Well actually a bit of both, in real life I've just been blessed with a second son
My heartiest congratulations Shafi
...and welcome to the world little Shafi!
Cant argue with that, just brain freeze i guess
.
Yeah, kids will do that though.
huerfanista: in my case, you’re now preaching to the converted re: the strength of GWs...I have to say, many thanks for pointing out their uses...I shall certainly look upon them differently in my future games. They – and G3 muskets – which Shafi could still yet use in this game, really are little gems as you pointed out earlier.
As it happens, I was thinking about what all this means for Shafi’s tech (and build) path after I posted yesterday. To that end, I think your posts have highlighted a mistake in my earlier long winded post when I mentioned this:
Once calendar’s done, I think your tech path depends on whether you need a tech edge or numbers to beat Shaka down in an offensive war.
In retrospect, there is of course also a third avenue open to Shafi, by seeking a promotional edge, in the form of the G3 GWs – which I thank you for making me realise.
That said, I still believe that the need for more commerce and happiness means calendar is the next tech Shafi should pursue. (After all, having troops in enemy borders is only going to accentuate Shafi’s economic malaise IMHO.) Thereafter, I think your terrific pic illustrating multiple points of attack into Shaka’s lands actually cements the case for literature and the HE IMHO. You see, whilst I completely agree with you (and it has been my experience too) that attacking using multiple stacks provokes a very different AI response compared to a single SoD, my concern at the mo’ is that Shafi lacks the military numbers to mount such simultaneous strikes. Correcting this in the short term via all city military spam (which is what Shaka more or less looks to be doing) is, moreover, complicated IMHO by the need (i) for core infrastructure in some of Shafi’s cities to boost the economy and (ii) to backfill some land. As mentioned before, perhaps this is precisely where my peacenik tendencies surface
...your plan would obviously involve getting the cash from an offensive war - which teching calendar and building the HE only delays.
That said, post literature, I think you’ve definitely given the tech and build path some serious food for thought – even a peacenik builder like me can see that.
After all, dependent on the timing of the HE and how long it takes to research / extort / steal feudalism, it’s entirely possible that Shafi could be in a position to spam G3 GWs (with the MI in Vienne) once the HE is built. The other option at that point is of course to go what might be considered the more traditional route and adopt vassalage and spam 7XP (with the MI) siege in Vienne, (ie. just one successful battle shy of CR3 capability given Boudica’s charisma), 5XP siege / units elsewhere.
If building primarily G3 GWs, the case for feudalism then rests IMHO on just how many cities will be producing them. If just the HE equipped Vienne is to spam them, its MI means there is no need for vassalage or feudalism to obtain G3 GWs. In this case, machinery > engineering or civil service after literature looks to be the tech path IMHO. If however, the plan is for more cities to build GWs after righting the economy, then feudalism needs to be researched (after literature) – or better yet extorted or stolen - to adopt vassalage so the other cities with a barracks can produce 5XP unit and get G3 (with G1 automatically given). (In a similar vein, going the more traditional route via siege also lends itself toward grabbing feudalism after literature for vassalage as was noted.) In either case, I think Shafi then needs to look toward machinery > engineering and / or civil service, depending on the relative sizes and composition of each civ’s army.
Re: attacking Ndondakusuka. This is something that both you and dualmaster have mentioned and is very likely a great example of how gamers like me can learn for the more experienced civvers such as yourselves. Whilst even I
can see the merits of taking this city, I’m perplexed by three things: (a) With Shaka currently sending more troops and siege to reinforce the city and spamming yet still more troops, what kind of ratio of attackers (G3 GWs) to defenders do you think Shafi will need to take and hold the city (assuming a spy lowers its defences)? (b) Out of curio, are you really saying that it’ll be best for Shafi to concentrate on building troops now (the scale of building dependent on the ratio of attackers to defenders needed to take and hold the city) rather than say, whip courthouses / markets etc to rectify the economy first? (c) The plan assumes that Shaka then expends an awful lot of troops to re-take the city. Whilst I completely agree that this is likely, my question is: what happens if instead, Shaka elects to attack another city – wouldn’t that simply mean Shafi having to produce yet more troops to reinforce elsewhere, as opposed to building infrastructure to rebuild the economy? Please rest assured BTW that these questions are in no way criticisms – this is a genuine chance for me (and I’d suggest others following) to learn something about the merits of building and planning for war versus building infrastructure. Your answers could really help cure my builderitis!
As mentioned, many thanks for your insight...you’ve given some advice epitomising the spirit of the HUI series IMHO.
advantage is because Shaka just spent all his EP to destroy a mine. IIrc Shafi only has 400-something to use, that's 1 city 
cost efficient approach which imo will include Catapults at some point. It is, after all close to 1000AD and the economy needs a leg up at some point.
but I'm afraid it would be too much of a spoiler. But if you're curious:
)> machinery.
. First it was RL and then i started playing a few Emperor games and really got hooked, i have just finished my first win on Emperor too, so i was kind of a little lazy to get back to this game on Monarch.
