STR-01: The Scorched Lands

[Strauss]

Good job Pvblivs. The reason we're far behind in score is probably a combination of the difficulty level and our beeline to Horseback Riding (missing some techs to boost our score). This should be taken care of soon though!

Roster:
1) Strauss
2) Ralph_Jackson
3) Pvblivs -> just played
4) blastoidstalker -> UP!
5) Kanga_DU -> on deck

 

[blastoidstalker]

Got the save
I will take a look at it tonight post what iu am thinking of doing, get your reactions and ideas and play it tommorow, posting it tommorow night (I am west coast-U.S.)

 

[blastoidstalker]

I took a look and this is what I am thinking

finish spearman in beshbalik and fortify it in place. Use warrior to fortify city that will eventualy be placed in the yellow spot.
What the two axemen can accomplish will play a big role in how this section developes. I want to get the forward axeman in the woods where it has a great defense value and can cut out any attempts of egyp to move units out of its city (which should be at the red location on the image). Once the second one has caught up they will move next to the city in the trees and if they can raze it. if not they will move on around the city cut off its roads and pillage till 1-2 more axement can join them to take the city. If the city can be raised quickly I am thinking of placing the next settler back in the spot that is in red on the image, if not then placing the city in the yellow spot north of Karakoum.
for Beshibank I would like to build an obilisk when I can to expand boarders but I may need to produce an axeman first.

Thinking about whipping out the settler when I can as we are at max population and can easily push back to 4. Also thinking about chopping the two riverboardering forests in the first city to speed things up (pretty sure i will chop not sure about the whip.

I will defintely chop the forest SE of Beshibank as we can use some production there and it is a great defensive position for an enimy invader.

We should of researched Archery before horsback riding as it is required for keshiks, and gives us the ability to make defensive archers. Horsebakc gives off nothing until after archery. Because of this I will switch immeditaly to archery then go back and finsih horsback riding. After that maybe agriculture or fishing?

Please give me your comments!

 

[Pvblivs]

Rather chop after Mathematics as it nets twice the hammers then.

After archery/riding go for Mysticism (Obelisk) and Agriculture (benefits both cities). Then we should beeline directly for Courthouses. Maybe with the Oracle as a CoL-Slingshot.

I would settle in our original red spot as well. Good point here. Don't forget to road to the new city asap. This is the only reason we can build something useful in Beshbalik Even though I would have had rather an axe than a spear, but that was decided automatically when the road finished.

What do you think?

 

[blastoidstalker]

Mysticism sounds right for after HBR and Archery, i forgot that we needed it for the obeilisk.
chop is 2/3 time in normal, I'll check to see if it is the same in epic.
I think the forest square SE of Beshibank needs to go, partialy for defensive reasons. I think enemy attacks will come from there and I have a much more effective counterattack if there is no forest for the enemy to hide in. It will also push the spearmen out earlier, allowing us to move to another axe and/or barracks.
I can then use the Beshbank settler to set up some road networking.
A lot of my stratigy will depend on how many defenders are in that egyptian city and whether I need more axes, as until mysticism-obelisk-pasture on horses, we have no keishiks

I am wondering if it is best to switch to Mysticism immediately (I presume we do not have to beeline to horsback riding) as horsback riding is useless until we have horses and we can not have horses without an obelisk. I would say we go Mysticism-Archery-horseback riding- Agriculture

 

[Pvblivs]

I would agree to this switch. I am not usually vetoing predecessor commands. If I would have researched at least Mystics before.

I should veto more ...

 

[blastoidstalker]

As a new leadership dawns on the great Mongol Empire, Kahn Blastoid comes to a realization, that in order to master the horse one must be able to think like a horse.

1600 BC Research switched from horseback riding to Mysticism

1540 BC Our Axeman discovers Only one defender in Memphis, as a quick storming would be a toss up, the axmen decide to wait for additional me.

1480 BC Spear produced in Beshbalik

1450 BC workboat produced in Memphis, the fate is sealed

1420 BC The first axe defeated at 60% odds, but the second cleans up mess and razes the city.

1390 BC the cult of the horse (Mysticism) is researched, archery begun. Beshbalik starts on obelisk

1360 BC Settler produced in karakoum, sent to old red spot southwest of Memphis, axeman begun. Worker begins chop on forest next to Beshbalik to hurry obelisk.

1330 BC Wounded archer discovered at Egyptian border and promptly destroyed



1300 BC City of Turfin founded between cows and horses

1240 BC axeman moves into heart of Egypt to scout and pillage, and finds very little to pillage, just forests (Hatty asks for peace , not a chance )





1210 BC Axeman produced in Karakoum, moved north to pace way for next settler, settler begun

1180 BC Archery discovered, work begun to complete HBR, Beshbalik whipped to produce barracks, axeman started

1150 BC Road being built to horses, road completed to Turfan

1120 BC Mansa Munsa Adopts slavery

1060 BC Kahn Blastoid pillaging a cottage in Egyptian lands and the leadership passes on.

Here is a shot at our eastern cities and the Egyptian boarder



Where we are?
We have pushed close to even with Hatty in score and are ahead of her in power. Our forces are spread out right now, so I think the next turn will start with consolidation of forces before picking some targets for razing. We are almost to keishiks now, we need to start planning our tech path for after that.

 

[blastoidstalker]

Here is the save

 

[Pvblivs]

One turn more would have been more correct That is 20 turns, you just played 19.

Nevertheless a great set of turns!

 

[Kanga_DU]

At work now, but hope to get a chance to place this tonight. Don't worry, I'll do 21 rounds.

 

[blastoidstalker]

Kanga Du
a couple of things to note.
I have one axe deep in Egypt teritory. It seems like she is turtling but there is not much worth pilaging out there. On your first turn though Pillage the road the axeman is currently on, this will seperate her two cities and realy hurt her response times to our actions.

10 turns to expansion of borders to include horses, make sure to have a worker ready to put a pasture there when the time comes.

I have barracks in cue for Beshibalek, I was using it to do something productive while waithing for obelisk to come available. Do what you want on pritising but remember that it has been partialy built

 

[Kanga_DU]

Got it - playing now.

P.S. Feel free to just use Kanga. Some so and so got the vanilla version before me.

 

[Kanga_DU]

Our forces are spread out right now, so I think the next turn will start with consolidation of forces before picking some targets for razing. We are almost to keishiks now, we need to start planning our tech path for after that.

I have one axe deep in Egypt teritory. It seems like she is turtling but there is not much worth pilaging out there. On your first turn though Pillage the road the axeman is currently on, this will seperate her two cities and realy hurt her response times to our actions.

10 turns to expansion of borders to include horses, make sure to have a worker ready to put a pasture there when the time comes.

I have barracks in cue for Beshibalek, I was using it to do something productive while waithing for obelisk to come available. Do what you want on pritising but remember that it has been partialy built

1030 BC - Inherited turn. Have a squiz around, dial up Agriculture (I figure those farmable resources might as well do us some good - 8 turns) as the next tech and hit enter.

1000 BC - Gah! Barbs incoming! One troop in each city? One axe in Egypt, the other fog busting (I guess). Pillage road as requested. Use the fog buster to reduce the threat by 33%.

985 BC - We are offically the doofus nation of the world.

Dial up archer in captial. Need an escort for our newest settler. Workers work. On roads. Not much else for them just yet. New axe reduces Barb threat by 50% Yay! Move foreign legion axe on forested hill above Thebes, ready to turtle up.

995 BC - About to loose copper, grrr. Not much can be done about it for now. Axe on its way down. Archer in capital next turn. Fortify axe in Egypt.

940 BC - As expected loose copper to barb archer. Put SH in Karal's queue as a placeholder... note to self change archer I think.


ARGH, NO FOR THE UMPTEENTH TIME, I DO NOT WANT TO RESTART STINKING WINDOWS NOW. LATER. L-A-T-E-R. YOU HEAR ME? LATER!!!!

Now where was I? Oh yes...

I want to make a play for the proposed blue dot city. However, my thinking is though we need iron working to make this a viable city. Quick check IW>25 turns, at -5 gold/turn I'm going to have to lower research soon unless someone's hiding a leprachaun somewhere. I am pausing here for suggestions and also I want tech path ideas.

 

[Pvblivs]

IW? What for? I thought we'd simply crank out Keshiks. That should be enough for a long time. That is I think it should.

I would still suggest some Oracle-thingy-slingshot try. I was already proposing this. Code of Laws is very urgent if we want more cities. So priesthood->build Oracle->Writing->Get CoL for free.

Though this might be too late now, I have to admit.

Else, could you just make any proposals yourself? In the end it is you that is playing the Khan now

 

[blastoidstalker]

Wish I did the one more turn then we would of seen the Barbs coming. The axe was up north to fog bust and would then move back the new city either on yellow dot or further north. The Archer must have spawned recently as I had a view of those tiles 2 turns ago and there was nothing there.

Get rid of the archer with the axeman, just move him 1 space away from the archer in a forest or across the river, he will attack you and probaly die and you get expierence. Get a worker in to rebuild the copper mine as soon as the archer is dead. I would suggest making archers rather than stonehenge while copper is down. Escourt the settler north with either the archer you are making or the axe after he kills the archer. Once that city is in place our capital should be fairly safe from barbs. Make sure to put a road to the forth city.

for future reference and from looking at the screenshot. What I would of done when I saw the archer was

1) switch production in Karkoum to axeman
2) let one turn of production of axeman occur and whip it to completion (axeman would be two pop intitialy, and you do not need that extra turn.
3) sent whipped axeman 1 square NW
from this position the axeman would either be attacked by the bar archer (across a river) and he would likely win, if not the warrior in the capital could probably finish him off. If the archer moved onto the copper, atack him and hope to take him out. You loose 1 population but you keep the copper
4) finish settler and build something that allows population to grow

This is one reason why slavery is so usefull, it allows you to be more agressive with you unit placement.

 

[Kanga_DU]

...for future reference and from looking at the screenshot. What I would of done when I saw the archer was

1) switch production in Karkoum to axeman
2) let one turn of production of axeman occur and whip it to completion (axeman would be two pop intitialy, and you do not need that extra turn.
3) sent whipped axeman 1 square NW
from this position the axeman would either be attacked by the bar archer (across a river) and he would likely win, if not the warrior in the capital could probably finish him off. If the archer moved onto the copper, atack him and hope to take him out. You loose 1 population but you keep the copper
4) finish settler and build something that allows population to grow

This is one reason why slavery is so usefull, it allows you to be more agressive with you unit placement.

You know this was exactly what I am hoping for out of participating in this game. Useful strategies to improve my play.

Failing any objections then I'll push for the blue dot location with the settler. I'll resume and finish this tonight after work.

 

[blastoidstalker]

I am not sure if settling the blue do right now is the best option

Pro's for blue dot- great set of resources, 2 ivory and pigs, also keeps ivory away from our opponents who could use it to make war elephants to trump or Keshiks. Will be a great commerace city eventualy

Cons
All of the resources up there are under jungle, which we need iron working to remove, this means it will not be a usefull city for a long while, we would probably need to research IW after HBR and I think this would end any chance at the oracle slingshot and at least push COL back a bit.
Distance from capital would increase maintance cost more than the yellow spot.


If I had to pick I would settle the yellow, but I can see the arguments for both sides and could be convinced otherwise.

Glad I could help you with the tip Kanga Du

 

[Kanga_DU]

PART 2

940 BC - Part II - Swap archer into queue in Karak (removing SH), shuffle troops about. Note 2 Archers 'missing' from Thebes - I'm suddenly expecting visitors....

925BC - Not much happens, just some moves. Barb archer nears Karak.

IBT - Barb archer attacks axe across the river. Ha sucker!



910 BC - Take archer and settler and start the trek north from Karak. Worker from Turfan is given marching orders back to rebuild the copper mine. Few turns away, but critical at this time I think, so worth the turns on moving. Victorious axe is now off to the eastern front.

895 BC - Blah blah blah. Indifferent news first, Confusium FIDAL. Bad news is... Oracle BIDAL. 'Nuther barb arch incoming on Besh. Only got a warrior holed up there. Archer due in 4. With pop at 1 no whipping option. Cross whatever you've got to cross and hope.

IBT - WOOTY. Our brave fontier outpost warrior survives the vicious barbarian incursion.



865 BC - Besh's borders pop, direct worker to horses. Starts next turn on the horses! Finally! Research back to 70%. I've set tech to pottery for now, seeing as the Oracle-CoL gambit is out. I'm gambling and setting settler to blue dot in the end. Despite the jungle we can still set camps on the ivory IIRC. Back fill yellow dot with next settler.

850 BC - Hello, hello, hello. We got visitors.



Our egyption avon ladies are about to get an axe awakening. A quick cover promotion later and that is taken care of, back to some well earned R&R in Turfan.

IBT - Hatty gets short shrift from da Mongols. (Peace? Do we even know the meaing of that word?)

835 BC - Not much, just some shuffling.

IBT - Our archer north of Karak survived against another barb archer.



820 BC - Not much again.

805 BC - Research back to 60%. Press enter again.



790 BC - M&M comes calling for OB. Gut reaction is not polite, however leaving borders closed won't make much difference as there is plenty space for him to wander past in anycase... bugger it I hit accept.

Start new settle in Karak. Settle at blue dot and set worker in queue. Another egpytian avon lady is on her way to call at Turfan. They really don't take no for an answer.

775 BC - Copper back on line. Start on some farms now. Research takes a beating - 40%. Defeat egyptian archer with axe.

760 BC - Nothing to see here. Move along.

IBT - Archer guarding worker survives by the skin of his teeth against barb warrior.

745 BC - 'Nuther quiet one.

730 BC - Shhhhhh....

715 BC - Axe defeats another egyptian archer outside Turfan. Wins, heads back to heal up. Archer due in 1 here - send both out to egypt I think.

700 BC - Keshiks dialled in at Besh and Turfan. Rice farm at Karak complete sending one worker to Turfan.

Note:

Fortified axe between Ning and Karak is fogbusting. Dun need barbs and Hatty taking cheap shots at us. I mostly concetrated on some troop production. Research currently sucks. In fact sucks and blows at the same time. We can't get cottages soon enough. SH might be worth a shot, if only for providing a cheap land grab by expanding our borders, with some dearly needed culture. Archer healing on rice farm just above Karak, can be moved in the next turn. Axe healing in Turfan... might want to do some tag teaming with the spare archer there in Egypt. Oh and we should road up to Ning.

 

[Kanga_DU]

And here it is...

View attachment 126322

 

[Strauss]

Nice set of turns Kanga.

However, as you mentioned, our research sucks atm. I think the beeline to HBR was a mistake as we should already have some cottages now. I'll see what I can do to get our economy back up quickly.