GR28 - AWM vs 30 civs, Pangea

Good point about the cats. I'll see if I can start any, but right now we're already low on everything if two new towns are to be settled. I hope it will be a while before we meet any new civs.
 
We're working on the FP in Dalandzadgad because we wanted to keep it going somewhere when Ulaan switched to the HE, but it's such a slow build that we aren't very likely to complete it there. Probably we'll end up rushing the FP or building it in a stronger town. The problem is that we have just enough shields accumulated in Dal that switching to a barracks would involve some waste, so we might as well keep the build going for now, since our better towns have to concentrate on military units anyway. Perhaps we'll switch to a courthouse there after your round.

Bear in mind that you can shuffle more units towards the danger zone before hitting Enter--Hovd's two units moved into Tie-Dye Frenzy, one of Ulaan's units moved into Hovd, etc.
 
We had a hard start, some nasty starting UU's

The one break we've gotten here is that there doesn't seem to be a lot of iron around. We haven't seen Immortals from the Persians or Gallics from the Celts.
 
The Sumerians seem to have plenty of iron on the other hand. :)

I've finished my first three turns. This is taking much longer than I expected, because of the Dutch units. They've been an absolute nightmare. We're at 27 wins of 35 fights so far and still have our three armies, build the Heroic Epic and are ready to settle the towns to the north. We've had a some bad luck in defending against the Dutch, but managed to hold.

Only the Dutch are still a big nuisance right now. The two cities they siege are very difficult to supply.

Unit count is starting to rise. Back to 84 where I started again and cats are coming in. I'll continue tomorrow, but I'll attach the save of my present turn if you want to peek.
 

Attachments

Thanks for posting a midway save. They're always fun to see.

That looks pretty good, all things considered. :goodjob: We seem to have just enough units reaching the southern central front to contain the Dutch, and I'm glad to see our first catapults.

Getting a third swordsman into our two-unit army should be a high priority.

You probably just haven't done this turn's MM yet, but since I can't resist: :lol:

Dalandzadgad can return to working its mined BG tile.

Choybalsan can work a roaded forest instead of a roadless one.

I'd change Jungly Swamps' archer build to a cat, though it's your call.
 
We should be able to build the Pentagon now, if we have three Armies already in the field and still alive.

Fourth Army, Pentgon or Forbidden Palace...Pentagon for larger Armies, and thus more powerful Armies.

I would consider a 4th Army if we had a lot of trouble holding our cities.

Forbidden Palace is nice, but if we can kill a lot more than we lose, we should be okay.

A lot just depends on the in-game situation.
 
under the current circumstances, getting to the max number of armies is more vital I guess. Once we have hit that limit, we can always rush the pentagon or FP. We won't be able to have more than 4 armies I guess as that would require 20 cities that we don't have IIRC.
 
I would have gone with the Pentagon, but choosing a fourth army is all right. The only outright mistake would have been rushing the FP.

We won't be able to have more than 4 armies I guess as that would require 20 cities that we don't have IIRC.

In fact we have twenty-one cities and two settlers, so we probably won't stall until twenty-four cities/six armies.
 
Finished, short summary:
* We had 94 fights, won 79. So we went 79-15.
* We've build the Heroic Epic
* We've build the Pentagon
* We've gained a 4th army
* We lost our first army
* ... and Ashur, technically, I abandoned it.

Turnlog
Spoiler :
Preflight:

100 % tax: +56 gpt

Unit support:
2 settlers
13 workers
4 slaves
14 archers
29 spearmen
23 swordsmen
3 armies

Allowed 84 and we have 84.

We are strong compared to all civs that we know of.

MM'ing cities:

Almarikh (size 5, 7spt): swordsman (5 turns), wastes 5 shields at 7 spt, but sadly can not pop a worker in one turn. So next turn (uneven foodbox right now) I'll switch to an undeveloped grass so it grows to size 6 quicker, without losing a turn on the swordman.
Dalandzadgad (size 3, 3 spt): Is building Forbidden Palace
Switch a BG from Hovd to Ulaan, since Hovd doesn't need it building a spear. HE is in 4 turns now instead of 5. Can always switch back if it will build a sword.
MM Ta-Tu and Karakorum to 3 turn swords both.
So far only Banana Bob's Chutney is building a catapult.

Enemy units: There are 17 enemy units within our cultural borders.

One Impi is in our core on a hill, two tiles from capitol. Can't risk it pillaging so I decide to try to take it out. One redlined horse and another archer on a hill, near almarikh.

Thirteen Celts are near Choybalsan, six of those are right next to it. Send two swords to reinforce.

Six Sumerian swords on the line of hills but spread out. Army is down to 4 hp and one elite sword is in the open, susceptible to attack in the IBT. Can't do anything about it.

Six Dutch units to the south, next to Banana Bob's and Mandalgovi. No way to reinforce with swords so spears will have to do.

Ashur area is looking peachey.

Chop chop:
vet. sword kills impi and promotes (1 of 1)
e. sword kills celt horse (2 of 2)

Cross fingers and press enter.

IBT

Dutch archer suicides on Bob's (3 of 3)
Dutch horse retreat and one dies on spear (4 of 4)
Dutch archer kills spear (4 of 5)
Dutch sword dies to our archer defending Bob's Chuntey place! (5 of 6)
Sumerian sword kills the e. sword we couldn't cover (6 of 7)
Two Celtic warriors and a horseman die on our Spearman at Choltbayan (9 of 10)
Persian archer kills the archer at Bob's. (9 of 11)

Karakorum sword -> sword
Hovd Spearman -> Spearman

The Persians are building the Temple of Artemis
The Celts are building the Great Wall

Turn 1, 260 AD
There are now 16 units in our territory.
The two sword army needs a whole turn just to move two tiles across the river. There must be a second river that we can't see.
Banana Bob's Chutney has one redlined spear left. Sadly, I also need an extra spear in Dalandzadgad and in Candygram. :/ Shuffle spears to cover Banana Bob's, Candygram can wait a turn. Army goes to Ellipi to heal, one spear from Ellipi to Dalandzadgad to protect the settlers. Actually, send one settler to Almarikh.

First sword army destroys one Persian archer (10 of 12)
v. sword kills zulu archer (11 of 13)
v. sword kills celtic horse (12 of 14)
v. sword dies to celtic horse (12 of 15)
e. sword kills celtic horse (13 of 16)

IBT
Spearman retreats Dutch horse
Zulu horse dies attacking e. swordsman (14 of 17)
Two Sumerian swordsmen kill two spears in Ellipi and Dalandzadgad (14 of 19)
Celtic warior and horse die on spear, one kills the spear (16 of 22)
Persian archer dies to swordsman (17 of 23)

Mongo barracks -> spearman

Dutch are building Great Wall

Turn 2, 270 AD
There are now 10 enemy units in our territory. Another Sumerian stack of three appeared north, luckily, three are Enkidu.
Area around Dalandzadgad is pretty bad. Rush a barrack at Banana Bob's or we'll lose it.
Should have done it right away. Now I'm stuck with wounded spears. Shuffle spears around.

Dalandzadgad is under a lot of pressure without barracks. It will survive one more turn and then the army will have healed.

Change two builds to cats

First sword army defeats Baby bowman (18 of 24)
e. archer defeats Persian archer (19 of 25)
Third sword army defeats Sumerian sword (20 of 26)

IBT
A lull in the action
One Dutch swordman kills another spearman (21 of 27)
One Celtic horse retreats from spearman

The Persians are starting to pick up in numbers around Ashad.

Babylon barracks -> catapult for now, it's only doing 1spt at size 3. MM for growth.
Ta-tu swordsman -> worker
Kazan sword -> sword
Erdenet spearman -> catapult
Banana Bob's barracks -> catapult
Mongo catapult -> catapult

Ottomans complete ToA
Arabs complete the Great Wall.

Turn 3, 280 AD
14 enemy units in territory. 32 units if you count outside the borders.
A Celtic spearman has cut off jungley swamps, nothing I can do about it

e. sword kills sumerian sword (22 of 28)
2nd sword army defeats sumerian sword (23 of 29)
3rd sword army defeats sumerian sword, but down to 3 hp (24 of 30)
e. sword kills celtic horse (25 of 31)

IBT
Dutch archer dies to spearman (26 of 32)
Two Dutch swords kill swordman and spear (26 of 34)
Baby bowman dies on army (27 of 35)

Karakorum swordsman -> swordsman
Ta-tu worker -> swordsman
Almarikh swordsman -> spearman
Tabriz Spearman -> catapult

We build the Heroic Epic in Kazan
heroicepic.jpg

Ulaan HE -> catapult
Mandalgovi barracks -> catapult

Turn 4, 290 AD
Switch Jungley Swamps to catapult, MM a few cities. Move second settler to Almarikh

elite archer kills persian archer (28 of 36) and creates a leader. :)

Send leader to Ellipi before turning it into an army

2x v. sword kills celtic warrior (30 of 38)
v. sword kills dutch spearman (31 of 39)
2nd sword army kills sulu archer (32 of 40)
e. archer kills Persian archer (33 of 41)

IBT
dutch archer suicides on spear (34 of 42) other dutch units pass the towns instead, going for workers
celtic horse dies on spear (35 of 43)

Choybalsan spearman -> spearman
hovd catapult -> catapult
candygram barracks -> spearman

Turn 5, 300 AD
Create army in Ellipi
e. sword kills dutch warrior and creates another leader! (36 of 44) Move leader towards Kazan to rush pentagon

v. sword kills dutch horse (37 of 45)
e. archer kills persian archer (38 of 46)
e*. archer kills persian archer (39 pf 47)
2nd army kills sumer sword (40 of 48)

Move settler towards 2N of Almarikh

3 swords kills 3 celtic horses (43 of 51)
archer loses to persian archer (43 of 52)
1st sword army kills persian archer (44 of 53)

IBT
Sumerian sword kills a spear in Nineveh (44 of 54)
Persian archer suicides on army (45 of 55)

Ellipi spearman -> spearman
Tie-Dye Frenzy spearman -> spearman
Jungley Swamps catapult -> catapult

Turn 6, 310 AD
Swat a celtic spear who just cost us a turn on a sword from Kazan (46 of 56)
2 archers kill persian spear and archer (48 of 58)
army wins but redlines against a single spear (49 of 59)

Ashur is in some trouble. Army has only archers to support and it's hard to keep up.

e. archer kills sumerain sword (50 of 60)
e. sword kills celtic horse (51 of 61)
v. sword kills zulu horse (52 of 62)
2nd army kills sumer enkidu and sword (54 of 64)

IBT
Impi dies on sword (55 of 65)
Persian archer dies on spear (56 of 66)

Celts are no longer a problem. Sumerians, Zulu and Persians are starting to come in numbers however. Dutch have given up on assaulting the towns, but choose to pass them instead. Which is worse, because we had the river as extra defence.

Karakorum sword -> sword
Ta-tu sword -> sword
Ashur barracks -> spearman
Kazan sword -> pentagon
Almarikh spear -> spear
ulaan catapult -> catapult

Celts are building hanging gardens

Turn 7. 320 AD
Rush Pentagon with leader.
Form Fourth Sword Army

e.sword kills celtic archer (57 of 67)

Found Pooh Bear, 2N of Almarikh

FFFF>>>>> too many cities. I can't keep them there, pull settler worker and escort back

v. sword kills dutch warrior (58 of 68)
2nd army kills sumer sword and zulu horse (60 of 70)
4th army and sword kills dutch sword and spear (62 of 72). Still one sword and warrior on our mined grass, can't kill them. So hope they go for workers
third army kills sword (63 of 73)

IBT
Impi destroys road N of Dalandzadgad
Dutch sword attacks a fortified spear on a hill, across a river. (63 of 74)
Persian archer kills spear in Dalandzadgad (63 of 75)
Persian archer dies on Army in Ashad but redlines it to 4hp (64 of 76)
Another Persian archer kills our first army! This is bullcrap, worst string of rolls I've seen in a long time. (64 of 77)
Persian horse kills archer (64 of 78)

We complete the Pentagon in Kazan => sword

Turn 8, 330 AD
I have to abandon Ashur I think. Only two archers left, one of which is down to 2 hp. I'll see if they can hold out for one turn so I can get a settler in place.

4th army kills dutch sword (65 of 79)
e. sword kills dutch sword (66 of 80)
v. sword kills dutch warrior (67 of 81)
Ohh come one 2nd army redlines against impi on the grass (68 of 82)
3rd army kills sword (69 of 83)
4th army kills dutch horse (70 of 84)

Celts seem to have given up for now

IBT
Persian archer kills archer at Ashur (71 of 85)
Persian archer dies to archer at Ashur, redlining the defender but promotes to elite (72 of 86)
Persian horse dies to the last defending archer of Ashad! (73 of 87)

Nineveh Sword -> catapult
Tabriz catapult -> catapult
Hovd catapult -> spearman
Tie-Dye Frenzy spearman => spearman
Erdenet catapult -> catapult
Candygram spearman -> catapult

Turn 9, 330 AD
We now have 10 Sumerian swords and enkidu's in our territory, all on hills and they're all defence 2. That's just a really bad situation.
Zulu's are also entering from the north, two imps and two archers.

I'm abandoning Ashur, found Pooh Bear 2N of Almirakh and merge worker. -> walls

zulu
v. sword kills impi (74 of 88)
v. sword dies to impi (74 of 89)
e. archer kills archer (75 of 90)
v. sword kills archer (76 of 91)

dutch
4th army kills warrior (77 of 92)

Need to make sure a few cities don't riot, size 6 needs 2 MP. Babylon gets a taxman

IBT
two sumer swords die on army and spear (79 of 94)

Karakorum sword -> worker
Ta-tu sword -> sword
almarikh spear -> catapult
ulaan catapult -> catapult
Choybalsan spear -> catapult
jungley swamps catapult -> catapult
Mongo like candy catapult -> catapult

Koreans finish hanging gardens

turn 10, 350 AD

Bit short on spears in the north, change Erdenet to spear.
Join a 4th sword to
Rush walls in Pooh Bear.

I'm going to keep things as they are, so the next player can decide how to deal with the enemy.

Third and second army both are with a sword in their city which can be merged. Fourtj army has four already and first army is no more.

We are now average compared to Sumeria. They've been building nothing but swords. We're strong compared to the others.
 

Attachments

Situation at the Celtic front

We've absolutely butchered the Celts at Choybalsan. So much that last IBT they decided to go for Erdenet for some reason. Erdenet needs to be reinforced, there are swords nearby with movement left. All I've seen from them is horses and archers, no Gallic swords.

Spoiler :
2erdenet.jpg


Situation around Ellipi and Dalandzadgad

I've not been able to do anything about the Sumerian route across the hills, even with two armies. We probably need to gather up cats to clear the hills. Dalandzadgad attracted one impi, a horse and one archers from the Zulu's in 10 turns. Mostly the Sumerians been an issue, since they can walk all the way to a hill right next to Dalandzadgad and Ellipi.

Spoiler :
2ellipi.jpg


Situation around Pooh Bear

I haven't had a lot of trouble there, mostly because I think there were no workers close by. The Zulu still prefer the route along the mountains, Impi use the desert of course. Only maybe four units went into the gap, one ending up near Tie-Dye Frenzy, other three went to Dalandzadgad.

Spoiler :
2poohbear.jpg


Situation around Mandalgovi
Mandalgovi and Bob's Chutney were pretty popular to attack until recently. We've could have been a lot worse off. But now the Dutch are ignoring them and passing into our territory. I've tried stopping them from using the hill. But the RNG was in their favor.

Spoiler :
2mandalgovi.jpg


We've got about 94 units now, not sure. More than I started with and quite some cats. Although they're still spread pretty thin.

I've left most units with their movement. So the next player can decide whether he wants to add a 4th sword to the 2nd and 3rh army and such.
 
We also might want to consider abandoning other towns like Babylon and have a settler in place on better locations. In hindsight, the spices were not worth the trouble at all and we would do better from this point on to focus our efforts not further west than Nineveh. It might even be worth it to abandon Babylon and at the same time settler 2N of Dalandzadgad. I would have done it if I could have. But the Impi's had just destroyed the road to that spot. So I had to go with Pooh Bear.
 
Situation around Pooh Bear

I haven't had a lot of trouble there, mostly because I think there were no workers close by. The Zulu still prefer the route along the mountains, Impi use the desert of course. Only maybe four units went into the gap, one ending up near Tie-Dye Frenzy, other three went to Dalandzadgad.

Spoiler :
2poohbear.jpg
The Zulu certainly love that path. And it wrecks so much havoc on our interior once they get inside our lines.

We could either put Spears on all those hill, which might divert them to Pooh Bear, or build a city on one of the hills, ping 'em with catapults and kill 'em as they try to heal.
 
Looks like pretty intense set of turns, especially with the infiltrators. :eek: Good job cleaning them out!

We have Horses! Next to Mandalgovi.

:dance:

Dalandgadzad builds the Forbidden Palace in 44, which seems too big an investment for a border town facing Swords. We would way overspend on a switch to Barracks (49 shields wasted), but we could build a Temple in 1 (9 shields wasted), Library in 4 or Aqueduct in 11 and follow with a Barracks in another 7 turns. A border expansion won't really help us here, since we don't have any multi-tile roads outside our border. But it would force the enemy wounded to go further away to heal.

Pooh Bear needs a road to Almarikh.

We need a Sumerian Sword Stopper City to relieve the pressure on Ellipi and Dalandgadzad. 2N of Elliipi might be good enough; only one hill to road to connect the city and it will connect to the borders of Nineveh. It would need a worker to rush Walls and a good supply of defenders and catapults. Howver, we have no Settlers being produced.

I think we need this city before we plant one (if we plant one) to slow up the Zulus. A wall of Swords and Spears on the hills might deter the Zulu or send them to Pooh Bear. Not a cheap solution, but rather easy to implement, given our forces in the area. And we could reinforce them easier, since the core is nearby.

Out west, we don't have the units to spare to make a line.
 
Thanks for the very full report. :thumbsup:

Hitting the global city limit certainly makes it harder to see how we can turn this around. Getting beyond five armies is going to be difficult.

I've got it. I won't be playing immediately, so there's time for comments and suggestions [edit: as already provided by CB :lol:].
 
Getting more cities to get more than 4 armies is probably the key problem we're having right now. We're not in a position where we can easily send an army to raze a city. I think we need to stop that Sumerian route first. The good news is that with the max city limit reached, the civs without iron, probably won't get iron very soon.
 
All we can do is take one thing at a time, and the first priority is to build our way up to five four-unit armies, which we can support with our present twenty-one cites. Then, if we don't acquire any more enemies, we might be able to send two or three armies out razing.
 
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