[SPOILER] Jowy - Peter of Egypt (Green Game)

[Jowy]

Surprisingly it only took 5 hours 40 minutes to get the next save.. I'm fine with that! I decided to go with a granary next, it's now only a 1-turn build thanks to some production overflow, expansive trait and working some hills. Next turn I will revolt to Buddhism and Slavery (which takes 2 turns?) and then slave a worker.

What was weird is that when I sent off a warrior and a settler from the capital, leaving it empty, I didn't get the "we fear for our safety" +1 unhappiness. I think it's either because barbarians are not enabled or because seifer's warrior is parked in my capital. I wonder how the mechanics of that work in a PBEM if it's the latter.

[Jowy]

[SIZE="5"]Expansion, finally.[/SIZE]

o Found out that I got +2 unhappiness for not having a guard in Anima, so I moved the warrior back. That meant that if Seifer wanted, he could have razed my new city. However, I took the risk because our relations have been good and he wouldn't GAIN anything out of it except a game-long enemy. Showing some trust was probably good for our relations too, if he even noticed it.
o Founded Shiva on the horses. Working a pig atm and went with a worker as the first build.
o Buddhism spread to Shiva on it's own, not that I'd need an early border pop, but still helps.
o Anima built my second worker (Shiva's will be third) and will complete a war chariot next turn. After that I will create another war chariot and then another settler, which will likely go for the western spot on my dotmap. The spot might be moved a bit since discovering copper.
o Discovered Iron Working, however no iron AT ALL. Atleast Speaker wasn't cruel enough to have someone be Rome in a no-iron map. Freaking hilarious, but cruel!
o Next I decided to go down the religious path, I have already discovered Polytheism and will next turn discover Monotheism to found Judaism in Shiva and to get Organized Religion civic (+25% on buildings, further help to building TGL). The next tech after that is Monarchy for another civic, Hereditary Rule, which will grant happiness by garrison units. After that I'm going for TGL techs IF my expansion has improved enough.
o Workers had the copper connected. Horses were automatically connected to Anima as I thought. I'm still roading from Anima to Shiva, not for resources but for security. I NEED to have a strong road network unlike in RBP2. Also, once the workers are there, they'll improve the pig and get up a few cottages.

[Jowy]

You might have noticed I haven't talked about diplomacy much at all. Truth is, I've yet to meet more than two civs! And the newer one of those I just met and am about to formally greet via an email. Nevertheless, I won't be copying and analyzing every single message here. I will bring up what matters to me, and what matters to the game, but in general my diplomacy should be self-evident after reading my thread, and you can read my full letters in the other threads. However, if there are any questions about diplo (or anything else for that matter), feel free to ask.

o First off I feared that Seifer would be a tough nut to crack because of the difference in our styles. Initially he seemed like the formal always-business kind of a guy, who I'd clearly have troubles with since my diplo and playing is more relaxed and casual. However, everything went unexpectedly smooth. We have our NAP in place and we are actively sharing information, even agreed to let eachother scout our lands. He mentioned that I was who he had the best relations with. I didn't straight out buy it, but if it is true, then that's good to know.

o Meta-game wise, I expected something to be up when posts started to appear more frequently in player's threads. Seifer's newest email last night confirmed that: Cull and Malakai are in war over border disputes. Very good news for me, for all I care those two should cripple eachother. Only thing I fear is that Kyan will help Malakai, who are friends outside RB since Kyan brought Malakai here for this game. As far as I know, Cull should be located between Malakai and Kyan, which means that Kyan might just attack Cull from the other side and claim alot of free land. He's already the runaway civ atm. and as I predicted in my pre-game posts, one of the favourites to win.

o The forbidden screenshots that were shared were probably connected to the border dispute, or borders in general. I know atleast Kyan seems to have sent or received screenshots, which means that he has relatively good relations with someone (probably just Malakai though).

o Strike is a mystery so far. Is he tight with other players, is his mind fully in the game, is he a good player...? I don't know how to approach him. Gotta send some kind of a feeler his way.

[Jowy]

a little quiz for you guys!

Why shouldn't you settle aggressively towards Egypt with just axes?
A) Egypt has War Chariots.
B) Egypt has WAR CHARIOTS!
C) EGYPT HAS MOTHERFUCKING WAR CHARIOTS!!!!

[Bobchillingworth]

Oh, this should be good

[Twinkletoes89]

So what's the plan? How many WCs do you have to attack with?

[Jowy]

So what's the plan? How many WCs do you have to attack with?

More in the next post, I wanted my lurkers to be the absolutely first to know

[Bobchillingworth]

Huh... looks like he founded without anyone guarding the city? And now I guess has 2 axes, a worker, and a something for you to pick off for exp and perhaps a free slave.


Well done! You should prosecute this war as a fight to the death for the sole reason that it'll be much more fun to lurk that way =)

[Jowy]

Huh... looks like he founded without anyone guarding the city? And now I guess has 2 axes, a worker, and a something for you to pick off for exp and perhaps a free slave.


Well done! You should prosecute this war as a fight to the death for the sole reason that it'll be much more fun to lurk that way =)

Exactly! Can't promise you a fight to the death though



Alright, this is what unfolded in front of my screen the next turn. A sudden adrenalin rush struck me as I was presented with pretty much the best case scenario First I analyzed his moves.. why the hell did he found the city and leave it undefended? There is pretty much only one reasoning I could think of: Strike made a mistake in thinking that crossing the river would take my war chariot two turns instead of one. Funny thing is that he actually anticipated my attack since he defends the workers. As for why did he want to build a cottage or a farm so desperately over there, that I do not know. I made him pay for his mistake by declaring war and razing the city



Originally I started writing about all the different scenarios that may happen. Then I soon realised that it'll take very long and has little substance. Whichever scenario actually happens I can still react it to the same way. I still think about it all, just won't write it down. Anyway, enjoy the screenie for whatever good it is

I will hunt down those axes and snatch the workers if possible. Due to there being axes out already, it's also possible that he will have a spear coming my way pretty soon. I must get off-road rather sooner than later.



Homeland security is something I will talk about! You might notice that I've sent the new WC north. It trapped a warrior there and will land the killing blow next turn no matter what Strike has the warrior do. As for the cyan lines, if those axes decide to go for my cities, that's the area where I will have to kill them (open field > forests/hills). Best case scenario is that each tile will be threatened by two WC's.. it's like chess.


As for why I declared war on him:
o He hasn't responded to my diplomatic messages
o He left me an opening
o He's settling aggressively towards me
o He likely already decided to side with his other neighbour Kyan. He has also recently added Kyan as a friend in the forums. Perhaps the reason for his open hostility is that he thought he could just walk over me since Sullla and Speaker did it so easily.
o He's not a threat (and thinking so might bite me in the ass later on, but it is what it is)


Here's some emails:

[COLOR="LightBlue"]Jowy -
to strikeofchina

show details Jul 22 (5 days ago)

Greetings, Emperor Strike of the Chinese empire!

It's an honor to finally meet my eastern neighbour. Though I'm not sure if that is the case or not, but I imagine I will hear a confirmation from you soon Let there be long-lived peace and prosperity between our two nations, and if not, then it'll be an honor to meet you in the battlefield. In any case, I'll be waiting forwards to your swift reply! Please, feel free let me know if there is anything you want to discuss.

~ Pharaoh Jowy of the Egyptian people[/COLOR]

[COLOR="LightBlue"]Jowy -
to strikeofchina

show details Jul 25 (2 days ago)

Greetings Emperor Strike of China!

It appears that you have made your decision. I will respect that, and stop trying to reach out and befriend you. However, if you ever change your mind, I will respect your wishes and grant you a second chance. Remember that communication is the key, without that I do not believe we have any business with eachother. Good luck with your future endeavors![/COLOR]

& with Seifer:

[COLOR="LightBlue"]Jowy -
to seifer

show details Jul 25 (2 days ago)

Hey Seifer,

I'm writing this to let you know that Strike's recent actions, or rather lack there of, have earned him.. rather major unforeseen repercussions. Everything is still a bit in the air, perhaps I will finally hear of him the next time he opens up the game. Anyway, I'll keep you updated on how the situation unfolds. Feel free to bug me for an answer if you have any questions [/COLOR]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"]seifer md
to me

show details Jul 26 (1 day ago)

Hi Jowy,

I was moving my scout around west of your land and saw Strike move a settler towards you. I would of told you about him but I was too busy this weekend to handle diplomacy (although I did my best to play the turns). Since you don't mind me bugging you I would like to know more about the situation, including potentially helping you in some way if I could. I'm guessing that city placement has you a little bit frustrated? I did get a look a the city's southern land and saw copper in it's radius. My guess was everyone started with copper in their borders, but in case they didn't and this can work to your advantage, he has this city connect to his others by a road already. It could involve sending a War Chariot to pillage it if this were the case and a dispute broke out. It's currently working tiles such that it's producing 4 hammers a turn, and that's about all the information I can give you for now. Best of luck dealing with this situation.[/COLOR]

[COLOR="LightBlue"]Jowy -
to seifer

show details 9:31 PM (1 hour ago)

Hey Seifer,

To be more precise, I've razed the city. Strike has decided not to return any of my diplomatic messages, but thought it would be wise to settle next to Egypt with just axes as defense. Anyway, as long as he stays quiet and hostile, I have no reason to treat him as anything more than barbarians.

I will be safe from him, no worries It's just a question of how much it'll cost me to eliminate him if it comes to that.. Peace would of course be preferred! I honestly don't have anything against the guy, and wouldn't mind working with him. It's just that you don't fuck with me :P Maybe this whole deal will prompt him to finally shoot a message or two my way.

There IS a way you can help me out. Just have your scout hang around for a while and let me know what he finds.

About the copper, I believe the one between me and Strike was an extra one. He has another one somewhere in his lands, probably in the starting BFC, since he had axes already.[/COLOR]

[Bobchillingworth]

Keep the updates coming



I'm also not sure I understand Strike's thinking in moving those axes out in the open to cover the workers. Personally, I would have kept both in the city, and moved the workers to the adjacent forest as bait. If you had tried to take the workers, the axes could attack out of the city and kill your WC. If you had attacked the city, you would likely have killed the first axe but taken damage, allowing the second decent odds to attack out of the city and take out the offending WC.


I'm a tactical mastermind from my office chair =)