TJS1 -- Going on the Pill-age

[Lanzelot]

9 turns left, that should be right.

And I don't think, that I suggested to build any (learned that lesson from you a long time ago...)

It was not a comment on your preflight plan, but on the current save: we are currently building 10 or so of them.

 

[choxorn]

It was not a comment on your preflight plan, but on the current save: we are currently building 10 or so of them.

Like I said, I wasn't being too careful with the micromanagement of our newly-conquered Dutch or Russian cities, they only make 1-2 spt anyway so I just left them on whatever they were defaulting as when I conquered them and figured we could always just change the builds later. The only Pikes I was intentionally building were in Copenhagen because it makes 15 spt and I figured "why not, a few of them couldn't hurt and we could maybe upgrade them to Muskets later"

 

[robbus]

question about palaces:

Is it possible to use Great leader to build an additional palace in Rotterdam? How much of an effect if any would it have on corruption in other cities in the northeast?

 

[Elephantium]

No. Building the Palace moves it from one city to another. Only the FP gives us the second Palace effect.

Well, and the Secret Police HQ in Communism.

 

[robbus]

No. Building the Palace moves it from one city to another. Only the FP gives us the second Palace effect.

Well, and the Secret Police HQ in Communism.

thanks

 

[tjs282]

we are currently building 10 or so of them.

Not any more... Troop disposition is kind of messed up though: I found a whole bunch of empty Galleys near/at the various fronts, but few/no Zerks nearby to put in them -- did they all die? I've started moving some of those boats back towards the (semi-)core, to pick up the newly built Zerks, which I've already started short- and gold-rushing there, since our GLight-boosted SEA-Galleys can sail nearly twice as fast as Zerks can march.

Is it possible to use Great leader to build an additional palace in Rotterdam? How much of an effect if any would it have on corruption in other cities in the northeast?

No. Building the Palace moves it from one city to another.

Just to add to/clarify that: it is certainly possible to to use an MGL to do a 'Palace-jump' (or rush a useful Small Wonder, such as the FP, HE, MilAcad, or IronWorks), but if your current capital, core-towns and FP are reasonably well-placed, and well-developed for your intended purpose (as are ours), then it's usually not necessary/ advisable. The only really compelling reason to move your capital, might be if your Civ's start was generated on a small and/or inhospitable island, and you wanted to move it onto more hospitable/ productive terrain on the mainland, after you'd started conquerin' (cf. Lanz's 'Gandhi on the Rocks' story).

Spoiler A better idea :

But even then, waiting for an MGL to appear just for that, is not necessarily a good option: unless you get an MGL at exactly the time you want to move your Palace, it's usually more game-efficient to do what Lanz did (IIRC), and use the 'free Palace-jump' (exploit). By making your intended capital into your biggest, most well-garrisoned city, and then (Settler- or Worker-)abandoning your original capital, you get a new Palace where and when you want it.

If you're intent on warmongerin', then MGLs in C3C are almost always best used for building Armies. As well as combining their HPs, Armies also boost their component-units' A/D-values*, and so generally won't be attacked head-on by the AI (while they still have >6HP), making them pretty much invulnerable in the field -- at least until an AI-Civ has built a stack of Industrial-Age bombardment-units**.

*

Spoiler C3C-Army unit-boosts :

Just to give you some idea, before the MilAcad is built, a 3-Knight Army has an effective A/D spread of 6/4.5 (vs. 4/3 of a lone Knight) and a 3-Zerk Army has an effective A/D=9/3 (vs. 6/2). After MilAcad is built, those Army A/D-stats increase to 7/6.25 5.25 and 10.5/3.5, respectively -- there's Lanz's 'wumms' for you!

NB Edited the ... ahem... 'typo'...

**

Spoiler Possibly irrelevant anecdote :

In a game a couple of months back, I actually lost a full-health 12HP Infantry-Army, fortified in a Barricaded Fortress on a chokepoint, to a massive Mongol Ironclad shore-bombardment which knocked it down to 2 or 3HP, followed by Cav-attacks which killed it I have a feeling that might have been a PtW-game, though -- PtW-Armies aren't nearly as OP as C3C-Armies.

 

[Lanzelot]

After MilAcad is built, those Army A/D-stats increase to 7/6.25 and 10.5/3.5

6.25 defense for a size-3 Knight-Army? That can't be right. I don't know all these formulas by heart, but I remembered the simple rule, that with MilAcad and Pentagon, the size-4 Army has exactly the doubled A/D value of the base unit. So that would be 12/4 for Berzerk-Army and 8/6 for Knight-Army. So I think the size-3 Knight-Army has 7/5.25.

So I still vote for the Berzerk-Army. First because we can assemble it immediately and therefore can have our HE in just a few turns, and second because of the extra Wumms!
A-9 is quite different from A-6. A Musket fortified in a hill city has D-9. We could easily lose our Knight-Army, considering our bad RNG luck... And I have used Berzerk-Armies quite successfully for cracking Musket-defended cities in the Sid COTM127 I mentioned in the beginning. However, I must mention that in that case I used a Musket-Army as cover. (Because a Sid AI has so many units, I generated so many leaders that I didn't know what to do with them...) But Sid is different from Emperor, so I think we don't need "cover". So far Arabia has thrown only Archers at us (they don't even have Engineering yet!), and they definitely won't attack a Berzerk-Army with Archers. And if we trade for Gunpowder now, we can upgrade the Pikes we have to Muskets and use a simple Musket as cover. (Once we get the next leader, we could use a Musket-Army as cover, if you are really worried.) In any case, the risk of losing a Knight-Army on attack is probably much higher in this game than the risk of losing a Berzerk-Army on defense (especially if we can use a Musket as cover). And we can already start sending a few Muskets into Arabia now, so that they have a little head-start and the Berzerk-Army catches up with them after it is done in Holland. (Travel time from Amsterdam to Kufah is 4 turns.)

 

[tjs282]

6.25 defense for a size-3 Knight-Army? That can't be right. I don't know all these formulas by heart, but I remembered the simple rule, that with MilAcad and Pentagon, the size-4 Army has exactly the doubled A/D value of the base unit. So that would be 12/4 for Berzerk-Army and 8/6 for Knight-Army. So I think the size-3 Knight-Army has 7/5.25.

Yes, you're right

Spoiler Whoopsie :

Army A[/D]-bonus is Total A[/D]-value of all loaded units, divided by 6 if no MilAcad, divided by 4 if MilAcad, so:
3-Knight Army (–MilAcad) has A = 4 + (3*4)/6 = 6, D = 3 + (3*3)/6 = 4.5
3-Knight Army (+MilAcad) has A = 4 + (3*4)/4 = 7, D = 3 + (3*3)/4 = 5.25

I'm going to claim a slip of the typing-finger, which I've now edited...

So I still vote for the Berzerk-Army. First because we can assemble it immediately and therefore can have our HE in just a few turns, and second because of the extra Wumms!

I'm in the process of doing that, but I decided to ship Inwaeer back to A'dam to form the Zerk-Army, since I only had 2 eZerks with 6HP total in Holwerd, and no soft-target nearby (the Dutch LBM ran out of sight on the IBT). The Army's going to be used next turn against The Hague (R'dam's already fallen).

A-9 is quite different from A-6. A Musket fortified in a hill city has D-9. We could easily lose our Knight-Army, considering our bad RNG luck...

Guess I was lucky then, because our 5 eKnights near R'dam killed 1 rMusket and 3 vSpears without losses -- I only needed to use 1 Zerk, to kill the last LBM. Shame the rest of them were stuck on an unroaded Mountain...

So far Arabia has thrown only Archers at us (they don't even have Engineering yet!), and they definitely won't attack a Berzerk-Army with Archers.

They do also have Horsemen, according to Corporal Punishment.

And if we trade for Gunpowder now, we can upgrade the Pikes we have to Muskets and use a simple Musket as cover. (Once we get the next leader, we could use a Musket-Army as cover, if you are really worried.) In any case, the risk of losing a Knight-Army on attack is probably much higher in this game than the risk of losing a Berzerk-Army on defense (especially if we can use a Musket as cover).

I already traded Hanni for Gunpowder (Dyes+Furs+16GPT, just in case he DoWs), and I guessed right about the Dutch Salt-source -- it's next to Groaning'em.

And we can already start sending a few Muskets into Arabia now, so that they have a little head-start and the Berzerk-Army catches up with them after it is done in Holland. (Travel time from Amsterdam to Kufah is 4 turns.)

I quite like the idea of a Musket-Army, so it can keep up with the Knight-stack I'm assembling on Kufah's Hill. The Carthaginians are currently blocking the Kufah-landbridge with a Warrior on the Arabian Forest, which is useful because I need to replace the road, to get our units into Arabia quicker. Once that's done, Hanni can feel free to move his troops whenever he feels like it...

 

[robbus]

Save?

Playing on my own I looked at 'powder trade with carthage and whittled them down to : dyes+furs+274g (amortized as 13.5 gpt). Your deal seems better, allowing for further hostilities!

I rolled through the cities to MM and the thing that struck me was that Choxorn had pikes building where little else was viable. I left these orders alone for the most part.

I DON'T understand the luxury trading system. If we trade away "extra" luxury ,does that result in moving lux slider up?

I don't understand luxury box on city screen...

If we are overproducing shields or food in a city, is it worth hiring scientists to begin some research? Assuming they are productive cities...

 

[Elephantium]

If we are overproducing shields or food in a city, is it worth hiring scientists to begin some research? Assuming they are productive cities...

It depends. In the capital, once you have a Lib (or Market, if you're considering hiring tax collectors), you're generally worse off with specialists because specialist gold/beakers don't get the multiplier effect. In second-ring cities, with corruption chipping away at your income, you hit a tipping point where specialists do give better commerce returns than most city tiles. You have to check the specific numbers in each city, though (e.g. a 1- or 2-ring city with mostly river tiles is probably better off keeping the worker on the tile vs a 3-ring city with no rivers, coasts, or bonus tiles will definitely bring in more beakers/gold with a specialist)

Also note that most of the time there's no such thing as "overproducing food" -- faster growth is more important 99% of the time than other concerns because more citizens means more options (assuming you can manage happy faces, that is)

 

[tjs282]

Save?

Steady on, I only played 2T so far!

Playing on my own I looked at 'powder trade with carthage and whittled them down to : dyes+furs+274g (amortized as 13.5 gpt). Your deal seems better, allowing for further hostilities!

My deal is only better if Hannibal DoWs us partway through. If it goes all the way to the 20T (which it might well do), we'll end up paying more gold in total (320g). OTOH, we can certainly afford it! And while our rep is still intact, I'd rather pay pure per-turn for the tech. Hanni already made 1 extortion-demand: if he makes another, we can call his bluff. If he folds, well that's no different to the status quo. And if he DoWs, we get Gunpowder a lot cheaper, and our rep stays intact (because it wasn't us who broke the the deal).

I rolled through the cities to MM and the thing that struck me was that Choxorn had pikes building where little else was viable. I left these orders alone for the most part.

Can't build Pikes once we know Gunpowder, unless we disconnect the Salt. And we have a lot of Jungle to clear (and a few holes to fill), so I would rather have the Workers+Settlers

I DON'T understand the luxury trading system. If we trade away "extra" luxury ,does that result in moving lux slider up?

No. Since we can only use 1 Lux-source per type, extra sources of the same Lux-type don't help us directly. But trading them away for more useful things (like techs) definitely does! It's even possible to trade away one's last Lux (or StratRes), thus preventing it from being used by one's own Civ -- not necessarily advisable, but possible (e.g. if you're playing as the Indians, you don't need Iron -- or Horses for that matter -- to build WarEllies, so you could sell off all your Iron+Horses after getting Chivalry).

The only real risk of selling off all spare Luxes, is if you lose your last source of e.g. your 6th or 7th Lux-type unexpectedly (e.g. to a Barbarian, a volcanic eruption, or enemy bombardment) while running minimal LUX%-spending: your trade-deals will continue, but your Markets may suddenly not be giving your the benefit you'd counted on to make up the difference.

I don't understand luxury box on city screen...

You mean, how Markets work to increase Happyface-output from Luxes? Lanz and I covered this (for Speedbird's benefit) earlier in this thread. Have a look back at Post#348 (verbal version) and Post#350 (picture version!).

If you're confused about how the Happyface-outputs from Luxes(+Markets) and LUX%-spending are 'spent' then AFAIK it works like this: 1 Happyface makes 1 content citizen happy; once all content citizens are happy, 1 Happyface makes 1 unhappy citizen content, until all are content. Then any Happyfaces left over start making those content citizens happy as well, i.e. 2 Happyfaces are needed to make every unhappy citizen into a happy one.

The tricky part (i.e the part that I don't understand all the details for!) is that once all the unhappiness sources (overcrowding, whip/draft-unhappiness, WW, foreigner's resentment of aggression) are added up, it's possible for the game to calculate a number of 'virtual' unhappy citizens in a town that exceeds the actual number of citizens inhabiting the town. When the virtual unhappiness far exceeds the actual number of citizens (e.g. from fighting long and/or losing wars), that tends to be when the 'unfixable' riots start happening... (They're not actually unfixable, but you may be forced into taking actions that -- eventually -- prevent you from winning the game, such as conceding towns to the AI).

If we are overproducing shields or food in a city, is it worth hiring scientists to begin some research? Assuming they are productive cities...

It's only worth hiring Specialists if what they'll produce will outweigh what you'll lose by taking them off a tile, with respect to Beakers/ Taxes/ Happyfaces. For example, if you have SCI%-boosting buildings like Libs and Unis in a core-town and are running SCI%=100%, losing 2-3 commerce per turn (under Rep/Demo) just to gain 3 Beakers per turn from a Scientist likely isn't worth it, because you'd have got 4-6 Beakers from the Commerce+Buildings. A similar consideration applies to TAX%-boosting buildings (Markets and Banks) vs. Taxmen -- there the deal is even worse. And let's not even talk about Clowns...

Under other govs though (apart from Communism), using Specialists may be useful. But Republic is the best all-round gov in C3C.

OTOH, regardless of Gov (apart from Communism) in more marginal/corrupt towns (where you won't build many -- if any -- multiplier-buildings) the trade-off may be more beneficial, especially if that citizen would otherwise be unhappy/ cause the town to riot. That's part of the rationale behind 'beaker/gold-farming', where you just irrigate, and then turn the 'surplus' citizens into Specialists.

X-posted with Tusker, but I decided to post this without edits anyway. Then I'm going to go kick some butt...

 

[Elephantium]

X-posted with Tusker, but I decided to post this without edits anyway. Then I'm going to go kick some butt...

Go get 'em!

 

[robbus]

thanks tjs for the thoughtful reply.

 

[tjs282]

I'll edit this (or make a new post) tomorrow to add all the gory details, but for now, know this:

Military:

It's 650 AD (Turn 180). We are (still) at war with everyone except Ozzie and Hanni, and our borders have expanded considerably.

Cut-and-spliced minimap, 650 AD:

As you can see (if you look hard!), the Dutch are now down to their last town. The only reason Breda is still unconquered is because Willy was too lazy to build roads to it, so it took my entire 10T to get units (healed and) up there -- the next player (Lanzelot?) will have the honour of administering our coup de grace. If anyone wonders why I sent Zerks overland to Breda, it's because there were 4 or 5 Dromons floating about in the Gulf of Amsterdam at the time: I therefore sailed 3-4 of our Galleys without passengers down towards Delft/Maastricht, with the intention of picking up the Zerks again on the northern coast.

Unfortunately, most of those boats didn't make it (including a couple of loaded boats that I'd hoped would be safe under the rest of the stack ), but I did sink a few Dromons, and the remainder are damaged and retreating. Replacement Galleys+Zerks are following them, although the sea-lanes are not yet completely secure -- the Aztecs are also sailing Galleys northeast along the former Dutch coast (but have not landed anything on our coasts during my set).

The Arabs are already on the ropes. They have nothing better than Spears and Archers, and despite their FreeWalls, I have taken 5 towns (Najran auto-razed) using Zerks and Knights, with only 1 or 2 Zerk-losses. Conversely, I have not prosecuted the Byzzie war as aggressively as I might perhaps have done, partly because of the troop disposition I inherited (high number of empty Galleys on the western fringes, but insufficient Zerks to fill them), and partly due to my own timidity/incompetence. I have only taken 4 Byzzie cities so far, and I have only held onto Baghdad -- I gifted the other 3 to Ozzie within 1-2T after capture, to save us having to defend them -- but Chalcedon should be capture-able next turn as well, with any luck.

I did not keep a running record of kills to deaths, but apart from the sunken boats, I'm pretty sure that I killed more units (mostly on attack) than I lost (mostly on defence, although I did have at least one moment: a healthy eKnight died attacking an Arab rArcher on flat ground). There is good news though -- mainly thanks to the Arabs' feebleness, I got 5 MGLs during my set! I have turned all of them into Armies, giving us 6 Armies in total: we now have 2 v+eKnight-Armies (healing) near Baghdad, 2 new Zerk-Armies, and an unloaded fifth Army in St.Pete's. I would suggest putting Knights into it, to defend our northern (former Russian/Dutch) coast against Byzzie landings. I have not started a Pentagon-build yet (because I wanted to use the GA-shields for Zerking), but if we keep getting MGLs at this rate, we can 1-turn it...

Of the new Zerk-Armies, the second is currently healing in Trondheim (after just teleporting home from Nicomedia). The third one was just built/loaded, and has only 7HP; it's waiting near Medina, along with the first Zerk-Army (13HP) that I made from Chox's MGL, and a stack of v+eKnights. Medina's border just popped, giving us easier access to Mecca. I would suggest capturing it next turn if possible: it is at only Pop4, and has the GWall, so taking it will not only deprive the Arabs of their FreeWalls, it will also give them to us instead, since we have not got Chem --> Metallurgy yet. After that, the remaining Arab cities should fall pretty quickly.

Science/Economy:

As you might have gathered, I did no research on my set, anticipating that we will get whatever techs are widely known from the GLib if/when we decide we want it/them. Since we're at war with everyone, it's difficult to know what's out there, but I do know that the Carthaginians have got as far as Navigation -- when Dora finished Leo's, Hanni cascaded to Magellans!

At 90-100% TAX%, we were making >500 GPT during the GA, so I have spent quite freely on short-rushing (mostly Zerks and some Knights) in the core and cash-rushing in the lower-shield fringe towns, but we still have plenty left over. And even though our GA just ended we are still making >350 GPT (I just raised LUX% to keep our citizens gainfully employed over this IBT, so we can get more than this), so the next player should be able to continue rushing pretty much whatever we feel like having throughout their set. Nothing really needs it urgently this IBT, IMHO (but YMMV!). Also as a result of the GA ending, several cities are going to overrun their builds this IBT -- but not by much. Ongoing Harbours and Rax-builds in captured towns can be switched to whatever (Galleys or Trebs?), although having a Rax in Medina will be helpful, because there was/is a big stack of M=1 Byzzie units headed our way (last seen just south of Tver about 5T ago, just before I gifted it to Ozzie), and they may be arriving very soon.

Workers/Settlers:

In general, lone Slaves on unroaded tiles were left to get on with whatever Chox set them to do, but where I could stack Workers to finish jobs quicker without losing Worker-turns, I did so. The Workers that were mining the southern Tundra have been joined to Odense, K'jok (I just rushed Markets in both towns to keep them happy), and Hareid, and the last one is waiting to join Alesund. I belatedly realised though, that I hadn't checked whether any of those Tundra-tiles could still have been forested for chop-shields -- if so, then the Galley-builds in those towns could be switched to additional Workers to do that. In the north, as Workers/Slaves became available, I began irrigating our conquered Dutch territory as planned, but there is still plenty to do (Eindhoven could really do with having its Plains irrigated).

If the northeast corner is going to be farmed(?), then Jungle will need to be chopped, roaded and irrigated from R'dam to The Hague and beyond, but I had insufficient spare Workers in the vicinity to start doing that yet. There is one Settler currently in transit to northern (ex-)Holland, intended to plant a town on the Hill 3SW of Breda. The far eastern Dutch Jungle-towns could get road-connections to the Harbour in Maastricht, but I didn't have the Worker-power to do much of that (and the Byzzies bombed one section of the road, which is being replaced). More Slaves (or Settlers) could be rushed out of R'dam and A'dam, if wished.

I did make (at least) one dumb mistake, and that was to build Holwerd's Gems-Colony too early. Because that left only 1 Slave (until I could rush another) to chop the Forest, that job only just got finished, and the exposed (Plains) tile is currently being roaded -- should be done in ~2T, and then the Harbour-build's remaining shields can be cash-rushed (for our 6th Lux).

Savegame is below. Nighty-night.

 

[choxorn]

Wow, 5 MGL's?? That's amazing! With that kind of luck we'll conquer our home continent in no time!

 

[tjs282]

The gory details...

Spoiler Turns 170.5-175 :

T 170, 550 AD
Pre-turn:
CAII on, Animations off, Renegotiate deals off
Multiple Pike-builds in captured towns switched to Galleys, Workers, Settlers
Many boats, but not enough Zerks to put them on...
Maces queued up for short-rushes to Zerks
Stockholm Knight-build switched to Palace-prebuild for HE (7T at 26 SPT)
Utrecht Knights sent south towards Kufah, whose Knights need to be healed or evac'd
Gunpowder bought from Hanni for Dyes, Furs, and 16 GPT. That should keep him friendly...
Aaaand... we have Salt by Groaning'em!
IBT
Dromon sinks just-unloaded Galley near Haarlem -- boooo!
Another firebombs the landed Zerks, knocking off 2HP
Bergen: Knight --> Zerk (3T at 27 SPT, wastes 11s but can't MM tiles yet)
Birka, Aarhus: Zerk --> Settler for Zerk short-rush (3T at 21 SPT)
Stav: Knight --> Mace prebuild for Zerk short-rush (2T at 34 SPT)
Odense Duct --> Zerk (18T at 4 SPT, 4T to Pop7)

T 171, 560 AD
Inwaeer and e*Zerk retreated to Amsterdam to form Zerk-Army, since there are now no convenient targets near Holwerd
@ Haarlem: Uninjured Zerk captures Dutch Worker, Dromon-damaged Zerk retreats towards Maastricht
@ M'burg: Zerks kill 2 Spears without injury, capturing the town (0 gold stolen); Galley docks (LBM nearby) --> Harbour (30T, growth in 20T)
3 Galleys in A'dam return to E'hoven to pick up Zerks due from core-cities
@ R'dam: vKnight kills rMusket (1/4), 4 eKnights needed to kill 3 rSpears (no losses, 2 redlined); Zerk finishes off LBM, and the town (2 Slaves, but 0g) is ours, Willy escapes to The Hague; injured units fortified --> Settler (30T)
Zerks come down from their Mountain to be loaded in Galleys
vKnights kill LBM near The Hague
3/5 Zerk captures Dutch Workers near H'werd, Galley brings them back there (to chop Harbour and Colonise Gems)
@ Molde: Galley + vZerk docks, 2nd vZerk rushed there for 140g to fill the boat before it leaves, Harbour queued
@ Aarhus, 2nd galley loads 2 Zerks
All newly built Knights sent south to Kufah, ready for the Arab invasion
vGalley sent to investigate Tver -- it's guarded by a vSpear...
2 Slaves cash-rushed (~50g) in various captured Pop2 towns
GAME SAVED
3 vPikes upgraded (270g)
Mace short-rushed in Oslo (8g), switched to Zerk (now 2T not 3T)
IBT
Dromons start firebombing our coasts (near M'stricht, Tromso, O'burg)
Zerk on Mountain near Haarlem fights off Dutch LBM -- just
Trond -->2T-Zerks
St.Pete, Khab: Slave --> Treb
R'dam riots, dammit
Molde Rax --> Zerk
Carthaginians build SisChap in Utica!
Ottos begin Leos
Byzzies begin CopsObs, Leos -- and CopsObs again...?!?

T 172, 570 AD
Short-rush various Settlers/Maces --> Zerks (1-2T)
vKnight rides down Byzzie LBM near St.Pete's, promotes (5/5)
vZerk chops down Dutch LBM near H'lem
Inwaeer's Holwerd Hellions formed (v+v+e*Zerks, 13HP) in A'dam , heads north to attack The Hague
R'dam evac'd: 2 injured eKnights towards St Pete's, 1/4 vKnights + vZerk to A'dam, 2/5 eKnight fortifies outside
Boats now ready to start loading up Zerks for the next pushes
Quick skim though the towns to set up next short-rush projects
IBT
Dromons firebomb+ sink a few Galleys docked in outlying towns
R'dam starves to order
Utrecht Rax --> Zerk
G'gen Settler --> Slave (3T)
Yakutsk Worker --> Worker (10T, Pop2 in 4T)
Various Zerks and Galleys built
Aztecs begin Leos
Byzzies build CopsObs in Varna!

T 173, 580 AD
New Settler sent north to fill the desert hole between The Hague and Kazan
4 fully-loaded Galleys set off from A'dam, to head round the horn (I'll drop off the Zerks in Holwerd though -- they'll be safer walking north)
@ The Hague: Inwaeer easily smashes rSpear, vKnight kills rSpear, and the town (+1g) is ours! --> Harbour
Remining v+eKnights head north for Willy's northern enclaves
Stockholm switched to Heroic Epic (3T)
Galleys set sail from Bryansk+ Vladi, to begin assaulting Byzzie coast
@ Amorium: both Spears killed without loss, town captured (0g), Galleys dock, Spear outside town also killed, remaining Zerks fortified vs rArcher that will attack next turn
@ Tver, 1st zerk dies to vSpear, 2nd Zerk kills him,capturing town (+Slave), but revealing ACav directly inland! Slave evac'd, Tver immediately gifted to Ozzie to save our Zerk
GAME SAVED
Incense from The Hague gives us our 5th Lux, so LUX% can go to 0% as well (+562 GPT)
With so much income, and already over 2100g in the Kitty, profligacy beckons: I blow 1300g cash-rushing Zerks(plus a vMusket in A'dam) in all semi-core Rax-towns which already have some shields in the box
IBT
Amorium's Zerk kills the Archer, but ACavs are incoming...
TheHague starves

T 174, 590 AD
Zerks loaded in the homeland, and Galleys sent north towards the soon to be ex-Dutch peninsula, and west towards the Arab south coast and Byzzie east coast
Amorium evac'd and gifted to Ozzie, but not before we see a large stack of M=1 Byzzie units heading south
The Byzzie-stacks are high enough for our troops to do shore-raids on their way north: 2 ACavs and 1 Horse are redlined, 4th vZerk kills 1 redlined ACav for promotion
Gems colonised near Holwerd, 3/5 Zerk moves to guard it from potential Aztec landings/ stray Dutch LBMs
Inwaeer begins heading south (5T to Kufah), v+eKnights arrive outside Kazan
@ Haarlem: vZerks kill 2 rSpears for 1 promotion, and the town (+2 Slaves) --> Harbour
Arab task-force is ready: Knight-stack moves towards Medina, Galleys set sail from Kufah and K'jok
@ Basra: vZerk dies, rZerk promoted killing 2 Spears (Arabs have GWall), capturing town (0g)
LUX% raised again to prevent riots (but not starvation) in A'dam, switched to build Slave (5T)
IBT
Dromons firebomb Delft, killing 1 citizen
Arabs want to talk already. Nope.
Basra riots

T 175, 600 AD
Zerks unloaded at Holwerd for the trek north to Breda (Willy's last holdout), Galleys start south again
@ Medina: v+eKnights kill 3 Spears, 1 Archer (1 vKnight lost, 1 promoted) and capture town (+2 Slaves), remaining Knights moved in (Carthaginian Warrior blocking the road) --> Slave
Near Amorium, sea-raiding Zerks unhorse ACav + rHorse, Galleys+Zerks move further north -- next stop, Nicomedia
Basra mostly evac'd to minimise troop-loss if it flips -- 3/4 Zerk stays to prevent lone Arab Spear from re-taking the town
@ Kazan: Knights take down 2 rSpears, leaving 1 LBM; Knights (2HP each) retreat outside borders (Zerks will arrive overland soon)
GAME SAVED
4/5 Knight sent to help with the attack on Kazan
IBT
Hanni politely asks us to sail away. OK then... For now...
As thanks for his understanding, I gouge him 30g+13GPT for our Silks
G'gen Slave --> Rax (10T, Pop2 in 5T)
Basra starves
Stockholm builds HE! --> Zerk (3T at 26 SPT)
Holwerd --> Harbour (30T, but will get chop-shields)
Carthage begins MagVoy! (Navi)
Byzzies build Leos in Smyrna!

Spoiler Turns 176-180.5 :

T 176, 610 AD
Byzzie Dromons have arrived off the coast near A'dam, so Galleys+Zerks heading for Holwerd change course and head south down ex-Dutch coast
@ Kazan: Dutch got no new defender; 4/5 eKnight tramples LBM, capturing the town (0g); injured v+eKnights move in --> Worker (10T, Pop3 in 20T)
Zerks head for Breda
Tundra-miners sent to join Odense (-->Pop11) and Bodo(-->Pop6?)
GAME SAVED
Workers arrive to connect Kufah to Arabia
Worker (36g) and Settler (116) rushed in Basra and Medina to prevent further starvation (towns set to riot instead)
@ Medina: eKnights expunge 3 Arab rArchers, and Hubba appears! Army formed, v+vKnights loaded, Army joins Hubba's e*Knight on (unroaded) Hill; vKnight kills 4th Archer towards Mecca (?) for promotion
Zerk-builds in Stav, Alesund, Bergen, Oslo and Stockholm switched to vKnights -- for the next MGL-Army!
@ Najran: vZerks slaughter 2 Spears without loss, but the town autorazes
@ Nicomedia: 1 vMusket killed, rMusket unscathed, 2 vZerks (of 3) lost; eZerks will wait for reinforcements (next turn)
GAME SAVED
Yekburg's citizens go fishing for more CPT, less SPT (Market due in 1T, with a lot of overrun)
Settler rushed in A'dam, and town set to riot without starving
IBT
Dromons near A'dam double-back, and sink 4 Galleys, including 2 carrying Zerks ; Galley (hopefully unladen?) near Najran's ruins also sunk
Najran's pillager rdefeats 1 Arab Archer, dies to 2nd
A'dam + Medina riot: Settler --> Slave (10T, once riot is quelled)
Yek'burg: Market --> Galley (2T under GA)
Basra riots: Slave --> Slave (10T)
Carthaginians build MagVoy in Theveste!

T 177, 620 AD
Workers sent to join Alesund (-->Pop9)
2 damaged Dromons sunk near Delft, but 3rd repels our boarders -- Zerks dropped off in Delft to keep them safe from the 4th Dromon
Harbour rushed (16g) in Eindhoven for more food/vGalleys
@Nicomedia: vZerk redlines rMusket, eZerks chop down rSpear and 1/3 Musket, and Erik BloodAxe appears! vZerk defeats redlined ACav, and Nicomedia is ours! --> Settler (30T) (10T)
All Galleys with MP docked and unloaded, then sent back out to sea, Army formed, loaded with 2 vZerks (6 HP) and used to capture 4 Byzzie Slaves from nearby Hills: 2 Slaves immediately loaded on a Galley for transport across the channel next turn
A'dam's new Settler sent north to build on Hill between Kazan and Breda, which should have falllen by the time he gets there
@ Medina: e*Knight joins his Army, and fells approaching Byzzie rSpear + rArcher; eKnights kill 2nd Byzzie rArcher, and Arab rSpear
Zerks rushed (~500g) in K'jok, Hareid and Molde
IBT
Dromon sinks unloaded Galley near M'stricht
Byzzie LBM attacks Zerk-Army, reducing it to 3HP!
Monty wanna powwow. Nope.
We can build the Pentagon!
E'hoven Harbour --> Galley (15T)
Basra riots
Core-towns now building their last GA-powered Zerks (GA ends in 2T)

T 178, 630 AD
Workers join Odense (Pop11, and still growing): it will need a Market (11T)
Nicomedia evac'd: Slaves sent back towards Vladi, Army loaded with e*Zerk and moved to Hill on Carthage-borders, where it should be safe from Byzzie fast-units; e+vZerks join him there -- don't want to lose them to flips before the next 2 Galley-fulls arrive (in 2T)
rGalley from Fustat redlines vDromon near Risor, but can't quite sink it...
eKnight near Medina flattens Byzzie rSpear
@ Anjar: vZerks storm the town, killing 2 rSpears + rArcher without loss (but without gain either) --> Settler (30T), because Abu built the town right under a Volcano...
Galley holding 'spent' Zerks docks in Anjar for R+R, other 2 Galleys head for Fustat
Colonel Effthree says the best Arab unit is now a Spear(!)
Zerk in Basra spots Settler+Spear nearby, and enSlaves a few more Arabs -- directly outside Mecca, as it turns out. 2 Knights will arrive to cover them next turn, if they survive...
Zerk-Army from Holwerd (+ vKnight) has finally arrived at Medina, which will pop in 2T, which should push our borders close enough to Mecca for fast-units to attack from our side
Knight-Army moves to Baghdad's (Byzzie) borders, eKnights join him, (combat) Settler follows behind
IBT
vZerk guarding Arab Slaves defeats 2 Archers! (3/5)
Reyk rZerk--> Rax (1T, under GA)
Smolensk Harbour --> Galley (30T)
Nico (combat) Settler --> Harbour (30T); 2 ACavs arrived from Chalcedon!

T 179, 640 AD
@ Nicomedia: 2 Zerks lost, eZerk and Zerk-Army redlined killing 2 ACavs! Just hope that was the last of them!
@ Rotterdam: vKnight dies, eKnight kills landed ACav
Karistad founded between TheHague and Kazan --> Harbour (30T)
Damaged Dromons are retreating: loaded Galleys sent up the east coast towards Delft
Batsfjord founded on Baghdad's borders--> Harbour (30T)
@ Baghdad: Knight Army chops down vSpear, eKnight tramples rSpear, capturing the town (+1 Slave); 3/5 Knight kills Arab Archer, and Leif Eriksson appears! Army formed, but only 1vKnight is close enough to load
The Hellions chop down a 2nd Arab rArcher in Forest near Batsfjord, but it takes 2 eKnights (1 dead) to kill a 3rd lousy Arab rArcher in the Desert -- at least we get Canute from it!
2 Workers joined to K'jok (-->Pop10), 1 each sent on to Hareid and Alesund
Galley loads 2 vZerks in Anjar, sails on; empty vGalley sails back to protect rGalley+Zerks from redlined Dromon
@ Fustat: 2 vZerks kill rSpears, 1 promotes (2/5), and the town (0g) is ours. Galley with 1 MP left docks
IBT
Dutch LBM kills vZerk outside Breda. It'll be the last thing he ever does...
Our GA officially ends
Medina: Slave --> Rax (20T), and our Arab conquests are finally connected to our Luxes!

T 180, 650 AD
@ Nicomedia: Byzzie units have arrived outside, and I'm not confident that I can fight them off with what I have in the vicinity. Combat Settler and 1/5 Zerk evac'd south, away from Byzzie Dromon, redlined Zerk-Army moved in, and Nicomedia is gifted to Ozzie, to teleport it home. Cheap trick, but I don't care. Armies are too valuable.
Zerks near Nico (and Knights/Horses from former west Russia) sail on towards Chalcedon
@ Breda: Zerk kills LBM, Zerks+Knights arrive outside the town -- they can attack next turn
Zerk-Armies and Knights stacked near Mecca -- they can attack next turn
Knight-Armies protect Baghdad from Arab incoming (if any). Knights that aren't needed for Mecca can attack the northern Arab cities in 2T
eKnight fells Byzzie Knight outside StPete's, and Healfdeane appears! This is getting ridiculous! Army formed in StPetes, but not loaded yet
Markets rushed in Odense and Alesund (~450g, but then both can reach Pop12 -- WW is finally kicking in -- but the Dutch war should be over next turn...)
LUX% to 20% to keep the core-citizens gainfully employed
Galleys leave Fustat for Khurasan
IBT
...?

 

[Lanzelot]

Well, the game is taking shape now, isn't it... Looks like the Heroic Epic payed off big time!
However, I would have liked one of our many MGLs getting converted into the Pentagon. How about the next one? We are using all our Armies on land, right? So the extra unit really makes a difference. (Some more wumms... )

Am I up already? I have bad news: I'm pretty busy for the next couple of days, so won't be able to play until Thursday. If that is ok with everybody?

 

[tjs282]

However, I would have liked one of our many MGLs getting converted into the Pentagon. How about the next one? We are using all our Armies on land, right? So the extra unit really makes a difference. (Some more wumms... )

I just knew you were going to say that Yes, the next MGL should rush the Pentagon -- if for no other reason than right now we haven't got enough convenient vUnits to fill all the Armies we've got already -- though that should change in the next couple of turns! (TBH, I should probably have rushed Pentagon with the MGL in St.Pete's but I was just ing about all the Armies I could build).

One important thing to note from my set: a 2-Zerk-Army with >6HP on a Hill-tile was not safe from an AI-LBM attack (A=4), so a better defender(s) (Musket(s), or Knight-Army) should definitely be used as cover.

 

[robbus]

redlined Zerk-Army moved in, and Nicomedia is gifted to Ozzie, to teleport it home. Cheap trick, but I don't care. Armies are too valuable

What does this mean?

Excellent work btw!

 

[tjs282]

redlined Zerk-Army moved in, and Nicomedia is gifted to Ozzie, to teleport it home. Cheap trick, but I don't care. Armies are too valuable

What does this mean?

Exactly what it sounds like: when you gift a city away to another civ, any units you have stationed there get instantly teleported back to your capital. In this case, the Zerk-Army I'd obtained during the battle for Nicomedia, which was at that point down to 2HP after fighting an ACav on a Hill (A>6 vs. D=3 -- go figure): I couldn't ship it out, and it wouldn't have survived a march, so teleporting was the only option.

The Byzzies had just marched 4(?) Units (Spear, LBM, Horse, Archer, IIRC) right outside Nico/next to the Army, and having just lost 2 Zerks (and redlined a 3rd) to the ACavs, I had very little chance of killing all of that next wave with what I had left (a 2/13 HP Army and a 1/5 HP eZerk).

If I had not used this trick, I would likely have lost that Army on the next IBT. As it is, Lanz(?) should now be able to send it, fully-healed, to Arabia on his next turn.

Excellent work btw!

Thankyou. Lanzelot still had some criticisms though, so it wasn't perfect...