FFH II PBEM VIII Lurker's Lurking Thread (For Lurkers) [SPOILERS]

[Thoth]

PLAN:


Step 1. Piss off the leading civ in hopes of extracting vague concessions.

Step 2a. Run across the world to assault the second-place and most dangerous civ.

Step 2b. Do not attempt to attack weak neighbor, who has decent land and only intends to buy you off in the distant future.

Step 3. [strike] Profit [/strike] Get crushed beneath a horde of tigers and/or vampires.



Edit: I also forgot Step .5, raze well-placed free barbarian city

This is somewhat reminiscent of his plans in FFH III:

1) Aggravate one neighbour by settling in his face.
2) Aggravate your other neighbour with land demands.
3) Skip military
4) [strike]Profit[/strike] Get your lands divvied up between your neighbours who actually have militaries.

It looks like he's going to avoid step 3, but I don't think that is enough.

[uberfish]

Mr Yellow should just offer Sareln a "Mist" type mercenary deal where Sareln pays him to attack vampires too, so he gets paid twice for the same job

[Square Leg]

Amelia's plan to get Arcane Lore by t120 is pretty far fetched. The only way to get early Arcane Lore is by bulbing heavily with sages.

Interestingly it makes me want to open up the game and try a dedicated beeline without barbs or opposition to worry about and see just how quick it could be done. Maybe by saving 3 sages up you could bulb AL?

[Bobchillingworth]

Amelia's plan is utter nonsense and too optimistic a projection by at the very least 40 turns. Maybe it would be possible if you had great land and ran the world's most focused beeline, but Amelia's territory isn't spectacular and he has already demonstrated exceedingly poor tech judgement. Priesthood in addition to Govannon? Forget it. Also Runes priests are a bad idea for teaching spells to anyway. Order, Empyrean, Veil, and on some maps Overlords are all substantially better options. Mackotti is very likely to devour the Amurities, unless the Hippus & Ljo really invest in keeping them alive.

[Bobchillingworth]

I do have to admit though that Amelia's empire is surprisingly well-developed given the questionable planning so far.

[uberfish]

Mr Yellow should just offer Sareln a "Mist" type mercenary deal where Sareln pays him to attack vampires too, so he gets paid twice for the same job

Looks like this is actually happening, too.

[Mardoc]

Looks like this is actually happening, too.

I think the second payment (and the target swap) might transform this to a good idea. Better than losing his army to treants and his core to PoL, anyway.

[Commodore]

So, fighting against a well-run ascendant vampire army for the price of settlers? Yes, great deal! That free barbarian city placed in excellent position? Nope, none of that nonsense! The plan is rolling, it seems.

[Bobchillingworth]

Ayup. Also, while being a mercenary is certainly within the Civ's character, it isn't necessarily a great strategy since the Hippus under Tasunke really don't need to be using anything more than HA or Mounted Mercenaries, and bribes only go so far toward helping them actually win the game.

[uberfish]

I don't see how this is a bad deal when Yellow is getting paid more in settlers and gold than what the Horsemen are worth PLUS whatever he gets from pillaging and sacking cities, I'd take it. He gets a road into Sareln's territory for future use too. Even if the attack fails, Mackoti can't retaliate without going through someone else first.

He missed the good window of opportunity for attacking Sareln anyway, I suppose you could argue that maybe he should just have rushed Mist in the first place.