War, Inc.

[Mardoc]

Pop the Pyre if you get a chance.

Should have thought of that myself - if there's a nasty, it's got even odds of going for me or Ilios (and I can 1-turn warriors now), but a benefit would be ours. Scout's on his way, assuming he doesn't get eaten will pop in in 4 turns (well, start popping, I assume it's one that now takes 3 turns)

I'll have another worker next turn that will go up your way to do stuff. 8 or 9 turns to the RoK shrine, can't recall exactly.

That will be handy; I certainly wouldn't object to never building another worker (and would compensate by building all your settlers). I'm not currently planning to build any temples to Kilmorph or disciples either; settlers + horses fill my plate. I'm hoping that you'll have the excess production to keep Kilmorph spreading at a good rate, but if not we may have to rely on natural spread. Still, 1.2 gpt in the peripheral city plus 1.7 in the shrine seems likely to pay .

Speaking of settlers, they're now down to a 5-turn build from Longsword. If you'll let me know which city you want first, I'll plan to get it founded soon. Currently thinking that Longsword may stay on settler duty for a while, and I'd rely on the new cities for military production. If I do that, I'll aim to expand your empire at whatever rate your vaults can tolerate, with all the other settlers becoming Hippus towns.

RoK definitely goes very well with Financial, the gold produced gets the 20% bonus. I'm thinking we'll likely want Festivals soonish for that same reason - +3.6 gpt -1 beaker (5.1gpt while we're in god king) for 20 hammers is an excellent deal.

[Mist]

That will be handy; I certainly wouldn't object to never building another worker (and would compensate by building all your settlers). I'm not currently planning to build any temples to Kilmorph or disciples either; settlers + horses fill my plate.

Don't build horses, at least not until you can push them out in 2t. Build one stables somewhere and then pump scouts in all military cities to be cash upgraded in the stables city. Shut down research if needs be. Once your hammer cities are big/improved enough to do 20 foodhammers per turn ( with conquest ) you can go back to building horses outright. Earlier it's a waste of hammers and opportunity.

I'm hoping that you'll have the excess production to keep Kilmorph spreading at a good rate, but if not we may have to rely on natural spread. Still, 1.2 gpt in the peripheral city plus 1.7 in the shrine seems likely to pay .

Soon, but not yet, I'm just start to grow onto my mines and I'll need a second city to take over some of the teching burden.

Speaking of settlers, they're now down to a 5-turn build from Longsword. If you'll let me know which city you want first

I need a hammer heavy factory to churn out trebs as soon as construction rolls in, I'll think about it some more, but for now I'm leaning towards dye lake-facing spot marked on the map.

RoK definitely goes very well with Financial, the gold produced gets the 20% bonus. I'm thinking we'll likely want Festivals soonish for that same reason - +3.6 gpt -1 beaker (5.1gpt while we're in god king) for 20 hammers is an excellent deal.

AFTER TREBS. Seriously, this is a cramped AW map, fight your inner builder instincts

[Mardoc]

AFTER TREBS. Seriously, this is a cramped AW map, fight your inner builder instincts

Well...I was going to argue that the power graph would keep us safe...but then I realized they can do a similar upgrade trick with whatever unit they want to use to fight with. Well...maybe Darrell can't, but Ilios certainly could.

I suppose the related question is, is it worth trying to assemble a force that can surprise them and win immediately, with Horsemen/Warcry? A quick upgrade in the Ygg city could hit Ilios in, I think, 2 turns after the upgrade. Or should I send out horses as soon as I can, to start getting the economic lead? I'm leaning toward getting horses out ASAP and in a trickle. That'd surrender the chance of a surprise attack victory, but would give us the sure benefit of choking and keeping an eye on their military.

[Mist]

Trickle choke. And lets keep the warcry for emergencies or coordinated, siege supported push.

[Mardoc]

Settled my city, discovered Ilios also has a Ygg city (further back). And looking at top 5, Darrell has one as well. I'm glad we're almost to HBR and I can start harassing them - they need to be harassed!

I'm debating what to build in my frontline city. At the moment I'm working on a monument, so that we can have some visibility/movement inhibition. I'm strongly considering swapping to another warrior and/or a stables once HBR comes in. But I think I need culture here at the front if we're to keep the mobility advantage.

Settler #2 due in 4 turns.

[Mardoc]

Warriors moving out to clear the barrow in my territory so that we don't have to cover workers around it. Settler in 3 turns for the cow/FP site, then another 5 turns (maybe 1-2 extra for more warriors if I feel threatened) and I'll have a settler en route to become dwarven.

The scout is still moving toward the Pyre, but just spotted a griffon. I suspect he's going to become griffon poo, but in the event he survives he can begin popping the pyre next turn.

[Mist]

We've got HBR at end of turn. Masonry now please

Your scout survived, some of your warriors fought skellies and lived to tell the tale. The Drill2 one is pretty mauled though.

[Mardoc]

We've got HBR at end of turn. Masonry now please .

Aww, but I wanted to look at the shinies

Ok, it'll be between Masonry -> Construction and gold for horsies for me. Either way benefits our security. I'll probably stick with 100% research until I've a Stables close to finished, anyway.

Your scout survived, some of your warriors fought skellies and lived to tell the tale. The Drill2 one is pretty mauled though.

Huh, I figured Drill2 across a river would be enough protection for him. Maybe I'll have to slightly delay clearing off the barrow while warriors heal.

Scout's going to risk his life again, therefore, checking out the secret passages under the Pyre. Fingers crossed for a disciple of the sun, and not a Wraith .

[Mist]

Ilios in conquest means axe rush.

Sigh.

Probably with Darrell's catapults as support.

Build stables in capital, chop some forests to get it faster ( I know 8h from a chop sucks, but beggars can't be choosers ) and finish the road to your Ygg city. Once stables are in place revolt to conquest and start pumping/upgrading scouts. Keep the Ygg city on monument, no point in swapping it to stables with that scary 3h of production, once it's size two working a farm and a mine we can think of other ways to use it.

Tech path Masonry->Construction->Archery I think. Still wanna tech Festivals?

[Mardoc]

Tech path Masonry->Construction->Archery I think. Still wanna tech Festivals?

Yes .

But I do also want some Trebs around, and dwarven slingers. Especially with the Bannor axes coming. I can agree they're more urgent. Trebs + horsemen ought to be able to smash an axe stack, if we're ready in time.

I guess the important question is on the settler who finishes, I think, in one turn - if we've got to divert from settler spam to horses for a while, should I maybe give it to you instead of settling the cow/FP site? It would likely mean lower maintenance costs overall (and more gold on hand for me to upgrade with). Or are things dire enough that I should abandon it and let it hammer decay?