Turns 160 - 169

[1889]

I encourage you all to take a look at the save (just about 10 mins old now) so we can discuss our next move.

Loco's counter attack has killed our camel. We have a full strength mace (combat I), another one in the forest is at 6.7 (combat I and melee) but can get another promotion, on the hill is our longbow at .7 and the two catapults at 4.5 and 1.1 (both with 2 city raiders).

I'll post the odds of mace v.s longbow later (on a hill but with city defender promo).

The Hindu city just finished a longbow and that axe is headed our way. Keep in mind they have nothing better to do than to fight us now that we destroyed B and O.

 

[Lord Parkin]

I think that it's now clear that Reading is our best bet for another attack.

I advise to not take the bait with the Longbow. Win or lose on that battle, we'll certainly lose the Maceman next turn to a counter attack while he's weak. Besides, what does that battle do? Potentially kills one Longbow. Bah, so what!

Checking out the save: Yeah, I absolutely advise retreating for now. Either get the units back into those ships while they heal, or else camp them out in that forest while they heal. Our units are currently too weak to advance at the moment.

Heck, Piffle and Epsilon have a scary technology lead. I didn't realise we were so dangerously far behind. We'd better find some way to catch up to them soon, or we're mincemeat. If they come at us with Riflemen before we have Grenadiers, we're screwed. (I know, since that's the way I like to play in my own games in multiplayer - develop the tech lead, then the opposition has no chance. Shameless links to examples in progress - one multiplayer pitboss game I'm in, and another one. )

 

[1889]

That sounds pretty good to me except I don't want to give up the initiative and let them start calling the shots.

I'd like to send the mace onto that wheat or hill to pillage next turn, everyone else can camp in the forest and heal. I don't want to put them back on the ships because our fleet is already on its way back to Tropicana for more camels.

 

[Lord Parkin]

Remember that pillaging yields us very little return while placing our units in a bit of danger. Is it really worth losing a powerful unit like a Maceman for about 10 gold?

 

[dutchfire]

Retreat now, but remember, We'll be back!

 

[fed1943]

The GScientist in Weelville should IMHO build the Ploughland Academy for

instant 17 beakers/turn.

Best regards,

 

[1889]

Good point Parkin, please elaborate Dutch, good idea Fed.

It is not worth losing the mace just to get a few gold or even to deprive them of a wheat resource, but I am willing to risk the mace in order to keep them reacting to the damage we inflict or threaten to inflict and maybe force them to build more axes rather than spears or bows.

I still have a few more ideas I want to check out in WB but won’t get too much done until the kids take their nap this afternoon.

 

[1889]

Turn played. No attacks, but I've got a pretty big report any way. No time to write now though. Here is a screen shot of our dispositions in Loco and the tech screen, Epsilon and Piffle have astro.

 

[1889]

Sent Optics to Aloha. Science down to 90% Astro in 14.
Great Scientist heading to Ploughland to set up an academy, other options would be lightbuld Education but it would still take 4 turns to research. Next GP is 14 turns away and will most likely be another scientist unless you want that changed.

Loco has had to go all the way back to despotism since loosing the Pyramids. We can change civics too but I don’t see any advantage. There was some discussion of Slavery but if we abandon Castes system we can’t have all those cool specialists we’re using.

Barbarian warriors have appeared west of Magadan and east of Polynesia.

Chowderton will finish our caravel next turn. It will be used to escort our troop transports. How many more do you think we need?

Settler on his way to …? I think site 10 is best. It opens an alternate trade route to Aloha and has good prospects for commerce. We also get cattle and horse. Magadan has started another worker.

We are at our support limit and troops are costing us money now. I was going to disband the warrior at Ploughland but think I forgot. How about also disbanding the warrior near Epsilon? Not much else we can do with that guy and he’ll save us 2 due to support and away costs.

Loco attacked our camel with a catapult that died then finished him off with a longbow.

Our Mace has climbed the hill and taken the archer promotion. The other troops have retreated to the woods to heal along with our medic mace unit.

Current War weariness total (check my math) Attacking and loosing is 3 points, winning is 1 and being attacked (win or loose) is 2 points and each turn 1 point goes away.
Last turn 2 units lost 1 retreated and 6 won (6 + 6 – 1 = 11)
This turn 1 defended and 1 was killed. (2 + 2 – 1 = 3)
14 total and there is no sign of unrest yet.

Those galleys will pick up 5 camels and drop them on the stone near Loco’s eastern edge in 6 turns. After capturing the city the camels will link up with the survivors of the B and O attack to assault Short Line, the capitol. Mean while the galleys will bring another set of troops to take Reading, I’m thinking 3 cats a bow and 2 camels. This leaves us with an extra galley in the area, but I’m not yet sure what to do with it.

Now for the bad news: our GNP is still in last place!

 

[dutchfire]

Site 10 is fine, it will also have a resource in it's initial boundaries, so it can grow quickly.

BTW Instead of Caravels, could Chowderton produces units?

 

[1889]

Caravels are units.

I'm being pretty careful to make sure appropriate units are finished and make it to Tropicana in time for the galleys. That leaves a few extra turns so when I can I'll build replacements for our weakest defenders and a better navy, although right now we also need to keep costs low so no more than 2 caravels.

 

[Lord Parkin]

I think a minimum of 3 Caravels, personally. We need to keep an eye on Epsilon and Piffle, and desperately need some first-hand intelligence on what they're up to. Plus, two Caravels can take down a Galleon if absolutely necessary. (Although of course, once they get Chemistry and Frigates, they own the seas.)

 

[1889]

The save is 4 hours old now. No counter attacks, so its our move. I don't think the troops in the woods are ready to move yet. So some options are to have our mace pillage, attack the longbows 97%, attack the axe 76% or just sit tight.

Edit: Loco's axe will only have about a 5% chance against our mace on their turn.

 

[dutchfire]

Had a look at the save.

We should send the worker that's cottaging near Polynesia to Tropicana to help the plantation, and when we build City 10, we should prioritize hooking up the cows. We need ! Also, we might want to build health producing buildings in some cities.

 

[Theoden]

I expect Loco to move the axe and the two longbows to the tile east of our maceman on their next turn in the hope of attacking our wounded units the turn after that. Are our odds good if they do that and is it possible to get off shore before they reach us? If either is the case, the maceman should pillage.

 

[1889]

I can't get the wound conditions or fortify bonuses quite right in world builder, but the testing that I did suggests that an attack by these units on our stack in the woods would be suicide for Loco, chances of success we're all between 5 and 10%.

 

[Lord Parkin]

Our units in the woods will be safe, that's why I suggested we put them there.

Keep in mind that if our Maceman attacks the Longbow, he will likely be wounded slightly, which will decrease his odds of winning against the Loco Axeman. However, given that the Longbow is CRII, and located on top of another Longbow such that if the Maceman wins he will still retreat to the hill, this might be a good chance for us to eliminate it. So I say go for it and attack, for my two cents.

 

[1889]

Since we have citizens in Polynesia working unimproved tiles lets finish the cottage then get on that plantation. The incense is hooked up so those two workers will be able to help soon.

I had the mace pillage the mine (got 12 gold) because attacking the bow had a high probability of inflicting serious injury. It wasn’t worth the risk of loosing him to a Loco counter attack. Our west bound galley has revealed that Reading is quite weak and we finally can be sure where their last city is.

Caravel on its way to protect the troop ships, I’ll give it combat I promotion next turn unless some one has a better idea. The fleet will board 6 camels in 2 turns.

Disbanded the warrior in Ploughland and near Epsilon. Our scientist built an Academy in Ploughland.

Epsilon has dramatically increased production and cut commerce, so has everyone else. War is brewing someplace. I thought Aloha told us they were planning to attack Piffle, it doesn’t look they are very prepared. Our old friend may be in for some trouble and that means trouble for us.

WW total now 13.

 

[Theoden]

I thought Aloha told us they were planning to attack Piffle, it doesn’t look they are very prepared. Our old friend may be in for some trouble and that means trouble for us.

Not so much anymore. Check Aloha communication thread for details, but basically they have the same concerns as us.

If Epsilon is planning for war however, it is also our chance to catch up in tech depending on who they attack...

 

[Lord Parkin]

Why will Epsilon's inevitable attack on someone have an effect on our technological position? The only way that could happen would be if Epsilon attacks Piffle, which is extremely unlikely to happen since they appear to be best buddies in trading. The most sensible thing for them to do now is to eliminate the other three teams in the game using their obscene tech lead, and only then worry about determining the winner between themselves. We probably need to consider how we might be able to prevent or counter this in the future.