[SPOILERS] Cornflakes Returns to Civ 4: Forget 1UPT, STACK OF DOOM!!!!!

[Cornflakes]

I ended up successfully withdrawing with no combat. Wetbandit advanced to the banana on the first turn without capturing the city (correct move, as I would have razed the city if it had been captured. I pillaged all the roads behind me to prevent being overtaken by Wetbandit's army:

   

[Cornflakes]

JR4 didn't make a move so signed peace with Wetbandit.

I've set a few research builds to limp to Engineering for better roads and pikes and castles (about 7 turns) to keep myself a spiky target but I don't see much hope for the future here. New goals:
1) How much can I fix the economy before the game is over?
2) Also, hold on to my own starting and Elkad's captured territory.

[Cornflakes]

Engineering complete, 1T sailing now with the overflow and will 1T Calendar the following turn.

[Cornflakes]

2) Also, hold on to my own starting and Elkad's captured territory.

  Superdeath has a cool new toy to play with and couldn't resist. Starting with a screenshot of the north:

   

This is all the catapults that I had in the north. Immediately after signing peace with Wetbandit, I split my forces and sent half the catapults and knights to my capital "just in case". And with knowledge of engineering, our recently upgraded roads will enable the rest of my knights to return by next turn.

   

Here is a screenshot of the troops in the south. I moved all of the catapults and half of the knights to YELLOW STAR in order to give me the option of moving towards Woolly Mammoth in 2 turns. Mammoth will surely fall but I think that will be the extent of damage to the south.

[Cornflakes]

Here is a screenshot of the power graph 3 turns ago. I've been observing Superdeath's huge power spike over the last 20-30 turns. That was clearly not a defensive buildup. Superdeath's only neighbors are me or JR4 (and a small border with Mr. C) so I wasn't surprised by the attack. I was hopeful that my #1 power would turn Superdeath's attention elsewhere though. I wonder if Superdeath is surprised by how much of my force I brought back south? We haven't had open borders but I expect he probably ran a spy up to peek around.

   

[Cornflakes]

Sad day. Superdeath razed all 3 cities last turn (even the far north size 10 Cold Cuts which he probably could have kept with no problems). In the north I'm going to abandon Size 2 Frankfurter and retreat back to the more valuable Hamburger.

For the record, I'm ready to concede to the eventual winner. We're probably pretty far from that point still though as all of the remaining players except Donovan and I have some chance at victory if things roll their way. Even Wetbandit isn't out because he was so far ahead in tech before we attacked. And Wetbandit recaptured all of his lost cities so he could feasibly remain competitive.

[Cornflakes]

Still at war with Superdeath. Probably will remain at war. Why sign peace? Wetbandit captured Frankfurter after I abandoned it. I left a token archer which died immediately. GNP improved That city has been ravaged by war. Hopefully Wetbandit stops there. I don't see any reason for him to press further into my territory at this point. I have enough collateral to annihilate a doom stack. Naval raiding by Berzerkers would hurt but how does that help Wetbandit win since I'm no longer a contender? I offered a cease fire. If he wants to send back a peace treaty instead I'll accept.

I'm putting up castles everywhere since I have stone and the trade route will help the economy, and the defense bonus will still work against knights and cuirassier. Gunpowder is my text tech target. I'll probably go full research builds after castles. My GNP is so bad that I'm still losing gold at 0%

[Cornflakes]

I noticed that I was just a couple points away from my next GGeneral, so I have been sparring with Superdeath. We've been exchanging about equally but my GGeneral was born today. Then after the GGeneral was born, I checked the combat log and saw at the top there was a green notice that I had defeated a superdeath spear. I had no memory of attacking a spear ... turns out my sentry knight in Mr. Cairo's land accidentally attacked and killed a superdeath spear in the fog in a 50/50 battle for some nice XP gain I didn't even notice at the time. The sentry found a sleeping worker lookout of Superdeath's in Mr. C's land that I'll ambush next turn. Also we'll see if I can find a nefarious use for the GGeneral

[Cornflakes]

Here's a 4000 word epic of Robert E. Lee avenging the razing of my cities by Superdeath:

   

   

   

   

Bye-bye Pyramids 

[Cornflakes]

Leaving only a single defender in Ted Bundy to give me a 66% short at razing Pyramids was a huge mistake by Superdeath. When my sentry spotted just a single axe there a half dozen turns ago I counted tiles and realized that a Morale knight could reach the city from the fog. Checking the GGeneral counter I was less than 10XP from the next GG. Engineered roads gave me enough movement with Morale to reach the staging tile in 1 turn from my borders, so I set up my Combat 3 knight in position to immediately attach the GG if it spawned in either Great Unconformity or Cambrian Explosion. For the needed XP I took a 30% shot with a spear at a Superdeath knight in my territory. That earned me 8 XP (4 x2 for being in my territory). I left the redlined spear in range as bait for Superdeath to kill so that I could take out his unit for the final XP. On the other side of the empire I sniped a worker that he had on the border that would give me another potential target if he didn't take the bait on the redlined spear. He killed the spear with a musketeer and I earned the necessary XP by killing it in return.

Losing Pyramids has to be a huge blow to Superdeath. I still think that he was in 4th place behind JR4/Wetbandit/Cairo who I think are all about even, but now without Pyramids I don't think he has a shot at catching the leaders. I have no grudge against Superdeath (I was already out of the running anyway because of my economic mishandling). But I just couldn't let such a mistake go unpunished and I do feel satisfied to have avenged the razing of my cities. I'll offer peace to Superdeath next turn. No reason on my part to stay at war any longer.

I'm not planning to make any waves for the rest of the game. I'll just turtle up and hope to keep the vultures away. I should have enough catapults and knights to deter aggression even from Rifle-wielding Wetbandit. JR4 doesn't have a good vector of attack without leaving his flank open to Superdeath. Donovan is at the bottom with me. Superdeath may wage eternal war after the razing but that's fine. I have enough military to make it painful. I'm targeting Banking now in order to help the economy. My initial thought was Gunpowder, but muskets won't be much more effective against Cavalry than Longbows + cats + knights. Therefore I'll hit Banking first, then save gold for Gunpowder ... and maybe just maybe in the far future I'll reach Rifles before someone comes knocking.