Gotta Catch 'Em All! Hiding Kneel plays the Svartalfar

[HidingKneel]

Turn 88. The war continues.

First, the zombie apocalypse:



There are sixteen zombies visible. Some of them are well-promoted. Four of them are next to my city. I decided it was time to start taking this seriously.

First off, I ordered an evacation:



I didn't want my warriors or elephants taking damage in the zombie explosions. I also put all of my two-movers on the south side of the river, even those who were badly damaged. Wounded super-hunters are no good for the front lines, but they might still be useful for taking out redlined zombies.

Then I used a pair of workers to finish a road leading to the tile Mardoc has his group of four C2 zombies. They're on flat ground, so I'm not going to get better odds than this.

First battle: Promoted a fawn to shock 1, sent him in at 73% odds. Loss, but redlined the zombie (drat!)

At that point, I had three remaining fawns, but they had no promotions... giving them only 23% odds.

Second battle: Unpromoted fawn goes in, dies. Does some damage to a zombie, though.

Third battle: Unpromoted fawn goes in, dies. Again, does some damage.

Now there was just one "healthy" zombie left.

Fourth battle: I sent in a super-hunter, who's only just returned from my invasion of Yell0w. Killed a zombie at 95% odds. But that used up all his movement, so he's now standing next to the battlefield.

Fifth battle: Send in my last fawn. Victory, earning 5xp and two promotions.

Now there are two redlined zombies left. I finish them off with my two badly wounded super-hunters.

The aftermath:



Pretty much all I've got left is my elites, all of whom are within a hare of death due to collateral from multiple exploding zombies (no way this would have been a good idea in base FFH).

The log tells the story:



Anyways, at that point I moved my warriors and elephants back into the city. Got my satyr into position; he has great odds even on well-promoted zombies on defensive terrain, so he ought to be able to take out one or two of the next batch. But it's going to be tight.

On the home front, GreyWolf has begun to retreat:



He pillaged one cottage with his archer, and left only three troops within fawn range. I took those out, incurring only one loss:



Each of my fawns in that screenshot can be promoted to a satyr next turn, provided GreyWolf doesn't kill them. He certainly could if he really wants to, but it'll be costly. His remaining troops are four fawns, one hunter, and Gilden. My defending fawns are well-promoted and should have odds on everything but Gilden. Also, I'm hoping it looks to him like I'm baiting a trap, offering a free kill so that I can swoop in with Kithra. But I'm not: since the war with the Ljosalfar is all but won, I'm sprinting Kithra over to the other end of the empire to help kill zombies.

Some random other things:

I promoted myself a second satyr this turn, from a badly wounded fawn. It won't be ready to kill zombies in the immediate future, but I have a better plan for it:



Mesmerize animal ought to score me a C4 spider at full health, ready to head straight for Mardoc's territory.

Also, was able to swap civics again. The choice between Guardians of Nature and Conquest was a tough one. On the one hand, conquest would let my fawns come shock-promoted right out of the box, which would be extremely helpful right now.
On the other hand, it'll only matter for the next six turns, after which the Titan will complete and I'll get those xp anyway.
In the end, my builder's heart won out. So I swapped into Guardian of Nature. Which meant I didn't need religion for happiness anymore, so I swapped it for Nationhood.

Final thought that occured to me today: now that the Elohim are controlled by the AI, my "kidnap" ability might no longer be useless. I know they have at least one GP in their capital, from the shade we all started with. Does anyone know how the game mechanics on that work? Higher-level units have a better chance than lower-level ones, right? How risky would it be?

[DaveV]

Does anyone know how the game mechanics on [kidnap] work? Higher-level units have a better chance than lower-level ones, right? How risky would it be?

Base chance of success is attack strength * 8%, so 72% for a Satyr (not sure if this is affected by unit damage, sorry). If the kidnap attempt fails, there's a 50% chance of your unit being teleported back to the capital, and a 50% chance of him being killed. In either of the latter cases, the Elohim will declare war on you.

[HidingKneel]

Turn 89:

Between turns, GreyWolf killed two of the three fawns I left in front of him:



So I won't be upgrading those to satyrs. Still, it cost him two of his own units, so he doesn't have much of his attack force left. Just those three, plus another fawn next to Idris. Unfortunately, I wasn't properly positioned to hit back... had only one fawn and Kithra that could reach that hill Gilden was on. I used the fawn to kill his, and killed his scouting fawn with a warrior from Idris. If Gilden was defending, I'd have turned Kithra around to take him out. But the last Ljosalfar fawn was protecting him. And I've got bigger fish to fry:



Mardoc has eight zombies on that hill, and the top one has a bunch of combat promos. Fortunately, my satyr still gets overwhelming odds. Took out the top defender and incurred some damage. But the satyr can promo-heal next turn, so it's probably good for taking out another zombie. I also promo-healed my three redlined units from last turn and let them rest with a disciple tending them, so they might be ready for action next turn. And moved Kithra into position. I figure I ought to be able to kill at least three more of those zombies next turn, and those that are left won't be a real threat to the city. Fingers crossed.

Base chance of success is attack strength * 8%, so 72% for a Satyr (not sure if this is affected by unit damage, sorry). If the kidnap attempt fails, there's a 50% chance of your unit being teleported back to the capital, and a 50% chance of him being killed. In either of the latter cases, the Elohim will declare war on you.

Ah, this is what I needed to know. Thanks Dave.

I tested it using worldbuilder... looks like it doesn't matter how injured a satyr is, they have excellent odds on carrying out a successful abduction. Which means I have a much better use for that wounded satyr of mine: it's now headed toward the Elohim territory. Unfortunately, that direction is a minefield:



Mardoc diverted one of his zombies to chase my scout away from the Mirror of Heaven. That zombie will have eyes on my satyr, and Mardoc might very well figure out what I'm up to. So I need to be cautious. Further complicating matters is that gorilla. Hopefully it will move in favorable way and let me mesmerize it next turn.

As for that spider: I'll mesmerize it using the fawn that GreyWolf didn't kill, who's now making his way west (and ready for a satyr promotion).

Turned tech back on. I can get priesthood done in three turns (with enough gold to spare for a satyr upgrade, if I'm willing to burn my event fund). And I need it... the capital is wasting its productive capacity making fawns, and was about to exceed the overflow limit. I built a 1-turn smokehouse instead... now that I'm running GoN, it should have a fair bit of growing to do.

[HidingKneel]

Turn 90.

Mardoc's zombie occupied the Mirror of Heaven, as expected. I retreated my scout further into Elohim lands, and spotted the gorilla again. Wounded this time (maybe it ate an Elohim unit between turns?). I killed it with my scout and edged my satyr closer:



Looks like it can reach the Elohim capital in five turns. Provided the game is still going at that point.

Meanwhile, Mardoc brought his stack of seven zombies up to the city. I took as many 90% odds battles as I could without
subjecting myself to unnecessarily collateral. Killed three of the zombies next to the city, and a fourth that was straggling behind:



Had two more hunters that got 90% odds, but not enough movement to get away afterwards. I didn't have any other units with reliable odds on the remaining zombies, so I left it at that. I've got two elephants and four bronze warriors in the city (two of which are promoted to C4). Four zombies attacking across a river are not going to be able to do much.

GreyWolf retreated Gilden into the jungle and added a couple of archers to reinforce. I'm moving some workers down that way to start connecting the jungled food resources by Nameless Tower. Got some bronze workers and fawns covering them.

So... looks like I've survived the dogpile. GreyWolf's forces are decimated. Mardoc still has a pretty high power rating, but he's lost a ton of zombies. Yell0w's power is on the rise (he's about even with GreyWolf now), but no sign of him yet. I feel like I've got enough units for the moment, so I switched some of my cities back to producing infrastructure. I'll switch them back to military after the Titan completes (4 more turns). Got a settler due next turn, and another settler the turn after. Priesthood due at EOT next turn, at which point the capital will be able to turn out some 1-turn PoLs.

[HidingKneel]

Alright... turn 91.

Looks like Mardoc could see which way the wind was blowing, and has decided to take his zombies home:



I've got no offensive firepower until my strong units heal, so I'm not going to be able to chase him down.

Meanwhile, GreyWolf has also retreated:



Put a fawn back in that tower, but didn't see anything. He must be in one of my blind spots. Anyways, I sent a work crew (under heavy guard) down in that direction, to finish up the road connection that GreyWolf was kindly building for me (also to repair the cottage he pillaged, and to planatation my bananas).



On the Elohim front, my satyr continues his careful march:



Good thing I have that scout in the area, or my satyr would have walked right into that giant. But it looks like smooth sailing from here... next turn, I'll be inside the Elohim culture.

So, what now? GreyWolf doesn't want to concede, so the game continues. Yell0w still hasn't moved to retake Dust. Now that I've survived the zombie onslaught, I don't think I'm going to let him. I'm sending a large crew of unpromoted fawns in that direction. They're not strong enough to kill zombies by themselves, but they ought to have be able to choke the Sidar pretty effectively.

Meanwhile, I'm pretty much building infrastructure everywhere:



Priesthood came it at EOT, and the capital will be doing 1-turn PoL for the forseeable future.
Next tech was going to be HBR, but I don't have any units that can take advantage of it for the time being (my elites used all their promotions fighting the zombies). So I think I'll postpone that for a little while. Writing would be handy, but my production centers are already busy building priests and the Titan. So I'm thinking KotE. It'll be useful to get some adepts on the board.

[HidingKneel]

Turn 92!



Finally got the last piece of the elven economy in place. Wow... 15 turns later than in FFH XX, despite having a much quicker start, getting a GP from a lair, and two golden ages. Well, I guess I've been taking the scenic route, and don't really have a turbo-charged science city... the capital is pretty good, but has neither an academy or a Deruptus.

What's the news? Mardoc declared on Thessalonica:



Not sure if he's figured out what I'm doing there, or not. Declaring on the Elohim makes good strategic sense if he's giving up his invasion of me. The Elohim are terribly backward, but have pretty good land. And there's not really anyone in position to take it away from the Sheaim.

In the former Sidar city of Dust, I built a scout and sent it west to have a look around:



Encountered a barbarian warrior and killed it at 50% odds. And looks like there's a barbarian city up there. I'll get a better look next turn.

The satyr that I sent finally arrived next to the spider:



But the spider was gone. I guess it decided to move away from the Sheaim border? Anyway, that's probably a good thing. I just noticed that "mesmerize animal" has a chance to be resisted. If I'd tried it and it failed, that satyr could have gotten eaten.
I need to step lightly with these redlined units I'm running around with.

And at EOT, I turned out one of these:



My new, secret weapon. I'm thinking the first one goes to build a temple of leaves in Idris. Idris has decent production (13 hammers when the golden age ends) but nothing obvious to build (already got market/granary/elder council). That'll give me a city I can use for turning out disciples of Leaves (for popping the borders of captured cities), since I'm not going to waste production in the capital on that. Also, it's worth an extra gpt from the Song of Autumn.

Tech-wise, I decided on writing. It pays off the quickest of the techs I'm presently contemplating. Lots of cities can benefit from libraries, and I think I'll build a national epic/great library in the FoL holy city when it's done with the Titan. Once I've cleared the jungle off its food resources, it'll make a pretty good GP farm.

Near-term tech path:

Writing -> KotE -> Horseback Riding -> Trade? -> Elementalism?? -> Poisons???

[HidingKneel]

Turn 93 had sort of a bear theme going on:







It looks like the area between the Elohim and the Sidar is the last bit of untamed wilderness. I was tempted to run my satyr up to mesmerize that bear... but I've got to stay focused. Last turn, there were three Elohim warriors in Thessalonica's border city. This turn there were two. I suspect that Thessalonica isn't going to last very long against Mardoc's pyre zombies.

In that third screenshot, my scout is in a bit of trouble. But he had two promos free, which I used for SA and GI (and to heal up). On a forest hill, he ought to have good odds against an attacking bear.

Meanwhile, that barbarian city looks like it's about to send out a kill team. I'm going to try to intercept it with some fawns. Better that I get the experience than Yell0w.

Event log shows that someone generated a great sage. I'm guessing that's GreyWolf. Not sure what he'll do with it. Biggest worry is that he fires a golden age, rebuilds his army, and comes again (this time, timed for a counterattack with Mardoc and Yell0w). Made me rethink what I'm doing in that area... sent my first PoL terraforming, rather than founding temples. Idris can continue to contribute workers for the time being.

Another barbarian city has sprung up in a very convenient place:



I was going to settle that myself in a few turns. Anyway, I'm sending a fawn up there to keep an eye on it. I'll conquer it as soon as it grows to size 2.

My spider-catching scheme has finally come to fruition:



I used that name earlier on the fawn that killed Mardoc's mutated zombie (who was then deleted). Not sure if the misdirection buys me anything, but it's fun (and flavorful for the Svartalfar). Looks like the spider ate something recently; it's a little bit wounded, and has a C5 promotion. I'm going to let it heal up, and then send it in the direction of the Sheaim (Ljosalfar have too much recon).

Teched writing this turn, and I'll finish KotE at the end of next turn. Which means it's time to start looking around at the mana under my control. And thinking about whether I might want to build a tower of divination. Now I realize this is a terrible idea: I've got the firepower to win the game already, without some harebrained scheme to unlock a couple of fancy advanced units. But even if I don't go in that direction (which I probably won't), it's fun thinking about how I might get it done.
So, Svartalfar start with Mind, meaning I need three more sources for the tower. Looks like there are five raw nodes that are conceivably within reach.

Mana node #1:



The only raw node I presently have in my territory. And right next to the city I'm building my mage guild in. No problem there.

Node #2:



In the jungle between the Svartalfar and the Ljosalfar. I'm thinking of putting a city next to that node anyway, once I've got some workers free to clear the jungle. But that might be a while, and it's also not terribly safe... being on the border with the Ljosalfar means it would be vulnerable to pillaging. (Lurker question: what happens if you're building a ToD and you lose control of the prerequisite mana? Do you lose the hammers you've invested? Or can you pick up where you left off when the mana gets reconnected?)

Node #3:



This one's certainly mine if I want it. Unfortunately, it's not quite within easy reach of my culture. If I wanted to claim it, I'd probably have to found a junk city for that purpose.

Node #4:



In between Ahepetr and Svartalfheim. Also not quite in my culture, but that's easy to fix; I've got drama, so I could just spend some hammers popping the border in Ahepetr.

Node #5:



Haha! I was thinking about settling down there before war broke out with the Sheaim. And now I'm thinking about it again.
That hill next to the Mirror of Heaven isn't a terrible site. It's a plains hill that can work horses, silk. And the Mirror itself, and some incense (though those tiles aren't great until I get a water adept down there). Mainly, though, it's got strategic importance. Controlling the Mirror means I can keep my eyes on Mardoc. And not only does it score me a raw mana node, I'd also get Sun mana from the Mirror of Heaven. (Also, there's the possibility of opening a trade connection with the Elohim, though I suspect the Elohim aren't going to be controlling that area for very much longer.)

The danger? Well, I'll have to fight Mardoc for it. And it's much closer to his core, so presumably he'd have an easier time reaching me with his zombies. On the other hand, they've got no convenient way to approach the city. When he was moving on Svartalfheim, he had lots of defensive terrain. If he wants to attack that hill, he'll have to move through the desert.

Anyway, I've decided to go for it. Since that barbarian city sprang up in the north, I've got an extra settler. So I'm going to send it to claim the Mirror, with a substantial amount of backup. It'll double as a way of keeping the pressure on Mardoc.
Which means I won't be able to put very much pressure on Yell0w. In particular, I've turned my super-hunters around; they're going south instead. But I have brought up a fair number of fawns to Yell0w's border:



Not enough to really threaten him. But they should be able to keep an eye on him, and hopefully to prevent him from retaking Dust.

[HidingKneel]

Alright. Another turn brought this tech:



And the event log was interesting:



Looks like I was right about GreyWolf getting the sage, and using it for a golden age. Also, Mardoc is already making some headway against the Elohim.

And we have some diplomacy. Mardoc opened with this:

So we're enacting diplo in 23 . Anything to discuss? Obviously
I've given up for the moment on taking Doviello lands away from you.
But at the moment, I don't think I have any way back into the game
except either successfully dogpiling you, or being bribed by you - I
spent way too much on early zombies for the amount of reward I've
received. Care to make an offer, or are you going to rely on your
military?

Also, I should point out, Satyrs will be dramatically less effective
in my deforested, roaded territory, than they are inside your culture.
So don't get any crazy ideas .

Interesting. Well, if I want to maximize my chances of winning this game, what I want right now is a safe border with either Yell0w or Mardoc, which I can use to invade the other. I've already got my good units angling toward Mardoc, and I think I can make more profit that way. Also, Yell0w now has the 2nd largest military in the world (huge buildup last turn: I'm betting he upgraded a bunch of warriors to axemen when he saw my fawns). Anyway, my first response was pretty vague:

Dread Averax,

The Winter Court deeply regrets the misunderstanding that developed in the forests south of Spilan.

We would like to offer our assurances that the incident was the action of a rogue fawn, and does not represent the will of Queen Faeryl or of the Svartalfar. It is truly unfortunate that we could not have cleared this matter up earlier and avoided the subsequent loss of life (and unlife) on both sides.

As to your current position, it seems very clear what happens next. No one is in a better position than you are to take advantage of the recent political turmoil among the Elohim. The elves are at the other end of the world, and the Sidar are cut off from the area by thick jungles (and have problems of their own). On the other hand, our scouts report that the Elohim are nearly defenseless. Take their cities, and you will double the size of your empire. It seems to us that this would be a far more productive use of your military than sending your zombies into our forests to die a second death.

But of course, you have already arrived at the same conclusion. Our scouts have also reported that the Elohim are besieged. We would not be so crass as to suggest that you offer -us- a bribe, but surely it would be of value to you to be able to carry out that conquest unmolested.

As for your final remarks, it saddens our elven hearts to hear of the destruction being wrought upon your forests. However, you need not worry about the effectiveness of the Svartalfar military. Since the war began, our sages have worked tirelessly to find a more cost-effective solution to the so-called "zombie problem", and have recently come upon an answer.

HK, Advisor to the Queen

He came back with this:

Sir Advisor,

I confess that my best sage has studied your missive, and is unclear
about your intentions, beyond an unwillingness to pay the poor Sheaim
that which they so clearly deserve. They have sacrificed their very
children for the 'zombies' you so cavalierly dismiss; surely those in
this world with riches should share the wealth to assuage the pain.
Just as the poor orphan referenced here deserves your sympathy, so do
the Sheaim people:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Ma...MadeOrphan

Have you any diplomatic proposal at all, or merely a tissue of threats
balanced with a suggested course of action? We must confess, per our
spies, only the Elohim turmoil at court has prevented them from
gathering their own Sages and enacting a great World-Spell to thwart
our deserved domination. It seems likely that the turmoil will end
shortly and leave our sacrifice in vain.

- Averax Mardoc

Haven't responded yet. Thought I would first see what Yell0w had to say:

Shekinah of the Sidar,

The Svartalfar deeply regret the misunderstandings that have led to war between our peoples. Let us make amends, so that no more blood need be spilled needlessly.

HK, Advisor to the Queen

Probably not a very useful message. If I really wanted to make peace, I should have offered something. Maybe to give back Dust. Anyway, he was not particularly receptive:

The Sidar people will never forget nor forgive the cowardly attack on innocent Sidar citizens by agents of the evil Elves. We will amend!

So maybe I should give peace with Mardoc a try. I could offer to gift him a city in exchange for an NAP. That, plus the Elohim conquests, ought to put the Sheaim back on the map. While untying my hands to conquer the Sidar.

Sanctuary was a factor I hadn't considered. If the Elohim do use the worldspell, will it eject my units too? Hopefully a non-issue: my satyr will be arriving next turn in what I believe to be the capital:



What else? My scout that ended turn next to the bear was still alive this turn, so I took an opportunity to capture the bear (73% odds). Now en route back to Svartalfar land.

And my griffon finally brought me some good intel on GreyWolf:



Looks like he's massing another strike force in White Horse. Things of note:

1) There's a 2-move spider in the city. Need to keep recon units handy.
2) He's not going to be a danger in the immediate future. Though he can do a lot of building during his golden age.
3) Conquest is hurting him. Those cities are fairly small.
4) The Arena is guarded by a single (non-bronze) warrior. If he doesn't upgrade his defenses next turn, I'll have excellent odds of razing the city with my griffon.

Anyway, I don't think I'm going to be ready to mount an invasion of GreyWolf any time soon. Which means that those roads he built through the jungle have to go. I positioned some warriors to pillage them next turn:



Now, I think those are out of sight. But if not, he can hit them (at good odds) with his 3-move fawn.

Here's a look at the EOT demos:



GreyWolf's golden age isn't going to pay nearly as well as mine; he's got 2/3 as many cities, and his cities are a lot smaller.
But he'll probably take the lead in some categories once my golden age finishes (one more turn).

Completed KotE and Form of the Titan at end of turn. Next up: horseback riding. I gave myself enough overflow to finish it up in one turn if need be. There's some units that could really use mobility promos, and I want to get started on a stables in Last Wolf Fort. Been building mostly infrastructure for a while now. But now that the Titan is finished, it's time to build some more military.

[Qgqqqqq]

It should eject your units,even hn units IIRC.
Who do you consider your greatest threat at this point?
I would probably align with the barn rush cog over the arcane SE, but that's just me
Can you attack the elohim? (As in, can you incorporate their land?)

[HidingKneel]

It should eject your units,even hn units IIRC.
Who do you consider your greatest threat at this point?

Good question. They've all got something going for them:

The Sidar: Biggest army in the world right now (after ours). My border with them is hard to defend (two cities built on deserts)
and furthest from my core. In the long run, they get the scariest war toys (ghosts with sever soul).

Ljosalfar: They've got the biggest empire and the best economy (after ours). Probably the most technologically advanced adversary we're dealing with. Long term, they've got the elven economy to keep pace with us. GreyWolf's first invasion was a huge blunder... he just walked into our territory and got slaughtered. Give him hawks, though, and he could be a lot more canny.

The Sheaim: They've got a pretty weak economy, but are in a good position to improve by swallowing up the Elohim.
(Also, I've offered Mardoc a city in exchange for peace; details to follow). Pyre zombies are nasty. Especially once he techs HBR: if I'd been dealing with fast zombies earlier, I'd be dead.

All in all, I'm not so worried about any of them individually. But with diplo on, they can all come at me at the same time. That could be a disaster.

I would probably align with the barn rush cog over the arcane SE, but that's just me

Huh?

Can you attack the elohim? (As in, can you incorporate their land?)

Doesn't seem like a good idea. They're literally at the other end of the world from me. I had a tough enough time defending Doviello land against Mardoc; there's no way I would be able to hold Elohim land (at least for the moment).