Rat 41 CCM - AW a first attempt

[ThERat]

got it

 

[ThERat]

Pre turn
MM a bit get some more scientists, reduce science to 60% renaissance still in 2
rush cathedral in Rome, this should help us quite a bit with happiness there for a bit

start very aggressive at Iznik
take out 4 knights and one sabre, but lose 2 knights, gain 1 monk

move a stack of 4 monks and 1 enslaver towards Antalya

[5-2]

IT our enslaver survives, the AI runs around in funny moves

Turn 1 1380AD
take out LB near Turin, gain monk
take out 2 units at Cheju, one LB near Russia

at Iznik, defeat 1 LB

lose 2 knights but manage to take out 3 pikes at Edirne
culture bomb city and remove another sabre next to the city

our monks are great and take out a pike and 1 spear and we take Antalya

science down to 40% and make some cash

[19-4]

IT lots of troops run towards Edrine, we need some RNG luck next turn
we defeat 1 WE at Iznik though and get Renaissance
university next in 14

Turn 2 1390AD
take out 3 units in the south
the real worry is Edirne, maybe due to the fact that Antalya is very lightly defended we have a chance

at Iznik, take out 1 WE, 1 knight, 1 cat and 1 pike but lose a knight

[27-5]

IT optimum result for us, Indochina loses 1WE, 1 knight and retreats 3 units
Russia takes out a phant that I though is safe
Then Carthage units are blocked by Turkey and Indochina and thay can't attack
Turkey loses a LB at Edirne

Milan finishes windmill and now makes 21spt, good for 2 turn arque
Rome has been set on knights all along already

Turn 3 - 1400AD
at Antalya, take out a landing party of 2 (from Carthage)
a bombarde takes a stray pike from Turkey
the Arab phant dies at the hands of a knight

connect Edrine and we got 2 luxes now
we can't reduce lux though even if it would save us a lot of cash

take out 4 units at Edrine, 2 at Iznik creating a monk

[40-5]

IT we're lucky again
Indochina and Carthage split their attacks, some go after Iznik
Carthage loses 2 units and retreats 3 attacking Edirne, our arques are red but survive

Turn 4 - 1410AD
decide to rush the fort in Edirne

finally get a MGL from an enslaver taking out 4 units next to Edirne
take out 2 units next to Iznik, we gain more and more monks, good for our campaign

move more knights into Edirne, we can soon expand again but need to locate a city
spot Izmit but we can reach it in one go next turn

[48-5]

IT Turkey loses a knight that retreated from us and gets takne out by a Carthage missionary

Turn 5 - 1420AD
use MGL to rush a bank in Milan, it is the most expensive built and will help up in the long run
take out missionary next to Edirne, another monk is born

attack Izmit, lose a knight but take city after defeating a mere 2 pikes
bomb the city, but enemies can still attack us fast

send out another missionary and spot Turkish capital

defeat a units near to Cheju

[52-6]

IT we lose an exposed knight but defeat 2 units on defense
Turkey surely is gassed


Turn 6 - 1430AD
go 4:1 at izmit gaining a MGL rush castle in Izmit
at Iznik, take out 1 phant and gain another MGL goes to rush the iron works

[59-8]

IT Indochina tried to round our cities and go for the core now

Turn 7 - 1440AD
take out 4 units around Cheju
Arabia has sent 2 phants to nampo, not good, take out an arque there

one missionary explores more so we know where to attack next

at Iznik, take out 6 unit, but lose 2 knights

[70-10]

IT it seems Nampo is the next target, we better shirt more units there

Turn 8 - 1450AD
Turin and Genoa both start aqueducts as they grow soon
take out a unit at Edrine

set up stack for Turkey's capital

[71-10]

IT Polish finish Art of Islam. Nampo is really the new magnet

Turn 9 - 1450AD
lose 3 knights but take the capital from 3 pikes, 1 knight and 1 enslaver
we gain 3 shipments in the process (means 125gold)

take out 5 units around the area
go 3:1 at iznik gaining a MGL, runs to Istanbul to be able to rush a castle

remove 2 Arabian phants near Nampo

stop here as someone played a turn too much

[86-14]

 

[ThERat]

The situation:

In the south, there are some units coming at us, focus has changed to Nampo now, but I have sent a few units there already. Shouldn't be a problem.

North:

We need to fight Carthage and Indochina at the same time as we take out Turkey. They have only 4 cities left. Currently I stave the cities until we gain complete control. Do not worry about some losses as we can replenish units pretty fast.

We got quite a few monks to help us expand. We need to continue to take cities or we crash financially.
Currently we could run 50% science to run at even cash. However, as long as we can afford, we should run at deficit research. Universities is due in 6 but that is also driven by scientists.

Remember that there is a MGL in Istanbul to rush a castle next turn. 5 caravans are now on the way to our capital to cash them in.

I set some cities to build some happy buildings, in my mind wats should have top priority as they give us 2 happy faces.

 

[ThERat]

ThERat- just played
CommandoBob - need a skip? not heard sth for a while
Northern Pike - on deck or up
M60A3TTS-
Elephantium
vmxa

 

[CommandoBob]

I'm still here but must ask for a skip on Turnset 18. My son and his wife are in town for Thanksgiving and while I might be able to sneak in some civ-time, I don't know that I would be able to find the time this SG would need.

 

[vmxa]

Sweet we have Turks broken. Carth and Indo have sent a lot of units out as well so their towns should not be well defended either. We will soon be getting a big cash infusion from Carth I hope.

Turks were the typical AI as we had a stack on the door, they still sent 5-6 units away towards Turin.

 

[Northern Pike]

A transformative round.

I'm still here but must ask for a skip on Turnset 18. My son and his wife are in town for Thanksgiving and while I might be able to sneak in some civ-time, I don't know that I would be able to find the time this SG would need.

Sure, have a good Thanksgiving.

I've got it, then. The pace of play may slow down a little, since I'm not sure I'll be able to start until tomorrow evening.

 

[vmxa]

We have a second source of Salt near Edirine to hook up in the near future.

 

[vmxa]

I would suggest we go ahead and make a castle right away in Padova and wait on the granary. I mean it is now a frontline town facing at least 4 nations. True not a lot has come that way, but why not get the cheap insurance? It is a 5 turn build and then we can go for the gran.

 

[ThERat]

There are some issues with castles and forts btw. Once we get university, the Roman senate is going obsolete, hence all the Roman Flags need to be hand built again. However, we can build the monarchy barracks from then onwards.

Once we get ballistics, the Roman fort is obsolete and should be replaced by the monarchy barracks before that.

Once we get Mil Tradition, castles are obsolete as well. So, right now we are in a transition phase and should build forts and castles only where we really need them, else I'd say wait for the monarchy barracks.

 

[vmxa]

I would say there is no reason to not make a castle in any new town, unless it will go obsolete, before we can finish. IOW it is a very quick build and we pay no maint, so why would we not make one? A wall and a castle for all towns on the front, even the low action ones.

A fort is another story. I am not sure we need to build them everywhere or at least not right away. Many of those towns are small and not going to see anything other than maybe a landing.
So they need not make units or need a rax for healing.

Given how much we pay for maint, I would not just make units in every town we have. We only need to have enough coming out to replace losses and a few extra. We can't afford much more than that anyway. Replacement can and should include stronger units for older weaker one in coastal towns.

Those places that are not large enough to make units at decent pace can do things that let them get bigger and science structures after that.

Up to now, we needed to make units everywhere, regardless of the support. Now that we are starting to gain some towns, from the ones behind us, that is not required.

 

[Northern Pike]

View attachment 273600, end of turn

 

[Northern Pike]

1460 (0): I change a couple of slavery builds to windmills. It's a fine point, but I'd rather build the production-booster that lasts longer first, in case circumstances don't let us build both in a given town.

Our position looked loose, but our enemies don't attack anything--well calculated, Rat.

Izmit completes rushed walls. Our enemies are all moving towards Izmit, but I don't think they'll attack it now that it has walls and a castle.


1470 (1): We hew three Russian units adjacent to Nampo (3-0).

We skewer two Carth knights next to Istanbul, but lose a knight (5-1).

Two Siamese Jumbos break their tusks against the walls of Izmit, though one retreats (6-1). It's interesting that the AI will attack targets with attack-3, 5-HP phants that attack-4, 4-HP knights ignore. Some weighting of HP over attack factor would seem to be involved in the decision process.

Genoa and Turin complete aqueducts, and Istanbul its Leader-rushed castle.


1480 (2): We convert the redlined Jumbo outside Izmit (7-1). The baptism is a little awkward.

We catch five Siamese knights on flat land near Izmit and unhorse them all, losing a knight (12-2).

We bombard(e) two Russians knights by Nampo (14-2).

One of our missionaries preaches to an Egyptian LB outside Venice, but he dies of boredom before conversion (15-2).

We dispense with an Eg pikeman in the same area (16-2).

A Carth knight redlines and retreats in a cross-river attack on one of our musketmen.

Pusan builds a wat.

The Mongols form the Hanseatic League.


1490 (3): We pick off three assorted enemies around Izmit (19-2).

We combat-road the mountain next to Izmit, which lets us move a large stack next to Bursa while only exposing it on a hill. Bursa has fallen from size eleven to size nine, but it's a hill city and could prove a nasty target.

A Siamese LB falls attacking Iznik (20-2).

Ugh, a Siamese bombarde stealth-destroys the treb in our stack next to Bursa (20-3).

We don't much benefit from our new castle in Istanbul, where Carth knights go 2-2-2 in what are all, on paper, bad attacks (22-5). The surviving Carth units are all vulnerable now, though.


1500 (4): Bursa is held only by three pikemen, two of them regulars, and we storm the city for the loss of one knight (25-6).

Beyond Bursa we can see Carthaginian borders, for the first time in the game.

We culture-bomb Bursa.

We dispose of five Carth knights, most of them weakened, around Istanbul (30-6). We gain a monk and a slave.

We begin cashing in the wagon train captured from the Turks at Rome, though we can't do it all in one turn.

We spike the stealth-attacking Carth bombarde near Bursa (31-6).

We batter three Russian units between Nampo and Rostov (34-6).

We savage another four enemies here and there on the northern front (38-6).

Our enemies again get good RNG luck in attacks on strong towns, with the Siamese going 1-1 against Iznik (39-7),

Venice builds a windmill, and Florence a wat. I'm not sure why we cut down that forest at Venice when the town is shield-poor, though.


1505 (5): University due in one turn, but only by a hair's breadth, and we can't cut the reseach rate.

We mop up two Carth units near Istanbul, gaining a monk (41-7).

We topple a Carth knight around Bursa (42-7).

We demolish a Russian arq between Padova and Cheju (43-7).

We poach two Arabian phants outside Cheju (45-7).

We finally rationalize our ridiculously indirect road from Nampo to Rostov, then pillage a length of the old road that only helps our enemies.

We move into position to strike Aydin, strictly with fast units since we don’t have enough artillery types on this front to make it worth waiting for them.

Our enemies don’t attack. I think we lost Genoa’s harbour to naval bombardment at some point, though.

We have to allow some pillaging around Iznik. There’s nothing we can do about defense-4 fire lancers on hills.

University --> Physics, due in fourteen turns at maximum research.

We complete two wats, two castles, a granary, a city wall, and a Christian Community.


1510 (6): We seize and culture-bomb Aydin, held by just a pikeman and a spearman (47-7).

Ten Viking units are lurking in the forests east of Padova without committing themselves. We pick off one swordsman (48-7).

We corral four weaker enemy units, mostly defense-2, on the northern front (52-7).

We break the attack of a Berserker at Padova (53-7).

We aren’t consciously faking the Carthaginian knight force back and forth, but our castle and walls builds have the same effect, as they keep changing their minds about where to attack.

Pyongyang completes a windmill, Nampo a town centre, and Padova a castle.


1515 (7): Civinator, here’s a problem. Apparently bombardes have a mandatory stealth attack—sending a bombarde against a stack of a fire lancer (equal to a C3C musketman) and two knights, I’m forced to attack one of the knights, although what I want is for the bombarde to clear the lancer off the top of the stack.

The Siamese fast units have mostly outrun their cover, so we’re able to slaughter three Jumbos, two knights, a fire lancer, and an MDI around Edrine. We lose a knight (60-8).

We strike a vulnerable Viking stack next to Padova and liquidate five units, gaining our first Leader of the round (65-8). This will let us have a university in Rome without the unpleasant sacrifice of four one-turn knights.

We move a flying column, fast units only, onto the hill next to Uskudar.

We get a strike force moving out of Rostov on the Russian front. I don’t like it that three of Rostov’s tiles are controlled by the next Russian city. The troops we’re using here have been combed out of nearby garrisons; our new production is going north as planned.

Our flying column comes under fierce Siamese and Carth attack, but defends itself very well. We smite two knights and a phant and lose only a knight (68-9).

Bursa and Edrine complete walls, Genoa a re-built harbour, Bologna a windmill, and Cheju an academy.

Everyone’s building Doge Palace, so Naval Guns is generally known.

The Americans, unknown to us, build the Great Cathedral.


1520 (8): We take and culture-bomb Uskudar, held by a pikeman and a spearman (70-9).

Our SoD flattens an Arabian phant on our way to the next Russian city, which turns out to be Moscow. We lose a bombarde, though (71-10). I wonder about the autoproduced artillery types in this mod, which seem to fail constantly at odds of 4-1 or better.

We swat a Russian bowman between Rostov and Nampo (72-10).

Here and there we eliminate another five enemies, including three knights around Uskudar (77-10).

We’re informed that the Greeks, whom we never met, have been wiped out.

Our enemies don’t attack.

Rome completes its Leader-rushed university, and Aydin a wall.


1525 (9): Konya, the final Turkish city, hasn’t had a cultural expansion; so with a little combat roading, we’re able to attack it immediately. We overcome the single pikeman of the garrison (78-10), and:

 

[Northern Pike]

 

[Northern Pike]

No Turkish units that we can see come off the map.

We culture-bomb Konya.

We win a rare yogi-on-yogi combat near Konya, even gaining a conversion—I suppose an intrafaith conversion, as when a minister turns Jesuit (79-10).

In the assault on Moscow (size thirteen with a castle) we have a terrible time doing damage, but excellent luck retreating, which is probably more important. Eventually we winkle out the garrison of four arqs for the loss of one knight and storm the city (83-11). We steal 1289 gold and capture a worker.

We culture-bomb Moscow, then dispose of two Russian longbowmen in the area, gaining a monk (85-11).

In skirmishing around Padova we crush two Viking pikemen and lose a knight (87-12), but gain our second Leader of the round, who immediately rushes a university in Naples.

In routine clearing operations around Uskudar we destroy two knights and a mullah, but lose a knight and possibly a missionary, depending on the IT (90-13).

In the north, every possible fog tile seems to contain a Siamese knight, and we’re violently counterattacked. We lose two arqs covering stacks, though we slay two knights and three others are left vulnerable (92-15).

Our missionary at risk survives, though.

Pyongyang builds slavery, Bursa a CC, Naples a university, Venice a wat, Smolensk an academy, and Uskudar walls.

The Hebrews complete Jewish World Religion. That’s a fierce competition, as I’ve observed before.


1530 (10): So many fast enemy units are swarming around Konya that it looks impossible to hold; we’d have to make six or seven attacks we wouldn’t make by the usual rules of AW prudence. I’ll evacuate the town and leave the subtle question of whether to abandon it or let our enemies have it back up to the team.

We bullyrag an Eg spearman and a Viking pikeman outside Padova (94-15).

We ambush three fast Siamese units in the north. We lose a slaver against a redlined knight (97-16), but gain our third Leader of the round, who’ll be able to rush another university next turn.

For the most part we take a healing and consolidation turn in the north.

We catch four Russian units in the open between Rostov and Nampo and ride them down (101-16).

Twenty holy-man victories this round yielded seven monks.

Three slaver victories this round generated two slaves.

Twenty-five elite victories this round, two of them defensive, produced three Great Leaders.

 

[Northern Pike]

With only two enemies left in the north, we should be able slowly to grind them up, and then we’ll be in a very strong position. Taking cities held by defense-four units won’t be easy, though, and some buildup might be wise. I was able to rush Turkish cities with slim attack forces, but that probably won’t be possible now.

I’d like to push north from Moscow to the bay east of Venice, which would give us a single front at a chokepoint in the east, instead of two. It would also let us use the good city sites just beyond Venice and Cheju. I don’t believe that this would increase our exposure to any other civs that might be on our continent, but if the team doesn’t like the idea of being active on our secondary front, that’s fine too.

Moscow is in the unavoidable turn of disorder when a town comes out of resistance, so I’ve cut the garrison to the minimum. If we lose the town, whether to a flip or to attacks, we can just take it back for another fortune.

I assume we’ll want to get started against the Carthaginians by moving a large stack onto one of the mined hills just beyond Bursa’s borders, but we have various options. Note the furs in the second screenshot below; we'll have our third lux soon.

Once we start taking Carthaginian cities, we’ll have much more money than we need for deficit research, and we can rush judiciously here and there. In fact we can rush cheap but important improvements like Christian Communities now.

The Viking and Egyptian units in the eastern forest aren’t doing much, and are easily dealt with when they emerge, although the steady dribble of losses from such minor operations is irritating.

As for Konya, the long-term play is probably to let our enemies have it back, along with a bit of our gold, so that eventually we can re-capture it and it’ll contribute something to our strength. But if in practical terms that sounds like too much trouble to take over such an unpromising place, I wouldn’t object to our abandoning it either. The decision has to be made before we hit Enter, of course.

In the north, there’s almost nothing we can do about defense-four units in hills, so we just have to block important tiles and let them pillage unimportant ones.

Don’t overlook the Carth pikeman between Bursa and Istanbul.

Aydin isn’t very strongly held, but we’ll have warning if the Carths approach it.

Our settler is heading for the desert tile three directly south of Pyongyang. With all its overlap this isn’t a good CCM site, but I don’t see anything better that’s also safe, and at least the town will have eleven useful tiles to itself including two floodplains.

Our next few Leaders should be used for universities in major towns (Rome and Naples already have them), even if it requires some transit time.

Florence, Milan, and Turin are set for low or no growth to produce knights efficiently. This is necessary for now, but we’ll want to restore them to real growth eventually.

Bologna needs a third MP unit, which is approaching.

The bombarde and the knight next to Wonsan are heading north. The monk on the same tile is heading south.

Our northern roading stack is right at the front, in Bursa. The southern stack is behind Nampo, but can abandon that job to move to the front at any time.

Our Leader, now in Turin, should rush a university in Milan first thing next turn.

 

[Northern Pike]

New in the north:

The Konya problem:

The second front:

 

[ThERat]

wow, what a turnset

Excellent progress in both fronts gaining us enough cash for many more rounds of research.

I agree to go after Carthage first, however, we do need bigger stacks now as we face defense 4 units. I am glad that you got the retreat luck at Moscow. We have to rely mostly on fast units (Knights, Hussars then Cavalry) for the offense.

What to do with Konya? I can't remember who takes the turn first. I rather that Carthage gets the city as Indochina has so many cities already.
On the other hand, if Indochina is first, I would raze the city, they get many settlers anyway due to the pyramids. No doubt they will resettle that location anyway.

So, my choice is let Carthage take it but not Indochina.

 

[ThERat]

ThERat-
CommandoBob -
Northern Pike -
M60A3TTS- up
Elephantium
vmxa

 

[ThERat]

I had a look at the save, I'd say rush the university in Florence after it finishes its knight next turn.

As for the settler, why don't we settle between Nampo and Rostov to close that awkward gap.