SGOTM 10 - Xteam

[scoutsout]

If Theodora survives to Marines, let's gift her the one-tile island and surround it with gunboats.

As for triggering victory conditions... at least we don't have to worry about 100k...

 

[Sir Bugsy]

As for triggering victory conditions... at least we don't have to worry about 100k...

Or 20K, or space ship. Actually, we might end up with a simultaneous conquest/barb if the Barbs take out th other three civs.

Where is Theodora hiding these days?

 

[scoutsout]

Where is Theodora hiding these days?

IIRC, her map looks something like this:

...though I might have the wrong island... it's over in that area. (I just snipped a screenshot from one of Gator's posts... I don't have the game going ATM...)

 

[DJMGator13]

Session 3

I think one of the MOW I lost IBT by BToe was actually an empty galleon, because we still have 10 of them and I built 1. But more importantly I start Session 3 by queing up The Who "Live at Leeds" Deluxe Edition Disc 2 which is a live concert performance of Tommy.

Change the Pentagon build to the Intelligence Agency due in 3 turns, so Misfit gets to plant our spy and find out what we are facing. I thought about this some today and we know the Barbs have 27 cities that we can see. The game list us as 2nd in Land area, so if we estimate that the Barbs have about 40-45 cities and are defending them with 4 units each, that would be 160 to 180 defensive units. We know some cities will have more in defense so we could looking at well over 200 infantry/rifles which is why we are probably listed as weak to them. Onto the game now.

IBT - there are 4 ironclads in the BToe area / we lose an eMOW and we kill a Cav / 2 inf and 2 cavs advance on BToe
Sumer cav =>inf
Copan cav =>inf
Machu Picchu MOW=> MOW
Bad-tibira MOW=>MOW
Vilcas inf=>art
Agade MOW=>MOW
Isin inf =>cav
Akshak galleon =>galleon
Oxford MOW =>MOW
Dover art=>art

Turn 259 - 1345AD
The Barbs have been poprushing - Cherokee is down to size 8 (I think it was 11 at the beginning of this set) / there is 1 inf and 2 guerillas SW SW of us and 1 inf 2 guerillas and 3 cavs SW W of us - might be time to break out of the Toehold and put "foot to butt" (where's the Capt when you need him)

Defense of BToe
sink 2 of the 4 ironclads, lose 1 MOW
land 4 more galleons into the port so the units can move
use enough art shots to redline both inf
vCav vrs vCav - we win
vCav vrs vCav - we win
4/5 eCav vrs 1/4 vInf - we win and
Pic27

create the 3rd CAV
vCav vrs 1/4 vInf - we win

Battle in the Suburbs of BToe
arts redline or yellowline all 9 troops outside our city border
vCav vrs 1/4 vInf - we lose
vCav vrs 1/4 vInf - we win
vCav vrs 1/4 vGuerilla - we win
vCav vrs 1/4 vGuerilla - we win
next 6 Barb units are on a forest tile
vCav vrs 2/4 vGuerilla - we win
vCav vrs 3/4 vCav - we win
vCav vrs 1/4 vInf - we win
vCav vrs 3/4 vCav - we win
rCav (yes a Reg) vrs 2/4 vCav - we lose
vCav vrs 1/4 vGuerilla - we lose
vCav vrs 1/4 vGuerilla - we win
eInf nrs 1/4 vCav - we win
sink another ironclad
advance troops onto Cherokee, but we are woefully short of healthy cavs, I may have to fight with some inf

while bombing the Western Barbarian coast I spy the following
pic28

mm Steel in 4 at +25gpt
stats 116-30

IBT - no attacks, but 3 ironclads near BToe, a few troops (2 inf 1 cav) advance on BToe and some other inf and cav in the open
Ur inf=>inf
Cuzco cav => cav
Tiwanaku art => art
Palenque inf=> cav
York cav => cav
Nottingham cav=>cav
Canterbury inf => cav
BToe harbor => rax
Varna settler=> settler
Trebizond settler => settler
propaganda in Vilcas

Turn 260 - 1350AD
move troops into Vilcas to calm down the people (took the troops from Isin which was proped earlier in my set)
ship chain 1 galleon into BToe unload another art and 3 cavs
Cherokee down to size 7 must be drafting every turn, they probably have a huge number of inf in defense

Defense of BToe
kill 2 of the ironclads
arts redline the 2 inf a make the cav 2/4 - save rest for hitting Cherokee
eInf vrs 1/4 vInf - we win
vCav vrs 1/4 vInf - we win
4/5 eCav vrs 2/4 vCav - we win

Battle for Cherokee
Artillery birage
art reveals only 3 inf in defense 1 elite 2 vets and 1 cav all are now redlined
1st CAV vrs 1/4 vInf - we win but are at 6/13
vCav vrs 1/4 vInf - we win
vCav vrs 1/5 eInf - we win
eCav vrs 1/4 vCav - we win and
Pic29

I keep the city for 1 turn (so we can move our settler through it and claim the gems next turn, it won’t flip on the 1st turn) - I sell the granary, market and courthouse for 60 gold

kill an inf and cav in the open (SW SW of BToe) this should take the pressure off of BToe except for possibly cavs
start moving some troops forward out of BToe

found Manchester & Bristol (messed up I should have sent those 2 settlers across the pond) - they popped up during all the worker moves and I didn't think about it, sorry
mm Steel in 3 at +16gpt
Final stats for my set 127 kills 30 defeats (right over a 4:1 kill ratio) considering that we are using offensively weaker units I think this is good estimation for how the rest of the game should go.

I have a settler in Cherokee, which can head to either spot by the gems.
Pic30

After Action Report
1) Play cautiously, try not to leave single units in open ground, but I think it is time we went on the offensive. The big counter-offensive is over so you should only have to deal with smaller opposition.
2) Here was my sequence of playing each turn:
a) Galleons into BToe if possible, if not I usually waited to the end of the turn to position the navy
b) Sink ironclads if possible, try to redline them first with either cannon/art or bombard from the rMOW, then attack with the vets or elites
c) Had been Defense of BToe but it will now be kill any units threatening your cities or troops, use art first to redline the defensives units then attack, try to save a few cavs for the end so you don't leave an inf in the open. Try to leader farm also, use elites against non-inf units if possible.
d) Load up galleons with troops, try to position them so they can either enter the port or atleast unload - then cover with MOWs
e) cycle thru cities and mm them - see next topic
3) mm tips: +30spt cities can build inf in 3 turns while 27 to 29 spt cities can build cavs in 3. I've been building arts in the midteen spt cities since there is no bonus on them. Make sure your research is progressing, that is why I listed the turns remaining to make sure it went down one. Hire scientist as needed to keep max research going.
4) When a city completed a build I'd put all citizens back to work, then adjust at end of turn during the mm stage. First I'd set all specialist to tax collectors as I cycled thru the cities. Also look at any city with 1 turn remaining on the build. Hire taxman with all excess shields. Any city that is not growing (mostly size 6 and 12's) convert any extra food into gold by hiring a taxman. Also check the nongrowing cities to see if you can pull another citizen off shields without changing the production time. Once I cycled thru the cities I'd reconfirm that I was earning enough bpt, then I'd switch the taxmen to scientist as needed. Being a little anal I always added one more scientist past when the turn lowered.
5) Our army producing city is set to produce an army unit every 7 turns. Can't improve on the 7 turns without demobilizing but make sure it stays at 57 or 58 spt to get the army in 7.
6) Intelligence Academy will complete on the IBT so try to plant a spy and then post details of the Barbs military count.
7) I've been bombing the western coast of the Barb nation, we may want to make a run and disconnect both sides of the chokepoint, but that will take several turns to get there, but if they have not built harbors it could hurt there economy and production. Check out the map first for harbors before making a run for the chokepoint.
8) Just wanted to make sure everyone was reading my whole post
Pic31

Have fun, I think we may have broken their back now it's time to rock and roll.
Pic32

Note: For some reason my pictures are not showing up and I can not get to the upload screen to load the last 2 pictures. I was in the middle of uploading pictures last night when I got disconnected, I could not regain access to the internet last night and now this morning it is still acting strange. I also can not see the pictures I posted in the earlier Progress reports, but I can see Scout's small pic of the last BYZ city. I'm off to work so I'll check in later this evening and see if they are working.

Here's a quick rundown of what is suppose to be in the pictures.
Pic27 - I get a 2nd GL
Pic28 - I spy the Barb's UU, the Barbarian Guard, they appear to be fortified cannons on mountaintops, they may not be able to move but I haven't confirmed that yet.
Pic29 - capture of Cherokee
Pic30 - Status pic showing where I started moving troops from BToe towards what will be our new city and the location of that new city by the gems (either S or SW of the gem mountain, depending on whether we can settle on a tile that has been cratered).
Pic31 - Power graph, showing we are slightly ahead of the Barbs in Power Rating (this pic was not uploaded, I'll add later).
Pic32 - the most important picture of the whole bunch - it's a shot of the F3 screen showing our unit count (59 cavs, 45 inf, 39 art and 7 armies) but what is more important is the fact that we are now AVERAGE.

EDIT: Well apparently the upload portion of the server is down because I can't even upload the save file through the SGOTM area. I'll check tonight after work and hopefully be able to upload the file. If not I'll try to email it directly to Mistfit and post the file later.

 

[leif erikson]

Nice work Gator!!

Sounds like a lot of MM, my favorite thing to do?

Roster:
Mistfit - UP
Leif - On Deck
Capt. - On Vacation
Bugs
Scout
Gator - Just finished thumping the Barbs!

OK MIstfit, here you go. A Spy to plant, a Nation to conquer!!
Have a great time!!

I think it is important to repeat what Bugs and Gator have said, I know I need it. During this phase of the game, thorough and detailed is what we need to do to wring out the most from each turn. If you get tired, take a break or pass it along. There is no need to play 10 turns each set. If 5 is what we get done, then 5 is fine.

Good luck Mistfit!!
EDIT - And once you get a spy planted, we're all dying to see what you find.

 

[WillowBrook]

Wow - looks like a great set of turns, Gator, even without the pics!

 

[scoutsout]

@Gator: Nicely fought! It sounds like we should break out of our toehold perimeter very soon. I'll try your MM method next time it comes around to me... I especially liked your #8.

One thing I noted was the drafting...which will surely cost them serious gold over the long haul. It will also make it easier for us to sack cities, if they draft 'em all the way down to size 6. I'd say we're tipping the balance.

I also like the way you wrote "AVERAGE" in orange.... though as you know I prefer deeper shades of Orange and Blue.

@Mistfit: on!

 

[DJMGator13]

I actually picked that shade of orange because it matched our civ, but it is close to the Gator orange.

Here's the save as an attachment, that seems to be working.

It has not been uploaded to the SGOTM server yet.

 

[DJMGator13]

I was able to upload the file to the server so it is there also. BTW, should we consider slowing down our pace? We are currently 50 turns in front of the nearest team and close to 80 turns ahead of everyone else.

Based on the territory graph several teams have taken control of the starting continent but it's hard to gauge whether anyone else has landed on Barb Nation.

 

[Mistfit]

I think playing 5 at a time should help slowing us down. That is all I plan to play... BTW if someone wants to open the save and play the IT and plant the spy during the next 11 hours and post the spy results I will not be playing til tonight

 

[Mistfit]

Is there a reason we are at war with everyone? War Happiness? IIRC even one city AI Civs can be good for a handful of gpt.

also on the powergraph.. they are at 279 pixles wide and we are at 220.. so we are getting there

If I did not mention it before you guys are doing great

 

[leif erikson]

I think playing 5 at a time should help slowing us down. That is all I plan to play...

I was thinking this too. I think it is best to keep moving ahead. I think our pace will slow a little as the turn length increases.

Personally, I would prefer to finish a little early as the last several games we finished real close to the deadline, which can be way too stressful!!

Good luck Mistfit!!

 

[DJMGator13]

Is there a reason we are at war with everyone? War Happiness? IIRC even one city AI Civs can be good for a handful of gpt.

So we can stay mobilized and currently nobody other than the Barbs are a threat. Peace will demobilize us, so until that is forced on us we want to stay mobilized.

Good luck and ATTACH a screenie when you get a spy planted.

 

[Mistfit]

Edit:

OK played one turn... (2.5 hours later... with distractions)

Pre-turn...

Get myself reaclimated to the situation...

After looking thru all 60 some odd cities I think I gained one GPT Gator

Hit enter and hope for the best

Steel Due in 3

IT:
Get Whacked (long range) by the Barbarian arti
A couple of barb units impale themselves on Cheroke

The Barbs Kill off the Mayans

Our Peole want a SPHQ

REsistance ends in Cherokee and it riots

Ceasarea Settler to Settler
Olly Arti to Arti
We build the CIA
New Castle CIA to Arti
Theodora's Bane Settler to Settler

Turn 1 (1355 AD)
Move Galleons about

Redline a Ironclad outside of Toe Hold
eMow Kills redlined IC flawless (1/0/0)

No More in reach...

Redline a rINF outside of Cherokee and kill him off with the INF army -1hp (2/0/0)
He was in the way of our combat settler

Move combat settler to the new spot and settle him after disbanding Cherokee (he ended in the spot beyond the pot holes)
Named the City Bling for the Gems
Starts on a rax with an engineer

Sheesh... Go thru a ton of workers and try to choose the best option for them

Move stuff towards the front. (what am I doing with all of these settlers?)

Plant a spy sucessfully... BTW we are weak to them again.. so they are out producing us

Pic to Follow (they also have 3 Gurillias not on the screen and 4 pikes )

spend what seems like an eternity MM'ing

I will Post this and play later... I got a late start on this will play more tomorrow

Steel Due in 2

OK IIRC someone said mobilization will leave us when someone gets killed off. I forgot to check. If we are not mobilized do we go back to it?

 

[leif erikson]

Thanks for the piccie Mistfit!!

It looks like we've whittled down his Navy a bit!
Their main force consists of 125 Infantry which must be scattered about in all his cities. Looks like it is time to begin taking those cities. Lots of Artillery covered by the Infantry Army.

@Mistfit - If we are no longer Mobilized, then we should re-mobilize, unless someone thinks we should build a few improvements first?
Given our Spy's info, I'd say we need to raze some cities and cut into his production and his ability to research.

 

[scoutsout]

My gut says let's stay mobilized. If we get into 'builder mode' at this stage, we may never break out of it. If Byzantines and/or Dutch are still in the game, we'll have another chance to demobilize.

 

[scoutsout]

Sorry for the double-post...

@Mistfit: Here's an idea for settling on the Barbarian Continent. The tiles crossed out in orange would be claimed without culture. None of these sites would require an aqueduct...which we can't build while mobilized.

 

[scoutsout]

Oh man... sorry for the triple post... but let's abandon Cherokee and/or get our Army out of there... these Barbarian cities are going to be a huge flip risk with all their culture. IMO, this really does need to be a raze-and-replace campaign until the domination limit becomes a factor.

 

[leif erikson]

@Scout - The reason to settle CxxC is so that when a city is threatened, we can move reinforcements to it as an Infantry unit's limit is 3 tiles on a road. Your piccie shows 4 tiles which means we can't get a unit there if we need to.

I would hold off on settling too much until we get some breathing space. Let's raze 5 or 6 cities first and see what things look like?

 

[leif erikson]

Oh man... sorry for the triple post... but let's abandon Cherokee and/or get our Army out of there... these Barbarian cities are going to be a huge flip risk with all their culture. IMO, this really does need to be a raze-and-replace campaign until the domination limit becomes a factor.

Mistfit is on the ball. From his turn log:

Move combat settler to the new spot and settle him after disbanding Cherokee (he ended in the spot beyond the pot holes)

Go Mistfit!!