[Spoiler] Another collection of Sianic Games

[Mardoc]

Just wanted to say thanks for updating! I had almost entirely forgotten this game was still running.

I'm still feeling guilty about dropping the ball on the Perp game. Hopefully this makes up for that a smidge.

[Mardoc]

Man, Commando is awesome. Got Moroi up to overlook three of HK's cities. Two were on hills and defended by three warriors each, so I backed off for the moment. Fortunately I can basically fork them once I get more troops advanced.

The third was on flatland and guarded by a single warrior. It burned
Granted, that was probably the right choice for HK, given that he didn't have anything more to garrison with. The city I burned was only size 6, while you can see the other two are stronger. Still, things are looking promising for me.

Sadly, I did end up having to spend some of my reinforcements' time clearing out barb Moroi. Combat III/Burning Blood would have been a bit of a problem if I let the unit finish healing. As it was, I still lost a newborn Moroi and will have to let a couple others spend time resting rather than blitzing.

Here's what the front currently looks like:


Commando Moroi mean I can basically fork Arendelle and Troll Village with my reinforcements. I'd prefer to hit Arendelle, but maybe HK will be able to reinforce it enough that I go for his periphery first.

Or, well, I might just bypass the city. Assuming that there are roads for the whole route, my mini-stack 1W of Arendelle ought to be able to reach the city to his east that spawned the ice. It's three half-healed Moroi, which isn't enough for Arendelle itself, but maybe I can raze another city before I have to wait on reinforcements. That would delay the conquest of the cap, but probably speed the overall conquest of HK.

Here's that power graph I've been referring to. Note that neither of my neighbors seems to have really reacted to my buildup . If I'd been still mad at Yell0w, I think he'd have had a pretty rough time of it himself.




And here's a comparison on current empire sizes. It's a smidge misleading, because half of my cities are new: either little or in revolt or both. Still makes me optimistic. Of course, this looked a lot worse a few turns ago, but HK's lost four cities now, and I kept two of them.



I need to decide what to do with all that raze-gold, too. The default is to plow it into tech, use it to boost myself to vampires way early. Which is what I did this turn, researched a third of Writing. But...maybe a better move would be to burn it on seven-eight bloodpet -> Moroi upgrades. Instead of my current rate of ~2 Moroi/turn, that'd let me get more like 10 in the next two turns. That would probably let me overrun HK before he has a chance to correct his small-army mistake.

Not entirely sure what I should do after HK. One possibility is to just keep pumping out Moroi and go for Domination/Concession immediately. If Yell0w continues his leisurely buildup, that may be the best option.

The other choice is to hold off a bit, until vampires or even later; Yell0w does have Str 6 hunters, even if he doesn't have a ton of them. HK's widespread Temples of the Hand do mean that this war won't be perfectly profitable. Weselton and Forever will both be valuable, mainly due to Q's interesting terrain choices, and of course Arendelle will be valuable too assuming I can take it quickly enough. But most of the rest of his empire will just have to be burned, at least until Sun adepts are an option.

Still, 2-3 good cities is a solid profit; if I can add in Trade and a couple island cities, maybe grab Ygg on top and build Governor's Manors everywhere, I'd be well ahead on the snowball and probably able to win at leisure.

[Mardoc]

Today's turn had no razes . HK's got a capital garrison of a Javelin thrower and four warriors, now. His backlines city had 2 warriors + scout, just enough to survive. I had four Moroi who could hit the place, but one lost his attack due to a worker in the way (and I forgot that Burning Blood would negate that). I attacked anyway, despite the low odds - killed a warrior and gravely wounded the other, have 2 Moroi left. There's a bit of hope that I may be able to finish off the city next turn, depending on if it has a unit due to complete IBT. At this point - I'm actually hoping my Moroi there go barb, which might let them attack again before his warrior heals. I still think there's less than 50% chance of razing the city - but I figured it was worth trading four Moroi for that chance. It'll be 4-5 turns yet before we can have a second wave ready; I'd really like to deny him production if I can.

I decided to absolutely spend the bank on more Moroi. This is getting tough, and we need to end it. Four Moroi + 1 BP finished this turn, and the core cities are going to go to 1 BP/turn each for a while, to be upgraded at the front. I expect another stack of ~20 Moroi will be ready in ~5 turns. That may or may not be enough to finish HK, but it should at least get us one or two more cities. Keep that up, and we'll get him eventually.

[Qgqqqqq]

How well are the other two doing? Still bruised enough to ignore?

Also, what do you think of the map?

[Mardoc]

No razes last night's turn, either. HK had a unit complete, and he must have had a unit en route as well. Killed one of my Moroi IBT, and I had to retreat the other.

I've got 14 Moroi built, should make it up to 25+ shortly. It'll take a little time to get the logistics worked out, to actually have them healthy and at the front. Hopefully not long enough for HK to recuperate enough to actually stop them. If I can break through again, then I ought to be able to basically finish him off afterward with the survivors.

How well are the other two doing? Still bruised enough to ignore?

Brian is both in bad shape and far away. I wouldn't mind if he tried to pick up some of the ice lands - he's even got the mana for it. But he doesn't have very many cities, so he can't be much of a threat. Not sure what happened there. Maybe Yell0w went for him before he went for me, maybe he just had bad barb luck.

Yell0w...that's more of a gamble. But I think I mauled him badly enough, and he ought to want me and HK fighting. If I have to worry about him, it'll be right after the next wave goes into Illian lands, when it's clear that HK isn't a threat to win anymore, but I'm still busy with him. Or in the distant future, after the elf economy has a chance to mature.

I'm somewhat reassured by the Power graph. Yell0w's not preparing to take advantage of my preoccupation.

Also, what do you think of the map?

That's a tough one. Balance wise, it's fine, of course, since it appears to be mirrored. And it forces some interesting choices. I think it's maybe a little too clever. You're almost another player, since I have to think about what you'd do. For instance, I'm pretty sure the west is going to be valuable because it's guarded by spider. And the islands are probably treasure islands, too. I attacked HK mostly because he was ahead, not because I really think his land is better than the unsettled bits.

On the other hand, I would absolutely play an adventure if you were to host one.

[Qgqqqqq]

Thanks for the feedback and responses

...and adventure, you say? Where did you hear such a ridiculous idea?

[Mardoc]

Played a turn yesterday. Had a Moroi go barb at the citadel between Troll Village and Arendell, which is hopefully going to do something other than turn into XP. At least I won't have to kill it myself.

Otherwise just advanced units and upgraded. 17 Moroi now, about nine of which are in the Weselton area. I think it'll be a couple more turns before I have a force capable of advancing - although I'm going to have to send a Moroi forward to see how those cities' garrisons are looking. Maybe I can punch out Troll Village, at least.

The other thing I ought to do is go pillage away icy improvements from the icy cities. It's unlikely that I'll want to actually use them, so the only cost is time on my units, and they're mostly just waiting on numbers to build up, anyway. Start with the one I razed, and probably add in Troll Village's improvements as well, whether or not I can punch out the city. As a Raiders civ, there's probably a few hundred gold in the improvements.

It's theoretically a risk, HK might be able to pick off lone units - but it's early enough he'd have to use real units to get it done. Not convinced it's any worse to be attacked on flatland than to have to attack into a cultured city. At least until he gets around to building the White Hand.

[Mardoc]

I might be going on the offensive again a bit earlier than anticipated. Troll Village is guarded by only 2 warriors/1 Javelin thrower, and it's still pretty big (hence valuable). Assuming no change (or one more unit) IBT, I've got nine Moroi who can reach the place to burn it down next turn, which should be sufficient. Depending on casualties, I might stop there for reinforcements, or I might continue past Arendelle to see what other vulnerabilities HK's got. I suspect Arendelle itself will be too well guarded to kill just yet, but it's worth double-checking anyway.

Meanwhile, Forever is out of revolt and working hard on a Manor, and Weselton comes out of revolt next turn. So the ratio of production should be shifting in my favor

[Mardoc]

Turn finally came back around. And, as predicted, HK wasn't able to reinforce Troll Village:



So it burned. Got a bit lucky with my rolls - only lost three Moroi. Although it's likely one of the survivors at least goes barb. Still, that's an excellent trade for me! He's down to five cities - I'm pretty sure he had a settler on hand, because I know he was at five cities at some point in the past, too.



I checked out Arendelle as well: it's guarded better, but surprisingly the garrison hasn't increased since the last time I looked. Maybe its produced warriors were the ones I spotted halfway to Troll Village, just a turn too late to reinforce. Or maybe he's trying for the PoW here. I can't hit Arendelle next turn, so instead we'll scout deep and see if there's anything vulnerable, pillaging as we go. Pillaged a few tiles this turn, likely to be able to pillage some more next turn. In retrospect, this is the right thing to do with Burning Blood Moroi if they win: prevent them from healing by keeping them busy, benefit from their mobility, and hope for the buff to wear off. Much better than sticking them in my cities to heal - I do that, and I have a good chance of having to figure out how to kill them.

It shouldn't be long before we can run over even his capital garrison.




Note: I had many more workers in the past. Was a bit sloppy with them around the barb Moroi, and haven't wanted to divert any production from more Moroi. We'll be crashbuilding maybe ten more just as soon as HK is dead.

[Qgqqqqq]

His score is pretty impressive, given the gutting you've given him. Is that deceptive?