[SPOILERS] DaveV plays Furia: What, me worry?

[DaveV]

Busy weekend -> double report.

Turn 93. Loki sent out his puppet for some exploring, and he found a wolf.



The wolf ran away rather than attack at 1.33:1.8 odds.

More workers: check.



More freaks: next on the list.




GNP is improving slightly now that Stupid Question is working its incense.



Turn 94:

Tigers, yum!




After Eot, the barbs did indeed finish a road in my territory. Thanks, barbs!

I didn't get a screenshot, but they've formed a stack of the former city guardians of Behind Scenes plus a bunch of skeletons (stacked up under my worker, south of Behind Scenes in the screenie above). The stack is northwest of the city now.

Meanwhile, a puzzle. After I finished Deruptus at EoT, I checked the city screen. The beaker total doesn't agree with the mouseover.




My theory, after looking at the numbers: in the mouseover, the 6 beakers from my great sage are reduced by 10% for my barbarian trait. If the great sage beakers are not reduced, I come up with 19.14 beakers, which is awfully close to the displayed number.

[DaveV]

Turn 95. Loki and his puppet located the next pearl on the necklace.




The barb stack is still moving to the northwest.



GNP has improved slightly with double-bonus research on Sanitation.

[DaveV]

Turn 96. The log shows a bunch of bronze weapon promotions and a Great Merchant IaDL.



Loki converts another city.



A new freak was born.



Heavy is not my favorite promotion, but I'm short at the moment, so I'll keep him at least temporarily.

On the barb turn, a tiger joins the team.

[DaveV]

Tunr 97. Another great person. Hiding Kneel is presumably bulbing his way through the tech tree and picking off all the "first to" great people.



Trying to push back the fog in the far north...



And in the south. Four moves plus Sentry is a very nice combination.



I'm still last place in score, but moving up to third place in demos.

[DaveV]

Turn 98, in which I meet the leader of the pack.

The log shows a great bard born IaDL. Yawn.

In the north, I explored around the edges of my newest city.



Further south: intruder alert! Either he ate all the barbs, or found his way past them.



Time for some depressing intelligence analysis. Graphs:








GNP is even more lopsided than it appears, since I'm producing a lot more culture.

His civics are the same as mine.



He has 18 cities to my 11. Ulp.

And most depressing of all, tech:



Techs I have that he doesn't: Hunting.

Techs he has that I don't: Drama, Fishing, Horseback Riding, Knowledge of the Ether, Military Strategy, Mysticism, Necromancy, Philosophy, Sailing, Sanitation, Warfare, Writing.



I sent a diplo message to HK.

We've met in-game. Greetings from last place to first place.

I didn't see the point in a wordy post with lots of information. The ball's in his court.

[DaveV]

HK is better at the wordy thing than I.

Greetings from the Hippus Empire!

We've been wandering the wilds for some time now and we've met all manner of beasts... but I guess we've finally met a domesticated one?

Erebus is a big place. It was starting to look like a hundred turns would go by before we made any contacts... but it seems that we got this one in just under the wire. Have you had more luck than we have?

I hope we can find ways to work together. If we were to establish a trade connection, the Hippus could offer Gold, Gems, Pearls, and Silks for trade. Would those be of interest, and what could the Balseraphs offer in exchange?

Curious thing, goblins building roads. Makes us wonder if they're working for that big dragon we've heard so much about. Know anything about that?

HK

I'm going to compose my reply in advance, since I have some time now to think about my composition.

Sorry for the terse greeting; it was after my bedtime but I thought it would be less rude to send a brief message than to send nothing. I'll try to be more friendly and answer your questions now.

It is indeed a big map; it would be perfect for a civ with, say, EXP/FIN as traits. You're clearly running away with this game, but I don't subscribe to the philosophy that the leader must be punished for playing well. Congratulations on a great first hundred turns. And thanks for the known tech bonus on those dozen or so techs.

I haven't encountered any other civs, although I've seen the barbs mobilize to chase some foreigners that were hiding in the fog.

Yes, that's obviously my griffon. You won't be seeing any HN animals from me, because the barbs attack them if I don't declare nationality.

The goblin worker was, indeed, building roads to connect two barb cities. But that was before Loki signed them up for clown college; now the worker seems to be sitting idle waiting for a new job. I'd appreciate it if you don't pillage any road tiles you might encounter in the wild; the barbs went to a lot of trouble to build them. While I'm making requests for neighborly behavior, I'd prefer you didn't pop any lairs in my land. And please try not to kill any animals that might prefer to join one of our zoological preserves.

Trade routes are somewhat problematic, since you have Sailing (and, presumably, a defogged route) and I don't. I'd be willing to sign up for a deal where we both benefit, even if the benefits weren't exactly equal, but I don't think you need any freebies at this point.

As to dragons, I haven't encountered any. The settings say "No Acheron"; do you have reason to believe that he's present anyway?

Finally, good luck against the skeleton swarm; I don't expect you to have much trouble.

Dave

[Qgqqqqq]

Another great person. Hiding Kneel is presumably bulbing his way through the tech tree and picking off all the "first to" great people.

Isn't the free Great Merchant at Mercantalism?

[DaveV]

Another great person. Hiding Kneel is presumably bulbing his way through the tech tree and picking off all the "first to" great people.

Isn't the free Great Merchant at Mercantalism?

Yes, I posted that before I could see his techs. He's way ahead in tech, but not quite that far ahead.

[DaveV]

Turn 99. The great person parade continues.



I sent the email from post #127 to HK (after editing it slightly).

One more piece of information on HK that I didn't post last turn:



That population percentage is staggering. I have roughly my quarter of the 65% not already under Hippus rule.

In the north, more exploration.



In the south, ditto.



Another Sentry freak was born, although without the additional Mobility this time.



The barbs moved three skeletons next to HK's warrior (there's one hiding under my griffon). Since he has at least one promotion available, I think his chances are excellent of surviving three attacks.

[DaveV]

Turn 100. More diplo with HK.

Dave,

That's a lot of skeletons! I hope our warrior gives no offense by hanging tight for a few turns (if he lasts that long).

Your requests sound reasonable enough. I doubt we'll have opportunities to open lairs in any case: at least the ones in our own territory seem to be very heavily defended.

The dragon Acheron is an old legend, dating from before the end of the Age of Ice. Just scroll to the bottom of the event log, and you'll see. I gather you haven't encountered him in your travels.

Regarding the contact: we were thinking more of resource deals, rather than a trade connection. We haven't researched Cartography and that's unlikely to change in the near future. But we do have some luxuries you might find useful, some of which seem to be in short supply.

Horselord Kneel

HK,

The skeletons didn't attack this turn. I have no issues with your warrior holding to the high ground to fend off their upcoming offensive.

Acheron at the bottom of the log file. I guess I really haven't been playing my A game in this one. I haven't seen him, nor any sign of a barb city with more than first ring boundaries.

Regarding resource trade: to be honest, I have more health and happy resources than I need at the moment. I'd be willing to trade resources to establish good relations, but I already have Gems and Gold. Sailing is on my short list of future research priorities, so Silks would be more interesting than Pearls. Forgive my paranoia, but before I start discussing locations of my cities and resources, I'd like some assurance that your warrior is not the vanguard of an invasion force. Maybe one of those indefinite NAPs with cooldown that all the trendy kids are signing?

Dave

As expected, HK promoted his warrior to Shock. I would really like my odds if I were in his shoes.



As a special turn 100 bonus, an updated map stitch:




Two interesting messages came after I ended turn. First, a report from Livy:



And a message from Loki:



He retreated onto the same tile as the puppet. Does that mean the attack came from his east?