PH17: pholkhero and the Holy Grail

[pholkhero]

ahh cripes! i posted once and i got ate-en.

the gist of it:
good set nocho.
we finally got that gold site.
we're doing better than i thought.
if tally watns to play, he should and f- the roster.



and thanks for the commendations.

 

[Talamane]

OK, whosit's 3 days are up. This is a got it.

 

[Talamane]

I played 8 v boring turns so far. All of HC's former towns are out of revolt, we are emancipated and running free market. Rushed theatres in HC's towns before going to emancipation. We had six red faces in Moscow because everyone else was in emancipation.

Cuzco is the only problem, its culture was derived from buildings, so its borders are still getting trounced by China. Running two artists there.

Communism is out there so we must guard against KK and QSH getting too chummy and signing a perm alliance.

I have a couple of turns left to play. Comments or suggestions?

 

[Whosit]

Are permanent alliances enabled? And sorry about missing my turns. Totally forgot I was up. One of those weeks.

What are our odds looking like in a war vs. China? Or should we just write off Cuzco?

 

[Talamane]

I suspect pholk enabled perm alliances (on by default).

As for Cuzco, it is suffering the same way Machu P (a town QSH captured from HC in the previous war) suffered. It was the reason there was such bad blood between them. Cuzco has a theatre and i am running two artists--it should be fine, eventually.

 

[Talamane]

1660AD to 1708AD

I played 14 turns so as not to leave the next player with anarchy in progress. Lots of improvements, all of HC's former cities are out of revolt and have theatres. All the AIs were running emancipation, so not much choice (we had 6 red shirts in Moscow).

Of course, if the AI can't settle and steal a resource, it appoints the barbs to do it:

A couple of cossacks got promos from it and it auto razed.

Traded steel for corp, demo, astro with KK and QSH. KK's spy numbers showed me that he probably would have stolen it otherwise. Sold corp for some cash.

Two turns away from military science. I think KK has steam. Running 10% culture to help with border pops. Our civics are rep, emancipation, f market, and pacifism.

 

[pholkhero]

perm alliances is NOT eanbled so we should be alright in that dept.

save looks okay. FINALLY got a new computer so need to install BUG and BAT. i will play tomorrow. I think we should start thinking about next moves for victory ~

I'll install tonight and hopefully post soime comments.

 

[pholkhero]

well, there was no real need for comments. we are fairly trucking along. an assualt on QSH is th emost logical way to go imo. we have a DP now w/KK:

and a coherent attack plan:

we move NE to our first objective. It is lightly guarded as china has about 24 units in the capital. We take that and wait a few turns to see if the onslaught ocmes. If not, we move NE again to objective B and there await counter attack.

I think we should move by the end of next set and builbs have been set for military accordingly

DOH~ and we have a GA at cuzco...i thought a GA for maybe some culture help with the upcoming assualt..
ROSTER
pholkhero >> just played
nocho >> UP NOW
mc red >> on deck
Whosit
talamane

 

[nocho]

Okay, got it for somewhere this week!

I like a GA with the GA. I'd adopt nationalism, slavery and theo at least for during the GA to quickly beef up our military through draft and whip. We could go back to at least emancipation just before the GA ends. Otherwise I feel we need the more war oriented civics. I know generally drafting and whipping during a GA is not optimal, but well, we need military above all else, I'd say. Thoughts?

 

[Whosit]

Hmm, war-oriented Civics would definitely be helpful. I'd go with the Golden Age over Great Work (Culture Bomb) just because I don't think that the Bomb will penetrate China's dense culture, although it will still take a city out of revolt, so it could be useful.

The plan of attack is sound, though recall that we will void our Defensive Pact by declaring war. Too bad we can't bribe China to declare on us!

 

[Talamane]

Hmm, maybe i should explain (justify) the reasoning behind the civics i picked. I realize some of them are hardly ideal for war-mongering, but some of them like OR and bureau were not great either.

Representation was to give us +3 happy in our capital mostly. Not much in the way of science, btw.

Free speech was to help with border pops and get St Pete making some money again (built cottages), now that it has rice.

Emancipation was a no-brainer. Nearly half our total pop was red. Money and science were "dead in the water."

Free market gave us at least +30 gpt.

Pacifism, BION, also gave us more gpt. We still do not have enough military to make it a negative thing. And it doubles the rate we make GPs.

The idea was to get military science ASAP so we could make grenadiers. Then golden age with the GA or GS, flip to war civics, build more military, flip back to emancipation (or not) on the last turn of the golden age. Kill QSH.

 

[nocho]

Fired off the GA and switched civics to prepare for Qin.

Our diplomats are already getting a bit reckless with the Chinese in anticipation of fireworks.

Noticed that KK was in red fist mode and reasonably he could only have 1 target. He declares on Qin 4 turns into the set! Now we'll have to jump in otherwise the Mongols get al the booty. Decide to wait for 1 turn seeing if KK asks us to join. He doesn't, so:

Not much later we get Machu Pichu.

Then on the rather eventful last turn of the set we get Physics, no GS though sadly. Selected Artillery as a placeholder.

And look how KK just suicided a whole cavalry stack on Nanjing and what is left inside. Didn't dare to attack before with only cossacks, they are mighty units but still get terrible odds against riflemen in a city on a hill with huge cultural defenses. So I waited for the cannons and rifles to arrive, but with only 1 unit at 1.1 strength left in Nanjing I did dare to attack with a cossack. Note by the way that in the pic I got a scouting chariot selected in Shanghai (captured by KK) and all the units KK has in it.

Finally a broader overview of the battlefield.

Our cossacks could attack Beijing next turn (are NE of Shanghai now), but likely Qin will reinforce it and the odds don't look too good without additional units. But maybe KK will suicide some more troops for us, though it's a gamble either way. If we manage to get Beijing we may be able to cap Qin, before he does so to KK. Right now he won't cap (to us at least...).

We could change our civics back now, 1 turn is left of the GA. KK is in free religion, we could go for that as well. Emancipation too. Not sure whether to stay in nationalism or not, although likely when we eventually take on the monsterous Mongols we'll need to draft anyway. Drafted quite a bit during this set, by the way.

 

[Talamane]

Sweet! QSH and KK are both down in military now. Well done!
I spose we don't need any grenadiers, well maybe for KK.

 

[Whosit]

I only have time to say "nice war!" Sometimes having a psycho as a best friend isn't a bad deal. Very nice of KK to gift us Nanjing like that!

 

[pholkhero]

great job on the war and taking advantage of declaration ~ it's also funny that i meant to say culture bomb with the GA but wrote GA, but it was teh better move anyway

i think that we should take the risk. We've gotten places by being bold; now's not the time to be shy, eh??

ROSTER
pholkhero
nocho >> just played
mc red >> UP NOW
Whosit >> on deck
talamane

 

[mc-red]

Pholk, I am sorry but I have to ask for a skip again. Year end committments are playing havoc with my civ playing
Nice turnset Nocho.

Merry Christmas everyone and sorry for disappearing these last two turnsets.

 

[Whosit]

I'll try to get this tomorrow evening, or Weds. morning. I'll probably need some time to figure out what's all going on, too.

 

[pholkhero]

Pholk, I am sorry but I have to ask for a skip again. Year end committments are playing havoc with my civ playing
Nice turnset Nocho.

Merry Christmas everyone and sorry for disappearing these last two turnsets.

i surely can't find fault with you.

I'll try to get this tomorrow evening, or Weds. morning. I'll probably need some time to figure out what's all going on, too.

sounds good to me

 

[Whosit]

Well, my plans this morning changed suddenly and unexpectedly, so no set. I can see if I can get anything done this afternoon, but I have plans this evening, and I have to catch up on everything else I would have done today, so it's not terribly likely.

And as much as I'd like to, I probably won't get to it tomorrow or the day after (Friday). I'll swap with Talamane if he thinks he'll be able to play in the next couple of days, otherwise I'll just play after Tinsel Tree day.

 

[Talamane]

Well, my plans this morning changed suddenly and unexpectedly, so no set. I can see if I can get anything done this afternoon, but I have plans this evening, and I have to catch up on everything else I would have done today, so it's not terribly likely.

And as much as I'd like to, I probably won't get to it tomorrow or the day after (Friday). I'll swap with Talamane if he thinks he'll be able to play in the next couple of days, otherwise I'll just play after Tinsel Tree day.

Play in a couple of days, whosit. That's fine with me.
And Merry Christmas to all!