Tides of Crimson mod - Game 1

tjs282

Stone \ Cold / Fish
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And I'm done. Went one turn over, just to get a few things done that I thought needed doing.
Spoiler (T)urn(L)og(D)on't(R)ead :

170 AD
Why are Stewards irrigating Grassland + Plains in areas which aren't short of food?!? Reassigned to mining
Troops redeployed: Rangers to the font, Spirits stay home as garrisons, backed up by Dancers
Builds reassigned; Towns below Pop7 should not be building pop-costing units, they shoud be growing to Pop8+...
Nassu isn't a great spot for Pandaren-builds any more, being so far from the borders -- but it still has no infrastructure! Let's give it some Culture, maybe a Barracks, to build pop-costing units. The Well of Ashengral seems to fit the bill nicely...
Ankor needs its Marsh draining, so Stewards would be better than Pandarens here...
Ionkor needs to be moved to the coast (where I was chopping: that was the whole point of chopping!) and Redemption Isle just needs to be removed, so they're set to Pandaren/Steward...
And why hasn't any of the Frostling territory been connected to our trade-net yet?!? We need those Silks!
Coldstorm Keep evac'd: we need to move on Icecrown Valley, get this war finished
In the meantime, our idle Explorer can go map the Rama's coast...
IBT
WoodElves recruit Lizards to fight the Skaven

171 AD
Rangers bomb Icecrown
Hunter Elder kills 2/3 Sheep + redlined Bison, trains a new Apprentice, and captures a Mule!
Remaining Hunters moved in, town set to build a Steward
We still haven't got an Embassy with Gal, so I do that (57g), since we can afford it
Too early to start cash-rushing Frostling Stewards and Pandarens, though...
Need to MM Dem to avoid a riot: still only overpopulation-unhappiness, not WW -- and the imminent Banshee will take care of that...
IBT
Dem --> Lunar Well
Ashen --> Spirit for garrisoning
Ankor --> Watermill

172 AD
New Maize sent to Kal
Rangers reduce Bison and Wolf in Benkasing, Apprentices kill them.
And with that, RemG has been properly exiled!
He has 2 towns left that I can see, but neither are a threat to us, so I won't sign peace yet, just in case of flips...
We now have a few Rama units scattered through our land, but am I bovvered...?
High Elves are looking far too flush with cash, so I relieve Dath of 788 g + 45 GPT, in exchange for Devotion (which does not help him)
IBT
Frostlings and Ramas sign PT, and the Ellies start heading south again
Dem --> Fort Redivarde (we'll need it for the next couple of wars...)
Nord --> Fishery
Jenova --> 2T Spirits
NIghtglades --> 3T Spirits

173 AD
Our victorious forces also begin the long journey south, to start beating up on the Beasts
Steward rushed in Winterhaven, and town MM'd to riot, to avoid starvation
IBT
We can build Metals Camp?!? But where?
Winterhaven --> Steward (once the riot is over)
Renoa --> Spirit
Ramas begin Tower of Mirhlaz

174 AD
Our Explorer finally meets the Burning Legion, on an island SE of the Ramas. And they are completely backwards, not even knowing Mining, Inundation or Writing yet! How on Azura did they build the Walls of Esengar...? An Embassy costs us a mere 51g
Hmm, High Elves + Ramas just learned Alchemy...
IBT
Sargaros complains about our Explorer. Don't push your luck, chum(p)
Ashen --> ScholarsQ

175 AD
Stewards now improving our road-network
Troops still moving south...
GAME SAVED
Sell Inundation(!) to the Legion for 193g. Selling an RoP as well gets us their remaining 39g (and makes them Polite!)
IBT
Skaven want MA vs. Lizards! Not yet, but soon. In the meantime, we sell them an RoP for 4gpt + 6g

176 AD
Start gathering troops near Khyronia
IBT
Magri wants an RoP: he'll pay .. erm... nothing
Satyr Worker out of Khyronia, bringing it down to Pop1!
RoP cancelled with Ramas, which will let us boot them when we want to
Dwarves begin Glade Shrine!

177 AD
Zzz...
IBT
Zzz...

178 AD
Start moving Stewards + Mules south to improve Kal
Ranger pillages Wheat-road between Rama towns
IBT
Nassu --> Lunar Well

179 AD
SCI% to 10% for Edu in 1T + 128 gpt
IBT
Edu learned, SCI% back up to 70% for Astro in 9T
Definale --> Watermill (8T before the chop...)
Renoa --> Barracks

180 AD
Pandaren rushed in Ionkor (99g)
Steward rushed in Redemption Isle (57g)
IBT
Dem, Nassu --> Treant
CapeB --> Shipyard

181 AD
Pandaren moved to planned site
Steward begins roading Agatte
Pandaren rushed in Coldstorm (117g)
Steward rushed in Winterhaven (57g)
GAME SAVED
Handover

Research:

We just learned Education, and have a monopoly on it (we might actually be tech-leader now!). You can almost certainly get Alchemy + gold from the Ramas for it right now (Bridha wanted about 750g for Alchemy straight up), but it might be worth holding onto it for another couple of turns, to see if anyone comes up with anything else that you might be able to trade for.

Expansion:

I've left you a Pandaren near the ruins of Redemption Isle and Ionkor, at the mouth of the river on the NE coast, on the tile where our next town should be founded (actually where the Pandaren I set to build in Redemption Isle should have been sent in the first place, mumble grumble). You will get another Pandaren from Coldstorm Keep over the next interturn, which I would recommend sending to found a town on the Horses (where there is a Dancer waiting) north of Winterhaven.

Builds/military plans:

I have queued up the next builds in Renoa, Winterhaven and Moonhaven, so you shouldn't need to worry too much about those towns, and I would recommend using a similar build-queue for the 2 new towns as well (i.e. Lunar Well to pop the borders -- rather than sacrificing our maintenance-free Mules! -- ChiefsGuild to reduce corruption, [Water]mill to boost productivity, ScholarsQ for research, Warehouse if needed for Pop8, then Fishery if Coastal -- or Barracks if inland).

Don't bother building mil-units in mid-/north Frostland, just set those town-Governors to "Emphasise Food" and leave them to grow for now. Once Renoa and Winterhaven Moonhaven have finished their Barracks, they can start building vet Spirits to garrison all our northern territories (and free up those Rangers to fight AI-landings, or head south).

You will see I've started building Treants in Dem + Nassu. These are intended as border-garrisons against Amazon sneak-attacks, so should be sent to Kal + Nightglades (+ Ankor). If Kerri remains passive (or if we can 'persuade' her to help fight the Beasts + Lizards + Ramas), we can use those Treants as stack-anchors for our advance into Rama territory instead. It is still really important to keep Kal, Nassu + Dem as large as possible, though: if necessary, consider merging native Stewards into those core-towns, to get them up to Pop13 a bit quicker (and save us some unit-maintenance!). Any new Wheat + Maize supplies should also be sent to these towns.

CapeB is building a Shipyard in preparation for building a small stack of vet Explorers, for bombarding the Rama's mainland coastal towns (this is preferable to having Ballistae slowing down our fast attack-stacks), and then shipping units over to their island-towns. Once CapeB reaches Pop13 as well, we can switch it to building our better ships ("Corsas"?).

Our southern Barracks-towns can pretty much keep building whatever units they're currently building. Maybe just take a look at them each time they grow, to see if they can now build a more advanced unit (Spirit --> Dancer --> Ranger) without too much wastage. But please don't build (or allow the Governator to choose to build!) any pop-costing military units (Banshees, Treants) in any towns which (1) are still under Pop7, and/or (2) don't have a Barracks, and/or (3) don't have the food-supply available to regrow faster than they'll build the unit!

I have not declared on the Beasts yet, because I didn't have enough Rangers in range to be sure of doing sufficient damage to the Gor(s?) before we attack with our Hunters. There are still 3-4 Rangers en route to the stack, but once they arrive, you can probably set off the fireworks. Khyronia just built a Satyr Worker, bringing it down to Pop1, which means that it will autoraze if we capture it before it regrows (or pops its borders) -- but this may not be a problem, because the coastal Hill 1SE is a better site anyway (the Pandaren being built in Ankor can do that; there is already a Steward building a road along the Hills from Ashengral).

Once the Beasts are evicted, you can choose whether to move against Hajipur immediately, or bypass it to go after Tail Town. If you go for the Ramas first, definitely sign up Kerri to help, and give her an RoP to get her units into Rama territory quickly, so she can do some damage (and weaken herself)...

Terrain improvements:

I have started moving Stewards + Mules (back) to Kalimsa, because that town is currently our highest priority for terrain-improvement, to speed up the SotS build. All its still-unimproved-but-workable tiles should get a road + mine, starting with the Grass + Plains, then the Hills, then the Mountain.

Once Khyronia is ours (or gone!), we can set our Stewards to clearing + roading all that southern Marsh, to make more workable tiles (and room for Settlement) in that direction. Jungle can be Settled on directly, so that's a lower priority for clearance -- but we do also need to start building a road south from Jenova towards Tail Town...

Save is below. I wish you good Hunting... ;)

Brainfart edited (March 2nd)
 

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haluu

Confused Troglodyte
Joined
Oct 13, 2010
Messages
544
@tjs282 great job as usual TJS!

I like the idea of a domination victory. Settings for that are default, which is 66% of the world from what I remember (land + coast tiles).

Thanks for setting build queues for us in some towns, def makes it easier. And glad thể Frostlings are out of our hair for now. I too am hoping for a Dragon lol.

I need to get better at using specific units for garrison like you do (spirits), and using others for advancing into enemy territory. I'll try my best to follow your example on that one. Sorry about the additional irrigation in higher growth towns, I think I was just trying to make up for the lack of growth once we get into using mined hill and mountain tiles. 🐥

When you say ballistae will slow our advance down, what do you mean? Believe they move 2 per turn just like the other units, so just hoping to understand. ;)

Thanks for the detailed descriptions, and I'll get in my 10 turns soon!
 

tjs282

Stone \ Cold / Fish
Joined
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Messages
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Location
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If, like most of the other Tier1 siege-units in ToC, Ballistae also have R=1(?), then they will have to be wheeled right up to the town walls to be used -- whereas Rangers can start bombarding from 1 tile further out, i.e. 1 turn sooner, per each town attacked during our campaign.
 

haluu

Confused Troglodyte
Joined
Oct 13, 2010
Messages
544
Ah gotcha. Yes that's correct, the Ballista only have range of 1 but FP of 2. ;). 17 Ranged attack and additional firepower! Probably a personal preference, but I still find them valuable, even alongside upgraded Rangers <>. ;)
 

haluu

Confused Troglodyte
Joined
Oct 13, 2010
Messages
544
@tjs282

Man these turns take me forever, I'm thinking too hard lol

Turn 182
Nature's Steward done in Winterhaven, will be sent to mining nearby grassland. Started on a Lunar Well.
Pandaren Settle done in Coldstorm Keep, sent to build city north of Winterhaven. Ionkor founded on horses (usually don't like settling on resourses but I'm trying to listen tm your advice, it's usually a good idea. =)
Ashengral finishes a ranger that will be sent to attack the Beastmen
Pytonia founded NW or Winterhaven

Turn 183
Jenova's ridge finished a Spirit swithced to Scholar's quarters
Quake spell produced in Demasus! Transferred to Jenova Ridge

Turn 184
Ranger Reinforcements arriving in SW of our borders. Ready to launch an attack on the Beastmen

Turn 185
Scholars Quarters produced in Jenova ridge, switched to Ranger <>
Shipyard Done in Cape Bertonia, time to get some ships out!
Lunar well done in Feraias, switched to Chetians Guild
Attacked Beastmen city of Khyronia, city autorazed, mul captured
Treant built in Nightglades, switched to another Treant

Turn 186
Traded contact w/ wood elves and Education to Rama's for Alchemy
Traded contact w/ burning legion, Education, and 10 gold to Amazonians for Invention
Ramas have a ton of Elephant Scouts around Hajpur, but going to enlist the Amazonians anyway to try to destroy them...
She would not accept joining us in the war. Nothing we could give her would suffice! =( Might have to pull my units back from Rama territory until further notice
Lizardment watned us to ally with them vs the Skaven, but I declined

Turn 187
Demasus finished building Treant , switched to Metals Camp
Settler complete in Ankor whil , starting on BArracks
Began Cheftian's Guild in Ashengral, and Silk Factory in Moonhaven

Turn 188
Wheat Stalk in AnkorWhil will be sent to Kalimsa

Turn 189
Started on Watermill in Ashengrall

zzz until Turn 191

HAND OVER!
 

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tjs282

Stone \ Cold / Fish
Joined
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Messages
4,807
Location
Inside my skull
Ramas have a ton of Elephant Scouts around Hajpur, but going to enlist the Amazonians anyway to try to destroy them...
She would not accept joining us in the war. Nothing we could give her would suffice!
The AI won't ever sign an MA before you've declared war on the would-be mutual foe yourself. And until I DL the save, I can't tell from your log whether you actually declared on the Ramas already?

If you didn't, that's fine: that will give me some time to bring our Dancers down from Dem, to test out their Elephant-Charming skills...
 

haluu

Confused Troglodyte
Joined
Oct 13, 2010
Messages
544
The AI won't ever sign an MA before you've declared war on the would-be mutual foe yourself. And until I DL the save, I can't tell from your log whether you actually declared on the Ramas already?

If you didn't, that's fine: that will give me some time to bring our Dancers down from Dem, to test out their Elephant-Charming skills...
Yikes, oh I didn't know that. No, I had not declared war on them yet. Good to know!
 

tjs282

Stone \ Cold / Fish
Joined
May 19, 2009
Messages
4,807
Location
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Spoiler (T)urn(L)og(D)on't(R)ead :

192 AD
Treant to Kal -- which is looking a lot better!
rSpirits + attack-stack moved into New Dem
Dancers from Dem to Ashen + Jenova (vSpirits to Dem)
Time to tell Bridha to get off our land. Drat, he does!
IBT
Dem --> 3T-Ballistae
Jenova --> 3T-Dancers
Renoa --> 2T-Spirits

193 AD
I give Bridha the bad news...
Dancers and Rangers bombard all the Rama-units within range
eRanger kills Ellie
Hunter Elder kills Deer, trains Apprentice
Stack moves forwards to Hajipur
Banshee kills Ellie, summons Half-Dragon
Half-Dragon kills Ellie in Haji, exposing Yodha
Dancer demolishes Trebux in the frozen north
Crom has a boat eading for our NE coast, so I redeploy units to respond to any landings. He has nothing we want right now, so I'll wait to make peace until we need an "Ally" to attack the Lizards
Kerri accepts a mere 16 gpt + RoP, to join our war
IBT
Deer kills exposed Dancer
Beasts land a Beastigor + SiegeCart near Ionkor
Nassu --> SchQtr
Feraias --> Watermill

194 AD
Ranger hunts venison, avenging our Dancer
Dancers + Rangers bombard approaching Ellie, eRanger kills it
Explorers fail to hit Schooner sailing towards Nordrakil
Hunter Elder retreats to NewDem
Half-Dragon redlines killing Ellie in Haji, retreats as well
Apprentices fortify until Haji is clear of Ellies
Dancers bomb Beastly units, Rangers kill them
Can't reduce SCI% and still get Gunpowder in 1T, oh well...
IBT
Bridha finds a friend in Sargaros -- against the Amazons!
Deer retreats from rSpirit on Stone-Mountain
Exploring Ranger in Ramaland fends off 2 Purohitas, but succumbs to an Ellie
Gunpowder learnt --> Chemistry (8T, we need more Scholars!)
Winterhaven --> Well
Ankor --> Pandaren
CapeB --> Explorer

195 AD
Explorers deal minor Damage to Schooner, Calormen does nothing
GAME SAVED
Dancers Charm Ellie, eRanger kills it
Banshee kills Yodha, retreats to heal
eHunter retreats, eHunter dies against next Yodha
Silk-Factory build in Moonhaven (low priority!) switched to Barracks
rSpirit kills redlined Deer, no promotion
IBT
Damaged Schooner retreats, but another appears
Sargaros offers to renew our RoP. Naahhh. But if it becomes necessary, I could get him to betray the Ramas for a few techs...
Dath buys Edu for 177g + 4gpt, and I throw him an RoP to make him Polite
Nassu --> Watermill
Ashen --> SchQtr
Pytoria --> ChiefsGuild

196 AD
Rangers bomb Yodha to 2HP, exposing Chakra
2 rApprentices fail to kill Chakra (1 retreats, 1 dies)
rSpirits move to block incoming Amazons near Haji
IBT
RoP renewed with Magri
rSpirit near Haji kills Deer, promoted
Ionkor --> ChiefsGuild
Grove of Secrets defects to us! Awesome!

197 AD
Ship-stack knocks 1 HP off Schooner
Rangers bomb Hajipur
Halfdragon + Banshee take out both defenders, and burn down the town
Units with spare MP move onto ruins, and further forwards to coastal Jungle next to the river, Pandaren moves to found New Hajipur inland and upriver
I have a really evil thought: instead of us fighting the Lizards as well, let's get them on our side: Morgor takes 4gpt + RoP for MA against Bridha
Spirits move to block Mountain-passes on chokepoint, preventing the Amazons from capturing Tail Town from Bridha before we do...
And while I'm at it, I sign a MA/PT with Crom, throwing in Righteousness in exchange for 43g + 6gpt
IBT
Amazons realise they cannot pass, so retreat. We can do this dance all day...
Mount J --> Warehouse
Ashen --> Steward (to clear its Marshes)
Nightglades --> 2T-Spirits
Beasts + WoodElves begin GladeShrine

198 AD
Stack assembled on Mountain-choke
New Nassu founded 4SE of Jenova
Second chokepoint re-opened
IBT
Amazons head back into our territory...

199 AD
Stewards rushed (pennies) in Coldstorm, Benkasing, Icecrown
IBT
Ramas take Tail Town!
More Amazons incoming!
Nassu --> Treant
Coldstorm, Benkasing, Icecrown --> Stewards
Definale --> Calormen
Kal --> CattleFarm
Ferais --> Warehouse

200 AD
Dancer charms Purohita, Spirit dies failing to kill him; Rangers shoot him to death instead
GAME SAVED
Handover:

Research:

We are definitely tech-leader now. Although the Amazons and HighElves both know Chiv (useless to us), we know Gunpowder + Astro over them.

I have not changed the tech-path I set last time: we are beelining Higher Order for Elohim, followed by High Magic for Sorceresses. If anyone gets Mage Theory before we start on it, trade for it immediately if you can, and switch Dem to building the Cathedral of Truth (= free Shrines!)

Town-management:

Build-queues have been set in most towns still putting up buildings -- including Kal, which just finished our Spire o.t. Sunset (hooray!). As much as possible, try and set a (core) town's worked tiles so that it's continuing to grow while building efficiently. For example, right now Dem is doing 3-turn Ballistae at 28 spt to avoid too much shield-wastage, but once it gets to Pop13, it should be able to net 36 spt, enough for 1-turn Dancers (or a 3-turn Banshee, once it's 4T away from filling its food-box).

Note that I turned off the Silk Factory build in Moonhaven (for now) in favour of a Barracks, so that it can help garrison our northern towns with vSpirits. Right now that's more important than expensive Small Wonders which tie up Moonhaven's shields for 30+ turns. We can build the Silk Factory later, once it's bigger it has all the basic buildings, and all its 2-FPT tiles have been roaded + mined.

You will also notice that we now own the (formerly Amazonian) town of Grove of Secrets. Don't worry, we're not at war with Kerri (yet...) -- it flipped to us (hooray)! I want to build Stewards(Amazon) out of it, down to Pop1 if possible, so every time it finishes one, you will need to go in and re-set its worked tiles to net-zero excess food.

Once Coldstorm's down to Pop1 and has put up its queued buildings, it could build a few Pandarens to fill in the northern holes.
ToC-SG1 Dotmap tundra-holes.png

The other Tundra-trash are slow-building Stewards just to give them something to do. They're not really worth developing though, so I wouldn't bother putting any (more?) buildings in them.

Generally, please let (Barracks-)towns building units just keep on building those units.

Exceptions are New Dem, and New Haji, which I only just noticed (from the screenshot below!) are building rSpirits: they shouldn't be doing that! I'd suggest switching both those builds to Lunar Wells (then Chiefts Guild, Watermill, etc.!), and build vSpirits out of one of the nearby Barracks-towns (ideally at either 7 spt or 10-11 spt, please!) to garrison those new towns.

Also, losing NATIVE pop-points from any (core) town which still has 2-fpt tiles available to work is generally a Bad Idea! So please build Banshees or Treants ONLY in (core) towns which:
(1) have a Barracks
AND
(2) have reached Pop13 (or which cannot grow further due to food-limitation)
OR
(3) where the build will be completed after the town is due to grow

Workers:

In general, towns should be improved working outwards from the capital (i.e. in order of increasing corruption), and tiles should be prioritised based on how much raw FPT they produce (most --> least).

So right now I've got Stewards + Mules around Kal, MountJ and Ferais, but once Moonhaven has finished its Barracks and gone on Spirit-building duty, you could move Steward-stacks to start roading/chopping Forests into buildings in Renoa (e.g. Windmill, Trading Post).

Grass/Plains (2F,0S) tiles should be roaded + mined; tiles giving at least 2F,1S could instead be roaded + irrigated for faster growth (we can forest/ chop/ mine them later, if we want/need to).

Down south, we really need to get the Marsh (and then the Jungle) cleared near Ashen and Jenova, because those towns' growth is now getting severely constrained by lack of excess food (and Jenova is also impinging on Dem).

However, it's also very important to get war-roads built to New Hajipur and then Tail Town. There are 3(?) Stewards right now on a "Build road to New Haj" order: once in New Haj, they should team up to road the Hill + Mountain (where our stack is waiting for our few -- Wheeled! -- Ballistae, among other things) + Jungle, towards Tail Town...

Military plans:
ToC-SG1 how goes the war 200 AD.png

Tail Town is now in Rama hands because we signed an MA with Morgor just as the first Rama units reached it (tee hee hee!) -- but before you attack it, you'll want all the spare Rama units emptied out of it.

Next turn, the Ramas will either head NE into the Jungle, or (more likely) east onto the Mountain (=better defence). A Purohita or Deer might kill our lone Dancer before she escapes, but that doesn't matter (would actually be helpful, so the Amazons don't turn around again). I think it's very unlikely that they will try attacking our stack on the other Mountain. Rather, I expect them to bypass it, and head for New Haj, which I have deliberately left looking like (very!) soft target.

Let them come! It will take most of their units 4 turns to reach New Haj from Tail Town, while our Rangers bombard them mercilessly -- and by the time they're in a position to threaten New Haj, the Amazon stacks will have arrived to defend it for us!

In the meantime, our ships can bomb Tail Town, and our good attackers (Apprentices, Banshee, HalfDragon) can move to conquer it, and then carry on to Ramganj. At that point, we will have control of that isthmus, so you can let whatever remains of the Amazon stacks through, to dash themselves uselessly against Remjaki and points south/east -- then close off the land-route again (with e.g. Spirits on Mountains), and mop up what's left of the Ramas after the Amazons are done with them.

With any luck, that should also weaken the Amazons enough that once the Rama mainland is ours, we can pivot to attacking Kerri's homeland without fear...
 

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haluu

Confused Troglodyte
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Messages
544
@tjs282 you absolutely amaze me with your attention to detail and ability to put into words what you are thinking.
It's always such an interesting read for those turns that you play. Thank you!

Nice setup, and I'm glad you've got the tech tree figured out so I don't have to think anymore about that. 🤣. Nice to have some half drahoms to play with now too, I feel invincible. ;).

Any desire to switch Spheres or are you good?
 

tjs282

Stone \ Cold / Fish
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Any desire to switch Spheres or are you good?
I think we're good. The only gameplay justification for switching Spheres is to improve our economy, but we're not exactly suffering financially right now!

Obviously, I'd prefer to use a Sphere which gives the commerce-bonus, and/or raises the slider rate-cap (to 100%, ideally), and/or gives Communal corruption, but the 'closest' Sphere on the tree which does any of those (IIRC?) is Air Sphere, which is still some way into the third age (IIRC?).

So (IMHO!) switching Spheres is not something we really need to consider doing for some time -- if ever. (Also, we haven't even got our first Earth Elemental yet!)
 
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