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

[WarriorKnight]

Mr. Yellow has Cartography. I wonder if he just got lucky with a hut or researched it himself since he was asking about trading stuff. Either way, I don't think we'll have a trade connection unless my hawk reveals something.

Starting with Philosophy now en-route to Order. Maybe I should go over both of my UB's and Order since neither has been used in an RB game yet. I'll wait until I get Order before describing it though since if I don't get it then I'll probably go for something else.

[WarriorKnight]

My hawk is done, so it's time to fly:



There's a nice rice + pigs spot, and lots of floodplains and rivers around. Not to mention the mana node and incense (which gives happiness with temples, yummy). Wonder what I'll find next turn?

[WarriorKnight]

[SIZE="4"]Elohim Unique Buildings:[/SIZE] (and ritual)

Neither UB is particularly impressive, giving small bonuses at best. But they do allow some nifty tricks to be played (but then again, so does practically everything in FFH, that's why it's awesome )

[SIZE="3"]Chancel of Guardians:[/SIZE]



Available at Priesthood, the Chancel gives an additional +25% city defensive bonus (which is unlikely to be of much use) and a chance of getting the Defensive promotion. Defensive is a promotion that doubles the fortification bonus of the unit (normally requiring a melee/archery unit and C2). It's a small bonus (only +25%, compared to the +40% of the unit counter promotions) but the only way to counter it is the RoK High Priest spell Earthquake, which is regarded as the worst High Priest spell and hardly worth acquiring.

There's really only 2 main uses for Defensive. The first is to cherry-pick units that get Defenders and use them as city defenders. The other is to combine Defensive with the first Nature Spell Treetop Defense, which fortifies all units in a stack if it's in a forest tile. Given that Elves should have forests covering their entire empire, and the Ljosalfor are conveniently my neighbor, it might see some use in this game.

[SIZE="3"]Reliquary:[/SIZE]



The Reliquary, available at Way of the Wise (which is a pre-requisite for Order, the religion I'm bee-lining) gives some minimal benefits (some culture, unhealthiness and prophet points) and also gives Spirit Guide to every built unit. Spirit Guide is not a normal promotion but an effect, and the only unit that starts with it naturally are Confessors (Order Priests). A unit with Spirit guide gives half it's experience to another unit in the empire when it dies in combat.

There are only 2 ways to make Spirit Guide have a noticeable effect. The first is by building high experience units, either by building Ride of the Nine Kings for mounted units or building the Altar for disciple units. Ride of the Nine Kings is late and mounted units aren't my specialty, while the Altar focuses on my unit specialty and almost fits perfectly with Spirit Guide.

The other is heroes, or more specifically units with the hero promotion. My national hero Corlindale fits very well, having no strength to defend himself and having several good reasons to use Resurrection already (even though he can only get Spirit Guide once). Religious hero's are a bit of a different story since they can only live once, but if for instance you start with RoK and want to switch to something else, you can build Bambur with Spirit Guide and kill him for some free experience. Won't happen in this game though. If they die unintentionally, you can also get a semi-hero to play around with although it's still preferred if you keep your heroes alive.





And since it's buildable, I might as well talk about Hallowing of the Elohim, but there's nothing much to say about it. It's a unique ritual that lowers the AC by a small amount for a wonder's worth of hammers. I won't need to lower it until late game at the earliest and by then Corlindale's peace if much more effective if I need to lower it, but if I'm not willing to sacrifice him and I need to lower the AC for whatever reason then it could be an option.

[WarriorKnight]

Woohoo! An interesting turn.

First off, I haven't had a random event for a really long time now. I don't know why, isn't Living World supposed to be on? Even one of those useless Golden Age religion events would be a nice break.

Anyway, interesting set of events in the turnlog. Or at least for nyktorion:



nyktorion finally got FoL, but more importantly he built Gilden! A strength 6 longbow hero this early is very powerful. Getting FoL also unlocked his worldspell which while primarily defensive could also be used as a very strong although short offensive. Fortunately we have an active NAP until T100 so I'm not too worried.

In the background is the result of this turn's hawk. nyktorion is quite close but I didn't expect the Bannor to be there. I wonder if nyktorion is planning to attack with his newly built hero? That would spice up the game a bit.

Anyway, here's what else my hawk has uncovered in the last few turns:





Learning how little land there is to the SW and the discovery of the dye, I now want a border city near Letum Frigus. I actually think 1W of the sign is best due to the river in the SW, but it doesn't work as well of a blocker city into my core then. It's not going to be a great city either way.

Also completed Dreptus EoT, so I can finally grow to size 8 in my capital. Order should be mine in about 10 turns or so.

[WarriorKnight]

Way of the Wise finished EoT, now I can build Reliquaries.

Far more importantly however, is this:

Hi there how is it going?

Anyway, i'm in quite a pickle currently, with Thoth suddenly going silent and curiously backing his troops off as soon he hooked up copper. His power rating have been steadily rising and i'm expecting an invasion soon.
I and Thoth were in a heated discussion regarding trade. I've approached him with several approposals, which he decided to ponder further on. He hasn't made any decision though and i've been sending him repeated messages regarding it, which i've had no replies on. By the way, one of the things he wanted to take up was to form a coalition against you (which i bluntly refused to, might have been a mistake).

Now i'm expecting an incoming invasion of copper troops at any time and i'm not prepared for it.
I've also been trying to seek the aid of the elves, which we've been in a border dispute with (that i believe Nyktorion have told you of at some point) that i'm willing to be done with at this point. So far however i've heard nothing from them.

So yeah, if i'm gonna survive this i really need support from other civilizations. I am willing to offer you pretty much whatever (reasonable) you want for military aid.
I got Cartography as well so opening borders and map information shouldn't be a problem.

Regarding the elves, while i've tried to seek their aid i've heard nothing from them. Have you been talking with them recently? They've been building up for something and i fear that i'd get attacked from them, forcing me into a 2 front war. I'd rather have them stopping the coming waves from Thoth and wonder if you could help me convince them to assist me, if we can come to an agreement.

Sir Yellow, Chief Advisor of the Bannor

Looks like there might be war after all. The question is though, do I want to get involved?

Firstly, Thoth wanted to form a coalition against me. I understand the reasoning (I've been 1st in GNP ever since I got Aristocracy) but that's something that I'm not happy about. Since Mr. Yellow refused, the question is should I help him? I think I should since I could very well be next.

The only thing I could really do though is fly hawky (my hawk) through his lands and give him some intel. If i was given a bit more time I could send some monks but I don't have Priesthood yet and they're expensive to build.

Also even though I want Order quickly, I think I want to slot in BW next. This situation is making me nervous and I want to save Sanctuary for as long as possible. After I get copper warriors it's back to Order.

[WarriorKnight]

Since the game is spicing up, I want to keep Irgy on my side, so I sent him this:

Hi Irgy

Congrats on getting your 4th city and securing copper. That ought to be a nice boost for your flaming zombies.

Has anything interesting recently happened to you? Nothing much has happened to me recently (It's been forever since I've had an event even though we apparently turned Living World on) but hopefully things will start getting interesting soon. The Elves have had a lot going on, as you undoubtedly know they got their Hero and religion on the same turn which is quite impressive.

Anyway, I wanted to tell you about where I plan to place my border cities with you. I'm probably not going to settle either city in the near future, but since you had the good faith to inform me of your settling plans, I will do the same.

Firstly, I'm probably going to settle a city in Letum Frigus valley. I know before I said I wasn't going to, but I hope that it won't be too much of a problem. I'm probably going to settle 6W1N of Tongurstad. That means that Letum Frigus will probably be under your control since it's 3rd ring to me but 2nd in yours, but given our Ice mana treaty that doesn't really matter.

As for the northern mountain pass, (We really need to start naming the different areas of the map) well I'm not convinced yet exactly where I'll be placing my border city but the most likely place will be 5N2E of Graelingvig. That leaves both of the gold resources to you, but since I have another native source I'm not that fussed about them.

Like I said before, I'm not quite certain yet when I'll be founding those cities but I thought I should let you know where I eventually plan to place them. Hopefully you won't try and block me from these sites just because I shared this information with you. If you don't have any problems with them, then it will be a pleasure to co-operate with you and your empire.

Regards,
Einion MonkKnight

It is a bit of a stretch telling him where I'm going to settle my border cities but he did the same thing for me, and if there's conflict on my northern border then I need to keep my southern neighbor happy (especially the one with Pyre Zombies).

[Mist]

Looks like there might be war after all. The question is though, do I want to get involved?

The question is, how on earth could you get involved? Because sending a horde of copper warriors on a long trek north is hardly worth the time, effort and maintenance. Assuming you had copper by now.

Firstly, Thoth wanted to form a coalition against me. I understand the reasoning (I've been 1st in GNP ever since I got Aristocracy) but that's something that I'm not happy about. Since Mr. Yellow refused, the question is should I help him? I think I should since I could very well be next.

Well. Can you help him? Because I don't think it's possible at the moment. You don't have the tech or the armyt. By the time you will get that, Mr. Yellow will be beyond help, even alive he won't be any threat or even a stumbling block to the guys in the north.
Think about breaking up Elven-Malakim axis. If Toth is so openly hostile, cosy up to Nyktorion and offer yourself as a leverage to get him north. Or start to do some serious diplo work on Irgy, not having to defend the southern border will make sorting out north much easier.
Generally my thoughts are thus - you're already a target by being ahead of the pack. Don't make yourself a bigger one by meddling in other people's war without resources to be effective.

Also even though I want Order quickly, I think I want to slot in BW next. This situation is making me nervous and I want to save Sanctuary for as long as possible. After I get copper warriors it's back to Order.

That's a good idea.

[WarriorKnight]

The question is, how on earth could you get involved? Because sending a horde of copper warriors on a long trek north is hardly worth the time, effort and maintenance. Assuming you had copper by now.

I know, the only practical thing I could do is send my hawk up there since nyktorion blocks the land route up there and there's a long line of peaks. Even if I did send hawky up there, he's not going to be a lot of help and will undoubtedly tick them off.

Well. Can you help him? Because I don't think it's possible at the moment. You don't have the tech or the armyt. By the time you will get that, Mr. Yellow will be beyond help, even alive he won't be any threat or even a stumbling block to the guys in the north.
Think about breaking up Elven-Malakim axis. If Toth is so openly hostile, cosy up to Nyktorion and offer yourself as a leverage to get him north. Or start to do some serious diplo work on Irgy, not having to defend the southern border will make sorting out north much easier.
Generally my thoughts are thus - you're already a target by being ahead of the pack. Don't make yourself a bigger one by meddling in other people's war without resources to be effective.

Hmmm, that's good advice. I knew I couldn't help him much anyway, but I do have to keep as low a profile as possible and joining in a war which I have little to do with is the exact opposite of that.

[WarriorKnight]

Things are very interesting and fun:

"quote"

Thanks, it should really help us against the skeletons and goblins in the
area. The zombies seem to be particularly resiliant to their attacks. It might
help us explore a bit further afield in the northeast too.

"quote"

No, we've been a bit quiet mostly because nothing really has happened.
Founding Graelingvig was about the peak of recent excitement for us. Oh, and
we found some mushrooms on a hill, that was good, but otherwise we've just
seen starsigns of gods who show us no favour. There's some political unrest
brewing though, which will likely become another revolution shortly.

The elves must be pleased with themselves at least. Are they planning to do
much with their new-found hero, or just sit and defend their forests?

"quote"

I was calling that 4th and 3rd ring, but maybe your terminology is correct.
The spot you mean is a plains hill, and would place cows and dyes in the BFC,
correct?

"quote"

Thank you for the communication with regard to your settling. Your suggested
sites are reasonable, and certainly closer to your area of influence than
ours, so I can make no reasonable complaint.

There is just one issue that concerns me generally, which these two proposed
locations highlight particularly. We've been notably unfortunate with the
location of mana nodes on this map. We have one in our eventual control
southeast of Letum Frigus, but that's it. Your city north of Graelingvig
claims one mana node, and the city in the Frigus Valley blocks me off from the
only other node I'm aware of, just to the west of that location (just outside
the city's borders, and 3SE of the Tomb of Sucellus).

This lack of mana nodes is not a problem in the short term, but in the long
run it's something I'm going to have to rectify. One thing which would I would
greatly appreciate is to be able to settle a site 5W1S of your proposed
location (3S1E of the Tomb), which could then access that mana node. It's not
a great site, there's corn but no way to irrigate it, and mountains otherwise,
but it would gain access to the mana node (and not overlap with your proposed
site at all). It is technically blocked off by your proposed location so it's
hard for me to argue that it's in my sphere of influence rather than yours,
but as I've said before our relative starting locations leave me hemmed in
somewhat so if I don't at least request some concessions I'm going to end up
quite squashed.

Best wishes,
Irgy Arbandi

Most of that is pure chit-chat, but the last bit interests me greatly. A arcane civ without any mana? That's sad. He's asking for my SW mana so he can have one source which will also get a corn that I already have, and the Tomb of Succelus which I don't really care about. He's asking a favor and I know exactly what I want.

So what do I want? A settler from him so he can settle, gift it to me and then I can tolerate it and build Pyre Zombies (and maybe planar gates too). Trouble is that it's a very big ask (they're almost the entire point of the Sheaim, why would he want to give it away?), this is multiplayer so he'll realize what I'm doing right away and it's not keeping my head down which is what I should be doing.

Maybe if I build a settler for him in return so it's just tolerating from him? Would that be worth access to a mana node for a arcane civ? I don't want to be difficult to my best friend but I really do want a settler from him and I doubt I'll get a better chance than this. Or maybe I just forget about it since by the time I get enough of them they won't be that impressive anymore.

What else could I get in exchange from him? Don't know really, just giving the spot to him without asking for anything seems too nice.

[Mist]

I would not give away that site. It's awfully close to our core and we could really use a crumple zone if he goes wild.

If it's really about mana... Keep the site but offer the mana from the node and tomb ( or just palace mana ) free of charge once it's converted/connected to a trade network? It's not a short term prospect and backfilling KotE+mana tech 50 or so turns in the future won't set us back a lot. It would be good to have him somewhat dependent on trade with us.

On the other hand - if it is a short term prospect, you should seriously start questioning his motives, as this would make for quite an outrageous landgrab. How far is his capital again?

Getting a settler off him would be nice, but this is probably not a good bargaining chip.