Pmod01 - A lightly modded SG

[Thy_Spellcraft]

Sorry for the delay, but I had some probs with the net..

But finally here's the report:

Pre-flight:
Did a bit micro to keep our people in York and Nottingham happy.

300 BC:
Courthouses in Notingham and York finished. I started on temples in both cities. And the science slider had to go down to 80%.

250 BC:
Whiped the settler in London.

200 BC:
One of our charriots got attacked by a barb warrior and killed him without any damage. And we got lucky another time: Conf spread to Hastings.

150 BC:
Currency is in and as we decided to go the war route I went on with iron working. The temple in Nottingham finished and I went on with a market.

75 BC:
York finished his temple and went on with a Library.

50 BC:
Hastings whiped it's Granary and went on with the court.

25 BC:
London finished his temple as well and started on building military. And a GP wbidl.. Someone bulbed him to..

1 AD:

Spoiler :

25 AD:
Iron working is in and I changed tech to construction as we'll need at least a few cats..

50 AD:
We founded Canterbury:

Spoiler :

And another barb city got burned by our mighty charriots. Unfortenutaly we lost one at 76 odds but we've got at least a lvl 3 unit..

Spoiler :

75 AD:
As we can see we did quite a good job:

Spoiler :

150 AD:
The library in york finished and I changed to a monastery. And this is the point I finished playing.

So there is a sword, a spear and two charriots on the way to Hastings, and two more sword are on the build. So the next player is up to finish the SoD with some cats and axes..

 

[pnaxighn]

I think we're going to need to focus more on military if we want to take down SB. Prince+ AIs, especially protective ones, can be stubborn if you don't really bear down on military production.

 

[silk1976]

I think we're going to need to focus more on military if we want to take down SB. Prince+ AIs, especially protective ones, can be stubborn if you don't really bear down on military production.

In the other SG I'm playing, I found out the hard way that SB's protective long bows are a real pain in the ass. So I think the next turnset (who is up next?) should focus on military and keeping good scouting on SB so we know what we are up against.

 

[pnaxighn]

In the other SG I'm playing, I found out the hard way that SB's protective long bows are a real pain in the ass. So I think the next turnset (who is up next?) should focus on military and keeping good scouting on SB so we know what we are up against.

Cripp's up, then me.

I think the priority should be catapults. We won't win the efficiency battle, but we can surprise SB with a significant numbers advantage. If our stack is massive enough that he can't attack it, we can take down his defenses, then attack with CR cats. Again, we'll lose a lot of cats this way, but the collateral damage will eventually let us overpower him.

I'll check the power graphs/tech screen (though not tonight) so I can be more specific, but I'm sticking with "hooray, cats!" as a general strategic offering.

 

[cripp7]

I checked the power graph and we're way down, but not bad. I'll switch to war mode and start pumping out units. Swords/axes/cats/medic chariot you know the routine. I'll play today

Pre-turn
Upgrade our Charlie & Bo chariots to a Medic I and Shock ut them on heal to send them on scouting patrol once healed in 1t
Switch York to max growth in 1t and then hire eggheads to speed up Construction
London sword due in 1t then barracks
SB has a chariot & settler visible going where? Also he has HBR due in 3t so HAs are going to be up, spears need to be tagging along in our stack for defense

Turn 122
London sword>barracks in rt growth in 2
York 2pop on monastery
Willey goes forward to scout SB capital
SB's settler going toward south of our copper

Turn 123
slider bleed -6@90% 0 drop to 70% +2gpt Construction due in 2t
York monastery>sword hire 2 eggs
Nottingham sword>spear
London 2pop for barracks growth in 1t
SB's settler 2S of copper
Charlie sent west to scout

Turn 124
London barracks>sword
Hastings courthouse growth in 1t
SB's settler going toward our city marker
Construction due next turn
Bo sent scouting

Turn 125
Construction in dial up Monarchy cuz we need the

Spoiler :

London barracks>cat
York sword>cat
Nottingham spear>cat
Hastings court>cat
SB settled 1E of our city marker but has a chariot for garrison with a barb spear next to it, hopefully our barb friend will help us out

Spoiler :

Turn 126
Nottingham cat>cat
SB parked another chariot so barb was no help

Turn 127
zzz


Turn 128
York cat>sword

Turn 129
London cat>sword
Nottingham cat>cat
SB has 8 cities up right now but only has dogs/protective archers, teching alpha in 4t so we can see what he has for techs. Know he doesn't have IW yet!

Turn 130
York cat>axe
Nottingham cat>cat
Hastings cat>barracks

Turn 131
Canterbury granary growth in 1t
London celebrate "We love you day" hire 2 eggs to help Monarchy in 2t
Conf spread to Mound City
SB has another settler going south, he's REXing fast now, but our war machine is getting bigger 6sword/2axe/2spear/5cats/3chariot

Turn 132
London sword>spear
Canterbury granary>WB
Nottingham cat>cat

Turn 133
Monarchy in dial up MC for forges, revolt

Spoiler :

Nottingham cat>cat
Canterbury wb>library
GP born in London, put to sleep

Spoiler :

Turn 134
Out of revolt
Save here

Right now we have 7sword/7cat/2axe/2spear/3chariot
Tech situation

Spoiler :

And the world view

Spoiler :

War machine is gearing up, we can raze cities in the south and keep a few in the N. I think capturing SB capital then go south.

 

[pnaxighn]

I'll likely have a very build-up oriented round, and leave the war to the next person.

Additionally: got it.

 

[pnaxighn]

IBT: Micro everything towards military. Get ready for whipping in most cities. Drop research rate -- we'll need about 150 gold to go 100% and get through MC, we're at 16, and I like cash on hand for events and emergency upgrades.

Turn 1: Axeman in York, whipped rax in Hastings. Both build cats. Whip the cat in Nottingham -- it's a 1-pop whip, we have spare happies, it's not growing, and we were working mediocre tiles. Send a worker working on a cottage at York to help mine near London.

Turn 2: Nottingham's whipped cat comes in, and I queue up another. The overflow will complete the vast majority of this one, making it 2-turn cat. The continuing presence of mediocre tiles makes me hungry to whip again, but I don't want to deal with the penalty, so I'll do it next turn.

York 2-pops a cat, since it's running low on happies. Micro Canterbury so it can whip a rax ASAP.

Turn 3: London goes spear->spear. Not whipping here since its production is good enough.

York goes cat->cat. Huge overflow, but York's sucky production means 3 turns. Assuming I don't whip of course. Which I will, next turn.

Canterbury whips its rax, and will grow back the pop next turn.

Hastings whips its cat, which should massively overflow. Who needs to work 2f/1h forest tiles, anyway?!

Turn 4: Nottingham goes cat -> cat. I'm reluctant to whip here, as the city is now massively efficient: I'd be whipping anyway mines.

Hastings goes cat -> spearman. Walls next. Surprised? Yeah, this city is right on the edge of SB's lands, and I don't want anything untoward happening. It can afford to do this, too -- NINE spare happies, and tons of food. I'm even chopping a nearby tree for an additional farm, which will provide more food AND a bunch of hammers.

Canterbury: rax -> spearman. This will be whippable next turn, which is convenient. Anything over 37 hammers would not be, and that's everything but spear/sword.

York whips its cat (it was one turn due to growth, but this city needs more whipping!).

Turn 5: London spear->sword, given that this will give us 2 spears/stack, which is fine by me. York cat->cat, Hastings spear->wall (see above).

Canterbury whips the spear, putting it in that happy place where it will grow again next turn. Queue up an axe, since we're set on spears now (this one will hang around and reinforce anywhere SB gets ornery).

Still can't 100% our way to MC, but we can get it at 80%, and we're more efficient on science than money right now. Some markets would be great...

Turn 6: We see HAs from SB for the first time. Luckily, he's loading them into one of the cities we'll be hitting first. They can suicide on our spears, our "defend" the city (get slaughtered by cats) -- great!

Nottingham goes cat->axe, as it can churn out axes in 2 turns, but cats in 3, and we could use some more cleaner-uppers for after collat has taken down defenders.

What a slow turn!

Turn 7: Sword->cat in London. London can keep churning out military to reinforce stacks as we go. Additionally, one of its new mines pops silver! Sweet!

Canterbury whips another axe. Note that this city is now producing an axe EVERY OTHER TURN (food is always plentiful), despite being tiny and new. This is just as good as Nottingham's 19h/t can do, though admittedly Canterbury will need some happy soon.

York "grows", by which I mean "whips". It, too, will not be in whippable shape much longer.

Turn 8: Cat->axe in York, Axe->Spear in Nottingham, Walls->cat in Hastings, axe->axe in Canterbury.

Turn 9: Axe -> cat in York. Canterbury whips down to 7/5 on the happy scale. Its growth next turn will bring it to 7/6, and since I plan on playing a 10 turn set, this will be the last I whip it. Hopefully with a little though it can start growing as happies come back or are otherwise added (buildings, silver coming online).

We have now FIRMLY overtaken SB in power.

Turn 10: Cat -> chariot in London, Cat->chariot in Nottingham, which is also microed to work 2 merchants (it has market for its shrine), cat->chariot in Hastings (chariots? Yeah, they're good for reinforcing, so I like to switch to them just before a war), axe->colosseum in Canterbury (another piece of keeping its happies up),

Summary: we have two stacks, one south of Hastings and one north-west of it, prepared to smash SB. We have more military coming (and some chariots, which will get there quickly). MC is coming in at -12 cash/turn, but with 85 cash (7 turns worth) and 5 turns left. I've whipped very, very heavily, but not so badly that we shouldn't be able to grow our cities if desired. Calendar will help with this, as well.

The next player should almost certainly declare war on SB within the first couple turns of his set. There's a bunch more units available, some on the road to the front, some hanging around Nottingham. I have, hopefully, removed all their go-to orders. SB cannot research Feudalism. So no longbows for him. He's actually working on MC as well, so he's pretty screwed.

I totally forgot about our GP. Drat. I nominate settling him in Nottingham. It's our long-term Wall Street city, and it already has a market. The +cash will let us research significantly faster, and Nottingham actually builds well enough that the hammers are good, too. Annoyed I forgot him, or I'd have done this at the beginning of my set, and would have another 14 or so hammers and 40 or so cash to our credit. Ah, well.

We'll want to build settlers and workers after this war, since SB's city placement was all wrong, and we'll want to resettle our continent. So much to do, so little time.

 

[cripp7]

Got it! will take a look at the save. I hope the rax was a sword, looks like a lot of axes. but sounds like a lot of units, do a edit and post how many units in each stack

 

[Thy_Spellcraft]

Isn't it silk who's up?

 

[silk1976]

Isn't it silk who's up?

Yeah I think I'm up next. Might be able to play tonight.

But I like Cripp's enthusiasm

 

[silk1976]

Hey Pnax -

Long story short - I'm trying to play my turnset on my laptop (on the road this week), where I have BTS 3.17 installed as well as the SG1Mod, and the BUG mod installed in the MODS folder.
When i load the save, it pops up with an error saying that the save game is protected so ensure that contents in the assets folder have not been changed.

Obviously in the course of things - something must have gotten changed in the assets folder. So is there any way to tell what it is looking at when it decides something has been altered?

I'll keep wailing on it for a bit - but if I can't figure it out in the next hour or so, I'll have to punt and take my turnset tomorrow afternoon/evening when I get home.

 

[pnaxighn]

Hey Pnax -

Long story short - I'm trying to play my turnset on my laptop (on the road this week), where I have BTS 3.17 installed as well as the SG1Mod, and the BUG mod installed in the MODS folder.
When i load the save, it pops up with an error saying that the save game is protected so ensure that contents in the assets folder have not been changed.

Obviously in the course of things - something must have gotten changed in the assets folder. So is there any way to tell what it is looking at when it decides something has been altered?

I'll keep wailing on it for a bit - but if I can't figure it out in the next hour or so, I'll have to punt and take my turnset tomorrow afternoon/evening when I get home.

No big deal -- I like to be prompt with SGs, but I'm not a whip-cracker like some folks around here.

I really have no clue why you'd get that error -- not unless you have corrupted files or something. But I'm still somewhat new to modding -- maybe someone on the modding forum could advise you?

 

[pnaxighn]

Got it! will take a look at the save. I hope the rax was a sword, looks like a lot of axes. but sounds like a lot of units, do a edit and post how many units in each stack

Appreciate the got it, even if it isn't yours "rax" is shorthand for "barracks" -- "bear-RAX" -- not axe. So don't worry too much about that. I haven't looked specifically, but I'd say it's about a dozen units per stack, and about half of that is catapults.

And we *still* haven't run into the modded component of this game.

 

[cripp7]

Appreciate the got it, even if it isn't yours "rax" is shorthand for "barracks" -- "bear-RAX" -- not axe. So don't worry too much about that. I haven't looked specifically, but I'd say it's about a dozen units per stack, and about half of that is catapults.

And we *still* haven't run into the modded component of this game.

whoops my bad. still think we more swords for the one stack. plenty of cats, post a who's next after each turnset so we(me) knows

 

[pnaxighn]

whoops my bad. still think we more swords for the one stack. plenty of cats, post a who's next after each turnset so we(me) knows

We really won't need any swords, I don't think. Cats will bombard defenses to 0% while axe/spear defend against SB's counters, if any, then cats suicide (all should go CR route, don't upgrade the bombarding) against defenders. By the time a unit that can win a combat attacks, the defenders will all be at 3- strength, and we could walk in with chariots if we wanted.

That said, swords make things easier, and higher %, but I'd rather have the cats. Collateral is key (just ask Mao).

 

[silk1976]

I really have no clue why you'd get that error -- not unless you have corrupted files or something. But I'm still somewhat new to modding -- maybe someone on the modding forum could advise you?

From what I could gather - it is a result of having the 'no cheating' option enabled. Before I found that out, I didn't know if maybe the mod had something in it where it checked for very specific files or what not.

Either way - I'll have a chance to play my set today when I get home.

In the past, I did rename some of the sounds directories on my laptop. I thought I set everything back to default and normal, but apparently not. I'll probably just reinstall.

 

[silk1976]

And we *still* haven't run into the modded component of this game.

Yeah I've been wondering about that...

 

[pnaxighn]

Yeah I've been wondering about that...

Must be a different continent...

 

[silk1976]

Dunno WTH that was all about. I got home, changed the windowed mode option in BTS (to enable it, for faster switching in and out of BTS), and couldn't load the save at home either. Changed the windowed mode back to disabled, and still couldn't load. Ended up uninstalling and reinstalling the whole damn thing. Don't have a clue why changing from full screen to windowed mode would cause the game to consider that to be a cheat. I'll have to test it out later.

Anyway, 'ere we go:
Situation scan: Keep an axe back in Hastings for defense. Its a border town.

Turn 145
London: Chariot > catapult. Gonna need lots of cats against SB protective bow's

Turn 146
zzz (maneuvering into DoW position

Turn 147
nottingham: chariot > axe
Hastings: chariot > spear
SB has mostly archers and a few chariots - so chariots that receive no bonuses vs those units dont seem to be the best option.

DoW on SB. Hey, thanks for the worker!

Spoiler :

Turn 148
London: cat > cat

adjust slider to 40% - having military in enemy lands skyrockets our maint costs

Turn 149
AP built in far away land
SB attempts to sneak a chariot. Our spear has other ideas

Spoiler :

Attack random archer in open - much easier when he's not in city, where he gets +125%

Spoiler :

Turn 150
Metal casting > machinery. It's a prereq for maces, which would be nice - and its necessary for trebs as well.

bombard poverty point

Move slider down to 10% - highest setting where we wont go broke

Turn 151
Technically, we suck.

Spoiler :

begin bombardment of cahokia. This will take a turn or two.

throw cats at poverty point. This will suck, with these odds

Spoiler :

Surprisingly, we only lose 2 cats.

SUCK IT, SB! We capture Poverty Point.

Spoiler :

Not sure whether to keep or not. Decide to raze


Turn 152
Continue bombarding cahokia. Move PP assault group towards cahokia to join in on the fun

Turn 153
Settle GP in nottingham

finish bombarding cahokia. Begin attacking. Only lose 1 cat. I'm having very different results with SB this time, as opposed to another SG where I lost a lot of cats.

Take Cahokia.

Spoiler :

Begin courthouse

Turn 154
Move all units to our borders to minimize maint costs while healing.
Move slider back to 70 (-14 per turn, but with conquest we can run this for a bit). Will have to MM slider based on army location.

Saved here

- The two main armies are consolidated in cahokia, healing. Might be able to send some units up towards mound city in 1 or 2 turns to clean up the north - or can wait all 3 turns to fully heal.
- Some of the cats are promo'd for barrage.
- Most of the cities in the south are defending by two archers, that I can see.
- There is a small stack right near Nottingham that I labelled as a settler squashing stack. SB has a few settlers in Mound City, and that stack could be used to assault settlers should he decide to settle another city in the north.
- I think once we knock out the northern cities, the southern ones will be relatively easy to mop up, once the army is healed. SB will probably whip archers in desparation, so I'd anticipate needing a lot of cats.
- I settled our great prophet in nottingham for the quick boost - when the army is in SB lands, our economy tanks. So we'll have to micromanage the slider based on army location.
- I think the locations of Mound City and Chacho Canyon are actually OK. I razed PP because nothing much struck me about its location, and 1N would probably be better eventually.
- My thoughts for next turnset are to finish up the northern part of the continent.
- For tech, I picked machinery, since maces will be useful, and it is also on the way to construction. Since our attacks on SB thus far have seen limited losses, going the warmongering tech route may not be the best option. Either way, our economy is going to be tanked until we finish off SB. At that point we can look at techs like CS and calendar so that we can properly set up our cities for optimum effectiveness.

Roster:
silk - just played
thy - up next
cripp - on deck
pnaxighn - chillin like a villain.

Edit: just occured to me - I believe in the other SG where we lost lots of cats and trebs, we were going against longbows, not simple archers.

 

[pnaxighn]

Dunno WTH that was all about. I got home, changed the windowed mode option in BTS (to enable it, for faster switching in and out of BTS), and couldn't load the save at home either. Changed the windowed mode back to disabled, and still couldn't load. Ended up uninstalling and reinstalling the whole damn thing. Don't have a clue why changing from full screen to windowed mode would cause the game to consider that to be a cheat. I'll have to test it out later.

That's gotta be placebo. There must be something else you did, because I play in windowed mode!

Anyway, 'ere we go:
Situation scan: Keep an axe back in Hastings for defense. Its a border town.

Turn 145
London: Chariot > catapult. Gonna need lots of cats against SB protective bow's

Turn 146
zzz (maneuvering into DoW position

Turn 147
nottingham: chariot > axe
Hastings: chariot > spear
SB has mostly archers and a few chariots - so chariots that receive no bonuses vs those units dont seem to be the best option.

DoW on SB. Hey, thanks for the worker!

Spoiler :

Turn 148
London: cat > cat

adjust slider to 40% - having military in enemy lands skyrockets our maint costs

I'd advocate dropping it to 0. Spare money can be used to upgrade units if needed, or to run heavy research once we have the continent fully settled and really able to turn up the heat.

Turn 149
AP built in far away land
SB attempts to sneak a chariot. Our spear has other ideas

Spoiler :

Attack random archer in open - much easier when he's not in city, where he gets +125%

Spoiler :

Turn 150
Metal casting > machinery. It's a prereq for maces, which would be nice - and its necessary for trebs as well.

bombard poverty point

Move slider down to 10% - highest setting where we wont go broke

Turn 151
Technically, we suck.

Spoiler :

begin bombardment of cahokia. This will take a turn or two.

throw cats at poverty point. This will suck, with these odds

Spoiler :

Surprisingly, we only lose 2 cats.

SUCK IT, SB! We capture Poverty Point.

Spoiler :

Not sure whether to keep or not. Decide to raze

Yes! I had thought about this, but forgot to mention it. That city was terrible considering the other cities around it. Good call.

Turn 152
Continue bombarding cahokia. Move PP assault group towards cahokia to join in on the fun

Turn 153
Settle GP in nottingham

finish bombarding cahokia. Begin attacking. Only lose 1 cat. I'm having very different results with SB this time, as opposed to another SG where I lost a lot of cats.

Take Cahokia.

Spoiler :

Begin courthouse

Turn 154
Move all units to our borders to minimize maint costs while healing.
Move slider back to 70 (-14 per turn, but with conquest we can run this for a bit). Will have to MM slider based on army location.

Saved here

- The two main armies are consolidated in cahokia, healing. Might be able to send some units up towards mound city in 1 or 2 turns to clean up the north - or can wait all 3 turns to fully heal.

Umm...shouldn't we take his capital ASAP? That'll be his primary military pump...

- Some of the cats are promo'd for barrage.

This is , I think. CR2 > barrage. Barrage saves some time, CR2 saves some cats. But this is the only thing you did I disagree with.

- Most of the cities in the south are defending by two archers, that I can see.
- There is a small stack right near Nottingham that I labelled as a settler squashing stack. SB has a few settlers in Mound City, and that stack could be used to assault settlers should he decide to settle another city in the north.
- I think once we knock out the northern cities, the southern ones will be relatively easy to mop up, once the army is healed. SB will probably whip archers in desparation, so I'd anticipate needing a lot of cats.
- I settled our great prophet in nottingham for the quick boost - when the army is in SB lands, our economy tanks. So we'll have to micromanage the slider based on army location.
- I think the locations of Mound City and Chacho Canyon are actually OK. I razed PP because nothing much struck me about its location, and 1N would probably be better eventually.
- My thoughts for next turnset are to finish up the northern part of the continent.
- For tech, I picked machinery, since maces will be useful, and it is also on the way to construction. Since our attacks on SB thus far have seen limited losses, going the warmongering tech route may not be the best option. Either way, our economy is going to be tanked until we finish off SB. At that point we can look at techs like CS and calendar so that we can properly set up our cities for optimum effectiveness.

Roster:
silk - just played
thy - up next
cripp - on deck
pnaxighn - chillin like a villain.

Edit: just occured to me - I believe in the other SG where we lost lots of cats and trebs, we were going against longbows, not simple archers.

Yeah, protective LBs are incredibly powerful with a couple city defense upgrades. Protective archers are easily beatable with cats, especially when there are few enough that they all get hit with collateral.