[SPOILERS] The Subjuggulator's Mirthful Messiahs (Kuro, Gamzee of Balsegraphs!)

[Caustic Soda]

Let's head for KotE, then. That way we can get Mage guilds set up earlier and crank out a few adepts to help with building nodes.

[Kuro]

Turn in, which gives us Hunting in: KotE will be a 4T research and BW anywhere from 3-5T.

Thane completes at enjoyableEvening: Honestly not sure what else to build there as production is not yet high for it, so I just set it to a Carnival to boost the happiness cap for further growth. The Workers finished their first farm at familyFun, but will Plantation a Cotton before farming more, because familyFun should still have a nice growth rate but it could use the hammer from the plains tile. It will also give an extra commerce in comparison. Thane can spread RoK there next turn.

And then I realized that is a no sell and that it is a good thing we have decent defense:



The Warriors don't pose much of a threat: Even with 40% Strength @ 4 STR, I don't think they get good odds on my Warriors huddled in the city. The Wood Golems 6 STR is worrying, though: Pretty sure against non-Copper Warriors they get pretty good odds. Would it be worth it for me to promote my Heroic Strength Warrior to Combat II and take a swing at a Wood Golem when it gets close? I should be able to stuff familyFun with 5 warm bodies: 4 Warriors, one of which can be upgraded to Combat I and the other of which is a Heroic Strength Warrior which can take Combat II, alone with a Thane of Kilmorph. In addition, enjoyableEvening started on a Warrior(4T) and Dark Carnival on a Warrior(2T). There is no way for them to get more Warriors into familyFun before it can be attacked, unfortunately, nor for familyFun to produce a Warrior garrison. Too bad I don't think FP Desert gives the -25% defensive bonus or that'd be huge. Research still on KotE because BW won't help yet anyway.

Anyway, not much else I could see to do, so...ended turn. Let's hope for the best! c:

[Caustic Soda]

Yay, we get rushed while we're at our weakest. Oh well, it's a good play from Bob, assuming he's got more forces coming. Two golems seems a bit thin for an attack force, but since we don't even have Bronze warriors that doesn't help us much. You should definitely get combat II on our H Strength warrior, but only attack if you can get good odds. Possibly throw some sacrificial warriors at the golems first. I don't think four warriors and a Thane give us good odds on the defensive, so it may be a (good?) idea to hit them when they're on the FP next to the city. If I'm reading the power graph correctly, Bob only has the two golems ATM, so taking them out should be a priority They're the large leaps in his power. But the long-term odds are against us when we lack copper and have low production. How fast can we get new warriors from our cities? If we lose FamilyFun, a copper city near it would probably be indefensible, and getting Kabhalg while in a war seems unlikely.

Eh, we'll just have to give it all we can, and hopefully that'll be enough.

[Kuro]

Our capital can build 2T Warriors and enjoyableEvening 4T Warriors. Unless he has more golems, the odds of him taking cities outside of familyFun is low, but losing familyFun would be a terrible blow.

[Kuro]

Turn in and really bad news:



The Adept summoned a Skeleton, as was expected, but in addition it beat one of the beasties in the desert: Which let it promote all the way up to Combat II/Shock, while already having Empower I and Enchanted Blade, for 70% Strength and 40% vs. melee!

In addition, Bob's top warrior promoted to Shock: So I cannot counter attack the Golems and am liable to need to promot to Shock over Combat II to defend.

Things to consider:

Is this a good time to pop Revelry, for a Golden Age? It won't matter to save it if we do not survive and at Size 3 I believe it can let familyFun build a Warrior before Bob arrives.

The Great Scientist's Academy will give familyFun one culture expansion before Bob attacks for 10% defense. Whatever helps!

Because Revelry would have to be popped this turn to matter, I am going to hold the save until I get some opinions on it.

[Amelia]

Go ahead and pop it. You need all the bodies you can in your city to stand a chance.

With that said, pop it and instantly build a warrior. By the time he comes you can bring up another two warriors, which will help a lot.

How long more till the next culture extension? If it's 2 turns or less once you spread, go ahead. If it's 3 turns or more, forget it.

Keep your warriors fortified. Remember that they're warriors with +25% city defense, and that fortify is another 25%.

Finally, does he have collateral? If he doesn't i think you're in really good shape. every new warrior is str 3.75 when they appear due to city defense, which is really good. His only option for healing is by his adept, so make sure to counter-attack once you have the chance.

[Caustic Soda]

I agree with Amelia, we should pop our worldspell now. This is a do-or-die situation, so theres no good reason to lose because we would have preferred to use it later. If you're certain we'll get a border pop within the next few turns with an Academy, go ahead and build it.

I keep forgetting that warriors have +citydefense, that make our situation less precarious than I thought. I kinda wish I hand more useful advice to give, but I can't think of anything.

[Kuro]

It will indeed pop in 2T when I build the Academy, at 4 CPT. Popped the WS: By starving familyFun, it will build a warrior in 2T, just fast enough to survive to build it.

My forces: 5 Warriors, 2 max Fortified(The others just got there), one promoted to either Combat II or Combat I + Shock(Which is better, given the Shock Skellie and Shock Warrior?), two promoted to Combat I and a Thane of Kilmorph promoted to Combat I.

His forces: 2 Wood Golems, 1 Combat I Shock Warrior w/ Enchanted Blade, one Combat I Warrior w/ Enchanted Blade, 1 Enchant I, Death I, Metamagic I adept, 1 Combat II, Shock, Enchanted Blade, Empower I Skeleton @ STR 2.8(If he wants to attack in 2T, it has to attack over a river @ 2.8 STR).

With the WS, capital will produce 11 HPT, enough for 2 Warriors every 3T. enjoyableEvening gets 6 HPT for 3T Warriors, but I could bump it up by leaving a Warrior garrison(It's currently unhappy because I empited it's garrison to put in familyFun). All will get one promo due to Apprenticeship.

KotE also reduced to 2T, as much as that matters.

EOT, Warrior at capital finishes. Just for fun, a barbarian Skeleton also appears near familyFun! Yay, more units to deal with!

[Amelia]

The skel can move S right? Why does it have to attack over a river?

Combat 1 + shock is outright better, since Skeletons are melee units as well. The only thing he loses out on is for the adept... and that's not going to attack your base.

Pop the academy. 20% culture boost from defense is no joke, and it's in a good place anyways.

But in the end, early game wars are more due to luck. It's just a toss of the coin.

[Kuro]

Oops, for some reason I thought S had a river in front of it. NVM then.

Isn't it 10% in FFH?

Combat I + Shock also gets less on the Golems than Combat II, but the Golems will probably be luck either way, so...yeah.