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

[WarriorKnight]

I hate to admit it, but I probably spent too much time on 4 cities. Thoth has settled his 9th city this turn, and I'll get my 6th next turn. I'm also aware of my soon to be shortage of workers, so I'm building two of them right now. At least Priesthood comes in EoT so now I can back fill some techs I need.

[WarriorKnight]

T100 overview time:

Let's take a look at the cities.



Needs to grow more, so the Temple is/has being delayed a bit. I want to build confessors here to force temples in all of my cities someday, but with expansion being my top priority ATM, I'll probably only build one to bless all my units for now. Main priority is getting up to max size.



Build queue is a Reliquary, then Valin (reliquary is first since Spirit Guide is far too useful on heroes to pass up). Since I have NAP's with all my neighbors, I'm delaying him to grow Glens a bit. Sadly it's not a very fast process since I don't have any food resources here, so Sanitation would be really helpful.



Another city that could really really use both Construction and Sanitation. A fairly useless city only settled for the gold. The best thing I can probably do with this city long term is to build units that other cities don't have the time to. Forget the Reliquary, I've swapped it to a worker and will probably build a second after that.



Settler is obviously done now, but since Cahir Abbey has the rice and the cows are only just getting improved, I'm building a worker instead of growing. Long term, I'm really considering putting the altar here and spamming monks, as there are 10 hills plus cows to work eventually. Will be a great production city someday.



Just getting started, but with crabs, pigs and lots of farmable tiles, it's a good place to spam specialists, and Dragon Bones is obviously awesome. Work boat should be an obvious build, next will be the traditional Elder Council/Market.

City 6 and 7:



The rice location is where I'm settling city 6, there's a pig and several river tiles to run specialists here too. City 7 is still doesn't have a confirmed location yet, but it's going somewhere near the incense to grab the floodplains. Settling NE of the sign might be a better spot as that doesn't waste a floodplain and settles on the hill, but claims a lot of desert tiles to the north. Or 1S might be better as it and claims the majority of the floodplains. Either way, I'll need to start Springing over there in the near future.

Demographics:



Make of that what you will. Personally I see myself as a GNP frontrunner but barely average in the other categories. Given that I'm competing against Ancient forests, pirate ports and a likely settled great prophet in the first 10 turns of the game I could be doing worse, but still need to pick up the pace a bit.


Tech Path:

As mentioned above, I finished Priesthood for monks and Priests on t102, thus we are officially in the mid-game . Next up will be Cartography for Open borders trade routes, and because it only takes 1 turn. Then it's construction for chain irrigation. Not quite sure where to head after that, here are my options:

• Sanitation - Farms get +1 food which, since I'm running Aristograrianism and don't have much in the way of food resources, is probably worth researching immediately after Construction. Also allows Public baths, a really good happiness building.
  
  
• Trade - Bonus foreign trade route, but also allows me to see where everyone is in tech, and it's prerequisite HBR is important for mobility.
  
  
• KotE - Useful to get some adepts up and running so they can start gaining experience. Also Irgy will want me to build some mana nodes for him at some point, and I'll definitely need to spring and Vitalise some tiles between me and Thoth if we ever war to prevent him abusing Nomad too much.
  
  
• Honor - Not very important, but I'm considering it for denying the holy city. Empyrean temples are something I'll want eventually as they give 2 priests specialists and a science boost. Also has the Overcouncil but that's hardly worth going for by itself.
  
  
• Deception - Denial mostly, since Nox Noctis could be brutal to fight against. I'll see if it's worth researching after getting trade.
  
  
• Military Strategy - Only for the free Great Commander, but I suspect Thoth might steal this before I can get there. Otherwise only worth researching at some point in the distant future for the Epics.
  

After that (and maybe some other filler techs) I'll head for Fanaticism.

[WarriorKnight]

I know I don't post much diplo, because I assume that whatever I say is being posted in another thread. However here's an interesting message:

(While discussing Open Borders)

Hi Thoth

I can understand your concern about hawks. How about we stick to a no-scouting agreement for open borders, and give your scout a one time exception to this rule? In exchange I'll also get a one time exception to the no-scouting rule, which I'll use when I send a unit to meet the Lanun. Would that be fine with you?

Regards,
WarriorKnight

Hi WarriorKnight,

I think your proposal is reasonable, but the Malakim Bureau of Internal Security (MBIS) aka Square Leg (my ded lurker) is a lot more paranoid than I am and talked me into deleting the scout instead.

If you send a workboat Westwards along the southern shoreline you can make eventual contact with Mardoc, my cultural borders do not currently block the coastal route.

Regards,

Thoth

I dunno, learning that someone else's ded lurker is paranoid about me isn't exactly thrilling news. I guess there's not much other way to say it, but if we can't agree on something as simple as OB then this probably confirms that I'm sticking with nyktorion and Irgy. His workboat suggestion is useful but I won't have a city on that coast for some time.

I also switched to religion since I needed to do that at some point and with 2 settlers in transit I won't get a better time to do it.

[Mist]

I know I don't post much diplo, because I assume that whatever I say is being posted in another thread.

Just remember that if you want, you know, a dedicated lurker feedback on something, he does not read other threads :P Or mind-read over large distances

However here's an interesting message:

Yeah. That's just... odd. Seriously, if you ever come to blows you'll get these maps anyhow. Why make such an issue of this? Is this exchange confidential? If not maybe push it to Irgy to set the tone for his diplo with Toth?

[WarriorKnight]

Just remember that if you want, you know, a dedicated lurker feedback on something, he does not read other threads :P Or mind-read over large distances

That's true. I'll post all the interesting (like the one above) and difficult to respond messages here, since they are often rather significant. The rest of the diplo so far is simple (such as setting up trade agreements and info exchange etc.) and isn't really worth posting. Though I should do a diplo overview sometime though so you know where I am with everyone.

Yeah. That's just... odd. Seriously, if you ever come to blows you'll get these maps anyhow. Why make such an issue of this? Is this exchange confidential? If not maybe push it to Irgy to set the tone for his diplo with Toth?

I don't blame him for worrying about the hawks, especially since he's at war with Mr.Y. I'm concerned that he can't trust me using a one-time no scouting exception with open borders and it's worth delaying contacting with Irgy for it. Maybe since he's first in score he doesn't want to help second place?

The exchange wasn't confidential and I've already told Irgy that Thoth has deleted the scout, since I told him before that Thoth was coming and should keep him up to date. His response is yet to be seen, but since Thoth won't be contacting him for a while I'll have time to convince Irgy.

[WarriorKnight]

T104 was fairly significant. I managed to get my 6th city founded, and I got a free Acolyte from spreading Order there which will spread it to my 7th city.

In global news, the first worldspell has been cast:



Yep, the Malakim have switched to OO and cast their worldspell for several cultists. I don't know how close Mr. Y is to the coast but if he is those cities are probably dead already. Fortunately I have a grand total of 1 city on the coast and it's on the other side of my empire, so I'm not worried if he comes my way.

My hawk revealed Thoth's border city, and it seems that he got lucky with lair exploration at some point:



And has a heroic warrior. I can't counter that until I have a few monks at least but I doubt he'll send it my way while we have an active NAP. It's probably just there to counter all the barbs south of the city.

Also, can you believe work boats count as military production? Thanks to apprenticeship my work boat in Garryvoe might have been delayed if I didn't have a forest chop this turn. Still, a bit silly though.

[WarriorKnight]

t105 saw Irgy get AV, bring the AC to 11 (which will bring the warning event next turn) and accepting OB and a map trade with him. Since his map also includes Mr.Y's map, I have a much better idea of where everything is now. I'll post a screenshot next turn for you Mist.

In other news, I only have 8 workers for soon to be 7 cities, so I'm delaying Confessor(s) at my capital to build several 2 turn workers there. It's a shame, since I want to start forcing temples into cities to start building layers of the altar but I can't survive with that worker/city ratio.

[WarriorKnight]

Met the Lanun, so that's everyone now. Since Mr. Y figured out nyktorion's intentions this turn as well, diplo has been rather horrendous.

Anyway, some screenshots of Irgy's map:

[WarriorKnight]

So T107:

The barbs have decided to get frisky:



I'll have 3 copper warriors in Cafes by the time they get there and since I'm also on a hill it shouldn't be a problem.

And the demogs since it's been a while:



It's scary just how much of a food lead Thoth has, and he doesn't even have Sanitation yet. I doubt I'll be able to catch up to that, but I'll try nonetheless. Probably the only reason Thoth still has a decent economy is the 5 commerce Malakim floodplain farm.

Also someone is on 36 health, which is ridiculous. I'm guessing it's the Malakim, because I can't figure out who else it would be. I wonder if food removed from health shows up in the demographics? If not then maybe the rest of us have a chance.

[WarriorKnight]

I have a bit of spare time on my hands, so it's time for a diplo recap/update.

Let's go in contact order:

nyktorion

• NAP until t125
  
• Border agreement
  
• Open borders (no hawk missions in the other's territory)
  
• Future religion trade?
  

First contact, and fairly good relations. Was fairly quiet at the beginning of the game but that's likely just due to how early we met. He probably won't try anything funny while he's at war with the Bannor. After that, well I don't know yet but thanks to the religion trade that he offered he's interested in working with me long term.

Future religion trade is that he's interested in Order while I'm interested in FoL. (why am I interested in FoL? Well Disciple of Leaves can upgrade to rangers and get altar experience when built. But the main reason is because another temple would be nice to have) I assume that means later on we'll exchange priests to build temples in each other's cities. Maybe divine spells too, but you can't put tiger cages in foreign cities nor can you bloom, so I'm not sure what he can give me to Bless his units.


Irgy

• NAP until t140
  
• Border agreement
  
• Sharing Ice mana for Letum Frigus
  
• Gems for Ale
  
• Gets a free mana node from me
  
• Open Borders
  

Lot's of things there. If he wanted to rush me with Pyre Zombies, well he probably would have done that by now, and I'm his only neighbor. He's accepted my apology for misleading him about the trade route and so things are looking good here too.

He's currently borrowing my water mana to spring some tiles in his border city. I'm not sure when he'll ask for another mana (my other two palace mana aren't that great), but I'd like to research both Alteration and Divination in the not too distant future so something could come up there. I'm not that interested in his palace mana (chaos is too random, death needs mass affinity to be worthwhile, fire is only good after sorcery) but the Ice mana that he will control will be very useful.

Ale for Gems was proposed back when I didn't have Order or Religion to bump up my happy cap. It's slightly redundant now but I have no reason to cancel it, so I won't.


Mr. Yellow

• (nothing)
  

Yeah, not much to say here. I don't have any agreements with him and he's bound to exit the game shortly, so let's just go to the next one.


Thoth

• NAP until t135
  
• future Open borders
  

Ah yes, the current game leader. Sadly I haven't talked to him much ever since he told me his excuse for deleting the scout, which is probably a mistake on my part since I have no idea if I'll have a big enough army on t135 to hold him off without Sanctuary (I haven't figured out how big my army will be in 30ish turns yet). Open borders has been delayed until we find ourselves connected on a trade route, however I want to delay that as I'm getting plenty of alternative routes from the elves, Sheaim and soon-to-be Lanun.


Mardoc

• Open Borders
  
• possible Sun for Nature mana trade?
  
• has pearls available for trade
  

Only contacted just recently, but relations have so far been good (we've connected over a paranoia over Thoth ) He's expressed interest in my Nature mana (Why? Does he want Poisonous Blade for recon units? Getting an archmage somewhere for Vitalise? Tower of Alteration? I don't know) and he has the Mirror of Heaven for Sun Mana (prerequisite for Tower of Divination and gives Blinding Light, yes please) so there's a possible deal in there somewhere.

He's offered to trade me some pearls, but I have nothing to give him for it (only duplicate happy resource I have is Ale, and I'm already giving that to Irgy).