SGOTM 08 - Fifth Element

[WastinTime]

We have a HUGE stack of cavalry at Rhodes and some more with orders to go there. We did not get a GProphet, so they should have been redeployed. Now they are all too far away to contribute to the end battle. I suppose we just need Thebes and Antium in 3 turns. Found last Corp. Buy RC. Done.

So, we are 2 shrines short and 30-40 turns late from an ideal game. Not bad. Maybe a 3rd place medal? I really thought we'd get that Rhodes shrine.

 

[MacBalt]

Nice turnset -- and a very attractive report Berserks. Nice arrangement of the graphic information. Too bad about missing the prophet. Have we got one more shot at it or not? He'd probably be too far away even if we get him now. Oh well. That stack in Florence can still be used to attack Greece... just in case we need to go for the conquest win. Hopefully the Roman forces will be enough to take Thebes (and hold it), which is (if I remember right) the only target we really need from Greece anyway. Great work from everyone. If WT is right and we really are only 30-40 turns from an ideal game then that is about as close as I've ever come to one of those!

 

[BLubmuz]

Well played Bers!
But Rhodes without GP is useless.

We need to keep Rome and Cumae at the minimum safe garrison and run to Antium.
Thebes is not a problem, but we must begin immediately.

WT said it well:
- found Aluminum
- buy RC
to do this nex turn we'll revolt to FM and US, maybe also FS and stay there, research to 0.
- take Thebes
- take Antium
to do this we must keep a garrison of max 4 units in Rome and Cumae and move to Antium also the workers (they can try some kind of bait - no i'm not serious).
Move a good stack from Ravenna in roman territory 1 tile from Thebes, DoW when they can move.
Move the airships in range for Antium and Thebes.
Keep Aachen well garrisoned

Use that GA to culture bomb: Aachen or Ravenna? or else?

c'mon WT. To you finish this game at best on turn 265, and give us a medal!!!

 

[berserks01]

We have a HUGE stack of cavalry at Rhodes and some more with orders to go there. We did not get a GProphet, so they should have been redeployed. Now they are all too far away to contribute to the end battle. I suppose we just need Thebes and Antium in 3 turns. Found last Corp. Buy RC. Done.

So, we are 2 shrines short and 30-40 turns late from an ideal game. Not bad. Maybe a 3rd place medal? I really thought we'd get that Rhodes shrine.

I left that stack there to help with the war. If we want Perc to capitulate fast we need to take as many city as fast as possible. Use that stack to attack from the west while our main stack head in from the east. Raze if you don't want to hold it.

 

[WastinTime]

Sweeta is going to take us home, right?
Let me know if I'm up.

 

[BLubmuz]

Sweeta is going to take us home, right?
Let me know if I'm up.

Correct, this is the roster.
Up to you both if he wanna let you the last TS.

For me is the same.

 

[Sweetacshon]

Right, I'm back from baby visits, and ready to go. It's a bit late now, so I will post a PPP tomorrow, even though it's fairly straight forward.

 

[Mesix]

I look forward to reading your plans for our victory.

 

[BLubmuz]

I just hope to have enough units to take Antium and to defend Rome and Cumae.
All for a stupid shrine we can never build.

edit: it seems they are enough.

Sweeta:
- immediately, i mean in this turn, bring also the cavalries in Rome to join the stack for Antium,
- the airships in Florence to Ravenna
- move the troops in Ravenna to the Roman corner (a workshop) while keeping 2-3 defenders there, even less if you can move the infantries now in the galleon to Ravenna.
- For some unknown reason, our GS is in Farcanal: move him to 5th (not very important, but just to do it well)
- Unload the galleon in Lahore and join the GG to the Mace there.
- Ulm can start a cavalry now and you can buy it next turn.
- The GG-pike can be promoted to Morale and CR3, upgraded this turn and join the stack next one, he's got 2 moves.

Next turn:
- you'll revolt to FM and US
- buy the RC, buy some troops
- declare to Pericles while moving 1 tile you'll be at the doors of Thebes
- Found Aluminum in 5th, then set research to 0 if you want to.

We also have a GA to culture-bomb some city, maybe Ravenna or an HRE city.
Once we'll (hopefully) take Antium, you can vasssallize AC. Don't worry if he does not vassallize, sue for peace anyway, we have enough votes for victory (just press F8 and you can see by yourself).

We're plenty of money.

Turn 265, remember, it will be a Diplo victory. Time to redeem!!!
misclicks are forbidden
be aware of the "this city is rightfully asking to join..."

and remember to post the autosave of turn 264 for our personal HoFs.

 

[WastinTime]

I think we have to declare on Perc this turn, not next. If we wait, the calvalry near Rhodes will not be able to take any city by t264. That is the last turn we can get cities since the win occurs between 264 and 265.

Let me say that again to be clear. We have only 2 1/2 turns...the current one plus 2 more to capture the 2 cities we need. Should not be a problem. But, if we expect Perc to capitulate, we'd want to capture another 1-2 greek cities.

If Perc will capitulate, don't gamble on the diplo vote. Just vassalize him and take the conquest win on t265.

 

[BLubmuz]

I think we have to declare on Perc this turn, not next. If we wait, the calvalry near Rhodes will not be able to take any city by t264. That is the last turn we can get cities since the win occurs between 264 and 265.

Let me say that again to be clear. We have only 2 1/2 turns...the current one plus 2 more to capture the 2 cities we need. Should not be a problem. But, if we expect Perc to capitulate, we'd want to capture another 1-2 greek cities.

If Perc will capitulate, don't gamble on the diplo vote. Just vassalize him and take the conquest win on t265.

Conquer more cities is useless and dangerous.
We're close to the self vote limit.

Diplo is NOT a gamble!!!

just press F8 and look at the votes needed and at the votes we can gather.
our votes and Charlie's ones are already enough to give us the victory.
there's nothing to discuss, it's a fact!!!

Better move the cavalries East to help with the revolt problems.

 

[berserks01]

I don't think it matters whether we win by diplo or conquest. The faster win is the one we should take.

If Rome capitulates, great. Work on getting Perc to capitulate. If he capitulate before the vote comes in, we win. If not, the vote comes in and we win.

I just remembered something. What resources do we need to build Aluminum corp? I think I moved the scientist in 5th to a city with rice for it. So if 5th has the resource we need, you need to move that scientist back to 5th.

 

[BLubmuz]

I don't think it matters whether we win by diplo or conquest. The faster win is the one we should take.
conquest is impossible on turn 265

If Rome capitulates, great. Work on getting Perc to capitulate. If he capitulate before the vote comes in, we win. If not, the vote comes in and we win.
we don't need more cities but Antium and Thebes, nor more capitulations. Have you read my above post?

I just remembered something. What resources do we need to build Aluminum corp? I think I moved the scientist in 5th to a city with rice for it. So if 5th has the resource we need, you need to move that scientist back to 5th.

Aluminum Co. needs coal.
We're plenty of coal.
It doesn't matter where a resource is located, but if a city has access to that resource.

Better move the GS in 5th, he can be there for next turn.

Just to be clear, we can take both Antium and Thebes in turn 264, not before.
In t265 the Diplo will pop, so just concentrate on keep our cities and take those 2.
Nothing will change in the remote if not impossible case of a conquest.

If we have more cities there's the risk to cancel the Diplo vote.

 

[Sweetacshon]

I took some time to fully check the save,which was tough due to high 30's(C) temperatures and humidity... it's hard to concentrate .

Firstly, even tho Blubmuz is confident that diplo is assured, why not have the contingency of conquest? We are very close to the self-vote pop limit, but if we add slavery to the civics change list, we can whip empire wide to wipe quite a bit of pop off. I see no reason not to declare on Pericles immediately. The troops in Ravenna will take 2 turns to get to Thebes regardless, but declaring now gives the western cav a chance at making an impact.

PPP:
IT-
Shift some airships from the west to Ravenna. The infantry on the galleon cannot make it, but we can shift the garrison at Lahore to Agra, which in turn can be shifted to Ravenna. The GG will add to the mace and hopefully make it to the front. DoW Pericles, move stack toward Thebes, and western cav toward Rhodes/Ephesus, depending on defenders. Promote and upgrade pike GG.

Move Rome's cavs to the Antium stack. All border cities on cav duty to be whipped/bought in case of conquest. Move GS to 5th, GA to Ravenna. Take workers to the front (all hands on deck!)

263
Move stack into forest next to Antium.
" " next to Thebes.
" cav next to Rhodes/Ephesus.
Switch civics to US, FM, slavery, and FS??
Whip if necessary in a pop sense. Rush inf in border cities if necessary. Rush RC. Found AlCo.

264
Take Antium. Take Thebes. Take Rhodes/Ephesus. Vassalise AC (he will right now, so this is not an issue). Vassalise Pericles . Lots of whipping if necessary. Can someone remind me of the exact self-vote pop limit?? Is it 2/3=66.67%??

265
Take win vote. If this is not possible, keep pushing onto Perc.

266
Win...

The attached screenie is some amusing AI stupidity, just for fun.

 

[WastinTime]

IT-
I think you need to move Thebes troops before you DOW on Perc....maybe it doesn't matter. need to check the save. Certainly you have to move them to the roman tile if you plan to DOW on t263
....re-reading you PPP, I think you have all that figured out already. Nice plan.

263
Be sure to bomb the GA before you move troops this turn.

264. I think the win vote comes in on this turn, not 265. anyone confirm?

265. win...

 

[BLubmuz]

The win vote will come on t 264, and the victory will be on t265.
The self-vote limit is visible in F8: if we have more votes than necessary for Diplo, the Diplo resolution will disappear or cancelled.

Please, forget Rhodes, move the cavalries back East, move the troops from Ravenna in the Roman workshop, DoW on Pericles in t263, after you bombed Ravenna.

Revolt to FS can help with cuture, you can do it.

I repeat: don't worry about conquest/vassals, we only need those 3 wonders, then we'll WIN on t265.

misclicks are forbidden

be aware of the "this city is rightfully asking to join..."

and remember to post the autosave of turn 264 for our personal HoFs.

 

[greatbeyond]

Yes, we should win by Diplo vote. I would personally keep our military right at the frontlines to prepare for a quick war if for some reason the Diplo vote does not go as planned. I can't see how it would as Blubmuz is right about the F8 info, but it never hurts to be prepared. IIRC, Cities have to revolt twice to have a chance at flipping. I have tried to do this with spies in a couple of games and even several sequential revolts doesn't guarantee a flip.

 

[BLubmuz]

I can't see how we can't miss it.
The stack for Antium is impressive (good job, Bers) and Ravenna can unleash an equally impressive stack for Thebes while being well defended (there're troops with only a fraction of movement in the city, just let them there together with a couple of infantries).

Then, hit Diplo victory on t264, enjoy the victory on t265.

Nothing more is needed.

If you wanna have fun and attack Rhodes our GA is in danger and must be protected... better choose the safe way and follow my long-studied plan.

I don't wanna compromise what can be an outstanding result to follow useless startegies.

I strongly doubt any other team will perform a wonders/turns rate better than 1.
It's almost impossible self-build all the BtS wonders, the Shrines and the Corps.
So, any other team must have fight some war.
Last but not least, you need to win in some way, and i can exclude someone can beat us with a cultural, a diplo or a Space victory.
Also, a fast conquest/domination can not equal all the Corps and modern wonders we self-built.

I can also bet that almost no other team performed a CS sling.
I counted 4 teams already passed 1800: they are alredy beaten. (Chokonuts 1816AD -Geezers 1943AD -Trash Team 1832AD - Wonder Bumpkins 1814AD) then we have The Real Ms. Beyond 375BC, probably abandoned or conquered by Shaka.

I hope the above senteces don't make anyone laugh.
Let's wait and see.

Sweeta, go fast, i'm curious.

 

[Sweetacshon]

misclicks are forbidden
You know, by definition, these can'tbe totally ruled out.
Sweeta, go fast, i'm curious.

There's that white line fever again, Blub. I'm ready to go apart from the Rhodes stack. It seems no-one is keen for Greek war on turn 0, so I'll wait, like the initial plan. So what use are all those cavs?? They cannot make it anywhere, iirc.

 

[BLubmuz]

There's that white line fever again, Blub. I'm ready to go apart from the Rhodes stack. It seems no-one is keen for Greek war on turn 0, so I'll wait, like the initial plan. So what use are all those cavs?? They cannot make it anywhere, iirc.

Just move them East, they can help in Aachen or nearby.
Some of them have a fraction of movement left, you can move them in turn 0.

C'mon is a 15 minutes TS, to play accurately.