Acronym's Bucket List Succession Game - sign-ups open!

[choxorn]

I pretty much agree with Lanzelot and tjs.

Anyone think it might be worth it to start building Sun Tzu's, either because lots of free Barracks or great or because we can switch it to Leo's Workshop, which is also great?

 

[MrRandomGuy]

Thanks for the constructive feedback. Sorry for the mistakes, I'm only just now realizing that I have a lot to learn from this game.

 

[tjs282]

Didn't have a home internet connection for the past two days, not sure why (possibly something to do with very heavy internet streaming traffic in Germany because of some football match or other...)

Now got the save, and will have a look later (it's 8am, and I'm about to go to work). Oooh yes, we have Feudalism now, so we can build Pikes and MedInf. Goody

I will start playing tomorrow (Wednesday) evening, if I don't hear otherwise... Acronym, if you're watching, you are welcome to take this turnset, since you missed yours (and I feel we are in a kind of odd position, not actually having had any real input from you since this game -- your game -- started...).

 

[Lanzelot]

We did, but what we now don't have is the initiative. Copenhagen should have fallen on the first turn of the war, with Bergen following shortly after it...
I think the priority now should be troops not Libs/research. High Tax% for rush-builds/upgrades/tech-trades, and high Lux% to keep everyone happy while the war lasts. And trying to get peace ASAP (after taking some cities, if possible).

Feedback please?

We still have 4 swords, I think. One of them is unfortunately exposed at the moment and might get killed IBT (two enemy archers are close to it). Try to upgrade them in the next 2 turns. (Unfortunately our big gold reserve has molten down to 89g.) Two can be upgraded immediately, for the others set research to 0% for 2-3 turns.
Also the spears should be upgraded to pikes shortterm.
However, the situation is not critical. - We'll still beat the Vikings with ease. München is already building units, two more towns have just finished their barracks and we can switch the libs they are currently building, back to units, and Hamburg will finish the aqueduct in 4 turns (don't forget to set the scientist back to the plains tile and raise the lux tax instead), and can then go back to unit duty for a while too. With these 4 towns concentrating on military, the war should be won soon.

If we can avoid further losses, we can even let the war continue as a phony war and enjoy War Happiness for a long time. (According to Oystein's research, we can still afford the loss of 11 units, before the effect of WH wears off, and ~7 more units, before War Weariness will set in.) With 3 lux resources and one source of WH, we can support size 7-8 cities at only 10% lux tax. And getting many towns to size 7 is important now as it triples our free unit upkeep.

 

[templar_x]

OK, it's done.

Hopefully the colour-coding is clear enough to show what I wanted to show -- apologies for the eye-watering look, but only the neon-highlighter colours showed up consistently against all backgrounds. I've only calculated food distributions/tile allocations (coloured borders) for our core cities (including Aarhus, excluding Copenhagen, on the assumption that we will keep the former but raze the latter), because these were the most difficult to ensure adequate food.

I haven't bothered working out an exact tile allocation for Neu Oslo, Bananenbucht, or Bergen, because all those cities (or any we might soon build) in the regions beyond the core will have more than adequate food supplies from any given 12 tiles that they might work (I've marked their BFC tiles with the maximum food potential, fully irrigated, before railways). Except where the odd Hill/Mountain tile might need to be subsidised, most of these (currently marsh/jungle) tiles can rather be cleared and mined (or in some cases even forested) instead.

It seems to be generally agreed that we should settle on Spot11 (which MRG is currently doing -- good!), but the rest of the map is to be regarded as open for discussion. To start that off, I've marked what I think are some good spots for 'immediate' settlement (Spots 12 + 13, in filled blue circles) and (post war) settlement (simple blue rings), generally following a CxxC pattern. What does everyone think?

that is a very nice piece of work! could you please explain how you did it? did you just draw each line and write each number, or is there a trick?
t_x

 

[templar_x]

Of course take the deal. 130g is dirt cheap, and we are likely to get it back for something later anyway.
I think, the risk that they soon get Lit and Eng from somewhere else (and then we have nothing) is much higher than the probability that they'll be willing to give a better deal later on.
And another reason: the Mongols are not on our continent, so we have no aspiration to any of their territory. So we can use them as research partners (if they are so far ahead in techs, they must be strong). And as a research partner, we don't want them to spend their beakers on techs that we already know! So even if they had nothing to trade at the moment, we would gift them our techs now and hope they'll discover something that we don't know.
For example they could go towards Invention - Gunpowder, while we go for Education. (And even if we couldn't afford those techs at the moment, we would get them eventually.)

So to sum it up: in a research game one needs to keep the tech pace high. That means: trade for your life, everything you can get, and also pick a few friends and always keep them up to date so that they don't waste beakers on techs we already know. That's the only way to achieve a good date in a space race.

@toxicman: I guess the above already answers your question: in a fast science game, the Great Library is useless.

i just want to add the maybe most important point in that situation (and Lanzelot is generally right with everything he is saying here for a science game): without the trade, you would not have anything useful to research! and no, a tech that is already known by others is NOT a useful research goal in a science game.
t_x

 

[templar_x]

Atk=2 vs. Def=2 (before terrain/defence bonus) is not very good odds (≤50% victory prob., even if both units have the same HP), especially when our 'attack' unit numbers are already (too) low. I would prefer to attack Swords with Swords if possible (3 vs. 2) -- unless mounted units have some kind of hardcoded advantage (other than the retreat possibility) over foot units...?

the retreat possibility IS the hardcoded advantage. comparing A and D values does not really cut it. you need at least the shield costs and the probability of survival of the unit in the equation (and that still is leaving out any tactical or strategic considerations).
due to their speed and flexibility, horses are amongst the strongest units in the entire game, especially given how early they come in the game and their excellent upgrade path.
t_x

 

[tjs282]

that is a very nice piece of work! could you please explain how you did it? did you just draw each line and write each number, or is there a trick?
t_x

Thankyou for the compliment. To answer your question, basically yes, that's what I did.

The only 'trick' I used was to prepare that map using Paint.net, which (unlike MSPaint) allows the use of 'layers' -- effectively digital transparencies that you can superimpose on top of each other.

(On p.13, Post#251, C-Bob gives a link to the site where I downloaded the still-XP-compatible version of Paint.net)

Each layer can be user-renamed. I used the original zoomed-out CivIII screengrab as the base layer ('Map'), and then added a layer for city dots ('Sites'), another for the food-values ('Text'), and a third for the tile allocations (Worked tiles'). This allowed me to add to and edit each of those features separately, without affecting any of the other details. (On reflection, I could probably have used only 2 layers: 'City sites/worked tiles' and 'Text')

As stated, I initially added all the tile food values as the max. values possible (with irrigation), and all in one text colour (in this case, shocking pink, because it showed up well on all backgrounds). Although, as in MSPaint, clicking outside a text box in Paint.net will finalise the text position, unlike MSPaint, Paint.net allows the text-box position to be adjusted prior to finalising it, so I could get each value nicely centred in its respective tile, which was... erm... nice (for someone who is perhaps a little... erm... retentive, maybe...).

Then I assigned each city a specific neon colour in the 'Worked tiles' layer, looked to see which tiles were unique to each city, and recoloured those food-values accordingly (using the 'Fill' tool in the 'Text' layer). Overlapping-BFC tiles were initially assigned to one city or the other on an ad hoc basis, to see what worked.

Tile assignments were then fiddled about with as necessary for efficiency (24 food total per 12 citizens) and aesthetics. (I generally like to ensure that cities work their own inner 3x3 grids as far as possible, since that makes it easier for me to keep track of who's working what). Where I found that a food tile could be revalued (i.e. mined instead of irrigated), it was very simple to delete and replace the value in the 'Text' layer.

Finally, for clarity (and to help double-check my calculations!) I drew straight lines in the 'Worked tiles' layer to show which tiles went to each city.

When I was done, I saved the completed map as both a Paint.net file (which saves the layers) and as a JPEG (which merges all layers into a single image). Paint.net allows the user to adjust the JPEG image quality prior to saving: I found that the '80%' quality setting gave a good compromise between file size (~300 kb) and image quality. Pushing it to 85% nearly doubled that file size (~550 kb), and pushing it to 95-100% quadrupled it (1.2 MB).

I could probably also have significantly reduced the file size by cropping the image to just the tiles I'd valued, rather than using the full 1280x800 pixel screenshot, but by that point I just wanted to be done...

EDIT:
Just to clarify, the whole job took me roughly 4 hours in total, although part of that was learning what Paint.NET could do that MSPaint can't (and vice versa, although not nearly as much!). And some of it was also correcting mistakes I'd made (Paint.NET has an 'Undo' capability limited only by available hard-disk space)

 

[templar_x]

i´m impressed...

 

[tjs282]

Acronym's Emperor Space Race SG

90 AD Preflight

I compiled this based on CivAssist's various screens, so I haven't yet seen the exact dispostion of troops on the map (I'm assuming/hoping that I will be able to defend any cities which are in immediate danger...). Because I don't yet know where the Workers are, I can't say yet which tiles have the highest priority for improvement (although it looks like it will now mostly be clearing wetlands and roading).

The Spoiler'd stuff is my basic preassessment, incomplete, and not really important (unless you really like numbers!)

Spoiler :

Civ stats

• Tax.Sci.Lux = 2.6.2
• Treasury = 89 gold
• Net income = -23 gpt
• Currently researching: Invention (14T to completion)

Units

• Civilians:
  • 2 Settlers
  • 11 Workers
• Military:
  • 1 Warrior -- upgrade cost = 90 gold
  • 1 Archer -- not yet upgradeable
  • 3 Spears -- total upgrade cost = 90 gold
  • 5 Horses -- not yet upgradeable
  • 4 Swords -- total upgrade cost = 120 gold
  • 2 Curraghs -- total upgrade cost = 90 gold ... if we ever get them home...

City summary

• Oasenstadt
  -- Pop4 (H.C.U.Sp = 2.1.1.0)
  -- FPT.SPT.CPT = ??.6.??
  -- Building: Settler (4T to completion)
• Kolossusstadt
  -- Pop6 (H.C.U.Sp = 3.1.2.0)
  -- FPT.SPT.CPT = ??.6.??
  -- Building: Barracks (2T to completion)
• Hamburg
  -- Pop6 (H.C.U.Sp = 3.0.2.Cl)
  -- FPT.SPT.CPT = ??.6.??
  -- Building: Aqueduct (5T to completion)
• Königsberg
  -- Pop6 (H.C.U.Sp = 3.0.3.0)
  -- FPT.SPT.CPT = ??.6.??
  -- Building: Granary (2T to completion)
• München
  -- Pop4 (H.C.U.Sp = 2.0.2.0)
  -- FPT.SPT.CPT = ??.4.??
  -- Building: Horse (9T to completion)
• Eisenstadt
  -- Pop4 (H.C.U.Sp = ?.?.?.?)
  -- FPT.SPT.CPT = ??.4.??
  -- Building: Library (5T to completion)
• Wilhelmshaven
  -- Pop2 (H.C.U.Sp = ?.?.?.?)
  -- FPT.SPT.CPT = ??.2.??
  -- Building: Harbour (3T to completion)
• Siedler von Catan
  -- Pop3 (H.C.U.Sp = 1.0.1.Cl)
  -- FPT.SPT.CPT = ??.2.??
  -- Building: Library (12T to completion)
• Neu Oslo
  -- Pop1 (H.C.U.Sp = 0.1.0.0
  -- FPT.SPT.CPT = ??.1.??
  -- Building: Worker (4T to completion)
• Goldstadt
  -- Pop1 (H.C.U.Sp = 2.0.0.0)
  -- FPT.SPT.CPT = ??.2.??
  -- Building: Courthouse (28T to completion)
• Bremen
  -- Pop1 (H.C.U.Sp = 0.1.0.0)
  -- FPT.SPT.CPT = ??.1.??
  -- Building: Worker (8T to completion)

Plans
General policy:

• Increase Lux spending to ~30%, put Clowns back to work, drop Science to 0-10% (low priority while at war)
• Set Workers to clearing more jungle and/or roading to Bremen and Neu Oslo for faster troop movement (and hooking up those Dyes!)
• Upgrade obsolete units as funds allow -- Swords then Spears then Warrior(s)
• Build MOOOOOAR (vet) military units to kick the Vikings' collective butt until they beg for mercy: Target Copenhagen (raze it or build slaves?), then Bergen (for the Silks), then Trondheim (for the Wines), then ask for Aarhus for peace (might not be able to get all that done during my turnset)
• Transport Settlers (and defenders?) to peninsula and found cities on Spots13, Whale-Hill and Lakeside
• Prevent Vikings from acquiring Invention (= Berserkers!) at any cost!

Cities:

• O'stadt: MM for one more 3T-Settler, then build (cheap) Lib for Science, then (expensive) Market for Tax boost (Lux boost only applies after we capture Bergen and Trondheim)
• K'stadt: immediately switch build to vGalley (4T, or 2T if short-rushed now) for transporting Settlers, then Granary for fastergrowth
• Hamburg: finish Aqueduct, start vHorse (5T at curent SPT) or vMace (7T)
• K'berg: MM for Granary completion before growth to Pop7 (to save food), then build either 2T-Workers(?) for terrain improvement (until we can get some slaves!) or Lib (for Science)
• München: Finish vHorse, start vMace (14T at current Pop/SPT -- reassign tiles for more SPT)
• Eisenstadt: immediately switch build to vHorse (2T -- needs MM), then vMace (10T at current Pop/SPT -- reassign tiles for more SPT). Borders already popped, so sell Temple after Copenhagen has fallen? (Postwar: Aqueduct, and Lib for Culture/Science)
• Wilhelmshaven: Finish Harbour (needs MM), then Barracks, then vHorse(s)
• Catan: Can't afford a Lib yet! Already got a Barracks (why?), so switch to vHorse (4T at current SPT) to avoid shield wastage, then more vHorses until Pop/SPT is higher, then vMaces
• Goldstadt: Switch to rArcher (rush-build?), then Walls and/or Barracks, then vHorses or vMaces at Pop3-4+... Postwar: Granary(?) for faster growth (once Wetlands are cleared/irrigated), then Lib (for Culture/Science)
• Neu Oslo: Switch build to rWarrior (or rush rPike?), then Walls and/or Barracks, then vArcher at Pop3-4, then vHorse at Pop5-6, then vMaces... Postwar: Granary(?) for faster growth (once Wetlands are cleared/mined), then Lib (for Culture/Science)
• Bremen: Switch build to rWarrior (or rush rPike?), then Walls and/or Barracks (for upgrade, if hooked to Iron by then), then Harbour(?) for extra food at Pop3, then... Aqueduct(?). Rename city --> Bananenbucht

Any comments?

 

[choxorn]

I took a look at the troop distribution- the Warrior is in the middle of England, the Archer is escorting a settler to the southwest of Bremen, there's a Horse defending Eisenstadt, a spear defending Neu Oslo, the rest of the units are in Munchen or Goldstadt.

As to the curraghs, it almost might be better to sink them once we finish exploring the other continent, to save on the upkeep.

Question: Where are the Settlers heading?

 

[MrRandomGuy]

With regard to the war - it was something I did as a gamble. I thought that the Vikings would eventually attack us. Usually when the AI fortifies units inside your territory it doesn't mean anything good. Their archer was following the same path as the swordsman, and within a couple of turns they *could* have sneak attacked us. I don't know for sure if they would have, but I felt like it was coming. I gambled hoping that they would remove the soldier and give me a little more time to prepare for the war. It didn't work.

 

[Lanzelot]

It didn't work.

No, it worked perfectly... We wanted war at this time anyway (I would perhaps even have attacked 2-3 turns earlier...), and now we can take their cities and have war happiness as a bonus on top!
(WH adds 25% happy faces to each city, so is more valuable than an extra lux resource.)

 

[tjs282]

With regard to the war *snip* I gambled hoping that they would remove the soldier and give me a little more time to prepare for the war. It didn't work.

Never mind, doesn't matter now. Lanzelot wanted a war anyway (me not so much, but maybe that's why I'm still playing at Monarch... ), he and I just think it could have been prosecuted a little better.

For example, as a result of your tech-dealing for Feudalism , and our Iron, we got the possibility to build Maces + Pikes , so we didn't need Longbows (same cost and A/M-values as Maces, poorer D-value) -- and we want Education ASAP, for Universities in our potential Pop12 river-cities. So instead of deficit-spending on Invention -- a tech we didn't really need yet (/at all) -- a much better use of our large treasury (mainly inherited from Lanzelot, I think?) would have been upgrading all our obsolete units before shouting 'Gerroff my land!' at Ragnar.

Even if the sight of all our Maces+Pikes still wasn't enough to terrify him into compliance, upgrading would also have increased your win-loss ratio in the subsequent fights. On attack, our Mace vs. their Sword/Spear has better raw win-prob. odds on each combat round -- 66% (before defence bonuses, 40-60% after) -- than Sword vs. Sword/Spear, at 60%; on defence, their Sword/Archer vs. our Pike gives us a basic win-prob. = 50-60% (before defense bonuses, 60-70% after) -- much better odds for us than Sword/Archer vs. Spear, at 40-50%).

Now I'll have to build our treasury back up before I can do most of those upgrades, which is probably going to take (waste) 3-4 turns, since I also now need to raise Lux% spending to compensate for the (temporary! *fierce growl*) loss of Ragnar's Wines+Silks, and maybe rush-build some defenders. In the meantime, the Vikings are building units in the cities that we now don't really have the concentrated manpower/ reach to take from them...

On which point, sending our upgraded SoD after Copenhagen and then Bergen as soon as the Vikings DoW'd you (it happened during your turn, so you did have the chance to do that) would have pushed our borders out a lot further from our core cities, weakened the Vikings' production capacity, and (possibly) also distracted them from attacking our core (while at the same time making it more difficult for their units to get back to their lost cities). If the RNG had allowed you to push on as far as Trondheim, you could possibly have ended the war already (although I now see that Lanzelot doesn't want to...!).

 

[tjs282]

I took a look at the troop distribution- the Warrior is in the middle of England

Doing a Doctor Livingstone, I presume...?

The Archer is escorting a settler to the southwest of Bremen

Damn, I'd assumed from the turnlog that those units had been retreated back onto our turf. If not, then it will probably be quickest/safest to go and pick it up with the soon-to-be built Galley -- after first dropping off the other Settler (plus a defender?) on the southern peninsula.

there's a Horse defending Eisenstadt, a spear defending Neu Oslo, the rest of the units are in Munchen or Goldstadt.

I think Munchen's units should be sent after Copenhagen toot sweet, chop-chop. We're already too far onto the back foot as it is, and I want to turn this war around.

As to the curraghs, it almost might be better to sink them once we finish exploring the other continent, to save on the upkeep.

I'd like to see whether we can make it all the way round the world before making that decision, if that's OK?

Question: Where are the Settlers heading?

If you're asking me, I'm thinking I'll settle Spot 13 ('Fischberg') first with the second Settler (please tell me that one's still on our land?), and then a lakeside city ('H[alb]inselmeer' = 'P[eninsula]Lake'?) with the rescued Archer+Settler. Walbergdorf won't get the whales until it's built a Harbour/Lib, so is a lower priority: I'll found it with the Settler currently being built in O'stadt.

 

[Lanzelot]

Any comments?

- Unless we suffer some really heavy losses now and lose the WH, keep the war with Vikings going and just reduce them to OCC status. (In one of my games, where I was short of lux resources, I kept a war going from like 1000 BC, when they had attacked me, to like 1500 AD when I launched the space ship...)
WH = $$ = faster research

Perhaps in this case it's not necessary to keep that war for the rest of the game, but at least until we have enough lux resources to run size 12 cities at 0% lux tax.

K'stadt: immediately switch build to vGalley (4T, or 2T if short-rushed now) for transporting Settlers, then Granary for faster growth

We don't need a granary in K'Stadt: it has almost reached size 7. The rest of the growth will be done via worker-joins.
With the shield-shortage in K'stadt better start market right away. Sinking 60s into a granary would delay market/uni too long.

- Hamburg: make sure to use the unused plains tile to finish the aqueduct in 4 instead of 5 turns.

- K'berg: 2T workers! We need ~30 more. (For joining to food-poor core cities and for clearing the jungle.)

- Eisenstadt: let's keep the temple for now. Perhaps it will be useful later; and having some extra culture can never hurt.

- Wilhelmshaven: let's keep it undecided for a few turns. If the war goes badly, we can decide on a barracks, if not, we can switch already to library. At the moment I think we have already enough barracks. Just produce units in all the towns which already got one.

Goldstadt: Switch to rArcher (rush-build?), then Walls and/or Barracks

Is Goldstadt really under attack? I think it is safe: the Vikings will certainly mainly attack at München. If you send the spear to München for upgrade and in the same turn (or one later) send a pike from München to Goldstadt, it should be safe enough.
In general, second ring towns need courthouses asap, because they are needed there anyway, and they speed up all the rest.

- Neu Oslo: is too corrupt for producing anything. Just build workers there.

- Bananenbucht: is far away from the front, so why units/walls/barracks? Courthouse is the best there.

- Copenhagen can be settler-disbanded mid- to long-term.

 

[Lanzelot]

Doing a Doctor Livingstone, I presume...?

The warrior can still uncover the last remaining black spots on our continent. Bringing it home wouldn't make a difference for the war anyway. But it would be a pitty, if we miss another lux resource.

Damn, I'd assumed from the turnlog that those units had been retreated back onto our turf. If not, then it will probably be quickest/safest to go and pick it up with the soon-to-be built Galley

The settler/archer pair is two tiles from it's final destination. Just found the town there on the river.

I think Munchen's units should be sent after Copenhagen toot sweet, chop-chop. We're already too far onto the back foot as it is, and I want to turn this war around.

Yes. But be careful not to lose München... The Viking roads lead directly to the gates of München, so it can be attacked by any number of not visible units any time (until we have conquered Copenhagen and pushed the front line back).

I'd like to see whether we can make it all the way round the world before making that decision, if that's OK?

The curraghs still have quite a bit of world to discover. We can still decide later.

 

[choxorn]

Well, yeah, of course there's plenty of stuff left. I'd suggest a suicide run if they run out of coastal tiles, though.

 

[tjs282]

- Unless we suffer some really heavy losses now and lose the WH, keep the war with Vikings going and just reduce them to OCC status

Okey-dokey. Once a war is started on my continent -- regardless of who fired the first shots -- I tend to pursue it right to the bitter end anyway (bitter for my opponents, that is), since I'm never going to get them to be friends with me ever again...

"So be it, threaten no more/ To secure peace, is to prepare for war"

We don't need a granary in K'Stadt: it has almost reached size 7. The rest of the growth will be done via worker-joins. With the shield-shortage in K'stadt better start market right away. Sinking 60s into a granary would delay market/uni too long

I was thinking to build a Granary because none of its tiles produce >2fpt. If we're going to grow it by Workers instead, fair enough, a Gran's not needed. BUT if I understood CAII's 'Economy' screen correctly, we do actually have a [M]arket there already (I edited my earlier post accordingly), so what would you recommend (pre-)building instead, given that it will be a while before we get Edjukated?

- K'berg: 2T workers! We need ~30 more. (For joining to food-poor core cities and for clearing the jungle.)

That's what I thought -- only really concerned about the unit-maintenance costs. Will those be offset by growing Towns into Cities, i.e. should I use the first 2TWs off the production-line to grow Towns to Pop7+? (O'stadt, K'stadt, Hamburg, and München can do this immediately; Eisenstadt + W'haven need Aqueducts, and Goldstadt needs tiles cleared), then improve terrain?

Now we are in Republic, presumably I will need to MM K'berg to keep it bouncing between Pop6-7, rather than growing?

Is Goldstadt really under attack? I think it is safe: the Vikings will certainly mainly attack at München.

MRG said something about 2 Archers headed towards Goldstadt, but only reported one killed -- and I didn't know that Goldstadt had defenders already. So that's OK, then. But if a lot of our units are in München, why would you expect the Vikings to attack there? I thought the AI preferentially went for lightly-defended cities, if it has the choice, rather than the one bristling with blades at the top of a hill. Or is proximity to their Capital a stronger inducement than (near-)zero defence?

In general, second ring towns need courthouses asap, because they are needed there anyway, and they speed up all the rest.

OK, but I think Goldstadt is still too small -- and growing too slowly -- for a Courthouse to be worthwhile at this point.

- Neu Oslo: is too corrupt for producing anything. Just build workers there.

What, 10T-workers (at 2fpt, 1spt)? Also, a road from Bergen ends 1 tile away...

- Bananenbucht: is far away from the front, so why units/walls/barracks? Courthouse is the best there.

It's a long way from the Viking front, but not from the English, and currently has no defender. I'm concerned about getting 'd by Liz while I'm beating up on the Vikings...

The settler/archer pair is two tiles from it's final destination. Just found the town there on the river.

You're talking about Spot12 here, right? Again, I'm worried about antagonising the English while we are still so weak against them. Founding right on a border almost always annoys the AI -- and Liz has lots of cities to play with, lots of Iron and Horses, more units than we do (I assume, including Maces, I assume), and no pressing reason to play nice.

Yes. But be careful not to lose München... The Viking roads lead directly to the gates of München, so it can be attacked by any number of not visible units any time (until we have conquered Copenhagen and pushed the front line back).

True, but a fortified Pike on a Hill will be nearly invincible against Archers (the best unit the Vikings can currently build), and leaving a single Horse or Mace stationed there as backup should be enough to damage/kill the top unit of any stack they can muster. And I aim to have Copenhagen very soon...

 

[Lanzelot]

@Goldstadt: we won't have a courthouse at this point - it'll take at least another 30 turns or so, and by that time it will be worthwhile. It's an investment into the future, while any other building would not give much benefit during that time.

If you are worried about Liz, sign her up against Ragnar (should not be too difficult, she must still be furious with him...) That'll keep her from stupid ideas.