Horselover Fat's journal - Iskender and the Hippus

[novice]

I do enjoy challenges but this is not funny anymore.

At least I find your sarcastic comments very funny.

[Maksim]

Well, look on the bright side - the Calabim are not running away with the game right now. If they are not using all their opportunities during peacetime, who's to say they'll do any better in wartime?

If you two end up on the opposite sides in a conflict to come, it'd be even money as to who would win - and personally, I'd bet on you.

[darrelljs]

And if their land became your land, then everyone would feel the same way about you .

Darrell

[Iskender]

This turn, one of the scouts did something unexpected, something that's never been done before. He caught one of those four-legged animals and then sat on top of it. This is what happened:

[Mist]

And there goes non-conformance to stereotypes :P You should sentence this guy to exile across Calabim border

Out of curiosity, what happened to your AV plan?

[Ilios]

He caught one of those four-legged animals and then sat on top of it.

Now we know what lonely Hippus Warriors do when campaigning...

Horselover Fat, eh?

[Iskender]

Out of curiosity, what happened to your AV plan?

It's still stand's, I'm just making a detour through Honor to grab Rathas.

Now we know what lonely Hippus Warriors do when campaigning...

Horselover Fat, eh?

Well, centaurs didn't appear out of thin air you know...

[Iskender]

Got Sugar from Pb already, a pleasant surprise!

[COLOR="Magenta"]Hey Iskender,

Just wanted to say thanks for the gold this turn, I've passed it to Selrahc along with my 100.
Also, I completed a Sugar plantation this turn and offered it to you ingame.
Please don't mention to Selrahc that I gave you the first one.

How are things down in the South? And how are you feeling about the Somnium Tournament?
Personally, I'm feeling a little stupid for having just funded one of the leading player's research...

Kind Regards,
Pb, Fishy Boy-King.
[/COLOR]

[COLOR="Lime"]Hey Pb

Thanks for the sugar. You should taste the moonshine I'm making with
it (Deruptus fell in love with it at first gulp)

I grief over the loss of that 100gc, but the tourney was a nice
distraction, I'm looking forward to repeating it in 50 turns (with
adequately higher antes).

Sareln settled near the Wheat you mentioned the other day. As I have
no NAP with him i think i'll try to retake the area at a convenient
time (but please let's keep it between us).

Iskender
[/COLOR]

I plan to discover Honor on turn 162 possibly founding Empy (it's not a priority though, i just want the Rathas). Pb is probably researching Taxation so there's a chance.

I'm running out of settling space. City #10 will be founded in three turns and is going to a fishing village of a sort:

[Maksim]

I just noticed this little gem.

Sareln settled near the Wheat you mentioned the other day. As I have no NAP with him i think i'll try to retake the area at a convenient time (but please let's keep it between us).

So, back when you were discussing peace terms with Bob, there was this subtle point - you concluded a NAP with Bob, but arranged for a separate discussion with Sareln. Then, when it came to discuss matters with Sareln, the NAP just didn't materialize.

I wasn't sure if this was an omission or a deliberate calculation on your part - you have a NAP with Bob, sure, but as could be argued in a court of international law, you have a right to attack Sareln, which would allow Bob the opportunity to intervene, if he wishes, without breaking his NAP (or so it could also be argued in a court of international law ).

Is this your reading of the situation? Did you do this deliberately, or is this something that only occurred to you afterwards, and if so, when?

[Iskender]

Back then I had a bold plan to somehow liberate Svartalfar from the Calabim influence. I approached Sareln about it, but he didn't show any enthusiasm, so I let the issue drop.

I've made a mistake by explicitly stating that:

[COLOR="Lime"]
if you [Bob] station units in his [Sareln's] cities i won't attack them[/COLOR]

I should've left that part as unclear as possible to have an excuse in the future to attack Sareln's cities.

I need to make a tough decision: got this from Pb two days ago:

[COLOR="Magenta"]Hi Iskender,

I'm sorry to hear about Sareln stealing a city site from you.
I saw that Settler travelling through Bob's territory and wondered where it was going.
I take it he founded in the no-settling zone?

As for not mentioning anything to Sareln, you don't have to worry about that.
While the Kuriotates respect all Civs' right to exist, any funeral service held for the Svartalfar would be a short affair ending well before lunchtime.
But have you considered that there is a good chance the Calabim would declare war on you for doing so?

Could it be that Bob -wants- you to get annoyed at Sareln, so he has an excuse to attack before T200?
I'm sure you've noticed that the Calabim can now research Feudalism, as of ~3 turns ago...

It may be that you need a distraction, or an ally, for your plan to work.

Kind Regards,
Pb, Diceman Boy-King
[/COLOR]

And today from Bob:

[COLOR="Red"]Okay, so when last we chatted you had mentioned that you might be up for some preemptive action against PB. I would like to take you up on that offer in about 20 turns. There are a few compelling reasons for us to take action. First, PB's increasingly aggressive settlements cannot be allowed to go unpunished. He has cut off your expansion to the North / Northeast and stolen your resources. He recently stole a city spot from Sareln, and he has even threatened in email to take my remaining unsettled land in the south (presumably using settlers from caravels). His expansion has been deliberately provocative and often outright insulting. Second, PB has also obviously been setting himself up to invade one of us (there is literally no use for raiders except offensive warfare), and I have no intention of allowing him to strike either of us first. Finally, there's quite a bit of reward in it for both you and I if we attack PB- you get several new city locations, and I aim to vastly increase my wealth by pillaging his towns and razing his cities.


So, are you in? I came up with the figure of 20 turns prep time because it's a nice round figure and I should have a fairly large force of vamps by then. I'm certainly amenable to adjusting the invasion date, though. If you're interested, we should probably start picking out individual targets and discussing force compositions soon. You also may wish to research Cartography, so that Sareln can use his hawks to give you a better idea of PB's border garrisons and warn you if or where he's building up. I think we should also amend our NAP so that it continues after turn 200, with a 5 or 10 turn cool-down. The reason is so that we can concentrate on our mutual foes, without having to waste time and manpower covering our own backs.


Please let me know your thoughts on this matter. Thanks[/COLOR]

It's time to pick sides for good. I could:

A) ally with Pb against Bob
B) ally with Bob against Pb
C) do nothing

B is least attractive. Pb's too good to be brought down by a handful of vampires plus whatever tiny forces I'll have in 20-30 turns (most likely a dozen Rathas and later on some Ritualists). At best the invasion would turn into a commando spectre pillage-fest gaining Bob a four-figure sum of gc and gaining me nothing.

A is really tempting. With Pb's aid there's a chance I could capture a few Calabim Fertile Crescent cities. I'd have to break a NAP though, or find a way to make Bob break it.

Then, Sun Tzu says "pick C and let them sort it out themselves".

You're a wise guy Sun, but you constantly fail to include the fun factor into your observations. That's why I'm mostly inclined towards [SIZE="6"]A[/SIZE].

In the meantime 10th Hippus city was founded. Take a look at the fabulous spot for #11: