Thanks for the update, Ichabod. Your thoughts are always interesting reading. I'm just curious - do you think the slow pace of the game is related to the map and its... challenges? Or do you have some other theory? Or no theory at all, for that matter.
I've got some dirt on my shoulder, can you brush it off for me?
Gaspar Wrote:Thanks for the update, Ichabod. Your thoughts are always interesting reading. I'm just curious - do you think the slow pace of the game is related to the map and its... challenges? Or do you have some other theory? Or no theory at all, for that matter.
Thanks, Gaspar. I'm having fun reading your PBEM 14 thread too. Based on what you write there, I'd like to play a WW game with you, since you are very good at reading people.
As for the question, I don't know for sure. The game was going on a very quick pace some time ago, something like 1,5 turns a day. After the easter holiday, though, we started to lose speed. Maybe that's because the exams are starting... Heck, the other players aren't even responding to my diplo messages...
I thought about lack of interest due to the map because I was feeling like that for some time. The thing is, we played PBEM IV (at least me, selrahc, Dantski and Sciz) where the strange map settings kinda killed the fun. After we signed up for another game, this time with normal settings, I don't think people were expecting something like this. I'm finding it nice, though. I had to change strategies and think about what to do, which is always good. And the early game slowness will end soon, so I'm hoping for lots of fun in the next turns! Let's hope the other players are feeling the same.
Turn 33:
Not much happened... The settler completed after I passed the turn and I have to decide what to build next. I'm leaning to a worker, but I'm not sure yet. Second city will build warriors, both for defense and exploration.
I don't know if you guys realized, but one of the advantages of my second city place is that I'm getting instant trade routes between the cities! That's 2 commerce" Not much, but not bad either, especially for someone who can't build roads!
Exploring near Sciz. I'm trying to find Jkaen. When I meet him, I'll post the graphics with every player score/GNP/etc.
For now, you get demographics. Irgy's kurios are leading, like usual.
And an overview of the empire. The warriors are starting to get in position to defend the settler when it's time. My worker will lose some turns, waiting for education to come in. After that, it's probably Mysticism. I'm hoping that my GNP will rocket with the cottages. I'm financial, after all.
I'm waiting for Irgy's response... And for Sciz's. I haven't posted the diplo, or better yet, "diplo" I had with Sciz... So, here you go:
Sciz to Ichabod:
Yeah I actually met you last turn, not sure how as I didn't see your
borders or any of your units, but now my scout found your borders. I'm
located to the south/southwest of you. Lands are awful, which i'm
guessing your lands are too. Only plains and desert. Sigh. I've also
met Dantski and Selrahc, have you met anyone else?
Cheers, Sciz
Ichabod to Sciz:
Hey Sciz,
Sorry for the delay on sending you a response, but I've been pretty busy in the last couple of days.
I've found you when one of my exploring warriors entered a ancient tower, getting visibility on the bleed of your borders and on a warrior. So far I've met everyone besides Jkaen, but I only saw your borders up until now. If I'm not mistaken, Irgy is east of me, following the desert river, most likely. I had a lot of exploring problems due to bad lair results very early in the game/griffon attacks, so I don't know much about the map yet.
The lands are indeed bad. I'm guessing the map maker wanted to avoid the whole "who can beeline aristofarms faster" thing that was happening in the other games. I think it's a nice idea, since everybody seems to be on the same boat (or should I say boatmurdered... well, guess that's only me...).
A green bird told me that you had some problems with a Mistform. I have to confess that I was the douche who let the thing loose, so I apologize for the inconvinience. I actually thought that the thing would come my way, since it was a dungeon very close to my borders (north of the desert river). Anyway, I'd like to make up for the mistake somehow. Maybe I could lend you one of my palace mana for 10 turns when you want or I could send you a thane once I tech RoK. Well, we'll have a lot of time to talk before any of this things become meaningful.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
How are things going in the Hippus empire until now?
Regards,
Ichabod
It's been 10 days and no response yet. I'm not worried about an attack or something like that. I think that's just how Sciz is. He seems to be a very stubborn player (he refused to try to make a deal with me in PBEM IV, even though I end up eliminating him) and I highly doubt he has much interest in this game.
I have to send messages to Selrahc and Dantski. Selrahc seems to be distant, so we don't need to worry about land disputes for now. Dantski is close and will be very important in the coming Khazad-Kurio war. I'm guessing he'll be running a very limited military in the beggining of the game, since his world spell is so good. And I bet he'll be gunning for the magic line to get advantages from his hero, a very early archmage! It'll be good to have him as an ally... I'll need someone to spring my lands after I kill the Kurios...
Seems all good. Shame about the slow speed. At least once you get towns the workers will have more things to do, Has anyone given you any directions to Jkean in Diplomatic communications?
Ravus Sol Wrote:Seems all good. Shame about the slow speed. At least once you get towns the workers will have more things to do, Has anyone given you any directions to Jkean in Diplomatic communications?
I remember someone saying that he was in the southern part of the desert. I should start asking, though, since Jkaen seems to be a very funny guy. I think we'll get along pretty nicely. But I don't think it'll take long to find him, since the map seems to be small...
Turn 34:
Settler is ready!! I can't believe it!! Something is happening in dwarven lands!
Yeah, the settler is finally built. The warriors are getting in position, ETA to Hindenburg is 2 turns (as long as a pair of griffons don't eat my warriors... Keep your fingers crossed...
Just a quick thing I've been thinking for the last couple of turns: It's been a while since I've had my last event. Heck, not even the religious golden age ones popped... No wonder my thread has nothing to talk about: I haven't had events, I haven't popped huts and the only dungeon I explored almost finished my game (well, Sciz's game...).
Of course this means next turn I'll get the prophet event, since I'm neutral...
Boatmurdered is building a worker to avoid growth (and to build faster cottages - workers are never enough, you know). I decided to head to mysticism next and revolt to God King + Apprenticeship as soon as possible. After that, I'll run 100% gold until I have 100 gold and tech to WotE while keeping it at this level. My gut feeling tells me it's the right thing to do (well, I don't trust my gut feeling, but I'm not going to sandbox this - it takes too much time and it takes the fun away*).
*Losing is fun, read the thread title
Here are the turn demographics. By looking at the greatest cities screen I see that Irgy's capital is at size 6, but the other players capitals are at size 3 at most, if I remmeber correctly. I'm guessing I'm not the only one who decided to build a settler, then. I hope my demos will improve a lot with the second city + cottages.
Exploration:
Diplomacy:
Irgy's response to my last message:
Hi, good to hear from you. That's good news about the mistform.
We are talking about a gold directly south and slightly east of the
sheep/reagents, we haven't seen this one 5/6 tiles west of it. We certainly
have no intention to settle (even settlements) any further west than this
location.
Cartography is the classic tech that everyone would always prefer everyone
else to research instead. Given we get less out of trade routes than other
civs (with our more concentrated set of cities), and that we already have no
particular interest in Pact of the Nilhorn, we have less motivation than
others to be the ones to do it. Still, it's just a question of priorities, so
I won't write off the possibility of us researching it ourselves. In any case,
connecting trade routes between us is a good idea, and we're happy to
contribute to the road building required to do it.
We have indeed decided to prioritise Knowledge of the Ether a lot higher than
we normally would, due to all the desert tiles not just in our planned
expansion but everywhere really. We would be quite willing to make a deal to
lend our adepts' efforts to springing your lands as well.
Once we have a prophet, there's limited other things we'd want to do with it.
However, it's not quite too late to stop us from running a priest and
potentially generating one. After all, a sage has considerable value too. Some
of your suggestions earlier seem quite attractive so long as we're not yet
committed; perhaps if you could spare a Thane within 20 turns of founding
Kilmorph and a 10 turn at our leisure loan of earth mana?
One possibility that occurs to us as a trade for our adepts' services would be
Runekeeper-established Temples of Kilmorph in our eventual settlements; we
just need to figure out how many Springed tiles per temple is a fair exchange.
Of course we expect the ratio to be slightly more in our favor if you have the
shrine . We're also potentially interested in your palace or otherwise
acquired mana sources; again, the trick is going to be working out a fair
price, more than anything else.
Best regards,
Irgy and Mardoc
I'll post some comments about what I think about this message later, like I did with my own message.
Well, the next couple of turns will definetely be more fun. A new city, cottages, more exploration... That doesn't sound like much fun, heh? Well, I said more fun compared to the last couple of turns, that doesn't mean there'll be a lot of fun involved...
It's been a while since we last talked. Of course, that is if you can name our previous short notes as a proper talk. Anyway...
I guess we have to start talking about the game to keep the interest up, since the turns are taking forever to come. I'm blaming it on the exams, which are a valid reason. I hope the other players aren't losing interest in the game or something like that. I wouldn't be much surprised, though, since this is one though map!
So, let me ask you: what do you know about the map until now? My exploration has been severely hampered by an unlucky lair pop at turn 5 or something (mistform + named giant result for the win). It was my one and only lair pop until now. Coupled with no huts found (have you found a hut? maybe the mapmaker checked "no huts" or something) and no events and you have a pretty boring early game for me. Well, despite my lack of exploration, I've met everyone but Jkaen. I'm guessing the map is not very big...
I've noticed you took quite some time to settle your first city. Of course, that can only mean that you started to look for water (and demos tell me that you were sucessful). Did you find sea or you had to accept settling by a lake? Well, I'm hoping that the pirate coves can make up for the lost time. They probably can, especially since the land is crap... Not a single grassland until now, just desert, plains and tundra. In my opinion, the map maker wanted to nerf aristocracy. That's fine by me, even though bad land is a nerf to the play style of both myself and the Kuriotates.
Not much more to talk about, I guess. Just wanted to start some conversation. If you have a question, a trade proposal, some information you want to share (hey! maybe you are in a very good mood or something :P), let me know!
With the players being initially located on the plains/tundra strips, which is the widest area. I ran to the southern ice/sea strip to set up shop. Seems like a decently big map, and with it almost all being land and crap land at that, I don't think anyone will be running into problems of land availability for a while.
There is a circular world wrap, and my estimation of the players positions are thus:
Northern
Khazad-Kuriotates-Amurites
Southern
Elohim-Lanun-Hippus
My scouting efforts consist mainly of a junket along the southern coastline by the starting warrior and a journey along the central desert regions by the Chosen One, which are somewhat interspersed by plains and run through with a river(but no floodplains) and some calendar and animal resources. They're also the deadliest terrain on Erebus, with Hill Giants, Wolf Riders, Bears and Lions all prowling around. Managed to pop 5 dungeons over the journeys, but the results were very lacklustre. 2 sets of Nothing, a diseased and withered promotion and a little bit of gold. Huts are off. Lairs are off. Unique features are off. No early freebies for anyone. I met up with everyone but the Kurio's and the Chosen One doubled back try and find them, travelling up enough to see the northern tundra and ice before being eaten by a bear. I would be highly surprised if there was any grassland on the map.
Jkaen had his scouting units eaten early. I think he lacks contact with the Elohim as well.
I think the map as a whole doesn't nerf aristocracy overly. Cottage/Farm vs. Aristograrian is a debate, but I think Aristo wins out.
I'm going to be sticking mainly to the southern coastlines, so I don't envision us being neighbours for a long long time. I'm hoping the commerce potential of the southern oceans will be good enough to make up for a starting location that had no workable land tiles at all. I guess we'll see.
Pearls, sea food and water mana will all be up for trade eventually. Certainly by the time we would naturally With water mana the central desert regions will become habitable and in fact, decent land. The Elohim could be a big threat to snap them away from you if you're not careful. If you can get them to loan you their water mana, snap it up. I'm more looking forward to sun mana myself. Every single land tile workable by a coastal city is ice. Turning it all into tundra drastically improves the value of the land in my territory. I might even look into further terraforming efforts. Ancient forest lumbermills, or an early vitalizing Gibbon could make the sealands positively lush. (And hey, you could go for Fellowship Dwarves and have it be effective)
I've gotten NAP's with both Sciz and Dantski so I'm planning on just teching out for a while. If you want to sign up to a NAP for the moment, I'm happy to. We are so far apart that I don't think it's a big deal though.
There's plenty of interesting information in this exchange... I'll give proper comments later...
Lately I've been second guessing my game decisions... I don't know if I should beeline RoK, if going cottages is the way to go, if I should attack Irgy... I keep thinking there's a better decision that I'm not seeing...
I hate it when there's too much time between turns! I then also start second-guessing my plans and wondering whether I should really build a road there, and maybe I should have asked for the resource last turn, and why didn't I think of switching Civics and holy crap I forgot to found a city last turn!...
I played turn 35, but I won't report it now... Too much it's at stake... The results in between the turns are going to be crucial to the part I'm going to play in the rest of the game...
Ichabod Wrote:I played turn 35, but I won't report it now... Too much it's at stake... The results in between the turns are going to be crucial to the part I'm going to play in the rest of the game...
![[Image: Civ4ScreenShot0141.JPG]](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/21249278/FFH%20PBEM%20VI/Turn%2033/Civ4ScreenShot0141.JPG)
![[Image: Civ4ScreenShot0142.JPG]](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/21249278/FFH%20PBEM%20VI/Turn%2033/Civ4ScreenShot0142.JPG)
![[Image: Civ4ScreenShot0143.JPG]](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/21249278/FFH%20PBEM%20VI/Turn%2033/Civ4ScreenShot0143.JPG)
![[Image: Civ4ScreenShot0144.JPG]](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/21249278/FFH%20PBEM%20VI/Turn%2034/Civ4ScreenShot0144.JPG)
![[Image: Civ4ScreenShot0145.JPG]](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/21249278/FFH%20PBEM%20VI/Turn%2034/Civ4ScreenShot0145.JPG)
![[Image: Civ4ScreenShot0147.JPG]](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/21249278/FFH%20PBEM%20VI/Turn%2034/Civ4ScreenShot0147.JPG)
![[Image: Civ4ScreenShot0146.JPG]](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/21249278/FFH%20PBEM%20VI/Turn%2034/Civ4ScreenShot0146.JPG)
. We're also potentially interested in your palace or otherwise
