[Spoilers] Biggus Decius and the Sucking Vampires (Bobchillingworth / Calabim)

[Krill]

Otto von Chriek,
Mal,
Sally von Humpeding.

Since your bloodpets are named after food, name the vampires KFC, McDonalds etc

Big Kahuna Burger

[BCAgamer]

Kurt Barlow- 'Salem's Lot by Stephen King

[DaveV]

[PB's] power is easily twice mine.

Are all your vampires still busy feasting, or have you been summoning skeletons and spectres? Spectres would give you a big power boost, which might give him pause. They could also reinforce your city garrisons.

[Bobchillingworth]

Feasting, it's more important that I have them be combat-ready than trying to spook a guy who is probably already determined to fight me. Of course I'm not feasting every turn with every vampire, but I don't want to pay for skeletons right now, and won't the power boost from spectres just go away the turn after I summon them?

[Bobchillingworth]

It has been over a day since the turn has gotten back to me, and apparently PB is the one holding it. He has also been online at the same time as Selrahc (who is rarely on) and Iskender lately. My conspiracy sense is tinging, although Sareln assures me that his hawks see no build-up in the north.

[DaveV]

won't the power boost from spectres just go away the turn after I summon them?

Yes it would, but you might as well summon them if you have idle vamps. I don't see a downside.

[Bobchillingworth]

Start of turn 166...





Goddamit game, would it have killed you to offer this in two turns later? Seriously....





Oh also this happened:






Holy gosh dang shit, no wonder the lurker thread was going nuts. It seems my "obvious imminent war" radar was pinging correctly, but I missed the target a little. Iskender lost his gems city, capital, and some other town. I had warned him for a while now that he needed to focus on military preparation, but evidently it didn't take.


I've offered him a spare copper and a map exchange, and I'll have to send out an email tonight to see how bad the situation is. If PB has his entire army in Iskender's land, and they're exposed, I might jump in now to raid his settlements or attack his units in the field. I only have 6 vamps, 2 chariots, and 3 royal guard at my disposal though, so I'm not really sure what do to. Maybe I should see if he wants to vassalize to me, heh.

[Bobchillingworth]

For posterity's sake, and also to prove "I told you so", here's an email I sent to Iskender three days ago, and which received no response:

[COLOR="Red"]Hey,


Yeah no problem about the gems, I got my own hooked up a turn ago. Heads up that PB is starting to move troops- 5-6 Centaur Archers have abandoned his settlements in the middle, either trying to flank me via Selrahc's land or headed your way. He also has a hidden nationality war elephant, hill giant, and a centaur archer moving closer to your western border and my eastern cities. So be on the alert that he may declare on one of us very soon. I don't really understand why he has gone berserk, but he's in all military civics now, has *two* military wonders, and has double my power and at least triple that of everyone else, who I'm taking any troop movements he makes seriously.


-Bobchillingworth[/COLOR]

Here's the follow-up, sent about two minutes ago:

[COLOR="Red"]Hi,


Apparently those CA were indeed headed your way.


I have offered you a free copper so that any warriors you have will be at least slightly better equipped to deal with the Kuriotate onslaught.


I also have several questions:

* Did PB give a reason for the declaration?
* Has he issued a list of demands?
* What forces did he strike with?
* Did any of his troops die in the initial strike / can you revenge kill more?
* How bad is the situation?


I am prepared to render assistance, although at present my vampires are somewhat few in number and are spread out throughout my empire, and so will take a couple turns to get to either PB's settlements to my NW or to your territory. If / when I do jump into the conflict, PB will be faced with a 4 vs 1, which I think will give him some pause.


-Bobchillingworth [/COLOR]

I'm hoping he answers this one :P

[DaveV]

Goddamit game, would it have killed you to offer this in two turns later? Seriously....

Are you really planning on switching to Esus? Is the ability to do an ROP-rape worth the anarchy?

Holy gosh dang shit, no wonder the lurker thread was going nuts. It seems my "obvious imminent war" radar was pinging correctly, but I missed the target a little. Iskender lost his gems city, capital, and some other town. I had warned him for a while now that he needed to focus on military preparation, but evidently it didn't take.


I've offered him a spare copper and a map exchange, and I'll have to send out an email tonight to see how bad the situation is. If PB has his entire army in Iskender's land, and they're exposed, I might jump in now to raid his settlements or attack his units in the field. I only have 6 vamps, 2 chariots, and 3 royal guard at my disposal though, so I'm not really sure what do to. Maybe I should see if he wants to vassalize to me, heh.

[paranoid]This could all be an effort on PB's part to vassalize Iskender. Then he could threaten you from two sides. From the look of those messages, PB captured but did not raze the cities. Maybe Iskender gets them back if he plays along?[/paranoid]

An interesting decision on PB's part. Is he trying to pick the low-hanging fruit first, train up his units on Iskender's units, or get another front with you? Whatever, it gives you more time to grow stronger.

[Bobchillingworth]

Well I want Esus quickly for Gibbon- Mind III is basically a free kill and a free unit every time I use it. Nature III would allow me to add +1 food to all my plains farms. Ice III, assuming I could somehow persuade Selrahc to loan me an ice mana, could be absolutely game-changing. Since I can still feed units during anarchy, it isn't a total waste.


I'm certain that Iskender isn't playing me. Check out this image from Sareln:






There are about 18 CA in total, and most have gone through combat. Iskender wouldn't throw away so many units just to trick me.


Besides, here's his (brief) reply to me latest email:

[COLOR="Lime"]Hi

Thanks for the copper. Pb attacked with about 15 CA. Many of them lost
but withrawn. He wanted a 100 turn NAP. It's bad. I'll write more
tommorow, busy schedule today.[/COLOR]

I presume that PB has correctly identified Iskender and I as his greatest threats, and is doing a bit of divide-and-conquering. Should I broach the subject with Iskender now about vassalizing him? I don't want to offend him, but I think that I can make an okay case that coming under my protection will get PB to back off. Of course paying for the extra maintenance will badly hurt my economy. Hmm. I need way more units, going for Warfare after Deception to revolt into Military State + Undercouncil sounds like a better and better idea. I don't want to draft my core feeding and science cities, but some of my backline towns might make great instant vampire recruitment centers.