Aurorarcher is looking for blood

[Aurorarcher]

Of course what I had totally forgotten is that Ljos WS not only gives Treant for every Ancient Forest but ALSO normal forests . I was so stuck to the idea they only come from AFs. So dumb of me . Had I remembered that I would've razed the city. Mardoc got about 16 Treants (40k power each) for his WS and results:




At least I lucked out one Treant dead. That's also Prophet for Mardoc, Priesthood bulb coming!

[Aurorarcher]

I'm waiting Mardoc to move his Treants towards me, sadly I've that one jungled tile 1E of Slaughter. It's also marsh, does that mean that his Treants don't get double moves there? I'm afraid they do still get double moves.

In the south I found plako scouting for potential naval attacks. I don't think he has seen my units though or then I don't understand how +1 visibility works. I don't think Sentry gives mobility over hills/forest?




Things are stable here, I think plako is just building up for a massive army untill he attacks. He got Consturction end of turn 104 so I guess Chariots it is? He still needs Trade though (and doesn't have Writing either).

Demos after GA ended, I picked up Arete (1-turned) in the end. Not sure it was the right move. Other possibilites could've been Maths (Gabling houses) or Optics for stronger ships. Afterall, I thought Bambur for +20% strenght for melee units and also Paramanders could have their uses.




No tech selected (same with plako the #1 GNP). I'm happy to lead in production still.

[Qgqqqqq]

Could I get marble connected without a city on that tiny island?

In BtS you can, in MNAI you can, in EitB you can't.

[Qgqqqqq]

I'm not sure they even get double moves in jungle. But if they do, they'll get it in marsh jungle.

[Aurorarcher]

Thanks, Q! I think Treants have Woodsman II which gives double moves in jungle IIRC.

[Aurorarcher]

No pics for a week probably because I'm travelling with my crappy laptop. Some news:
- killed Lucian for 25 xp even when it was already redlined and got Destruction back
- Mardoc moved his Trees forward. I hope he is not putting some of them in his galley or my island could lose 1 city
- I was able to produce Vampire in one turn in my HE city with some overflow from previous build
- plako got Sanitation eot105
- Mardoc bulbed Priesthood T106

[Aurorarcher]

More news:
- T107 I took another city from plako but he had bunch of troops in the fog and took it back T108. Lost my Vampire and 3 Morois. Bad play again on my part. Plako lost 2 Drowns and 3 Beastmen killing the Vampire though but otherwise he didn't lose too many units. He is putting Ingenuity to good use by upgrading a lot of units to Sons cheaply. He also got Kote on T107 so I have to be careful with my attacks. In fact I should get more units before doing any crazy attacks, currently he is dominating me with quantity which I've thought to be able to handle with quality. Need to learn from this.

- In north T107 I sacraficed some new BPs to kill 3 Treants and a Hunter. No other losses.
- On T108 Mardoc has 4 Treants that can hit my city next turn. He should get about 30% odds against my top Moroi and around 25% against my 2 Vampires (both injuried 91 hp). I think the Moroi will defend first because Vamps have Chanelling II but I could be wrong. Would suck to lose a Vampire here.

[Aurorarcher]

So yeah, I have to hold my horses against plako. It's not going to be a walk in the park even with Vampires. Too often I forget that and just push forward with 6 units like a hero ehm... more like a suicide . Anyway, as I got some time I went back and took some screenshots for your pleasure! Notice the suck quality (weak laptop + civ's own screenshot tool).

Anyway, here are the losses:




Hammerwise it wasn't as bad as I thought. I lost 240h to his 200h but of course he also gained xp, a city back, etc. so yeah...

Mardoc front.




Mardoc has 1 more turns on his Treants I believe. So he will attack. He has 4 Treants, 2 full health and two around 85 hp. Hope no losses coming . Once those Treants are gone I think I can do something to Mardoc. He can now produce PoLs but will that be enough? Can he produce them quickly enough? I don't think so. One question though, when will Dave join in? He has been quiet and expanding nicely (I think up to 11 or 12 cities). I believe I am the only one in FZ still though (2 more settlers heading that way).

Finally the city where all my Vampires are put together...




Vampire every other turn, not too bad.

[Aurorarcher]

On T109 Mardoc didn't attack at all, well that's good news. Instead he moved all his 4 Treants on the hill 1S of Slaughter and is targeting Bloodshed on T110 with 5 Treants (one from 1E of Bloodshed). But I think Mardoc either a) made a mistake here or b) thought I would try to attack his Treants and lose some units? Because let's get to facts: March of the Trees was fired on T105, it lasts 5 turns meaning Mardoc's Treants are there on T105, T106, T107, T108 and T109. So end of turn 109 they disappear. Unless I'm missing something real obvious I should not see any Treants on T110. Just to make things sure I put 6 poor defenders to Bloodshed. I guess Mardoc is just trying to give himself as much of time to produce PoLs.

In other news plako razed Destruction (his former city) which I had left empty on T108 (on purpose of course). Dave's power is also skipping, he has 13 cities and just got KoTe. Being SUM makes sense to go for magic route for sure.

[Aurorarcher]

T110: Treants gone. I moved 10 units 1 SW of Shambles. I spotted 1 tiger behind the city with my galley but there can't be that many of them yet. I have at least 4 very strong defenders - 2 c4 Vampires, and two c3 and c4 Morois with gifted Vampirism. Rest are 2 BPs and 4 Morois. And they all are on AF so there's no way Mardoc will attack. Shambles had 7 defenders on T109 but the defenders are mostly warriors/hunters without promotions. I think the city will fall next turn and Mardoc will leave it empty ot at least retreat all his Hunters.