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

[HidingKneel]

Turn came in with our new tech:



Very good... except that I'm confused. Does consumption add 10% or 20%? (Seems to be some inconsistency in the documentation.) If it's only 10%, I'm not sure it's worth it for the Kuriotates. Our upkeep is only around 60, so the civic would be worth 6gp per turn if we were running breakeven science (less, once Commodore is picking up the tab for us, but that's probably more than ten turns away). And the civic itself will cost around half of that. Is that worth giving up +10% military production?

Bob has outsmarted me (or, rather, he took advantage of me outsmarting myself):



Looks like he built himself a road to give his beast of Agares a little extra reach. Also of note: Bob is now running apprenticeship/conquest, so units he builds from here on will be tougher. Hence: bad idea to kill the beast, even if Bob wasn't able to counterattack. So I moved my units out of its reach, instead.

It's got one improved tile, anyway, and worst case it builds an angelic worker right away. I'd say take it quickly.

But....perhaps it should be Angels who take it. For the XP.

Looks like Commodore is on the job:



Killed an archer that was travelling between the barbarian cities, and had a look at the second one. Size three, so also ready to be conquered.

What else? One of our stonewardens reached 10xp this turn, so I promoted him to a paladin. The other is at 9xp. When it reaches 10 (maybe next turn?) I'll promote him too, and then we can cancel the iron deal.

Although I agree Inns will be profitable and should be built eventually - I would sneak in workers instead. We're on the verge of having what, five Mercurian cities? And a sixth as soon as the barbs figure out how to grow it? Plus Kurio cities that will be growing again once we do build the Inns?

Seems like workers are the bottleneck at the moment.

Makes sense. I went worker-worker-worker this turn. Produced another two.
Our workforce is now: 7 Kuriotate workers, 1 Mercurian worker, and one Kuriotate slave. I think I'll add another three workers next turn, then go back to building other things.

Speaking of which: mage guild + adept is only 140 hammers. Kwythellar can do that in three turns if I'm careful to arrange for some overflow in advance, and then the mana node is right next door. So maybe there's no need to tech KotE up front. I'll do that in Kwythellar, and build the Order stuff in Avelorn instead. Order temple will do more good there anyway, since there are more base hammers to multiply. So I'm thinking Sanitation next (warfare came in at EOT). Or maybe we should do KotE/divination before sanitation? Bob is looking more and more dangerous, so it sure would be nice to get some access to collateral.

[Mardoc]

Very good... except that I'm confused. Does consumption add 10% or 20%? (Seems to be some inconsistency in the documentation.) If it's only 10%, I'm not sure it's worth it for the Kuriotates. Our upkeep is only around 60, so the civic would be worth 6gp per turn if we were running breakeven science (less, once Commodore is picking up the tab for us, but that's probably more than ten turns away). And the civic itself will cost around half of that. Is that worth giving up +10% military production?

It's 20%. Since we want to make sure Commodore has enough cash on hand to upgrade to paladins, you're right that we won't be calling on the angels for gold just yet. So I'd go ahead and revolt.

The only thing that crosses my mind, is that it's nice to have the option of a swap to App + Conquest if a true emergency shows up. Is that option worth 10 gpt? Well...maybe?

Bob has outsmarted me (or, rather, he took advantage of me outsmarting myself):

Looks like he built himself a road to give his beast of Agares a little extra reach. Also of note: Bob is now running apprenticeship/conquest, so units he builds from here on will be tougher. Hence: bad idea to kill the beast, even if Bob wasn't able to counterattack. So I moved my units out of its reach, instead.

Dang it. Well, these things happen. Any way we can either pillage or add to that road? Not near future, but it'd be handy to have the option when Commodore's got a military built.

Looks like Commodore is on the job:

Killed an archer that was travelling between the barbarian cities, and had a look at the second one. Size three, so also ready to be conquered.

Excellent. 3-4 more turns and the angels will double in size again

Makes sense. I went worker-worker-worker this turn. Produced another two.
Our workforce is now: 7 Kuriotate workers, 1 Mercurian worker, and one Kuriotate slave. I think I'll add another three workers next turn, then go back to building other things.

Ok, yeah, that ought to be enough to keep up, at least until we resume settler production.

Speaking of which: mage guild + adept is only 140 hammers. Kwythellar can do that in three turns if I'm careful to arrange for some overflow in advance, and then the mana node is right next door. So maybe there's no need to tech KotE up front. I'll do that in Kwythellar, and build the Order stuff in Avelorn instead. Order temple will do more good there anyway, since there are more base hammers to multiply. So I'm thinking Sanitation next (warfare came in at EOT). Or maybe we should do KotE/divination before sanitation? Bob is looking more and more dangerous, so it sure would be nice to get some access to collateral.

I think the best thing we can do to increase our striking power is full speed ahead on growing Commodore. Consider axemen: Str 7 with Iron + Bless, and at least a +10% boost from Shield of Faith on top, plus CombatI/Commando. For 30 hammers. And can pretend he's a catapult, if need be, since he'll be reborn.

Conversely, Angelic horsemen make perfect harassment/pillaging parties, with Commando + Kamikaze.

And Commodore's already on the verge of being able to produce these fellows. Plus a Valin, a Basium, and Order units/Paladins. I think that'll be able to keep things under control for a while. But that's also why I'd definitely go for Sanitation next.

[Commodore]

I like the thought of angelic horsemen best, but axes are certainly good too. Prey tell, do crusaders upgrade to anything useful at all? I'm moving the first to the hilariously spelled Lugus's to Order spread. Amatheon's Alms and Sucellus' Succor next I'd say.

[Mardoc]

Prey tell, do crusaders upgrade to anything useful at all?

They can upgrade to either Paladins (once you have your iron back), or to Angels (by dying). Remember, Angels keep all the promotions they had in life, which includes demon slaying in this case.

I think I'd rather get our Paladins via Confessors, that comes with more promotions and XP than crusaders. But crusaders can work.

And I do agree the best use for them at the moment is to continue the Order chain reaction, and get culture into all your cities.

[HidingKneel]

Remember, Angels keep all the promotions they had in life, which includes demon slaying in this case.

Are you sure about that? I thought they just keep all the experience that they had in life (which they can then use to take new promotions).

[Mardoc]

Are you sure about that? I thought they just keep all the experience that they had in life (which they can then use to take new promotions).

No, I'm not sure, I just assumed. It's probably worth a WB test.

[HidingKneel]

Turn 93 played.

New techs are coming in right and left these days:

The only thing that crosses my mind, is that it's nice to have the option of a swap to App + Conquest if a true emergency shows up. Is that option worth 10 gpt? Well...maybe?

It's a consideration. But military state also offers some good options in case of emergency. There's drafting (though I guess we can only draft warriors in our supercities), but also cash-rushing. Anyways, I decided to do the switch. So we're now in consumption and military state.

Overcouncil stuff:



What to choose, what to choose? We should keep in mind that everything that's good for us is probably also good for Ilios. In fact, he gets a little more out of free trade routes, since he has more cities (at least for now). Still, I think I'd prefer something that benefits us and Ilios. He's the biggest threat, but there are three other players in the game to think of too. So I chose "single currency".

Our other stonewarden had enough xp for three promotions. So I moved him to Naggarond and promoted. We've now got four iron-equipped paladins, and don't need to be holding the iron anymore. So I cancelled our iron deal, and offered this one in its place:



What else? Oh, Commodore, you might as well spread Order to Naggarond with that acolyte. Unless there's a bigger chance of failure spreading to a holy city for another religion?

Pumped out another three workers at EOT, bringing us to 11.5 in total.
I think that's enough for the time being. I'm thinking that, especially with those new trade routes coming in, it'll be nice to build some inns. Though we still need forges in Avelorn and Naggarond. And tons of other things...

Tech set to sanitation. We can probably finish that next turn.

A shame that we lost our mobility centaur. None of our current centaurs have two promotions free, so no immediate replacement available.
It would be really nice to have some kind of eyes on Bob, though.

[Mardoc]

I'm thinking that, especially with those new trade routes coming in, it'll be nice to build some inns. Though we still need forges in Avelorn and Naggarond. And tons of other things...

Looking at the demos, we're significantly ahead in GNP, even after discounting by 30%. And of course we anticipate getting ~20,000 beakers for the cost of a few hundred hammers. Even if we count Commodore and us together, though, we're only about tied in production. So I'd be inclined to build the forges first.

Well...except...hmm. We did just enter a cash rush civic, making 2 g = 1 hammer. Inns are 67 hammers, IIRC, and give us a bonus of ~6 commerce/turn/each, which turns into 9 after Tailor/Jeweler, and maybe 11 gpt. Forges cost 167 hammers, give a bonus dependent on the city, but 4-8 hpt. I suppose if we plan to do any cash rushing or upgrading, Inns pay back better. And that ignores the happiness benefit, which at least Naggarond needs.

Ok, go for Inns, unless our cities have more base hpt than I remember and hence more benefit from Forges.

[HidingKneel]

Disaster!

Druids promoted from confessors do NOT have the ability to cast Pillar of Fire. They just get unyielding order. So, more or less useless.

Workarounds:

1) Tech honor, go for druids with Crown of Brilliance instead.
Cons: Honor costs additional beakers. Crown of Brilliance not as strong as Pillar of Fire (but still quite nice). Plus if we want 8 of them, the Mercurians will need to convert away from Order, costing a turn of anarchy and a hero. Pros: Most flexible appraoch. Stonewarden -> druid for earthquake would be nice, for example.

2) Get to divine essence via theology instead. Cons: requires us to tech religious law. Also, we need 26 xp before we can convert confessors to priors. That'll take a while for the Kuriotates, and it'll take forever for the Mercurians. Pros: Doesn't require a detour to OO to change religions, doesn't require us to build an expensive but otherwise useless building (grove).

3) Forget divine essence, and go instead for easier top-tier Mercurian units.
Berserkers and seraphs would be a pretty good alternative source of collateral. (And it only takes 10xp to promote an angel to a seraph.)

[HidingKneel]

Disaster!

Druids promoted from confessors do NOT have the ability to cast Pillar of Fire. They just get unyielding order. So, more or less useless.

Workarounds:

1) Tech honor, go for druids with Crown of Brilliance instead.
Cons: Honor costs additional beakers. Crown of Brilliance not as strong as Pillar of Fire (but still quite nice). Plus if we want 8 of them, the Mercurians will need to convert away from Order, costing a turn of anarchy and a hero. Pros: Most flexible appraoch. Stonewarden -> druid for earthquake would be nice, for example.

2) Get to divine essence via theology instead. Cons: requires us to tech religious law. Also, we need 26 xp before we can convert confessors to priors. That'll take a while for the Kuriotates, and it'll take forever for the Mercurians. Pros: Doesn't require a detour to OO to change religions, doesn't require us to build an expensive but otherwise useless building (grove).

3) Forget divine essence, and go instead for easier top-tier Mercurian units.
Berserkers and seraphs would be a pretty good alternative source of collateral. (And it only takes 10xp to promote an angel to a seraph.)