Primacide
Settler
Here we have a well-fought game, but a sad ending. If you'd like to learn or have advice for me, please read on...
For those who are tl;dr, we'll start with the bare facts:
UU: Narusens (strong knight). Didn't know that they didn't need horses. Nice. They really soaked up damage as well. They were excellent and fast meat sheilds. I only popped two, but they were welcome additions.
UB: Wat - Uni replacement with +3 culture. Excellent. Plus 3 culture on a building I will spam as soon as its available. It won't break the game, but I'll take it. That culture comes at a point in my games where culture is at its abosolute nadir, so it is actually quite welcome. Still, you can't argue that it's an incredibly useful UB.
UA: +50% yeilds from CS allies (food, faith, culture). I typically love this bonus, since in my own games I have between 25 and 35 CS usually. Unfortunately, I didn't get a good gpt rolling early, so I didn't get to take advantage of CS culture to get me to the industrial era. Wah-wah. This was quite an oversight on my part. With so many faith and cultural CS on this map, I should have been setting aside cash for CS quests instead of buying tiles and pikemen.
My initial capital BO: Scout, scout, Shrine, Archer, Warrior, Settler, Settler, Water Mill, Library, Granary, Oracle (suspended during), NC
Tech Order: (Mining from ruin), Pottery, Archery, Beeline to Construction (Masonry, Wheel), Writing, Philo, Bronze Working, Iron Working (I'm looking at you, Atilla), Sailing, Optics, beeline Civil Service then Education. Beeline Printing Press, Steel, Beeline Scientific Method, then beeline Radio (same path). Beeline Astronomy (to meet the rest of the CS), beeline Fertilizer (FOOD!), Beeline Refrigeration, Beeline Plastics.
Policy: Trad, Patronage to +20 influence, then switch to Rationalism when rennaisance reached.
NC at turn: 103
DoW: Atilla, turn 152. 2 cities captured (including capital), peace on turn 180.
Worker Steal: Turn 26 DoW on Ife to steal first worker. Stole again on turn 55 and 77. Made peace after that for some chance at friendship with Ife later.
DoF: Portugal turn 40.
Starting loc rationale: I Moved two tiles to the southeast in order to secure a coast/river start. I hate to give up hills... I REALLY hate to give up a hill start... But I will need CS trade routes and that means a deep water captial, baby. I also sacrifice a salt, but I will plant my first expo in that direction if possible. Salt is just a ridiculous lux to have, in that it is the only improvement which boosts food, gold, and production with one stroke.
Expos: West of capital, within range of FoY (Turn 53). BO: Comp Bow (suspended during), Library, Granary, Caravan
East of capital, gobbling up 3 salt, cotton, and tons of desert flood plains for my desert folklore faith pantheon (Turn 62). BO: Comp Bow (suspended, like an idiot, because I then cash-bought the library), Granary, Cargo Ship
Now, here's how it all went:
Popped a turn 2 ruin that gave me mining, which tells me that I'm going to steal a worker SOON!!! Very nice gift with salt nearby. Also on turn 2, I met... Atilla the Freakin Hun. Oh yay. Now I'm thinking that I really hope Shaka is on the other side of that guy. Otherwise, I guess it's good to have mining already reasearched. I will prioritize construction earlier in this game for the composite bows. Perhaps Iron Workang as well, but that begins to take me out of my ideal tech path. I like to get to the civil service benchmark pretty quickly if I can. Ironically, I always wind up with a turn 130 NC, but I'm determined that won't happen this time! Turn four popped another ruin, this one giving me a map of the west. I can see a city state's borders and... holy... there are three salt, cotton, and the Cerro-de-Moneys natural wonder. I want this spot, but I will have to forward-settle Atilla to get it. Am I that balsy? Turn 8, met Ife to the west. I am not thinking strongly about religion in this game, since I am going to try to focus on gold for CS Allies. However, if a by-product of CS alliances is a religion, then I won't argue with it. I typically try for a religion, but I find that it can create enemies that I don't want to have. Turn 10, met Jerusalem and am of course immediately thinking, "Well religion ain't so bad..."
Also popped a third ruin which converted my newly minted scout into an all-terrain archer. I'll take it! Makes me think that going after Atilla before he comes for me might be an option. I don't typically go for archery early (Temple of Artemis is awesome but goes away before I even have a worker out), but I might in this case and just whack Atilla (or slow him) while I have a chance. I know I can't keep pace with the immortal AI in the early game. (I am not a diety player, by the way. Immortal is the level that I find challenging and I do not consistently win yet... at least not without reload and IGE... In any event, mo' archers is better. By the way, Jerusalem's proximity to Cerro-de-moolah makes it pointless to go after. Met the Shoshone turn 12 and had the pleasure of popping a ruin right in front of their pathfinder.
I got Calendar from it, which is very useful, given that it leads to philosophy and the NC, as well as making it possible to improve the incense to the south of my capital. I was also the first to meet Brussels, turn 13. Met Maria of Portugal on turn 17. I can't see where she's coming from yet, so I don't know if she'll be a target for Atilla or not. Found a turn 21 faith ruin, which let me choose desert folklore as my pantheon.
This pretty much solidifies my startegy. I'm going to have to forward-settle Atilla in order to grab the huge swath of desert next to his cap. That means early war. I've not pulled off this kind of start before, though I'm familiar with it from the forums. I'm hoping not to mess it up in the execution. War is about letting your opponent smash himself against your ranged units in this game. You bleed your opponent dry and then move forward. I always make the mistake of thinking that I've bled the AI out and move forward too quickly. The idea of war at higher difficulties is that you don't lose units. If you're manufacturing replacements all the time, you are probably doing something wrong, because there is no way you will out-produce the AI. In any event, my problem tends to be losing units with no gain (like a capital). This is an old habit from playing on King/Emporer. On those levels, if you are trading a melee for a melee, it is a win, because you can produce a promoted replacement faster than your opponent. But I digress...
Turn 26, stole a worker from Ife and opened tradition. Atilla has three warriors dancing around a great general that he somehow spawned sometime before turn 20. Are you kidding me? I realize it's the second honor policy, but geez.
Early screens:
Salt, coast, river... What else do you want? (A hill, anyone?)
Really? Turn 20 GG? REALLY?!
Can anyone say, "Desert Folklore, please?"
Back to the game:
Turn 26: Fountain of Youth?! Sweetness to go with the salt. This map looks to be pretty fun. Turn 47 bribed Atilla to DoW my BFF Portugal for salt and 2gpt. Turn 53, forward settled right on the Shoshone for the FoY bonus. Mixed with double salt and two new luxes made this spot hard to pass up. I am currently planning on three self-founded cities. I think with two rather agressevely settled expos, I'm going to have my hands full trying to defend just those three cities. They have the potential for true awesomeness with this dirt though. Settled my second expo in Atilla's face where the desert and cotton are, near Jerusalem. Both cities began to grow quickly without many improved tiles.
Turn 79, I paid Shoshone to DoW Ethiopia, so hopefully they will keep each other occupied. Shoshone wanted friendship next turn, which I accepted. I have thus managed to get both my forward-settled neighbors to go hostile in another direction. Hopefully I've bought time to get a defensive army up and stave off the inevitable invasion. Turn 81, I founded my religion. (Bewbs, for those who are interested in awesome custom names for your religion. "Kuala Lumpur wants Bewbs." Bwahahaha... I'm so immature.) I went with Tithe (+1 gpt for every four followers) and Mosques (+3f, +2cult, +1happy building). Mosques are neat and lean a little toward faith, and tithe is my go to belief if I don't think I can keep cities converted. With tithe, you get the benefit on a per-follower basis. I have noticed that the game bases the gold bonus on total citizens following your faith / 4. So, you don't need four followers in the same city, you just need to aggregate followers here and there to enjoy the bonus. If I feel I can keep my religion in most cities, I go for the +1 global happiness for every two cities following your religion. It means you basically can stop worrying about happiness for the rest of the game. Unfortunately, you have to keep the cities converted or you start losing happiness fast. As I said before, I don't want to be too aggressive with religion in this game, so I'm taking the less intense Tithe belief.
Turn 99, bribed Atilla to DoW Ethiopia after he made peace with Portugal. It may be gaming the AI a bit, but I know that the other civ's are very reticent to open a second war if they are engaged in one already, even if it's a war they aren't actively prosecuting. If the oppenent is far away, like in this case, then it's less reliable. I'm expecting Atilla to come at me soon, and I have no illusions that a half-hearted other war will stop him.
A few images from turns 50-100:
FoY!!! How you like me now, Shoshone dude?"
Man, I really need to grow up. "Kuala Lumpur wants Bewbs." And I laugh every time.
And to the bitter end:
Built Oracle at turn 112, which was a nice pickup, used it to finish tradition. Expo is building scouts, because I can't see more than twenty tiles in any direction. Enhanced my religion on turn 115 with swords to plowshares (+15% growth when not at war), and itinerant preachers (+30% distance on pressure from cities). I feel that IP spreads your religion much more effectively than religious texts (which increases pressure from 6 to 9 per city in range). It's similar to ranged attacks in combat: your cities can "attack" some of their cities (with religious pressure), while not being "attacked" themselves. Given the number of cities spammed by the AI at this level, if you can manage to secure a corner for your religion, you will consistently spread it, or at least keep it where it is. I reached civil service at turn 116, for those who like benchmarks. Missed Petra by one turn (!) on 129. I knew it was too good to be true... Finished Education on turn 132, queued Wats up in all three cities. Yay Wats.
On turn 152, I finally saw my advantage and DoW'ed Atilla. I had just reached x-bows and he hadn't, so 'nough said. I picked off his UU with ease, since it receives a penalty when attacked by melee. I used pikes for meat shield and stole gunpowder, so got the excellent damage-absorbing muskets out pretty early. I puppeted Atillas first expo on turn 173, and stole the capital on turn 180. I figured that was enough (he only has one expo that he stole from Portugal, which will be eaten by the Romans whenever Augustus notices it), and made peace.
The congress was founded in the meanwhile, on turn 176 by Rome. Rome is currently the leader, but that position is hotly contested by the Shoshone and Songhai (of all people), who is of course hanging out on his little island, collecting wonders and spamming great prophets.
Fortunately, the early runaway, Portugal (my BFF), got whacked early by Rome, who now has to contend with the world's ire. He is fighting the Shoshone, who I may or may not DoW next.
I had expected the game to begin to turn in my favor by now, catching up on techs and seeing population boom. I am, however, still quite the underdog. I have negative gpt (which is amazing given tithe and a decent faith spread). I have no happiness problems, because of FoY, but that's about the only thing I have going for me. My second expo just sucks at production, a fact that I was blind to when I saw all the salt and desert. Losing Petra made that city pretty "meh." Nothing like a great big city that is still working on its granary in the rennaisance. In any event, I look to turtle for a bit to play catch up and see where the global chips are going to fall. I hope to annex Atilla's Court when it comes out of resistance, so that should help some with catching up - after it's done setting me back.
After Scientific Theory, I chose to beeline Radio. It may help to be first to the ideologies. I will pick order because that is what the AI will pick. Kidding aside, I love skyscrapers (-30% building purchase cost), and the bonus to producing factories, with +25% science on top, is amazing.
Ho-HO!!! I just got spanked on immortal. ARGH!!! Turn 202, Shoshone and Rome both DoW me! They had made peace the turn before. Yes, the freaking turn before. I was tempted to reload and turn one of them against someone else, but it seemed to violate the spirit of this write-up. In any event, I didn't even see Roman troops - the Shoshone came fast with a carpet of troops who were all one upgrade above mine.
Then the bombers showed up and that was all she wrote. I apologize for no ending screen - I just couldn't play until my last puppet was killed. It made me want to cry too much. Well, credit is due to you high-level players: you all spanked this map like it was no problem and I got stung. I think my lesson from this game is that if you try to focus a little on everything, you focus a lot on nothing.
And some late game images:
A look at the turn 100 demographics for those who are interested.
Holy moly! Has anyone ever seen gpt that high?!?! I'm thinking it's no wonder I got stomped right in the face with a rush. Wow, do I wish I was that guy...
Lessons from this game:
Did rights: Triple worker steal. I usually get nervous and make peace after one.
Did wrongs: Weird scouting meant I didn't notice FoY until late. Scout got eaten, so I haven't met all civ's by turn 100. Many people said
that they met all civs by turn 30 or under! Got stagnant around the rennaisance and lost ground to the AI instead of making it up after the
medival slump.
Any advice, sympathy, or kudos for my selfless posting of a loss for you all to laugh at, please feel free to reply.
Thanks to those who host this series!!! Keep 'em coming!
For those who are tl;dr, we'll start with the bare facts:
Spoiler :
UU: Narusens (strong knight). Didn't know that they didn't need horses. Nice. They really soaked up damage as well. They were excellent and fast meat sheilds. I only popped two, but they were welcome additions.
UB: Wat - Uni replacement with +3 culture. Excellent. Plus 3 culture on a building I will spam as soon as its available. It won't break the game, but I'll take it. That culture comes at a point in my games where culture is at its abosolute nadir, so it is actually quite welcome. Still, you can't argue that it's an incredibly useful UB.
UA: +50% yeilds from CS allies (food, faith, culture). I typically love this bonus, since in my own games I have between 25 and 35 CS usually. Unfortunately, I didn't get a good gpt rolling early, so I didn't get to take advantage of CS culture to get me to the industrial era. Wah-wah. This was quite an oversight on my part. With so many faith and cultural CS on this map, I should have been setting aside cash for CS quests instead of buying tiles and pikemen.
My initial capital BO: Scout, scout, Shrine, Archer, Warrior, Settler, Settler, Water Mill, Library, Granary, Oracle (suspended during), NC
Tech Order: (Mining from ruin), Pottery, Archery, Beeline to Construction (Masonry, Wheel), Writing, Philo, Bronze Working, Iron Working (I'm looking at you, Atilla), Sailing, Optics, beeline Civil Service then Education. Beeline Printing Press, Steel, Beeline Scientific Method, then beeline Radio (same path). Beeline Astronomy (to meet the rest of the CS), beeline Fertilizer (FOOD!), Beeline Refrigeration, Beeline Plastics.
Policy: Trad, Patronage to +20 influence, then switch to Rationalism when rennaisance reached.
NC at turn: 103
DoW: Atilla, turn 152. 2 cities captured (including capital), peace on turn 180.
Worker Steal: Turn 26 DoW on Ife to steal first worker. Stole again on turn 55 and 77. Made peace after that for some chance at friendship with Ife later.
DoF: Portugal turn 40.
Starting loc rationale: I Moved two tiles to the southeast in order to secure a coast/river start. I hate to give up hills... I REALLY hate to give up a hill start... But I will need CS trade routes and that means a deep water captial, baby. I also sacrifice a salt, but I will plant my first expo in that direction if possible. Salt is just a ridiculous lux to have, in that it is the only improvement which boosts food, gold, and production with one stroke.
Expos: West of capital, within range of FoY (Turn 53). BO: Comp Bow (suspended during), Library, Granary, Caravan
East of capital, gobbling up 3 salt, cotton, and tons of desert flood plains for my desert folklore faith pantheon (Turn 62). BO: Comp Bow (suspended, like an idiot, because I then cash-bought the library), Granary, Cargo Ship
Now, here's how it all went:
Spoiler :
Popped a turn 2 ruin that gave me mining, which tells me that I'm going to steal a worker SOON!!! Very nice gift with salt nearby. Also on turn 2, I met... Atilla the Freakin Hun. Oh yay. Now I'm thinking that I really hope Shaka is on the other side of that guy. Otherwise, I guess it's good to have mining already reasearched. I will prioritize construction earlier in this game for the composite bows. Perhaps Iron Workang as well, but that begins to take me out of my ideal tech path. I like to get to the civil service benchmark pretty quickly if I can. Ironically, I always wind up with a turn 130 NC, but I'm determined that won't happen this time! Turn four popped another ruin, this one giving me a map of the west. I can see a city state's borders and... holy... there are three salt, cotton, and the Cerro-de-Moneys natural wonder. I want this spot, but I will have to forward-settle Atilla to get it. Am I that balsy? Turn 8, met Ife to the west. I am not thinking strongly about religion in this game, since I am going to try to focus on gold for CS Allies. However, if a by-product of CS alliances is a religion, then I won't argue with it. I typically try for a religion, but I find that it can create enemies that I don't want to have. Turn 10, met Jerusalem and am of course immediately thinking, "Well religion ain't so bad..."
Also popped a third ruin which converted my newly minted scout into an all-terrain archer. I'll take it! Makes me think that going after Atilla before he comes for me might be an option. I don't typically go for archery early (Temple of Artemis is awesome but goes away before I even have a worker out), but I might in this case and just whack Atilla (or slow him) while I have a chance. I know I can't keep pace with the immortal AI in the early game. (I am not a diety player, by the way. Immortal is the level that I find challenging and I do not consistently win yet... at least not without reload and IGE... In any event, mo' archers is better. By the way, Jerusalem's proximity to Cerro-de-moolah makes it pointless to go after. Met the Shoshone turn 12 and had the pleasure of popping a ruin right in front of their pathfinder.
I got Calendar from it, which is very useful, given that it leads to philosophy and the NC, as well as making it possible to improve the incense to the south of my capital. I was also the first to meet Brussels, turn 13. Met Maria of Portugal on turn 17. I can't see where she's coming from yet, so I don't know if she'll be a target for Atilla or not. Found a turn 21 faith ruin, which let me choose desert folklore as my pantheon.
This pretty much solidifies my startegy. I'm going to have to forward-settle Atilla in order to grab the huge swath of desert next to his cap. That means early war. I've not pulled off this kind of start before, though I'm familiar with it from the forums. I'm hoping not to mess it up in the execution. War is about letting your opponent smash himself against your ranged units in this game. You bleed your opponent dry and then move forward. I always make the mistake of thinking that I've bled the AI out and move forward too quickly. The idea of war at higher difficulties is that you don't lose units. If you're manufacturing replacements all the time, you are probably doing something wrong, because there is no way you will out-produce the AI. In any event, my problem tends to be losing units with no gain (like a capital). This is an old habit from playing on King/Emporer. On those levels, if you are trading a melee for a melee, it is a win, because you can produce a promoted replacement faster than your opponent. But I digress...
Turn 26, stole a worker from Ife and opened tradition. Atilla has three warriors dancing around a great general that he somehow spawned sometime before turn 20. Are you kidding me? I realize it's the second honor policy, but geez.
Early screens:
Spoiler :
Salt, coast, river... What else do you want? (A hill, anyone?)
Spoiler :
Really? Turn 20 GG? REALLY?!
Spoiler :
Can anyone say, "Desert Folklore, please?"
Back to the game:
Spoiler :
Turn 26: Fountain of Youth?! Sweetness to go with the salt. This map looks to be pretty fun. Turn 47 bribed Atilla to DoW my BFF Portugal for salt and 2gpt. Turn 53, forward settled right on the Shoshone for the FoY bonus. Mixed with double salt and two new luxes made this spot hard to pass up. I am currently planning on three self-founded cities. I think with two rather agressevely settled expos, I'm going to have my hands full trying to defend just those three cities. They have the potential for true awesomeness with this dirt though. Settled my second expo in Atilla's face where the desert and cotton are, near Jerusalem. Both cities began to grow quickly without many improved tiles.
Turn 79, I paid Shoshone to DoW Ethiopia, so hopefully they will keep each other occupied. Shoshone wanted friendship next turn, which I accepted. I have thus managed to get both my forward-settled neighbors to go hostile in another direction. Hopefully I've bought time to get a defensive army up and stave off the inevitable invasion. Turn 81, I founded my religion. (Bewbs, for those who are interested in awesome custom names for your religion. "Kuala Lumpur wants Bewbs." Bwahahaha... I'm so immature.) I went with Tithe (+1 gpt for every four followers) and Mosques (+3f, +2cult, +1happy building). Mosques are neat and lean a little toward faith, and tithe is my go to belief if I don't think I can keep cities converted. With tithe, you get the benefit on a per-follower basis. I have noticed that the game bases the gold bonus on total citizens following your faith / 4. So, you don't need four followers in the same city, you just need to aggregate followers here and there to enjoy the bonus. If I feel I can keep my religion in most cities, I go for the +1 global happiness for every two cities following your religion. It means you basically can stop worrying about happiness for the rest of the game. Unfortunately, you have to keep the cities converted or you start losing happiness fast. As I said before, I don't want to be too aggressive with religion in this game, so I'm taking the less intense Tithe belief.
Turn 99, bribed Atilla to DoW Ethiopia after he made peace with Portugal. It may be gaming the AI a bit, but I know that the other civ's are very reticent to open a second war if they are engaged in one already, even if it's a war they aren't actively prosecuting. If the oppenent is far away, like in this case, then it's less reliable. I'm expecting Atilla to come at me soon, and I have no illusions that a half-hearted other war will stop him.
A few images from turns 50-100:
Spoiler :
FoY!!! How you like me now, Shoshone dude?"
Spoiler :
Man, I really need to grow up. "Kuala Lumpur wants Bewbs." And I laugh every time.
And to the bitter end:
Spoiler :
Built Oracle at turn 112, which was a nice pickup, used it to finish tradition. Expo is building scouts, because I can't see more than twenty tiles in any direction. Enhanced my religion on turn 115 with swords to plowshares (+15% growth when not at war), and itinerant preachers (+30% distance on pressure from cities). I feel that IP spreads your religion much more effectively than religious texts (which increases pressure from 6 to 9 per city in range). It's similar to ranged attacks in combat: your cities can "attack" some of their cities (with religious pressure), while not being "attacked" themselves. Given the number of cities spammed by the AI at this level, if you can manage to secure a corner for your religion, you will consistently spread it, or at least keep it where it is. I reached civil service at turn 116, for those who like benchmarks. Missed Petra by one turn (!) on 129. I knew it was too good to be true... Finished Education on turn 132, queued Wats up in all three cities. Yay Wats.
On turn 152, I finally saw my advantage and DoW'ed Atilla. I had just reached x-bows and he hadn't, so 'nough said. I picked off his UU with ease, since it receives a penalty when attacked by melee. I used pikes for meat shield and stole gunpowder, so got the excellent damage-absorbing muskets out pretty early. I puppeted Atillas first expo on turn 173, and stole the capital on turn 180. I figured that was enough (he only has one expo that he stole from Portugal, which will be eaten by the Romans whenever Augustus notices it), and made peace.
The congress was founded in the meanwhile, on turn 176 by Rome. Rome is currently the leader, but that position is hotly contested by the Shoshone and Songhai (of all people), who is of course hanging out on his little island, collecting wonders and spamming great prophets.
Fortunately, the early runaway, Portugal (my BFF), got whacked early by Rome, who now has to contend with the world's ire. He is fighting the Shoshone, who I may or may not DoW next.
I had expected the game to begin to turn in my favor by now, catching up on techs and seeing population boom. I am, however, still quite the underdog. I have negative gpt (which is amazing given tithe and a decent faith spread). I have no happiness problems, because of FoY, but that's about the only thing I have going for me. My second expo just sucks at production, a fact that I was blind to when I saw all the salt and desert. Losing Petra made that city pretty "meh." Nothing like a great big city that is still working on its granary in the rennaisance. In any event, I look to turtle for a bit to play catch up and see where the global chips are going to fall. I hope to annex Atilla's Court when it comes out of resistance, so that should help some with catching up - after it's done setting me back.
After Scientific Theory, I chose to beeline Radio. It may help to be first to the ideologies. I will pick order because that is what the AI will pick. Kidding aside, I love skyscrapers (-30% building purchase cost), and the bonus to producing factories, with +25% science on top, is amazing.
Ho-HO!!! I just got spanked on immortal. ARGH!!! Turn 202, Shoshone and Rome both DoW me! They had made peace the turn before. Yes, the freaking turn before. I was tempted to reload and turn one of them against someone else, but it seemed to violate the spirit of this write-up. In any event, I didn't even see Roman troops - the Shoshone came fast with a carpet of troops who were all one upgrade above mine.
Then the bombers showed up and that was all she wrote. I apologize for no ending screen - I just couldn't play until my last puppet was killed. It made me want to cry too much. Well, credit is due to you high-level players: you all spanked this map like it was no problem and I got stung. I think my lesson from this game is that if you try to focus a little on everything, you focus a lot on nothing.
And some late game images:
Spoiler :
A look at the turn 100 demographics for those who are interested.
Spoiler :
Holy moly! Has anyone ever seen gpt that high?!?! I'm thinking it's no wonder I got stomped right in the face with a rush. Wow, do I wish I was that guy...
Lessons from this game:
Spoiler :
Did rights: Triple worker steal. I usually get nervous and make peace after one.
Did wrongs: Weird scouting meant I didn't notice FoY until late. Scout got eaten, so I haven't met all civ's by turn 100. Many people said
that they met all civs by turn 30 or under! Got stagnant around the rennaisance and lost ground to the AI instead of making it up after the
medival slump.
Any advice, sympathy, or kudos for my selfless posting of a loss for you all to laugh at, please feel free to reply.
Thanks to those who host this series!!! Keep 'em coming!