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

[HidingKneel]

Another turn played. First, some bad news in the event log:



The wilds are a dangerous place, and one of our centaurs got killed by a lizardman. I had one of our other centaurs exact revenge, and now that one will need to heal. So that's two more centaurs that aren't sprinting for Selrahc. Fortunately, it doesn't look like they'll be needed:



Looks like Selrahc deleted all of his marked goblins, and has decided to start over with marked warriors. Altogether it's not the most impressive garrison. The top defender is a C1 warrior. Chew through that and three more warriors, and we get to the soft, gooey center: marked warriors with minimal fortification bonus. I got started this turn. Here's the aftermath:



He doesn't have roads in place to counterattack (he can hit an unwounded centaur that's parked on the dragon bones, if he likes... it would probably take his whole garrison to kill it, though).

Two more centaurs produced at EOT, for a total of eleven now. Selrahc won't last long. Some military priorities for afterwards, order to be decided:

a) Hit Bob (who has three cities now) to slow down his Hyborem rush.
b) Force Ilios to trigger sanctuary (have to find him first)
c) Find Plako, pillage everything
d) Start popping dungeons everywhere.

[Mardoc]

Well, nobody else has a military at all - but Bob will have one once he makes it to Hyborem. I'd put him as the priority, therefore.

Granted, at the current ratio of our military/everyone else's, we might very well manage more than one thing at a time

[HidingKneel]

He doesn't have roads in place to counterattack (he can hit an unwounded centaur that's parked on the dragon bones, if he likes... it would probably take his whole garrison to kill it, though).

Pride goeth before a fall. Or, in this case, a minor setback. Selrahc did kill one of my centaurs on his turn, losing only one warrior in the process. Plus a second warrior that was stuck outside of his city, which I killed this turn.
Both of those were marked warriors, but he produced two more marked warriors this turn. So still four warriors in the city. I retreated the present crew outside of his culture to heal up, with reinforcements on the way. I'd better not let this drag out too long. If Selrahc manages to tech to education, the conquest will be much costlier.

[Mardoc]

Well, we always knew the first lump of Centaurs weren't going to be enough on their own. We're at something like 4 warriors killed to one Centaur, though, IIRC. So the hammer exchange is looking good, and should continue to improve as our centaurs gain XP and reinforcements, no?

I'm just pleased that you seem to have stalled the AC already.

Ah - it may be worth sending pillage parties around, gold is always handy. And if you can knock him down below 1 warrior/turn, that's extremely handy, too.

[Mardoc]

Just received the start; apologies in advance, my turn may take a little while to resolve, as I summon Hyborem and Thoth enters the game to take over the abandoned Lanun civ. I have already sent the save to T-hawk for adding me in control of the Infernals.

Holy cow! I didn't think there was any way he'd be *that* fast to Infernal Pact.

That means, even if we didn't stop Selrahc, he wasn't going to win with his Armageddon rush. I suspect we won't be seeing that tried again.

But, now we cross our fingers that Bob spawns somewhere distant, somewhere we don't have to worry about him until after we finish off Selrahc.

[Commodore]

Ugh. And also, um, the fact that the Lanun will have time to recover unless Bob is very near to them thanks to the crusade against the orcs here. Thoth is very much a threat to win any game he's in, and giving him Exp/Chm/Adaptive with an excellent economy and the impending ability to swap to Spiritual for AV toys...yeah, I think we shouldn't ignore the blue guys either.

[HidingKneel]

Awesome.

Initial thoughts: I actually hope Hyborem does spawn near us. We're the ones who are best equipped to handle him right now. At the rate we're producing centaurs, his initial forces won't be enough to both garrison a capital and send a stack after us. And his production won't be a match for ours in the immediate future.

If he spawns elsewhere, he'll have time to get some experience on Hyborem (a drill-promoted Hyborem would be a nightmare at our present tech level), and possibly do some conquering. Plako and Thoth both have much lower power than us, and fighting them will give Hyborem manes. In addition to the manes that he'll be getting from our war with Selrahc.

What do you think Bob's plans will be right now? One school of thought would be to come right at the Kuriotates, since we're the biggest threat. But he's probably ten turns too late for that to work, so he might decide instead to pick a softer target which will give him manes.

[Mardoc]

Plako and Thoth both have much lower power than us, and fighting them will give Hyborem manes. In addition to the manes that he'll be getting from our war with Selrahc.

Fighting with Thoth would provide manes, yes, although not all that many until/unless he gains power. Selrahc? He doesn't have a religion, he has only the one city - only one Mane possible for Bob out of that. I'm not worried about a single Mane. Same deal with plako - possibly one mane/city razed

Remember, for a Mane to be born, either Evil or Neutral cities have to be razed, or units have to die who possess either an evil religion or DeathI/EntropyI.

What do you think Bob's plans will be right now? One school of thought would be to come right at the Kuriotates, since we're the biggest threat. But he's probably ten turns too late for that to work, so he might decide instead to pick a softer target which will give him manes.

I think he's got to attack whoever he's near. He needs more population, and that means conquest. He's also going to have nearly no research power at the moment, and although he'll have iron, that doesn't come with any tech. I don't expect him to try to raze anyone and get Manes that way, I expect him to try to take and hold cities.

I *am* afraid of him building the Infernal Grimoire, though, and getting access to Eidolons and Beasts of Agares that way.

Although perhaps we could handle him with Centaurs - I really want Angels on the board instead/in addition! Remember, we're not a standing target - if Bob spawns far away and has time to get Hyborem trained up, we also have time to get Basium, stronger units, and more growth.

[Mardoc]

Well, it looks like you got your wish:


So, can we simultaneously keep Bob in check, and Selrahc in check? Looks like we're going to have to find out!

[Commodore]

Adventure! Also, I hope Plako and Illos are at least sending you gift baskets. You are owning this Prisoner's Dilemma.