The Pen vs The Sword (Gandhi of NA)

[The Black Sword]

Erm, Furungy double moved me:





I didn't take a picture of the north at the start of the turn but those 3 units were still in his city. I know me only leaving 6 hours wouldn't have been a lot of time but it was tough day.

In the south, so long as I get to move first next turn, I don't have a problem but moving first next turn is pretty important to get 3 extra units into the city. In the north I hadn't quite decided if I wanted to occupy the hill myself...

EDIT: Ok, thinking about I don't think I would have put my units on the hill, so as long as I get to move first next turn I'm ok with not reloading. I also was planning on declaring war on him, for the image with the neighbours, but I guess that boat has sailed now anyway.

[Lord Parkin]

As long as you're able to play soon after the turn flip tomorrow it shouldn't be a problem, especially if you're not attacking units on both turns. It doesn't look like Furungy did it deliberately, he waited 30 hours from playing his last turn before moving this turn. Reloading causes headaches all around, so if you can manage with playing early next turn (and ideally not attacking him this turn) that'd definitely be preferable.

[Lord Parkin]

PM'd Furungy to let him know to wait for you next turn. Sent you a copy.

[The Black Sword]

Thanks Parkin, that's fine with me.

[Ceiliazul]

Nicely handled Tbs, amd parkin too. I like to see good sportsmanship even more than I like BLOOD!

[The Black Sword]

Blood might be on Furungy's agenda I'm afraid. I'm up from 23rd to 8th in soldiers after last turn's whipping:


I did some more whipping this turn, others are waiting for construction to pop in next turn. I was kind enough to offer a peace treaty though:


I figure this will be a lot easier to deal with catapults in 10t. He should probably accept, I've already done a lot of whipping, I'm pretty sure I have the bigger army so it's not going to stay on the table for long. I feel I'm being too generous actually, 300g swing is a lot, but a bit of peace in this game would be nice.

Dead workers:


Dead scout:


South:


North:

[The Black Sword]

Let's see what those nasty incans did:



Lost his axe to my dog here.



Killed a chariot and did some pillaging. Btw, attacking in my sims tended to be pretty terrible for him with the odd swingy result.

He re-offered 148g for peace. I was feeling a bit annoyed at myself for being bullied and I wanted to look around first so I declined. Now that I've looked around ... I still don't like being bullied. I'm pretty sure I can hold things here but really 148g is a pittance right now. If I'd accepted and then switched around builds I could have put the dog soldiers in Fort Tahn and Blackwater into economic stuff that's already 70h which is pretty competitive. I'll definitely lose more than 148g worth of troops if I have to repel this invasion. There's no really 'must have' tech for a while after construction I think too.

But I don't like being bullied. I re-offered peace for 50g. At least I'm giving him something. To be fair, this is a 33 player game, one which I'm unlikely to win anyway and I've felt lots of little things have kept going wrong for me, for various reasons, so it's not a bad game to turn into a duel if it comes to that.

Joey is being very nice btw, offered me 60g for free. I'll pay him back 70g once the pinch is over.

[The Black Sword]

South:


Blocking him from my road network. If he attacks, I'm pretty sure I can wipe him out.



Bit more complicated up here. I have my archer on that boat. I might need to upgrade the warrior in Kesorak to a spear, for which I've gone around begging copper. Oxy has 2, so he's my main hope, though he might want something for it. He probably should have sent his main force up here instead, defending these cities is a lot harder.



I somehow forgot that Xenu could do this. Maybe he did too because I've got a few turns out of that fish. Offered him 40g for peace. I'm probably willing to go higher but I need 80g in the bank for the moment.

Nice looking power spike:


If Furungy doesn't accept that 50g I'm not sure I'll give him anything again.

[The Black Sword]

Peace! It only cost 50g and 100s of hammers!

I'm in an interesting place now, I'm an amazing 5th place after novice has sorted by score, but these demos sure don't look like 5th place to me:



So what's up? Well, my city count is pretty competitive, two more coming out soon too, and my land area is quite good. I assume I have a temporary tech lead thanks to my GM, despite the fact that GNP is now in the toilet. And I have a fairly big, relatively modern army to defend myself with(and 3 more whips coming in IIRC that I can't change). So, I'm starting with lots of resources, I just lack much coming in per term. Hopefully this temporary lead won't have eroded while I grow some pop, actually work some of my abundant river tiles and fix those top 3 demos.

I'll be interested to read Furungy's thread after the game to see if there was anything I could have done to deter that invasion stack. He does seem to be lacking for land but he got the better share of the stuff between us. I'm quite proud that my defenses managed to hold though, despite looking quite weak at the start, the decision to tech HBR in particular looks really good in hindsight.

[The Black Sword]

Instructions, feel free to overrule:

I think I have signs around for positions for military units, though some are out of date, so feel free to position them as you see fit. I think I generally should be safe for the moment though, Furungy being involved with Dazed and I've got good signals from Joey.

There's some worker actions I'd like to complete beforer peace with Furungy wears out: I have 3 workers by Fort Tahn, I want the hill mined and roaded, the river farmed and the forest chopped. By Silverhead I want to complete the improvements by the coast that require military protection from Xenu, finish the cottage west of the the rice and chop the silk forest. Up by Blackwater, I want to cottage the second shared grassland between Blackwater and Kesorak and remine the copper, after completing the warrior in Freelands.

New settler up there is going for Dazed's island, the deer, fish, marble, lake spot. Should pop borders with caste and then work the fish, divert the workboat up there that was planned for Hornshark. Send some workers from Blackwater when they're done. Hornshark needs a need WB from somewhere, probably Blackwater. Finish popping borders with artists when it grows to size 3 and chop/whip a granary. Both cities could use a missionary.

Kesorak should get the missionary from Dan Tonk, if it runs out of improved tiles it can work artists. With Blackwater's help it should be able to regain the sheep from Furungy and it should try to do so before peace runs out. It should try to retake the other tile too. WB/Miss/LH/Lib are all good to grow on. Blackwater can grow oonto coast, hammers into WB/Miss/archer/Moai.

Capital should grow onto grassland cottages after completing it's LH, hammers into a market I think.

Elensefar should work the two priests to get out the shrine, probably let the merchant in Wesmere come out first. Grow onto cottages, hammers into LH.

Dan Tonk is pushing culturally for the spices. Once you've popped third ring with the artists it should be ok to go max hammers again, all into military, probably catapults are best.

Silverhead should continue to work the forest and complete the granary. Then grow on grass cottages. Put hammers into a galley to chop/whip to completion. Don't bother to try improve the fish yet.

Wesmere should work 3 food resources and 4 merchants at size 7. Unless an emergency happens, I'd like to stay in caste until this merchant is out. The workers here are just cottaging the river moving northwards. Might be a good idea to leave one behind to chop the forests/improve wesmere land.

Dan Tonk is probably the best location for missionaries right now, just grow on those. Switch it to military if you feel is necessary, though I'd like to fit in a barracks before that.

Finish popping borders in Freelands with artists then just grow onto cottaged river.

Fallenstar is fighting culturally for the wheat/deer. Finish popping third ring borders with artists and we probably have a bit of leeway, give it's sheep to Freelands in the meantime. Then grow onto lake/cottages, build a Library.

Basilisk caves is getting a granary chopped, there's a WB on the way for the fish. The workers can then improve the deer/sheep.

In general, try grow. Research is on MC since I got an event giving me beakers that way while saving gold. Probably save gold after that, Feudalism is pretty tempting if I'm not bulbing CS. Medium term path I think is towards Guilds to take over Furungy.

Thannks Parkin!