##Update 4##(Click on images for larger versions)
We have met Valledia of the Amurites! They seem to be on the opposite side of The Lake and are no immediate threat. We did however, trade world maps. It seems that I have met all civilizations and have explored most of the map.
Loki is the one that made contact with the Amurites. I am using him right now as an invicible scout and he is going to explore the Grigori lands next, then come back home.
Now that we have met everybody, here is the diplomacy overview. As you can see, I have done most of the exploring. The Amurites and the Grigori are buddy-buddy. And everybody but Tasunke likes me.
I have agreed with Hannah to open borders. It seems that we both follow the Overlords and have much in common; she will come in handy.
Where we left off, I was amassing a force to retake Jubilee and defeat Orthus. I eventually had four Warriors and two Zealots. It wasn't much, but they were starting to make a drain on my early game economy. In fact, by the time my small force was outside Jubilee, my coffers were empty and my military was striking! I couldn't raise funds in any quick way and my military force was sapping my treasury. The next turn, I had a warrior disband because I was unable to pay him(In Civ, all military units incur a "maintenance" fee per turn. Since I had no money and no way to gain money, I could not afford said military). So I had my force attack Orthus, no matter how weak, and they were slaughtered. It was the only way to free up my economy and I took a chance that they would kill him.
Of course there's a reason this happened. I expanded to fast for my economy and had not been able to build cottages yet. I slowly recovered and was able to get research going again. I immediately switched to Education so that I could cottage up as soon as possible.
My Holy City created a Great Sage. I used it to immediately research Knowledge of the Ether. This is the start of the Magic path and allows me to create Adepts in cities with Mage Guilds.
We finally have education and I can start recovering from our recent recession (I for one, blame the tax-and-spend democrats).
It lets me make Cottages. Cottages are improvements that can be built on most land and serve as the backbone of early economies. They generate commerce on their tiles and let the cities accumulate wealth, research, or culture. Cottages also age. Depending on the game speed, after a cottage has been worked for a handful of turns, it evolves into a Hamlet. After a while, a Hamlet evolves into a Village. After a while, a Village evolves into a Town (And a Town evolves into a Butterfree!). Each successive iteration generates more commerce for its city.
I convinced Hannah to trade us Bronze working. All it took was giving her hunting. So now, all units have +1 strength from bronze weapons.
A random event occurred. We were able to sacrifice a Pig resource in exchange for control of a hill giant. This unit will remain powerful for quite a while. The pig was not inside our cities workable radius, so I didn't sacrifice much.
We have trained our first Adept. Magic units gain experience over time. The spells that a magic unit can perform depend on a civilizations access to Mana.
Everybody starts with three types of mana, depending on the civilization. Balseraphs (Us) start with Air, Chaos, and Mind. We can gain access to more types by converting Nodes. We currently have only one nod that we can convert for mana, and even then will have to do some research in order to do the conversion.
I built a Wonder in Coombe View: The Heron Throne. It allows me to use water tiles for a production bonus (+1 hammer for you Civ nuts).
I have researched Festivals! This allows me to build Freaks and Freak Shows. Freaks are built in any Balseraph city (they are our Unique Unit) and start off mutated. Mutation means that their initial promotions are randomized. A Freak unit can be a born champion or a degenerative cripple. So I am churning out Freaks now, hoping to get a few gems. All Freaks can sacrifice themselves to build a Freak show(+culture, +happiness) and so this will be the fate of the weaklings. (dwarfy, huh?)
Ethne is a bitch. You can see the city she built there.
~30 turns before this, I noticed her workers, traveling through my land, trying to get there. Assuming that meant a settler was not far behind, I immediately closed my borders. Seems that either a small force passed through my lands and took the existing barbarian city without me noticing, or she sent her forces by sea. Either way, I'm furious. That was literally where I was going to expand to.
Status:We just completed Mind Stapling, allowing us to use the powerful units behind Octopus Overlords.
Everyone likes us except Tasunke (I have no idea why).
Our economy has recovered and we are poised to expand once more.
We are clearly the victors in a culture race.
Now, questions. Where are we going to go next? Should we try for Jubilee again? We have the Hill Giant, 4-5 super-freaks that have been upgraded to swordsmen, and archers. We might be able to take Orthus now, but I'm still not confident. And at this point, Jubilee isn't much of a prize. Hannah has encroached on it big time and I would be stuck against her the entire time.
Maybe take the fight to Ethne? I really don't think that'll do much good, she's been in a constant state of military build-up since the start of the game.
Or remain peaceful for now? Maybe keep everybody happy and go for a culture victory?
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Topic: Lets Play Fall From Heaven II! - Dammit Ethne! (Read 12985 times)