Myth01- Training Day- Regent

[Yahya]

IBT
Zulu north of Anyang attacks Barb and wins. Destroys camp.
Construction -> Polytheism in 12 at –22 gpt. We have 228 gold. We will be founding two cities in the next two turns, so gpt outlay will decrease.
Beijing Settler -> vSwordsman in 5.
Nanking Settler -> vSwordsman in 8.

Turn 1 – 130 BC
SUSB eArcher* garrisoned in Tsingtao.
vArcher garrisoned in Tsingtao.
eArcher 1 north of Tsingtao toward Old India to act as a fog buffer until I get settlers down that way.
vArcher 1 SE of Anyang to Tatung as protection.
Two workers SW of Anyang build mine.
Found Mountain View on Pink Dot. Temple in 60.
Worker west of Hangchow moves one NE to build mine.
Worker 2 NE of Nanking moves one SW and builds mine.
Settler in Nanking toward Light Blue dot.
Settler in Beijing toward Light Blue target.
Workers SW of Tsingtao to SW to make road.
Workers east of GrapeVille to south to connect future cities in Old India.
Garrison units in Macao.

IBT
Zulu warrior moves north into fog.
Shanghai Swordsman -> settler in 10.

Turn 2 – 110 BC
Tsingtao eArcher toward Delhi.
vArcher near Delhi to protect three workers moving toward fog.
Two workers build and complete road to Mountain View. No unconnected cities.
Found Forestville on red dot. Barracks in 20. –12 gpt, 211 gold, Polytheism in 10.
Change Mountain View production to Walls – complete in 9.
Move vSwordsman from Macao to Irony to join army.

IBT
Zulu warrior moves to northeast.

Turn 3 – 90 BC
Worker north of Bangalore builds mine (we need more spt there for settlers until we fill out the land down there).
Workers SW of Delhi irrigate to develop land around future city.
Worker NE of Grapeville builds road.
Workers SW of Anyang build (and complete) road.
vSwordsman in Macao joins army (I was thinking we could put in 4, but we need the Pentagon for that).
Army moves to Mountain View, and pushes back fog. We see Ngome and an Impi.
Workers SE of Moutain View irrigate.

IBT
Zulu warrior moves north into fog.
Tsingtao vHorseman -> Settler in 8.

Turn 4 – 70 BC
Worker SW of Canton builds mine -> complete in 8.
Tsingtao horseman toward Mountain View.

IBT
Zulu warrior moves north.
Zulu Impi and settler move north from Ngome. Leave (at least) 1 Impi behind.
Irony Horseman -> Horseman in 5.

Turn 5 – 50 BC
Workers south of Mountain view move south one tile and irrigate.
Shadowing Zulu warrior with vArcher.

IBT
Zulu warrior moves east.
Beijing vSwordsman -> settler in 5.
Canton vSwordsman -> settler in 6.
Zulu complete The Oracle in Zimbabwe.

Turn 6 – 30 BC
Delhi will riot next IBT. Settler in 3. Hurry settler for 28 gold.
Worker NW of Hangchow builds road.
We are at –17 gpt, Polytheism in 6.

IBT
Zulu warrior moves east.
Barb warrior moves east.
Barb horseman moves south toward vArcher.
Delhi settler (though gone to riots) -> Horseman in ?. (Lesson learned here. Need to make change one turn before that)

Turn 7 – 10 BC
Adjust Tsingtao citizens to optimize growth:settler production. Growing in 4, settler in 4.
Adjust Canton citizens to optimize growth:settler production. Growing in 6, settler in 5.
Keep working toward Light Blue Target.
Rename one scout in Mountain View. Name is “SuperScout”. Move 2 NW.
Move vSwordsman from Canton to protect worker from Barb.

IBT
Zulu warrior moves NE.
Barb warrior (near Canton) moves SE.
Barb horseman moves west toward Forestville, which is unprotected.
Nanking vSwordsman -> vHorseman in 6.

Turn 8 – 10 AD
Miskeyed vArcher near Tatung; moved one North. SettlertoLightBlueDot and two workers now unprotected.
Workers and SettlertoLightBlueDot wait. Need Archer to come back; too much fog to the SE.
Move vArcher from Tsingtao to Forestville. Now protected from Barb horseman (I hope).
Worker near Nanking to east of city to mine. Need more shields there for troop production, in my opinion.
Worker NW of Hangchow completes mine. Move to iron square to build mine.
Settler to LightBlueTarget in position to found Spacious Meadows on next turn.

IBT
Zulu declare war (BIG mistake, Indy! BIG MISTAKE!).
Zulu warrior moves toward Canton.
SuperScout is killed by Zulu vArcher. 0-1
Attacked by Barb warrior at Forestville. Our archer wins, reaches 2 HP.
Attacked by Barb horseman near Shanghai. We lose that one.
Shanghai settler -> settler in 10.
Macao walls -> barracks in 10.

Turn 9 – 30 AD (this one is rather busy)
Put next two levels on the Palace.
Wove worker and vSwordsman back to Canton to protect from Zulu rWarrior.
Shanghai settler becomes SettlertoGreenDot. Move in that direction; move vSwordsman to protect him.
I stupidly have two workers building a road to the SE on the mountain SE of Shanghai. My bad. Stop them and move them one east, to build road to complete network to GreenDot.
Bangalore has corruption problems. Producing settler in 19, no matter what I do. Growth in 7.
Move worker NE of Bangalore toward Delhi. Work on shield production there.
Found Spacious Meadows on Light Blue Target. See Barb warrior to the west. No fort though. Spacious Meadows -> Walls in 10.
Polytheism in 2 at –15 gpt. 74 gold in coffers.
Move archer SE of Spacious Meadows into city for protection.
Move vArcher and SettlertoCoastline (near Spacious Meadows) one SW.
Worker NE of Hangchow builds mine. Complete in 12. Seems like a foolish move, but not sure what to do with him.
Worker east of Nanking builds mine. Complete in 4.
Move archer NE of Tatung back to workers and Settler, to get that show back on the road.
Worker south of Macao irrigates – complete in 3. (Just learned that you can irrigate opposite an irrigated city – good lesson).
Move worker NW of Macao to south to assist.
Wake K’uang-yin I and move to east. Zulu will be VERY sorry they declared on us.
Wake and move horseman one east with army.
Hurry walls in Mountain View for 8 gold. Seems like a great trade-off at this point.

IBT
Zulu warrior attacks Barb near Canton and wins.
Zulu horseman and Impi moving east Macao toward the south.
Beijing settler -> swordsman in 6.
Irony horseman -> swordsman in 5.
Mountain View walls – barracks in 20.

Turn 10 – 50 AD
Garrison archer in Spacious Meadows.
Archer and SettlertoCoastline move one SW. Spy Barb camp to the south.
SettlertoGreenDot and swordsman move one south. Workers build road, complete in 2.
Worker skips turn in Canton.
Move swordsman at Canton one SW to take advantage of Zulu warrior’s 2 HP. We need to get him out of there on our next turn.

Great Zulu War Begins

Army vs. Impi at Ngome. Two Impi defenders. We take some hits, but Ngome is razed. 2-1.
Both vHorseman south of Ngome ruins wait with swordsman there.
Move workers, archer and SettlertoLightBlueDot one SE. Settler needs one more move to be in position – 2 turns.
vArcher at Hangchow moves north and kills Zulu scout.

Wrap-up and Handoff Notes

• The army is two E-NE of Mountain View, with 4/12 HP. Within two turns of them on the south side of the river are one rImpi, one rHorseman, and one rArcher. On the north side of the river are an rArcher (2/3), two rArchers, one rImpi, and one eHorseman. It seems Shaka has little faith in the barracks.
• That vWarrior (2/4) outside Canton needs to be dealt with, and I think we will be clean, though there might be one guy to the north in the fog.
• The men were never moved around Irony, so that chokepoint and border are still strong. A good fallback position if necessary.
• Destroying Ngome expanded Mountain View, of course, and with the army up there, we see there is quite a bit of space around that area. Enough for two cities eventually.
• I also see Shaka’s Dyes, which I believe he has only one of. A good tactic would be to sabotage that square, if we end up over there.
• According to CivAssist, Shaka has only 7 cities. I can see six of them on the map. Only one missing is his capital.
• The Zulu are in pretty bad shape, though they do have our Army surrounded, with a few fast units around. That army could be in trouble. If so, it is entirely my fault.
• Polytheism comes in 1 turn. We can’t turn down science; that puts us at 2 turns. We are at –19 gpt, with 63 in coffers.
• Didn’t have the chance to trade Republic to Shaka for his gold. I wish I had. It would have been very helpful, because our finances are about to cause a problem.

Pictures in next post. Save is attached.

 

[darski]

I knew Shaka wanted a war. in every game I played with old saves, he was determined to declare.

It doesn't sound like he has or is connected to iron yet.

He would be sending swords ->if he had them<- in his first foray.

 

[Yahya]

Core City

Spoiler :

Southwest

Spoiler :

Northwest

Spoiler :

Southeast

Spoiler :

War Zone

Spoiler :

 

[darski]

Zulu - yah gotta love 'em. Not a road near at hand .

 

[Aabraxan]

lurker's comment: Nice turnlog, Yahya! Easy to follow. I haven't looked at the save and likely won't have time, but judging from the turnlog:

. . . . Adjust Tsingtao citizens to optimize growth:settler production. Growing in 4, settler in 4.
Adjust Canton citizens to optimize growth:settler production. Growing in 6, settler in 5. . . . .

Nice work MMing these.

. . . . Zulu declare war (BIG mistake, Indy! BIG MISTAKE!).

Let's hear it for War Happiness!

. . . . Hurry walls in Mountain View for 8 gold. Seems like a great trade-off at this point.

I think that was a good buy.

. . . . Army vs. Impi at Ngome. Two Impi defenders. We take some hits, but Ngome is razed. 2-1. . . . .The army is two E-NE of Mountain View, with 4/12 HP. Within two turns of them on the south side of the river are one rImpi, one rHorseman, and one rArcher. On the north side of the river are an rArcher (2/3), two rArchers, one rImpi, and one eHorseman. It seems Shaka has little faith in the barracks.

I didn't expect the army to lose 8 HP attacking the first Zulu city. The AI won't attack healthy armies at this stage of the game, but your army is no longer healthy. At 4/12, Shaka just may attack it. I think you could win this war without it, but having a healthy army will make life much easier . . . for you, not Shaka. Get the army back to a rax to heal. You can hold off Shaka's troops with swords, spears and archers long enough for that to happen.

 

[Northen Wolf]

Oh, great, why do I get honor of fighting war...

Have not *yet* gotten save and am bit busy until Tuesday night(exams). Is that OK?

BTW:
How does army heal HP?

I know it does heal on neutral ground, enemy ground and towns. How much hp will it restore if healing on these(army of 3 swords)?

 

[CommandoBob]

Oh, great, why do I get honor of fighting war...

Have not *yet* gotten save and am bit busy until Tuesday night(exams). Is that OK?

Exams are more important than this. We can wait.

BTW:
How does army heal HP?

I know it does heal on neutral ground, enemy ground and towns. How much hp will it restore if healing on these(army of 3 swords)?

I haven't really studied how Armies heal but this is what I think I see.

Armies, in the open field, when they do not move, appear to heal by halves. Sounds strange, but let me explain.

Right now the Army is 4/12. If it doesn't do anything, it will heal half of it's damage. It lost 8 points, so 4 would be healed, bringing it back to 8/12. Next turn, if we left it alone, it would heal 2 points (half of the remaining damage), to be at 10/12. Turn 3 it would heal 1 (half of 2) and Turn 4 the last damage would be gone.

That's is not quite what I remember seeing, however. Close, but not completely accurate. As I mull it over, I think the actual formula is more like this: damage healed = ( Total HP - Current HP) divided by 2 and then add 1 to that number. In the field it takes an Army about 3 turns to get back to full strength, not four turns as the first formula shows.

 

[choxorn]

lurker's comment: Wow, you didn't even have to wait to start the war, Shaka started it for you!

@NW: If they're fortified outside of a city (even in enemy territory), they'll heal, at a rate of one HP per unit in the army. If they are fortified in a city without rax, well, I don't actually know (I never have a game where I have an army before I get Sun Tzu's Art of War... ). In a city with rax, they heal fully in one turn.

 

[Yahya]

One thing is for sure: that army really tore through the defenses at Ngome quite easily. But it lost many HP.

As long as I understand the mechanics correctly, it is important to note before doing anything else that there are at least two Zulu units within striking distance of that army in one turn: the Impi and Horseman to the southeast. They are two squares away, and can therefore get us on the IBT. I hope they hold.

If they do, we need to move them into protection, or move the protection to them, or both. They can't last three turns out there if Shaka decides he wants them gone. He have the luxury of a river between the army and most of Shaka's troops, so that is a plus.

Edit: And also, the archer to the west can strike on the IBT as well.

 

[vmxa]

Lurker:

AFAIK armies in a town without a barracks, will heal the same as outside. The barracks will heal 100%, IF all movement points intact. Not if you have not moved, as if you have rails you can move as much as you want and enter a barracks town and heal next turn.

This is very important in AW games as you can often run up a slave crew to rail under the cav army and then move it to a barracks.

 

[Northen Wolf]

I always thought it is like this:
*** Army has unique ability to heal everywhere, but only if no movement has been used that turn.

*On enemy/our lands it heals 1 hp per unit it has
*In town without rax 2 hp per unit
*Town with rax all hp (when army skips a turn)?

Or is recovering HP like CBob said it should be??

Also, Yahya, don't worry about that army so much, it still has 4 hp and 2 def rating+army def rating. Impi has 1 off rating and horse 2. Most likely army is not on "red" level of Hp, so it is unlikely for enemy to strike. And even if enemy does strike, we can still build Heroic Epic, and army has done some work for us

Also, do we raze all zulu towns? Or make peace and demand stuff?

 

[darski]

Also, Yahya, don't worry about that army so much, it still has 4 hp and 2 def rating+army def rating. Impi has 1 off rating and horse 2. Most likely army is not on "red" level of Hp, so it is unlikely for enemy to strike.

And even if enemy does strike, we can still build Heroic Epic, and army has done some work for us

Also, do we raze all zulu towns? Or make peace and demand stuff?

The army is in the red zone.

There are units (swords?) inside Mtn View who have movement available but I don't think they can get to our army - no roads.

They were exciting turns and great work Yahya. We have lift off

 

[Yahya]

True. The units in Mountain View cannot get there in one turn. Though, there might be one horseman there, so he can help. I advise checking for that. Good point.

Thre are at least two swords (either 3 swords, or 2 of them and one horse) in the square south of the army. They cannot move in one turn.

 

[darski]

Since the warring has begun... if we should get another leader, would it be worth it to use him to rush the HE? Armies are very useful of course.

We are militaristic, we should be able to get more MGLs and he would be in Beijing and done within 2 turns at most.

 

[Aabraxan]

lurker's comment:

True. The units in Mountain View cannot get there in one turn. Though, there might be one horseman there, so he can help. I advise checking for that. Good point.

Thre are at least two swords (either 3 swords, or 2 of them and one horse) in the square south of the army. They cannot move in one turn.

No, the horse in Mountain View cannot get there. The forest is unroaded (a 2-movement tile), and it looks like the horse might have to cross a river. You don't have Engineering.

Besides, if the army is attacked, the best defender on that tile will be first to defend. Which is the better defender: (1) a 4-HP sword army; or (2) a 4-HP horse? The army can either move SE or due S. The question is how to make it not be the best defender on the tile, if that's even possible.

 

[Yahya]

Ah, that is an interesting point. The only problem is that the army cannot move before the potential of an attack by the Zulu.

There is a chance he will move units into position first, but I doubt it. I wouldn't do that. Of course, he is an AI, but still.

 

[Aabraxan]

If the army cannot move, and nothing can move to protect the army, consider this: Is there another target you can offer? The AI will frequently go for what it perceives to be weaker or softer targets. If you run a search on the "Bikini Babe," you'll see where some outstanding players have used workers or scouts to bait the AI into moving where you want it to. Leaving cities empty is another common ploy.

 

[choxorn]

lurker's comment: Also, if the AI had brains, he'd send his Impis to kill the army if the archer and Horse failed.

As for the HE, it's probably the most useful wonder in the game (with the possible exception of the FP), so build it.

"0-Defense Unit baiting" is a rather useful tactic. The AI cannot resist undefended workers, settlers, and scouts. They also can't resist undefended cities, so another tactic is the "Empty City Lure", where you leave a city at/near the edge of your territory undefended. Make sure it can't be reached in one turn, and make sure you have a large amount of units outside. Anyway, the AI will immediately send the entirety of its army to that city, allowing you to use the units you have outside the city to pwn said army.

 

[darski]

Our worker could don that bikini and ...

he would not be attacked on that turn and we have stuff to keep him safe

Just one possible.

We could empty Macao but I think the Babe is a better lure.

 

[choxorn]

Or perhaps the Impi would go after the worker?