The Orc Clan: Following the Princess Rule

[Ravus Sol]

So, is it right to assume that everyone should know it's me pushing up the AC? Sure I can bluff that I will stop at Blight but when I don't even the most unobservant player is going to realise time is counting down.

Mist figured out the plan early and probably told the Hippus.
Mackoti seems to be cottoning on.
Sareln seems to be choosing not to bring it up to preserve the alliance but he's smart enough to have noticed.
Amelia is the only person who might be out of the loop at this point.

I think the time of acting from the shadows is coming to a close. Lets see if my luck can last and the Vampires can stay threatening enough for me to be a secondary threat.

[Ravus Sol]

[SIZE="6"]Orcs Diplomacy is boring. [/SIZE]

I'm just going to summarize the Diplomacy for this turnset. Far to much planning and so on without much undertone or interesting revelations.

[SIZE="4"]Sareln of the Elves[/SIZE]

Sareln continues to keep me in the loop in his diplomacy, Reconnaissance and empire management.

• Morii gets close to Orcish borders then turns barbarian
  
• Elves make deal with Mist & Mr Yellow For map
  
• Elves agree to sell Mist Settlers
  
• Elves state their army will have priests by the time of launch
  
• Sareln states that a Spider found in Amurite lands was note his. Blames Mackoti
  
• Border Tensions with Vampires causes Sareln to snipe a exploring Chariot
  
• Discuss putting pressure on Amelia when the time comes to leverage him into using his Worldspell
  
• Discuss The Vampires getting the Council of Esus and then founding the Shrine
  
• Elves provide recon of Vampire lands with their newest Vampire Feasting on the city
  

So yes, the Elves are the centre of attention. What once caused Sareln to fear he would get rushed (again), now causes him to be at the centre of global affairs. He is organising the alliance, selling of settlers and maps and keeping me happy as a silent partner. Sareln is probably the best all round player here. He'd be a favourite to win...
If Mackoti wasn't threatening the world with vamps.
If I wasn't planing to blow up said world.
If Mist didn't have some secret scheme brewing.

[SIZE="4"]Amelia of the Amurites[/SIZE]

Amelia is still seemingly in the middle of everything without picking a side. But a recent Spider-Scout event may tip the scales.

• Spider spotted INSIDE Amelia's Lands. Letters sent out to find the interloper
  
• Sareln reveals it must be Mackoti
  

Amelia continues to play the strong silent type. If it wasn't for the fact that he is close enough to get attacked by anyone that silence might be something to worry about. At the moment its probably just him not wanting to commit to anything

[SIZE="4"]Mr Yellow of the Hippus[/SIZE]

Mr Yellow is still Mist's not-so-secret minion. His only diplomacy for this time period was to ask for constant updates for his Great Merchant as it rushes through my barbarian friendly land to perform the trade mission he needs to upgrade his units.

Nuff said.

[SIZE="4"]Mist of the Bannor[/SIZE]

We have a small chat with Mist just before he buys the Elvish-Orish Map. He makes vengful digs for information on the AC jacking and our attempts to distract probably didn't work.

• Mist buys Elf-Orc Map
  
• Mist enters chat with Orcs, Asks about AC
  
• Orcs reveal "secret" plan to Blight the Vampires into subbmission
  
• Mist doubts plan, probably suspects our "blow up the world" plan now
  

Mist is probably trying to prepare for the Blight, Luckily he is so far away with such slow units that he can't stop me. Hopefully his secret plan doesn't involve something that can be done during blight. I may derail him a little.

[SIZE="4"]Mackoti of the Vampires[/SIZE]

Mackoti and myself have not spoken since the border skirmish ages ago. No point. I made my views clear enough and hopefully pushed paranoia buttons. The only interaction we have had is the comments about the AC in the Tech thread that I mentioned recently.

[Ravus Sol]

Looks like the Blight is going to hit exactly on turn 135!
And i've not even started my Ashen Veil spam properly yet! I might get the first horseman before turn 140 and the Infernals and second horseman by turn 145! I'm feeling lucky!

[Mardoc]

I've got to say, this is the game that's at the most exciting phase, I think. Anything could happen (and probably will).

So thanks for the continued updates! If only Sareln and mackoti and Yellow could be convinced to do the same.

[Ravus Sol]

[SIZE="6"]Armageddon Countdown: Line up[/SIZE]

Just writing down the exact numbers needed for the percentages. As you can see each 10% is 13.4 points on the AC which can be rounded up occasionally. 14 points is not that hard to boost up. It 7 turns of pumping marked units. So as long as I spread to 4 new cities or pump out a Ashen Hero or Shrine as well I feel comfortable aiming for a 10% rise every 5 turns.

Which means Armageddon is due... Turn 170

That seems to long.

Lets hope the horsemen and infernals are as distracting as I hope them to be.

30%
40/134

40%
54/134

50%
67/134

60%
80/134

70%
94/134

80%
107/134

90%
121/134

100%
134/134

[Ravus Sol]

I've got to say, this is the game that's at the most exciting phase, I think. Anything could happen (and probably will).

So thanks for the continued updates! If only Sareln and mackoti and Yellow could be convinced to do the same.

Yeah, the layout of this game has seemed like one long build up. Especially for me and my "not-so-secret-anymore" plan to blow up the world. At this point anyone can still win. Although Mr Yellow would need a super plan to pull his off.

Took me a moment to realise why you mentioned Sareln as not updating :neenernee his threads in november 22nd! seems strange as he is allways prompt when replying to emails. Not that I can talk. My thread was miles behind not that long ago

On the other hand i'm still surprised Mackoti even has a thread!

I hope the Blight hits everyone hard enough that no-one has time to detour to the Order Religion. That thing spreads like the plague.

But now i'm rambling and should do the turn 125-130 update.

[Selrahc]

Which means Armageddon is due... Turn 170

Remember to have an army mostly composed of non-living units by the point. Diseased corpses probably.

You're better off than most of other as regards rebuilding after apocalypse, with the possible exception of the Bannor, but it's far better not to have to rebuild at all and just have a force that is unaffected. Especially when Krill's Infernals will be in play, and will be actively boosted by the apocalypse.

[Ravus Sol]

[SIZE="6"]Turns 125-130: Tick Tock goes the clock as your time slips away[/SIZE]

This is a, laying down the infrastructure and build up, phase. Most of my cities are pumping out double Stonewardens to send off against the Vampires. My allies wanted it all done by turn 130 so I ran things into the ground a little.

While doing so I had four cities that were playing around with other things. Marking units to Ramp up the AC, Building Ashen Veil Temples and getting the Hero out late in the game.

[SIZE="4"]Turn 126: Can't see the nation for the Cities[/SIZE]

This turn we examine three of the main cities as we set up for the AC rush.

First we have Broken Entwash! It is our Prophecy city and can thus pump out marked units. Each one giving +1 to the AC.

It's currently close to unhappiness so the next turn I switched one of the grassland farms to the grassland cottage.

You can also see in the bottom left corner that the warrior build has a star, this means it will just keep on building those warriors.

Lonely Mountain is the site of the Ashen Veil holy city. A shame we couldn't have founded it in a place called "Moria" But oh well. I have a plan to use Moria for a introductory post for Krill instead.

It specs itself into pure production mode so that the temple finishes in 2 turns. We need to get things ready quickly for our lovely warrens to make super fast units. This city will build maybe one set of savants before building nothing but ritualists for awhile.

Last but not least is Fangorn Plains. This city pumps out another set of Settlers. Why you ask? Because those damnable vampires are still out expanding me! With their stupid little golden ages and flood plains and near compulsory courthouses! Curse them!

[SIZE="4"]Turn 127: Golden with Envy, Shadowed with Worry[/SIZE]

A busy turn. The Vampire finally get out of their Golden Age, but they manage to grab the Deception tech, letting them found Council of Esus, A truely horrible religion whose shrine makes all units inside the worshipers borders invisable. Thankfully the GNP from leaving the Golden Age is Significant.

As you can see it drops by nearly half. Unfortunatly Mackoti probably has everything he needs... actually no. From what I can see he still needs necromancy to truely make his Vampire Summons terrifying.

The Free Savant from the Corruption tech makes it to Isengard and it also starts building a temple. The New Stonewardens go join the Army stationed in Lonely Mountain.

Seeing as my naming scheme for the orcs didn't go anywhere. I stick to the ominious method of naming my marked unit by the number that they are increasing the AC in total. I plan to station at least one marked unit in every city freeing up the other warriors guarding them to be upgraded. Eventually though I will have so many I may as well station them on the borders of my empire.

In the West I found a new city, As the Stonewarden is so far away I simply settle him to keep my economy afloat. There is enough space for 2 more cities in the south which I will show later.


[SIZE="4"]Turn 128: Rantine, Sounds like what Bam-Bam Flintstone would name his kid.[/SIZE]

While a lot happens in this turn I'm cutting down on pictures as only one is neccessary. The rest of the information can just be typed. To start with Bronze Working was finished. Thus opening up Bronze warriors, axemen and our late-to-the-party hero, Rantine.

Dunlands is a good enough production city, With a bit of respec-ing I get the production time down further. Rantine at the moment merely has two uses, Barbarian city conversion and possible cannon fodder. I will probably just keep him back in the Empire in case I make it to the Wine Barbarian City in the West as well.

This turn I am also given 100 gold pieces by Mist for my part of the map-money. Prompting Sareln to "sell" the map to mist when he wanted to just give it to Mr Yellow was a good plan. Even If it's probably not taken much away from mist that money will keep me afloat. I'm also thinking of upgrading the first Savants as well.

I start on Warfare and grumble about only equalling the Vampire city count instead of over taking it. Soon. Soon my time will come.

[SIZE="4"]Turn 129: Rise of the Marked Ones[/SIZE]

Not much happens this turn, The Elves do get trade and switch to Foreign Trade and Military State. Interesting choice. Nothing surprising in the technologies that they have.

You can see here that my Stonewarden & Marked Warrior spam is starting to have noticeable effects. While I may not have a perfect economy or teching power I have one hell of a land advantage and now enough power to be a threat. Not to mention one hell of an Ace up my sleeve.

Marked units are now numbering seven and the AC is up to 17%.

[SIZE="4"]Turn 130: Religious upheaval to the stirrings of War[/SIZE]

A pretty big turn. I decide to take a hit and change over to Ashen Veil Early so that my two cities can start building Ritualists ASAP. The AC is still only 18%

The Turn 130 Army. A bit rushed but I got 12 Stonewardens ready in time. Turned out I didn't need to cut it so close. Mr Yellow decides that instead of using his Great Merchant in the Elvish Capital he will use it in mine instead. He spends the next few turns pestering me about keeping an eye out for barbarians. *sigh*

So now my army stands by uselessly. It does give me time to shift two more Stonewardens up to join them while waiting.

You can also see Fangorn Plains Settlers heading off to found some cities in the West.

An overview of the cities in my empire. Not bad. But not perfect either. I'm pretty sure that the Elves and the Vampires are running better city management then me and I suspect the Amurites are as well. I would mention the Bannor and Mist but he has so few cities now I don't care :neenernee

With all of the Stonewarden builds finished I switch to markets everywhere. This along with the Military state change coming up should keep me afloat untill the Infernals are in play.

This score graph confused me for quite some time. Untill Sareln sent me a picture of his spying on Vampire Lands. Mackoti has Vampires out! From the graph I would suspect he has one per city drafted and/or feasting.

This complicates things but hopefully he won't draft/feast so much that blight won't hurt him.

The revolution to Ashen Veil is going to hurt a little financially. All those Runes cities no longer giving me money. Shame. But this way i can upgrade the Savants built EOT into Ritualists and my two AV cities can instantly start building me my evil priests.

Thus ends the summery for these turns.

[Ravus Sol]

Remember to have an army mostly composed of non-living units by the point. Diseased corpses probably.

You're better off than most of other as regards rebuilding after apocalypse, with the possible exception of the Bannor, but it's far better not to have to rebuild at all and just have a force that is unaffected. Especially when Krill's Infernals will be in play, and will be actively boosted by the apocalypse.

Indeed. The one flaw of an Orc Apocalypse. All your units are living unless you specifically build the Corpses, unlike the Infernals and Sheaim.

Many of my secondary cities will build soem Diseased corpses to man the borders but i'll also be trying to expand and continue to spread the Ashen Veil to snatch a religious victory so it's going to be close.

Poor Sareln though. Not only will half his own units turn barbarian on him but also the half of mine that turn barbarian will march north to his lands.

Krill will be the main issue. If I can get him into a T170 NAP then I should be fine. It will be fun to see what he does, he comes into play very late but with a lot of bonuses due to my plot.

Just please don't let him appear to the south of me. Or on a island where he would be useless in fear-mongering.

[Ravus Sol]

[SIZE="6"]Turn 131: The Correct Term is Demonologist, not Demon Lover. Whomever heard of loving a Demon?[/SIZE]

Just an extra turn to get me up to date with the last AC countdown. It also shows of the two new city spots as Ichabod mentioned they could be better optimized previously.

[SIZE="4"]Nation[/SIZE]

The nation looks a lot more ominious with its blood fields and gothic cities. They do look a little sad and out of place in normal looking plains instead of hell terrain.

The Army heads off North, I upgraded one of Lonely Mountains Savants into a Ritualist so that it at least has some Collateral. I didn't have enough money to upgrade them both so this turn I run the slider in the money direction.

The Changeover comes at a price and some cities are now unhappy including Fangorn Plains and Broken Entwash. I can send the upgraded Ritualist along to found a temple to help out there. Coincidently upping the AC for no extra effort!

You can notice Mr Yellows continued advance with his Great Merchant and the jump in the AC which was explained in the last pages Armageddon Countdown.

[SIZE="4"]Expansion[/SIZE]

Here is the planned spots for the next two settlers. The only unused tiles will be the wet and dry grass above the cows. As well as some crappy tundra down in the south. There is a bit of overlap as well. But these cities would be safe in my "core" area now that I have a good defensive border

In the east the Misty Mountains, and I think I will renamed the new city into the White Mountains as it leads into Bannor-Hippus Territory.

Amusing note. See that Raw Mana Node? Yeah that blue thing?

That is the first raw mana node in my empire.

Not bad for a 15 city empire...

...

So good that i'm not gunning for a tower victory.