Realpolitik CIV - An Interactive AAR

[SanePerson]

Yeah you have a point. Scratch EVERYTHING I said.

But the rioting opposition were during a confusing time in this AAR where we had a storyline and nobody knew what was going on. And they didnt have any immortal politicians among them. If they set up their own nation, that would imply that there wouldnt be any more elections, and LH would have to manage 2 countries, which would be impossible.

Ah crap i just realized that plan 6 involved bodyguards. crap. crap crap crap. I really want to make a new plan now but i know i cant.

Alright let me think. Im leaning on 3 though.

 

[Lighthearter]

Masters stared ahead. The forest was full of moving shapes and creatures. He let out a mimicked cry of an owl to alert his men to his position. All fifteen others answered him in one form or another. Satisfied, the Eagle continued advancing. He moved fairly quickly - so quickly you'd swear he could not avoid making sound, yet he did. He peered ahead again and thought he saw light. It wasn't dawn - that was still hours away - but the compound. It had to be. Masters had an arrow nocked on his bow before any conscious thought entered his head. The Russians had set up six guard towers around the old logging camp. Well, each one was conveniently marked with a blazing torch. That was a major oversight on the part of the Russians, as their guards eyes would not be adapted for the night.

Amid the swirling snow Masters waved his men into the attack. The archers spread out to knock out the towers, each one performing his task with a quiet confidence that bespoke years of training. One Russian stood on the edge of his tower, staring at a flicker of movement he was sure he saw. A moment later an opportunely placed shaft sprouted from his throat and he fell off the tower silently, landing in a heap on the snow. The other towers were similarly neutralized, all silently. One archer had even taken his knife and scaled a tree to jump into his tower and cut the throat of the guard. He then proceeded to draw his bow and await the attack from a position designed for archery. That was the mindset that the Eagles attempted to encourage - creative interpretation of the battle plan.

Masters beckoned his swords forward, unsheathing his own weapon to lead. The group crept through the forest, making little noise. The dark blue cloaks his men wore were almost perfect camouflage on this moonless night. Masters wondered briefly how Athers was doing, but banished the thought from his head - what he needed to worry about for now was securing the compound. A quick hiss from one of his men elicited his notice. A trio of Russians was sitting around a campfire, each one holding a hand of cards. A deck lay on the ground near one of them, as did a large stack of rubles. Even as Masters watched one of the men let out a disgusted snort and laid his land down. One of the other two neatly swept the pile of money over to him. The other said something sympathetic-sounding and brandished a jug - Masters guessed it was vodka. Russians.

Masters slid along the forest floor, his sword in hand. He then nodded to the other men with him and trotted out of the forest, bent nearly double, sword held at his side, eyes away from the golden-red flames that dominated the center of his vision. One of the Russians saw the faint forms coming and shouted something. If that wasn't the local equivalent of "who goes there!" Masters was a Carthaginian. Well, it didn't matter. The second lieutenant straightened up and snapped his sword forward, running the man through. The other Eagles were even now descending on the compound. Another of the card players died swiftly, but another one began yelling -screaming - in Russian. The rest of the compound garrison came pouring out and two men took off towards the army base. Masters swore vehemently.

Then an assailant was before him, brandishing a sword. Masters parried, then slashed at the Russian's face. The other man blocked almost contemptuously and riposted, stabbing at Masters' chest. The Eagle parried and spun the attack away. The Russian jumped back, and the two began to circle each other in the midst of the Eagles and the garrison dueling. It was only then that Masters got a good look at his attacker. The Russian had brown eyes paired with black hair kept in an unruly shock. His beard was prolific, as was his mustache that almost disappeared into the man's forest of a beard. At the moment, the Russian's face was twisted into a ferocious scowl as he raised his sword once again. Masters parried a lightning slash, then an overhead strike.

The Russian drew back for just a second and Masters lunged forward. The clash of steel on steel filled the clearing as the Russian blocked swiftly and sidestepped. Masters parried again against a counter-attack. The Eagle locked swords with his assailant, then raised his right foot and spun, pointing his heel right into the Russian's stomach. Then he drove outward and his attacker folded up with an exclamation of pain and shock. Masters delivered a brutal roundhouse kick to the side of the man's head, sending him into a heap. A quick sword thrust and it was all over. The Eagle paused, noticing that civilians were appearing from inside the small gray hovels that made up the majority of the compound. The second lieutenant breathed in and out, then he moved to begin the evacuation procedure.

- NOW the **** hits the fan, gentlemen

 

[arya126]

I knew you were gonna stay sane on us saneperson. For a moment though, i thought you were going to go not sane! Then we wouldnt have anyone sane left posting on this thread...

 

[Cull]

Cull, you asked for a quiet life by joining the stonehenge monks. We are supposed to wait for an ex-presient who asked for a QUIET life?

Yes. jking of course.

Now our men light the island on fire, and everyone dies. The End.

 

[arya126]

Another great piece of writing. but *sigh* i guess some hitch is gonna appear to slow them down? Because otherwise this appears to be a by the book operation, besides letting those 2 messengers get away. the archer either in the tower or otherwise hopefully killed them. But with LH that is too much to hope for.

 

[arya126]

Yes. jking of course.

Now our men light the island on fire, and everyone dies. The End.

Actually my variation did not involve fire for a very specific reason-Lh was against it in the debates, and so if i asked for it to happen, he would probably make something bad come out of it. Like it burned one of our teams alive or spun out of control and annihilated the NIght eagles. Or something.

My variation was something different. Much simpler too. Just a tactic change or 2.

 

[SanePerson]

I knew you were gonna stay sane on us saneperson. For a moment though, i thought you were going to go not sane! Then we wouldnt have anyone sane left posting on this thread...

Yeah, well, I was just a BIT angry at the fact that A CERTAIN PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATION left us with ABSOLUTELY NO DEFENSE, which, if it had existed, would have STOPPED THIS WHOLE CRISIS FROM HAPPENING IN THE FIRST PLACE!

although, seriously, if you have something (poisonous?) that would knock Peter out, you should use it on him soon, because whether the hostages escape or not, he'll be mad, and I don't want to see what will happen to you if he's mad.

Also, watch out for MN. He seems to be planning something!

SanePerson, Senior Advisor to the Arya Administration of Great Britain, leader of the Modernizational Party, and co-leader of the Coalition of the Future.

 

[arya126]

I have special info from a night eagle on MN's plans. Dont worry.

Also i would rather not poison peter as it will be obvious it was me since hes well liked throughout the buddhist bloc and it could bring the entire bloc down on us. Plus it might fail leading to disastrous consequences for me.

 

[Cull]

Yeah, well, I was just a BIT angry at the fact that A CERTAIN PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATION left us with ABSOLUTELY NO DEFENSE, which, if it had existed, would have STOPPED THIS WHOLE CRISIS FROM HAPPENING IN THE FIRST PLACE!

Really? During my administration, I left the foundation(Alphabet, 2 cities) of a strong empire, laid out a strong plan, and actually built MORE military than Ravus's(first city builds were almost always archers, and I laid out a plan for Ravus-York to pump archers/warriors). So stop saying that, because it is false.

 

[arya126]

No cull, instead you stunted growth in sevral cities instead of using london, or even ravus since it was second most developed.

Ravus's administration had to focus on getting a city into france or we wouldnt have Ravus-york to use right now. If i remember correctly, we barely got the city established at the end of the turnset. We had no time for any units.

Yet at the end of your turnset, there were 2 cities settled in spain, with one archer to defend both when the fog of war had revealed that a barbarian warrior was there. Yet we didnt have enough troops to even defend both cities, let alone destroy the barbarian. HGow do you expect to defend against rome, or even russia, when we cant destroy a barbarian?

And scotland? Our supposed 'productive' city? It was stuck working on a WORKER. It couldnt even grow because of that. Our defense is very inadequate. ( i think i mispelled that. lol.)

 

[Cull]

No cull, instead you stunted growth in sevral cities instead of using london, or even ravus since it was second most developed.

Ravus's administration had to focus on getting a city into france or we wouldnt have Ravus-york to use right now. If i remember correctly, we barely got the city established at the end of the turnset. We had no time for any units.

Yet at the end of your turnset, there were 2 cities settled in spain, with one archer to defend both when the fog of war had revealed that a barbarian warrior was there. Yet we didnt have enough troops to even defend both cities, let alone destroy the barbarian. HGow do you expect to defend against rome, or even russia, when we cant destroy a barbarian?

And scotland? Our supposed 'productive' city? It was stuck working on a WORKER. It couldnt even grow because of that. Our defense is very inadequate. ( i think i mispelled that. lol.)

London had to spam settlers, Ravus as second best had to do workers. Ravus's adminstration made one city, I made 2. Ravus made zero units, and while I REXed, units would follow. Scotland, as a productive city, needs to create a worker to improve tiles faster. I expect to defend against rome, and russia by not getting into a fool's war, and using protective archers.

Its fun to poke fun at a previous adminstration, but do YOU think you could have done better?

 

[arya126]

Yes i do. And i realize that you did what you thought was best, and i respect that.

But Ravus had a much less productive city to use, built the stonehenge, and had to start basicly from scratch.

You on the other hand, could have sent one of those 2 workers you had around london up to scotland and continued regular production and growth in the north. Now you are contradicting yourself. First you say Ravus was designed to spam archers/warriors(?They are Obsolete?) but now you say it was going to spam workers. Confusing.

Protective archer? A decent Praet could, as Ravus used stats to prove, take down our archers more often than not. Russia on the other hand could probably just overwhelm us with numbers.

(Btw way, ive been wondering what REX'd means. Care to explain?)

 

[Lighthearter]

Lieutenant Athers swore as the fourth arrow hit the pine right above his head. He returned fire, was answered by a tortured shriek and smiled darkly. The two Russians had found horses outside the compound somehow, for they had come galloping by at a hectic pace. One of them had been caught by Athers' archers. The other had ridden off down the road. A moment later the horizon had been filled with lights and Athers had spotted two columns of Russians moving along the roads into the forest. His men were stationed at the junction of the roads, attempting to stall a hundred Russians for as long as possible. So far he had no casualties to eight confirmed Russians, but the archery duel was rapidly giving way to a melee brawl as the enemy spearmen approached. Athers was imperfectly confident at best of his unit's ability to defeat the Russians in a pitched fight, and was in fact already considering his options for retreat. He nocked another arrow and took aim before letting fly. Another scream. Another Russian down for the count.

Athers looked around him, taking stock of the terrain. The forest stretched impenetrably away in all directions, save for the three converging roads. His men were in the woods, using the trees as cover to try and shake the Russian aim. It was working well - but the Russian spearmen were getting closer. Athers was a bit afraid of running into them, but the terrain here heavily favored the defender. Athers fired again, his shot hitting a Russian in the groin. This man's screams were if anything even louder then the deceased had made. And that's what got me kicked out of Poverty Point. Athers thought wryly. If I ever set foot in that city again I'll be a dead man within twenty minutes. I wonder if Sitting Bull's found a decent doctor yet . . . his cousin needs one BAD, as I recall.

Athers had dropped his bow and swept up his sword an instant before the Russian soldier burst through the trees. A spear shot forward, then was decapitated from a brutal hack by Athers' sword and withdrew. Athers stepped forward smoothly, his blade shooting into the Russian's chest, then twisting on its way out. The Russian was dead before he hit the ground. Another took his place and had his chest slashed open lengthwise for his trouble. Athers whipped out a knife and hurled it at another man, who absorbed the point straight into the side of his throat and collapsed. Suddenly another man, this one armed with a sword, surged in, his face contorted in a mask of hate. Athers met him swiftly, flipping him over onto his back. The man lost his sword, but came up and seized Athers' by the crossguard and wrenched it from his hand. The Russian then proceeded to punch the Eagle in the face.

Athers rolled as he hit the ground, coming up with his second knife in hand. he settled into a waiting stance, heedless of the blood flowing down his face. The Russian withdrew a knife of his own and attacked. The knives met in mid-air, the fighters madly slashing at each other. Athers delivered a swift front kick to the Russian's gut - and the Russian hit him with a push-kick that slammed him into a tree. Athers' knife fell onto the ground in the confusion. The lieutenant ducked under his attacker's first swing and hit him with a backhand punch in the face, followed by a one-two combination in the same area. The Russian staggered back, blood adorning his own face now. Athers shot forward, a roundhouse kick knocking his attacker over. The man simply came back up and charged, snarling something presumably obscene in Russian.

In that moment Athers despaired - how was he supposed to finish this Russian? No way he could see. Well, he had to try. Albion and all that. So screaming "Yiipiikayaee ********er!" he charged the Russian. He turned his run into a flying kick at the last possible moment, knocking the Russian cleanly over. His attacker's had landed on Athers' discarded sword. Athers felt all hope suddenly fade. In a last desperate act he leaped on top of the Russian and kicked the sword away, then began to punch the man's face before he realized that the man hadn't responded. Athers then realized the Russian was dead. He rolled the man half over and saw his discarded knife was sticking in his back; the Russian must have fallen on to it.

"Maybe there IS a god in Stonhenge." Athers mumured. Then he was off to supervise the retreat.

- We're getting to the end here - one or two more updates and we're set! I may have to call it quits until tomorrow though - just a warning.

 

[SanePerson]

My point was that while REXing is all well and good, there should have been at least one archer traveling with each settler. If you're next to someone like Gandhi, you can get away with one unit a city, but, speaking from experience, I would have made sure that there were 2+ archers a city on the mainland to defend against backstabbing Romans. Ravus was starting from a beginning situation, while you already had the necessary infrastructure in place to take a few more precautions. I think that Ravus most likely could have also managed the situation better, but his mistakes, wherever they were, did not lead to a severe crisis. If we had a military instead of a few semi-organized war bands, Peter would not have attacked our ship.

Edit: arya, REXing=Rapid EXpanding. REX=Rapid EXpansion.

 

[Cull]

Great story again!
REX=Recklessly Expanding, often with no military support in favor of getting land fast.

Protective Archer with CG1= 3+intate 50% city defense+20% from CG1+25% fortify bonus+culture bonus if any= around 6 str versus 8.8 C1 Praet.

Archers cost 25 hammers, Praets 45 hammers. 2 archers will stop one praet, and the hammer ratio in terms of fighting is about the same.

 

[Cull]

My point was that while REXing is all well and good, there should have been at least one archer traveling with each settler. If you're next to someone like Gandhi, you can get away with one unit a city, but, speaking from experience, I would have made sure that there were 2+ archers a city on the mainland to defend against backstabbing Romans. Ravus was starting from a beginning situation, while you already had the necessary infrastructure in place to take a few more precautions. I think that Ravus most likely could have also managed the situation better, but his mistakes, wherever they were, did not lead to a severe crisis. If we had a military instead of a few semi-organized war bands, Peter would not have attacked our ship.

Edit: arya, REXing=Rapid EXpanding. REX=Rapid EXpansion.

And what is Arya doing? Trying to save some hostages which will most likely die, wasting some of our best troops? Ravus did NOT build military units(for good reason though, not having the time, I respect that), while I actually BUILT some.

 

[SanePerson]

REX=Rapid EXpansion, not Reckless EXpansion. Any good REXing is done with at least 1 archer/settler. Since the Scottish City only needed a warrior, that shouldn't have been too hard.

And building SOME military doesn't mean building ENOUGH military. Ravus had two cities, for which he needed only his starting warrior due to the fact that one was on an inaccessible island. By contrast, you expanded into unknown territory while leaving a city defenseless.

Great story again!
REX=Recklessly Expanding, often with no military support in favor of getting land fast.

Protective Archer with CG1= 3+intate 50% city defense+20% from CG1+25% fortify bonus+culture bonus if any= around 6 str versus 8.8 C1 Praet.

Archers cost 25 hammers, Praets 45 hammers. 2 archers will stop one praet, and the hammer ratio in terms of fighting is about the same.

 

[MathNerd]

Yeah, well, I was just a BIT angry at the fact that A CERTAIN PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATION left us with ABSOLUTELY NO DEFENSE, which, if it had existed, would have STOPPED THIS WHOLE CRISIS FROM HAPPENING IN THE FIRST PLACE!

although, seriously, if you have something (poisonous?) that would knock Peter out, you should use it on him soon, because whether the hostages escape or not, he'll be mad, and I don't want to see what will happen to you if he's mad.

Also, watch out for MN. He seems to be planning something!

SanePerson, Senior Advisor to the Arya Administration of Great Britain, leader of the Modernizational Party, and co-leader of the Coalition of the Future.

First, WE HAVE A DEFENSE!!!!! DO NOT WORRY!!!!!!

UNLESS LH THROWS SOMETHING TOGETHER AGAINST US, WE WILL SURVIVE!!!!

About the watch out for me thing: No way!!!

 

[arya126]

Alright chill with this arguement. Thanks for explaining REXing though. Cull-I beleive that at least ONE archer per city wouldnt have been beyond your capabilities. Though i doubt that would have stopped peter, it might have put us in a better position in case of war, and with the barbarian. With a few rangers unit i bet i could even have somewhat leverage to stop peters more extreme demands. But its overwith, The only thing we can do now is try our best for the next 30 turns.

I expect to raise defense to 2-3 archers in each continental city, depending on the status of us at war or not. Plus groups of rangers comprising 2 axes, 2 spears, 2 swords, 1 archer will be stationed in each section ready to swarm towards any stacks and handle any pillagers themselves.

 

[SanePerson]

Um, MathNerd, one archer isn't a match for 6+ units. I'd start to feel safe with 4 of them. We don't have the capacity to produce enough to stand against Russia. If they declare war, I would suggest moving our forces to Spain and abandoning Ravus York so we have time to prepare a defense. However, if Peter fields 8 or more, we may have to say goodbye to any opportunities to colonize the mainland.

I will be busy starting tomorrow, so don't expect to hear from me until Tuesday Night (EST, you make the calculation for when that is in your time).