RBC13A - Middle Ages - Byzantium, Sid

We won't discuss the happenings before 888 AD -- they are inconsequential. The real moment of truth arrives now. Two archers, both wounded, are set to attack a wounded spear in Veliki Preslav. A wounded spear awaits them, his compatriot dead to a sword attack only moments earlier. The crowd is hushed. The first archer attacks and loses...a single hp before rallying to finish off the spear. A hush sweeps the crowd, expectant of their insipient glory.

But wait! What's this? A Bulgar archer was cowering behind the spear. A wounded archer of the glorious Byzantines, down to 2 hps from battling a sword earlier, is the only troop Arathorn has left. Knowing that to wait is to see more units appear, he is recklessly thrown into battle. For his heroic deed, he is promoted to veteran status and is anointed first defender of Valiki Preslav. Two resisters, too.

With troops overexposed and reinforcements running low, peace is signed. Ruse was getting less available with each passing turn. A worker, 2 gpt, and 57 gold are paid to us as ransom. This will allow us to connect iron and come back in ~20 turns to hit them again -- harder this time.

128 gold buys a worker from the Magyars. Varna founded in Turkey, to get a second wheat into range for Ancyra, eventually. More cities will be nice here, but one is good now. It begins a worker.

Constantinople goes to warriors for future upgrade to swordsmen. We have a reasonable income and a bit of cash on hand. Plus, we're actually under our unit support, for at least a little bit, so we might as well get some sword-prototypes going.

Later, we buy another worker (Denmark). Not much else of note in this reign. We have contact with 12 other civs, which is pretty good. We're lacking five -- Germany, Kievan Rus, Swedes, and ... some others, too. HBR is available, but not universally and it's EXPENSIVE. We might be able to justify purchasing it and reselling it (Fatimid Caliphites have some cash, for example), but I'm not sure enough to pull the trigger. It's all up to the next leader.

The one settler active, I had intended to place one north of his current position -- will be a good filler city, in my estimation. Corinth's settler is earmarked for one of the two logical positions in Greece (see the dotmap earlier). I would use Larissa's as a bridge city towards Constantinople -- again where the dotmap suggested on the plains just east of the river.

Don't forget we have cash-rushing ability. And get the iron hooked up soon, so we can hit the Bulgars with swords in about 18 turns! :)

Good luck! Sorry about not getting Ruse -- it just wasn't in the cards for me.

All builds are vetoable, of course. All have some purpose, but there may be better ones available. Our early lead is deteriorating rapidly. We might want to try to prune somebody else just a bit before going after the Bulgers again. Gonna be tough, though.

Arathorn

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads6/rbc13a-900ad.zip
 
Good work. We're far in the lead in victory points! 840 to the Abbasids' 535. :) Comments:

- Stop those mining workers at Adrianople and get them irrigating instead. We aren't in Despotism :)

- Is buying workers wise? Two worker purchases could've been half a technology. We do need them, but I'm not sure we can afford to put our cash to anything besides tech.

- Do send a unit north from the Bulgar capital to bust fog and find more contacts. I'd send a 2-move king; there's no reason to worry about losing him since we're keeping the Theodora unit in our capital anyway.

- I don't think we'll be able to prune anyone else before going against the Bulgars again. The logistics are just too tough, and there really isn't anything to gain in the short term.

Jabah << UP NOW
Charis << On Deck
Speaker << In the hole
 
Got it... and the Rus game as well...

Will play at least one of those tonight (but probably both).
I posted a few general comments on the Rus game about tech price, too bad there is not a lot of 'byzantine' civilisations to get cheap tech in our tree.

Will have a look at the save and back before playing anyway

Jabah
 
Is buying workers wise?

If the only thing was that we gained a worker, I don't think I'd've purchased them. But they also slow down the civilization from which we purchase them. And, this early in the game, I think they pay for themselves in extra commerce and lower unit upkeep well before the end of the game.

And, really, it's the longer haul where we're in more trouble. At this point, it's pretty easy for us to afford a technology -- we have a quite healthy income. But we're not growing larger very fast (although Constantinople is up to 3 fpt) and the other civs cities are. I see worker purchases as just another way of using our initial size/income advantage to slow down the rate at which the other civs are catching us.

I did debate, but I decided the cost was worth it, for another 10-20 turns or so.

Arathorn
 
Remember when I was pondering what could possibly be the disadvantages of Byzantium in this scenario? Well, here's one: the techs on their tree are grossly expensive.

In the editor, the costs are 12 for Horseback, 15 for Seafaring and Castle Building, 30 for Smithing, Viking Sagas, and Lost Roman Secrets; a whopping 50 (same cost as the branch entry techs) for Heavy Cavalry, and 40 each for the last two Byzantine techs.

In other words, we need to pay more than twice as many beakers to finish our tech tree as the Vikings do for theirs -- and we'll be doing it at first-civ prices or (more likely) 40-turn research all the way. We aren't going to be able to research Lost Roman Secrets or Heavy Cavalry any faster than the minimum, so Cataphracts are 100 turns away right now if we first finish Norse Tradition. :mad:
 
Pre-turn
Look at the situation, where are our defenders in the east ?? :-)
We need as well lots of settlers
change Adrianople from barrack to settler (in2t) and Ancrya from Granary to settler (in3t)

Could buy HBR for 30gpt and hope to sell it back to 2 civ for 250g seems fair:
buy HBr from Magyar (same price as everyone) for 30gpt+7g
sell it back to Fatimid for 145g
sell it back to Denmark for 95g+1worker
don't sell to Bulgar (25g) and ordova (11g) as they are too poor...
Rush temple in Smyrna (112g)

Go...

an Abbasid archer is approching (but turn back later)

903AD (1) Start more worker and horse in Constantinople

906AD (2) found Heraclea south of Constantnople (start barracks)

what are Bulgars looking for ? (they are still around)

909AD (3) Found Trebizond in south greece/Chalcedon in north greece west of constantinople

912AD (4) rush a settler in Larissa and Attalea (90g/60g to save 23t/17t)
'seal' the Constantinople passage to prevent Bulgar to try to go through

915AD (5)

918AD (6) connect Dyes in Greece
Found Sardica in north Turkey, oughh it is 75% corrupt at least...

921AD (7)

924AD (8) Found Naissus in west Turkey

Franks & English are building the HRE

927AD (9) Found Dyrrachium south of greece
meet Poland

930AD (10)

- Look at Military advisor for Germany/Burgundy tells that germany had captured burgundy relic... and both have worker in capital ...guess what they should be at war...
- we can sell HBR to Bulgar for 25g+worker, up to next player
- Castle in quite largely known but all our money (120g+20gpt) is still doubt.
- might have to chop trees in south greece to bring irrigation to these desertic place
- desesperatly need 'courthouse'
- Constantinople is building spears for all the empire, as we won't have enough money to upgrades tens of warrior.
- Bulgar have several archers/swords in nthe northern hills and several settlers are gone north.
- should probably continue research at min on our own tree and buy whatever possible (but that is for later anyway).

Jabah
 
Here are our glorious lands in 930AD

and another extra comment
- should start mining the hill around Constantinople as it will soon reach size 12 and will be able to reach 20spt with 2 mined hills (and no starvation)

Jabah
 
Good turns, quiet times. :)

We're definitely at the limit of the cities we can build that will ever get out from under corruption. We don't need more cities now. What we need now is GROWTH, to get our economy going. Do build the granaries, especially in cities on rivers. What happened to Ancyra's granary that was under construction on mine and Arathorn's turns? I guess it built a settler instead?

Irrigating Greece is tough. Takes 20 worker turns to chop a forest in this scenario. Might be worth it to chop at Larissa, since then irrigation can get all the way down to Athens. Probably not worth the effort down at Trebizond. (Too bad we never get to plant forests, but that would be kinda unbalancing.)

Long-term, we look pretty safe on not losing. If anyone attacks from the north, we sign the Bulgars and/or Magyars to alliances. The Abbasids are the only real threat to us - we might want to attack them eventually, though not for quite some time right now. We won't lose, although I'm not quite sure how we're planning to win. This will probably be a long game, certainly longer than Celts in Fall of Rome. ;)

Charis << UP NOW
Speaker << On Deck
 
Yes, I was a little bit settlers crazy, but I didn't want Bulgar or Abbassid (or some viking) to settle our 1st ring or steal our luxuries...


One extra comments, but you veterans SG players probably knew it, the computer is very bad at selecting where should citizens work and keep trying to work forrest with 100% corruption than working irrigated grassland.
Keep en eye on Athens specially (usualy working useless hills instead of grass).

The 2 forrests I had considered cutting are indeed Larissa and also Trebizond.

Jabah
 
another argument for maybe just 1/2 more cities. We are just about the total allowed units, so each city was more or less gaining us 4gpt up to now.
And we still need more workers & units.
I think we just should fill the void between our cities in middle Turkey (horse and plains and lake) also to have a shorter border.

We probably should connect Iron soon (at worst a slave can build a colony in emergency just outside).

Jabah
 
Nit for Jabah: we're in Monarchy, which is only 2 unit support per town, 4 per size-7 city. Growing a city up to size 7 gives just as much support as building another new city. Filling the space in Turkey does sound like a good idea, though build the settlers from outlying cities, don't stunt core cities.
 
When I said 4gpt, I mean counting both the 2 'free' units and the 1g the city will produce (ok that is 3 not 4...but we can always set the city to wealth for an extra 1g) :-) .
Agree about letting the core cities grow, but not a lot can be size 7 soon.

Jabah
 
We're at peace with the known world. The only part of the world we do NOT know
is in fact nearby Kievan Rus. I wonder if we can fix that during our reign.

Norse Tradition is due in 11, and virtually the whole world except us knows
Castle building. The others who don't are: Danes(24), Cordova(43), Norway(1), Poland(3),
Sweden(40), Burgundy(7), Castille(43), Celts(17), Fatamid(23). The Bulgars not only lack
castles, they lack HBR. There is 201g dispersed across the nations for the one who will sell
them Castle Building. Can that someone be... us? It seems to be no dice, just too
expensive. But the new Caliph is crafty, he finds the weakest commercial civ with the
tech, and one which have an embassy with, and dials them up

"Will you sell?" "NO WAY!" "For our entire economy?" "Never!"
"Will you sell if we turn down our lux and give you an RoP?" "No!"
"If you don't sell, our massive nation shall declare war on your tiny shrivelled
nation and we shall exterminate you as we did your neighbors the Bulgars!" :eek:
"Ok, ok, RoP+120g+11gpt". "Thank you!" :hammer: We can now cross rivers w/o penalty.

Castille gives all 43g+2gpt.
Cordova gives all 43g+2gpt.
Sweden gives all 40g.
Fatamids give all 23g.
Danes give all 24+1gpt.
Celts give all 17g.
Burgundy gives a worker and all 7g.
Poles are spurned, with only 3g.
Norway is spurned, with only 1g.

I'm not sure if it was best to re-sell so cheap to those that hadn't, but...
i) we'll not likely ever have anything else to sell, ii) someone else will sell,
iii) they're all likely self-researching it anyway, iv) if they don't have it they
have a stronger nation next to them who does, and this should help balance of power.

Net from sales is 197g+4gpt+a worker. That's one pricey tech and one worker for 63gold. :D

Does anyone else have further techs? No, except for any untradeable ones around.
Once Norse comes in we have as options for next tech: Western Church (nah), Arab Learning,
Early siegecraft (is this so de-prioritized that we could reach this first on Sid?), or
Code of Laws towards Map Making. Four required techs before the last age. Equally if not
more important are Lost Roman Secrets then Heavy Cavalry so we get our vital Cataphracts.
Oddly enough, btw, we can leave the lux slider on zero, so we're at 199g+13gpt now!

Our iron outside Smyrna is not hooked up yet? Are we looking to pump some warriors?
We have 8, half vets, but still some cities EMPTY. So yes, we could use more warriors,
although our economy can't afford to upgrade them all. Even if we could, we would prefer
the horse->Cata upgrade. Since we have zero horses, I swap Constantinople to one, and
will probably return to the spear-for-each-city policy. We're at 21 cities, btw, not bad.
Builds look pretty good, although a tad heavy on granaries. Between those and the 1/3 of
orders being workers, we're clearly taking a long term view. I can stick with that.
Empty Nicaea and Ephsesus do swap to warriors though, as does Caesarea for Ancrya.
Veliki goes on scientist as its fully corrupt.

Peace expires in 5 with Bulgars, what will the next 20 turns hold - that's the question!
They have seven cities, nothing to give (now or in 20) and are about the only tribe
with a military average to us. Could we capture a few cities and hit their second king?
With an avg mil, and 8 cities, that means only 2 spears per city, and a couple more
for the capital/king city. We have 1 sword and 5 archers and I see their offensive
stack in plain view - it's 1 sword and 6 archers. Where our best city is an archer
per two rounds, theirs on Sid is an archer per turn. These to NOT seem good odds
for starting a war in 5 turns, guys. And we have no swords coming up anytime soon.
With a worker for sale + 29g for HBR, it seems better to take that deal now. BTW,
they have no horses :P

Long report, continued next msg...
Charis
 
[0] 930 AD - Finally, here we go... Hmm, I see a few nations have started HRE. They'll
ALL have knights probably 40-50 turns before our Cataphracts show up.

[1] 933 - Northern ship does contact the Rus. They lack HBR! I'll hold off though in hopes
they'll come up with a worker or more than 15g. More workers are started.
I do like the chop-and-irrigate plan, and move to do so in both spots suggested.
IBT - Great news! Bulgars sign on with Germany against Burgundy. That will move their
SoD away from home and leave them exposed when peace/deals expire.
Germans start HRE.

[2] 936 - zzz
IBT - Indeed the Bulgars do send their offensive SoD away. Darn, if I knew that I wouldn't
have made a tech deal :P OH! DUH! It was a hard cash deal!! We're free to declare
in 2-3 turns if we want. Too bad not long enough for their SoD to get far away.

[3] 939 - IBT Poles start HRE.
[4] 942 - zzz
[5] 945 - Preparing for what may be coming...
IBT - OH, I do *NOT* like this at all! I behold two things of interest outside
Viliki. i) a Bulgar *horseman*. (I check, they STILL have no horses), and
ii) a Magyar warrior steps up next to Viliki?!

[6] 948 - Ah yes, we have an RoP with the Magyars. He's likely just exploring, especially
since it's just a single warrior. The *BIG* question this turn is...

to renew peace with the Bulgars, or not? On the peace side - we're mid-buildup,
their SoD is not far away but heading out further, we have no iron hooked up yet,
and our offense is WEAK. On the war side, their defense is weak, their troops are out
of position, and we can whack a worker on first round. We could even pull the Magyars
in, but the risk there is that they swallow the Bulgars.

The potential gain is two cities in a quick war, and the downside is just the loss
of a few archers and swords, and a draw, or just one city. Not stellar odds, but
it's a positive thing overall. I pull the trigger!
Thanks to Alexius, we snag 3 workers, not 1, and 10 troops move into position.
IBT - NO counter from the Bulgars, and they move two workers NEXT to our troops??!
A Magyar *archer* joins the warrior next to Viliki? Then the computer goes into a
very long pause with hourglass... and it's the Abbasids turn. What on earth are
the Magyars doing? Why didn't the warrior move?
BTW, Abbasids have founded on the lake not far too our south. They're REXing :-\

[7] 951 - This is dicey. Are the Magyars going to attack? If so, why haven't they
already? If we ally them, will they swallow the Bulgar and leave us with a stronger
than green nation North of us? I sure as heck don't want to face them TOO, right now.
Although if we do, perhaps we can ally the Burgundians vs both? Tough call here.
I don't really want to lock into 20 turns vs Bulgars either. Let's see how our
attacks go first. We capture the two loose workers, making this a pretty good outcome
already, +5 workers so far. At Stridets, archer beats spear, archer beats reg spear.

At Ruse... horse redlines but wins. Sword wins. Vet archer loses to vet spear after
redlining it. Just a 1hp spear left. Oh no, Alexius dives in! (Yes, we're that short
on attackers, and I can hit an upcoming spear this turn if I have him attack)
He wins, and we capture the city of Ruse. Five resistors, no bldgs, boo.
(Thought... a king unit should auto-prevent a culture flip :P )

Theodora has similar thoughts until she realizes she can neigher attack nor even
defend herself (0.0.1). Feeling ashamed, she heads home to capital.

We can hit a walking spear behind Ruse now, or shift an attacker over toward
Stridets. There's one more unit to send at Stridets, so let's finish there first.
We do take Stridets, and so send the archer on attack. It wins but turns red, and
sees that it is sitting next to about four archers hidden previously in fog.

Time for a decision on the Magyars, and there are 3 factors that decide it for me.
i) The Magyars are paying us 41gpt (!) If they declare it's a HUGE windfall for us.
ii) That archer moving up and the warrior not moving has NO explanation other than
a sneak attack.
iii) They're downright insulted by the thought of an alliance vs Bulgars (when last time
it just took 5gpt) For reasonable amounts, they won't ally.

They ARE about to attack, what to do? Let them. We have no offense to spare, but all
they'll use are an archer and warrior vs two fortified spears (one moved in right now)
We brace for the IBT... our archer gets cut down like a dog. A spear I had moved to
overlook their land next to xxx served as bait, and two archers impaled themselves
on it, promoting. Tthen, yep, called it, Magyars commit the heinous act of RoP Rape! :eek:
They declare and move a warrior next to a worker, and archer loses to spear at Viliki,
promoting it to elite. Resistance in Stridets ends (did I mention it kept is rax?)

[8] 954 - Our income has lept to +57gpt. If the Magyars do nothing else than take
six turns to bring forces to bear then take peace, this will be outstanding.

So how many Bulgars are on the way? Five spears in sight, ten archers, one sword.
GAH! That's too many, too quick! I can only hope they want to talk REAL SOON!
Stepping up on a mtn, we see about eight more a turn further back. Hrmmm... Have
I forgotten this is Sid???

Constantinople hits size 12 and an outstanding 15spt. Actually, mines due to complete
IBT will pump that higher. Minihorse rush at Pliska for 16g. I think it prudent to
rush a spear at Sredets (with rax and 1 shield in box) It's chances are too slim
without that. Heck, that's 1.5 turns of the windfall income from Magyars, we do it.
I thought comes to mind which I won't do but next leader may. We could like get
an embassy and alliance vs Magyars from the Rus right behind them, for the HBR tech?!
The only reason I don't is to not lock us into war for 20.

IBT - Indeed, 11 troops move next to Stridets. It's on a hill, but chances to hold it
are very slim. Seems we had too many guys in Ruse?! :P
Indeed the IBT mines made the horse come out NOW, and we're at 19spt. 20spt once the
last mine completes in a few turns.

[9] 957 - Resistence ends in Ruse. I try to cover what I can, no attacks this round.
I move two warrs and two horses next to Stridets, thinking they won't be able to
resist the softer target.
IBT - Indeed, they cannot. We win one attack, lose one horse and retreat another,
and lose a warrior. In the city we withhold one sword attack, lose to an archer.
Magyars units seen coming up in direction of Ruse?

[10] 960 - Oh man, the situation is tense! We have a horse, spear and Alexius at
Strideps, and next to it two archers and a spear. They have five archers next to
it, but worse, thirteen troops (archer/spear) trying to go PAST it to lightly
defended Smyrna! At Ruse now three defenders, 3 attackers near us, and 3-4 troops
who are behind on the road which we can use. It would be REAL nice if peace was on
the table now... is it???

RBC13A-SidByz-960AD.jpg


Yes! No cash to give us. But they'll give *US* two cities?! Sofia and Madara.
What :smoke: ! They can overrun our western Greek holdings, and they're willing to
give two cities to stop?! :lol: Where are Madera and Sofia? Madera is nicely placed
for us, west of Larissa. Sofia must be back in the fog (do we even want that one?)

OR... if we don't want the cities. They'll take an alliance with Magyars for peace.
Not a great idea - if we take peace with Magyars it will auto-declare on Bulgars,
and plus the Magyars would eat them up. Magyars refuse to talk now, btw, it's too early.

Let's take any 'best odds' shots first. Any fishing to do? One - elite spear vs
wounded archer on low ground. We win, but no ldr.
Horse then defeats it. Horse vs sword retreats. Archer beats spear.

Vs Magyars, sword beats warr, warr beats warr, horse beats warr. These guys really
need to send out some real units if they want to have any chance :P
Alexius leaves the city - while I don't mind him losing in valiant combat, I would
not like to see him flip away. A spear from Smyrna heads to Larissa which sends its
spear back toward Corinth. I had to borrow two from that region to hold the line.
The other extra one is now guarding workers hooking up iron then should be free
for duty.

Lest I forget, better pull the trigger on Bulgar peace. We'll take the cities. If
Sofia is in an awful location we can abandon it, and at least hurt Bulgars more
rather than not even take it. Hmm, he can throw 2gpt in the deal? Ah yes, upkeep for
the units we just killed :lol: We take Sofia, Madera and 2gpt. BTW, even now, he
would take alliance with Magyars for FREE. I'm not suggesting that, but if things get
rough there or the team things it best, it's a new option.

OMG! Look where Sofia is!

RBC13A-SidByz-Sofia-960AD.jpg


We're in outstanding shape with income and could likely broker a tech. Hmmm...
Abassids and Turks have Early Siegecraft, for 383g+45gpt (before haggle)
No one else?? That's the *IDEAL* time, monopoly is broken but no one else has it!
Tis 382+39gpt after haggling. Who's got the best offer? Germany 140+39gpt.
France all 100g. England 80+5gpt. Danes 130+12gpt. Cordova all 40g.
Norway cannot afford more than 1g. Poland only 2, Swedes only 30. Burgundy 50g+12gpt,
Castille 40g+13gpt. Celts 60+4gpt. Fatamid just 15g. No need to sell it ultra-cheap,
but we'll meet all offers worth... 350g or more. Others will perhaps get another tech
soon, like Code of Laws. Sold to Germany first for 140g+39gpt, then Danes for 136+12,
to Burdungy for 52+12. Castille for 48+13. That's 328g+63gpt. I've NOT sold it
to England or Celts with moderate offers, and definitely not the junk offers.
See what happens next turn as Norse comes in before selling Siegecraft anymore.

We're now at 380g +101gpt (!) Heck, we could even steal a new monopoly tech soon.
Or we could (gasp) self-research Lost Roman secrets in just over 20 turns.

Notes
- In 2 turns put the Chalcedon taxman back on the gold hill - it's being slowed
down briefly to let the granary finish before growth.
- Sofia is providing 1gpt by tax, and 2gpt for unit support, but if it comes
under threat or for any reason, feel free to abandon it or gift it. Just down throw
money down a hole rushing things there or straining to keep it.
- Re: Magyars, they'll shift to Viliki, as they've been avoiding Ruse as it's too
well defended. (I'm starving Ruse, btw)
- Norse tradition finally completes. DO check to see if anyone has seafaring, and how
much it costs. Since it gives us NOTHING, we might get it real cheap??!
Also be *vigilant* to see if Code of Laws or similar shows up, especially if we can
broker it nicely or can get it for Siegecraft? (Or for Smithing after Seafaring)
- I don't know how much the Magyars can throw at Veliki or elsewhere. If you expect
a long war ally the civs who are now paying us a lot of gpt, and/or the Rus.
But if not, I expect they'll be ready to talk in about, oh 3-5 turns? That would be
good as our REAL enemy is the Abbasids, and if they get the urge to strike, we'll
be in a world of hurts. I'm pretty sure we can last easily that long and outmaneuver
them. Probably have to back the workers into town, and keep the roads clear.
If 3 turns we're golden. If five, it's really dicey, if more... yowza. Your call!

RBC13A Byzatines 960AD

Roster
T-hawk <-- ON Deck
Arathorn
Jabah
Charis
Speaker <-- UP

Good luck! We're very much not out of the woods yet!
Charis
 
Nice trading to get/keep us up at par. Surviving and strengthening our power base are nice benefits. Keep on keeping on -- each city we take and each unit we kill get us that many more VPs towards eventual victory. I really think that, in this position, to survive is probably to win. Abassids may be the real threat, but we can expect all the relic-bearing countries to come eventually -- either through or by us and probably through. Will be interesting.

Arathorn
 
Speaker, are you out there? You're past 24. If you don't check in, I may jump in and play tonight.

Agreed that to survive is to win. Nobody else, not even the Abbasids, is going to accumulate VPs faster than we can short of taking a relic to Jerusalem, and if anyone does bring a stack to do that, we can probably ally with the Abbasids to repel them before that happens.

Short-term, not sure what the best way to handle the Magyars is. Up to Speaker. :)
 
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