RBC12G - Sassanids (Emperor)

[Caesar_Augustus]

'Got it'

ROSTER
Caesar Augustus (Currently Playing)
Corrado (On Deck)
DeceasedHorse
mitsho (Just Played)

Nice little story at the start General Micis!

The final tally for Mitsho's turns are
9 Legions and 4 Garrisons Killed
8 Heavy Cavalry LosT

So a ratio of 3.25:2. I'll see what I can do to improve it.

Goals for my turn:
-Improve Kill Ratio
-Veto spears, and build Heavy Cav and more Heavy Cav
-Pop some workers out of high pop, high food cities
-Boost luxuries to cause a 'WLTKD'
-I noticed that other civs were declaring war on Rome, so we're not allied with all of them. Double-check diplo and bring EVERYONE in

EDIT: Fixed my horrible math

 

[mitsho]

We have enough workers. And i took spear for defense, because they'll never defense (in our core cities). We need them for happines, and so we don't waste hc's for happiness.
for workers: I've begun making a canal to the eastern cities. COntinue building this, they cannot grow otherwise.

the diplo: I thought it wasn't necessary to do all in alliances against both (that would've cost more), because there's the mpp between eastern rome and western rome. So they are at war with both... Aren't they? And I didn't do the huns, because of I don't know. forgot it? Celts don't because they can kill 'easily the cities on britain (corruption cities for rome on a island) and can do this job later on, if we need it, or not, if we do not need it.

mfG mitsho

 

[Caesar_Augustus]

Pre-Turn:

I check Diplomacy. We don't have embassies with the Anglo-Saxons or Celts! I establish those pronto so we can sign alliances.

-We trade MM to the Celts for an MA against W. Rome.
-MM + 10g to the Huns for MA against W. Rome (that should keep those horsemen out of our hair for awhile)
-The Visigoths give *US* 30g + WM for an MA against W. Rome! It's nice signing Alliances when they're already at war.
-MM + WM to the Anglo-Saxons for a worker + MA against W. Rome
-Iron to the Ostrogoths for MA against W. Rome. Without Iron they won't be doing too much against Legions.

I trade our WM around, netting 44g. I veto research (we don't need the military academy) and instead boost luxuries to 60%

Why? We need WLTKD in every city to boost shield production. I think we've all agreed that gold doesn't matter anymore; shields and Heavy Cavs are what Persia is all about! After all, our traits are Militaristic and Industrious - let the Romans have their Commercial trait and their worthless gold coins!

To show you how much it helped: Before WLTKDs, we were producing 119 shields at turn. Afterwards, 132 shields per turn.

I MM each city to hit its highest possible OHCR (Optimum Heavy Cav Rate ). The OHCRs are:

24spt (Heavy Cav in 3 turns)
18spt (Heavy Cav in 4)
14spt (Heavy Cav in 5)
12spt (Heavy Cav in 6)
10spt (Heavy Cav in 7) etc . . .

Veto Time
-Babylon switched to a worker; it is rapidly about to max out in food at size 12, and is producing a staggering 10fpt and 18spt. We can merge workers into our new core cities too, as well as road and mine to hit more OHCRs.
-Courthouses in Nehavend, Pehsawar, Gordium, Bactra, and Spasinu Charax are all vetoed; Heavy Cav and Barracks are ordered up. The cities were only losing at most 2 shields a turn due to corruption so courthouses were useless, and WLTKD should cut into that anyway.

Micis closed his eyes, awaiting the inevitable axe blow to fall. He had tried his best to take Antioch, and now failure was to be rewarded with death. Such was life in the Sassanid kingdom.

"STOP!"

Shapur pulled Micis to his feet and clasped his shoulders. "Antioch may be boastful, but their happiness is shallow and false. We have reports that only a single Legion remains defending the city! Mount your steed, and give Persia its first Mediterranean port in 400 years!"

Relieved and exhilerated, Micis turned to prepare for battle - but Shapur had not yet released him. The Sassanid King fixed his general with a steely gaze. "A second chance is one chance too many. You will NOT fail me again."

Antioch is a tough nut to crack, since it's on a hill. It's also size 7, so that 2hp fortified legion is basically 9 Def . I can't let that weakened legion heal; we have enough to take it right now. First Vet Heavy Cav - loses, promotes legion to Elite. Second Heavy Cav - loses, and GENERATES A GREAT LEADER FOR ROME! :saiyan: We only have a 3/4 HC and some 2/4 HCs left, but the elite legion is down to 1 hp and I WILL NOT let that leader live! 3/4 Vet attacks and flawlessly slaughters the legion with no loss, and DESTROYS THE ROMAN GREAT LEADER HAHAHAHA! Belisarius starts his new job as my horse-mount stepping stool. The victorious 3/4 Heavy Cavalry is re-named 'Belisarius' Bane.' Antioch is ours with 4 resistors, an aqueduct and a barracks; the latter will be nice for healing our front line troops. I order up a galley and start starving the city down to 1 pop (to cut down on flip chances). Besides, Roman citizens have no place in Persian cities - starve them down and let our superior Persian folks move in!

406 AD (1): Babylon Worker --> Worker. I'm going to merge a few workers into Sardis to get that low corruption city up to par, fast. Not much else to report - the bulk of our forces remains @ Antioch in order to heal, and I move 8 Heavy Cav down towards Caesarea. Our Horseman in Turkey spots an Eastern Roman Heavy Cav - I hope they don't build too many more of those. I sell our WM for 33g and 1 gpt.

IBT: Long wait - must be lots of fighting. Roman HC kills our horseman. Hun horsemen all heading for Italy. W. Rome comes begging for peace . A barbarian warriors pops out of the fog near Bactra - hmmm, will have to divert a HC to take em out, since pillaging warriors can be a nuisance.

408 AD (2): Resistance in Antioch is over. Hmm, I'd like to starve it down but it gets pretty good production, so I set it up to produce a Galley in 6. If it flips I take full responsibility. Ctesiphon: HC-->HC. Hmmm, it's stuck at 17 shields - so I merge a worker, getting it up to the 18spt OHCR. The freshly built HC moves to frag the barb camps that have sprung up around us. Susa: Aqueduct-->HC @ 10 spt. Babylon: Worker-->HC @ 18spt. I now stop building roads with workers and concentrate on mining (and of course irrigating for our low food cities). I decide to leave Belisarius' Bane and 3 other HC in Antioch and send 6 HC down to Caesarea to help Micis and his forces. I want to take Caesarea and Alexandria to start building Galleys, and then either Cyrene or shift the forces to help in the North.

IBT:: WLTKD day ends in Ctesiphon, which doesn't matter since our capital gets 0 corruption. Vandals start the Scourge.

410 AD (3): Sidon Barracks-->Courthouse (Sidon is experiencing 50% corruption and is too small for WLTKD). Susa grows and can be optimized for 14spt. Anyone else notice that Forest Chops in this scenario are back at PTW levels?

Every turn I move 3 HC out of Antioch 3 spaces to scout the immediate area and see if the E. Romans will mount a counter attack, then they move back to the safety of Antioch.

Attack on Caesarea
I'll attack with the vets first, and then the Elites can mop up - a HC army would REALLY make clearing out Asia easier.

-Vet HC immediately redlines a Vet Legion! And of course since he now can't retreat he proceeds to lose 4 straight HPs and die.
-Vet HC does 2 damage to a Vet Legion and retreats. A Reg Legion appears - phew, only two Vets.
-Vet HC redlines itself, but kills a Reg Legion.
-Vet HC kills a Reg legion and takes 1 damage.
-Vet HC flawlessly kills a Reg legion. The wounded 2/4 vet Legion appears - Elite time!
-Elite HC (Immortals 1) kills the Reg legion and takes 1 damage.
-Elite HC (Immortals 2) kills a Reg Roman Garrison. Only a redlined legion remains!

Can General Micis pop a Great Leader for us?


Nope. Nonetheless, Caesarea and its VP Obelisk are ours! 4 resistors and no improvements. A Galley is ordered up.

I move a captured Byzantine worker down to the dyes near Antioch and will found a colony next turn, since we have no other use for it. Lazy Roman workers can't hold a candle to our Industrious Sassanid workers! And if Byzantine legions come after it, all the better - I'd rather pick them off in the open rather than have to kill them fortified in cities.

A quick scan of the map reveals that W. Rome has lost 0 cities, and E. Rome 3. The Barb civs must not be that strong yet, but they're enough to keep the West and the European Byzantines off of our backs.

412 AD (4): Arbela: Courthouse-->HC. Arbela was losing -3spt and -4cpt before the courthouse, -2spt and -3cpt after. The extra shield helps as I can optimize Arbela to 12spt for a HC in 6.
-Build Dyes colony, can drop Luxuries to 50% and still have WLTKD in all of our eligible cities.
-Move an extra Spearman to the fortress North-East of Antioch.
-Our HC rests this turn to heal up. No sign of any E. Roman counter-attacks.
-With no units exploring, our World Map is worthless and no one will buy it. Bah! We don't need your worthless money! Give us PRODUCTION!

IBT: A Byzantine HC comes out of the fog and attacks our Spear travelling to the Fort near Antioch! However, the worthless Roman is redlined and retreats, doing no damage! The Ostrogoths start the Scourge of God.

414 AD (5): Singara: HC-->HC, due in 6. Ecbatana: HC-->HC, due in 4. Persepolis: HC-->HC, due in 8 (hmm need to shift some workers over there to mine). Gordium HC-->HC, due in 7.

Belisarius' Bane flawlessly takes out the Byz HC. I move 9 HC towards Alexandria. We have 2 HC fortified in Caesarea and 6 in Antioch.

IBT: Another Byz HC comes out of the fog, and this time our Spear is killed, dealing 0 damage. E. Rome declares war on the Anglo-Saxons and the Vandals - looks like our allies are starting their offensive.

(to be continued . . .)

 

[Caesar_Augustus]

416 AD (6): Ctesiphon: HC-->HC, due in 4. Babylon: HC-->HC, due in 4. Peshawar: HC-->HC, due in 14 (now that it's irrigated it'll grow faster).

I don't want to attack the Byz HC across a river, so Belisarius's Bane stays put and a HC comes out of Antioch and . . . loses, dealing NO damage. Our second HC has better luck, killing the Byz HC. I move our SoD closer to Alexandria. Our freshly built HC move towards Antioch.

418 AD (7):
A HC scouts up the road a little and:

Our HC promptly retreats to the safety of the fortress. However, it looks like those legions are headed North to fight the barbarians. Sometimes it's better to have a stupid opponent than to be good .

Hmmm. I *could* attack Alexandria this turn, but I'd have to move once and then attack. I don't like doing that, since I can fortify injured units on the same turn as I take the city if they have full movement points. So I cross the river and park right next to Alexandria and will attack next turn. Whoa, it's size 10. Maybe I should starve it down a little first? Or will the Legions attack and decimate my forces?? Actually, if it works only water tiles it would still have access to 20fpt! So scratch the protracted siege, we attack next turn. Oops, Roman legion ZOC takes an hp off of a Vet HC, so the rest of the stack stops just below Alexandria. We frag a barb camp south of Babylon that had sent some annoying warriors north.

Quick check of current world map versus the victory point location map reveals that the only Roman cities destroyed/conquered are the three we have.

IBT: Nope, looks like the Byz are marching on us after all. The 3 legionaries + 1 HC appear next to our fort. The legions at Alexandria don't attack our HC SoD.

420 AD (8): Antioch: Galley-->Galley, due in 8. Susa: HC-->HC, due in 5.

What to do about the Byzantine counter-attack. Let's do the math here:
A) If we attack them, it will be our 5 attack vs their 5 (4 + 25% Forest bonus) defence. If we defend, it will be their 5 (HC) and 4 (Leg.) attack vs our 6.75 (3 + 25% Fortify bonus + 50% Fortress + 50% Hill) defence. The odds favour us staying put, so I do. But if they move around us, I'll take them out once they hit flat land.

Attack on Alexandria
-Vet HC does 1hp of damage to a Vet Legion and then retreats.
-Vet HC does NO damage and dies.
-Vet HC redlines itself, but KILLS a Vet Legion!
-Vet HC does 1hp of damage to a Reg Legion and then retreats.
-Vet HC does 2hp of damage to a Reg Legion but dies. 3/4 Vet Legion back on top. Elite Time!
-Elite HC (Immortals 1) takes 3 damage but KILLS the Vet legion!
-Elite HC (Immortals 2) takes 2 damage but KILLS the Reg legion, and . . .

Ladies and Gentlemen, business is about to pick up.
There's still a 2/4 Legion, and although I hate to waste an Elite attack I send in General Micis, and he flawlessly slaughters the Legion! Alexandria and it's Great Lighthouse are ours! It also has an intact Barracks, Granary, Aqueduct, and Courthouse. 9 resistors! Ouch. This place is definitely getting starved, galley be damned. Remember: if one of these captured cities flips back to E. Rome it counts as one of the elimination cities. I merge '*Immortal 2' and 2 vet HC into the army. Being bored, I send the captured worker to make a road to the gems in Saudi Arabia, and then later he can colonize it.

IBT:Oops, I made a mistake up North. The Legions and HC go right past my HC - they can now follow the hills and a 50% defensive bonus all the way to Antioch . No problem, I 'll follow just out of reach and if they step off of the hills, attack. It'll be 2 more turns before they arrive at Antioch, and 3 more before they can attack. By that time there'll be 13+ HC at Antioch.

422 AD (9): Ecbatana: HC-->HC, due in 4. Nehavend: HC-->HC, due in 12. An archer, originating from Sidon, kills a barbarian warrior. Our northern HC abandon the fortress and head back to Antioch - I don't want to attack the 3 legions and 2 HC unless I'm absolutely positive we can finish them off, and the 13+ Antioch HC will be able to do that.

IBT: The Franks make peace with Eastern and Western Rome. Well, I'll have to remedy that next turn .

424 AD (10): Ctesiphon: HC-->HC, due in 4 @ 18spt. Babylon: HC-->Worker, due in 1 (Babylon is size 12 and maxed out on food, so it would be a waste not to build a pop point unit. We can merge the worker into one of our smaller cities and thus get more shields for more HC. @Corrado - feel free to change this to a migrant for later settling of VPs if you want.). Singara: HC-->HC, due in 4 @ 18spt after some optimizing. Arbela: HC-->HC, due in 6 @ 12spt.

The Byz are not going for Antioch - they're headed for our core as the scouting below reveals:

I left the scouts with 1 full movement point each, so the next leader can decide what to do with them. Unfortunately, the HC on the hill to the east is out of moves.

I spend some time MM'ing cities, and that's it for me this round.

Notes for Corrado:
-Spasinu Charx is currently set to work food tiles since its HC only needs 4 shields to be completed. Once it's done, you can switch it back to its highest OHCR.
-Persepolis is at 6fpt and 10 uncorrupted spt. Once its HC completes in 2, it can be optimized to 4fpt and 12 uncorrupted spt.
-I'm starving Alexandria down to lower the flip risk. If you choose not to veto this, then don't forget to switch everyone to taxmen each turn.
-I didn't bring the Franks back into the 'Great Alliance.' Your call if you want to or not, though I'd recommend it.
-The Army is fully healed at Alexandria and awaiting your command. Have fun!
-You might want to resume research on Military Strategy - so long as our luxury slider doesn't come down and hurt our WLTKD happiness. Another leader could rush the Military Academy and make our Army even more effective. Or you might want to use another leader for a 2nd Army.
-No W. Roman cities have fallen (yet)

RBC12g_Sassanids_424_AD.SAV

 

[Caesar_Augustus]

ROSTER
Caesar Augustus (Just Played - needs a break from before returning to Always War Epic 38)
Corrado (Up)
DeceasedHorse (On Deck)
mitsho (Happy to see Micis still alive )

24 Hours for 'Got it'; 48 Hours to complete turns

We're at turn 50 of 150:

I killed 11 legions, 1 HC and 1 Garrison during my turn, and lost 6 HC and 1 spear. Our kill/loss ratio for the game is now 3.46:2.

Here's a screenie of our OHCR optimized cities (sorted by shields):

 

[mitsho]

Yeah, General Micis will rule the world for Shapur.
It sure was pretty much work for you to do this post, wasn't it? I nevertheless would research Military tradition, but yeah, it's not my turn. (and the courts would've been completed in 1 or two turns (or three), so wouldn't that have optimized our cities.
What's the state of the canal in Iran? irrigation band to Peshawar and Ecbatana and so on ... ?

mfG mitsho

 

[Corrado]

Got it. Heading to put the hurt to the Romes right now.

 

[Corrado]

Pre-turn check: Eastern Rome is down 4 cities- the ones we took out. No sign of any hurt on Western Rome.

So, on with the offensive!

424 (0): The army is going to pull around north. We won't need as much firepower for that last Byz city in NA, and definitely won't need it for the attack on WR in NA. Besides, the troops I send out there I want to be ready to load for Italy- the army is too big to fit into our galleys.

Decide to take a small risk and send troops to Paphos. Does the island city have a legion? I doubt it, so a small force should be able to wipe it out...

IBT: Byz HC kills one of our scouting HC.
Byz stack moves down the road towards ex-Nicea; runs into the 2 units on a hill (one placed by CA, one placed by me) and kills 2 legions and an HC attacking it. One of our HC goes to elite.

426 (1): Bablyon Worker->HC. Spasinu HC->HC.
Visi, Ang, Ostro building SoG.

Archer kills a barb camp. +25 gold, goes to elite.
Elite HC attacks Byz HC - loses 4 hp, wins.
Vet HC attacks Byz legion - loses 3 hp, wins, promotes.

Paphos has no legion. Drop off 2 HC and go back for more.

7 HC move to the hills 2 squares from Cappadocia, which does have a Legion.

IBT: Byz HC come from the northern road, attacks our 1 hp elite, and kills it.

428 (2): Perseopolis HC->HC. Gordium HC->HC.
Vandals, Visi, and Ostro on SoG. Wait- weren't two of them doing that, already?

Vet HC attacks that Byz HC- flawless victory, promotes.

Attack on Paphos-
Vet HC- does 2 damage, dies.
Vet HC loses 3 hp, kills Pikeman.
1 Pikeman left, no units to attack it with. It'll fall in 2 turns.

Stack going for Cyrene notices WR legion, deftly avoids it.

Okay, the big one: attack on Capadocia.
HC does 1 damage, dies.
HC takes 1 damage, kills Legion.
HC does 2 damage to reg Legion, dies, promotes it.
HC takes 1 damage, kills reg Legion.
HC does 2 damage to reg Legion, dies.
HC does 1 damage to damaged Vet, dies, promotes it.
HC does 1 damage to damage to Vet, retreats.
Freaking crap! The Rng hates us, apparently.

Army diverts to assist on Capadocia.

IBT: Nothing. Oh, thank heavens.

430 (3): Antioch riots due to my pulling out all defenders. :blind:
Susa HC -> HC Ectabana HC->HC.
Vandals, Celts, Ostros are building SoG.

Attack on Capadocia, rnd 2:
Army attacks, loses 4 Hp, kills vet Legion.
Wounded vet HC attacks wounded elite Legion, loses 1hp, kills it, promotes.
Wounded vet HC attacks reg Legion, knocks off 1 hp, retreats.

IBT: again, nada.

432 (4): Ctesiphon HC -> HC. Singara HC-> HC. Pasargadae Temple -> Worker.
Vandals, Franks, Visi, Ostro building SoG. Will someone just *finish* it?

Attack on Capadocia, round 3.
Army attacks reg Legion, flawless victory.
Army attacks Pikeman, flawless victory.
Elite HC attacks Pikeman, loses 1, captures the city. Cappadocia begins work on Spearmen.

Attack on Paphos:
HC attacks vet pikeman, does 3 hp, dies.
HC attacks vet pikeman, loses 3 hp, takes the city. Paphos begins work on Spearman.

Attack on Cyrene:
Elite HC flawless kills reg Legion.
Immortals 1 flawlessly kills reg Legion.
General Micis.... holds. I'm not going to try to take city #7 until I'm sure of getting city #8 in the same turn.

IBT: Ostrogoths want to renegotiate our deal. We drop the Silks from the arrangement, and keep our MA.
Visigoths now up for barter; and give us WM for continued MA.
Celts trundle up, but they just want 15g for the WM. We gently rebuff them.
Vandals arrive- what is this, Barbarian Meeting Night? Must have stumbled into the wrong drinking hall. ANyways, we tell them we're not going to pay them 10gpt for an alliance, but instead want 48 gold and their WM for the MA, and they agree. Must be drunk.

434 (5): Cappodica ends resistance. Babylon HC -> HC. Sardis HC -> HC.
I'm not even telling you anymore who's building the SoG. You already know.

Scouting reveals Iconium and Ancyra to have Legions, so no preference as to which to hit. Ancyra is more convenient, so we set up for an attack there next turn.

Units by Cyrene hold.

IBT: Celts and Rome sign peace. WR legion finally shows up near Alexandria.

436 (6): Arbela HC -> HC.

Is it time?
Can it be done?

Army attacks Ancyra: flawless kill of reg Legion.
Army attacks Ancrya: loses 1 hp, kills reg Legion.
Vet HC attacks Ancrya: loses 2 hp, kills vet Pike, promotes.
Vet HC attacks Ancya: loses 3 hp, kills reg Pike, takes the city.
Ancyra set to Spearman.

We are at 7475 Vp.

General Micis attacks Cyrene: loses 1 hp, kills vet Pike.
Elite HC attacks Cyrene: loses 2hp, kills vet Pike.

We take Cyrene. Eastern Rome is eradicated.

Total VP: 10255. Visigoths are worst off next, with 2 cities lost.

Vet HC attacks WR legion- loses 2 hp, wins.

Okay, time to take the hurt to Western Rome. Rush Galley in Caesaera.

438 (7): Vandals sign peace with Rome. Caesara Galley -> Galley. Ectabana HC -> HC. Bactra HC -> HC.

Immortals 1 attacks WR archer that showed up near Cyrene; loses 2 hp and kills it.

Other than that, just making a great migration of our troops to the west to be sailed across the straights...

440 (8): Antioch Galley -> Galley. Ctesiphon HC -> HC. Singara HC -> HC. Susa HC->HC. Peshawar HC->HC. Perseoplois HC->HC. Sidon Courthouse -> HC.

Sure, now that the war's over, everyone wants to join the cavalry.

IBT: WR HC shows up near Alexandria.

442 (9): Babylon HC->HC. Pasargadale Worker-> Spearman. Gordium HC-> HC.

First HC to hit the WR HC dies; second flawlessly kills it and promotes.

444 (10): Spasinu Charax HC->HC. Nehavend HC -> HC.

Units continue to move.


Okay, so here's the set up.

We have 3 Elites in Cyrene, with a fourth on its way. Once some of the reinforcements on their way to Alexandria head out that direction, we can start stomping on the WR North African holdings, but that should probably wait until we've taken out some mainland WR cities- no point handing the 8th city to some barbarian tribe.

Most of our units are in Turkey, heading towards Epheseus. There are 3 Galleys in that area, so we can start carting troops over into Greece. I think that's our best plan- from Greece, we can follow the roads and move 6 spaces a turn rather than 5 in boats. Likewise, we can assemble our mighty forces in the empty areas and then move to attack, rather than offloading in an area that WR might counter-attack us in.

Our army is moving North and is just outside the Hun/Ostrogoth border, with a few HC as backup. I leave it up to the next player- either sign an RoP with the Ostro and march the army overland to the Balkans, or declare war on the Huns with Ostro help (or vice-versa): our army should be in just fine shape to take out the numerous 1 pop cities that abound in that area.

A worker has just left our borders; have him form a colony on the nearby Incense. Likewise, peel off a worker at some point to go colonize the Gems in southern Giza- that'll give us 7 luxuries.

Excelsior!

No pics, unfortunately- my machine is acting funny this morning.

 

[Caesar_Augustus]

Caesar Augustus
Corrado (Just Played)
DeceasedHorse (UP)
mitsho (On Deck)

24 Hours for 'Got it'; 48 Hours from 'Got it' post to complete turns

@DeceasedHorse - you still around? Haven't heard much from you lately.
@Mitsho - If the 24hrs for DeceasedHorse's 'Got it' pass without any word from him, feel free to step in and grab it.

See ya later Eastern Rome! Have the other barb civs agressively settled the VP locations? I suppose who cares since we're looking like we can eliminate ALL the civs!

 

[DeceasedHorse]

Got it.

 

[mitsho]

And now I have to tell you officially, that I will be away for a week, so I cannot play.. (). So please, skip me, if it's my turn during this week.

mfG mitsho

 

[DeceasedHorse]

Preturn: Switch Bactra to a Migrant (intended to grap a VP location). Babylon begin prebuild for the Military Academy. The scenerio isn't even half over, so I think we might as well go for it.

Turn 1: Hcav move around. Will declare on the Huns next turn unless sitution changes dramatically (they are much more of a threat than the Visigoths).

IBT: Western Rome loses a city (looks like one recaptured by the Ostrogoths, actually) They are 6 away from elimination now.

Turn 2: Buy both Goth tribes in vs. the Huns (mostly to protect the flanks. Continue moving H.Cav across the Aegean. H.Cav army kills a spear in Bourgas.

IBT: The Huns buy in the Vandals vs. the visigoths.

Turn 3: HCav army kills 3 spear in Bourgas, and autorazes the city. More troop movement. Start deficet research on mil. Strategy.

IBT: WRome loses a city. 5 left.

Turn 4: Hcav army kills 3 wandering hun spears and nabs a migrant. Will have to heal up though. Our nearest group of HCav is still a few turns from reaching northern Italy. General Micis and the Immortals have almost reached Carthage, but still have a string of Hcav racing to catch up.

IBT: Huns buy the Celts in against the Visigoths.
Western Rome loses another city, 4 down. I think they have mostly lost cities they captured from other civs, but I'm not a hundred percent on this.

Turn 5: General Micis + 2 other dudes reach the outskirts of Carthage, which is defended by a regular Legion. He will wait for reinforcements unless Rome continues to lose cities and we are in danges of missing out on the VP's for killing them. A few HCav fighting the Huns uncover a regular warlord on top of Silven...

IBT: The Hun Warlord redlines an elite Hcav, who retreats. The Roman land an Hcav on Papsos. The Celts complete the Scourge of God in the size 7 Eamhain.

Turn 6: Military Strategy finishes, research to zero, Babylon set to Mil. Academy, due in 15. Vet HCav kills the Hun warlord, promotes. Another Warlord pops out of Silven, but the army kills him off. Frank Pillagers are blocking the road to norther Italy this turn, which will cause some delay.

IBT: A redlined Roman Hcav comes out of the fog near Carthage; presumably fighting barbs?

Turn 7: Kill 2 Spears and a Warlord w/army attacking Silven, but the Hun city holds. Sink a Hun Galley in the Aegean. Kill redlined Roman Hcav w/ Immortals looking for a leader, but no luck.

IBT: Huns kill exposed Hcav, leaving just the army. Not very good leadership on my part. Western Rome and Ostrogoths sign treaty.

Turn 8: Iron buys the Ostrogoths back into the war. Army kills yet another warlord in Silven (Are they sending them from other cities!? They must be, since there is no way a size 3 city is building a warlord every turn, although there is some evidence of pop rushing. I decide to keep the city as a forward base, and to give our army a place to hole up in for awhile. Sink a Roman Galley, and load up a migrant to found a city where Constantinople once stood (otherwise the Franks will). No thanks to the jaywalking Franks, we have 10 heavy cavalry just inside the Roman border near northern Italy, who will now move on Aquilia.

Turn 9: Merge a Worker, and then Whip sliven to get a racks set up. More Hun warlords move out of the fog along the road, which a pair of new HCav kill. 2 Hcav land outside of Veii, capturing a worker in the process. Kill a Legion in Carthage, but the other attacking HCav is forced to retreat. No hurry. General Micis finishes the Legion off, leaving a Garrison on top. Still no more leaders.

Turn 10: The now-healed army picks off a warlord, then returns to the city. Currently a stalemate up there, but many Heavy Cavalry are streaming north across the Caucasus (most of our reinforcements are heading in that direction now, with the rest heading to the Anatolian Pennisula. HCav attack Veii, both redline and retreat back into the Galley, having inflicted a grand total of 1 damage on the Regular legion defending. Attack Aquilea: Kill 7 (!!) or so regular legions, but finally take the city. Only took 1 casualty. Western Rome is pretty much finished. They have lost 5 cities, and we can take Carthage whenever we want (unless they have an insane number of garrisons, which is a possibility). The Anglo-Saxon will probably (ok, I played ahead a turn) take another Roman city in the inter-turn, so just make sure we knock over one more Roman city in Italy and then finish Carthage.

Savage Sassanids

 

[Corrado]

Cool! So, what's our VP total up to?

Oh, and if mitsho is out, that puts Caesar Augustus up next.

 

[Caesar_Augustus]

Got it - will post turns Wednesday afternoon. Haven't had a chance to check out the save yet, but looks like I've been set up to

 

[Corrado]

With two Roman cities left to fall, we're probably best off healing the Aquiela force for a turn- it's far more likely that Rome will lose a single city (letting us take Carthage for the win) than lose 2.

After that, I say head for whomever looks easiest to take out. The Franks look disorganized but don't have many cities; maybe the Saxons or Visigoths? Whatever you feel like.

 

[Caesar_Augustus]

Pre-Turn:
I whip Spearmen in Ancyra, Cappadocia, Antioch, Caesarea, Alexandria and also whip a Migrant to settle the last Turkey VP spot. All of those forementioned cities were undefended or had HC defending them; I don't want to invite any more sneak attacks and I want to free up more HC to take out the Huns. I also click on all HC heading north to make sure they're not on Go-To commands, and up luxuries to 70% to restore WLTK day to all of our cities. I optimize our cities to build Heavy Cavs faster.

466 AD (1): The Romans now stand at 6 lost cities. Our HC Army kills a couple of units around Sliven, clearing the path for HC reinforcements. I found Istanbul on the old Constantinople VP spot. I move the two HC in Paphos (modern-day Cyprus) onto a Galley to get them back onto the mainland, and whip a Spear from scratch to get some MP in there.
For some reason a worker was building a mine on Incense in the middle of nowhere:

Hmmm, we need more Victory points pronto. And what the heck? I can't build a colony on the Incense! That's messed up.
I'm worried that the Huns will mount an attack down the east bank of the Caspian Sea, so I move some units there to keep an eye on things.
I merge some workers into cities to increase HC production.
I fortify a Galley in the Hellespont to prevent the Visis and the Ostros from sailing through and collecting VP locations.
IT: The Huns come begging for peace. I decapitate the Hun envoy, and 3 Warlords come into view. Someone wondered where they got all these Warlords from: A) They have 3 6+ cities, and quite a few size 5 ones. B) Emperor Cost Factor - Warlords only cost 56 shields for them to build. C) Golden Age - when we lost some HC to the Warlords, it triggered the Hun Golden Age.

468 AD (2):[/b] Rome lost no cities on that turn, and still stand at 6 lost cities and 21990 VPs; we have 15525 VPs.
I move our forces in Northern Italy (9 HC) next to Milan, which only has a regular legion on top! Next turn, Rome will fall. Our army in Hun-ville kills a Warlord, and 3 HC arrive in Silven, our captured Hun city. In Silven, we disband a Hun worker to speed the production of a Spear.
IT: The Empire Strikes Back:

Crap, we lose our first city. It only had 3 wounded HC defending it, so I'm partially to blame. However, the situation could be a lot worse: imagine if the flip had taken out 6-9 HC - we wouldn't have enough to take out Milan then, and thus would be in danger of not taking out the 8th city. Also, this works out well for us - if Milan proves to be too strong, we can fall back and easily take out Aquileia, since it'll only have a minimal garrison! However, I want to eliminate Rome THIS turn, so I'll try Milan first and then we'll go from there.
The Huns start Justinian's Leadership.

470 AD (3): The Romans still stand at 6 lost cities. That'll change soon . We build 3 more HC. Merge some more workers to hit some more OHCRs.
Alright, time to take it to Rome. Since Milan is closer to the city of Rome than Carthage, it'll have less corruption and thus more Legions/Garrisons defending it. So I'll attack it first; if the attack fails, then we can wait for another civ to take out the 7th city and then smack down Carthage for the 8th. And as mentioned earlier if the attack doesn't go well, I'll just move the remaining heavy cavs to again take out Aquileia, which will only have at best a Legion and a Garrison defending it.
Battle of Milan
-Vet HC redlines itself but KILLS a Reg Legion.
-Vet HC loses 1 HP and KILLS a Reg Legion.
-Vet HC loses 1 HP and KILLS a Reg Legion.
-Elite HC redlines itself against a Reg Legion and retreats.
-Elite HC flawlessly kills the Reg Legion, exposing a Garrison!
-Elite HC loses 2 HP, kills the Garrison, and Milan is ours! I install a governor, since cities can't flip to a non-existant empire

(to be continued . . .)

 

[Caesar_Augustus]

470 AD (3) continued . . .

The Second Battle of Zama 470 AD
General Micis surveyed the plains of Zama. Here, more than 672 years ago, the Roman general Scipio defeated the great Carthaginian general Hannibal, effectively ending Carthaginian power and propelling Rome to unsurpassed splendour and power. Micis shook his head. How ironic that Zama would again be the springboard for a young, hungry nation to become a superpower. And this time, the humiliated foe would not be the Carthaginians, but Rome itself. A half-smile crossed Micis' face as he wondered whether Hannibal, watching from his resting place in the Elysian fields, was laughing. As he mounted his horse, any trace of a smile faded. It was time for battle.
-Vet HC loses 1 HP and KILLS a Reg legion, exposing a Garrison! Wow, will it really be this easy?

That's not even close to the VPs the Celts team got for killing them! I guess the Emperor cost factor wasn't low enough for the Romans to build mega units. AH well, time to focus on the Huns. I move various HC around to claim Italian VP locations.
IT:No sign of the Huns, except for a wandering Spear. We build 2 more HC.

472 AD (4): Strange, I can't build colonies on ANY of the Incenses! @Gobi Bear, the civilopedia says that it's a luxury resource, but does it have that flag in the editor? I can build colonies on the other resources.
Quiet turn. Claim some more Italian VPs and a Spanish VP. Rest our armies in Carthage and will send some galleys over to pick up Micis and his crew. Move LOTS of HC around.
IT:A-Saxons and Huns sign an alliance vs the Visigoths. 3 more HC produced.

474 AD (5): We kill a Hun Warlord. I notice that the Visigoths have lost *6* cities already. Time to finish them off. I move some Heavy Cav from the VP spots in Greece to within striking distance of a spearman guarded pop 1 city.
IT: 2 more HC produced. A hun maurader and 2 Ostro Horsemen wander into view of Silven.

476 AD (6): Visgoths still at 6 cities lost. Divert some Hun-bound HC to Istanbul (we have 2 galleys blocking the strait that can bridge them over). Our army wastes a maurader and a Warlord, and will attack a Hun city next turn. Micis and 3 other HC set sail for Europe.
IT: We watch 6 Frank Warlords head over to Visigoth territory.

478 AD (7): Visigoths lose another city. We're going to have to break an alliance against the Huns but hey, who cares. We're the Sassanids, we never liked these damn barbarians anyway! We tolerated them enough to help us defeat Rome, and enjoyed signing them in Military Alliances against each other - now it is time to reveal the true DASTARDLY nature of the Sassanids! But before we go breaking Alliances, let's investigate the city and see if we even have a chance of taking them out:

Ummm I guess not. Oh well, hopefully we can get some more troops up there before the Franks finish them off.
IBT: The Visigoths stay alive. The Ostros move a migrant/spear pair down to Greece to poach a VP spot. We build 5 HC. The Huns move this stack next to our forces:

480 AD (8): We raze the Hun city of Haskovo. General Micis and his 3 HC land in Italy - we'll want a force in Europe in case any other barbarian tribe gets 5-6 cities eliminated. We almost kill the entire Hun SoD (only a 4/4 Raider and a 1/3 Warlord left), losing 1 HC in the process.
IT:Franks declare war on the Celts. The Visigoths are toasted - really nothing we could have done there, except have kept a closer eye on the Barbarians' wars and territory. The Anglo-Saxons move 4 Warlords next to Milan - sneak attack on the way! The Franks also begin moving Warlords towards Milan.

482 AD (9): I sign MA and RoP with the Franks and A-Saxons against the Huns, giving them some luxuries. That should hopefully prevent the sneak attack, but nonetheless I abadon some VP locations and strengthen Milan's garrison. I move around lots of HC, and decide to keep a force of 3-4 HC fortified in Sidon to guard against any moves towards our home base. I check F8 and the Huns are now the new 'leader' for elimination with 4 cities gone.
IT:The A-Saxons . . come asking for a trade, so we give him Spices, Silks, 100g for Furs. The Franks and A-Saxons withdraw their forces from around Milan. The Huns kill 1 HC, and we kill a Warlord on defence. We build 4 HC.

484 AD (10): We kill 3 spears at the Hun city of Dobrich but at least 1 spear and 1 2/3 HP Warlord remain. And I'll pass off here and allow the next leader to direct the movements of our Hun attack force.

RBC12g_Sassanids_484_AD.SAV

 

[Gobi Bear]

@Gobi Bear, the civilopedia says that it's a luxury resource, but does it have that flag in the editor? I can build colonies on the other resources.

We took the Rise of Rome map for this scenario, and then tweaked as necessary. Building of cities and colonies in desert was turned off to direct AI settling a bit (in part so the Huns don't settle in the infertile part of the steppes). But we should have then removed or moved the incense in the desert. Us bad.

 

[Caesar_Augustus]

Ah ok, good to know. Thanks! If we really want/need it we could settle a city on the nearby plains and let the borders expand, but that's a moot point this far along in the game.

 

[Corrado]

Pre-turn: Let's look at the stats. Both Romes are out. Visigoths are dead. Huns are next worst off with 4 cities down. We're at 25275, need another 10000. Yeep.

Finishing up 484- move the SoD to attack Varna. Kill a Warlord in the open.

IBT: Warlord comes and kills one of our HC. Hun HC(!) shows up and attacks our HC stack outside of Dobrich, but gets killed. Vandals and Celts MA against Ostrogoths. Anglos and Franks hit the road away from us. (Yay!)

486 AD (1): Caesarea Spearmen->HC. Babylon Military Academy -> HC (I don't think we'll have time for Justinian's Leadership.) Arbela HC->HC. Spasinu HC->HC. Ecbatana HC-> HC. Peshawat HC-> HC.

Attack on Dobrich:
HC vs. Hun HC: lose 1 to warlord bomb, 1 to HC, kill enemy.
2/4 HC vs. Hun spear: flawless victory.
1/4 HC vs. 2/3 Hun Warlord: flawless victory, Dobrich razed, Ostro stack noticed. That explains the wounded Warlord.

Huns have 5 cities dead.

Attack on Varna:
HC Army vs. Hun HC: lose 1, kill it.
HC Army vs. Hun Spear: lose 4, kill it.
Vet HC vs. Hun Spear: flawless victory.
Vet HC vs. Hun Spear: lose 2, kill spear, raze city.

6 down.

3/5 Elite HC vs. Hun Warlord: flawless victory, no fish.
Vet HC vs. Hun Warlord: lose 1, win.
Vet HC vs. Hun Warlord: Lose 2, win.

Whip a spear in Istanbul. (Not Constantinople? Eh, nobody's business but the Turks.) Send the 6 defenders up to get near the OStrogoths.

VP: 26685.

IBT: Lose 3 HC to Hun counter-attacks.

488 AD (2): Alexandria Migrant-> HC. Ctesiphon HC -> HC. Singara HC -> HC. Susa HC-> HC. Gordium HC->HC. Istanbul Spearman->Spearman.

Huns are building Justinian's Leadership. Doubt they'll finish it.

Vet HC loses to Hun Warlord.
Elite HC loses to Hun Warlord.
Our army has to kill 3 Hun Warlords for some time to rest.
Vet HC kills Hun HC after losing 3 hp.

IBT: Contemplate spilling my Diet Coke all over myself so that I have an excuse for not watching the hideous counterattacks that kill 3 HC and our army.

490 AD (3) Massive losses cause recruiting to drop to an all-time low: no HCs.

We have 27735 VP; Huns still at 6 down.

Vet HC kills Hun HC, promotes.
Vet HC kills Hun spear flawlessly.

IBT: Lose 3 HC- including an Elite- to Hun counterattacks.

492 AD (4) Nehavend HC-> HC.

VP: 28175. Huns down 6 still.

Vet HC kills Hun HC.
Vet HC dies attacking Vet HC in Rousse.
Vet HC kills Spear in Rousse.
Elite HC kills Warlord, generates Bahram the leader.

IBT: Hun counter kills HC. Lots of Franks moving around.

494 AD (5), or, as we like to call it, "Mr. War Year."

Carthage Spear -> HC. Babylon HC-> HC. Ecbatan HC-> HC. Perseopolis HC->HC. Bactra HC->HC. Sardis HC->HC.

Bahram forms army.
Vet HC attacks Vet HC in Rousse, loses 1, wins.
3/4 HC attacks Spear in Rousse, loses 1, wins.

VP: 28775. Huns at 6.

HC decide Ostros are in the way of our advance on the Huns. Declare War on Ostrogoths.
HC vs, Galtis Spear- lose 1, promote.
HC vs. Galtis spear- flawless victory.
HC vs. Galtis spear- flawless victory.
HC vs. Galtis spear- lose 2, win.
HC vs. Galtis marauder- flawless win, raze city.
HC vs. Ostro spear- flawless win.

Decide Franks are just annoying. Declare War on the Franks.
Elite HC vs. Frank Warlord- lose 3, win.
Elite HC vs. Frank spear in Ataulfhulundi- flawless victory.
Elite HC vs. Frank spear, flawless victory, razes Ata before I have to spell it again.

Vet HC vs. Ostro spear- flawless victory.
Vet HC vs. Ostro spear- lose 1, win.

Now up to 29245 VP.

IBT: Lose 3 HC, including one guarding Veii.

496 (6): Ctesiphon HC-> HC. Singara HC-> HC. Arbela HC-> HC. Susa HC-> HC.
VP: 29660.

HC attacks Ostro Spear in Bauduelabargs, flawless victory, promotes.
Elite HC kills Hun Warlord, spawns General.
Other Army kills 2 Hun Warlords.

Elite HC loses 1, kills Frank Pillager.
Elite HC flawlessly kills Frank Pillager, takes Veii back.
Elite HC loses 2, kills Frank Warlord in Amiens.
Vet HC flawlessly kills Frank Spear in Amiens.
Vet HC loses 1, kills Frank Spear and destroys Amiens.

Elite HC flawlessly kills Frank Warlord.

VP: 30260.

IBT: Lose 3 HC and Veii VP to counterattacks. Vandals and Franks MA against us.

498 (7): Sapsinu HC-> HC. Peshawar HC-> HC. Gordium HC-> HC. Sidon HC-> HC.

VP: 30605.

Vet cav loses 3, kills Ostro Spear, destroys Baudelabaurgs.

2/4 Vet HC dies against Ostro marauder.
Vet HC loses 2, kills Ostro HC.
Vet HC loses 1, kills Ostro Marauder.

Elite HC loses 4, kills Ostro spear in Veduchabaurg.
Vet HC loses 1, kills Ostro spear in.. same place.
3/4 Vet HC flawless kills Ostro spear there, too.

Elite HC attacks Frank spear in Oestergarn, loses 2, wins, sparks leader. Oestergarn is then kept, if only to build an immdieate army inside.

Elite HC loses 2, kills Frank Marauder.
Vet HC loses 1, kills Frank Marauder, promotes.
Vet Hc loses 2, kills Frank Pillager.
Vet HC loses 3, kills Frank Warlord, promotes.
Vet HC loses 1, kills Franks Marauder.
Vet HC kills Frank Pillager.

Vet HC loses to Hun HC.

Army kills Hun Warlord, Maraduer, returns to Silven to rest.

VP: 31285.

IBT: Lose 1 HC in counter.

500 AD (8): Silven Spearmen->Spearmen.

VP: 31640.

Vet HC kills Ostro HC flawlessly.
Vet HC (3/4) kills Ostro HC flawlessly.
Vet HC dies to Ostro HC.
Vet HC (2/4) kills Ostro HC flawlessly.

Elite HC (3/5) kills Frank Marauder flawlessly.
Elite HC (4/5) kills Frank Marauder flawlessly.
Vet HC kills Frank Pillager flawlessly, promotes.
Elite HC (2/5) loses 1, kills Frank Pillager, takes back Veii VP.

Army out of Oestergarn kills Frank Marauder.

VP: 31890.

IBT: I cannot believe my eyes. Two Ostro HCs have died in attacking our HCs- one of those attacks was against an HC that had 1 hp left. Then two Ostro galleys destroyed themselves attacking our Regular Galley sitting outside of Istanbul. RNG, I kiss you.

Vandals and Anglo-Saxons declare war on us, but only after the A-S have moved and can't attack us.

502 (9): Antioch Migrant-> HC. Bab HC->HC.

VP: 32400.

Elite HC loses 1, kills Ostro Spear in Veduchaum.
Elite HC flawlessly kills Ostro Spear in Kaldshulunid.

Elite HC loses 2, kills Hun Warlord.
Army loses 1, kills Hun Warlord.
Army loses 5(!), kills Hun Warlord.
2nd Army loses 3, kills Hun Warlord.
2nd Army loses 2, kills Hun Warlord.
HC loses 2, kills Hun Warlord.
Vet HC loses 1, kills Hun HC.

Elite HC attacks Frank Spear, flawless victory.
Vet HC attacks Frank Maradaur, loses 2, wins.

VP: 32960.

IBT: Lose 3 HC, and the 2nd Army. Kill 2 Ostro HC (again!) and 1 Frank Warlord. Celts declare war on us.

502 AD (10): VP: 33415.

3rd army loses 2, kills Anglo Warlord.
3rd army loses 3 against ANglo Warlord, retreats. Decide to abandon Oestergarn for the Anglos to have.

Vet HC loses 3, kills Ostro Warlord.
Vet HC loses 3, retreats from Ostro Spear. RNG is back in the 'hate' column, apparently.
Vet HC flawlessly kills Ostro Spear.
Vet HC loses 1, kills Ostro HC.
Vet HC loses 2, kills Ostro HC.

Elite HC loses 1, kills Ostro spear in Kaldshullunid.

Elite HC flawlessly kills Hun HC.
Army loses 1, kills Hun Warlord.

Elite HC loses 1, kills Frank Warlord.
Elite HC loses 3, retreats from Frank Warlord in Besancon.
Vet Cav loses 2, kills Frank Spearman in Besancon.
Elite HC loses 1, kills Frank Spearman in Besancon.


Okay, that's it for me. Due to some poor rolls and a massive resurgence by the Huns (Warlords and HC galore!), I have managed to eliminate no further civs. However, by beating on enemy armies, I've upped our total score to: 33945.

Okay, I'm passing this on to Deceased Horse. Chances are, we'll win in two turns so long as we keep beating on the units the barbs throw at us. Even if we don't, we'll likely win in five turns just from VP locations.

Finish them!