Green as they come: Hiding Kneel plays the Ljosalfar [SPOILERS]

[HidingKneel]

Turn 30 is in, bringing answers to our burning questions, like: what will happen to our promoted warrior? The answer? None of the above:



So I decided to take another long shot with an unpromoted warrior. Lost the warrior but redlined the lizard:



Lizardslayer had no trouble mopping up. Unfortunately, the fight wasn't worth enough xp for another promotion.

In other news, our warriors connected up the incense, and started farming the floodplains north of Hyll.

Mining came in at EOT, revealing copper. Our nearest source is here:



Gives us another reason to claim that site one of these days. But it's not pressing; we won't see bronze working for a long while.

The next nearest source of copper is some ways off:



Finally, here's a screenshot of territory at EOT:



Now, it's decision time. Do we want archery now? Or can it wait until after the chants/mysticism/education/hunting/WotF chain?

[Commodore]

Hum. Well, probably after the chain up to Education. The rest...it depends on how scary the world is looking.

[HidingKneel]

Two more turns in. Lizardslayer has retreated to the forested hill at city site D, where he'll remain until the city is constructed. Finished farming the floodplains north of Hyll. That worker team will connect our wines, then get started developing the area around our third city.

Researched ancient chants in 2 turns. Planning to go mysticism next, which should take another five.

No word from Ellimist, or anyone else. No events, either. Strange that I haven't seen one since the start of the game, with living world on and all.

Here's a snapshot of the end of turn 32:

[HidingKneel]

New turn in. Not much to report. Northern worker team connected the wines, southern team finished our first mine near Evermore. Power graph shows that Ellimist took a slight dip. Since he's still at peace with the barbs, that must mean he's fighting someone else.

We really need to research hunting. A few hawks ought to give a much better idea of what's going on in the world.

Screenshot from EoT:

[Commodore]

Hawks wouold be wonderful, but what I'd really be glad for would be the strong and mobile hunters. It's on the beeline, so that's fine. Every turn that goes by without Kyan losing anything is a bad turn, sadly, I really hope the orcs and horselords are locked in combat of mutual destruction...if one eats the other, it's lights out for the world time.

[HidingKneel]

Turn 34 came in. The only real news is the Ellimist's score just took a giant leap. I'm guessing that he must have conquered one of Yell0w's cities on turn 14, and the land points just came in (can't think of anything else that would help his score so much; also, turn 14 was just about when Yell0w posted his inspirational speech in the tech thread).

Finished a settler at EoT, which will head up to colonize site D. Evermore can build a warrior while growing to size 7.

Screenshot? Yes, I have one of those for you.

[HidingKneel]

So, decision coming up. Evermore will spend two turns growing to the happy cap. After that, here are two roads I'm considering:

a) Start building another settler, which we send to site A. I think we can get the settler out in 5 turns, thanks to the multiplier we'll get from God King.

b) Start building a worker. Swap to God King and Pacifism when mysticism comes in. When the worker is finished, start an elder council. One that comes in, we'll build a settler while working a sage. If I've figured the micro right, we can get the worker in 2 turns, the council in 2 turns, and the settler in another 6.

All in all, plan b) delays the settler for five turns, nets us an extra worker, and boosts our research rate, while getting us started towards our first GP.

Thoughts?

[HidingKneel]

Another turn. In foreign affairs, we have this power spike:



That can't be good.

Domestically, we got settler moving, Hyll grew a size, and Evermore's due to grow next turn:

[HidingKneel]

Turn 36 rolled in with a message from Ellimist. The walls are closing in:





So I guess this pushes up the timetable a bit. I settled Bruti as planned. Can't hurt to have a third city cranking out warriors. Switched tech to Archery, now due in 7 turns (that is, until our commerce sources get pillaged). Started our eastern worker team making a mine near Bruti; when the mine is complete it will be able to turn out 3-turn warriors. Evermore and Hyll can both do better than 2-turn warriors now (at least until the pillaging starts). We'll give Ellimist the best fight we can manage.

Out of good sportsmanship, I proposed a peaceful resolution of our differences:



Anyway, here's a last look at elven lands, before they get ravaged by war:

[HidingKneel]

Turn 37 opens with another communique from Ellimist, together with my response:



I can't imagine there's anything he'll accept that I can afford to lose. So it's to be war!

Having had some time to think, I believe I misplayed the last turn. Should really finish mysticism before archery. The swap to God King and nationalism will let me 1-turn warriors in Evermore with overflow, and my only chance of surviving this is to churn out warriors like there's no tomorrow. So I set the tech back to mysticism, due at the end of next turn.

The other thing I should have done is get Bruti's garrison (including our hero, Lizardslayer) in motion. This turn I moved them near Hyll:



Right now, Ellimist's archers are CI, but are able to take an additional promotion. The hope is that with the elves out of sight, he'll move his archer southwest without promoting it. That will let me hit it with six warriors (one promoted) next turn. I ran some tests using worldbuilder, and that's usually enough to kill one archer. It'll mean heavy casualties for me, but my forces are replaceable and his are not.

To the southwest, we have this:



Right now, I really wish Evermore was built on a hill. The forested hills near Evermore actually give better defense than Evermore itself (even more so if I get my hands on some archers). So I'm going to put some fortified warriors on them. If Ellimist gets control of that terrain, not even Gilden will be able to dislodge him. Plus I won't be able to muster the production to build Gilden.

The other big decision to make was whether to send the supplies up to Hyll. I decided to keep them in Evermore. It's not as defensible, but it's the capital, and if I can hang on to those forested hills, it'll have a better capacity to produce Gilden/archers.

The other hope is that by mounting a defense with warriors, I'll entice Ellimist's archers to take shock promotions. If I can get some archers out, I'll be tough to crack.

Prognosis is not great, but I'll put up the best fight I can muster.