[SPOILERS] Why is a raven like a writing-desk?

[Qgqqqqq]

How many land tiles are there/is there anything interesting that jumps out from the settings screen?

[Ellimist]

How many land tiles are there/is there anything interesting that jumps out from the settings screen?

861 land tiles, nothing unusual is readily noticeable.

I popped a dungeon on my northern border and got the Dwarves vs Lizards event. I managed to trade in my warrior for two lizards once the combat was all done. I'm going to heal them up and then see if there's someone conquerable nearby.

[Qgqqqqq]

Excellent! If there's anyone nearby then we may be able to take them out. If not, they're still likely to pay a good dividend in huts/lairs
Any good sites for the second city?

[Ellimist]

Excellent! If there's anyone nearby then we may be able to take them out. If not, they're still likely to pay a good dividend in huts/lairs

Well...







How many warriors+Warcry will it take for him to drive this off? (Assuming it doesn't kill him outright, that is.) Right now his power is 3000, indicating that he only has one warrior.

I would have sent both lizards, but I had to keep one closer to home for defense, and it's currently healing up after killing a poison goblin.

Any good sites for the second city?

I have my eye on two sites:








I'm tempted to go for the more distant one first, due to the land quality and the fact that it needs CRE more than the other.

[Ellimist]

I won't be able to play the turn until I get home tonight, but I can go ahead and think about it.

I received this rather interesting message:

Hey Ellimist

Noticed your lizardman found me this turn and that certainly answered my question on who got the lizard vs dwarves event!

Hope he has peaceful intentions as I am putting my worker right on the border in range of him this turn. Given that you have 3 promotions on him its not like I can stop you.

-Dantski

Now... There are a number of things that don't quite make sense, but I do have a theory about some of it.

Q1) He should have easily known I had the lizard event due to my power graph.

A1) I think he just didn't look at it. If he had, hIs own power graph would show any reactions.

Q2) Peaceful intentions?

A2) He's either completely unaware of my history in these games or... something else.

Q3) Worker bait? Is he crazy, or...

A3) It's obviously a trap, and a clever one too. He probably has his original warrior at his capital and must have just completed another this turn. He does not want my lizard moving 2E this turn, so he's moved his worker 2E1S from my lizard's position to prevent it from getting the river defensive bonus. On his next turn, he'll cast Warcry and attack with both of his warriors. If he's really lucky, I won't have promoted it to Shock yet and he'll recapture the worker if he kills the lizard.

The best part of that plan is that taking the bait is still my best move. His odds of winning the second battle aren't great and a bonus worker is a valuable prize early on.

Another possibility is that he wants to trick me into playing along and pretending to be peaceful. If I ignore the worker bait and move SE-SE, possibly unpromoted, he'll react the same way. He just has to make sure I don't move behind the river this turn.

[Qgqqqqq]

I agree, kill it and take shock. If he doesn't attack and casts warcry, do we still have good odds of killing them both? (Or odds of killing the first without losing so much health that the second finishes us?) It's irrelevant if he does attack out, but its possibly his best move to hole up in there anyway.

[Ellimist]

He put the worker on the spot I thought he would want me to avoid. I captured it and can potentially attack the city this next turn.

I started moving my second lizard in that general direction to help cover the worker. If I end up choking Dantski, it will need an escort to make it back home safely. I put the capital worker on hold and started on a warrior. Agrarianism can wait because it's only worth 1 food and I actually want to keep the hammer from the wheat right now.

There's a good chance Dantski's capital will grow to size two this turn. If it does, I'm undecided on whether to keep or raze it. Qqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqq advises to keep it, especially since I'm CRE, but I remember regretting keeping the Lanun capital in FFH-9.

[Ellimist]

Down to three players already and one of us is up a worker...

[Ellimist]

So far, the (unguarded) dungeons so close to our starting positions have:

1) Killed Bob
2) Given me a lizard and a worker
3) Cost Dantski a worker
4) Killed Sian


In hindsight, DaveV's "no lairs" preference makes a bit more sense...

[Qgqqqqq]

Why on earth would you say that?
We can treat this as all-but a two player game at this point, with Dantski a crippled enemy who's presence we hope will be more benefit then cost to us. Dantski being rather behind on expansion as Rohanna means that he is all but out of the game at this point, although he could make or break it for us depending on how he balances military and expansion and where he settles. The reason I mention that is we should treat this game as a duel, presuming our Ogre-maneuver doesn't finish Greywolf off, which has bearing on our relations with the Malakim.

Ellimist, do you want to plant the site next to the Hippus next, or try to avoid antagonising them? I'm inclined towards settling it and ignoring them, as they don't have any ways of threatening us for the next ~75 turns.
Edit: to clarify I mean the third city rather then the second.