S-06 Guerrillas in the Mist

[ThERat]

not wanting to sound too negative but this game reminds me a lot about the numerous attempts in AW games I had in CIV-warlords. The AI will come from now in mixed stacks and that makes it terribly hard to beat them without a lot of losses. We don't really have choke points and thus we have to attack or get pillaged to death.

We don't have supreme attacking units such as elephants....I hope the players after me can pull this off

 

[Compromise]

Got it. Should be able to play tomorrow.

Judging from ThERat's turnset report, things aren't looking so good.

 

[sooooo]

Maybe not, but being attacked on multiple fronts by big stacks is what makes AW fun, so hopfully you will enjoy your turnset

 

[Compromise]

Bad day today. It's going to be at least 14 hours before I can get to this.

Sooooo, if you want to swap turns, take it and I'll run the next one. If you can wait, I'll get to it

 

[mike p]

Hope all is well, when I saw 'bad day' at the start of your post, I thought maybe our capitol got razed!

 

[sooooo]

We'll wait for you compromise, no problem.

 

[Compromise]

Guys, I apologize, but I'm going to need a skip here. Today was another bad RL day, and now I have an unexpected trip to prepare for next week. (No life-or-death stuff, just a lot of extra work for me.)

If I played, it'd be very rushed, and I think this turnset and the next several will require a lot of attention to detail. We need to make a dent in the AIs production capability by capturing and maybe razing some cities.

 

[sooooo]

OK got it, will play this weekend.

 

[sooooo]

IHT: Well, we have a viking sword+cat+archer next to our axe+cat on a hill. If their stack attacks, their cat will wound our axe, their sword will prob kill our cat and their archer may clean up the axe depending on how wounded he gets. So I reinforce our stack with a guerilla 2 gallic warrior from Gergovia. I also pillage a persian sheep on the IHT.

665AD, T1 IBT: Their stack does attack. The catapult dies to our gallic warrior. The sword, now faced with out axe and not our catapult, decides not to attack and moves next to Gergovia. Their archer flees. Persian catapults continue to bombard Tolosa.

OK, with the persian stack I hit it with two catapults. One wins, one dies. Then I kill the rest of the stack except for a wounded axe and spear, taking no more losses. Our PPP pillages a mine.



680AD, T2 IBT: Our PPP is attacked by a catapult, we win. The two persian troops at Tolosa retreat onto the hill.

PPP gets a farm.

695AD, T3 IBT: THe PPP is hit by a spear, we win. The two wounded persian troops from last time are back with a vengence, supported by 2 more HAs and a cat.



So, let's hit the stack again. A suicide cat suicides, then our formation HA kills a HA. We get a GG. Promote axe to charge (first time I've ever used that promotion?), he kills a catapult. Our cat kills a wounded HA, HA kills wounded spear, HA kills axe. Stack is gone, but there is a persian backup mini-stack of a HA and an axe on our mine. We are going to lose those wines again.

Our PP need to heal, so retreat onto a forest hill. The stone is now hooked up

710AD, T4 IBT: Lose the mine.
Send some troops to reinforce that hill, and start a road back to the wines.

725AD, T5
Tolosa LBM -> Dun.

740AD, T6 IBT: Wines are pillaged as predicted.
Bilbracte LBM -> Jewish Monastery. PPP heads to next persian city, the one with the copper and elephants.

755AD, T7
Gergovia cat -> LBM. Kill 2 spanish archers with HAs, then a spanish scout in the north.

PPP disconects elephant+copper city from rest of empire.

770AD, T8
Vienne Dun -> Gallic Warrior. Tolosa Dun -> Spearman.

PPP finds both copper and elephants are not improved or roaded, so head to the Persian capital.

785AD, T9
Cyrus converts to confucianism. PPP disconnects capital from other northern Persian cities.

800AD, T10
Bilbracte Jew mon -> monument (cheap happy for charismatic civ).



OK, we have a stack from Mali and Persia of 2 HAs, 1 cat and 1 axe on our stone. I kill them but lose 1 cat and 1 gallic warrior. We now have 2 scientists up a Tolosa because they could only otherwise work grass forests. I whip the gallic warrior at Vienne, planning to overflow into library.

Aha, the ottomans have come to the party!



Dammit, whip LBM at Gergovia. PPP enters Persian capital.

815AD, T11
Bilbracte monument -> LBM. Vienne gallic warrios -> library. Gergovia LBM -> LBM. Hmm, the ottoman stack has headed south to tolosa. Good for us because Gergovia was lightly defended. I send out a second pillaging party of 4 mixed troops and a GG to harrass Manli, henceforth known as the MPP.

PPP pillages mine at Persian capital (15 gold!).

830AD, T12
Tolosa spear -> Catapult. Our GP is born. Shrine would get +4 GPT, but settling gets +5 GPT and 2 hammers. Don't actually think we need theology right now. Will wait for team to decide, but I think I like settling him in capital. Jesus Ragnar, this is not the time for you to return!



We seriously lack cats so I whip one at Tolosa. Unfortunately this means we cannot support our 2 scienists, but I have built 2 cottages here to sort-of compensate. When we regrow we should rehire the scientists to get a GS sometime. PPP gets another mine. Our wines are reconnected. I change Bilbracte to a granary and sack the priest.

845AD, T13
Tolosa cat -> cat. In addition to the viking and ottoman stacks, Izzy has decided to send 5 troops at Tolosa too. PPP gets persian corn.

860AD, T14
What is going on? Mehmed has made his second about-turn with his stack, it is now heading back north to Gergovia! He also has 2 troops close to Bilbracte.

875AD, T15
Well, Tolosa and Gergovia are going to be attacked soon. I have left the troops that can defend them unmoved, because I wanted advice. We have the troops to defend the cities, but I am unsure at how to divide them. Please download the save and say what you would do this turn if you were playing. We have the option of defending the forested hill with the troops that can get there in time, or waiting for the bulk of our troops to arrive and hitting them when they are on the flatland. It's hard to describe the situation so best to look at the save. Also need to save some troops for the others in the area. I keep feeling we should found another city but I don't think we can defend one.

Small Ottoman stack in the north:



Combined troops in southeast:



There are also 3 Malinese troops down there, probably going to pillage the wines because that is what all the cool kids are doing nowadays.

And our MPP:



AIs update:

Vikings: Are coming back into the game. I think this is actually good for us, because I want them to found some cities on our borders to capture.
Persia: Sent some nasty stacks at us the last two turnsets, but we have heavily pillaged them and will soon pillage their capital. Should be quiet for a while.
Mail: Only sending small pillaging troops. Probably teching away like usual. A pillaging stack is headed Mansa's way.
Spain: Sending some archers and catapults, but nothing threatening. Got it hard by pillaging and has not caught up.
Ottomans: Points leader, a long way away, has just sent a very scary stack. Not much we can do about him since we don't even know where he is. Well, he's in the east somewhere that's all we know.
Mystery 7th Civ:

Think our PPP should head east after finishing with Persian capital, trying to find Mehmed. Maybe pillage Viking capital on the way.

The Save

sooooo
blid - UP
mike p - On Deck
ThERat
Compromise

 

[mike p]

I say lightbulb Theocracy. We're going to be building plenty of units, and it's cheaper to run than OR, so it helps marginally economically too.

As for the tactical situation, I would move the Horse archer, axe, and longbow to the hill SE of Mehmed's northern troops. Either he attacks us on the hill, in our favor, or we can attack him on the tundra next turn.

As for the rest, Isabella is sending us free XPs with all of those archers.

Ragnar's stack is going to be troublesome. I would try to get a unit on the plains hill SE of Toloso so that he has to go over the quarry and then attack him there.

Mehmed's other stack will be a problem too, but much depends on how the rest goes.

Why is Patton running around with a pillaging party? I'd suggest using him as a super medic for the homefront. We'll need fast turn around time with all of the waves of AI coming at us.

 

[blid]

Got it.
I agree with mike on the northern front situation. For the rest, I think we need to concentrate attacking troops on Gergovia to deal with Ottoman stack which has three cats ! Cats and horse archers get priority there. The guerilla III gallic sword too. Ragnar stack doesn't have catapults. They may attack the city directly, or try to split for pillaging and be easier targets. I would send more axes that way. I know Gergovia has been whipped twice but shouldn't we whip another cat there ? That ottoman stack is kinda of troublesome

Mansa units in the south and south west (5 units) are annoying. Hopefully, our garrison south west ot Tolosa would make them go the other way around and give us time to deal with the current storm

What do others think of theology ? I think I like it too. At our current rate, techs are taking ages. A free tech won't hurt, especially one which helps with both economy and troops strength. Also, currency should be finished this turn. What are we taking next ? My preference goes for metal casting->machinery->engineering. The heroic epic benefit is marginal now I think, and that is all that comes with this branch (unless we aim for the GL which I doubt we would get). The other branch line gives us forges (probably to be whipped), xbows (maces counter) and more importantly pikes and better movement inland. Emperor AIs would get knights sooner rather than later. Without elephants, they would eat us alive.

And finally, what about Patton ? should I send him home. The pillaging party needs a medic but I can promote the weakest horse archer

 

[sooooo]

Theology sounds fine to me. Either that or settling. After currency metal casting looks good. Alphabet and literature is very tempting for the epics, but they are dead end techs really. Need to make the long journey to pikemen I guess.

We really need another city. I have planted 2 cottages at Tolosa, and chopping a forest for a third. Think that city needs to grow and get cottages, maybe my whipping a cat there was a mistake. Anyone see a cottagable city spot we can defend? I am chopping a forest at the capital, but I think we should delay it coming in until we get currency so that the chop goes into a market.

Agree to keep whipping gergovia for troops. I think our pillaging campaign in Persia was really successful, hopefully the other stack we send out should also help.

I agree in retrospect that sending Patton home is better.

 

[ThERat]

I am not too sure whether we can afford another city. Looking at the screenshots, I can see that even at 30% we are at negative income at times and are actually running at 20% now.

I think we seriously need to raze enemy cities. Can we head for engineering for trebs?

A for the GG, why did it accompnay the stack in the first place? I am usually a fan of settling them in our top military producing town that usually builds the HE. +2exp is great since it is provided for every single unit there.

 

[sooooo]

A for the GG, why did it accompnay the stack in the first place?

Impressed by her achievements in Persia, Patton was a Dian Fossey wanabe, but alas at a time where Dian Fossey is less relevant to the guerilla cause.

aka a mistake.

 

[blid]

I started playing but turns are taking ages. Swarms of units are coming. Would finish my turnset tomorrow.
For now, we are still holding but don't know if we can keep with this mad pace.

 

[blid]

IHT : switch Gergovia to a horse archer. Since there is overflow, this is the only unit that would still require a double whip after the first turn. I also switch the city to full production mode, staganting its growth for a while.
deploy troops like planned.

Turn 1 : Mehmed is going north, both his small stack and his big one . This guy is going to spend a whole lot of time to get to our cities from the north. That's good. It gives us time to breath. Hopefuly he won't change his mind. Mansa southern troops seem to be going east of Tolosa. That's good too, since our forces are concentrated there.

I don't whip Gergovia and switch it to a cat. Would whip when the need arises.
Start pillaging persian capital.

Turn 2 : Monument done in Vienne. I burn the prophet and switch to theocracy.
Mehmed definitely heading north.
I was stupid and didn't see that Mehmed northern couple of units had a road to our silver. No way they're going to pillage that. I killed the cat with an axe, send the HA against the sword with 30% chance. He withdraws and the LB cleans up. Got lucky there.

South, Ragnar troops are using the forest hill to get to Tolosa. I partitioned troops between the city and the hill hoping to get some AI suicide.

Ragnar is following with two consecutive mini-stacks and Mansa has some scary HA stack down there.
Spain may be following Mehmed in their northern tundra expedition. Way to make surprise attacks.

Turn 3 : One of Ragnar stacks attacks with only a sword then flees. Another stack gets to the stone, and I kill it with a loss of a suicide chariot and an axe loosing at 68%. Toal viking units around now is 9.

Turn 4 :
Currency done thanks to looting.
Some troops deploying

Turn 5 :

Situation critical, because if all the units around get to the forest, counting the cats they have, the city would be in big trouble

I need to get that forest, whatever the cost. Send a gallic sword who dies to the HA at >60% odds. Finish the job an kill both HA and cat.

Turn 6 :
Getting that forest paid out, I guess. Ragnar stack is decimated. Mansa plays jackal and finish the wounded troops.

But those axes made a wonderful job. They sure died as heroes. The good thing is that Mansa stack is made of HA and I get spears hiding in the city. The best bet is that Mansa units advance immediately to the forest and don't wait for reinforcements. The quarry is done for.

Mehmed stack is still advancing to the north. Some whipping to come. I can't afford to send units there. The south is already in trouble.

As for the pillaging parties, they are percforming well. The horse archers pillages flat land, the guerillas pillages hills. We don't loose a turn waiting for movement. This is great.

Turn 7 :
I thought we only needed 13 points to get the medic III and used the general on two units. Turns out it is not enough. Is march mandatory to get medic III ?
Unfoturnately, Mansa horse archers don't go the forest unescorted. They seek protection with some reinforcements.

Turn 8 :
Both an attacking cat and horse archer withdrew. The AI don't attack with the remaining stack and waits for reinforcements.
Kill the withdrawing horse archer.
Send reinforcements to the forest but I should have whipped units a turn earlier.

Turn 9-11 (lost track and played one more turn) :
There is not enough strong units in the forest and the HA Patton defends and dies . We also loose a spear. I'm glad Cyrus played before Mansa and he didn't attack but rather went on the stone to get to the city by the grassland hill

I withdrew the cats and another wounded spear into the city.

In the north, I have a blocading party defending the silver hill against Mehmed troops. The problem is that he's sending reinforcements, non stop

After Mehmed suicides his three cats against ONE longbow with geruillaII/Drill II promotions, we kept playing forth and forward with Mehmed and he only suicided one more sword. We didn't loose any units. Wished he had suicided more of his units though. Last turn I splitted the units because Mehmed did, but now he regrouped his stack again.

In the south, I am garisonning the city and protecing the iron mine, because a malinese HA is around (with the viking sword in the forest east of the iron mine, see below). AI is bombing the defenses in the city.

After taking this shot, I moved a spear to the fort, to block the malinese horse archer south.

2 HAs and a cat are trying to get through an opening in the north west of Tolosa. A spear just finished in the capital to help deal with them.

I left the units unmoved for next player to decide what to do but the situation is tricky at best. Good luck Mike

save

 

[ThERat]

great job defending

However, it can only get worse from here unless we start razing enemy cities. We badly need engineering and then trebs.

 

[sooooo]

Yup great play and report blid . Situation looks tough, but hopefully the turnsets are fun (if also a little braintaxing) to play. The reports are also great and hopefully are entertaining the lurkers.

I guess the plan is to hold on to what we have until our two pillaging parties can do their jobs.

 

[cabert]

at least, it doesn't look like the usual "we attack AI cities" thread
OTOH, it doesn't look like a winning game

 

[scooter]

The reports are also great and hopefully are entertaining the lurkers.

Definitely