[Spoilers - Flauros (sunrise089 and darrelljs)]

[fire&ice]

He does I believe but no bets

[NobleHelium]

You mean the current war or the two previous ones before that?

[darrelljs]

You mean the current war or the two previous ones before that?

Oooh, that's a good question too, does sunrise089 know how many times we've declared war ?

Darrell

[sunrise089]

Why you all gotta be so mean?

[darrelljs]

No combat this turn, just setting the stage for next turn and waiting for uberfish to bring pressure on En-Kai and Ra. Here is the situation at the end of the turn:



Ilios is one smart cookie . He's got throwaway disciples lying around to bring cities out of revolt after they whip Beasts of Agares. He's also used his cash to upgrade Warriors to Archers, and finally...I think...yes, it looks like he is drafting Diseased Corpses . Not 100% sure on that, but he came up with a few IBT. I can move my Vampire stack 44 next turn (to where the southern stack of Spectres is located), summon 18 Spectres, and depending on what he does, kill Horus. Its painful razing a size 12 city, but cest la vie. Of course knowing Ilios he'll do something clever and I'll have to rethink. Its important to note the northern stack of Spectres is not standing on a road, so if I block the hill tile NE of Helios, he can't one move my stack of Vampires. That's the backup plan.

City list...so very close to the time when I will be drafting lots of Vampires.



Darrell

[darrelljs]

Okay so we start this turn report with a domestic issue. My HE city:



On the west, I am building an irrigation chain to the Wheat, as I need more food (currently at 7 surplus). On the eastern side, I am building lumbermills. So step one is to chop those two forests:



The northern Worker pair will start the farm, while the southern will go south, chop, then go north to help finish the second farm. They'll all finish the third farm then go to lumbermill the forest NE of the Wheat. Where does all that overflow go? Well you see what tech I finished this turn, right?



She will kill a Goblin on the way up to get the Immortal promotion, naturally . On the war side, uberfish advanced and took a city. He can pillage Ilios's Iron next turn but the damage from that has been done already. Uberfish will try and get an Adept with Rust but my bet is too little, too late. By the way, we play these turns together, I chat with him during his turn, and vice versa. This level of coordination is really necessary for any hope of success against a skilled opponent with a tech edge. He's now down to give cities with a massive GNP drop:



The important thing though is that his power has continued to climb. He's still incredibly dangerous, his stack has reached the point where I'd need to catch it on flat land to have a shot at taking it out. The only thing making this possible is the two front action. Pressure from both ends takes away Ilios's ability to counter strike in safety, and we'll continue to whittle away the perimeter cities while bringing up re-inforcements and waiting for him to take the field. I continued my advance this turn:



As I mentioned last time, the critical thing to note about the advance on Horus is the lack of road on the lumbermill to the north of my main stack. It means I only have to guard against one approach, the hill tile to my NW. I placed 10 Spectres on that tile, which he can surely kill with his units from Helios if he chooses. However, that would open him up to a counter attack by my stack, and I'm not sure he's prepared to take that risk. I blocked the southern approach to my stack with just three Spectres, I'm not really worried about an attack out of Horus. I then had enough casters left over to summon seven Skeletons. They can be used as blocking fodder next turn, freeing up more Spectres for attack. My one mistake was not putting a single Spectre on the lumbermill tile. He could in theory move a Ritualist down there and cast Ring of Fire in a suicide mission. I should have either blocked the tile or perhpas cast Regeneration. Its pretty obvious what I am gong to do next turn if Ilios stands pat, isn't it ? I finally have a Settler to claim my fourth Death node...and look at all the free culture!



That will be very helpful, saving my from having to build Ritualists and spreading the Veil. I'll end the report with the obligatory city shot:



FOOD !

Darrell

[Krill]

I still think you screwed up your worker MM.

[darrelljs]

I still think you screwed up your worker MM.

That's because you don't like Losha Valas . I think getting her out 3 turns early is worth the extra chop I need.

Darrell

[darrelljs]

So Blight hit on turn 135:



It is now turn 145, exactly 10 turns later:



If you are keeping score, I went from -39 food to +165 food in 10 turns .

Darrell

[NobleHelium]

That's because you don't like Losha Valas . I think getting her out 3 turns early is worth the extra chop I need.

Darrell

I was wondering why you were irrigating plains inside the city radius instead of doing the irrigation chain outside.