VS1-Agression

[Gengis Khan]

T9 Rush FP in Saldae.
Kill off 2 knights with horses.
Kill off a longbow.
Kill a Port longbow.
Take out a pike & musket.
I agree long term wise a Knight Army is going to be better then a Med Inf Army, but right now we need fast offensive units in the field & lots of them. We just don’t have any knights to put into an army(not a single one yet). Even if I had 4 spare knights laying around, I’d leave them as 4 knights rather then 1 army. We’re going to get a lot of leaders, because we have a ton of Elites. And we need that army right now to beat back the troops Germany & Portugal are throwing at us.
Form a Med Inf army.

IT- Russia & Bizantine sign MA against us.

T10- Kill about 10 different units(mostly knights) outside Faro.

I’ve been using our newly acquired American slaves as bait in the east, since Germany & Portugal will keep them, then just move them into the nearest city & leave it there where we can raze it.
I haven’t been seeing that many Portuguese troops, and not one Celt has shown up.

Good luck!
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/VS1.SAV

 

[Commander Bello]

Akots is next, right?

 

[Gengis Khan]

I think it's on gorm, but he's out of town till Monday so yea.

 

[Commander Bello]

Oh, Lord!

Just had a look at the map. This doesn't look too good, does it?
In the east, next to Gades, we have Byzantine and Viking bridgeheads.
To the west, we have Iroqouis, Germans, Byzantines, Celts and Portuguese. The only direct neighbour we are not at war with are the Japs.
Our battle group at Faro needs reinforcements or quick withdrawal.
The Germans already have muskets in the open field, obviously an reinforcement for Faro. Seems that our cat / horse combinations won't work much longer.

I would propose that the next player tries to build up some defensive lines. The only realistic target I can see on this map might be Faro, razing it, and building a new city on the eastern bank of the Faro river.
Entremont is way too far to the north. The Celts won't live for long anymore, but we won't be their doom, that's for sure.
All we can try to do is to keep good relations with the Japs and hope that we may make an alliance with them against Byzantine or Germany.

 

[akots]

OK, I'll see what I can do to improve our relationships with the neighbors.

Roster:
1. Strider - in hospital. Vacant
2. Commander Bello ---->
3. Gengis Khan -----> Just played
4. akots ----> UP and got it
5. gormdragan ---> be prepared
6. andvruss ---->

 

[akots]

Pre-turn check. We are paying 36gpt for unit support. It is a little bit too much but may be OK. But the units themselves are ancient. This sucks and hurts. L minor is in disorder and we are baiting AI with workers which is not a good thing to do by RBC rules (exploit) and even is frowned upon in GOTM though not officially banned. Traded Monarchy to Hittites for 148g. Actually, the only civilization we are actively in war with is Germany. Based on what I see, 30 turns ago the game could have been saved but now it looks like a loss though too early to be safely abandoned. The only hope might be to capture the Great Library but we do not even have Embassy with Inca so don’t know where to head. And war with Theo sounds very bad. Traded alliance against Theo to Toku for wines+10gpt+20g and he throws in contact with Maya as well. Maya are really uncooperative. They lack Currency and Literature but have Republic. I better do not tell the prices for Republic, it is just too scary. Make peace with Germany for 20g+12gpt. One horse upgraded.

IBT. Portugal declared on Japan. Spotted some Byzantine cavalry running around. Theo is rich and bought Maya in alliance against us. Viking caravel defeated by American galley. Inca and Lincoln sign peace. Germany also signs peace with America.

[1] 560AD. Some units on goto orders, did not catch them in time. Made peace with Celts since there is Byzantine cavalry running around Entremont and we have only 2 MDI in position to attack and only within at least 4 turns. Traded Republic in the process for Chivalry and Engineering getting some change which allows to upgrade another horse to knight. Traded Republic to Mursilis for 200g. We now have 4 knights. Just need a leader.
IBT. Byzantines have captured Osaka and moved 5 cavalries in position to attack Nora next turn which is defended by 3 warriors.

[2] 570AD. Moving MDI army in Nora hoping they would not attack. Make peace with Inca for 3gpt. Build Embassy with Greece. We need to stop Theo. She is expanding like crazy. IBT. Theo landed a musket and a cavalry near Carthage. She did not attack Nora but moved cavalries towards our core. More cavalries join the fun. Hope now we are happy with that chunk of land grabbed from poor Lincoln and with a bunch of warriors and markets which soon become Theo’s property. Spain and Celts sign peace.

[3] 580AD. Trying to save our core cities. Armies rushing there from the east and troops are shuffled to get enough defenders to survive. IBT. There are total of 9 Byzantine cavalries around. Theveste had two warriors moved from Rusicade and was attacked by cavalry who killed one warrior and musket which was killed by our warrior. However, Theo lands another cavalry. Germany and Japan sign peace. Iro and America sign peace. Viking land a zerk near Carthage. We get 4 knights ready to go to the front lines.

[4] 590AD. Somehow by pure RNG luck both cavalries and a berserk were killed. Most likely we will lose either Nora or Sabratha next turn. There are just too many cavalries around. We can buy Germany into alliance against Theo but for 50gpt. Instead we buy Inca into alliance against Byzanthines and Viking for iron and 4gpt.
IBT. Theo lands 2 cavalry and a knight near Carthage. Nora captured, at least Sabratha survived by miracle.

[5] 600AD. Nora recaptured. The offending Byzantine units destroyed with the help of horsemen army (thanks Bello!) but two knights were lost in the process. We got MGL that will build a knight army. Army loaded with 2 knights and is rushed to Byzantine front galloping day and night. Made peace with Iro for 1gpt+2g. Germany has Navigation and Theo builds Newton’s University. She will launch a spaceship and we would be still deciphering mysteries of Gunpowder. IBT. Greece and Theo allied against Inca. Greece allied Maya against Inca. Theo is moving many units towards Nora with siege weapons. Never suspected AI to be that intelligent.

[6] 610AD. All offending Byzantine cavalries within our borders have been killed. IBT. Many Byzantine units advance. Theo pillages our horses and we cannot build knights atm. Celts destroyed by Germany. Viking spear comes to Sulcis and Henry’s LBs try to surround Malaca.

[7] 620AD. Upgraded 8 cats to trebuchets. Trying to block the horse tile from Byzanthine cavalries. Theo is ready to talk peace. She has 6K gold in treasury and still in Middle Ages. Her demands are modest (less than 10 gpt) but we cannot betray our friends Inca and Toku. IBT. Theo bought Greece in alliance against us as well. Since access to Nora is blocked, Theo is advancing to Cirta. And landed a LB in the vicinity of L minor.

[8] 630AD. Horse army goes to battle the cavalries. It is surprisingly not that bad. The army has 1 hp left but two cavalries are dead. Knights finish off some more. In desperate attempts to save the city, elite NM rushes from Cirta to defeat the Byzantine LB and we get yet another MGL. We are 3 cities short for building our sixth army, so leader hides behind the walls of Cirta. May be he will be used to move Palace to Utica. I cave in and buy Germany against Theo for furs and 25gpt. Leader rushed Palace in Utica. IBT. Japan and Maya make peace. Portugal declares against America. Germany help a lot with Byzantine LB and cavalry.

[9] 640AD. Got another leader. Turned on research for Invention. It is too expensive to buy atm. IBT. Germany took care of most Byzantine cavalries. Vikings land a crusader near Rusaddir.

[10] Killed crusader. Some worker movements. Did not check diplomacy. Note to next player: We have a leader running around. Need more cities to build the next army. And we can grab a good chunk of land around Entremont which is now German, so build settlers. Our maximal city size is 8, on 9 we need tax collectors. No more cheap units, only knights to build please. Tech retardation is frightening, we are almost an age behind. It might be worth researching ourselves to cavalries and then trying to pull something through like capture the Great Library from Inca. We can sail there with galleys. However, once we trade Education, this would be impossible.

Good luck!
THE SAVE

 

[Commander Bello]

wow.. reads like a lot of fighting and shuffling units all around.
Can't wait to get home and have a look at the save. Unfortuately, this will be either Tuesday or Wednesday evening, as current schedules are.
Anyway, sounds as if you've saved our ** ... ahem, empire

[edit] One remark may be allowed, though.
(Please take into consideration that I am not sitting in front of the game, so I cannot analyze the situation very good).
Anyway, I would propose to build some good defenders (NumMercs) in our less productive cities. What I've seen from the save prior to Akots' turns we lack defenders - and his description doesn't sound very much as if he would have had the chance to pile them up ;-)
Just my remarks. Good luck to the next one (Gormdragan?)

 

[akots]

... Anyway, I would propose to build some good defenders (NumMercs) in our less productive cities. ...

NM versus cavalries... Hmm... IMHO, warriors can do the same job of dying with glory.

Good thing is that we got rid of many ballast units and kept most of trebuchets alive. Moving Palace to Utica actually increased our gpt income by about 25gpt.

The situation is very bad. We have only one trading partner which is Mursilis. May be Smoking Jaguar after we can make peace with Maya.

The knight army may be in a decent position to try to advance and capture Osaka with the help of some trebuchets. MDI army and NM army are mostly passively guarding the cities. But horse army did a heroic job killing about 7 or 8 cavalries rushing from coast to Nora and back. MDI army also got a couple but mostly the new knight army was the leading force killing 3 cavalries in a single turn. However, without German help we would have lost already. There were about 7 Byzantine LB backed up by muskets and at least 5 cavalries in position to take Nora, Cirta, or Sabratha almost every turn. Muskets mostly were bombarded and retreated. German cavalry picked them up later.

We need more cities to build the next army!

Roster:
1. Strider - in hospital. Vacant
2. Commander Bello ----> ready
3. Gengis Khan ----->
4. akots ----> just played, it was very intense but we survivied
5. gormdragan ---> UP
6. andvruss ----> fixing PC

 

[Commander Bello]

I agree that a NumMerc will not have a good stand against Cavalry. My comment was based on my assumption that we might lack some defenders. And with a wall or a river, 2 NumMercs may hold against 1 Cav...
But please keep in mind that I'm still not sitting in front of the game.

I strongly agree with you about the need for the next (fast!!!!) army. I still consider defensive armies as a loss of tactical flexibility (maybe one for protecting Cats and Trebs), whilst this flexibility would be offered by the superb movement of a Knight army.

Other topic: what is the situation at the former american war theatre? Do we have the chance to settle there? I would like to propose to make worker combos and slave combos (4 slaves should be able to road in 1). Those combos have the charme that you can predict in which time a given task will be completed, and they don't loose turns as often happens in stacks of workers/slaves (due to rounding). If organized that way, the slaves could take responsibility for roads and irrigations while the native workers do the rest, aka mining.
Furthermore, I would suggest that we would be careful with chopping at our borders. Forests in our own territory may slow down enemy attacks, thus giving us more time for reaction.

 

[akots]

IIRC, I built 3 cities there. They have 2 NM/warriors and 1 NM army defending around with some cats. They already disposed of 2 or 3 Viking spearmen. But if Germany or some other civ comes with cavalries, the cities are lost. The terrain there is mostly already improved by America (forests shopped, tiles irrigated) and cities are fairly corrupt to make any tile improvement there a waste of worker turns.

Please also note that cats are rather useless against cavalry unless this cavalry is inside our borders. Well, if this happens, we are in a big trouble. For now, the game hangs on a thin thread of our alliances with Japan and Germany against Theo.

Also, IMHO we might want to take 5 turns instead of 10 per player rather soon. It took me over 4 hours straight to play the 10 turns. Checking every city and going through all units and diplo, that kind of stuff...

 

[gormdragan]

I am up in 3 games, so I need to take a skip.

 

[akots]

OK, if Bello can play, we can just swap you (not skip). But it might be a good idea to play 5 turns instead of 10. On the other hand, it would not hurt to wait a couple of days so that you can free your schedule.

 

[akots]

I also notice that andvruss apparently started playing SGs as well. So,

Andvruss, if you want to go ahead and grab the turns, that would be nice!

 

[Commander Bello]

... waiting some time for Andvruss to reply to Akots....

 

[andvruss]

Got it then. Will play after AVS2,CVN1, andVB2.

 

[akots]

OK, cool. Just note if you feel like it, take 5 turns instead of 10. It is really time-consuming at the current point but captivating. Better go through everything than rush and forget something.

 

[Commander Bello]

I wouldn't mind about lowering the turn limit to 5, either

 

[Gengis Khan]

Fine by me.

 

[Commander Bello]

Got it then. Will play after AVS2,CVN1, andVB2.

Andvruss: Since you have quite some other games going on, would you mind if I'd pick up the save, and do 5 turns, as I will just be able to do so on weekends?

[edit] I've checked with the threads for those other SGs and found that they are quiet since 2 days. So, if I wouldn't get your rejection as of today evening, I will pick up the save.

 

[andvruss]

Please take it. I am quite busy .