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Vinyalondë Elvish meaning New Haven

DeletedUser117870

What seems like ages ago I had a message board called Haven. I've been interested in Evlsh and have done a fair amount of research regarding the language and culture for some fictional writes I have done. My main character for many of those works was The Phoenix. Eryaer is Elvish for Eldest, the name the elf characters in stories used for the main Phoenix character. Those elements combined led me to calling my city here Vinyalondë.

It's been challenging the past couple of weeks getting things rolling. Slow and cautious was the way I wanted to go with building the city. So far it's been working our well for me. The slower pace suits me better than fast paced games. One of the most challenging things so far has been arranging the buildings in the alotted spaces. Iv'e made a several changes over the past three days and still am not happy with the way things are arranged. I expect with two or three more expansion slots I can set things in a suitable manner.

I have taken over a few territories since starting out. Some by battle, some by negotiation. I have taken two sectors of East Naguch. Trying to work out how I can best get the remainder of them. I do like that I can see the defending forces before entering into battle with them.

Today, June 25th 2019, I started the first guid expedition. I've managed to get throgh the first four battles with success, though I feel i could have done better. I ended up losing more units than I should have. Experience will be one of my best teachers going forward.
 

DeletedUser117870

I had my first defeat last night. It happened in the guild expedition. It was a narrow loss but a loss nonetheless. I'm not quite sure where I went wrong. I am still thinking over how best set up my forces for the second try today.
It's been a good week for finding incidents. I didn't count how many I came across. It is enough to know that I found about 70 medals and 20 goods along with some coins and supplies.
Raising my morning coffee to another fun and challenging day!
 

DeletedUser117870

After considerable thought, taking advice and conducting research I have learned that most if not all others see no reason or use for mounted troops. Based on observations of how easily they fail against most other forces. It seemed reasonbable until I considered there had to be some workable reason for their existence. Today I worked it out with success.

They are fast and have a decent range though otherwise they are not all that strong defensively. It occurred to me that the stone throwers are also weak defensively. Just because the horses have a good range doesn't mean they need use it on every turn. I found that by moving them only a couple of spots at the beginning of a battle, letting the AI opposition advance to the middle of the field it is not long until the horses can ignore the advanced forces of the opposition, dash past them to directly take on the stone throwers. It's worked twice already and I expect it will work again. I wouldn't attempt it against a live player. It is a strategy I can see could and would be easily defeated.

I reorganized the city today. It is the third or fourth time in the past seven days I've done so. I had thought of starting to upgrade the roadways but until I have at least part of the frame set in a way that I'll keep permanently I'm not willing to invest my resources. It's quicker and easier to make adjustments when I can just erase the roadways and redraw them. I know I'll be making changes again before I get halfway through the Iron age. I keep planning ahead trying to keep things as flexible as I can.

I'm not adverse to trying a few different approaches. The worst that can happen is they won't work and I'll learn something from it. That is what makes life interesting in anything we do. It's not ever about the failures we have, it's what we learn from those failures on the road to our successes.
 

DeletedUser117870

I had an interesting battle today in the expedition. Four horse vs horse and four spearmen vs soldiers. The huge difference was my use of the champion. The horses wiped each other out except for the champion. The remaining forces were easy to clean up. Spearmen are no match for soldiers.

I'm still confronted with the matter of East Naguch. There are three other sectors I need to take there. I do not have the resources to negotiate, the market does not offer sufficient trade or in my opinion worthwhile trade to complete it. It also seems to me that I lack the required recruits to take it by force. There is undoubtedly a way to do it with current resources, I just don't see it yet.

I need two more expansions to reach a comfort level for my city. How best to achieve this is something I'll need to consider over the weekend. Until I work out how to resolve these things, I'll maintain a holding pattern and pile up coin, supplies and production.
 
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DeletedUser117870

I've reached the point where horses are no longer of use. They served their purpose and now have been removed from my units. Research is now sitting on the edge of Cottages, Archery and Sewage. I've already done Agriculture. Archery is needed for upcoming battles. My last expedition encounter was too close for my liking. Archers will be useful against East Nugach and Karchagu. I only need one more sector in each to take both regions. I'm sure that venturing in with a mix of soldiers and archers will be the way to win.
 

DeletedUser117870

I started the above post last night. I had to cut it short because of a thunderstorm. I don't like doing posts from my phone. Everything is too small for me to see clearly.
This morning I was able to get started on building cottages. I haven't built the archery yet but will do it today. I need a couple more goods buildings too. Just seeing which ones will serve my more immediate needs best before building them.
I'm learning a few things about great buildings too. I read a few things about them. The best reading I've done is the sound advice of more experienced players. That doesn't just apply to the GB's. Some of the battle strategies I'll need in the near future will be based on what the experienced players have shared with me. We can learn from our own mistakes but we can also learn from the mistakes of others. An open ear goes so much further than a closed mind.
 

DeletedUser117870

It took a bit of planning and a mix of attack and negotiate before Karchagu and East Nagach fell to me. Now i'm on to West Nagach. I was right in my thoughts about needing Archers at this point. I was also right about goods buildings. It took a bit to get things in order for one new one to be built. I opted for a jewelry building and an Ebony workshop. Mainly because I have what I need to boost production for both of those.
Thanks to a little hint I was able to look up different ways of getting forage points. Those are going to quickly become as important to get as coin and supplies.

I think I'm going to run out of time on the expedition for this round. There are less than two and a half days to go and I haven't gotten past the 12th battle. It is unlikely I'll have sufficient forces to get that job done before time runs out. That being the case, I'll switch my focus to expanding my territory through West Nagach and what lies beyond it. My plan is to continue using a mix of battle and negotiation to keep moving forward. Both have merits that make a mix of the two stronger than relying entirely on one or the other.
 

DeletedUser117870

,Just past 2:30am local time as I write this.

Managed to push as far as #18 in the expidetion. Interesting how some historical battles help some of the on field planning for the expidetion battles.
The same goes for the territory expansions. There are times trade is more valuable than battle and vice versa.
During some of the early sea faring days, captains acting as ambassadors on finding less technologically advanced societies often found it more beneficial to trade than to get what they wanted through brute force. There were times when battle was deemed necessary and of course the weaker side often lost to the stronger, though not in every case. There is more to strategic planning than numbers and power, baring huge differences. 15th century warships wouldn't have been as effective had submarines existed at the same time :)
Currently, working through the Iron Age there is consistent pattern to how advancements work and unfold. Those fit well with our own real world history. If the game pattern continues to parellell our own history in some way, I am sure I can expect sudden technological and cultural shifts at some point. Our own history has had four such events that stand out. The founding of the Ming Dynasty, The Renaissance, The Industrial Revolution and the Atomic Age. Each of those had profound ripple effects, the last one having the largest and widest impact.
 

DeletedUser117870

I'm 117 forage points away from the next age. That gives me ample time to ease my way forward while spending points to invest in GB's. It will be an interesting balancing act.
There is also the matter of West Nagach. It can be taken by force but it looks to me like negotiation is a better option where it can be employed. Battle might become a more attractive option once I have researched far enough to obtain ballistas. Either way there is no point or sense in rushing forward. A survey of the forces in West Naguch show the curve advancing just head of where I am now. It's best to settle and shore up resources for the next little bit. There is a slight nagging temptation to push on across all fronts. I'm just smiling at it and sticking with the slower steadier plan.
 

DeletedUser117870

Ended up staying up much later than I intended last night. Had a small medical issue to handle. It involved needing a shower at 3am. While cleaning myself up I had time to think about a few things that I am working out outside of the game. Unexpectedly some ideas for the game sprang to mind. I made note of them just before going to bed for the night/morning.
I woke early and checked what I'd noted down. It was a somewhat involved plan to complete level of the expedition, take over West Nagach and complete the daily challenge. The plan called for rotating through the three in specific time blocks that allowed for units to be trained and ready to go as needed and time for goods to be produced for negotiation. A few judicious market trades would be needed along with some tricky but manageable battles vs forces that were stronger than mine.
If the plan was to work, it had to happen in two phases. The morning time heavily invested in advancing the expedition, the afternoon time heavily invested in taking West Nagach. The idea was to chip away at both over time, without making a reckless push in either. The entire plan took over six hours to execute. The expedition plan worked perfectly. I reached level two.

The more interesting battles were the ones in West Nagach. The two best ones were eight units vs seven with the numbers in my favour The opposing forces were stronger, so the battles started off fairly well balanced. The first battle took several moves to complete since I made the opposing forces come to me. One thing I anticipated that had not been worked into the opposing forces battle strategy at this early stage of the game is a gambit. Both times I moved an archer to the far left of the field of battle while leaving my other forces, two archers and five soldiers near the middle of the field within the first three spots of forward movement.
The first time, the opposing force took the gambit sending a mounted warrior after the archer. That allowed time for a counter strike against the mounted warrior and a strong strike against a second mounted warrior, tearing open the right flank to a heavy counter strike coordinated by the remaining archers and soldiers.
The second time, the opposing forces left the lone archer alone, trying to make a distance strike with one their own archers. I figured if I calculated right, it would take two moves to hit my gambit. Time enough for it to cut back across the field and strike at the enemy center leaving two weaknesses in the opposition's formation. The forces in the second battle were stronger than the first but not enough to recover from the double weakness. An attempt to defend their far flank would have worked had I shifted the battle there. Instead, I tore right into the middle for a close quarters battle. I figured if I had it worked out correctly, I'd have the last man standing. That was exactly what it came down to in the end. One lone soldier to claim the victory.

The idea of using an archer as a gambit came about because of a battle I'd lost the day before. The loss was an interesting one from a learing perspective. While losing, I knew I could throw the white flag and save what remained but I wanted to see how the rest of the battle would unfold against the best defence I could muster. Saying my best was not successful is a serious understatement. LOL
What I took away from that loss though, the gambit idea played through the back of my mind then came to me along with everything else when I let it drift out of my mind. Some of my best thoughts and ideas have come to me in the shower!
 

DeletedUser117870

The weekly event awards came in this morning. Those in combination with a small successful run of negotiations in the expedition gave me a good supply of forge points, medals and a couple of special goodies that are going to help along the way. A couple of my trade offers were accepted allowing me to negotiate the last sector of Maktaba. Battle for that last sector was an option but it would have been tricky. Now it's a long eight hour wait until my scouts reach the next province.
There is a temptation to add two more expansions to my city. I do have the resources to do it immediately but I feel that is a little premature to do it right now. I'd rather see what's in the next province before deciding where to expand and what to place on those spots. Coin and supplies are steadily increasing as I intended. My goods buildings are producing well and so far I've been able to keep the population enthusiastic though that's greatly depended in polishing the motivating buildings. I do have an amphitheatre in play and one in inventory. If necessary I can bring out the second one to keep the people happy.
I had to redesign the city once more to add a couple of buildings and structures. I've been investing forage points in GB's while giving very slow addtiions to advance research. I am not well placed and don't expect to be well placed for some time to enter the middle ages. There is such a thing as advancing too quickly.

I currently have a victory tower, two shrines of knowledge, a level three altar garden, athelete living quarters, two wishing wells and my Oracle of Delphi is at level three. I'm using one archery and two solider barracks to supply battle units. Production buildings are a domestic pen, goat farm and tailor shop. I have a butchery in inventory. Production buildings are Winery, Ebony, Iron, Marble and Jewelry. It should be interesting to look back at this a month from now and see what's changed.
 

DeletedUser117870

Already the value of my approach has proven worthwhile. The flexible approach has left me able to easily make a choice between trade and battle for the next little while. Holding back from advancing too quickly via research and dedicating resources to trade is proving to be the correct choice. Now is the moment to bide time through non hostile investment. The shift was an easy one to make and shifting back to make ready armed units will not be a difficult one to make when the time is right.
 

DeletedUser117870

I had to do some fast shifting this morning to complete a couple of quests. Taking down some buildings to replace with others, then taking those down to replace with others yet again. Makes me happy I stored up coin and supplies. It made it easier to absorb the costs.

Looks like things are unfolding much as I had expected. There were one or two things I miscalculated by a little bit. Those were easily corrected through some adjustments. It looks like the quiet approach I've adopted is working so far. I've taken over Pfefferberg and two sectors of Dunkelwald. The more advanced combat units from this point forward means I'll soon have to bring everything up a few levels to remain competitive. The question that sits in front me now is whether or not to finish all the bronze age researches before completing the first Early Middle Ages or to research multistory houses. then catch up on the bronze age stragglers.
 

DeletedUser117870

Slow days ahead. Doing a little trial and error for resource allotment. The hardest thing is deciding how best to utilize forge points.
 

DeletedUser117870

Yesterday was a strange day. I was able to advance further than anticipated. I can't help feeling that things are slightly out of balance at this point. I've scouted out a good bit of territory today. Time to hold off scouting the next spot for a bit. The mountains will have to wait until the everything else catches up to the early middle ages provinces I've visited.
Turned my attention to my city's defence last evening. When the chance came to complete the military tactics in one swoop, it was a bit too good to pass up since I knew mathemetics wasn't going to be far behind. Getting those two done so close together wasn't a chance I was going to have again anytime soon. I thought it best to take the opportunity. Now is the time to expland my army. Once that's done I'll be returning my attention to the great buildings.
I managed to pick up a third wishing well today. I'm not deploying it until I can time it with the other two.
The Ballista camp is built and producing fighters. I have an expansion waiting to be put in place once I have the necessary coin to do so. I've started the Viking Cultural settlement. That looks like it'll be a challenging project.

Today, I hope to complete a couple of quests, advance a little more in the soccer event and give more attention to the great buildings.
 

DeletedUser117870

I haven't made entries for the past two days because I didn't want to show my hand while undertook some high risk ventures. Regrettably none of them paid off as I'd hoped. Had the plan worked, I'd have advanced quicker than I'm currently doing. I engaged in a series of battles that should have worked in theory. Something's shifted a little in the way the system currently fights compared to earlier battles. I haven't quite worked out all the nuances of what that is exactly. The lesson whle giving some insight and learning wasn't enough to make the ventures pay off well. I won't be taking that route again.
There is a brighter side to the events of the past couple days. I've expanded my territory through negotiation. I've expanded my city and created a better design for it as more options have come my way. I've crossed into the early middle ages. The increase in what's needed betwen the current age and the previous one is a little larger than I'd expected. Patience is the watchword going forward and a leaning toward trade instead of battle. I can see where it could shift back to needing battle over trade in the future. The time to start planning for that shift is now.
 

DeletedUser117870

Things have slowed down a great deal for me over the past couple of days. A few issues that needed to be solved here before I could really carry on.
I think I made a couple of mistakes in recents days that are going to make things a little more challenging than they needed to be. Looks like I should have worked o a different set of prioriites. Should have dedicated more resources to development and less to investment. It's going to be a slow uphill climb to balance things out.

I'm reminded of an idea I've come across in different works. The idea is that you can go anywhere you want to go, even to another star, just as long as you're not in a hurry.
There is something to be said for that. A gentle reminder that rushing doesn't necessarily accomplish the intended goal.
 

DeletedUser117870

I've spent the past three days visiting different worlds and taking varoius approaches to the game. I have three worlds that worked out better than others. I have one in Avrahall, Brisgard and the first city I started in Langedon. I had to decide to keep only two this morning. It's not easy keeping up with more than that. The decsion was a hard one to make. I ended up asking for all but the cities in Brisgard and Langedon to be deleted.

So far I haen't had to make any decsions about a second GB. I have yet to get a full set of blueprints for aother one. The thee closest I have are Colosseum, Statue okf Zeus and Tower of Babel. There are seeral pros and cons for each one of them. Earlier in the week I was the recipient of some valuable points of view on the GBs. Those will weigh in on the decsiion.

I have taken on some of the daily challenges and found to my regret I coudln't do them because of a lack of resources. I"ve come across a copule I came close to completing. I think I have managed three in the past couple of weeks. I keep drawing them bdcause I kow that eventually I'll get another one done. If one is rout of my reachand I know it will be for the current time frame (needing diamonds I don't have) I don't spend any resources on it. I just let its time run out and try again.

The expidetion has been going well this time around..Tight battle for the #1 spot in Langedon. I haven't been able to get at the one in Brisgard yet. Should get there in a day or two when the new round starts. I'm looking froward to that. Partly becauwe I do like the expidetions, and partly because I found a great guild with a lot of my country's people. It was a comfortable fit for me. I usually can fit in anywhere, just being me, but it is easier when there is a lot of common ground.
 

DeletedUser117870

Trying out a few different seriouis strategies in other worlds now. Some are working alright and others not so well.
My main world is holding on well, but I swear the BP gods have it in for me, My last five BP's were all for the Colosseum. I only need two more for Zeus and Bable. My preference would be to get Zeus first, though at this point I'd happily take either one!

I've deleted a few of the excess cities. They're winding down their two week wiating period. Not every experiment works out. Love the ability to delete and start over. The only cities I won't do that with at this point are Vinyalondë in Longedon and Dawn of Stars in Brisgard. The others could well fast become memories to rise again in August!
 

DeletedUser117870

I I had multiple discussions going through most of the day. Several good points were raised that aided me in some decison making.
I think I now see my way clear going forward. It's too late to do anything but adjust as necessary in my main city. My second city, I only need to hold the course as i planned with it. The others I had going, that were slated for deletion, will be kept. They will only need minimal attention being in the early stages of game play. The couple that were advanced have been routed for deletion.
Ijt is going to take a great deal of quick planning and thinking to manage the ambitious game project I have in mind. I haven't had a major challenge to sharpen my skills in a long time. I just hope what I once could do hasn't been blunted by lack of use. I like planning on a large scale, something I haven't been able to do since 2014. It took a bit to get some traction. Now that I have it, I want to see how long I can keep it going.
This should be good mind therapy for me.
 
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