SGOTM 11 - Shaka, not stirred

[Paul#42]

Good thing we took all Korean money...
These treacherous AI...

I also think we should ally and rop AERO for some quick stabilization. There might be some knight-like units on their way to us.

Maybe we should pillage the hill 2NE of Hangchow? That would slow down 2-movement-units to rest in front of its gates.

 

[Andronicus]

... from the pic above I see that the Ottomans have 3 or 4 towns left ?. Just judging by that I would favor the peace deal with AERO allying them against JICK until situation at China stabilizes.

Ottomen now have only 2 towns left - Pusan in Korean area and their currrent capital Iznik which has only 1 archer derfending and we have 2 3/5knights with attack left this turn
Arabs have 3 towns left, one in the fog east of Thebes, Najran which should fall this turn and their capital Mecca which has at least 3 units in including an elite spear. Our stack sitting outside has been damaged as 2 MDI weakened to 1hp with 3 archers I think in support. Taking Mecca without reinforcements is out of the question, the reinforcements were planned to come from north, but these will now be needed to hold the front.

 

[Andronicus]

OK played on another turn ... guess what?

I caught Paul's disease (well 1 MGL anyway)

Zwellithini is on the other continent (near Berlin) I am strongly in favour of another knight army rather than pentagon. Since Abegweit stated his desire for pentagon before I will wait again for discussion.
My reasoning is we badly need more strength on the other continent since I have switched all knights towards India. A 3rd army in Germany should ensure Germany is eliminated soon (in my turnset I hope) and allow us to find and pillage Frances's salt.

I'll update turnlog to this stage soon, but wont do any more attacks with elites until we have decided and acted on the MGL

 

[Paul#42]

Actually, it's Ivan's desease
(Honor to whom honor is due.)

I favor another knight army, too.
I'd even rather rush HE than Pentagon.
Pentagon might be valueable when we are facing muskets or even rifles.

 

[Andronicus]

Pentagon might be valueable when we are facing muskets or even rifles.

I expect to be facing muskets in next few turns. If we have to face rifles we need to find a place to store the spoon .

 

[markh]

So, this leaves me without a leader for years. As Paul mentioned rifles he will be sent to the ceremony getting the spoon on our behalf.

 

[Andronicus]

480AD cont
@ Iznik
3/5MDI d O archer -> capture[26-1]
@ Nazran
Trebs go 0/3, MDI d A spear (1/4), MDI d 2/3spear (3/4) -> capture, 2 slaves [28-1]
Peace with Arabs for worker + 4g
MA Ottomen v JICK and rop - they give 40gpt
MA Russia v JICK and rop
Embassy with Arabs (they have 2 spears in Mecca - the archer must have left)
Rop Arabs , get 2 workers + 1gpt, for Rep
Near Mecca
Archer l J MDI (3/4), archer d J 3/4MDI (1/4) [29-2]
Near Najran
knight d K spear (promotes 2/5) [30-2]
In Japan
capture slave, pillage iron, 2 impi fortified on it
Near New Memphis
Sink J and K galleys - both promote to 2/5 [32-2]
Near New Isand
vAC d J archer (promotes 5/6) [33-2]
@ Berlin
Treb removes 1hp, 12/14 3rdMDI d 4/4 and 3/3 spears (8/14), eknight d 3/4spear (3/5)-> capture [36-2]
@ Konisberg
knight d 4/4spear (2/4), eknight d 3/3spear (3/5) -> capture [38-2]
Near Berlin
eknight d 2/3 F spear (4/5), eknight d 2/4 F MDI (4/5), knight loses G horse (1/3), 10/13 knight army d 3/3 and 1/3 G horses (10/13) [42-3]

IT
J LB d impi on pillaged iron [42-4]
J MDI d 1/4 archer near Mecca [42-5]
China captures undefended Giza
@ Konisberg G horse d 3/5 knight -> capture [42-6]
Culture expansions everywhere (this should boost our territory graph)
Build only 1 knight (Mpondo) and 3 regLBs - all rushed in El-Amarna, New Intombe, Hangchow.

Turn 4 490AD
Near Najran
K LB bombarded to 1/5, 2/5knight d 1/5LB [43-6]
New Nagone settled east of Thebes
@ Giza
knight d C archer (promotes 5/5) -> capture with 2 slaves [44-6]
Settle New Swazi south of Leipzig
@ Konisberg
knight d 2/4horse (4/4) -> re-capture [45-6]
Near Leipzig 8/14 3rdMDI d F spear (5/14) [46-6]
@ Frankfurt
4/5knight retreats spear, 4/5knight d spear -> MGL, 10/13 4th knights d 2/3spear -> capture [48-6]
Near Frankfurt, knight retreats G archer 4/4, knight d G archer (4/4) [49-6]

Pause for discussion

 

[Paul#42]

impressive progress

Where does Osman get 40gpt from?!?
Our economy should look quite healthy by now, right?

 

[Andronicus]

Where does Osman get 40gpt from?!?
Our economy should look quite healthy by now, right?

I was very surprised to find all that gpt from a 1 city civ. I only tried gpt as an afterthought

I've spent all our cash, over 1000g worth - short rushes and those expensive rushed reg LBs , but I wanted something there to hold the line until reinforcements arrive - they will be there next turn and the cultural expansions help us nicely.

Currently we are owning 25% teritory. We dont have to pack the settlers in too much on our starting continent thanks to ToA (Note to person who captures GLib - in Seoul I think - raze it immediately). We will require many settlers on other continent and need to think of packing them 3 apart so there is only 1 gap betweem the basic 9 tiles.

Its late here so I'll cont in morning (btw we did capture Frankfurt - I'll edit the above log)

 

[Abegweit]

Wow! Toku attacked. Apparently the spices weren't tasty enough.

Good progress. Got a save game? Agreed on the army.

Wouldn't have been better to finish off Osman before the peace deal?

Re: salt. According to CAII, only Indians have any (under Delhi). Also an unconnected Chinese source outside Nanking. Why do you think that French have some? If so, disconnecting it is certainly high priority. Musketeers would be annoying.

 

[Paul#42]

Wouldn't have been better to finish off Osman before the peace deal?

The remaining town is far away in Korean land - we could only have got and gifted / razed it and redeclared. Iznik a turn later - if not too many units from Pusan had been teleported. I thought (without starting C3C) we could use every single turn we get those units at Iznik earlier to repel JICK forces.
At least that's what I thought about the situation.

We might regret that decision if JICK fail to rip Osman soon...

 

[Abegweit]

The remaining town is far away in Korean land - we could only have got and gifted / razed it and redeclared. Iznik a turn later - if not too many units from Pusan had been teleported.

You don't have to wait before redeclaring. I didn't know this thing about units getting teleported. Does this happen? If so, I agree with what Andronicus actually did.

 

[Paul#42]

Yes, if they sell a town, all units are teleported to the capital.
So if there was more than a reg spear, we would not have got Iznik on the same turn.
Even if it was only a reg spear, attacking him with a 3/5-knight in the capital (although not fortified) might be quite a risk...

I hope JICK will solve that problem for us (and lose 3-4 MDIs in the progress). However, history taught us not to rely on AI to do you a favor...

 

[Abegweit]

I did not know that. Thanks!

 

[Andronicus]

Yea, if we had taken peace gettng Pusan all Osman's unts in Pusan would have teleported back to Iznik. If we had then immed redowed we could probably have removed Ottomen from the game the following turn. The problem would have been that re attacking Iznik would have triggerred Russian and Korean mpp again and it would have been some while till they would have negotiated peace. Meanwhile we would have been left fighting 2 fronts (GFS and RK-JICK) all alone with high likelihood of both Japan and India entering their GAs. Sound like AW?

Currently on our continent
Arabs 2 towns - Mecca and Bagdad
Russians 8
Ottomen 1
Koreans 3
Chinese 7
Japanese 8 includng Alexandria and vulnerable Nara (I see ths as gateway to India)
India 6
Cant see who has salt on latest save as no-one willing to negotiate. I felt sure I had checked last time when France negotiated and they did have salt.

The current save

 

[Andronicus]

OK I've stopped again

2 things I want to discuss

First - I've really done a Paul this time and got a second MGL
This occurred at Alexandria whilst clearing Jap units from the area
Options include another knight army, HE or Pentagon
My preference is for knight army - the more the merrier esp against WEs, Sams and muskets

Second
Istanbul has flipped back to Ottomen
I would like to take it back. To this end I have sent a MDI army to Pusan ready to eliminate Osman hopefully on first strike. I am also positioning my troops to take the western Russian cities of Novgorod, Rostov and St Petersburg (Moscow has just built Leo's but would leave us isolated if went for that first) as well as Arab's Baghdad. In next two turns these preparations should be completed ready for attack on 2nd turn from now (520AD). All JICK units west of line running through Mecca and Najran should be eliminated next turn.

I would also like to settle some combat settlers to progress into India. The WEs and soon to come sams (they killed our impi on the iron) are a pain.
Any thoughts on positioning?
PS India and Japan have both had UU victories on last turn.

The German peninsula has fallen to us ( Hamburg will fall next turn) and the 3rd MDI has been sent to find Joan's salt - muketeers have appeared.

520AD save

 

[Paul#42]

nice. This is getting inflationary
knight army is okay with me, a move-3-unit would be good to cover the large front.

Remember to join the old elite* knight "FP inThebes?"

Finishing A(E)RO is also okay. Sounds like a plan.
Two fronts for a single turn might be bearable... go ahead!

 

[Andronicus]

nice. This is getting inflationary
knight army is okay with me, a move-3-unit would be good to cover the large front.

Remember to join the old elite* knight "FP inThebes?"

Finishing A(E)RO is also okay. Sounds like a plan.
Two fronts for a single turn might be bearable... go ahead!

Yes plans already in place with the *knight you mentioned on its way.
The 2 fronts would be for more than 1 turn as we would be at war with Cathy as well as JICK.
In addition, our veterans of the Egypt and Ottomen wars are sitting ready to hit Russia now and are of limited use against JICK (I would not want to leave the north undefended - open invitation to Russia to do a Japan).
edit - I am hoping a new knight army might make some progress into China - India - I'm open to suggestions on how to proceed there

I think I will be leaving you with a challenging situation Paul .

 

[Paul#42]

I think I will be leaving you with a challenging situation Paul .

I hope you do - I had hoped to play during the next few hours..

I might give Cotm30 a try - or think about this team-PBEM...

 

[Andronicus]

Sorry for the delay - more excitement
540AD and 2 more MGLs (that makes 4 in my turnset so far) -> knight army to help take Russians out quickly and unfilled army that could either use MDI to help with war against JICK or could be transported to other continent (my choice) as other continent likely to rate limiting factor in our goal for 75% domination. Next player gets to make that decision.

AERO down to 5 towns - 4 Russian, 1 Arab
1 Jap town fallen
Germans down to 4 towns - not much progress against French as have been sending almost all re-inforcements to combat JICK (we need an army to arrive there ASAP as we taking sig losses and combined India - Jap - China outproduces us with WEs, Sams and muskets respectively.

Final turn will probably take an hour - will update then

edit : The Save - turn log soon - I got 5th MGL this turn!!!

BTW - check out the territory graph - the race is on, we've gone to No 1 in territory of those who have played to 500AD