[Spoilers] Suboptimal - Welcome to the Tlachtli of Blunders!

[suboptimal]

Turn 57

Iron Working completed, start Currency.  

Harborcoat has finished its Granary, housing is now 6.5.  Start a monument and move the citizens from the coastal tiles to the 3 tiles.  Next population due here in 5 turns.  

The archer at Cant completes.  I start a builder.  Notice that the Egyptian warrior from the west has made its way over.  This is good for two reasons.  First, it’s a target.  Second, it frees up the builder in reserve at Welcome to make improvements as all Egyptian units are accounted for.  The archer moves out one hex and shoots doing 43 damage.  The Eagle Warrior continues moving northwest.  While checking out combat stats I notice that barbarians are noticeably….European (left) in their appearance while the Egyptians are rather...swarthy (right):



They have that attention to detail on something one typically wouldn’t notice but updating numbers to accurately reflect changes remains beyond the GUI’s capabilities.

Out in the far west the scout has found a potentially good spot for a city, with bananas, sheep, horses and cattle available.



A city on the marsh just east of the horse would be ideal but would require moving City #2 one tile east in order to fit.  Once I completely defog this area I'll have to revisit the dotmap.  City #1's location should not be affectd, though.  

Down at Begin the settler has completed.  Barbarian scout has disappeared but the warrior from Preslav has emerged.  Archer advances and shoots for 50 points of damage.  Eagle Warrior attacks, kills the unit and captures a builder.  City #1 now doesn’t need to build one for improvements.    Begin the Begin starts a trader.  The iced Eagle Warrior has healed enough to start heading north and moves onto a forested hill.  The barbarian archer has not moved from its position.  

OK, time for the north:



First thing to do is get that wounded Eagle Warrior somewhere a bit safer.  It moves one tile SE and takes Battlecry.  The archer shoots at the warrior, redlining it.  Eagle Warrior attacks, killing it and capturing a builder.   Other archer in the southern force moves one tile SE and holds.  Archers will spread out and attack the city next turn, along with the newly promoted Eagle Warrior.

For the northern force, archer advances and shoots at warrior.  Eagle Warrior in the city attacks, killing it without a capture.  Remaining Eagle Warrior crosses the river.  Sitaution at the end of the turn:



Hey, I did say that I would cross the river and then head SE with my units.  Not my fault that Egypt's units are in the way.   Interestingly I just had something from my test games disproven.  Whenever I attacked city-state units who weren’t redlined I never had a capture chance.  However, a CS 41 Eagle Warrior attacking an undamaged Egyptian slinger shows a 100% chance of capture.

Gifts for the Tlatoani

Builders Captured: 7
Cost to Build: 434
Improvements Made: 9
District Boosts: 15.6
Chops: 111, 36
Craftsmanship Inspiration, Irrigation, Masonry, Wheel, and Iron Working Eurekas (20, 165)

[TheArchduke]

The plan here is to finish the archer naturally (it’s at 56/60 now, 11.5 per turn without Agoge), build a builder (*gasp*), start a settler, chop to finish it and put the overflow into the Campus.  The builder will quarry the gypsum and then mine the tile that I chop.

A self built builder. What is the Aztec Empire coming to? Young whippersnappers I tell you! In our days we enslaved our builders from the enemy.

Anyway, seems like he will not move that settler? He might delete it or loose it soon. Anyway, I do not see walls being built at Beta Colony, so hurry up to get those attacks in before he gets wise. He is probably trying to finish a unit out of it, for all the good it will do by now.

[suboptimal]

The plan here is to finish the archer naturally (it’s at 56/60 now, 11.5 per turn without Agoge), build a builder (*gasp*), start a settler, chop to finish it and put the overflow into the Campus.  The builder will quarry the gypsum and then mine the tile that I chop.

A self built builder. What is the Aztec Empire coming to? Young whippersnappers I tell you! In our days we enslaved our builders from the enemy.

Well, when you run out of enemies to enslave one must resort to desperate measures.  

I will say that the return on the builder captures is rather impressive.  I don't think I was expecting it to be that good.  I might get another one off the Brussels warrior as well if it keeps loitering around.

Anyway, seems like he will not move that settler? He might delete it or loose it soon. Anyway, I do not see walls being built at Beta Colony, so hurry up to get those attacks in before he gets wise. He is probably trying to finish a unit out of it, for all the good it will do by now.

Beta Colony is building a unit - I see no hammer icon over the city on strategic view.  Three attacks on Beta Colony the next two turns (two archers, one Eagle Warrior).  If that doesn't take the city it'll be close and two more attackers will be available.  The northern forces will conduct mop-up operations and see if I can get a builder or two (and maybe a settler) out of it.

[suboptimal]

Turn 58

Open the save, the only attack notifications are for Preslav and the barbarian archer. Up north RFS-81 appears to be in retreat mode – the settler has moved off into the fog, along with the warrior. The slinger and archer remain behind to attempt to cause problems. He’s also moved away from Cant and the Eagle Warrior that is heading for Beta Colony. Preslav has completed...a builder. I’ll move off a hex and see if it comes out to repair the farm. I move the tundra Eagle Warrior out of archer range and the settler and builder head for City #1. The archer moves east to take up a position guarding the southern end of the mountain range. Up at Cant I move the archer 1 hex NW and see that RFS-81 only moved the warrior one hex instead of two. I shoot, it dies. Given the progress and lack of walls and builders at Beta Colony I begin bringing the battering ram south to Begin the Begin for an eventual assault on Preslav.

In the west the scout moves up on the sheep hill, revealing the river terminus along with pearls and fish on the coast. There is coast in the fog NW of the cattle, so defogging here is done, except for one inland hex I’ll get on the trek east. The scout will head for Cant and then go northeast from there. Over at Welcome I position the builder on the copper for mining next turn.

In the north I move the builder across the river. Northern Eagle Warriors come down the river side, stopping adjacent to the Egyptian units. Archers spread out. One attacks the city for 21, other attacks the archer for 30-something. The Eagle Warrior that captured the builder moves back adjacent to Beta Colony and holds onto the promotion for now. Other Eagle Warrior attacks the city for 56. Beta Colony is at 123/200. It’ll heal 200 next turn and I’ll get in four attacks. No sign of walls and the nearby warrior can’t get to the city in time. The question is what happens first – does RFS-81 settle somewhere or do I take Beta Colony next turn? The math says that if I attack with both Eagle Warriors and both archers capturing the city is assured, unless a warrior is built during RFS-81’s turn. If a warrior shows up I’ll need slightly better than average damage rolls.

I end the turn by saying “Why leave Brussels out of the fun?” and declare war. I’ll see if the adjacent warrior attacks next turn or not. I do note that Brussels has walls up while Valetta does not.

Internationally Japper has a settler out and rho21 has completed his 11th tech. Of the two opponents I’ve met I’m the only one who has completed Political Philosophy. In the Great People race rho21 is 10 turns ahead of me for a Great General (due in 11 turns) and Japper is 4 turns ahead of rho21 for the Great Scientist (Japper due in 16 turns).

[TheArchduke]

Curiously I wanted to play a SP game as a challenge and did take Egypt.

And I gave those Chariot Archers a whirl. Those boys hit at 35 (nearly 40 of the crossbowman) and defend at 25 so can actually hold the line a bit.

Even one of those would have given us a bit of a pause and two stopped our invasion in our tracks. I must admit that if Egypt did not go sim city in this game (especially against an Aztec player who conquered a CS that quickly) you would have had not such an easy time.

Then again if his power would have spiked, you would not have attacked.

There is a high probability this will be a concession after your conquest, if not, I would suggest a settler push and full economy to really drive it home that this game is over.


EDIT:

In case that is not clear. Do not chase that settler, he will delete it before you take it and if another unit like a warrior or chariot archer pops up at Beta Colony, you might be delayed further. Do not risk waiting, do not be fancy.

[suboptimal]

In case that is not clear. Do not chase that settler, he will delete it before you take it and if another unit like a warrior or chariot archer pops up at Beta Colony, you might be delayed further. Do not risk waiting, do not be fancy.

I didn't see this before playing the turn this morning.  I went bonkers and chased everything....

[suboptimal]

(just kidding)

Turn 59

Open the turn, units got attacked by Egypt and Brussels.  I stop Currency and start Horseback Riding as the former is too close to 50% for me to put another turn into.   Down at Preslav the builder has emerged to build the farm.  I capture it with three charges.  Over at Cant I attack the Belgian warrior, capturing it for Builder #9 of the game.    Cant has two more turns to complete its builder but now it doesn’t need it so I switch immediately into a settler build.  

Archers attack Beta Colony bringing it down to 88 garrison health.  Eagle Warriors attack and:



Egypt has fallen.  Beta Colony is renamed How The West Was Won and starts a settler.  The builder will sit tight here for the time being.  I’ll need to chop out the forest SE of the city once it grow back to 4 population in order to put down and complete a Campus.  To that end I swap over the 4 and 5 farm tiles from Oddfellows and work them.  The city will grow in 6 turns and then I’ll get that done.  It’s building a settler for the time being but I’ll place and hard-build the Campus (with a stone harvest, probably) once Cant finishes its district.  

Right now I’ve got three settlers under construction (Cant, Oddfellows, How), a trader (Begin), a monument (Harborcoat) and a granary which finishes next turn (Welcome).   I’ve got to figure out what’s next now that the war is over.  Probably an Eagle Warrior or two out of Begin to deal with Preslav and start setting up a chokepoint defense at Cant along with Commercial Hubs at Cant and Oddfellows.

Gifts for the Tlatoani

Builders Captured: 9
Cost to Build: 594
Improvements Made: 10
District Boosts: 15.6
Chops: 111 , 36
Craftsmanship Inspiration, Irrigation, Masonry, Wheel, and Iron Working Eurekas (20, 165)

[TheArchduke]

Congratulations.

Time for a new summary.

In any case, the best to do now is go full builder and go crazy. No need to risk time and money on an offensive you do not need atm.

[suboptimal]

Working on a plan. Letting ideas roll around my head during the workday, will get an initial plan figured out and posted after Turn 60 comes through.

[suboptimal]

Turn 60

Let’s see if anything is going on that warrants immediate attention:



The screen takes me down south.  No player-related warnings to speak of.  The Eagle Warrior that snagged the builder at Preslav was attacked by the city walls and the one that captured the builder from Brussels has earned a promotion.  Preslav now has an archer.  I’ll need to lure that out of the city.  No signs of intelligent life, only AI behavior trees.  Spooky, almost.  Nothing of note internationally.  I now have 0.2 more per turn than rho21 but over double his culture (11.6 to 5.2).  Military power of 298 vs. 242 for rho21 but I've got a number of injured units.  I’ve also got double the income.  Notably, my entire army consists of archers, slingers and Eagle Warriors.  I’m willing to bet that he’s got some swords and/or horsemen mixed in there, if not some hoplites.  Japper is in last place in all four categories on the overall rankings screen.  Wonder if rho21 is about to put him in the hurtbox....

I have a formative plan in mind, just need to flesh it out. Just a couple of things to do city-management wise.  Going south to north….

- tundra Eagle Warrior crosses the river northwards.
- Preslav builder heads for Begin, warrior retreats out of range of city defenses.
- At City #1 site settler moves to settlement tile, builder moves to stone.
- Builder at Welcome repositions to next hill to be mined.
- Up north I promote units that can be promoted and yellow-lined units fortify in place to heal.  Builder moves to city center.
- Two northern Eagle Warriors head east.  I’m going to defog the non-tundra lands between How The West Was Won and the lake to the east for better dotmapping.

At Welcome to the Occupation the granary is complete and the city is up to 6 housing.  I reassign the citizen working the incense to work the farmed wheat.  City growth is cut to five turns.  The question is what to build?  I decide on a scout.  The existing one will head to Begin and then go around the southern mountain range.  The new one will go directly east and see what’s by Valletta. 


I move one citizen at Begin to speed up production on the trader.  That will finish next turn.  

I also give some serious pondering at Cant Get There From Here – the builder I’ve captured moves one tile west onto jade and cannot move any closer to the city this turn because of terrain.  The jade is third ring and costs 115 to purchase.  My original plan for this builder was to chop & mine the forested plains hill next to the city and then quarry the gypsum.  However, I could buy this tile and mine the jade instead.  That gets me a 2/1/1 tile to work and a further +1 to CS when attacking.  More importantly, it would push all of my cities to Ecstatic and the yield bonuses that accrue as a result.  It also gets an extra yield when I get around to Apprenticeship.  I feel that those benefits are worth the and the slight change in plans, so I buy the tile and mine the jade.  That pushes science to 18.6 and culture to 12.0.  Ah...luxuries…




Gifts for the Tlatoani

Builders Captured: 9
Cost to Build: 594
Improvements Made: 11
District Boosts: 15.6
Chops: 111 , 36
Craftsmanship Inspiration, Irrigation, Masonry, Wheel, and Iron Working Eurekas (20, 165)

I'll get a planning post up later tonight.