PH05: THe Honorable Emperor Spaceman

[Ozbenno]

Yeah what those guys said re the reload! Often the train wreck type SGs are the most fun!

Anyway, I'd attach the GG to a warrior if we have one for a medic III now, free upgrades later.

Re the patch, I'm a complete techno-moron so I'd prefer not to have two versions running about. I'm confused at the best of times. If we patch here and DMAW and VQ no problems.

 

[Sweetacshon]

Yep, I should be punished for reloading... I never do it in my games, but I didn't want to ruin everyones game.

Ahh.. the save View attachment 141297
I was too busy thinking about the I was going to have.

There is a warrior with Combat I and Medic I in Boston that could be suitable for the GG.

 

[Zophos]

There is a warrior with Combat I and Medic I in Boston that could be suitable for the GG.

I usually prefer to use a mounted unit for the Medic III. You get more mobility all the way through history, get extra retreat chances, and eventually get to upgrade to a gunship (which are far and away the best M*A*S*H units). We'd going to mostly avoid attacking with this unit anyway, so I'd pick a chariot or HA with 6+ XP, drop all 20 XP onto it and take Combat I, Medic I/II/III, and Flanking I (looking for Sentry if you can get one more promo). It makes a GREAT support unit for your city-killing SoD, and it can even pillage along the way.

If we KNEW we'd have the patch soon, though, I might go for the academy, just 'cuz we can.

 

[pholkhero]

well, too late ~ i did as advised for the warrior. Nothing too eventful happened during my turns. I whipped a little, lost some battles, won more. Brennus is still sending 1 or 2 chariot stacks to New York, so I've got a several units collecting there. I don't think there's any other hope of an offensive, but maybe a pillaging campaign?? I don't know.

I tried to only play 9 to even up the turn count, but went 10 by mistake. On my last turn, i contacted some people, but didn't make any trades. Here's some food for thought:

Peace?

I hate the word! No deal yet, my friend.

And here's some trade we could make, all for Alphabet:

I didn't make any, but maybe we should at this point.

Here's the roster and save:
Roster
Pholkhero > just played
Zophos > on deck, and up if Xerol is still AWOC (absent w/o civ )
Ozbenno >
RoboKai >
RemConius >
Xerol > UP NOW if he can play today
Sweetacshun >

And here's the Save, un-reloaded

 

[Ozbenno]

I'd make some trades. What are we researching? I'd stagger the trades over a couple of turns to allow us to get Polytheism to research Literature to enable Great Library (will be hard to win without this) in Washington.

 

[Zophos]

Ok...I'm on hold. I'll pick it up if Xerol can't play or doesn't post a 'got it' within 24 hours or so.

And those trades look pretty tempting, I must say. We could REALLY use IW right around now (rather than 27 turns from now). Looks like the only real choice is Mysticism vs. Masonry. Masonry is (a) more expensive, and (b) on the road to both construction (for cats) and monotheism (prereq for Monarchy->HR), so I'd go for that. Also, if we trade Alphabet on consecutive turns, we may even get more for it (e.g. pick up hunting from one guy, archery from another the next turn, or Mysticism then Polytheism/Meditation).

Brennus, of course, can kiss our collective ass. Let's get IW and put some real hurtin' on him.

EDIT: Crossposted with Oz, and I think his argument for Mysticism/Polytheism is better than mine for Masonry.

 

[Meatbuster]

Only Peter is offering Math, so I would take Louis' deal now, then see if we can get Math + Poly (+ Archery? + Masonry?) from Peter next turn (hopefully and likely Peter already has Polygamy Polytheism since he has Mysticism). ...and maybe some more cool beans from Bismarck.

 

[Xerol]

I won't be able to "got it" until Tuesday (when I'll be able to go into work and get my Warlords CD) and won't be able to play until either Tuesday night or Wednesday.

 

[Ozbenno]

Peter doesn't have Mysticism!

I'd trade to Peter (for Mathematics and whatever) and Bismark (for IW plus whatever) first turn. Hopefully Louis has Polytheism and we can trade it to him second turn (no way of knowing who has it without Mysticism) for Alphabet or Mathematics. We should be able to pick up Archery too in the deal.

Brennus does have Polytheism (as he founded Hinduism) but he's a prick!

 

[Zophos]

More food for thought: We've got no money. We're at 10% science. And we're losing 1 gpt.

Oh, and we've got zilch for trade routes (at war w/ Brennus and the Jap owns both coasts). We have a holy city, but bt shrine, and NO GPP so far in any city.

Needless to say, we've got a bit of an economic problem...

 

[Meatbuster]

Hmm... didn't see that Peter doesn't have Mysticism... oh well, grab it as long as we get Iron...

We can recover that gold/research rate soon as long as we have land AND we can keep Brennus out.

Now this is exctingly becoming the train wreck SG someme of us have been hoping for and some others (like me) may have had a hand in causing.

 

[Ozbenno]

We're at 10% and -1gpt. Time for some consolidation and mass cottage building.

 

[mutax2003]

Lurker's Comment: The cost for city maintenance is high on emperor level. For case with a rival closeby, it might be more feasible to build two cities, and then chop/whip axes/chariots your opponent and take cities from him. Also build units to conquer are mostly likely faster than building settler yourself, and you are making yourself stronger in power, so other civs are less likely to attack you.

Edit: Just had a look over your rules, which forbids you to initiate a war, I guess that kind of limited your options in the early game.

 

[Meatbuster]

Well we ARE already at war, and now that we've been declared on we won't peace out until he begs for mercy.

 

[remconius]

I think we have a few cottages, might just be a case of rearranging pop to work more commerce tiles to recover cash issues. We might need a few more cottages.

I do like trading around alphabet, it would put us level with the AI for now. Then lets find some techs the AI doesnt like to discover so we can trade it. Maybe literature first though.

Regarding war, I guess because we cant declare we have to try to take down Brennus as far as we can before we sign peace. Definitely dont give him any cities, unless it's the only way to survive.

 

[Sweetacshon]

I agree, we can pretty much get tech parity... it's just one of those situations where you have to be careful what order you do the trades in, so we can bag all the religious ones as well.

 

[pholkhero]

I say, Trade Away, Zophos. I trust you're crunching-ability to get a fair deal for us.

Was your other post a got it??

 

[Zophos]

I say, Trade Away, Zophos. I trust you're crunching-ability to get a fair deal for us.

Was your other post a got it??

Thanks for the vote of confidence.

Yes, that was a 'got it' - I should be able to play tonight. Then it's up to Oz whether he wants to squeeze in a set before Xerol has his act together tomorrow.

 

[Zophos]

And without further ado, the next episode of "The Little Spaceman that Could"

Inherited Turn - 350BC
359 turns left, eh? Ok...I'll play 9. I see we've whipped the sh-t out of our cities, so I'll go easy on the oppressed Americans.

As for trades, I'll go with Louis first:



For grins, I start on Polytheism next. Now...did we win the Iron Lotto?



Now, THAT's what I'm talking about! Let's get a worker over there, and get him started....huh? There's another one?



Right under Atlanta!?! So we can use it right away? I love it.

Finally, I MM Washington to balance the budget. Press Enter.

IBT - Brennus sends a chariot up toward New York.

Turn 1 - 325 BC
New York finishes Chariot -> Swordsman (7 turns). Judaism spreads to Boston. I move the slider up to 20% with balanced budget.

More trading. Gotta make it count - the AIs may start trading amongst themselves after this.

First, we squeeze Bismark a bit:




Finally, we get what we can from Peter:



All in all, we got a good price for the tech. And we can now research Literature for HE/Great Lib/trade. Start it up. Only 32 turns. For the record, Mono is 17t, Priesthood is 9t.

And...now that Warriors are obsolete, the ones in build queues appear to have become Spears. Leave 'em to continue.

I send our Combat II/Formation chariot out to slap Brennus' chariot around.



It wins, and I send another chariot out to cover it 'til next turn.

With hunting available, I start a camp on the furs down south for the happiness.

IBT - A barb archer wanders out of the fog near Washington. We've got a single Warrior in our capital, so this is cause for concern.

Turn 2 - 300 BC
Boston: Barracks -> Spear (partially complete, must have been a Warrior in the queue)

I yank the Chariot out of Tolosa to cover Washington. Risky, but we can't afford to lose the capital.

IBT - A Japanese scout shows up in Brennus' territory.

Turn 3 - 275 BC
Philly grows to size 3. Build, work, Oh, and everyone pulls back into NY to heal with the GG there.

IBT - Another chariot and a HA show up near NY. Great.

Turn 4 - 250 BC
The chariot near Washington takes out the barb Archer.

Hunker down in NY - we can't take the HA in the field. Just hope they're stupid enough to attack the city.

NY, by the way, is now unhappy at size 3, thanks to whip anger.

IBT - Brennus' HA and Chariot attack NY. And we take both out.

Turn 5 - 225 BC
Washington: Worker -> Archer. I shift the chariot back to Tolosa to heal.

Slider up to 30%, losing 1 gpt. Better, but not good yet.

IBT - A HA appears near Tolosa and attacks. Fortunately, we appear to have finished a Spear there IBT, too, and it kills the HA.

And Brennus STARTS to see the light:



He's not bright enough to actually GIVE us anything to go away, so I tell him to kiss off. We're holding our own, and WW doesn't seem to be a problem anywhere.

Turn 6 - 200 BC
Tolosa: Spear -> Library. Huh? Forget that. Queue up a Sword instead.

And look what everyone else has been up to:



And yet another HA shows up near NY. We hope he's as dumb as the last one.

IBT - No attack @ NY. Instead, the HA pillages our cottaged floodplains.

Turn 7 - 175 BC
Washington: Archer -> Axe. (with a chop in there) And we have a new happy in the city (from fur), so we can grow again!

Still can't do anything about that HA at NY. Batten down the hatches and ride it out. In Atlanta, I whip the Library so that we can start working those d--n clams sometime.

IBT - More pillaging in NY. Confucianism FIADL.

Turn 8 - 150 BC
NY: Sword -> Spear. Wish I'd done that sooner, but who knew? And, of course, the Sword has 31% to kill the HA. Grrrr. Move a spear up from Tolosa to 'handle' the situation.

IBT - HA pillages a road N of NY, and could take out our horses next turn. Now I'm getting annoyed.

Turn 9 - 125 BC
Send the spear to take out that HA at NY:



Decent odds, but he dies. The sword finishes him off, though.



And that's my set. Summary and save in next post.

 

[Zophos]

We have 350 turns left, so I guess it's a good place to stop. Odd year for it though.

Tech outlook:



We have NOTHING on any AIs we know. However, there will be some techs to get for Literature. Just be sure to wait until we have the Great Library.

Oh, and since we lost another unit, Brennus has gotten a swelled head again:



I don't see how we could take Vienne without Catapults (60% cultural defense), so perhaps I should have taken peace for free when I had the chance. I haven't really taken the fight to Brennus yet, because I've been trying to get some units built up while letting whip anger fade a bit.

Workers are on the way to rebuild the pillaged cottages near NY, but I expect Brennus will be back again. I also have a chariot overlooking Vienne, just to give us some warning when he comes for us again.

Finally...the save.