[SPOILERS] DaveV and Kandros Fir sing songs about money

[DaveV]

The barbs sent out an emissary, but bronze weapons and shock were able to take care of him:



My slow-motion attack against Vetus is rolling into place:



Cairo offered a map trade, giving me vision of superjm's starting spot. Also way better than mine, IMHO, although he also doesn't seem to have the heretofore ubiquitous wine.

[DaveV]

Sorry, lurkers, I've fallen behind on my reporting, due to barely having time to play the turns and also due to embarrassment at being so thoroughly played. Here's the sad end to my invasion:



A long time ago, Ellimist said I don't place enough emphasis on scouting and intelligence. That was never more true than here; I knew mack had invisible units but just charged in blindly. He chopped the jungle under my units, then attacked and had ridiculously good luck. If I'd just taken a few shock promotions, I could have limited the damage. Dealing with the game that I have instead of the game I'd wish for, I threw away three units to pillage his villages (for 90 gold), and kill a captured tiger that was lurking in the back lines. Now mack has the initiative and can win the game at his leisure. And superjm is giving him trade routes.

[DaveV]

Not much has happened. I finally built one of my settlers who'd been languishing forever on the queue, and settled a city for double rice. Cairo conquered his barb city, and I'm ready to go after mine, although it's likely to cost me a bunch of warriors:



Note Auro's spectre in the lower right. I think he's killing animals before mack can capture them.

The game situation is interesting. Mack still has a dominant GNP, but Cairo is catching up. I'm definitely a tier below those two, but I think I still have an outside chance, since they're both going to have trouble capturing cities. Auro is down to two cities and is unlikely to recover, but can still be a thorn in someone's side. superjm is no doubt doing something up there in the north, but I doubt it's going to be enough.

Here's the belated video for ABBA, in all its 70s excess:

[DaveV]

The freaking barbs attacked out of Domir and killed my best unit, a C3 shock strength 4 warrior, with a C2 strength 3 warrior at .11% odds    At that point, I had to attack the city before the barbs could promote the winning unit to C99.

My on the attack luck was pretty good, I did enough damage to the archers to remove them as top defenders, then I took shock promotions to kill the warriors. Here's what was left over:



Mack could do a lot of damage to that stack with his invisible assassins.

Auro offered open borders, which I accepted. Time for some more mackoti paranoia.

The new city is christened Dire Straits, because:

[naufragar]

The freaking barbs attacked out of Domir and killed my best unit, a C3 shock strength 4 warrior, with a C2 strength 3 warrior at .11% odds    At that point, I had to attack the city before the barbs could promote the winning unit to C99.

The new city is christened Dire Straits, because:

Also appropriate?

[DaveV]

Not much is going on in the game, but I owe my lurkers an update.



Cairo settled a *very* unfriendly city at May It Be, despite echoing a copper-for-copper trade. Now Pink Floyd will be getting a lot of cultural pressure. It's building a monument to try to hold its first ring. Auro roaded to my territory to get a trade connection; one of his workers seems to be exploring (the mouseover is of Pink Floyd).

Mack is no doubt hatching some devious plan for world conquest.

[shallow_thought]

Not much is going on in the game, but I owe my lurkers an update.

Always appreciated.

Mack is no doubt hatching some devious plan for world conquest.

Well, duh.

EDIT: More seriously, what - if any - options do you have for revealing Mack's hidden units? I got the impression from the previous game that this is an area EitB differs from base FfH2. My understanding is that hawks won't help - you'd need one of various Empyrean-related tricks or Kythra Kiriel. Neither seems to really fit your civ, and I suspect both are a lot of beakers away.

[Bobchillingworth]

Meta 1 Adepts work just fine, although you have to tech to Sorcery unless you're the Amurites.

[DaveV]

More seriously, what - if any - options do you have for revealing Mack's hidden units? I got the impression from the previous game that this is an area EitB differs from base FfH2. My understanding is that hawks won't help - you'd need one of various Empyrean-related tricks or Kythra Kiriel. Neither seems to really fit your civ, and I suspect both are a lot of beakers away.

Yeah, Empyrean is the goal. After Trade next turn, I need Myst, Philo, Honor. As you said, a lot of beakers (boosted by trade routes, I'm hoping). Too bad mack already grabbed the Great Commander at Military Strategy, since Radiant Guards are draftable. Both Radiant Guards and Rathas get a bonus against Recon units, which may prove useful.

[DaveV]

Researching Trade means I can see everyone else's tech.



It takes a lot of time consuming analysis to wring out everyone's tech status from this screen. Maybe later.

Also:



Auro made peace with mack. I offered white peace since I don't want to be mack's only target.