AENIGMA01 - C3C Training on Monarch - Conq/Dom

[Tubby Rower]

Roster:
Bede Up
TCS1 On deck
ÆnigmÆffect
Zavior
dmanakho
Tubby Rower
DBear Just finished

Sorry for the impatience.

 

[Bede]

925BC

Here's the situation when I opened the game at 925BC:

Zulu have Math, Iro have Map Making. We don't really need Map Making but Mathematics would be useful for catapaults. We have 151g and 21gpt. Monte is not part of the negotiations as I don't want to risk our reputation so I'll start with Zulu. My objective here is to get Math from Zulu first for cash and credit, then Map Making from Hiawatha for Math and cash, then sell Map Making to Zulu for cash and whatever else he'll offer.

First I check the luxury slider and make sure our net as reported in the diplo screen will be a high as possible for trading purposes (It can always be turned back up when the dealin's done. Helps my moood to listen to Willie sing "The Gambler" when trading).

Then I buy Math for 131g and 3 gpt from Zulu. Then trade Monte Math and 3g+1gpt for Map Making. Then sell Map making back to Zulu for 188g.

The net result is that I pay 30g (4gpt for twenty turns less the extra fifty picked up when I resold Map Making) for two techs. We are back to parity with the Inca (our long term problem) and have a nice treasury.

Now back to building for war.

Through the turn built a bunch of horses and parked them on the border with Aztecs. Also built two catapults and a galley that was sunk by a barb.

It is now 750BC. I have whipped a temple in Palenque by first whipping a settler for one citizen and then the temple for two more. When the border expands the town can go fishing as well as farming, I think, but it will have another hill anyway for some more shields. The town is food rich but shield poor for either settler or worker farming right now and it does need a granary for either.

The settler from Palenque is heading for the corner with the cows with a trailing warrior escort.

When Chichen finishes its spear start the ToZ while the workers chop the forest to help the settler build at Copan. Use the settler to re-settle on top of the Aztec iron after we burn Tlatlcoco. Switch back to a horsemen when the chop is done.

We have met the Americans off in the far west.

Time for war Millie the MilAd says we are strong compared to Monte.

Campaign plan:

Strike for the heart. Burn Tlatlcoco, then move on the capitol. The other towns are small and will autoraze when captured. We might consider taking the capitol then waiting for them to grow to two before capture so we won't have to resettle them. Now that I look at the map again I realize his terrain outside of Teno is even worse than ours so the growth is unlikely and it will be whipped to produce spears anyway.

Keep the forces together! Don't chase strays.

There are two Aztec warriors in the swamps outside Chichen.

It is likely that Monte will invite the Zulu to the ball once you have declared on Aztecs (from outside their borders) so when the reel is called ask Shaka if he would care to dance.

Have fun TC!

Roster check:

TCS1 - UP
ÆnigmÆffect On deck
Zavior
dmanakho
Tubby Tower
DBear

 

[DBear]

@Bede

Which 'corner by the cows' are you talking about? The one near Isandhlwana? I would think it in danger of flipping and being too close to the Zulu. What was wrong with where I indicated? Sure there's jungle now, but it'll be good land once cleared.

 

[Bede]

Just a couple of things to consider:

The Zulu have no culture other than their capitol and no cheap cultural buildings so the "cultural conversion" risk settling on their doorstep is nil. There is no such thing as being "too close" to an expansionist nation with a fast mover UU. The same continent is too close. Next, the Zulu are already there with a settler/archer pair. Finally, clearing those marshes and jungles will just take too many worker turns. I'd rather put the effort into getting Chichen, Copan and Palenque squared away; going for the cow will at least give the new town a food bonus so we can whip infrastructure there if we think we need it for cultural protection.

 

[Tubby Rower]

Should the horses come down from the mountain just west of their current poisition instead of the the hills?

 

[Bede]

Horses and cats should move together. If there is no road on the mountain then the cats can't use it.

 

[ÆnigmÆffect]

Alright. Starting war mode

Taking Aztec should be fairly easy, right? Mebbe aim to hook up the silks, too?

Concerning whipping: Why do you have to whip to settlers first then to something else? You can't just whip it all at the same time?

 

[TCS1]

What timing! I was without internet access the past few days, and I got it back just in time for my turns.

I got it, will play tomorrow.

 

[TCS1]

I believe the Aztecs should fall fairly easy. Looks like the only real trouble could come from trying to take the capitol. The other 2 cities don't have the growth power to whip spears.

Oh, and Tlatlcoco shall BURN!

 

[Bede]

@AEnigma,

Town was pop6 and you can't whip 50% or more of the citizens. So short whipped the settler for 1, dropped the pop to 5 and then the temple for 2 more (dropped the pop to 3). I debated on the whipping the granary instead but decided the shields from the extra hill were more important for our purposes..

 

[Tubby Rower]

That's interesting. I never realized that there was that limit on pop rushing. I don't typically pop rush stuff anyway.

 

[TCS1]

I'm feeling creative today...

Ah, here he was, the first military leader of the Mayan. Their military was slowly being built up for years for one sole purpose, crushing the Aztecs. He never really liked the Aztecs anywhere, what with their fancy silk robes and what not. So he wanted this postition, and he wasn't the only one. Three other wanted the spot, so they settled their differences the despotic way, a fight to the death. Prehaps it's not best to pick your military leader based on feats of strength, but whatever, he's now the commander, and anyone who says otherwise gets a pointed stick in the back

IBT: Start Statue of Zeus in Chichen, due in 19. Start a Granary in Palenque to make it a future settler/worker farm. A whip will be needed on that later. Bonampak finished it’s spear, starts a Horseman. The two Aztec warriors are right outside our borders now. I think they may have been planning a mini-sneak attack. Why does would they have warriors in a stack?

1- Declare war on the Aztecs, and pull our lovely SoD just outside of Tlatlcoco. Monty must be a little concerned at this point. I ask Shaka for a MA, and it costs us 200 gold plus 1 per turn. I guess it’s a small price to pay to avoid a two-front war…

IBT: Copan and Yax… complete Settler and Spear, switched both to horseman

He and his horsemen stopped on the outskirts of Tatecoco. He ordered his men to start throwing rocks at the city. His advisor inform him that they have these machines that can throw boulders. Never wanting to be made a fool of, he took the advise of his advise, then kill him. After weakening the city, he sent the horsemen in for the battle. They could not crush the city in one day,
but it fell on the second day. They burnt the city to the ground and took the iron. "Ahh, what fine weapons these will make", he said to himself.

2.Battle for Tatecoco:
Caps do 1 hp damage to a spear.
Horse retreats vs.. a spear, no damage
Horse is killed vs. a spear, 1 hp damage
Horse kills spear, received one hp damage
Horse kills 2hp spear, no damage received.
A warrior is left alive in Tatacoco.


3. Battle for Tatecoco, Part Two:
They got another spear, our caps redline it.
Our horses kill two warriors and the spear to destroy Tate with no losses. Plus, we captured 2 settlers! Yay for slaves!

IBT: The two Aztec warriors are on top of the mountain outside of Bonapak

4. Found Calamuk.

IBT: Those warriors suicide against our spear, spear promotes to elite.

5. Tikal horseman to horseman

IBT: Inca and the Zulus sign a MA against the Aztecs. Dogpile! Too bad the Incas will never arrive in time.

6. Lazapa formed on the iron. I accidentally fortified the settler among the healing horseman, delaying the city for a few turns. Speaking of horseman, they are all healed and are heading towards the capitol

IBT: A 2 hp archer comes out of the fog and kills a horseman! He retreats to a settler/spear stack.

7. Since they block the path to the captiol, I redline the spear with the catapults, and kill the archer and spear without a lost hp. Plus 2 more slaves!

8. …zzz…

IBT; Zulus complete the Oracle. Phooey, they have a culture source now.

His army arrived at the Aztec capitol. It had been a long trip, but now the target was in sight. The Aztecs must have been disheartened by the loss of Tatecoco, for the capitol was easy to capture. They quickly captured the heart of the Aztecs. There he sat in the former Palace of Monty and looked over the land. "look at this silk," he thought to himself ", they make a great gift for the king and a new robe for myself."

9. Battle for Teno.:
Cataputs do 1 hp damage to a spear.
Horse kills reg spear.
2 hp spear kills our horse and promotes
The now 3 hp spear is killed by a horse, and now we have Teno!

Incas have Philo, Currency, Monarchy, Construction. America has Monarchy and Construction, the Iro have Monarchy, and Zulu has Philo and Construction. The Incas won’t give up Currency. Zulus want 11 gpt and 150 gold for Construction.. Incas will give up Philo for 160 gold, but we can’t trade for much with that. I just don’t see a way to make a good tech deal out of this. Mind you, 2 turns ago, Everyone just knew Monarchy.


IBT: The first Zulu units start marching through our territory.
10. …zzz…

I set most cities to horse production during my turns. I think we have enough horses to finish off the Aztecs, so that can be turned off.

 

[Bede]

Nice work TC!

Here is where we have to be careful. The alliance with the Zulu has at least 10 turns to run. Do not capture the last Aztec town until the alliance has expired, or leave it for the Zulu to capture. What ever happens, make sure that we are not the ones who break the aliance by destroying the common foe.

Go ahead and take all but the last Aztec town, and if you don't want the Zulu to have that one, just blockade it until the alliance is over.

 

[ÆnigmÆffect]

Alright! Hopefully I'll get a fight out of this, since the other SG, I did preparations

TCS1
ÆnigmÆffect - Up
Zavior - On deck
dmanakho
Tubby Tower
DBear

 

[dmanakho]

Great turns on warfaring!
bad bad TCS1 for not providing a screenie for the team

Bede, Is that true that your rep is being hit when you have MA and kill your opponent off???
Are you positive about that? I never noticed any rep hit when I would wipe one AI out while having MA with another one and i think i've done it many times before.

 

[Bede]

@d-man, That is one of the things I am sure of in C3C. Now, it may only be the case where you buy their support with gpt or resources. But I am generally paranoid when it comes to 20 turn commitments ever since a volcano erupted all over a trade route in my first Deity game and busted a deal that was running. Never did recover from that one.

 

[dmanakho]

@d-man, That is one of the things I am sure of in C3C. Now, it may only be the case where you buy their support with gpt or resources. But I am generally paranoid when it comes to 20 turn commitments ever since a volcano erupted all over a trade route in my first Deity game and busted a deal that was running. Never did recover from that one.

Pesky Volcano.
I always knew that cutting trade routs = ruined rep.
I never thought that killing opponent while you are in MA would also break rep... Will keep that in mind for future...

 

[whoknows888]

lurker's comment: It would be nice to see some screens of the progress against the Aztecs. What else will ruin your rep while you are at war and with a MA?

Would it be best after you guys destroy the Aztecs or settle for peace to turn the science slider or does AENIGMA want the 0% reserach the whole game? Great job guys!

 

[TCS1]

Would it be best after you guys destroy the Aztecs or settle for peace to turn the science slider or does AENIGMA want the 0% reserach the whole game? Great job guys!

I think it would be best to make peace and become more educated at the same time. The problem is that the Zulus may destory the Aztec before our 20 turn MA is up or before they make peace. The latter doesn't look likely, as the Zulus will be breaking two deals. The A.I doesn't seem to do that alot(unless it somehow screws you over)

The best option right now is to barricade the last Aztec city.

 

[Bede]

Given the geography it is unlikely the Zulu will ever reach Azteca. So just cover up the last Aztec town and wait for them to bail from the alliance.

I would also start shifting troops to the west and north for the Zulu war.

BTW TC, forgot to offer kudos for the SoZ build. Good call. Will make the Zulu war alot more interesting and it is cheap core culture with a military kicker. We are going to be pointy-sticking our way through this one until we can get some better ground to work with.