S-02 Learning to Ride

In this game I want to explore the mounted units. Who better to do this with than Catherine the Great? I hear she had an, erm, intimate knowlege of Riding the Horse . Maybe she can teach us a thing or two?

The Settings

Civ: Russia (Catherine II)
Map Script: Tilted Axis
Landmass Type: Small Continents
Sea Level: Low
Climate: Temperate
Size: Standard
Barbarians: Off
Difficulty: Monarch
Speed: Normal
Victory: Any

The Start



The Variant

We may only build the following military units:

Chariot
Horse Archer
War Elephant
Knight
Cossack
Tank (henceforth referred to as "Metal Horse")
Modern Armour ("Big Metal Horse")
Gunship ("Flying Horse")

We can also build ships, planes, missionaries, workers, settlers etc. We don't have to disband our initial scout.

The Admission

I have had a very quick look at the worldbuilder to check if we have horses in an accessible position. The first two starts I generated did not, but this one did. I felt this was necessary, otherwise we'd be defending with 1 scout until our Metal Horses arrive . I did not look at the other civs or anything else. If I saw any other hidden resources then I've forgotten about them (really).

The Roster

Priority will be given to those from S-01. Sign up if you want to play.

The Etiquette

24-48 blah blah skip/swap yada yada rhubarb

I would like to join this one... Looks like a nice variant... Horses only .... hmz...

OK... Looks like settle on the spot and cottage the capitol up?
Good (enough) production city as the second city 2 west, 1 south of the scout...

Catherin starts with Hunting/Mining... we need AH and fishing ASAP and the wheel STP (Sooner than possible). With all that chopping to do, BW here we come as well.... Geez allways these early techs ....

Techs and builds as I see em...
AH (build worker) => Fishing => Wheel => BW
or
Fishing (build worker) => Build fishing boat => AH => Wheel => BW

As you have seen the map (even for a second) maybe you should go last in the rotation... (i.e. skip the first round)

Hmm ... you stole my idea! I was comtemplating of restarting the Fox series, and one variant I am thinking was exactly this: "Need for Speed" -- we can only build units with 2 or more movement points.

...

Ok, I guess great minds think alike.



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mm, i wouldnt take off the barbarians. especially in this variant it would make some diffrence.

Got my saddle, ready for the ride

Nice idea sooooo. Need to revise war strategies for this one. No defense bonus ? no colateral damage until modern armor (how do they look BTW ) ? Shrug
Seems like Flanking will have his days of glory

On the spot me thinks. Fishing->AH. Maybe invest in barracks before fishing is in. I fear worker would idle if all the hills are forested around

Hmmm, another crazy monarch variant blid-01 was more difficult than emperor, but so-1 was just another way of winning on monarch. I like to play this one but ask for domination/conquest (sealevel medium or high), that would be a real challenge. Why barbarians off???

Settle on spot, go for fishing first.

sooooo, I'd like to rejoin the gang for this ride.

Looks like another variant that is suited for attacking. We will be particularly vulnerable to spears and pikes early on and without any axes or the like.

This could be a wild ride. No siege units. Can we build any and all naval units? At least once we get frigates we could bombard. Defense is going to be a real *****. We have no units that get defensive bonuses, and no city raiders until tanks.

On the other hand, Horse Archers can do a decent job against archers, and knights against Longbowmen, and Cossacks against everything, so just maybe it will work.

Count me in.

@Sprite and Asperge: I gave a lot of thought to barbarians. Although I love the little things, in this variant I decided that if they show up too early, they may prevent us sending out a settler to claim horses. We will only have 1 scout until we build the settler, worker, pasture and roads until we get chariots. All it would take is 1 barb warrior and our capital would be gone. I decided that barbs don't bring enough to the game to risk it being over in the first 30 turns.

@Mike: Yes we can build all ships, frigates included.

@Asperge: Sea level is low because the Tilted Axis/Small continents/Low Sea Level is one of my favourites. A fair amount of water, but most of the continents are accessible by galleys. We can go for conquest/domination if we like, but all victory conditions are enabled.

@GreyFox: Doh, really sorry! I would have no objections to you starting your game anyway. Maybe it would be fun to do it post-warlords to try out the new Stable building.

sooooo said:

We may only build the following military units:

Chariot
Horse Archer
War Elephant
Knight
Cossack
Tank (henceforth referred to as "Metal Horse")
Modern Armour ("Big Metal Horse")
Gunship ("Flying Horse")

We can also build ships, planes, missionaries, workers, settlers etc. We don't have to disband our initial scout.

Click to expand...

What about Mech Infantry? Is this Iron Horse considered a buildable unit?

I think catapults are wooden hourses like in Troy =P

Sounds like a game that is all offense. Much like the last one which suits me just fine. As to not having bombard units big deal they move too slow anyways and with flanking horsies we could accomplish the same only would need to build more. And when it's time for the "Metal horsies" we could just have a number with "barrage" although we might loose a few. Since we can build planes of course bombers would be beautiful compliment to the tanks.

I agree with NamliaM settle on spot looks good. And behold in the distance there'd be gold. This will be a fast game being on normal/small continents.

Personally I would like to see barb left on to pose a real challenge however on Monarch they can be pesky. I have noticed that especially if you have gold they are real pesky almost like raging barbs. In a SP game I had gold and 4 showed up at once. ARGH but great for promotions. (monarch)

Yes please so sign me up it would be an honor to play with this team again. (never had 85000 point game soooo ) I love Catherine and the cossacks those are incredible.

I said in the intro that I'd give priority to those who played in S-01. Unfortunately namliaM, all 6 from that SG signed up for this one so I'm really sorry but there's no room for you. I feel really bad about this especially as you signed up so quickly and came up with some ideas for the start. As we saw with the first SGOTM, I strongly believe that a roster of 7 is too many because large parts of the game pass you by. From reading other SGs you seem like a good guy and I'd be glad to cooperate in a future game.

Roster (order is reversed from S-01)

Cosmichail (20 turns)
Kikinit (15 turns)
mike p (15 turns)
Asperge (10 turns from here onwards)
blid
sooooo

I've looked at what people think for the start - does this seem sensible:

Tech: Fishing -> AH -> Wheel
Production: Barracks (until fishing comes in) -> Work Boat -> Worker

About strategy. We can't defend very well against an attack. This means that we need to keep our power level high to put off would-be attackers. We also need to be careful about who we annoy. If Genghis, Alex, Monty etc are nearby, we will probably have to deal with them quickly. Alex would be a real nightmare with his UU.

My general plan was this:

Expand peacefully until there are no good city sites left. This should coincide with us having a decent stack of horse archers. Then attack a civ. In terms of a victory type, I suggest we wait and see. But whatever victory we want I find it's important to conquer at least one civ to get enough land and especially resources to do well in the late-game.

Oh, and I think any chariots not made in Egypt are so bad against archers that it's not worth a chariot rush. Hopefully there will be enough land to expand into to not require one.

Although I started the game I don't want the team to feel pressured to follow my plan. I'd like to hear other team members' plans and we'll go with whatever the consensus is.

Save is attached.

I totally agree on all your points Sooooo. Are you playing or should I go ahead and start? (pending further input from team members of course)

NamliaM is a good player and has excellent observation. But I agree seven is too many especially at the pace we are going to be playing at. I'll check later tonight to see the feedback. I can play tonight about 7 hrs from now.

I won't fail my leader will always take turns fast to keep you interested. That way when you are conquering you take like half a civ before the next guy starts. Now I like that.

lurker's comment: I just thought of something. What happens when you pop a warrior from a hut?

Berserker,

He would have to die mohaaaaa. I usually get scouts but like you say have gotten warriors too. Oh the more I think about this the more I like it as our city won't have any defense for some time until we hook up horsies. Now that's a twist so settler should be a priorty after worker.

(Sooooo now I see why no barbs we'd be screwed if they were on)

To answer your two questions berserks: Mech Infs are not allowed. They can defend! Definitely not horselike . If we pop a warrior we can just delete it. A scout .... hmm he can move as fast as a horse but ... delete him!

Cosmichail: You're up first. Play later today if it suits you.

No problem, I understand prevering to play with people you know allready... I WILL be lurking tho...

sooooo, your plan is so general no one can disagree allthough i would like to
As soon as possible make workboat (don't scout with it!), and get the cow available.
Second city 1 south of the gold ..(is there where the horses are sooooo ) It has fresh water and plainshill. But maybe not enough food, we have to see more...And only when horses are there offcause.
Hope we can make Colossus, if we get behind in techs things will become difficult.

Pity Namliam can't play with us, he could be playing next door

Disregard this....male with blinkers didn't see we can keep our initial scout until I read the top for the fourth time. Gonna play now.