Aabra02: Hammy Builds a House

Again, with this crew I'm highly confident this island will be ours before infantry and a good piece of the other continent by bombers however I'd like to leave the option open simply for panache(age). :devil: :D
 
Well...if you want to keep the 20k option open for style points... CivAssist tells me that we're due for a 20k win in 2100 AD ... I'm willing to bet that a university right now would make it mathematically within reach...but I thought it wise to consult the team before plowing most of our treasury into an improvement we won't use immediately.
 
I suppose Beorn is the better one to ask but with the looks of that front and your mad whackage skills I'm thinking you probably won't need the cash for units right off.
 
Other thoughts:

We can buy a MA v. Portugal for these prices:
  • China: 311g
  • Maya: Engineering

China will also sell us Astronomy for 336g+53gpt...which I think is a bit pricey.
 
The culture option is nice but we're not going to get much from researching right now because of crazy unit costs. I'm in favor of just whacking our way to more unit support so that we catch a break, get cavalries and end this continent.

No deal on Astro, our cash is worth more buying food for our swords.
 
What about the Mayan alliance deal? And if so, should I roll peace into it? I don't want to create a runaway AI (London is now Mayan) but if ol' Smokey is gonna whack somebody, better it were someone we're at war with.

Though I agree (in principle) that we don't need an immediate university...we're at the point in the game when we probably ought to think seriously about whether we want to keep the 20k as an option. That was my main reason for suggesting the rushed university... culturally it's worth more than a few wonders I can think of...
 
we've got enough gold to rush a university in the IBT. It'll cost most (316 of 371) of our gold, but if we want to keep the 20k option...a university is worth 4cpt...

Any thoughts? Do we want to keep 20k open as a VC?

Do what you think is best. I'm used to playing with a cane, dark glasses and a tin cup after you spend all the gold. :p J/K!!!
 
I've been a bit lax in keeping up with my baking this year, so I whipped up a seasonal treat for all of you. Enjoy!!! :D

PROYN-cookies_and_plastic_1.jpg
 
Why did I know in my heart that 20K was never really an option with this bunch, and now Harriet has put out the war manna. Whack on I say and let's own this world, worry about culture when the rest of the world is ours!

Well done BeF! And keep up the good work scout!
 
I'll try to get this played tonight - but what about buying the Maya in against Portugal? Should I roll a peace treaty into the alliance?
 
I think the idea is gtreat, there's gonna be a ludicrous amount of troops trampling over chinese soil and that'll spark tensions.
 
I'll sign Smoke-Jag on and get it played tonight. Sorry for the delay...just a bit of mid-week RL kicking my butt.
 
Pre-flight check:

Big picture stuff...we're dead last in score, population, mfg goods, and #6 in GNP. Things are improving. :crazyeye: The One City we Built is #1 in the F11 screen.

Dial up the Maya and Trade Engineering+Peace+MA v. Portugal for Peace+MA v. Portugal. :devil: Move a pike to a mountaintop to block an advancing Celtic Spear.

Dial up the Chinese and buy contact with Joanie for 43g. France is on par with us tech-wise, 5g in the bank.

Swap Yamama to a Treb and short rush with a worker. Wake the bowman in Babylon and dispatch him towards Glanum (got a resistor to quell...) Swap Aden to Barracks, I think we've got enough workers to hack at the jungle.

IBT - Celts advance troops towards Iron City. Getting that one relieved and re-connected will be a high priority this set.

Babylon trains a MDI, starts another. MM Babylon for 2-turn Maces and decent gold.

Iron City completes the Heroic Epic, starts a longbow.

Turn 1/560 AD - clear out all the troops on the mountain leading to Iron city. Spend 72g rushing Walls at Curovernum, 156g rushing Barracks at Aden, 76g rushing the Trebuchet at Yamama.

I lost one MDI attacking a Spear/Archer quarted outside Curovernum...that was stupid... but I killed two horsemen and an archer.

Tempted to swap Iron City to worker (we need one down there) but instead I waste a few shields making a worker at Glanum...which will depopulate it. The food bin was over half full, and I didn't want to starve one of our citizens just to get the second Celtic one out.

IBT - Aden Barracks>Pike
Yamama Treb>Treb
Curovernum Walls>Temple
Glanum Worker>Barracks

French are building Leo's.
China has Chemistry :eek:

Turn 2/570 AD - Spend 32g short rushing a worker into the longbow at Iron City.

Dial up Abu and take his 47g for Engineering. Burn 120g finishing the longbow at Iron City.

IBT - Babylon trains a Crusader and MDI. England now knows Chemistry and Banking; China picked up Banking.

Turn 3/580 AD - Unbelievable...a regular spear on flat land flawlessly kills our freshly trained crusader. The fresh MDI takes care of it. The new Longbow kills a Celtic Horse, the MDI Army whacks a couple of Archers. Advance 2 slaves and the "native" celtic worker to a plains tile outside Iron City. Cover with a pike. Spend 32g short rushing a worker into a Pike at Aden. Whack a spear outside Curovernum with an Elite MDI, no leader.

IBT - Celts advance troops in a direction I don't like... 3 Horses a couple of turns from Babylon, and a bunch of stuff in the mountains.

Turn 4/590 - Whacking the Celts...I'm 2 turns from taking the next Celtic town...

Our Alliance v. Brennus ends when I try to give Abu's troops the boot. This is not good...

ArabWar.jpg


Sizing up the situation...we are in no shape to fight a 2-front war...Yamama and Aden have no garrison because I pulled the elite Bowman/sword pair into Babylon to counter the advancing Celts... :wallbash: I don't think I can prevent Yamama from changing hands back to Arabia...

Dial up Brennus...he'll sign Peace Straight up.

IBT - Aden slips into disorder...the resistance in Glanum ends... Brennus continues to advance troops through our territory...he's still at war with Arabia.

Turn 5/600AD - moving troops towards the Arabian front... hire a scientist in Aden...

Brennus offers horses+Wines+6g for Engineering...I take it...more for the wines than the ponies... because I know what'll happen IBT.

Yamama_Falls.jpg


Turn 6/610 AD

Iron City is re-connected, dispatch a couple of workers to the salt.

IBT - we hold off a couple of MDI at the border before a pike falls, and then this:

Yamama_Flips.jpg


I think long and hard about this one...but I don't want the war-weariness hit from having that city taken a second time in as many turns... and I am still 2 turns out from being able to hold that position. As much as it pains me to do this, I rebuff the rebels.

Turn 7/620 AD - I lose an Elite Bowman attacking one of 2 Arabian MDI - the Elite Sword kills one MDI, no leader.

IBT - Maya queue up Sistine Chapel.

Turn 8/630 AD - whack 3 Arabian MDI , taking no casualties. I will get Yamama back by the end of this set.

Turn 9/640 AD - advance on Yamama...

IBT - French complete Sistine Chapel.

Turn 10 - We take Yamama back... and assemble a stack to go after Baghdad.

Yamama_Back.jpg


After Action Review:

The Good: I got a Yamama back.
The Bad: I had to do some serious adjusting...that set didn't go quite like we'd planned.
The Ugly: I never should've let us get outflanked by the Arabs. Sorry team. :blush:

@Next Better Player - press up the Eastern Arab Coast. You've got a pike, a couple of MDI and a Crusader, and a slightly used MDI army to go after Baghdad. There are horses in the next town up there, and we need our own. Take those 2 towns, and then let Brennus send his troops into the Arabian core before pressing further. Hopefully Abu will be able to kill a lot of them off... without Iron, Brennus is building a LOT of cheap AA units...and we simply can't deal with the raw number right now. Avoid war with Brennus if you can - we're getting wines from him.

We have a forest chop scheduled in Glanum in 3 or 4 turns... we could probably swap the barracks build to a Library (we need some culture in a captured town) and let the forest chop go into a barracks queue'd up next...

Here's >>>>> The Save <<<<<
 
Rebuffing was wise. Tough luck on the arab show, but I guess we need to pay some price for our daring strategy. It still looks good in the whole ...

Tech-wise, do we keep min on banking? It's a shame but it got out, we have virtually nothing invested in it but it would be costly to jump back into the tech race. I think it would be best to keep at it on banking, get it eventually and extort chemistry out of someone.

Btw I played COTM43 to QSC, just started sending troops to the barb landmass, did poor tech choices running after the slave units and shouldn't have. Nothing in the way of conquering a second landmass has occurred yet.
 
...Tough luck on the arab show, but I guess we need to pay some price<snip>
Well...I think I was able to make the adjustment needed to do a little bouncing back over the next couple of turnsets. "Some days you're the bug, some days you're the windshield..."
Tech-wise, do we keep min on banking? It's a shame but it got out, we have virtually nothing invested in it but it would be costly to jump back into the tech race. I think it would be best to keep at it on banking, get it eventually and extort chemistry out of someone.
I'm tempted to start a soft burn towards Cavalry. If we can snag the Arabian Horses, build a some Knights... Babylon could spit out a Cav every 4 turns when we get MT...
Btw I played COTM43 to QSC, <snip>
@Bede: You need to have a look at this one. Ainwood and company cooked up a game that's just too interesting to pass up...even at Sid level. Beorn here managed to cajole me and (I think) Denyd into going for conquest in the Open class. (The gang with medals are going for domination on Predator...) I'll probably get spanked... but I'm gonna give it a shot.
 
Got it.

You did a good job of pulling us out of a tough situation, Scout. :goodjob: I find it totally confusing when our enemies/allies switch sides.

Summary:

Ok, so we're at peace with the Celts who are still at war with the Arabs, but we are not allied with them. There's sure a bunch of Celts in our territory, which makes me very nervous. :sad:

The objective is to take Baghdad and Mansura to secure the horses there, and to stay out of war with Brennus.

We're allied with the Maya against Portugal with nothing to be done unless Henry lands some troops nearby.

I'll wait until sometime Saturday to play this, so if anyone has additional thoughts, please post them.

Later Edit: If I'm not asking specific questions (as I usually do), it's because I have no idea WHAT to ask. I'm so used to being the largest civ with the most cities spamming settlers, and this game is so upside down to that, so my summary is what I DO (think) I understand, and everything else is open to question. :crazyeye:
 
I find it totally confusing when our enemies/allies switch sides.
There are a couple of things that make this one a bit of a tactical challenge... the only way the Arabs and Celts can fight each other is by crossing our territory...and we have a pretty broad front with the Celts.
...at peace with the Celts who are... at war with the Arabs, but we are not allied with them. ...a bunch of Celts in our territory...
I think one key here is pikes... we need a "show of force" in every town along Brennus' travel route (which means nearly every town) with at least one in the garrison being a defensive unit. Pikes can also occupy the high ground along the southern Celtic border when it's appropriate to go after Brennus again. While I think it stinks to tie down troops to garrison OUR towns... I'm afraid we've simply got to do it.
The objective is to take Baghdad and Mansura to secure the horses there, and to stay out of war with Brennus.:
Yes, and let the tempo of the Celtic/Arabic war dictate the course from there. If Brennus starts taking cities, hold back and let Abu re-take his cities... if the Celtic forces get shredded by the Arabs, lean harder on Abu. What we want to avoid here is having to hold a bunch of Arab towns surrounded by Celtic forces....that would be a worse (not worst) case. The better case would be for Abu to pare down Brennus forces, and for US to take Abu's towns.
We're allied with the Maya against Portugal with nothing to be done unless Henry lands some troops nearby.
I'd be surprised to see more than a token Portugese force at this point. London is now Mayan, and IIRC, the formerly Portugese town of Sagres is also Mayan.

If I were a betting man (and I am) I'd bet that the Maya are the most likely candidate for runaway AI in this one.
...this game is so upside down to that, so my summary is what I DO (think) I understand, and everything else is open to question. :crazyeye:
This one is not in the bag just yet. We're in no shape for a 2-front war... so these are the military options as I see them:
  1. Neutralize Celts or Arabia as a threat, so we've only got one frontier to guard. Right now that appears more feasible with Arabia.
  2. Engage in a series of quick-hit land grab campaigns, grabbing a few cities and accepting peace before we run the risk of getting over-extended.
 
Sorry for the double-post, but I had some additonal thoughts...

First off, I think we should turn research towards Military Tradition...we can acquire horses, and we'll have salt hooked up soon.

I'd also like to acquire Astronomy if it becomes affordable - mainly for the explorers. I have three reasons for wanting the little buggers:
  • While at peace with Brennus, we can do some creative trespassing and improve our intelligence.
  • While at war with Brennus, we can pillage the #$%@ out of his resources.
  • We could use a 20-shield something-or-other as a bridge for short rushing. Explorers fill that bill.
 
This is turning into a real bell-ringer. First the Celts <bong> then the Arabs <bing> then the Celts and Arabs <bing-bong> then the Arabs alone <bing>. My question is: when do we get the <bada-bing>?
 
Thank you for the additional pointers. I'll give it a go and see what happens. :)
 
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