CBob01 AWM Training Day Game

[CommandoBob]

We're 4 turns from CoL. Where are we going after that? Is there a consensus?

On this we got input from a lurker but I can't find the post quickly so I'll go from memory.

The idea we had was to save Currency for last, since it was the most expensive. By delaying on Currency, we give an AI a chance to learn it and thus decrease our time of research on it.

I'm not sure what choices that leaves us, since I don't have the game open.

Hope this helps.

 

[Aabraxan]

Does this help?

 

[Salarakas]

lurker's comment: Some things to consider:

1. You want to become monarchy eventually but is this the right time? If not, you don't need the tech yet.

2. Russia is a scientific civ and gets a free tech whenever entering a new age which happens right after you discover currency. That's a 33% chance of getting feudalism (pikemen and medieval infatry) for free. That would be huge in a game like this.

 

[CommandoBob]

Does this help?

Yes, it does.

lurker's comment:
2. Russia is a scientific civ and gets a free tech whenever entering a new age which happens right after you discover currency. That's a 33% chance of getting feudalism (pikemen and medieval infatry) for free. That would be huge in a game like this.

With Feudalism we get a huge boost in free unit support. I don't know much else about it compared to monarchy/republic, but its support sounds good. In Feudalism, the smaller cities can support more units than the larger cities. Need to get the exact number. Less support, more money for tech stuff. Plus, IIRC, we can still use the whip with Feudalism, not sure if we can with Monarchy.

 

[TimBentley]

lurker's comment: You don't want the government feudalism and its WW; Salarakas was referring solely to the units.

 

[Beorn-eL-Feared]

Uh ho! lurker's comment: Whatever TimBentley says, listen.

Feudalism is a lousy AW government: to paraphrase the GOM's (not sure which one of them actually) : Feudalism is the corruption of despotism, the economy of monarchy and the WW of democracy.

At any rate, you want as few government changes as possible, and since Monarchy is the only non-WW govt out of the MA, take it. Go commy if you must later on, but it's not always helpful (see the last Greebley AW for a lenghty discussion on Mon vs Comm).

 

[Tribute]

I was the one who said currency should be researched last (to get to the MA). I still think so, of course. But since, CoL is the only thing before it, which is being researched, that is a moot point. ONce, you're in the MA, if you feel safe with feudalism's units, you should probably stay there. Otherwise, go for knights or trebuchets+cross rivers/longbows/muskets. Once, you feel safe, go for monarchy.

The leader should probably rush the heroic epic, unless you really want/need another army immediately. Rush it in a border town under pressure. That way, enemy units will have to retreat farther to heal, and you'll have more information regarding troop movements there. Of course, logic dictates that you don't put it in a town about to fall, so be smart.

And someone really needs to tell me (or make a tutorial on) how to do 'lurker's comment'.

@Beorn: How many monks live in that monastery again?

 

[Ansar]

lurker's comment: I say research Currency after CoL mainly because if you get Feudalism, you get the units. If you get Engineering, your units dont lose a movement point after moving past a river. Monarchy is nice, but I would reach the Middle Ages first.

Btw, Tribute, it's [delurk]insert your comments here[/delurk]

 

[Beorn-eL-Feared]

lurker's comment: I was just talking about old men, not old monks, although the old monk is certainly one to be reckoned with. I'd bet that old grumpy boy was AK, but I'm not 100%.
The middle ages are nice, but IMHO there has to be priorities set earlier, ie: what to go for in what order: swords, horses, catapults, monarchy, knights... and it generally is that order to me, in AW. No wandering astray.

 

[Salarakas]

lurker's comment: I have not looked at the most recent save but unless things have improved greatly in a turnset or two monarchy would hurt the team more than help them at this point. Way too few towns. Not to mention the 4 to 8 turns of losed production and the much much needed troops during the anarchy period.

If this was my game I wouldn't even need to think twice about which tech to choose first. Also, as Ansar the King said, if they don't get lucky and don't get feudalism there's still a 50% chance of getting engineering which is another great tech for AW games.

I would definately use a 2nd leader for an army at this point.

 

[Tribute]

Aabraxan? Are you posting the save soon?

 

[Aabraxan]

I hope so. I've played 4 or 5 turns. Will try to play the rest today.

 

[Aabraxan]

Apologies for the delay, but I finally got my turnset played. I've got good news, and I've got bad news. The bad news is that I really didn't make any forward progress. The good news is that I got a leader, built an army and killed many bad guys. I also avoided losing workers or cities or triggering anybody else's Golden Age. Here's the log:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


CBOB 330 AD +

Preflight Assesment:
(as seen from CA2)
Age: Ancient
Government: Despotism

Rankings:
Gold:
98 (3rd)
Cities: 11: (2nd)
Land: 107 (2nd)
Population: 39 (1st)
Culture: 276 @ 2 cpt (Culture? What's that?)

Economy:
-6 gpt

Technology:
17 Techs known
33 bpt
Currently researching: CoL
Remaining: 4 turns w/ 4 beakers projected overrun

Military:
Settler: 1
Workers: 20
Archers: 1
Spears: 21
Swords: 14
Horses: 1
Cats: 19
Armies: 2

Production:
Item [# Producing]: Town (turns remaining)
Barracks [1]: Gold Hill (15)
Cats [3]: New Horse Town (7), Silly St. Petey's (4), Hot'n' Spicey (1)
Settler [2]: Mosaic Moscow (2), Yakkity Yakutsk (4)
Swords [4]: Iron Hill (2), Halifax (4), Rowdy Rostov (2) and YarYar (7)
Walls [1]: Murmur (4)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-------

After too long a hiatus, I return to the game. I really don't understand why we're researching

CoL, but I'll post a log in 4 turns and see where we're going.

H&S is building a catapult. I remember some discussion about switching to a barracks and do so.

11 turns.

H&S has 5 cats, a sword army, one sword and two spears.

Murmur has 4 cats, two swords and a spear.

Why, oh, why do I have one lone swordsman standing right next to 31 horseman and a warrior?!?

Science & lux are at 50 & 20, respectively, netting -8 gpt and CoL in 4.

We've got a taxman in Rowdy Rostov, but switching to a scientist doesn't get me to CoL any faster.

I review the comments since the last turnlog. I still am not sure where we're putting the next

town, but I've got a settler standing on wines. Looks good to me.

Also, I decide that I like the pillaging army idea. I'm going to run with it, at least with one

army.

I've assessed everything I can think of. After plenty of procrastinating, we're off:

Goals:
1) Survive;
2) Avoid losing any towns;
3) Avoid losing any workers;
4) Avoid triggering anybody else's Golden Age;
5) Kills some bad guys.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Hit Enter:
Ibt: Lots of running around.
Hittite Elite Galley moves towards Halifax.
Hittite MI moves away from Murmur.
Babylon Bow/Spear/Sword trio moves into view from the south.
Hittite and Bab spears move into our interior towards workers. I'll deal with them in a minute.
The Swordsman of the North by the Barbarians valiantly kills 4 Barb horses and the warrior before

falling. He will be missed.

Turn 1: 340 AD
The Hittites left a wounded rSpear right next to Halifax. I'll deal with him first.
First bombard: failed.
Second bombard: failed.
Hmmm . . . he can only move 1 tile at a time. I'll try again next turn.
Settler is standing on the wines, so I elect to plant a town. I'll try to come up with a snazzy

name.
As it sits upon wines, Savignon Samara is founded.
Walls become the first priority of its inhabitants.
I fortify 2 vSpears and a vSword within its confines.
Workers begin roading to Savignon Samara.
With the 6 slave workers brought along, it should take two turns.
I don't like setting workers to roading a hill right now, but it's the only way to hook up another

lux.
For now, I fortify the cat and spears on the workers.
Cats at H&S Bombard the Bab rSpear headed into our interior.
1 HP
Bab Spear Redlined.
Vet Sword goes looking for promotion.
Kills Bab Spear (1-0), but no promotion.
Cats aim for 2/3 rSpear (Hittite).
Redlined.
Bombard Bab Sword (reg) next door while I decide who to kill.
Redlined.
Send Army by Savignon Samara to pillage iron.

I finally remember to look at the Military Advisor.
compared to:
America, we are strong!
Hittites, we are strong!
Germany, we are strong!
Babylon, we are strong!

But unless we get more gold, we cannot support more of our glorious armies . . . (doesn't he always

say that?)

I decide not to press SW out of Murmur . . . for now.

At H&S, whether I kill the Bab or the Hitt, the army is left exposed to attack. I decide on the

Hitt spear.
He's inside his territory. The Bab isn't. (Which means the Bab won't heal, right?)
Second Sword Army kills Hittite Spear (2-0)
RR is about to have a 5 shield overrun, but the food is at 0 excess, so there's not a whole lot I

can do. I don't want to risk starvation, so I live with it.
Same at Iron Hill, but only 2 shield overrun.
There are disconnected sources of Horses, Spices and Wine in our territory.
The Hittites have 211 gold. Hmmmm . . .


IBT:
Lots of Bab and Hittite running around, no attacks.
MM: settler --> horse (5)
Iron Hill: Sword --> sword (4)
RR: Sword --> Horse (5)


Turn 2: 350
Hitts have a spear right between Halifax and workers. Time to kill the spear.
Bombard: first lob redlines the spear.
Attack with Elite Horse.
Kill Spear (3-0) and
GOOD NEWS!
Stalin has joined our ranks!
Horseman renamed Pietr
I show 2 armies and 12 cities. What to do with the leader. As I hate to waste him, I choose to

stop here long enough to post and ask.

Back to the game:
Having waited some 5 hours for feedback on tech and the leader, I've decided: (1) Currency will be

next. Grab it and we get to the MA and a free tech. We'll have time to come back for Monarchy

when the transition makes more sense; (2) Still don't know what to do with the leader. Tribute

says Heroic Epic in a border town. Nobody else has commented. I would really like to have another

army.

Stalin waits for now.
Begin forest chop at Gold HIll to speed the barracks.
Send Settler towards Iron Town to prep for settling the next town.
First Sword Army crosses the river. Will pillage next turn.
Send newly-built sword from Iron Hill to Rowdy Rostov.
Send newly-built sword from Rowdy Rostov to H&S.
Notice that Hattusha is down to 6 from 7. Either they've starved or pop-rushed.
The Heroic Epic is only 200 shields. Before long, we'll be able to build it by hand.
I'm looking to build another sword army. I'll have the swords to fill it within the next 5 turns.
I feel like this is a judgment call, and I'm going to take it. Hope I don't step on anyone's toes.
Worker Actions: I'm really, really reluctant to move workers any closer to the front lines that I

have to. (I think we all remember what happened the last time I dealt with workers . . . ). I'll

come back to those.
Cats at H&S bombard rSpear directly between H&S and Hattusha.
Redline and take him down with the Second Sword army (4-0)
Ah, yes, workers. The road to Savignon Samara will be done in 1 turn. No sense in sending the

workers there. The shortest route between our cities has been cut. Clearing jungle takes forever

and a day. Finally, I spy one lone, unmined green tile down by Murmur that looks promising.

(Guys, worker turns are really my weakness. Please critique me here).


IBT:
Babs attack H&S.
They kill one vSpear (4-1), before losing a sword (5-1).
Hittites drop of an MI between Halifax and Gold Hill. He's adjacent my workers and I have one,

count 'em, one veteran spear within striking distance. Greeeaaaattt. . .
I could move the cat from Halifax, but it won't get to attack this turn.
The Hittites also surround Murmur with MI. Man, things just keep getting better.


Turn 3: 360 BC
Screw it. I'm going to do something fun. Activate First Sword Army. Pillage American Iron.
Workers finish road to Savignon Samara. Check the Lux slider. I can lower the slider and I can

put that dadgum revenooer in Rostov back to work! Check science: Lower it to 40%. CoL in 1, now

at +8.
Wake everyone at Rostov. Time to pound some Hittites. Catapults take 2 HP off the vet on the

mountain and 1 HP off the reg on the Hill. Now they're both at 2. Fortify everyone else. They're

not weak enough for me to attack this turn.
I spot a Hittite Settler pair heading north out of Tyrana. I may intercept them with the First

Sword Army. We'll see.
At Savignon Samara, I move the whole stack of slaves onto the grass to begin mining.
The stack of workers at Iron Hill finishes mining the hill, begins roading.
The MI by Murmur has changed my plans for workers.

Having been away from the game due to illness, I come back & reassess. I've messed up by allowing

the MI to get dropped off between Gold Hill and Yakkity Yak. The only way to keep from losing

those workers will be to stop their chop & shift some units up that way.

All defensive units from Halifax sent to Yakkity Yak. Horseman Pietr sent into Halifax & fortified

for MP duty.

Hattusha is now size 5. The Second Sword Army is in a position to attack, but there are Bab units

on either side, waiting to attack H&S, so I need to fend them off first. One stack is all

regulars, a spear/sword/bow trio.

Send Settler south towards the Hittite/Babylonian front.

Bombard the Babylonian stack. Bowman now 1/3, spearman 1/3, Sword 2/3.
vSword attacks Bab sword & kills (6-1)
vSword attacks Bab spear and dies, promoting spear . . . (6-2)
Army attacks Bab spear and avenged vSwrod (7-2)
Army attacks & kills Bab bowman. (8-2)
vSword sent south from RR to H&S. Have to hire a taxman in RR.


IBT:
Hittite MI attacks and kills spear on Hittite Mtn. (8-3)
Hittites attack Murmur & are repulsed, losing an MI (9-3)
Hittite Mi attacks Yakkity and dies (10-3)
Hittite settler pair is attacked & take by Americans.
Learn CoL. Currency next. We've got 95 in the treasury, so the best we can afford is to learn it

in 7 at -13. That's too close for comfort for me, but I can change it later, if need be.

Build:
SSP: cat--> cat (5)
Yakk: settler --> settler (5) (I'm not real sure about this build).
Halifax: vSword --> vSword (6)
Murmur: Walls --> barracks (40!) (Note to next player, after I get a few shields invested in

this, consider a switch and short-rush).
Germany sends a galley 'round by Gold HIll.
German spear by Iron Hill gets brave and steps into our lands.

Turn 4: 370
Attempt to Bombard Hittites near Murmur. Apparently, my catapult men have been drinking. One hit

out of four. Won't be attacking them uphill today.
Move new cat from SSP towards Yakkity Yakutsk for some coastal bombardment.
Move Cat into Savignon Samara, mainly because I wasn't thinking straight. Should have left it in

place to guard workers.
Attack redlined Hitt on Hittite Mtn with eSword. Kill (11-3), but no leader.
At H&S, I can choose between taking on a stack of Hittites, a lone Bab spear, or a lone Hitt MI.
Bombardment:
First two redline lone Hitt MI.
Next three take a grand total of 1 HP off the Bab spear.
Second Sword Army kills MI (12-3), but takes a pretty good beating doing so. Move him into H&S for

recuperation.
Fortify all at H&S. I'll get another round of bombardment in on the Bab spear before he can do any

harm.
Begin roading east of Rostov.
First Sword Army moves in to pillage farms by New York. No luxes or resources nearby to pillage,

so I'll hit their food source.
worker stack by Samara moves south for a forest chop. Many Hittites nearby, so I don't know how

long this will last.

IBT
Hittites attack Murmur and lose another MI. (13-3)
Germany drops an archer and a sword in the same danged spot as the Hittite MI. I've got to plug

that hole. I suggest moving a cat into Gold Hill to deal with Germans and keeping one at Yakkity

as well. Obviously, we've got a spot that the AI likes.
Bab spear retreats.
Hittite stack moves past H&S trying to get to our interior.
German spear moves right next to workers S of Iron Hill.

Turn 5:380
Move cat from Savignon onto worker/spear lumberjack stack.
Bombard Hittite from Murmur onto mountain NW. Take 2 HP. Let him sit.
Move workers from Iron Hill area towards jungle near halifax. I'm not making much progress on the

offensive, but I'm still having nightmares about losing workers after my last fiasco.

IBT
German archer takes a position on the hill.
German sword attacks Yakkity Yakutsk & dies, but redlines our spear (14-3).
Hittite stack retreats near H&S.
Bab spear retreats near H&S.
German spear is now due N of Rostov, causing a 1 food shortage.

Builds:
MM: Horseman --> Horseman (4)
Iron Hill: Sword --> Sword (4)


Turn 6: 390
Bombard Hittites near Murmur. Hope the vodka has worn off. Nope.
Second Sword Army is back up to 12/13 HP. Time to bombard the Hittite stack, which is currently 3

rMI and 1 rSpear.
Spear redlined, all others at 2/3.
Bombard German archer by Yakkity.
Workers moved by MM to begin forest chop.
New Horseman from MM kills German Spear by Rostov.
First Sword Army pillages another square. New York is now entirely isolated. No roads connected.
Forest chop by Halifax -- this may have been a mistake. 10 shields returned to Halifax. Growth

begins again, but Sword not sped up by add'l shields. I guess it offset the loss of the forest.

Stop other workers on the next forest square.


IBT:
Another German Galley appears.
Hittites attack murmur again. Another Hittite Dies. (15-3). We've got to take that mountain from

them.
Chop finished by Savignon Samra. Walls in 5.
Hittites are reinforcing by Murmur. I keep seeing more and more MI.
German archer moves up next to Yakkity.
Two Bab Bowmen approach from the South.

Builds:
RR: Horse--> Horse (4)
YarYar: Sword -->Spear (10)
New Horse Town (ouch): Catapult --> catapult (7)

Turn 7: 400
Yakkity cat redlines German archer.
Send Pietr North to kill him. (16-3)
@ H&S, redline the bab spear with cats, send vSword to finish the job. (17-3)
Workers start & finish mine along the river near RR. Halifax takes the tile. Growth in 19, sword

in 2.
I notice that the Germans have settled Hannover, claiming the iron overy by the Americans. Putting

the sword from NHT on the horses due east reveals an elite (5/5) spear guarding Hannover. As I

haven't roaded across the hills, I can't take cats. It'll be a while before we can assault

Hannover.
I have enough vswords to form the Third Sword Army, so I move the army south out of RR to H&S. The

Army will be loaded there.
Move a stack of workers south to begin roading near Hattusha. We're almost ready for that assault.
Bombard Hittite MIs at Murmur. 2 of the 3 lose an HP, other untouched.
Build road SW of Savignon Samara.
First Sword Army cuts roads to Philadelphia and kills an American archer who got too far from

protection. (17-3).
Currency is 4 turns out at -23 gpt. We've only got 46 in the treasury, so I adjust. At 50%, I can

have it in 5 turns at -5 gpt.
Because of troop movements, Rowdy Rostov is about to riot again. Best option is to hire a taxman;

now we're at -3 gpt.
MM is one turn from growth & will hit size 6. MM to get 10 spt with no food overrun.

Unfortunately, it doesn't cut any time off the horse that MM is building.

IBT:
Full fledged asssault on Murmur, redlining a bunch of Hittite MI, and killing one but costing us

one sword and one spear. (18-5).
Another Hittite galley shows up.

Builds:
H&S Rax --> spear (7)


Turn 8: 410
Defense at Murmur is thin after the last assault. I have to send some troops from H&S. I send a

spear and a sword.
H&S bombard bab bowmen. Apparently, the guys at H&S have been drinking with their Murmur buddies.

Kill both bab bows, anyway. Unfortunately, no promotions
After growth, MM is at +2 food, for growth in 5 and 10 spt, with a horse due in 1.
Apparently, the Murmur catapult boys gave their vodka to their H&S comrades, because they sober up

enough to redline 2 of the Hittite MI on the mountain.
Begin mine near MM.
Begin moving the First Sword Army towards Home.


IBT
Lots of movement of MIs, including Babylonian.
No attacks.
Hittites drop a spear and MI by Halifax --Right on the dadgum horses!

Builds:
MM: Horseman --> Horseman (3)
SSP: cat --> cat (5)
Halifax: Sword --> Horse (8)

Turn 9:
I notice while working builds on the IBT that both the Pentagon and the Heroic Epic are now

available to us.
Wate cat at Halifax. As much as I'd like to bombard the galley that dropped these idiots off, but

I've got to deal with them and I've only got the one cat at Halifax.
After bombard, they've got a rMI and a rSpear, both at 2/3.
Attack with Elite* Horse Pietr, kills spear (19-5)
Attack with vSword vs. rMI . . . WOOT!! MI dropped like a bad habit (20-5). Unfortunately, no

promotion.

@ H&S:
Load 3 vSwords and the Third Sword Army is born. It immediately kills a Hittite MI (21-5).
Second Sword Army kills a second Hittite MI (22-5). Fortify everyone else. I have only one turn

left in this set and don't want to cripple the offensive by beginnning the assault on Hattusha.


IBT:
THE GERMANS ARE COMING! THE GERMANS ARE COMING! A few German MIs are headed for YarYar.
The Hittites attack at Murmur, yet again. This time, the RNG gods favor us and they lose two MIs.

(24-5).
Amother Hittite MI moves onto the mtn NW of Murmur.

Builds:
Iron Hill: Sword --> Sword (4)
Yakkity Yakutsk: Settler --> cat (4)
THE BABYLONIANS ARE BUILDING SUN TZU'S ART OF WAR!
THE AZTECS HAVE COMPLETED THE COLOSSUS AT ATZCAPOTZALCO!

Turn 10: 430 A.D.
Bombard Hittite MI at Murmur.
Redline the MI on the mountain. As much as I hate to fight uphill, I need to reclaim that

mountain. Send vSword after the redlined vMI . . . and win. (25-5)
I spy one more Hittite vMI that I think I can take out.
3 cats move out and bombard and the Second Sword army finishes him off. (26-5)
I basically spend the rest of the turn putting people in safer positions for the hand-off.

End of turnset.
State of the Empire:
12 Cities
38 gold
-6 gpt
Currency in 3


3 Sword Armies
3 Settlers
20 workers
1 archer
18 spears
18 Swords
4 Horses
22 Catapults

Notes for the next player:
The Babs are beginning the Art of War.
NW of H&S, there are 3 cats sitting under the 2nd Sword Army.
There are several workers fortified in H&S, ready to begin the process of roading for the Hattusha

assault.
I didn't think I had quite enough troops to begin moving on Hattusha. I've tried to solve that

problem.
There's one lone sword on the mtn NW of Murmur. The Hittites really, really like that mtn.

They'll be coming after him.
There's an enemy spearman between Iron Hill and MM. Kill him when he gets off that hill.
Germans and Hittites are really enjoying dropping off pairs on our eastern seaboard. I've put a few cats in those cities, but haven't had any chance to ping their galleys.

And now for some screens and a save.
First, the zoomed-in version:

And of course, the zoomed-out version:

And last but certainly not least, the save is here:
(Sorry, but I'm not snazzy enough to do CBob's >>>HERE<<< trick.)

 

[Tribute]

Oddly, enough, Boston is German, not American. That could be good for you guys.

Right now, you have the option of getting rid of/capturing New York. I'd say taking Hannover would be more important. A bit more space would always be helpful, no? After all, it is more defendable than YarYar. It could be a good distraction town.

On the SE side, near Hattusha and the ill-named town of spices you have there, I think that if you can't take it now, it's best not to bother at all. If you can crush the Americans easily, now, why allow them to get pikemen while they don't have them? I really don't see why it's so hard to get rid of Hattusha though. You've got two armies vs regular pikemen. Sure they and the Babylonians are sending MI; you can leave one in defense. But right now, it looks pretty clear down south to me. (Could be thanks to you though, Aabraxan).

In the north, shouldn't Zariquim be dead now. Or should we blame the Barbarian alliance they have there?

In the homeland, I see horsemen being built. However, I think swordsmen would be better for now. Unless you're willing to give up on catapults. Either way, that spearman in your lands must be gotten rid of. Right now, catapults and swordsmen would do the trick better. Of course, I'm automatically wrong when you get Chivalry, but I'm right while you get Feudalism and Engineering, of course. Another thing, maybe Halifax should be making spearmen? A lot of your central towns/cities only have 1 defender. And I have a feeling the units amassed in Iron Hill are workers, not combat units.

Finally, Currency in 3. That's good news. Now, if the RNG would give you Feudalism....

 

[Aabraxan]

I really don't see why it's so hard to get rid of Hattusha though. You've got two armies vs regular pikemen.

Perhaps I could have taken Hattusha. I just didn't feel confident going after it, as I had no feel for the number of units they might have there and there were no roads through the jungles, so getting cats into play would have been a pain.

In the homeland, I see horsemen being built. However, I think swordsmen would be better for now. . . . And I have a feeling the units amassed in Iron Hill are workers, not combat units.

Yes, I set several cities to building horsemen. We've already lost our horses at least once. It's my understanding that once you begin a unit, you can finish it, even if you lose the necessary resource, and I wanted a horse contingent to complement the swords. As we're not likely to lose our iron, horses seemed important at the time.

I think the H&S contingent is probably ready to take Hattusha now. I just didn't have it ready to begin that attack on my turnset.

Yes, many of the units in Iron Hill are workers brought back from Savignon Samara.

 

[CommandoBob]

Goals:
1) Survive;
2) Avoid losing any towns;
3) Avoid losing any workers;
4) Avoid triggering anybody else's Golden Age;
5) Kills some bad guys.

I like the goals.

And you achieved them too!

I know that earlier I popped-off about conquering the world by 1800 or so. I think I was way off base. This has been a more difficult challenge than I thought. I never realized how much Always-War is different from just fumbling your way to a victory, or even heading for a space ship win.

Long term and mid term planning gets replaced quickly by the basics of not being cannon fodder for all the AIs. What I had hoped to be string of deep passes into the secondary of the AI has become a series of running plays going two and three yards at a time. We've not had to punt in a long time but the AIs are getting smarter faster than we are. So we might be facing a fourth and long regarding one of our cities in the near future.

And yet I like it, too, because, well, it is fun to beat up on the AIs.

Going Forward
I haven't had a chance to examine the save, so bear with me.

I think the decision to make a 3rd Army was good. Since we have a limit to the number of Armies (4 cities will support 1 army), building Heroic Epic might have given us a glut of riches. That is, leaders with nothing to do expect rush building projects. We will have many chances to make leaders, but we need more cities to have more armies.

Being cautious with workers is always good. I hate having them stand around with nothing to do, but sometimes that is the best thing. Wasting a turn or so standing still is far better than losing all turns by being captured.

For now, I like the idea of taking Hannover. Doing so will allow us to connect another Horse tile, which I think we need for backup. It takes Germany down a small peg, adds to our perimeter defense and may take some heat off of YarYar.

I think we need more cities, either by growing them or taking them. If we take Hannover it will probably auto-raze, but we need to replace it. I prefer that we grow our own cities. This will let us decide where to put them and will allow us to keep our big cities smaller and more managable (less luxury tax).

After we learn Currency we will be in the Middle Ages, where we are looking to get Feudalism for the military upgrades. If we get it as our free tech, what should we learn next: Engineering or Monarchy? My own choice would be Engineering so we can cross rivers without stopping, and then pick up Monarchy. I am not fixated on this idea, however. I just think that crossing rivers would be a more immediate advantage as we shift units around the empire.

 

[Tribute]

Hannover will not autoraze; it's cultural border is size 2. And it's fine where it is. If you want smaller cities, just starve them or make tax/scientist entertainers. There's no need to make extra settlers to replace a size 1 town.

I agree with engineering. Because of the river thing, AND better artillery units. You'd also be 1 step closer to bows and muskets, which is always good. I love defensive bombard on high attack units. It just makes sense for some reason.

 

[CivActuary]

Howdy folks - sorry I've been rather silent lately, but for some reason I have been having trouble accessing CFC. Odd, and I just read Phaedo was having the same problem? I was thinking they just were blocking the site from work since I was able to connect from home tonight, but now maybe not so much.

@Aab - good set. I like having the 3rd army choice.

Depending on the free tech we get when entering the MA, I would vote for leaning Feudalism first, then Engineering.

 

[Phaedo]

I haven't had time to read everything posted yet ad I have to head to work but imagine my wonderous suprise when I was able to access CivFanatics when I woke up this morning

So I'm back. I'll read what I've missed after work and comment

@CivA I don't know what went wrong but Thunderfall was able to fix it for me. If you send him a message he might be able to help

 

[Phaedo]

I know I have been out for a while, it looks like I'll need another day to read through the logs, load the save and set a pre-flight before I can take my turn. Please carry on if that will take away from the momentum. I can always catch up on the next set