[SPOILERS] Northstar of the Svartalfar v Bob the Great of the Malakim

[Northstar1989]

Sooner or later this was coming...




A combat victory for once! Finally the RNG doesn't screw me over in combat this duel!




Of course, there are more Orcs where that one came from, so it's time for my Warrior to make a strategic withdrawal so a better-healed unit can take over...


More Warriors are of course in the works...




Since, although I have Bob tied in citizens...




He insists on trying to out-build me militarily:




I need to do something to even the odds a little. I'm thinking maybe it's about time I churn out another Scout (at my 2nd city) and try to get him up to lvl 2 (and Subdue Animal) again. It's the ONLY way I can hope to make up for the unlucky (against odds in some battles) loss of those 3 Scouts earlier...

The lower Soldier-count might also fool Bob into attacking with less of an advantage than he really thinks he has. Of course, he might be watching how my Soldier count increments, in which case that's not going to work... (and may be assuming I had Scouts already- in which case he's more likely currently deceived into thinking I'm stronger that I really am...)


Also, a wider view for perspective...





Regards,
Northstar

[Northstar1989]

A wise leader knows when to withdraw...




So he can fight on better terrain!




I also sent reinforcements for the rare case that my wounded Warrior *doesn't* win against the Orc (she actually has better odds than the lvl 1 Warrior I sent as reinforcements, thanks to her Shock promotion...) If I win, I'll use the fully-healed Warrior to explore to the northwest a bit...


And, of course, the Demographics:




I decided to start on another Scout at my second city... I intend to try and train him to Subdue Animal by picking off that (relatively worthless) Baby Spider, and then focus on capturing the Wolf that's been roaming around to the northeast after that...


Regards,
Northstar

[Northstar1989]

My jaw dropped through the floor this turn:



OK, lets see- as of that point I'd lost 3/4 combats, 2 of them at greater than 50% odds, and the other two in the 30-50% range... And this time I lost a unit with promotions at 90.3% odds of victory. Talk about bad luck!


At least the reinforcements didn't have any problem finishing the Orc off at >99.9% odds. If they had lost this fight, I would have just had to quit- as either the RNG hates me, or would have somehow been loaded... (that's less than 1 in 1000 odds of defeat- i.e. it just DOESN'T happen... And the odds of that in combination with this bad of a combat pattern already...)



Now I'm back to greatly trailing Bob in Soldiers again, despite having produced significantly more units (and military-strength), and fought at generally favorable odds when I had the chance (and gotten hit by bad luck to even be in situations where I fought at unfavorable odds in the first place...)



Bob, surprisingly, doesn't seem to have lost a SINGLE unit thus far... Given the probability of that, I'd have to say he's been EXTREMELY lucky in this game...


Regards,
Northstar

[Northstar1989]

OK, so I decided I needed to crush that Wolf with a Warrior in order to get another promotion. Otherwise, there is no way I have a chance at fending off any invasion Bob might pose (which he only has the opportunity to mount this early on due PURELY to luck in my losing 3 Scouts and a Warrior, despite all probability to the contrary- he's actually produced fewer military units than I have, and none of them had free Combat I promotions or double-movement in forests...)




Here are the Demographics:




Regards,
Northstar

[Northstar1989]

Producing a new Scout allowed me to see the Giant Spider that's been hanging out in my territory...



Giant Spiders don't move except to attack, and won't attack into player territory. So it should be easy enough to maneuver around this thing to get at the Baby Spider with my Scout...


My Workers, meanwhile, continue work on the Road for my 3rd city...



After that is done, I'll have to figure out something else for them to do... I'm torn between several options as to what though...


And, a look at ye' old Demographics:




Regards,
Northstar

[Qgqqqqq]

You did not have odds of 90% to beat the orc. See if you can figure out why.

[Northstar1989]

You did not have odds of 90% to beat the orc. See if you can figure out why.

I'm not just pulling this number out of thin air Q. The combat mouseover *quite clearly* identified 90.3% odds of victory. Is that not normally accurate for some reason I'm unaware of?


Also, another turn, another Orc:




89.4% odds this time, and no surprises for once...




Meanwhile, the Giant Spider moved. Since when do Giant Spiders move? I thought they only stayed in place unless they could attack into a neighboring tile... (maybe having a unit next to it inside my borders created so me sort of exception to this...)




Still tied with Bob for population, but now both my cities are working on additional Settlers...




If the RNG is going to keep screwing me in combat, I'm better off focusing on economics so as to build up a massive advantage when and where I do have to fight. Here are the Demographics:





Regards,
Northstar

[Northstar1989]

First of all, something I wanted to quickly show you Q:




Notice the turns to build a Plantation? 6 turns- not 3 or 4 (5 if my workers hadn't already built a road). It really was a fair comparison between a Grassland/Forest/Farm (7 turns) and an Incense Plantation (5 turns).

Although, you appear to have been correct about Fishing- I really would have been better off with other techs instead. I didn't plan far enough ahead, or I would have realized my second city would be at its happy-cap and needing to work on Settlers/Workers to avoid growth by the time it would have any use for a lake tile... (and by that point my Workers were free to build another Farm for it if necessary...)


Also, apparently the Tiger wasn't dead- it was just, waiting...



This has been a string of bad luck and worse decisions (Fishing before Mysticism, Scouts over Warriors) lately. I'm *this close* to just forfeiting and declaring Bob the victor. I and my faithful people will be be praying for the Divine to smile upon us, maybe grant us some more victories over the Orcs or some helpful random events... (by the way- this is why I reduced my Science slider: it wouldn't hurt my time to God King at all, and I wanted to keep my treasury up in case of a random event, which is my only real chance at victory...)





My people have faith, and I need to have more faith. Perhaps all is not lost- I should wait and see...


Regards,
Northstar

[Northstar1989]

My Workers have begun on yet another Farm:




Strangely, though, the Tiger seems to have healed a little after its last fight without stopping to heal or take a promotion...





The Malakim population still hasn't grown past mine yet, though...




They do seem to be going pretty heavy on the soldiers, though:




Once again, the bad luck I've had with combat against Orcs and wild animals is playing very much to the Malakim advantage. Going for Fishing before Mysticism or Calendar hasn't really helped either, though...


Regards,
Northstar

[Qgqqqqq]

Barbarians get the march ability naturally (or so I've been told).


You had those odds on attack, because the warrior was on a desert tile.