VS1-Agression

[Commander Bello]

Gormdragon,

this sounds like very reasonable playing.
Just one hint: You switched Nora to warriors. Now there is no culture-producing building at Nora. This endangers our iron N of Nora, as far as I see it.
We have to take into consideration, that there is a Japanese city w-w-nw of Nora. And Kyoto is culturally pressing at Kagoshima (which gave us the iron) as well.
I would propose to build a temple at Nora ASAP.

[Edit] We should consider to build a temple at Rusicade as well, as soon as we can. This will the Japanese border between Rusicade and Kagoshima and enable us to build a short-line connection between mentioned towns later.

 

[gormdragan]

I fight culture flips with garrisons. It is actually very effective. If you have about 4 garrison units, the city is pretty much immune to flips. At present, Oea, Nora and Kagoshima all have at least 3 garrison units. To be honest, I no longer think flips is an issue.

Also, culture expansion are rated by levels. Kyoto needs culture expansion 2, to get the iron, while Kagoshima needs only 1. Therefore, no matter how much culture Kyoto has, Kyoto can never expand onto the iron. The other city (which I cannot see), I need to check to confirm.

 

[gormdragan]

IBT:
All Jap units in our lands has turned west. Japs must be having troubles with their western enemies.

Alliance with the Japs prove to have another advantage. Jap galleys are now protecting our coasts.

320:
Kagoshima makes rax, starts horse.
Sabratha makes horse, starts market.

Scouting of Jap city west of Nora reveals that Osaka is also 2 cul expansion from our iron source. The japs have no chance of reclaiming it, at least not by culture expansions.

Siege of Boston
Bombardment yellows 3 spears.
Elite horse retreats to spear.
Vet horse retreats to spear.
Vet horse kills spear.
Vet horse kills spear.
Elite horse kills spear, we burn Boston to the ground. +1slave, +0g.

Bombardment on Leptis Minor Defense, redlines 2 MI and 1 longb.

I make our 2nd Numec army. One for defence of our new city (where Boston used to be).
Vet horse kills longb.
Vet horse kills MI.
Vet horse kills MI.

Atlanta is next.

IBT:
Americans and Celts signed peace. Sigh.

Portugal and Incas signed peace.

Jap galley sinks american galley off our coast and redlines another.

Incan completed Sistine at Cuzco.

330:
Cathage makes settler, starts war (to time production of settler).
Theveste has no marketplace??? switch from horse to market, I did catch this earlier, my bad. MM to make market at 7 with no growth.

Americans have no more troops to send??? Well, too bad for them.

Our SOD (6horse, 11cat, 1 Numec army) moves for Atlanta. !!!!! 1st appearance of american knights. Killing off Atlanta is a must.

IBT:
Incas declared on Japs, Horray!!!!

Portugal and Hittities sued for peace.

2 american knights, 2 longb, 1spear/settler pair appeared in our horizon. I hope I can kill off at least some.

340:
Cathage makes war, starts settler.
Cirta makes war, starts cat.
Leptis minor makes war, starts war.
Kagoshima switch from horse to numerc, to top-up lost defensive units from making the 2nd numec army.

Bombardment yellow longb.

Elite horse kills longb.
Numec army kills spear, captures settler for 2 worker.

road to New Boston is completed.

IBT:
Byzantine wants to renew peace, I agree.

Hittites declared on the Celts.

Spanish and Celts sued for peace.

Incas build Co Ob.

Byzantine set up embassy with us.

350:
Utica makes cat, starts cat.

Bombardments redlines 2 knights, 2longb.
Elite horse kills knight, redlines.
Elite horse kills knight, we get yet another MGL. This is nice.

Since we have an unspent MGL, using vet horse for attacking this turn.
Vet horse kills longb.
Vet horse kills longb.

Japs completed our road to iron for us. How nice. No more cheap warriors, how sad. Curiously, I think warriors are the most underrated units in the game, while chinese Riders are the greatest. Off topic.

Summary
(1) My concept for our city productions (subjected to approval and open for debate)
a) Theveste and Cathage to trim off settler when possible (but look out for growth, production sync)
b) Any city (right now it's Theveste, Leptis Magna, Rusicade, and Sabratha) at size 6 should switch back to improvements, namely marketplace and possibly aquaducts (if we can somehow get our hands on engineering), I don't think any other improvements are necessary.
c) Cities less than size 6 should build cat or war if rax is absent, and horse or numec if rax is present.
d) Remember size less than 6 gives us 2 free units, size 6 gives us 4, so size is important.

(2) We have a spare army fortified in Leptis Minor.

(3) For our MGL, I would use it to rush a marketplace at Sabratha, after building a swords or Numec or horse. Penny for your thoughts? If we do decide to rush market at Sabratha, Andruss needs to switch production at Sabratha during pre-turn, as I left it as an 8 turn market.
Edit: Akots mentioned earlier about a palace jump, I think we should consider that option as well. On hindside, I think it would be the better choice.

(4) Rusaddir, Hippo and Leptis Minor needs irrigation, we need size 6 cities for extra free upkeep.

(5) We have a settler (fortified) under the Numec Army (where Boston was). We can settle the next turn.

(6) Not improvement on the tech front as I spent most of our gold getting that Japanese alliance, so I had little to offer. On the bright side, we have 3 native lux, horse and iron. We are now a force to be raken with. In addition, we have a spare fur, wine and horse,

(7) I am actively pursuing our 2nd iron (east of Atlanta). Once we clear out that city, it is imperative that we settle directly adjacent to the iron source. The key is never to depend on cultural expansion. Being neither scientific nor religious, culture do not come easy.

(8) We now have 4 garrison units at Oea, Nora and Kagoshima. I do not think culture flip is an issue anymore.

(9) Word of warning, for the cities building warriors, do not touch the production. Else we will not be able to revert back to warriors since iron is online.

Next better player.

The Save

 

[Gengis Khan]

Great turn gorm, I propose swapping andvruss & Bello in the roster so he'll get a chance to play this weekend.

 

[akots]

Cool! Very many Leaders long overdue! It may be that we would have no leaders in the near future.

Palace jump is an option but it might be better to have another army (which is 400 shields). Rushing market gives us only 100 shields. Army can be later disbanded to rush something else somewhere. However, top priority is getting chivalry and 8 knights and loading the two armies with knights. It would make an exceptionallly strong 8 attack, 6 defense, 3 movement, 16 hp units which would be virtually unstoppable to infantry. This may be a priority for the next 10 turns. We also have 2 defense 6 NM armies which can be used for deep raids inside the enemy territory to take out the resources, pillage roads and create all kinds of havoc.

Unless andvruss objects, it would be nice of us to let Bello play his turns over the weekend.

Roster:

1. Strider - in hospital. Vacant
2. Commander Bello ----> UP
3. Gengis Khan
4. akots ---->
5. gormdragan ---> Played, got 5 (?) Leaders!
6. andvruss ----> swap with Bello, get ready

 

[Commander Bello]

If everyone else agrees, I would be ready to take the save.

This was a very good turn, Gormdragon!

One remark about the settler at former Boston:
I would propose to build New-Boston either S or SW of the former location. This would make it adjacent to the river, thus giving it additional protection against American counter-attacks.
If it would be put S, then we could build another town later at the edge of the river E - E of Boston's current location, thus enabling that future town to make use of the wheat later. With all the floodplains and the desert to the east, we could make some shields at that location later, when the eastern American front has been secured.

I agree about taking / razing Atlanta and building New-Atlanta one tile east of it's current location. This way we would get our grip at the second iron, have New-Atlanta defended by river banks to the west and .... hmm....

Another thought:
What about using the red circles for New-Boston / New-Atlanta?
The blue arrows indicate the way towards Atlanta and after that, towards Faro (to take Faro afterwards, seems logical to me, since this way we avoid the Japanese to get it - this way they would almost encircle us - and make provisions for a very later state, when we might wish to build another town between Faro and New-Atlanta to get our grip on the 2 wheats and the cattle).
The pink lines just indicate the protective rivers. I admit that their use a somewhat limited since the Americans might make use of the hills / mountains for their approach. Nevertheless, being under fire of our cats and crossing a river to attack could bring them in trouble if they would still have the potential for counter-attacks.

Any comments welcome!

 

[akots]

Thoughts for next player:

Top priority is to get knights for fill in 2 empty armies (we need 8 of them). This would not be easy. We need 2 techs - Feudalism and Chivalry. And some spare gold for horsemen upgrades. We can declare war on Celts soon and may try to extort a tech (Feudalism) from them during this war or while re-negotiating ongoing peace. Second tech (Chivalry) we can try to extort from America when our alliance with Japan is terminated (expires or Japan makes peace). Since reputation is highly valued by Japan usually they stick to alliances. It is one of the most trustworthy AIs in the game. Or any other options including selling luxuries through Japanese territory. In this case, luxuries should be traded to the largest possible civilization. This increases their value. Tech price does not depend on size and is fixed.

Otherwise, I second gorm on building priorities. Build more settlers! Build more towns! Expand quickly. Infrastructure can wait, expansion has a time limit. With 4 armies in the field and 2 settler factories we can expand very rapidly.

Edited: cross-posted with Bello: Looks good! Go get them

 

[Commander Bello]

Ok, got the save. Since it is almost midnight over here, I will continue tomorrow (my time). So, Andvruss could put his veto, if me continuing wouldn't be o.k. with him.

Additionally, I would like to start an aqueduct at Leptis Magna, after the marketplace has been finalised.
Although I agree with Akots, that we still have to concentrate on our military, we seem to be at a crucial point in our development.
We shouldn't forget about development totally. VERY carefully, we should start to develop our current core - but we are not allowed to forget, that our empire still is small and weak. Any unfortunate roll of dice will still shatter it severely, so town-development should be limited to one town for the moment (meaning building of improvements which are not absolutely needed as rax, temples, markets).
Additionally, we should take into consideration, that Japan will become our most dangerous opponent in the near future. Chances are good that they will get the Celts and then 50% of our borders will be adjacent to the Japanese.
These are my thoughts, so far.... I will think a about it while going to sleep....

 

[Gengis Khan]

I agree with most everything, especially not forsaking our Core to concentrate solely on Military.

I'd personally move New Boston 1 tile NE(from the circle) & New-Atlanta 1 tile NW(from the circle)

 

[gormdragan]

For your info, we have max-out on the number of armies we can have, so relocating our palace would be a much better option.

From what I have noticed during my 10 turns, expecting to get Feudalism and Chivalry within 10 turns is highly unrealistic. Also, I am 100% against going to war against the Celts. While we are not in a bad position, spliting our forces is definitely a very bad idea. Our abundance of cats (we have 12-14 by the end of my 10 turns) is barely sufficient to offset the disadvantage of lack of knights. Furthermore, Americans are on the decline, they are sending less and less units. It is time for the kill, if we want techs we get them from Americans. Being distracted by a secondary campaign can backfire on us in a hurry.

Right now, we are in the position of kicking America off lands in a hurry. Use those lands to start a strong build-up and I would definitely consider having an FP where our "Atlanta" will be. The key is to have a 2nd core. BTW, how many cities do you need to make FP in a huge map? I don't play huge maps.

In my option, we should develop the Japanese into a long term ally, taking advantage of the fact that they protect our borders. It eliminates a lot of worries. As a matter of fact, I would take on the Japanese last.

Regarding our improvements, I think we need marketplace to support our happiness and maybe get some WLTKD to fight corruption; and to generate $$$ to offset the losses we incur from our alliance with the Japanese. Other than that, we do not need any cultural buildings. Zip. Use garrisons to fight flips. It is far more efficent. (a) garrisons can reduce flips probabilities to zero, while our late cultural buildings will not likely be able to generate enough culture to fight a full-scale cultural pressure; (b) garrisons are far more flexible. If I need more troops for war, I can pull out as necessary, pretty much like our reserves. Garrison are also mobile, once a city is out of cultural pressure (i.e., the 21 squares are within native borders), they can move on the reduce flips for the next city; (c) we are neither scientific nor religious, cultural buildings cost an arm and a leg, so why build something we are deficient in. Good planning is all about knowing your strengths (lots of native lux, resources, good squares) and more importantly your weaknesses. Exploit your strengths and avoid your weaknesses.

Also, rax is not needed everywhere and courthouse is next to useless IMHO. The key is to be effcient. Build what is necessary, nothing more. Anything else should be channelled to our war effort. Weigh the pros and cons before puting up an improvement. Our emphasis should be units, units, units.

If it were up to me, I would fill our last army with Numecs, and build up a swords task force. Don't overrely on techs that we have yet obtained and I still think we are a long way from knights. Also, puting mobile troops in armies is IMHO counter-intuitive. 4 knights for example have a total of 8 movement, it allows 4 movments+4attacks. A knight army however gives 3attacks/movements. Personally, I don't think it is justifiable. We do not need an overwhelming unit, rather plan a well-balanced force is the way to do. Having knight armies is like trying to kill ants with an elephant. It is better to have 10 ant-eaters.

Defensive armies on the other hand is a different story. They are meant as safe-havens as well as enemy movement blockers. How many times they attack is irrelevant.

Regarding Faro, After striking Atlanta, I would actually skip Faro. It is a lone city which is not in a good strategic position for an offensive (our SOD is taking a detour). I would strike hard into American's cores. Hit where it hurts. If we can pick Faro up when we sue for peace, that would be nice. However, I would push this war until Americans are willing to part with some techs, I would go for engineering for planting, and feudalism for MI. If we somehow manage to get feudalism earlier, then at least get chivalry+engineering before we sue for peace. I would strike till America in non-consquential, i.e. 2-3 cities left.

BTW, we should look out for a chance to trade away our extra lux and horse for techs.

My 2 cents.

 

[gormdragan]

@GK and Bello

Please be more specific in the improvements to be built and where. This is because I think our cores are well-improved - nice, lean and mean.

@Bello

Settling right on the iron resource is perfect!!! However, I would settle our "Boston" where it used to be. The reasons being (a) settling where you suggested would imply have mountains and hill adjacent to the city. If american knights sit onto a mountain or hill, it would be a monstrous task to kill them. Having them on nice flat floodplains would do nicely; (b) the lake is fresh, so original "boston" location is also aquaduct-free; (c) "boston" is 3 squares from Leptis Minor which allows 1mov units to respond in 1 single turn. My 2 cents.

 

[Commander Bello]

Pre-flight checks:

Strategic situation:

We have 14 cities.
Cadiz , Carthage, Cirta, Hippo, Kagoshima, Leptis Magna, Leptis Minor, Nora, Oea, Rusaddir, Rusicade, Sabratha, Theveste, Utica.

We are at war with:
Russia (south of the Americans, no Russian troops have been spotted)
Iroquois (south of the Americans, no Iriqouis troops have shown off so far)
Babylon (south-southwest of Americans and Incans, no troops have been spotted)
Inca (south of Americans and Incans, no troops have been spotted)
America (adjacent, battles are going on)

Our borders are (read clockwise):
North: Japan (being allied with)
East: open sea
South: Americans
West: Japanese, Celts, Japanese

Armies:
As gormdragon already pointed out, we have reached our limit for armies (14 cities / 4 cities per army = 3).
We have one defensive army, located in the ruins of Boston, to protect the settler and the workers there.
We have one offensive army, stacked and marching towards Atlanta.
We have an empty army at Leptis Minor, where to elite* horsemen are stationed as well.
We have one additional leader available (Hamilcar, east of Cirta)

Units:
02 Settlers
07 native workers
21 slave workers
17 Warriors
02 Archers
15 Horsemen
14 Catapults
03 Armies (with currently 6 of the listed units)
13 Numidian Mercenaries
01 MGL

This totals to 44 units (17+02+15+(3[armies]-6[units in armies])+13), plus 14 catapults (needing escort).
As being under monarchistic rule, there are potentially 3 MPs per city (14 *3 = 42)

Currently under construction:
01 NumMec
04 Cats ( that seems to be one cat too much in production, reasons are stated below)
01 Horseman
03 Warriors
01 Settler
Conclusion: Our military is weak, both in numbers and technology.

As any new settlement will be a borderline settlement, we will need some defensive units there to defend and to prevent cultural flipping. Furthermore, we need temples in the bordertowns - first, to lessen the cultural pressure, second to expand our borders, or at least to come to a draw.

As gormdragon already has pointed out, we need to keep the alliance with the Japanese, at least we need to have a safe peace with them. Any two-front war would just kill us.
We lack engineering, so our mounted troops and armies will loose one mp while crossing rivers, thus our tactical maneouvers are limited.

End of pre-flight check.

 

[Commander Bello]

After making the pre-flight checks and studying the map a little bit more, I am planning to do the following (see map below):

1)
Our defensive army at the ruins of Boston to set on hold (odds are too bad to attack the American knight without knowing, how many knights might counterattack from within Washington)

The empty army at Leptis Minor will be filled with the elite* Horseman + 1 vet Horseman => moving to Boston and attacking the Knight.
Both armies will combine and move to the red circle S-SW of Boston ruins. There, New-Boston will be founded.
Reason: New-Boston will be on a hill, surrounded on three sides by a river. Any American attack force marching on a road will have to cross the river for attack. Any American army marching across the mountains will be a slow one (it will have to stop on top of the mountain S of New-Boston).

At New-Boston we will hurry a temple with the last MGL (who currently is next to Cirta) for cultural protection. Next, New-Boston will build a wall.
Reinforcements to New-Boston will come from Leptis Minor (the 2 cats garrisoned there).

I expect the best American offensive troops to bleed off at New-Boston.

2)
Our offensive army marching at Atlanta will go S. Next turn, our cats will destroy the road connecting the iron. Since an army has a visibility range of 2, we will see any reinforcements moving towards Atlanta early.
After having destroyed the road on the iron, the army will move SW, crossing the river. That way, they will gain the terrain defensive benefits of the forest and won't have to attack across a river. Furthermore, they will be able to block almost any reinforcements heading for Atlanta in the open space.

Ok, guys, you have some minutes to stop me

Legend:
Red circles: New-Boston / New-Atlanta
dark red dotted lines: Terrain occupied by said 2 towns
blue dotted lines: protective rivers
yellow circle: another town to be founded later, making use of the wheat and being protected by the river as well.

 

[gormdragan]

Please do not make a horseman army!!!!!! horseman sucks, it's better to save them for knight upgrades.

Also, use wars to fight culture pressure in New Boston, don't waste our MGL on a temple. If you don't want a palace jump, at least rush a marketplace in one of our cores. Why do we want a cultural expansion when most of our cities don't have the population to use the squares. Temples are not necessary at all. (The exception would be Kagoshima, where we want to get hold of the iron resource).

Building walls is a no-no. A city should be defended, offensively not defensively. No defensive unit we have can match the offensive capacity of knights. it is better to lure them adjacent and hammer them red with cats.

I also don't think there is such a thing as "a catapult too many". Catapults allows our offensive units to attack redline enemy units, which reduces the chance of us losing units. Every unit not lost, is a unit gained. I even think that we don't have enough cats. I would be comfortable with 20-30 cats. a stack of 15-20 used offensively, and a stack of 5-10 defensively.

Also, I think the number of allowable MP is irrelevant. We have 3 native lux and our cities are in no danger of rioting. The purpose of garrisoning, in our case is more for defence and for culture protection.

We have good defence in border cities, a large stack of catapults, a good defensive army protecting our SOD, and a good number of mobile horseman to attack and retreat back into our army. Why would we be weak? In the shadow game I am playing, I have already knocked out 4 american cities without much looses, thanks to my ever-increasing catapult stacks.

In any case, these are purely my opinion and are just merely suggestions. Please do not take it in any other way. Play the way you see fit.

 

[Commander Bello]

<return>

IBT:
Inca and Hittites made a military alliance against us.

American knight heads north and kills redlined horse
American Pike/Settler combo moves north towards our defensive army

2 Jap Samurais move south into our territory. 2 Jap Galleys head north back to Jap shores.

Cadiz built a Cat. Stays on Cats.
Cat moves to Hippo.

Turn 1 (360 AD):
Cat fails on bombardment at regular AmKnight
Cat yellows regular AmKnight at Leptis Minor.
Vet Horse kills AmKnight at Leptis Minor. Back into LM and fortifies.

Built army with 3 elite* horses at Leptis Minor (adding the redlined Carthaginan Crushers to it). Army attacks successfully the American Pike/Settler combo SW of Boston ruins, gaining 2 slaves from the settler. Army fortifies.
Defensive army with settler and slaves moves from Boston ruins 1 SE to join above army. Fortifies.

Settler N of Leptis Minor moves into town. Fortifies.
MGL Hamilcar moves to Leptis Minor and fortifies.

"Atlanta" army moves 1 S, spotting an American Spear/Settler combo 1E of the iron. Fortifies.

Worker combo SW-SW of Sabratha finishes roads and starts mining (2 turns). Sabratha (4 happy, 3 unhappy) is doing market (7 turns) and has +3 fpt (new cit in 13).
Worker combo at Nora finishes mine and starts mining at horses (2 turns).
1 Warrior from Nora heading towards Sabratha to release the NumMec there for defense of new cities in the south.

Total of this turn:
1 horse lost,
2 enemy units killed, 2 slaves gained.
End of turn 1 (360 AD)

Reply to Gormdragon's intra-turn posting:
Sorry, already made and used the 3rd army (see above). Reason: at the moment, speed is everything. We got the Pike/Settler combo that way. Additionally, upgrading horses to knights would cost (70-30)*3 gold, so 120 gold per each horse => knight.

Temples are a must in our border towns, not only for additional cultural protection (although I agree about the protection by units), but for releasing MPs and (!!!) spreading the borders to gain more bonus tiles.

I agree about that we could use more cats, but we shouldn't produce almost only cats! That is, why I will switch one cat producer to something else.

New-Boston will be a definite thread to Washington. Therefore, the Americans will most probably attack it with almost everything they have (as soon as the armies are no longer in the open, the AI won't count them anymore as undefeatable [to the best of my knowledge]). A temple will lower the cultural pressure of America and make cits stay content. The wall will add additional protection against American attacks. Cats and defensive army will redline the American attackers, while the offensive army will kill them (or horses to be promoted to elite).
New-Boston is meant as being a magnet for the Americans to bleed off, while we are getting Atlanta and Faro and developing in that area.

Comments?

 

[gormdragan]

AI do not attack a army defended city. AI is all about statistics. It does not strike and unless it calculates a chance of victory. AI is not capable of realising that it could use multiple units to wear down a strong unit, unlike a human would. If we leave our army in New boston, AI will tend to go after Leptis Minor still, this would leave units exposed in-transit for our catapults to pick on the horsemens to kill off.

Temples are not a must at all. As a matter of fact, they are totally unnecessary.

(a) The only guarantee against flip is garrison. A lone temple is going to do squat against a well-developed culture pressure (which I assume most if not all the AI is already).
(b) What MPs are we talking about??? We have no happiness problem whatsoever, so if you want to move a unit, you can go ahead. That's the advantage of having 3 native lux+marketplace. For Oea, Nora and Kagoshima, we have warrior garrison. I do not suppose they are useful for anything but culture protection.
(c) Is there really a need for extra border squares? Our cities are not even size 6 and what benefit do we get from having a wider border. As these border cities are going to be corrupt, so I very much doubt extra border squares would give us any significant benefits at all.

I am a "anti-builder" so I have very strong opinions against improvements. Usually, I do a rax-temple-marketplace, and then I take on the world. In this case, I would even skip temple.

Regarding catapults, I think catapults is the key unit at the moment. Horsemens, numec and swords are complimentary units. What unit could we need so urgently that we have to sacrific catapult production? At present, I would not trade a catapult for a horse,numec or sword for one more cat.

My 2 cents.

 

[Commander Bello]

Intra-turn reply:
About the temples - with an temple (which I am going to build at Nora, if not the group overrules me on that) Nora will extend it's borders and get access to 2 additional bonus grasslands, as well as to 1 mined grass. With the mountains in it's back, we can make it a productive town later.
Remember, any tile occupied by us will slow down enemy/opponent's forces. Additionally, we will look one tile further, thus improving our "early-warning systems".

Trust in me, I am not going to sacrifice our military progress completely on improvements, but that we are so much behind all others has something to do with our poor development status.

About the MPs: Any town with a potential to grow beyound size 6 should have the 3 MPs under Monarchy. We need production!
We almost lack any possibilty to protect new founded cities!
We are already over-extending our borders. Our units are slow. Even the horses will loose some mp when crossing rivers, as we still don't know about Engineering.
Our armies will have the chance to kill of the American cities - but without the chance to build new cities *AND* to protect them accordingly, the other nations will benefit from the open spaces, not we.

... moving on with my turns (but taking your input very well into consideration, promised!)

 

[Commander Bello]

<return>

IBT:
The Byzantines request for an audience. Granted. Offer silk for furs.
I disagree, since we have no safe borders/ trade routes with them. Most probably, the trade route is established via Celts, which are under attack of the Japs. What, if the Japs destroy the vital Celtic road?

Portugal and Celts sign peace.

1 Jap Samurai heads back to Japan, the other moves towards America.
1 Jap units pops up on Celtic road!

1 AmKnight bypasses our "Atlanta" army, heading for Atlanta.
1 AmSpear N-N-W of Faro spotted. Will meet JapSamurai, I guess.
American Spear/Settler combo heads towards our army group at the Boston river.
spotted while intra-turn
AmGalley SW-SW of Rusaddir. Caution! The Galley moves with 3, the same speed as our defensive troops. An assumed unloading of 2 AmKnights would almost break our neck!

Carthage produces settler. Switches to Swordsman. (note to self: do we need the granary there???)

Cirta finishes Warrior. Switches to rax.

Leptis Magna finishes market. Size 6 (full food storage, +2fpt) w/o aqueduct, so switches to settler.

Turn 2 (370 AD):
Currently at war with:
Babylon (peace for 240 gold - no way)
America (to be conquered)
Inca (would accept peace)
Hittites (refuse talks)
Iroquois (peace for 220 gold - no way)
Russia (peace for 241 / 3 pt gold - no way)

Atlanta army:
3 Cat bombards at AmKnight failed
2 Cats redlined AmKnight
vetHorse killed AmKnight, getting red, returns under the umbrella of Atlanta army.
1 Cat bombardment at iron failed
1 Cat bombardment at iron destroyed road
Army fortifies.

Boston army group:
Offensice army attacked Spear/Settler combo successfully, redlines but gains 2 slaves. All units to hill (for founding New-Boston)
4 slaves moved to the Incense at Leptis Minor to attract the AmGalley forces (if there are any)

Settler of Carthage sent to Cadiz.

Worker combo at Oea finishes mining. Due to cultural pressure of an Jap city (which is hidden by the FoW but will be SW-SW-SW of Oea) Oea cannot extend it's borders to the forests on Japanese territory.
Combo sent to forests at Rusicade to build a connection between Rusicade and Kagoshima.
Cat at Hippo sent to Rusaddir to cover eventual American attack from the Galley. Sentries.

VetHorse from Leptis Minor sent to Rusaddir.
All other units at Leptis Minor fortified. Until New Boston and New-Atlanta are founded (and we don't know about the loading of the AmGalley), we cannot sent any of them towards the American battle theatre. Our core's belly is just too soft!!!!

Warrior from Nora arrives at Sabratha and fortifies, thus setting a NumMec free to head for Cirta.
Cirta Warrior fortifies, setting free a NumMec to head for Cadiz (from there he may reinforce our soft-belly harbor towns, if needed)

Worker gang finishes irrigation at Rusaddir. Sent to open tile between Utica and Cadiz to built road there (we lack military to protect workers in the south).
Worker gang finishes road between Leptis Magna and Rusaddir and starts irrigation (2t)

Hippo cat sent to Rusaddir for known reasons.

Summary:
2 AmUnits killed,
2 slaves gained.
No own losses, but possible threat by AmGalley.

End of turn 2 (370 AD)

 

[Gengis Khan]

I gotta agree with gorm about the horseman army & again about the unnessasary temples. Both will get us a very slight gain compared to what we could see using that GL & shields into another project.

I also agree about the cats. When fighting with outdated units the only way to stand a chance is through astronomical amounts of artillary.

I dislike New Atlanta site, it's too far away from our core. I see no gain by moving to the hill besides a defensive bonus which we don't really need, IMHO 1 tile N or NW would be a much better spot. In such a food rich spot, burning your only productive shield tile isn't good(once the city gets up to par).

 

[Commander Bello]

<return>

IBT:
Polite Scandinavians request to prolonge (spelling???) peace treaty. I agree. They won't trade any tech to us, what wonder.

JapSamurai heads towards Faro and kills mentioned AmSpear.
2 JapGalleys heading north, 1 JapGalley comes from Jap waters heading south.

AmGalley heads N.
1 redlined AmKnight pops up SW of Atlanta, changing plans for Atlanta army (direct attack now, without first crossing the river into the forests - I don't want the AmKnight to recover and then invade our territory at Leptis Minor. After us taking Atlanta, he might race to Faro, meeting the JapSamurai there)

Kagoshima finishes NumMec, stays on NumMecs.
Hippo finishes Cat. Switches to NumMec (what for do we have a barracks there?)
Leptis Minor finishes Warrior. Swithes to Cat (prod: 7 / 4net w/o rax)
Nora finishes Warrior. Switches to temple (20 turns) for known reasons.

Turn 3 (380 AD)
Sulcis (New-Boston) founded. Temple started (60 t). Horse army fortified for recovery (4/15). NumMec army fortified for temporary garrison.

Atlanta army.
1 cat bombardment yellowed AmPike
1 cat bombardment yellowed AmSpear, yellowed AmPike showing up again.
3 Cat bombardments failed
1 Cat bombardment redlines AmPike, yellowed AmSpear showing up again => only 2 units at Atlanta?
3 Cat bombardments failed
1 Cat bombardment redlines AmSpear, red AmPike showing up again.
VetHorse attacks AmPike, killing it.
EliteHorse attacks AmSpear, killing it. Atlanta is ours!
Atlanta razed. 3 Slaves. Re-combining with Atlanta army.
VetHorse attacks AmKnight, killing it, yellowed.
Atlanta army fortifies.

Attack planning on America successfully realized, so far.

Worker gang at Leptis Minor to close the road gap between Leptis Minor and New-Atlanta.

Moved stack of 2 Cats, 1 NumMec, 1 Warrior, 1 Settler from Leptis Minor to Worker gang, will head towards location of New-Atlanta.

Worker gang of 6 slaves moved from Sulcis to mountain W of it. Will finish roads from Leptis Minor to New-Atlanta.

Worker gang at Rusicade start roads.

NumMec Kagoshima => Sabratha
NumMec Nora => Sabratha
Worker gang at Nora finishes mining, 1 E to road and irrigate.
Worker gang at Sabratha finishes mining, MM Sabratha for market in 4 (0 growth - 4 happy / 3 unhappy),sent to Cirta for chopping.
Worker gang at Cirta finishes mining, starts chopping for earlier rax there.
NumMec at Cadiz => Worker gang at Rusaddir.
Cat at Hippos sentried.
1 Cat at Rusaddir => Leptis Minor.
Settler at Cadiz => Hippo.

Summary:
We killed 3 AmUnits.
No own losses
We gained 3 slaves
We conquered and razed Atlanta (size 5)
We have 15 cities
We produce: 2 NumMecs, 4 Cats, 2 Horses, 1 Sword, 3 markets, 2 temples, 1 rax

End of turn

Plans:
Black circle: New-Atlanta
Red circles: Next towns
Yellow arrows: Next attacks to take place