SGOTM3 Rome - Team microbe

[gozpel]

"The Greeks have requested and audience, will you listen?"

I can't remember I ever saw that in the early stages of a game, they just jump in and violate my privacy

And btw, they don't come to just say hello, like the human player, they do it if there is something to trade. I think?

 

[scoutsout]

And btw, they don't come to just say hello, like the human player, they do it if there is something to trade. I think?

Then perhaps we ought to make sure that we're researching the same thing they're researching... at max...

 

[microbe]

I played one turn, at war with Greece and I have a question about the rules.

We JUST met England after that. I haven't dialed up yet, but do we have to declare on her in 20 turns from the moment we know her (now), or from the moment we are at the diplo table for the first time?

We got Bronze Working btw, so we can at least build spears.

Which direction is Greece from?

 

[barbslinger]

On the first question it depends on if you were at the diplo screen. If you wern't it is not contact.
As to the direction of Greece. The first hoplite came from the south. The others I saw and the one from the south were in the E so I would venture a guess of SE.

 

[microbe]

SAVE

preturn: I switch "cervus" in Rome to wines to get granary two turns earlier. We'll grow and build granary in 6 turns. We should always do this - never grow just before granary is built. Of course also consider we need to switch to military asap..

(1)2510BC: move warrior to Veii.

IBT: Damn it:

I accept the offer.

We are level in tech with Greece, and I declare war.

An England scout JUST met us before that!

(2)2470BC: I do not dial up England. I think we'll do that after we have Writing, to delay the "contact". It's not likely that it gets Iron Working so no hurry.

(3)2430BC: ZZZ

IBT Veii rax->spear in 5 turns with no food surplus.

(4)2390BC: We connect wines.

(5)2350BC: Ugly, two Greek warriors approach from the east and can reach us in 2 turns. I have to whip a spear out of Veii.

IBT another Greek warrior appears from the east, and a hoplite appears from the north and can reach our undefended capital in 3 turns. We'll have to whip the capital.

IBT vet spear defends off a reg warrior and promotes, without a scratch!

(6)2270BC: Whip spear in capital. We'll lose the wines, however.

IBT reg warrior loses to elite spear and takes out 2-hp. reg warrior kills our spear and is redlined! Hoplite steps upon our wines.

(7)2230BC: Alf kills the warrior and promotes to vet. Have to raise lux to 30 to avoid riot.

IBT Wines get pillaged.

(8)2190BC: lux to 20 as Alf returns Veii.

(9)2150BC: the hoplite returns.

(10)2110BC: ZZZ

I haven't dailed up England yet, so if this means the 20-turn hasn't started counting we are fine. But with Writing in I think they'll offer techs to us. Hope they'll get iron working!

In retrospect, I think the reason Greece offered us tech was because we had saved enough money.

This game is in a tough situation now. We whipped in both towns. We should keep producing units.

 

[microbe]

I just asked the rules and read the answer carefully, and I think we have to declare on England in about 11 turns (20 turns after the start of the war). If we choose to delay contact withEngland even later, then we'd have to declare on it as soon as we make contact.

So I guess it means we may just contact England and see what it has right now anyway, since it wouldn't matter.

 

[barbslinger]

I'm looking at the maintanance thread scores and the read there and I think almost everyone doing the variant is engaged with Greece I think Spears for defense is key right now. Hoplites won't attack a spear with 1 offense. Play defensive and build. We can now meet every one else, be sure to keep careful track of meeting. We MUST get to IW. Deals are importantant and build towns on the opposite side of greece and away from England. this is tougher than I anticipated. Hold your breath guys.

 

[gozpel]

A granary or 6 warriors? Now we know.

My turn I guess, don't really feel like it...but play tomorrow.

 

[barbslinger]

Tough choices Gozpel. If they are close we may lose a city. Spears seem to be the order of the day. Defense and work the the other civs for IW while settling West. Tough menu, admittedly, I think you can handle.

 

[scoutsout]

Let's see, Microbe declared war IBT turns 1 and 2. The way I understand the variant, we must declare war on England 20 turns after meeting them, regardless of where we stand with Greece... Must I declare on Englad during my first turn? Or can it wait until the 2nd?

 

[microbe]

Read this.

We have to declare on the next AI 20 turns after we declare on the previous one, or we make the first contact with it, whichever is sooner.

 

[scoutsout]

@Microbe: I've read that, but since we declared war in between turns, do we declare war on England no later than 20 turns after your first turn, or 20 turns after you second?

Assuming we're not already at war with England when I get this game, do I need to dial up Lizzy and declare war on my first turn, or second?

Maybe I'll just declare in pre-flight to be safe...

I wonder if we ought to call this "Xenophobic NOW, Barrister sub-variant".

 

[gozpel]

I will play 9 turns since someone played one extra. Leave builds on spears.

2070bc - ---

2030bc - Rome spear -> archer.

1990bc - IT - England say hello and want to trade CB for 49g, I don't want it. Check what they have though which is Masonry, Wheel and IW. I try to see what she wants for Wheel, but we don't have enough. We will learn Writing in 9t, so we can broker then.

Or do we have to declare before that?

I can see Greece borders E of Veii.

1950bc - ---

1910bc - Veii spear -> archer

1870bc - Rome archer -> settler

1830bc - ---

1790bc - We can see pink on the histoscreen. Time to build a queue for war

I ask Lizzy what she wants for IW, it is contact Greece and 40g. Done. We have iron within our borders!

We have 4 turns left on Writing, I say hello to Joan and ask what she wants for it. Contact Greece, 3 gpt and 40g for 4 turns of research. No thanks. What about contact with America then, Greece contact and 40g. I take it and our bank is back on zero. I would've liked to get Writing now, or at least another contact, but I don't want to pay gpt and now the AI will trade away the contacts next turn. But at least our bank is empty.

Say hello to Abe and ask what he wants for CB and the Wheel, which is Alphabet and IW. Done deal. If I had traded for Writing before I probably would've done better. Ah well, we got the 2 techs that is necessary for a decent warfare.

We have horses west of Rome and thats where the next settler is going, I hope. There's another source S of Veii.

We still haven't talked to Russia, Babs and Germany and without gold they might leave us alone for a bit. Not that it matters.

1750bc - ---

A settler is due in 2t. We need another worker and a couple of more archers I think, and then some warriors for upgrade.

I hope I did the trades correctly and even more I hope I did the right trades, it's really hard when you can't haggle. We learn Writing in 3t and have to declare on Lizzy in a couple of turns, on turn 20 from the first war, right? Or can we choose opponent? I'm still confused.

 

[scoutsout]

I hope I did the trades correctly and even more I hope I did the right trades, it's really hard when you can't haggle. We learn Writing in 3t and have to declare on Lizzy in a couple of turns, on turn 20 from the first war, right? Or can we choose opponent? I'm still confused.

Well, you've certainly left us no shortage of enemies! A paratrooper's paradise! We're completely surrounded, we can attack in any direction!
[dance]

@Gozpel: I noted you circled the 2 hills I noted as possible unit pumps. Since your sites aren't quite RCP, and we've now got three proposed sites in the general area of that iron... do we want to take a day for some planning/discussion? (IIRC, Ted put a dot on the tile NE of Gozpel's site, I suggested the hill... which would get the iron immediately as it turns out...)

My gut tells me this game is going to get a little dicier on my turns, since I'll be declaring at some point... so I'm inclined to wait a day or so for discussion, if that's okay with the team.

Where did the "extra" turn come from? Will that affect the declaration on England?

 

[gozpel]

I got the game at 2190 and it's usually 2150 to have the correct dates. microbe can make the list of our opponents

I decided to get a couple of contacts because we needed the techs and with money in the bank someone would've contacted us first. Not much choice really, except I could've hunkered down and hope to get IW from the wishing well.

 

[microbe]

@Microbe: I've read that, but since we declared war in between turns, do we declare war on England no later than 20 turns after your first turn, or 20 turns after you second?

I think it's safe to assume IBT itself doesn't count as a turn. So the next turn counts as the first turn of the war, and you declare at 21st turn?

@gozpel: We cannot choose opponent since you have dialed up AI in that order.

 

[gozpel]

As always with my dotmaps they can be changed. I just put it down as I would build it, approxiamtely anyways. I wanted all city sites to have a chance to work on a BG or similar.

And if you ever read any GOTM or stuff where I participated, you would know I couldn't care less about RCP as I spawn like the devil My thought is a town is a town and as long as it is there it will build stuff, sooner or later

 

[scoutsout]

I got the game at 2190 and it's usually 2150 to have the correct dates. microbe can make the list of our opponents

I decided to get a couple of contacts because we needed the techs and with money in the bank someone would've contacted us first. Not much choice really, except I could've hunkered down and hope to get IW from the wishing well.

Oh don't get me wrong Gozpel, I thought you did fine with the contacts and trading. Once we get things ironed out with the point I need to declare on England, it'll actually simplify the variant play a bit. We've got 2 sources of iron, some stuff in the queue, and some stupid AI is already plowing shields into a wonder for us. Maybe we'll get lucky and Alex will plow some shields into a wonder too.

Since we're up against Greece, and the warriors-to-legions now looks feasible... should I forget about archers and build warriors and maybe a spear or two?

 

[microbe]

After writing, should we go for Lit? It'd be good if we could get a leader and rush the GL..

 

[gozpel]

I didn't dial up Lizzy, she came to us and intruded. She will pay for that!

Then the list will be France and America.