Superdeath. A Coming of Age Story.

[superdeath]

plan is to slowly pump out some zerkers while waiting on Construction, and hopefully we get a merchant and can either bulb something nice, or run a trade mission OR use either GP for a GA.


Been more or less leading here for awhile, but the bigger empires with their larger cities (and cottages that i started uh, late) have caught up quite a bit. I still believe i should be ahead in tech, but ive gotta eat Vanrober in the next 30t to continue the streak.




This map has been a GODSEND with Vanrober being my only neighbor as no one really wants to mess with Vikings on the sea, and they have bigger fish to fry. Having open borders with Vanrober, and not seeing a massive Keshik stack already, means that my planned invasion should be pretty easy. ATM im not seeing Catapults either, but Vanrober doesnt have the worst GNP, so i could see him getting it soon. Im a little sad that someone like Gavagai will likely get to munch on some corner of Vanrober, same with Migulito (providing they arent in a blood-fued with Amica) I cant really stop Gavagai, but i think i can cut off Migulito from taking more than 1 city, as i plan to send a couple galleys down to take Vanrobers coastal city.

[superdeath]

Going to finish infrastructure, save gold, and then pop the golden age i think.

[superdeath]

Some of Mjmd's units have magically disappeared, and he has a couple more galleys than i would like. im REALLY hoping he isnt preparing to raid my coast. (something i didnt think i would EVER say as the Vikings)

Im literally in my most vulnerable point right now. Just finishing up infrastructure and getting the first few Zerker's out. And the area he would likely attack has no population for whipping, and is covered in forests still. I REALLY REALLY hope this is just me being paranoid. We DO have a Fish/Fish, which i hope he holds sacred..

[superdeath]

Mjmd continues his war with Plemo, and the galleys have since disappeared.. But more problems have arrived:


VanRober appears to be prepping an attack on me. He i think has to go like... NOW if he wants any chance of grabbing a city. We recently echo'd fish/fish. Ive sent multiple de-escalation suggestions with his border city and mine along with Fish/fish and Copper/copper.. trying to indicate that its not going to end well for him. Now, in this PARTICULAR CASE i happen to be lying. VanRober i think has scouted enough to know that he is my only land based neighbor and thus my only real avenue of expansion. I think he doesnt really have the potential to take more than our border city before my tech advantage and naval supremacy starts taking cities. If he had gotten a stack of Keshiks with a follow up axe/cat stack prepped i think he could have rolled over me like 30t or so ago.. but im churning out zerkers which outclass all of his units, and ill have Vassalage and longbows soon for even more defensive and offensive power.. ill also have Engineering before the golden age is done rendering the WE's he has started to build damn near obsolete behind castle walls. I like the guy but i think he missed his chance to really cripple/eat me, and is basically a sitting duck. Ill have knights if i choose within 12t, i can have Galleons within 15-20t. If i had another actual target, like if we were on separate island chains instead of 1 stringy water filled Pangaea. Like id love to just take some cities off of Icehazard or Plemo in what i assume is just another chunk of the mainland to my southeast where i have my silver city. Id LOVE for it to be an island, but it i believe connects.

TLDR: Vanrober is going to be a harder to digest meal than i was planning for, which probably leaves others like Gavagai able to vulture more than i would like. Would it kill Gavagai to start a real war somewhere so i can go rock Mongolia's world without any worry?

[superdeath]

Plemo has made peace with both Magic and Mjmd..


Vanrober continues to ignore diplo attempts and stacks where the only logical target is myself. If he is going big-brained and is moving to slam this into Gavagai's capital in like 3t, thats insane, and id probably let him do it. (before eating his insides slowly with 1 movers..)

Next 10t will decide this PB i feel. Maybe not who will win, but how happy i am overall.

[superdeath]

Waiting on Vanrober to play.. Declaring war this turn IIRC. If not its next turn. 99.9% sure its this turn, but for Obvious reasons im not going to TELL Vanrober hey, we are in a split.. That would kinda ruin the whole going 2nd thing ive been playing. (when im not rolling the turn)

[Cornflakes]

So … where are the tales of blood and glory?

[superdeath]

So … where are the tales of blood and glory?

Vanrober is far more engaged at least in defense this time around. So ive stalled out a bit. I have a plan that will maybe not be a "kill shot" but it should allow me to start actually eating him. I didnt expect him to tech quite as fast as he ended up teching. Makes me a bit sad that i dont have another feasible expansion path. Not like there are a ton of islands i could take, and doing so would just piss off the other big/powerful empires, and id rather not get into a naval war just yet. If i can knock Vanrober down a peg or two, and one of my neighbors gets into a conflict i might take a bite, but ive hit a rut.

[superdeath]

Forgot to take a before picture, so here is the after:




Vanrober decided to move in, and while he had a TON of cats, he didnt have much for stack protection despite moving onto the hill. I really only lost a couple units that were 88%+ odds, which sucks... but his options here are rather limited. If he slams all those cats into me, i cant immediately pursue, but alot of them will die anyway. If he runs, pretty much no matter the tile i can wipe a good chunk of the stack. If he doesnt reinforce New Sarai, it burns/captures this next turn. Which would allow my remaining zerkers in the city to smack his stack if it retreats across the river. 4 Knights and 2 zerkers vs currently 2 longbows and a spear, i think i have decent odds of taking the city. He has an additional smaller stack coming over the mountain/hill ridge just southeast of the screenshot. It has less than 5 knights, so im not worried about it zooming thru, and my current whipping spree is mainly knights which will make it in time to slam the stack. So SO glad he decided to send it all this turn. Also burnt a city of his for good measure.

[superdeath]

opened the turn to this:


Bombarding with... "checks notes" less than 9 hitters? While not having any stack defenders reinforcing the hilled siege?


Another turn, another burnt city. Would love to keep, but RNG hasnt been going my way DESPITE all the green you see. For instance:





(im not complaining about losing the 54% or the 75%. Those i can "live with") its the 85%+ losses that really make me wanna break my keyboard.


This is what is left. I opted not to deleted the zerker or even the spear, as it will likely draw out more units which i can hit.

If he doesnt bombard, i dont think that he comes out on top very often with Axes being the majority of his hitters. Depending on how Vanrober moves his stack next turn in the screenshot, ill either wipe his catapults (the biggest threat) or ill move enough zerkers down to reinforce Birka that i wont have to worry about it falling. If i can clear both of these stacks, i think i can start pushing some knights forward in a couple turns, while moving zerkers to threaten any under-defended cities.