CBob01 AWM Training Day Game

[CommandoBob]

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)

Barbs
The Barbs are more of a nuisance than anything else. They move around a lot but don't do anything. In ten turns I only had one Barb Horse attack, the others I redlined with catapults and they went away. I kept hoping that they would do something useful for us and they did not. They attacked some German units before Bremen was founded, but all the attackers died. They might keep the Babs tied up in the outpost city up there also. I never saw a Bab unit come out of there.
Plus, Pietr is already promoted. If you really want to cleanse the northeast of the guys in white, send in a vSword and hope it gets promoted to Elite.

Hattusha
When I first took Hattusha it had a rather large flip risk and that is why I put the Army outside the city. Now it has lost population so the risk is lower. But we still need to starve it down so it will be easier to subdue and less likely to flip. What I have done is make every non-resister a geek. They produce more science and no food, so the city is almost certain to loss a population point on the IBT. Hattusha may go down to size 1 or 2 and be all resisters. At that point we can fill it with defenders to 'crush the rebellion'.
Right now I put the Army into Hattusha because the Army was too weak to leave outside.

Armies
I like the idea of Pillaging Armies. If you have a choice, pillage Iron first, then Horses.

I hope you get lucky enough to have a 4th MGL. The best use of that leader would be a 4th Army, which in turn would be used in attacking cities.

North City
Wouldn't it be easier to take out Bremen instead?

 

[CommandoBob]

Our research is obviously hurting because of our huge army.

True.

We do need more cities, as you imply. But we also have three fronts (German, Hittite and Bab) that we need to consider as we build.

What I used the Second Sword Army for in my last turns was to protect the settler as it moved into position. I don't know if this is the best use of an Army. The workers followed to build the connecting road.

So, if we expand with cities (which gives us more research), and we are making more vSpears, we may want to use our Armies to cover our settlers/workers as they walk to their new home. Which means the Armies cannot pillage as much.

 

[Aabraxan]

Settle a city N of the volcano

North City
Wouldn't it be easier to take out Bremen instead?

Depending on timing, Bremen may auto-raze, so the two may not be mutually exclusive. Bremen still needs to be taken out, but we may not have the option of capturing it.

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.

I agree with Cbob on this:

I like the idea of Pillaging Armies. If you have a choice, pillage Iron first, then Horses.

And on this note:

Send Pietr up north to slowly take out the barbs

Cbob has already said it: Pietr has already promoted and produced a leader. Send vSwords and have them hone their blades if you want to chase barbs. If one promotes to eSword, send him to the front for leader-fishing and replace him with another vSword. Send them on "training exercises."

[Hattusha] is in revolt and I don't think it can flip in revolt but I may be wrong)

I think I've had a city in revolt flip, but I'm not entirely certain. And keep starving Hattusha.

Otherwise, sounds like you've got a good plan in place.

 

[Phaedo]

I'm at the beginning of turn 6 and we just learned Fueudalism. We can get Engineering in 16 or Chivalry in 18. I'd like to get knights so we can upgrade our horses but we won't have the cash to do it. Engineering directly affects our logistics but being able to move rivers and toughens our cats (which we can't afford). I'm going to finish moving but not end the turn to get some confirmation. When I'm done the moves and post of situation report with details.

I just wanted to give people a heads up

 

[Phaedo]

State of the Empire:
20 gold in the bank +0gpt
50% science 10% lux
at 0% science research in 50 and +44gpt
at 100% science Engineering in 9 -30gpt

Military:
84 units total
20gpt upkeep

2 settlers
4 workers
17 slaves
18 spears
18 swords
6 horses
31 cats
3 armies
1 MI

 

[CommandoBob]

Let's go for Engineering and pillage Iron. Knights need both Iron and Horses, both of which we can see. If we can keep one or the other unconnected, preferably both, good for us.

I think it is more important to be able to move our units around quickly, for both defense and offense, than have a stronger unit. We have better tactics than the AI. If we do face Knights, they will be onesies and twosies, not a massed force like we would use.

Yeah, the cost in time is almost the same, but I think mobility trumps firepower, at least for a short while.

 

[Phaedo]

Thanks for the input guys. After thinking about it, I've decided to leave the Barbs. Although I don't like the look of them there, they do provide a bit of a buffer between us and the Babs (not that the city will do much but it will eventually pump out some offensive unit.
And I'm off

550Ad T0
Change New Horse Town to a rax. Change YarYar to a spear (poor YarYar is stagnant at 3 producing only 1 shield)
IBT We take some attacks. West Moscow took out an MI but we lost a spear in Sauvignon Samara.

560AD T1
Killed a German Sword by W Moscow and another one N of YarYar, Bombed the force surrounding Hattusha but only had 2 Cats so just took a point off a bowman. They have 2 MIs in attack position on the IBT. Next turn there will be enough cats to make a dent
The 3rd army enters Hittite lands
Shuffle some spears around and could have a 1 vSpear escort to the settler to anywhere but I'd like 2
SavSam is going to be under a lot of pressure and I don't know if we can keep it.
Everything was left in a great situation. Thanks Cbob! Everything I wanted to do I could and the things that I wanted were already along the production pipe. Everything was in good shape with the cities.
The next turn we could use some RNG help. Close my eyes and prey while hitting RETURN

IBT Take out 2 MIs at Hattusha (4-0), Lose another spear at SavSam(4-2), the Germans are advancing towards YarYar but I think we have the cats to defend this assault. The Barbs take out a bowman in the North. All and all not bad.

570AD T2
Moscow builds its settler and goes on a spear, Iron Hill riots (slap myself for being an idiot and turn on CAII alerts, I should have been doing that earlier).
Switch a citizen in IH to a beaker
WMoscow bombs and kills a sword in its borders (5-2)
Kill an MI near Somewhere (6-2)
SavSam takes out a Hittite MI (7-2) and that gives it a turn or two of safety.
Hattusha takes out a bowman and spear and redlines the last one (9-2)
The 1st Army heads west I may not get to any resources this set but I'm heading for the iron

IBT 2 Hittites die at Somewhere(11-2)

580AD T3
Somewhere takes out a Hittite Longbow (12-2)
Armies keep moving. Three are now entering foreign lands on pillage missions. No one has moved to touch them. Although the desire to take a poke at the Hittite capital was tempting (not wise, but tempting)

IBT Not much, some troop movement and AI attacks against Barbs

590AD T4
yakity switches to a rax
vHorse takes out bow after bombardment. (13-2)
Foolishly bombed both German pikes heading towards NHT. I should have concentrated on one. Both are yellowed
The 2nd army has found horses to pillage next turn. Still don't see any iron (other than 1 hill square in the black). Could they be trading for it?
It looks like I can found Anywhere in 4 turns but the new city to the north is touch and go I feel.

IBT German workers rush for safety from our roaming army (I guess this indirectly hurts their economy just by being here)
The Babs send another force at Hattusha but I’m quite confident our cats can take care of them while we hunt for a leader
Wounded pikes retreat

600AD T5
Took the chance that the Hittites had iron on that last unrevealed square but they don't. They have to be trading for it. Going for horses and then on to the Germans
Hattusha takes out the MI BB threat (15-2)
Yellow the eMI near YarYar
Take out a German pike but red the horse (16-2)

IBT We lose 2 spears at somewhere to Hittite longbow (16-4)
We learn Feudalism and I pause here to post. I'm going to wait for input before committing beakers

610AD T6
Armies continue on respective missions.
Anywhere settler is in place to found a new city next turn
Kill one of the attacking longbow men and yellow the other (17-4)
Upgrade Mr. Rowdy
Leader hunt on a US archer with no luck
Settle on Engineering after getting the thumbs up from Cbob

IBT The Germans play musical chairs and our vSword in Somewhere becomes elite (18-4)

620AD T7
Found Anywhere and take Hittite horses and the wheat
3rd army pillages Hittites other source of horses
2nd army pillages its square and moves (That should slow them down a bit)
Jelly’s sword kills an MI (19-4)
Take out a US archer near NY (20-4)
Change Moscow to a settler (I think razing and replacing down through those western Bab cities is the way to go. We will get some badly needed slaves and it will cut down on our unit upkeep. But most importantly, the Babs are only sending up their piecemeal units. The stack of cats in Hattusha can take care of them and pretty soon we have a constantly expanding front for unit support and some specialists. Most importantly, it keeps us expanding, which we desperately need

IBT The big shuffle. Germany is trying to get a mini-SoD down to NHT but it has to pass a stack of cats.

630AD T8
Take out 2 Bab MIs near Hattusha (22-4)
Move 1st and 2nd armies on their respective iron
3rd army takes out some dyes and moves for the others

IBT As hoped for, the Babs send a couple of units to Anywhere. The pressure seems to be off Hattusha

640AD T9
Pillage German and Bab iron.
Bomb a stack of MIs N of Jelly and take off a couple of hit points but not much damage.
Our new MI takes out a pike on the horses near NHT (23-4)

IBT Lose an elite sword and a vMi at Somewhere. Take out a LB (24-6). The cheeky Babs landed an archer next to Halifax

650AD T10
Take out the remaining Hittite units by Somewhere (26-6)
Bomb the Barb archer but only yellow it. Send some reinforcement for Halifax, fortify a spear on the cats and send Pietr up

Some thoughts:
I was thinking of sending the new settler down and maybe placing a city S of the BG near Hattusha to push that front
I have all the rax towns on MIs. This can be changed but if our cats could be backed up with MIs it would be much better
If we had a city on one of those hills next to the volcano, it would help our defense incredibly. All those German units in the mountains are a real concern. If they were coming into range of our cats on plains, they would not even be a concern and we could leader hunt much more effectively. I think with a couple of pikes, we can walk our settler up the west side of the mountains from Jelly (if she holds )
I realized too late the full power of a pillaging army. They can pillage, move, pillage move on the flat. I should have been pillaging the whole way to the resources. Guess I’ll know better next time.
Taking Hattusas would give us Sun Tzu’s. We have a stack of cats in Somewhere and an army close by. It’s something to seriously consider for the next player

I guess that’s all I can think of right now. We are at +3 gpt at 50% Sci and we have 34 in the bank. We will get Engineering in 11.

 

[Phaedo]

And the save

 

[Bucephalus]

lurker's comment: look for the Hittite Iron underneath a city; then pillage the roads around it.

 

[CommandoBob]

Taking Hattusas would give us Sun Tzu’s. We have a stack of cats in Somewhere and an army close by. It’s something to seriously consider for the next player.

Oh, yeah, we want that baby. Just be sure to sell all our barracks just before we attack the city.

Good turns, Phaedo!

Volcano City
From the screen shot, and from my memories of my turns, it appears that the Germans are just moving due East most of the time, heading to YarYar to die. I didn't see any units from the north head towards YarYar; Phaedo's notes didn't say.

In that case, removing Boston/Washington may cure the German desire to see the sights of YarYar. Or putting a city between Boston and JellyBank, filled with cats, spears and swords.

Libraries
Libraries for us are only 40 gold, the same as a Mace. Both the Germans and Babs are SCI, also (I keep forgetting). I think we need to begin to slip in a library into the build orders, aiming for one library being built at any one time. This way we keep our military strong while we make it smarter. (I don't know if one library at a time is realistic, given each city's production ability.)

But we do need something to help with our science, in addition to just adding more cities.

 

[Phaedo]

lurker's comment: look for the Hittite Iron underneath a city; then pillage the roads around it.

Thanks, I didn't think of that

I agree about the libs too but I think we need to free up the core for improvements by extending our borders (we have 2 new rax cities so at least one of the core cities should havea shot at a lib)

 

[CommandoBob]

lurker's comment: look for the Hittite Iron underneath a city; then pillage the roads around it.

I checked each visible opposing city in the known world. None of them is built on a resource, not even a luxury. They must have been trading for Iron.

 

[Bucephalus]

lurker's comment:

Hmm, I've just checked the diplo screen and Hittites have no Iron

 

[Phaedo]

Well, if they were trading for it I doubt they have it now. The Babs are down to 1 source and probably the Germans too (unless they controlled 3, which is doubtful) and the US doesn't have any

 

[Aabraxan]

Oh, yeah, we want that baby. Just be sure to sell all our barracks just before we attack the city.

If we capture Sun Tzu's, we can also sell all of our barracks after we capture it.

And yeah, good turns, Phaedo. Nice work.

 

[CommandoBob]

If we capture Sun Tzu's, we can also sell all of our barracks after we capture it.

And yeah, good turns, Phaedo. Nice work.

I'm easily confused by some things.

Personal Preference
I'd rather sell them before we capture Sun Tzu's 'cos then I know I haven't missed any. I would be looking for the barracks icon on the map. Once they are all gone, we have no more barracks (for just a few minutes).

Otherwise, I'll get real frustrated right clicking on something and try to sell it and can't. I know I'll forget which cities had barracks to begin with.

But that's just me and how I play. Quirky.

 

[Salarakas]

lurker's comment: Personally I would sell the barrackses only after you've secured the town. If it flips or you lose it to a counterattack you'll only get regular troops until you've recaptured it. There's no rush in selling the barrackses either as they no longer cost any maintenance when you get the Sun Tzu's Art Of War.

 

[Aabraxan]

I will no doubt forget which cities had raxes to begin with. I usually just cycle through cities one at a time after capture. It's tedious, but effective.

@ Salarakas -- I know that the raxes provided by Sun's don't cost anything, but what about the ones built before capture. Don't we still pay maintenance on them?

 

[Salarakas]

@ Salarakas -- I know that the raxes provided by Sun's don't cost anything, but what about the ones built before capture. Don't we still pay maintenance on them?

No. The same goes for the Pyramids/granaries, the Temple Of Artemis/temples and the Great Wall/walls. In fact, in solo games I don't usually even bother selling the hand-built improvements unless I'm strapped for cash. I think you'll get 10 gold for each sold barracks so it might be worth doing in this game though as you clearly could use the extra cash.

 

[CivActuary]

Guess that means I'm up next? DL'd the save, will check it out tonight and post any comments or questions tomorrow (too wiped to play tonight after New Years).

Happy New Year!