Part 9: Turn 9: We Spend A Shitload Of Money (And Prepare To Spend Yet More)

Oh hey, another reply from Midgard?



Awww.



This, times four. fffffffffff



Raise your hand if you're surprised.

The other battle is a little more interesting.



Their forces include this guy, a magician of minimal skill. He starts by casting Vine Arrow, a spell which can entangle a unit in vines and keep it from moving. It completely misses.

He does eventually manage to hit an elephant with one, doing 2 points of damage, but it doesn't actually take effect - I don't know whether this is magic resistance keeping it from working, or elephant strength breaking out of it immediately.



In any case, the inevitable occurs.



I take the lead in provinces. I'm slightly worried that people are going to try to gang up on me now. Well, that's why I've got such a defensible position.

Now that I've caught up on Arcane Probing, my research takes off again. It should only be a few turns to Thaumaturgy 2, and then I'll start putting points in Conjuration. Not only will that give me some ways to use gems if I need forces ASAP, but it'll give me another useful site searching spell for water - the last one I need.



I think I may have miscalculated C'tis's location. The enemy dominion east of the lake, while Heat, is also Turmoil and Misfortune. C'tis seems to be using heavy Fortune. My current theory is that there's someone west of me, C'tis northwest of me, Midgard east of me, and a fifth nation northeast of me. I may have directed C'tis directly into a nation that I don't even know about.

Jome, previously known as Fort Site Beta, is a scout site. Normally I'd be gleeful about finding another scout site, but I'm setting up Jome with a fort and a lab, and that means it's going to be spitting out mages instead. I may as well make scouts there while I can. My other conquest this turn allows me to recruit the witch doctors that I just fought, but I can get better Nature magic more cheaply elsewhere. Of more interest, I can also recruit Lion Tribe Archers, extremely unarmored archer squads with reasonable weapons. Even with the crummy resources in this zone I can currently spit out six per turn. That might be worth putting some money into, although I basically have no money right now to do so.

Honestly, this turn isn't all that fascinating. I'll go over my orders real fast:

* My prophet scout is heading up northeast. With luck I'll figure out who's up there - that entire area is just very confusing right about now.
* I've finally reached Jome, previously known as Fort Site Beta, and am building a Castle there. That will take three turns, though I'll swap out the commander for a different commander next turn and resume expansion. Similarly, my construction Sibyl will reach there next turn and begin a lab and temple.
* My western Scout will pass Jome next turn. My eastern scout will hit the forest next turn.
* My new combat squad is heading west, and my original one I've decided to keep pressing along with. It's not losing any units right now, so we may as well.
* I recruit a pile of Hypaspists instead of Hoplites. I wouldn't mind getting another combat squad going, and now that the fort's started, I'm not in quite such a money crunch. I would like some more temples, but that can wait a turn or two until Jome is finished.

Next: Fortifications.