aCK-2 Seeing Red
- Thread starter S.ilver
- Start date
If you haven't started yet...
You might want to make a quick tour through the cities and rework the tiles.
Some tiles with hammers and coins make better use of the golden age.
You should be able to shave a turn or even two off of Steel with a little micro.
You might want to make a quick tour through the cities and rework the tiles.
Some tiles with hammers and coins make better use of the golden age.
You should be able to shave a turn or even two off of Steel with a little micro.
Whosit
Entropic Knight
Continuing Turn 356, 1680 AD
As per sturick's suggestion, I'll burn our Great Engineer on a Golden Age, the better to sustainably develop Steel. And we're all about sustainability.
Can't push the tech slider up, though or we'll still run out of money.
Monty's full stack appears to be bearing in at Coventry, though his siege is lagging. I'll have to decide fast what gambit to play, since we don't currently have the siege needed to retake the town, but that's why I'm putting Kyoto on Treb duty.
I don't know if we'll have the army to retake it, either, but I'll deal with that later.
Time to start working on Calakmul. Wounded trebs will batter the gates, then see what odds we have.
Ouch. Two knock it from 65% to 20%, but the city is on a hill, and Pacal has a Guerilla II Longbowman up front. One more finishes the defense, but . . . our best Treb still has 13% odds. Well . . . siege are supposed to be expendable, so let's see how many we lose. If we can bang up his lead defender, though, it should be much better.
Wounded CRIII treb has best odds, so into the grinder it goes. Didn't even scratch the longbowman. A second with slightly worse odds manages to cut him, though. Odds are better, still not great. Odds for the bigmen are only 80%, so I suppose I'll throw the rest of the siege at the defenders. All attacking trebs bite it, but we manage to knock down Pacal's toughest defender. Should be cake from here.
The Bigmen make short work of the garisson. The Maya Civilization is no more. That also ends the threat of the "Pacal Stragglers," who disband and flee into the country side. Chichen Itza now has plenty of tiles to work.
I'm not entirely sure where I'm going to go from here. I pile in some guys to hold the town, I'll send some down to Tabriz to help there. There's no longer enough siege in the west to go after Khan or even Monty's little holding there just yet. I think, until Monty's strike east is blunted, all effort has to focused there.
Whoa! Khan dumped a couple guys on the shore by Xukpi! Workers are in trouble, but I can retreat them to Satsuma. At least Khan wasn't smart enough to land on the workers.
Upgrade troops at Coventry in case Khan strikes with his fast troops next turn. Will have to see how the between-turn plays out. Khan had dumped a Combat II Cuirassier and a CR III Treb on our shore. I upgrade a pike to CII/Formation. 74% odds. I'll stay on defense.
Turn 357, 1685
Holy good news, Tokugawa! The Ottomans captured Texcoco. Sure, it wasn't a big town, but hopefully that'll put pressure on Monty. On the other hand, Monty got that Ottoman town behind lines, but at least it distracted him for a few turns.
Most of Monty's main stack turned around. I'm not sure why yet. I saw a Celtic Grenadier run bravely/suicidally at them in between turns, but I can't imagine the whole stack would turn around just to stomp it.
In the west, it's a waiting game for Khan to attack. Tabriz is NOT going to fall, but Khan's little stack is too well entrenched to root out without a ton of casualties. At least waiting buys us some time. Monty is so crazy, I don't know WHAT he is planning.
Belatedly read about the Microing during Golden Age, so I'll see if I can do anything now. Only one turn in, so I don't think too much damage has been done.
Someday, Kyoto will get a lighthouse. But not today.
Made a couple changes, but everything looked more or less optimal to me.
-End Turn-
Satsuma: Pikeman < Trebuchet (3 turns)
Kagoshima: Pikeman < Trebuchet (3 turns)
Mutal: Musketman < Trebuchet (4 turns)
Oxhuitza: Pikeman < Catapult (5 turns)
Mayapan: Barracks < Catapult (11 turns)
Monty's units keep dancing all over. Maybe he'll stay confused for awhile. He's still harassing Sulei, who might lose some towns 'cuz he's not smart enough to reinforce the ones on the front lines.
I end up shuffling things at Vienne to get more hammers and gold, and it cuts a turn off of Steel (and we're making a small profit). Working that gems mine during a GA is a "good" idea.
I just noticed that most of Monty's siege in the stack is wounded. Was it always like that, or did Brenny hit it with a Knight or something? I do not know.
I also put all our EPs on Monty. We don't need 'em on our Vassals, after all. Everyone is working on Replacable parts. Sulei is in the lead, and Khan is kind of lagging. We need more EPs, but nothin' to do about that right now.
Hmm. We have two furs coming from Brennus? Can't do anything about it now. Give him Ivory for Incense.
Offer Suleiman our other extra Ivory. He'll give us 4 gpt, and copper, but we don't really need copper, but I'll take it, I guess.
Dunno what to do with workers, so just pettering around. Once we can trade for Replacable parts . . . .
Tabriz defense is pretty low, perhaps Khan will strike soon.
-End Turn-
Turn 359, 1695 AD
Kyoto: Trebuchet < Trebuchet (1 turn)
Osaka: Catapult < Catapult (2 turns)
One of Monty's theatres burns down. Yay.
Why all the siege? I think we need it. Osaka could do a Treb in twice the time, but we need boots on the ground!
Sleep some workers due to lack of jobs/no safe places to work.
Hinduism spreads to Kagoshima. Hmm . . . I think if I get a missionary to Kyoto, we maybe have enough combined votes to win the Religious Leader election. Switch Chichen Itza from the Monasatery to a Missionary.
Turn 360, 1700
Well, Khan finally attacked. We repelled him, but took a few losses:
His surviving Knights scattered. In three directions. I'll see if I can hunt him down, but he's sending some fresh troops into our territory, so I won't if it's too risky.
I think Monty is doubling back North for Tokyo! Arrrrgh!! I might bail out of Coventry and goad him into that, but we don't have enough siege to hammer his stack, I think. Ah, but there will be a few turns of Revolt that can buy us some time. Hmmm . . . . CANNOT lose Tokyo again.
I think I am going to reinforce Tokyo a bit this turn, but not empty Coventry. Maybe I can keep him dancing between the towns a bit, but that's a dangerous game.
Kyoto: Treb < Treb (2 turns)
Bibracte: Library < National Epic (11 turns). End up keeping the Priest specialists because 2 scientists don't help and the build time goes up.
Monty fried Tokyo's copper mine.
Woah, just noticed we get ANOTHER GP in 4 turns. I go ahead and turn on the Scientists, lose 2 turns on the NE, but maybe I'll squeek out a scientist instead of a prophet. This town is Crazy!!
First, cleanup on aisle Tabriz. Two spots are danger zones, so I'll hit the one on the hill and leave a stack to ward off counter-attacks. Should be able to get 3/4 of his Cuirassiers.
Spearman 1: Flawless.
Spearman 2: 1/4 HP left, at 93% odds.
Pikeman 1: Flawless
Spearman 3: Flawless
I end up wiping out all 4 stragglers when I realize I can retreat them back to town!
Taking a breather here, mainly because I need to run some errands. I plan to play more this evening, probably up until Steel, though if I'm feeling good I could play longer if the Group wants.
What do we want after Steel? What do we want to do with our GP? It's most likely going to be a Prophet or Scientist, but it could end up being anything except a Spy.
I feel like I've been playing so long today, but it's only been a few turns.
Save is attached for anyone who wants to take a peek.
As per sturick's suggestion, I'll burn our Great Engineer on a Golden Age, the better to sustainably develop Steel. And we're all about sustainability.
Can't push the tech slider up, though or we'll still run out of money.
Monty's full stack appears to be bearing in at Coventry, though his siege is lagging. I'll have to decide fast what gambit to play, since we don't currently have the siege needed to retake the town, but that's why I'm putting Kyoto on Treb duty.
I don't know if we'll have the army to retake it, either, but I'll deal with that later.
Time to start working on Calakmul. Wounded trebs will batter the gates, then see what odds we have.
Ouch. Two knock it from 65% to 20%, but the city is on a hill, and Pacal has a Guerilla II Longbowman up front. One more finishes the defense, but . . . our best Treb still has 13% odds. Well . . . siege are supposed to be expendable, so let's see how many we lose. If we can bang up his lead defender, though, it should be much better.
Wounded CRIII treb has best odds, so into the grinder it goes. Didn't even scratch the longbowman. A second with slightly worse odds manages to cut him, though. Odds are better, still not great. Odds for the bigmen are only 80%, so I suppose I'll throw the rest of the siege at the defenders. All attacking trebs bite it, but we manage to knock down Pacal's toughest defender. Should be cake from here.
The Bigmen make short work of the garisson. The Maya Civilization is no more. That also ends the threat of the "Pacal Stragglers," who disband and flee into the country side. Chichen Itza now has plenty of tiles to work.
I'm not entirely sure where I'm going to go from here. I pile in some guys to hold the town, I'll send some down to Tabriz to help there. There's no longer enough siege in the west to go after Khan or even Monty's little holding there just yet. I think, until Monty's strike east is blunted, all effort has to focused there.
Whoa! Khan dumped a couple guys on the shore by Xukpi! Workers are in trouble, but I can retreat them to Satsuma. At least Khan wasn't smart enough to land on the workers.
Upgrade troops at Coventry in case Khan strikes with his fast troops next turn. Will have to see how the between-turn plays out. Khan had dumped a Combat II Cuirassier and a CR III Treb on our shore. I upgrade a pike to CII/Formation. 74% odds. I'll stay on defense.
Turn 357, 1685
Holy good news, Tokugawa! The Ottomans captured Texcoco. Sure, it wasn't a big town, but hopefully that'll put pressure on Monty. On the other hand, Monty got that Ottoman town behind lines, but at least it distracted him for a few turns.
Most of Monty's main stack turned around. I'm not sure why yet. I saw a Celtic Grenadier run bravely/suicidally at them in between turns, but I can't imagine the whole stack would turn around just to stomp it.
In the west, it's a waiting game for Khan to attack. Tabriz is NOT going to fall, but Khan's little stack is too well entrenched to root out without a ton of casualties. At least waiting buys us some time. Monty is so crazy, I don't know WHAT he is planning.
Belatedly read about the Microing during Golden Age, so I'll see if I can do anything now. Only one turn in, so I don't think too much damage has been done.
Someday, Kyoto will get a lighthouse. But not today.
Made a couple changes, but everything looked more or less optimal to me.
-End Turn-
Satsuma: Pikeman < Trebuchet (3 turns)
Kagoshima: Pikeman < Trebuchet (3 turns)
Mutal: Musketman < Trebuchet (4 turns)
Oxhuitza: Pikeman < Catapult (5 turns)
Mayapan: Barracks < Catapult (11 turns)
Monty's units keep dancing all over. Maybe he'll stay confused for awhile. He's still harassing Sulei, who might lose some towns 'cuz he's not smart enough to reinforce the ones on the front lines.
I end up shuffling things at Vienne to get more hammers and gold, and it cuts a turn off of Steel (and we're making a small profit). Working that gems mine during a GA is a "good" idea.
I just noticed that most of Monty's siege in the stack is wounded. Was it always like that, or did Brenny hit it with a Knight or something? I do not know.
I also put all our EPs on Monty. We don't need 'em on our Vassals, after all. Everyone is working on Replacable parts. Sulei is in the lead, and Khan is kind of lagging. We need more EPs, but nothin' to do about that right now.
Hmm. We have two furs coming from Brennus? Can't do anything about it now. Give him Ivory for Incense.
Offer Suleiman our other extra Ivory. He'll give us 4 gpt, and copper, but we don't really need copper, but I'll take it, I guess.
Dunno what to do with workers, so just pettering around. Once we can trade for Replacable parts . . . .
Tabriz defense is pretty low, perhaps Khan will strike soon.
-End Turn-
Turn 359, 1695 AD
Kyoto: Trebuchet < Trebuchet (1 turn)
Osaka: Catapult < Catapult (2 turns)
One of Monty's theatres burns down. Yay.
Why all the siege? I think we need it. Osaka could do a Treb in twice the time, but we need boots on the ground!
Sleep some workers due to lack of jobs/no safe places to work.
Hinduism spreads to Kagoshima. Hmm . . . I think if I get a missionary to Kyoto, we maybe have enough combined votes to win the Religious Leader election. Switch Chichen Itza from the Monasatery to a Missionary.
Turn 360, 1700
Well, Khan finally attacked. We repelled him, but took a few losses:
His surviving Knights scattered. In three directions. I'll see if I can hunt him down, but he's sending some fresh troops into our territory, so I won't if it's too risky.
I think Monty is doubling back North for Tokyo! Arrrrgh!! I might bail out of Coventry and goad him into that, but we don't have enough siege to hammer his stack, I think. Ah, but there will be a few turns of Revolt that can buy us some time. Hmmm . . . . CANNOT lose Tokyo again.
I think I am going to reinforce Tokyo a bit this turn, but not empty Coventry. Maybe I can keep him dancing between the towns a bit, but that's a dangerous game.
Kyoto: Treb < Treb (2 turns)
Bibracte: Library < National Epic (11 turns). End up keeping the Priest specialists because 2 scientists don't help and the build time goes up.
Monty fried Tokyo's copper mine.
Woah, just noticed we get ANOTHER GP in 4 turns. I go ahead and turn on the Scientists, lose 2 turns on the NE, but maybe I'll squeek out a scientist instead of a prophet. This town is Crazy!!
First, cleanup on aisle Tabriz. Two spots are danger zones, so I'll hit the one on the hill and leave a stack to ward off counter-attacks. Should be able to get 3/4 of his Cuirassiers.
Spearman 1: Flawless.
Spearman 2: 1/4 HP left, at 93% odds.
Pikeman 1: Flawless
Spearman 3: Flawless
I end up wiping out all 4 stragglers when I realize I can retreat them back to town!
Taking a breather here, mainly because I need to run some errands. I plan to play more this evening, probably up until Steel, though if I'm feeling good I could play longer if the Group wants.
What do we want after Steel? What do we want to do with our GP? It's most likely going to be a Prophet or Scientist, but it could end up being anything except a Spy.
I feel like I've been playing so long today, but it's only been a few turns.
Save is attached for anyone who wants to take a peek.
Whosit
Entropic Knight
Continuing Turn 360
OK, errands over. No word from anyone, so I will play on for a bit.
Anyway, now to figure out how to not lose any cities we don't want to lose.
We only have 3 trebs and 1 catapults in the area, but 3 more cats will come on line next turn, so I don't want to lose Coventry just yet. I upgrade 1 spearman in Tokyo.
I belatedly send our southern spy north, realizing that I could have used him to accelerate the attack there despite lacking siege.
I move a few troops to Tokyo, but there should still be enough in Coventry to delay attacks. I don't think Monty will attack without bombarding us first. We'll have to hope my guess is not wrong . . . .
-End Turn-
Turn 361, 1702 AD
I was wrong.
It was . . . a slaughter.
A slaughter . . . of Aztec troops! While Monty combined his Knight and Siege stacks, he sent wave after wave of Knights against Coventry's Castled Walls. Our highly-trained Musketmen met the charge and reaped a grim harvest, as line after line of Aztec horsemen fell like grain to a scythe. I worried for a moment, as the Musketmen wearied and the garrison was forced to bring forward the Pikemen reserves, but they, too, persevered. Few Aztecs rode away from that killing field, but those that did escape were gravely wounded.
I will try to snap a small sample of the battle report. Just a sample.
But even after all that, our power only increased against Monty's by a fraction, up to 0.7.
Osaka: Catapult < Catapult (3 turns)*
Satsuma: Trebuchet < Musketman (4 turns)*
Kagoshima: Trebuchet < Trebuchet (4 turns)
Tokyo: Catapult < Catapult (9 turns)*
Coventry: Catapult < Catapult (4 turns)
Ivan the Terrible, a Great General, has been born to the Ottomans. We're much closer to one of our own, now, too.
Wow, our Muskets are in great health! None below 8.5. One leveled up, too. Oh, they CAN get Formation. Nice.
Unfortunately, Monty still has a huge stack, including about 5 War Elephants, and his Siege caught up, too. Even wounded, they will do some Collateral Damage to us. . . . But wait! We now have catapults of our own. Granted, we won't do as much damage when Monty's stack is in the field, but I think a few Barrage Assaults can tip a counter-attack in our favor.
This may be
but we have a ton of healthy Pikemen in striking distance, so I'm taking the risk! Here goes!
We have 3 Catapults and 2 Trebs in striking distance. Monty has 3 trebs and 3 catapults, meaning that he could do some damage to our Garrison.
Hmm . . . wait. Monty has a smaller, but more Vetaran stack entering our territory. Hmm . . . Y'know, I don't WANT to, but I could give up Coventry now and use the CR siege strategy to dececnt effect. Mmm, well, S.ilver's tactic probably will work best, but my pride urges me to strike in the field. Our odds are better now, too, Since Monty destroyed so many of his troops last turn. OK, here goes.
Oh, wow. A Barrage II Catapult, with 2.3% odds, damages and retreats from a Knight. Huh. Next Catapult is wrecked, but does some damage. Cats and Trebs go in, die, but damage targets as well as the Collateral.
OK, some decent odds for attack, now.
Formation Musket blasts a War Elephant, but loses half his health in the process.
Upgrade a Samurai to Formation to draw out the Maceman who had been threatening our Pikemen. (Of course, now our Pikes target Monty's siege . . . which actually isn't a bad deal.)
Send in our Knight; it takes out a War Elephant and flanks one of Monty's siege.
We do lose a Coventry Musketman at 90% odds, though. Didn't even have the grace to do much damage against the War Elephant.
A Longbowman does manage to take a half-dead Elephant out, though it's a close fight.
After pounding on Monty for awhile, we get a Great General.
After all is said and done, Monty's Dread Stack is reduced to a single Knight on the verge of death. The only reason I do not slaughter this Knight here and now is because I would have to remove Tokyo's last defender to do so. While Tokyo is in no imminent danger, I am loathe to do so. I am robbed of Total Victory, but I will be content with this.
The only cost was a Musketman, but he died proudly for his nation.
We're up to 0.8 against Monty. Frightening . . . has he yet to show his true power?!?!
I'm moving our Great General up North. I want to attach him to a Medic II/Woodsman I Axeman. Not enough to get the Super Medic, but theoretically, puts us in reach of it. I won't do so until we are in agreement, however. I'll try to get the Axe some XP, would have done so before but I didn't realize it.
I'm also going to go ahead and move against Samarqand. 4 Trebs, more coming, should be OK.
Sulei is in some trouble, but hopefully he'll be OK.
Steel in 5.
Turn 362, 1704 AD
Yep, Monty takes Hastings inbetween turns. Hope it cost him some.
Kyoto: Treb < Treb (2 turns)
Mutal: Treb < Treb (4 turns)
Lakamha: Granary (9 turns)
I should probably cut back on Treb building since we're almost to Cannons.
Try to scramble some reinforcements to Xukpi because it has come under attack. Shouldn't need much help, though, but could use new roads.
Monty's little north-town is relatively well defended, but shouldn't be a problem.
Meanwhile, Monty's new, smaller stack is bearing down at Tokyo. I shuffle troops back in to keep it under guard.
If we can get some momentum going, maybe we can Liberate Brennus' and Sulei's towns, restore our buffer zone.
Let's get this party started.
-End Turn-
Turn 363, 1706 AD
Not the party I wanted! Xuxpi holds out, but we lose our Musketman. A mongolian cuirassier comes out of nowhere to hit our North stack and Drill Sgt. Slaughter falls in battle! AND flanks our trebs. Woe! And, Monty's stack by Tokyo grinds a Town down to nothing. Grr.
Uxmal: Catapult < Samurai (8 turns)
Oxhuitza: Catapult < Catapult (5 turns)
I pull our stack back, but accidentally leave a Treb behind. Oyyy . . . . It appears I didn't have any Pikemen with the group. Sgt. Slaughter's death was needless and in vain. I will correct the situation now.
*Sigh*
I'll leave Monty's stack be for now. It shouldn't pose a threat to Tokyo as it is.
-End Turn-
Turn 364, 1708 AD
Our latest Mayan acquisition comes out of revolt, and it looks like it saves us a turn on Steel. Next turn.
Kyoto: Treb < Samurai (1 turn)
Osaka: Catapult < Catapult (3 turns)
Vienne: Bank < Library (7 turns)
Ha ha, we got a Great Artist. Oyyy. Hmm, Sulei got one this turn, too. A highly creative year? I remember a dual Prophet turn some time back . . . .
He bulbs Divine Right. Bleh. I send him to sleep in Kyoto. Maybe we can use the Great Work to pacify a town, but I'm not sure which would be strategically best. Just 8 turns to the next GP, and we don't even have the NE yet! It'll actually come online in 9 turns!
Drill Sgt. Slaughter's successor . . . .
"Cast in the Name of God, Ye Not Guilty:" Big D!
Somehow, that lone Treb didn't get picked off. It rejoins the stack.
Next turn, final additions to the stack will join, and the turn after, it can move out again.
Don't have enough siege in place to strike Monty's stack again, have to wait a few turns.
Turn 365, 1710 AD
We have mastered the secrets of Steel, and have entered the Industrial age. We are the only ones who know the secret . . . *ahem*, well, the Maya may have found it first, but the secret died with them . . . .
Slot in Printing Press, but I'm gonna trade.
Monty attacked us with a War Elephant in between turns. It withdrew, but I finish it with a Knight.
Kyoto: Samurai < Cannon! (2 turns)
Satsuma: Musketman < Cannon (3 turns)
Tabriz: Pikeman < Pikeman (6 turns)
Calakmul: Granary (5 turns)
Trading with Brennus and Sulei, I can get the techs they'll trade for Steel: Divine Right, Philosophy, Printing Press, and Optics. They are our Vassals, so I think it's a safe trade. Nationalism is open for trade, but I didn't think I could get it.
Printing Press gives our economy a kick in the kiester. I put in Education at 7 turns. Sulei should have Replacable parts done in 6 turns. Even though Brennus has Education already, since Sulei is Friendly, I think we can get an even trade. Replacable parts ourself would be 7 turns, so I figure Education is 2-for-1.
Actually . . . I slot in Military Science. Same research time, but it's a military tech. We may not need Grenadiers, but they pack more punch than Musketmen, and they can be an answer to Riflemen in case anyone gets them. The other reason: I don't foresee us building Universities any time soon, useful as they might be.
With a bit of luck, Brennus will be ready to trade Education by the time MS is in. No, wait, he already has it . . . .
I'm avoiding Astronomy and Scientific Method 'cuz I'm not sure if we care about obsoleting things just yet.
If Monty doesn't suicide his stack, I have enough catapults in range now to handle him.
Turn 366, 1712 AD
Brennus offers fur for our rice. Sure, buddy.
Sulei gives us clams for silk. Erm . . . come back next year.
Kagoshima: Cannon < Cannon (5 turns)
Oh, get a dumb event. People of Lakamha aren't feeling safe because of the Jail. Paying to reassure them would cost a big chunk of our Treasury, so I'll take the permanent +1 unhappy. They'll deal.
Arggh!! A Celtic Revolt in Bibracte. 4 turns! *twitch* Our Great People! The National Epic!
Anyway, time to Trounce some Monty units. Lose all 4 catapults, but I'm not concerned. I'll see what the odds are before I send in the Trebs. Those are slightly more valuable.
Go, Big D! Victory!
Ehh . . . in goes a Treb. Retreats at 40% odds. Next one survives. 1 Treb left, no need.
A mish-mashed promoted Knight takes out a Pikemen. Our own Pike finishes a harmed macemen. Clean-up duty from here out. Soon, the last stack is history. No losses, catapults aside.
Send in workers to fix Copper mine.
This'll be my last turn, I just wanted to clear things up around our eastern front.
There's an unpromoted Samurai in Tokyo with 13 xp right now. HE might be a candidate for a Super Medic, too. But is more likely to get attacked than the Axeman. Though this Samurai is more likely to get the few extra XP needed for the full deal. Just a consideration. I'd go Axe, myself.
Oh, right, the revolt in Celtic lands adds a turn to our research. Bleh.
So, we have a stack up north ready to hit Monty's lil' whaling town. Tokyo is clear. Sulei is under some heavy pressure, do we want to send an Expidentiary Force to try and bail him out?
I think we can also retake London and Hastings, either keep them for ourselves or return them to our Vassals.
Truth be told, now that we can start cranking out cannons, maybe we should just play a holding action on our western front, shouldn't be too hard, and start pushing hard into Monty's territory while he's still reeling from the loss of his main army. We're at 0.9 against him now, but I bet that we've beaten his A-Team. He shouldn't have anything but reserves.
It is way past dinner time and I am hungry. I think I ought to pass this off, too. I won't be able to play again for a few days at least.
Oh, that's right. Next turn, we can attempt to spread Hinduism to Kyoto (the missionary is almost there). If it succeeds, we should have just enough votes to win us a Religious victory. Do we want to do that? It'll end the game faster, but it sort of seems like the "false" ending. A diplomatic win after all this?
Blood calls for blood . . . I think the "true" ending will be the conquest of Montezuma.
OK, errands over. No word from anyone, so I will play on for a bit.
Anyway, now to figure out how to not lose any cities we don't want to lose.
We only have 3 trebs and 1 catapults in the area, but 3 more cats will come on line next turn, so I don't want to lose Coventry just yet. I upgrade 1 spearman in Tokyo.
I belatedly send our southern spy north, realizing that I could have used him to accelerate the attack there despite lacking siege.
I move a few troops to Tokyo, but there should still be enough in Coventry to delay attacks. I don't think Monty will attack without bombarding us first. We'll have to hope my guess is not wrong . . . .
-End Turn-
Turn 361, 1702 AD
I was wrong.
It was . . . a slaughter.
A slaughter . . . of Aztec troops! While Monty combined his Knight and Siege stacks, he sent wave after wave of Knights against Coventry's Castled Walls. Our highly-trained Musketmen met the charge and reaped a grim harvest, as line after line of Aztec horsemen fell like grain to a scythe. I worried for a moment, as the Musketmen wearied and the garrison was forced to bring forward the Pikemen reserves, but they, too, persevered. Few Aztecs rode away from that killing field, but those that did escape were gravely wounded.
I will try to snap a small sample of the battle report. Just a sample.
But even after all that, our power only increased against Monty's by a fraction, up to 0.7.
Osaka: Catapult < Catapult (3 turns)*
Satsuma: Trebuchet < Musketman (4 turns)*
Kagoshima: Trebuchet < Trebuchet (4 turns)
Tokyo: Catapult < Catapult (9 turns)*
Coventry: Catapult < Catapult (4 turns)
Ivan the Terrible, a Great General, has been born to the Ottomans. We're much closer to one of our own, now, too.
Wow, our Muskets are in great health! None below 8.5. One leveled up, too. Oh, they CAN get Formation. Nice.
Unfortunately, Monty still has a huge stack, including about 5 War Elephants, and his Siege caught up, too. Even wounded, they will do some Collateral Damage to us. . . . But wait! We now have catapults of our own. Granted, we won't do as much damage when Monty's stack is in the field, but I think a few Barrage Assaults can tip a counter-attack in our favor.
This may be
but we have a ton of healthy Pikemen in striking distance, so I'm taking the risk! Here goes!We have 3 Catapults and 2 Trebs in striking distance. Monty has 3 trebs and 3 catapults, meaning that he could do some damage to our Garrison.
Hmm . . . wait. Monty has a smaller, but more Vetaran stack entering our territory. Hmm . . . Y'know, I don't WANT to, but I could give up Coventry now and use the CR siege strategy to dececnt effect. Mmm, well, S.ilver's tactic probably will work best, but my pride urges me to strike in the field. Our odds are better now, too, Since Monty destroyed so many of his troops last turn. OK, here goes.
Oh, wow. A Barrage II Catapult, with 2.3% odds, damages and retreats from a Knight. Huh. Next Catapult is wrecked, but does some damage. Cats and Trebs go in, die, but damage targets as well as the Collateral.
OK, some decent odds for attack, now.
Formation Musket blasts a War Elephant, but loses half his health in the process.
Upgrade a Samurai to Formation to draw out the Maceman who had been threatening our Pikemen. (Of course, now our Pikes target Monty's siege . . . which actually isn't a bad deal.)
Send in our Knight; it takes out a War Elephant and flanks one of Monty's siege.
We do lose a Coventry Musketman at 90% odds, though. Didn't even have the grace to do much damage against the War Elephant.
A Longbowman does manage to take a half-dead Elephant out, though it's a close fight.
After pounding on Monty for awhile, we get a Great General.
After all is said and done, Monty's Dread Stack is reduced to a single Knight on the verge of death. The only reason I do not slaughter this Knight here and now is because I would have to remove Tokyo's last defender to do so. While Tokyo is in no imminent danger, I am loathe to do so. I am robbed of Total Victory, but I will be content with this.
The only cost was a Musketman, but he died proudly for his nation.
We're up to 0.8 against Monty. Frightening . . . has he yet to show his true power?!?!
I'm moving our Great General up North. I want to attach him to a Medic II/Woodsman I Axeman. Not enough to get the Super Medic, but theoretically, puts us in reach of it. I won't do so until we are in agreement, however. I'll try to get the Axe some XP, would have done so before but I didn't realize it.
I'm also going to go ahead and move against Samarqand. 4 Trebs, more coming, should be OK.
Sulei is in some trouble, but hopefully he'll be OK.
Steel in 5.
Turn 362, 1704 AD
Yep, Monty takes Hastings inbetween turns. Hope it cost him some.
Kyoto: Treb < Treb (2 turns)
Mutal: Treb < Treb (4 turns)
Lakamha: Granary (9 turns)
I should probably cut back on Treb building since we're almost to Cannons.
Try to scramble some reinforcements to Xukpi because it has come under attack. Shouldn't need much help, though, but could use new roads.
Monty's little north-town is relatively well defended, but shouldn't be a problem.
Meanwhile, Monty's new, smaller stack is bearing down at Tokyo. I shuffle troops back in to keep it under guard.
If we can get some momentum going, maybe we can Liberate Brennus' and Sulei's towns, restore our buffer zone.
Let's get this party started.
-End Turn-
Turn 363, 1706 AD
Not the party I wanted! Xuxpi holds out, but we lose our Musketman. A mongolian cuirassier comes out of nowhere to hit our North stack and Drill Sgt. Slaughter falls in battle! AND flanks our trebs. Woe! And, Monty's stack by Tokyo grinds a Town down to nothing. Grr.
Uxmal: Catapult < Samurai (8 turns)
Oxhuitza: Catapult < Catapult (5 turns)
I pull our stack back, but accidentally leave a Treb behind. Oyyy . . . . It appears I didn't have any Pikemen with the group. Sgt. Slaughter's death was needless and in vain. I will correct the situation now.
*Sigh*
I'll leave Monty's stack be for now. It shouldn't pose a threat to Tokyo as it is.
-End Turn-
Turn 364, 1708 AD
Our latest Mayan acquisition comes out of revolt, and it looks like it saves us a turn on Steel. Next turn.
Kyoto: Treb < Samurai (1 turn)
Osaka: Catapult < Catapult (3 turns)
Vienne: Bank < Library (7 turns)
Ha ha, we got a Great Artist. Oyyy. Hmm, Sulei got one this turn, too. A highly creative year? I remember a dual Prophet turn some time back . . . .
He bulbs Divine Right. Bleh. I send him to sleep in Kyoto. Maybe we can use the Great Work to pacify a town, but I'm not sure which would be strategically best. Just 8 turns to the next GP, and we don't even have the NE yet! It'll actually come online in 9 turns!
Drill Sgt. Slaughter's successor . . . .
"Cast in the Name of God, Ye Not Guilty:" Big D!
Somehow, that lone Treb didn't get picked off. It rejoins the stack.
Next turn, final additions to the stack will join, and the turn after, it can move out again.
Don't have enough siege in place to strike Monty's stack again, have to wait a few turns.
Turn 365, 1710 AD
We have mastered the secrets of Steel, and have entered the Industrial age. We are the only ones who know the secret . . . *ahem*, well, the Maya may have found it first, but the secret died with them . . . .
Slot in Printing Press, but I'm gonna trade.
Monty attacked us with a War Elephant in between turns. It withdrew, but I finish it with a Knight.
Kyoto: Samurai < Cannon! (2 turns)
Satsuma: Musketman < Cannon (3 turns)
Tabriz: Pikeman < Pikeman (6 turns)
Calakmul: Granary (5 turns)
Trading with Brennus and Sulei, I can get the techs they'll trade for Steel: Divine Right, Philosophy, Printing Press, and Optics. They are our Vassals, so I think it's a safe trade. Nationalism is open for trade, but I didn't think I could get it.
Printing Press gives our economy a kick in the kiester. I put in Education at 7 turns. Sulei should have Replacable parts done in 6 turns. Even though Brennus has Education already, since Sulei is Friendly, I think we can get an even trade. Replacable parts ourself would be 7 turns, so I figure Education is 2-for-1.
Actually . . . I slot in Military Science. Same research time, but it's a military tech. We may not need Grenadiers, but they pack more punch than Musketmen, and they can be an answer to Riflemen in case anyone gets them. The other reason: I don't foresee us building Universities any time soon, useful as they might be.
With a bit of luck, Brennus will be ready to trade Education by the time MS is in. No, wait, he already has it . . . .
I'm avoiding Astronomy and Scientific Method 'cuz I'm not sure if we care about obsoleting things just yet.
If Monty doesn't suicide his stack, I have enough catapults in range now to handle him.
Turn 366, 1712 AD
Brennus offers fur for our rice. Sure, buddy.
Sulei gives us clams for silk. Erm . . . come back next year.
Kagoshima: Cannon < Cannon (5 turns)
Oh, get a dumb event. People of Lakamha aren't feeling safe because of the Jail. Paying to reassure them would cost a big chunk of our Treasury, so I'll take the permanent +1 unhappy. They'll deal.
Arggh!! A Celtic Revolt in Bibracte. 4 turns! *twitch* Our Great People! The National Epic!
Anyway, time to Trounce some Monty units. Lose all 4 catapults, but I'm not concerned. I'll see what the odds are before I send in the Trebs. Those are slightly more valuable.
Go, Big D! Victory!
Ehh . . . in goes a Treb. Retreats at 40% odds. Next one survives. 1 Treb left, no need.
A mish-mashed promoted Knight takes out a Pikemen. Our own Pike finishes a harmed macemen. Clean-up duty from here out. Soon, the last stack is history. No losses, catapults aside.
Send in workers to fix Copper mine.
This'll be my last turn, I just wanted to clear things up around our eastern front.
There's an unpromoted Samurai in Tokyo with 13 xp right now. HE might be a candidate for a Super Medic, too. But is more likely to get attacked than the Axeman. Though this Samurai is more likely to get the few extra XP needed for the full deal. Just a consideration. I'd go Axe, myself.
Oh, right, the revolt in Celtic lands adds a turn to our research. Bleh.
So, we have a stack up north ready to hit Monty's lil' whaling town. Tokyo is clear. Sulei is under some heavy pressure, do we want to send an Expidentiary Force to try and bail him out?
I think we can also retake London and Hastings, either keep them for ourselves or return them to our Vassals.
Truth be told, now that we can start cranking out cannons, maybe we should just play a holding action on our western front, shouldn't be too hard, and start pushing hard into Monty's territory while he's still reeling from the loss of his main army. We're at 0.9 against him now, but I bet that we've beaten his A-Team. He shouldn't have anything but reserves.
It is way past dinner time and I am hungry. I think I ought to pass this off, too. I won't be able to play again for a few days at least.
Oh, that's right. Next turn, we can attempt to spread Hinduism to Kyoto (the missionary is almost there). If it succeeds, we should have just enough votes to win us a Religious victory. Do we want to do that? It'll end the game faster, but it sort of seems like the "false" ending. A diplomatic win after all this?
Blood calls for blood . . . I think the "true" ending will be the conquest of Montezuma.
PaulisKhan
Physicist
Great game, keep it up!
S.ilver
Emperor
That's some first rate warring there Whosit, nice job!
Monty looks to be just about gassed after you killed a bunch of his stacks like that. Note that he doesn't have any siege visible along the borders, and the stack for Texcoco is pretty much assorted scraps. Probably best to ignore Monty on the east unless he directly attacks our holdings; we are better off letting him take our vassals' lands, so we can take it back and be that much closer to domination.
The west is basically an exercise in how fast you can run over Genghis. With cannons, this shouldn't be a huge problem, but please beware, as Cuirs can flank attack Cannons.
Some other thoughts...
-Techwise, getting Mil Sci is not really important at all. Military Academies are enticing, but we'd need to burn a great general, and there are no real standout candidates except Satsuma (a Kyoto military academy is overkill). Blitz is not important, as we kind of don't have any 2-move units, while Commando is truly worthless in our situation.
We don't need Ships of the Line, in fact we don't need boats at all, and Grenadiers are overrated. Nobody has rifles, and nobody is close to getting them, at least within the next 30 turns or so, and the ones closest are our vassals. Monty doesn't even have Gunpowder yet. Meanwhile, Mil Sci is a dead end tech, which doesn't really help us towards other objectives. And it's not exactly a cheap tech either.
I could possibly understand getting it to use as a trade chip, except that Brennus is in WFYABTA mode, so that's useless. The empire is big enough that we can tech whatever we need by ourselves now, the tech gap having closed considerably.
For a warlike win, since the enemy doesn't have Steel, you can use Cannons + Cav, or Cannons + Rifles, or even both, but that would probably be stalling too long. So that would either be Nationalism->Mil Trad (actually only Cuirs, but they should be fine), or Rep Parts->Rifling. Since we are Japan, our rifles are uber and that should definitely be considered. Those trees that we saved for thousands of years can also finally be put to use.
-I didn't see it in the report, so I'll mention that since we're in a Golden Age, it would be the ideal time to switch civics. Obviously we have few choices, but I can give a few hints...
We are building mostly units in our cities, so an expensive civic that speeds up building construction is not really useful... while another civic in that same category empowers all our new units.
We are at war with everyone who is not our vassal. That means no foreign trade routes other than vassals. Also keep in mind that vassals can continue to generate trade routes through a certain civic that otherwise cuts off other civs.
-Whip the National Epic in Bibracte. There's probably really no point in it, as this game will be won by breaking heads and not spawning great people, but it would cut down the city size. It would probably also be a good idea to station more troops there to cut down on the 8.5% revolt chance. They won't be able to flip back, but a constantly revolting city is annoying.
-Some of the older units can probably be retired to make way for the new troops. Specifically, classical age units that aren't serving some useful purpose like a supermedic, or sole garrison of some town (and if they are, it would probably be good to try and shuffle them out). Unit costs are not unreasonably high, but I count a LOT of completely obsolete units. Stuff like spears and axes in defense are a paper garrison, and will do nothing if a town is actually attacked.
-We could use more workers, as most of former Pacal-land is now safe to be retooled, and the idiot spammed too many farms there.
Monty looks to be just about gassed after you killed a bunch of his stacks like that. Note that he doesn't have any siege visible along the borders, and the stack for Texcoco is pretty much assorted scraps. Probably best to ignore Monty on the east unless he directly attacks our holdings; we are better off letting him take our vassals' lands, so we can take it back and be that much closer to domination.
The west is basically an exercise in how fast you can run over Genghis. With cannons, this shouldn't be a huge problem, but please beware, as Cuirs can flank attack Cannons.
Some other thoughts...
-Techwise, getting Mil Sci is not really important at all. Military Academies are enticing, but we'd need to burn a great general, and there are no real standout candidates except Satsuma (a Kyoto military academy is overkill). Blitz is not important, as we kind of don't have any 2-move units, while Commando is truly worthless in our situation.
We don't need Ships of the Line, in fact we don't need boats at all, and Grenadiers are overrated. Nobody has rifles, and nobody is close to getting them, at least within the next 30 turns or so, and the ones closest are our vassals. Monty doesn't even have Gunpowder yet. Meanwhile, Mil Sci is a dead end tech, which doesn't really help us towards other objectives. And it's not exactly a cheap tech either.
I could possibly understand getting it to use as a trade chip, except that Brennus is in WFYABTA mode, so that's useless. The empire is big enough that we can tech whatever we need by ourselves now, the tech gap having closed considerably.
For a warlike win, since the enemy doesn't have Steel, you can use Cannons + Cav, or Cannons + Rifles, or even both, but that would probably be stalling too long. So that would either be Nationalism->Mil Trad (actually only Cuirs, but they should be fine), or Rep Parts->Rifling. Since we are Japan, our rifles are uber and that should definitely be considered. Those trees that we saved for thousands of years can also finally be put to use.
-I didn't see it in the report, so I'll mention that since we're in a Golden Age, it would be the ideal time to switch civics. Obviously we have few choices, but I can give a few hints...
We are building mostly units in our cities, so an expensive civic that speeds up building construction is not really useful... while another civic in that same category empowers all our new units.
We are at war with everyone who is not our vassal. That means no foreign trade routes other than vassals. Also keep in mind that vassals can continue to generate trade routes through a certain civic that otherwise cuts off other civs.
-Whip the National Epic in Bibracte. There's probably really no point in it, as this game will be won by breaking heads and not spawning great people, but it would cut down the city size. It would probably also be a good idea to station more troops there to cut down on the 8.5% revolt chance. They won't be able to flip back, but a constantly revolting city is annoying.
-Some of the older units can probably be retired to make way for the new troops. Specifically, classical age units that aren't serving some useful purpose like a supermedic, or sole garrison of some town (and if they are, it would probably be good to try and shuffle them out). Unit costs are not unreasonably high, but I count a LOT of completely obsolete units. Stuff like spears and axes in defense are a paper garrison, and will do nothing if a town is actually attacked.
-We could use more workers, as most of former Pacal-land is now safe to be retooled, and the idiot spammed too many farms there.
Whosit
Entropic Knight
Thanks for the kind words.
I hadn't even thought about the Civics at all. Ha ha, yeah, Theocracy would be a better choice. Though I had no idea that you could still trade with Vassals in Mercantilism.
I'm not sure how fast we'll be self-teching when the Golden Age wears off, but if we get a GP that's not an Artist, we can fire off another. I don't know how fast Bibracte will pump out GP as time goes on, but with the GE, it might supply us with another GA or two. I hope.
Only 1-turn has gone into Mil. Sci, I think, so we can switch that out at relatively little cost.
And whoever goes after Ghengis, DE or sturick, as S.ilver noted and the mistake I made, keep some Pikemen with 'em to handle the cavalry. I think they're still a good choice until we get Rifles and we don't want to lose cannons needlessly.
On a side note, I feel a little bad about the idea for leaving our Vassals out to dry . . . but, I suppose, what have they ever done for us? 'Specially Brennus.
I hadn't even thought about the Civics at all. Ha ha, yeah, Theocracy would be a better choice. Though I had no idea that you could still trade with Vassals in Mercantilism.
I'm not sure how fast we'll be self-teching when the Golden Age wears off, but if we get a GP that's not an Artist, we can fire off another. I don't know how fast Bibracte will pump out GP as time goes on, but with the GE, it might supply us with another GA or two. I hope.
Only 1-turn has gone into Mil. Sci, I think, so we can switch that out at relatively little cost.
And whoever goes after Ghengis, DE or sturick, as S.ilver noted and the mistake I made, keep some Pikemen with 'em to handle the cavalry. I think they're still a good choice until we get Rifles and we don't want to lose cannons needlessly.
On a side note, I feel a little bad about the idea for leaving our Vassals out to dry . . . but, I suppose, what have they ever done for us? 'Specially Brennus.
Fantastic job Whosit!!! 
I only got a quick peek at the save so brief comments.
Monty will accept peace and give us his loner city and 190 gold if we wanna go that route.
It will give us a breather that we can use to build an armada of cannons!
Plus it will give us a chance to slightly reduce our war weariness.
I think with this peace we can shore up our defenses a bit.
Then its just a matter of who do we attack first...Genghis or Monty!
Or we can trudge through a few more war turns and take Samarkand and maybe London???
I'm fine either way...I am up in two other games so I say DE you should take a crack at em!
I only got a quick peek at the save so brief comments.
Monty will accept peace and give us his loner city and 190 gold if we wanna go that route.
It will give us a breather that we can use to build an armada of cannons!
Plus it will give us a chance to slightly reduce our war weariness.
I think with this peace we can shore up our defenses a bit.
Then its just a matter of who do we attack first...Genghis or Monty!
Or we can trudge through a few more war turns and take Samarkand and maybe London???
I'm fine either way...I am up in two other games so I say DE you should take a crack at em!
Whosit
Entropic Knight
Hmmm . . . .
Y'know, it might be a good idea to catch a breather soon, let us strategically regroup and maybe limit further damage to the Ottomans. I believe that our northern strike force is in range of Monty's lone city, so I think we should take it first and then talk peace, maybe see if we can get one or two of our Vassal's former cities back: It'd be nice to restore some of that buffer. If we can't get them in trade, then no biggie.
Building cannons non-stop for 10+ turns should allow even our forces as they stand a good chance of victory.
If we take peace, then I would focus our new assault on Khan. The only reason I would have gone after Monty now was because we struck a major victory over him and it would keep the momentum. I don't know how much he can repair in 10 turns, but we wouldn't have the same momentum. Rolling over the Mongols in Phase II will let us breathe easier, though.
I'd probably rearrange our forces, move some of them west. We'd still want good defenses in Coventry and Tokyo, with defenders, counter-attackers, and cannons, but we probably won't need as many for round 2 as we did this time. I imagine that we could either hold down the fort again, or even launch an initial raid against Monty to take London and Samrkand and hold the line there while we trash Khan.
That's my sketch of things. Let 'er rip when you're ready, DE.
Y'know, it might be a good idea to catch a breather soon, let us strategically regroup and maybe limit further damage to the Ottomans. I believe that our northern strike force is in range of Monty's lone city, so I think we should take it first and then talk peace, maybe see if we can get one or two of our Vassal's former cities back: It'd be nice to restore some of that buffer. If we can't get them in trade, then no biggie.
Building cannons non-stop for 10+ turns should allow even our forces as they stand a good chance of victory.
If we take peace, then I would focus our new assault on Khan. The only reason I would have gone after Monty now was because we struck a major victory over him and it would keep the momentum. I don't know how much he can repair in 10 turns, but we wouldn't have the same momentum. Rolling over the Mongols in Phase II will let us breathe easier, though.
I'd probably rearrange our forces, move some of them west. We'd still want good defenses in Coventry and Tokyo, with defenders, counter-attackers, and cannons, but we probably won't need as many for round 2 as we did this time. I imagine that we could either hold down the fort again, or even launch an initial raid against Monty to take London and Samrkand and hold the line there while we trash Khan.
That's my sketch of things. Let 'er rip when you're ready, DE.
muxec
Prince
Nice exploitation of Artificial Idiot's tactical weakness so far.
Diamondeye
So Happy I Could Die
I read through the report but not the comments, and I was thinking we could use the Artist to restore order in our GPfarm - wouldn't that work?
I'll probably hit it tomorrow, after having looked closer at the thing
I'll probably hit it tomorrow, after having looked closer at the thing
Liquidated
Goofed Up on Cough Syrup!
ok sorry guys. silver knows a little bit about liq's recurring nightmare of uh gulf related medical entertainment but suffice to say the last few months have been a haze. Shocked there's even a 3.19 patch once it got though liq's head that 3.17 was the last patch. that's an indicator jsut how goofed up liq is =/
just got back from an extended field trip to the VA but am in no state to concentrate on anything nearly as complicated as civ4.
Good to see the game is still going!
Cheers!
-Liq'ddd
just got back from an extended field trip to the VA but am in no state to concentrate on anything nearly as complicated as civ4.
Good to see the game is still going!
Cheers!
-Liq'ddd
Diamondeye
So Happy I Could Die
Many apologies for this, but I can't play anymore turnsets here, I have an exam tomorrow and after that there's only some days till I leave on vacation, and I need to pack and coordinate and all that stuff, so I'll have to jump out of the roster of this game. I hope I can play with you guys again after the holidays, it's been great fun!
Whosit
Entropic Knight
Aww, sorry to hear that, Diamondeye. Well, enjoy your vacation. See you next season!
So, I guess that means it's down to sturick and me? Unless he's jumping off the boat, too, in which case I guess I'm going it alone.
Should we try fishing for new members? I wonder, but I wonder if a new player would have trouble jumping in at this point.
So, I guess that means it's down to sturick and me? Unless he's jumping off the boat, too, in which case I guess I'm going it alone.
Should we try fishing for new members? I wonder, but I wonder if a new player would have trouble jumping in at this point.
Whosit
Entropic Knight
The "On Point Kings," eh? So, which one of us is House Mouth and who is wearing Boxing Gloves? 
Edit: On second thought, maybe you have a soft-spot for small, furry, yellow anvils.
Anyway, since I technically went last, the next round is yours for the taking if you wish. I suppose that we're in no hurry. I would say that we'll crush Monty like an inexorably advancing glacier, but that analogy might not hold as much water nowadays.
Edit: On second thought, maybe you have a soft-spot for small, furry, yellow anvils.
Anyway, since I technically went last, the next round is yours for the taking if you wish. I suppose that we're in no hurry. I would say that we'll crush Monty like an inexorably advancing glacier, but that analogy might not hold as much water nowadays.
I forgot about the Grawmad...
Anyhoo...back to the game.
I will take it tomorrow.
I think I will take the loner Monty city by force before looking to get peace with him.
Taking the city via diplomacy will put all his troops in Genghis territory and that will just be a hassle I would rather not deal with.
Plus Monty has 900 gold in his coffers right now.
I would rather take that in peace offering anyways.
Tech switch to Replaceable Parts.
Civics switches to Merc and Theo right away.
Thanks to Silver for pointing those out!
Plus I will beg marble from Brennus to make the National Epic arrive a little faster.
Feel free to chime in with anything else I may have missed.
Anyhoo...back to the game.
I will take it tomorrow.
I think I will take the loner Monty city by force before looking to get peace with him.
Taking the city via diplomacy will put all his troops in Genghis territory and that will just be a hassle I would rather not deal with.
Plus Monty has 900 gold in his coffers right now.
I would rather take that in peace offering anyways.
Tech switch to Replaceable Parts.
Civics switches to Merc and Theo right away.
Thanks to Silver for pointing those out!
Plus I will beg marble from Brennus to make the National Epic arrive a little faster.
Feel free to chime in with anything else I may have missed.
PaulisKhan
Physicist
I forgot about the Grawmad...
Plus I will beg marble from Brennus to make the National Epic arrive a little faster.
Nono you are the master, you demand his marble. You are the decider!!!
I look forward to the last few turnsets =)
Buildup to Vengeance
Preturn
Lets take a quick look at our cities and ensure they are running at full capabilities.
Whew....thats alot more cities than I remember there being.
I only made a couple of changes...nothing noteworthy.
Next its time to put on my mean face and dial up Brennus.
"Give me my marble WORM!"
Thanks PaulisKhan for putting me in the correct frame of mind for that exchange of goods.
Switching civics to Theo and Merc nets us 16gpt, 16 bpt and 10 ept.
Plus it forces me to run through the cities again...arrgh!
Okay so the plan is to hit enter, take Samarqand and get lots of goodies for peace.
Step one...whack enter.
(1) 714 AD
Kyoto cannon>cannon
Mutal cannon>pike
Xukpi theatre>courthouse
Waiting to attack Monty this turn allowed two things to happen.
He whipped out a defender at Samarqand.
He retook Texcoco.
Let us take Samarqand shall we?
I promote a cat to barrageII since he won't survive either way.
He gets flawlessed.
Next up a CRII treb with 56% odds...makes me wonder what a CRII cannon will look like! He gets away!
Escape with 64% odds!
The rest of the trebs win with 90+% odds.
The rest should be easy.
Combat Colin unlocks West Point by reaching 26 exp!
Everyone else does their jobs well and we take the city with only the loss of an outdated catapult.
The city even has a settled GP!
Lets dial up Monty...see what he offers.
And its better than I could have even imagined.
Lets spoiler this one for fun!
(2) 716 AD
Satsuma cannon>knight
I briefly considered building the ironworks but it would have taken 25 turns. I figured we won't end up needing it.
Tabriz pike>pike
Lots of troop reshuffling.
I move most of our defensive troops from Coventry and Tokyo to London.
All of our offensive troops are piling up inbetween Tabriz and Xukpi where they will launch their offensive soon.
Oh I forgot to mention that I used our general to create the supermedic...he needs five more experience to max out with Woody III.
(3) 718 AD
Kyoto cannon>musket for Bibracte to lessen revolt chances ( I sent a pike down there earlier)
Coventry cannon>musket
Lakhama granary>courthouse
AP vote comes up with a few good choices and one really lousy one!
I chose Ainu...probably should have chosen Hastings but I couldn't look at the map.
No big deal...it might not even pass.
(4) 720 AD
Monty denies the resolution...go figure!
Kyoto musket>musket
Osaka cannon>cannon
Chicken Pizza islamic monastery>hindu monastery
Plus lots of other builds that I missed!
(5) 722 AD
We get the wedding event...I pay for some extra diplo...why not.
Sats knight>musket
Vienne library>grocer
(6) 724 AD
Kyoto cannon>musket
Tabriz pike>pike
Edirne cannon>courthouse
Stupid fire event makes us pay to keep the forge in Bibracte.
(7) 726 AD
Mutal hindu mish>hindu mish
The Ox cannon>musket
Tokyo cannon>market
(8) 728 AD
Replaceable Parts learned...
Rifling begun...
Crappy Celtic revolt...this time in Vienne.
Workers are sent to Kyoto and Satsuma to begin work on the lumbermills.
(9) 730 AD
Bibracte finishes National Epic and Great Person coming next turn!
Hope and pray for no artist!
(10) 732 AD
We get a Great Prophet...I see no reason not to fire up a golden age again.
I figure that we can tech rifling then run a few turns at 100% gold to upgrade all our bigmen to rifles. That way we will easily counter anything Genghis has to offer!
Our second golden age has begun!
Bibracte gets hindufied.
(11) 734 AD
Mutal hindu mish>hindu mish
As soon as Vienne comes out of revolt this turn....it goes back in.
I whip Londons forge so I can put crazy double speed overflow into the walls and castle that this city needs.
Somehow the irrigation chain to Coventy has failed...so I send workers to make a new one.
(12) 736 AD
Kyoto pike>musket
Sats cannon>knight
Tabriz pike>pike
(13) 738 AD
Mutal mish>mish
London walls>castle
Vienne and Uxmal get hindu.
Lets see if next turn Vienne can go for the threepeat of revolts!
(14) 740 AD
Kyoto musket>cannon
Kago cannon>cannon
2 more turns til rifling and 2 more turns til another GP at Bibracte.
No revolts this turn...HOORAY!
(15) 742 AD
Osaka pike>cannon
Chicken Pizza monastery>grocer
Sats knight>cannon
Mutal mish>mish
The Ox musket>spy
Mayapan cannon>bank
Calakmul courthouse>bank
London castle>pike
Suleiman gets a great merchant.
And in what is turning out to be a Celtic tradition...Vienne revolts...again!
(16) 744 AD
Kyoto cannon>rifle
Bibracte courthouse>moai
I forgot to grab the rifling screenie...guess I need to reload the autosave
I promote Combat Colin and Kosuke to Rifles as they are the best candidates that I saw.
Wrapup
We can declare whenever we please.
We can wait a few turns and upgrade some trebs to cannons or some more Bigmen to rifles.
We can declare now as we have the huge advantage with cannons.
We got a Great Scientist from Bibracte...he can bulb a portion of SciMeth (meh)
or he can make an academy somewhere. I'm not sure thats all that exciting either.
AP vote should be coming soon...something new for Monty to deny I bet.
Roster:
Oh who am I kidding
Preturn
Lets take a quick look at our cities and ensure they are running at full capabilities.
Whew....thats alot more cities than I remember there being.
I only made a couple of changes...nothing noteworthy.
Next its time to put on my mean face and dial up Brennus.
"Give me my marble WORM!"
Thanks PaulisKhan for putting me in the correct frame of mind for that exchange of goods.
Switching civics to Theo and Merc nets us 16gpt, 16 bpt and 10 ept.
Plus it forces me to run through the cities again...arrgh!
Okay so the plan is to hit enter, take Samarqand and get lots of goodies for peace.
Step one...whack enter.
(1) 714 AD
Kyoto cannon>cannon
Mutal cannon>pike
Xukpi theatre>courthouse
Waiting to attack Monty this turn allowed two things to happen.
He whipped out a defender at Samarqand.
He retook Texcoco.
Let us take Samarqand shall we?
I promote a cat to barrageII since he won't survive either way.
He gets flawlessed.
Next up a CRII treb with 56% odds...makes me wonder what a CRII cannon will look like! He gets away!
Escape with 64% odds!
The rest of the trebs win with 90+% odds.
The rest should be easy.
Combat Colin unlocks West Point by reaching 26 exp!
Everyone else does their jobs well and we take the city with only the loss of an outdated catapult.
The city even has a settled GP!
Lets dial up Monty...see what he offers.
And its better than I could have even imagined.
Lets spoiler this one for fun!
Spoiler :
(2) 716 AD
Satsuma cannon>knight
I briefly considered building the ironworks but it would have taken 25 turns. I figured we won't end up needing it.
Tabriz pike>pike
Lots of troop reshuffling.
I move most of our defensive troops from Coventry and Tokyo to London.
All of our offensive troops are piling up inbetween Tabriz and Xukpi where they will launch their offensive soon.
Oh I forgot to mention that I used our general to create the supermedic...he needs five more experience to max out with Woody III.
(3) 718 AD
Kyoto cannon>musket for Bibracte to lessen revolt chances ( I sent a pike down there earlier)
Coventry cannon>musket
Lakhama granary>courthouse
AP vote comes up with a few good choices and one really lousy one!
I chose Ainu...probably should have chosen Hastings but I couldn't look at the map.
No big deal...it might not even pass.
(4) 720 AD
Monty denies the resolution...go figure!
Kyoto musket>musket
Osaka cannon>cannon
Chicken Pizza islamic monastery>hindu monastery
Plus lots of other builds that I missed!
(5) 722 AD
We get the wedding event...I pay for some extra diplo...why not.
Sats knight>musket
Vienne library>grocer
(6) 724 AD
Kyoto cannon>musket
Tabriz pike>pike
Edirne cannon>courthouse
Stupid fire event makes us pay to keep the forge in Bibracte.
(7) 726 AD
Mutal hindu mish>hindu mish
The Ox cannon>musket
Tokyo cannon>market
(8) 728 AD
Replaceable Parts learned...
Rifling begun...
Crappy Celtic revolt...this time in Vienne.
Workers are sent to Kyoto and Satsuma to begin work on the lumbermills.
(9) 730 AD
Bibracte finishes National Epic and Great Person coming next turn!
Hope and pray for no artist!
(10) 732 AD
We get a Great Prophet...I see no reason not to fire up a golden age again.
I figure that we can tech rifling then run a few turns at 100% gold to upgrade all our bigmen to rifles. That way we will easily counter anything Genghis has to offer!
Our second golden age has begun!
Bibracte gets hindufied.
(11) 734 AD
Mutal hindu mish>hindu mish
As soon as Vienne comes out of revolt this turn....it goes back in.
I whip Londons forge so I can put crazy double speed overflow into the walls and castle that this city needs.
Somehow the irrigation chain to Coventy has failed...so I send workers to make a new one.
(12) 736 AD
Kyoto pike>musket
Sats cannon>knight
Tabriz pike>pike
(13) 738 AD
Mutal mish>mish
London walls>castle
Vienne and Uxmal get hindu.
Lets see if next turn Vienne can go for the threepeat of revolts!
(14) 740 AD
Kyoto musket>cannon
Kago cannon>cannon
2 more turns til rifling and 2 more turns til another GP at Bibracte.
No revolts this turn...HOORAY!
(15) 742 AD
Osaka pike>cannon
Chicken Pizza monastery>grocer
Sats knight>cannon
Mutal mish>mish
The Ox musket>spy
Mayapan cannon>bank
Calakmul courthouse>bank
London castle>pike
Suleiman gets a great merchant.
And in what is turning out to be a Celtic tradition...Vienne revolts...again!
(16) 744 AD
Kyoto cannon>rifle
Bibracte courthouse>moai
I forgot to grab the rifling screenie...guess I need to reload the autosave
I promote Combat Colin and Kosuke to Rifles as they are the best candidates that I saw.
Wrapup
We can declare whenever we please.
We can wait a few turns and upgrade some trebs to cannons or some more Bigmen to rifles.
We can declare now as we have the huge advantage with cannons.
We got a Great Scientist from Bibracte...he can bulb a portion of SciMeth (meh)
or he can make an academy somewhere. I'm not sure thats all that exciting either.
AP vote should be coming soon...something new for Monty to deny I bet.
Roster:
Oh who am I kidding
Whosit
Entropic Knight
Heeheeheehaha!
That was a fun report, sturick. I especially liked the title. Hmm . . . *contemplatively strokes beard* I warred last turn, you built up this turn, I will probably war in my coming set . . . are we taking on S.ilver and Liq roles, here?
You are mistaken: Monty paid for the wedding.
I'll probably be able to answer this question for myself, but I was wondering which unit you ended up slapping the Medic on (the axe or one of the samurai). Hopefully I can get that extra 5 XP without upgrading the unit. I will probably run 100% gold for a bit and upgrade some more Bigmen: I always enjoy getting Riflemen with the City Raider promotions.
Well, probably not much I can do aside from piling in troops into the Celtic cities, which would be a waste . . . . Too bad there's no "institute martial law and brutally crush all resistance" command. It would probably cause diplomatic fallout, anyway.
Anyway, s'far as I could tell, you gave us a mix of military and infrastructure build-up, which is good. Because I apparently have too much time on my hands, I think I can play tonight which shouldn't be a problem since I think the plan is straightforward: Crush Genghis under our heel while stalling Monty at London (nice job snagging that forward outpost, by the way).
Oh, by the way, if you wouldn't mind extending the game slightly, sturick, I was thinking that we should try to avoid a Domination win. We can probably take Khan's land, but I was thinking that when we finally have our final rumble with Monty, we just slash and burn his "Empire" until we are the last one's standing: Conquest at its finest!
That was a fun report, sturick. I especially liked the title. Hmm . . . *contemplatively strokes beard* I warred last turn, you built up this turn, I will probably war in my coming set . . . are we taking on S.ilver and Liq roles, here?
sturick said:
You are mistaken: Monty paid for the wedding.
I'll probably be able to answer this question for myself, but I was wondering which unit you ended up slapping the Medic on (the axe or one of the samurai). Hopefully I can get that extra 5 XP without upgrading the unit. I will probably run 100% gold for a bit and upgrade some more Bigmen: I always enjoy getting Riflemen with the City Raider promotions.
sturick said:
Well, probably not much I can do aside from piling in troops into the Celtic cities, which would be a waste . . . . Too bad there's no "institute martial law and brutally crush all resistance" command. It would probably cause diplomatic fallout, anyway.
Anyway, s'far as I could tell, you gave us a mix of military and infrastructure build-up, which is good. Because I apparently have too much time on my hands, I think I can play tonight which shouldn't be a problem since I think the plan is straightforward: Crush Genghis under our heel while stalling Monty at London (nice job snagging that forward outpost, by the way).
Oh, by the way, if you wouldn't mind extending the game slightly, sturick, I was thinking that we should try to avoid a Domination win. We can probably take Khan's land, but I was thinking that when we finally have our final rumble with Monty, we just slash and burn his "Empire" until we are the last one's standing: Conquest at its finest!
