RR13 - Hearts and Minds

[LKendter]

Just 7 hours for you set? LOL
I don't even want to figure out how long I played...

I like Matara for peace with Ethiopia. It will be behind our lines.

As for Brennus - we have 2 isolated cities, and 2 more to keep empty. I think at minimum we should get 2 junk cities from peace. Otherwise we give up more in revolt chances...

 

[r_rolo1]

Yup, Brennus needs some more beating up until he tosses something good. Like I said in the other page, I would like to get Gergovia, since it would isolate the Celtic cap ( we already almost have the culture for that , but not the range ) and it is worth a little more than 2 junk cities ... not mentioning that it would save us a lot of spy missions and would break the Celtic land in 3 pieces.

Oh and I played 7 h ... I already discounted the pre-turnset hour and the other half-hour after playing it trying to get a good idea of what to do next

 

[lymond]

That actually went faster than usual. I think I have a system down now.

Lots of good progress, methinks. Honestly, all the AIs are just about toast at this point. I stayed at war with France and Celtia the whole time. Peace with Zara for Matara and the treaty just ended. Shaka is gone.

Cascade of fallen cities:

kwadawhatever:

Spoiler :

Isca:

Spoiler :

Mutal via the AP vote:

Spoiler :

Ulundi and Shaka is no more:

Spoiler :

Addis Ababa - this was a nice surprise:

Spoiler :

and Bibracte revolted once as did some other cities like Gondor:

Spoiler :

and of course Matara as part of the peace with Zara

other notes:

1) Spread Conf and Sushi like crazy. Almost all cities have both, even the flips
2) Quite a bit of infra here and there as need, especially health buildings
3) Got us a path to Marseilles and Tolosa and empty those cities of units
4) DeG will finally give up a city for peace. Not sure if we want to do that yet.
5) Spread culture to a lot of other cities as well - all around...destroyed all Security Bureaus

We can attack Pacal now, I think. I thought about it, but we can only hit Lakashama. However, the next vote is close, so we might want to get an easy city via AP. OR we can get something like Aksum from AP and go ahead and hit Pacal now.

 

[LKendter]

In the queue for tomorrow.


Shaka toasted.

 

[nocho]

This is progressing swiftly...

6 cities in 9 turns, not bad.

I'd try to get the spy slider to 100%. I think the only thing we need is max EP and spies. That means I think we really don't need to build much other stuff than spy buildings, spies and wealth and maybe some culture stuff in border towns.

 

[r_rolo1]

Look good ... looks very good indeed. I was definitely right when I said that lymond would reap some heavy stuff, but I was not expecting so much

I definitely was not expecting to see pacal letting his cap go, but if it comes we should acept it I still think that we should keep the peace with him until we can't rip more cities via AP and so far he does not seen willing to defy the AP on this. Shaka dead was a possibility, but it is nice to see too...

Anyway, I will say more after seeing the save. I would definitely like to see exactly how much the french and the celts are willing to part off before saying more

 

[r_rolo1]

Ok, i looked at the save and I only have two regards:

- We still have to settle the possible new cities. Not a big issue, though

- More important, the spec MM can be vastly improved. I loaded the game and done that ( switching mercs and engs by spies , nothing more ) and we gained almost 400 EP/turn. most of the issues were in the newly adquired cities and in cities where we made supermarkets, so it is understandble. It is more a reminder for the next player to review the MM than a critic to the superb play the previous player did.

Anyway ... on peace deals: DG will not part of anything decent ( nothing more than marseilles ), so IMHO we should keep the war with him. Brennus is another issue , though ... he will part of one of his west coast 5-6 pop cities or of the two trash cities he has far behind the enemy lines. I think we could make peace for either gergovia or ask of camulodunum + shangian ... I prefer the first , though, since the city has no flip risk yet and the other 2 have.

And OFC start war with the Ethiopians as soon as possible

In terms of missions targets: Rheims in France, Tolosa and Durtocurum in Celtia ( suposing grab of gergovia ), Gondar in Ethiopia ( and avoid making missions in that trashy city ... too little culture per mission and we still have a lot of bigger fish to fry ) and Uxmal and Camakul ( sp? ) in Mayan lands. I ask missions in Camakul because it has one of the offshore oil resources of the Mayan and they are selling it to Ethiopia....

About the Mayans ... well, we have a AP vote in 3 turns and the next vote is the forced AP leader election So, my question is : do we want to wait 18 turns for grabbing other city via AP from pacal after the next vote or we DOW him in between ?

That is a big question since Pacal still has quite a infantry portfolio ... F5 counted 40 infantry units in pacal land, divided mostly between the current cap and lakamla. We simply don't have the means in hand to kill them all ASAP ( not enough air cover, not enough killing units ... ). If we go that way, we need to prepare beforehand ... OTOH 40 killed unit give quite a war sucess count and we might be able to grab easily 1 city or two from him if we don't lose much of our own.

Related to this, I would like to see some more modern units. We don't have a single modern armor :/ tanks are good , but modern armors are better I would also like to be prepared to fight Zara destroyers in the north ( 3 for now, most likely some more as soon as he upgrades his frgates ) . 1 battleship is not enough ... maybe we will have to use guided missies to soften them. But besides that, I thinke we are Ok enough.

On techs ... well, pick your choice between going genetics and going fusion

 

[lymond]

Sounds good. I built a few more Tac Nukes, but I don't think we really need to use them. I'd prefer to win the game without them if we can.

Is it really 18 turns until the next vote? If so, I say we just attack everyone.

 

[nocho]

I'd get rid of some Pacal units too. And maybe peace just before next vote comes up.

 

[r_rolo1]

Sounds good. I built a few more Tac Nukes, but I don't think we really need to use them. I'd prefer to win the game without them if we can.

I would also prefer not to use them, but having them in the pocket allows us to have more options

Is it really 18 turns until the next vote? If so, I say we just attack everyone.

Better said:

t0 - Now

t3 - AP vote

t12 - AP forced Leader vote ( it will be to choose the AP leader no matter what we want :/ )

t21 - Regular AP vote

I'm really not in the mood to wait two sets to grab another city from pacal ,especially because we don't actually have a lot of time ....

 

[LKendter]

Already played a decent numbers of turns, so can't incorporate much of Rolo's suggestions.
Partial report in the next post.

 

[LKendter]

1936 AD
Pre-play review:
First time I am curious how many cities left to get. That it itself, says a lot about where we stand.
Pacal - 4, and 1 choked by culture.
Zara - 4, and 3 choked by culture.
De Gaulle - 5, and 2 choked by culture.
Brennus - 7, and 3 choked by culture.
We need just 20 cities to win this variant.

I'm left with a very healthy EP balance.


1937 AD
The tech path is set toward fusion. The free engineer is a nice prize. At this point another corporation won't matter, so I'm looking at a GA.

We have another GG. He builds a military academy in Poverty Point.

War is a valid option again with Zara, so I declare.
We don't have a ton of spare units, but I still clear Debre. I need to get some bombers up there.
(IT) GAG - global warming has entered the game.


1940 AD
Gondar just passed the 50%. Now we simply need an attack point.
(IT) The magic number is now 19.


Pascal must be getting tired of AP resolutions. He defies giving us Lakamha.


1941 AD
Tolosa, Uxmal and Avigon have crossed the 50% culture mark.
We now have access to Gergovia.
These two cities have been a pain for ages refusing to flip. Two cities, even if junk, are worth a 10 turn breather with Brennus. At this point, IMO, all his cities left are junk.
The magic number is now 17.


With the front shorter, I will begin to shift units toward Pacal faster. I was already starting to move some units that way.


1942 AD
Gergovia has crossed the 50% culture mark.

We don't have 50% yet, but we can begin to attack Rheims.
(IT) We get a warning revolt the first turn that the city crossed 50%.


Will finish up tomorrow. Since this is probably my last meaty set, want to play a decent number of turns.

 

[lymond]

Ha...nice and very timely baseball reference in your report. (don't tell me you are a Philthies fan)

I'm fine with the Celt cities you took, but you may feel the wrath of the Portuguese

 

[LKendter]

Ha...nice and very timely baseball reference in your report. (don't tell me you are a Philthies fan)

I grew up in Philly

 

[lymond]

I grew up in Atlanta

 

[LKendter]

I grew up in Atlanta

The Braves were nice today - gave us win #100

 

[lymond]

They're playing themselves right out of the playoffs. aaarrgh!

 

[AJ11]

Lurker comment: Every time that the Celts are in the game, I always have to do a double take at their city names. "Bag-a-WHAT???"

 

[LKendter]

1943 AD
Bagacum can now be attacked in the next war with Brennus and has crossed 50%.
(IT)



1944 AD
We just got a great spy, so I start a golden age. It is the nice 12 turn variety.

The whole Celtic empire is now above 50% for Indian culture. Tours is now above 50%.
(IT) We get a "who cares" event - +5 gold for Varanasi public transit.
Talk about a quick flip! Our magic number is 16.



1945 AD
Rheims now has more the 50% culture, and that puts the whole French empire above 50%.

Calakmul now has more the 50% culture, and is now open to attack.

Our standby missionary arrives to already have a target city with Gergovia. LOL
I expected him to be bored waiting for a target.

We finally get a decent offer from De Gaulle. Our magic number is 15.



The first couple of turns may be tight, but I start war with the Maya.
Lakamha has already lost a few infantry. There is a decent reinforcement parade on the way, so I should be able to keep working that every turn. If the stacks don't leave their cities, there are a decent stack of tanks in Mutal ready to pounce.
(IT) All we get are a few lame counter attacks from Pacal.

Will post the game save and a few more turns in the next few hours. Want to clean up the Pacal front more.

 

[LKendter]

1946 AD
Now all of Pacal's cities have more than 50% culture.
It looks like Hawulti is the only city with less than 50% at this point.

Pacal was nice enough to empty some troops to attack up. I proceed to wipe out everything that left a city.
LOL - Pacal will already talk to us.

I put two of Zara's cities into revolt, and we finally get my goal. Our magic number is 14.
I couldn't even get him to throw in $1 / turn.



This should speed up access to Lyons. Thanks to instant Sushi, broadcast tower, and two artists we make 66 CPT. It won't be long before we can attack Lyons in the next war.




Summary:
We have 50% in *all* remaining cities. EP generation is no longer an issue, as we have nothing critical for our spies to do. Their goal is now to expand our cultural lead, speed up access to Avigon (only city we can't attack), and jerk the AI around.

The Maya only have a handful of troops left. Rolo should kill them off next turn.
We can *already* get a city for peace. Right now it is Lakamha. Will we get a better offer with more dead units?


Cities left:
Celt - 3, French - 4, Ethiopia - 3, Pacal - 4 for a magic number of 14.


r_rolo1 - up
Thy_Spellcraft - on deck
nocho -
lymond -
LKendter - just played