy the time you poked me. What is it that you wanted to say?

Anyway, i got a pretty nice view of Sareln's realm and i believe i'll be raiding pretty soon (Will be producing horses pretty soon). Haven't checked what he got at the moment and what he's en route to, but i'll do it later. Now this will simply a jab at Sareln to bring him back to our level, i plan to keep most of the cavalry for the vamps wherever they are.

Speaking of the vamps i'm suprised that none have seen mackoti at all.[/COLOR]

Next day.

[COLOR="Orange"]Horselord Yellow,

You must have missed it in the events section. The Vamps have been found and they already declared war on myself. They sniped my Wolf Rider with three Warriors and said that if I wanted peace I would have to ask for it. Not amused.

That was what I was trying to talk to you about when I spotted you, I figured you would want to know where they are. they are actually North-East of the Elves and seem to expanding agressivly towards the Amurites. What information they did send said something about not wanting me to be able to "sell" information about their lands to others. So I'm sensing that they are getting ready for their own war. And while they don't have your horsemen they do have land and production power. I managed to spy a few cities before biting it and they have mining and 5 cities. Mackoti plays aggressive so he could be going for a bronze Moria rush... or he could just be trying to get as much land as possible to draft Vamps later. I'm not exactly in a position to fish for information diplomatically.

But anyway that is the last person found. Seems a strange positioning. It means that the Bannor probably have the most defendable lands and most isolated position. [/COLOR]

Um, i have neither met the Amurites or the vamps, so i couldn't be informed through events.
Anyway, amusingly i was on the exact time this was sent.

14:44
Jeg: oh hi there
14:45
Ravus: lol

you have perfect timeing

JUST sent you a message reply

Jeg: and just recieved

Ravus: The message fills most of the information. I'm still annoyed about the loss

I originally tried to contact you when I found their borders
14:46
I tried to warn the Amurites...
14:47
probably should have left them to it as they ignored me for the most part. But I don't want the vamps swallowing them up this early

Jeg: find it a little weird mackoti goes on the attack already now.
14:48
is he catching the amurites at a vulnerable moment

Ravus: The Amurites had been playing an isolation game untill I found them. So they are low on military

It could just be land grabbing and not flat out aggression
14:49
but the newest city adonis is JUST outside the Amurites Capital culture

Jeg: oh my

exciting times ahead

Ravus: I know
14:50
Can't believe i lost fluffy. Had him up to shock promotion and everything

sigh

But yeah, do you want exact directions to find him yourself?

Jeg: i could use that yes
14:51
though you up for a map trade when i get Cartography?

Ravus: Let me just find my notes for exact distance instead of n estimate

Probably not. I have the best map at the moment and i'm going to milk that.
14:52
Unless you have something extra to sweeten the deal of course

Jeg: we'll see

i have no need of furthwr map info at the moment

Ravus: you've scouted out the elves right?

Jeg: i have yes, was gonna continue west and get the whole picture

then got eaten by a spider
14:53
Ravus: okay, going from the edge of their capitals NE border the Vampires are 11E and 11N of there

oh... that's probably the same spider I was feeding before

last count had it up to combat 4

Jeg: well its between their cities now

Ravus: ha
14:54
Jeg: Sareln parked his 4th city SW of the incense, next to the coast

Ravus: Yes I thought as much.

It's a very good position

both in resources and defence
14:55
Only possible weakness would be from OO priests

Jeg: little interrest in razing cities, but i'll be seeking oppurtunities
14:56
Sareln southern realm looks pretty juicy

Ravus: You mean the bit that he just stole from me? Or parts above that I havn't seen?

I did spot that he had far too many hunting resources

almost forcing him to go hunting
14:57
Jeg: i mean his overall positioning. There are spots there where i can threaten a lot of targets

Ravus: Yeah

Maybe the map maker did it purposefully?

Gave him really good land

but put him between 4 nations

Orcs, Vamps, Hippus and Amurites

Jeg: i dunno, still he's settled quite far

Ravus: He does have expansive
14:58
I'm about to settle my own 4th city

but none of us are keeping up with the Vamps

I KNEW they shouldn't be left alone

Jeg: yeah, but the distance between would make defence of it all rather hard

however, i'll not be wasting units on elves
14:59
Ravus: oh?

oh you mean you won't do kamakazi shots?

Jeg: it's simply a raid. Find spots of weakness and target them

Ravus: Yes

Jeg: i got speed remember
15:00
Ravus: to be honest if you weren't going to do that allready I would try to encourage you to do so

Mainly because I have fears of the Amurites selling everyone out and throwing information and agreements at the Vamps so they don't die. Have a horrible feeling it might allready have happened
15:01
Jeg: Mist have not met the Amurites though
15:02
Ravus: Not surprising. He really is off on his own. I still have two archer units coming in to find him. One from your direction one from the Amurites. So i should have some idea of the distance either way when i find him

Jeg: pretty sure there is at least some land between him and Amelia, he has had little luck in exploration
15:03
Ravus: I was more implying that The Amurites know yours and the Elves location and could sell it to the vamps in exchange for being left alone if targeted. Mist is in fact looking in the best position in the moment

my fears of vampire agression none-withstanding
15:04
Jeg: btw, curious about what you'll do with the vampire issue
15:05
Ravus: I suppose I should go to the table and get peace for now. But a part of me hopes he will worry and build useless warriors if I leave it awhile

Jeg: well remember what i said about not wasting units against the elves? I plan to use those units for an attack on the vamps right after
15:06
Ravus: way to keep up the offensive
15:07
I hope that If you find yourself in further need of targets you will at least offer me the chance to bribe you before you attack

Jeg: heh
15:08
Ravus: The Vampires actualy have very fortofied cities from what i saw

at least the two newest ones are hills

so you would be forced into another pillage run instead of razing

Jeg: that works good for me
15:09
he cant do much with no farms

Ravus: He has ridiculously high food

The highest food is his

Jeg: im aware about that

Ravus: He also started near flood plains and has been leveraging them
15:11
Anyway i'm sure i've bitched enough about the Vampires for one night, I'm sure you milked enough information out of me while i was being talkative. Was there anything else you wanted to chat about quickly before I go? It's just past 11pm here and sleep is calling me

Jeg: nah, basically just the vamps

Ravus: the vamps

grr
15:12
Jeg: good night

Ravus: night

Exciting times indeed! Mackoti already has 5 cities, highest food yield and attempting an aggressive push towards Amelia. Can't wait to get an army over there!

So plan is set. Get horses, destroy the western barb town, raid the elves and attempt to get something nice out of it and then finally gather up and march north-east towards the Calabim!

18:37
Jeg: hey there, you got time?
43 minutter
19:21
Piotr: now, yes
9 minutter
19:30
Jeg: ah ok, well i got the location of all the players now

the vamps are located northeast of the elves
19:31
north between them and Amelia

Piotr: far-far away, that's nice

Sareln has pretty harsh placement out there

Jeg: apparently Ravus believe you have the most isolated start of them all
19:32
he's the one who gave me macjotis location

Piotr: ah, so that was the holdup
19:33
Jeg: anyway, got little more to say. But i'll be start getting stable up in 4 turns
19:34
incoming orc archer from the east btw, might be there in around 10 turns. If it survives

Piotr: hopefully not :] I'd rather not have Ravus tempted to choke me
19:35
Jeg: he kept mentioning you during our talks, about how you seem to have the best position of us all. So i wouldn't rule out a possible choke here, despite the distance between you
19:36
but his biggest concern is the vamps of course

apparently they are going for aggressive expansion towards the Amurites

mackoti got 5 cities and one of them is in range of the iwzards capital
19:37
Piotr: wow, he seems to be going for the throat already

but he always was an agressive player

Jeg: he might have caught the Amurites on a vulnerable moment

however, he has the biggest food of them all currently by far

the vamps i mean
19:38
might have been settling near FPs

hows it going for you?
19:39
Piotr: got philo, 3rd city in c.a. 10 turns

teching edu heading in loose direction of currency now
19:40
but I need to fit bw, ah and drama somewhere on the way, not sure in which exact order yet
19:41
Jeg: well as mentioned i have HBR in 3-4 turns, will then go crafting, mining. Then i'll possibly do masonry/RoK. May need construction early.
19:42
Piotr: irrigation?

Jeg: no cats, in case of large assault stacks

also helps that aggressive gives double speed Siege workshops
19:43
Piotr: that's true

anyway, most of the techs take less than 5 turns for me now, so I should have currency around t100
19:44
and will start pushing money your way from then on

probably no shrine by then yet though
19:45
no priest slots yet, so can't work on a prophet
19:46
Jeg: very well
19:47
nothing else to say now, but i'll keep you updated on future events
19:48
Piotr: sure

I'll be of on holiday next friday
19:49
HobleHelium will be playing my turns, but he won't do diplomacy for obvious reasons

so if anything happens it'll have to wait till I'm back on 25th

Jeg: ok then

In the meantime.



The barbarian killstacks have finally appeared!

Nothing majorly threatening though. Still continuing towards the 4th settler. I'll let Banang get a few more warriors out.