GR29 - AWM vs 30 civs, Pangea

[Northern Pike]

Plus, the AI agressiveness is set to normal. The AI are not warring among themselves but are also not expanding a whole lot, either.

Actually we have AI aggression set at maximum; that's what the first post says and it's what we discussed at the time. So probably the AI civs are destroying a lot of each other's settlers out of our sight.

The maximum AI aggression is probably why the Americans gave us so little trouble; they were engaged with enemies to their east from very early.

 

[CommandoBob]

Actually we have AI aggression set at maximum; that's what the first post says and it's what we discussed at the time. So probably the AI civs are destroying a lot of each other's settlers out of our sight.

The maximum AI aggression is probably why the Americans gave us so little trouble; they were engaged with enemies to their east from very early.

I missed that. I've thought this entire game that the AI were behaving with normal, not enhanced, anti-social tendencies.

 

[Greebley]

Preturn: Looks good

IBT: Units to the East retreat. Stack of 12 Mongols advance to the West.

1220 AD:
Capture Manpo - a Korean city. Korea has less culture than we do.
Attack Greek Mycenae and kill a Hopilite
Capture Rusaddir - a Carthage city.
Built Istakhir on the East Border.
Started some Cannon builds.

IBT: Enemy units advance. More Mongols spotted.

1230 AD: Kill Hop in Mycenae and the city auto-destroys. Several workers Captured.
Build Borazjan to replace Mycenae.
Bombard and start killing Mongol first stack - 6 units left.
Built Whereville in the west.
Build Tureng Tepe in the Northeast. Capture San Francisco and Philadelphia.
Looking ahead the front may become a bit shorter again. Looks like 10 will be the minimum.

IBT: Japanese Knights are trying to get in our line to the Northeast.

1240 AD: Capture Byzantine town of Prilep.
Advance our line to the Northeast.
Abandon Philadelphia and replace with Whale Tail.

IBT: Aztecs take out final Carthage city.
Capture Ancyra (Byzantine)

1250 AD: Mostly healing and taking care of enemy troops.

IBT: Lose a Knight I moved to the wrong spot, but it takes a knight with it before it goes.

1255 AD: Abandon Prillip and build Fried Bread (not on the coast).
Eulbar Razed.
We have some problems with Babylon Knights and could lose a city if unlucky.

IBT: Lose a Knight instead of the city. However a landing near Lisbon of 2 Knights is a problem.

1260 AD: Kill one Knight so a Spear has to hold off a Knight for us to keep the city. We will get a Cav to take it back next turn though to deal with it.
Suruppak is Captured and abandoned. Abandon Manpo so an Army can go on rather than guard it.
Aztec City Tal-something is auto-destroyed.
Find and attack size 10 Korean city, Chinjo.

IBT: Things occured

1265 AD: Raze Chinjo. First Cav upgrades take the field.

1270 AD: Capture Byzantine Trebizond.

1275 AD: Auto-destroy the Incan town of Nasca
Several armies are healing.

Notes:
Astronomy in 4.
Our front line could be pushed forward to include a square with gems.
I think it worth keeping towns to the West as long as they aren't too big.

 

[ThERat]

things are looking much better now, great job

 

[CommandoBob]

Monarchy
90% Tax
0% Science
10% Luxury

1703 gold, -89 gpt

Astronomy in 4 turns (geeks only).


City Builds

1. We have 91 cities; I aint-a-doin' this list!

Summary of City Builds
vCavalry [12] (Persepolis, Pasadena, Arbela, Shiraz, Bactra, Sidon, Tyre, Mr. Peppermint, Horse Town. Altin Tepe, Nile and Istanbul)
Library [12] (Brusa, Boston, Whale Tail, San Francisco, Chalcedon, Slubgob, Sapporo, Ancyra, Thessalonica, Toadpipe, Foppish Nose, False Alarm and Hill of Virtue)
Courthouse [16] (Seattle, Phantanium, Snow, Icky Twerp, West Greebley, Hamadan, Ergili, Dariush Kabir, Pee-wee's Playhouse, Johnny Quest, Chicagogo, Kandahar, Bunyan, Wineton, Far West Greebley and Screwtape)
rMusket [2] (Trebizond and Borazjan)
Aqueduct [2] (Bicowville and Plain Plains)
rWarrior [3] (Coyotepec, Herat and Scabtree)
rImmortal [2] (Tureng Tepe and Fried Bread)
Settler [20]
Cannon [22]


Military

• 013 Settler
• 009 Worker
• 213 slaves
• 021 Warrior
• 010 Spear
• 009 Pikes
• 005 Muskets
• 043 Knights
• 011 Cavalry
• 012 Catapults
• 001 Cataputls (captured)
• 010 Cannon
• 018 Armies
• 052 Immortals
• 025 Trebuchets
• Support:
  • Current Units: 238
  • Allowed Units: 232
  • Support Costs: 006 gpt

Compared to Germany (Monarchy) we are Strong.
Compared to Byzantines (Monarchy) we are Strong.
Compared to Maya (Monarchy) we are Strong.
Compared to Inca (Republic) we are Strong.
Compared to Rome (Republic) we are Strong.
Compared to Egypt (Republic) we are Strong.
Compared to Greece (Despotism) we are Strong.
Compared to Babylon (Republic) we are Strong.
Compared to Aztecs (Republic) we are Strong.
Compared to Mongols (Despotism) we are Strong.
Compared to Russia (Monarchy) we are Strong.
Compared to China (Republic) we are Strong.
Compared to Japan (Republic) we are Strong.
Compared to France (Republic) we are Strong.
Compared to India (Republic) we are Strong.
Compared to Korea (Monarchy) we are Strong.
Compared to Celts (Monarchy) we are Strong.

Luxuries

• 01 Wine
• 02 Dyes
• 03 Incense
• 08 Ivory

Resources

• 03 Saltpeter
• 03 Iron
• 04 Horse

Next City Builds, Generally

1. Veteran Unit -> same Veteran Unit.
2. Cannon -> Cannon
3. Settlers -> settlers

City Counts

1. 91 Persia (us)
2. 24 Celts
3. 21 Rome
4. 20 Aztecs
5. 20 Korea
6. 18 India
7. 16 Maya
8. 15 China
9. 15 France
10. 15 Russia
11. 14 Germany
12. 14 Mongols
13. 13 Egypt
14. 13 Japan
15. 10 Babylon
16. 10 Greece
17. 10 Inca
18. 03 Byzantine

Plans
We can support 22 Armies; we have 18.

Gems are available in the Northeast, but it just a bit far at the moment. The closest Gems are 5 NE of San Francisco, which is two turns inside the Babylonian borders. That Gem is already roaded, so we could build next to it, but then that city is 4 tiles away from San Francisco.
In the west we see one unconnected Saltpeter and four more Incense.

Looks like a slow grind in the North East with a bit more action in the west.

Next tech: Banking or Physics?

Magellan's Voyage is the only Great Wonder under construction, in Tokch'on of Korea, a city still in the fog.

The city of Babylon has no Great Wonders, so no need to keep it when captured.

Do not connect Herat, Coyotepec or Scabtree. Let them build Warriors for MP duty.

Looking for another spot to chop-rush Warriors but don't see any.

 

[Northern Pike]

Fine work, Greebley.

Gems are available in the Northeast, but it just a bit far at the moment. The closest Gems are 5 NE of San Francisco, which is two turns inside the Babylonian borders. That Gem is already roaded, so we could build next to it, but then that city is 4 tiles away from San Francisco.

This needn't be a concern, when the town will be behind an impenetrable wall of armies. Once we've claimed the gems, see if you can cut the lux rate to zero.

At this point our tech choices don't matter much until the IA, but we won't be building banks for a long time, so let's take Physics next.

I'd change Altin Tepe's cav build to a library. The town generates a lot of commerce.

We don't have a lot of elites, so our cav armies may be a long time coming. But when we get them, our aim should be to have them push well beyond our lines in the west to raze enemy cores, probably starting with Korea's. Our Immortal and knight armies seem more than sufficient to hold our positions now.

 

[ThERat]

One important aspect in my mind is to open the defense line in the east every now and then to get the AI to empty their cities. You don't want to attack cities full of units.

 

[CommandoBob]

One important aspect in my mind is to open the defense line in the east every now and then to get the AI to empty their cities. You don't want to attack cities full of units.

That is something I hadn't thought of. In fact, I was considering delaying attacking the city of Babylon since it would open up a gap in our line. But with some undefended cities rather near the border and a bunch of pillaged (non-road) tiles around that gap we should be okay.

 

[Greebley]

I was thinking we could use a worker to build a colony on the gems and get them that way once Babylon is gone. It may be the enemy will even attack it - with it being on the mountains, one or two defense 3 Armies + Muskets could cause large enemy losses while we defend. In fact I would be interested to know if they do attack it.

You probably are aware of this, but be careful about letting too many enemy units into our territory. It might best to have the opening in the mountains where they can't get units in due to the slow movement. I just mention this because we would get a rush from every civ if our lines fell apart which could potentially lose the game. Really it is fine if we do very little on the eastern front and concentrate just on the west. Once we get rails then we will have the flexibility to advance anywhere. I feel we will likely be taking out all the western civs first and then dealing with the east.

Using the units in the east to keep the numbers of enemy units down is a good thing however.

If you get an army quickly, a strategy might be to use a cav and knight army to take out Babylon and then try the colony. If it looks like the colony will be overwhelmed, then it could be pillaged.

It is sad I got no leaders - just bad luck. NP, is there a reason you didn't save any armies for Cavalry? I think it would have been stronger to leave the 3 leaders you got with empty armies so we could have 3 Cav armies right off the bat. I am guessing you needed them for the wall though.

 

[Northern Pike]

NP, is there a reason you didn't save any armies for Cavalry? I think it would have been stronger to leave the 3 leaders you got with empty armies so we could have 3 Cav armies right off the bat. I am guessing you needed them for the wall though.

That's basically it. We got our first army early in my round, with MilTrad still fourteen turns away, and I didn't consider keeping an army empty that long to be a serious option when we had plenty of fighting to do. The later two armies I would normally have held for cav, but I felt that taking complete control of the difficult situation in the east by building our wall was worth the sacrifice.

I agree with a west-first strategy. In addition to the other factors it's possible there's a little green there for proper science farms, whereas there's no sign of it in the east.

If it looks as though we're just going to be holding our line in the east, trying to lure the AI into attacking a colony on a mountain would be a good idea.

And if our line is going to run through mountains for a while, it would be interesting to explore whether the AI is willing to attack musketeers in barricades on mountains. If the answer is no, we could free up several of our armies in a very useful way.

 

[CommandoBob]

0 1275 AD
Altin Tepe vCav in 6 -> library in 3.
[IBT]
Chalcedon library -> vImmortal in 15.
Bicowville aqueduct -> vCavalry in 12.

1 1280 AD

Around the Empire (west to east)
No one.

Hadji and Horse Town hire geeks to prevent unhappiness.

Sixteenth Army (14/18) cleans out 2 Muskets and a Longbow before autorazing Sokch'o of Korea (3 of 3).
Pick off a Mongol Archer (4 of 4).
The Pipsqueaks and Sixth Immortal, both at full health, each kimchee a Korean Musket and Mace near Ancyra (7 of 7).
vCav in the city caves in a Hoplite (8 of 8).

Move the Babylon Wall 1E (except for the far south end), trampling a Bab Bowman along the way (9 of 9).

Nineveh of Babylon is spotted on the next row to the NE, 2NE of the closest Gem Mountain. The three mountains on our side of Babylon all have roads, so our trebuchets and catapults can be used on Nineveh.

Seventh Immortal (5/18) heals next to Naissus, the current Byzantine capital.
First Immortal (13/18) moves next to Naissus.
Thirteenth Army (11/18) heals on a mountain near Borazjan, will have many flatland targets next turn.

Have several settlers apparently headed to the tundra, send them off west.
Tenth Army is healed in San Francisco and heads to the Babylon Wall.
​

[IBT]
At some point in time we met the Vikings. I may have missed them. Anyway, they offer us Printing Press for Education. We refuse.

eKnight wins one and then get chased away (10 of 11).
Some slaves get captured; I thought they were safely out of range.

2 1285 AD

Around the Empire
Greek Sword at Ancyra.
Greek Sword at Borazjan.

Seven Aztec Knights threaten Borazjan next turn.

Talk to the Vikings. They showed up last turn and I did not see them. They have Printing Press, 33 gold and 13 cities; we have Education, Chemistry, 1523 gold and 91 cities.
We DoW Scandanavia.

We advance the Babylon Wall towards Nineveh, leaving an unroaded mountain as a gap.

First Immortals, now at 12/18 due to Dromons, and Seventh Immortals (9/18), make Naissus (5) part of Persia (12 of 13).
Pipsqueaks (16/18) route a Greek Sword and Korean Mace (14 of 15).
Sixth Immortal heads towards Borazjan, stopping 1 short of the city. It could move inside, but I would rather lose the city than the Army.
Thirteenth (16/18) purges three Mongols out of a stack of eight outside of Borazjan (17 of 18).
Fifteenth hacks down a Hoplite and Sword (19 of 20).

Sixteenth Army (10/18) heals.

38th Parallel North marks our beginning of our incurison into Korea.
Dry Gulch is built near some plains between Borazjan and Thessalonica.
Three Rivers Stadium claims some riverside property.

Trebizond rMusket in 57 -> worker (Byzantine) in 7.

Name some Warriors to remind me where I want them to go.

With every tile a plains tile, the MM is very, very easy.
​

[IBT]
Korea knocks on our door; we ignore them.

At Borazjan we win 4 of 7 battles against the Aztecs and then Greece attacks and razes the city (23 of 28) and destroys three catapults. We lose 8 gold.

Sapporo library -> aqueduct in 34.
Altin Tepe library -> market in 13.

3 1290 AD

Around the Empire
Two Korean Maces at 1SE of Ancyra.
Aztec Sword and Babylon Pike and Knight at Istakhr.

Japanese and Roman units appear next to Nineveh, which has a Japanese border on the far side of it. However, the city numbers for both Babylon and Japan have not changed, so that city has been around for a while (at least since the start of these turns).

Two eImmortals decimate the two Pikes that defended Nineveh before we raze the city (25 of 30; 0 of 3e). We gain one slave.
Tenth Army covers our exposed eImmortal.
eImmortal in Ancrya overpowers a Korean Mace, but no MGL (26 of 31; 0 of 4e).
Pipsqueaks (16/18) clean out two more (28 of 33).
Sixth Immortal wrecks revenge on the Greek Sword that took out Borazjan and an Aztec Knight that helped (30 of 35).
vCav disposes of another Aztec Knight (31 of 36).
Sixteenth Army (15/18) mauls a Korean Musket (32 of 37).
vCav removes the Aztec Sword near Istakhr (33 of 38).

Thirteenth Army (13/18) heals while the rock throwers it protects have fun.
Fifteenth Army (12/18) heals.
First (11/18) and Seventh (9/18) Armies heal in Naissus, which will not flip (0% chance, per MapStat).

King of the Road is built next to a river 2SE of Trebizond.

Since we took out Nineveh, the Gems are in no-mans land. SettlerForGems? moves to claim 3 of them next turn, if desired.

Hire geeks in Nile, Tolosa and Kandahar.
Drop science to 70%, Astronomy in 1, -25 gpt, 1430 gold.

We build a Gems colony.
​

[IBT]
And the save is attached.

 

[CommandoBob]

Handoff and Notes
Just didn't have time to get much done, so I stopped after three turns. Saturday, normally a good Civ day, was a run-off election for the city and I was election judge all day long, so no game play at all on Saturday. And hard to squeeze in on the other days.


Babylon Wall 1290 AD

Spoiler :

We now have a Gem Colony, quite visible in the screenshot. The settler SettlerForGems? is 1NW of the colony. I couldn't decide which would be better, city or colony, so I built the colony. We can still build a barricade on top of the colony, but Muskets are several turns away.

The connected Green dots are where the gap in the line is. Neither mountain tile of the gap is roaded. Babylon has a Pike 1NW of Babylon that might clog the gap for the nearby Japanese.

The blue lines I used to indicate where the Army Wall starts and ends; hope it is not too confusing.

Lots of slaves here and I'm not happy about how I used them. Some misclicks didn't help either. Most are just playing in water.


Out West 1290 AD

Spoiler :

Not too much going on here at the moment. Borazjan has been razed; it is the ruins with Immortal Army on it.

Wormwood is the undefended AI bait at the moment. Three vCavs are near it; waiting.

Korea is still the big, bad boy in this area. They have two small stacks on the mountians. The south stack is 1 Musket and 5 Mace; the north stack is 3 Musket, 2 Mace and 1 Longbow. The double stack of Mongols are Swords, Spears and 1 Archer. Greeks are Hoplites and Swords; Inca show Mace and Aztecs have Knights.

The Army on the mountain has 7 artillery with it.

We also have 10 Cavlary in the area. The three near Wormwood, the two at Chalcedon, one with the Army in the ruins of Borazjan, one more in Foppish Nose and three in 38th Parrell North.

Not visible in this picture is an Army to the north snooping around inside Korea. But it cannot do too much by itself. Fifteenth Army, on the marsh tile in the upper right hand corner, plans to help next turn.


Other Stuff
We met the Vikings.

We lost Borazjan.

We have a Gem Colony, our fifth native luxury.

Settler 2SE of Naissus needs to move 1S to grab both fish and deny that block of 9 tiles to the AI. This could be another Warrior factory, if we don't connect it.

No units are on automove, but some Warriors are named for where I was planning to send them. But with five luxuries, those destinations may need to change.

Babylon Knight and Pike are hiding in a barricade between New South Akkad and Istakhr. Cavalries are in the area, but did not attack.

Four Elite victories gave us no MGLs.

Astronomy in 1 turns; -25 gpt, 1430 gold.


Military

• 010 Settler
• 009 Worker
• 209 slaves
• 022 Warrior
• 010 Spear
• 008 Pikes
• 005 Muskets
• 043 Knights
• 015 Cavalry
• 012 Catapults
• 001 Catapults (captured)
• 011 Cannon
• 018 Armies
• 050 Immortals
• 022 Trebuchets
• Support:
  • Current Units: 235
  • Allowed Units: 242
  • Support Costs: 000 gpt

 

[Northern Pike]

Good work getting gems hooked up. We should be able to cut the lux rate to zero without difficulty now.

Enemy cav are a new development.

We're paying no unit support, which is a bit unusual this early. We've done a good job of building aqueducts.

I like "kimchee" as a verb.

 

[Northern Pike]

Greebley
Commando Bob
ThERat - Away until June 26
Daeron - UP
Northern Pike - On Deck

 

[Greebley]

The AI got Cavalry pretty fast.

Good work on getting the Gems.

 

[Hellfiredoom]

This game is epic and great reading. I especially enjoy your turn logs CBob, nice write ups.

 

[Daeron]

We have 91 cities; I aint-a-doin' this list!

Hadn't seen that yet.

I imagine I'll take the full week for this turnset, hopefully I'll manage to get some cavalry armies going.

 

[Northern Pike]

Sure, take your time. I'm about to be up in Rat40 and a quick turnaround here wouldn't help me.

 

[Greebley]

Its been about a week. You going to be able to post soon Daeron?

 

[Daeron]

Should be done tomorrow