[SPOILERS]Ill Met by Moonlight-The Unseelie Court of the Svartalfar

[Selrahc]

This was a turn of big events in Faerie. Discovery. Revolution.. and
MoThErFuCkInG mIrAcLeS mAn

HoNk
honk
HONK


We have our our first sight of the loutish denizens of this land. Some mad horned clowns with grey skin. The sight of them was almost enough to cause Thistle to lose her cool and attack.

But then someone pointed out to her that Lord Oberon had called an end to the days proceedings, and she resolved to merely watch.

Translation: I didn't notice the Balz until I'd clicked end turn. Doh! I was getting 85% odds on the attack too... Now that bloody scout can run away. and see more things. I doubt they'll attack my scout. Thistle has C1 and Woodsman, as well as full fortification and a defensive terrain bonus.


I was mildly distracted by the other happenings though. The discovery and revolutions.

Code of Laws popped from a hut.

Not the most elfy set up, but I'm down for rolling with some T39 aristograrianism.

Mass revolution into Aristocracy/Agrarianism/Apprenticeship. GNP is now a solid second, and food is a solid first. So I'm beating one of the Academies in GNP... Interesting.

[NobleHelium]

CoL from a hut?!

[Selrahc]

Hum.

Got one of the lizards killed in a 96% odds battle to capture a spider. That isn't very nice. Lost a scout weakening the spider too. The second lizard finished the job, but didn't yet have capture animals.

Kuro has a second city out, and lost that scout to a different spider.

[Selrahc]

Looks like a neat little quirk for this world. We have a world wrap on the Y axis, but not the X axis. My capital is in a very irritating position, straddling the two parts though. Messes with my preconceptions... I should be at the centre of the world!

[Selrahc]

I'm playing a fairly crap economic game right now. Everything is on fire, and barbarian hordes are pillaging my cottages.

But I've managed to get 4 spiders prowling the wilderness. And one of them has been in the Reverend Doctor's homebase, lurking undetected looking for workers or settlers as prey. And just this turn, he hit the jackpot. Rev's adept unit was caught wandering undefended and mistaken for a juicy fly. Scratch one witch doctor.

The choice was actually between a worker and the adept. At this stage, the Worker might have actually been the more damaging choice, at least in the short term. But I think the morale hit for killing the starting adept will be a *lot* bigger.

[darrelljs]

I queued a Settler after the Hunting Lodge finished. I also killed a Hill giant at 96% odds to get another promo on the uber lizard. That guy is crazy.

Was there a plan to deal with fires burning down our forests?

Darrell

[darrelljs]

I regret to inform you that you've been invaded by a decently put together stack from the Grigori. Seven Axes with Bronze Weapons, Enchanted Blade, and Orthu's Axe. I did not see any Heros at least. Front city is toast, I've evacuated it and pulled back. I do not believe he can wipe you out, but the game is probably over for you.





If he attacks those two exposed Warriors and takes some hits, I will counter attack out. I think he's got extended supply lines and I can make one turn Warriors after all.

Darrell

[darrelljs]

Welcome back. Things are in a sorry state . You've lost all but one city (which after much consternation I allowed to found FoL). Its only a matter of time.

Darrell

[Selrahc]

Post mortem-

I spent much of the early game dealing with barbarian troubles, which put me behind an ideal growth curve.
From there, I'd have needed excellent play to pull back in contention with Bob and Thoth. I didn't bring that to the table at all.

I'm not terribly fond of elven civs. I'm not terribly fond of running their economy, since I tend to like civs that have quick setup times and early rewards. I thought maybe a PBEM would force me to raise my game and play the elves properly. In the end though, I just let myself get distracted by the hunting game.

One of the big reasons I chose the Svarts was due to the hunting aspect of the game. Animals can be an important early advantage in FFH, but I must confess it's not one I've ever really tried to capitalize on. I thought the svarts would provide an ideal opportunity to do some serious animal work and improve that portion of my game. I think it was kind of working, just under my jurisdiction I managed to use spiders to kill 4 workers and an Adept from Kuro and the Rev, and if I'd lived for a further turn I would have had the opportunity to assassinate Kuro's adept before my demise. Animals, or at least spiders, really do have some good utility, but I think I'll probably go back to neglecting them again for my next game, sadly. They mess up my thoughts about growth and building the civ. I spent a lot of resources prepping for armies of hunters and that left me under expanded and under defended when Thoth came to call.

In retrospect, I think I would probably have swapped some spells around on the adept too. Ice never really gave much of a payback(far easier to run than stun out on the field), while water would have been helpful on a few occasions. Floating Eye seemed to be an absolute godsend though, so I may well have taken that. Haste and Fire were absolute necessities though.

Thanks again to Darell for helping out, and I'm sorry my reporting ended up drying out in the latter days.