TMcC01 - Narcissistic Nehru (C3C, AWM)

Originally posted by T_McC
We've come a long way since we were wondering which of our restrictions would be most responsible for our loss. :goodjob:
Nice quote!
I'm almost giddy with win anticipation!:D
 
I was thinking we may want the hill too [Edit: for the return of deerburg]. The previous location was definitely a problem.

It seemed a good turn to be agressive. We finally had the armies and troops to do some damage, our GA to build troops, as well as a window of opportunity before the AI got gunpowder. Attack Jumbo and MDI armies can do a very good job at taking out spear and pike guarded cities.

My goal was to remove the eastern front entirely; something I think we will be able to do fairly quickly. The Byzantines are being crushed by the two armies. My plan was to eliminate all other cities and then go for the capitol last.

The chinese are less important to remove I think. The bottleneck will hold them. The army in the chinese area originally went to pillage, but he got carried away. It wasn't me honest :D

On the other hand, stopping the Riders might not be a bad thing, It is probably worth attacking more cities if we are careful with our health.

In the last turn I realize I mentioned the bad RNG luck, but not the good - Our armies did extremely well when attacking cities, sometimes not being damaged enough to slow them down. In general, I tried to be careful to keep their hit points up, so as to minimize the chance of losing them. The only unlucky battle was not against a town at all, but rather against a knight on the western front. That is how we lost the one sword army.

I think at this point only the Egyptians are really slowing down our ability to go on the offensive [Edit: in the west]. If we can get 2 armies pillaging them, we will have only longbows to deal with, which will be very easy. I do want to get to them before rifles as that would slow our progress a good bit.

Have fun with the game TMcC. I suggest going for the rapid kill of the Byzantines and get rid of those annoying Dromons. Avoid putting your army on the coast whenever possible until you do as it will get seriously bombarded by the numerous Dromon.
 
Too bad about Deerburg, I never had too many problems there (but that was with the sword army), but overall a great set of turns. I can't wait until this comes back to me.
 
TMcC01 - Tonight We're Gonna Rock You

1430 AD (0)
Firstly, the GA started on Yom's 9th turn. So he got 1, Handy got 5, Greebley got 11 turns. The GA should end between my 3rd and 4th turns. So three turns of GA production, then it ends. We aren't running a lux tax, so there won't be end-of-GA riots, but I will have to watch out for us going bankrupt if our treasury is too low entering the 4th turn.

Now to cry havoc and let slip the dogs of MM. We start in T-Ville. Building a settler now would drop the city below size 7 and cost us money. It gets switched to a Musket. Ganges has tiles swapped so the worker being built doesn't disband the city. Eventually it will go, but as a settler. Bangadrum swaps to a worker, as its musket won't complete for 20 turns. Using the worker to chop forest will finish it much sooner. Chinatown is not corrupt enough to need a courthouse yet, and swaps to a granary. Nehruvia swaps tiles around to complete Jumbo in 2 instead of 3. Re-arrange tiles around Indy so it will pop the settler after growing to size 10, letting it re-start at size 8. Swap Indus to Walls. Gas Station to MDI, we need to re-build our offensive troops in the west, and Gas Station is not pulling enough shields to build Jumbos. Yom's Folly swapped off of Settler, onto Jumbo, because when out of GA city can be configured to build settler in 2, but not able to build Jumbo in 4. Also swap tiles so Jumbo completes in 2. Dromon swaps to Granary, as building worker would disband the city. Irontown doesn't need a Courthouse, swaps to MDI. Hail Vishnu will complete its aqueduct, but then be stuck at size 6 for lack of food. Note to self, next project is a harbor. 7-Eleven swaps to musket. Believe it or not, that's all the cities. Nothing like a pre-turn that lasts for an hour!

General plan: Finish the Byz, eliminate the possibility of Riders, and re-build our Western attack force. Will settle in the east, except for the settler/army pair bound for Deerberg. Want to get Chittagong set up to produce settlers for most of the rest of the eastern locations. Get a 7th army to bonk the Mayans, it appears they have some of our workers and Trebuchet.

IT - Lose two units, see two Egyptian Knights. Have to find their horses. [0-2]

1435 AD (1)
Found EastBound. Hurry Walls in Dacca. Not sure this is gonna hold. Attack Aztec city with Elite Jumbo, and pop a leader. There goes another army, and our defense problems on the western border will last about 2 turns, until I can get those folks over there. [1-2]

1440 AD (2)
Ignore the Mayans. Kill one unit on IT, see more Egyptian Knights. Must find Horses. Deviate Thea from her Septum. [5-2]

1445 AD (3)
Last turn of GA. Lose two more units on the IT. Extension cities really shouldn't be founded without an army for initial defense, we're going to lose Dacca. Science dialed down two notches to not go bankrupt on the IT. Found South Push on hill. [9-4]

1450 AD (4)
GA ends. Best science rate is Chemistry in 5 at +14 gpt. Raze Sardica. Jumbo Army is now in Dacca. Crosses fingers that it is not the 1st defender, as it only currently has only one unit in it. I think the Egyptian horses are in their Southwest.

1455 AD (5)
Lost a turn somewhere in here.

1460 AD (6)
Burn Adrianople. Build Madras. Clear out the riff-raff at Dacca.

1465 AD (7)
Begin assault on Caesarea.

1470 AD (8)
MAJOR EVENT! American Cavalry. :eek: Kill both with army. Caesarea burns. Load up a Jumbo army and burn Ua... .

1475 AD (9)
No new cavs. Isolate Teotihuacan, which was built on Saltpeter, hopefully cutting off whatever trade was occurring.

1480 AD (10)
Thea wants to talk. Right. :rolleyes: Begin assault on Constantinople. Burn Mayan city of Bonampak. Recover 4 Trebuchet and 3 of our workers. The Mayans are 5CC now.

1485 AD (11)
I'm unintentionally being a very bad boy. :nono: Because I'm moving the armies, the Mayans in particular are running around in circles because their target is always shifting. Stupid AI. Make up your mind and attack! First things first: Three army victories and the damn shore bombardment ends. The Weak Byznantines have been eliminated. Burn the Mayan city of Tulum. Kill two slaves on the spot, I don't want to slow the army down.

Final Notes: We have two settlers active, one should re-found Constantinople on the spot, and maybe the other goes for the horse tile in the NE. Not terribly important, this is just land towards the domination limit. The Spear army is parked on the American horses. If that is their only one, no more cav. The sword army is doing pseudo-random damage to the Egyptians. I can't tell from where they are getting horses. The MDI armies should stay in the east to keep other civs out of our land, and because China is not completely neutered. The Jumbo army should add a 4th and go west, to put an end to the Mayans and Aztecs, and to eliminate any threat Cavalry might pose. The Egyptians have shifted focus to the north, but it is not apparent exactly where. No move 1 units should ever be a threat, but Knights keep the workers on their toes. Final city count: us +2, them -8

Armies West!

Slinger is up, and I don't expect Smoke Jaguar to survive the turns. Although no need to force it, we're due for another army, and if you have 4 Jumbo armies on the scene, well ....
 
I think it might be worth slowly filling the back lands with towns. It keeps track of enemy landings and provides us with more unit support and keeps the other civs from having a supply base to work from. Corrupt towns can perhaps build some settlers.

Oh I vote that we play for Conquest rather than Domination due to the variant. It seems much more appropriate.
 
Pictures and Commentary:

TMcC01_1485AD_NW.JPG


Our Northwest. I am not sure where the Egyptians are going, but they are definitely sending troops north, while the Americans head for the South. If they continue it will make defense much easier for us. A few potential city sites when we start to raze cities and move the front towards the Egyptians. I might go for the dot SE of the Egyptian knight first, defended by an army, just to establish a definite target. Not terribly confident of that choice, but you have to pick something. Biggest benefit to pushing the front a little west is that then we can get some safe labor done behind the lines. That area needs it, due to the significant overlap of our cities.

TMcC01_1485AD_SW.JPG


Our Southwest. The army is out-and-about pillaging roads in advance of the American cavalry. Leaving three unroaded tiles in front of South Push gives the Americans a definite target and no way to actually attack it without playing defense first. The army can fall back once the roads have been pillaged. Be aware, there are cavalry coming, the pillaging armies saw them. The blue dot was on the Northwest map also, the red dots are potential new cities once the Mayans are gone. The SW dot would immediately become the focus of the Americans, and is on a hill and behind a river. Also visible in this picture is a bunch of wandering Mayan Longbows.

And finally a zoomed-out pic of the east.
TMcC01_1485AD_E.JPG


Note the American city. There are also two American slaves S of the choke that I just obtained. I think it would be wise to keep both MDI armies in the East, so we can more easily get away with 1 military unit/city. If we have to more heavily garrison, the advantage to unit support costs for additional cities vanishes. The Jumbo army can head west and join the fight against the Egyptians and Americans. The two red dots are where I was going to settle if I had continued to play. I think Chittagong can very easily bleed settlers to fill in the eastern empire. Will probably have to be supplemented by one of the larger cities, but should still be good for 4/5 settlers.

I honestly can't figure out how the Egyptians are building Knights and the Americans are building Cavs. I fear there is another island that the Americans and Egyptians have settled, and the island is providing the "missing" resources. Probably worth some diplo espionage, at least on the Americans (since they have fewer visible cities). China may have been trading horses to the Egyptians, if the visible island has horses under the fog.
 
There was another possibility for the American Saltpeter: Egypt had 2, and might have been able to initiate a trade before Thebes was disconnected. Or maybe the Chinese have 2 salts on that island. I think there had to be some trades, because the Egyptians only now showed up with mounted units. Hopefully we can keep the trade routes closed, and force both the Americans and Egyptians to eschew Cavalry.
 
This just in from our "spies"

There is a significant island in the South Central portion of the map. (best guess, head south from PETA, then West)

The Americans have 5 cities on the island. The Chinese don't have saltpeter. The Egyptians currently do not have Saltpeter, Horses, or Iron, due to their capital being disconnected. Keep up the pillaging! Nothing like an Industrial-Age Longbow rush! It also appears as though the Egyptians have a city on that mystery island.

The French have two cities on the, by now, other continent. (Room for 8 cities?)

Edit: Greebley is right (and I was in the first draft of this post :rolleyes: ), Abe has 4 cities on the island. I forgot to count Cincinnati.
 
I thought of an easy way to check. We can see 11 American cities, but America has a total of 14. Therefore there are other cities we cannot see which in turn probably means america can still make Cavalry in any city connected to the coast (and horses).

It appears we have cut the capitol from Saltpeter, but the coastal cities near our Spear should all be able to build Cav (if they have horses).

Tracing trade routes is very difficult with our pillaging....

[Edit: We both had the same idea and crossposted. I think they have 4 on the island? That works if I didn't count the capitol in my 14 cities and you didn't count the city to the E of us]
 
1485AD – The rise in power since I have been gone is admirable. I begin with an F4. Egypt has no horses and no salt. America has NO salt but horses. I don’t know what all the hub-bub was about but they are soon done. I have not looked at the game as yet but if we have armies near those resources of theirs, and keep them near, they are done for. Next step is to check cities for rioting. None found. Nice! Dirty dozen is the only one I see that is on the fence with 5-5 on happiness. From previous reports we are doing OK militarily so I switch to settler due in 1 with no shield loss. To resources our enemies have we are on the 1 horse resource for America. The Egyptians have a salt which is disconnected. I think we have them there and I fell confident going in. Do I have any movement/kills left? No, but I move one pike out of irontown to hill to force 2 egypt pikes into flatland. Then I see a knight that can take him out. He is still only 43% so I think he’ll survive.F8 looks pretty good with us climbing and more cities due. I have two settlers ready to drop and hopefully another Jumbo army ready to go after that, if a leader shows up. I see a Cincinnati scourge in our backlines that will have to be removed. Our backlines lead me to feel a palce jump coming so I think spacing to optimum will be important. Nothing really looks good though. I think resettling S of old Byz capital would be good though. 3 tile spacing can be left behind for a new capital. It may be advanced thinking doing this but we may end this earlier than when we can get full effect of a moved capital.

IT – The pike I moved to control the hill at 57% loses and the enemy takes the hill.
Indy-Muskey>WE
Indus-Walls>Temple for increasing size
Equine-Musket>WE
Dirty12-Settler>WE
We get the final upper floor on our palace. Nehru is pleased with his strategy.

[1]1490AD We take out a settler for two slaves. Kill 4 slaves for our barracks in S Push. I kill 2 more leaving a ¾ LB on hill in question. Many other lives taken. I’m feeling an offensive push coming on! Settlers move for placings and we continue.

IT- We kill one knight in Indus. No other attacks. Tey are scrambling. We get 3 ZOC hits out of the Egypt army.
Madras-walls> temple
GH-Musket>WE
Ganges-worker>worker

[2]1495AD – Kill a unit and through a small sliver there are 3 LB’s ready to pounce. Rush the barracks in Dacca for 100g. Time to rock in the West. I reposition and fortify for upcoming offensive.

IT- I finnaly see the cavalry as 2 of them kill one of our armies after an extended battle. I lose another Jumbo to the 3 LB’s mentioned above.
Dehli-Court>Market
Dacca-Brax>Temple
T;ville-Musket>Musket

[3]1500AD – Calcutta gets planted near ex-Byz capital. Indus is surrounded and may bite it. Wish I would have seen it coming. We’ll see. A few deaths for them.

IT- The attack in Indus is only by a knight which we kill. There is a group of 1 move guys attacking next IT.
Pune-Walls>Temple
Chinatown-Trebuckey-Trebuckey

[4]1505- the army I moved over to Indus kills 2 and the WE that was there kills 1 and that leaves 3 ¾ LB’s. I think it will survive now. Those Jumbo’s have nice mobility. In Cincinnati we kill 2 pikes losing 3hp. It’s going down next turn with a LB on top. Nanking loses a pike and will hopefully go down next turn too. A WE saves my but when I move 6 workers near 7-11 and then realize that was a Mayan Pike sitting there next to them.

IT- The cavalry shows up again and we retreat 1 and lose a pike in Dacca. That has to stop.
Nehru-WE>WE
Take5-Brax?>Temple
SugarP-WE>WE
Yom-WE-settler at 10 pop due in 2

[5]1510AD – Nanking is razed. There is a new settlement next to it that the Chinese planted last IT. It’s next. Cincinnati is razed getting 15g. Funny how since I started playing this game my respect for Lincoln has gone in the toilet. :smile: Our pillaging army takes on a musket in tours at 93% and is now 7/19. He may take down the pike next turn and claim the 1st Egyptian city. Chicken Pizza loses 3 pikes. Jeepers is founded in the N.

IT- Dammit, a cav takes out the 7/19 sword army. I NEED some leaders now. No builds.

[6]1515AD – We knock a couple cavs and like you guys, I’m wondering where they are coming from. I’m taking down the American iron in 2 and then back to the horses which I just verified are still unconnected. Found Jeepers

IT – A cav takes down a jumbo that looked to be safe. Americans settle LA on the Chinese peninsula and Dallas in the Byz area. Jeepers gets a Egypt Knight landing. They are also building Leo’s
Boot-Settler>Temple
PETA-Harbor>Market
Yom-settler>WE, wanted another settler but MM could not pull it off correctly
7-11-Musket>Temple
Ebound-worker>worker

[7]1520AD – Cav dies along with others. Our Eastern army loses lots taking out Dallas but we prevail. Finally get SINGH in Indus and build a WE army. Take out 3 LB’s with it. Man, still trying to mount an offensive.

IT- The Dacca Musket and MDI I put out to protect two workers buys the farm to two knights and 2 workers are gone. :dammit: Our Jeepers Pike performs admirably against the Knight and Jeepers stays alive. America is building Shakes.

[8]1525AD – Another Chinese city buys it and the settler pair next to it gets the same treatment. The Aztec scourge near OUR spices in the N flames too. Kill various units.

IT – No Attacks.
GH-WE>settler
Equina-WE> Musket
Dromen-Granary>Harbor
Vishnu-Granary>Lib
T-ville-Musket>Musket

[9]1530AD – Punjab founded near LA on Chinese, soon to be, ex-peninsula. Shifting around some forces along with a variety of kills.

IT – Indus gets hit hard with 5 attacks even after I had trimmed the stack on previous turn. We come out with 5 kills. America is landing settlers in the Byz county.
Nehruvia-WE>WE
GGStation-Granary>Aqueduct
BombsAway-Temple>Aqueduct
Chittagong-Settler>worker

[10]1535AD- Kill some more. Move sci-sli up a notch to get metallurgy in 1 at –15gpt for this turn only. East army kills a musket and sends 2 slaves for killing in town.
IT – Lose one jumbo. Get Metal, set for MT in 14.
Dirty12-settler-Musket
Ganges-worker>worker

[11]1540AD – Nothing much.

I really wanted to do more damage but could never get the feet firmly planted for an offensive front. We need more defense in the Byz lands if we are to resttle and we are with the 4 settlers ready to go get some land. I count 32 cities and with the 4 new settlers we can get 3 more armies. It pained me losing the armies earlier but we will get more. Egypt nd America will soon be neutered and then we will roll them.


>>> THE SAVE<<<
 
For the cavalry, since America owns the saltpeter, disconnecting the capitol won't stop them from building them - only the capitol.

Any town with a harbor will be connected to the Salt and can build them it is likely they have horses there too). We would need to actually build a boat and take out the saltpeter on the new island to stop the Cav from being built.

I agree we may need to solidify our back lines before advancing. We grabbed a lot of land and it is hard to control it.
 
Originally posted by barbslinger
Our backlines lead me to feel a palce jump coming so I think spacing to optimum will be important. Nothing really looks good though. I think resettling S of old Byz capital would be good though. 3 tile spacing can be left behind for a new capital. It may be advanced thinking doing this but we may end this earlier than when we can get full effect of a moved capital.

It seems I have made this point a couple times before, but ...
IF THE PALACE IS MOVED TO EX-BYZANTIUM ALL OF OUR CITIES IN THE WEST WILL EXPERIENCE INCREASED CORRUPTION!

The FP does not work like in PTW. If the palace moves to the middle of ex-Byantium all of our current core will have significantly higher rank corruption than before the jump. The FP does not affect rank corruption, it does not have its own rank list. A palace jump would severely cut our economy and production capacity, since we would be increasing corruption in the developed cities.

Originally posted by barbslinger
Our pillaging army takes on a musket in tours at 93% and is now 7/19. He may take down the pike next turn and claim the 1st Egyptian city.

IT- Dammit, a cav takes out the 7/19 sword army.

Pure [pimp]. Tours is a size 2 city 3rd ring to Thebes. What would razing that do to Cleo? Now we have to get another pillaging army out to Egypt, before we start to see Egyptian Cavalry. (Cleo has Metallurgy and Saltpeter, and is getting horses (likely from the Island).)

Well, the good news is that we are 1st in Land Area and 1st in Population. Yom may want to consider a conservative approach to his 11, rebuild defense and get us set up for an offensive with cavalry. Doesn't mean you have to "turtle up", but the game isn't going to be won on the next 11 turns so don't feel a turn is only successful if enemy cities are burning. This is rapidly turning into a 1 vs. 2 game, and an 8-1 or 10-1 kill ratio starts to go a long way in that situation.

It looks like Chichen Itza could fall on Yom's first turn, so we really shouldn't be seeing much more from the Mayans. I'll echo something Slinger said, in the age of muskets we are producing settlers faster than we can produce defenders. Unfortunately I think that means we have to slow settler production. (Or build the defender first, then the settler if you are using Yom or Indy for settlers.) Not a terrible thing, if we have 4 settlers active we can cover most of what is left of our eastern flank.

Indus is in trouble on Yom's first turn. It can be attacked by 6 attack-4 units. I would not leave the army in there to be the top defender, we'll probably lose it. One alternative strategy would be to attack once or twice with the army, and then run it out of the city. There is a pike in Pune that can swap with it.

Oh, and one other thing. When we get some money, remember that Trebuchet upgrade to cannons. Not a priority but after we get Mil. Trad we will probably run all-cash for a few turns to get everything upgraded.

I'm picking on Slinger, but that wasn't a bad set of turns. One bit of bad luck and one bit of bad judgement on the armies. This game has come a long way when I'm feeling negative about a set of turns where we don't lose a city, found 3 cities, and raze 6 enemy cities.
 
Originally posted by Greebley

I agree we may need to solidify our back lines before advancing. We grabbed a lot of land and it is hard to control it.

Sounds good. After the recent aggression a few turns to consolidate before the next big push may be in order. During this time the continued pillaging will take a toll on the AI.
 
For Chichen Itzen, it might even fall on the preturn. The army next to it is fortified and still has its moves. We could try an attack or two with it and see how it goes, retreating to the S if an attack brings our HP low.

For Indus, we could move the 4 hp Elite Pike from the nearby town for additional cover. I think it is likely that the army will win its first battle, and also be down enough hp so its not on top. If we want to play it safe, we can exchange the location of the Elite Pike and Army (so the army covers Pune) If we do that, the army could also attack first and lessen the number of attackers.

The places offense might make sense is to remove China from the continent. The cities are small enough that a healthy army can attack them. I would also take out Teayo to the N that the Aztecs founded.

Are we allowed to use foreign workers to build outposts? I am guessing no. Otherwise we could build some outposts to keep track of what the AI civs are doing in the backlands (or we could use our own ppl).
 
I would think that in addition to bringing in the pike from Pune, we would want to attack at least once with the Army. The army can attack 6 vs. 2.2 (vs. MDI on flat ground), and if fortified would defend at 4 vs. 7.4 (Army defense of [3 +1/6(3+3)]*[1+0.5 (walls) + 0.25 (fortified) +0.1 (flat ground)]). So we have better odds on killing an attacker by being on offense. It would be better to lose the city than to lose the army.

I think it is within the spirit of the game for foreign workers to form outposts or radar towers or airstrips. As is stands we are generally using their bodies as the foundation for the city walls, so turning them into another structure seems consistent. :)

Oh, one note on eventual victory condition: If we are playing for conquest, we have to research (at least) 5 technologies after Mil. Trad. (Theology, Edu, Astronomy, Physics and Magnetism). I'd guess that would take from 60-80 turns after we have cavalry, by which time we should own the entire continent. We'll see when we get there, but it seems we would have to actively avoid domination to have the game last long enough for us to get the Galleons needed to properly engage in an island invasion. Just an initial thought. My preference is usually whichever is faster. If we had a true pangaea, conquest would be faster. The two fairly large islands complicate matters a bit.
 
I'll try and follow the advice given for my pre-turn (I'll play tomorrow). It looks like we're finally in charge.
 
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