Space-1: War While Waiting

[Karasu]

A tough start, but it looks like we are making some progress.

I had been tempted to settle Veii myself, but I didn't want to risk loosing a settler before getting a couple of units out. I think the spot was a good pick, letting us use the wheat straight away.

The blue spot also looks good, but I wouldn't settle further north unless we find horses there.

It seems instead that the time is favourable to try and claim the pink spot. It would be nice to get a city next to the western wheat too. In that respect, I would suggest to move the dot to 1 (good defence and fresh water, but a bit far) or to 2 (closer to home and fresh water, but worse defence and possibly too much overlap with Rome).

I would explore a bit to the north/north-west of site 1 hoping there is iron there.
Is prebuilding for the Great Library compatible with researching Mathematics before Literature? It is surely early to start worrying, but if we have to spend a lot of time without iron, we will have problems when we start seeing enemy Swordsmen at our doors...

 

[Northern Pike]

Good round, handy , and an admirably precise set of instructions for the turns to come. Now I know how it feels to play after me.

Karasu, I incline towards your site 1 too. Its (very slightly) forward position could be an asset, if it lures the AI into attacking a hill town with walls.

 

[Greebley]

I also think that Site 1 is the best. It is on a hill and with walls will be able to hold its own with better odds than Rome. We can also add another city between Rome and the hill town (my thought was NE of the 2). to keep the 3 movement. I don't think that would be too crowded and gets more squares producing. Site 1 also neatly seals off that "back entrance" to our lands

I definitely think that taking advantage in the lull in AI troops and try to (carefully) push our front lines forward is a good idea.

 

[Northern Pike]

1500 (0): Veii switches barracks --> palace prebuild. This is the only reasonable place to prebuild the Great Library, and the town doesn't need a barracks first. The prebuild is an absolute necessity, since without iron our chances of doing a lot of attacking and so getting the GL with a GL are drastically diminished.

Rome spearman --> settler.


1475 (1): Our new spearman heads northwest to do a little scouting.

Cumae is founded on the agreed site, and we automatically disperse the Cimmerian camp for 25 gold.

I cut the research rate to 70%, with Writing still due in five turns.

Antium worker --> worker.


1450 (2): Writing performs a "tech jump" and is now due in one turn, as other civs discover it.

The good-natured Iroquois are only annoyed with us, even though we're at war.

We discover Writing, and a difficult decision arises. There's a lot to be said for Karasu's suggestion that we try to sneak in Mathematics/catapults before Literature. But I'd hate to miss the Great Library by a turn or two through trying to be cute, and we're under no military pressure right now. I choose Literature.


1425 (3): Zzzz....


1400 (4): Rome settler --> spearman.


1375 (5): The Cimmerian warrior displaced when our foundation of Cumae dispersed his camp dies attacking Antium.


1350 (6): Our spearman scouting in the northwest establishes that there's nothing up there but a very small peninsula, with a gold hill but no iron.


1325 (7): Rome spearman --> spearman.


1300 (8): We found Neapolis on the hill at the north end of the lake, and begin building walls there.


1275 (9): Zzzzzz......


1250 (10): In a nutshell, a very quiet round in which I got away with some minor risks, as no enemy units appeared at any point.

My idea for the spearman outside Neapolis is that it should take up position on a hill, so that we can see a little farther forward, but should stay close enough that it can beat any enemies it might spot back to Neapolis.

The next worker out of Antium should probably build a road to Neapolis as its first task.

 

[Northern Pike]

The save:

1250 BC, end of turn

 

[Northern Pike]

Our homeland now:

 

[Greebley]

Well played. The palace is a good call I think.

I wonder if we can get a city S of rome. I would think 3 squares SW of Rome near the cow would be good. The AI probably is fighting one another.

I think we desperately need more workers. It might be worth switching Cumae to a worker and get one next turn. I think this would be much more useful than the barracks as Cumae will be slow building units unless it is has improvements.

 

[Northern Pike]

If we want to keep things simple and found just one more city directly in front of Rome, the site three to the SW is absolutely correct. The only argument against it is that it's in the wrong place if we want to squeeze in two cities which won't need aqueducts west and southwest of Rome.

We do need workers badly, but we've already written off one city in this cause (Antium) and I'm not sure we can afford another. We have workers in the vicinity of Cumae, and it'll soon have mined grassland tiles to work, at least.

 

[a space oddity]

Wow guys, great progress. Looks like our vulnerable baby turned in to a healthy toddler over the weekend.

"Got it". I'll play tomorrow.

 

[handy900]

Very good play to go and grab the hill. We may have the makings of a good "bait" city in Cumae. IF we heavily garrison units in Neapolis and Rome, and hook up the gems in Cumae the AI will likely attack Cumae because it's a lux city, especially if it is lighjtly defended. We can park spears on the mountains behind in case we need to move in for protection. There is nice flat land all around the front of Cumae. We must hold all the high ground. Placing cats on the mountain (must have roads first) behind Cumae will allow us to move into firing position, kill AI's, then retreat to the hills to lure in the next bunch. Any low AI hp units that try to limp away from Cumae can be finished off as the pass Rome.

Be thinking about the best place to lure the AI into an attack.

I don't think we will see many more AI warriors. Mostly spears & bows until the swords show up.

Good decision on the prebuild BTW and the city choice. Better than the one I placed on the dot map.

Very good idea to switch Cumae to a worker. We have lots of tiles that need improving and roads build.

Lastly, I can't ever recall this much time between AI attacks. They are probably either far away, at war with each other, or both. We need to try and find the Iron during this break in the attacks.

 

[Karasu]

Mates -you're just too good, even without Iron...

I just wanted to point that the Bab warrior appeared to come from down there

so that could be a land bridge...

 

[TedJackson]

That's also the general direction the first Iroquois scout appeared from. So you might well be right Karasu.


Ted

 

[a space oddity]

Goals:
I chose AW because strangely enough war is not something I give a lot of attention in my games. So my first goal is: try to keep down the number of mistakes.
Settle near the cow.
Scout for Iron and/or landbridge.

Pre-turn:
Everything OK. We are strong compared to the Iroqs and Babs. Weak vs the Viks.

IT:
Rome Spear -> Settler
Still no AI is sight.

1225BC - turn 1:
Alice road.
Bathsheba moves to forest.
Fortify spear in Neapolis.
Now, what to do with the spear in the forest? I will carefully scout the surroundings. Hope this is OK, but i feel we need the info and will have to use the lull in AI movement.
Spear moves on the hill.

Diplo-check:
Viks know the Spanish, have the Wheel and Myst, 4 cities, 37g
Iroqs know the Spanish, have the Wheel and Myst, 4 cities, 48g
Babs know the Spanish, have the Wheel and Myst, 4 cities, 20g

IT:
Antium Worker -> Worker
No AI movement

1200BC - turn 2:
New worker moves North to the BG.
Bathsheba starts road.
MM Cumea 1 turn work the forest, to get the Rax 1 turn earlier.
Spear moves S to next hill and finds a 2hp barb.

No changes on the diplo front.

IT:
The viks arrive with 2 - 4/4 Swords and 2 - 3/3 Archers.
Neapolis Walls -> Rax
Barb shows up near Chap-Worker.

1175BC - turn 3:
Retreat worker into Antium.
Move spear to hill West of Cumae to protect both the workers.
Rome has grown so move slider to (0.8.2)

Diplo-check.
The Viks have a new city, other than that no changes.

IT:
One Vik Archer goes S to kill a barb, the other units move on the hill where our Spear was last turn.
The barb in the west, moves off.

1150BC - turn 4:
Alice moves to assist Bathsheba.
Chap goes to Veii, he will connect Rome and Neapolis.
Spear moves to forest near Neapolis. My hope is that the stack will follow him to the now-walled Neapolis.

Diplo - no changes

IT:
The stack follow alright.
Cumae Rax -> Spear

1125BC - turn 5:
Spear reaches Neapolis, now it's defended by 3 vet Spearmen. Will they still attack? Remember they are with 2 - 4/4 Swords and 1 3/3 Archer now. The other Archer is probably fortified on that hill and we'll see him back later.

Diplo - Iroqs have a worker available for a few turns now, not bad.

IT:
The Viking stack moves off. I'll move the spear from Neapolis to see if they come back. Maybe with the Archer.
Rome Settler -> Spear

1100BC - turn 6:
I will move the Settler with 2 Spears and an Archer in the forest. If the Viks stack moves back to Neapolis we probably can settle the spot near the cow. I'll watch the Vik movement carefully.
Move 1 spear from Neapolis West.

Diplo - the Iroqs have an extra city, the Babs have Math now

IT:
The stack indeed comes back now. Maybe I should rename the Spear Dances-with-Stacks.

1075BC - turn 7:
Move the Settler stack on the hill.
Fortify Dances-with-Stacks next to Neapolis.

Diplo - Viks have dispersed a camp, now they have 62g. Babs still have monopoly on Math.

IT:
The Viks stack is now within striking distance from Neapolis. I will move the spear back in to see whether they'll still attack, I can move him back out again when the move off, more turns gained.

1050BC - turn 8:
The Settler stack is now in position.
I have to move the slider because Rome has grown and misses it's seconds defender. The new spear will be ready next turn.
Move Dances back in Neapolis.

IT:
The 2 swords attack, both die, leaving 2 spears at 2/4. The Archer moves north.
Rome Spear -> Settler

1025BC - turn 9:
Move some troops around, because a barb treatens Antium.
Veii has grown and is unhappy, luckily Lit will still be in at 3 turns at (2.5.3) for 0gpt, 10g in the

bank.
Pompeii founded -> Walls
Move Dances out to protect Chap and maybe trick the Archer into attacking.

Diplo - no changes

IT:
The Barb kills a reg warrior in Antium and is redlined.
The Vik Archer fortifies.

1000BC - turn 10:
Can move the slider back a bit more (3.4.3). I will gamble and try to kill the redlined barb on the hill before he fortifies. Phew, that worked.

We are now average compared to the Viks and iroqs, strong vs the Babs.

Our lands:

----------> Here is the save

 

[a space oddity]

I did not scout the area you indicated Karasu, but this will be easier now that Pompeii is where it is. It could be a good site for a city too and if it does turn out to be a landbridge we'll have a Panama.

 

[mad-bax]

Nicely done.
got it!
I'm up in another SG today, so I will play this tomorrow night.

 

[Karasu]

Only another one, MB?

Beautiful playing with fire, there, Space. And we finally settled that Cow!!

 

[mad-bax]

What can I say? I'm addicted.

 

[handy900]

Nice turns Space!! Rome is growing.

One AI tactic to watch for.

The AI loves to send units on a galley to our poorly defended rear. It may seem like a waste to park a spear in a rear city, and build walls in them, but if they are weakly defended, they will get attacked. I've learned the hard way to watch for galleys and "shadow" them along the coast with a unit that can kill them the turn they land, lest they have a chnace to fortify. Don't assume AI galleys are just exploring, they are probably not . Usually the first wave of galleys carries 1 unit, after that they will come on the galley in pairs. Usually the second wave of galleys will carry 2 swords or archer + spear). Multiple galleys at the same time is a real bummer. The northern coast has many mountains for the AI to land on. They can land on and stay on mountains all the way to Cumae. Long range plan would be to fortify a spear on the mountain North of Cumae so the AI has to attack from the hills. We don’t want to have to retake our own cities.

Bad news about the Vet Swords from the Vikings. Cats + archers have will give us a chance to kill some on offense.

 

[Northern Pike]

Dances-with-Stacks?

Good round, Space.

 

[a space oddity]

And an exciting and enjoyable dance it was! Especially with the happy ending it got.