TT03: Unholy Spanish Empire

[Kanga_DU]

Right then, finally got to play. Not making a long report as I'm not feeling well.

Glance about the save. Find the army. Nice. Notice mostly on some infrastructure builds, which are 3-7 turns off finishing in general (except for some really poor hammer producers). Graphs tell an interesting story. Well placed except for GNP. Ha, well no real surprises there. After all we are big AND beautiful. Gotta say I agree, we have to keep conquering for cash.

Now here's where I might mention I of made a surprise decision.

Pholk, I know you had Arabia marked out for the new dream home:


I wasn't feeling to comfortable about not having any recon on Sally, so I went for a stroll this way:


What I found was a lightly defended juicy target. Only 2-3 defenders a city overall, mostly longbows, so a quicker roll through. And much closer to our Hidden, er Fobidden Palace. Hatty only has Vicky as a friend and Vicky doesn't like us anyhow. All that and the fact I couldn't guage Sally's current strength, other than being equallish on the graph sealed it. I got troops hauling ass over to Egypt. That will take about 6 turns overall.

T1 - Hatty completes the Spiral Minuret(?)
T2 - GS born in Madrid. I've left if unused. Will light bulb Printing Press IIRC. Maybe save for a great age. Next person's call now.
T3 - Peace treaty with Arabia expires.
T4-5 - zzzz
T6 - Abrabia and Russia make peace. Hatty complies with the mugging request and hands over the dosh (470 gold didn't hurt):


In a rare show of mercy, I promptly declare war.

T7-10 - Raze a fringe 1 pop city. Move in on the real targets.





Military Tradition of course came in. I then went for Banking, mostly for Mercantilism to get good use out of Representation.

 

[Kanga_DU]

And a save even:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/80073/Teers03_AD-1550.Civ4SavedGame

 

[frankcor]

Good turns, Kanga Du! I like the opportunistic approach.

I'm up next. I'll grab the save and play tonight. This looks like fun!

 

[pholkhero]

yes, nice turns Kanga ~ i like the Exec Decision.

Sally has certainly been taken down a peg or two, and i've been dreaming about making that lake the Spanish "mare nostrum" since the beginning of this game. Meanwhile, perhaps we can start to build up another army to either finish off Asoka or take another chunk of Arabia.

 

[Lobsterboy]

Greetings all! My wife was out of town for a few days, leaving me in charge of my 3 year old. I thought I'd have time to play, but it didn't work out that way. The wife is home now, so my routine should be getting back to normal. Slot me in after Frank.

 

[pholkhero]

done and done:

Frankcor >> UP NOW
Lobsterboy >> on deck
Pholkhero >>
Kanga Du >> just played

SpriteSODA >> OoP

 

[frankcor]

Inherited Turn (1550 AD) I don't see anything to change. Our army is parked outside of Elephantine -- looks like the bombardment is ready to begin next turn and there's some healing going on there. I spread out a couple of Conquistidors to enhance opportunities for pillaging and denying any growth or production in that city. There are two longbowmen and a maceman garrisoned and I'd rather not see that increase any before we're ready to take the city.
Madrid finishes: Catapult
Seville grows: 11
Bangalore finishes: Conquistador
Kolhapur grows: 9
Aden finishes: Granary
Damascus's borders expand
Damascus finishes: Pikeman

Turn 1 (1553 AD) The bombardment of Elephantine begins. I move some macemen south of the city to avoid a river-crossing assault penalty.
Madrid begins: Catapult
Bangalore begins: Maceman
Damascus begins: Catapult
Barcelona grows: 10
Barcelona finishes: Longbowman
Delhi finishes: Granary

IBT:
Outside of Pi Ramesses (south west of Elephantine):
While defending, Conquistador defeats (4.30/10): Egyptian Pikeman
Also, a catapult attacks our stack of macemen south of Elephantine, withdrawing from the fight.

Turn 2 (1556 AD)
Barcelona begins: Longbowman
Delhi begins: Catapult
While attacking, Conquistador defeats (10.00/10): Egyptian Catapult <-- he pays the price for damaging our macemen.
While attacking, Conquistador defeats (5.50/10): Egyptian Crossbowman <-- he was guarding an iron mine next to Elephantine. The mine gets pillaged, too.
Conquistador promoted: Combat II
Kolhapur finishes: Library
Delhi grows: 10
Yamama grows: 6
Aden grows: 9
Najran's borders expand
The bombardment is complete using our weaker and wounded catapults. The healthy City Raider catapults are moved across the river in anticipation of opening the assault next turn.

Turn 3 (1559 AD)
Kolhapur begins: Catapult
The assualt on Elephantine begins.
While attacking, Catapult loses to: Egyptian Longbowman (4.08/6) @ 7.3% odds.
While attacking, Catapult defeats (1.10/5): Egyptian Longbowman @ 2.6% odds -- kewl!
While attacking, Catapult loses to: Egyptian Maceman (4.2/8) @ 19.1% odds.
Time for the grunts to go to work:
While attacking, Maceman defeats (8.00/8): Egyptian Longbowman @ 100%
While attacking, Maceman defeats (5.20/8): Egyptian Maceman @ 99.7%
Christianity has spread: Elephantine (Egyptian Empire)
Confucianism has spread: Elephantine

I start moving troops southeast to El Armana.
Madrid finishes: Catapult
Bangalore finishes: Maceman
Bombay finishes: Conquistador
Aden's borders expand

Turn 4 (1562 AD)
Madrid begins: Crossbowman
Bangalore begins: Maceman
Bombay begins: Hindu Temple
Madrid grows: 18
Madras grows: 11
Delhi finishes: Catapult
Yamama finishes: Granary
Damascus finishes: Catapult

IBT: Catherine comes looking for a little charity: Nationalism as gift from me to her. We discuss various alternatives that might simply cost her a little time but she doesn't come across. Fickle girl. She'll go to war against Asoka for Nationalism but that doesn't make any sense to me -- Asoka is teetering on the edge of collapse. I ask her what it would take to go to war against Vicky:

Vicky and Catherine are at opposite ends of the map from one another. That seems awful expensive for an immitation war. As it turns out, I give her a swat on the hind end and send her back home. Golly, she's sooooo hot.

Turn 5 (1565 AD) The bombardment of El Armana begins.
Delhi begins: Maceman
Yamama begins: Forge
Damascus begins: Library
Bangalore finishes: Maceman

IBT: Catherine comes calling again, asking for us to switch to Hereditary Rule. I decline. <sigh>

Turn 6 (1568 AD)
Bangalore begins: Maceman

Turn 7 (1571 AD)

Turn 8 (1574 AD) I screwed up my log file but not much happened the past two turns -- building lots of catapults
Bombardment of El Armana completes and I have one catapult left unused. Let's roll:
While attacking, Catapult loses to: Egyptian Longbowman (4.32/6)
Conquistador promoted: Combat I
While attacking, Maceman defeats (1.60/8): Egyptian Longbowman
While attacking, Maceman defeats (6.96/8): Egyptian Pikeman

Next stop, Alexandria.

Tech learned: Printing Press
Madrid finishes: Crossbowman
Bangalore finishes: Maceman
Kolhapur finishes: Catapult
Delhi finishes: Maceman
Aden finishes: Longbowman

Turn 9 (1577 AD)
Research begun: Replaceable Parts For the lumbermills.
Madrid begins: Colosseum
Bangalore begins: Maceman
Kolhapur begins: Catapult
Delhi begins: Hindu Mandir
Aden begins: Forge
Barcelona finishes: Catapult

Turn 10 (1580 AD)
Barcelona begins: Catapult
Elephantine begins: Theatre

Here's where we stand so far:

Lobsterboy, welcome back!

I left a movement point on a Conquistador but it's not really a PUC(TM). There's an Egyptian Maceman a few tiles north of him. You can attack him in the forest there or wait for him to move into the open. There's not much damange he can do there.

We might want to take a breather after taking Alexandria -- there's a little war weariness setting in but I haven't turned up the culture slider yet. Or keep going, making a sweep norheast to take her capital, Thebes, and Memphis, her best city. It's your choice.

You'll pop another Great Person next turn -- most likely another Scientist. They'll research Astronomy together, a worthless tech for us but it'll lead to Scientific Method. I should have used one for Printing Press, darnit.

My impression: we have way too many troops committed and could probably take two or three more cities without building any more army. Or we can keep building army and keep smashing smashing. Regardless, we should probably spread some troops around to all our border cities as we build troops -- it'll make a backstabbing from Asoka or Sally less likely and speed up our ability to conduct an offensive or defensive operation in a location far from our main force.

Here's The Save.

 

[pholkhero]

nice going Frankcor!! It looks like the first campaign into Egypt is a rounding success. I think we need to go smash-smahsy and just never look back.

what is it they say at RB ~ until you conquer the world, there shall be war w/o end ~ we can only win by Conquest after all ~

i say, push w/our forces in egypt until time to stop w/our current troop levels. Also, i think we should eliminiate the possibility of an Asoka (and then Sally) backstab by finishing him off, the wanker. Maybe just disband the cities, but China might just settle them, so .. .

Roster:
Frankcor >> just played
Lobsterboy >> UP NOW
Pholkhero >> on deck
Kanga Du >>

SpriteSODA >> OoP

 

[frankcor]

Thanks, Pholkhero. We have a Gulf-war-style overwhelming force so smashy-smashy goes quite well. I concur that we need to wipe out Hatty and Asoka or otherwise they will bite us in the rear at a most un-opportune moment.

Correction: I meant "sweep northwest" to take out Hatty's core cities, not northeast.

At what point do we stop keeping cities to avoid a Domination win? 50% landmass?

 

[Lobsterboy]

OK. I got the save. I may not be able to play tonight (must work late). Should have time tomorrow, though, if I can't get to it tonight.

 

[pholkhero]

i saw your original post over in 8AM, but i got what you meant ~

re: Dom limit ~ i think, w/the way this map is, we could successfully take all of Egypt and a bit more of Arabia before we get close to the limit ~ we'll have to see. perhaps LB can check the victory screen during his turns.

 

[Lobsterboy]

Gad! Another unexpected late night at work kept me from this game!

The schedule is clear tonight, so I'll get it done! Sorry again.

 

[pholkhero]

The schedule is clear tonight, so I'll get it done! Sorry again.

Did you have a chance to play last night??

edit: if not, then i'll play this as well as Game #5 for the night! Yee haw!

 

[Lobsterboy]

Yes! I did! I just haven't had time to post yet. I should be able to do so in a little bit.

 

[pholkhero]

alright ~ but then i'll still be up

 

[Lobsterboy]

Inherited turn (1580 AD)
Gad! It's been so long since I played this game, I barely know what to do.

Someone asked how close we are to Domination. Answer: Not very!



Drop research to 40%. We should be able to bump it back up after Alexandria falls next turn.
Move a few specialists around; in some cases removed them.

Otherwise, we look good to go... >ENTER<


Turn 1 (1583 AD)
Bangalore finishes: Maceman --> Pikeman (2)
Najran finishes: Library --> Christian Monastery (9)
Johannes Kepler (Scientist) (Great Scientist) born in Madrid
No rush to discover Astronomy, so I put him to sleep with the other GS we have in Madrid.

The pillaging Maceman SW of Kohlapur is dealt with:
While attacking, Conquistador defeats (8.40/10): Egyptian Maceman

Bombard Alexandria's defenses to 15%. Conquest will have to wait until next turn.


Turn 2 (1586 AD)
Seville finishes: University --> Hindu Monastery (8)
Madras finishes: Catapult --> Longbowman (5)

Alexandria's defenses brought to 0%. The siege begins...
While attacking, Catapult loses to: Egyptian Longbowman (5.22/6)
While attacking, Conquistador loses to: Egyptian Longbowman (2.94/6) 52.7% odds.
While attacking, Maceman defeats (5.12/8): Egyptian Longbowman
While attacking, Maceman defeats (8.00/8): Egyptian Longbowman
While attacking, Maceman defeats (5.76/8): Egyptian Pikeman
While attacking, Maceman defeats (3.52/8): Egyptian Catapult
Confucianism has spread: Alexandria
Captured Alexandria (Hatshepsut)



We keep it.


Turn 3 (1589 AD)
Barcelona finishes: Catapult --> Conquistador (7)
Bangalore finishes: Pikeman --> Hindu Monastery (3)

An Egyptian Maceman is dispatched outside of newly conquered Alexandria:
While attacking, Conquistador defeats (6.80/10): Egyptian Maceman


Turn 4 (1592 AD)
Madras finishes: Longbowman --> War Elephant (6)
Kolhapur finishes: Catapult --> Theater (6)
Bombay finishes: Library --> Theater (3)
Damascus finishes: Library --> Buddhist Temple (5)


Turn 5 (1595 AD)
Begin bombarding Giza

IBT: An Egyptian Catapult attacks our stack assaulting Giza and withdraws


Turn 6 (1598 AD)
Bangalore finishes: Hindu Monastery --> Conquistador (2)
Najran finishes: Christian Monastery --> Christian Temple (11)

The catapult that attacked our Giza stack is destroyed:
While attacking, Conquistador defeats (10.00/10): Egyptian Catapult

IBT: Victory asks for a trade:



Horses? I don't think so! How about Rice?


Turn 7 (1601 AD)
Madrid finishes: Colosseum --> Bank (15)
Bombay finishes: Theatre --> Lighthouse (4)

Giza's defenses are eliminated, and the assault begins...
Catapult attacks Egyptian Longbowman (3.1/6) and withdraws!
While attacking, Maceman defeats (8.00/8): Egyptian Longbowman
While attacking, Maceman defeats (5.76/8): Egyptian Pikeman
Confucianism has spread: Giza
Captured Giza (Hatshepsut)



We keep Giza too.

Near Pi-Rameses:
While attacking, Conquistador defeats (5.80/10): Egyptian Maceman

IBT:
While defending, Conquistador defeats (8.40/10): Egyptian Catapult
While defending, Conquistador loses to: Egyptian Catapult (2.70/5)
I saw that coming, but I thought the Conquistador would survive.
While defending, Worker loses to: Egyptian Maceman (8.00/8)
ACK! I didn't see that Maceman at the bottom of the screenshot above Rats!


Turn 8 (1604 AD)
Bangalore finishes: Conquistador --> Conquistador (3)
Alexandria subdues the rebellion, and joins the Spanish Empire!
Alexandria begins: Theater (8)

The offending Catapult outside of Giza is removed:
While attacking, Maceman defeats (6.96/8): Egyptian Catapult


Turn 9 (1607 AD)
Seville finishes: Hindu Monastery --> Pikeman (6)
Damascus finishes: Buddhist Temple --> Buddhist Monastery (6)

Near Kohlapur:
While attacking, Conquistador loses to: Egyptian Maceman (1.92/8)
While attacking, Conquistador defeats (8.40/10): Egyptian Maceman

Turn 10 (1610 AD)
Barcelona finishes: Conquistador --> Longbowman (4)
Kolhapur finishes: Theatre --> Crossbowman (7)
Elephantine finishes: Theatre --> Library (8)

The walls of Thebes are reduced, and I give the assault a go:
While attacking, Catapult loses to: Egyptian Longbowman (6.00/6) BAH! That blows!
With out more Catapult support, the assault will have to wait until next turn.

Pholk should be able to knockout Hatty, except for maybe her western-most city, by the end of the next turn. Pi-Rameses can be razed, but I recommend keeping Thebes and Heliopolis.

Vicky has 6 GPT that we can get from her for one of our extra resources, (Gold maybe?) I forgot to check if other GPT deals are available.

Here's The SAVE

 

[pholkhero]

nice turns ~ i particularly enjoy the sacking of two Egyptian cities. That lake is now OURS!

I'll pick this up tonight and play.

 

[pholkhero]

alright, i finally have time to report.

t00 ~ i pulled a few archers from our now-interior cities and sent them west to our newly acquired Egyptian lands.

t01/1613 ad:
Asoka stops by:

I say yes so i can scout his defenses Bengal has a Lgbw and a Pkmn.

Rep Parts comes due and i go for Gunpowder, on the way to Grens and Steel.

Also, check out Damascus:

Just call me GreyFox but . . . How come there's all those windmills?? W/the sheep and the grasses, we have enough room to MINE all those hills! I think that if we're able to just keep pumping out units, almost non-stop, we'll do wonders for our $$ situation ~ b/c we'll have plunder and booty to fill our coffers

I have our workers change what they probably just did.

t02/1616 ad:
Jaipur: Mcmn; Lgbw

t03/1619 ad:
Sally stops over:

deal or no deal ~ no deal!!

Karachi has 2 Lgbws, a pk and a cat.

t04/1622 ad:
Asoka again~

we're at 10% sci now. I open up the battle on Memphis after takign some time to get more troops in position.
Our first mace dies @16%; 2 suicide cats go in, 1 w/draws; next, another mace goes in @ 55% and HE loses, too. I send in 2 Conquistadores, one against a pike, the other a wounded bow, adn they BOTH win.

Conq's are great UUs, i really must say i'm impressed with their power. A final cat goes in:

And the city's ours.

I also begin to bombard Pi-Rameses adn have fantasies about taking it w/22% cul def still. I lost an Xbow on the endeavor, but hold back the rest of the army until next turn.

Asoka's last city, Hyderabad, has 2 longbows. We could take India for about 8 units ~ once gunpowder comes in, we can build Cavalry!! 8 Cavs and India's ours ~

t05/1625 ad:
The 2nd Battle of Pi-R (Square) begins. Our first mace loses @2%, but sufficiently weakens the top defender. The next two maces win!

t06/1628 ad:
Our armies are approaching Heliopolis:

Vicky:

uhmm, no.

I also killed a pair of Egyptian units that were wandering about.

t07 - t08:
just moving our army into position near Heliopolis:

t09/1637 ad:
Cathy wants to trade, but i told her milk off ~ however, here's something else interesting to think about:

I found Hatty's last city, too. Behold, Byblos:

t10/1640 ad:
Guns is in; woohoo for cavs. i went for Chem next. The assualt on Helio. begins, too. We only lost 1 mace, our first:

And our empire in the west:

 

[pholkhero]

Roster
Kanga >
Pholk > just played
Frank > UP NOW
Lobster > on deck

Sprite > AWOL

Name is Save.

 

[frankcor]

Okay, I'm on it. I'll continue mopping up Hatty. I'm intrigued with the notion of bribing Catherine to take on Salladin. Then, when we're done in Egypt, he'll be softened up for a cake-walk through Arabia. Besides, she is sooooo hot.