[Spoilers] Peace and Purity - Einion Logos of the Elohim

[WarriorKnight]

1) Agriculture
(do we go for aristoagri farms or cottages?)
if aristoagri
2) calendar - revolt agri
3) festivals ( why not? we're there and markets bring good income early on )
if cottages
2) AC
3) Education

Crafting/Mining are expensive and we can live without wine for a little bit

I prefer aristo since we're PHI and want lots of farms.

IMO, Mysticism > Festivals since we have cheap Elder councils and it also opens God King. Pagan Temples open up Priests too (although not a priority this early). And we start with Ancient Chants so Mysticism is only 1 tech away.

[WarriorKnight]

OK, well after moving onto the hill 2E of the wine there was a sheep next to the peaks south that we would miss entirely if I settled in place. Seeing as that's an AH resource (which I'll probably avoid for a long time) and it'll take me another turn to get it, I went and settled this turn.

Also popping the hut gave me Exploration. Cahir Abbey will get me another hut in 2 turns. Here's hoping for another (useful) tech or a ton of cash.

[WarriorKnight]

Nothing much happened on turn 2 except my scout found a possible desert region where the malakim might be.

About the rush again, 3 Great Prophets is the most we can hope for in time. 2 of them we get naturally and the third coming from the Amathon event (although even with Living World it's unlikely, so I'll discount it for now). Even then we have to build a Pagan Temple (which is 100 hammers on normal, expensive so early) and work priests when we could be getting scientists.

One Prophet should bulb Priesthood (which is almost essential) and any other Prophets we get should go towards the altar. If we can live without the 2nd promotion then we can skip the altar and just use apprenticeship (which only requires 1 Prophet for the bulb, a less painful task). Or we could try fighting some barbs for a 2nd promotion on monks, which might be viable thanks to wildlands.

Tech path will probably be essential early techs (Agri, Calendar, Festivals?, Crafting, Mysticism, Education, anything else?) then Philo -> Priesthood with bulb. We also need to throw Mining in there somewhere to get a decent MFG. Valin is another 3 techs away but he is a valuable addition to an attack force and those techs are useful (CoL & WotWise), so I'm still undecided about him.

Of course, we could forgo the rush altogether but then everyone else would have an advantage to abuse. I do like the Elohim but they aren't exactly the most powerful civ out there.

[Mist]

Tech path will probably be essential early techs (Agri, Calendar, Festivals?, Crafting, Mysticism, Education, anything else?)

Animal Husbandry and Mining before we settle cows/pigs hill site, if we don't pasture them the city will be underwhelming and a bit of liability due to stunted growth. But both of these can wait after Education, we should have more cities/commerce/research by then and backfilling them won't hurt as much.

After that if I had to add something given opportunity it would be Horseback Riding for unlocked mobility promo. 3 move monks are much scarier than two movers and comes into play in much wider application than Valin.

then Philo -> Priesthood with bulb.

I'd wait with deciding for/against the bulb until we see how the opponents do. If they won't grow terribly fast we can try slow-tech Priesthood and add another altar layer or bulb Religious Law. But overall, if bulbing Priesthood will give us extra edge, I'm all for it.

Of course, we could forgo the rush altogether but then everyone else would have an advantage to abuse. I do like the Elohim but they aren't exactly the most powerful civ out there.

And besides, where's the fun in that?

[WarriorKnight]

After that if I had to add something given opportunity it would be Horseback Riding for unlocked mobility promo. 3 move monks are much scarier than two movers and comes into play in much wider application than Valin.

Wouldn't that require burning a promotion on mobility? I think that, if we're going to be actually taking cities and not choking (a successful rush in other words), we'll need to spend promotions on Combat -> Shock. I'm worried about how strong the defenders could be and how quickly they can be built. A full fortify warrior with bronze weapons in a city can easily match a monk in strength (4 + base city defense + fortify + defensive bonus + promotions) and warriors only cost 1/5th of a monk. Valin would give us an easy method of taking cities and is 3 movement, which is why I considered him.

If our target doesn't have copper, it becomes a lot better, but I'd still like to get C1 -> Shock so we can attack easier.

Other ways for us to get strength is Orthus's Axe and bless, but we need to be targeted by Orthus for the first and the 2nd requires 3 layers or Confessors.

I'd wait with deciding for/against the bulb until we see how the opponents do. If they won't grow terribly fast we can try slow-tech Priesthood and add another altar layer or bulb Religious Law. But overall, if bulbing Priesthood will give us extra edge, I'm all for it.

Prophets bulb the majority of Priesthood, and it's an expensive tech to otherwise get early. But yeah, no need to decide this early on.

[WarriorKnight]

The hut near our capital gives 51 gold. Now we have enough for a Prophet if Amathon decided to visit.

[WarriorKnight]

1) Agriculture
(do we go for aristoagri farms or cottages?)
if aristoagri
2) calendar - revolt agri

Crafting/Mining are expensive and we can live without wine for a little bit

I'm not sure if going for Calendar without any calendar resources is a wise move. Sure we get Agrarianism but we don't need the extra food right now (2 grain is plenty). I'm leaning towards Mysticism (most likely) or Crafting next so we can get some commerce going.

And a shot of my capital so I don't forget what it looks like:

[pocketbeetle]

*Keeps clicking this thread wanting to see a screenshot of all the unique features and keeps being disappointed!*

How close are they? It's hard to tell from the minimap.
Any plans to settle or explore towards any?

[Mist]

I'm not sure if going for Calendar without any calendar resources is a wise move. Sure we get Agrarianism but we don't need the extra food right now (2 grain is plenty). I'm leaning towards Mysticism (most likely) or Crafting next so we can get some commerce going.

Heh, you do have reagents up there

But yeah, you're right, without anything to put a plantation on, it's not a high priority and going for cottages or God King might be better.

[WarriorKnight]

*Keeps clicking this thread wanting to see a screenshot of all the unique features and keeps being disappointed!*

How close are they? It's hard to tell from the minimap.
Any plans to settle or explore towards any?

Don't you have the full map in the lurker thread somewhere? If not I'll post where they all are.

The closest one is Leptum Frigus, at the south end of the revealed space near my capital. I'll settle it eventually but it's not a priority until Corlindale.

The other close one is Dragon Bones, about 10? tiles E. That might be worth settling at some point but I really need more map info before I can ink anything.

I hadn't thought about exploring any Unique features since they are all so far away and it's still reasonably early. My scout is just trying to get a general feel of the land to the NW right now.