AK6, Revenge of The Nerds (CSC 1.22)

[romeothemonk]

I like the revolt then golden age idea. We should really whack the babs in the next 10-20. If we can get temples and a couple of wonders up really quick with the G.A. then we should be sitting pretty.
Should we make Taursus our 20K city? If so give it a temple then the HG ASAP.

 

[Admiral Kutzov]

Tarsus looks like our only shot at 20k at this point since we missed the Pyramids. I'm REALLY NOT SURE, but IIRC Hanni is the only one building ToA at this point. Tarsus really needs the rax before it builds anything else. Emar also needs units as the flip risk is almost 2%. I'll need to look at the save again, but maybe pop rush the rax, revolt and then go for GA? HG sounds good.

 

[ThERat]

we got so much land already and there is more to grab just across (we should send settlers there faster)
maybe a 100k would be feasible rather than 20k with so many cities
use Tarsus as the culture base after rax.
I think we should attack Babs before going to revolt, we could easily get the towns next to our flips city and hopefully claim a spot next to gems which we need for our economy

 

[rrau]

There are 6 civs building ToA right now. I don't think we can do the 100K unless we commit to taking out Sumeria as they are already a culture monster. We don't have troops in place to attack right now. I'd vote to revolt now and attack afterwards and trigger our GA so hopefully we can get HG or ToA in Tarsus

 

[Admiral Kutzov]

@rrau - thanks for the reality check. Now you know why I calls myself an idiot...

I feel very strongly that we get the Tarsus rax before any revolt.

 

[viper275]

Tarsus is okay with me. And I promise I'll get that settler factory thing like how I imagined.

Preturn: Wow, that's a lot of cash. Even if we're not nerds, we've got lots of sports cars (err... chariots?) But that's a lot of lux spending... 50%? MM and get it down to 30%, less sports chariots but +15 gpt now.
IBT- Osman's building the Hanging Gardens. I'll begin them at Tarsus.
1
Begin a MM project at Tarsus to see if I can get HG done fast (39 turns now.) Move away a coupole northern defenses as I don't forsee them being attacked in the near future. Spend money and upgrade warriors to swords.
IBT- More civs start Hanging Gardens.
2
We have Monarchy and aren't revolting so I bet we're going for Republic. Correct? Kanesh founded. Hattusas is back to being a good settler pump.
3
Hammurabi and Alex get Code of Laws. Buy it from Greece for 288 gold. Sell it to Osman for 113 gold and 13 gpt (if he declares war, oh well, he's not on our island.)
4
Hammurabi sends a spear/settler pair in our land. Politely tell him to leave.
IBT- Babs leave. People start building stuff, MoM and HG
5
Karhuyuk founded. Gilgamesh has Philosophy but it costs a little much so I'll wait.
6
Embassy at Persepolis, makin' 9 spt, 2 fpt, ToA in 8 turns. In Sumeria, 12 spt, 3 fpt, MoM in 12. Germany, 9 spt, 0 fpt, ToA in 11.
IBT- Tarsus riots
8
Alex learns Construction. Buy Philosophy from Sumeria for 398 gold. The Greeks doesn't want Philosophy (how ironic) so no deal.

I can't think of many notes for the next player, but I do have this:
Idiot's Guide to Not Messing Up the Settler Pump
Written by viper275
-Our workers are doing a forest chop. First thing next turn, change Hattusas to a wonder. Manage the workers to finish the forest chop, then go back to the settler. This way the bonus shields don't throw the thing off.
-Don't let Aleppo take the tile NW-NW of Hattusas, it's needed until another nearby grassland is mined (which I suggest doing.)
-Take a look when it grows to size 5. Should be no problems, if so, figure out an arrangement to get it to 5 food per turn and 8 shields per turn.

 

[ThERat]

I can see that we do have a lot of units now at the front and it will take some time to get republic, shouldn't we attack the Babs, get some towns and extort some techs, btw I see many regular swords, do not build regular units
and again I state: please settle the other pelago, build a galley and get this done before somebody else grabs that land

 

[viper275]

No techs to extort ATM but soon there may be, if so then your strategy is fine.

The regular ones are upgraded warriors.

I agree on settling the other island.

 

[Admiral Kutzov]

rrau - up
therat - on deck
mstk - RL blues
ak -
romeo -
viper = just played

 

[rrau]

got it........

 

[rrau]

preflight (550bc)

pull up and read the idiot's guide to not messing up the settler pump

ibt: zzz

turn 1 (530bc)

switch Hattusas to lighthouse, chop the forest and change back to settler
move some curraghs and troops
Greeks know Construction at a monopoly (we can't afford)

ibt: zzz

turn 2 (510bc)

fortify new AC in Adana. Now mapstat says both Emar and Adana have enough troops to keep from flipping
Settle Karatepe

turn 3 (490bc)

move some troops

turn 4 (470bc)

Settler pump worked without flaw
Put a sword in Tarsus to fire entertainer and shave 1 turn off Hanging Gardens
Greece still has a monopoly on construction

ibt: Babs moved settler pair into Emar's space

turn 5 (450bc)

switch Aleppo to settler in 4 due to happiness problems
Since we are strong compared to Babylon, I demand removal of their troops. He says he will, but doesn't.
Move troops to block further advances into our territory - leave enough to still prevent Emar from flipping.
Set sail with first settler pair to island to the east
Ottomans also know construction, but it's still very expensive. I don't buy it yet.

ibt:

Sumeria completed Hanging Gardens

turn 6 (430bc)

Demand Babylon remove troops or dow, they remove troops.
Unload settler pair onto island

turn 7 (410bc)

Settle Kummanni
Settle Malatya and learn Literature from the Khoisan tribe (hope this isn't a violation of the nerds rules)
Switch ToA to Great Library (more culture). No trades for now with the recent cascade I think MoM is probably about to complete and start another cascade

ibt:

Persia completed ToA - I wasn't expecting the cascade quite this soon and also not to involve ToA yet.
Ottomans built MoM

turn 8 (390bc)

move some troops

ibt: Germany asks for removal of our troops, we agree.

Turn 9 (370bc)

move some troops.
Set sail with 2nd settler pair (AC as guard/explorer)

ibt: Greeks build Great Wall

turn 10 (350bc)

moved some troops
Set sail with 3rd settler pair

Notes:

Several civs have cascaded to Great Lighthouse. A turn or so after it's built, it should be safe to sell literature.
I have a couple 3man chariots building to help us kick of our GA after we revolt.
I'm not sure how the 20K will play out with us losing so many AA wonders. Our lead city in culture isn't even our 20K city, it's our capital.

 

[ThERat]

got it,

IMHO we should not go for culture win. we do not do any research so why should we build the strong cutural buidling such as libraries and uni's. that seem a total waste to me.
are you all sure you want to go for a culture win?
anyway shouldn't we start a war against babs?
I am always in the mood for warmongering, will have a look at it tonight when I play

 

[romeothemonk]

The reason that I liked the 20K idea so much is how counter-intuitive it is. It is relatively easy to pull off a 20K win with only 2 AA wonders, I have done it many times.
I think some solid bab butt kicking is in order though.

 

[ThERat]

Pre-Turn
compared to Babs we are strong. ok going to fight them. also check culture. we have same as them so I am not going to raze towns instead will use the settlers to colonize islands asap. Sumer seems to be the culture monster

1. 330BC
declare on Babs, grab a worker in the south, attack Nineveh lose 1 AC but raze it
capture Ellipi, keep it (those 2 towns only had 1 spear)
going to attack with 2 stacks of each 7 swords + AC to join later

2. 310BC
Sumer and Ottoman know republic but I don't want to trade Lit.
settle Samuha to grab gems
I have to decide, do we want to get republic and revolt or get GLib first? revolt could mean 7 turns anarchy
we need another 14 turns for GLIb, I decide to wait for republic

3. 290BC
grab another worker

4. 270BC
attack Babylon 4 swords defeat 4 spears and the city is ours
capture Samarra in the south (still no loss)
Found Yalburt and Katna on the other Island

5. 250BC
Capture Ashur
Found Kultepe on Island

6. 230BC
take Uruk

7 nada

IT Babs want to talk, I don't want their 3/6 cities, we can capture them and more
oh no Sumer starts GLIb, last turn nobody had Literature, which I did not trade. same turn they finish Great Lighthouse, no cascade yet

8. 190BC
Ottoman and Persia have literature, there goes our trade versus republic
I put Tarsus on starvation for 1 turn, now Glib in 7
Capture Eridu, but lose 3 swords in the process (including 1 elite)

IT sumeria demands 100g I will not cave. they do not declare
confirmed no cascade, I think now it is save to trade lit with greece
Ottoman also going for Glib

9. 170BC
get contruction from Greek for Lit and 7gpt
I spend 129g to find out about GLib in Ur

I think we are safe, no need to spend any more money on trades

10 150BC
capture Akkad. I have been cash starving Bab cities down to 1 to minimise flip risk
do note that there is 1 Bab city in the jungle north of Greece
next player can decide whether to take them out completely or go for peace
they have 5 cities left and would give us 2

There is a galley in the north waiting for settlers so we can colonize another Island. settler on 2nd Island in place to settle, another on the way to galley

If we want the 20k city, after GLib we need to rush temple, library
we also want to revolt and get republic
our new land

former Babs land

 

[romeothemonk]

Good work on the war front. I would declare peace with leaving the babs one city. After we pull the republic, I would immeadiatly revolt to republic.
This may seem counterintuitive, but I would immeadiately gift everyone to the middle ages so we can pick up the nice prebuild of Sun Tzu's. (you may want to wait a bit for our temple and libary to finish in Taursus.) Cathedrals are also nice.
This is shaping up to an entertaining game.

 

[Admiral Kutzov]

Settle Malatya and learn Literature from the Khoisan tribe (hope this isn't a violation of the nerds rules)

Nerds like books. As long as we don't do research we're fine.

I have to decide, do we want to get republic and revolt or get GLib first? revolt could mean 7 turns anarchy
we need another 14 turns for GLIb, I decide to wait for republic

good choice

This may seem counterintuitive, but I would immeadiately gift everyone to the middle ages so we can pick up the nice prebuild of Sun Tzu's. (you may want to wait a bit for our temple and libary to finish in Taursus.) Cathedrals are also nice.

I read the article about gifting scientific civs in the war academy. This looks like the situation to try.

got it.

@ MSTK - give us a heads up when you're back.

 

[romeothemonk]

Are you up AK?

 

[Admiral Kutzov]

got it.

see above

 

[Admiral Kutzov]

Preflight: no changes

IT: Otto declares on X. Never observed yellow Persians before

130: Whip spear in Akkad. Plant A. Huyuk in place.

IT: Massive barb uprising near Malatya

110: Whip spear in Eridu. First Battle of Eulbar Choke:
4/4 sword dies flawlessly v. 3/3 spear
4/4 sword def. 3/3 spear
5/5 AC def. 3/3 spear
5/5 AC def. 3/4 spear

IT: Osman building ToW.

90: Battle of Eulbar Choke II:
4/4 sword def. 3/3 warrior
5/5 AC def. 2/3 warrior, promotes
capture Eulbar - we may want to relocate this city so we have a canal to pass thru. Will leave the decision for later.
Battle of Eulbar Suburbs:
4/4 sword def. 3/3 bow
4/4 sword def. 3/3 bow
pop a hut on north island, gain a warrior

70: Battle of Eulbar Suburbs II:
6/6 AC def. 3/3 spear, MGL!

Team decision time. FP in Babylon (or elsewhere) or AC army for the Greeks? Greeks have 11 cities. If we build some more rock throwers, think we can take 'em with ease. Questions 2 & 3 - GL due in 1 turn. Revolt as soon as we get Republic? Pursue Hanni to one city even if we're in anarchy? Holding for replies.

 

[ThERat]

FP in Babylon (or elsewhere) or AC army for the Greeks?

my feelings tells me that Greeks can be beaten easily as well, soon we would have knights anyway. we would generate more leaders. our island is not an issue, conquering SUMER will be the issue. for that we need an army cover for our landing, but that is only once we get galleons for transport. seems some time away.
thus, I vote for FP in Babylon. and in addition, I vote for immediate revolt, so that we can trigger our GA while still fighting with our pretty useless UU. we do have enough units to carry on the war while enjoying anarchy. I guess we will draw a lot of turns, since we are already huge in size.