SGOTM8 - Cutlery

[Minute Man]

Pre-flight
I take a look at the diplomatic options and discover that Mao is already willing to give us Tatung for peace. So it's basically just a matter of pursuing the war until Alex drops out and we take Beijing. The Greek treasury is pretty bare (6 gold), so there won't be any money forthcoming to help rush spears.

I also look into the FP options, and I'm not really happy with any of them - all of our good production cities are to the south of the capital, which is exactly the wrong direction. WFCity does look like the best, though, so I'll do that when it finishes its spear.

On the first IT, a Chinese horse sallies forth from Chengdu to attack a lone archer, and loses. The settler pair retreats into Tsingtao; I know where I'm attacking first.

1 - 330 BC
Idiot Academy worker->library. I know I'm turning off our worker pump, but IA is one of the few towns we have that can reach size 7 without an aqueduct, and we do need some libraries. And we have several towns at size 5 or so that we can shortly start peeling workers off of.

I decide not to blow our entire treasury on rushing a spear in HJ; we have several archers in place, and spears coming from the south, so we should be able to hold.

On the IT, another Chinese horse (where is Mao getting them? Leftover builds?) attacks HJ, but is easily defeated.

2 - 310 BC
WFC spear->FP.

Interestingly, the top defender in Tsingtao is an unfortified regular spear. I decide this bodes well for our chances and order in the Delta team. We lose one archer (RIP Delta 6) but take out three spears and raze the city, netting four slaves in the process.

IT - Yet another Chinese horse attacks HJ but manages to retreat.

3 - 290 BC
WSPton settler->settler. WKBurg spear->horse.

Salad Fork is founded, filling in the last gap in our road network. We now have horses.

I'd like to polish off that pesky horse, but I'd probably lose an archer in the process. A couple more turns, and we'll have a nice SoD to march on Beijing.

4 - 270 BC
Task Force Delta finishes healing and marches on Chengdu.

5 - 250 BC
Lawn Guy Land cat->cat.

Delta Force takes Chengdu without incident. I'm briefly tempted to keep it, but it would be at risk of flipping to either China or Greece, so I decide it's not worth it. The remaining Deltas are sent to join up with Task Forces Alpha and Echo in HJ. We have a pretty big SoD of archers ready to begin the march on Beijing. I was going to wait for more catapult support, but we have so many archers that I don't think we really need them. Our unit support is too high anyway.

6 - 230 BC
PHVille horse->horse. We also receive a message that Mao, in the face of our mighty invading force...has decided to counter the threat by starting the Great Library in Beijing.

7 - 210 BC
WSPton settler->settler. Chicago Cutlery spear->spear. Pearlton cat->cat.

We have several cities threatening to be unhappy, but upping lux another 10% will kill our research. So we have to live with scientists for now. We really need to do something about our unit support (up to 70 gpt). Well, one way or another, the attack on Beijing should help.

Chopsticks founded one space south of where Tsingtao used to be.

8 - 190 BC
Ugh. We just got hit with WW. Looks like I'm going to have to raise lux after all. But first let's see if we can't whittle down our unit support a bit....

True to form, I hit a run of bad RNG luck at Beijing and manage to lose four archers in a row. I manage to redline a couple of spears, but no victories. I decide to call off the assault before losing the rest of our stack. We'll have to regroup and try again in a few turns.

But I am now able to raise lux 10% without having to turn down science.

9 - 170 BC
WKBurg horse->horse.

10 - 150 BC
LGL cat->cat.

Here's the war zone at 150 BC:

Notes:

There's an unmoved settler near where Chengdu used to be. I'm not quite sure where the best spot to found a city would be, so I'll leave that decision up to the next player.

Mao is currently willing to give us Tatung + other stuff (currently he has a couple of workers) for peace. He's gone from insulted to doubtful on throwing in Tientsin as well. Since the Greek alliance is about to expire, peace may be an option. Or maybe we should just stack 'em up and go try to take Beijing again.

Greece has Currency now. We can probably trade Alex Republic for it if we want.

The library builds in our new towns are just placeholders. Feel free to change them to something more appropriate.

Oh, yeah, no leader. I told you so.

>>>The Save<<<

 

[Tubby Rower]

4 vet archers, 1 vet horse 2 vet spears, & 1 cat in HJ.
6 vet archers, one 4/5 elite archer & 2 cats NE of HJ.

My vote is to make one more run @ Beijing and then dial up Alex and call off the alliance and get Tatung and Tientsin if available.

Then trade Alex Republic for Currency and start building troops to invade him.

On a side note, Beijing is built on a hill. So if we could get to the hill SE of it then it won't be as hard to take it.

Roster check:
eldar
Tubby Rower
soul_warrior -
Beorn -
Minute Man -
jb1964 - up
A-K -on deck

 

[eldar]

On a side note, Beijing is built on a hill. So if we could get to the hill SE of it then it won't be as hard to take it.

Attacking from a hill gives no bonuses. Would explain why it steadfastly refused to fall over. I vote for giving it one more crack.

 

[jb1964]

Nice turnset. I'm voting for taking another run at Bejing to improve the peace settlement. Plus it is simply nice land. Forgive this question but I have not taken a detailed look at the game in a week.... Do we want to try and hold Bejing or raze it?

Interestingly, the top defender in Tsingtao is an unfortified regular spear. I decide this bodes well for our chances and order in the Delta team. We lose one archer (RIP Delta 6) but take out three spears and raze the city, netting four slaves in the process.

If Tsingtoa had three spears what should we expect in Bejing? Three as well?

Salad Fork is founded, filling in the last gap in our road network. We now have horses.

Excellent!

The horses will help us disconnect Alex's resources that much more quickly once war breaks out.

6 - 230 BCWe also receive a message that Mao, in the face of our mighty invading force...has decided to counter the threat by starting the Great Library in Beijing.

Very funny and an indication that Mao sees the situation as hopeless and isn't even trying to hold us off.

 

[eldar]

The Pyramids are in Beijing. I vote we try to keep hold of it.

 

[Tubby Rower]

Yes hold & starve the citizens. We might even want to join a couple of native workers in there after it is starved down.

EDIT::: move the Spearman from Salad Fork to Horsetooth Jewels for defense and move all of the troops out of HJ towards Beijing.

 

[Beorn-eL-Feared]

On first sight, I'd settle north of the mined grass, so that it clears one more jungle tile.

As for Beijing, with fresh men, it's a no brainer to go knock again and keep it up until they're all dead or victorious. I'm sure the latter will be true, with enough perseverance and catapults.

 

[Tubby Rower]

On first sight, I'd settle north of the mined grass, so that it clears one more jungle tile.

That would put us one more tile into Greek territory. Which would have cultuiral pressure from Athens and Thermo.

 

[Minute Man]

Attacking from a hill gives no bonuses. Would explain why it steadfastly refused to fall over. I vote for giving it one more crack.

Yes, attacking spears in a size 7+ town on a hill with archers doesn't work all that well. Especially if the RNG doesn't like you. I do think we should try to take it, but I'm not sure we have enough forces to do it. But more cats might make the difference.

If Tsingtoa had three spears what should we expect in Bejing? Three as well?

Beijing is the capital and, as such, is more heavily defended. There are at least four spears there, plus that pesky horse (which I never did manage to get rid of).

On first sight, I'd settle north of the mined grass, so that it clears one more jungle tile.

That was my thought as well, but it does put it under a lot of Greek cultural pressure. Which is why I decided to pass the buck.

 

[soul_warrior]

yes. one more crack at the pointy hut town.

 

[Beorn-eL-Feared]

Cultural pressure from the greeks on that location will be nullified with the cultural pressure of our horses within the next 30 turns, I must add.
Could we get a troop count on the strike force against Beijing?

 

[Tubby Rower]

4 vet archers, 1 vet horse 2 vet spears, & 1 cat in HJ.
6 vet archers, one 4/5 elite archer & 2 cats NE of HJ.

total is:
10 vet archers
1 4/5 elite archer
1 vet horse
2 vet spears
3 cats

There is another horseman that is NE of Chicago cutlery that might be able to get there by the time the fighting starts but it'll be close.

 

[eldar]

That should be enough to take care of 4 Vet spears - if the RNG plays fair.

 

[Tubby Rower]

if the RNG plays fair

I guess that's the big trick. I hope Mao will give us his two offshore properties.

 

[Tubby Rower]

I just saw that WoodenKnifeBurg has a useless entertainer. If the additional tile worked doesn't give us any shields, just switch him to a specialist.

 

[Beorn-eL-Feared]

Maybe wait one more turn than the healing one for the elite archer so that we make sure the additionnal horseman is there on time, and that we give them a bit more of an opportunity to send troops at us to kill in the open. Or when should we expect a 3-4 horses' reinforcements?

Rigfht now would sound doable but a bit risky, though the bloodlust in my axe tells me we should the nail in. With a bit of reinforcements, it'll all come down easier though - if they don't let the chinese enough turns to increase the guard...

 

[Tubby Rower]

I have a feeling that Alex has been pounding Beijing. MM, did you witness any Greek on Chinese soil? It's surprising that Alex hadn't stopped the Alliance yet. The AI usually bail fairly quickly.

 

[Minute Man]

Maybe wait one more turn than the healing one for the elite archer so that we make sure the additionnal horseman is there on time, and that we give them a bit more of an opportunity to send troops at us to kill in the open. Or when should we expect a 3-4 horses' reinforcements?

I'd wait for more reinforcements. Remember that we're attacking fortified spears, in a size 8 city, on a hill. That gives them a defense of 4.5 or so, if I'm remembering the modifiers correctly. I lost four vet archers, and there was still a full strength spear at the top of the stack.

One other note is that I saw a lot of regular troops in Beijing, so I'm guessing there isn't a barracks there. It might be worth waiting for a few more cats (i think we have two or three more on the way) and doing a few turns of bombardment first to soften up the defenses.

I have a feeling that Alex has been pounding Beijing. MM, did you witness any Greek on Chinese soil?

I saw no Greek troops whatsoever. The sheer quantity of defenders in Beijing (at least four spears) argues against it. Besides, one would expect the Greek forces to have gone against the smaller western cities, since the AI usually picks the easiest target.

It's surprising that Alex hadn't stopped the Alliance yet. The AI usually bail fairly quickly.

Except when you want them to.

 

[Tubby Rower]

FYI in case you hadn't subscribed to the Maintenance thread....

Having reviewed the poll results we noted that a significant majority of players voted to see the territory graph during the game. I have therefore enabled it on the results page

We're not doing that bad compared to everyone else.

What if we wait on Beijing and start building up for Alex. I'd rather Alex not upgrade spears to pikes & swords to MDIs. Being SCI & our luck he'll get Feudalism once he gets to the MA. That way we could get the iron <<crosses fingers>> and then go after him with a stronger force. It'll also allow us to get Tatung and start spreading on that continent. Next go round we'll get Tientsin. Also there is spices by Tatung to help with WW. This will allow MAo maybe to finish the GL for us and then we could hopefully jump up in techs free of charge.

Alex in the MA and us without iron still scares me.

 

[Minute Man]

Well, Alex has no money (he was making 2 gpt or so during my turns). And he's had pikes for a long time. But you do make a good point. I still think that taking Beijing (and the Pyramids) would be really helpful, though, and I think we can do it with a little more force and a little better luck. But if the next round fails, we should take what we can get for peace and go after Greece.

I do, however, strongly recommend not trading Construction to Alex...I think that's the only AA tech he's missing (besides Republic).

I rather suspect Mao won't get the GL...he did start it in Beijing, but then I saw the "China has started the GL" message a couple more times, so he was obviously changing his builds around. Not sure if he's actively building it at the moment.

Alex in the MA and us without iron still scares me.

Me too. But we are about three times his size, and once we get some of that jungle cleared and those cities up and running, we should be able to outproduce Greece by enough to win the war, superior troops or not.