SGOTM 10 - Xteam

[DJMGator13]

Got it, and will play during the day on Saturday. Dunno if I'll be able to finish the drill in 10 turns or not... but we'll see.

If you only need a turn or two to finish them off then play more then 10.

Someone mentioned about heading for marines before tanks (may have been before Bugs' set) that sounds good. We need the amphibious unit more than tanks.

Good luck. I'll be away in Melbourne for a few days, so this may be my last "in-game" post.

 

[Mistfit]

Cheers Gator.. Have a safe trip.. I hear Australia is nice this time of year

 

[scoutsout]

Cheers Gator.. Have a safe trip.. I hear Australia is nice this time of year

I rather suspect he's talking about Melbourne, Florida. I'm headed south too... to Palm Beach tomorrow for an interview Monday morning.

On with the log... for the first 2 turns of my set.

*****

Let's see what's on the agenda here...pretty much outlined by Mistfit.

9 - mainland barb cities left
5 - attackable islands around the former barb continent
2 - attackable islands to the south of our continent
2 - 1 tile islands to contend with (one W and one S of our mainlands)

...spy on the one tile island to the West and see what date it was settled.

Loading Bugsy's log does me no good. "Torched that, killed these, sank those... etc." "And oh yeah, let's see what you can do in 10."

Let's see if I can figure out what Bugs was thinking....

Pre-flight check

Mapstat tells me we're still 267 tiles from domination.

Through an amusing little mis-click, I plant a spy in Netherlands for 65g. Let's see... William the double-chinned has 4 Spearmen, a couple of Caravels, and a Swiss Mercenary.

An investigation of New Olmec 2 (the one-tile island) reveals that it was founded in 760 AD.

F3 check indicates the Barbarians are down to 7 Cav, 27 Infantry, 4 guerillas, and 3 Rifles; their navy is down to a Frigate, 2 Galleons, and 8 Pirate ships. They have no settlers, 4 workers, and a Pike (which I saw when I investigated New Olmec 2).

Good lord... this must be the biggest navy I've ever had in a Civ3 game - 15 transports, 11 destroyers, and 46 Man-O-War.

IBT - Our MoWs sink 2 Pirate ships, they sink 1 MoW. Some Guerrillas come after our Cavalry in 3 locations. We again go 2 for 3.

Turn 1/1480 AD Sink a Pirate ship... bombard the stuffing out of New Chanca 2, Anasazi, and Anasazi 2. I'd like to re-base these bombers on the chokepoint, but instead I further reduce New Chanca 2.

After bombarding New Lupaca 2 with "some" MoWs, The 6th Cav takes care of business

... and drives straight for Chinook 2, whacking a Conscript Rifle there.

The 4th Cavalry is dispatched to Toehold for a turn of R&R.

Naval Bombardments at Chinook 2 and New Apache 2 redline the garrisons, destroy some improvements, and reduce populations to 4 apiece. Chinook 2 is defended by a pair of Conscript Rifles, and cannot draft any more. New Apache 2 is defended by a Regular Rifle and a Veteran Cav.

Drop off some assorted Cav, Infantry, and Artillery next to New Apache 2.

The unit rotation now takes me to some islands closer to home. In rotating through these islands, I think I see where Bugs wanted me to take that contingent of Artillery he had loaded in a boat.

Dangit. Oh well... 'salright. A regular Cav dispatches the Elite Cav in the garrison at Maastricht. Ol' Dr. Evil is now down to a single troop ship.

Do some worker stuff... Assuming the 3rd INF is at Anasazi in case of a culture flip, I leave it there.

Move a settler to an infill spot... and realizing that's our only settler, I swap a few builds to settlers, and fire a couple of Civil E's in our barbarian holdings to get the population going.

Risk a 4/5 Cav against the last grunt standing at New Chanca 2....

Kill a grunt, then lose a few cav at New Anasazi to some PRNG cruelty...

Whack a grunt, then redline the 1st INF blitzing a second at... some stupid city I'll take next turn. Looking through my screenshots... it was Anasazi.

Swap a couple of Destroyers to Cruisers, as placeholders for Aircraft Carriers.

Form a Cavalry Army at Carlisle. Send it and the 4th Infantry towards Anasazi. Grab 6 Artillery pieces and load them onto a transport at Carlisle. Bugs probably wouldn't like what I've done with these... but I'll get some artillery over to those islands yet.

...more to follow...

 

[Mistfit]

An investigation of New Olmec 2 (the one-tile island) reveals that it was founded in 760 AD.

The reason I ask this is to see if there would have been anyway for us to have gotten to this isle before the Barbs.. I think we were researching MT..

I also think had we given the boot to the BYZ before we did they may have settled this isle for us.

I think this will be our undoing in this game

 

[scoutsout]

IBT - other than a couple of Guerillas shuffling about... Mass Production came in and that's it.

Queue up Amphibious War, ratchet science up to get it in 4.

WLTKD kicks off as I took Bugsy's advice and made a silks colony last turn.

Turn 2/1485

The siege of Anasazi continues, as our artillery redlines the garrison (1 Vet Inf & 1 Conscript Rifle), destroys a Temple, Market, Library, Courthouse, and kills 3 citizens. A Veteran Guerilla whacks the redline infantry, an Elite Infantry whacks a Conscript Rifle, then the 4th INF "finishes the drill".

At New Anasazi we face an Elite Infantry, a Veteran Infantry, a Guerilla, and a conscript rifle. These all get redlined as we also wreck the Library and blow up the harbor. Our fresh Cavalry Army is dispatched from Anasazi to dispatch the 1/4 Infanty. The 101st (do we have a screamin' eagle on this team?) is dispatched from Barbarian toehold to deal with the 1/5 Infantry. A Veteran Infantry flawlessly kills the Guerilla. An Elite Cavalry fails his promotion boards for getting himself redlined sacking the city.

New Cherokee 2 is defended by 3 Veteran Infantry. This may prove another tough nut to crack. After bombarding with 19 MoWs and a Destroyer, I'm still facing 2/4 defenders.

Our naval contingent makes shorter work at Chinook 2, redlining the defending rifles. The work is so short, that I use the rest of the stack to redline the defenders at Lupaca and New Apache 2. The MoWs at New Apache 2 are sent forward to Chalcedon.

At New Apache 2, a Veteran Cavalry whacks a rifle, and another Veteran Cav whacks the Cav defending the city.



Now pay attention.

• I keep the city.
• Next, I load all (and I do mean all) of the troops I landed on this island into the transports. (The Arty didn't fire, and everything else had some movement left.
• Transports move out, dropping off an Infantry and a couple cav off at Lupaca, the rest advances on Chalcedon.
• I then abandon this completely empty city.

The 6th Cavalry is looking bored and lonely all by themselves over at Chinook 2, go I arrange a dance partner.

I decide to keep Chinook 2 long enough to allow the 6th Cav to close with Zapotec 2, then abandon the city.

The cost of stealing plans (safely) has gone down from 945g to 720g. Before the attempt, I do a unit count (in case we lose the spy). At this writing, Barbaria has forces consisting of

• 3 workers
• A pike
• A Rifle
• 5 Cav
• 18 Infantry
• A Galleon
• 3 Guerillas and
• 3 Pirate Ships.

Nifty... we've got all these red units poking their heads up out of the fog.

This is nice to know.

• New Cherokee 2 will indeed be a tough nut for the 2nd Cav to crack (alone) as it's garrisoned by 3 Infantry and 2 Guerillas. (Don't worry team, 'salright. I got 22 Artillery in reserve. )
• Zapotec 2 is defended by 3 Infantry, as is New Teoihuacan 2
• New Zapotec 2 is defended by 2 INF and a Cav.
• New Olmec is defended by a lone Cavalry.
• New Chehalis 2 has a pair of infantry
• Chanca 2 is a little gem; that's defended by a lone infantry, and the entire Barbarian Navy is there.
• Chalcedon is defended by 2 Cav and a grunt.
• Closer to home, New Teohihuacan is defended by a pair of infantry
• Teohihuacan 2 has an Infantry/Cav pair.

Olmec 2 and Cherokee 2 are huge flip risks... as is New Chanca 2. We've got an airfield down there...so improvements are sold, and towns abandoned.

7 MoWs arrive on scene at New Teohihuacan to assist the Cavalry next turn. Transport 4 more Cavalry to New Teohihuacan.

At Teohihuacan 2, a Vet Cav whacks and Infantry, and another whacks the Cavalry there. And I muffed the screenshot.

Portsmouth founded this turn on The Other Continent.

My eyes settle on those Dutch cities...and recalling where the transports were... I think I know where Bugs was headed... and I think I'm going to see if I can spice it up a bit.

Scroll through a bunch of cities, queueing up combat settlers and bombers.

...to be continued...(back to the game)

 

[Mistfit]

Good going Scout... bring us home

 

[leif erikson]

Good going Scout!!

Where are those damned Marines when you need them??

 

[Sir Bugsy]

The 101st was me. I had to give it a good name.

BTW - So far Scout you have read my mind on every move. It is great to watch.

 

[scoutsout]

IBT - An enemy guerilla slips out of the fog and grabs a worker. Another guerilla promotes one of our Cav to Elite. We equip a few combat settlers, and train some troops.

Turn 3/1490 AD

We are now 243 tiles from domination. And I've got a plan for that too. [/b]

*****At New Cherokee 2
Artillery barrages redline all defenders, destroy a temple, library, market, university, and reduce the city from size 8 to size 3. Three Veteran Cavalry then take the city, promoting two in the process.

One MoW and 3 destroyers are re-positioned to bombard New Teoihuacan 2.

*****At New Teoihuacan 2
The first 6 MoW's bombard to no effect, but the combination of Naval Bombardment and a single artillery piece reduces the defenders to 2/4. Retreat a Cav, then a Cav clips an infantry, then a Regular Cav clips the other grunt, and we take the city.

*****At Lupaca
A single MoW redlines the regular rifle, and a cav sacks the city.

*****At New Zapotec 2

The MoWs that were off the coast at New Cherokee 2 are then sent southward against New Zapotec 2... redlining both infantry, a guerilla, and the cavarly in the garrison.

The 101st Cavalry Army is brought in to whack an Infantry. The 2nd Cav then whacks the other Infantry. Then 101st then whacks the Guerilla. A regular Cav is then promoted finishing off the redlined Cavalry in the garrison.

*****At Zapotec 2
Bombers destroy the temple and the market before knocking a hit point off a veteran infantry and killing a regualr. Cavalry Armies then converge on the city.

Bath founded this turn, netting us 14 tiles.

Drop troops off at Chalcedon and Arnhem. Advance 3 Infantry Armies on New Teoihuacan 2.

New London founded, netting another 13 tiles.

 

[leif erikson]

Go, Go, GO!!

Hope you have some Marine pre-builds going and some Transports headed for the pick-up points. And a few Bombers, or Destroyers or Cruisers, positioned to hit those 1-tile cities!!

 

[scoutsout]

IBT - A pair of Barbarian Cavalry attack our landing party at Chalcedon. The first promotes our infantry. The second attacks and...

This MGL is named in honor of my friend in The Other City. We both had a bad day yesterday. He suggested I "...go home, have a glass of wine, play some Civ, and sack a city for me". So there you go buddy, one in the slugfest for ya.

Barbarians advance a Guerilla next to Zapotec 2.

We build a bunch of stuff..including some combat settlers. Zapotec 2 riots, as I piled 3 Cav Armies in there when I took it, and quelled 3 or 4 resisters.

Turn 4/1495 AD Is anybody still taking bets on whether I'll finish this in 10?

In case you guys haven't figured it out, Bugsy set me up to go after all the islands, not just the ones owned by the Barbarians... and I'm trying to see if I can tack on some "style points" by snagging us a combination domination/conquest win without delaying the variant victory.

We're still 177 tiles from Domination.

After rebasing some bombers, I start in on New Teoihuacan 2.

*****New Teoihuacan 2
A blistering Artillery Barrage redlines 3 Infantry and a conscript Rifle, reducing the city from 11 to 9 in the process. A pair of bombers take out 2 Infantry, then our 1st INF takes the city.



Barbaria is officially a 5CC with no cultural expansions.

*****Chalcedon
Lose a couple of Cav... but the city falls.

Wallace forms the "Umpteenth CAV" in Chalcedon, which promply board transports and lands at ... I can't see the name of the town because it's covered up by our MoWs.

*****New Olmec 2 (yes, the one-tile island)
Destroyer bombardments and air strikes are ordered up... and I no longer need Marines. I need "Marine".

*****Arnhem
Our Cavalry pretty much run roughshod over a couple of spears and a longbow.

*****New Chehalis
MoWs redline the infantry garrison. Grab some Cavalry and...

...apparently I lost the screenshot again.

But Barbaria is officially a 3CC.

Warwick founded this turn, netting another 16 tiles.

A handful of Cavalry are disbanded for their shields in a few select cities on the Barbarian continent.

Ship-chain 5 settlers accross the pond.

New York founded, netting 14 tiles.
New Nottingham founded, netting 12 tiles.
New Hastings founded, netting another 12.
New Canterbury founded, netting another 15 tiles.
New Coventry founded, grabbing another dozen.

IBT - not much.

Turn...5... I think. 1500 AD.

After all that, my domestic advisor has this to say:

We're 57 tiles from domination, one turn from Amphibious Warfare. Ease back the research... and settle in for endgame.

After bombing Haarlem and sacking Chanca 2

...our enemies are roughly at parity - with each other. Neither the Dutch nor the Barbarians have a navy. Ground forces consist of a Cavalry (Barbarians) and 2 spears and a Swiss Mercenary (Dutch).

I land 2 Infantry and about 7 Cav, plus a Guerilla outside ... shoot... I can't see the name. Stupid SwissMerc.

After fiddling with a bunch of units I won't need again, I came across a couple of bombers that were within range of New Olmec. I can see it quite plainly now that I've bombed the Cav and the Swiss Merc out of existence.

So now the Barbarians have no military, and the Dutch have a pair of spearmen.

New Warwick founded this turn, netting a dozen tiles.
New Oxford founded, netting 9 tiles, and re-claiming some oil.
New Liverpool founded, grabbing another dozen tiles.
New Dover founded, claiming 14 tiles.

I'm tempted to found another town, but I fear I may be bumping close to the domination limit here.

IBT - Amphibious War comes in... and I am tempted to scroll-ahead. I mean I am really, really tempted to scroll ahead.


Turn 6/1505 AD

I'm glad I didn't found another city... we're now 9 tiles from domination. Looks like I might've overdone it on the combat settlers... 'cause we've now got 10.

Bombard New Olmec down to size 1 before taking it... because I can't keep it anyway...

Sorties over Haarlem empty the garrison there. In case anyone is wondering... we're officially "strong" to everyone, OK?

I go to check something... and the stupid game crashed.

So I've got this image editor full of screenies... but I gotta re-boot before I can play on...

@Team: Sorry for spoiling the ending.... but you've probably figured out by now I'm going for a combination conquest/domination/variant win.

I'll finish this up shortly... after a re-boot.

 

[Sir Bugsy]

A magnificient end game!!

I really don't care how the other teams did. I know we played this one very nicely. Well done to my teammates.

 

[leif erikson]

Very nice work Scout!! A triple, triple,

And what a way to finish, with a system crash...

XTeam lore continues on...

Nice game Team!!!!

 

[scoutsout]

Okay... after the re-boot.. .I'm at 1505 AD...

Barring any culture flips, this game is ours next turn.

After looking at the high-shield cities... I'm still 2 or more turns out from having a marine.. so I whip one at the cost of 2 citizens at Huamanga.... 3 citizens at Ur, 2 citizens at Dover. I know I whipped at least 2 Marines last go-round...though I can't promise they were in the same cites. Doesn't matter... this one's over.

On the re-start... bombing sorties and naval bombardment reduce New Olmec to size 4.

New Olmec gets bombed and sacked.. .as it did in the last log.

Pre-position a bunch of settlers for a last-turn land grab.

1510 ... turn ... 7... I think.

The Dutch managed to muster another spearman. Oh no. After a few bombing runs... our cav waltz into Haarlem.

We built an Army in the IBT. Load it up with Marines for style points.

With all AI gone... I settle in on the land grab.

New Brighton founded, grabbing 12 tiles. New Norwich founded, grabbing 14 tiles. New Leeds founded, claiming 9. New Reading founded, grabbing 12. New Birmingham founded, grabbing another 9. New Richmond founded taking 9. New Exeter founded, taking 10. New Cambridge founded, adding another 16. New Gloucester founded, adding... several.

Tight building here... New Manchester founded...New Bristol founded...after some ship chaining...New Leicester founded...New Carlisle founded. New Ipswich founded.

Endgame. I save it at this point...for the rest of the team. We've won a conquest victory, and we're 152 tiles over the domination limit (on the same turn as the conquest win).

First, I get the obligatory "You Won" shot...

...then I get an error...telling me the game will now exit.

I'm going to attach my save... if anybody can do anything with it... here it is. This is the end-of-turn before the victory screen.

I'm sorry team... I wanted to close it out tonight. Maybe AlanH can figure out what went buggy on me. View attachment endgame.SAV

 

[Sir Bugsy]

We'll need to get Alan involved. I tried uploading it as it was, since the barbs are no longer involved, and in theory that should do it... didn't work.

 

[leif erikson]

Very nice work Scout.

I've PM'ed Alan asking that he have a look.

 

[AlanH]

Hmm! I don't think we anticipated that you'd actually FINISH the game with a defeat of the barbs, and we didn't add the barbs to a custom pediaIcons.txt file for this game.

Try dropping the attached file into your /Scenarios/SGOTM/Text/ folder to replace the existing file. You'll find out who you've been fighting since time began

 

[scoutsout]

Hmm! I don't think we anticipated that you'd actually FINISH the game with a defeat of the barbs...

I'm trying to figure out if that was a backhanded compliment... or if you guys simply sold us short. Seriously... with a team like this... here's your recipie for disaster: Take one "questionable but stylish" player, blend in a couple of "Sid Vicious" types, and top it off with a second-hand warhorse... Or something like that. X-Team lore and stuph.

... I guess all this'll just add to my rep as a guy who can be counted on to do the thing you hadn't counted on....

Try dropping the attached file into your /Scenarios/SGOTM/Text/ folder to replace the existing file. You'll find out who you've been fighting since time began

I'll look again... but I didn't see an attachment. I'd love to put this to bed before hitting the road for my interview.

 

[AlanH]

OK, enough teasers, let's try attaching the file this time .

 

[sanabas]

Try dropping the attached file into your /Scenarios/SGOTM/Text/ folder to replace the existing file. You'll find out who you've been fighting since time began

It's just like an episode of scooby doo. Take off Dr. Evil's mask (aka open the file), and It was our evil twin!

Congrats to the team too, was a nice finish.