Gr4 - AW Demigod, Standard Continents

[Bezhukov]

That's why I put the musket in the horse army (I think the army gets effective defense five), so the AI won't attack it and it can be used to cover the offense armies and cavs attacking cities. There is another musket up there that can be added to the other horse army. Also three elite muskets on their way to Port of War that can be used for decent cover once we pillage Greek horses.

We can use Twixt to leader fish as well, and should be able to generate several cav armies for the main continent invasion. Once we get rifles (and perhaps industrialization), may make sense to accumulate some cash for upgrades. I started a bank in cow pasture - would like to go for commerce in core coastal cities.

 

[handy900]

Pre turn
Upgrade a couple of vet knights.
Turn a few nerds into tax babes to pick up a little gold and still get Rails in 4. For some reason I enjoy playing the scientist to tax game to get fastest research with the most gold. How boring is that!
What is so attractive about Twitxseas?

IBT
Mayans drop rifle @ Twist and the Greeks and Inca also drop units.

Turn 1 960
Bump research rails in 2 +20gpt
Kill the offensive invading units and position armies at Athens.

Turn 2 970
Raze Athens and drop off more artillery

IBT
Steam – Industry – we have 1 coal

Turn 3 980
Position to take down the new Greek capital. Then I think we can settle the hill next to the dyes and repel and Greek offensive there. Dyes would help a lot.
MM to get Industry in 9 +20gpt.

IBT

Turn 4 990
Get leader at Twix, build army as I always do just in case and sure enough, we get
another leader. Two in a row!
New personal record!, an elite cavalry in Greece offs a LB escorting a settler and produces leader number three.
Three elite hits in a row.
The third leader will have to journey home to be turned into an army
The Greeks are not happy about this at all.

IBT
What is up with Twixt? Even the Romans sail all the way to land there.
Alex decides to reinforce the key pop 1 town of Ephesus.
Maya meanwhile are getting serious as they drop a stack of rifle, pike, 2MI, LB, knight and crusader.
I’m going to build Frigates so we can sink the Mayan boats. We can leader farm off the backward civs and try to shell and sink the Mayans before they land.

Turn 5 1000
Kill all the Mayans.

IBT

Turn 6 1010
Kill Mayan rifle, LB, Knight

IBT
Twitx is getting a lot of action. I’m going to keep a cav army there to deal with it until we get some more cannon and Cav. Greece is folding easily now.

Turn 7 1020
Industry in 5 +0gpt is the best I can do.
Kill a bunch no losses no leaders.
I remember losing only 1 this set in the attack on the city we razed after Athens

IBT
Greek galley attacks a Galleon. Don’t remember ever seeing that before.
Inca have nationalism now.

Turn 8 1030
Kill some Mayans. No leaders

Turn 9 1040
Capture Mycenae which has silks and a harbor and is on a hill. Let’s keep it for 1 turn.
We settle the other Dye hill where we have defensive forces next turn.
Drop lux to zero.

IBT
Maya start Universal Suffrage


Turn 10 1050
Settle Dyes by the Sea
Raze Ephesus
Abandon Mycenae


Notes:
I hired a bunch of tax people since we get Industry in one so we make +383 gpt this turn. Should be 1 extra beaker guy to be safe.
Next turn set all people back to science and then turn a few at a time to tax people to see where the break point is.
There is a 3 cav army in Sugar and Sand Near Twitxseas that is homeland defense. One you accumulate some cav the army can be shipped overseas. It is needed at home currently.
There are four 3-cav armies in Greece plus a knight army. We could either:
Finish off Greece with a cav army blitz (no cannon just blow thru Greece with armies). OR
Use one 3-cav and the 3-knight army to finish Greece and immediately ship other three
3-cav armies over to bang on the Mayans asap. As soon as you accumulate some cav in our homelands you can ship the homeland defense army over to the Mayans also. Then once in Mayan lands we could add a 4th cav to each army and bang on the Mayans with four 4-cav armies.
Don’t forget to rush the harbor in Dyes by the Sea after the walls so we get out 4th lux.
You can use the ships to chain a slave over to rush the harbor if you desire.
If we can hurt the Mayans to slow their research and rush a factory somewhere we can probably bag ToE.

Do we need rifles to win this? 4-cav armies should be safe from attack if fully healed until tanks. A musket army could cover them until we get infantry if we are worried. Just make sure 1 army in the attack stack is fully healed at all times.

 

[bed_head7]

Got it. I am inclined to finish off Greece ASAP and then head after the Mayans. I probably will not play tonight (though it is possible). Any other opinions?

 

[handy900]

Got it. I am inclined to finish off Greece ASAP and then head after the Mayans. I probably will not play tonight (though it is possible). Any other opinions?

I thought about this some more, and I agree finishing Greece is the correct play. Maybe even send the artillery under the armies back to Dyes by the Sea to bomb units if any attack the newly settled city. With no cannon to slow them down, the stack of armies can rapidly finish Greece. As long as one cav army remains fully healed at all times the Greeks won't attack the stack of cav armies. The Greeks did not have very large garrisons in any of their small cities, and the most they had in a large city was 6 or 7 hops IIRC. Probably fewer than that now in their cities now. Cav armies rip thru hops pretty fast.

Maybe leave the knight army in Greece after they are all killed to off any settlers as they arrive to the now empty Greek lands.

I'm kind of interested in your opinions on going for ToE. I think we have a decent shot. Communism is a tech we could really use. So, do we follow the path to ToE first then grab nationalism & commie, or go for ToE & grab Replaceable Parts and then research to commie? Probably going for Commie. What do you all think?

 

[ThERat]

agree with you handy, we should try secure ToE and go for communism, that would also allow us for steals if ever needed.

and by the way, congratulations for 3 MGL's in one go, hattrick in soccer terms
never seen that (can you do that in HNDY14 as well, it is needed badly there )

 

[Bezhukov]

I'd like to grab RP ASAP for faster workers (rails) and Infantry for easing landing on the continent. We can research Commie in due time.

Excellent leadership, handy!

 

[Greebley]

My order would be RP (for Infantry and Artillery), TOE, Communism/Espionage.

Dealing with the Greeks first seems a good plan to me.

 

[bed_head7]

Well, I am glad to hear all of that. I ended up playing five turns last night, and finished off the Greeks on my fourth turn. Started Electricity, and had every plan of researching towards Replaceable Parts.

 

[handy900]

congratulations for 3 MGL's in one go, hattrick in soccer terms
never seen that (can you do that in HNDY14 as well, it is needed badly there )

It was pretty amazing. I've made two leaders on the same turn twice before but never three in a single turn. And it was three attacks in a row. Boom, boom, boom. It really pays off to go ahead and build the army from a leader before you attack again on the same turn.

I hope Dyes by the Sea in the Greek lands does not screw up the AI's willingness to land leader fodder at TwixtSeas.

Twixtseas is a text book kill zone for us.

 

[bed_head7]

Created two armies, one is empty and on the way back to the mainland, one is full of cavalry and on the way to the Mayans. I lost our horse army on the attack to an archer that landed in the old Greeks lands. I think it had 9/14hp too, but oh well, the archer was on a hill. The new land might have screwed up the kill zone thing a bit, so we may not want to bother. I don't really know. I didn't make a big effort to fill in up there.

We got electricity on my last turn, started Replaceable Parts, but no research done so we can go Medicine -> [ToE tech whose name is escaping me].

One question to handy. What was going on with workers? There were some odd groupings, and few had exactly six workers in them.

By the way, we killed ~8 rifles in Palenque and it didn't fall. Almost lost one of the cav armies when it went from 13hp to 1hp before finishing off the rifle there.

 

[handy900]

What was going on with workers? There were some odd groupings, and few had exactly six workers in them.
[/QUOTE]

I was moving them in chain gangs to build rails. I'd move however many it took to rail a tile, then move however many it took to rail the next tile. I always move them one worker at a time. Moving them one at a time allows workers to ride the newly created rails and you get max rails down per turn with no wasted worker movement. In other words, I only move as many as I need to rail a particular tile. Hills take more workers. Perhaps there was a mix of slaves and workers that was giving the odd counts.

First thing I did was connect the capital to the harbor town where we set sail for Greece.

Next I connected core cities to the rail.

Then I started rails around the core at the same time I was raling the the far corners of the empire.

Some workers were waaaaaaay out in the nether reaches of the empire when we learned rails. Instead of walking them all the way home, they just started rails where they were.

I [I]think[/I] I was pretty efficient, but I'm all ears if there is a better way.

[QUOTE]By the way, we killed ~8 rifles in Palenque and it didn't fall. Almost lost one of the cav armies when it went from 13hp to 1hp before finishing off the rifle there.[/QUOTE] Once we get cannon over there to support the armies we should be able to raze the Mayans pretty fast with that many armies.

 

[bed_head7]

Oh, okay, it was just curious. In one place there was equal to 5.5 workers on the tile, meaning it was maximum inefficiency for a flat tile. What I generally do in the age of railroading is make groups of six, with a slave of course counting as a half a worker. No waste there, and it gets the rails down in one turn, and probably also goes faster once you get it set up since you can move the workers as a group, so you only have to move the workers once per tile instead of having to move each worker over.

 

[Greebley]

Ok, I got it. Hope to play tonight.

 

[Greebley]

Preturn: Things Look good. I do hire a few more scientists (replace the one entertainer with two scientists). Basically I sort by shields generated, go to the towns generating only one or two and look for towns with +5 food and see if I want to hire another scientist. This plus raising Science 10% more allows us to get RP in one less turn. I also can't resist upgrading the 2 vet and one Elite* horsemen I see.

It is good to see the Greeks gone I will work on filling the island to get our %land up.

Also decide this is a good time to get our factories up and running. I switch any town that can build a factory in 20 turn or less.

IBT: Whoops. Some workers are slaughtered by Barbarians on the Greeks old island.
Minor Landings.

1160 AD: Kill the landings. Armies rest. Concentrate the workers more on finishing improving our non-corrupt core before irrigating the hinterlands first. That gives more shields as opposed to more scientists.

IBT: Maya Knight attacks our Army on the Mainland.

1170 AD: Kill a Hittite Longbow on the Greek Island. Kill 2 rifles in Palenque.

IBT: 4 Mayans and 4 Inca land on our Island. A longbow attacks our Armies.

1180 AD: We are only killing a few rifles every turn In Palenque and the enemy is reinforcing.

IBT: No landings.

1190 AD: Kill some Barbarians in the north. Start to send the 4 cav for our armies overseas.

1200 AD: Kill a few more Rifles in Palenque.

1210 AD: Capture Palenque. It has Magellaen's so it would be nice to keep. May not be able to. I will have to see what shows up.
Kill 4 landed units.

1220 AD: Kill incoming units.

IBT: We get Rep Parts. Start Medicine for TOE.

1230 AD: Kill More incoming units (toward Palenque)

IBT:

1240 AD: and more incoming units,

1250 AD: and more incoming units.

Accidentally hit end of turn, but don't move any units for turn 1255 AD.

Notes:
I have been shrinking Palenque as fast as I can. It needs a temple rushed to bring the land under its control.

As soon as we kept Palenque, the Hittites and Mayans have been sending units at us. We have been killing them so far. The armies have been mostly out of the town. Not sure if we are small enough to allow armies to stay in town or not. It is size 4 but has many squares around it that are Mayan so need that temple. I did risk at least 1 army a turn. Again I am not sure it was wise

 

[ThERat]

ok, got it, I guess there will be no more landings in our killing zone (or at least far less), since we own a town there now.

 

[ThERat]

save

Pre-Turn
well, no preturn

1. 1255AD
found city in northern ex geece only to reveal 4 hittites units, take out 3 to snag the settler underneath
defense in ex Greece a little too light
all armies are within Palenque, hope we don't have such a high flip risk
rush walls there
attack and take out Bonampak netting us 578g
increase science to get medicine in 4

IT we repell the attacks at Palenque,
jaguar's Den goes for ToE prebuild

2.1260AD
clearing more units, rush temple in Palenque

3. 1265AD
start to preapre to raze Chichen itza, defeat 4 units there
create MGL -> army

4 .1270AD
after taking out 9 units in Chichen Itza

try and keep town though now a high flip risk, connect palenque and Chichen itza via rails

IT attacking units abandon attack on Palenque and turn towards Chichen
we get medicine, scientific methods next

5. 1275AD
goo delays Fields of Wheat infantry, change to coal plant
remove armies from Chichen in case of a flip, we have 3 infantry inside for defense

IT oh dear, a huge Roman SOD approaches Chichen ( can count around 50-60 units mainly MDI)
Incans finish US

6. 1280AD
kill 7 units in Copan, but city stands
swap Jaguars Den to army and Fields of Wheat to palace

IT zzzzz watching Roman SOD's marching round Chichen since we blocked off the access

7. 1285AD
we raze Copan and flip risk in Chichen drops to 3 %

IT due to road blocks I get some Romans to return, but the bulk approaches Palenque
resitance ends and we get walls in Chichen

8. 1290AD
the battlefield

soften one SOD but Palenque will face 27 units

IT stupid AI, their units turn around since we opened road to Chichen

9.1295AD
soften another stack and clear units as much as we can
rush temple in Chichen

IT Romans move in again

10.1300AD
almost lose our perfectly healthy knight army attacking a 3hp guerilla
destroy Kanesh since access to the west seems somewhat blocked
kill some more Roman units and start sending out Cav armies north after forming a inf army
flip risk is now very very low
we will get scientific method next turn, would switch off research depending on prebuilt for ToE
we should go communism with so many corrupt towns, we have now 40% territory
the goo often deleays builds by a turn, very annoying

 

[handy900]

Sounds excellent!

What is goo?

the goo often deleays builds by a turn, very annoying

goo delays Fields of Wheat infantry, change to coal plant

 

[ThERat]

What is goo

sorry wasn't clear I am refering to the beautiful concept of pollution

 

[Greebley]

I would take electronics when we get TOE. Nationalism espionage and Communism is much easier to research ourselves fairly quickly (I think electronics is the most expensive tech of the industrial age). Hoover really helps and keeps down the goo quotient.

So get Electonics with TOE and build Hoover (start a prebuild).
Research Nationalism, and then Espionage.

As for Communism:

I am not sure the game is going to last long enough to make Communism important. TMcC and I used to debate this. My theory was that if you have all your improvements centered in your core, then switching to communism does not help in the short term:

In the very short term you have a period of Anarchy which is obviously worse than Monarchy.

After you switch you have lessened the cities with the factories, markets, etc. and increased the other cities. These other cities do not have improvements and may not even have Aquaducts or Markets. They are also smaller and over-irrigated. They need to build these improvements before they become viable.

Science is slowed because you have changed all the scientitsts and put them to work. Note that the non-scientist income stays about the same when you switch. This is because you are lessening income in towns with markets and adding income to cities that do not. There is thus not much of a change until you get Markets in the formerly corrupt cities. Once that happens, then communism becomes superior. However, since you lose your scientist, communism is inferior for a number of turns in terms of research.

Eventually, though the farther cities get up to speed. At this point the output for communism is superior. However, if the game is practically over at this point, there is little advantage.

---------------------
It is my opinion that this game will not last long enough to make communism a worthwhile.

 

[ThERat]

@greebley.

in this game I tend to agree with you on communism. hopefully we can soon go on real raze mode once those SOD's are wiped out