SGOTM 12 - Smurkz

The taking or not of Tenochtitlan is crucial for the rest of this game. If we don't take it now, we'll be forced by WW to go for a 20 turn peace, which sets us back tremendously. I think it can definitely be done as I said, they are on their knees and we still have a decent number of units to bring in for a second strike. It may be that it fails, and then we'll be even worse off. But we should remember that we are competing against the other teams here, and losing by 20 or 25 turns doesn't matter much to me, if there is a chance of staying in the picture we should go for it.

I would like to play the next five turns simply because I a) quite frankly think I am (next to zyxy) the player on our team most capable of handling a situation like this, and b) I find it incredibly agonizing to have to sit back and watch when our destiny is determined. ;)
For what it is worth, I think this is a great teaching moment in the game. We have a specfic objective (capture Teno) and a pretty brief timeline (5 turns) and a lot to do (build and move units, heal the wounded, pillage the land, keep the teeming masses content and productive, make nice to our other neighbors, and try to make some of them smarter).

I just want sercer88 to get the most out of it. This is the kind of rare event in an SG, even an SGOTM, that can really help sharpen and focus the planning skills.

No, CB, this is a big :nono:. You may per the SGOTM rules not play in parallel, or replay the turns afterwards, at least until enough time has passed that there is absolutely no chance to gain any spoiler information from it. You can never know just how two games diverge and what information you can glean from that. (yeah I know I did it once in the CIV SGOTM02, something I shouldn't have, but I was upset at the time :blush: )

Oops, my bad. :blush:

But what if you and he swapped turns? That would make the order Niklas, CommandoBob, sercer88 and then (probably) ControlFreak. Do you think that would be enough separation?
 
From the department of short notices:
I'll be away from now until next Sunday. Please skip/swap me as appropriate.

Good luck!
 
Spring break strikes again!
 
For what it is worth, I think this is a great teaching moment in the game. We have a specfic objective (capture Teno) and a pretty brief timeline (5 turns) and a lot to do (build and move units, heal the wounded, pillage the land, keep the teeming masses content and productive, make nice to our other neighbors, and try to make some of them smarter).

I just want sercer88 to get the most out of it. This is the kind of rare event in an SG, even an SGOTM, that can really help sharpen and focus the planning skills.

I agree with you. This is certainly a situation that will hone one's planning skills a lot. But it is also a situation where planning alone will not do, since you will need to change course during the turnset depending on what happens. A baptism through fire in any case, be it planning or reacting. ;)

That said, I'm not going to grab the game from anyone. The turnset is sercer88's, and if he wants to play the turns then they are his to play, and I will do my utmost to help him plan. But my offer for playing the next 5 turns still stand. :)

@sercer88: What news on the west front?


And no, it doesn't matter if you're not immediately up, you can't play in parallel anyway. You'll still risk being spoiled for the upcoming discussion. If we had no discussion at all between turnsets, I guess it wouldn't matter much, but we do. Just wait until one or two more turnsets have been played, then you can go back and play (but still not too close to the current date of course).
 
well, my say in this matter, is that I don't really think it would be good, no, make that best for the team if I were to take these few turns, and then damage our chances irrevocably. That being said: I think Niklas can take my turns. Especially since he really wants to:D I just hope I don't get the runt-end of the deal...:lol:
 
I think Niklas can take my turns.
OK...is this a skip or a swap? Sounds like a swap. Which means you'll play after me and that might be runt-end of the deal you mentioned. :D
 

Theodora, Reinhold and Cathrin were having lunch together in a booth at the back of Smurkz Bar and Grill. Theodora had developed a surprising taste for pizza with Canadian bacon and pineapple, while Reinhold munched on salad with bacon bits and spicy French dressing. Cathrin was dining on a grilled tuna sandwich with tomato basil soup.

‘So tell me, your Majesty,’ said Cathrin, ‘how is your scrapbook coming along?’

‘We’ve haven’t gotten start yet. Mrs. CB has gone on a spring cleaning spree and decided to paint all the upstairs rooms AND to sort through all the stuff and junk in the rooms. Its like a slow version of Clean Sweep on TLC. We’ve painted two rooms, moved a lot of stuff around and are waiting on CommandoBob to get started on his stuff; computer games, computer books, computer parts and old Avalon Hill games. We’ve had fun and some good laughs. I’ve enjoyed looking at her scrapbooks but I’m ready to start one of my own.’

‘Reinhold, how are you doing?’

‘Fine, thank you. The exercises at the dojo have been fun and me and the guys have enjoyed the sparring with you ladies. This style of hand to hand combat is very different from what we’ve faced in the past. Just as violent, but more directed than just a punch in the gut, if you know what I mean. And after we all lost to you at the joust, well, we don’t want that to happen again. One day we might be ready for a proper rematch, but not right now. The Beauties have beaten the Beasts, I have to admit. We’re just glad for a chance to learn something new.

‘Now, can I ask you a question, Cathrin?’ asked Reinhold.

‘Sure, go ahead,’ she said warily. ‘What’s on your mind?’

Reinhold leaned forward and asked in a softer voice. ‘Why is everyone so glum? As I hear it, we are now the largest people in the world, but no one seems happy about it. That doesn’t make any sense.’

‘Yeah, I’ve sorta noticed that, too. I don’t know the full story, but I’ll tell you what I know and have been able to put together.

‘Well, at first, CommandoBob had the honor of building our capital, which he called Furzt Smurkz. Everyone got a chance lord it over the people of the capital and it quickly grew to size 12. Then, in around 1750 BC sercer88 unexpectedly kicked off our Golden Age by winning a battle with a Dromon.’

‘Good job,’ interrupted Reinhold. ‘I’ve always liked the way the Dromons fired three directions at one time.’

‘Getting the Golden Age was a bit of shocker, since no one had really planned on it. sercer88 is a young general and still rather new to the team, and didn’t realize how big of a change of plans that was. But it was on the end of his time of ruling and not too much damage was done.

‘With the Golden Age we could make Dromons or swords in just one Imperial turn, which is what CommandoBob did. With good help from ControlFreak, Niklas and zyxy, he was able to declare war on Japan, get the Aztecs to fight Japan also and capture the Japanese capital of Kyoto. After him, Niklas, after first changing the name of Kyoto to Kommando Zentral, was able to capture Osaka, rename it to Ozzy Smurkz and Japan was eliminated from the game. And we still were in our Golden Age. We had increased from one city to three cities and had gotten off of our island.’

‘Three cities; we were as large as France, if I heard the rumors rightly.’

‘You did, Your Majesty, you did. We were as large as France. It was getting to be larger than France that was difficult.’

‘Difficult? I thought we were larger than France.’

‘We are, but it was how we got to be larger that things didn’t go so smoothly. We’re not sure, but we think that there may have been an enemy agent in ControlFreak’s staff that garbled some of his orders. I’ve seen some of his reports and that is not as strange as it sounds. His dates were all messed up, going from 1225 BC straight to 1200 AD and then down to 1000 AD. Very strange.

‘Anyway, the semi-consensus seemed to be to attack the Aztec capital and then the other Aztec city. The enemy agent either changed the orders or got ControlFreak confused with the long and complicated looking Aztec city names. We captured the non-capital city instead. And then ControlFreak disappeared after ruling for only five Imperial turns, though I found out later that he had announced his intention to only rule for those five turns. He had to go to Florida for something called Spring Break, I think.

‘We did get a great Military Leader that ControlFreak used to build an army, but here again, we think the enemy agent may have been at work. We can’t load a full army into a Dromon, but we could have loaded an empty army and enough units to fill the army after we invaded. We’ve got enough Dromons. I’ve heard CommandoBob argue this back and forth with himself and I can’t say which one makes the best use of the army. Maybe just creating the army would have been enough; I can’t say.

‘So, we have our fourth city and need to capture the Aztec capital. zyxy was the next ruling general and while he was able to kill Aztec units and damage the city defenders, he wasn’t able to capture Tenochtitlan, if I said it properly. His reign is over and now the scepter is passed to sercer88.’

‘And…’ prompted Reinhold.

‘Well, sercer88 has abdicated to Niklas, but we’re not sure if only for a short time or a normal reigning time. Niklas is of course under the gun to capture this Aztec stronghold, which would then give us 5 cities and lots of options. If he doesn’t take Tenowhateveritis, well, then we’re looking at a peace deal which gives the Aztecs plenty of time to rearm. We can too, but then we have to spend time fighting the Aztecs again, taking losses, losing shields and units. Not exactly what anyone wants to have happen.’

‘Oh my,’ said Theodora, ‘that is certainly an interesting situation. Tell me, my dear, what do you think will happen?’

‘Well, somethings will go on regardless of the Aztec war. We will be the science broker for a lot of people, trying to get everyone smarter faster. We have contact with everyone, so we can control the tech race a little bit, by just withholding new techs.

‘We need to start eliminating competition. Japan is gone and so are the Ottomans; I think the Incas took them out. The Aztecs days are numbered, you can count on that, but we don’t know the size of that number.

‘We need two other nation-states to hold a UN election. We started with 30 neighbors, two of them need to stay alive to the end, leaving 28 and two have died, leaving 26 heads of state to go.

‘After the Aztecs I haven’t heard any long range plans on who to deal with next. France is a big threat, but is on the far side of the world from us. We want to keep the scientific peoples alive, but that may prove to be difficult.’

‘Sounds like the first big hurdle is still the Aztecs,’ observed Reinhold. ‘And you need to examine ControlFreak’s office staff. Whoever sabotaged his plans is in a position of trust and that makes them harder to find. I’m afraid that they may find their way into someone else’s office and cause problems. Most likely not, but you cannot afford to take that chance.’

‘Yeah, I think you’re right. Aztecs and spies.’

‘Look on the bright side, deary,’ said Theodora with a small smile. ‘At least it won’t be boring.’
 
I've looked at the save and this is what I saw:

666 gold +16 gpt
Theology 12 turns

City Builds
  1. Furzt Smurkz (12) vMace 1 turn, shortage 1 fpt
  2. Ozzy Smurkz (2) aqueduct in 48, grows in 5
  3. Teotihucan (2) aqueduct in 49, grows in 9
  4. Kommando Zentral rDroman in 27, grows in 1

Smurkz Military
  • 00 Workers
  • 09 Slaves
  • 03 Spears
  • 04 Horses
  • 01 Army
  • 05 Maces
  • 04 Dromons
  • Army Upkeep
    • 27 Allowed Units
    • 17 Actual Units
    • 00 gpt support cost

Compared to the Aztecs we are strong.
Compared to France we are weak.

Local Resources
01 Horse
01 Iron

Luxuries
01 Wines
01 Incense
05 Ivory
01 Spices (Imported)
01 Dyes (Imported)
01 Ivory (Exported)

We have the most cities and gold.


Aztec Battlegrounds 750 BC




Military Allocation
Army
Our Army is 2/14, on a hill in Aztec land, 2N of Teo. It can heal in enemy territory.

Maces
In the Army are three of the five Maces.
One Mace, 1/4, is aboard the Righteouz Flamez, 3S of Teno.
The last Mace is in Teno, full health, and unmoved this turn.

Horses
One Horse 2/4 is 1N of Teo.
Second Horse in Teo, unmoved this turn.
Third Horse in Furzt Smurkz, unmoved this turn.
Fourth Horse protecting the wines, unomved this turn.

Dromons
Two Dromons, Deadly Flamez and Pink Panther, are 1S of Teno; both have 6 of 7 moves remaining.
One Dromon, Righteous Flamez, is 3S of Teno.
One Dromon, A Shot in the Dark, is 2NW of Teo.

Spears
One Spear in Teo.
One Spear in Ozzy.
One Spear in KZ.

Some Random Thoughts (but not a cohesive plan)
Teno is now at size 7. It can work the 5 forests for 10 spt. It can work the BG 1SE of the city for 2 spt. The other tiles produce one shield each. And then the city tile itself. So Teno can produce 15 shields per turn. The most we can do is to pillage the bonus grassland and reduce that to 14 sheilds per turn. But I don't know if 14 shields will force Teno into a unit every other turn.

If we keep our two Dromons in place just south of Teno, he has no trade routes.

If we unload a slave on to the hill SE of Teno, we might draw out a unit to go capture it.

We may need to move the spears to the front to serve as cannon fodder for any Aztec counter attacks.

Looks like a slow walk to Teno, but I cannot be sure. It is late and my mind is mushy. I'll try to dream of ways to take and sack Tenochtitlan. :D

PS - This is not a get. Niklas is UP, not me. I'm just trying to get a grasp of the problem and then trying to come up with a solution.
 
Aww, thanks sercer88! :love:

Now to make sure that your trust in me isn't misguided. ;)

Consider this my got it, I will post my thoughts later today. Nice start CB, some good ideas there. :thumbsup:

EDIT: Oh, and I forgot, another brilliant writeup from Poet Smurk :goodjob: :clap:. Though I must admit I'm a bit confused, who are Reinhold and Cathrin? :confused:
 
Oh, and I forgot, another brilliant writeup from Poet Smurk :goodjob: :clap:. Though I must admit I'm a bit confused, who are Reinhold and Cathrin? :confused:
Reinhold is Theodora's son and her head bodyguard.

This is Cathrin, one of the 'refugees' from SGOTM 11:


In the story, she is also a 3rd degree black belt. :D
She beat Reinhold in an unarmed combat match, detailed in Story 02.
 
I see a harbor icon for Teno, but not a barracks icon. Is this too good to be true?

Aztecs have no Iron, so we do need to blockade Teno so that they do not establish a trade route for Iron. No iron means we face spears, archers and warriors and one or two Ancient Cavlary.
 
I see a harbor icon for Teno, but not a barracks icon. Is this too good to be true?

Aztecs have no Iron, so we do need to blockade Teno so that they do not establish a trade route for Iron. No iron means we face spears, archers and warriors and one or two Ancient Cavlary.

No, you can't see if opponents have barracks, but you can see if they have harbors or airports. The harbors and airports, you can see because it indicates that the city may be able to have a trade route with you (if you have a harbor or airport.)

Anyway, who do the Aztecs know who could supply them with Iron?

Here's a quick suggestion:...well, actually, it depends on how quickly armies heal in enemy land...
We could fortify the army where it is, and then a few turns later, use it to wipe out any remaining aztec units. (Of course, we'd need a couple more units just in case...)
 
Sorry for my silence, RL has been crazy. I'm going to post a very quick plan, since I don't think planning will have much with the outcome to do. The plan is to capture Tenochtitlan. I intend to bring in 4 MInf - one is in FS, one is completed in FS next turn, one is completed in three turns, one is retreating from Teno and will heal. I also intend to bring at least 2 horses (two at home island, one N Teot) and 1 spear (Teot). All these will be offloaded near Teno 4 turns from now to strike at Tenoch on turn 5. The army cannot heal in enemy lands and will retreat for Teot, possibly beyond too to draw out attackers from Tenoch. I will use the Dromons for ferries and for bombarding Tenoch, hopefully taking it below size 7 to decrease the defense bonus. There is also the chance that Monte will fix that for me, Feudalism is a whipping govt. ;)

On the tech&trade (how's that for a halloween devis? ;)) front, nothing should happen during my turns. I will tech for Theo as fast as I can, but until we have it there should be little chances for trade. Too bad there are no AIs far behind :)hammer:mad:CF ;)) that we could possibly get luxes for techs from.

I hope to play tomorrow early.
 
So you'll be...
  • invading with 4 Mace, 3 Horses and 1 Spear.
  • bombarding Teno with two Dromons to reduce the defenders and decrease population.
  • using two Dromons to ferry troops
  • using the Army as a diversion
  • using an empty Teo as a diversion

Too bad we can't get Monty to build a wonder. If he builds a Spear each turn, then we face 5 spears on the attack, plus the Horse and other units that zyxy wounded. Plus a new Ancient Cavalry.


Other stuff
We are the tech broker and no new techs appear to be on the horizion.

Please rename that conquered Aztec city!


Aztec Bait and Switch
We need a way to get units out of Teno and into the field some distance away from Teno, so that when our units land the only attacks they receive come from Teno and not these roaming units.

I'm guessing we would invade on the west side of Teno, though that is not clear. If it is, then somehow we want to get as many Aztec foot units on the hill 2N of Teo, which is three turns by foot from Teno. From this hill the Aztecs can respond to our invasion but not attack the invading forces.

But how to get them to this hill.

The best thing I can think of is to leave Teo undefended and have a clear path of open tiles to the city. But we can't do that too soon or we might lose Teo for a turn or so. And done too late, the AI could still attack our beachead.

This might work to do all that.

Turn 1: Army and Horse 1N of Teo heal. Army might be threatened, but it cannot be attacked, even by AC. Army heals to 5/14, Horse to 3/4. Spear and Horse in Teo move 1N.

Turn 2: Army moves SW into forest from hill. Horses and Spear move NW, forest to forest and join the Army. Teo is undefended and has an open path to the city.

Turn 2 IBT: Some units leave Teno and move to the grassland SW of the city.

Turn 3: Army and Horse heal; Army to 8/14, horse to 4/4. Others just wait. Shuttle two units in from FS that will load into the three Dromons on the east side. Now have five invading units here, one still aboard a Dromon and healing.

Turn 3 IBT: Aztec forces advance to Ivory 2SW of Teno.

Turn 4: Army heals to 11/14; other five units are picked by Dromons to invade.

Turn 4 IBT: Aztec forces scale the hill 2N of Teo.

Turn 5: We land our forces next to Teno. Maybe attack the Aztec invaders with the Army to keep their attention focused here. Or move the Army to block the path to Teo.

Turn 5 IBT: Aztecs panic

Turn 6: we capture Teno.

I know this delays the capture of Teno by one turn, but if we can draw out three to four units out of the city it would be worth the extra turn. As things stand now, even if they did capture Teo with an AC, it would be their last AC and the Army could get it back in a turn or two. We would have lost everything we put into Teo but the Aztecs would be dead.

On Armies
I just read Theoden's article The Basics of Armies. This article detailed the rate at which armies heal (1HP per unit per turn) and stated that they could heal in unfriendly territory, if they are allowed.
 
750 BC (0):
Aztec Assault
Move both Dromons out of Aztec waters. He won't be trading for anything anyway.

Load horse+MInf in ASitD. Lux to 10% and three scientists in FS, we gain more beakers that way than with 0% lux and two clowns.

IBT:
Aztec eHorse 2SW from Tenoch, threatens army. Hmm, if he dares to move out a horse then he would probably have moved any other attackers as well. Tenoch drops to size 6! I didn't do anything, honest! :eek::D

FS: MInf->MInf
KZ: Grows to size 3

This is getting a bit old...



730 BC (1):
Aztec Assault
Alright, with Tenoch down to 6 without my help, I'm going to go in two turns faster, waiting two more turns for one more MInf could mean two more spears, not a good trade.

Units from ASitD transfer to DF, the horse and MInf on home island embark ASitD instead. vHorse and eSpear from Teotihuaca (now renamed Theo the Whacka') board PP. 2/4 horse boards RF, 8 units on the way.

Army moves S.

Home Front
One geek turns clown in FS.
Set KZ to +5 food for growth in 2.

IBT:
Aztec eHorse continues S. Aztec 3/4 galley comes down from the north on the west side.


710 BC (2):
Aztec Assault
Alright, here's the situation before the assault, time to let the dragon fly.



ASitD (S dromon) goes N, nicks the eHorse, then goes N again and unloads.
RF (E dromon) goes N, takes 1 hp off the galley, then goes N and unloads.
DF goes NE, takes the final 2 hp off the galley to sink it, then goes N and unloads. (1-0)
PP takes 2 hp off the eHorse, 2/5 now, then moves NE-N to unload.

Decide not to risk the army for an attack on the horse, that would leave Theo unguarded. Move it S into Theo and fortify.

This is the situation now, with 3 more dromons hiding under the listing.


Home Front
Two slaves have finished roading a swamp :)confused:). Hmm, I can see the point in having good communications with the west coast, and we don't really need the swamp cleared yet, so I move them W in order to road to the coast.

IBT:
Aztec 2/5 horse moves 2N to the forest W of Tenoch.
Aztec AC attacks our eSpear from inside Tenoch and loses 4-5 (after first going 4-1)! :D (2-0)

FS: MInf->MInf
KZ: Grows to size 4.


690 BC (3):
Aztec Assault
The day of reckoning is here. If this fails, it's back to the building block.

Battle for Tenochtitlan
ASitD fails bombardment.
DF nicks eSpear and reveals a vSpear.
PP nicks vSpear and reveals the 4/5 spear!
RF nicks 4/5 spear and reveals a rSpear.
vMInf vs rSpear, nicked by archer, loses 0-3. (2-1)
vMInf vs rSpear, wins 3-1, reveals 3/4 spear! (3-1)
vHorse vs 3/4 spear, wins 3-3. (4-1)
vHorse vs 3/5 spear, wins 3-0. (5-1)
vHorse vs rArcher, wins 3-3 and... (6-1)



(∞-1) ;)

:woohoo:

I'm going to save here, don't want to play on since we don't have any plans past this point. Time for some revelry and debauchery, then we can start planning for tomorrow. :beer:

>>The Save of Glory<<
 
Sweeeeet, that came in faster than we expected!!

Niklas said:
Alright, with Tenoch down to 6 without my help, I'm going to go in two turns faster, waiting two more turns for one more MInf could mean two more spears, not a good trade.

I definitely wouldn't have done anything different, or even paid any attention to that small fact.:goodjob:
 

&#8217;YES!&#8217;

His fingers shaking with excitement he carefully worked the remote to return to the first of the newscast and then paused the replay at that point and then yelled over the counter, &#8216;Hey, everybody, come watch this.&#8217;

Only a few were in present in the room right now. sercer88, Cathrin and Reinhold walked over from the pool table to the bar to get a better look at the video.

&#8216;I just saw this as I was going through the recording I made of &#8216;Anne of Green Gables&#8217;, said CommandoBob. Seeing the three sets of eyes staring at him he added, &#8216;My wife asked me to record it for her. I&#8217;ve read the books.&#8217;

&#8216;That would be &#8216;Anne of Green Gables&#8217;, &#8216;Anne of Avonlea&#8217;, &#8216;Anne of the Island&#8217; and a few more, right CommandoBob?&#8217; said Reinhold.

&#8216;Uh, yeah, it would be. How&#8217;d you know?&#8217;

&#8216;That&#8217;s what I want to know, too, Reinhold. How do you know so much about the works of Lucy Maud Montgomery? Doesn&#8217;t that clash with the bodyguard image?&#8217; asked sercer88.

&#8216;No, I&#8217;d just rather read than do needlepoint or make lace doilies like some of the others do. Besides, the chapters were only a few pages long, at least in the first book, so I could read them rather quickly.&#8217;

&#8216;I must meet this Anne person,&#8217; said Cathrin, &#8216;Since you men seem to know so much about her and I don&#8217;t.&#8217;

&#8216;I&#8217;ll loan you my copies, but I&#8217;ll want them back, as soon as we all watch this,&#8217; said CommandoBob and he pushed the play button.

Across the room, the video feed was sent to a wall projector and the image was then shown on the opposite wall. The sound was fed into the sound system and the shoved out through several sets of semi-concealed speakers.

&#8216;This late breaking news just in,&#8217; said the news anchor. &#8216;We take you now live to Tenochtitlan with our correspondent Arthur G. Goodvoice. Arthur, what is going on?&#8217;

&#8216;Geoffrey, I&#8217;m standing just outside the city of Tenochitaleeland, uh, Tenochuchukan, hmm, Tenocheeteekan. Geoffrey, I&#8217;m standing outside the city that once was the capital of the Aztec empire. I said once because now it belongs to the Smurkz!

&#8216;Yes, earlier today Smurkz forces were able to capture this key city and make it their own as they try to become the elected leader of the world. In doing so they have destroyed the Aztecs and have become the largest nation on the planet by a good margin.&#8217;

&#8216;Arthur, that&#8217;s great news for the Smurkz, but not so great for everybody else. Can you tell our audience what happened?&#8217;

&#8216;Sure. While France built yet another wonder, the Knights Templar this time, Smurkz stayed focused on the Aztecs.

&#8216;And it appears that the Aztecs had some command and control issues and population concerns of their own. General Niklas was gathering troops together to assault the city, and some of the troops were quite seriously wounded, we can now report, when a plague of some sort struck what was then the Aztec capital. They lost a lot of people and their ability to produce goods. The Elite Aztec Horsemen fled the city, not wanting to be caught up in whatever had killed the citizens and in doing so severely weakened the defenses of the city.

&#8216;Niklas saw this and took advantage of it. Lower production and one fewer defender where major mistakes the Aztecs made, even though one did lead to the other. Niklas gathered what forces he could, loaded them into his deadly Dromons and landed them just southwest of the city. On his way to invade, his Dromons took potshots at the Horses and greatly reduced their fighting capacity, some say by as much as 60&#37;.

&#8216;These wounded Horses had a chance to attack the invaders but somehow could not find the invading forces and attacked some trees instead. The Aztecs did make one attempt at a counter-attack with their best unit, an Ancient Cavalry, but it died attacking some very well trained and experienced Spearmen.

&#8216;At this, Geoffrey, the battle for the city was about to be fought. First, Niklas used the Dromons to pound and pulverize the Aztec units inside the city. Three units were damaged during the bombardment and spies determined that probably only four units were inside the city.

&#8216;Now it was time for the ground forces to weigh in. Their first attack was repulsed, but after that it was all Smurkz. Four times in a row Niklas attacked and each time an Aztec unit died. When it was all done, the Aztecs defenders were dead and the city was captured and added to the Greater Smurkz Empire.

&#8216;Wow, that&#8217;s amazing Arthur. What else can you tell us about this?&#8217;

&#8216;Well, not only were the Aztecs eliminated, Smurkz also gained the Statue of Zeus, and will have access to Ancient Cavalry, just as the Aztecs did. I think that the Smurkz will make better use of them than the Aztecs, however.

&#8216;Oh, just now I see that they are raising a flag over the Statue of Zeus. Let&#8217;s see if we can get a close up of the flag.&#8217;

&#8216;Flag?&#8217; said sercer88. &#8216;I didn&#8217;t know we had a flag. CB, did you know we had a flag?&#8217;

&#8216;Watch.&#8217;

&#8216;Yes, we have the flag in view now. At least, I think it&#8217;s a flag. It doesn&#8217;t look like a flag, more like a pennant or banner.&#8217;

Here CommandoBob paused the broadcast.

&#8216;We don&#8217;t have a flag,&#8217; he said, &#8216;but I think I know what it is. Here, let me check it out.&#8217; With a few mouse clicks he had isolated the alleged flag on the screen and enlarged and enhanced it.

&#8216;That&#8217;s definitely not a flag,&#8217; said Reinhold. &#8216;And it doesn&#8217;t look like any pennant or banner I&#8217;ve ever seen at a joust, either.&#8217;

&#8216;That&#8217;s because it is not,&#8217; said CommandoBob. &#8216;Look more closely.&#8217;

&#8216;It looks like a pair of pants,&#8217; said Cathrin.

&#8216;Close, except they&#8217;re not pants. That&#8217;s Niklas' old bowling shirt!&#8217;

&#8216;Wha-?&#8217;

&#8216;Yep, it&#8217;s his old bowling shirt. Friends, Niklas just completed a 7-10 split and picked up the spare. France, watch out, we are Smurkz and we are on the march!&#8217;
 
0690 BC

City Builds
  1. Furzt Smurkz (12) vMace in 2, shortage of 1 fpt.
  2. Ozzy Smurkz (2) aqueduct in 45, grows in 2.
  3. Theo the Whacka' (2) aqueduct in 46, grows in 6.
  4. Tenochtitlan (5) library in 10, zero growth.
  5. Kommando Zentral (4) rDromon in 20, grows in 2.

Smurkz Military
  • 00 Workers
  • ?? Slaves
  • 03 Spears
  • 04 Horses
  • 01 Army
  • 06 Maces (3 in the Army)
  • 04 Dromons
  • Military Bookkeeping
    • 32 Allowed
    • 18 Actual
    • 00 Gold per turn

Luxuries
  • 01 Wine
  • 01 Incense
  • 07 Ivory
  • 01 Dyes (Imported - Sumeria)
  • 01 Spices (Imported - Inca)
  • 01 Ivory (Exported - Inca)

Potential Trading Partners Currently
  1. Inca
  2. Sumeria
  3. Korea
  4. Portugal
  5. Maya
  6. Spain
  7. Zululand
  8. England
  9. Germany
  10. India

French Wonders
  • 3 cpt Colossus (Flight)
  • 6 cpt Great Library (Education)
  • 4 cpt Oracle (Theology)
  • 2 cpt Great Wall (Metallurgy)
  • 2 cpt Sun Tzu's Art of War (never obsolete)
  • 4 cpt Temple of Artemis (Education)
  • 2 cpt Knights Templar (Steam Power)
  • French Wonder Culture
    • 23 cpt

Culture Comparisons (Total/per turn)
  • Smurkz 344/14
  • France 2451/58

Thoughts
With Knights Templar and Sun Tzu's, France could easily become a military powerhouse. I think we need to move east, through Persia and company, capturing all the cities there and making them ours as we make ready for war against France. We'll kill some SCI civs I know, but there are other SCI civs still in the game. And with only 31 cities on a standard map, we shouldn't have to worry about corruption in our new conquests, so they could make units rather quickly for us to ferry across to France.

An embassy with France will cost 100 gold. It will also let us see the production gold mine that surrounds Paris.
 
Oh, good! You're so lucky, taking the town with the last healthy unit! :D

Will Niklas be finishing this set, or will sercer88 take over from here?

I guess we need to decide on the next target. India could be good, it's close to home and seems to have good lands. Besides, they might have no elephants yet. Rome is another option, but legionaries are tough to kill at this stage.
 
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