Rat19 - Middle Age scenario AWDG

[ThERat]

save

Pre-Turn
see 2 of out near front cities, totally empty, that's scary in AW
MM some and fire a clown we have (in one of those empty towns)
we have space to settle and should do so now, order some settlers

defeat the sword outside Heraclea

IT lose Heracleia, the defense there is far too thin and the towns in the back empty...very scary

1.963AD
get back Heraclai, but there are many units around
we can only pray that we keep that town

we have a few reg swords, how did that happen? are they the original swords? shouldn't build reg units

IT we are lucky as we defend against an archer and the sword in herakleia goes elite

2.966AD
reinforce Herakleia with a spear, move to mountain to advance to Pliska

IT we get mighty lucky

3. 969AD
form sword army filled with 2 units at the moment
build Trebizond to connect the east and west part of our empire

defeat a sword and move stack next to Pliska

IT defeat archer and sword on defense

4.972AD
there are too many units around Pliska, decide to split the stack to move some unitsd back and some west to combine with our army
defeat 2 spear and get another army, too good to be true

IT defeat a sword on defense
Vikings unload a zerk that takes out a worker

5. 975AD
form eastern sword army and take out that zerk

take out a Bulgar archer
from the south Turk warrior is approaching

IT the turks add 2 horses in the south, this can get dicey
Danes are running around with a zerk

6.978AD
move troops around to be able to defend better
bomb 2nd Norwegian longboat

IT lose a warrior at Sinope in the south, but beat a warrior, another zerk is dropped next to our capital

7.981AD
sink the first longboat and we enter our GA
found Chalcedon, retreat a horse
defeat zerk with horse so our army can heal

defeat 2 spears and take Stara Zagora from the Bulgars

IT lose another warrior in the south to horse, we are too thin there

8.984AD
found Sardica in the south
close shave as we defeat the horse in the south by going red with a sword
move east army to help defend Heraklea, since the enemy seems to head there
lose sword but beat zerk next to Heraklea

9.987AD
defeat 4 assorted units, giving us some breathing for a short while

IT defeat archer on defense and promote exposed sword elite

10.990AD
defeat 3 units, but lose the said elite sword and a horse in the south

situation:
we get the next tech in 11 turns on a min run and then should use our cash to go on a max for heavy cavalry

we need to get more units and then slowly inch our way forward not forgetting the south
there is also a settler ready to put down next turn
one army still needs a 3rd sword

 

[ThERat]

empire can now play on the weekend before we continue with greebley and the usual roster

 

[Greebley]

The regular swords are almost certainly reg warrior upgrades - I know I built some regs. Given our lack of troops I think I agree with pat4 in upgrading them. We had the cash and need for the troops was strong.

Sounds like the cost of the terrible RNG during my turn was high - I think it was a good part of the reason we are so lacking in troops.

This campaign may be quite tough as AW at the Demigod level - especially since catapults are so far away.

 

[choxorn]

lurker's comment: Hey, who do you know right now (besides the Bulgars, Danes, and Turks)?

 

[Doc Tsiolkovski]

You guys are playing without initial trading, correct? Then, it may be worth to know that there is a IA equivalent with a late Byz tech.

Why on Earth do you aim at the Cataphrats early? They are horribly expensive, have horrible stats and require some extremely expensive techs...better get MDI asap. Don't think that is spoilerish, since everyone with the slightest familiarity with the Middle Ages will know that anyway. And another hint of the same category: Blacksmiths rule!

Btw, we played an AWM Byz already, and really, this was tough.
Of course, this may qualify as a spoiler, so this http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=97465link is for the lurkers.

 

[ThERat]

Thanks DocT for the tips...maybe I was aiming far too high with DG here

let's finish the min run on the current tech and then go max for next tech, I will check the save to see what tech DocT was recommending

 

[Empiremaker]

I got it. I'm praying to the RNG god.

 

[Greebley]

I didn't check the cost of Catapharacts. I do think Catapults should be gotten so we probably should have gone there first. OTOH all techs we could learn were 40 turns so no tech was cheaper and we are nearly there.

I am worried we will be very far behind in science.

I too were thinking black smiths a good place to go.

This game will probably be a lost learning game, but we can try again. I don't think any of us is familiar with it.

Thanks for the pointers Doc T. I remember you being an expert at this scenario from before Civ 4 came out.

 

[ThERat]

I checked the tech costs

catapharacts are 70 shields and 4/3/2 while crusaders are 40s 4/3/1

I don't think the mounted unit is such a bad deal with retreat etc. A catapharacts army would surely be great

 

[ThERat]

guess empire couldn't play during the weekend,

ThERat
pindicator - up
Greebley - on deck
empiremaker
pat 4

 

[Empiremaker]

I've played. I just haven't had time to upload. Should be within a couple of hours.

 

[Empiremaker]

0- Switch Cornith to a settler

IBT- Lose Sinope. An elite spear lost to a vet horse.

3 zerks appear.

Bede ranks us 4th in land area.

1- Found Naissus

Upgrade 3 warriors.

2- Declare on Germany.

IBT- Buglars Assult Trebizond, the city holds.

A stack of Magayars appear.

Germany sends its settler into our territory. Free slaves anyone?

3- Found Dyrrachium

IBT- The Turks have a number of horses in Sinope.

4- Not much

Decare War on Burgundy

5-zzz

IBT- Lose a worker to a Buglar Stack

Lose Chalcedon to Turk Horses; it is razed.

6- Kill a lot of Turk Archers

IBT-Lose Larissa to Magayars

7- Prepare to recapture Larissa

8- Recapture Larissa

9- More slaves

Found Septum

IBT- Lots of Buglar Swords

Lose Heraclea

10- Not much

IBT - Even more Buglar Swords

11- Find a Magayar stack in the fog.

Found Nicomedia

Notes:

There are two stacks coming for us.

The Magayar one has 2 spears, 2 archers, 2 swords and a warrior.

The Buglar one has 10 swords and 2 spears spread out over 3 tiles.

Lost Roman Secrets in 1.

There are slaves under the northern army; use them to reroad that tile.

Avoid meeting Assabids

I played 11 turns so that I end on turn 60.

The Save

 

[pindicator]

Just from the picture, our east looks shaky. I'll play by Thursdasy.

 

[Greebley]

So we lost our Iron? That could be trouble. I assume that will be our first priority.

 

[ThERat]

I might have aimed too high with demigod, maybe we should just try this at monarch first to get a feel?

 

[choxorn]

lurker's comment: First, you should see how long you can last here.

 

[Doc Tsiolkovski]

Well...at max until the Abbasids show up with Ansars.

Short summary of the Middle Ages basics:

1. There is no defence (ok, there are capable defenders in the 3rd era; but, hardly a game really lasts that long)
   Some unit stats:
   Attackers
   Berserks (6/2/1, amphibious; right from the start!)
   Ansars (5/2/3)
   Sipahi (6/3/3)
   Knights (5/3/2)
   Assassins (5/1/1)
   Defenders
   Spearmen (1/2/1)
   Crusaders (4/3/1) and Pikes (2/4/1) come pretty late, Swissies (3/5/1) come too late.
   
   You can prevent German + Polish Knights and Sipahi by strategic pillaging; resources are pretty scarce.
   
2. Dromons rock, but they require Tar. There are two sources somewhat nearby, but nevertheless hard to secure.
   
3. Ugrade path is a bit surprising - Swords do not upgrade to MDI, but to Crusaders.
   
4. Blacksmiths rule. So do Libraries (come with Arab learning!).
   
5. Tech path: IMHO there is no real alternative to a min run on a Byz tech first, then head for MDI asap. That also means Cats (Early Siegecraft is the only prerequisite to Medieval Combat)
   

Good luck for this game; I'll be lurking.

 

[Greebley]

I would like to play a bit more to get a better feel of the scenario I think. If we cannot get our iron back or we lose further towns - well that will be a good sign we should start on an easier level.

 

[ThERat]

ThERat
pindicator - indicated skip in CIV SG
Greebley - up
empiremaker
pat 4

 

[Greebley]

Ok I got it then.