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

[HidingKneel]

Oh, and the AC got to 30 somehow. Wasn't the pillar of chains... maybe somebody got an event?

Anyways, it looks like my workers can build a road to get our adept to the former site of Lugus' Light this turn, so the Kuriotates won't have to endure the blight. Let's get Sphener built in a hurry, and start talking about killing Bob off.

[Mardoc]

Looked at the Basium save. Got Tsunami'd, and I think Thoth killed one of our chargers. Don't see a cultist though. Would it be invisible if it was loaded onto the galley? I say we pull back and let him retake his city. No sense taking more losses. In a very small number of turns, Eurabatres will sink that ship and take his capital. Meanwhile, let's stay away from the coasts.

Fine, let's take his inland cities while we wait.

I do have one more Angel than I did, not sure exactly what was killed.

In other news, Plako is pillaging us remotely with his spectres (didn't realize those could pillage!). That'll be annoying.

Yes. But he's staying awfully close. Saverous is nice, but he's not invincible. A nice Blessed handful of Chargers, and no more spectre-mages. Actually...I moved Basium, if plako stays put, we can trade one of Basium's lives for Saverous. Seems like a good deal to me - and there's always a chance plako couldn't actually kill him.

Also, I note that Bob has built himself a horsemen. I think we need some mobile units in the Kuriotate core, if we don't want to lose all those nicely grown cottages.

Gee, if only we had specialized in Centaurs or Rathas or something .

Actually, there's something more important. Do you have a way to reduce the AC, now, this turn? If not, we're about to be Blighted.

[HidingKneel]

Yes, let's keep hitting Thoth. He can't raze his on city on recapture, right? Let's just abandon it to him.

[HidingKneel]

Actually, there's something more important. Do you have a way to reduce the AC, now, this turn? If not, we're about to be Blighted.

Second, we can send a Life adept (which ours are, since we had double Life mana when they were born), with adequate guards, to the ex-Mercurian ruins, and Sanctify them.

[Mardoc]

Yes, let's keep hitting Thoth. He can't raze his on city on recapture, right? Let's just abandon it to him.

Not sure. That rings a bell, though, something about ratio of cultures. And at least if we clear out all his warriors and swords, it'll be even faster next time.

The other possibility that crosses my mind, is to head south through Thoth and see what we can do to Plako from this flank . Probably not quite worth it, unless we're willing to raze cities, though.

[Mardoc]

Don't see a cultist though. Would it be invisible if it was loaded onto the galley?

Yes, unfortunately. He's probably only got the one, at the moment. But I agree a dragon still ought to ruin his day.

Oh, and the AC got to 30 somehow. Wasn't the pillar of chains... maybe somebody got an event?

Anyways, it looks like my workers can build a road to get our adept to the former site of Lugus' Light this turn, so the Kuriotates won't have to endure the blight. Let's get Sphener built in a hurry, and start talking about killing Bob off.

Ah, didn't realize we had an adept within range.

We're definitely going to need to stay on the offense, though, now that we have all four of our enemies engaged, we need to prune them pronto!

[HidingKneel]

Yes, unfortunately. He's probably only got the one, at the moment. But I agree a dragon still ought to ruin his day.

Here's what Thoth pulled last turn, and a look at his Fortress of Solitude:



Killed one of our chargers, at the cost of two of his own units. Looks like he has just one cultist, but there's a zealot in the city that he'll promote next turn. Makes me think that the forest wasn't such a great destination for the Mercurian paladin. Oh well... doesn't matter too much either way, and this turn Thoth will need to choose between retaking his city or softening that paladin up.

Thoth offered to talk peace:



I pulled all my units out of the city. He can have it back. But it's not going to come with a peace treaty.

Got the AC under control, at least for the moment:



Also moved my other adept up to Amatheon's. If we see an opportunity to push Plako back, we can sanctify the other one. But let's get Sphener built in a hurry, and start pounding on Bob.

Hawks did their thing. Here's Saverous:



Yes, definitely take him out with Basium next turn if you can. It'll be easy to get his immortality back if necessary, and he should get lots of experience for killing a hero.

Here's our flyover of Bob:



Still hasn't budged. That horseman has me worried. Also note: he's connecting earth mana, so he'll probably have a wall of stone when we come for him.

Hawk scouted out the land near our adept to see if we were going to need more defenders:



No sign of Ilios. But if that barbarian warrior comes any closer, I'll take a crack at it with one of our Kuriotate warriors. Gotta start building those immortals somewhere.

Now, on to the business of conquering Thoth. Next stop: the city of strongman. Not on a coast, and presently defended by five aggressive bronze warriors. I first sent in my western contingent of chargers, which were mostly fresh troops. They all had good odds, and killed three of Thoth's defenders.

Two left, and all our remaining troops were wounded (many of them got hit by Tsunami last turn). But some of our brave martyrs wanted to press on, so I had to oblige them. First up was this fellow:



Went in with good odds and killed another defender.

For our next Valkyrie candidate, things didn't look so rosy:



Got a withdrawal, no damage.

Next up was this one:



Lost him, but wounded Thoth's last defender (unfortunately no angel... I guess we only get those some of the time?) I then sent in a wounded charger at 92% odds, got a withdrawal, and finished the job with a wounded charger at 99% odds. The city is ours:



I say we reinforce there and heal up.

I saved our last hawk for the new city. Flew south, showing us the softer side of Plako's Balseraph empire:



Kwythellar started a ratha, Naggarond finished an Empyrean temple, and Avelorn continued working on our ToD (due at the end of next turn). Taxation came in at end of turn, dramatically improving our financial outlook:



Things will look even better when we swap into republic, the turn after next.

[HidingKneel]

Had a look at the Basium save. Thoughts:

1) Mercurians are blighted. But I think you can avoid losing any city sizes: cancel the sheep and life mana deals with the Kuriotates, start an aqueduct in Kilmorph's, and maximize food in both cities (with Kilmorph's working the sheep tile).

2) Thoth hit the paladin rather than retaking his city. It also got hit by death damage from blight. I say just let it get killed attacking the city, get yourself an angel, and promote a new paladin.

3) Bob built a settler. Building a new city will drive the AC up, sending the Kuriotates into blight as well. Let's do everything we can do avoid that. First of all, some of those Mercurian axemen need to provide cover for me to send my adept north of Amatheon's, to sanctify that second city (Basium could work also, but I want Basium on our road network in case he's needed to deal with Bob). Second of all, let's get Sphener out ASAP. Kuriotate tower finishes on our turn 112, so we get the tech on our turn 113. Basium can start Sphener on that turn and cash-rush him on turn 114.

4) We've got vision on Hemah. Plako promoted him to Earth III. He can hit us with Earth Elementals from six tiles away, but only if Hemah himself is willing to stand three tiles from the target. That means he can hit Strongman next turn. I say we hold it: I'm pretty sure Plako won't want to risk Hemah by sending it near our highly mobile force alone (and an earth elemental won't have odds on our defending paladin, even though the paladin is wounded).

[HidingKneel]

Wait a sec! Bob has -two- settlers (at least). Avoiding blight might be tough...

[Mardoc]

Wait a sec! Bob has -two- settlers (at least). Avoiding blight might be tough...

And the Pillar hasn't been built yet, either. I'm starting to think we may simply need to prepare for it. Prevent Kurio cities from growing and fill their food boxes, maybe slip in aqueducts, consider researching Medicine. It'll help that it hit the Mercurians already, honestly; Blight in 4-5 turns when all the health resources can go back to Kurios is much better than Blight now and trying for triage.

Anyway, played the turn. I left the Paladin where it was, mainly because it can't run away anyway, better to stay in defensive terrain and occupy Thoth's attention a bit longer. Medic I/Courage means he'll probably heal just about as fast as a Cultist can damage him.

And definitely did *not* get an angel from the dead 'heroic centaur'.

Followed your recommendations on dealing with Blight; I can't quite see how to save Kilmorph's entirely, but it should only lose a couple pop. Every other city ought to be fine, and in a couple turns I should be able to regift the mana and sheep to Kurios.

Oh, one fun little detail. Bob either forgot that Mercurians are Raiders, or doesn't care. He's building a road to the Mirror of Heaven, a road that means we only need one little tile roaded to have a complete route to Cauldron Lake from Mercurian lands.

If we go to Engineering, that'll mean that we can reach Cauldron Lake from where the Paladins are now in one turn, so long as we use a couple combat workers. I definitely want to go for engineering and start working on the plan. All we'd need is Mercurian units + WS, too - anything with two moves, like, say, our Paladins, Basium, Blessed Iron Axes...and 2 combat workers. I think I could be ready for that in 3-4 turns, if we time Engineering to also hit then. And with a road from Cauldron Lake to current Mercurian lands, that wouldn't even be too far from Ilios for defense. Although I think Sprinting Kurio units could join the party, if needed.

Might work on the Blight concern, too . Killing Big H, the AV heroes, the Beasts.