The big news is that I declared war on the barbs and took their city:
No losses, killed 2 Archers, 4 Warriors, and captured 2 Orcish workers. I think I have enough of a garrison in Market Garden that Dave can't use this as an opportunity to attack. The capture gold is very useful, letting me go towards God King quite quickly. I'm also taking the foot somewhat off the military pedal and working towards some new cities, and getting Duruptus in my cap.
Being at war with the barbs shouldn't cause too much of a headache, the only other ones near to me are here:
and they won't be an issue for my PZs.
My next city location is here:
it is somewhat on the back lines, but has plenty of food and won't require a lot of units to secure (something I now need to consider), so good for now.
My cities:
Capital, good for commerce and hammers, after this Warrior will get Duruptus for the happy and commerce bonus.
Second city. Commerce centre, but can work mines if need be.
Main hammer city, still working a couple cottages. Once my happy cap goes up I'll pasture that sheep that's currently under a mine so it can grow and work mines on the other hills.
Hybrid city, can make units or work cottages. Decent amounts of food.
Mistake city. this one should have been on the copper, I might have succeeded in my first attack on Dave if I had Bronze Weapons (among other things). But for now, just growing and will work some mines and cottages.
Copper city. Wont be a bad city once its borders pop, but the copper mine will allow that to happen relatively quickly. It'll grow with the crabs and wheat and work the mine and some cottages.
Captured from Dave. Front-line city now, the monument is pretty crucial for border popping and defenses. I might even build a palisade here afterwards.
Barb city. Came with 4 pop, a Winery and Sugar Plantation, and a pair of Orc workers. A nice little pick-up. It's a bit of a hidden bonus to the barb trait: I can take barb cities near me when I so choose, without having to worry about the units they build in the mean-time. You can also move units into their 'territory' and declare war without being bumped out.
Demos:
GNP is a lot better than -5. My power isn't very impressive, although after I hit end turn and built some more units I was in 2nd place.
I also send a peace offer to Dave. He had sent me one after I retreated but I rejected it thinking I would be attacking again in less than 10 turn. Then I saw he had bronze Weapons on his Warriors, and he revolted into Apprenticeship. So his Warriors would be a lot tougher to deal with. So I shelved my attack plans and sent him an offer of peace in exchange for his map, just so i don't get nothing from the deal, but he rejected, not surprisingly in hindsight. I was happy to remain at war and let him continue to build up his Warriors while I tech to better units (Adepts and eventually Mobius Witches), but I noticed something while looking at the relationship screen, since I thought someone might be gifting their copper to him. It turns out that Dave is gifting almost all his resources (including copper, so I guess he has 2 sources?) to Auro, who's fighting Mack. Not only that, but it appears that Dave is also fighting mack:
(mutual military struggle)
So perhaps Dave is willing to have peace with me to collectively combat mack? I would've declared on mack as well, as a message, but I still haven't met him. I think I'll try and do so asap.
Well I was planning on giving an update on how things are going since it got more peaceful, but Dave ruined that thought by declaring war:
He sent two Mobility Warriors in and pillaged my cottage and road there. I can't imagine that he's planning a full scale attack. If he was, surely he'd come in with everything, not just a pair of pillagers. I killed one of them, but the other has to remain since I don't want to lose whatever unit I send out to kill it.
His stack is large, he might be able to batter through my defenses, but not if he keeps giving me time. I'm building a round of Warriors everywhere, since they are much quicker and defend cities quite well.
I did send a peace offer, he might just be concerned about me attacking him, which is why he wanted to pillage that road. If he accepts, or offers a cease-fire (which I'd accept) I wont re-road it. That's too many Warriors for me to attack with what I've got now. I was planning on waiting for Mobius Witches (or course, I had to put my very slow teching on hold for now).
Having mobility is a concern, although the terrain around our border isn't good for running a bunch of 2-movers past Market Garden into my backlines, and Horsemen aren't that good. But it makes it even harder for me to attack. I also don't know how many of those Warriors in that stack of his were built after he revolted into Apprenticeship, and can therefore take Mobility. I also don't think there's a bunch of mobility Warriors taking the long way round to try and attack me where I'm weaker. If there were he wouldn't warn me by sending these two in now.
Anyway, I'm hoping he isn't planning to retake Market Garden, and is just being cautious/annoying. I can just outproduce him in Warriors if I have to, but I really don't want to.
Here's the power graph:
And the demos after I ended turn:
Also after I ended turn I had some good luck and another Gems popped from a mine:
So, the rest of the report, I'll give you an empire screenshot next turn, I forgot to this turn, but I do have all my cities:
Cap, was building Duruptus, I do have Wheat, just not hooked up yet. It would have been worth ~14 commerce, plus the increased happy cap, so certainly worth it.
Just finishing slowly building a PZ, then it'll just stick with Warriors (if it takes >4 turns for a PZ, I tend to just build Warriors.)
Just finished an Elder Council, and was going to get a Pagan Temple for another specialist for my first Golden Age. Another plan put on hold for Dave.
I was building a settler here for my next city. Also, I've changed my mind on that sign, I ahve two well-promoted PZs there and I'll send both towards Dave, I'll leave the Warrior behind to deal with barbs.
Dave's ex-city. Yes, I did build a Palisade here. Every little bit helps...
Ex-barb city.
Copper city. The overflow from the Harbour will reduce the time for the Warrior by a turn so I'm not losing a turn on it.
newest city. Mostly going to be producing commerce.
Well, things have certainly got more interesting, just not in the way that I was hoping for.
This is annoying. He's not attacking, I have too much, but I can't attack either, since even if I could put together a stack that can resist ~30 Warriors, he can always give a bunch Mobility and go around them towards my cities. I have no choice but to continue to pour units in Market Garden. To add insult to injury I lost my super-scout to a Spider at what must have been low odds.
I do think I can afford to set some of my cities off of military builds, those being my capital, which is going to finish Duruptus, and Graelingvig, that is going to build a Pagan Temple and produce a great person for a Golden Age.
Auro is also fighting mack again, and killed mack's Hero (which explains his post in the EitB13 thread)
edit: oh right, I said I would give an empire-wide screenshot.
Alright Auro, fine. if that's how you want it, I'll happily be on mackoti's side for the rest of this game.
edit: it may seem pointless since Mack is the obvious favourite, but Auro is still doing damage to mack, since I'm now at #1 in soldiers, so I don't think this game is as close to ending as the scores make it appear.
Dave has yet to make any move, and his power increase has slowed down. I finished Duruptus, which was a very nice boost to my economy, and got an event worth 50 gold, so altogether I had enough to get KotE in 2 turns. I'm also working towards a golden age, so all told I hope to start getting Mobius Witches within 10 turns at least, as well as starting to build up a force of Adepts. I'll probably next get Festivals for Carnivals in my cities with Planar Gates for Chaos Marauders. Free units are free. After that, who knows. Probably Philosophy -> Corruption of the Spirit. Or Sanitation for Succubus's (although 100 hammers for the Public baths is a bit steep). Or, I think the best option, Necromancy so I can build Death Nodes and get stronger Spectres.
This is starting to get ridiculous:
That's the third Gems I've popped from a mine and I don't even have earth mana.
(all these screenshots are from after I hit end turn)
I'm starting my Mage Guilds, although I'll probably swap my Cap over to a Warrior.
I also finished a road to Bob for some more commerce from better TRs.
I'm also starting towards my first Great Person:
And my power remains respectable, although mack just finished Form of the Titan.
OK, time for an update, since I fired off a GA a few turns ago and just got my first Mobius Witch.
She's injured because I just used her to finish off a Barb. She wasn't spawned from a Gate, I built her. I don't think the AC is high enough for spawns to be very likely, but I can still build them. This one spawned with Air 1, which is fantastic. Maelstrom is a great spell, a few more of those and Dave's giant stacks of Warriors might be in trouble. Also there's C4 Warrior with 17/17 xp in that city, to which I gave Commando. Eventually I'll be able to promote it to Mobility (lots of barbs around there) and hopefully get Body mana (or a Mobius Witch with Body 1) and put together a force of Commando units that might be able to burn some of Dave's cities.
Speaking of:
Here's the standoff. The number of Warriors Dave has here has remained mostly constant for the last dozen turns or so. At first I thought he sent his 2-movers (Hunters and Horsemen) around in a flanking maneuver, so I moved units to reinforce my other borders and sent out units to scout the approaches, including through Bob. But I've seen nothing, so I'm going to guess that He's just moved them out of sight. Which indicates a pretty defensive mindset. So I've started to move some of my units back here, as well as towards my next city location:
I've got a settler for the spot marked "next" and some units coming to grab that barb city. I'll take the Mobius Witch as well to try and give her more xp. I've also got a Bear on the way for quick border pops for the new city.
As I mentioned I'm in a Golden Age. I just finished teching Warfare and I revolted into Conquest. It took some rearranging of tiles but I wasn't working that many farms, and the xp will be nice. Even if it isn't enough for 2 promos right away. Next I'm going for Masonry->Construction. The probably Horseback riding (for mobility promo) and Festivals (so I can build Carnivals in my Gate cities). I had thought of going for Corruption of Spirit, or perhaps another religion (OO hasn't fallen), but I decided to do some quicker techs with more short-term gains.
Here are my cities:
Just finished a settler, already has the Mage Guild so only needs the gate and I'll start making Witches from here too
About to have a Gate and guild, but too few hammers to make Witches in a reasonable time. I'll probably just make Adepts from here.
Main hammer city. I might, after this Witch, make the Elegy of the Sheaim to up the AC for my gates.
Commerce city, I'll still slowly build a Gate and Guild here, but I won't be making any Witches here.
One of the three closest cities to Dave that have been permanently making units. This one however will make a Gate+Guild after the PZ.
The ex-barb city close to Dave. Making units now and probably forever.
The border city I took from Dave a long time ago. Also making units forever. Got very lucky with gems spawning twice here.
Copper city, working towards the Gate+Guild. I'll cottage the grasslands to the south and swap from the coasts to them so it can grow to the cap, even though the harbour makes the coast tiles actually quite nice, despite not having a Lighthouse (which I can't build yet anyway).
Most recent city. Once I have construction I'll throw down some Workshops and hopefully it'll build the Gate & Guild quickly enough. But for now just getting the WB out for the fish by the new city.
Demos and Graphs:
Overall, I actually like the position I'm in. Considering how expensive my army is, and that I have a neighbor seemingly committed to my destruction beyond all else, I think I'm doing quite well. I'm teching, expanding, and getting higher-tech units. I still have vasts numbers of PZs, which makes attacking me quite a challenge. Mack is in a very good position and is likely to win the game, so I'm gratified that everyone else seems willing to keep playing anyway, since this game is still a lot of fun.
And with the end of my Golden Age comes the re-collapse of my economy. That's ok, I'll build Markets everywhere now that I have Festivals. I'm also going to stop building low-tech units like Warriors and even PZs, and just focus on Mobius Witches and Adepts.
Here's the land I just settled/took from the barbs:
Once these cities grow they'll be pretty good actually, especially Skadistad.
I'm actually growing all my cities right now, Dave gave Mack OB, so there didn't seem to be any reason not to accept Mack's offer of OB and a couple luxuries. So my happy cap is higher.
These graphs show the story:
My GNP is still in the pits:
However, with Dave seemingly slowing down his military building I feel comfortable growing my cities and building markets instead of units
Once I've got those markets and my economy is alive again I'll found one more city, probably the last one of the game:
Great Person:
