[Micah]

Did Pythium stale last turn? He's been good about doing both his turns when he DOES get on, and I was going to be annoyed if he only played one of them last time the server hosted, but I guess if he staled it's a different story.

If you've got any suggestions for Bandar Log that might apply to Patala please PM me, since I've got them in your other game.

And yes, from what I saw of your fight with Machaka he did a damn fine job holding you off, I thought he was finished when I saw a huge chunk of his archers on my border, since I assumed they got there via routing, but he went on from there to knock out your pretender and give you fits. My scout just saw his break-siege attempt battle with you though, and it looks like you've got a bit more than an "upper hand."

My fight with Jotunheim was hard fought...I had the upper hand early on, partly due to taking the initiative, but he managed to set me back a considerable amount when he bought 2 sizable chunks of mercenaries and won a battle with them. I think I'd still be fighting him, or I would have lost outright, if he'd recruited 18 woodsmen instead of 20 moose riders to stealth-raid me. The moose were annoying, the woodsmen would have been deadly. (he was strapped for resources due to a crappy cap location, while my own start was pretty solid.) I'm not at all sure how to beat Jotunheim in anything resembling a fair fight though, I had twice the resource income, and got the jump on him, and still I think if he'd recruited those woodsmen over the moose that I might have lost, or been stuck in a stalemate until someone esle decided to pick one of us off.