DaveV talks like a pirate, me hearties!

[DaveV]

And now Q has open borders with Ellimist. "Please, sir, may we help you win?"

Ellimist wiped most of my stack with no losses, unaccountably leaving me with three units.



Q is using a Cultist so he can take Domir with warriors. I could snipe it from him, but he could kill my warriors even more easily than the barb archers. I'm hoping the other guys will leave me alone while I'm fighting Ellimist.



Oh, look: an Ellimist galley:

[DaveV]

I missed my turn 100 report because of another long day at work. I'm back home again, so here's a full report on turn 101. First, turn 101 ended with one of those pop-up screens that are another benefit of being the last player in the rotation:



The log:



Yes, that's Ellimist founding Ashen Veil and insta-shrining it. Do his trading partners realize *now* that he's running away with the game?

Here's my army glaring across the border at Ellimist's:



The score is actually pretty reflective of the game state. Ellimist is a very clear #1. Aurorarcher, jalepeno, and I are in a second tier; the rest of the guys are well behind the three of us.

Here are the diplo dumps:



When someone starts the game with a city naming scheme and then abandons it, it's an indication to me that the player has lost interest in the game. This theory would indicate that Q lost interest after his third city (!), and TBS after his tenth.

Here's my city list for comparison:



Victory screen:



Financial advisor:



Military advisor:



Religion advisor:



Top 5:



Foreign advisor:









Demos:



Graphs:

[DaveV]

I didn't post a stitch of the world last turn because Q offered his horses for my map (along with a suggestion that I should organize a dogpile, which led to the AI diplo discussion in the tech thread). I reoffered map for map, expecting to gain some map knowledge if he accepted. Then this turn opened with TBS offering a map trade, which I accepted.

I tried to do a map stitch, but the program wasn't cooperating and I didn't have time to mess with it. So here's the F5 minimap:



The log file:



It looks as though someone else must be at war with Ellimist, since Dreylin hasn't had a reaction turn yet to kill Loki.

Map bitching time:



Ellimist has THREE FREAKING ISLANDS in his home sea (to my zero). No wonder he built the Great Lighthouse, and isn't particularly concerned about open borders.

[DaveV]

I edited in a couple pictures for turn 99, post #211.

It looks like Dreylin is going to settle a city two tiles away from the deer island. I picked up my settler and his escorts, in order to avoid antagonizing Dreylin.



Ellimist seems content to pile units into his cities until he can field mages and Ritualists. A reasonable tactic, since EVERYONE IS TOO CHICKEN TO FIGHT HIM!!!



Here's the log file, also showing my economy after I wrung out every drop of commerce to finish Iron Working.

[DaveV]

Ellimist continues to trot through the tech tree:



And we continue to face off:



After EoT, I think I found Hyborem:

[DaveV]

Lots of stuff in the log; too much to fit on my laptop's screen, in fact.



So, here are the rest of Hyborem's civics:



Ellimist and I continue to glare at each other across the border. He has Alteration now, so all his guys are potentially 3-movers.



Here are the demos. Q is *still* giving open borders to Ellimist. If we did have full diplo, I'd have some choice words for him.



That -65 in Exports - Imports isn't one of my trading partners. Another player prostituting himself to Ellimist? Bob, maybe? I should know in a couple more turns, assuming Q continues to let my scout race through his lands to contact Bob and Auroarcher.

[Mardoc]

So what's the plan to break the stalemate with Ellimist? My first thought would be to put together a raiding party on galleys, go burn some coastal cities or at a bare minimum force Ellimist to reinforce them all. Ideally you could get this raiding force to hit his capital first, then clean up his island cities for profit. Galleys plus boarding parties might be enough; not sure how far away collateral is on your tech tree. If you manage surprise, I think 2 galley loads would do the trick; without surprise you'd probably want 3-4 and might have to settle for just the island cities and forcing additional garrisons.

I suspect that would take out all his ICTR, his strongest city, and some of his wonders. Might pull his GNP back to the pack, if the Great Lighthouse happens to be there. Given his tech pace, I'd try to get this done ASAP.

I don't have a clear idea of the map, though. Do you have/can you get access to his sea? It doesn't have to be permanent access; a combat settler would be good enough if there's a good spot for it.

[DaveV]

I can build a canal city giving access to Ellimist's back door sea (assuming my traded maps are still up to date), but it's six turns away through the twisty maze of little passages that make up this map.



Or, I can build a fort NE of Cutlass to open up Last Judgement to boating:



Tech screen:



After EoT, a baby spider attacked. I should be able to heal up in Dreylin's new city.

[Mardoc]

I kind of have the impression that EitB forts don't work for boats like regular BtS forts. I could be misremembering, but I strongly recommend a worldbuilder test before you commit to that plan.

[DaveV]

I kind of have the impression that EitB forts don't work for boats like regular BtS forts.  I could be misremembering, but I strongly recommend a worldbuilder test before you commit to that plan.

Forts as canals are a recent addition, from one of the v12 updates I believe. I've tested both via worldbuilder and in-game: a fort/canal is how I moved a galley into the deer island sea in post #214.