SGOTM 05 - Geezers

[AgedOne]

• I think we are about 20 turns from DOW on Alex.

Sam - UP
drhirsch - on deck
Harbourboy
AgedOne
markh
The-Hawk - just played

Pariah (skipped until he reports being available)

Nice turns.

@Harbourboy: yes, let's do 10 turns / set now.

I've been putting all these snippets together . . . and I feel a sort of violent feeling beginning to arise ready for my next turnset

 

[Sam_Yeager]

565 BC - 400 BC

Not really a lot to say about this turnset. I played 11 turns to even up the dates. WW increased to +3 again in Karakorum so I MM'd it not to grow. After the unhappines wore off it lost the unhappy face. Turfan grew to 3 and the WW increased to +3 at the same time so it became unhappy. Looks like WW scales with city size. I've now MM'd Ning-hsia to stop growth.

Noteworthy points were our barb allies taking Baghdad (Sally came and took it back later ), Edo fought off more half witted attacks by our allies , Beshbalik built our first galley and Old Sarai finished the Obelisk. I had it build a barracks afterwards and it's now building an axe. Old Sarai's borders should pop in 5 turns.

Research is now down to 50%. I didn't any of the cities as I wanted to maximise so there is only WW unhappiness left. Alex's new city has expanded it's borders. I snapped a pic at the end of my turn to show the current state of play there. It also conveniently shows everyone's scores.

Spoiler Temujin gulf :

Spoiler Game autolog :

Turn 130/660 (550 BC) [06-Aug-2007 19:15:30]
Old Sarai begins: Barracks (9 turns)

IBT:

Turn 131/660 (535 BC) [06-Aug-2007 19:21:47]

IBT:

Turn 132/660 (520 BC) [06-Aug-2007 19:25:32]
Karakorum finishes: Axeman

IBT:

Turn 133/660 (505 BC) [06-Aug-2007 19:29:53]
Karakorum begins: Axeman (9 turns)
Axeman promoted: City Raider I
Beshbalik finishes: Galley

IBT:

Turn 134/660 (490 BC) [06-Aug-2007 19:33:56]
Beshbalik begins: Galley (19 turns)

IBT:

Turn 135/660 (475 BC) [06-Aug-2007 19:39:47]

IBT:

Turn 136/660 (460 BC) [06-Aug-2007 19:47:20]

IBT:

Turn 137/660 (445 BC) [06-Aug-2007 19:51:24]

IBT:

Turn 138/660 (430 BC) [06-Aug-2007 20:03:37]
Old Sarai finishes: Barracks

IBT:

Turn 139/660 (415 BC) [06-Aug-2007 20:06:52]
Old Sarai begins: Axeman (11 turns)
Turfan grows: 3

IBT:

Turn 140/660 (400 BC) [06-Aug-2007 20:10:33]

Spoiler Submit log :

Turn 131, 535 BC: Baghdad has been captured by the Barbarian State!!!

Turn 136, 460 BC: Baghdad has been captured by the Arabian Empire!!!

Turn 137, 445 BC: Imhotep has been born in Persepolis!

Turn 138, 430 BC: Turfan will grow to size 3 on the next turn

Turn 139, 415 BC: Turfan has grown to size 3
Turn 139, 415 BC: Turfan has become unhappy
Turn 139, 415 BC: Ning-hsia will grow to size 3 on the next turn

Save

 

[Sam_Yeager]

Roster

Sam - just played
drhirsch - UP
Harbourboy - on deck
AgedOne
markh
The-Hawk

Pariah (skipped until he reports being available)

 

[markh]

Seems we are on our way.

I feel some tension rising and trouble for Alex. From what I read AgedOne also seems to sharpen his axe already. Quite a bloodthirsty party we have here.

 

[drhirsch]

Nice turnset.

I the WW might become a big problem later on :-(

I reread the formula, it is indeed a percentage of the population of a city, so it scales with city size. You need to fight approximatly 100 fights to get a WW of 100%. Actually some less because of the difficulty level, and, because our brethen tend to lose quite often.
It decays slowly, so in the mid- or later game, when the barb sucide attacks stop because there is no more fog, we can expect a mild decrease.

Is there a reason you always promote the units long before you send them into the battle? I never do that, I only promote diretly before a fight or if I expect to be attacked in the next turn(s).

 

[AgedOne]

I feel some tension rising and trouble for Alex. From what I read AgedOne also seems to sharpen his axe already. Quite a bloodthirsty party we have here.

Of course if we're truly efficient I might miss all the action by my turnset:

drhirsch plays next 10 turns and we are about ready to declare.
Harbourboy declares, and takes out both Alex's cities within 10 turns.
All will be quiet again next time I play.

Save one archer for me!

 

[The-Hawk]

Is there a reason you always promote the units long before you send them into the battle? I never do that, I only promote diretly before a fight or if I expect to be attacked in the next turn(s).

Mostly so I don't forget later. I'd hate to have a stack bushwacked with a forgotten unpromoted unit. I honestly don't spend much time thinking about promotions. I'll create the occassional medic, other than that, mostly city raider (I generally don't plan on playing much defense). If I'm in a game long enough to be up against cavs or rifles, then I'll promote some units to specialize in fighting them.

 

[drhirsch]

For me there is a blue glow around every unpromoted unit, maybe you have it disabled in your graphics settings.

 

[drhirsch]

Well, nothing really happened during that turnset. Saladin showed up with a settler convoy on a galley. I have refrained from immediatly sinking it (a natural reaction), because of the bad chances vs. galleys on shore.
Did some MM and of course whipping for fun and production.


Turn 140

Changed some micromanagment in Karakorum. I think it is not useful to work a 2F/1H Tile instead of a 5F/1H to avoid growth, I will let it grow into unhappiness and use the population to whip something.


Turn 141

The Enemy is spotted near Ning-hsia! Sally wants to settle our land. Phasers to "kill" and set an interception course. Well, or something


Turn 143

Whipped a granary in Karakorum. Sally heads farther north.


Turn 145

Borders at Old Sarai expand. We are now able to enter greek seas if we want to.


Turn 146

The people of Turfan seem to work somewhat slow. I decide to whip a barracks to remind them who they are.

Turn 149
We now have 6 Axeman, one of them garrisoned in Old Sarai, but available without causing unhappiness. Another one is being built.
We have 2 Charoits and one Keshik, further two being build. This are 12 Units, which will probably still be not enough for Alex.
So I start another Axeman at Old Sarai. With some help of the whip it will be ready to join the fight against the greeks.

Our mighty empire 250 BC:



Save

 

[Sam_Yeager]

Saladin showed up with a settler convoy on a galley.

I'm somewhat surprised that Sally didn't settle in the SW. Perhaps he just decided to scout us before he settles in the SW? Btw what are we going do if he does settle in the SW? Ignore his city until Alex is out of the way?

We now have 6 Axeman, one of them garrisoned in Old Sarai, but available without causing unhappiness. Another one is being built.
We have 2 Charoits and one Keshik, further two being build. This are 12 Units, which will probably still be not enough for Alex.
So I start another Axeman at Old Sarai. With some help of the whip it will be ready to join the fight against the greeks.

Scratches head... The original idea was to transport our troops across the gulf in batches and then attack Alex. Now that Alex's Stonehenge enhanced city is just across the gulf we will need to DoW first and then transport our troops into the fight immediately.

We should have three galleys shortly which is enough for six military. Do we start the attack with six military, bearing in mind we don't how many troops Alex has in his city, and then fetch the rest afterwards or do we wait to build more galleys to attack with more troops at once?

I suspect most of the team will go for the first option, mainly because it takes so long to build more galleys, but it's worth thinking about this now.

 

[Harbourboy]

I don't plan on going into battle unprepared.

 

[AgedOne]

I notice that Alex has 3 cities: Thebes, Sparta and Thermopylae. However, it is Sparta that is just across the sea from Old Sarai, and that we will attack first (To land there and march on another city instead doesn't seem too wise)

Sparta was founded about 25 turns ago, so I wouldn't expect it to be seething with resistance just yet. It isn't obvious whether it has been roaded in yet - which would be a bonus for us.

I just wish we knew more about Alex. Does he have copper? Or horses? Are there roads? How many units in the capital?

Overall, I feel that a concerted assault on Sparta - even assuming we have to drop our forces 2 by 2 on the hill - will succeed and give us a foothold from which to quickly sweep away the rest of Alex's world.

 

[Harbourboy]

What are the chances of someone else trying to invade us in the next 50 turns or so?

 

[The-Hawk]

IIRC there is a hill next to Alex's city. I would drop 6 units, then go back for more. Hard to believe Alex has enough units in this out city to hurt a stack of 6. If he only has a couple, we take the city with our 6, otherwise wait until reinforcements.

I am somewhat concerned about Alex's capital. All those years when he was stuck in one city, he had to be building something. He might have a fairly large stack there.

We'll need to decide about keeping his cities. Earlier I said we could let the barbs backfill for us, not so sure now. With the AI's floating around in galleys, we might see someone else settle. So, maybe if his cities are pretty good we should keep a couple. Or, maybe we need CoL first.... opinions?

RE: Saladin. If he wants to settle a city to our SW, fine by me. Unless it is in a crappy position, it saves us a settler.

 

[Sam_Yeager]

I am somewhat concerned about Alex's capital. All those years when he was stuck in one city, he had to be building something. He might have a fairly large stack there.

Alex has Stonehenge IIRC. Could that be it? Sounds unlikely.

We'll need to decide about keeping his cities. Earlier I said we could let the barbs backfill for us, not so sure now. With the AI's floating around in galleys, we might see someone else settle. So, maybe if his cities are pretty good we should keep a couple. Or, maybe we need CoL first.... opinions?

I think we only need to worry about Sally at present. He's the only Civ who can get there and needs extra land. The lush island civs have plenty of room to expand and Qin can't get to us at present.

 

[Harbourboy]

I haven't looked at the save yet so can't make specific comments yet.

 

[markh]

Maybe we let Sally settle, let it grow to size 2, take the city and gift it to one of the AIs for peace. Toku comes to my mind as it will be hard to get peace from him without threatening him. We also have a bigger chance making peace with Sally then. As we cannot fight all the AIs at the same time I think we should make peace with AIs whenever possible without giving something from us.

 

[drhirsch]

Keeping another city besides the capital will cost a fortune. I estimate the next city at some 5-7 gold/turn, so I would rather like to raze it.
OTOH, a foothold will make the war easier, and we will be able to attack in two waves if neccesary, but we may not be able to afford it.

 

[drhirsch]

Saladin probably won't settle. He came obviously from the SW and could have settled there almost unnoticed.

Edith says: But you never know, the AIs tend to play inconsequently. Maybe he will settle when he is in the SW again.

 

[markh]

Let's see what it looks like around the city. If there is a lux which could be hooked up immediately like gold, gems or ivory I would consider to keep the city as we could let our main cities grow. If not I would just raze all cities until we have COL, so we can whip courts in captured cities. Alex capitol should be nice, but this is just future business.