Buce01: The Slavemaster

[Elephantium]

They were covering workers; I'll move them ASAP.

 

[Bucephalus]

They were covering workers; I'll move them ASAP.

A job for Infantry, I'd say.

 

[Elephantium]

A job for Infantry, I'd say.

We're desperately short on Infantry atm I'll need to thin the defenses in our border cities (or better yet, pull the slaves away from the front).

Oddly enough, Shaka didn't send a horde of cavs like I was expecting. He sent the two stacks you could see in the save and killed a couple of our cavs.

Perhaps most of his forces were arrayed further south, out of reach of our lines?

 

[Bucephalus]

We're desperately short on Infantry atm I'll need to thin the defenses in our border cities (or better yet, pull the slaves away from the front).

Oddly enough, Shaka didn't send a horde of cavs like I was expecting. He sent the two stacks you could see in the save and killed a couple of our cavs.

Perhaps most of his forces were arrayed further south, out of reach of our lines?

IIRC, each border city is protected by 5 Infantry and 2(?) Guerrilla's so you could cream one off if needed; also, the central one of those cities (sorry, I don't have access to the game just now) can't be reached in 1 turn, so maybe you could redeploy those defenders?

If you've not seen a big stack yet, I'm guessing that he's only partially RR'd; I dare say you will soon.

BTW, a stack of Slaves (temptingly just out of reach), makes a beautiful lure for AI Cavalry.

 

[Elephantium]

Pre-flight:

Military Strength:

5 Settlers
65 Cavalry
34 Infantry
17 Artillery
2 Galley
2 Army
12 Guerilla

City Builds:

3 Galleons
14 Artillery
1 Infantry
1 Cavalry
4 Settlers
Heroic Epic
Hoover Dam
1 Harbor
8 Factories
1 Bank
1 Aqueduct
7 Courthouses
2 Libraries

Economy:

Government: Republic
Mobilization: Normalcy

Treasury: 2803 gold
Income: 1920 gpt
Net gain +35gpt
100% Science
Researching The Corporation, due in 4.

Goals:

Long-term: Be the first to launch a space ship, IIRC.
Medium: Kick the Zulu off our continent and set up enough science farms to get 4-turn research throughout the Modern Era.
Short: MM cities to keep them at maximum productivity, build infrastructure, and increase our Artillery count.

Barring a sudden DOW from the Zulu, I'm expecting a pretty quiet turnset of worker moves and citizen MMing.

Before I get started, does anyone have anything to add? Is there anything else I should keep an eye out for in the next turnset?

IT:

Pollution strikes Corinth.
Delphi: Arty->Arty
Artemisium: Factory->Inf
Thessalonica: Factory->Inf
Syracuse: Courthouse->Factory
New Thermo: Harbor->Arty

Turn 1 (1305 AD):

Move some workers.
I put one Artillery each in New Ephesus, New Mycenae, Pergamon, New Argos, Mytilene, and Tegea to help defend against any Zulu sneak attacks.

IT:

Portugal and Arabia sign MA vs. Iroquois.
Arabia demands Spices!

Cave:
We're getting Furs and 50gpt from them.
We could lose 4 happy faces per city in the core
We're already at negative gpt.
He's in Fascism and probably wants out of his gpt payments.

Defy:
We're Strong compared to them
They're on another continent, so they can't actually hurt us.
They're already at war with half the world - why add us to the mix?

I tell him to get lost. He insults me as he backs down.

Eqypt joins the dogpile on the Iroquois.
Sparta: Cav confused->Arty
Ellipi: Inf->Inf
Corinth: Arty->Arty
Knossos: Bank->Arty
Argos: HE->Bank
Rhodes: Arty->Arty

Turn 2 (1310 AD):

Looks like we lost the Coal to a culture expansion on the IT. I focus workers on other tasks for this turn; I'll buy Coal on either turn 3 or 4 from the Dutch so we can RR the rest of our land.
Move slaves to irrigation or road building positions.
Garrison Phocaea with a couple of units - oops, we're low on Infantry for garrison duty. I move one of the Cav armies 1S of Phocaea to prevent one-turn attacks from Zulu cavs - the Zulu are about to road the tile needed to make this city reachable in one turn.
Switch a few outlying cities to Settlers; I'd really like to put up a few more farms to help with unit support.

IT:

Portugal offers a trade of territory maps. Forget it.
New Delphi: Settler->Settler
Delphi: Arty->Arty
New Knossos: Lib->Settler
Mycenae: Galleon->Factory
Megara: Galleon->Arty

Turn 3 (1315 AD):

Sci slider to 90%, Corps still due in 1.
Switch Corinth and Sparta to Banks (I'm aiming to have five Banks to make way for SEs and Wall Street).
Switch Troy to Arty - what do we need a bunch of Galleons for, anyway?

IT:

Inca joins the dogpile on the Iroquois.
The Corporation->Steel (due in 6).
Pharsalos: Arty->Inf
Herakleia: Courthouse->Duct
Thessalonica: Inf->Inf
Etreria: Factory->Courthouse

Turn 4 (1320 AD):

Zulu, Netherlands, and Arabia all have Espionage now. Excellent, it will be a nice acquisition when we trade Electricity around next turn.
I move lots of workers.

IT:

Inca want to trade world maps. No thanks.
Delphi: Arty->Inf
Knossos: Arty->SE
Artemisium: Inf->Inf
Miletos: Duct->Mkt
Phocaea: Factory->Bank
Ephesus: Factory->Inf
Marathon: Factory->Arty
Apollonia: Settler->Courthouse

Turn 5 (1325 AD):

Start trading Electricity:
Dutch - Coal, WM, 100gpt (less than they can afford; I don't want the coal getting cut off because they're paying more than they can afford), 245 gold, and Espionage.
Zulu - Incense, 138 gpt, 33 gold
Ottomans - Communism (Electricity plus Espionage ... I figured Police Stations are worth it)

Ugh, I missed an opportunity here - last turn, everyone had lots of gold. Now everyone's broke. Despite that, we're swimming in gold.

The slaves start RRing again.

IT:

New Athens: Lib->Duct
Ellipi: Inf->Police Station
Halicarnassus: Courthouse->Duct
Corinth: Bank->SE
New Corinth: Courthouse->Duct
Rhodes: Arty->Inf
Sicyon: Arty->Factory
Palace expansion. We add another wall to the west wing.

*Sicyon

Turn 6 (1330 AD):

New Rhodes founded on a hill near Ellipi. Making Settler.
Sanitation is available to buy. Do we want Battlefield Medicine?

IT:

The Zulu demand The Corporation. I hold my breath and defy him. He declares war.
His initial attack costs us two Cavs, but it costs him two Rifles.
Delphi: Inf->Inf
Pollution strikes Knossos.
Thessalonica: Inf->Inf
Apolyton: Settler->Settler

Turn 7 (1335 AD):

Redline and destroy the invaders near Mytilene. Ditto for the blokes near Pergamon.
I use arty to destroy some roads in the west. Egypt declares on us when we fire on Zulu territory (MPP).
MM cities a bit.

IT:

Our deal with the Dutch (gems, dyes, wines) expires. I renew it for
Gems, Wins, Dyes, WM, Sanitation, 304g+50gpt in exchange for Scientific Method and 1gpt (so we auto-renegotiate after 20 more turns).

Arabs and Ottomans sign peace.
Netherlands and Iros sign peace.
Babylon and Zulus sign a trade embargo vs. us. Didn't I tell you they were evil?

Ahh, here we go. I see at least a half-dozen Zulu cavs near New Argos.
New Mycenae: Settler->Settler
Sparta: Bank->SE
Pollution at Ellipi!
Thermo: Factory->Inf
Pergamon: Arty->Factory (This can be changed in the next turnset)
Pharsalos: Inf->Inf
Argos: Bank->SE
Etreria: Courthouse->Arty

Turn 8 (1340 AD):

Redline and destroy Zulu cavs near New Argos and one near Marathon. Ditto for muskets near Mytilene.
Look for other deals for Sci Method, but everyone's broke.

IT:

Yikes! A horde of Zulu cavs cross our borders in the New Argos-Mytilene area. I'm actually a bit intimidated by this.
Athens: Hoover Dam->Inf
New Argos: Courthouse->Library
Delphi: Inf->Inf
Artemisium: Inf->Inf
Marathon: Arty->Arty
Troy: Arty->Arty

Turn 9 (1345 AD):

Redline and destroy some enemy cavs. They still have 10 in our territory, plus 3 Rifles near Pergamon.

IT:

Inca and Egypt sign a trade embargo against us.
Zulu attack Sicyon Two of our brave lads fall in the siege, but we turn back their forces.
A Zulu Rifle destroys an improvement SW of Pergamon. A Zulu cav does the same near Sicyon.
Thermo: Inf->Inf
Knossos: SE->Arty
New Knossos: Settler->Settler
Ephesus: Inf->Arty
Thessalonica: Inf->Arty
Rhodes: Inf->Inf
Sicyon starves.

Turn 10 (1350 AD):

Lose a couple of cavs killing redlined Rifles near Pergamon. Kill several redlined Cavs near Sicyon.

There are 9 combat settlers fortified near Delphi. There will probably be another turn or two of Cav invasions before the flood subsides.

It's late, so I'm not going to bother with pics until tomorrow.

 

[CivActuary]

Got it.

My initial push after the Zulu have exhausted their offensive strength (should be a couple more turns?) will be toward the coal at Mauch Chunk and the silks at Cattaragus.

Questions.
- We are razing and replacing, yes? That and the combat settlers (which I tend to use rather infrequently, so I'll go find and brush up on that article in the war academy) will deplete our supply quickly, so we'll need to keep churning them out.
- Refining is obviously the next tech, but should we continue to run a deficit? I am thinking I would like to be short rushing some artillery or settlers. Once we get some more farms our cash situation will be better; unit support is a big chunk right now.

 

[Bucephalus]

My advice would be to stick with what you know; if you are not completely comfortable with Combat Settlers, now may not be the time to experiment with them.

The most important task will be to not lose any cities - nothing hits WW like that.

If you do find yourself able to advance, note that there is Incense near the Coal at Mauch Chunk.

If you need gold for rushing, feel free to drop the research rate; we are well ahead in techs, and your military needs take priority.

Good luck.

 

[CivActuary]

Midway through turn 2. Just generated a leader attacking some of these red-lined cavs. Going to use him to rush the Military Academy (which, ironically, I just ordered Thermo to start building this turn anyway) unless anyone has any strong feelings otherwise.

Also, the flood of Zulu invaders has dried to a trickle (11, then 7 this turn), and I have 18 artillery left after redlining the invaders so I'm shifting into offensive mode.

 

[Bucephalus]

Midway through turn 2. Just generated a leader attacking some of these red-lined cavs. Going to use him to rush the Military Academy (which, ironically, I just ordered Thermo to start building this turn anyway) unless anyone has any strong feelings otherwise.

Would not an Army 'in the hand' be worth 'two in the bush' at this stage? I don't envisage having any great need for Armies after this war.

 

[Bucephalus]

I'm still trying to work out the proper balance between being humble and meek vs. spitting in the AI's face at the proper times in higher-level games.

Portugal and Arabia sign MA vs. Iroquois.
Arabia demands Spices!

Cave:
We're getting Furs and 50gpt from them.
We could lose 4 happy faces per city in the core
We're already at negative gpt.
He's in Fascism and probably wants out of his gpt payments.

Defy:
We're Strong compared to them
They're on another continent, so they can't actually hurt us.
They're already at war with half the world - why add us to the mix?

I tell him to get lost. He insults me as he backs down.

This is one of those situations where I would have paid tribute; the Spices being demanded were surplus to our needs, and as such were worthless to us.

The Furs + 50gpt were worth far more to us.

I think the hardest part in learning when to cave and when not to is removing one's pride from the decision making process; if you can view it dispassionately, you will arrive at the right decision more often than not.

 

[CivActuary]

Would not an Army 'in the hand' be worth 'two in the bush' at this stage? I don't envisage having any great need for Armies after this war.

I did consider it. It would make the campaign against the Zulu much easier. Reasons that entered my mind to go the other way:

- Thermo is our top shield city, and could produce an army in <10 turns IIRC. If we should need an army later for some unearthly reason we could always just build one if we have the MA.
- Armies are nice pre-builds for SS parts.
- We're going to have plenty more fishing opportunities with eCavs for more leaders. Not that I like counting on the RNG to generate another leader, but the odds are with us.


This is why I paused before building anything with the MGL.

 

[CivActuary]

This is one of those situations where I would have paid tribute; the Spices being demanded were surplus to our needs, and as such were worthless to us.

The Furs + 50gpt were worth far more to us.

I think the hardest part in learning when to cave and when not to is removing one's pride from the decision making process; if you can view it dispassionately, you will arrive at the right decision more often than not.

I'm actually rather glad he told them to buzz off, I renegotiated the furs deal Phaedo made way back when, throwing in the spices, so we are not paying him 80gpt any more.

Plus, since we were paying the Arabs 80gpt, was another reason they were bluffing.

 

[Phaedo]

The MA also makes our current armies tougher. I like the pre-build option too. At the end of the day, I think it's a style option though and won't really affect the game unless we get shut out of a necessary tech like we were in Rage. Granted, it is unlikely that that will happen twice in a row with the amount of land that we ought to gain after this war.

I think R&R is the way to go at least for the first while. We will have a LOT of land to re-improve once we take Shaka's territory. We will probably need to keep on settler builds from somewhere. My call would be corrupt towns myself .

 

[Bucephalus]

I'm actually rather glad he told them to buzz off, I renegotiated the furs deal Phaedo made way back when, throwing in the spices, so we are not paying him 80gpt any more.

Plus, since we were paying the Arabs 80gpt, was another reason they were bluffing.

Unless I'm misunderstanding, they were paying us 50gpt + furs, in which case we had far more to lose by not caving.

 

[Phaedo]

Jeez. We should all just log onto MSN and chat

 

[Bucephalus]

Phaedo makes a good point about the MA improving the strength of our Armies; I would personally go with a third Army then build the Pentagon in Thermopylae, which will have the same effect.

 

[CivActuary]

Unless I'm misunderstanding, they were paying us 50gpt + furs, in which case we had far more to lose by not caving.

IBT Inca joins the war against the Arabs. Buy furs from the Arabs for 80gpt.

This was toward the end of Phaedo's last set, which meant it ran out toward the end of Tusker's (but the Arabs, being no fools, did not alter it). The 50gpt must have been from something else, since I did not see that when I renegotiated.

 

[Phaedo]

With the pentagon, we would have to add a cav to each army to get the same effect and we would lose the pre-build option. Not that we don't have enough cavs for that as well but this does technically free up 2 extra cav for the China invasion. Of course, the immediate bonus of an extra army would probably speed up our victory more.

 

[Bucephalus]

won't really affect the game unless we get shut out of a necessary tech like we were in Rage. Granted, it is unlikely that that will happen twice in a row with the amount of land that we ought to gain after this war..

It's not the same situation, though; in 'Rage' Greece was a runaway AI, in this we are the runaways........ if we need resources we can just take them.

 

[CivActuary]

Phaedo makes a good point about the MA improving the strength of our Armies; I would personally go with a third Army then build the Pentagon in Thermopylae, which will have the same effect.

It will only take us 8 turns to build the MA in Thermo, so I think I agree, this is the way to go.

Plus it gets us one step closer to the Pentagon.