COTM13: The Hunt Continues (middle ages)

[Stilgar08]

...with our high tech-neighbours???
Hi!
I'm sorry, I'm in a hurry (have to go to work), but I have a few questions and no idea how to answer them.

Situation:
I'm still alive (690ac) , but I just bought Chivalry while everyone else is in the IA now! (Julius builds Universal Suffrage)
I declared on Arabs, razed one city (gems and Iron), he'w coming up with Cavs and Muskets, I'm haveing just a few Horseman, Pikemen and Medieval Infantry.
I have 29 cities
Republic
50 lux right now, I only have a few horses, 1iron, 2 fur and 2 incense available
The other continent is pretty pari. No civs gone yet and everybody has it's share of power...
Abu is fighting a powerless Henry on the other side, but coming for me.

Questions:
1. Should I crank out knights now asap and try to withstand Abu or should I sign for peace asap?
2. Can I win a war in this situation anyways? Should I focus on knights, trebuchets, Pikemen or concentrate on improvements and stay there like a sitting duck? I have a feeling I COULD survive an attack but I'm not in the situation to attack myself...
2. What should I do to get back in the tech-race? Is there a way anyways?
3. Somehow I messed up my reputation (I have seriously and absolutely no idea how this happened, since I tried hard to have it clean! ), any suggestions?
4. What should be my goal from here? Survival until one of the other guys win??

Thanks, folks!

 

[Megalou]

Hi, I remember reading about your ancient age. From my viewpoint you were doing nicely except that you had been rather unsuccessful in the tech department.

On deity level I doubt that you can come back from this without drastic measures: You should capture the Great Library. Judging from what you say about just getting Chivalry you do not have Education yet. If so, controlling the GL would give you a great number of techs.


Depending on where it is, you either try to hang on to the Great Lib for one turn or for the rest of the game. If the tech leaders have the Great Lib, or if it is on the other side of the world, I very much doubt that you can hang on to it for the rest of the game. You would need to send such a huge amount of knights that by the time you are ready to attack they will have infantry.

A few pointers:
* Yes, make peace with Arabia for now - even if they are the ones that have the Great Lib! A defensive war now would drain your supply of knights and you would lose precious time.
* Don't forget to sign ROP with the owner of the Great Lib. Doing this is definitely worth getting you rep stained over.
* If you're really going to do it, shut off research. You must assume that you will succeed anyway, so the extra cash will come in handy.
* AI cities with wonders tend to have extra defenders. It could be worthwhile to investigate the Great Lib city.

 

[Megalou]

(Continued) After this I recommend a hustle for a diplomatic victory or possibly space race. You have a good number of cities and so should be able to reach a decent tech pace.

 

[Stilgar08]

Ok, thanks, Megalou!
It's 900 a.d. now.
I signed with Abu a few turns later. Unfortunately the GL is on the other continent (Memphis) and I'm currently at war with Cleo.
My rep already is bad (no idea, why!), so that wouldn't be a problem there...

Egypt has at least rifles, I don't have education yet... If I manage to get the GL for only one turn, would I get ALL the techs or just the techs which are coming before edu???? If I would get ALL the techs, that truly would be awesome) , but I can't imagine that this is the case!!?

I now have gunpowder and chemistry..
How about making trebuchets and musketeers and go with these to go after Abu (and the GL, of course)? Recommended or a stupid idea?

I had egypt on my continent with 1 city (got it! ). Cleo had 3-4 rifles in it and I lost a quite massive amount of knights and medieval Infantry before I could take it...

I'm not in serious trouble of getting wiped out, but I doubt that I can win...
I can attach a save hopefully tomorrow, but any sooner advice based on my statements is greatly appreciated.

 

[klarius]

Egypt has at least rifles, I don't have education yet... If I manage to get the GL for only one turn, would I get ALL the techs or just the techs which are coming before edu???? If I would get ALL the techs, that truly would be awesome) , but I can't imagine that this is the case!!?

You will get all the techs known by two civs, except a few optionals (there is some strange behaviour there with optional techs).
So delaying the action against the GLib a bit is not a real disadvantage. You say you have chemistry already, in that case I would delay it and acquire military tradition first, to do it with a nice large stack of cavs.

Trebs are pretty weak against rifles. I wouldn't go this route. You cannot afford many turns of bombarding unless you have an army to cover. Even a large musket stack will be killed within a few turns.
Edit:
Ok just remembered it's french musketeers. So that may make it feasible to first let the attackers impale on them. But that tactics is best, if you really want to conquer from the border, not for taking just the GLib city.

And get peace with egypt soon. In the peace treaty you can also add a tech (metallurgy or MT if you already have it then) and pay with gpt or lux/resources, despite your bad reputation.

 

[Megalou]

You say you have chemistry already, in that case I would delay it and acquire military tradition first, to do it with a nice large stack of cavs.

I second that, althogh I'm a bit troubled by the phrase "at least rifles." Still, cavalry against infantry is not much worse than knights against riflemen, so you should probably take a chance with cavalry.

You say your rep is bad - How bad, ie how expensive is ROP? 100 gpt or just 25gpt ? Also, for how long or short a time will you have to pay those gpt? And how far into the continent is the target? You should take these things into consideration.

You cannot afford many turns of bombarding unless you have an army to cover. Even a large musket stack will be killed within a few turns.

If you get another leader you can transport it as an empty or half empty army with galleys. But I think you need a town on the other continent as a place to fill up the army.

Ok just remembered it's french musketeers. So that may make it feasible to first let the attackers impale on them. But that tactics is best, if you really want to conquer from the border, not for taking just the GLib city.

Seeing that the Egyptians already have Nationalism, I doubt you will have time to build up a force massive enough to clear out the Egyptians. You may actually want to set up an escape route for your troops - but naturally it would be better if you could bear it out until you got a favourable peace treaty. An extra opportunity may arise if you can buy alliances against Egypt for your new techs. In conclusion, though, I'd say that it's safer at this stage of the game to spend your resources on building libraries, universites and a UN prebuild than to pump additional troops into Egypt.

 

[Megalou]

Final word: Remember that you have to keep the GLib. for at least a turn to profit from it, so if you get low on units, protect the town with every means available, including redlined cavalries.

Sometimes it can also be effective to put captured workers in the way, so that the enemy captures them instead. But there has been a change in C3C. In C3C attacking units can first capture workers and then attack a military unit or a town. In PTW their attacking power was used up when they captured the workers. The workers can still slow the attackers down though. Good luck.

 

[Stilgar08]

Ok, I see. Thanks!
The idea with muskets and trebuchets was more for my beloved neighbours, the arabs, since I have to build a decent no. of ships first to get my troops over there...

You say your rep is bad - How bad, ie how expensive is ROP? 100 gpt or just 25gpt ? Also, for how long or short a time will you have to pay those gpt? And how far into the continent is the target? You should take these things into consideration.

It's not that bad at all! ROP's are cheap and Egypt attacked ME after I declined a minor demand of Cleo... I assume I messed up a trade-deal or sth. like that 1500years ago...

I'm a little low on troops and anything else, so I have to build up first. A Golden Age triggered by an arab-french war would do the trick, I guess!

My goal with Egypt would be to keep the GL for only 1 turn anyways, not to really let them suffer (I wouldn't be capable of that). Unfortunately I have no idea, if they'll have Infantry, but I very much doubt it... No one seems to have replaceable parts already...

Thanks for your replies! Back to the game this afternoon! (2 hours before I'm outta here )

 

[klarius]

I'm a little low on troops and anything else, so I have to build up first. A Golden Age triggered by an arab-french war would do the trick, I guess!

If you just want an golden age, but are short on troops, don't start a war with Arabs. You will still have war weariness from your last Arab adventure and that will build up rapidly.
Rather put a few musketeers in Range of Egypt shortly before making peace. With 2-3 musketeers on a mountain, one will win a battle for sure. Even if they die after that, the GA has started.