TURN 5:
Very bad news.
Abysia is expanding like crazy, beelining trying to find someone to kill I suppose.
My small army has been slaughtered: those damn satyrs have realy low morale.
I site search and bring a shield to my god. He's going to have to move south and teach a lesson to Abysia if they want to rush me.
Not like it will work, I kind of forgot he is weak to fire to begin with. I send a Pan to him who will site search the mountains next. I send another Pan, my commander and a hundred soldiers, mostly maenads, to take out those nasty horsemen in the south. With the Pan casting Panic like crazy, I should get rid of them.
Anyway, I send some diplo to Abysia. He will get out of my place and not go farther east or it's war. Not that I'm likely to win an early war against him outside my dominion, but I simply can't afford to have him 1 or 2 provinces from my capital.
I recruit a dryad and some minotaur warriors because these are about the only troops I have which could hope to get past abysian armor. Berserk centaurs might work, but they are more expensive for less hit points. Against normal sized troops, I hope trample will be enough. If there are burning ones nearby, then I'll need centaurs but I'm really not going to go anywhere if that's the case.
After some tests, minotaurs can cut through burning ones, but they die like flies doing so. Centaurs aren't any good against them. Basically, I have no trroop that can stand against burning ones.
I decided to look at the map and starting positions. Abysia is trying to block me in the south, which doesn't matter if I can get the island, and going towards the map center, which will prevent me from going north. We will never be able to be friends. I think he has to rush me, otherwise he forces me to attack him and he'll just have problems. It looks like I'll have to build some revelers to teach him what sneaky bastards mean.
Abysia answers my diplo:
"I have revised the Abysian troop orders accordingly. I see no need for trading for nature gems at this time and will let you know if that changes in the future."
This can mean he attacks me or he retreats. Whatever, it sounds more like a cease-fire. I had proposed a trade of N for F gems. I don't need them now, but it's a friendly offer that can't hurt and may come in handy in the long run.
The phrasing of the answer is very interesting by the way. As I said, it's a cease-fire, meaning he's repositioning troops but he's not saying he won't attack.