RB Pitboss #1 [SPOILERS] Willem of Persia

[shadyforce]

T95:

- Central Command completes a Settler tentatively bound for The Lighthouse location. I was originally going to start a worker due in 4 turns (that's pretty good going) but I'm instead going to build a Barracks due in 3, in light of the prospect of an upcoming mini-war against ZPV.
- The Factory has just completed the Horse Archer (unnamed) and has started on another, due in 4.
- The Castle has grown to size 2 and will grow again in 5 turns. It also has a Granary due in 4. I also have 2 workers chopping nearby. I have a lot of chopping to do to clear the forests and in particula the junglehills and forest/hills from around the city. It will build a Barracks next and then churn out units. It will receive lots of chops in the near future. It is also quite heavily fortified right now (perhaps too much so). I have an Axe, a Spear, 2 Immortals and a Horse Archer in and around the city. And I also have a Skirmisher on the way. It's also on a hill. Right on the border of India and Carthage, this is a true Castle.
- The Bank will grow to size 4 next turn where it will work another cottage. I have a worker planting cottages there and I will build a much needed road between it and The Castle with him shortly as well. The Bank is on max commerce config but is slow building a Spear to compliment its Axe, due in 4.
- The Grocer will grow to size 2 net turn. It is slowly building a Granary but that will speed up when the grass/Iron is mined and worker. It will get done *just* in time. I also have another worker there chopping the dye and it will build a road there too ijn time for Calendar.
- The Harbour has just finished Carpenter the Worker who has finished the road between The Harbour and The Factory. Carpenter will now road to the Lighthouse (unless I change my mind about where to build the city.) The Harbour will put a turn into a Lighthouse while it regrows before starting another Worker at size 2. I have a lot of whip anger here and only the Fish and a mine improved so I'm in no rush to grow. Plus I desperately need more workers. So I guess this is my worker pump.

Calendar is currently due in 6 (almost 5) but that's with Central Command on max hammers configuration. I can easily work a few coast tiles to speed it up later, but with The Bank growing into a cottage next turn, that probably won't even be necessary.

Finally, Central Command has sneaked into the top 5 cities, yay!

[shadyforce]

On T94, I traded Currency for dsp's Code of Laws, for MHK's Aesthetics (they now have Literature as of T95) and for Ruff's Monotheism. I also gave it to Krill. Imhotep doesn't have it yet unfortunately. Imhotep never asked for it for me to accept at the end of the last turn but I have offered it now so he should have it this turn. The understanding we have is that we give each other the techs we need, but everyone pulls their own weight, be it with research, money to fund defecit research or contributing military to other people or for an invasion of a UTA member.

This is the tech screen:


Techs that we have that the UTA do not:
- Aesthetics (MHK) - They are probably ignoring this for now
- Literature (MHK) - Can't research
- Metal Casting (dsp) - We suspect ZPV is on this now

Techs the UTA have but we do not:
- Compass (ZPV) - We are ignoring it for now
- Feudalism (Broker's Oracle) - We are ignoring it for now
- Calendar (The Lins) - I'm researching it, due in 5 turns.
- Construction (Sunrise) - Krill should have this next turn I think

[shadyforce]

Apologies for the lack of updates in the last few turns. But as compensation, I bring you...

[SIZE="5"]THE SIEGE OF HIPPO![/SIZE]



It is now T99. ZPV has finished his turn and I am waiting for the double move rules change before I do anything. I made a silly tactical error by not putting my Horse Archer on the same tile as my Immortal. ZPV could have put his other Numidian Cavalry in the city as well, but chose not to. He also didn't promote either Numid. He also had a third Numid on the roaded hill tile to the south-west (guarding a worker) but that has disappeared. It's possible he is on his way to guard Leptis (dsp's attack is due next turn) which would be unfortunate (the Numid can reach Leptis on T100 also so it would depend on who of him and dsp moves first.) Hippo has only just grown to size 4 so it could not have double-whipped a defender and presumably he didn't have any hammers in anything to single-whip. Or maybe he just didn't think I was actually going to attack.

The plan for a little later:
Famine the Immortal needs to kill the warrior (99% odds), then Sir Gallopsalittle the Horse Archer promotes to combat 2 and attacks the Numid in Hippo (~88% odds I think) with Pestilence the other Immortal there to clean up should I get a bad dice roll. I intend to raze Hippo because I don't want a city that is awkward to defend with an upcoming Indian campaign, plus I'm not sure I want the city there anyway. Should I get hold of Fairfield, I could keep it and found New Hippo 2W by the coast to get the fish (+horse), the city that ZPV should probably have founded in the first place if we wasn't going to have a beefy garrison in Hippo.

Tune in later in the evening to see the action.

[Cyneheard]

Kill! Maim! Destroy!

*popcorn*

Question: There's a square next to that warrior which has a Fast Worker on it. Does it have a defender?

[shadyforce]

T99:












Sir Gallopsalittle the HA is on 4.1/6 health and Famine the Immortal is on 3.4/4 health, both are on the hill with the city ruins. The attack was a great success.

I discovered a worker chopping the forest next to Hippo and had to decide whether Famine the Immortal should capture the worker, cover the injured units or march towards Leptis to help dsp with his attack should it be necessary. Bear in mind that I know of a third Numid in the area, possible in the forests south of Hippo on the way to Leptis. Krill was online at the time and we chatted and discussed the merits. Marching towards Leptis was ruled out because ZPV would surely move any units he can into Leptis (or whip it as well) which would all but rule out a succesful attack by dsp, even with my Immortal's help. Covering the injured units is the safe option because at best he would have a 50-50 attack on my top defender on the hill and he would need another unit to get to my valuable HA.

But in the end, capturing a worker (and trying to march him home) seemed worth the risk because the worker is 60 hammers and is of great immediate value to me because of my shortage. And even though I may lose my HA, his Numid would probably get killed next turn anyway, or he may take back the worker on a dice roll but again will lose the Numid. Most of all, tempting him to use units to try and attack my injured ones means he's not moving units towards Leptis and maybe dsp's attack will be more succesful.

Elsewhere in my empire:
- Central Command has completed it's barracks and is now on a catapult, due in 4 (iirc).
- The Factory has just finished a fresh 5xp Horse Archer and is now on War Elephants for the forseeable future.
- The Castle will finish a Barracks next turn (with the help from a chop) and will probably start a WE or maybe a Cat next turn. It will also grow to size 3 where it will have a shiny new mine ready for it.
- The Bank is growing, working cottaqes and slow building a Catapult... though I think I'll change that to a WE that can be whipped in case of emergency.
- The Harbour is on a worker still on size 2 waiting for whip anger to wear off.
- The Grocer has mined and connected the Iron and the banana and dye jungles are chopped so next turn when Calendar comes in, I can start plantations.
- My settler is on the spot or The Lighthouse which will be founded next turn, guarded by my Skirmisher.

With Krill's gifted money, I've stayed on 100% science and Calendar will be done next turn. I think it's Drama -> Music after that as we reckon I'm the person who'll get the most use out of the Great Artist.

Finally, there may be repurcussions about my war/moves. Once I read Broker saying that we have a majority and we can consider the clause removesd, I went ahead with the attack. But THEN Kalin then posts a message saying we should enforce the rule next turn. There are fair arguments either way. He has a point that ZPV may have been banking on being able to promote after a war declaration. But then again, he hasn't logged in late in the turn the last few turns (that I have noticed), he also clicked finish turn and he was also in favour of the rule change in the first place. And also the rule was silly and totally not what we intend when we regulate against double moves.

I guess we'll see if ZPV wants to formally complain.

[shadyforce]

The fast worker there does not have a defender... which is slightly surprising as Rego has been fairly careful about defence thus far. Even if I wanted to declare war on both of my direct neighbours on the same turn, both my units near him are required for attacking, and no my Immortal can't capture the worker after killing the warrior (I checked). It's worth considering a worker snipe next turn... since I've already crossed over to the dark side now.

[Cyneheard]

Flavor Question:
I see Famine and Pestilence. Where are the rest of the Four Horsemen?

And, yes, it is hard to turn down a worker steal. We'll see if that was the way to go; I'd say probably.

Am I correct in assuming Hippo's your only target?

[zakalwe]

Sir Gallopsalittle

love your unit names, particularly this one

[shadyforce]

A word on naming conventions:

- Cities are named after a building in Civ that in some way approximate their purpose.
- Workers are named after traditional professions that have existed since ancient times.
- I decided to name my first two Immortals after horsemen of the apocalypse but I don't know if I'll get around to building any more
- I have a whole host of Elephant names in mind, all beginning with 'Jumbo' (eg. Jumbotron, Jumboy, Jumbinator, etc)
- Horse Archers might as well stick with the Sir Gallops- theme
- The rest of the Unit names are sort of made up on the fly (so was Sir Gallopsalittle).
Suggestions always welcome.

T100:

- ZPV's Numidian Cavalry promotes to combat 2 and attacks Pestilence on the forest, wins and retakes his worker which he keeps.
- Another Numid in Indian lands which I didn't know about emerges and attacks Thog the Axemen on the hill, who was guarding Chef the worker. Both are now dead.

- Dsp's (unpromoted) Axe dies to a warrior attacking off a boat into Leptis at 90% odds. Bad luck there. I reckon I too would have kept the promotion for healing intending to hold the city, facing a likely Numid or two in the area. His spear finished the job but he had to raze it rather than keep. Still though, ZPV is 2 cities down and the mission is pretty much accomplished.

RIP Pestilence, Thog, Chef and dsp's Axe.







I missed the screenie showing the odds here but it was comfortable odds, probably in the 90s.


So ZPV is down a city and 3 Numids and at the moment a worker. I'm down an Immortal, an Axe and a Worker, but I may be up a worker if the captured dude can make it home.

Later in the turn:



RIP Spike.

Roy starts marching towards The Castle. I whip the War Elephant in The Factory, switch The Bank to a WE as well and plan to whip it next turn. Central Command is sticking with it's Catapult as it may be handy in 5 turns time if I am facing a real stack. The Castle has switched to an Axe. The Grocer, The Harbour and The Lighthouse are doing their own things.

My new Horse Archer (not named yet) and my injued units from the Hippo campaign (assuming they survive a Numid retaliation if one is coming) can all move to positions to threaten Fairfield next turn. Maybe he got careless and is underdefending that city not knowing I have units to his south-west.

[shadyforce]

Just a quick update this time. Sorry.

Famine and Sir Gallopsallittle were slaughtered by 4 Numidian Cavalry this turn. Pestilence killed one, one retreated and two more finished them off. Those brave soldiers served Persia well and went out fighing.

Famine and Sir Gallopsalittle, we saulte you.

So ZPV's counter attack consists of at least 3 Numids and possibly more. Will post update later after I see what Rego does.

The Factory finishes a 5xp Elephant and because of overflow and a chop, will complete another 5xp Elephant next turn. The Bank was whipped so I will have a rookie Elephant next turn, and Central Command will complete a 3xp Catapult next turn also.

My current defence consists of:
- Sir Gallopsabout the Horse Archer sitting on a forest tile south of The Castle that cannot be seen by ZPv or Rego
- Roy the Axe is between The Bank and The Castle
- My new Elephant which will be given a name a little later
- An unnamed Spear garrisoning The Bank
- Haley the Archer garrisoning The Factory
- Tell the Archer garrisoning The Grocer
- Belkar the Warrior garrisoning Central Command
- Or a cat I saw the Skirmisher is garrisoning newly founded The Lighthouse

I'm a little light but 3 elephants should keep me safe enough for the next few turns. Hopefully.