Miguelito gets tricked by magicians, but Bob isn't fooled. Kaiser rules from behind.

[Miguelito]

silly me never roaded the copper, and now the next worker is 2 turns away (noticed after playing, so a further turn )
I don't think it'll be a problem; Auror's power is going up a bit, but that's likely a reaction to our continued spike (which in itself is a problem, as those units are costing a lot of course. I've thought about disbanding scouts, but not quite there yet, as they'll also benefit from the poison).

I'll hold off on capturing Uddrur until writing at least, I think we can't afford it before (writing allows building research).

And look who'd like to join his mate:


Will have to wait for a new hunter/fawn pair that I'm sending though. The barb worker was found W of the horse. Trying to chase him down through the forests with the sentry scout and a vanilla one, but if the animals give him cover we may not get him.

Auror's keeping up in CY (not MfG though, which is curious considering that he's the dwarf), despite being a city behind us (next turn 2). Somebody has sanitation, that could explain the spike. (the tech gives +1f to farms)



Cairo got an event that I can't find in the XML nor on google. There seems to be an event that gives a lvl 3+ unit the heroic promo, is it that one?


I also was thinking whether mackoti's GA maybe was triggered by an event, as it seemed strange that he has not used it for a revolt. But I would see it in this log if it were so, right?

[civac2]

What are the captured scorpions used for?

[Miguelito]

They cast a spell, poisoned blade, which gives +1 strength to recon units (poison, so not effective against siege units, mack's golems, and some other immunes - I'm not sure, are undead and demons poison immune?).
Our civ already gets +1 strength on attack for recon units, so this synergizes very well, and apart from the priests I'm building them exclusively (we do have some older warriors, a few of them with pretty high promotions, and the animals don't benefit either). Namely hunters, which cost 40h and get +50% vs animals, but require a 67h building and have -20% on city attack, and fawns, 50h, require just the religion, and have free woodie 1 plus a forest / ancient forest attack bonus that negates the defense bonus. Both of these have base str 4, so 5/4 for us, and 6/5 with poison.
Also the scouts who cost as much as a warrior. A warrior has str 3 which increases to 4 with copper connected. A scout has 2, so 3/2 for us, and 2 moves. At this point their purpose is faux collateral / stack softeners mostly, same as the tigers which our priests can summon. Of course this costs a lot of maintenance, but I still keep 7 of them around in the mobile defense forces.

Without a scorpion poisoned blade can only be cast by mages (illusionists for us), who are like 3k beakers away for us (and we're making about 40 break even). So it's a very nice shortcut. (Eventually we do need illusionists, among other things for actual collateral, but there's a lot of stuff to clear before).

[Miguelito]

Turn 99, of peace and love

we let plants grow :


Annoyingly, it disables the priest's spells for 3! turns, despite nominally taking just 2 (you can't cast another spell the turn you cast it ofc, then the turn after while he's still blooming, then the turn after when he can move but apparently uses up his spell at the beginning of the turn). Is that right?
This priest is moving S now.

It was very hard not to right click here.


But I didn't . Not worth antagonizing him, and he has a lot of warriors, which now have bronze weapons and enchanted blades (not actually dangerous, our units are way better. But it might give Auror ideas, and then it could turn nasty).

Besides the recently founded city by the spider, which also creates a nice border with Auror, Cairo apparently wants to catch up expansion wise and is preparing a plant in the north as


I would like to hide my poisoned blade units and the scorpion itself, but that's only possible at the cost of a big detour. So I'll just march straight by is city, covered by 2 hunters and a fawn. Who would actually not unlikely be able to burn the new city right away (in particular with a few scouts backing up. Note that desert hills have 0% defense bonus in FFH), but again,

New addition to the empire:


I thought my correction of the name was necessary, but apparently both are correct?
Empire wide gold yield went down by 7, which is less than I feared. A WB will come from Kalocly in time for the border pop. Working that and both dyes the city should already be a net positive, and provide beautiful colours for our elves' scant dresses . I set production to a harbour afterwards (+1c on water tiles on top of the BTS effects) as I think the city will work quite a few water tiles mid term.
The city has the functions of a) building triremes asap after sailing, so I can finally relax on that front (although thankfully Auror, who's had the tech for ages, has not built any ships on the inner sea. Well maybe just so as not to tip us off), and b) working commerce tiles. For a) I'm building a rare mine.

[civac2]

So with those forests you get BTS Universal Suffrage cottages from the get go? That must gladden a builders heart. Do you have a screenshot of such a city?

[Miguelito]

So with those forests you get BTS Universal Suffrage cottages from the get go? That must gladden a builders heart. Do you have a screenshot of such a city?

Not quite, as they don't get riverside commerce boni, being on forest. That's why I'm prioritizing nonriver tiles, at least while we can't build research or wealth yet. But with time and while being in the Fellowship of the Leaves religion, every forest can become an ancient forest (apparently 3% chance every turn), which yields an additional food, defense bonus, and it can turn into a treant unit when an enemy comes close. So that's where the fun's really at. Fwiw if you use the bloom spell from the priests of leaves, you get a "new forest" first, which has to become a regular one first before being able to turn ancient. New forests already get the extra hammer, but they don't count as forests for unit boni, which we have a lot of as elves.
There is also a late game civic that gives towns an additional 0/1/1, on top of +25% GPP +20% culture, and +3 in the largest 5 cities . Imba, you may say, but the mod is just full of these super strong boni.

Regarding a screenshot, it's turn 101, so let's have an empire overview! (t100 was played in a work pause)
The known world:


Our start was at the Gereth Minar position. I suppose we have done pretty well with the landgrab, if we can hold it  . There is a lot of land up for grabs towards the NW. I expect for Cairo to get Deluoc, but I want the rest. The constraint is commerce.
Auror is sort of boxed in. He can expand:

• through us. I would expect to stop him right before or behind Kalocly, unless he manages to pull off a devastating naval strike. He has good weapons and a terrifying hero, but with poisoned blades we also get str 6 units (on attack that is), and we have the priests with summoned tigers.
  
• through Cairo, who likely is the softer target, at least for a while yet. He has nothing but warriors and adepts yet, and can't be too close to sorcery as he still doesn't have writing. He also just revently founded his 6th and 7th cities. I would join in of course.
  
• over the sea. He has had sailing for a long time, and I already saw a galley at Glulynn, which for now likely is meant just for a TR island city. But going forward there may be big swaths of free land to his east. Maybe our prefereable option, as it would create a border with mack
  

For comparison, here's the unknown world:


That's a huge amount of land between mack and Dave, who by virtue of his civ does not have more than 3 real cities. And they are evidently warring. From score it appears that Dave has not lost cities yet, and demos show that he has a big army still larger than ours, but his yield numbers are terrible and his cities which should be the largest in the world are no bigger than size 10. I suspect mack has been pillaging his lands trying to starve his stacks. Props to Dave for holding out against mack and his super strong start, but that will not last forever, and then mack has a near infinite half space to expand into.

Back home, here are the cities:


Great capital with God King [civic that gives +50% gold and hammers. The brewing house national wonder also gives +10% commerce per grain resource]. It is growing into unhappiness this turn, but the gems will come online next turn and the dyes the one after, so that's fine. The problem that we're facing is that we'll run out of workable tiles eventually. With spring [spell that turns water into plains] we'll get a few extra, but that's some way to go still. It is building a fawn rn, but normally it's near 2turning priests of leaves, which cost 80h.


Food bomb. It is currently generating the GP for the GA. It has 4 slots, which should all get worked during the GA. On the GA - it will come very late (Auror was the last of our opponent to fire his first one last turn, and mack is finishing his second one already, although both cost just 1 GP and he got one from tech). Not so much because of the GP, but as I've mentioned a couple of times I want to change into the Foreign Trade civic, and likely into City States as well, which already slightly outperforms God King on commerce.
For FT we need at least Sailing, Writing and Trade, 880 beakers with prereq bonus already deducted. 1150 if we also got the very important HBR for the extra prereq bonus on Trade. Cartography for City States is another 160.
Even with new commerce tiles coming online and general growth I'd be very surprised if we managed to get even Sailing and Writing before the GP comes out in 12 turns. With writing we can build research, which is our best hope at fixing the economy short term, but I feel that for safety we really need Sailing first.


Nameless Tower has been a great helper city: Growing cottages for the cap, meanwhile building 7 hunters to date, which is still more than our current total fawns (which I'm building in 2-3 cities), and on top of that the latest settle rand this worker, which was necessary, seeing as the city was out of improved tiles. Bit slow to grow though, as the capital wants to grow constantly and won't give up the wheat.


Another pearl in our crown. The city will reach the GPP limit the same turn Gereth Minar will, which is in preparation for the second GA (I have to accept the risk of gneerating 2 of the same ). With BW we a worker improving the banana.


A solid fawn builder while working some commerce tiles. Also ran out of improved tiles so paused growth for a 2 turn worker. The most elegant way seems to be to cottage a bare tile first, then bloom on the turn of completion, since forests make improving tiles so much more costly.


Our reach for the NW. Very nice city, will need another worker next turn to keep up with cottaging. It's a bit remote from the tense borders in the south. I want that barb city but can't pay for it right now . Also will need like 6-8 workers when we catch it, to get the wheat farmed and cottages down asap, as it is size 5 already . The fawn can go into the NW right now to get some XP (with 10 XP it can upgrade to a satyr, which has 9/4 base str, 11/5 for us with poisoned blade. Well we need an expensive tech first, which I had considered bulbing, but it doesn't work out )


Also short on improved tiles, but we've got a lot of workers in the area. The monument claimed a big chunk of culture, giving us lots of vision. Auror somehow refrained from Thane-bombing* his border city as he has done with any other city, so we are currently taking a first ring tile of his and he can't look into the city. Which means we could set up a nasty strike form the fog, I just don't think that war against Auror is productive. But if he forces it on us?. I have built a mine, as I think production may become important here to secure naval superiority, once we have sailing that is.
* cities with a temple of the state religion can build minor priests, who can either convert a city or trigger a mini Great Artist culture bomb for 20 culture, which is evidently useful for popping borders in new cities.


Still in the cusp. The gems mine, which had been jungled, and the FP cottage will finish next turn, which will help it to take off hopefully. Ancient forests have grown very nicely here. That also makes any improvement take ages. (8 worker turns for an ancient forest cottage)


Recent addition. Fish next turn, dyes the one after, which hopefully will turn it into an economic contributer soon enough. An ancient forest mine is prebuilt for triremes.

So much for the empire. In foreign news, Auror as mentioned launched his GA, and took new civics:


I had not given thought to the fact that Arete is mutually exclusive with Apprenticeship. Arete is very good for him of course, but I like the fact that his stacks will at least be unpromoted. (Notably he can't build mobility terbuchets from the get go - wait there are command posts and he's Org, so there's that). The big news is aristocracy of course. He already has sanitation, so this is awesome for him. Also means he can build cheap courthouses, so he will be able to afford expansion a whole lot better , and his economy was alrady way better than ours. I'm jealous of his Org trait, but of course ours have served us very well so far.

Demos and graphs, with all known opponents in golden ages:










With sanitation and agristofarms, Auror is now surprisingly close to mack's economic numbers, even if still clearly behind mack (whom he doesn't know). His power is still down, although he has built some recently, as he has focused on economic techs. The problem of course is, that with the Ingenuity trait (halved upgrade costs) and the threat to upgrade warriors to iron weapon axemen, he always has a lot of virtual power. Still, I think tech wise as well as with our productive potential we can handle him at least on defense. I can also think of wild maneuvers to raze his two border cities, but that would most likely still lead to nothing more than a costly, stalemating all out war, with Cairo looming in our backs.

[Bobchillingworth]

Fawns are good units, especially with your poison weapons boost, but I'd build PoL almost non-stop in every city that can, at least for a while. Once you have eight or so of them, you can have them skip blooming for a single turn each to summon a Tiger, and have an army ready to go to capture a barb city. Or just place a few of them on Tiger-summoning duty for a while, the limit is one per PoL you possess in total, rather than each PoL having a specific Tiger assigned to them.


Bear in mind that packing a city with more summons than can be killed in a turn is a completely valid strategy; having a mere ten PoL for instance means that Auro would need to kill at least 10 units a turn, every turn, to capture a city you kept replenishing (and in this scenario defended by nothing else). Tigers also give WW, so Auro would be racking it up each turn for himself, while you'd suffer no penalty for losses within your own territory.


That said, your first target should be Cairo IMO, as your advantages are almost perfect matches to his most exploitable weaknesses as a civ. You just need enough PoL around at home that you could summon emergency Tiger garrisons if Auro took advantage of your main forces being in Cairo lands.

[Miguelito]

The problem with tigers is, as with everything, the costs, as they also pay unit maintenance. If I keep them summoned, each priest is costing effectively 2 gpt. And I've complained at lengths, and it's visible in the report, how much costs are holding us back. So I try to keep the tigers as virtual power, for now. Of course they are slow to be summoned (no movement on the first turn), so I have to keep extra attention if Auror is making suspicious moves.
My rough idea is having at least half of the total number of PoL's at the front, to be able to summon them all within 2 turns.
But I agree that the temple cities should build as many as possible, and that fawn in the cap was an exception.
Current count is 4 fwiw.

[Miguelito]

Auror and mack keep splitting the first to's between them, while we get none. I honestly don't see us getting any anytime soon either. Maybe the werewolf?




Catacomb Libralus gives mack a mage guild in every city, which of course helps him to mage up fast. Also means that he, not Auror has KotE, which is not a surprise as we've seen Auror taking economic techs. mack has the economy to get to sorcery soon enough I suppose.

The Lighthouse in EitB is still Great and not merely the good, with 2 trade routes. On this map it's not as awesome, since nobody has island cities yet, nor even the tech for OB (Dave has it, but we have no contact). But still helpful, surely. Auror has had the monopoly on sailing for a long time, so he could be certain to get it. At this point he actually has bagged more wonders than mack (Heron Throne, Lighthouse, Mines and Kilmorph shrine vs. Bone Palace, Form of the Titan and Libralus), although arguably mack's are better. Remember, mack's the guy whose civ gives him lots of great engineers.



Auror sems to be really confident in our goodwill though, or in the fact that we don't have sailing yet:




The garrisoning Soldier of Kilmorph unit apparently was spent on the wonder (they act as mini GEs. Yes.) The turn after he had a fresh warrior there at least. Fwiw I can't take a city with the spider.

I renewed our Ale for Ale diplo, and he sent it back, but if he keeps tempting me like that it will be difficult to resist.



To reinforce the good relations, I'm flashing a tiger to Auror:






Mr. Cairo has a new unit:




Apparently he doesn't want to go all the way till mages with just warriors. A shame, I was planning to bag that elephant, but had no promotable huntress around. He should not be able to promote to Subdue Animal.

Bob, can you explain how exactly Divided Souls work? I understand that they can summon a soul unit, which then flies around, and the original unit can port to the soul at any time, is that correct? Is the soul invisible? Can I kill it? How many moves does it get, 2?



Meanwhile our scorpion escort party got pushed towards home by Cairo's border pop, nice:






So, the turn after:




... after which they divide again, with a few going east to defend that border / stay put to apply pressure there if necessary.



In the west I sent two huntresses past Cairo's city, and after killing two warriors by the barb city they're on the hunt again:




The scorpion should be safe. Are they poison immune though? In that case our huntress would have only like 80% odds. The other huntress ideally will not have to promote to subdue, but rather go down the sentry line. I hope to be able to catch 1 or better both of these workers, which should work with  The fawn can start gathering some XP as well . Unfortunately the fights will be on defense, meaning less XP, but if we get that scorpion I will not complain.



Dave lost close to a hundred points this turn, so apparently mack is breaking through . We are still third in power though, so his army should still be intact. mack had 16k less power this turn than the one before.

[Bobchillingworth]

You essentially understand how the Divided Soul works, mechanically. You'll never see the Soul itself, as it exists only during Cairo's turn. Effectively, all of his recon units can gain a bonus 2 tile moves during his turn, and those moves can be over even otherwise impassable terrain. He can't end a unit's turn on a mountain or water tile though, only move over them. The Soul unit cannot be hasted and ignores movement costs from terrain.