DaveV talks like a pirate, me hearties!

[DaveV]

Turn 78 opens with an offer of open borders from Dreylin:



I stewed over this one for a while, finally deciding to take the offer. I think the potential to make friends with Mr. Warcry is worth the possibility he'll just scout out my cities for future invasion. Plus, I should have a trade connection to him in another couple turns.

Here are a couple overview shots:





And here are the opposing forces at Ahepetr:





I forgot to post the event log last turn, but TBS grabbed FoL (as expected), and jalepeno cranked out another great engineer, which he turned into the Bone Palace this turn. Also, someone is about to grab the Drama bard.

jalepeno also made contact with me, so it's time for another demo dump:

[DaveV]

Can Elimist build anything with raider now that would be scary or upgrade later and be scary?

I think the scariest unit he could have built is Raider Loki, but I dodged that bullet. And what Mardoc said, with the additional caveat that any unit with Raider is pretty scary with the Mobility promotion so easy to acquire.

[Mardoc]

I stewed over this one for a while, finally deciding to take the offer. I think the potential to make friends with Mr. Warcry is worth the possibility he'll just scout out my cities for future invasion. Plus, I should have a trade connection to him in another couple turns.

I still think your economy is such that it's more about us scouting out *his* cities for future invasion.  And possibly meeting his neighbors. The longer the game goes, the less useful Warcry becomes, relative to other advantages.  Is the local garrison strong enough to spare a warrior for scouting him out?

Plus, I can't object at all to getting some extra income... .

I forgot to post the event log last turn, but TBS grabbed FoL (as expected),

So can we research Message from the Deep now?  (well, after the other high priorities...funny how EitB always leaves a perpetual 10-item wishlist)

and jalepeno cranked out another great engineer, which he turned into the Bone Palace this turn. Also, someone is about to grab the Drama bard.

Encouraging-ish, Jalepeno isn't top of score, glad to see the first-to's being spread around.  OTOH he's a good player and I kinda wanted that one for us...

[DaveV]

Is the local garrison strong enough to spare a warrior for scouting him out?

This will be partially dependent on how the attack on Ahepetr goes; that will determine how many spare warriors I have. I already pushed one of my garrison warriors forward to guard my worker who's going to build a road to connect me to the river and give me the trade route. Once the road is done (or even before, if Dreylin is looking peaceful), I'll be able to do some exploring with that warrior.

So can we research Message from the Deep now?  (well, after the other high priorities...funny how EitB always leaves a perpetual 10-

The more I think about it, the more I think that deserves to be the next tech goal. As usual, I'm way behind in generating GPP (still at zero, actually), and both Mysticism and OO can help with that. Plus, I could really use some more culture.

Encouraging-ish, Jalepeno isn't top of score, glad to see the first-to's being spread around.  OTOH he's a good player and I kinda wanted that one for us...

Yeah, I don't think anyone's going to be able to run the table and acquire all the goodies. Unfortunately, that includes me, but I think I'm still positioned to be able to pick up a few bonuses if I'm willing to sacrifice for them. Spending time researching a religion that two other people are already following doesn't really advance me toward that goal, but tradeoffs are what make this game interesting.

Some big picture comments: Eye Patch will finish its monument at the end of next turn, then I'll crank out two workboats for another cove and improved pearls. Combined with the two happy resources I'll pick up from Ahepetr after it comes out of revolt, that will let me grow my cities a lot. I'm thinking that time of growth would be a good opportunity to build lighthouses in a few cities (and go for the great lighthouse, probably). The galley from Hook Hand can move through a canal and do some exploring.

I'll be settling Treasure Island in three turns (the settler will have to sit in Dead Mans Chest next turn waiting for the galley to complete). That should give me a nice little bump in income, with domestic trade routes going from +1 to +2. Trade routes with other nations will still be important once I build some lighthouses and especially after researching Trade. Once I have marble connected, the Heron Throne is probably a good build.

[DaveV]

Quick turnaround. The attack on Ahepetr went very well:



The first sacrificial warrior attack did zero damage, and I thought I might be in for a long turn. But the next two guys did a substantial amount of damage, enough that the barb warrior defended against my CII Shock guy (who survived with only .2 HP). Then I cleaned up the badly wounded archers, and Ahepetr is mine, after three turns of revolt.

It turns out jalepeno also had his eye on Ahepetr, so I'm glad I prioritized my attack there. His warrior is promoted with CI, shock, and cover (but not bronze weapons), so I guess he was planning to get odds on the archer that way. He could attack my mobility warrior, but across the river and onto a hill will give him pretty poor odds.

As predicted, Mr. Bard Man picked up the Drama bard. I hope it's not Ellimist; I have enough neighbor problems already.

[DaveV]

Yay for turn pace. jalepeno backed off with his multi-purpose warrior, and I backed off with my guys. That lion is C3, but he still wasn't brave enough to attack my C1 bronze warrior on a forest hill.

On the Dreylin border, I finished my road and gained a trade connection.



Note that he settled northwest of Ahlerich.

Dreylin's resources:



And thirteen yummy bonus commerce for me! Thank you, Sea Havens!



My usual complaint: it's overstated in the demographics. I'm hoping Dreylin doesn't check.



The bad news: Ellimist has copper connected, which means bronze weapons for him.



Also, judging by his big jump in score and apparent golden age, he must have been the Drama Bard guy. Sigh.

[Old Harry]

What's with elimist's name on the scoreboard?

[DaveV]

What's with elimist's name on the scoreboard?

He changed it from Michelangelo, probably about the time his traits changed. My guess: it indicates his change from a culture-focused player to a new orientation. Google seems to indicate that Dalinar is a fictional warlord, which is ominous.

[Mardoc]

Yay for turn pace. jalepeno backed off with his multi-purpose warrior, and I backed off with my guys. That lion is C3, but he still wasn't brave enough to attack my C1 bronze warrior on a forest hill.

Encouraging.  Starting to look like taking on Ellimist may need to be a multi-civ affair, so it's good not to risk fighting Jalepeno just yet.

Note that he settled northwest of Ahlerich.

Tsk, tsk, thinking he owns land that lies on the Lanun home sea.  Would be excellent logistics for an invasion if/when we want to do that.

And thirteen yummy bonus commerce for me! Thank you, Sea Havens!

And in the meantime, yay for commerce!

The bad news: Ellimist has copper connected, which means bronze weapons for him.

Also, judging by his big jump in score and apparent golden age, he must have been the Drama Bard guy. Sigh.

Ugh.  Being Balseraph, he'll probably chain this into his worldspell, and use the GA time to get at least enough GP for another golden age afterward if not two.  Those demos are going to be a permanent fixture for the next 30+ turns.

[DaveV]

Apparently Dreylin does have a reciprocal trade route:



I think that means he just researched Sailing.

At EoT, the northwest griffon attacked my C2 warrior that I'd just pushed forward:



Good riddance.