[Spoiler] Another collection of Sianic Games

[Mardoc]

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

Not really. If I were to give him peace, I'd say there's pretty good odds he could still win from here. He's got a lot of tech and still a good amount of population.

He was really far ahead, in everything but army.

[Mardoc]

Also, I think I won't be going directly for Yell0w after HK after all. He's built Kithra, and is busy training up Fawns on the Held barbs. By the time I'm done with HK and redeployed, he'll probably be too expensive to hit. I'm still gaining a fair bit from HK here - 2 cities so far, his capital probably (unless he's working on a Temple of the Hand instead of defenders), and Raiders pillage and conquest gold.

I've got tons and tons of hammers - shouldn't be too hard to surpass Yell0w economically and handle him later. FFH has a fair number of ways to turn hammers into gold, starting with Markets.

[Mardoc]

Got the turn through, finally. About a 10-day cycle, and this time it's everyone's fault (well, maybe not HK). I held it a couple days, yell0w held it, failed to pass to Brian, etc and so on.

Good news/bad news. I seem to have cut HK's last source of copper - I spotted a Str 3 warrior in one of his cities this turn.

But...he managed to complete the White Hand. His capital's garrison is now 4 Javelin throwers, 1 warrior, and 3 PoW. I think I'd probably better focus on them as a target, even though it'll be expensive - because I can't afford to let them gather too much XP. I've got 25+ Moroi, albeit dispersed - if I can bring them together, I ought to be able to just muscle through his capital garrison. And then, no PoW, no copper, should let me push through the rest of his empire.

The other reasonable option would be to keep enough Moroi back to stop any counterattacks, and make full use of 'moving faster through your territory than you can'. Push a stack of 15-20 Moroi past his capital. That's definitely enough to remove the next city I can see (3 bronze warriors, 1 normal warrior, 1 javelin thrower). He's likely pretty bare behind that, too - especially without bronze anymore. The idea here would be to let him train up the PoW, and rely on sheer numbers to reduce them when the time comes. It's possible that their XP gathering is less dangerous to me than the full production of the four backlines cities, after all. I'm pretty sure he doesn't have HBR yet, so the PoW can only defend one spot, even with the elemental aid. The PoW would have time to become very dangerous, but they'd be basically the only threat, and I know that numbers can manage them.

My MFG continues to increase - finished a Governor's Manor this turn in Ghast. I'll probably turn it straight to Moroi production (or actually bloodpets to be upgraded elsewhere). City management at the moment is pretty boring - bloodpet or Moroi everywhere with a Manor, Manor elsewhere. And then just keep streaming the troops eastward. We're down to #4 GNP, and that's all going into unit upgrades, so Yell0w continues to get dangerous.

Tactically, this turn I just pillaged and advanced troops. Nothing interesting, just prepping for interesting future turns. One Moroi near Troll Village went barb and we killed him.

[Mardoc]

So, I've finally gotten this one moving again. Still not fast, but at least the Calabim aren't the bottleneck at the moment.

Two turns have gone by, and they're pretty much just staging. I decided which route to take - I'm gathering Moroi to hit HK's backlines. Should have about 15 ready to go in two turns, and about five more for each additional turn I wait.

Why that? Mostly because HK isn't doing anything with his forces. I've done a pretty good job of limiting his options, I think - he can keep one city, or he can invade. And if he invades, there's a high chance I kill his stack and then kill everything anyway. I've had Moroi moving through his lands, he's got no idea what I have other than the Power graph. And I believe he lacks HBR and has built only 1-movers, so I would have time to react to any invasion anyway. This all assumes that he's not simply checked-out.

The main drawback is that I won't be able to keep any cities past his capital, doing it this way. But...a) I'm not sure my economy can support cities that far away anyway, right now, and b) I'm also not sure I can actually take the cities later, if I let HK build up too much. I have advantages here - but a large part of them was hitting him when he wasn't ready to be hit.

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Speaking of Moroi moving through his lands - a suicidal scout Moroi found another city close, this one guarded by just 2 warriors. Which made it clear that hitting his backlines won't actually take forever, and should be pretty effective. I can probably clear out his backlines for the same cost as his capital. Won't end the war, but if I can lock him into this tech level, things should be fine.

In fact, if I can clear out everything but one fortress city capital, then I probably ought to swap away from total war and push on to Vampires. Spectres would do a lot better job of destroying a fortress than dumping everything into more Moroi. And it's not like HK is my only threat, after all. The main tradeoff is a high chance of him building a Temple of the Hand and ruining the nice capital city, but Raiders pillage gold would be a nice consolation prize.

[Mardoc]

18 Moroi in position to hit Ice Palace next turn. Could wait one more for 23, but I think 18 will be sufficient. Last time I had eyes on IP it had ~5 defenders, and that was just a couple turns ago. The reinforcements will help me push onward to the rest of HK's cities, but I think I can break in with what I've got.

Course, I'll start by just advancing one Moroi. I can always hold off if HK's managed to scrape up more than I think he could have.

[Mardoc]

So, HK's got his garrison up to about a dozen, mostly bronze warriors. The bronze is coming from Brian, and it's his only source. I seriously considered diverting north to raze a bronze-containing Malakim city or two, but ultimately I think that would make the situation worse. On the other hand, I was able to park my stack where it forks three Illian cities, on a forest, and I don't believe he has the collateral he'd need to clear me off.

Maybe blood next turn. Depends on what HK does.

In other news, I'm finding I have to put up some Markets instead of Moroi. Down to 18 gpt, and no bank, and that just won't do. I guess it'll get better once I trade some units with HK, but Markets too. In some places. Still trained four new Moroi at the EOT, the Calabim hammer advantage is ridiculous.

[Mardoc]

Burned another Illian city. He's down to four now. Depending on luck and what HK does, I might get one more next turn, or I might be stalemated. He's up to garrisons of ~15 units in both Arendelle and Ice Palace, a mixture of bronze warriors, javelin throwers, and Priests of Winter.

So tech came back online this turn. Moroi should suffice to hold a stalemate, and maybe to hit his rear, but we're going to need something better to finish him off. Vamps are the current plan for that, about 2K beakers away. Which is forever, unless I can manage to improve my tech rate - but with this many hammers available, I ought to be able to find a way to improve my tech rate

[Qgqqqqq]

Well, pillage gold seems the obvious (did you get none from taking that city...oh, you're using it on moroi upgrades, aren't you?).

Do you think you have enough tech to win the game, or are you going to go back to economy and try to get to vamps after killing HK?

[Mardoc]

Well, pillage gold seems the obvious (did you get none from taking that city...oh, you're using it on moroi upgrades, aren't you?).

Yes, spent several hundred on Moroi over the last dozen turns.

Although I'm not going to assault HK's cities, probably, I will send in pillage parties. I need to finish destroying his economy so that he can't have better units. At this point it's probably also worth cutting the roads from the Malakim; I won't be needing those anymore and it's either cut the roads or start a second front.

Do you think you have enough tech to win the game, or are you going to go back to economy and try to get to vamps after killing HK?

I don't even really think I have enough tech to kill HK at this point, without spending a ridiculous amount of hammers. Going to vamps nowish. Unless I decide to try for something easier like Chariots - but I need to break large stacks of javelin/warriors. Which I think means I need summons.

So, I'll be mixing in other stuff besides Moroi. Manors, Markets, workers, maybe some happiness buildings. With ten cities, and double the MFG of the next best player, I ought to be able to manage a mixed economy.

Or, um. Heh...now that I think about it, I think I see a better answer. And it's one you hardly ever see in FFH. I need to research Construction, and build myself a stack of catapults. They're perfect for this situation.

- Borders are close, so it's not forever marching.
- I have HBR and this is EitB so Slow can't shut me down.
- I have enough of an army and mobility that he's got to sit in his cities and let me walk in.
- I don't have a huge research rate, and Construction is relatively cheap. Pillage gold ought to be about enough to get me there.
- HK's main advantage here is a swarm of units in a good defensive position: not super high Str, not a ton of summons. He doesn't really have the ability to change that, especially if I pillage him ruthlessly.
- I have hammers out the wazoo. Disposable units are A-OK, as long as I can get something in the same order of magnitude for hammer exchange.
- I want to get to Sanitation anyway

Edit: Or Ashen Veil might work too/instead. Bonus effect of being a way to turn hammers into research.

EditEdit: But AV is probably still too much because it also requires Priesthood and time for missionaries. Maybe worth going for but not for HK. I can't afford to give him too much time, he's good at pulling rabbits from hats.

[Mardoc]

Sadly, HK found enough units to reinforce his third city, too. So I pillaged Ice Palace, almost every tile, worth about 200g. If I have any surviving units, I'll finish the job and move on to his other cities. Also pillaged roads in neutral territory, but that turns out not to cut HK's copper supply. I'm guessing that's coming through my lands and then along the coast; maybe if I go to Sailing and blockade him, that'll finally cut it. I could probably also accomplish that by declaring on Brian's Malakim, but I don't think that's a good idea.

Switched research, finished Masonry this turn and Construction is due in two. After that, I'll probably pick up some economic techs for a while, actually: both Sanitation and Sailing are attractive. They should unlock at least four more happy, between public baths and the wines I can sail to - maybe Pearls as well. Most of my cities are at their happiness caps, with plenty of hammers, so I could definitely use those.

We've got 190 hpt to the next best at ~90. Not sure where HK is, but he's not 2nd. I'm switching about half my cities to economic things now, monuments and workboats and workers and markets. In a few turns, I may even slip in a couple settlers. Still building a few Moroi to make sure I have enough army in being to crush any Illian aggression, and of course when Construction comes in we'll build a nice big stack of cats to go with it. But I think I can't afford to stay in total war anymore. And HK-conquest is no longer profitable, merely necessary - but that means delay is ok.