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

[Ellimist]

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

What?

I never promised anybody I wouldn't attack them with wolf riders. I promised that I wouldn't attack them with the wolf riders I hired against the Hippus.

Every hired wolf rider is strength 5. (4 +1 poison) Every wolf rider I control now is strength 4. Units from goblin forts are considered "Scorpion clan" and get the +1 poison strength bonus. I don't control any "scorpion clan" wolf riders right now. In fact, disbanding every hired rider was also part of my peace deal with the Hippus.

The army I sent in is actually pretty small. It's basically just the stuff I could throw together in a few turns, about 200 hammers worth of units.

However...

Did I manage the micro to take advantage of the hired rider power spike? Heck yeah! I finished building most of the units on the same turns I disbanded the hired riders(T93-94). That way, the impact on my power graph would not be as obvious.

I also kept the units very far away from his borders for as long as possible. I expected that he was sending a hawk south every turn, and used six workers to help my units advance as quickly as possible.

Also... I've expected to attack Weezel (at some point), for the whole game. I avoided putting any early pressure on him, because the temptation to underdefend is very strong if you've never been attacked yet.




EDIT:
Here's a screenshot of my military advisor, back on turn 91 when I had the hired riders:

See how there are two separate categories for wolf riders? The hired scorpion clan units are actually considered a completely different type of unit. Even the unit icons and graphics are different.

Here's the military screen from turn 97:

Even if I'd attempted to use the anti-Mercurian riders against Weezel, it would have taken a lot longer to get them home and into position.

And yes, I really do have 4 settlers just hanging around with nothing to do.

[DaveV]

Ah, sorry. You went from having a huge stack of wolf riders attacking the Mercurians to having a moderately-sized stack attacking the Malakim. It looked as though you had deleted most, but not all, of the purchased wolf riders (I didn't notice the difference in unit strength). I withdraw my innuendo about you breaking your word. I have no problem with sneaky attacks.

[Ellimist]

Nile Delta and Kalahari are down. Nile Delta was left undefended, but Kalahari required 9 wolf riders. The three victorious riders are eligible for promotions next turn.

The two cities gave me plenty of capture gold(around 200 each), but Kalahari required me to attack with more units than I expected. Every unit I used had to take the mobility promotion to reach Kalahari, and some of them should really have taken combat 1. That only leaves me with 3 unpromoted wolf riders.

Either Mojave or Miracle should fall next turn, but it's unlikely that I'll be able to take both.



I need to start preparing for a "stop the runaway" attack. I have a NAP with Ichabod until turn 140, and an indefinite NAP with HidingKneel with a 13.5 turn cooldown, but it would be foolish to ignore the possibility. Tholal can potentially do a lot of damage as well, if I'm not careful enough.

I'm working on getting a decent (hawk) sentry net up. After that, I'll go for some better weapons, and continue expanding relentlessly(with settlers).

[Ellimist]

Turn 100 is done. Here's 99:

I had the opportunity to capture Mojave:

Two wolf riders were lost, and the city was captured before Weezel could reinforce it.

Sadly, it didn't make any sense to keep it.

The warriors Weezel is building now do not have bronze, which makes a huge difference.

I'm looking at a war of attrition, so it's important to keep destroying some of Weezel's best defensive units. I had an opportunity to destroy his nightwatch at a bargain:

Event log for the turn:

I also lost two more wolf riders that aren't in the log. I sent a rider up to destroy a settler and was forced to disband it, and the rider that destroyed Mojave was killed by one of Weezel's bronze warriors. That leaves me with only five of my original 14 wolf riders, but they have more experience now(5/6/12/15/15). Most of the cities that remain are going to require more powerful units anyway, such as Paramanders.

[Ellimist]

Turn 100 was uneventful.

I pulled back my units to Zenithar(Kalahari) to heal. Reinforcements are starting to arrive from the south, but so far it's mostly just warriors. I'll have some paramanders and other strong units coming up soon, as well as some shamans for hasting.

KotE was finished this turn. I'm currently thinking an AV beeline is the best play. Ritualists will be the key to tipping the battles more in my favor.

Weezel is focusing his defense on Miracle, which seems to have a command post, heroic epic, and altar in it. I'm hoping to take Sahara and Mount Pleasant next. They're relatively isolated and shouldn't cost as much to take. The other big priority is Simpson in the west. It's totally isolated and is the Esus holy city.

[DaveV]

How many Warrens do you have?

[Ellimist]

I have warrens in 8 cities. 3 of those(Hircine, Nocturnal, Sanguine) are in the Kurioate area. 2 more cities will finish them soon(8 turns or less.) I have a total of 18 cities, but two of those were Weezel's and still in revolt.

[Ellimist]

Turn 101 is done.

Weezel left two of his bronze warriors in a vulnerable position:

Bronze warriors are a lot weaker when they're outside a city.

Both units were successful. One of them is up to 17 exp, getting close to Aeron's.

Weezel only has 7 bronze warriors left. Of those, 3 are at Miracle with his priests.

My priest had to remain in Zenithar and continue his medic duties... but that didn't stop him from helping out a passing goblin caravan.

I'm considering starting a golden age soon with my Prophet, possibly next turn. The commerce and hammers will be very helpful right now. I'd like to have Sacrifice the Weak when blight is triggered, and I'm probably about to raze a few cities. The biggest possible complication will be where AV lands. The odds are that it will land in Sanguine, which is one of the eastern cities far from my core.

Tactically, I think I'll go after Sahara and Simpson next. Sahara is not on a hill, and Weezel has been defending it lightly, so it shouldn't be that costly to take. Simpson is completely isolated from the rest of his cities, and the best defender is a single bronze warrior. Taking those two cities will also cut Weezel off from cotton, silk, cow, and gold. I don't know if he's relying on any of those resources, but he might be. Miracle itself is going to be the toughest to crack, but a half dozen or more paramanders might be enough to do the job.

[Ellimist]

Turn 102.

I consider this a good omen:

Time for a golden age. Blight probably isn't too far off, so there isn't too much benefit in waiting:

Sahara should fall next turn. These five units ought to be enough, including three shock wolf riders:

Mount Pleasant won't last that much longer either. After Sahara, I'll move that stack into position and add 3 warriors, 1 lizard and 5 more wolf riders to it.

Lurbuk(C5, shock, commando) has also arrived east of Golden Leane, and he's getting 99.7% odds vs it. Weezel can add a stonewarden to the city next turn, but Lurbuk is getting 96.3% odds against it. I may shift my main stack toward Miracle if Weezel attempts to reinforce Golden Leane with Miracle's units. Lash(C3, shock) is approaching Simpson from the west, but won't arrive for a few more turns.

[Ellimist]

Turn 103 and 104 are in. Turn 103 featured the battle of Sahara.

There were only 3 defenders, and all were non-bronze warriors on flat land. Every battle was 80% or better.

The city was captured with no losses. (However, total maintenance in my other cities was increased by 9.)

I had intended to raze it, but there was enough intact infrastructure to change my mind.

Turn 104:

Ashen Veil was founded at the end of turn 103:

It landed in a very convenient spot.

Evil Buddha ftw.

Thanks to a hasty shaman, Malacath was able to begin constructing its AV temple this turn:

Simpson is next on the list:

I'm bringing 3 experienced wolf riders, 3 fresh wolf riders, 3 fresh warriors, and the two lizards. I assume that Weezel will promote his forces, produce one additional warrior, and possibly disband the worker.

I expect to finish the temple in Malacath next turn, then build a pair of savants (to spread AV further) followed by Ritualists. Rosier should finish on turn 110, the same turn the golden age ends. I'm also hoping to coordinate things so that blight doesn't hit until turn 110, to avoid damaging my golden age yields.

The Grimoire should finish at about that same time, and the next priorities will be getting Mardero, Nox Noctis, and Beasts of Agares. Between the Ritualists, Rosier, rust, and my Paramanders, I hope to be able to take Miracle without waiting for even stronger units. Once Miracle falls, the rest of Weezel's cities should be easy.