SGOTM 22 - Xteam

I did not know that was the site we were going to claim the horse with.

 

CP: Good to see you moved us along.

With respect to stealing tech:
Here is a list of estimated cost to steal a tech with the 50% reduction for spy being stationary 5 turns.
I tested it for Sal and Darius. The cost to steal from either of them is very close.

1. Tech ..........Base ..Steal
2. Meditation ....119 ... 97
3. Poly .............149 ..122
4. Priesthood ......89 ... 72
5. Calendar .......523 ...427
6. Code of Law ..523 ...427
7. Currency .......598 ...488
8. Monarchy ......448 ...366

If you want to estimate the cost of a tech not shown: Multiply the base beaker cost by 81.5%

We have 86 points invested in Darius and 244 in Sal. Both Sal and Darius know Poly.
I would suggest that we steal poly from Darius.
Next steal Priesthood from either Gilgamesh (52 eps) or Darius (57 eps).
Then steal Monarchy from Sal.

All the while praying to the rng gods to favor us with successful spies and a Great Spy.

Should I continue to update the test game?

 

Interesting, Joe. Hadn't considered anything like this approach. You are saying that, by stealing Poly from Darius, we don't waste the points we have in him and will save our Sal points to get Monarchy later. Makes good sense to me, as there is no rush to get Poly before we have researched Lit. That is now the plan, and will be playing in a few hours with all points on Darius.

 

Htadus, I posted my intent earlier, before playing, but you didn't comment. Chose that site because we are so far behind that I didn't think we had time to wait for cultural expansion to make the city useful. Longbows are inevitably coming, as you have noted.

 

Another factor is when do we want to build wineries. We could always going 0% research and 100% espionage for 1 turn and split EPs with enough going to Darius to steal Poly and balance going to Bennus, then 1 more turn to get enough for Bennus to steal Priesthood and balance going to Sal. Then back to 100% research and 4 eps/turn to sal till ready to steal Monarchy.

I did not think about it before, but Sal also knows Riding which we could steal for about 305.

 

Understand Poly needed for Lit, but we have a ways to Aesthetics first.

Monarchy will be helpful. Going to try to get Poly without losing spy, then research enough spy points for Priesthood by the time spy is in place for 5 turns. Will try to build additional spy(s), but need units.

Playing . . .

 

Didn't play long before Brennus dismissed our generous horse trade and declared war on us this turn, advancing on Rome and potentially threatening Cumae as well.

I don't expect that I will be able to successfully defend Rome, unless the rng is exceptionally favorable and the AI is particularly feckless, even by AI standards. If we lose either city, would suggest we concede the game.

I've made the obvious unit movements and am pausing to give the team the opportunity to suggest some brilliant tactical moves before proceeding.

Save: http://gotm.civfanatics.net/download.php?file=Xteam_SG022_AD0175_01.CivBeyondSwordSave

 

Whip that cat now and hope he takes his time pillaging and put the overflow into archers. They have better chances against the force than cats. Whip every turn if possible since we can let the cities grow but can not found a city that easily.

CP, I thought you were going to claim the copper city, not that it would have made any difference.

 

I can't see anything, but whip something!

 

I will have to take a look tonight.

 

I'm not certain it is that bad. We will just have to fight Brennus. The biggest problem is to gave 8 archers in our capital when we capture Rome back.

 

But Whip an archer in Rome. It will defend better then a catapult.

 

I'll play through outcome in a few hours.

 

RL intervened and it took me longer to get back to the game than anticipated.

The AI was a bit inept but the rng was not helpful at all. We sacrificed some units and have kept Rome but have lost Cumae, along with a cat, 2 archers, a warrior, and chariot -- wounding many but killing only a triple CR axe in the process.

I've made the obvious moves this turn and left the rest for the next player, if the team wishes to continue.

Need to turn it over, as I have two conference presentations to prepare for next week (then I am going out of town and completely out of contact until the 18th).

Save: http://gotm.civfanatics.net/download.php?file=Xteam_SG022_AD0250_01.CivBeyondSwordSave

 

Good Job CP. Who is next?

 

Well, it feels like we are to late for everything. We really need monarchy fast and conquering the world with praetorians looks less and less likely.

Will we be able to raze Cumae? If not we can't capture it before we have 8 defenders in our capital. An option would be to bypass Cumae while plundering his other cities.

I guess our plan need to be mass praetorians while trying something to improve our economy. Which may be to steal our way to monarchy or building cottages for our capital.

We will also have Sumeria declare war on us very soon.

I'm agreeing with Cactus Pete that the hole looks very deep now.

 

Let us try to make a plan for doing something the next 20 turns and let someone play it. First we need to confirm if we can capture Cumae or not.