SGOTM7 - Team Grumpy

[klarius]

I would like to start keeping towns.

you are also talking about a different game?
We haven't razed a single city in this game, AFAIR.

Score isn't important, but one can estimate how far the teams are in territory by trying to calculate the per turn score (the score increase is the important part).

We have 26% of the domination limit in 550AD. My estimate for Team Wacken is about double of that in 450AD.

So if they don't all of a sudden forget how to play civ , we are fighting for the runner-up position.

 

[handy900]

I would rather have more knights currently instead of the pentagon.

Yeah - I agree. Rush Pentagon later with a leader if we reach the max number of armies.

We have 26% of the domination limit in 550AD. My estimate for Team Wacken is about double of that in 450AD.

Are we that far behind? I am curious to read their thread.

 

[Sir Bugsy]

Don't worry about the other teams. Our power curve relative to the other AI is rapidly increasing. Keep all cities and keep at least one city like Calcutta popping settlers to fill in the gaps.

 

[Greebley]

I thought we razed some of India. Maybe we just discussed razing India and I got confused?

In any case I still think we should (continue to) keep towns.

 

[meldor]

580 AD (3)
You guys sure that we don't need the Pentagon? I bomb the horse and impi and attack the Impi with an elite knight to get...

I immediately make our fourth army. I move the empty army and the knight that created it over to the mainland. I kill the horse with the MDI. Our exploring galley finds the Arabians chopping the jungle we could have landed on. (12-0)
(I) One Zulu horseman atacks our MDI and it goes elite. The galley that left Hlobane sink a galley and retreats. (13-1)
Istanbul Knight->Knight
Edrine Heroic Epic->Market
The Vikings are building JS Bach's.

590 AD (4)
I can't kill a 1HP galley and we lose another. The SoD moves outside the Zulu capital. No Zulu units to kill so pretty easy. (13-2)
(I) Riza Galley->Galley. The Arab's start Smith's.

600 AD (5)
Bombard Zimbabwe and there appears to be only 4 Impi there. I attack with our last elite knight and get...

Luckily, we get another elite capturing the city. Move the leader back and form yet another army. Bombard and then kill a LB near Ulundi. The Knight army takes out two Impi at Hlobane and the last knight that has movement takes out the last Impi, but the city still stands with a LB in it. I load one used elite into an army and start loading the boats for Arabia. They can then came back and load up for Persia when we get enough troops.
(I) Zulu land a LB behind our lines in Zululand. Persia and Arabia still are going at it. They are using a Caravel to do it.
Uskudar Musket->Musket.

610 AD (6)
The LB can't stand up to the army and we capture the city. I swap Ulundi from a Rax to a Library as we just picked up 2 Rax in Hlobane and Zimbabwe. The elite MDI kills the LB.
(I) The Zulu lose an LB attacking the forward stack.
Istanbul Knight->Knight
Grumpyville Knight->Knight

620 AD (7)
We approach the new Zulu capital of Bapedi. They still have Impis on the top. Finish loading the Galleys and the troops will depart next turn.
(I) Not much.
Sinop Harbor->Knight
Kafa Knight->Knight

630 AD (8)
We pound Bapedi but with the army just joining the stack, we don't attack. The troops will land in Arabia next turn.
(I)

640 AD (9)
The army kills three Impi and we lose our elite knight before the vet knight kills the last Impi. Bapedi stands, again by one LB. Land the troops in Arabia. 2 Muskets, 6 knights and 1 AC, plus the army with one Knight in it. The other used knight will go in it next turn.
(I) The Zulu come begging for an audience, they are sent packing..
Istanbul Knight->Knight
Bursa Knight->Knight
Uskudar Musket->Musket

650 AD (10)
I load the second used elite knight and a thrid vet knight into the Arabian army. It then takes out 3 muskets in Bagdad. It was a good thing I put 3 knights in the army and the third musket scares me by taking our army to just 3 HP. We lose one knight and kill the last musket and a LB to capture the city.

The troops gathering at Konya are intended for Perisa. There is one empty army in that city and the other empty army is outside of Sinop.
There were no landings on our soil these turns.

I don't know if this one will get back to me.

 

[Northern Pike]

I wish our leader luck had been more evenly distributed throughout the game...but anyway, fine work.

 

[klarius]

Looks better and better

I got it. Will probably play in the evening.
I had a short look into the save before going to work.
Scandinavia appears on F4, so I will have to declare.
They have astronomy to sell, but our money is not enough. It might be possible to get it by selling about every improvement in corrupt cities.
Should I try? It's more expensive than researching, but we would have it now.
OTOH we may also meet America soon (or not ) and they will sell it cheaper.

 

[meldor]

I didn't see Scandanavia, but I did check the diplomacy screen for city counts.

There is a ton of room to fill in on the Zulu island and only one setler there at this time. There will also be lots of room on the Arabian/Persian island as well.

I don't mind selling buildings in the corrupt cities as long as they aren't needed for border expansions. If they are cities that are only building bombard units or settlers they won't need the infrastructure. Just be careful not to ruin the economy just to get a single tech though.

It does look like we can get pretty close to winning this game without ever having astronomy though. With Zululand filled in and the taking of the other landmass, we should be able to get darn close to a victory.

 

[Northern Pike]

Let's not buy Astronomy from the Vikings. I'd rather keep our gold reserve for deficit research towards MT, and upgrades. I don't think we can raise the extra 200+ gold we'd need from building sales anyway (when selling a library nets us a wretched 5 gold, for example).

 

[handy900]

Nice turns meldor

 

[klarius]

The Save

Summary:
Finished Zulu and Arabia.
Started on Persia.
Found America and got world map.
Settled left and right and built libraries.
We are 4 turns from military tradition and have caravels.
No leaders



Turn log:

Preflight:
We have around 1000g, Ragnar will want around 1200 for astronomy.
Probably doable, but I see a lot more useful things to do with our gold.
So no trade, but I anyways go through our empire and sell useless buildings.
I short rush a few libraries, so they will complete at the end of my turnset.
Change Delhi to settler. Even, if I would rush the barracks there would only be 1-2 veteran AC to come out.
Go on full steam research. We have enough money and I hope to get more from Arab towns (they have a lot gold).
Shuffle around MP, to allow 20% lux.
Change Hlobane and Zonguldak to galley. They don't need libraries, they will culture link to other cities.

Call up Ragnar and gift him Bapedi. Then declare war and walk into Bapedi again.
Hit enter.

Turn 1 660:
Land some troops and a settler at the backdoor of Zulu.
Have to kill some barbs in zululand to save a settler.
Ferry over troops to Arabia and try directly on Medina (want to get cities as long as he has so much gold), but fail to take it.

IBT:
Nothing

Turn 2 670:
Take Medina for over 1000g. Gets us dyes.
Settle Sivas and Tuncelli on Zulu Isle. Iskenderun near Mecca.

IBT:
Lose a knight to a longbow counter in Arabia.
A longbow in Zululand retreats a knight.

Turn 3 680:
Capture Isandlhawana after a bit of treb bombardment. The three Impi cannot withstand the army and a knight.
Capture Intombe, losing one AC (I had scraped together all garbage I found in India). Zulus are dead. We have furs.
Pillage Arabian saltpeter.
Kill two muskets and a longbow in Arabia.
Cash rush a few settlers.

IBT:
A few units run around headlessly in Arabia.

Turn 4 690:
Pillage Arab horses and continue into Persia.
Set up a nice SoD for Mecca.
Disband 4 trebs in Zululand for an immediate settler. By the time they would be in Persia we hopefully are already in Scandinavia.

IBT:
Arabia and Persia still fighting

Turn 5 700:
Capture Mecca.
A scouting galley finds the Vikings just west of Persia.
Find no resources in Persia, so just pillage silks.

IBT:
Metal->MT

Turn 6 710:
Not much. A bit settling. A bit set-up. A bit pillaging.
Upgrade some trebs to canon, though I don't know why.

IBT:
Arabia and Persia still fighting.

Turn 7 720:
Capture Damaskus. Arabia is gone.
Scouting galley sees blue border, but will probably sink due to Vikings.
Pillage a little around Persepolis.

IBT:
A Persian knight moves up. A few libraries complete.

Turn 8 730:
Meet the Americans. They seem to have a slight problem with the Vikings.
Trade Astronomy for 1200g. Then get Navigation, WM and the gold back for Metallurgy.
Move SoD to Persepolis.

IBT:
A Viking galley north of India. A Persian caravel moving up towards zulu.

Turn 9 740:
Capture Persepolis. Shuffle units around.
Some upgrades.

Turn 10 750:
More upgrades and shuffling.

India and Zulu is filled as far as needed and the necessary libraries for culture expansion are already built.
Some settlers are already available near Persia to fill in there.
Sipahis in 4 turns should allow to make a quick push for the domination limit.
We have a caravel transportable army in Persia which can cover a sipahi landing on the next island.
There is also still the one in India, but this is currently used to cover the Vikings.

 

[Greebley]

Good work on the

It looks like a galaxy to me. Hope we don't need the space ship to reach the spiral arm.

In any case I got it. I will see what I can do.

The Vikings and Americans have less land than I was expecting.

 

[Northern Pike]

Well done, even if the treb disbands were gross heresy.

 

[Sir Bugsy]

Personally, the trebs disbands in AW is severe

 

[handy900]

Arabia is gone.

Looks very good.

 

[Northern Pike]

Greebley, I think we'll be able to hit the domination limit just by taking the Viking/Persian island nearest to us (though I invite others to check this), provided of course we claim all the land and coastal tiles behind it. It might be possible to do it in your round--the conquest at least, if not the last cultural expansions--if you plan your ship movements with this goal in mind from the beginning.

Whether I'm right about that or not, the game is obviously ending, so cash-rush without restraint.

 

[Sir Bugsy]

Exactly how close are we to domination? I was probably too hard on klarius if we are close. I understand why the disband was done. Still don't agree, but I understand.

 

[Northern Pike]

The old version of CivAssist I use says we need 701 land and coastal tiles for domination. I calculate that allowing for the expansions we'll get in the next couple of turns, we effectively have 574. The rest of Persia, the Persian/Viking island, and the coastal tiles to which they'll give us access should get us to the limit, I think--but again, CivAssist is not infallible, and I'd be glad to have someone else check this.

 

[klarius]

I just looked into the save again. There is an interesting strategical option due to differential naval movement. From the east of Arabia and Zulu it's only 2 turns for caravels to reach the San Francisco/Miami region.
The cities in this region are probably rather lightly defended and there are lots of tiles to get. A few sipahi could do a lot there (no need and no use for trebs or cannons).

 

[klarius]

Some more thoughts:
Riza will riot. Assign a specialist before hitting enter please.

We can shave off a turn from MT, by going to 100% research and assign a few specialists w/o hampering production.

If you want to go for the eastern invasion, you should change several cities on the east coast to caravel and rush next turn. And also change the already rushed libraries to caravel. The first caravels should then move into ship-chain positions.

The army from India should then go to Zulu and board there.
The 2-knight-army in Persia still should go to the southern island soon. Both armies should then be augmented with a sipahi, when they reach their destination.
The other Persian towns can be handled by the 3-knight armies already stuck on the island, together with a few sipahi.
Keep enough money to upgrade all knights to sipahi. I would even upgrade elites. We don't need more leaders to win this.
And BTW, I would disband all cannons and trebs to short-rush or rush knights for upgrade or sipahi directly soon.
I should have done this in my turnset already, but didn't really have the strategic overview at that time .
There is no need to capture any more capitals. Other cities cannot stand a sipahi assault.

And don't be afraid to lose a corrupt fishing village to a landing, just retake it the next turn. So all military except in the inner core can go to support the final attacks.

And to the worshippers of the AW deity.
I may not know a lot about AW, but the situation we are in currently is not unusual for a normal game.
And finishing a game fast lies in my area of expertise.