aCK-2 Seeing Red

[sturick]

First thing...can someone post an updated roster order?

Secondly, I will just throw these thoughts out there.
It intended as much for me to get refamiliar with the game as it to be helpful for whoevers up next.

I checked and we can beg banking off of Sulei with no repercussions that I saw.
Credit for this move goes in part to meh... who reminded us of the Music beg earlier.
With banking in the bag I would tech gunpowder. It will hopefully (by the time we get there) have some good trade value. Brennus is the only one who knows it currently. Fingers crossed that will allow us to backfill quite a bit.

Kyoto can fire two forest workers in favor of two scientists as Silver mentioned in his last post.
Or we could grow to size 15 in two turns and then hire the two scientists.

Osaka...I would fire the workers at the baby cottages and make one a scientist and work the jumbos for some extra hammers. Then after the treb finishes build a grocer (or a bank).

Chicken Pizza can whip the temple out into the library then move on to a lighthouse.
Plenty of food and happy here to whip them all out imo.

Satsuma can fire a couple of farmers and turn them into miners.
I guess it can finish the temple and then return to building military.

Kago needs a forge.

Tabriz can at the least work a farm instead of the forest.

Uxmal is in a bit of a pinch until it can get some more tiles to work.
Maybe do a theatre here first then finish the forge after...we only have 6 hammers here so the forge will only add 1 to that.

I proposed earlier that Mutal build an Islamic Monastery to spread Islam to at least Sats and Oxi.
We could spread it even further if we want to spread islam everywhere for the shrine income.
Our upcoming GP can bulb theo or build the shrine in Mayapan.
What do you guys think about how we should use our GP in three turns?

Speaking of the Ox it can build a lib after it finishes its treb.

Mayapan should switch to a library immediately so we can run some specs here.

I say forget the barracks in Tokyo and start in a forge with the intent of building a bank/grocer/market/monastery later on.

Coventry could start some walls...any future attacks on Brennus will likely recieve a counterattack here...lets make it harder on him shall we?

Good luck to whomever is up next!

 

[S.ilver]

Ok, a roster dig up.

Roster
1. sturick
2. Diamondeye
3. goblinmarine (MIA)
4. Liquidated (still out of the loop?)
5. Whosit >> Up Now <<
6. S.ilver <-- On Deck --

 

[sturick]

Alright Whosit!!!

Time for you to exact some revenge on Brennus!
In my best Rob Schneider voice: "You can do it!"

The Maul of Doom will not become the Stick of Discomfort! (I liked that line )

Just remember...we aren't in a hurry this time. That seemed to be your downfall last time.
So make sure your stack is ready to be unleashed if and when you DOW on Brennus.
Troopwise we are good...the only thing we could use more of are trebs. You can never have enough siege.
Remember that cats are disposable. I would use them first to soften up the defenses and to lighten our unit maintenance.

I imagine that if we can take Vienna and Bibracte with this push that would be great!
If we could take the city just to the east (can't think of its name without pulling up the save) that would be icing on the cake.

If you feel things starting to slip then its fine to hand the reins over to Silver.
I think you tried to do that last time but I think I might have suggested you continue on.
Sorry bout that...well hopefully the AI doesn't throw you any curveballs this time around!

Good luck sir!
Go get em!

 

[Whosit]

Ha ha, thanks, sturick. I'll make sure to take it slow and steady. Actually, because my schedule this weekend is tight, I'll probably be playing the set over a period of days. Hopefully that won't impair my play. At the very least, I can give you guys constant updates or whatever.

 

[Whosit]

OK, I've played my set, but don't expect the report until late tomorrow. But I guess I can give you all a summary.

Well, we weren't all that attached to Kyoto, right . . .?

. . . .

No, just kidding. (Though maybe is appropriate as well.)

No, I played the full 20 turns I'm proud to report that all primary objectives were completed (the capture of Vienne and Bibracte). Couldn't make it to anything else, though, but after a turn or two of rest, the army should be ready to continue marching.

There's some good news and bad news, though.

Bad news: Khan has entered the Aztec fold, and the whole family declared on Brennus right on our coat-tails. It's now a race against time before Monty gets Brennus to capitulate (which he probably will sooner rather than later considering that the Celts are walking dead).

Gooder news: Pacal, somehow, broke free of Monty, so we may have a window of opportunity to smash him. His cities are not terribly well fortified, so even half a dozen trebs with as many samurai could probably take at least his capital, which has been causing revolts in our nearby cities.

Of course, how long he'll remain free before returning to Monty is unknown. I tried to start a Japanese Expeditionary Force for Mayaland, but it's not that well developed considering most of our soldiers are in Celtia. Though I imagine that S.ilver can pull something together in time. (It's noted in my report, but we had a spy sitting around that I used to peek at Pacal's capital.)

We also have a Settler sitting on his bum. I didn't delete him 'cuz I wasn't sure if there was a plan for him.

So, I shouldn't spoil the entire report, but I'd say that, all things considered, we're doing pretty well, aside from the fact that the entire world is essentially arrayed against us.

*Edit: Fixed that horrendous grammatical error. Good eye, DE.*

 

[Diamondeye]

Sounds like a good set, I have just two comments:
1: We should smash Pacal immidiately, leaving a small but capable army of defenders in Celtic cities. We want to take (out) the AP.
2: "Coattails" is not a word, it's "coat-tails" (with a hyphen).

Off to Silver, then

 

[sturick]

Sounds good Whosit!
I eagerly await the report and save!

 

[Whosit]

The Day of the Damned

An aCK-2 Feature Presentation (it's a big one)

General Whosit, a determined yet inexperienced commander, reports for duty. The Japanese Empire is on the verge of war and much is at stake, not least of all the young general's need to atone for the follies of his ancestors and restore his name's honor. With sword in hand, he prepares to lead his soldiers . . . to Victory or Death! (Preferably Victory.)

The Inherited Turn: Turn 313,1465 AD

It has been a long while since I've looked at the game, so I'm going to make sure I know exactly what's going on. First, I study the suggestions of my Advisors (sturick and S.ilver). Sturick had some ideas for micromanagement, so I'll see about implementing those, especially hiring scientists.

I opt to wait 2 turns for Kyoto to grow before hiring scientists.

Whip the Temple at Chichen Itza.
Divert Uxmal's Forge to a Theatre to get a jump on cultural presence.
I will queue up the Islamic Monestary in Mutal to spread Islam, as sturick suggested. I agree that we need a new faith to combat the Hindu discontent in our cities. Who knows when Pacal will finally be shut down?
Sturick suggested switching Mayapan to a Library in order to hire scientists. I agree. However, I will wait two turns to whip the Temple (in 2 turns the city will be a turn away from growing). Currently provides 26 hammers of overflow, will check next turn to see if that increases or decreases.
After Tokyo finishes its Barracks, I will hurry to replace the financial buildings that were lost. Market and Grocer because I don't think I'll be able to run science very long.
Coventry does need Walls. It's 3 turns from growth, so I will whip the Library in 2 turns and start a wall.

Flash through the cities again and I notice that Uxmal is running a spy. Oh, because there is no library. Ha. When the Theatre is built/whipped, I think I'll switch the spy to an artist to hurry a border pop. I'd turn the Spy into a Citizen, but Spies do provide 1 beaker.

I review the troops. I see the Hammer. No, it shall be a Spear: "Striking Through Fog to Pierce the Heart," for this Spear will guide us through the mists of inferiority and cut out Brennus' heart in one swift, glorious blow. Yes, that is how it shall be.

I will try to attack as soon as possible, but I will not attack prematurely this time. I will also not attack until I am certain that Coventry is adequately fortified. I don't think we can spare many more troops, and I see we need as many Trebuchets as we can get. I think all I can do is divert a Crossbowman from Kyoto. Ideally, our Spear will intercept any thrusts up North, while Coventry will block any attacks from the East. Though I won't count on that.

I will build a couple of Knights for home defense before we get things under way, most likely stationing them in Coventry. So that this time, if Brennus comes with siege, I can at least wound them if I Promote them to encourage retreats. It looks like Kyoto is the only city we have that can really push out non-siege units.

I also noticed that we had a few City Raider III Swordsmen that were not "Bigmen." Normally, I would correct this, but S.ilver noted that we may need to . . . "retire" older units to help control costs.

. . . I think I'm going to name them "Kamikaze X."

Kamikaze Akira
Kamikaze Makoto
Kamikaze Kino

I also name:
Drill Sgt. Slaughter (a Drill IV Samurai)
Bigman Ichigo (CR III, Drill I Samurai)
Anti-Cavalry Pete (Samurai with Formation and [unwisely] Drill II; Considering that horse-units are immune to first strikes, Combat Promotions may have been better)

OK, I think I just spent at least half-an-hour on this turn. Hopefully the next few will go slightly faster.

Oh, I renegotiate our Gem deal with Monty to get the extra 4 gpt he had lying around. Every bit counts for us. I'm also gonna do something that's probably a bad idea, but . . . Pacal has 5 gpt, and I can trade him copper, horses, or ivory. Well, Pacal still has a source of iron, so copper won't do him any better, but we get 5 gpt as long as he's alive. I also checked, and he's not anyone's worst enemy, so there should be no diplo penalties (unless we get some with Khan for trading with a war-time enemy?) Pacal has a lot of hard cash on him, but I don't think I can get that away from him. So, copper to him for a bit of change.

-End Turn-

Turn 314, 1470 AD

Good thing that we defied Pacal's bid to get a city back. Khan was the only one to vote "no," and that's most likely because he's at war with Pacal at the moment.

Workers at Tabriz, Tokyo, not sure what the plan was for them . . . . I'm not sure what Tabriz should be geared toward. I guess I will cut down foliage to make cottages. It's working on a forge, but I don't think that will be terribly useful. It's almost done, though. The Tokyo Troops are standing on a workshop. I can only assume that they are there to replace it with a cottage, because I can't think of any reason for Tokyo to have workshops.

BUG alerted me that a few places can be whipped, including Mayapan. I'm not sure if alerts come up when max overflow has been reached, but I'll go ahead and whip Mayapan. I'll see if Coventry's overflow increases or decreases next turn (it was mentioned, too).

Monty has some fearsome stacks heading towards Khan.

Spoiler :

-End Turn-

Turn 315, 1475 AD

Kyoto: Trebuchet < Knight (2 turns). Also, hire 2 scientists.
Coventry's Overflow increased, and it's growing next turn. Whip the Library.
I could whip Mutal's Monastery, but I think that it will be better off if I let it stagnate in 10 turns on a mine. It should be able to spit out 3-turn Missionaries at that point. Whipping 2-pop would probably kill its production after the whip, y'see.

I am hoping that Brennus' gunpowder units don't maim us.

-End Turn-

Turn 316, 1480 AD

Kagoshima: Trebuchet < Forge (13 turns)
Oxhuitza: Trebuchet < Library (14 turns)

Our Great Prophet is born (Monty gets one, too. Must be a rather Holy Year).

Spoiler :

I have some workers start a cottage at Edirne.
I have our three workers down south go to make a road to directly connect Kyoto to Coventry for faster reinforcements if necessary. I could chop down a riverside plains forest for a cottage, but not sure if that's what we want?

We never really discussed the Great Prophet, but I don't really see a reason to get Theology. Everyone has it, we probably won't be needing to build Culture any time soon . . . y'know. Shrine income may help us down the road, especially after we spread Islam around the world. So, I shall build us a shrine. Right now, we get all of 2 gpt.

Spoiler :

Have to cut science to 20%. We're making 11 gpt and will get banking in 10 turns, instead of 6. Our scientists seem to be helping us by about a turn.

Nothing else. I'll wait for Osaka to finsih its Treb (and rally it to our Spear), and then I will declare war on Brennus.

-End Turn-

Turn 317, 1485 AD

Kyoto: Knight < Knight (3 turns)
Tokyo: Barracks < Grocer (28 Turns)

Send Knight and a Crossbowman to Coventry. Walls there will finish in 4 turns. It's going to take so long for Tokyo to rebuild its infrastructure that whipping it would probably be a good idea. Between the pigs and bananas, it should regrow fairly quickly.
I can whip the walls in Coventry and get 54 gold? I don't really know how that works, so I'll leave it. Let me know if that was a bad move, but I figure we'll collect enough gold from Brennus.

-End Turn-

Turn 318, 1490 AD

Khan wants us to start a war against the Ottomans. Well, sure . . . except for the fact that they are Monty's vassals! Yeesh.

Spoiler :

Chichen Itza: Library < Lighthouse (20 turns)
Edirne: Granary < Theatre (25 turns). I was going to do walls, but those will probably be useless pretty soon.

Not sure what to do with workers, so I'll put some workshops around Satsuma since it looks like it's supposed to be a production town. I decide to whip the Library into Mayapan rather than wait 18 turns. The mayor pleads with General Whosit to spare his townsfolk and insists that he needs more workers. General Whosit tells the mayor that he can take up his concerns with Emperor S.ilver when he arrives. The mayor pauses, and then suggests that the townsfolk will redouble their efforts. "Good. S.ilver is not as forgiving as I am."

-End Turn-

Turn 319, 1495 AD

Osaka: Trebuchet < Grocery (17 turns)
Satsuma: Hindu Temple < Samurai (5 turns)
Tabriz: Forge < Longbowman (8 turns). Doesn't seem to be useful enough to do anything but slow-build defensive units.
Mayapan: Library (On schedule) < Market (44 Turns). Turn 1 citizen into a scientist, cuts a turn off of Banking. 2nd scientist does little more than stagnate the town.

Bad, BAD news, guys . . . Monty gave Khan a bloody nose (captured Samarqand) and the bloody Mongolians capitulated to Monty. Brennus is now the ONLY unaligned nation left, so I think we HAVE to take the whole pie or we are bloody toast. I think the only reason that Monty doesn't have a Domination Victory is because he doesn't get full territory count from Vassals.

Our final Treb will link up with "Striking Through Fog to Pierce the Heart" next turn, and the turn after that, we'll move in position for the DOW, and after that, WAR.

Spoiler :

Unless Monty & Co. (The Aztec Conglomerate?) declares on us first. He's not pissed at us . . . but, uh, we're like the only targets left, so it doesn't matter how[/]i much he likes us.

-End Turn-

Turn 320, 1500 AD

Kyoto: Knight < Samurai (2 turns)
Mutal: Islamic Monastery < Islamic Missionary (4 turns)

A deadly twister destroys some Aztec infrastructure. Yay. That will surely turn the tide in our favor.

-End Turn-

Turn 321, 1505 AD

Coventry: Walls < Castle (17 turns). Eh, might as well make it a fortress.

Move the Spear into position. Hit enter and hope nothing crazy happens . . . .

-End Turn-

Turn 322, 1510 AD

Kyoto: Samurai < Samurai (1 turn)

This Samurai goes to Coventry.

OK, here goes:

Spoiler :

The die has been cast. I hurry Conventry's Castle.

-End Turn-

Turn 323, 1515 AD

No sign of the Celts . . . yet.

Kyoto: Samurai < Samurai (2 turns)
Coventry: Castle < Barracks (17 turns)

Chichen Itza suffers a Mayan revolt. Bad.
Brennus won't talk, yet BUG says that he'll sign peace. Heh.

Move our Spear onto on the hill . . . . Defenses in Vienne don't look bad, but it'll probably get reinforced. Sending all those troops into enemy territory really hurt our finances. I won't cut research just yet, see if we can still get Banking in a couple of turns.

Spoiler :

Don't want to whip grocers in Osaka or Tokyo just yet . . . 4-pop whips.

-End Turn-

Turn 324, 1520 AD

Satsuma: Samurai < Samurai (5 turns)
Mutal: Islamic Missionary < Islamic Misionary (4 turns)

Urgh, Uxmal loses its food stores to a bad event. The Islamic faith spreads to Chichen Itza.

Spoiler :

General Whosit suddenly realizes the flaw in his battle plan: He's not sure that he remembers how to conduct warfare! OMG.

Brennus appeared to have whipped something in Vienne last turn. Looks like a Musketman. Not a biggie.
Plan: Use Trebs, properly Promoted, to shatter the Defenses of Vienne, then send in Catapults and Trebs and Kamikaze until the city is ours.


Science to 10% is +1 gpt and Banking in 2 . . . Micromanage us an extra scientist in Mutal and Kagoshima to get it next turn.

Barrage + Accuracy for the win! Maybe a few City Raider/Accuracy, too. Urgh, all of 6%. This is gonna take awhile, even with 12 Trebs. And I don't want to make them ALL accuracy Trebs, either.

Oh well. If Brennus reinforces again, that's all the more troops of his that we'll slaughter in one place. I don't get the defenses all the way down this turn, but should finish and attack next turn.

-End Turn-

 

[Whosit]

And because it was apparently too much at once, Part II

Turn 325, 1525 AD

Banking has been perfected. Begin to look into this new fad, Gunpowder. Dunno when we'll actually finish, though. Mercantilism might be a good idea, but I won't want to revolt in the middle of a war.

Spoiler :

Have to cut research to 0%. Notice Brennus sending a Great Merchant to Monty. Or, not. Everyone dogpiles Brennus!! Normally, I'd be happy, except that Monty owns everyone already! OK, gotta take as much land as possible before Brennus capitulates to Monty. I'd cut open borders with Khan, but we need the foreign trade, and it really doesn't matter.

Kyoto: Samurai < Trebuchet (2 turns) in anticipation of losses.
Fire a scientist in Mayapan to get it growing again. 3-pop whip a grocer in Osaka. Gonna wait for Tokyo to get down to a 3-pop.

Surprisingly, it looks like Brennus pulled troops out of Vienne. A cluster of unescorted catapults makes me wish that I had brought some Knights along.

Bombard the city to 2% and call it good.

Spoiler :

I feel a little bad for it, but I send the Catapults at the town first to just get them out of the financial picture. They have terrible odds, so I'll just make 'em barrage. Wow, it dies, but even with 0.6% odds, that little guy knocked the defending Cuirassier down to 9.1/12. *Sniff* He died with honor. Second catapult dies wounding everything a bit. Third goes into the grinder, and messes up that Cuirassier something fierce.

I'm a bit torn. I know I'm supposed to kill some of our guys off, but the Trebs now have odds in the high 90s, so I think I'll blast the defenders as much as I can and earn some XP for the siege. A CRI/Accuracy Treb has 98% odds. WTH, it dies. Another treb with 97% odds beats the tar out of a Maceman, but takes some damage. All subsequent Treb attacks survive, and now I can't use any more siege.

In goes Combat Colin. He beats the defending Maceman, but lets himself take damage. Kamikaze Akira flawlessly carves up the wounded Cuirassier. The other two Kamikaze brothers wipe out their targets. Unnamed Combat III swordsman takes the city.

Spoiler :

As much as I'd like to get those catapults before they retreat and cause us a neck-ache later, I've learned that I definitely can't indulge in such forays. I reinforce the city, leaving a few guys to guard the spend siege.

I have some workers en route to put in a few roads to our new conquest. Meanwhile, I'll organize a small garrison, then move on to Bibricate.

-End Turn-

Turn 326, 1530

Well, in the meantime, Brennus does us a favor and suicides his catapults on our city garrison. We take a lot of collateral damage, but he has no actual troops to follow up the assault. I see Brennus move some troops, maybe to attack our units still on the hill, but they will be moved into the city this turn.

Spoiler :

Osaka: Grocer < Bank (27 turns)
That allows us to actually spend money on research again. 20% at -9 gpt, Gunpowder in 28 turns. Meh.
Edirne's borders "expand," but it just can't beat the Ottoman culture right now.
I won't waste troops attack Brennus' little force. They should kill themselves if they attack us. Hopefully.

-End Turn-

Turn 327, 1535 AD

Brennus ran away.

Kyoto: Trebuchet < Longbowman (2 turns). Our stack is still fine, so some troops to shore up our Garissons.
Tabriz: Longbowman < Longbowman (7 turns). Can't trust anyone.

Pacal wants Mayapan back. Defy!

Spoiler :

The Spear, "Striking Through Fog to Pierce the Heart," should be healed next turn. I reassign one Knight from Coventry to Vienne.

Turn 328, 1540 AD

Ugh, someone poisons Tokyo's water supply.
Mutal: Islamic Missionary < Islamic Missionary (3 turns)

Just to note: Everyone voted to give Pacal his little town back. Peh. Islamisize Oxy to counter those pesky Hindus.

Spoiler :

Tokyo is Unhappy and Starving. 4-pop whip that Grocer.

-End Turn-

Turn 329, 1545 AD

Kyoto: Longbowman < Longbowman (1 turn)
Satsuma: Samurai < Longbowman (4 turns)
Tokyo: Grocer < Bank (42 turns)

Pacal breaks away from Monty! Uxmal suffers a Mayan revolt!

This is great news, but we can't capitalize on it now. Chances are that Pacal will return to Monty's fold soon. We still need to take him down, 'cuz of his crazy tech and that cultural nonsense. We can get Open Borders, though, so that might lead us to some extra income. Yeah, a little.

Defense is a little spares in Vienne, but I think it will be OK.

-End Turn-

Turn 330, 1550 AD

Kyoto: Longbowman < Trebuchet (2 turns)
Kagoshima: Forge < Trebuchet (8 turns)
Oxhuitza: Library < Trebuchet (12 turns)

Brennus heavily catapults our stack. I will asses the damage momentarily.

Have a spy take a peek at Lakamha. We can probably take it with whatever we've got lying around. Spit out a few more siege from Kyoto and wherever, a few more units, should be good, perhaps.

Spoiler :

Erwin Rommel, a Great General is born. In a fit of ego (and irony). . . .

Spoiler :

Please laugh with me, not at me. I couldn't help it, considering the intro I wrote.

I sleep him 'cuz I'm not sure what to do with him just yet. Sign included. (Satsuma has 1 instructor, so it could use a second? Or Kyoto for overkill 3 Promotion units?)

The Spear is still sharp, it moves.
I'm really not sure what to do with our workers at this point. Tabriz needs work, but I'm not sure what to do.

-End Turn-

Turn 331, 1555 AD

S.ilver knows what he is talking about. Even though a few troops in the stack are hurt, the AI won't touch something this big, it seems.

Mutal: Islamic Missionary < Islamic Missionary (3 turns)

Bibracte should be an easy take.

Spoiler :

Monty has a huge stack of Knights riding through our land. As well as a 2nd mini stack.

Spoiler :

**Bibracte has all those Wonders that give a benefit for having State Religion buildings. We've been running Free Religion to keep people from being pissed off, but with the University of Sankore, would we be better off to, say, spam Islam even more (maybe with a few more Monastaries) build the temples and stuff, and convert, and gain those beakers for our poor economy?**

Anyway, that's all this turn, it seems.

-End Turn-

Turn 332, 1560 AD

Kyoto: Trebuchet < Trebuchet (2 turns)

Making some more money, probably since those Mayan towns stopped revolting. "Crank" science up to 40%, bleeding 37 gpt, getting Gunpowder in 10 turns. We can't sustain that with a bank account of 156 gold, but hopefully we'll add to that with more conquest.

Brennus is talking, but isn't offering anything but a little gold. We probably want to take as much of his territory as possible, of course.

Bombard his capital while the wounded rest.

Spoiler :

Vienne is out of Revolt, but hardly has any tiles and is shrinking. So I whip the Theatre for 3.

-End Turn-

Turn 333, 1565 AD

Satsuma: Longbowman < Trebuchet (5 turns)
Vienne: Theatre < Bank (258)
Let's see what it came with, by the way. Wow, it had all the essentials, plus an Academy, and two holy Shrines.

Spoiler :

Even after Bibracte has been bombed, a CRII Treb only has 33% odds. Oh, well. Causes some damage before it dies. 2nd one only has slightly better odds, but it nearly defeats a fresh Cuirassier before succumbing. 75% isn't enough for the next one to survive . . . . Next three make it.

Spoiler :

Promote our Knight to Combat II before I started to think clearly. So I send it in. Cuts down a musketman, but takes a ton of damage. Kamikaze Akira manages to pull out a win against a Maceman at 74% odds. Kino and Makoto likewise win. Now that we've gotten to the easy stuff, I realize that I should send in our Samurai to get them some XP.

Spoiler :

Drill Sgt. Slaughter commits his namesake against a spearman. The city is ours. Look at all those Wonders. Notre Dame gives us all +2 Happy. That sure makes me happy. The Colossus makes our water tiles more valuable, at least until Astronomy. 12 turns of disorder, though, so that'll be rough.

Spoiler :

I move a garrison into the city, but some are still on the hill. Workers are still active. Khan is gunning for Camulodunum, so if we want it, we'll have to move quickly. I'm fairly confident that Brennus' back is broken, though, so I doubt we'd run into much more resistance. Brennus will capitulate, but he'll only give us gold, too, no techs. I'm of the opinion that we want his land more than his service.

Spoiler :

Again, I wonder if we'll want to adopt a State Religion to get the most out of some of our new Wonders. The Spear is still in nearly perfect condition, aside from the loss of those Trebs, but they can be replaced in a few turns.

When eventually war comes with the Aztec, we'll want to somehow hold out on our eastern front while we take out Pacal and Khan as quickly as possible. The stats say that we exceed Khan's power (and clearly exceed Pacal's). Monty has a large force, though based on what I saw passing through our territory, it's largely obsolete, well, by obsolete, I mean that it's at our technological level . . . .

In retrospect, I'm a little disappointed that Convetry didn't see any action, after all those citizens I killed to get their defenses up.

Also, as DE mentioned, I probably should have jumped on Pacal as soon as he became independant. I'll admit that I was a little hesitant to improvise on the battle plan, so all I did was try to home-grow a new task force, which has yet to really develop.

Oh, and I have one favor to ask the next player, it's of a sentimental nature. If possible, please do not send "Combat" Colin on a suicide mission. It just so happens that the name of my swordsmanship instructor is Colin, so I thought that was a nice coincidence when the unit was named.

 

[Diamondeye]

I know this sounds controversial, but an option could be to Vassalize Brennus and then turn towards Pacal immidiately, since he's out of the fold now. Do we have enough trebs? And is Brennus in so bad shape that he will actually not be of use, ever?

 

[sturick]

Well done Whos...errrr General Whosit!

Good stuff there mister!
Your reports are top of the line...and your gameplay was not too far behind.
Both Vienne (shrines) and Bibracte (wonders) are great rewards for us.
As far as our next target...it should be Camo for two reasons.

1)It will open up many of the tiles needed for Vienne to become a great source of commerce for our economy. We will get about 4 towns built on the floods once we take out Camos culture.
Quick growth and 6 commerce per tile!

2)Our window to attack Pacal unfortunately closed on us about two turns ago.
He is once again a vassal of the crazy one.

So we should try and grab as much land from Brennus as possible while we still can.
He won't make much of a vassal anyways.
He can't possibly hold out much longer considering the entire world is at war with him.

Alright Whosit...my only beef with your set.
You didn't beg banking off of Sulei!
We could be at Gunpowder already...considering we are in such a huge tech disadvantage we need to catch up however we can.

Fortunately, our friend in the Aztec conglomerate will still freely part with the following techs:
Philo (I begged this one as it has the highest beaker value)
Optics
Paper
Theo
Music
Gunpowder (He might not part with this one...equalish in beakers to Philo and not everyone knows it)

My best guess as to our future tech plans would be to finish Gunpowder either via beg or the old fashioned way. Then go Paper (prereq) > Printing Press (commerce boost and only Pacal knows it atm) > Replaceable Parts (lumbermills) > Rifling (defense against the conglomerate)

Might as well beg Gunpowder if we can as it is currently more beakers than Paper.
Hopefully taking Camo will provide us with enough gold and commerce through Vienne that we can tech Paper and most of PP with our current rates. 27 turns for both at the moment.

I think the best use for the GG is to attach it to our medic axe for a true supermedic.
It would be 7 exp short of its maximum capabilities.

Although settling in Kyoto would produce 11 exp units right away.
Our gunpowder units could be Combat I/CG III/Drill II out of the gate!
Now I'm not so sure.

Whosit...honor has been restored!

 

[Whosit]

Oh, man, looking back, I see where you said we could beg off Banking. I'm not sure how I missed that when I was looking back at the plans. Well, hopefully we can get Gunpowder off of Sulei as consolation.

Edit: Checked the save, we CAN beg gunpowder. So it all almost works out in the end . . . .

Edit Again: Oh, regarding Pacal, it's probably just as well he went back to Monty before we could declare on him. He probably would have returned sooner or later, but if we had been at war and Pacal joined Monty during peace time, we'd be dragged into war with Monty, or, rather, Pacal would "drag" Monty into war with us, which wouldn't be good at this point.

Though I imagine that, as soon as Brennus is out of the picture, Monty's coming for us. I know we don't want to Vassalize Brennus, but do we want to wipe him out, or try to make peace for techs and let Monty get what's left over?

Edit the Third: Should I beg Gunpowder and re-post the save to ensure this isn't somehow missed again? Or are we going to want to be for a different tech for some reason?

 

[Diamondeye]

Yes, please beg GP and repost the save.

 

[sturick]

I say beg GP now and repost as well.

As far as Brennus goes...lets see what he offers us after we take Camo.
But you are right that we should try and squeeze techs out of him rather than vassal him.

The more we leave of Brennus the longer it should take Monty and Co. to finish him off.
The more time we have to brace our civ for war with Monty the better!

 

[Whosit]

OK, we are now the proud owners of explosive black powder. I slotted in Paper because it's on the way to Rifling, which I figure we want to get. It's due in 6 turns and we can sustain our current levels of research (assuming our costs do not increase, which is unlikely) for 10 turns. Printing Press and Rifling will probably take much longer to tech.

Also, I just noticed, if you look at the world map, our territory kind of has a passing resemblance to the State of Texas.

 

[S.ilver]

Good report and turns Whosit. I've got it now, but it looks unlikely that I will be able to finish the set before Saturday. If someone wants to grab it before then, let me know, otherwise I'll probably play and finish it Saturday night.

I think we do need to take Brennus as a vassal ASAP. It would be disastrous for Monty to take control of him, as that would result in everyone vs us. Vassaling Brennus would also give us a southern buffer that we wouldn't have to defend ourselves (Monty can waste his troops there).

We need to take the fight to Monty now unfortunately (and I know everyone's been dreading that moment). We need to be able to hold off Monty's troops to the east, while capturing or vassaling everything to the west. How we will do that is not yet clear, but cannons are far closer than rifles (Steel vs Rifling) and they will allow us to wreck havoc on enemy stacks larger than our own, which we will be facing many of, so we'll have to go that route.

EDIT: And I just noticed that there's a new BtS patch out that fixes some major problems. Is everyone alright with using this patch (as I am not sure of compatibility).

 

[Whosit]

I don't think I'd have a problem with patching (we'll have to see how that goes in my other SGs). I'll try finding it later.

Good point about the cannons, too. And keeping Brennus as a buffer. We still want to take that 3rd city, right? It's riskier, though I can't recall what's in that city at the moment, so I suppose if nothing really valuable, we'll take our two cities and vassalize him immediately.

Looks like things'll get interesting.

 

[Diamondeye]

I'd not be able to continue if we patch. I prefer we stay with .17.

 

[sturick]

I'd like to patch but I just don't think now is the right time to make the switch.
The last thing we need right now is to lose another player.

Silver, I am fine with you playing this weekend as I wouldn't be able to get to it any sooner.

 

[S.ilver]

Ugh... guys, I'm going to have to drop from actually playing sets in this game. Having to work 6 days a week and trying to shove all course and program preparation into the last day doesn't leave me any time for Civ. Yeah, my summer sucks more than the school year.

Sorry for the letdown. I'll still probably be able to give advice, but I won't hold it against anyone if they decide to abandon this SG as a sinking ship .