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

[Commodore]

He can hit my stack from MaimMast if he wants to, and possibly also from Bedplank. I'm not too worried about that: his odds are a lot worse than they'll be with us attacking into the city. I'm positioned to hit the MaimMast with ten centaurs next turn (plus a mostly-healed Alan Wake, if need be). Five of those are highly promoted, and five are so far unpromoted. Should be enough break the city, even if he manages to scrape together another defender this turn.

What do you think is the best promotions for the newbies to soften him up? Flanking to maximize their chances of survival? Drill to minimize the risk of not scratching the top defender? C1/S1 to inflict maximal damage?

The quietest dedlurker Mr. Sims would probably have the best answer there.

[Mardoc]

I would go with Flanking I/Flanking II. Because, well, we don't *need* to win this battle, but we do need to preserve our army. We need the army for dealing with Bob whenever he decides to go aggressive again, for harassing Ilios, for keeping Thoth suppressed, for killing off all the annoying barbs.

Flanking is the conservative choice, it gives us the lowest odds of actually razing Maim mast next turn, but the largest number of living Centaurs at the end, win or lose. Plus, withdrawals give the attacker XP, not the defender - so if we fail to do damage, we can regroup, heal, and not worry about him gaining promos.

This isn't like the Hyborem invasion or staying a turn ahead of Blight. Failure to raze Maim mast next turn means only that Thoth won't be taken out of the running as fast, not that we're in any danger. So keep the army intact, and take the easy fights.

In terms of building econ - I'd request you squeeze in a revolt to Kilmorph after we're spiritual, and a Stonewarden to Shield of Faith our whole army. 10% is minor, but every little bit helps.

[Mardoc]

The quietest dedlurker Mr. Sims would probably have the best answer there.

Mr. Sims is very literal. He'll give you the best answer to your question, but he'll never ask for clarifications or point out that your question is too narrow.

[HidingKneel]

Flanking is the conservative choice, it gives us the lowest odds of actually razing Maim mast next turn, but the largest number of living Centaurs at the end, win or lose. Plus, withdrawals give the attacker XP, not the defender - so if we fail to do damage, we can regroup, heal, and not worry about him gaining promos.

Well, we get the largest number of living centaurs at the end of next turn. But if we fail to raze the city, Thoth will heal up and build more defenders while we're regrouping, costing us more centaurs later.

Anyways, I just remembered that you need to have an extra movement point for flanking to function. That's probably why we lost more than expected fighting Bob: in my simulation, the centaurs started next to Hyborem; in the game, some of them had to come from far away. The upshot is that only two of our new recruits will be able to take advantage of flanking (unless the others sprint, making their odds even worse). I'll probably promote those two to flanking II and send them in first, and maybe put C1/shock on the other three.

In terms of building econ - I'd request you squeeze in a revolt to Kilmorph after we're spiritual, and a Stonewarden to Shield of Faith our whole army. 10% is minor, but every little bit helps.

No danger that I'll forget that. Next turn: swap to Kilmorph, foreign trade, and overcouncil. Stonewarden in Kwythellar, Herbalist in Avelorn (should finish that before the hammers decay: we don't need the health but we'll have a lot of wounded centaurs in there soon). Naggarond will either build a temple of Kilmorph, or start stockpiling SoK for the gate.

[HidingKneel]

Turn 71 has arrived at last!



I made the switch to spiritual, and swapped to foreign trade, overcouncil, and Kilmorph.

You will recall that I had a centaur keeping an eye on Bob. Alas, that centaur is no more. There was a barbarian warrior on the Mirror of Heaven, and I thought I'd take a risk attacking at 70% odds. Oh well; now we're down to twenty-four centaurs.

The other big news is the war with Thoth. I was quite mistaken last turn, when I said we'd be able to hit him with ten centaurs. Forgot that I can't use roads within his culture . Which means I'm not sure why I've been building those roads. Anyways, he produced another warrior between turns, and I moved a group of centaurs in position to hit him next turn (really this time!)



The two barbarian warriors outside his city haven't budged; hopefully they'll attack him this time.

Anyways, not attacking the AV holy city this turn, but that doesn't mean I can't make mischief. For example, check this out:



A much softer target, defended by two unpromoted warriors. It has now joined the Kuriotate empire:



I decided to keep it rather than razing it. That'll avoid giving Bob manes, and we can always inquisition away the AV. I'd like to have some lakeside property to hook up fish, though I guess we'll have to fight the culture from Thoth's capital for that.

Thoth founded a new city between turns:



This one had a single warrior in it, so it auto-razed. Looks like Bob got a mane from that.

Up north I was engaged in a bit of silliness:



That's the worker I captured from Selrahc's capital. I figured we have way more workers than we have work to do, so I'd use him to explore some of the map. He's stumbled upon Loki, so I expect to lose him between turns.

So, it's now looking like we'll get fanatism much earlier than I earlier predicted. End of turn 77, or maybe turn 78. So... if I understand correctly, soldiers of Kilmorph cost 60 hammers to produce, and give 30 hammers of production? That means we'll need 13 of them to build the gate in a single turn. There's no way we can have that many ready in time. So the limiting factor on building the gate will be the hammer cost, rather than the beaker cost. Getting the gate built ASAP is our priority right now, so all of our cities will build SoKs until further notice.

Let's have a look at our empire. Here's Kwythellar:



It's pretty close to producing our next great person. Was thinking about what type would be best. Settling a great person seems a bit weak at this point in the game. We've already got all our academies, and won't benefit much from religious shrines or altar pieces. A sage will bulb KotE (which we can research quickly anyway) and a prophet will bulb religious law (which we don't have much use for). On the other hand, a merchant will bulb currency, which looks pretty handy. Chances of a merchant are pretty low (something like 17%), but maybe I can increase them a little by working only the merchant for a while (great person due in 12 turns if I'm working just the one specialist).

Here's Naggarond:



Got some growing to do. I've got it producing SoKs, but the going will be slow with only 17 hammers of production.

Avelorn:



Also a lot of growing to do, which will be supported by a big health surplus. Avelorn grew a size this turn, and finished that herbalist. I've got most of my wounded centaurs healing in the city, getting ready to hit Thoth.

[Mardoc]

Looks good . I have to admit, I'm a bit startled you managed to cut that much off the time to Fanaticism - and this is before Foreign Trade grows up all our cottages. Of course, Thoth is helping us tech

I suppose that means it's time to start thinking about what comes next.

I think it's still a bit early to go for Taxation, we don't yet have *any* villages. My first guess is that we should go for Currency if we don't get that Merchant, to enable the 100% gold Basium strategy. After that, we probably want to pick up Bronze Working so Basium can build axes to turn into Angels, and then on to Smelting for Forges/Jewelers, and probably Masonry/Construction/Sanitation for Iron Centaur Chargers, Aqueducts, angelic Chariots.

I guess the question of which branch comes first depends mostly on whether we need army or econ more. Smelting is big for Kurios .

But I think Fanaticism ought to hold us over army-wise for a while. Between Basium, angels, and paladins, that ought to be able to handle just about any other military force on the board right now.

[HidingKneel]

I'd add two more techs to that list: fishing (to make use of our new acquisition) and Orders from Heaven (to get us a "real" religion). If I'm going to keep working just the one merchant, then our great person is 11 more turns away, meaning we'll have to make a tech decision before we know if we'll be able to bulb currency. So I say we hold off on currency, and go fishing -> bronze working -> smelting.

Question: can I gift a city to Commodore before he has a city of his own? Killswitch looks like a fantastic capital site, and it'll come pre-improved.

[Commodore]

Hum, I hear Paramanders are good too, looking at the future tech prospects for military.

I will say that Drill-promoted heros need Centaur/Horse Archers, so Stirrups really ought to be in the mix sooner rather than later.

You ought to be able to gift the city to me pre-settling, unless EitB is weird.

[Mardoc]

Hum, I hear Paramanders are good too, looking at the future tech prospects for military.

Free Demon slaying promo, Str 6/8, Medic - yeah, that's pretty decent. .

I will say that Drill-promoted heros need Centaur/Horse Archers, so Stirrups really ought to be in the mix sooner rather than later.

Well - I would tend to think that a Str 13 Angel, with 4 of that Holy strength, and the ability to do ~50% damage to Scratch at will, might very well be enough . Or, Str 13 Iron Paladins with their free Demon slaying promo could likely get pretty good odds, too.

Not that I'd really object to picking up Stirrups or proceeding on to Warhorses, mind. Kurio hero, Centaur Lancers, Ophanim, Repentant Angels, there's a lot of goodies at the end of that branch of the tree. Ophanim especially - they're Flying, so they could finish off the Lanun for us.

[Mardoc]

Of course I say that, and then:

I have completed the Infernal Grimoire. Should the game not award me my duly earned tech, I'll be holding the turn until Mr. Hawk can restore it. Thank you everyone in advance for being so understanding

This is a bit worrisome. Assuming he takes Malevolent Designs, he'll be able to build Beasts of Agares now. That's a Str 16 unit, +25% against Paladins, that costs apparently 80 hammers now. And doesn't cause him the usual difficulties, because he's Infernal.

Oh, and Mardero on top.