Fires of Bhall. Some orcs just want to watch the world burn. [SPOILERS]

[Tasunke]

:takes off sunglasses: ... awesome city names.

:D

[Ellimist]

Thanks, Tasunke.

I've moved the riders forward, and have divided them into three groups.

I have a total of 42 fielded right now, and they're costing me 73 gold per turn.

I finished researching Sanitation this turn. Next turn, I'll turn science off for a bit and may adopt the conquest civic.

[Ellimist]

Here's the current plan for tactics:

I'm planning to strike directly at the heart of both players. The first wave groups (A and B) will bypass Kyan's frontline city of Altheriol-ta-Mealthiel, while group C keeps it under threat and plays the role of clean-up. D is just a single unit staying at the goblin fort.

Group A is the largest, and it will attack either the Hippus capital or the Mercurian capital, or both. Group B will go around to the north, more directly toward the Mercurian capital. Hopefully, by splitting up the groups in this way, I'll be able to disrupt their defensive plan and they end up making a few mistakes.

I expect Kyan to transfer at least one city to Ichabod before I can potentially destroy the Mercurian capital, but I'm hoping to at least kill Basium (permanently) and interfere with his ability to produce living units for awhile.

[Ellimist]

The barbarian goblin in my last screenshot did more damage to the angel in Altheriol-ta-Mealthiel than expected, so I changed my mind and attacked it. The first wolf rider withdrew from combat, but also failed to do any damage at all. The second one did some damage and died, and the third(Gorlush) attacked at 89% odds and won flawlessly. I razed the city, advanced the riders, and pillaged three cottages.

I've advanced 22 wolf riders according to the southern route I posted last turn. They're adjacent to Kyan's city of Amur, which is defended by a single (unpromoted) warrior. Due to the razing of Kyan's city, the northern plan has been modified slightly, and 12 riders will be taking that route. 7 more are bringing up the rear, but one of those is down to 10 hp, so he's limited to pillaging duty (probably until he dies or is disbanded).

Domestically, things continue to go well. I've finished the hunting lodge at Mehrunes Dagon, so it will produce some lizardmen and hawks, which I may combine with a wolf rider group. My four newest cities are growing rapidly and have adequate worker labor. Another will be founded next turn, with several improvements already in place for it.

Forbidden Palace finished at eot in Hircine, saving me 32 gold directly, plus 3 more from inflation(10%). It will also make a huge difference in the pace of settlement in that area; maintenance costs have been the main factor holding me back.

I also want to mention something else:

I know the Mercurian palace distorts the graphs, but take a look at the others. Of my opponents, only HidingKneel has a decent looking military. I definitely chose the right person to work with. In FFH, it is possible to do a lot of damage very quickly...

[Ellimist]

My units are in position to hit the Mercurian capital next turn, but I'm actually not sure if I have enough. Kyan also spent a few hundred gold, presumably on unit upgrades, and Weezel founded Esus.

Kyan is "on desperate ground." He's fighting back with everything he's got, and I would have needed the element of surprise for another couple turns to be strong enough to overwhelm him. As things are, it's going to be costly to eliminate both the Hippus and Mercurians, and the only benefit I'd see is the removal of a threat.

It's time to "attack by strategem." I sent Kyan/Ichabod a proposal offering (generous, I hope) peace terms, in exchange for the elimination of the Mercurians. I figure there's about a 1 in 4, maybe 1 in 3, chance of him accepting such a proposal, but those odds may improve over time if combats go reasonably well for me.

9. Ground which is reached through narrow gorges, and from which we can only retire by tortuous paths, so that a small number of the enemy would suffice to crush a large body of our men: this is hemmed in ground.

10. Ground on which we can only be saved from destruction by fighting without delay, is desperate ground.
...
14. On hemmed-in ground, resort to stratagem. On desperate ground, fight.
...
51. For it is the soldier's disposition to offer an obstinate resistance when surrounded, to fight hard when he cannot help himself, and to obey promptly when he has fallen into danger.

1. Sun Tzu said: In the practical art of war, the best thing of all is to take the enemy's country whole and intact; to shatter and destroy it is not so good. So, too, it is better to recapture an army entire than to destroy it, to capture a regiment, a detachment or a company entire than to destroy them.

2. Hence to fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting.

3. Thus the highest form of generalship is to balk the enemy's plans; the next best is to prevent the junction of the enemy's forces; the next in order is to attack the enemy's army in the field; and the worst policy of all is to besiege walled cities.

4. The rule is, not to besiege walled cities if it can possibly be avoided. The preparation of mantlets, movable shelters, and various implements of war, will take up three whole months; and the piling up of mounds over against the walls will take three months more.

5. The general, unable to control his irritation, will launch his men to the assault like swarming ants, with the result that one-third of his men are slain, while the town still remains untaken. Such are the disastrous effects of a siege.

6. Therefore the skillful leader subdues the enemy's troops without any fighting; he captures their cities without laying siege to them; he overthrows their kingdom without lengthy operations in the field.

7. With his forces intact he will dispute the mastery of the Empire, and thus, without losing a man, his triumph will be complete. This is the method of attacking by stratagem.

[Ellimist]

It sounds like he's not going to take the deal.

Please could all turns for the Hippus be sent to:

mozarthspier at gmail dot com rather than to myself directly.

The Mercurians will continue to receive the save to the above address as normal.

Thanks

"The Mercurians will continue to receive the save to the above address as normal."

This turn I'll revise my sim based on what is actually in the city. If the odds are bad enough, I'll move additional riders within range and sweeten the offer.

[Ellimist]

Looks like they did take the deal.

Hey Ellimist,

I'll be taking control of the Hippus starting now. I accept your deal, so you can go ahead and kill Basium. Please, don't do further damage to my lands. And if you want to show me a token of friendship, I'd gratefully accept if you captured those Basium workers and let me recapture them.

I want to warn you that there are some traitors and double agents between the other players. It seems we have been played against each other (as far as I can tell, because I'm kind of lost regarding the game, due to Kyan not updating very much). I can imagine that you are pretty confident regarding the game, because the orcs are pretty powerful regarding the current circumstances and you seem to be in a dominant position (again as far as I can tell). But, well, who knows what's going to happen.

I think I'll just become a mercenary force in this game, attacking other players based on how much they pay me. I may have lost the angels, but I still can make enough damage to change the outcome of this game. Gotta make things fun, right?

See you on turn 140... Or maybe not...

Ichabod

And then the Mercurians were gone:

Time to move on to the next target...

[Ellimist]

Okay. Turn 96 was a big turn. Sorta.

It started out with an event:

Free gold for kilmorph isn't bad. The AV or OO options probably would have been better, though.

At the start of turn, Malakim territory looked like this:

It looked pretty darn vague, but it wasn't as bad as it looked. I knew the terrain, of course, thanks to the mirror. I knew where some cities were, thanks to the culture outlines and terrain. Either way, there were a lot of things I wanted to find out.

I finally had hawks. First, I used them to locate cities:

I have open borders with everybody, so my hawks were able to locate every city on the map. I put signs on all the non-visible ones:

O. M. G.

Weezel must have forgotten who his neighbors were.

I wish I'd brought more units. I'll be ready to declare war next turn, but I won't have enough to finish him quickly.

I'll be able to eviscerate him, though.

Nile Delta(T98), Kalahari(T98), and Mojave(T99) should easily fall. Miracle will be trickier, but I can reach it on T100. After that, it's hard to say how much momentum I'll have, but Weezel will be reduced to five cities on the fringes of his empire. Kalahari has the RoK shrine, so I'll pile units into it and keep sending reinforcements north.

[Ellimist]

Weezel was completely unprepared.

I did take some precautions to keep him off guard, but I expected his hawks to spot my units approaching last turn.

In total, I have the following units involved:
14 wolf riders
2 lizardmen(+1 hawk)
2 warriors(not including the one I lost this turn)
1 archer
1 stonewarden
6 workers(plus two captured this turn)

Next turn, I'll be able to take Nile Delta for sure. Once Nile Delta's culture is gone, Kalahari will be within reach of most of the wolf riders. Mojave might have been reached next turn as well, but I didn't realize that until it was too late.

Unless the combat rolls are horrible, I should be able to take Nile Delta and Kalahari on turn 98(next turn), and Mojave and Miracle on turn 99. After that, I'll sweep up the rest of the cities as quickly as I can. I pillaged his only copper mine this turn, so it shouldn't be too difficult to win a war of attrition.

Barbarian peace may soon be impossible to keep...

[DaveV]

Weezel was completely unprepared.

For an attack by the wolf riders you said you wouldn't use against him? Understandable...