GR15 - AWE on Ultra Huge Map

[M60A3TTS]

In fact, we can probably only run max science about another dozen turns. Amazing how fast one can go through 9k in gold. We went to the trouble to build Smith's so I figured we should get something out of it. We aren't building commercial docks and stock exchanges for quite some time, and almost certainly no airports.

Agree that it's a tad early to start planning on other continents while we still lack MT. With this size map, I'd want the extra movement point a cav army would provide.

This is continents, so there certainly has to be another land mass somewhere.

 

[Northern Pike]

Yes, I was going to find fault with the bank builds too , but then I realized that in ten turns or so we'll be running 40% or 50% cash.

 

[M60A3TTS]

Oh, I don't mind the constructive comments. I'm just grateful that ThERat always follows me, because I don't MM worth a darn either.

 

[Greebley]

Looks like some excellent progress.

Our cash looks like it will last 20 more turns so the banks are a little early, but not too bad. If any town doesn't have a university already however, I would switch to that. I am guessing most or all do though.

Roster:
Greebley - On Deck
markh
Northern Pike
vmxa
M60A3TTS - Just Played
ThERat - Up

 

[ThERat]

Pre-Turn
MM, I think we do not need so many temples in the science farms, rather we need aqueducts and settlers
we do have some need for improvements in the core, minor but needed
swap worker builds, with the amount of slaves we should be fine with that

reduce science another 10%

IT sequence of movement
Inca, Russia, Japan, America
Japan defeats exposed knight after retreaing it, capture a unescorted treb
we get metal, MT next of course due in 6 at 80%
we get our 4th lux and happiness breaks out [0-1]

1.1355AD
western armies spot Russian borders
defeat 4 units in Osaka and raze it for 2 cats and 5 slaves
defeat an archer there as well
found Saltpeter city to give us that resource
defeat spear and get MGL
defeat 3 more units and lose 1 [9-2]

reduce lux to 0%, mil Trad in 6 at -186gpt

IT we defeat an archer...seems like River's bend and Saltpeter city are the magnets for the AI
Iro's finish Magellan...guess we will get some more contacts via the Ocean one fine day [10-2]

2.1360AD
defeat 2 units and raze Incan Nagoya
defeat 3 units in Tokyo, city still stands
found Hill's Advocate towards Japan

elsewhere defeat 8 units [23-2]

IT Incans send knights and Americans more cannonfodder
more banks finish

3.1365BC
raze Russian Tver after defeating 2 units
found Gap Filler
3 units gone and Tokyo captured to be able to advance faster
defeat 2 units at Yokohama and 2 at Nara
abandon Tokyo, found Grumpus

defeat 3 units, lose 1 but get another army
save it for cavalry
defeat another 5 units [40-3]

IT lose a pike after it takes out a knight [41-4]
around Tokyo a blue knight runs around, definitely a new Civ

4.1370AD
it's the Germans, 17 cities, down chemistry but up astro, good will make that even cheaper
declare war on them
time to take out Japan so we have 4 enemies again
defeat 3 units and raze Yokohama, defeat 2 units and raze Nara
found Erlangen and Baiersdorf

start to attack Orenburg defeating 2 units

defeat 13:1units elsewhere [61-5]

IT the Incans get really nasty and attack at many places where we have some knights and other fortified units
we go 8:4 and in addition they snatch some slaves out of the fog
lose 2 more of those knights, it's time we stop the scattering of units [69-13]

India finishes Shakespeare

5.1375AD
Nagasaki is razed after 3 units defeated
German borders are just next to that
assemble a big stack of slaves and artillery to be brought back home slowly
found Forchheim
defeat 11 units [83-13]

am able to further reduce science to 60% after running a few for 70%

 

[vmxa]

When I read that you saw a blue knight, that reminded me, that I thought I saw one on an IBT. When the turn came up I could not find it and figured it was just a Russian. Now I wonder if it was a stray German.

Iroq must be strong by now. They have snagged many wonders. On the workers, I agree I stopped a few, but left some going. I figured the idea was to use them to rail and to add to towns. Settlers are more useful now, than workers.

I also agree we are just asking to have units killed by leaving them out in the open. Even forted on a mountain is not enough as the AI will just hit them over and over, until they are killed.

 

[ThERat]

IT time we get cavalry, lose another pike to knight [83-14]
first german knight appear, we better have cavs soon

6.1380AD
3 units defeated and Orenburg is razed
defeat 1 unit in Khabarovk
found Kalchreuth
defeat 1 unit in Edo, one in Sapporo, will take them out next turn

defeat 6 units elsewhere [94-14]

IT Hill's advocate sees a good number of Incan units approach
well, the German floodgate has opened, we will have to face all those units...nice
Japan lands an archer next to en empty town, doubtful that that archer will be alive long
we get the all important Military Tradition, astro next

7.1385AD
defeat 3 units in Sapporo and still at least 2 units left
capture Edo after defeating 3 units, move more units towards Sapporo and abandon Edo
found another city

defeat 5 units, time to upgrade a bunch of knights [115-14]
rush a wall in our hill city to weather the strom that is coming

MM and we can get astro in 5 at 60% at hardly any deficit

IT expectedly Incans do not attack but pass city
watch Germans passing by, I stationed an army next to them to give them some chance to get wounded and thin the enemy stacks

8.1390AD
defeat 4 more units in Sapporo and

start to attack Vilcabamba, but muskets on hills are tough even for knight armies
have to stop attack after defeating 1 unit
attack Huaras in the hills, same outcome
more successful at Khabarosk, defeat 2 pikes and raze city

found Golden Hill and Cow Valley

start to take out American intruders, end up with 16 slain units
Incans and Russians next, take out 8 units [147-14]

IT Incan and Russian movement, Russians move in and out of fog, a bit dangerous here
then comes the German stack again...

9.1395AD
clear the Russian incursions, 4 knights defeated
start to attack Rostov, take out 1 pike
take out another unit in Huaras
go after Shimonoseki, defeat 1 unit

defeat 5 Incan knights near Hill [159-14]

IT 2 Russians come out of the fog at Forth Furthers but lose [161-14]
then they land 2 units in nowhere land where we do have some workers building roads
Germans march on.
Mil Academy is done


10.1400AD
take out 3 units and raze Shimonoseki
attack Vilcabamaba, take out 1 unit, knight army too wounded, need to stop attack there
take out 2 units and raze Rostov (Russia has no horses now)
found Handover city and New Lugdunum

defeat 10 units in the open and finally get another army [177-14]

we will lose some workers to those 2 Russian units, I sent an army there to deal with the issue


The German stacks will come to our borders soon, but with cavalry we should be able to handle them, though the knights will be a pain
Incans, Russian and Americans have units tickling at our land. The worst is the fog, I think we should try and build a proper frontline with our cities. Science farms won't need so much land and we will never win by domination anyway.
Keep it tight until we have a better fogbusting

 

[ThERat]

weird Russian landing, in the north we have a GS army to deal with 2 units, from the east we have a knight army in case

Siberia, vast land which is now empty

the front with action, Incan to the north and America and Germany in the northeast, note the German knight marching towards our front

save

 

[Northern Pike]

I haven't looked at the save yet, but great stuff.

 

[ThERat]

Greebley, some additional information for you.

Incas send knights via the northern, roaded route which leads to Hill's advocate and some via the mountain range. We can tackle them.

Russia sends some knights and the problem is that they sometimes come out of the fog unexpectedly. If we continue to settle the gaps, this should get better.
Anyway, we do have 3 armies in Russia and should be able to make some progress. They are now without horses and this means no more knights in the long run.

Germans are sending several smaller size stacks towards Hill's advocate. We do have 1 cav, 1 knight army there and we just got an additional cav army (filled with 2 units) there. I would send those Cav armies out to help raze Inca cities. Knight armies seem to struggle against muskets in size 7+ cities.

America is sending cannon fodder like maces and the like. Easy to tackle.

Generally I made sure we always have a supply of 6-8 settlers, as razing wil gain speed. I think we should increase that number, we can always cash rush some almost finished settlers. Our income is now positive at 60% science and we still got some 1500gold. I would not spend all the cash. Rather slow research by a turn for the time being. Once we go for steam, we can increase that. We do have 110+ scientists (up from 80 when I inherited the turn)

 

[barbslinger]

I don't read much about the use of any pillaging armies. Are you guys using them? Taking down the iron, salt and disconnecting capitals would help alot.

 

[M60A3TTS]

I see an American border next to the German one. In that case, maybe the Aztecs are to the north behind them.

 

[Greebley]

We have done some pillaging - Incan Iron for example. The real problem is the map size. A lot of civs have resources connected outside their lands - this means more than one. Also the distances are huge. For these reasons pillaging is harder to do and it seems more cost effective to Raze cities.

I got it and will start it tonight.

 

[vmxa]

I don't read much about the use of any pillaging armies. Are you guys using them? Taking down the iron, salt and disconnecting capitals would help alot.

That was not much of an option in the early going. We did not want to make any hasty contact and the distances were too great. There are so many iron/salt tiles that it is hopeless and we needed are armies to kill units and raze towns.

 

[Greebley]

I played to 1435 so far. Progress has been slow due to the Germans. Right now there are 32 German knights visible near Hill's Advocate. There are also a large number of MDI that probably will hit on the next players turn that I have been picking off.

I have destroyed a few Russian cities - they have 7 + capitol left.

I will continue tomorrow.

 

[markh]

I have internet access from home again, so I could go back into the roster after Greebley.

 

[vmxa]

It does not sound as if the Germans have been involved in much fighting. I hope the Aztecs, when we meet them, have had some action. Otherwise the numbers could be daunting.

 

[Greebley]

Preturn: Moved a Knight near the Russian landing blocking the road. The AI can still grab 2 worker stacks if they wish however.
We are getting closer to Rails and have a lot of Max pop cities, so I will have them build workers.

IBT: Russian Knight and LBI attack the Knight I moved up in the mountains and both lose so no workers will be lost.

1405 AD: Kill 3 American Spear and 2 Longbown, a German Longbow and Knight near Incan Lands. Kill 3 Incan Knights near Hill's Advocate. Kill 2 Russian Knight and a Pike north of Bonampak. (4 Elite Wins). Lose 1 Knight
Capture Huaras. I keep it to let the Armies heal.

IBT: 3 Knights attack Huaras and Lose vs the Armies.
Fairly substantial numbers of German seen. Agree though that the Cav should be able to take care of it.
We get Astronomy and start Physics.

1410 AD: Kill 3 Russian and 1 German Knights. Kill 2 Incan Muskets guarding Vilcambra. Kill 2 Spear and a Pike

IBT: No Battles

1415 AD:
Incan: 2 Pike, 3 Longbow, 2 Musket Lose 2 Cavalry (vs 3 hp Musket & Pike).
Raze Vilcabamba, Abandon Huaras. Build 2 new towns (nearly blow it by misclicking, but find a fortified settler).

Russian:
Kill a Knight, Kill a Pike in Bryansk

German: Kill 2 MDI, 1 Knight.
MM physics to 5 turns by Hiring Scientists.

IBT: No Battles.

1420 AD:
German: Kill a Pike, 5 MDI, 1 Longbow.
American: Kill a Spear and a Longbow.

Incan:
Lose an Full Health Army attacking a Musket in Nasca.

1425 AD: My armies are now concentrating on the Germans rather than going for more Incan cities. I want to lessen their numbers so we can more easily handle them. There are enough to cause troubles.
Pillaging to slow down the Germans as well so they don't all arrive at once and to give the Armies more pot-shots.
Kill several MDI and some Pikes.

Russsian: Capture Yakutsk killing two Pike. Capture Bryansk killing 3 Pike

IBT: First set of German Knights nearly there

1430 AD: Mostly healing. Some German Killed
Get a Leader

IBT: No attacks. Russians send Knights at Yakutsk.

1435 AD: Kill 3 knights around Yakutsk. Abandon Bryansk
Attempt to settle worked this turn. Leader becomes an Army.
Kill 8 German Knights and 1 Incan Knight near Hill's Advocate. 32 German Knights still in view.

IBT: Mostly units near Hill's Advocate. One Incan unit west of the mountain range.
We get Physics.

1440 AD: Kill Knight and Longbow found west of the mountains.
Kill 3 German Knights. Lose a Cavalry vs a 2 HP Knight.
MM magnetism down to 6 turns by hiring more scientists (Looked for corrupt towns with the most food & towns with only 1 science).
Capture Yaroslavl'

IBT: Incan Knights near Hill's Advocate as well.

1445 AD: Kill more German and Incan Knights. I get a Leader and form an Army.

I intentionally only put 3 Cavalry into the Army. We should only put in 3 units so we can get some armies across the sea. The only reason my last Army has 4 is due to the large German stacks we needed to deal with. We have 3 size 4 Armies in the area around Hill's Intent - I don't think we need any more to be size 4.

1450 AD: Kill yet more German units.
Abandon Yaroslavl' now that the units have healed. Build a new city.

Notes:
We are 4 turns from Magnetism so probably 10 turns from the Industrial Era and less than 20 from Steam Power.

We are up to 22 Armies (2 built, 1 lost)

The German attack continues. We have Armies that have been picking off slower units. Near Hill's Advocate we now have 4 Cavalry Armies, 1 Knight Army, and 1 GSword Army. We also have several Cavalry. There is a shortage of bombardment units - I don't think we started building Cannon right away. If we had built cannon and sent them up while we were researching Mil Trad we would have had less losses. I built some Cannon - we have 10 which have been heading North.

I builts some outposts - I just love outposts on mountains - they show slightly more than a town with a border expansion ( a full 3 squares in all directions - very powerful for the cost of a single worker).

36 Japanese and Incan Workers have almost made it back inside our borders. They are all in one big stack just north of Hill's Advocate.

The 1450 AD Save

 

[ThERat]

If we had built cannon and sent them up while we were researching Mil Trad we would have had less losses. I built some Cannon - we have 10 which have been heading North.

sorry about that, I seriously thought we would be able to handle those stacks with cav + armies and the artillery we have already...

good progress though and just as I thought, knight armies aren't hot against muskets...let's use them against pike cities and pull the cav armies up later on. I agree with filling them with 3 units only as I stated as well before.
I's say once we get magnetism, let's build some navy and simply send some spare armies away. We won't know where are other continents, so let's just guess and sail east...there will be land eventually

 

[Northern Pike]

Sounds good.

I have internet access from home again, so I could go back into the roster after Greebley.

Yes, go ahead.