[SPOILERS] Tales from the Enchanted Forest - Thessa of the Ljosalfar

[Nyktorion]

So, how are we standing compared to our rivals? Let's see the graphs.

GNP:



According to the demo, only one rival is in front of me (177 vs 155). I think that this is Thoth, who just turned off research for a turn before.

Hammers:



We're in the middle of the pack here (#3 according to the demo), with Thoth and WarriorKnight in front of us. Mr. Yellow is far behind, which is good to see considering my war plans. Also, I've got slavery in reserve for some more hammers which are not recorded in this graph.

Food:



Again, we're #2 here, behind Thoth. In the food and GNP graphs, those financial malakim aristofarm flood plains are really showing, and they are amplified by the large number of cities Thoth has. After I'm finished with Mr. Yellow, I'll really have to keep an eye on Thoth.

Power:



Again, Thoth is the clear leader here, and I'm still clearly ahead of the rest of the pack. However, my huge number here is inflated by my dispropertionate number of hunting lodges and archery ranges. Still, with Gilden and some archers and tigers, I think I'm ready to take Vallus and Trinity.

Culture:



Doesn't really say much here, just added for completeness. Well, we still see that Mr. Yellow is the only one who settled a great artistyet. Also, one can notice the jumps in Malakim culture, which are caused by mini culture bombs of the Thanes of Kilmorph.

Here is the demo for this turn:



Top 5 cities, showing that Evermore is currently the largest city:



Finally, here is some military overview of the civs whose army I can (partially) see. Bannor:



Just warriors, partially equipped with bronze weapons; soon, they will be reinforced by catapults. Luckily, 16 of these warriors are cocentrated in the west part of the Bannor lands, and with Mr. Yellow's total soldier count being 66k (minus 48k for 16 warriors in the west, minus 11k for population), that only leaves 7k Bannor soldiers in the shadows, i.e. 1 warrior (in Trinity?) and 2 scouts. Of course, he'll add some more warriors to the east once he notices my plans, but without slavery, I doubt it will be too much.

Malakim:



The pure total visible number of Malakim units is similar to the number of Bannor units, but the quality is obviously much higher; both in tech (swordsmen, thanes) and promotions (I've already seen City Raider III units, and General Martok is scary, too).

Ljosalfar:



Obviously, I need to slave out some more units before jumping at Mr. Yellow. Still, the tech-wise quality of my units (tiger priests, archers, Gilden) will obviously far surpass the quality of Bannor units there, and there's still some units coming through the whip in the next turns. Also, as I just described, Mr. Yellow is already pretty tied up in the west.

[Nyktorion]

Last, I'll give a short summary of my C&D information. With everyone except Mardoc available in the power graph, and the complexity of tracking soldier count exploding, I've stopped trying to find explanations for all changes in the power numbers. Still, I'm keeping an overview of the rivals' tech progress and city expansion.

WarriorKnight of the Elohim

Techs: 12 ancient techs, 7 classical techs
Classical techs: Bronze Working, Code of Laws, Orders from Heaven, Philosophy, Way of the Wise, Writing, and 1 unknown tech
Cities: Cahir Abbey (10), Glens of Killybegs (8), Inishbofin (6), Slane (7), Garryvoe (1)
Total Population: 32
Other notes: First great person born (great sage), Deruptus Brewing House in Glens of Killybegs

Irgy of the Sheaim

Techs: 11 ancient techs, 7 classical techs
Classical techs: Bronze Working, Code of Laws, Knowledge of the Ether, Philosophy, Way of the Wicked, 2 unknown techs
Cities: Galveholm (9), Grottiburg (7), Tongurstad (6), Graelingvig (2), Steinvik (4)
Total Population: 28
Other notes: First great person born (great sage)

Mr. Yellow of the Bannor

Techs: 13 ancient techs, 1 classical tech
Classical techs: Construction
Cities: Torrolerial (8), Vallus (7), Trinity (6), Astrum (2)
Total Population: 23
Other notes: free great bard settled in Trinity

Mardoc of the Lanun

Techs: 13 ancient techs, 5 classical techs
Classical techs: Bronze Working, Message from the Deep, and 3 unknown techs
City sizes: 8, 8, 7, 4, 2, 1
Total population: 30
Other notes: located somewhere south of the Malakim

Thoth of the Malakim

Techs: 10 ancient techs, 8 classical techs
Classical techs: Archery, Bronze Working, Code of Laws, Horseback Riding, Warfare, Way of the Earthmother, and 2 unknown techs
Cities: Golden Lean To (10), Golden Hovel (6), Golden Shack (7), Golden Shanty (6), Golden Tipi (5), Golden Yurt (4), Golden Hut (2), Golden Wigwam (1)
Total population: 42
Other notes: free great merchant settled in Golden Lean To, first great person born (great prophet, bulbed Way of the Earthomother), Form of the Titan in a not-yet-revealed city

For comparison, here is my own data:

Nyktorion of the Ljosalfar

Techs: 9 ancient techs, 4 classical techs
Classical techs: Archery, Philosophy, Way of the Forests, Way of the Wicked
Cities: Evermore (12), Hyll (9), Bruti (9), Yonna (6), Kabhalg (5)
Total population: 41
Other notes: first great person born (great sage, built academy in Evermore)

So, these numbers confirm the obvious: Thoth is clearly leading, Mr. Yellow is clearly behind, and the rest is in the middle. We also see that I'm currently a bit behing in tech; I hope the high GNP (signalling the grown-out cottages and the finally built academy) will help me catch up. Thoth and I are actually pretty equal in population right now; Thoth has a lot more open space for further (vertical) growth, though. I hope that Vallus, Trinity, and the island east of Evermore will help me catch up there.

[Nyktorion]

Turn 101

We have Priesthood now!
Sadly, the gold reserves do not suffice for any disciple upgrades yet, but I have enough income for 1 upgrade per turn. Also, Evermore and Hyll will be slaving a priest each next turn.

The western hawk is watching the siege some more:



The eastern hawk scouted westwards from its new position:



Here's another picture of a part of the eastern island. Can you find Yggdrasil here?



Hyll finished its temple of leaves and is preparing a priest for whipping, Evermore (which has unhappiness now, but not for long) changed production to a priest as well. Yonna finished an archer, and is preparing the next.





Diplo:

Mr. Yellow is getting (understandably) getting more and more restless:

Yupp, he has started chipping on Astrum now.
There's around 17 enemy units around my lands now, most of them mobility promoted and a few even have City Raider III.
I've seen you're rise in power, but i wonder when you're actually coming. I have cats out in around 7 turns, but i'll need assistance if i'm gonna push Thoth off here.

Also, interrested in a map trade?

- Sir Yellow

Of course, I have to decline the map trade, since I promised Thoth not to trade world maps. Since I think it would be tactless to explain how good my own maps already are thanks to hawks (partially flying from Bannor cities), I just plainly declined there. Concerning my war preparations, as usual, I decided to tell him the truth, but not the whole truth:

I'm almost, but not completely finished with raising my power. As your C&D department has probably noticed, I got my priesthood tech this turn, as I announced. In the next 1-2 turns, I'll upgrade and whip out some priests of leaves, and then my troop will be moving towards your lands.

Concerning map trade: thanks for the offer, but I'm currently not interested in trading world maps.

Attached is another picture of your border lands with Thoth; it seems he has moved everything he had assembled during the last turns into your area of visibility now.

best regards,
Nyktorion

Attached picture:

I decided to catch up with Thoth again, and sent him some updates on the Bannor war, in order to keep in touch:

Dear Thoth,

I just wanted to give you a heads-up on some things related to our efforts against the Bannor.

- Preparations for the war proceed as planned; I got priesthood this turn, in the next 1-2 turns, I'll do some upgrading of disciples, and whipping of new priests and further dexterous archers
- A warning: there might be a small window before my NAP with the Bannor runs out where I can't prevent the establishment of a (coast-based) trading connection between myself and WarriorKnight. Some turns ago, my religion auto-spread into Kabhalg (which got its second cultural circle this turn), and Garryvoe (WarriorKnight's newly founded border city towards me) now has the Order religion present, as well, and will probably expand its borders slightly before my DOW; this would make a continuous part of the coastline between Kabhalg and Garryvoe owned by either the Elohim or myself. I'm not sure whether this suffices to establish trade a trade route without Sailing (I'm not at all an expert in trade connection mechanics), but I strongly consider it possible.
- Mr. Yellow has already asked me about a NAP extension last turn, which I am stalling right now. Also, I just declined a world map trade offer by him (as I agreed in a recent chat with you), so that should make him more nervous, as well. He also noticed my increase in military power (right now, he still seems to expect that it will help him push you out of his lands, but I don't think that feeling will last much longer). Therefore, I'm expecting that he'll take some effort to upgrade his military presence in his east soon.
- You might also be interested in the following: according to what he told me, Mr. Yellow thinks he'll have "cats out in around 7 turns".

best regards,
Nyktorion

His response is interesting. So Mr. Yellow will have quite a bit more to be afraid of than just City Raider III swords and General Martok. I wonder about his world spell though; won't the OO version be very weak if he has OO just in a few cities?

Hi Nyktorion,

Thanks for the update.

I've finished Priesthood and expect to be pulling the trigger on my world spell on turn 103.

The Malakim Geological Institute is predicting heavy Tsunamis around the Torrolerial area circa turn 104/105. We are currently urging all non-combatants to leave the area before then for their own safety. (OOC: If you have a hawk in the city when I tsunami it, the game will auto declare war between us. I would prefer to avoid that as it would reset the +150% "years of peace" modifier to 0 for any trade routes between our fine nations).

He's going to loose his capital either t105 or 106 so the incoming cat shouldn't be a problem. I had figured he could produce one by ~t105 or thereabouts so no worries if he isn't going to get it before t107.

I don't think he has much in the Eastlands to oppose you, I've been monitoring the progress of 5 warriors coming Westwards over the last few turns. You should be able to walk into his cities virtually unopposed.

As far a the trade route from WarriorKnight goes, I think he will have one. He mentioned to me that he expects to have Cartography in about 3 turns (we're discussing how my scout can get through his lands to meet Irgy) which makes sense if he's currently researching Sailing. In that case, he will almost certainly have a trade route to Torrolerial and possibly to Vallus as well if Vallus is coastal. If I were you I'd count on Mr. Yellow having 1-2 bronze warriors in Vallus and Trinity. Shouldn't be too much of a problem for Gilden backed by tigers, Priests and archers.

Right now I don't see anything Mr. Yellow can do to stop us splitting up his lands between us. Victory shall be ours.

I look forward to working with you to our mutual profit in the future.

Thoth (dreaming of calamari and fishsticks)

Follow-up by him:

One further update:

Golden Cave (formerly known as "Astrum") has been liberated from the vile clutches of the rogue regime calling themselves "the Bannor" with minor casualties to our forces.

Onwards to victory!

General Martok.

[Nyktorion]

Turn 102

My western hawk is continuing to watch the siege of Torrolerial. As Thoth said, Astrum has fallen:



The eastern hawk looks at the Inishbofin area some more, and sees that WarriorKnight is sending out a settler towards the general area of the Malakim:



War preparations against the Bannor are getting serious now. I whipped out a priest in Evermore and Hyll (for 3 pop each), and an archer in Yonna (for 2 pop). Also, Bruti finished an archer this turn.





Diplo:

I sent Mr. Yellow another report, and confirmed that I'll come soon.

As you can see in the attached picture, there are no further non-worker Malakim units visible in the south west, so it seems that Thoth is already putting all of his current troops into the sieges.

After hitting the end-of-turn button, I became #1 in soldier count, so I think my forces are now sufficient for what will come in the following turns. Next turn, I will start to move them, so they should enter your visible area in about 3 turns.

best regards,
Nyktorion

Attached picture:

He already responded:

3 turns...when the NAP ends.

I'll be honest here, i'll only feel safe if we extend the current NAP to turn 120. So far i've interpret your messages as willing to help me here, but if we can't extend this period of trust then i'm forced to abondon my capital and protect my eastern cities from what i'm assuming to be an eastern invasion if it doesn't get extended.

You said you needed a day or 2 to consider it, i say it's about time we do this now. Are we gonna extend the NAP and do this push against Thoth or is it simply a cover for something pretty sinister?

So he caught on to the "3 turns" I mentioned Very well...
I think I can end just that masquerade now, and be direct about my hostile intentions. However, as I said two days ago, I'm indeed still not completely certain how to handle that NAP extension; I could either just walk in with my army, or I could offer him a long NAP extension in return for Vallus and Trinity. I wonder whether he's really make his threat true - shouldn't he value Torrolerial more than Vallus? Still, a stack of 5 warriors 1E of Torrolerial could reach Vallus by T107, which is the turn I can attack (I'll cross the border at T106, as our NAP includes T105).

I also talked with Thoth some more:

Dear Thoth,

congratulations on the acquisition of Golden Cave! I'm sure there's already some celebrations going on in the Malakim lands (though those will be shadowed by the celebrations happening after a victory over Torrolerial ).

Thanks for the cultist warning; am I right in my estimate that my hawk will see the cultist in time to fly away?

However, I'm a bit surprised about your world spell; are you planning to use it in OO? I always thought that the Malakim world spell only considers cities of the selected (state) religion, and your OO cities are certainly few?

Mr. Yellow currently only has one warrior each in Vallus and Trinity, but of course, I expect resistance to go up by a bit more each by the time I arrive; I don't expect too much resistance against my current force, though

Concerning trade routes: well, then I'll expect that he will have bronze warriors, but seeing your plans and my own, I don't think that'll make a difference. Vallus is actually a landlocked city (that's the border city to Yonna), but Trinity is coastal, and therefore has a sea based connection to Torrolerial.

Together to victory! I'm looking forward to a glorious conclusion of the Bannor war, and further cooperation afterwards.
-- Nyktorion

His response:

Hi Nyktorion,

The wine and oblivio will be flowing freely once Torrolerial has been liberated. (what a barbarous name. It will look much better once it gets renamed to Golden Igloo).


I'm going to hit my world spell when the save gets back to me (t103) so you won't see the first Cultist until t104 gets to you. The first Tsunami will be cast t104 so moving the Hawk elsewhere on either t103 or t104 will ensure it's safety.

The Malakim world spell creates a priest of the state religion in every city with 1xp for each city that has the state religion so I'll be getting 9 1xp Cultists next turn. Some of them will need to create temples to offset the happy hit I'm going to take when I swap into OO, but I'll have enough to redline every unit in Torrolerial on turn 105. It should also serve as a deterrent against Mardoc in case he decides to get aggressive once our current NAP expires. The last thing you want as a water based civ is an angry neighbour with Spiritual Cultists.

BTW: That is a very impressive powergraph spike you made last turn.

Will you be beginning your liberation of East Bannorland on t105? or does your NAP include t105? If I can liberate Golden Igloo on t105 and you aren't declaring until t106, I may seek peace with Mr. Yellow and see if I can extort his world map from him as part of the peace treaty. In that event I would be willing to give you screenshots of the new lands revealed with you once either you or I research Cartography.

Thoth.

Thanks for the explanations I'll tell him that the DOW will happen at T106, but that I'm not really interested in the Bannor's world map. I think my hawks are currently doing a good enough job.

Irgy also sent me something, and he's writing a bit more about our future (mana) trading plans:

> What you say about goodwill is exactly what I'm thinkig here: the most
> convenient option for both of us will would be to share our mana pretty
> freely, with everyone taking just what he needs from our common pool, so
> what we need is indeed just some rules for conflict. One thing I could
> imagine adding to the system would be to ask for advance notice Y number of
> turns before one really wants some mana (e.g., Y=3, to be ignored whenever
> it's okay with both of us?).

Sounds like we're on the same page anyway. That all makes sense to me. I guess
we just have to wait until it's all connected. I have some acolytes already,
but there's nothing much I need for now until you have the death mana connected.

I was planning to research Necromancy and Alteration myself by the way
(although I have other things I want to research first just at the moment). So
if you get Elementalism or Divination we'll have more trades to do in the
future too. You probably have your own plans already though.

> Concerning the spider: there's one thing I think I remember about the
> movement of spiders from my SP games: they like forests, so in order to move
> from a flat tile into a forest, it might move away from a player's stack;
> since you describe it as running away for several turns, that rule is
> probably not applicable in your case, though. For myself, I can say that I
> currently do not own any spiders at all, so in particular, the one you are
> describing is certainly not mine.

Didn't really think it was, just a bit confused by its behaviour. All three
tiles it moved to and from were forest. It's turned around and attacked now
though (like I was originally expecting), and our poison-immune zombies
managed to defeat it. So it doesn't really matter now.

Best regards,
Irgy Arbandi

Hmm, I don't have much to add to that currently, but I'll see what I can say.

[Nyktorion]

Some more Bannor diplo. Mr. Yellow is getting impatient:

I'm not playing this turn till i get a real answer here.
As how i play the next turn depends on your choice. Are we extending the NAP. Yes or no?

Okay, okay, I think Ive waited long enough. I would have liked to hide my intentions for one further turn, that way, the stack of 5 warriors 1E of Torrolerial (one of them has bronze weapons) wouldn't be able to reach Vallus in time. Anyway, with Gilden and tiger priests, I still think I have some good tools for cracking that nut at hand.

I'll try to offer him signing over Vallus and Trinity. I don't think it will work, but trying can't hurt

Very well, I think it's time to end this charade.

In order to match the recent growth of Thoth, I need more territory. The most readily available source of territory for me is currently your lands, and I think I currently have the military means to just take it.

There's one last offer I will make to you at this point in order to obtain a NAP extension: if you are ready to hand over Vallus and Trinity to me without a fight, I would be ready to extend our NAP, for a much longer duration than T120; this would in turn give you the opportunity to do fight for your capital against only one enemy...

-- Nyktorion

His response:

The only 2 cities that is keeping me in the game, that is impossible. I'd rather quit than do this.

I thought you were interrested in denting Thoth and that's why i've kept fighting to hold him off, hoping to gain enough time to turn around push him away. I would keep fighting him untill either he or i was gone. If the rest weren't interrested in holding off Thoth i'd sign peace with him long ago.

Last chance, we're extending this NAP and do this togheter without city gifting. I'll repay this somehow later, but this will not include those 2 cities.

Right now, i'd rather sign peace with Thoth, give him my capital that has less worth than my last 2 cities and instead holding off you. Thoth will simply no longer be a factor i care about then.

I didn't know that it was Mr. Yellow rather than Thoth dictating how long the Malakim-Bannor war would last. Anyway, I'd rather take the 2 cities than Mr. Yellow's offer (and actually, helping against Thoth would violate another NAP I have...). So, as expected, I think war will break out at T106:

Sorry, but your alternative suggestion does not really appeal to me. "Repay this somehow later" is not at all enough for me in return for doing without your territory, much less for actively entering a war far from home right now that only defends what you currently have, but does not really have much hope in taking cities away from the Malakim.

I would say that we will be at war at T106.

In the middle of all this, I also sent a message to Thoth informing him of some Ljosalfar-Bannor news.

Hi Thoth,

first, thanks for the further explanation of the Tsunami warning; I'll make sure to retreat my hawk at T104 (unless Mr. Yellow throws me out before that, of course).

Mr. Yellow did not take my stalling concerning our NAP extension negotiations any longer, so now I decided to drop my masquerade and told him of my hostile intentions outright. I told him the only way I'd extend our NAP would be him signing over Vallus and Trinity to me.

He even threatened that he would abandon his capital in order to defend his east if we didn't extend our NAP. I don't know whether he will really live up to this promise, but if he does, you might enjoy finding an even easier-to-take capital

Our NAP included T105, so my declaration will happen at T106. Thanks for your offer about extorting Mr. Yellow's map, but I currently don't have an interest in his map. Even once my open borders with Mr. Yellow drop, the current positions of my hunters will ensure that hawks will keep me up to date about Bannor movements behind the front lines. So you only need to extort Mr. Yellow's map if your own interest (disregarding me) into it is large enogh.

best regards,
Nyktorion

[Nyktorion]

I got two more mails from Thoth:

Hi Nyktorion,

If he does abandon his capital to try and defend his east I'll chase his troops down in the open. Very few if any will live to reach Vallus/Trinity. Warriors are tough in cities but they are easy prey once they loose their fortification and city bonuses.

I suspect he will keep at least the 7 warriors currently in his capital hoping to dislodge me once he gets his catapult built. Once he realizes that I can redline his entire garrison via Tsunamis he may run but he won't get very far. I've got a couple of "combat workers" moving into position to complete the road link into Golden Igloo and my mobility promoted troops can catch him easily.

He's in a no-win situation. If he tries to hold his capital he'll lose whatever forces he has in the capital. If he runs, I have the speed advantage and he'll lose the forces anyway. He may be able to get the 5 warriors currently outside his capital to his eastern cities in time, but I doubt it.

As far as the map goes, his exploration has been quite extensive so I thought you might find it handy simply for informational purposes. I doubt he'll be willing to deal know that he's figured out that both of his neighbours are out for blood.

Best regards,

Thoth

Hi Nyktorion,

I've received a couple of emails from Mr. Yellow. He offered to abandon his capital to me in exchange for peace, an offer which I declined as I would be taking it in a couple of turns anyway. He emailed me back claiming he has abandoned his capital in an attempt to defend Vallus and Trinity. If that is the case I'll take his capital when the turn gets to me and try and chase down as many of his warriors as I can before they can reach safety.

Thoth.

The plans to hunt down the warriors retreating from Torrolerial are exactly what I wanted to hear; I hope that Thoth will indeed keep his word on that. Twelve more warriors in Vallus would be quite a lot for me, especially with catapults looming around the corner. I think I could handle the stack of 5, though, but I'll have to see that I really get enough tigers for those. Whittling them down with just Gilden would take quite long. Also, with that many warriors defending, it would really be good for me if Mr. Yellow didn't get any new copper. So, I answered to Thoth accordingly, and also sent something to Irgy:

Hi Thoth,

thanks for your updates on your side of the war efforts against Mr. Yellow. Looking at what my hawk saw last turn, I figured that his stack of 5 warriors east of Torrolerial can reach Vallus the very turn I am able to attack it (T107), if his workers road correctly. The inhabitants of Torrolerial will be 1 turn late in any case, though. I think I can handle the reinforcement of 5 if I bring enough tigers, but I think I'll have to do some simulation work to get a better feeling for the situation.

In case that he indeed abandoned his capital, I wish you a happy hunt for the warriors! Each dead warrior will miss in the defense of th northern cities, which I of course appreciate, and I'm sure you can use the opportunity to collect some more experience on your fighters, as well, so it's a win for both of us

Concerning the map: silly me, I focused my mind too much on the area concerning us three - of course, lifting the black fog, and in particular, seeing where Mardoc (my last missing contact) is, would be nice to have.

best regards,
Nyktorion

Dear Irgy,

okay, so it seems we have a basic framework for our trades laid out, now just the actual substance of our trading plans has to arrive.

I'm currently not planning to go for magic techs immediately, but it shouldn't be too far away, either. Once I am there, my current plan was to get Necromancy first, in order to connect the death mana. I have no plans for elementalism (you have fire mana, I have air mana from my palace and earth mana from the Standing Stones, and we might be able to trade with WarriorKnight for water mana), but Divination and Alteration both seem to be possibilities for me.

On another note, I have a request for you: there is a war between myself and the Bannor coming up at T106. With Mr. Yellow being my immediate neighbour, and Thoth currently fighting him, I would like to take a share of his lands for myself. In particular, I'm eyeing Vallus (a quite aggressive second city, 10 tiles away from his capital into my direction) here. Since WarriorKnight and I might get a trade connection before that point, that would actually complete the trade route Bannor <-> Ljosalfar <-> Elohim <-> Sheaim. As a consequence, Mr. Yellow might ask you to supply copper to him once the connection stands. Of course, I would appreciate it very much if you won't borrow your copper to the Bannor Would that be okay for you?

best regards,
Nyktorion

I also just noticed a mistake I made in an earlier mail to Thoth, so I corrected that:

Another thing I just noticed: in an earlier message, I told you that Vallus was landlocked, and Trinity was coastal. I was wrong about Trinity; actually, Trinity is 1 tile away from the coast, and it has its sea-based trading connection due to a river conecting it with the coast. That's also how my confusion about the coastal-status arose. Sorry about this error.

best regards,
Nyktorion

I'm wondering what Mr. Yellow is thinking now. Trinity is not located on a hill, and with Torrolerial's culture lost Thoth could reach it very quickly. Mr. Yellow can't really defend it well against either Thoth, either. Even I could consider threatening it by moving attackers around Vallus. So actually, he'd have to decide between keeping Vallus or Torrolerial here. So is he thinking (rightfully or not) that Thoth will leave him alone after taking the capital? Is his decision emotionally driven? Both of these scenarios seem plausible to me...

[Nyktorion]

Turn 103

Mr. Yellow did not cancel any trades, nor did he tell me to leave Torrolerial with my hawk. Torrolerial is indeed completely empty Here's a last shot of Thoth's siege force before the hawk leaves to Yonna.



According to the event log, WarriorKnight switched to religion. Since he took a turn of anarchy for it, it seems that he will actually need that extra happiness quite soon.

My southern hawk still got visibility of a large part of the Bannor territory; it also spotted the 5-stack of warriors heading for Vallus already:



The hill north of Trinity is guarded by a Combat I bronze warrior, the city guards of Vallus and Trinity are currently unpromoted warriors.

Since Mr. Yellow told me that he had catapults on his way, I zoomed my view into his cities again. I could spot the siege workshop building in Torrolerial and Trinity, but not in Vallus. So, I'll need to pass Vallus and head for Trinity first in case Thoth doesn't catch the warriors running away from Torrolerial and/or take Trinity himself; Trinity might very well be working on a catapult at this moment.

My forces are currently marching towards Yonna. The second disciple of Hyll was upgraded to a priest this turn, and Evermore finished another disciple at the end of this turn, which will be upgraded to a priest next turn. While the priest can't reach the front line in time, "his" tiger can still be summoned by one of the front line priests.





My power is indeed spiking up:



My economy is tanking, though:



So I ordered Hyll to build a market, but Torrolerial will still get another priest (whose tiger will be summoned at the front line).

Some more correspondence with Thoth. If his plans to march on to Trinity are true, and he indeed signed over the city according to our pact, that would be quite nice.

Hi Nyktorion,

I don't think he's going to be giving me his world map.

If he has abandoned his capital I'm going to chase his forces down as best I can, but he can likely get his stack of 5 warriors away from me. If he moves units along the coast towards Trinity I'll hit him with Tsunamis as he runs.

I would suggest that you concentrate your forces on Vallus. I'll move my units and cultists against Trinity and once I capture the city I will gift it to you (immediately if you can defend it or after a couple of turns if there is a risk of him recapturing it before you can defend the city.)

That should allow us to eliminate him quickly and get back to building before WarriorKnight runs to far away with the tech lead.

Mardoc is located to the South of the Western limits of my empire. He currently only has contact with Mr. Yellow and myself so I believe he is on a peninsula with a decent quantity of land. Once the war is over and you have a hawk/hunter pair to spare I can guide you a spot where you can make contact.

Thoth.

Ooops.

That may affect my plan to hit Trinity with tsunamis, but I should be able to redline any forces he tries to bring back from his capital as they retreat so I should be able to take the city for you regardless.

Thoth.

Yes, I think with your mobility combined with the loss of cultural circles (if he abandons Torrolerial) would make survival for his warriors rather difficult.

Some more info about Trinity: other than Torrolerial and Vallus, it's not located on a hill. It is protected by a river, though. Walking around the river before attacking from either of our directions is possible, but would take additional time (2 turns for you, 3 for me).

I just played my turn; indeed, Mr. Yellow has completely abandoned his capital, my hawk was the only unit left inside. I already congratulate you on taking the Golden Igloo!

Concerning your offer from before to guide me to Mardoc: thanks, I appreciate that. I think the only contact missing in your collection is Irgy. As WarriorKnight probably already told you, you just have to walk 10 tiles south from Kabhalg in a straight line as soon as you get open borders with WarriorKnight, then you should meet the Sheaim border.

[Nyktorion]

Turn 104

Fishing is researched! So, when I have time, I'll be able to connect those clams in Evermore. As expected, Thoth has taken Torrolerial and renamed it to Golden Igloo. Even though he didn't meet any resistance, he still converted to OO and fired his world spell, so he has 10 (spiritual) cultists now with with 1XP each. Finally, the Ashen Veil was founded by Irgy this turn, with the holy city being Grottiburg. Also, WarriorKnight founded another city (Cafes) somewhere in his southwest.

So, what did our hawks reveal about Mr. Yellow this turn? Well, the warrior north of Trinity moved further north.



What is he planning to do there? Is he just defending against that goblin? Or is he heading for the Seven Pines (which won't be be of any use to him until his cultural borders claim it; Vallus would need two more expansion, while Trinity would need its fifth circle, which takes 2500 culture)? Or is he trying to sneak a warrior behind my lines (which won't help him considering I get early warning from hawks and I have slavery)?

His stacks are moving towards me. Interestingly, he isn't recompleting the road between Golden Igloo and Trinity, so the 7 warrior stack definitely won't reach Vallus by the ime I can strike.



The nice thing: Thoth's troops can indeed intercept the trailing stack of seven warrios safely here. The stack of five warriors will reach Torrolerial, though.

Evermore has produced another disciple, which is immediately upgraded to a priest. Its tiger is summoned in the west.

End of turn pictures:





Diplo:

I asked Irgy again about the copper. While his answer did sound positive to me, I still want to know what will happen if Mr. Yellow wants the copper deal completed, after all.

Hi Irgy,

thanks for your information about the almost finished deal with the Bannor! I'd be really glad if you did not finish it. There's just one thing I wonder about: what would happen if Mr. Yellow noticed a trade connection to you before T106, and asked you to give him your copper, after all? I suppose that unfortunately, you would be forced to complete the deal in that case unless you wanted to break a signed agreement, is that fear correct?

I knew that he knew that I was coming; thanks for telling me, though. I admitted it to him myself before T103, after he issued me an ultimatum on deciding whether I would sign a NAP extension.

Concerning the Bannor keeping the Malakim in check: I think that they were not really keeping the Malakim in check. Certainly not in the settling phase (while they settled aggressively against me, only their fourth city went 4 tiles into the Malakim direction), and not really during their war either (they could hold onto their capital until now, but even when they would finally get catapults and push Thoth out, I doubt they'd have a chance to reduce Thoth's number of cities, which is currently 9). I figured my best bet to keep a chance against Thoth would be to match his growth for now - by taking a good chunk of the Bannor empire (Vallus and Trinity) for myself. I hope that you would also rather see those cities going to me than Thoth eventually taking all of the Bannor lands

best regards,
Nyktorion

More war correspondence with Thoth:

Hi!

I've liberated Golden Igloo and have moved my forces to intercept Mr. Yellow's retreating army. I'm not sure if I'll be able to take out any of his lead stack but I should be able to ensure that his stack of 7 units following behind (including his c2/shock/heavy warrior) do not survive.

I'm going to send a couple of water walking units to meet Irgry. Open Borders with WarriorKnight aren't going to happen until we both get trade routes out of the deal due to the insistence of the Malakim Bureau of Internal Security's (MBIS) insistence on not allowing foreign hawks within our territory.

Best wishes for your upcoming campaign to liberate your cities from Mr. Yellow.

Thoth.

Hi Thoth,

thanks for your continued updates on the war! While I don't think that Mr. Yellow has a chance to finally win the war in any case, your efforts in intercepting those warriors are greatly appreciated. It will be a great factor in deciding whether the Bannor war comes to a quick end, or a longer siege will be needed (12 additional warriors could delay the fall of at least one of the his two remaining Bannor cities for some time). Already the elimination of the 7 warrior stack will shift odds to the first scenario.

Concerning the Sheaim: indeed, the latest cultural border expansions by WarriorKnight have cut off the last neutral land routes towards Irgy. If you are sending OO units along the southern coast to meet Irgy, you will already meet Irgy at the coast; my hawks have revealed that Grottiburg is located at the southern coast of our landmass (Steinvik is in the south eastern corner, and judging from tile bleed out of the black fog, I'd say it's probably coastal, and all other Sheaim cities are landlocked).

best regards,
Nyktorion

I also had a chat with Thoth this evening. I did not know what part of the eastern Bannor territory Thoth had already uncovered, so I told him where Mr. Yellow moved his warrior stacks, and how he could catch them. It turned out that Thoth already knew the relevant geography here. Thoth said he's pretty sure he can obliterate the stack of seven warriors, but the stack of five will escape to Vallus.

I also asked him about his world spell; he thought the cultists would be nice to have, anyway, and they would also provide leverage against Mardoc.

Thoth mentioned that Mr. Yellow has contacted him about sparing the warriors from Torrolerial. However, it seems like he will treat that request in a similar way to how I treated his NAP extension request

We also talked about how the Bannor could gain copper again; while even Thoth saw WarriorKnight as sitting on the fence there, I brought up that Irgy might be an uncertain factor here. So the scenario that the current Bannor warrior stacks gain copper is still realistic. Anyway, with Gilden + 6 tigers, I should have quite some tools to crack Vallus open. At the very least, Mr. Yellow will be forced to give up at least one of his two remaining cities rather quickly.

There's just one thing I'm wondering about Thoth: why is he helping me with my part of the Bannor work so much? Now that he has Golden Igloo, he could just as well lean back and watch me fight it out with the remainders of the Bannor empire. So I should be careful, this is something sounding "too good to be true". On the other hand, Thoth seems to be rather isolated diplomatically, so he might indeed have an interest to gain at least one ally in this game, after all...

[Nyktorion]

Turn 105

Irgy has converted to Ashen Veil this turn. Also, the founding of the Ashen Veil has pushed the Armageddon counter beyond 10. So evil is in the world, but only subtly, and no really bad things happen yet (until the counter reaches 30...).



Garryvoe's borders have expanded this turn, but as can be seen, I don't have trade routes with WarriorKnight or Irgy yet, which is a quite nice surprise.

So, what have my hawks revealed about the Bannor this turn? Trinity has built its first catapult:



Still, no reason for worry here. It's just 1 catapult yet, and catapults cost 60h each in FFH (on quick speed; thanks to Thoth here for pointing that out in our chat yesterday).

Looking further to the west, here are the Bannor and Malakim stacks, ordered from north to south:









So, it seems that Mr. Yellow has actually turned around and attacked Thoth with his warriors. The result: two swords and three warriors of Thoth are dead, and six Bannor warriors are dead. I wonder why Thoth did not use "All your base are" and his cultist to reinforce that stack. I think he wouldn't have been obliterated by Mr. Yellow's twelve warriors then (only three Bannor warriors have full health, so at most three have not done any fighting - probably even less). Anyway, this clash between the Bannor and the Malakim is very good news for me: now Vallus definitely won't get its reinforcements before my stack hits. In the worst case I'll just have to crack Trinity open, but with the reinforcements halved, that should be doable in acceptable time, too.

Another thing I noted this turn is this screen:



So apart from Mardoc, everyone has contact with each other now. Also, WarriorKnight and Irgy already have open borders.

Some domestic things: I whipped Evermore again for 1 pop in order to finish another priest next turn. The priest will help blooming (just as the one that was finished last turn), but its tiger will be summoned at the front line. Also, Yonna finished an archer, and is putting its overflow into one more archer. After the units currently in production are finished, I'm thinking about putting my cities back to economic things again.

End of turn pictures:



Here, you can also see my stack in Yonna, ready to enter Bannor territory next turn:



Diplo:

War update to Thoth:

Hi Thoth,

some more updates on the Bannor campaign:

My hawks could not spot your stack containing Kolos and Korath anymore; also, six of the twelve Bannor warriors who were heading east have vanished from sight. From that, I can just assume that Mr. Yellow's warriors turned around and attacked your stack. My condolences on your losses!

I have assembled my own attacking stack at the border to the Bannor this turn. I will declare on Mr. Yellow and cross the border next turn; the turn after that (T107), I will attack Vallus. With the Bannor reinforcements halved and delayed, a quick victory in Vallus is assured.

On a last note: my hawks spotted the first Bannor catapult in Trinity this turn. However, as long as this remains his only catapult, I don't really (and as we discussed yesterday, further catapults will be quite expensive for him at 60h each, and with no other citis to produce warriors in the meantime).

best regards,
Nyktorion

Also, I received this from WarriorKnight:

Hi nyktorion

A couple of interesting things are happening around the world. The Malakim cast their worldspell for several cultists and now the Sheaim have AV. Not to mention your upcoming war declaration against the Bannor is sure to be eventful, good luck with that.

As you might have seen from the save, I now have Cartography. Would you be interested in a Open Borders agreement and/or a map trade? Also, now that t105 is here, would you be willing to assist me in creating a road link between our empires? Said road link combined with Open borders would make trade routes possible between our empires, which would be very helpful to both of us.

Regards,
WarriorKnight

He really wants to start trading now. Well, just be patient for one more turn, then I'd like to start trading, too

Hi WarriorKnight,

the funny thing is, the world spell would not even have been necessary for Thoth to capture Torrolerial/Golden Igloo. After my hostile intentions towards Mr. Yellow became apparent, he completely abandoned Torrolerial (he did not even leave a single unit behind!) in order to put up more resistance against me. However, I'm now pretty certain that I will be taking Vallus at T107. He might fight back a bit more in Trinity, but I don't think he'll hold out for very long there, either.

While I'm currently not interested in map trading, an open borders agreement does certainly sound interesting to me for the trading bonus. We just need to clarify on how we handle units passing through each others' territory. While I would prefer not to have any foreign hawks in my territory, I wouldn't mind other units of you passing through my lands. What are your thoughts about this topic?

My workers will start my part of the road between our territories at the next turn; my war declaration on the Bannor will only happen next turn, as T105 itself was specifically included in our NAP.

best regards,
Nyktorion

I generally don't care mutually revealing our lands; heck, our hawks are already doing that for a great portion of our lands anyway! Still, I don't want to unnecessarily spread the knowledge that the island to the east is reachable from Evermore; also, I don't think foreign maps not containing anything about Mardoc will at this moment be useful to me in any way. Therefore, I declined the world map trade proposal and allowing each other's hawks in our territories, but agreed to having other units walk around.

[Nyktorion]

Turn 106

Pre-turn events:

The Elohim have offered me open borders; in an accompanying e-mail (see below), he tied this to the condition that our hawks don't do scouting in each other's territory. I accepted.

A great commander was born in Golden Lean To. Since this is rather soon for a second person entering the scene, and the Form of the Titan (which is Thoth's only source of regular great commander points) not being located in Golden Lean To, I would say that Thoth has researched Military Strategy this turn.

Oh, and after a long time, a goblin has decided to pay a visit again:



Since I'm declaring on the Bannor this turn, I finally finishd the trade route to WarriorKnight. Here's the resources available from the Elohim and the Sheaim:





I seemed to be rather unconcentrated today: I immediately jumped at the possible silk <-> gold deal with the Sheaim, without noticing they already had silk.

I declared on the Bannor this turn, and marched towards Vallus. Here's the Bannor stacks in Trinity and Vallus, respectively:



The really interesting part in this Trinity picture is that the Bannor warriors are not in the visible are yet. Of course, the viible area has shrinked, since for diplomatic safety, I moved away my southern hawk, whose hunter entered Bannor territory. Still, if the remaining warriors moved to Trinity as fast as possible, they would still be visible now.



My attacking stack (there are 5 tigers 1W of it):



End of turn pictures:





As visible from these pictures, the loss of cotton has created some unhappiness in Evermore and Bruti. That should be repaired as soon as the east Bannorlands are conquered, though. Also, that's what slavery is for...

Here's the demo. I'm surprised I'm not worse off economically. Also, I've surpassed Thoth militarily again, after losing the lead to his world spell.



Diplo:

Thoth has proposed a mutual defence pact:

Yeah, looks like he managed to swap 6 of his units for 6 of mine. So it goes.

His little fit of pique means that he won't be able to re-enforce either of his cities in time to prevent their fall.

The loss of my units is mildly annoying, but at least I still have my core of elite units intact.

The Sheaim made contact with me this turn, somehow they managed to get a warrior through a Gargoyle and Giant infested desert. I'm somewhat concerned about the recent founding of AV. It is only a matter of time before the Sheaim summon the Infernals (if he heads straight for Infernal Pact he can do it within 10-15 turns). Unfortunately the Sheaim are a long way away and the Elohim appear to be co-operating with them. This does not bode well for the future of the Ljosofar and Malakim civilizations.

Would you be interested in negotiating a Mutual Defense Pact to help ensure our mutual security?

Thoth.

I think that becoming a long-term ally of Thoth would give me good chances towards the second rank in this game, behind Thoth. However, I still want to take any chace to become the #1 myself, and helping the current #1 is generally not a good idea in that regard. Even my alliance against Mr. Yellow was not really wise from that viewpoint, but I think the immediate gain of additional territory should compensate that.

Also, as I write, I'm not really convinced about the threats Thoth is describing in his proposal. Therefore, I declined.

Hi Thoth,

as planned, I declared on Mr. Yellow this turn. Vallus still contains only 2 defenders (so in the worst case, this will increase to 3 next turn), so I should pretty certainly be able to take it next turn.

About your proposal of a mutual defence pact: thanks for the offer, but I have to say that I currently don't feel an interest in this arrangement. I simply feel that a real threat occurs in the near future.

You specifically mentioned a possible summoning of the Infernals. Since we are in an all-human game, I doubt that the Infernals will receive a significant number of manes. Of course, they also start with a few strong units (Iron, Hyborem, two champions, and two longbows), but without support, I also doubt that they will be a threat to any of our two armies.

You also mentioned cooperation between the Elohim and the Sheaim. True, they might have some cooperation economically, but neither has shown signs of military ambitions yet. Even Mr. Yellow and I had this economic cooperation, and look where we are standing now! Also note the differing reactions about the delivery of copper to the Bannor between the two: while WarriorKnight was reluctant, Irgy had already signed a deal with Mr. Yellow, which was only interrupted by the appearance of my hostility towards Mr. Yellow. (At this point, I'd like to note that luckily, for some reason unknown to me, the coastal connection within our cultural borders was not sufficient in order to establish the trade route I feared).

best regards,
Nyktorion

WarriorKnight has also sent me two messages:

Hi nyktorion

I guess after we mislead Mr.Y into thinking he was getting a copper trade, he would rather try and stop you than the Malakim. It sounds like you'll be victorious either way though.

I'm fairly ambivalent on terms for open borders, although I also share your concern about hawks. How about we add the condition that hawks can't preform recon missions in the other's territory? I've offered OB in-game, so if your happy with the hawk condition then I don't think there's anything else game breaking this early that affects Open borders.

As for the trade connection, I think that if you road to the river that ends between our borders, we'll be connected. If that doesn't work (which is possible, I don't understand trade routes that well), then I'll quickly finish the road in my borders to complete the connection.

Regards,
WarriorKnight

And two other things,

I've met the Lanun this turn, so that means I now have full contact. I'm not quite sure how I met them, but they are to the SW of the Malakim. (as you may already know)

Also, since Mr. Yellow seems to have caught onto your intending war declaration, I assume that information is no longer confidential? I am only asking since I need to apologize to the Sheaim for misleading them, as the last thing anyone needs is a an angry Sheaim player on their border. (I have no plans to share it with anyone else)

WK

I gave a rather straightforward answer here (too bad I forgot about updating WarriorKnight on he Bannor war; hope he won't be mad about that, since I'd actually like to cultivate him as my long-term ally).

Hi WarriorKnight,

well, it seems that Mr. Yellow can't decide whom to fight. His warriors have turned around in order to battle it out with Malakim units who had followed him. This of course means that there will be much less resistance against my invasion, and what's left also certainly won't arrive in time to defend Vallus. I'm rather certain I'll take it next turn.

I'm happy with the hawk condition you proposed (which means that we are not allowed to start hawk scouting missions in each other's lands, did I understand that correctly? Anyway, to be safe, I've removed my hawks from my hunters within your borders for now). I have accepted open borders ingame, and my workers south of Kabhalg have also completed our trade route.

Thanks for telling me about your contact with the Lanun! It seems we're not too far from the point where everyone knows each other anymore!

With Mr. Yellow knowing about my intentions (sorry about not informing you 1 or 2 turns sooner here!), and even more so, with my declaration of war being official, the confidentiality I asked you to keep is of course void now.

best regards,
Nyktorion

Finally, I had to explain to the Sheaim that my in-game trading request was a mistake:

Hi Lord Parkin,

now that I am at war with Mr. Yellow, I have completed my tarding connection to WarriorKnight, and thus also the connection between us two. So, if there's something concrete you's like us to trade with, just let me know.

As I immediately spotted each of us two having exactly one surplus happiness resource, I requested the respective trade (gold for silk) ingame. Only afterwards, I realised that you already had some silk of your own, so please disregard that trading request.

On another note, what do think about an open borders agreement between us the two of us? This would certainly benefit trade for both.

best regards,
Nyktorion

Only afterwards, I realised I made another blunder here! Neither the Sheaim or I have Cartography, (only the Bannor and Elohim do), so getting OB isn't even possible at this point. Still, I'd like to refrain from sending a follow-up right now; I'm afraid I'd do another stupid thing here. I hope I can do this better within 1-2 days again.