Handy 19 Grumpy Old Men try AWD standard map

[Greebley]

Building more MW's seems to make sense to me. If it wasn't deity, I might feel differently, but I feel that given the intensity of the enemy forces we will be facing, that MW with Artillery units as support hiding under armies is the way to go at least for now.

When we start reaching the point where more units will just slow down science too much, then we can go back to knights.

 

[Obormot]

I vote for mounties for now. But if we get an army we should reconnect the iron and fill it with knights.

 

[Greebley]

That I agree with. We could even build 3 knights before disconnecting.

 

[M60A3TTS]

I'm fine with MWs, but I also agree with ThERat that we need to get some settlers out and push forward once again.

 

[handy900]

Good thoughts.

I'll build 3 knights for an army and get some settlers going. Our culture probably stinks, so I plan to raze unless it's a wonder city.

Definitly need to get some settlers out also for the research and unit support benefits.

IIRC once you queue up a knight it will complete even if you disconnect the iron while the knight is in process.

 

[ThERat]

ok, disconnect the iron for now (sounds a little exploitive, but AWD needs every twist we can afford). I know we have 1 galley that is fortified at Poitiers at the moment. Send it out to find the other continent.

 

[handy900]

Got a late start, and I'm MM'ing every turn to milk the GA. Here are the first 5 turns, and I'll finish it up tomorrow.
Pre Turn
Select 3 cities to build knights, then pillage the iron and switch the remaining knights to MW’s.
Change Horse town from rax to settler. No reason to build a rax in a totally corrupt town. Those shields are better spent on cats, workers or settlers

IBT
Knight defends versus LB
Elvis – library – settler
Grand River – MW – Market

Turn 1 360
Kill LB
Kill spear & bag Indian settler
Kill 3 Indians & move workers to ivory
Kill pike
Raze Rouen netting 5 workers and a cat.
Kill French pike settler pair
Kill pike and archer

IBT
Salamanca – library – heroic epic
Many – MW – MW
Centralia – knight – duct
Gozpel – walls – settler

Turn 2 370
Hook up ivory and drop lux.
Kill spear, archer, spear, MI (popping leader for the pentagon)
Pentagon was placed in Elvis. I did not want to interrupt a build in any of the other cities. I think 3 4-unit armies will be more useful than a 4th knight army with only 3 units. Three 4-unit armies will steamroll the AI, allowing us to build some infrastructure.
RNG revenge, a wounded warrior survives against our veteran MI in the frozen SE tundra
Kill warrior, MI,
Guns now due in 12

IBT
Elvis – settler – pentagon
Tonawanda – treb – duct (needs irrigation)
Greebley – duct – court

Turn 3 380
No attacks.

IBT
Galley gets sunk
Elvis - Pentagon – Forbidden Palace
Manny – MW – market
Chuck – duct – market
Theo – settler – court
Spanish are building Leo’s

Turn 4 390
MW kills spear
Kill 4 MI
Kill 2 pikes 2 MI

IBT
Oil Springs – market – court
Ste Regis – Library ->Harbor ->Duct -> Market

Turn 5 400
Kill warrior, 2LBs, raze Larsa and get a Knight Army out of the deal
Found Tusk
Due to some poor planning on my part we only have 3 knights, not four. We will need to hook up some iron for a turn.
Spot some French iron we can pillage. I am going for the French core and ignoring the small outlying cities, we can mop them up later.
India is now sending spears and warriors.

I plan to keep building infra. We have 4 armies to attack & raze with and adequate units to protect the current cities and any new one we build, so I'm not building very many units. I hate to waste the GA on settlers, so I'm building them in corrupt cities and big cities where we have to hire specialists. After the GA we should build a bunch of settlers pronto.

 

[ThERat]

sounds great, 4 armies should be sufficient to clear our continent. Should we keep the next army empty for pillage mission on continent #2?

Agree with going for the core, then we can mop them up later and if they have no salt, they can't even get their musketeers

 

[handy900]

sounds great, 4 armies should be sufficient to clear our continent. Should we keep the next army empty for pillage mission on continent #2?

Yeah - we have to get to the other continent.

I think we need to get astronomy asap. That way we can drop an army loaded with 2 knights on a mountain over the sea and survive the IBT. Then load 2 more knights the next turn and pillage/explore. Our continent is in pretty good shape. It's the other guys we need to start thinking about.

 

[M60A3TTS]

I'm wondering if the Babylonians are on their own island since they seem to be the only ones who are coming over the water.

 

[Sir Bugsy]

We only have one turn left on the GA, but I agree with the push for more infrastructure. I build barracks in frontline cities for the healing, not for the unit generation.

Four armies should be able to kick some French butt. We still have the Spaniards to worry about.

 

[handy900]

I build barracks in frontline cities for the healing, not for the unit generation.

That's a good tactic. But in this game with the 4 armies I think we can get away with no rax in those from line cities. The armies are going to create a lot of space, and the settlers will push the front lines forward faster than we can build rax's. Getting the pentagon and another army allowed for a change in tactics.

We will probably want walls in the coastal cities, but we can skip them in the interior and build settler/artillery instead.

IIRC I saw Spain sending 4 warriors & spears after I killed a bunch of MI. I'll double check tonight. They may have lost their iron from a trade or war. Let's hope they are gassed.

 

[handy900]

IBT
Grand River – market – library
Spain starts Knights Templar

Turn 6
Kill 5 MI;

IBT
Cat… - library – market
Centralia – duct – market

Turn 7 420
Kill 2 MI
Mi loses to archer
Wounded spear kills our MW
Kill the spear & 2 archers
Begin a road to the iron so we can get a 4th knight in the army.
I think I’ve changed my mind about the MW’s. The extra hit point of the knight is a very useful.
Kill a warrior
Pillage Joan’s iron, but she has muskets.
IBT
Grand River – MW – MW
Tonawanda – library – market

Turn 8 430
Kill 3 muskets and one LB and raze Orleans netting 4 slaves and a cat.
Kill wounded Pike with MW
Found Aspen
Kill 2 MI

Turn 9 440
Kill pike & settler
Kill pike; MI; 2 archers; warrior; 2 spears

IBT
Iron is hooked up again.
Grand River – knight
Manny – market – settler

Turn 10
Kill 3 Mi and 1 pike
Lose 1 MI


GA is still going. When it ends – kick out some settlers and fill the empty places. It will help unit support, which is costing 33 gpt.
Heroic Epic in 1 turn
FP in 2 turns
Knight army needs a 4th knight
Lots of work can be done in the core.
Cattaraugus needs irrigation and trees in the ice
Chuck Berry needs mines on the hills
Build boats in St Regis. A stack of 3 galleys might be able to find the other continent.
I think we should fill the next army with 2 knights so caravels can transport it. It can do shuttle duty to bring back slaves.
We don’t have it won yet, but I like our chances.

 

[handy900]

 

[Greebley]

Ok, I got it.

 

[handy900]

Greebley - I failed to MM for the buildings that will finish this turn. You might want to see if you can loan some tiles out for a turn in Salamanca, St Regis and Handy Lake.

Also, if we irrigate around Tonawanda and Cattaraugus and then plant trees in the ice we can make those cities more productive. Mountains in the core can use some mines also. You can decide what to do with the iron. It's hooked up again to get a 4th knight for the army. After playing I think I lean slightly to building knights, but whatever.

The sooner we get control of our land the better, and with the HE almost done, leaders should be fairly plentiful.

We need a plan for future armies. If we load only 2-units they can transport via caravel, 3-units and we have to wait for Galleons. The downside is a
2-unit army is not very useful on our home continent except for defense, exploring and escorting slaves. The sooner we clear our lands the better. Maybe we push forward for now with the four 4-unit armies we now have and just see how long it is taking us.

 

[Sir Bugsy]

OK, now we have one turn leave on the GA. Getting a navy and contact with the other continent is the key now. Oh, and an army on the ground over there.

 

[ThERat]

the key really is to get armies over quickly. If we fail to do so, we will be bombed to death as we all know...

 

[Obormot]

Yes, it is very important to start working on the other continent soon. It is 450AD and deity... In the worst case they can be already close to rifles.

 

[handy900]

the key really is to get armies over quickly. If we fail to do so, we will be bombed to death as we all know...

Yes - I think we should get astronomy next so we have a decent ship to explore with and transport armies. In the bombed to oblivion game we missed the Glib which meant we did not get caravels until it was too late. We have a window to get an army across the seas and we don't want to miss it. We can deal with just about anything except bombers.