Hammer of the North v2.9 PBEM

[Peaster]

...I couldn't have had 11 by 811AD.

My mistake - you had 9 giants. I noticed that most of them were pretty far north. But you had many fast boats, so you had the option of gradually bringing them south, if necessary. Or using them on C.Swords first. AFAIK the Christians only had 2 or 3 giants, with few prospects for getting more.

That one loss still irritates me. If I'm in a power situation I like to choose my battles. If I don't like the odds of a fight I wait until I do like the odds. The Scottish city of Dunkeld is a prime example. I had 2 Raiders right next to the city that, together, probably could have killed the Thegn in the city. But, instead of losing a Raider in the process I waited a couple turns until I could get a Chief up there to lead the attack. I'm somewhat of a 'perfectionist player'. I like to pick my battles and fight them on my terms whenever possible.

This part is unclear to me. I don't see how you can avoid losses when attacking. In your example, how did you know there was a Thegn in Dunkeld? I suppose an RE can investigate, but then you lose the RE.

@Patient - I cannot commit to another PBEM until my internet connection is back to normal. But if you are still looking for someone in 1-2 weeks, I'll check it out.

 

[Duke of Marlbrough]

My mistake - you had 9 giants. I noticed that most of them were pretty far north. But you had many fast boats, so you had the option of gradually bringing them south, if necessary. Or using them on C.Swords first. AFAIK the Christians only had 2 or 3 giants, with few prospects for getting more.

I had many boats, but they had already been used to transport troops to the front. I had started to build Cogs for pulling a new wave of units forward but even building the ships were many turns off.

This part is unclear to me. I don't see how you can avoid losses when attacking. In your example, how did you know there was a Thegn in Dunkeld? I suppose an RE can investigate, but then you lose the RE.

It's what the city started with. My early attacks were able to be planned with fairly accurate parameters. I think I had 2 surprises in all of my attacks. One was the Anglo-Saxon King in the city when being attacked by my Giant. The other was with the Scots. They had a Giant in their city that I had no idea was there. However, since a nearby city started with a Thegn the possibilty existed that the Thegn was in that city on defensive terrain, so the city was intially skipped in my attack plans until a stronger unit could be brought up to handle the possibility of a Thegn being in the city. It turned out being a bit stronger than had been expected but the attacking unit was enough to handle it.

I actually did little unplanned attacks early on. There just wasn't much out there for the Christians to change around. I bought most of the Franks out early on so combat choices didn't matter much there. The counter attacks against the Germans were unknown so my most powerful units were used in those attacks, but, as you pointed out the Hammers seemed to have killed most of your best units, so they only faced lesser units. After checking what they were I was rather surprised to see so many 'super units'. A Giant, 2 Warlords, 4 Royal Guards, 2 Kings, a little more than the 4 that was previously stated. Actually, it's a better fighting force than I was able to muster. For all the damage the Germans did their losses are remarkably light for charging into the unknown against 'superior' troops. Makes me think the game wasn't as lop-sided as many may have intially thought.

 

[Patient English]

@Peaster,

OK, I think we will be starting this coming Sunday, but - depending on the Civ you take - you might not be up until next Friday....Would you still be interested? We don't mind waiting a day or two for your first turn....

 

[Peaster]

@Duke: Thanks - I think I understand what happened in the game now. Congrats to the Vikings ! Praise also to the Christians for their heroic, but doomed efforts.

German superunits (after Norse 811AD, I think): 1King, 1Giant, 2 WL. Also, 4RG's and 19 monks. IIRC had 2-3 different Kings, but can't remember if/when their lives overlapped. I was using my Giant to attack nearby C.Swords, and my monks to build rune-roads those Swords. I used RE's to bribe barb cities preferably with WL's.

German superunits (after Danish 814AD and the 4 Hammers): 1King. Also, 1RG and 10 monks. To attack Hedeby, I exposed most of these monks to attack, and lost 8 of 10, but IMO the game was already over. I thought the only slim chance to fight the Norse was to bring Sven into our alliance at the point of a sword.

Germany was able to fight back with so few units only because of the runes. If Morten forbids them in future games, Germany will probably have to play defensively like the other Christian Kings.

@Patient: I hope my computer problems will be resolved within a few days, and then I can take a look at your scen. If I do join, can you promise me a civ with some chances to win ? (My civ in the Apolyton PBEM is as hopeless as a Christian King, and I'd like a change )

 

[Peaster]

Patient: I tried to register at evo, but it demands a "control image". What the H*** is that?

 

[Patient English]

@Peaster: I have absolutely no idea....It never asked me for that - I will ask one of the Admins. La Fayette, did you have a similar issue? I know you registered OK....Have another go, and let me know the exact message you get..

If you join, you would probably get the British nation to play. IMO they are one of the best (the other being France) but they do need certain "techniques" to play well. I would be happy to be your advisor on that, as I would be playing Prussia and Austria, and would very likely be your ally anyway.

Nothing major or weird, but the pros and cons of a close Channel blockade against France, for example.....I.e. If you choose to do it, how to do it properly.

If you want to swap nations with me, I would be happy to do that (I love playing the British) but the others might protest, as they hate trying to defeat Britain against me...

 

[la fayette]

I have had no problem at all registering ( but I happen to have that kind of problems quite often, and I'm somewhat happy that this can occur to others now and then).

 

[Patient English]

Thread started at http://www.evo-games.net/Home/viewtopic.php?p=23927

No rush, guys, just familiarise yourself with the scenario (read the notes!) before next week....

 

[Peaster]

FYI - Apparently, the "control image" is a code, like 8KNH230, that is supposed to be displayed for you when you register. Then you just type it in. For some reason (probably related to my computer problems) the code was not visible when I tried to register the first time, but now I am in. Tx.

Patient: I'll be happy to play the Brits, and will accept any advice you have to offer. I guess we should switch to email at this point.

 

[Patient English]

Sure. I think I still have your email from this Hammer game, but it is embedded in my Outlook Express, which I cannot connect with any longer. I will dig it out, copy it to a text file, and use web mail in my backup O/S to contact you. Hopefully by tonight...

 

[Patient English]

OK, I have got your mail, and replied...

 

[Peaster]

Heh! Now my computer refuses to display email messages. I will try on another machine later today. If you do not hear from me in 24 hours, could you also send your answer by PM ?

[Peaster pauses for fond memories of pens and paper]

 

[Patient English]

But how long would it take to post and deliver floppy disks with our turns...