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

[HidingKneel]

And the Pillar hasn't been built yet, either. I'm starting to think we may simply need to prepare for it.

Agreed. Started an herbalist in Naggarond this turn, and I'll start an aqueduct in Avelorn next turn. (Kwythellar will be busy building Chalid.)

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

Yeah, I think it must be only a % chance, or something. Well, hopefully it fires when the really experienced ones get killed off.

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.

Yeah, I think I miscalculated, but you should be able to manage to only go down one size.

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.

I noticed that, but didn't make the connection with engineering. Yeah, let's get ready to hit him hard. I actually suspect that he'll help us out there, too: presumably he's not after the sun mana, but wants a road to our territory. So I'll bet he comes at us soon. If he brings beasts, we kill them and strike before he can rebuild.

Didn't think to start engineering this turn.
Of note: Ilios has engineering under "can research". So we might be competing with him for it. Then again... he also has fanaticism under "can research". That'll unlock Corlindale, and let him promote some paladins (which could be 3-movers, based on that trick he showed us earlier).

Anyway, let's get ready to move on Bob. Engineering will take a little while, but that'll give us time to get our religious heroes out. Extra collateral from Chalid will definitely help. Sphener... think it's worth promoting him to life II?

So, when I opened the turn I saw a request for life mana. Let me do you one better:



You'll need those to complete your ToD next turn. (Also the law mana; just cancel our deal.)

What's next? Some barbarian action:



I killed this one with our C1 warrior, but only got 2 xp. Not enough for a mobility promotion, let alone an immortal upgrade .

I took another shot at getting a heroic centaur killed:



No luck: victory and another 3 xp.

For the lurkers, here's a look at Plako and his undefended mages:



Six tiles away from our city of Strongman, where my centaur stack is resting up:



On the other side of Plako, we've got an adept flanked by three axemen, set to sanctify that ruin. I promoted it to spirit I and cast courage first: we're going to lose access to that mana soon, and I don't want Plako pulling any shenanigans with his death II mages. (2-move mages + spell extension + death II + puppets = absurd reach).

The big news is: we finished our Tower! Now we just need someone to fix the bug. I asked Sareln, since I was just bugging T-hawk a few days ago about FFH XX. Haven't heard yet; maybe I should email T-hawk after all.

Teched fishing this turn at 20% science. I have enough saved up to cash-rush Eurabatres after one turn. Might want to save a little more for rushing Sphener too, if it looks like that'll let us stave off blight. We'll see; anyways, I'll start on engineering next turn.

[Mardoc]

Teched fishing this turn at 20% science. I have enough saved up to cash-rush Eurabatres after one turn. Might want to save a little more for rushing Sphener too, if it looks like that'll let us stave off blight. We'll see; anyways, I'll start on engineering next turn.

I've got something like 300 gold in the bank, adding 30 per turn, and the only expected expense is replacing our Paladin. I think I can manage to rush Sphener without your help, so long as we can afford to do it on the second turn.

Could perhaps be worth rushing Chalid, though. Or aqueducts .

I noticed that, but didn't make the connection with engineering. Yeah, let's get ready to hit him hard. I actually suspect that he'll help us out there, too: presumably he's not after the sun mana, but wants a road to our territory. So I'll bet he comes at us soon. If he brings beasts, we kill them and strike before he can rebuild.

.
Well, either that or he wants the ability to run into and out of the Mirror every turn, to keep an eye on us.

Regardless, the really fun part about planning to kill Bob is that, except for researching Engineering, every single piece of the plan is something I'd be doing anyway - building axes and crusaders and Blessing them and building workers. So I doubt he'll see it coming, or if he does, with only one turn's warning. In either case, though, whether he gives us a chance to defeat him in detail or not, we'll be able to crush him. The Mercurian WS is just that strong. Especially when backed up by Basium, Paladins, and the Order. Really, what matters is that he's finally giving us the first strike.

Looks like ETA on Engineering is 4 turns after you start research (unless Republic helps even more than I'm expecting). So I'll aim to be ready by then. I need to place on the paladin tile the following: 2 workers, 1 more Paladin, Sphener, Basium, and as many axes/crusaders as I can spare from the homefront. Well - Basium and probably Sphener can be three tiles further back. Depending on how the other wars are going, I'll point out that any non-Commando unit with four moves and Engineering can hit Cauldron Lake from that tile, too.

Extra collateral from Chalid will definitely help. Sphener... think it's worth promoting him to life II?

Help, sure. I'm not convinced they'll be necessary against Bob, though, not if we can kill his Beasts and heroes on D-day. I'd tend to think they'll be more use against Ilios/plako/etc. I do think Sphener will want life II, eventually - we've Spectres and Diseased Corpses and Drowns all on the board. But probably not right away, he'll be more useful as a beatstick in the early going. Which should mean he'll gain XP like mad - Hero and Channelling III also should help .

[NobleHelium]

Religionless centaurs don't become angels.

[Mardoc]

Religionless centaurs don't become angels.

So? The whole point of the 'Heroic' naming scheme was to make it easy to find the ones with religion. All 'Heroic Centaurs' had Kilmorph, IIRC.

No, this is definitely a bug.

[NobleHelium]

You assume that I'm paying enough attention to realize your scheme...

[Mardoc]

You assume that I'm paying enough attention to realize your scheme...

Yes, I guess I did assume that.

[HidingKneel]

I've got something like 300 gold in the bank, adding 30 per turn, and the only expected expense is replacing our Paladin. I think I can manage to rush Sphener without your help, so long as we can afford to do it on the second turn.

That's probably just around enough (Sphener is 160 hammers quick speed, IIRC... so if you get in around 50 hammers the first turn, it'll be 330 to finish him off). But I'll budget a little extra for it, just in case.

Let's not get overconfident on the hitting Bob front. He's got a lot of stuff in that city, it's all fortified, and he has IIRC 65% cultural defense. Not sure if that's figuring in his wall of stone or not... it could be 90% when you hit him.
And Mardero's a channelling III hero, so although he's very strong, he's likely to be one of the last units to defend. Maybe I should bring some of my chargers home from Thoth's territory when they've healed up. (And I can certainly bring random centaurs from around the empire, and a ratha.)

[HidingKneel]

I do think Sphener will want life II, eventually - we've Spectres and Diseased Corpses and Drowns all on the board. But probably not right away, he'll be more useful as a beatstick in the early going. Which should mean he'll gain XP like mad - Hero and Channelling III also should help .

Actually... since your blitz plan means you'll be moving in too fast for Kuriotate adepts to keep up, Life I might be more effective than Life II.

[Mardoc]

That's probably just around enough (Sphener is 160 hammers quick speed, IIRC... so if you get in around 50 hammers the first turn, it'll be 330 to finish him off). But I'll budget a little extra for it, just in case.

Yes, that's right. Should be able to calculate it, uh, next turn? No, two turns - next turn you interrupt these messages for a tech, then I start Sphener and rush him the turn after.

Let's not get overconfident on the hitting Bob front. He's got a lot of stuff in that city, it's all fortified, and he has IIRC 65% cultural defense. Not sure if that's figuring in his wall of stone or not... it could be 90% when you hit him.
And Mardero's a channelling III hero, so although he's very strong, he's likely to be one of the last units to defend. Maybe I should bring some of my chargers home from Thoth's territory when they've healed up. (And I can certainly bring random centaurs from around the empire, and a ratha.)

Hmm. Combat calculator suggests good odds, regardless, so long as the initial unit is damaged enough. But I'll admit, a Ratha in particular would really help, let each hero and paladin have two swings before Bob can react (well, assuming it hits most of Bob's units).

Ah, hmm. Just ran a WB test - man, Divine Retribution is extremely variable. Some units murdered outright, some barely touched. Maybe bringing along Chalid and/or planning to use Sphener's Pillar of Fire is a good idea after all.

Channelling III should be -75% Str before calculating stack defender. I'm pretty sure that leaves Mardero somewhere close to the top, given that he'll have a lot of promotions.

But although I'd like to have a Ratha (or two) along, I don't want to let up on Thoth. Only bring home chargers if you're sure you can finish him with what you keep. We've still got ~5 turns of building before Engineering, I should be able to have something like 20 units overall, including 4 Pallys, Basium, and Sphener. And the weakest unit will be Str 7, Combat I/Commando/Bless/Shield of Faith, if we do this right.

Oh, there's a handy thought. There's probably no reason you can't march your spare paladins along behind Mercurian ones, I'd be shocked if Bob has the ability to take them out after being blasted, and if he does he's fighting outside his city defenses.

All assumes Ilios stays back just a little bit longer. That's my biggest worry, that he comes back in while we're focused elsewhere.

Actually... since your blitz plan means you'll be moving in too fast for Kuriotate adepts to keep up, Life I might be more effective than Life II.

Huh? I thought we were planning to keep Bob's cities.

[WarriorKnight]

Maybe bringing along Chalid and/or planning to use Sphener's Pillar of Fire is a good idea after all.

Sphener doesn't get Pillar of Fire.