Not another elf chick? HidingKneel beats a dead horse. (Spoilers!)

[HidingKneel]

So, I am poised to lose a scout or two between turns.

This one discovered a lion:



Ended turn in forest, which should give him a bit of an edge. Also of note: the Illian borders. I'm thinking I should steer clear (if I survive), and avoid the hungry mistform.

Up north, I stumbled on a more dangerous animal:



Forested hill gives +50%, scout vs. animal gives another 50%, giving me even odds on survival. We'll see.

In other news, finished farming the rice, and New Evermore grew to size 2.

[Ichabod]

(Did the Kuriotates get their Ice Mana from Selrahc in FFH I, or was it the Letum Frigus?)

From Selrahc. Selrahc also controlled the Letum Frigus, so he had all the possible Ice mana.

[UnforcedError]

Scouts die so easily...

[HidingKneel]

Turn 15!

The first bit of good news: none of our scouts died between turns! Our southern scout was attacked by a lion but survived, and the griffon moved away without attacking.

Selrahc has been stirring up trouble:



So I moved Volantis east. That wasn't so great, either: ran into a lion and a gorilla.

The second bit of good news: despite my recklessness, we did not lose any scouts during this turn:



With one kill under his belt, Volantis is ready for a promotion. Selrahc's been giving his super-scout combat promotions, but that seems like a waste to me. I mean, a C3 scout dies almost as easily as a C1 scout. Better to give him an extra sentry or mobility promotion instead. Anyway, I'm going to try to get him home, heal up, and pop the graveyard near my capital.

The first bit of bad news: my northern scout ran into a griffon again (presumably the same one). Ended turn in a forest but not on a hill, so we may lose him between turns.

And the really bad news:



Someone has a GNP of 26? Not even sure what could get you that high at this stage. No one has Calendar yet, so it can't be incense or dye related. Must be a great person, but it's a big boost even for that (maybe a great sage used for an academy? In which case it's not quite as bad as it looks, since some of that GNP is culture.)

[UnforcedError]

GNP of 26 must be a great person, although building an Academy this early is an interesting notion. However, we don't know what kind of land the others have. Maybe someone settled on a dye field or double gold and figured he might as well boost his research right now even before his key techs are in. Looks a bit frightening though.

[HidingKneel]

Three more turns played.

The Ljosalfar are no longer defenseless!



I'd say around 25% of my Ljosalfar games don't make it this far, so we're in good shape.

In other news: Volantis was pretty beat up after his fight with lion, and needed to heal up. I figured, why not kill two birds with one stone?



If he survives that, it's a short trip home (now that he's a 4-mover).

GNP of 26 must be a great person, although building an Academy this early is an interesting notion. However, we don't know what kind of land the others have. Maybe someone settled on a dye field or double gold and figured he might as well boost his research right now even before his key techs are in. Looks a bit frightening though.

That GNP of 26 went down to 23 a few turns later. So I'm guessing it's a combination of a great person and working some kind of strong commerce tile, like gold without a gold mine or something.

I'm also guessing it's Mardoc, for the following reasons:

1) The turn before someone was at 26, rival best was at 16 and everyone else was lower. Surely that 26 used to be the 16. Which means it was one of the creative leaders (gtAngel or Mardoc). (I can rule out Selrahc for sure: I can see his graphs.)

2) Mardoc is the only player who is still at size 1, consistent with the idea that he was working commerce tiles instead of food tiles.

Theory: Mardoc was the other player to lose a warrior, and he started working a gold hill to get himself a second warrior built in a hurry (in addition to some great person luck).

Early Balseraph lead is not ideal, but at least it isn't the Calabim (and hopefully it's being mitigated by some kind of barbarian troubles over there).

Speaking of the Calabim: Ellimist grew to size 3 this turn, and I grew after him. I'm guessing he fires his worldspell next turn and starts a settler. (Which makes me think growing to size 3 maybe wasn't such a hot idea... then again, I don't like the idea of delaying my growth based on half-baked theories about when Ellimist's worldspell is going to go off.)

[HidingKneel]

Another turn played. Nothing has budged. Nobody else grew last turn (Calabim and Ljosalfar are at size 3, Sidar and Illians at size 2, and the Balseraphs at size 1). Contrary to my predictions, the Calabim did not fire their worldspell. Maybe they want to wait a bit so it'll hurt more. Anyways, I think not delaying growth was the right call.

Not much else to report...

[UnforcedError]

I think you were right in not trying to make guesses about the Calabim's intentions, especially with the Ljosies. Building that warrior was imperative anyway. Also, faster growth means putting more turns into the next builds even if we lose 2 pop at some point.

[HidingKneel]

I think you were right in not trying to make guesses about the Calabim's intentions, especially with the Ljosies. Building that warrior was imperative anyway. Also, faster growth means putting more turns into the next builds even if we lose 2 pop at some point.

I could have delayed growth by working the silk tile, though. That would have gotten us a warrior quicker.
Anyways, it's too late now. The Calabim have fired their worldspell. They're now at size 5 while everyone else is back to size 1.
However, the news isn't all bad:



Now the Ljosalfar really do have the strongest military in the world. Provided, of course, that I can manage to keep my new pet lizards alive (those dwarves can actually outrun me in the hilly jungle).

I'm thinking they escort Volantis back to the capital. But there are some other possibilities... for example, I could turn around and wipe out the Illians. Probably not a good idea: I need the Illians healthy so they can PoW rush Ellimist.

With those two additional units, we're now paying upkeep. I'm thinking I want to delay my second warrior for a bit. The lizards should be able to manage my defenses for the foreseeable future. Plus, I want to be able to start a settler with overflow hammers when I get to size 4, so that I can get it out in 9 turns instead of 10. I don't have enough time to finish a third warrior before that, so I'll have to overflow from the second warrior build. Which means I need something to sink hammers into in the meanwhile. Granary, I'm thinking (since I get them for half-price).

Sadly, we might not be paying those upkeep costs for long:



Griffon has odds to kill that scout. If it doesn't, I'll have another dungeon result for you in three turns.

[UnforcedError]

A very warm welcome to the pet lizards You seem to have remarkable luck with lairs and dungeons. I always pop barb heroes or cages, at best.