PH02: Eight Angry Men

[Munterpipe]

Hmmm. Allthose knights came in the last few turns. Scary. Our UU couldn't have neem better suited. It all boils down to if we think Otto will attack on the IBT. If yes, then we go for peace and gather our spoils. If no, then we push on dortmund. The AI is stupid, but not stuped enough not to attack, I think, so in my opinion, that peace offer is a pretty good deal.

 

[pholkhero]

Yeah, good point. If you think we might lose Hamburg, let's cut our losses for 10 turns and see where we stand then. How is our tech situation relative to the rest of the world??

 

[Lobsterboy]

We're behind, as you might expect. I think that Mao, at least, has Musketmen already.

As much as I'd like to take Franfurt now, I think the chances of losing Hamburg in the IBT are pretty high. Therefore, I think that I'll accept the treaty, build our defenses up a little to warn off Monty, and try to develop some offensive forces to finish off Genghis. Karakoram will finish a Phalanx next turn. Maybe we should try to build a Settler to snag the Horses to the W?

By holding on to Hamburg, we can see all of Germany's forces, so we will know, at least, what we are up against when the time comes to reconsider war.

 

[Munterpipe]

Agree. We got what we wanted from an unexpected war. Let's build up and finish of Ghengis.
After that, I think we'll be #1 in land, and should be able to be not to far behind in tech when we decide to go to war again.
What is the best time to expand millitary when you're a bit behind? Cannons?

Anyway, for now, I still don't feel safe from Monty or Otto. Let's use those ten turns to make a proper defence north and east, build up in the west.

If we can make Khans land into a commersial foundation of our empire together with Sparta and our other golden city, and the border cities towards our enemies a military machine, we can compete both in tech and power, in time.

The problem though, is that we don't have much time. The AI is much better at teching than at warring, so if we sit still to long, they will fly by.

Bah! I'm good at contradicting myself. Can someone please argue with me so that we can come up with some some sort of a plan?

 

[Lobsterboy]

I played my turns. I decided that discretion was the better part of valor, and signed the Peace Treaty with Bismarck:



After signing the treaty, I revolted to B-U-R-E-A-U-C-R-A-C-Y and Serfdom in order to speed the rebuilding or our infrastructure around Athens and Thermopylae.

After this, it was 10 quiet turns. I think only one build finished - a Phalanx in Karakoram. Our Elephants are back on line, so I started one there.

I my previous post I promulgated the importance of taking Frankfurt for the Horses. I now realize that we already have Horses outside of Karakoram (DOH! ). Still, it would be nice to take it to give Hamburg some room to grow.

I didn't move too many units around, although I did send a few CR Macemen toward Karakoram to prepare for the Final Solution to the Mongol problem.

On my last turn, I noticed this:



What could Monty be up to I wonder??

The next player might want to revolt back to Slavery! Thermo and Harappan are still rather lightly defended, so we might want to whip a few units.

Good luck boys!

 

[frankcor]

I've got the save and I'm playing now.

 

[Lobsterboy]

@Frank: I forgot to mention it, but I think that we should chop the forests N of Athens to deny the 50% defensive bonus to would-be attackers. Obviously, the chops will also help speed up unit production as well.

 

[pholkhero]

good turns, lobster. I do think peace was the best here. oh, and serfdom, i thought you never used Serfdom

As munter and you both said, take out Mongolia, try to flip that chinese city, consolidate, and prepare for the next war.

Frank, on vacation?? Definitely chop those forests. Ever since the nerfed chops, i find myself specifically chopping forests for the shields much less, but it is imperative for defense purposes. Perhaps we can use the chops to help build some troops from Athens.

 

[Lobsterboy]

good turns, lobster. I do think peace was the best here. oh, and serfdom, i thought you never used Serfdom

Heh. As I was doing it, I KNEW you were going to call me on that! Maybe I am learning something from these SGs after all...

 

[frankcor]

I'm on it chief! (yeppers, I'm vacating)

Meanwhile, I've looked at our cities and have some thoughts on specialization:

Thermopylae - production city -- needs lots of farms. Build Heroic Epic (currently 11 turns), West Point and Pentagon here.

Karakorum - science/commerce -- preserve some (4?) forests for production.

Sparta -- commerce -- but Ironworks might go well here too.

Additions, deletions, changes? Have at it. I've marked the cities with signs so we can discuss over the next few turnsets.

 

[pholkhero]

Heh. As I was doing it, I KNEW you were going to call me on that! Maybe I am learning something from these SGs after all...

haha!

Frank ~ don't forget, too, that we're going to try and use Athens for GPF. We ahven't been taking advantage of our Philo. Aggressive, sure! Phil, not so much ~

 

[GreyFox]

With buerocracy in, we can finally execute the plan we had long long ago ... shift the capitol to Sparta.

 

[frankcor]

I've got a lunch date. I've played my turns and didn't make anyone but Napoleon angry at me. (Cautious, not war ). I'll be back to post in a couple hours.

 

[Lobsterboy]

Frank, you're always such a Tease!

 

[frankcor]

Inherited Turn (1466 AD)
Sparta finishes: Catapult
Corinth finishes: Granary

As I start, I see we have to wait 2 turns before we can revolt again. I plan to wait 4 turns until Guilds comes in and then revolt to Slavery and Vassalage to build up our military. Hopefully, Monty will wait for us.

Turn 1 (1472 AD)
Sparta begins: Horse Archer
Corinth begins: Work Boat
Sparta grows: 9
Harappan finishes: Catapult

Turn 2 (1478 AD)
Harappan begins: Horse Archer
Thermopylae finishes: Maceman
Karakorum grows: 9

Turn 3 (1484 AD)
Thermopylae begins: Heroic Epic
Tech learned: Guilds
Athens finishes: Crossbowman

Turn 4 (1490 AD)
Research begun: Engineering
Research begun: Theology
Research begun: Engineering
I waver here. We can get Engineering in 14 turns or Theology in 6. I finally go for Engineering -- we won't be able to revolt to Theocracy in 6 turns anyways because we're revolting to Slavery and Vassalge now. Two turns of Anarchy.

Turn 5 (1496 AD)
I move our Phalanx out on a peninsula and get a peek at Tabriz, a new Mongolian city west of Karakorum.

IBT:

Napoleon demands we cancel our deals with the Japanese. He goes from Pleased to Cautious when I dissent.
Also:

Turn 6 (1502 AD)
We come out of anarchy. We lose 95 gold/turn at 100% research (down from -93 before revolting to Vassalage/Slavery. I move the research slider to 0% (+66/turn) to build up some cash for binary research.

Hamburg begins: Library <-- no more rioting here. There's a -2 food deficit here if I work all available tiles. I can whip a theater for 1 pop, instead I whip the library for 4 pop.

Turn 7 (1508 AD)
Khan has a Settler/Longbowman combo moving northeast out of Tabriz.
Hamburg finishes: Theatre

IBT: Montezuma finishes Notre Dame. Goody!

Turn 8 (1514 AD)
Hamburg begins: Buddhist Temple < First Border pop here in about 13 turns.
Athens grows: 6
Athens finishes: Knight
Sparta finishes: Knight

Turn 9 (1520 AD)
Athens begins: Maceman
Sparta begins: Maceman
Knight promoted: Flanking I
Knight promoted: Flanking II
Knight promoted: Combat I
Knight promoted: Combat II
Karakorum finishes: War Elephant

Turn 10 (1523 AD)
Karakorum begins: Knight < there was a settler in the queue here. Did I miss something?
War Elephant promoted: Flanking I
War Elephant promoted: Flanking II

We've been running binary research, averaging about 40%. That puts Engineering 10 turns away.

We can chop then whip Heroic Epic in Thermopylae, there's a 2-worker team finishing up a road right there. I just whipped Macemen in Sparta and Athens, there's plenty of happiness in both cities. Bring those two macemen to the western front and we can finish the elimination of Khan. It's time -- he's spawning settlers.

 

[frankcor]

Frank ~ don't forget, too, that we're going to try and use Athens for GPF. We ahven't been taking advantage of our Philo. Aggressive, sure! Phil, not so much ~

Good deal. I added a sign for Athens and I've marked two floodplains north of Athens for farming. They'll support two specialists each. And there's plenty more irrigated grasslands in the fat cross. We'll need to build some temples so we can add some priests to grow a Prophet. There's one priest working there already.

 

[frankcor]

With buerocracy in, we can finally execute the plan we had long long ago ... shift the capitol to Sparta.

Uh oh, cut a switch. Frankcor's going back to the woodshed.

I ... uh ... revolted to Vassalage instead. We can research Theology next and then revolt to berokracy/theocracy and still get decently promoted war units.

 

[Lobsterboy]

I put 1 turn into the Settler in Karkoram with the idea to settle where Tabriz is now in order to get the Horses. When I realized we already had Horses at Karakoram, I switched the build.

 

[Munterpipe]

Good turns Frank. Are there any good trade options we can go for? And next player should start the Palace in Sparta. That's +50% science, guys, from three gold mines!

 

[pholkhero]

Frank, you're always such a Tease!

that's what his date said

good turns, however i think you suffer from the same disease i have "Nevercancellitis" where you will not allow yourself to give in to demands from other civs to cancel deals. I think with that lame-brain Toku (wherever he is on the continent) we would've been safe to cancel our deals with him (what did we have anyway??). However, whenever anybody asks something like that, my initial gut reaction is: "how DARE you presume to ask something of me!"

Also, i think we should move out of slavery, too, soon for good and let our cities grow, grow, GROW!

@ Fox: Good (re)call! I forgot all about Munter's idea.

I guess i'll have to tear myself away from Ragnar tonight and our impending conquest of Arabia. I'm going to just try and focus on some builder turns, start the palace, and get an army ready to take out Genghis. I'll also ensure our border cities have adequate defense.

Frank > just played
Pholk > UP NOW
Fox > on deck
Munter >
Lobster >