Experimentation II: A Bow To Pick (Roll: 10) (So we're back to this bullshit)
With threats both stronger and faster then the Baobabi, your people were forced to find a way to defend themselves with haste. Using their masterful knowledge of wood, and guided by a Major Founder
(Powder Miner +2I), the People of the Baobab developed and began utilizing the
Baobabi Longbow. These long, lightly recurved bows quickly went from simple selfbows carved out of a singular piece of wood measuring
roughly 175-180cm to composite bows layered with
Wildebeest horn and sinew. The longbows all used a finely crafted bowstring to fire
Stone Arrows. The
Stone Arrows themselves were usually constructed from a knapped stone arrowhead bound to a wooden shaft, and feather fletchings sourced from the local avian life.
Although gathering feathers for fletching was slow-going at first, the ability to hunt with the bows rapidly increased your tribes opportunity to "forcefully" acquire feathers from a previously untouchable animal: the
Ostrich. A large enough population roamed
48-C to become a reliable resource for your tribe. With targets being kept more intact after being felled by an arrow or two as opposed to a couple devastating spear thrusts the Baobabi's efficient hunters also began to utilize the internal organs of their kills more effectively. Of particular note was the introduction of bladders used as waterskins. This (figuratively) little invention, a dried animal bladder with a drawstring to cinch it closed around a hardwood peg, allowed the tribesfolk to extend the range with which they could survive reliably from sources of fresh water.
New Technology: Baobabi Longbow (Requires access to
Textiles, an
animal resource considered Medium or larger, and
1 Wood Upkeep)
New Technology: Stone Arrows (Requires access to
Wood, costs
1 Stone Upkeep)
New Technology: Waterskins (Adds +1 to the radius of your borders around any settlement with a source of fresh water, allows Exploration of +1 zone) (Note: Most bonuses to your borders will also apply to the capital unless they are
wildly unfit for the area. This is mostly just to make it easier for me to deal with.)
Resources Exploited: [48-C]
Ostrich (Foodx2)
The threat of death proved to be a great motivator for the Baobabi. The bow was quickly identified as a great way to use a smaller "spear" to hit targets that used to be well out of reach while staying out of range of their, just for example, claws and jaws. Every scouting and foraging party had at least one bowman to help prevent or at least intervene in a lion attack, and guards were posted at night to deter the fairly frequent night raids by what turned out to be very sickly, rabid hyenas. After a handful of fruitless attempts by the hyenas to get in and kill some of our people as they slept, their numbers proved to be too depleted for them to continue to hunt any other sort of potential game that could sustain them for long. As a result, this threat has completely vanished.
The lions are now withdrawn from our settlement once more, but continue to be a danger to people who enter their area.
One Baobabi hunter, bored at the fireside one evening, took more notice to the sound that lightly plucking a taut bowstring emitted than her peers had before. A recent successful hunt had left everyone happy and well-fed, and as this hunter steadily plucked her bowstring, trying to make different tones by placing her mouth around the string, a
Seedkeeper began reciting one of his tales trying to match her. A catchy tune and chant merged into something the tribesfolk couldn't help but move to. These
Woodsongs became a staple of celebrations for just about any successful event that the tribe experienced, becoming the basis for the evolution of the Baobabi language as a whole. While your people had obviously been able to communicate before, they found themselves becoming able to express more complex thoughts and actions.
New Technology: Woodsongs (
Seedkeeper chants accompanied by a rhythmically plucked bowstring. The foundation of the first true Baobabi language.)
Without a steadier supply of wood, the overall impact of the
Baobabi Longbow will drop over time.
It is now the Exploration Phase. While your borders have expanded, you still aren't sure what's out there. The lions also remain a problem now that your claimed lands have expanded, but they are no longer a threat to your settlement security. Keep all of this in mind as you decide whether to explore a zone or two or propose new exploratory equipment. Now that you can explore multiple zones a turn, remember that this can be considered a singular expedition and a course must be charted starting from a zone adjacent to a zone you've identified, and any subsequent zone needs to be adjacent to the zone being explored before it. For example, Explore 46-C and 45-C would be a valid suggestion, but Explore 46-C and 50-C would not, and a zone being explored after 45-C would need to be adjacent to it.
Another note, this time on Upkeep: You can choose to begin paying for upkeep on something as soon as you get the resources for it and at any phase thereafter - Upkeep is only applied automatically if you can afford it upon creation. You can also choose to stop paying upkeep on items. Choosing or not being able to pay upkeep ultimately means the efficacy of an item will drop much faster as fewer of them are available. An item will jump back to full efficiency as soon as upkeep is being paid.
Improved Stone Tools: Provides durable tools for basic tasks, doubling Wood and Stone Exploitation, requires access to Stone, Wood, Textile.
-Stone Spear: Allows Exploitation of larger beasts for Food, requires access to Stone.
Bolas: Stones bound by rope used to ensnare and capture or cripple prey at range, requires access to Stone and costs 1 Textile in upkeep.
Baobabi Longbow: A composite recurved bow around 175-180cm long. Powerful and relatively silent. A weapon ahead of its time. Requires access to Textile and a Medium+ Animal Resource and costs 1 Wood upkeep. Uncommon
-Stone Arrows: Stone arrows with wooden shafts and feather fletching. Effective. Requires access to Wood, costs 1 Stone in upkeep.
Primitive Rope: Dried, braided reeds that let the tribe secure and bundle objects. Allows for Wood Exploitation 1 square outside of the civilization's borders, requires access to Textiles.
Primitive Firemaking: A base tech vital for survival.
Persistence Hunting: Allows for Food Exploitation 1 square outside of the civilization's borders.
-Efficient Hunting: Smarter tactics allow your hunters to gain +1 Food from hunted resources.
Waterskins: Animal bladders with wood stoppers and pullstrings used to transport water. +1 to borders around fresh water settlements, +1 to Exploration Range.
Early Animal Domestication: With a very basic understanding of how to pacify animals, your people are capable of attempting domestication.
Animal Bone Accessories: Jewelry, wards, and charms made of bone that provide a positive impact on tribal morale, requires access to a living (nonhuman) animal.
Subsistence Foraging: Allows for the bare minimum of passive Food collection for low populations in plentiful regions.
-Societal Herbalism: Your people as a whole have a basic familiarity with how to utilize the plant life around them. They are beginning to understand the life cycle of plants.
--Guarri Bark Paste: A bark and water mash that can be spread over open injuries to provide a level of pain relief and infection resistance.
-Primitive Dendrology: The tribe can identify the useful parts of trees better, providing Food or Chemicals in addition to Wood.
--Seedkeepers: Tribal collectors of seeds who spread them as they travel. They also keep track of tribal folklore using local trees as reference points for certain events.
---Woodsongs: Tales of the Seedkeepers turned into chants and accompanied by a rhythmically plucked bow. Is considered the foundation of the greater Baobabi language.
Hide Tents: Provides basic shelter.
-Pit House: A semiburied wood and grass structure that provides good environmental protection, improves quality of life, and sets the stage for further enhancements to bolster a more sedentary lifestyle, requires 1 Wood per Settlement for upkeep.
The Baobab: A tree used to mark tribal deaths due to lions. The deceased are left as offerings at its base. Is not a health hazard thanks to local scavengers stealing away with corpses in the night.
Food: 5/5
Wood: 0/2 (Pit Houses(-2))
Stone: 0/2 (Stone Arrows(-1)) (The Maneater Pride(-1))
Magnetofumes: 0/0
Chemical: 0/0
Textile: 0/1 (Bolas(-1))
Sand: 0/0
46-C: Savannah, Desert
46-D: Savannah, Desert, Beach
46-E: Desert, Beach, Coast, Shallow Water
47-B: Savannah, Freshwater Spring, Freshwater Stream, Beach, Coast, Shallow Water
47-C: Savannah, Freshwater Stream
47-D: SETTLEMENT, Savannah, Beach, Coast, Shallow Water
47-E: Shallow Water
48-B: Savannah, Beach, Coast, Shallow Water
48-C: SETTLEMENT, Savannah, Freshwater Stream, Freshwater Lake
48-D: Savannah, Beach, Coast, Shallow Water
48-E: Shallow Water
49-B: Shallow Water
49-C: The Maneater Pride, Savannah, Plateaus, Beach, Coast, Shallow Water
49-D: Savannah, Beach, Coast, Shallow Water
Identified, Identified but Currently Useless and Exploited
47-D: Food x3 (Wildebeest Herd(+1), Acacia Grove), Wood x2 (Acacia Grove), Stone x2 (Granite Inselberg), Magnetofumes (Fumic Geyser)
48-C: Food x2 (Antelope Herd, Elephant Herd) Food x2 (Ostrich Flock(+1)), Ivory (Elephant Herd), Clay (Lakeside Red Clay Deposit), Textiles (Lakeside Reeds)
49-C: Stone (Limestone Chimneys), Magnetofumes x2 (Fumic Plateau), Sand (White Quartz Beach)
Major Founders:
m1895 - (2I/1P)
Nuke9.13 - (2I/0P)
Powder Miner - (5I/0P)
Minor Founders:
a1s - (1I/1P)
Taricus - (1I/1P)
Fluffe1199 - (0I/0P)
Light forger - (0I/0P)
Doomblade187 - (0I/0P)
sketchykeeps - (0I/0P)
Kashyyk - (0I/0P)
Quarque - (0I/0P)
Knightwing64 - (0I/0P)
chubby2man - (0I/0P)
Author
Topic: The Founders - A RiskyArmsCivGodPoliticking Game (Experimentation VI) (Read 19821 times)