GA II - Straight-Up DemiGod

[Ginger_Ale]

I'll use Lyons and Paris to get some settlers as well, because it's much easier than grabbing land via force. Once we are boxed in, then we'll declare (or shortly before). Orleans can always pump archers because it won't be past size 2.

Got it, and will play tonight (~12 hours-ish).

 

[ThERat]

i think Paris will soon hit pop 6, then we might switch between archer and settler, orleans can grow past 2, that was my intention, just chop the silks and irrigate, it will be a nice city after that as well, maybe we could use Tours to pump out another worker
our deal is up in 5, then we got some extra cash, might as well spend for techs before the AI demands it

 

[Ginger_Ale]

Turn 0 - 1500 BC
A bit of micromangament in Paris to make it grow faster...

Turn 1 - 1475 BC
Nothing...

Turn 2 - 1450 BC
We're 4 techs behind Zulu + Germany, 3 behind Portugal, 1 behind Greece (Map Making).

IBT: Paris: Barracks -> Archer

Turn 3 - 1425 BC

IBT: Orleans: Archer -> Catapult

Turn 4 - 1400 BC
We are force to turn the luxury slider up 10% to 20% to keep Paris under control.

IBT: Lyons: Archer -> Archer
Tours: Warrior -> Worker
Lisbon builds Colossus.

Turn 5 - 1375 BC
Our 8gpt deal ends with Germany.
We spot a settler/hoplite pair to the south, near the flood plain river.
Bad news: Zulu have another source of Horses near Ulundi (the south, connected by roads)

IBT: Paris: Archer -> Settler

Turn 6 - 1350 BC
Nothing...

Turn 7 - 1325 BC
We spot some coast line to the north of an island. We will try a suicide run after we check out the island (it's ~21 tiles-ish).
We have to turn science up to keep Paris happy.

Turn 8 - 1300 BC
Nothing...

IBT: Paris: Settler -> Archer

Turn 9 - 1275 BC
We can now turn the luxury down 30%...

IBT: Lyons: Archer -> Archer
Tours: Worker -> Warrior

Turn 10 - 1250 BC
Nothing...

Notes: Our Curragh on the western island should head due north, and if it doesn't sink, try to see if we can establish contact with the other continent (if it is the other continent). Keep producing archers, and when Paris gets to size 6, a settler.


Bede is up, with gozpel on deck.

 

[Bede]

Got it.

Only four techs back from the leaders, looking pretty good I'd say.

But what the world needs now is love, tough love, and I don't think we got the muscle to do it....

 

[ThERat]

is orleans still building that cat? if we really want to hit zulu, cats will be useless, i think, due to all that jungle in the south, cats can't pass them, or am i wrong? i would keep building archers, our only hope.
what's the trade situation? let's hope that dingy survives, maybe we should build another one, in case it doesn't. additional contacts are vital.

 

[Bede]

Cats will be useful on the plains and maybe somebody has built roads by now in the jungle...

 

[gozpel]

I wouldn't quit producing settlers until we've covered the corner and down into the plains.

Amen.

Cats are pretty useless at this stage, we want archers and more archers so we can grab that horse or iron if Bede likes that better.

 

[Bede]

1250
Sailing and improving terrain, moving archers and a settler

1225
For 145g+5gpt from Bismarck we can buy Philosophy held by only Germany and Zulu. And we can get either money and tech for it out the back door to Portugal and Greece.

Henry will sell Code of Laws for Philosophy an 3g+7gpt.

And Alex will offer Map Making and 20g for Code of Laws and Philosophy.

And not satisfied with the price he got for Code of Laws Henry extorts 21g, I refuse his demand and he declares war.

1200BC
Our doughty curragh sinks in sight of land to the NW and the Zulu found Swazi on the plain.

1175
The curragh in Henry's waters sees a lot of warriors running around but nothing heavier, though he is building the SoZ in Emereita.

Found Marseilles on the flood plain in the teeth of the Zulu

1175-1100
Two Greek galleys are sailing north up the west. And lots of Portugese warriors are running into the jungles towards Zululand.

Open Embassies with the Greeks and the Germans as our cash stash is getting a little large and I don't want anybody to come calling looking for a handout.

Test the waters on Military Alliances. The Germans will fight with Portugal for the rest of our treasury and all our net (15g+12gpt). The Greeks aren't interested.

We have eight archers in Marseilles or on the mountains and a settler due to drop on the west coast. Our one curragh is cruising the coast of Portugal and we have a galley building at Tours.

From what I saw in the embassy screens nobody has nuttin for resources. Two more archers and I think we are ready to strike right at the heart of Zulu. Raze Swazi, then march right down the spine of the continent until we get to Zimbabwe.

Near as I can tell most of the Portugese military is chasing our lone warrior in the mountains at Evora.

Oh, we are down only Polytheism to Germany and Zulu

 

[gozpel]

nobody has nuttin for resources. Two more archers and I think we are ready to strike right at the heart of Zulu. Raze Swazi, then march right down the spine of the continent until we get to Zimbabwe.

I fell like rubbing my hands together and say as Mr Burns: Excellent!

I like it as it turned out so far, hopefully we can do the archer-attack successfully. (have to scroll back to see what the land looks like) Maps should show interesting countrysides and not our old boring kingdom! Go read the chapters about the Apocalypse, Bede!

And I see the new town of Tours was founded out of place, which give us the opportunity to build TWO cities up north. Good idea whoever did this move, we need commerce before anything else. Well, after the archers of course

Yep, I scrolled back and viper was the culprit, not checking my dotmap. It's fine though, settle where the settler stands and we can have one city on the hill N and another on the tip N. See, how funny games like this turn out!

Rheims was planted in the wrong spot as well, it would have done wonders on the goldhill. But I won't complain. Not much. Right now. But my dotmaps are famous for being accurate.

But you hear about it later if we stuff up, ok!!!!



Alright, bunch all archers together and pray to the RNG-god. This will be some fun turns

 

[ThERat]

good luck gozpel, hit them hard, hopefully the portugese won't interfere with our war against zulu
sometimes i really wonder about the AI, there we give them gpt and they demand more money, declare and lose that gpt + reputation, funny

 

[Ginger_Ale]

Have fun gozpel. Nice set up turns Bede - perhaps we should also have some settlers to cover the empty gaps (we could probably get a town in the hill on the coast)? Or should we save them for later, after our attack? In any case, it's also good to be up near the top in the tech race.

Gozpel is up, ThERat is on deck.

 

[gozpel]

I forgot to post, I got it.

Preturn - 1100bc? Swap the harbor in Orleans to archer. Change tiles in Paris, so archer is due next turn.

1075bc - Paris archer -> archer

Chartres founded -> barracks

1050bc - Lyons archer -> archer
Orleans archer -> harbor

Bubba attacks Evora, kill a reg spear, promotes and raze the town.

1025bc - Bubba defends against one warrior, but dies to the next.

Paris archer -> settler.

Greece founded Argos N of Paris.

1000bc - Germany completes the Oracle.

975bc - Paris settler -> archer
Lyons archer -> archer
Chartres warrior -> worker

Move stack of 10 archers south

950bc - Marseilles worker -> barracks

Meet Port. warriors, kill 2 of them.

925bc - Tours galley -> galley
Paris archer -> settler

900bc - Vikings completes the Pyramids.

Kill 2 more portuguese warriors.

Avignon founded -> galley

Declare on Zulu and move archers to Swazi. There are a bunch of swords down by Zimbabwe, so I do the next best thing. With enemies coming we won't have a chance to get down to Zimbabwe

I'll play 4 extra turns to get us in sync and hopefully I can keep us alive for that long

875bc - We lose and archer, but kill 2 impis in Swazi and take the city.

850bc - Lyons archer -> archer

Kill a stack of 4 portuguese warriors.

Whip spear in Swazi

825bc - Yuk, Portugal completes SoZ!

Paris settler -> archer
Rheims archer -> archer
Swazi spear -> spear

Kill Port. spear and warrior

800bc - Kill Port. archer lose an archer

775bc - Greece knows Construction.

Kill Port. warrior with elite, no luck

Zulu units shows up and I don't want to fight two civs. We can get a very nice discount on Poly, so I sign peace with Portugal and get Poly for 139g. That's around 250g cheaper than Germany wanted for it Portugal knows Monarchy too!

Can we put Zulu in some serious trouble here? I give Greece Poly for alliance against Zulu.
Bismarch wants 7gpt and 56g for alliance. Deal! I don't want those yellow swords and horses coming at me, let the AI waste some units.

750bc - We kill an impi and an archer.

I changed some builds to spears, we need some MP's.

There's a stack of archers by Swazi, some of them can be moved, if we want to go for Ngome.

Greece and Portugal are in Middle ages.

I don't know how much mess I did of this, but we couldn't wait longer. Apologies too for playing the 4 extra turns.

 

[Ginger_Ale]

Nice job gozpel - it'd be great if we could get the silks by Ngome. Nothing says happiness like luxuries. What is our tech situation?

ThERat is UP!, viper on deck.

 

[ThERat]

got it - will play shortly

 

[ThERat]

Pre-turn - wow, 1st I need some coffee, this one won't be such an easy ride

IT - archer defeats zulu archer on defense, Tours warrior - barracks

730BC - shifting spear, archers to cover 2 montains near swazi, 2 zulu stacks approaching (1sword +2 arc, 3sword +1 arc)

IT - Zulu wants to talk, well...i need to decline (we got some reputation to keep, we're noble French who don't betray their allies ), zulu sword attacks archer and wins, Paris spear -> archer

710BC - attack and defeat archer and sword

IT - 2 swords attack our mountain stack and lose to our redline, now promoted spear , archer defeats ours in swazi

690BC - up lux to 20%, we won't get any trade for our whole economy, beat last zulu archers outside swazi

IT - Paris archer -> spear, Lyons spear -> archer

670BC - move stack of 10 archers + 1 spear towards ngome

IT - the zulu sword + archer between us run away into the jungle, can now safely move towards Ngome

650BC - do exactly that, trade still nothing

IT - Paris spear -> settler

630BC, up lux to 30%, hire a scientist in swazi, science to 0%
attack on Ngome goes well, lose 1 archer take the town beating 2 impis, outside kill another 2 archers, Ngome + 1 slave is ours [dance]

IT - Rheims spear -> archer, Chartres barracks -> spear

610BC - i want to advance our stack towards Tugela and then Zimbabwe, establish contact with Romans, they are up construction, no trades still

IT - no Zulu show up for nothing since a while, guess they are busy fighting our allies (very good move, gozpel), Lyons -> spear -> worker, we need more, Avignon galley -> galley

590BC - galley will go for suicide run towards east, west is covered already by our other galleys

IT - Paris settler -> archer, Avignon riots i was too happy last turn, forgot to check

570BC - germans know Lit now, no trades possible even selling out all we have, i go for 2 suicide runs with galley and dingy

IT - suiciders survive , Lyons worker -> archer, germans building GLib

550BC - i moved most units, but not our stack at Tugela, 2 workers next to Rheims also still to be moved, our suicide galley spots a brown border (india?), let's hope it survives the journey 1 more turn

our SOD is at Tugela, but it's on a hill and with impi's the odds are very bad, I do not want us to lose a big stack of archers, so next player, please advance towards Zimbabwe (what does the Team think?)
there is 1 settler now in Rheims, it could still settle south of Rheims or maybe the voids created by our war
trade is now possible, but we might want to wait 1 turn for the galley to reach that AI

our galley

our empire and the push towards zimbabwe

the save

 

[Bede]

IMHO, drive straight on to Zimbabwe using the mountains for cover. I don't think hurting archers to take a pop1 town in the jungle is worth it and we don't need it to cover Swazi or Marseilles or Ngome as the jungles will slow any atttacking Zulu.

The waiting settler could claim the hill on the river east of Marseilles (see gozpel's dotmap)

 

[ThERat]

actually, we might be able to kick the zulus off the planet, it seems that they get some pounding by the germans and greek. there is also this zulu town with 3 wines, a nice bounty to grab
i intended to send the settler to that spot, but it's west of marseilles on a hill and river (i am sure bede is talking about the same spot)

 

[Bede]

@ThERat, You're right, it's my other left....

 

[microbe]

Impi's are really tough animals. If you want to fight it, you need a LOT of archers.

 

[Ginger_Ale]

Good continued warmongering + suicide running ThERat. I agree, go for the wines. It probably has less defenders than Zimbabwe anyway.

Viper is UP!, I'm on deck.