[Spoilers - Flauros (sunrise089 and darrelljs)]

[darrelljs]

Okay, I took a ton of screenshots, I'll post a big update in the morning. For now, some diplo e-mails:

Hmm...Ilios did not accept our peace offer. Please check for the location of his army in case he is moving against us. It doesn't make a lot of sense given the geography but then you never know. Workers will be in position next turn.

How goes it? Serdoa made peace, can you see what Ilios has lying around? Hope he doesn't move against either of us.

So he turned down our peace offer in game. Serdoa has given him open borders and been asked to "move his army away". Sounds like a possible excuse to move it to our border for a joint operation. Can you still spot into Malakim land with your Hawks? I'd love to know where his army is.

Hopefully we can get some intel.

Darrell

[darrelljs]

Diplo exchange with uberfish:

Last I checked (one turn ago) about half Ilios' troops were in En-kai

Followed one hour later by:

You should probably talk with serdoa and try and find out what the terms of his deal with Ilios are though.

What he has told me so far:

1. NAP, but did not specify the duration.
2. Gift a happy resource.
3. Open Borders.
4. Has to move army away from border.

Now, I am paranoid. While in some ways it doesn't make sense for Ilios to come our way, in one very real sense it does: we have quite the low power graph. If he's got troops lying around and is looking for revenge, we appear vulnerable. We are on all military right now. We also get a GP next turn. Odds are a scientist for the capital, but if that fails its a Merchant. A cash mission to you would allow us to upgrade Bloodpets to Vampires and defend against any attack.

I cannot see En-kai on our map. I don't suppose you would be willing to trade world maps? Failing that, can you tell us where En-kai is relative to Helios, which we can see?

Darrell

[darrelljs]

OKay, first update, cities:



Pretty much a military focus right now, I don't see that changing. Capital of Prespur:



This is our best city of coures, with 52H due to the large pop. If we get a GS, the Academy probably will go here, although Nubia is also a good option:



With a Dancing Bear and Academy we can work up to 5 more river aristofarms. That's significant. With the Gems, this city has the most research potential. Would be nifty to get Ashen Veil here too, the city has the best shot at it. Acaia:



If only peak tiles were useful. Morr'ta'nar:



This city needs some Worker love. We've generally been able to keep up with growth but 1-2 more Workers would have been ideal. Anyway, this is our HE city for sure. Its got great production potential. Going up the military line after securing a religion has to be next. Adonias:



Dancing Bear for culture, and chop that last forest at the last second to complete the GM for production. This is a great commerce city, and a great unit pump with the right civics. Vincon:



Again, a Dancing Bear for culture, but how to get production? Cash rush a GM with the right civics of course. Gonna be some time though . Next post will be graphs and charts.

Darrell

[darrelljs]

Okay, so how is our economy doing?




Our expenses are fairly low at 28, we save some from having GM's everywhere (although not as much as a regular Courthouse) and some from ORG. We save the most from not being very big . I'm basically able to run 7 turns at max research for every 1 turn at max gold. Right now I am only running gold however, for security reasons:



There's also the pending Academy to consider. Anyway 165 beakers/turn is probably competitive but doesn't stand out. Our GNP will always look worse because our culture is non-existent. We did get a religion spread at least:



I love me some FIN aristofarms, unfortunately so does Iliios:



Civics:



StW and Conquest are attractive in the future. Demographics:



I just analyzed these. Basically by going very light on military we've been able to get decent expansion/infrastructure up despite the relatively weak starting capital. Our strong second city helped quite a bit. We are solidly in the pack now, with Ilios still in the lead, but nicked a bit from the CoW's actions. I must have missed the GNP screen, but here is crop yield:



I find uberfish and Serdoa's numbers quite impressive. I should probably check out what economy Serdoa is running, maybe he is going aristofarms, maybe just some food specials with agrarianism. For uberfish, I get that Ancient Forests give food, but that's still darn impressive for what must be a cottage economy. MFG:



As I said before, about half our hammers are invisible. That is good if you are on top because people are less likely to conspire against you, but bad in our situation because it makes us look like a more attractive target. Especially in light of power:



We are weak .



Very weak. Its obvious to anyone that now is a good time to attack the Calabim. That won't be the case in 10 turns, and really won't be the case in 20 turns.

Darrell

[darrelljs]

I feel so alone . Luckily I have diplo messages to keep me company:

Thanks to all your / Balseraph warriors which were fed to him, i'm getting ready for a storm. And i don't think it's going to be pretty.

My response:

Well crap. Yeah we died most comically. He was too prepared. Good luck in defending against him. Do you at least pick off a city?

I remember saying something along the lines of we should get more pillage gold since we didn't stand to gain any land from the ill fated attack on Ilios. What a joke. Now its obvious the more important point seems to be, we didn't stand in the immediate path of a counter-attack. Yes, I think I am pulling to DEFCON 3. Still going to be military for a while, but hopefully its not needed to defend against Ilios just now. Now with uberfish:

En-kai is 4SW of Helios, it should be on the maps of ilios lands I previously distributed. I'm afraid I can't trade in-game maps because I have agreements with other players NOT to trade their map info.

Honestly I would be surprised if he did attack you, because he didn't try to cut a deal with me to get me to attack you... Obviously I wouldn't advise changing your builds off military though

I'm guessing Mist? If you recall, I asked Serdoa to keep an eye out for Ilios, this was his reply:

I will do so Darrell, though I agree it does not make too much sense if he would go for you.

My response:

Cool, thanks. BTW, what turn does your NAP expire? Do you want another go at it or to focus on some builder turns?

I hope to god he says builder turns, I have no desire to go after Ilios again, at least at this point in the game.

Darrell

[Mardoc]

I feel so alone .

Oh, we're here...watching...8-)

[Thoth]

I feel so alone . Luckily I have diplo messages to keep me company:

Life's tough when you're a blood sucking vampire.

:neenernee

[Brian Shanahan]

Oh, we're here...watching...8-)

And eating

Though I'm really more of a nacho man

[darrelljs]

I was actually talking about sunrise089 disappearing . Its good to see some lurkers still around though...no doubt waiting for Ilios to DoW me in 3 turns .

Darrell

[NobleHelium]

I don't think he needs to DoW considering you're still at war.