ROTQM13: Rolling Over The Quintet's Magic

[PPQ_Purple]

I agree about #5. It's better to start it next to cow. Especially now that we can culture pop it to get the copper.

 

[Tinadafish]

Once cartography is done we'll be able to swap to city states, hopefully whilst still in the golden age so we don't have a turn of anarchy, then we should be able to afford conquering some of those barbarian cities to our east and west, I had the capital start building a courthouse even though it benefits the least from reduced maintenance because it was a turn before the acolyte reached it and I didn't think it was needed to build another axeman or hunter, besides if we swap to social order which we probably will it's one more smiley face and it fits the Bannor theme very well anyway. The sooner we get a great prophet for the shrine the sooner our economy will jump leaps and bounds I think.

 

[PPQ_Purple]

I concur. I shall make a screenshot with amendments to the cities based on what we talk about and my own opinions and post that tomorrow.

 

[pholkhero]

With regards to binary research/wealth, it's pretty objectively the better way to manage commerce because you fully utilise the difference in beaker and gold modifiers but it's not exactly very roleplay friendly (though manically flipping from 100% to 0% taxation could be said to fit a succession game)

i find it a little easier in SGs, too, as i'm generally paying more attention every turn than I am during solo game where i can zone out or get fixated on some other objective.

plus you have money in case an event comes up that you need to spend coin on.

scouting with that hawk was nerve-wracking; every time i was hoping i didn't get a DoW sound

 

[pholkhero]

also, this hsould've been teh dot map in my spoiler tags, instead of a dupe screen shot


if we shifted green 1SE, we could do blue 1S though it would get a few more mt tiles.

its also a shame we can't nab that fish by orange w/o settling on the rice

edit to add that we're spiritualist iirc, no? no need to sweat if the tech comes during after the GA

 

[Ozbenno]

Nice one indeed. I agree that building Valin straight away is a good idea. As we popped Priesthood we can build temples and confessors as well.

Ozbenno >> On Deck
King Bulrush
pholkhero
Tinadafish >> just played
PPQ Purple >> UP NOW

 

[PPQ_Purple]

I'll try and get to it tonight, after work.
And yes, it's a shame about the fish but I think that settling on rice would be a very bad call.

 

[King Bulrush]

Regarding the dotmap: I guess red and green are the next cities to be settled, no?
Also, since we now know the location of one AI (yellow - Balseraphs?) we could start thinking about where we want to have our main line of defense once the war begins.

 

[PPQ_Purple]

Sorry for the delay. Things happened. Personal things. Won't go into details. Will play tomorrow morning at the latest.

 

[Ozbenno]

No worries, hope everything is all right.

 

[PPQ_Purple]

Started playing now.First, a short strategy brief.

#1. I've looked at the map and identified two spots that would form a perfect defensive line against the Belseraphs. I've edited together a composite image from two screenshots and marked them on the map as well.

Notice how the mountains there only have two possible passage points. If we can park a pair of cities on B-01 and B-02 and a pair of forts on those passes we can have an excellent defense and a good jumping off point for an invasion force.
And we will need both because in the long term the Belseraph cities are simply too far south to hold as part of our empire. The maintenance would kill us. So our best bet for the war would be to burn it all down and pull back to a defensible position from which to hold off barbarians and the like.

#2. There is an equivalent position to this in the North-West that I've designated as A-01 and A-02. There is already a barbarian city there placed on a great spot both in terms of resources and it being a natural choke point. So I think we should consider exploiting that in the future.


#3. Finally there is what I like to call a problem area to our east. To the north, it's relatively easy to block it off by just putting a fort where the hunter is. But going south there is only really one pair of choke points and they are not ideal to say the least. I've dispatched the scout to take a peak at them but that probably won't be done in the turns I have left. And it's dangerous because scouting there might lead us into a war.


What are y'all's opinion on all this?

 

[PPQ_Purple]

Silence!

The voice echoed through the great halls of the palace, now 270 turns old. Once again, the color Purple was in session. This time however things were... different.

As its incorporeal form shifted uncomfortably upon the throne one could not help but spot the wear placed upon it by the ages. It's hue was shifted ever so slightly toward red. It's saturation bleached by the fatigue of life.And it's mood was most decidedly grumpy.

Still, things started off well enough. Nothing much happened for the first 3 turns barring a small incursion to the north.

Spoiler Not deemed worthy of the military, the bear hunter was dispatched to eradicate the pests. :

However it did not last long until things began to change.

Spoiler On the turn of our lord Junil 273 the vile worshipers of the false god Kilomorph proclaimed a dwarf as their hero. :

The color Purple was grumpy. More than that, it was determined. And when that happened things could only ever get worse.

What could be worse than having to obey a color you might ask? Worse than staring day and night into an amorphous cloud of shifting hue trying to figure out what the hell it wants you to do all the while lamenting the life choices that brought you to this place? You'll find out... In due time.

For now, effort were intensified on our own "hero of the people". But again, that would take some time.
Meanwhile several things were to occur.

First, the Bannor empire expanded. The city of Caelestis was founded in the spot ordained by our seers. The color Purple, may it's saturation return, said nothing. But it did not complain so we took that as a sign that everything was fine.

Spoiler Progress I guess. :

The empire however rejoiced. And in response to this event a wave of fervor swept through the nation leading to a particularly gifted individual emerging in the city of Astrum.

Spoiler Naturally, we directed him toward holy pursuits. :

Now, just what the hell we were supposed to do with him after that was less clear. The only instructions we got from the Color Purple was that his gifts were far too valuable to be wasted on a mere city preacher. His destiny was to serve in another role. Now if only the grumpy old fart cloud Most Holy Colored Voice of Junil or Lord were to tell us just what that destiny was.

In other news, on the turn of our lord Junil 280 our efforts to manufacture a "hero" of Order for our people to look up to was finally successful. The man named Valin Phanuel... Seriously we couldn't think of something better?

*sigh*

Spoiler Valin, may his name newer be confused with vanilla will serve as a great addition to our cause. :

Spoiler Speaking of additions our great Bear Hunter, (now that's a name!) received a little friend too. :

And he immediately used it to find more bears.

Spoiler ALL THE BEARS. :

On the bright side we'll newer run out.

Spoiler And it came at a great time too as we just invented a way for him to note down just what he saw and send a very concerned message back to the capital. :

Things were going well. Very well. So why was our brightly colored overlord still grumpy? Anyway, while we figure that one out here is a short update on the southern chokepoint situation.

Spoiler Oh... *bleep* :

Spoiler Well, at least it isn't going to get much worse. :

End of part one due to a 10 image upload limit.

 

[PPQ_Purple]

Part 2:

Oh, and I guess we did found that other city as well. What was it called again?

Spoiler Newer mind, we'll need it more than ever now that we have two foes. :

And that is it for the age of the color Purple, blessed be its hue.

Here follows the save file. And here is to hoping our hunter can score first blood in the war against the vile Amurites. Unless of course the barbarian lizardmen from that city does it first.

As for things that didn't make it into the story:

1. I'd like to keep that adept we got from the event for a later cleric update. Just for lore sake. If that is you guys agree.
2. I took the liberty of planting our hero on top of a problematic lair but did not want to pop it just yet. Also I forgot to give him an upgrade.
   But I would advise going down the first strike route so that we can get Blitz which on cavalry heroes is frankly OP.
3. I've captured two more bears and sent them down south to get the new cities I founded .
   
4. I converted to city states as you people requested.
5. I turned off automation everywhere because it was annoying me to no end. Seriously, I newer ever automate anything.
6. I set a citizen in Trinity to serve as a priest to get us going toward a great prophet as we'll need it. I advise keeping our sage progress up for now though since we are close.
7. Finally I thing we should hold council on my proposal for the strategic defense plan I proposed.

 

[Tinadafish]

How much of an army that isn't tied down fighting off roaming barbarians do we have right now besides Valin and a few hunters? We definitely to find the amurites' cities asap before considering further expansion as well I think

 

[PPQ_Purple]

How much of an army that isn't tied down fighting off roaming barbarians do we have right now besides Valin and a few hunters? We definitely to find the amurites' cities asap before considering further expansion as well I think

Not much unfortunately. And what's there is needed to hold off the barbarians on chokepoints.

On the plus side my scouting indicates that the Amurites are at the very least one whole width of our empire away from us, possibly more. So if we settle a city in the plain and fortify the area we should be fine. Doubly so if we can take Deluge and close off those two chokepoints to the east with a couple axemen each.

Either way we do have a hunter with a hawk there to do the scouting and see just where they are.

So my personal proposal would be to keep expanding eastward for now, take that one city and wall everything off whilst looking for the vile wizards and building an army.

 

[King Bulrush]

[sigh] Ventry was supposed to be founded one tile to the southwest. We spoke about this.... Now we will have to build an aqueduct there at some point...
It's my fault too for not learning how to edit those map signs.

Anyway, regarding the Amurite war: Do we want to go on the offensive right now? If not, we should build a line of fortifications onthe narrowest point of the Isthmus between Ventry and Deluoc and concentrate our army there to recieve their attack. We can tink of moving the frontlines further out later, if/when we take Deluoc from the Barbarians.
Also, I would preffer a defensive posture for the moment and try to rush the Mercurian gate. This will give us more options for our offensive campaigns.

I also agree with stockpiling disciple units to accumulate XP. Can't we build confessors now? We should have 4 confessors parked in some core cities just leveling up to be upgraded to Priors when the time comes. Oher Confessors should be pumped out of core cities and moved to the periphery to found temples in low production cities (prefferably after we have the thech needed to spawn Crusaders.

I would also pair up Valin Phanuel with a Hunter and send them on a tour of the nearby dungeons & lairs (because IIRC recon units get better results from exploring dungeons).

 

[Tinadafish]

As I understand it heroes get even better results from dungeons than recon, who have better results than everyone else, I think once we have some more economy/industrial techs (namely trade and iron working) we should invest further into the religious techs and get those priors as soon as possible, basilicas are very good too.

 

[PPQ_Purple]

[sigh] Ventry was supposed to be founded one tile to the southwest. We spoke about this.... Now we will have to build an aqueduct there at some point...
It's my fault too for not learning how to edit those map signs.

Yea, that's my bad. I remembered that we spoke about moving it somewhere for some reason. But I didn't realize it was for the oasis. I just though you wanted to have the cow in the initial 1 tile circle instead of the iron for faster growth. And I had enough bears on hand that this didn't seem important.

So when I saw that you choose not to move the sign in the final save I figured you must have thought the same and changed your mind so I just followed it.

Anyway, regarding the Amurite war: Do we want to go on the offensive right now? If not, we should build a line of fortifications onthe narrowest point of the Isthmus between Ventry and Deluoc and concentrate our army there to recieve their attack. We can tink of moving the frontlines further out later, if/when we take Deluoc from the Barbarians.
Also, I would preffer a defensive posture for the moment and try to rush the Mercurian gate. This will give us more options for our offensive campaigns.

Speaking of the gate, do you think that maybe Deluoc might be a good place to put it? If we can take the city that is.

Here is my logic.

1. The city is already something we will have to take if we intend to build up a defense toward the east.
2. Putting it there would give the AI enough room to grow and expand into a proper empire as opposed to being just a city state with limited use to us.
   
3. It would also make the mercurians a buffer between us and the amurites.
4. What ever survives from the conquering army can be immediately moved to the two gaps to plug them and cut off any AI offensives.

Of course, this would mean delaying the project for potentially quite a bit. And it would leave the Mercurians exposed and away from our core production and thus reinforcement in case something bad happens. So I am not sure it is worth it.

What do you guys think?

 

[King Bulrush]

As I understand it heroes get even better results from dungeons than recon, who have better results than everyone else.

True, but religious heroes are irreplaceable, so we can't afford even a single bad roll of the dice. Recon units may not be quite as lucky but they are more expendable. Also, if an enemy pops out of the lair, keeping the hero in reserve means he still has enough movement points to attack (or run away, depending on circumstances) on the same turn.

Speaking of the gate, do you think that maybe Deluoc might be a good place to put it? If we can take the city that is.

I initially wanted to place the gate in Ventry (cows + copper = decent production, and oasis + cow means fast growth quickly before we start building the gate). However, building it in Deluoc sounds like a good plan, for all the reasons you have already outlined.
How far away are we from getting the tech for the gate? (i.e. how many turns do we have to conquer Deluoc and build some infrastructure there)

 

[PPQ_Purple]

No idea. On the plus side we can at least be sure that the AI probably does not have a stack or two already coming for us on account of the fact that the DOW was automatic and not something it prepared for. I think that's how this is supposed to work anyway. So we should have time to prepare as if we weren't at war. I think.

Either way I think it might be wise to invest into say 4-6 axemen to put on those chokepoints (and take that city) but also found the last 4 cities we marked in the general region just to seal everything off