CBob01 AWM Training Day Game

[Phaedo]

Sorry I just did a quick check of the roster and thought that I was up after Aabra. After a bit of a closer inspection, that doesn't seem to be the case. I'm not sure who's up; Cbob could you clarify it for me?

As for Aabra's turn, I haven't fully thought it through but it seems you made a good call on currency and the pillaging army move IMO. We can't afford Monarchy yet and don't suffer too much from the despotism penalty. It seems to me that although we are in a secure position, we are technology weak. We would greatly benefit from taking geographic positions form our enemies and we are in a defensive situation as it stands. If we ave three armies, let's load them up and send the other one south to pillage any iron we see. We are totally dominant against non-iron cultures at this point. Reducing the enemies' ability to make threatening forces will help us way more than trying to out build them.

i'm off to bed but it's awfully nice to be back

 

[Aabraxan]

We can't afford Monarchy yet and don't suffer too much from the despotism penalty. It seems to me that although we are in a secure position, we are technology weak. We would greatly benefit from taking geographic positions form our enemies and we are in a defensive situation as it stands.

No, we can't afford Monarchy (or the preceding anarchy) just yet. We are in a defensive posture, but I think we're in a position to begin attacking Hattusha. Whoever the next player is, though, should examine some of my builds. I've got some horses in production that perhaps should be changed to swords.

If we ave three armies, let's load them up and send the other one south to pillage any iron we see. We are totally dominant against non-iron cultures at this point. Reducing the enemies' ability to make threatening forces will help us way more than trying to out build them.

We have three loaded Sword Armies. Two sword armies are loaded at H&S. Specifically, the Second and Third Sword Armies. The First is off pillaging in the American & German lands. I'd recommend bringing him back home for some healing and then, well, not sure. One thing about sending it army to pillage, though: IIRC, the AI never did attack the First Sword Army, even when it was alone. If we're going to send them to pillage, I say take cut everything. Cut their iron, cut their horses, cut their luxes, in that order if it's efficient.

 

[CommandoBob]

Roster:

• Phaedo - on deck
• CivActuary - warming up
• Norton II - skipped until further notice
• D'Artagnan59
• Aabraxan - just played
• CommandoBob - UP!

I haven't had time to examine the save and post any concrete thoughts. I hinted at them a few posts back, but nothing more.

I would like to be able to get a strategy post done this evening, and play Thursday or Friday.

 

[CommandoBob]

End of Previous Turnset Stats:

Science: Currency, 3 turns
Treasury: 38 gold, -8 gpt; 4.5.1

Cities:

1. Mosaic Moscow (6): grows in 3, vHorse in 2.
2. Silly St. Peteys (3): zero growth, catapult in 4.
3. Iron Hill (7) zero growth, vSword in 4.
4. Rowdy Rostov (7) zero growth, vHorse in 2.
5. YarYar (3) grows in 14, vSpear in 7.
6. Yakkity Yakutsk (3) grows in 8, catapult in 4.
7. Halifax (3) grows in 16, vHorse in 7.
8. Savignon Samara (1) grows in 1, walls in 1.
9. Hot'n Spicey (3) grows in 9, vSpear in 5.
10. Murmur (3) grows in 4, barracks in 34.
11. New Horse Town (3) grows in 4, catapult in 5.
12. Gold Hill (1) grows in 5, barracks in 5.

Military:

• 03 Settlers
• 04 Workers
• 01 Archers
• 18 Spears
• 18 Swords
• 04 Horses
• 22 Catapults
• 03 Armies
• 16 Slaves

Total units: 73 Allowed units: 48

Building List:

• vHorse [3] (Mosaic Moscow, Rowdy Rostov and Halifax)
• Catapult [2] (Silly St. Peteys, Yakkity Yaktsk and New Horse Town)
• vSword [1] (Iron Hill)
• vSpear [2] (YarYar and Hot'n Spicey)
• Walls [1] (Savignon Samara)
• Barracks [2] (Murmur and Gold Hill)

Resources:

• 01 Horse
• 01 Iron
• 01 Wine
• 01 Spice

Army Locations:

• FirstSwordArmy (7/14) - between New York and Hannover
• SecondSwordArmy (11/13) - 1W of Hot'n Spicey
• ThirdSwordArmy (6/12) - in Hot'n Spicey

Cycle through the cities:

• Gold Hill, work the roaded forest for additional commerce (to-do).

Long Term Objectives

• Destroy all Civs.

Mid Term Objectives

• Make the Hittites disappear.
• Make the Babylonians disappear.
• Deal with America and Germany next.

Short Term Objectivs (This turnset)

1. Get into the Middle Ages.
2. Learn/Begin to learn Feudalism/Engineering/Monarchy.
3. Kill the German Spear in our interior.
4. Take Hannover and connect 2nd Horse (1W of New Horse Town) and maybe 2nd Iron (1SW of Hannover).
5. Put a city on the hill 2N of Savignon Samara (also 2S-1SW of Hannover). Road one hill to connect.
6. Take Hattusha (must attack from the cow SW of the city or else attack across a river).
7. Put a city 4S of Rowdy Rostov on a hill, to claim another Horse. Road two grasslands to connect.
8. Maybe put a city 2SW of Murmur, on a hill and behind some rivers.
9. Frankfurt has gems and we need them.
10. See multiple silks between Nineveh and Babylon.
11. Do not see a city built on a luxury/strategic resource.

Observation
Our military advisor says that we are strong compared to the other four.

I don't see any units that can attack us on the IBT, except the German Spear (it could pillage a tile).

I think we need to continue to slowly expand, as we have done over the last few turnsets. Nothing reckless. Just planting new cities on good defensible terrain with good defensive units and connecting the new cities to our empire with only a tile or two of new roads. We need four more cities to support another army. It we take Hannover and Hattusha and build two more, we can make another Army. Which in turn will make it easier to capture more AI cities and build more native Russian cities.

Playing Time
Won't be able to play until Friday. We've having a come-n-go Christmas party with some of the election poll workers my wife has worked with. I know most of them, so it is not as bad as it sounds. I'm sure we'll talk politics some, but most of the discussion will be horror stories about stupid voters and feeble minded local politicans and elected officals.

So there is plenty of time for discussion before any turns get played.

 

[Norton II]

Just wanted to let everyone know that I don't need to be skipped anymore.
@CommandoBob: Good luck with your set, though I don't think you'll need too much luck; it appears that the hardest part is over.

 

[CommandoBob]

Just wanted to let everyone know that I don't need to be skipped anymore.
@CommandoBob: Good luck with your set, though I don't think you'll need too much luck; it appears that the hardest part is over.

Great to have you back, Norton!

I sure hope the hardest part is over. This was a much slower start than I expected. (Reading an AW SG is very different from playing it!) I feel that our star is about to rise. Not having but one AI unit on the map is certainly a good indicator that we have done serious damage to our neighbors.

But then I get contrary and cautious, because sometimes I see things that aren't there. It is bad enough to make a bonehead decision in a solo game. I surely don't want to that in an SG!

Some Dreaming
I think that by turn 5 we can have four more cities in play; two captured and two built by us. We have three settlers just standing around, so that part is already done. Got to wake them up and get them walking.

I may have time this evening to get a dot map of the city locations I mentioned.

 

[Tribute]

@Three settlers just standing around: That makes me both sad and enraged. WhaaAAAh?! I suspect it was too unsafe to send them out though. Whatever. Good luck, CBob!

 

[CommandoBob]

Hannover Area 430 AD

The Pink Dot here would be a good border city. It is on a hill and would be connected to the road just south of it. New York becomes very easy to attack. Move one tile, wait one turn and attack. Plus a river for more defense and city growth.


Murmur Area 430 AD

The Light Green Dot would serve as a jumping off point to attack Babylon and maybe the Hittities. Once we take Hattusha, this city should draw a lot Babylonian attention, which will let us develop Hattusha some (mining the cows, mostly).
The Light Blue Dot just moves us closer to the Hittite capital.


YarYar Area 430 AD

The YarYar Area is an afterthought, I must admit.
The Light Green Dot gives us a coastal city on a hill.
The Pink Dot just moves our border northwards a bit.

Settlers
We have two settlers in Halifax and one in Hot'n Spicey.

The city sites I selected are in keeping with a slow rate of territory expansion and anticpates a good deal of AI attacks. If these attacks do not come, the city placement may be a bit more aggressive and risky.
The first change would be to move the Light Green Dot in the Murmur Area either 1S onto the horse or 1SE to be closer to Ellipi. This makes the road from Murmur three tiles long, which is a bit of a stretch on a forward based city. Foot soliders would take two turns to arrive.
In the YarYar area, the biggest change would be to resettle the city ruins, which is very risky since that is flat land.

But unless the AIs are very weak, I don't plan to get too crazy with new cities.

 

[Phaedo]

I really appreciate Aabra letting you guys know that I was out of commission for a bit and apologize for my ubrupt re-entry. I have just read the posts and haven't looked at the save closely yet but here are my thoughts for the record

Once again Cbob, I am in awe of your organizational skills but let's put "build more settlers" in your shourt term goals too . On that note, we should have some cities on constant settler building (I can't think of a good pump but maybe we could alternate settler builds between two cities). I think razing and replacing enemy cities will help us more long-term. We will loose the beaker boost of starving them down but we will gain free workers (helping the maintenance issue forever).

I like Murmur's light green placement where it is. It will be mostly corrupt and won't need all that much growing space. As for YarYar though, I would suggest a city on those western hills. Either the most northerly or the square 1SW of it have benefits (I think the choice depends on where we think our pressure will come from and e can fill the the rest later). The Hannover area I thinks needs discussion too. What are our objectives for the building of our cities (territory/strategic advantage or immediate unit support)? If it is unit support I like the present spot. If it is for strategy, I think razing Hannover and fitting in 2 cities CxxC up the western foot hills would be better (Of course it would entail razing Hannover first).

Slow expansion, I agree, is the rhythm of this game and I am happy with it but we will face the same attacks on our border cities regardless of their placement. Enemy units attacking hill cities from the plains change the odds in our favour nicely. Hills give a 25% defensive bonus right? Walls give us 50%. Will will lose some advantage on the front end (if we are keeping that tenous a line, our strategy is flawed), but the post-wall benifit should more than make up for it (effectively freeing up a unit).

As we are behind in tech, pillaging resources is the best way to keep us in it no? Our unit upkeep is keeping us from out-researching the AI. We won't be able to change that for a while but limiting the kind of units they build makes tech irrelevant (especially when capturing the GL is taken into account). That has got to be the priority over slowly taking cities and falling behind in tech. When I played my last set I was using the army to pick off attackers before they hit the city. When you factor the movement penality of jungles and such, wouldn't tht role be much better played by artillery that don't need to heal? We then will have the stack when we go on a serious offensive.

There are some great players on this team and many more experienced than I but we are not even close to being in a dominating position in this MONARCH game. I think we must be missing something. Personally, I think we have been too passive. Haven't some of you entered your turn with a feeling of doom only to be pleasantly suprised by your dreams of greatness by the end of the ten turns? The normal expansion that we are used to in a regular game now has to be fought for square by square. But we haven't expanded much. This isn't the kind of game where we can prepare to go to war and attain our goals as quickly as possible. I think we have to recognize opportunities and take advantage of them as they turn up. This is most easily done with settlers. (Despite Tribute's ambivalent incredulity at our stagnant settlers). Although we need a focus towards a road for expansion (i.e. Babylon) we shouldn't get hung up on which civ we are going at. We will never declare peace or trade so it is a pure territory game. We should take it wherever possible. We don't have the luxury of attacking one civ while we profit form the others so it's a more-or-less direction of attack. There is no point to thinking "we are at war with the Babylonians." Every thought should be: "What can I get (from whomever)?". Let's not overestimate the AI. These kraut and yank cities near us are on the outskirts of their empire. That means the units coming from them aren't being made by those cities. A skirmish with a unit or two outside a city may help us both expand and improve our empire.

 

[Aabraxan]

Cbob, on your preflight organization!

I like your city placement. I have a couple of thoughts on it, though. As a mid-length goal, I think capturing the hills on the western edge of those freshwater lakes will go a long way towards "sealing" our interior from invasion. I also think that 1-turn reinforcement by foot troops needs to be a high priority in determining city placement. As far as the YarYar area, we're not going to lose our iron, but claiming the other source keeps anyone else from claiming it, so I say leave that dot right where it is. I might move the pink dot by Gold Hill 1W onto the coast, just to give us one more spot to ping incoming galleys. That might also let us squeeze in one more city on those plains N of SSP.

I'm sorry that I didn't make more forward progress during my turnset, but I just didn't think that I could both wade through the reinforcements coming up from the south and attack a size 6 city (Hattusha) in my set. So I concentrated on: (a) killing AI units; and (b) getting a stack prepared.

I think pillaging has served us well and will continue to serve us well. I agree with Phaedo that we don't have the luxury of focusing too much on one civ. One of the considerations here is that we need to keep the various enemies equally off-balance. Right now, my impression is that the Babs are the strongest of our immediate concerns, so they need our attention the most. After we've sufficiently weakened them, we can move on to the Germans (maybe?) or someone else.

At any rate, good luck CB!

 

[CommandoBob]

There are some great players on this team and many more experienced than I but we are not even close to being in a dominating position in this MONARCH game. I think we must be missing something. Personally, I think we have been too passive.

We are not dominating, I agree.

But - we are learning.

And that is why we are passive. We don't know what can be done because we have never done it before.

Next time, however, ...

We will never declare peace or trade so it is a pure territory game. We should take it wherever possible.

Bingo!

This is the key nugget-of-gold that I have been missing. I still look at this as just a very combative space race kind of game, where wars are a sometimes thing. Beat up on AI, make a deal, worry about your reputation, etc. This aint that kind of game. (Or maybe I am more of a builder than I thought.)

But I will get some settlers built this turnset; thinking of switching some horses to settlers once they get done.

I'm sorry that I didn't make more forward progress during my turnset, but I just didn't think that I could both wade through the reinforcements coming up from the south and attack a size 6 city (Hattusha) in my set. So I concentrated on: (a) killing AI units; and (b) getting a stack prepared.

Don't be sorry. You were wise enough to know what you thought you could and could not do AND you did not try to exceed that. That is nothing to apologize about. You focused on two things and did that well.

Now I just have to take advantage of the bounty you left me.

 

[Norton II]

Just checked out the save. CBob, I don't know if you've started playing, but changing the taxman in Rowdy Rostov to a scientist will get us currency in 2 instead of 3. Your city placement ideas look good (though I'm not sure we should be going cxc yet--we're not anywhere near max corruption). Another thing to keep in mind is that Babylon and Germany are republics now, so anything we can do to increase their war weariness will work to our benefit. As for pillaging, there are two problems we might run into shortly. First, the AI civs might be able to build longbowmen soon, so pillaging won't do as much good as it would otherwise when that happens. Second, the AI will undoubtedly get gunpowder before we do, and we won't be able to see their saltpeter. Still, keeping them from building knights will be helpful.

 

[Aabraxan]

Merry Christmas to all!



I think my first New Year's resolution will be to stomp more Babylonians. . . . or at least to stomp more of our enemies generally.

 

[CommandoBob]

2 settlers in Halifax.
1 settler in Hot'n Spicey.

[IBT Pre-flight 430 AD](Turn 158)
Switch the taxman in Rowdy Rostov to geek.
Wake a settler in Halifax (rename to SettlerToAmerica) and move to Rowdy Rostov.

Hit Enter.

Bab Stack of Doom near Hattusha.

Germans want to talk. We're bored. We agree.
They will offer Currency for peace. Not that we would agree to peace anyway, but just for Currency? The Kaiser is Krazy.

Wounded Hittites disappear.

Savignon Samara walls -> barracks, 40 turns.

01 440 AD

1 Bab rMace 1S of HnS.
Bab SoD (1 vMace, 3 rMace, 1 rBowman, 1 rSpear, 1 settler) are 1S-1SE of HnS (1SW of Hattusha).

German vSpear 1SW of Mosiac Moscow.

Can't drop the smart slide any lower and still learn Currency on the IBT; -9 gpt.

Third Sword Amry is fully healed, inside Hot'n Spicey.

Worker/slaves (3WT) begin to road the forest 1N of MM .

Three catapults are with the Second Sword Army. Move them into Hot'n Spicey and bombard the rMace south of the city.
Two catapults redline the unit.

See we have 3 workers and six slaves in Hot'n Spicey, for a total of 6WT. Wake 'em up, move 'em out, 1 NW to the forest.
Next turn they will start and complete a road in that tile.
This leaves the Army, two horses and five catapults in Hot'n Spicey.

Have a vSword near MM; move into MM in case the German vSpear tries to attack. No catapults in MM to soften up the German. Want the German to attack with instead of defending with 2.

Leave the Second Sword Army in the field to heal.

Move a vSword into Hot'n Spicey.

SettlerToAmerica moves to Iron Hill.

SettlerToSomewhere (in Halifax) moves to Rowdy Rostov.

First Sword Army moves 1SE onto hill.

Slaves in Iron Hill named to A1 to A6. Slave Group A moves to the hill with First Sword Army. Will road in 2 turns while First Sword Army heals.

Minor Skirmishes
None
​

[IBT]
Bab SoD moves 1N, now 1SE of Hot'n Spicey.
German vSpear does not attack MM, heads SE (going to the coast?).

Good News

We enter a new age and try to learn Feudalism.

Rowdy Rostov vHorse -> vSword, 5 turns.
Our treasury is low.

Aztecs have built the Great Wall in Teotihuacan.


02 450 AD

We get Monotheism as our free tech.
Drop the smart slider to 30%, +3 gpt, Feudalism in 30. (At 40%, -2 gpt and 24 turns.)

Redlined Bab rMace did not go home like I thought he would. Just fortified inside the Hittite border.
Five catapults in Hot'n Spicey bombard the Bab SoD. Four units damaged.
Forest is roaded near Hot'n Spicey.

Second Sword Army is healed, moves into Hot'n Spicey, joining the Third Sword Army. I have the impression that the Bab SoD may head north again and not attack Hot'n Spicey.

Settlers stay put.

Minor Skirmishes
New vHorse from Rowdy Rostov vs. German vSpear, Horse wins (I expected a retreat!) (1 of 1).
​

[IBT]
The two undamaged Maces in the Bab SoD move north.
Hittite rMace lands near Halifax on the horse.

Mosiac Moscow vHorse -> settler, 3 turns.

03 460 AD

Up the smart slider to 40%; +0 gpt and 23 turns, down from 27 turns.

Five catapults in Hot'n Spicey redline the Bab rMaces inside our border.
Forest roaders mine a grassland 1NE of Murmur. The new shield is lost due to corruption.

SettlerToAmerica joins the First Sword Army. Wake a vSpear in Savignon Samara and move to that tile also.

Forest roaders near MM move to the horse tile 1W of New Horse Town, protected by a vSpear and vSword.
Moved the vSpear first and saw that Hannover was defended by an eSpear.

Minor Skirmishes
vHorse vs. Hittite rMace, we win (2 of 2).

Hire a geek in Mosiac Moscow, city now at zero growth, settler still in 3.
Feudalism in 21 (down from 23), -1 gpt.
​

[IBT]
Wounded Babs in our land run away.
Bab SoD moves 1N into our land.

Silly St. Peteys catapult -> catapult, 5 turns.
Iron Hill vSword -> vSword, 4 turns.
Yakkity Yakutsk catapult -> catapult, 4 turns.

04 470 AD

First Sword Army and SettlerToAmerica move 1N.
Slave Group A and vSpear move 1E, hill to hill, to road.
Move the southern worker/slave group northwards, planning to road a hill and assist Slave Group A.

Whip a barracks in Murmur; city will grow in 10.

Five catapults in Hot'n Spicey pound the Bab SoD; all five do damage.

Minor Skirmishes
Third Sword Army vs. Bab rSpear 2/3, we win (3 of 3).
Third Sword Army vs. Bab rBowman 2/3, we win (4 of 4).
Second Sword Army vs. Bab rMace 2/3, we win (5 of 5).
Second Sword Army vs. Bab vMace 2/4, we win (6 of 6).
Second Sword Army captures 2 Bab slaves.
​

[IBT]
Bab rBowman and rMace move to 1SW of Hot'n Spicey.

Hot'n Spicey vSpear -> vSpear, 7 turns.
Murmur barracks -> vSpear, 20 turns.
New Horse Town catapult -> catapult, 7 turns.
Gold Hill barracks -> vSword, 10 turns.

05 480 AC

We build West Moscow on the hill 3N of Savignon Samara, grows in 10, walls in 20.

New vSpear in Hot'n Spicey moves to the mountain 1NW of Murmur. vSpear from Murmur joins it.

Move a vSpear into West Moscow.

Minor Skirmishes
vHorse vs. Bab rMace 2/3, Mace wins and promotes (6 of 7).
vHorse vs. Bab vMace 3/4, Mace is redlined but wins (6 of 8).
Third Sword Army (12/13) vs. Bab rBowman 1/3, a swing and a kill (7 of 9).
vHorse vs. Bab vMace 1/3, Horse wins (8 of 10).

Second Sword Army moves due south, into Hittite territory.
Third Sword Army moves due south, into Hittite territory.

Hire a geek in YarYar (no action up here and the city is well defended).
Feudalism in 16, +0 gpt.
​

[IBT]
Lose both vSpears on the mountian near Murmur (8 of 12).

Mosaic Moscow settler (SettlerToHannover) -> vSword, 4 turns.

06 490 AD

Catapults in Murmur damage both the Hittite eMace and vMace on the mountain near Murmur.

Minor Skirmishes
On a whim, Second Sword Army attacks the rPike in Hattusha, and wins but is at 5/13 in strength (9 of 13).

Hattusha defended by another rPike.
Second Sword Army moves back to Hot'n Spicey.
Third Sword Army stays put, to block a Bab vPike and rMace pair.
First Sword Army, with a Spear and Sword, move into German land near Hannover.

Since Mosaic Moscow built a settler, and our population decreases, we learn Feudalism in 17, +1 gpt.
​

[IBT]
Wounded Hittite Maces leave that mountain and appear to be heading to Hattusha.
German rArcher leaves Hannover heading to West Moscow.
Galley leaves Hattusha, heading north along the coast. Probably heading for the Horse resource tile near Halifax.

Rowdy Rostov vSword -> vSword, 5 turns.
Halifax vHorse -> vHorse, 8 turns.

07 500 AD

Battle of Hannover
First Sword Army vs. eSpear, Army wins (10 of 14).
First Sword Army vs. rSpear, Army wins (11 of 15).

Good News

We capture Hannover.
And raze it, but gain no slaves.

Minor Skirmishes
vHorse vs. Hittite vMace 2/4, Horse wins (12 of 16).
vHorse vs. Hittite eMace 2/5, Horse is redlined but wins (13 of 17).
vHorse vs. Bab rMace 1/3, Horse wins (14 of 18).
Third Sword Army vs. Hittite rPike in Hattusha, Army wins (15 of 19).
Third Sword Army vs. Hittite rPike in Hattusha, Army wins (16 of 20).
Third Sword Army is at 6/13.
Hattusha defended by an rPike.
vSword vs. German rArcher, Sword wins flawlessly and becomes Elite (17 of 21).

Second Sword Army heals in Hot'n Spicey.
Plan to use the Armies to slowly wear down Hattusha's defenses, until we can get a junlge road built, which will let catapults get in on the fun.
Move SettlerToHannover to the ruins near Hannover.
Move Slave Group A to be able to move into that same tile next turn, to build a road.
Latest Babylonian slaves join the worker/slave group 1W of New Horse Town, currently mining. Once the mining is done, will create Slave Group B with those six slaves.
Third worker/slave group, with 6WT in it, heads back to Hot'n Spicey to build a jungle road to Hattusha. It takes 9WT to road a jungle, so we will do it quickly in 2 turns, losing some worker turns to get the road in place for catapults and support.
SettlerToSomewhere is still in Rowdy Rostov, needing protection before it can build a city.
​

[IBT]
German Mace vs. vSword, Sword wins (18 of 22).
German vSword vs. vSword 3/4, German wins (18 of 23).
Hittite Mace vs. vSword, Mace wins (18 of 24).

Iron Hill vSword -> vSword, 4 turns.
Yakity Yakutsk catapult -> catapult, 3 turns.

08 510 AD

Minor Skirmishes
First Sword Army vs. German vMace, Army wins (19 of 25).

SettlerToHannover moves into position, with the FirstSwordArmy.
Second Sword Army moves 1S from Hot'n Spicey, next to Hattusha.
New Sword from Iron Hill moves towards Murmur. Murmur could have 3 more Hittite Maces next to it next turn.
Slave Group A moves onto old ruins near former Hannover, to begin to road.
Wake vSpear in YarYar and move towards the German front.
​

[IBT]
Bab Mace attacks Third Sword Army and dies (20 of 26).
Lots of German units moving to where Hannover was.
Hittites land an Archer near Yakkity Yakutsk.
Hittite Maces appear to be heading to Hattusha.
Barb Horses attack something on the ruins of Chicago. But they die.

Silly St. Peteys catapult -> catapult, 5 turns.
YarYar vSpear -> library, 40 turns.

09 520 AD

Found JellyBank 1NE of Hannover's ruins, grows in 10, walls in 20.
Slave Group A begins to road a hill, 2 turns.
Move 2 Spears and 1 Sword to protect Slave Group A.
Let First Sword Army (7/14) heal.

Battle of Hattusha
Second Sword Army vs. Hittite rPike in Hattusha, Army wins (21 of 27).

Good News

We capture Hattusha and one slave.
And we keep it.
Hattusha has five resisters, one geek, walls in 20, city will starve.

Minor Skirmishes
Second Sword Army vs. Bab vPike 1/4, Army wins (22 of 28).
vSword vs. Bab rSpear 1/3, Sword wins (23 of 29).
vHorse vs. Bab rMace 1/3, Horse wins (24 of 30).
No enemy units between Hot'n Spicey and Hattusha, which means it is safe for workers.
Move the 6WT stack to the jungle between those two cities.
Hittite slave from Hattusha joins them.
SettlerToSomewhere moves to Murmur.

Up the smart slider. With JellyBank and Hattusha, we go to +9 gpt, Feudalism in 12 (40% science).
At 50% science we are -3gpt, Feudalism in 9 turns.
Mosiac Moscow will grow this IBT, which could offset the negative gpt.

There are seven German units heading towards JellyBank. I expect one, maybe two attacks this IBT.
I want the First Sword Army to heal and then use it and other units to slowly whittle these attackers down to nothing.

I also see that Germany has captured Washington.
​

[IBT]
We kill two German Swords on the IBT, but the Spears are redlined (26 of 32).

Hittites want to talk; we'll listen.
Hittites will give Feudalism and Engineering for peace.

We kill two Hittite Maces and one Archer, taking no losses (29 of 35).

Mosiac Moscow vSword -> settler, 4 turns.


10 530 AD

Resisting Cities
Hattusha (6) now has three resisters and three geeks, walls in 9999, zero growth.
City might flip back to Hittites on the IBT (0.8 to 1.8% chance of flipping), so the Army will move out of the city.

Slave Group B formed (six slaves/3WTs, 1W of New Horse Town).
Slave Group B heads 1S of New Horse Town, to road and then mine (without a great fear of being interrupted by German or Barbarian units).
Worker04, also 1W of New Horse Town, heads to Rowdy Rostov, to make a new road to Murmur.

Around JellyBank, have three German units that could attack this IBT. One tile could receive all three attacks. Shift spears around to have two Spears in each of the three tiles.

Move Third Sword Army, fully healed, from Hot'n Spicey to Murmur.
Move Third Sword Army, vSword, vHorse and SettlerToSomewhere 1SW of Murmur, hilltop to hilltop.

We are still at -3 gpt, but 7 turns to Feudalism, so leave the sliders unchanged.

Minor Skirmishes
vHorse vs. Hittite vMace 1/4, a jab and a kill (30 of 36).
​

[IBT]
I make an executive decision to play for two more turns, to get to Turn 170.

We defeat two German Maces and lose one vSword (32 of 39).

Hot'n Spicey vSpear -> vSpear, 5 turns.
New Horse Town catapult -> library, 10 turns.

11 540 AD

Resisting Cities
Hattusha (5) three resisters, two geeks, walls in 19, city will starve.

Third Sword Army and friends move 1SW, hilltop to hilltop, ready to make a city next turn.

Slave Group A moves 1S, now 1E of West Moscow, on a hill, to make a road in realitve peace.

Germans found Bremen on the city ruins NW of YarYar.
Germans have a small stack of doom 1N of New York. May attack New York or head to West Moscow.
Plan on them heading to West Moscow, move some units toward West Moscow.

German small stack of doom:
2 eMaces
1 vMace
1 eSword
1 vSword
1 rSword

Currently in West Moscow:
First Sword Army
1 eSpear
1 vSpear

Heading to West Moscow:
1 catapult
2 vSwords
1 vHorse

Minor Skirmishes
vSword vs. German rMace 1/3, a swing and a kill (33 of 40).
Second Sword Army vs. Bab rMace, Army wins (34 of 41).
​

[IBT]
Germans SSoD heads towards West Moscow, ignoring New York.
Bab units head north towards Hattusha.

Iron Hill vSword -> vSword, 4 turns.
Rowdy Rostov vSword -> vSword, 5 turns.
Yakkity Yakutsk catapult -> catapult, 4 turns.

Aztec city of Calixlahuaca completes the Great Lighthouse.

12 550 AD

Resisting Cities
Hattusha (4) has two resisters, two geeks, walls in 18, city will starve.

Worker Group A begins to road, will complete next turn.

SettlerToSomewhere founds Somewhere City 2SW of Murmur, on a hill, grows in 10, walls in 20.
Move five catapults from Murmur towards Somewhere City, protected by a vSword and vHorse on the hill between the two cities.
This hill needs to be roaded.
Would like to move Third Sword Army 1E and pillage, but that leaves Somewhere City with only two units for defense.
Could be a 3MC still around, so I leave Third Sword Army in Somewhere City.

SettlerToAnywhere, a longtime resident of Hot'n Spicey, moves to Murmur.

Minor Skirmishes
First Sword Amry vs. eMace, Army wins (35 of 42).
First Sword Army vs. eMace, Army wins (36 of 43).
First Sword Army is 9/14 in strength.

Second Sword Army 6/13 vs. Bab rSpear, Army wins but is very weak, only 3/13 (37 of 44).
Second Sword Army 3/13 moves into Hattusha.

vSword vs. German vSword, Germans win (36 of 44).
vHorse vs. German eSword 4/5, German wins (36 of 45).
Drat, had hoped the Horse would retreat and not die.

German Short Stack of Doom is now:
1 vMace
1 eSword 1/5
1 vSword 2/4
1 rSword

​

550 AD 16 gold (+0 gpt)
Feudalism (6 turns)

And the save is >>HERE<<.

 

[CommandoBob]

Workers
Slave Group B (six slaves == 3 Worker Turns) is 1S of New Horse Town making a road (finishes this IBT), followed by a mine.
Slave Group A (six slaves == 3 Worker Turns) is 1E of West Moscow making a road for easier troop movement, 2 turns.
Worker04 is 1N of Murmur, will begin to road next turn (Iron Hill will 4 tiles away, not 5, when this road is done).
Remaining workers and slaves (Worker01, 02 and 03, and six slaves == 6 Worker Turns) are 1NE of Murmur, ready to move to the hill between Murmur and Somewhere City next turn. The following turn they will begin and complete a road on a hill, connecting Somewhere City to the rest of the Russian Empire.

Armies
First Sword Army is in West Moscow.
Second Sword Army is in Hattusha.
Third Sword Army is in Somewhere City.

Settlers
SettlerToAnywhere is in Murmur. Planned to build a city 4S of Rowdy Rostov. Needs some units for protected and some workers to connect the city via two grassland tiles.

Resources
Don't see any Horses in Babylonian lands.

Catapults
Catapult, alone, on a hill 1N of Yakkity Yakutsk, is headed for Gold Hill. This will give Gold Hill 2 catapults.
Time will tell, but since Hattusha is now ours, the Hittites can no longer load up a unit in a galley and dump that unit off between Halifax and Yakkity Yakutsk. Might be able to get by with just one catapult in these cities, sending the rest to the German front.
Hot'n Spicey's catapults should go to Hattusha to thin out the Babs.
Five catapults are headed to Somewhere City.

Libraries
We have two libraries being built. One in YarYar and one in New Horse Town. YarYar will take 37 turns to complete; New Horse Town will take 9.
For us, libraries are only 40 shields, not 80.

Tech Race
Two things will help us on the tech race: libraries and people. Libraries for us are cheap. People are a little trickier. We need more cities, which will generate more commerce and thus beakers for research. In most cases, growing the city larger will help too.
But the current max city size (given our luxuries and sliders) is 7.

Cities
We now have 16 cities and can support a fourth army.

Technology
Feudalism costs 682 per CAII. We generate (right now) 55 bpt towards science, giving us Feudalism in 16 turns.
Engineering costs 832. If nothing changes, it will take about 20 turns to learn it.
However, only the Hittites and the Germans know Engineering.
Monarchy costs only 469 or about 9 turns or so.

550 AD German Front

Lots of German units, but not really concentrated anywhere. They have a Small Stack of Doom near West Moscow. This stack may attack the Spear and Sword due east of it. One east of West Moscow is Slave Group A, which just began a road this turn. The Spear and Sword are in place to allow those slaves those two turns.


550 AD Northeast

Lots of White Horses that only attacked us once in the last ten turns. Some came close, but catapults wounded them and they went away.

550 AD Somewhere City

I think that the Hittite capital is south of Somewhere City, but can't be sure. I expect 3MCs to attack our position this IBT.
Just NE of Somewhere City is 5 catapults headed to Somewhere City.
Just NE of Murmur is a stack of worker/slaves that total 6 WT, enough to road the hill between Murmur and Somewhere City in one turn.

550 AD South

In Murmur is SettlerToAnywhere, which I have planned to build a city 4S of Rowdy Rostov.

Plans
I can't really focus on plans for the next turn, except the obvious ones about attacking wisely and such.

I do think we need some libraries, but we cannot afford them in all cities, at least, not now. Luckily for us, Russian libraries are cheap (40 vs 80).

I also think we need to keep growing our empire and use our Sword Armies to help protect our new cities, but I am open to ideas on how to grow our empire.

We may be stronger than any one AI, but we cannot afford to throw away units.

American attacks on my turns: None.
Hittite attacks on my turns: A few.
Babylonian attacks on my turns: None, just a pest-in-the-way.
German attacks on my turns: Some, a few successful.

I think we can defend from Germany and attack either the Hittites or the Babylonians (or switch back one to the other).

It is late, my thoughts feel disjointed and I am off to bed. There is plenty of time to discuss these turns and the next turns.

 

[Phaedo]

Things look pretty good Cbob. Nice work on that thorn in our side Hattusha and getting that city on the west of the lake mountains.

I guess my 2 cents would be to keep expanding with city placement. Essentially it ought to be possible to use the same defence force to defend the front but just move it out a bit. Cats spears and swords ought to be enough to defend the cities (with enough cats), leader hunt and attack cities if need be. I think I have come down on the side that all the armies (after getting up to full strength) should be out pillaging. Meanwhile, as our cities defend, we can slowly build up our forces and maybe get a better front set up. When we stop seeing MI coming at us, we know that we can basically proceed at leisure.

Here's what I have learned recently about armies: if the AI has a low chance of winning (which I understand is basically two or more upgrades advanced), they will not attack armies in the field (but will do so in a city). Now, what does this mean? First, it means that our sword armies can waltz around our enemies land and won't get attacked until they have cavs (meaning that they can pillage to their heart's content uninterrupted. Second, armies can heal in enemy territory. Finally, armies provide an untouchable escort for weaker units (i.e. cats and WORKERS).

So it seems to me that our armies are not only being underused as city defence, but we are actully putting them in more danger by keeping them in the cities.

Question- do we go for knights? We do already have Mono and a couple of horses. On the other hand, we really want that bottom half of the map. Is chiv just a time waster? (Remember that we can't use pointy stick reseach)

 

[Aabraxan]

02 450 AD

We get Monotheism as our free tech.​

MONOTHEISM?!

Feudalism woulda been great. Engineering woulda been fine. But NOOOOOO, we gotta get Monotheism. Here we were perfectly happy with polytheistic Russians . . . grumble, grumble . . .

In all seriousness, though, . . . Good turns, Cbob. Well-played.

Here's what I have learned recently about armies: if the AI has a low chance of winning (which I understand is basically two or more upgrades advanced), they will not attack armies in the field (but will do so in a city). Now, what does this mean? First, it means that our sword armies can waltz around our enemies land and won't get attacked until they have cavs (meaning that they can pillage to their heart's content uninterrupted. Second, armies can heal in enemy territory.

And if we play our pillaging cards right, we may be able to prevent them from building cavs in the first place.​

 

[Phaedo]

Does this mean I'm up? I'm ready to take the set. I'll try to post a list of goals tonight

 

[Phaedo]

So after looking at the save, these are the goals that I'm hoping to work towards. If I have missed or mistaken anything please let me know. I'm hoping to play my set tomorrow.

Set goals
Settle a city N of the volcano
Try to take the Hittites out of a threatening position by pilliaging and taking out big cities
Pilliage as many iron and horse squares I can find.
Try to push the babylon front south
Get some more spears for defence and to free up the armies

First turn changes and goals
Take 3rd sword army to pilliage
Heal 1st sword army then take it west to pilliage
Change YarYar to a spear
Send Pietr up north to slowly take out the barbs
Heal 2nd sword army and send it west, load up Hattusha with defence (was this the city you said was going to flip Cbob? It is in revolt and I don't think it can flip in revolt but I may be wrong)

 

[Phaedo]

As I've been thinking about my set, I've found that I'm not too sure about our long term strategy. Our research is obviously hurting because of our huge army. We obviously want to take over our continent but meanwhile the other continent is growing without the impediment of AW. Our mid to long range research needs to be considered but I think we have to think of it in terms of our military strategy. By this I mean that we have to develop more cities as unit producers so our core can get productive. I don't think we can afford to build libs yet but we need to get on that and other city improvements ASAP. The only way we can do this is by freeing up the core to improve by creating other productive cities. With this in mind, I am thinking about trying to get at least one more rax built in my set. By the time we have the continent under control, our core needs to be as big and as productive as possible. This means some agressive expansion in the next couple of sets. Holding tight won't help us win this game. I'm planning on building a bunch of spears in my set to protect the front as I think we have an adequate offensive force at this time. Any input would be welcome