The Kuriotates: A Tale of Centaurs, Hubris, and Unbridled Enthusiasm

[Commodore]

Ay yi yi. For the Horde, now. Looks like a net of ~8 warriors for Selrahc. I don't think we'll break that until Centaurs.

So, another game then?

[HidingKneel]

Blitz today, so this'll be a big update.

Turn 11 opens with the following unfortunate event:



That'll put a little delay on our plans to get workers out.

Our southwestern scout was eaten by a bear, and our eastern scout is helping guide the settler safely to its destination. On the homefront we have a big mess of skeletons:



And Selrahc's power graph looks like this:



I took that for a warrior, and turned our scout around . Oh well. What fun would it have been to take him out so early, anyway? And there's plenty of other trouble for our scout to get into:



Turn 12 marks the beginning of the blitz proper. The first thing I did was found Avelorn. The upkeep was immediately painful.

Our northern scout manages to make himself not-so-useful:



Calendar came in, and I revolted to agrarianism.



In other news, we've been located by Plako's scout:



Important to keep an eye on that; I don't want to give him an opportunity to poach a worker.

The next turn opened with an extremely painful moment:



We could really use that prophet right now to keep our economy from crashing. Alas, our economy is crashing, so we can't afford him.

In other news, we've got three warriors in Kwythellar, so it's time to go on the offensive. One of them attacks the skeleton fortified on the ruins. That warrior dies, but the next one cleans up:



I want to get that warrior back into action ASAP, so I decide to risk popping the ruin. And we get a very nice reward:



I contemplate sending him to build an academy in Avelorn to help pop the borders, but decide we'll do better to put that academy in Kwythellar.

Meanwhile, a warrior arrives in Avelorn, so I figure it's safe to send our scout out exploring again. First, we meet this fellow:



Not liking the looks of that, our scout moves off to meet a lion:



Lost between turns. But I think he amply repaid the 20 point investment we made, by bringing us Vesta Glory. Our northern scout was also lost; last I saw of him, he was positioned between two hungry griffons.

So, the real excitement of the set was taking the offensive against some skeletons. I got a little impatient and lost a warrior I didn't need to, but eventually cleaned out our territory.



The other thing you might notice is that our economy is in a shambles. There was actually a short moment while we were losing gold at 0% science. Fortunately, things are looking a little better now. We made it to crafting before the crash, but it might be a little bit of a slog to get to mining.

In other news, Selrahc fired his worldspell:



There were actually two barbarian warriors next to Avelorn the turn before, neither of which attacked. I guess he got both of those. Something to look out for.

Here's what the demos look like at the end of the blitz:



Not too bad. Our GNP could use some work, but we're well-positioned to improve that shortly. Kwythellar is now pushing out workers; one's out already, one's due next turn.

Some tidbits that were shared while chatting during the blitz:

1) With his advanced start points, Selrahc bought ancient chants, mysticism, and a pagan temple. He immediately swapped to pacifism and started working a priest, netting himself a great prophet on turn 16 or 17. He used that to bulb philosophy.

2) Bob mentioned being surprised when Selrahc fired his worldspell, saying that he thought he would save it until armageddon struck. Then Plako chimed in to say that Selrahc probably wouldn't have been able to survive without the worldspell. Not sure exactly what he was getting at, but possibly we weren't the only ones thinking about punishing him for his farmer's gambit.

3) As Mist mentioned, Bob's lake has an island. Bob put one of his cities on that island (1 tile). Taking his other city will leave him with no production, but he'll still be able to happily tech away. There's no way we're going to stop him from getting Hyborem.

[HidingKneel]

So, for tech path, I'm now thinking:

mining -> chants (Avelorn needs a monument) -> exploration -> education -> mysticism -> animal husbandry -> HBR

Too slow?

[Mardoc]

3) As Mist mentioned, Bob's lake has an island. Bob put one of his cities on that island (1 tile). Taking his other city will leave him with no production, but he'll still be able to happily tech away. There's no way we're going to stop him from getting Hyborem.

Dang. We can, however, slow him down. Main question is whether it's worth it.

So, for tech path, I'm now thinking:

mining -> chants (Avelorn needs a monument) -> exploration -> education -> mysticism -> animal husbandry -> HBR

Um. I don't like being that far from HBR, but I don't see anything I want to skip, either. I think I would put Exploration ahead of Ancient Chants, though, because it's worth income, and right now that's our holdup. And I might leave Mysticism until after HBR, depending on how empty our build queues look. Especially since we now have our highest-value Academy built.

I'm confused why you're not popping the barrow? That incense will about double our research rate.

[Commodore]

Hum. One thing to note, Bob placed his first city on the island...his capital. Not sure if it's 20 tiles or below...if it is, nothing but water walkers, fliers (Horsemen?), or airships can take it. But the important other thing is, AV will be founded in the landside city. Worth killing?

[HidingKneel]

I'm confused why you're not popping the barrow? That incense will about double our research rate.

Wanted to give Naggarond a chance to get a defender in place, and that warrior a chance to take a second promotion. Also wanted our workers to build the winery before the incense plantation, since it's on the way (this way, we won't lose any worker turns). I'll pop the barrow next turn, and start a plantation there unless we run into trouble.

Mysticism after HBR makes sense. I like chants before exploration, though. Exploration's worth money once we have workers to spare, but workers should have plenty to do once mining comes in. Popping borders in Avelorn is worth money too, since it'll let us work the gold. (I imagine our economy will be on its feet by then, so it'll be a matter of 3 turns or so either way.)

[HidingKneel]

Hum. One thing to note, Bob placed his first city on the island...his capital. Not sure if it's 20 tiles or below...if it is, nothing but water walkers, fliers (Horsemen?), or airships can take it. But the important other thing is, AV will be founded in the landside city. Worth killing?

Yeah, I think definitely worth killing. It'll lower the AC, slow the spread of Veil, and ensure that no one gets a chance to build Meshabber.

[Mardoc]

Hum. One thing to note, Bob placed his first city on the island...his capital. Not sure if it's 20 tiles or below...if it is, nothing but water walkers, fliers (Horsemen?), or airships can take it. But the important other thing is, AV will be founded in the landside city. Worth killing?

I don't know what happens. I think I may have to run a WB test. There's a chance that makes Bob unable to research Infernal Pact, if he's not allowed to stay AV.

Edit: Which would be awesome!

[Mardoc]

I don't know what happens. I think I may have to run a WB test. There's a chance that makes Bob unable to research Infernal Pact, if he's not allowed to stay AV.

Edit: Which would be awesome!

Looks like the mere fact you don't have any of a religion in your borders doesn't force you to abandon the religion. . The game must only check on swapping to the religion.

Still, it's probably worth razing just for the AC benefit, and for the slowing of Bob's research.

[Commodore]

Looks like the mere fact you don't have any of a religion in your borders doesn't force you to abandon the religion. . The game must only check on swapping to the religion.

Still, it's probably worth razing just for the AC benefit, and for the slowing of Bob's research.

So clearly the answer is to raze once it lands there, before Bob converts the next turn.