SG Lurkers, ready?

[Blackluck]

Tough decision.

*ponders*

Guess we'll go Greece ... primarily for the spear to guard against the raging barbs, and to protect against early aggressors.

I'll post the starting position later tonight or early tomorrow.

Early tech decision will be based on how the map looks.
Good luck all!

 

[Liquidated]

well shoot for a starting religion or just grab a later one... if you are on rivers for I vote going for hinduism but well we'll see.

keep in mind we need spears FAST for when the barbs start flowing in. Greese owns for that very reason... pray for the bronze!

Cheers!
-Liq

 

[Luv_Muffin]

Greece is the word.

Go get 'em, boss.

 

[Blackluck]

Greece is the word? Dating yourself there Luv_Muffin


Here we go!

Turn 1:
Here's our start. Lots of river plains.
I don't want to lose an extra turn moving to the hill or the forest, so I start where I am.
Athens founded.

Turn 2: I choose mining as our first tech to get to bronze working. We're not on a coast so we can't take advantage of our fishing trait.

Keep the city working the flood plain. Mining due in 11, growth in 10. Dial up a warrior.

Turns 3-7:
Explore, pop our first goody hut, we get a scout.

Turn 9: Found a lion, move scout to forested hill, fortify. He survives.

Turn 11: Mining comes in. Bronze working in 21, or Mysticism in 10.
I decide to go for Mysticism in case we want to try for a religion, as well obelisks should we need early culture; it's faster, and we won't have a worker within 21 turns to take advantage of any copper. A balanced map ensures copper close by; I think we have time to go for Mysticism then bronze working (I hope!)

Turn 13: Second Northern scout finds a lion, red lines but survives. There's another lion nearby too.

Turns 14-20:
Scouts heal, Athens produces warrior, choose another warrior. I send our warrior to a forested hill to clear out some more fog, he meets a lion and loses some health. He's healing.

Southern Scout has some bad terrain: End turn on a hill, fortify but a lion still kills him.

Northern scout is still a alive.

Mysticism due in 1.

Here's a picture of the known land:

Good news, there's stone and lots of ocean resources to our south.
Athens looks like it can turn into a powerhouse city, with plenty of floodplains and hills. Health is going to be a concern.
It's growing very fast ...

Here's Athens:

A note on my first SG: It's really hard keeping track of turns!
Looks like I need to crop those pics in the future.

Turn order:
Blackluck
Liquidated -- Up
Luv_Muffin -- On deck
Scowler
Percinho
Sir Toma
Greggo


And the save:View attachment LurkerSG.zip

 

[Liquidated]

oh man hehe I was goofing off with a 8 on 1 against me game + furious barbs, man I got blasted fast

Wasn;t expecting to be up so soon as is it's almost 6 am in the morning. I'll pass my turn to 3rd place as work is till late tonight go for it love muf!

I'll be back on at 9 pm pst and see no reason to stall this start so have at it please.

Again I am sorry I missed start, I checked up on thread 2 hours ago and just assumed I am the only 'loser' that lives his days til the sun comes up (omg quickly back to the coffin!) I use the term loser so very very loosely =) no insults intended!!

oh I see a 520am post... yes Bluck we are of the same cloth it would appear unless you get up at 8 am which I cringe even thinking about. Sun light is baaaaaad.

let me stress those barbs are ugly ugly in a fun way, so a fast settler is most likely a dead settler - it needs heavy escorts.

From my personal experience playing raging barbs (so much fun) medics are absolutely required to fend off the endless waves.

Agressive really helps here as the free 10% strength is not just a free exp level, it's exta no strings attached 0 exp level exp. By this I mean a barracks alone nets you a free promotion that is open to a toon normally only after spending their first promotion to open the real choices that determine the unit's role.

Keep in mind archers and mounted units do not get the free 10% so warriors and phalinxes are generally better choices first off than archers.

I would set up a barracks fast and pump out 6 or so warriors that are +10% strength innate + medic one... all these guys have to do do is fend off gimp warrior barbs at start and get 2nd level medic then rush them into the safety of a town. Keep those gimp ass medic warriors as medic 2's and watch as they are the absolute last unit to ever get attacked.

so make extra warriors once we get a barracks running and exp them a fight to get that much needed medic 2 by
patroling them into harm's way. Keep in mind these units are cheap as dirt so if one in 3 live to prmote to medic 2 we are gold.

If we can get a medic 2 warrior for every city we plan on having that's a good start. Mosr to perma camp the critical resources is a must.

Barbs have serious difficulty getting to the sea based resources so those enjoy a measure of immunity farms and pastures never get.

For resource/worker protection, a phalinx with medic one is a nice self healer that can fend off early attacks easily.. use their first promotion to get 25% to melee as axemen are their worst enemy for an all around good unit.

Good start location btw nice river plains and good outlying areas. edit in a sec , gonna post this then make a dreaded dot map.

again pass to love muf if you can get this this game in an awake manner before 8pm pst.

Cheers!
-Liq

 

[Liquidated]

ok a map before I fall asleep

keep in mind that we will suffer insane number of barbs such that as bullet proof a trade network as possible is preffered.

by this I mean, the path that requires the least amount of sentrys to keep the spice flowing.. so to speak.

In a perfect world we could expand south at start but realism dictates we close off the north asap, the areas we have no info about...

The 3 south cities are for the least overlap with the most resource coverage, plus a costal local that includes a sea based food source... those need to be exploited first as they are the most secure form of food.

The yellow dot location is chosen as prime since Athens iitself is not costal (land o rivers is great nonetheless). The river path extends only 2 spaces from yellow such that a wide network of roads that connect from yellow over to the river is all the pillage prone yardage we need to protect.

Therefore a redundant (as in no one space is required to matain trade connection) system allows us to place less stress on logistical guards.

once the link from yellow to athens is established we can maintain trade by linking up costal cities with sailing tech.

Green dot is the only square we can gain that fish resource and it also is a cheap way to clear that lone jungle square.

For first city I would try and scout nw a bit more and see if there aren;t any fish hanging around that coast. Ideally pinning the NW and NE cloast lines would seal off our start area real well but I'm not sure how realistic a goal that is.

early units we need..

Archers + citiy garrison for permanent city duty for established cities... not for escort. Hilltop resource protection might be worth it but keep in mind only melee and gunpowder units get the free 10% strength. Use archers sparingly as they do not play into our strength as much as speamen do..

spearmen (phalinx) for escorts. Cannot stress how powerful these units are, their arch nemisis are axemen so +25% vs melee is good as is medic for minimal resource guard. Back these units up with axemen or horse archers and you are golden.

Horse archers for reserves.. these units can generally take out any ground unit other (immunity to first fire = dead archers) than spearmen and move fast. Have a few around centrally and they can jump to where we need the firepower the most. Not a big fan of chariots in that they are obsolete by the time you get horses hooked up for the most part, 4 strength is just not enough to make a dent against archers and spearmen.

warriors as medics (spam them and see if we cannot get an army of cheap medic 2's)

axemen to back up phalinxes if we see mass axemen coming our way.

seriously about to fall over as the sun comes up.

if you read this love muff.. go for it. I'll be back 9 pm pst.

Cheers!
-Liq

 

[Blackluck]

Liquid, you have 48 hours to 'get it', so no need to skip.
I was up at 6:30 EST. Sad on a weekend, I know. I actually played 20 turns then realized I started the game on Noble lol.

Excellent thoughts on getting up a protective trade network.
Pink (purple?) dot is going to have food issues long term, but we do need that stone if we're going to have any shot at any early wonders.
We can back fill up towards Athens afterwards.

There's a surviving scout North. We seem to be short on resources (happy). Already there are a lot of animals about. I don't think the Scout will live much longer. Also, we're not having much luck finding any huts. Some cash before we start expanding would certainly help. I figured the first warrior could clear out the fog to the east of Athens and keep it lit up to hopefully keep Athens clear of barbs.

After Athens hits three growth might want to MM it to build warriors more quickly.

For religion, I don't think any have been founded yet, which means we have a shot at Hindu. Monothesism (Judasiam) + writing I think also allows Theocracy. Early religion can be good if it spreads to nearby Civs. Keeps them happy with us. I've usually been able to keep nearby aggressive civs at bay this way. However, we dont know who are neighbors are -- Cathy, Monty and Tokejowa (Japanese) can be awfully irritating if they don't like you.

 

[Luv_Muffin]

Liq does has 48 hours, so I'll let him play his turn.
You were right boss, thanks for pointing that out.
I just got so excited. Heh heh.

Good luck, Liq. Hope you had a good day at work.

 

[Sir Toma]

Sir Toma



I agree... where did I bring up financial and phil though?

My favorite leader is cathrine who is creative and financial.... I never once mentioned phil in that post.... did I? As for phil itself, I have yet to fully understand the art of poping out great people so I kinda leave out the phil trait for now. Your post confuses me though.

I'm easy about leaders, other than skipping organized for prince level as I stated before. that leaves out rome.

I HATE starting games next to the incas so I'm biased there.

If we are skipping industrous then greece sounds good.

Sorry what i said had nothing to do with your post. My internet was screwing up so the only way i could post was by a quote. sorry for confusing you.

 

[Liquidated]

no prob sir toma.

ok I got it but well none of the other SG's have an issue with 5 rounds a day soooo I left the option over.

have it now will ponder it deeply. IMO we MUST grab NW asap to help block peeps coming into our area. a fast settler is a dead settler though so hmm...

ok well work on it now, and nope, work sucked!

Keep in mind also that civil service is a critical tech for us as we can string farms along over to pink dot to help with food later. But yes we need that stone.

reviewing how many turns I get, thinking 20 but will verify.

Cheers!
-Liq

 

[Liquidated]

Gonna edit this into a real post. with bold entries and screens I'm getting it out now since I think muffin is online now.


3160 BC Ok see one turn on mystisim and no one's founded bud yet.. hmm ok I'll make a run for hindu but if someone gets it before we do I switch to bronze working. balanced map so we must make sure we fill our start area for maximum coverage of resources.

Growth to 3 in 2 turns then can work the grapes for the hammer and 2 commerce.

can move the scouts so to their death they go!

ooooo warriors spots a goodie hut east of the city... liq luckTM don;t fail me now!



(1)3120 BC ug meet a mongolians (gengis) scout at the healing scout. mys finishes see poly is 18 turns.... can speed that up next turn... go for poly sigh. get a map from the hut... whole lotta nothing to the NE resource wise but that river Athns is on is LONG.



(2)3080 BC scout heals lets see how long he lives, goal is uncover NW for a good home. Athen hits size three I work the grapes for the extra commerce.



(3)3040 BC buddism is founded in a distant land.... hmm. great meet a japanese warrior in the NE. we have some really nice neighbors!!! wow NW looks sweet.

planting a city at the red dot looks liek a nice great people town. low production so it'll need to keep those forests.



(4)2960 BC Warrior is done at athens.. decisions... Athens is due to grow in 17, a settler takes 30 and worker takes 18 since I have commerce going full speed. A worker stalls growth and has nothing to do really + no protection so pass there. A barracks is 15 meaning stall 2 turns and gain 4 population in athens, a barracks will be needed sooner rather than later.... barracks it is.

Move the warrior to scout a tad bit north of town - he will not stray far. Pulling the NW warrior south to fill in the blanks on the coast.



(5)2990 BC no news is good news. 11 turns on poly so we'll know my round if we snag hin.. imo jud is not worth wasting time on if we miss hindu as it will stall much needed wartime techs. updated screen of NW, scout living a long time. Warrior in NE see's a bear... ekk will avoid it. or try.



(6)2880 BC bah bear goes right for NE war... get him to wooded hills for the win. NW scouts land next to evil wolves... he's jungled tho so maybe... oo the warrior see's a goodie hut in the south but the mongol scout is close.. if he doesn;t go south we may grab it.



(7)2840 BC nope, ghengis grabs the hut and gets a warrior. good news tho! I saved money on my...er no! both the warrior and scout lived. promoting wrrior to medic 1. wrrior2 is 4 turns from athens he got a nice hill top view going and he's heading back. The scout got woodsman 1 since it's all jungle up here and keeps moving as he;s gonna die soon enough.



(8)2800 BC 8 turns til poly and not a global peep since bud was founded. The NE is nearly done, the NW scout turned the corner into more wolves so he's likely dead.



(9)2760 BC hmm no fights... scout lives! news at 11! he pushes his luck to reveal more of the coast line. mass fun.



(10)2720 BC omg! the scout WINS! left at .4 hp one more square!!! and find um someone's town.. light blue looking, is that a greece clone? we need to secure NW like soon. Ne warrior is filling in last of coast east of athens and will head back.



(11)2680 BC hmm ok persia is our guest to the NW pray he expands northward! No religion shown yet from the 3 people we've met. Warrior2 is back in town and will stay there! lions prowling south good warrior medic bait! more mass fun!



(12)2640 BC Ok so warrior2 is back in athens and started fortifying. The medic warrior is heading back home as well... no point losing him. scout is still moving as he's dead meat once barbs pop. poly in 4!!



(13)2600 BC No news is GOOD news!



(14)2560 BC Bismark says HI. he doesn;t have bud either... All we need is isabel to show up to complete our round of hostile religious nuts. omg the scout still lives.



(15)2520 BC still no global messages... oh MAN Cyrus is Crammed in a corner. This is not good. we's gonna expand east prolly.

(16)2480 BC **SCORE!**

I leave us with no religion to avoid pissing off people and avoid a turn of anarchy. switch to bronze working as we MUST secure our metal supply asap. Glad our bid for hinduism worked. Let focus on expanding now..

Monkey with production to net us 3 turns for barracks and size 4 athens... lost 3 turns on bronze working(18 to 21 turns) so will switch back on the grapes at size 4.



(17)2440 BC Scout go pushed over 4 spaces from cyrus culture bounce, works well as I head NW away from the wolves. INTO some effing lions... oh man this scout is well cooked hahaha.



(18)2400 BC ***RIP scout***. T'was a good lad he was.

Athens now has the medic scout inside and the plain jane warrior.



(19)2360 BC barracks done. Moving to settler in um lets see, yeah 22 turns! computer decided to work all 4 flood plains I tend to agree... bronze working is down to 16 turns. it was that or 25 turns on settler and 14 on bronze... see no reason to go that way.

We went from 2 culture a turn to 7 from snagging hinduism.



(20)2320 BC Fortify medic in athens, there's a lion in the south we can get free exp on a barracks made warriors would get their second promotion from it.




Ok well hope I didn't EFF us up too bad. snagged hindu and lost the poor scout at very end. Gained a medic warrior and secured a barracks in athens plus cleared a bunch of the fog. Got us that much closer to a flood of barbs!

Turn order:
Blackluck
Liquidated
Luv_Muffin
Scowler
Percinho
Sir Toma
Greggo

You are up Luv Muf!

Cheers!
-Liq!!! (no liquids here other than cough syrip!)

 

[Luv_Muffin]

Good job, Liq!
Saving.... will take a look at the map...
Northwest sounds fun.
Great, Persians and Greeks were the best of friends, weren't they?
Thanks for the barracks, and the religion.
I think my turn will be pocketing bronzeworking that you started, and then getting start working on some skills for future workers.
That river is just begging to be farmed. A road here or there may come in handy too.



*About that river... it's a monster. Too bad we can't put a galley on it.

 

[Percinho]

Morning all, just a quick note to say I'm patched and running. Looking forward to trashing all your good work with some poor early decisions......

 

[Liquidated]

man settler in 22 kinda leaves you out. Imo get it going then build a warrior or 2 to back up athens and settler... unless bronze working shows up something else... imo head for the red dot... it's a realistic land grab and secures those hills and desert... one of those two deserts is gonna have our oil square.

seriously no point making a worker for a bit cause the cost to keep anything it builds it will bankrupt us if we do not have fast moving horse archers..

think about plunking a city on our bronze/iron wherever they may be... ton easier to guard it that way.

Btw I'm now officially addicted to SG's. Just the act of doing the writeup alone really makes me stop and question why I'm doing something. Also seeing how others play in the same game is not only educational, it's FUN!

omg a few scant days before I unveil my custom avitar! phear!

Cheers!
-Liq

 

[Luv_Muffin]

(1) 2280 BC. Nothing happening. That lion to our south is wounded.
Since I have nothing better to do ATM, I am taking our second Warrior
out for a stroll. Heading south, it won't be a fair fight so why miss
the opportunity for free xp?

(2) 2240 BC. Ghengis starts moving his warrior scout north, away from
our capitol. Not much else going on.

(3) 2200 BC. More of the same. It's quiet, almost too quiet.
Closing in on the lion... (1.5/2 strength now)
Lion in the desert, Warrior with combat one, in the trees.
Would be nice if he were to attack now, wouldn't it? Here kitty kitty...

(4)2160 BC. Warrior wins, 'natch. Will heal him for two turns in the bush.
Maybe I can bag some more easy pickings around our town, but playing
this safe. Don't want to lose half our army out of bad luck.
(Stay away, you bears!)
Ghengis's warrior now heads back east, along river. Not sure if he knows
what he's doing.

(5) 2120 BC. Ghengis's scout heading back north. I think he's lost.
Not much else for me to do now... it's all good. Better than dealing
with a drama!

(6) 2080 BC. Borders of Athens expand! Doesn't sound exciting,...
but you weren't there man.
Moving the warrior to hills on the east, see what I can see.
In case you were counting; Bronzeworking due in nine.

(7) 2040 BC. Sure is quiet... Warrior on the hills (keeping to defensive
terrain)

(8) 2000 BC. Looks like panthers to our far north.
Not going to be chasing anything that far away.
See nothing to our immediate south.

(9) 1975 BC. Thucydides says we are the second largest civilization in
the world. Interesting. Cyrus is #3. Take that, Persia! Some unknown is
at number one. *shrugs*
Still nobody for our warrior to whack. In time...

(10) 1950 BC. Look at that, a lion has shown up! Good timing.
Our warrior needs one more Xp for
his next promotion, and we are standing on a wooded hill.
Hope that lion attacks me again.
I fortify myself, hope he falls into my trap.

(11) 1925 BC. Lion disappeared, guess he didn't like the odds.
Figure I may as well wait, maybe he'll come back. Rather catch him
in the open, than the other way around.. just in case, of course.

(12) 1900 BC. Khan adopts Slavery. Ghengis has bronzeworking, just as long
as it's us with the copper, we're all good.
Our Bronzeworking will be done in three turns.
Still no sign of where that cat went. Here kitty kitty...

(13) 1875 BC. Hunting for that lion. Will turn back to Capitol if I
don't see him next turn.

(14) 1850 BC. Found the lion in the trees. I'm in the bush too, so if he attacks
we should get a promotion out of this. Bronzeworking due next turn!

(15) 1825 BC. Bronzeworking finished, finally! Adopted Slavery, Khan will
like that. Start learning about the wheel. We are going to need roads
if we ever want to connect our resources, and our continent is so open,
walking across it takes too long.

Lion ran into the open, so I dropped him. Taking our Warrior home now.
There seems to be copper near (just NW of) our capitol. Nice.

(16) 1800 BC. Promote our Warrior to Medic 1. More lions south of the stone
resource, but I have to head north to babysit that settler.
Later cats, was nice. If they follow me, maybe I'll take a whack at em.

(17) 1775 BC. More lions, due south of Athens. Too far away for concern,
but pointing out that there are more barbarians out there now.
Keep on your toes, Scowler.

(18) 1750 BC. Lions aren't getting any closer. Must be getting smarter.
Almost back at Athens now with our second Medic Warrior.

(19) 1725 BC. Just moving our warrior.

(20) 1700 BC. Warrior back in Athens. Settler due in two.
The wheel will be ours in five.

* Options wide open for Scowler now.

I marked what seems to be a decent location for our copper mine with
the cinnamon roll like icon. Port city, hills, can drag farms south
from the river to the north. (Should get a city north of the copper
mine too, and open up a "Red Lobster" with the fish & clam resources.)

An overview of our continent

A peek inside Athens. Not a lot has changed.

Turn order:
Blackluck
Liquidated
Luv_Muffin
Scowler -- Up
Percinho -- On Deck
Sir Toma
Greggo

 

[Liquidated]

wow... uh boring! haha

imo we WANT that fishy in the water how about we plunk a settler down on top of that jungle just south of the copper and leave the red dot same place as always.

Camping on the copper itself looks nice but I hate to lose the free production... landing the city next door to the copper isn't so bad as it can be baby sat easily. Plus it's another free jungle remove and a costal city to boot.

I'm thinking grab red dot first to block expansion from the persians.. and bum rush a setler to jungle below copper to secure it.

oh also on further goofing with raging barbs, I've found that the best way to use workers with barbs all over is stack them with 2 space move guards and dog pile them in linked stacks of 5. workers can gang up on improvements and this lowers the total number of escorts required to keep them alive.

oh lookie 5 am again! go figure!

Cheers!
-Liq

 

[Scowler]

Got it, but I probably won't be able to play through it until this evening.
Comments: Athens is now at maximum health, so we need to think about hooking up the wheat and pigs. We have plenty of food to spare so going unhealthy is not a big deal at the moment, but we should plan ahead. I suggest building a couple more warriors after the settler (we can pump them out in 4-5 turns) and then getting a worker.

I think 1 square N of the copper is a better location. If we are further N we lose a square to the mountain, plus the city will be slightly more unhealthy at start (and also slightly restricts our options for further cities to the N). Further south and we overlap with Athens - I don't think we can justify that?

So I propose:
Finish settler and produce warriors and worker
Finish Wheel and start Agriculture (and then?)
Move NW and grab copper site

Comments/criticisms?

 

[Blackluck]

I agree with one tile North of the copper; otherwise too much overlap with Athens.

Also agreed on the build queue; might want to think of working the luxury resource tile; it's less food but 2 gp and a hammer. We're going to have to cap Athens at 5 else it will go unhappy. We might want to consider declaring Hindu so we can build a temple, as there are no nearby happiness resources we can use for some time.

Another thing to consider is dropping to 90% science for a time to build up at least a hint of a treasury. We've had terrible luck with the huts, and having some sort of gold for emergency upgrades or whatnot would make me feel better.

After agriculture, it appears sailing or animal husbandry? Sailing for light houses, enabling us to to work the ocean tiles for commerce, husbandry to reveal horses + work more healthy tiles. It's going to be some time before we can hook up the stone to the south, allowing us to hold off masonry for a bit. With our lack of treasury, I have a feeling we're going to be running science pretty low to keep up with expansion and unit upkeep. It looks like we're not going to be able to get either Oracle or Stonehedge. I would put a priority on the Great Library and maybe Pyramids for the free Great People. Without any marble the Parthenon will be tough.

P.S. Enjoyed your turn log LuvMuffin

 

[Scowler]

I couldn't wait to play my turn, so the full (and very gory) details will be added momentarily...

(01) 1675BC: A warrior from Genghis appears to our north, and one of Bismarck’s scouts to the south-east. I start moving a warrior to the NW to act as escort for the settler.
(02) 1650BC: Settler sets off. Warriors queued at Athens.
(03) 1625BC: Genghis turns back at our borders
(04) 1600BC: Sparta founded – work begins on a warrior
(05) 1575BC: Start Archery while we are waiting for the worker to be produced. Wolves to the SW of Athens
(06) 1550BC: Nothing much. Bismarck’s scout has moved to our S, near where the wolves were.
(07) 1525BC: Warrior completes at Athens. Decide to build worker right away as the area seems fairly safe for the moment.
(08) 1500BC: Yikes! I spoke too soon! THREE separate barbarian warriors appear out of the mist, to the NE, E, and SE of Athens. Switch back to warrior and maximize hammers: due in 5.
(09) 1475BC: Barbarians move closer
(10) 1450BC: ANOTHER barbarian warrior appears to the far N. The first of the other bands is ready to attack…
(11) 1425BC: First barbarian attacks and we defeat him (1.6/2). A FIFTH barbarian appears in the distance…
(12) 1400BC: Two warriors attack and we defeat them both. One of ours gains a promotion, and I give him shock. Unfortunately, another TWO warriors appear on the horizon to replace the ones we killed…
(13) 1375BC: Barbarians come closer…
(14) 1350BC: Archery comes in: I start Agriculture in the hope that we will be able to build a worker one day. Warrior ready at Athens. Another barbarian appears to the north of Sparta! Fortunately, a second warrior will be ready there by the time he arrives. Even so, I’m starting to get a little scared!

(15) 1325BC: Barbarian attacks and is defeated!
(16) 1300BC: Two barbarians attack Athens, while another assaults Sparta. We manage to fend them all off.
(17) 1275BC: Two barbarians attack and we defeat them both! There is now only one half-strength barbarian far to the south, so I switch back to the worker (due in 12).
(18) 1250BC: Oh come on! Now three more barbarians have appeared. Raging indeed!
(19) 1225BC: The first barbarian archer appears to the north, stacked with another warrior!
(20) 1200BC: Another two assaults, one at Athens, one at Sparta, and once again our glorious armies are victorious! I promote one warrior to shock and another to cover (now that barbarian archers have started to appear).

Current state of play:

Sorry I couldn't do more building/research, but I kind of had my hands full...

 

[Liquidated]

I take it you've never seen raging barbs lol?

medics are a MUST honestly the waves are endless in a way that no civ based attack can muster.

for towns an archer with 3 levels of city garrison (it comes fast) backed up by a medic 2 warrior and a wall will last long enough for us to get on our feet with regards to getting phalinxes and horse archers up. getting a seconf archer up in exp is hard to do cause well it'll never get to fight unless you bait the barbs to attack it alone.

Anyway it'll be raining barbs from here on out. love that option

Cheers!
-Liq