LK164 - CCM, AWM, Korea

[Jersey Joe]

Using your mid-set save I was able to get religion to be due in 4 turns by hiring Scientists.
All Engineers became Scientists, P'yongyang slowed its growth by hiring a Scientist and this let me turn the clown into a Scientist, Wonsan growth was slowed by hiring a scientist, etc.

 

[Elephantium]

Pre-turn:

Yikes, Pyongyang is at 19 spt
MM for growth, not caring what happens with shields for this inter-turn.

We have some fortified Silla Horseman (SH) near the front, so I do some scouting and find that the mystery city is Kadesh.

IBT:

We lose two SH, one to an Archer at Kadesh, one to a Chariot near Jericho.
Republic > Seafaring
No revolution.

Wonsan builds our first Asian Cataphract!
Damaskus (interesting spelling...) completes Dome of the Rock.

1480 AD:

Seafaring is due in 4 @ 40% science

YIKES Cataphract upgrades are expensive. 60 a pop.

We lose one SH at Kadesh.
SH kills Israeli Archer
Switch Axum to Admin Center to help growth

SH kills Chariot
SH kills Maccabee, which has an odd death animation. He starts to fall over but then just vanishes.

IBT:

SH retreats @ Kadesh
SH dies to Archer
SH ? Enslaver at Jerusalem.

1490 AD:

Second battle of Kadesh:
SH dies
SH retreats
Chariot kills Spear
SH kills Spear and rides into the city.

IBT:

Archer suicides on SH
Maccabee dies on Spear
Enslaver retreats from our stack by Jerusalem
Jaguar Warrior captures Worker stack near Buffalo Trace
Aztec chariot captures more near Haifa

That's at least a dozen slaves lost.
Samsung riots.

This was a TERRIBLE between-turn.

1500 AD:

Korean Sword (KS) kills Jaguar Warrior
Enslaver kills Russian XB

Battle of Jerusalem:
Siege Bow dies to Spear
KS dies to Spear
KS kills Spear
Chariot kills Spear
SH dies to Maccabee
SH dies to Maccabee
SH finally figures out that Maccabees aren't immortal! And promotes
SH kills another Maccabee
City holds for now

SH kills Archer
Enslaver kills Archer
SH killls Aztec Chariot, promotes. Spots our lost slaves, too.

IBT:

Someone comes out of the fog near Jerusalem with two Chariots. I don't recognize the color. Sort of a sea green.
Germany wants to talk. I DON'T think so.

Enslaver dies on SH
XB kills Enslaver who killed his mate...ugh, I thought the Spear would cover him. I HATE SNEAK ATTACK

On the bright side, our mountaineering Warrior spots the stray Workers escaping in his direction.

1510 AD:

Sea green is Poland. I dial them up.
Archer forces Chariot to retreat

Siege of Jerusalem:
KS dies
SH retreats
SH retreats

Catapult kills Chariot, gets a Leader!
Warrior recaptures Worker stack

IBT:

Polish Knight? kills SH
PK kills Sword
Israeli Cat kills our Spear
Maccabee kills Sword
Maccabee forces Cat to retreat
Bad RNG on defense.

Seafaring > Religion

1520 AD:

Leader rushes a Granary in Tangier.
SH retreats from Maccabee near Haifa.
SH kills him.

IBT:

Lots of Persians incoming!
Aztec Treb kills our Warrior
No action on the Israeli front.

1530 AD:

Chariot kills Polish Catapult? Didn't quite look like a Treb
Chariot kills Polish Treb
Cataphract kills Polish Treb

Near Seoul:
Cataphract kills Persian MDI

Misclick sends Workers way off course

SH retreats from Archer
Chariot kills Russian Treb.

IBT:

Polish Knight dies vs. Spear
Polish Knight kills Cataphract
German force appears SE of Seoul

Japan completes Himeji Castle

1540 AD:

Chariot kills redlined Polish Knight
Near Seoul:
Cataphract dies to Immortal
Cataphract redlines but then dies to Immortal
Chariot kills XB
Cataphract kills XB
Cataphract kills Immortal

Chariot kills Meso Spear

Israel:
Cataphract kills Catapult
Cataphract dies to Maccabee
SH dies to Spear
Enslaver kills Maccabee... but loses 2 hp doing so.
SH kills Archer
Cataphract retreats from Spear

IBT:

Archer kills SH without breaking a sweat.
Poland completes Wawel Castle. Gulp.

1550 AD:

Cataphract kills Eastern Archer
Hebron:
SH narrowly dies to Spear
Sword dies to Spear
Sword narrowly dies to Spear
Archer easily skewers Spear! I've been attacking with the wrong units!
Cataphract kills Spear
SH kills Maccabee
Cataphract kills Spear and takes the city!

MM time - we have an extra happy face everywhere.

Seoul:
Cataphract kills German eMDI
Cataphract kills Germanic Spear
Sword dies to Treb (all our wounds are taken after redlining it )
Enslaver captures Treb

IBT:

Resistance in Hebron ends.
Treasury is low.
Maghreb are building the Arsenal.

1560 AD:

Slider to 20%; Religion still due in 1.

Archer dies to Maccabee
Enslaver kills Archer

Assault on Bethlehem:
Cataphract kills Spear
Cataphract retreats
Cataphract kills Spear
City is ours. After Hebron, this seemed easy!

Enslaver captures Archer
SH kills Archer
Cataphract kills Maccabee
Chariot duel! Ours wins.

Asian Cataphract retreats
Second one kills the XB near Seoul.

IBT:

Trash bombardments have begun on Namp'o.
Maccabee attacks across the river and narrowly dies to Cataphract near Jerusalem
Treb lands next to Casablanca

Religion > Dark Ages. Just a coincidence.

No revolt.
I switch Wonsan to School of Divinity
Spain completes Sacred Music.

1570 AD (T180):

Siege-Bow kills Maghreb Treb that landed next to Casablanca



Handoff notes:

There are a lot of stray workers from recent Enslaver activity. They can be consolidated in a few turns, I think.
There's a big attack stack to attack Jerusalem. Hopefully it's enough - capitals are always tough.
West Coast is building a Cataphract at 13spt for the sake of growth. It can be MM'd for shields in 2 turns to get the unit one turn sooner.
Kadesh badly needs some roads.

Seoul is clear of enemies for the moment. I've been drawing down the defensive forces there in these cases; when something does appear, we can get 3-4 Cataphracts pretty much immediately from new builds in the area.

 

[LKendter]

Losing that many workers was a major setback. How did the Aztecs get that deep into our territory unnoticed?

I give a major Ugg on adding Poland to the list of enemies.

Without a unit count I can say for sure, but it looks like it was a brutal turn for losses.

I hope by my set we are in the second age of the tech tree.

It is too late to fix it, but School of Divinity should NOT have been built in Wonsan. It gives a free barracks.

The progress continues nicely versus Jerusalem. They are down to just 4 cities. It will be nice to finally get a second civ killed. At least one of the locations is really ugly being across the hills from Bethlehem.

Can we start producing some spears? I realize they are slow get the front, but we need defensive units. I hate having Cataphract being used for city defense.

ROSTER:
Multiple civs are probably south of Seoul. Please don’t explore that direction.

LKendter (on deck)
Jersey Joe
Elephantium
Greebley (up)

 

[Elephantium]

The Aztecs crept through the hills south of Shadow of Eternity and emerged from the huge forest. Surprise!

Fortunately, I managed to recapture them (looking back, I missed adding that to the log -- they were uncovered, so no battle).

There are two more Aztec units in the fog E of Haifa, IIRC.

It is too late to fix it, but School of Divinity should NOT have been built in Wonsan. It gives a free barracks.

GAH, I missed that. Sorry

Actually, I think this can be fixed. Change Wonsan to a Synagogue or Religious Center, MM for more food and only 30 shields or so, then change P'yongyang or SK Hynix to SoD.

For more Spears, I'd look at West Coast, Leptis Magna, and SK Hynix. There are a bunch en route, but as you said -- they are slow.

Research is going well - you should hit Age of Discovery on T1 or 2 of your set, LK.

Greebley will get to start building Castles!

 

[Jersey Joe]

What happened to our mountaineering Warrior? Did he go native? Last report from him was in 1500 AD when he saw our escaping slaves.

 

[Jersey Joe]

<snip> Actually, I think this can be fixed. Change Wonsan to a Synagogue or Religious Center, <snip>

Religious Centers provide 2 happy faces (World Religion Buddhism). We will get only 1 happy face for a Synagogue (even though we do own Jewish Worldreligion).

Civinator, The biq file has the Jewish Worldreligion doubling the effect of Religious Centers not Synagogues. I wonder if we mightl get 3 or 4 happy faces for a Religious Center.

 

[Elephantium]

What happened to our mountaineering Warrior

1520 AD:
...
IBT:
...
Aztec Treb kills our Warrior

Good point about preferring Religious Centers over Synagogues, Jersey Joe.

I wouldn't expect the extra happy faces, though - most of these Wonders specify that they don't stack (they probably can't?).

 

[LKendter]

ROSTER:
Multiple civs are probably south of Seoul. Please don’t explore that direction.

LKendter (on deck)
Jersey Joe
Elephantium
Greebley (up)

 

[Civinator]

Civinator, The biq file has the Jewish Worldreligion doubling the effect of Religious Centers not Synagogues.

Jersey Joe, thank you very much for reporting this error.

 

[Greebley]

Ok, I got it.

A city south west of Hyangsan might be useful to use the mountain range to shorten our front. Right now units can sneak past our Capital. I might build it if I get a chance.

 

[Greebley]

Preturn: Switched to 2 scientist instead of 1 Entertainer.

IBT: Wonders complete (Holy city and one other I didn't write down).

1580 AD: Capture Jerusalem without loss.

IBT: Lose 2 units. Two landings that we can easily kill.

1590 AD: End up with more exposed units than I intended. We couldn't kill an MDI soon enough with 3 retreats, so the Treb lives and can take out a unit.
Also near Jerusalem, I spot Russian troops that can attack us.

IBT: Treb kills a Cataphract and retreats. Near Jerusalem, we retreat from an Archer Attack.

1600 AD: Clear out troops near Jerusalem. Find next city of Samaria which we can attack next turn. Spot Polish Bombard near Jerusalem. So Magreb, Poland, Russia, are all in that direction. Mis-click which will cost us a unit.

IBT: Lose 2 Cataphract near Jerusalem. There are tough units nearby.

1605 AD: Seems really bad RNG this turn. Losses remain high.
We barely capture Samaria.
Set up Mountain River to the SW of Hyansan. It has a bonus pig.
Poland and Russia are showing up with some strong units so I am switching to defensive play to minimize losses. Especially since there is at least one attack 8 Bombard from Poland.

Leader was used to rush walls.

1610 AD: Fail to damage an Archer when attacking with a Cataphract.

Lose 3 units killing off the stack of Polish units including the Bombard. We really need attack 4 units soon, as killing defense 3 units is really expensive.

1615 AD: Quiet turn. Persia is sending Xbow only so we easily kill them without loss.

1620 AD:
Get a leader who moves toward Jerusalem to rush a Castle next turn. With the Castle 75% defense and upgrading to pikes we can survive the attacks anything of but the Artillery units.

Start a shorter road from Capital to Jerusalem. We are gaining control of our side of the mountains.

Located Elath (Israel), one of their remaining 2 cities.

1625 AD: Rush Castle in Jerusalem. Kill some nearby archer/xbow.
Kill some units near Bethlahem. Because of the hills, we lose 2 units vs the def 2 units.

Near Mountain River:
Aztecs have some units in the hills near the mountain with def 3 defender.
Also spot a German MDI in the same spot.

Chivarly in 4 requires large negative gold. I could lower lux as I raised to 20% but will keep for now.

IBT: German MDI kills our def 2 Cataphract in Mountain View.

1630 AD: 3 units attack German MDI and all die leaving it with 2 hp. It is on hills.

Lose another unit to a landed MDI that Persia sailed around. The second one kills it.

Change my mind on the Lux as I think we want cash for upgrades. We are really desparate for attack 4 Knights and Def 3 Pikes - losses vs def 3 are just too high. Lower Lux to 10% and hiring scientists so we can get Chivalry in 3 at 60% gives us positive gold.

1635 AD: Manage to clear Aztec units in hills with our Catapult taking out the MDI.
Kill an invisible landed unit to the West.

Notes:
Progress has been much slower this turn. I think that this will change when we get attack 4 units with Pikes for defense.

There are 3 units next to Elath. They might not be enough so I sent 2 more (+ 1 is healing). 3 was all I could spare at the time.

Castles are being built. I prebuilt slightly for some of them. We have 2 already, Jerusalem and West Coast.

2 workers were exploring the Mountains, but are done. They were moving to clear iron with another worker. I was thinking another colony in case something happens to our other iron colony.

The shortcut road to Bethlehem and beyond is nearly done. At that point those workers can move back to work on city improvement. Similarly the workers near Kadesh are done linking Kadesh and may be better off heading elsewhere.

See image for square to control so we can attack units near Mountain view in clear terrain.

-----
This image is front for Israel, Magreb, Poland, Russia. I think we need Defense 3 and Attack 4 units before we can advance again.

Magreb seems to be doing little against us other than drop off a unit or two. I wonder if they are busy elsewhere. Poland and Russia have been more active.

 

[LKendter]

Based on Greebley’s comments along the picture showing too many castles being built, I expect little offense. My only offensive moves will be taking out Israel. Troops need to start building again to do much more.
I do want to fix the trouble with hills. We can’t afford the horrific loses from fighting on them. I’ve got to get control with some pikes on them.

The good news from the first picture is the mountain range is pretty big. It looks like a containment perimeter can be set up for the south while we push west.

ROSTER:
Multiple civs are probably south of Seoul. Please don’t explore that direction.

LKendter (up)
Jersey Joe (on deck)
Elephantium
Greebley

 

[Greebley]

I just switched towns that were building units to Castles. Feel free to build other things instead if you wish, especially once we have attack 4 units that should have less losses.

Removing Israel seems doable. Meeting Russian and Polish forces is the biggest danger for their final city.

Note that I think we may have ended with about the same number of units as we started. Though there were losses, we also had a lot of towns on Military.

 

[LKendter]

Mid set teaser. This may be the last capture my set. Mountain View is messy. I wish the city was built 1 tile NW so that it had the defensive hill, and one less spot for the AI to set on.

 

[LKendter]

Another mid-set teaser:

 

[LKendter]

1635 AD (0)
I switch Napata back to Cataphract. I want more troops being built. The other cities are too far along swap back to troops. This is going to be a tough set to make much progress.

Buffalo Trace is only size 5. I swap the aqueduct to admin center.
The corruption in Kadesh is 50%. I switch it to an admin center. Al Jadida has worse corruption, and switches to admin center.
(IT) The only action is the annoying AI bombardment by Nampo.


1640 AD (1)
I kill a Polish spear by Kadesh. (1-0)

I kill 2 Russian longbows by Samaria. (3-0)
Ultimate Enslaver arrives and rushes a castle in Samaria. That does wonders to help protect the edge of front lines.
2 workers are gained.

I have no idea what the two workers in the mountains are up to. I move them toward iron spot with pollution.

I try my luck with Elath. I lost a Cataphract. (3-1)
There are at least 2 spears. I am stuck waiting two turns for the big stack to arrive.

I kill an Aztec longbow by Mountain River. (4-1)
The lack of roads forces me to ignore the bucket.

I can only reduce chivalry by 10% for the final turn.
(IT) We are finally in the second age of techs. I begin research on engineering. It will cost us some free units, but we need to be able to cross rivers. I recall last game JJ pointing out that we should get the cheapest techs out of the way first. It needs 5 turns.
I lost a Cataphract in Mountain River. (4-2)

 

[LKendter]

1645 AD (2)
I can’t believe Royal Tournament hasn’t been built yet. Wonsan will try its luck since it only need 5 turns. Sadly, it gives nothing toward our golden age. The Korean GA is way too late.

I kill an Aztec eagle warrior by Mountain River. (5-2)

I see a Polish winged Hussar. That means some at AIs are past Ballistics.
I kill a Polish bombard, chariot and winged Hussar. It cost an elite Cataphract. (8-3)
I gained a worker.

The last Israel city is Yakutsk. They must have fought Russia at some point.

I can’t build a colony on the volcano iron tile. My only guess is because of being a volcano.

I kill a Persian immortal. (9-3)
(IT) Poland lost an MDI and crossbow. (11-3)
I lost 2 pikes and 1 horse. (11-6)
Mountain River is way too much of a hot spot.
Seoul is back to producing troops.
Pyong will slip in a marketplace. We badly need the cash.

 

[Greebley]

Unfortunately, I didn't realize Mountain View was going to be such a hot-spot when I first built it, otherwise I would have done it differently.

 

[LKendter]

1650 AD (3)
The assault of Elath begins. I kill 2 spears. (13-6)
This might not be a popular decision, but I raze the city. It exposes us to contacts on the other side of the mountain range. I have no idea how many civs are in that area.

It is a mess by Mountain River again. The city badly needs pikes and a castle to let the AI bang there head against it. I can’t fight those 3 defense units on hills and in the forest.
I killed an Aztec Eagle warrior. I lost 2 Cataphract. (14-8)

I kill Persian by Seoul: 1 MDI and 1 crossbow. I lost 1 Cataphract. (16-9)
Our brand new knight goes elite.
I can’t believe a Cataphract died to a crossbow. That was horrid RNG luck.

I kill a Polish crossbow. (17-9)
I gained a new worker.

I kill Israel: 1 archer. (20-9)
(IT) It is a mess by Mountain View.
I killed 2 German crossbows. (22-9)
I lost 1 spear and 1 Cataphract. (22-11)
The workers building a fortress were lost. The Aztecs ran them into the mountains, so no hope to get them back.

 

[LKendter]

1655 AD (4)
I clean up around Mountain View.
I kill 1 Aztec crossbow. (23-11)
I lost a chariot to a 1 HP MDI. (23-12)
I kill 1 German spear. (24-12)

I kill Maghreb crossbow. (24-13)

The assault on Yakutsk begins. I kill 2 spears. I lost 1 Cataphract. (26-14)
Israel has left the game.

I kill 2 Russian crossbows. (28-14)

I kill 1 German spear. (29-14)
That demonic spear redlined 2 attacking units before dying. At least the 3rd unit went elite.
(IT) I lost a spear approaching Mountain View. (29-15)
A holy person kills a horse. (29-16)