TGOM03 - Celts in Space (C3C Demi-god)

[scoutsout]

...you'll have to tell me what sacrifices to the RNG gods you make to get that kind of luck with treb hits...

As for the Trebuchets v. the muskets... most of the ones Hammi sent in were regulars... so they were easier to redline.

Scout, I'd also like to know what offering you made to the RNG god?

Okay, here's the secret: First, I had Bede's advisors entertain and distract him. Then I got him buzzed up on Hittite Merlot. Then I promised, and delivered, a burnt offering consisting of:

• An assortment of roughly two dozen Babylonian Muskets, Longbows, Bowmen, and Spearmen
• One Celtic Warrior

Seriously, as gold is the paramount in the Space Race, so it is with the kill ratio and combat. Who cares if the AI can outproduce me 3 to 2, if I can out-kill by 2 to 1 (or better...)

The key to killing off slow moving interlopers is to go ahead and let them close in on your stack; then whack 'em when they're beyond help. Redlined Muskets standing flat-footed in our territory aren't that hard to kill with Veteran MDI. Then it's MDI or Longbows v. healthy Bowmen, and Archers v. Longbows. The last standing Bowman/Longbow gets whacked by a Gallic Sword, who can retreat to safety when he's done.

It's when the muskets are fortified in cities that they're a bit dangerous. (Hence the tactical advice after my turnlog...)

But when all is said and done...

Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.

...and one more thing:

@Bede: I'm ready for peace. I just want it on my terms. (My terms just happen to include this continent...)

 

[gmaharriet]

Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.

Turn 1 and RNG was good to me. We have Eulbar with trebs redlining the defenders and enough left over to RL 3 other units. Kill ratio 5-0 with no damage to any of our units.

But you just KNEW I would have questions, and I think this is important enough to once again ask the team. We have our settler under the pike showing (along with all trebs, another pike, II corps, and a few other units. I corps and 2 LB's are on the ruins and 2 each (I think) MDI in two small stacks next to them. Some units still have movement.

Need advice on settler placement and the building of new settlers, which I think we'll need. We have 8 cities capable of producing a settler in 1 with minimal shield loss, but only 2 of those large enough to not reduce unit support, TJville and GOC, not to mention scrambling the specialist production in several of those towns and losing the shields toward current improvement builds.

These are the cities that can produce a 1-turn settler, what they're currently building, and number of shields that would be lost: Rathaus, harbor in 17, 13 shields, Camulodenum, market in 13, 9 shields, Lurkersville, aqua in 3, 9 shields, Richborough, MDI in 1, 1 shield, Harrietsburg, treb in 1, 0 shields, TJville MDI in 2, 0 shields, Forward Post, court in 12, 16shields, Tolosa, court in 24, 2shields and GOC working on Cops that I didn't check for shields that might be lost.

If the current settler settles in place, it would make reinforcement easier, but on the ruins would be closer to the Bab salt. I'm soooo confused.

Here's the save if anyone wants to look:

 

[scoutsout]

@gmaharriet: This is normally the part where I say "nice turns"... but I need you to play another before I can use the plural noun, huh? (Seriously, nice job making a rock quarry out of Eulbar...)

Okay... I took a look at the save... and here are my thoughts:

• Swap Harrietsburg to settler. After all, a town is usually more valuable than a trebuchet.
• Swap Salt Poach to Settler. (You might kick yourself if you totally missed this one...)
• Swap Nemausus to settler, and prepare to cash rush the finish in a few turns...or swap the build back...depending on what TJ'ville looks like in a turn or two....
• Let TJ'ville complete the MDI, and ...maybe a settler, maybe another MDI. (Nemausus gives you options at TJ'ville, depending on what the workers finish there...and whether we need to peel a settler off there or need another MDI...)

Now for "Scout's Desert Redevelopment Plan" (TM)

Here's how I'd play it from here:

• Hold what you've got for the moment. The Bab muskets will either retreat, or advance along the red lines. Trebuchets, skirmishing, etc.
• Next turn, or the turn after, advance the combat settler and the stack to the SE dot (green square). Hmmm... a town here might save us a few worker turns getting salt connected....
• Take a settler out of Salt Poach, and settle the N dot (forest). This assumes the skirmishing goes well...
• Settler out of Harrietsburg works towards the W dot (rockpile). We are not quite in a position to defend that just yet... but maybe you'll come up with something. If not, move that settler to Salt Poach.

That's my $0.02... Whaddya think?

 

[gmaharriet]

Sounds like a good plan. I'll do my best. Thank you so much for taking the time!!!

 

[scoutsout]

Sounds like a good plan. I'll do my best. Thank you so much for taking the time!!!

I'm sure you'll fight the good fight and make us proud...or at least... fight well. Between the two of us, we're working on something like a 30 to 1 kill ratio....

@Brother Bede: Are we making you proud? Or are you trying to figure out what'll be left to sack when it gets back to you?

 

[General Mayhem]

Nice kill ratio, but be warned, I had a 16-0 kill ratio and then the RNG decided that was a bit too much, so you might want to sacrifice a couple units to appease it

 

[Bede]

Knock, knock knockin' on Hammi's door!

Nice. My plan here is to postion the general to get his revenge against Mursilis so sack away.

Here is the theme song:

Bang bang bang on the door baby! Knock a little louder sugar!
Bang bang bang on the door baby! I can't hear you!
Bang Bang! On the door baby!
Bang Bang! On the door!
Bang Bang! On the door baby!
Bang Bang! On the door!
Your what?... Tin roof, rusted!
Love Shack, baby Love Shack!
Love Shack, baby Love Shack!
Love Shack, baby Love Shack!
Love Shack, baby Love Shack!
Love baby, that's where it's at
Huggin' and a kissin', dancin' and a lovin' at the love shack!

 

[scoutsout]

Knock, knock knockin' on Hammi's door!

Nice. My plan here is to postion the general to get his revenge against Mursilis so sack away.

Oh yeah... the General will feel better once he gets to repay the RNG...by planting oor troops in Hattusas...

...but if I may... offer some poetry to get the good General properly psyched:

I woke the same as any other day
Except a voice was in my head
It said seize the day, pull the trigger
Drop the blade, and watch the rolling heads

 

[gmaharriet]

Nice kill ratio, but be warned, I had a 16-0 kill ratio and then the RNG decided that was a bit too much, so you might want to sacrifice a couple units to appease it

RNG has been fine on units so far, though I haven't been keeping exact numbers. No units lost yet, BUT...

Dum de dum dum! The Americans just landed a regular warrior on our old Incan Penninsula. I know I have to boot so they declare and we get war happiness, but we have very few troops up there. I can get THAT warrior I think with an LB, but they have several galleys roaming around.

I'm going to post my turnlog so far, a couple of pics and the save. You'll see I just founded Last Resort 1 tile N of Scout's recommendation, because the Babs have knights now and one used the neutral roads to head for GOC before being killed by one of our MDI's. The town should slow them down I think. I'll probably reinforce the new town and send one of the armies (Corp I) to pillage the salt. We have 3 more settlers ready, but I'm not making much forward progress to do anything with them.

The American (singular) landing has kinda thrown me. Anywho....

Preturn 350ad - Looks good so hit enter.

IT - 3 Bab longbows move toward GOC. Carthage begins Cops.

1. 360ad - Move LB into GOC for defense. Bombard Eulbar, leaving 2 RL'd muskets. Take it with 2 LB's and raze,netting 4 slaves and 3g. Bombard each of the 3 LB's removing hp from each. Kill 1 LB with LB and 2 others with MDI. Move Army Corp I to rubble, covering LB's there, and other MDI's forward. Move settler toward old Eulbar. worker moves. Kill ratio 5-0. Swap Harrietsburg, Nemausus and Salt Poach to settlers.

IT - Watch 1 Carthaginian and 3 American galleys checking our our coast. Bab troops move mostly north toward GOC and TJ ville. Richborough MDI -> MDI, Harrietsburg settler -> treb, Salt Poach settler -> Lib

2. 370ad - RL Bab musket with trebs and finish off with elite GS, but no promotion. Move 3 trebs to join Corp I and consolidate troops a bit. worker moves

IT - Watch gallies sail. Bab musket and LB move N. TJville MDI -> MDI, Bugsrest court -> aqua

3. 380ad - Trebs RL both musket and LB, kill 1 with elite GS, but no promotion, kill other with elite* GS. Move settler up under Corp I army and rearrange some troops. Corp II is almost healed. Our galley finds another island W of America.

IT - First Bab knight I've seen rides up out of the fog and 1 LB. Lurkersville aqua -> pike

4. 390ad - RL LB with trebs. Fortify troops to see what knight is up to. I think we have a pretty good kill zone set up. worker moves. Galley sees the island is shared by America and Japan.

IT - Uh, oh! Americans land a warrior on old Incan penninsula. Yikes!!! Bab knight tries to get past our armies and is killed on defense by an MDI after being hit by a freeshot while passing the trebs. Nemausus settler - rax, Scoutsrest MDI -> MDI. Americans start Magellan's.

5. 400ad - RL Bab musket with trebs. Decide to found Last Resort under the army so any knights cannot make use of our roads again. Kill musket with Corp I and return army to Last Resort.

Pics to follow and here's the save:

Edited to add: It's been a long week and I'm very tired. I'll finish this tomorrow afternoon or someone else is more than welcome to pick it up and play it. Any takers?

 

[gmaharriet]

American regular warrior on old Incan penninsula

The Bab front

 

[Bede]

Poor Abe, just comes visitin', wanting to set a spell on the front porch, and his day gets ruined by an arrow Instead of lemonade and cookies Gram Harriet serves up a turkey feather!!!

Couple of towns on the rubble and we have a nice Red Zone for whacking incomers to the homeland. Though I don't think we will be resting there long. Keep on moiving forward, one covered step at at a time and before you know it you will be at the gates of Babylon.

 

[gmaharriet]

Well, I couldn't sleep with a war hanging over my head, so I've played on. Turnlog continued:

5. 400ad - RL Bab musket with trebs. Decide to found Last Resort under the army so any knights cannot make use of our roads again. Kill musket with Corp I and return army to Last Resort. Dial up Abe and tell him to remove his warrior and he says, "How embarrassing!" and that he will, but I don't trust him. Move our LB to Cuzco to protect the Glib and Pyramids, and a couple of others to protect workers.

IT - We lose our supply of furs. The Americans declare on us. Warrior suicides on Cuzco. Bab LB's move next to Last Resort. Richborough MDI -> MDI, Mayhemium lib -> MDI. The People are so happy they add another wing to our palace.

6. 410ad - Furs must have been coming from Abe, because I can't find another source. Move LB's to block Abe's likely landing spot and a couple MDI's from south to assist. Move II Corp and other units forward, RL Bab LB's and finish off with elite units, but no promotions. Cover with army.

IT - Japan declares on Hittites. TJville MDI -> MDI

7. 420ad - One Bab LB is outside Salt Poach. Move 1 more treb into Last Resort and send II Corp with other trebs and units toward Salt Poach. Move several other units toward coastlines, hoping to intercept Abe wherever he lands. Chemistry in 1, lower science to 20%.

IT - Galleys buzzing all around, but no units landed. Bab LB suicides at Salt Poach.

8. 430ad - Chemistry comes in -> Metallurgy in 11 at -1g with 82 in kitty. Not sure where best to position troops as Babs have started coming toward Salt Poach. Move troops and trebs that way and army into Salt Poach.

IT - No landings. More Babs toward Salt Poach on 3 sides with a total of 5 units with 1 musket on the mountain.

9. 440ad - Bombard the 4 units reachable by the trebs with 5 hits out of 6 and finish off with units and army. Shuffle some units and workers around.

IT - Japan asks our galley to leave...of course. Bab units kill one of our MDI's. No landings. TJville MDI -> MDI, Scoutsrest MDI -> MDI, Richborough MDI -> MDI, Lurkersville Pike -> Pike, Harrietsburg treb -> treb

10. 450ad - Trying to position units. Most of them now located in Salt Poach with the Army just outside on the mountain. I thought it would have 1 more movement to attack the Bab units, but I guess not.

Sorry guys. Units are kinda scattered all over. I know the AI is not good at landings, but had no idea there would be no more after the first one. I was just running back and forth without any plan. Guess I should have gone after a Bab city, but I got rattled and seemed mostly on the defense. The only thing good I can say is that most of our units are healthy...lost 1 MDI, 1 MDI missing 1hp and one LB missing 2.

Could sure use some pointers on what I should have done. Pics to follow.

Looking at the pics after I posted them, I just realized I never pillaged the Bab salt. I guess the board rules won't let me post how I feel about that.

The save:

 

[gmaharriet]

360ad Eulbar taken

450ad The Bab front

450ad East Empire

450ad West Empire

 

[scoutsout]

Pillage Hammi's Iron! He can't build knights without iron! Claim Hammi's Salt by getting settler on the tile 1S of LastResort. Move the troops out of LastResort, abandon and resettle, and CLAIM that salt rather than pillaging.

And one more thing... pillage Hammi's Iron!

 

[Bede]

Nice going Harriet. Got it and playing now. Get ready for revenge General!!

 

[scoutsout]

@gmaharriet: From the looks of things, you played a difficult hand well. It always gets a bit tougher when the AI start sending troops to your rear area.

I wonder if we shouldn't save up some gold, get some embassies with Japan and Carthage... and buy them into an alliance v. Abe... that might be the best way to keep American troops out of our rear area.

In other news, I am struggling mightily trying to catch up to America playing the part of Runaway AI in a personal epic game (Byzantines, Diety). I managed to snag Theory of Evolution and Hoover Dam only because Abe chose poor sites to build those. (He actually started ToE while I was researching physics...)

This is one of those games I expected to lose already... but I just can't abandon it yet. So while Abe is building UN, Manhattan Project, and SETI... my research is going something like this:

 

[gmaharriet]

my research is going something like this:

Research, huh?

That's another thing I've never had the opportunity to try. Sounds interesting!

 

[Bede]

Wrap up to follow

 

[Bede]

The eastern army group is getting healthy in Last Resort while the western forces are resting on the incense plain. The road to the saltpeter finishes in two or three so upgrade some trebs to cannon then go after the Babylonian capitol. You'll have a GS and a mace army to work with.

Building some universities in a couple of places and it looks like we will need some more markets for happy faces, but those can wait. The populace is mostly smiling.

Hammi is oficially gassed, no horses, no saltpeter and no iron. He trickles a longbow into range every once in a while and it did cost me a couple of wandering maces on their way to join the gang south of Last Resort. LB's against most anything in the open are deadly, so don't make the same mistake I did.

Heal up and head out to Babylon, then swing back and take the other sizable town south of Incense Desert. There is at leat one settler out there so build another couple in the corrupt lands.

For the big dog on the porch Abe has been a wimpy opponent, he landed an AC and a warrior in the old Inca lands then has not been seen since. I could have bought my way out of war with him but once Toku was willing to sign on on I figured what the hey. He hasn't hurt us yet and maybe some Samurai will teach him manners.

See if you can get across to meet Joan. The exploring galley up by Inca Island can probably get there.

We no longer have access to Murislis' luxuries so it looks like the Babylonians have cut his trade routes.

General, go wreak some havoc!

 

[gmaharriet]

I just peeked at the save. Fantastic job, Bede!

Four new towns and incense and another army. Now if we can just get Babylon with Sun Tzu's in it. I see Ninevah is currently building Smith's, so 'twould be nice if, after taking Babylon and that other city just west, they'd finish Smith's for us (and if Abe doesn't get it), we'd be truly sitting pretty.

I see Abe's culture is just about double Hammi's and no one else is even close. Let's hope the Japanese can do some real damage to him. I'd hate to see Abe win by culture a few turns before our SS launches.

Also noticed that Carthage has extra horses...must be where Hammi was renting them. We have a couple luxes that Hannibal doesn't have. Maybe at some point we can make a trade after (and if) we get Military Tradition...or do we want to build knights at this point?