[SPOILERS] Bobchillingworth Presents: The Six Million Dollar Golem

[Bobchillingworth]

Turn 81- Good turn for me, not so much for Kuro




Starting forces:









Won both fights easily (my CII, Shock Warrior even had 99% odds). The inevitable end result:





Renamed it "Versalife". Was going to use "NY Sewers" but that seemed too mean.


She's a fine jewel of a city, complete with 7 FP, three cotton, two hills, and a free academy (thanks, Kuro!) +4 culture means that I can skip a monument, and I don't have to worry too much about holding my new tiles vs. Kuro's culture.



I debated whether to just give the poor guy a break and ask for peace or not, but I figure I'll scout him out with a floating eye next turn first. One issue is that, while I have no doubts that I could eliminate Kuro if I wanted, his other two cities are going to be really hard to hold, and there's not a whole lot of point to razing them. This assumes he wants peace, of course. He might be so pissed that he's going to just figure we're at AW from now on. I'm also a little bit concerned that he might beeline Bambur, and I don't want to have to deal with that stupid dwarf breathing down my neck.



Oh and demographics [gettin' strong now, won't be long now]:






Final note: Thoth is teching absurdly well. Hats off to him. I think I'll over take him in score once my land tiles from the last 15 turns or so start getting added, but idk. It's probably best for my health that I not do that, anyway

[Bobchillingworth]

I spy with my floating eye:






What looks like the rest of the Balseraph military. Ugh. Well, I could chew through that, but I offered peace. We'll see if he takes it. As you can see at the top of the screenshot, the barbs are sending in a killteam of four CII warriors to mess with Kuro, so he might want to sue for peace anyway. If Kuro doesn't want peace, then I'm gonna wipe him out. I'd rather not have to, though- There's something else that has my eye:






Not quite as lovely as Versalife, but close! If I can get peace with Kuro, I intend to woo her with a few wood golems and some warriors at the earliest opportunity.

[mackoti]

Lots of nice things happining for you this game.GO GO bilion golem.

[Bobchillingworth]

I'm surprised that Kuro needed to consult his lurker(s) before accepting my peace proposal. I can understand why he'd maybe reject it outright, but if he was ever willing to consider it, you'd think he'd jump on the deal instantly. Perhaps he thinks that I was asking for peace because I was afraid of his pathetic 7 warrior army?


Anyway, he did accept this turn. He then apparently asked for Versalife after we had peace- um no, I think I'll pass buddy


I'll have to remember to get a couple Slingers in the city before our peace treaty expires. For now, I'm free to send my Kuro Elimination Reinforcements north to rescue my blushing Gold + Wheat + oasis + 8 goddamn FP beauty from the hands of those filthy barbarians. Three warriors + three WG is probably enough, since the city is regrettably on desert. The defending archers won't be any tougher than unfortified bronze warriors.


I'm going to start experiencing a population boom soon, as I get cotton hooked up, finish a Studio or two, and then get Gold and dyes online. I need more mud golems, badly. Mud Golems, Slingers and Settlers- that's the agenda for the next while. I'll probably want an Archery range in Versalife once the mandatory Market completes, so that I can occasionally draft Slingers after I adopt Military State.

[Bobchillingworth]

Finally played a turn. Now I just have to remember what I was doing




Turn opened with a request from Kuro, offering Rice for my spare Ales. Since I already have like four rice, I was sadly forced to decline



Offered him the ales for his mind mana though. I don't really need the mind mana, but I do want him to stay passive and spend his golden age founding cities I can later take off his hands, rather than him spamming warriors or whatever to take back Versalife.


Squad of 3 warriors and 3 wood golems has been assembled to take the delicious barb city in the north. Thoth somehow still has more population points than me, albeit not by much. It's kind of disturbing. I need to decide what to build in Battery Park- that city badly needs more improved tiles. Mud Golems are kick-ass units, but the Luchiurp need to invest so many hammers to get anywhere that it's insane

[Bobchillingworth]

More pictures!





Got this event at the start of my turn- I've gotten it before and I *think* it's the one which can give you a Crazed something or other, but I couldn't remember exactly. Anyway, I went with the "pay 21 gold" option- the first choice didn't have any fee or listed consequences, but I assumed that it was bad. I guess I'll feel slightly silly if I guessed incorrectly- can anyone tell me what that event actually does?



Today was also Double Lair Exploration Day, as I took out the skeletons defending the two barrows closest to me. First up, my Giant Scorpion had a go:




Yay, random treasure chest I'll never reach! Surely won't be too long until a Barbarian Wolf Rider eats it I can see smoke near it, so it's probably near Selrahc- I'll keep it around to spy and maybe get contact.



Next up, the barrow south of Versalife:




Kind of getting mixed messages there with Wither and Regeneration. I could heal the warrior at the nearby Pool of Tears but ehhh I don't care enough. He'll explore the lair again next turn. I'm pretty certain I can handle any nasties, and there's a decent chance they'll run off to bother Kuro anyway.

[DaveV]

can anyone tell me what that event actually does?

First option would have given -2 population and +4 whip anger. Third option is only available to evil civs, and ends the event chain at no cost. Second option gives you another event with 4 choices:

1. Good. Make his execution swift and immediate. 5 turns of happiness.
2. Torture him publicly before his execution. 10 turns happiness, evil civs only.
3. We need every swordarm we can get, enlist him. Free crazed axeman with 10 XP, +4 whip anger.
4. Give him to the keepers of the Asylum until he can better repay his debt. Free Lunatic, +4 whip anger, requires Asylum.

[Tredje]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't there a bug with this chain event? I seem to recall that Mist got the same event in a previous game on these boards and didn't get the reward. I think it was not receiving the Axeman or something. As I said, not sure about this.

[Bobchillingworth]

Thanks for the info. Even if the event worked properly, an axeman who is likely to run off and get himself pointlessly killed isn't worth such a dramatic amount of unhappiness. I'll just consider the event a minor tax, then.




I'm trying to decide now if I want to gear up for finishing Kuro off or not. On one hand, I'd like to just go in to expand mode now, but on the other it's pretty tempting to build a few catapults and a lot of warriors and wood golems and just obliterate him. He has quite a few warriors in his border city now, but alas I can't be sure whether they're there to prepare to attack me or because he's trying to prepare his defenses. I'm leaning toward the military route, since Vandenberg is about ready to start producing settlers and with most other cities able to make at least 2t warriors to defend new cities, I can just use UNATCO for military.

[Bobchillingworth]

Well, no turn in yet because Kuro is holding the save, but on the plus side I've now decided that I will indeed attempt to finish him off



I'm still trying to work out the details in my head- I know I keep saying this, but the amount of hammers I have to invest to get anything done is borderline intolerable. Everything costs so damn much, it's insane. I'd be ready for war more quickly if I wasn't sending an army up north to fight the barbs, but dammit I want that city. I'll send most of the surviving troops back south and pray that I don't get surprise attacked.