TURN 9:
First, a view of the map this turn:
I conquer a province full of Circle Masters with my minotaurs. Maenads are good at catching arrows, as expected. As expected, they are bad at surviving the arrows.
I lose even more in the north, where the maenads were only supported by centaur archers, but still win the battle.
Thorion, after defeating elephants, now defeats much more dangerous enemies... Markatas!
Yes, seriously, Markatas deserve some love. They are probably one of the worst units in the game, but they are so fun.
Meanwhile, Fomoria is very high on the province graphs, with R'lyeh not so far. Abysia has been stagnating for a while, I'm just behind them
BUT. What is he doing with his army of Burning Ones just south of me, with nowhere to go but in my lands? Seriously? So I bring back my god as I foresee an attack. Why otherwise would he be bringing his troops? I also buy some minotaurs. They should be able to deal some damage to abysians once berserked. And some revelers. These will have to go spread unrest in the fiery one's lands if he's the *** I think he is. Wtf is he thinking? That I'll fold and he can take out my lands easily? He's got lots of indies to expand into north and west. Bringing his armies here is simply asking for war, and it'll cost him as his pitiful dominion won't let him kill my pretender.
Unless I am silly enough to attack outside my dominion, that is. I even blood hunt a little in my capital this turn in order to get some slaves and push my dominion if needs be.
Blood-hunting is quite random unfortunately I send him an in-game message. It doesn't matter that he'll get it after attacking me, it seems so obvious, I'm just calling him names. He has to hope he can rush me, but if he fails, well, a failed rush means death for both parties. Why does he think my pretender is second in the HoF? He's either just ruining the game for both of us or being totally silly wasting troops near me on a peaceful visit.
Well, as expected, he is indeed attacking and my predicitons were right. He never managed to take me out, opened himself wide to be slaughtered by his other neighbours and is very likely to die before me. Although Marverni, who was bold enough to actually ATTACK (!!!) Fomoria without having any decent troops or research, may die first.
I also get sightings of both Helheim and Fomoria.
The good news is the Markata province can produce, well, Markatas, but also Atavai chieftains. Stealthy, 40 leadership. Awesome for revelers and centaurs.
Do NOT underestimate this guy. He's very precious, being a stealthy commander for very cheap.
And I buy my atavi chieftain a few warriors and ONE Markata. My enemies will shiver in fear at this awesome sight for sure.
Yes, I know, Markatas suck. So what?
I'll also get Construction 2 by the end of the turn, so I can also start forging stuff if needed, although keeping research up to cons 4 would be my preferred option.
Overall, this is unhappy. I could expand greatly now if only Abysia left me alone. He won't gain anything by attacking me, so what does he believe he can do? I'll spam his backyard with revelers and his economy will tank if he doesn't waste money on lots of PD...
Because obviously, every province he forgets to put 20PD in will eventually fall and he'll have to take it back and spend 210 gold to fortify it and never will he be able to use the commanders and money wasted this way to buy himself a second fort.