[SPOILERS] Back to Basic - Mardoc plays Augustus of China

[Mardoc]

Well, I'm glad I researched Horseback Riding.




I'm slightly out of position, but I think I've still got a good shot of holding Durkon. I can get an axe into the city, and both spears are full fortified. And the city is on a hill.

Have a number of units moving forward at the moment: a chariot and axe will be able to either reinforce or revenge Durkon next turn, and I've two more axes en route.

This turn I built 2 axes, a barracks, and half a stable in Roy (2-promo HA's, please!). Next turn after archery is researched, I'll be whipping in a round of Horse Archers - do they auto-upgrade from chariots in queue? Doesn't look like it.

I think, also, that I'm getting tired of these constant skimishes. I'm going to give up on Mids, at least chopped Mids, and instead turn all of Roy's forests into Horse Archers. Need to at least take Gergovia.

[Qgqqqqq]

There's no other promotion line for chariots, so I presume they do.

[Commodore]

Uh. Chariots and Horse Archers both upgrade to knights. No auto-upgrade.

[DaveV]

Love the theme. Is there a Miko city coming?

[Mardoc]

Uh. Chariots and Horse Archers both upgrade to knights. No auto-upgrade.

Ah, good, I interpreted the Civilopedia correctly. I've got a round of axes finishing up, we'll build the HA with overflow and whips/chops. Don't think I likely need many chariots, HA also get odds on axes in addition to better odds against all non-axes. I doubt there will be many situations where I need extra-good odds on axes - maybe if they're defending a capital? But that's probably better handled by researching Construction next. For one thing, a chariot-based strat is basically nullifed by even a handful of spears.

Love the theme. Is there a Miko city coming?

Yes, certainly. It's probably currently named something Celtic . I'm thinking antagonists get cities that I conquer, while self-founded cities are protagonists or allies. Need Xykon and Redcloak first, but then Miko's probably next.

[Mardoc]

Hmm, anyone have access to a civ computer before I get home in ~7 hours? I have a save in my inbox, taunting me with the mystery of whether Twinkletoes attacked, and if so, what the casualties look like.

[Mardoc]

Durkon lives! Because Twinkle chose not to suicide, though. He's probing to see if Belkar is light, I think. Haven't moved anything yet, I need to ponder a bit.

[Mardoc]

Alright, I went with this troop arrangement. Threaten Gergovia if TT doesn't move to cover it, hold Durkon against anything but massive 2-mover reinforcements, and leave a reserve a bit mobile.

Also, you can see the Chinese mobilizing for total war. I aim to at least cripple TT in this war, ideally take him out entirely.




Speaking of mobilization: the trick at Roy is actually going to be remembering to stagger my chops so I don't lose any hammers to overflow . Should be able to produce a 2-promo HA every turn for the next several, without even touching the




And the capstone, at EOT Durkon's borders popped, ensuring the battlefield control stays like this, and also giving a handy defensive bonus in case TT feels like gambling.

In retrospect, I wish I'd gotten Hindu to Belkar a while ago, but in a few turns it'll join the club of cities with defense bonus.

[HidingKneel]

Sounds like chopping is a lot more useful than I'm used to...

Plan looks good to me. The best defense is a good offense... I think. Not sure how weighted combat is in favor of the defender here.

[Mardoc]

Sounds like chopping is a lot more useful than I'm used to...

Yeah, about twice the hammers for the same worker turns. Here on Normal, post-Mathematics, I'm getting 30 hammers/chop, and a chop takes three turns (plus one to get onto the tile). On top, with Slavery as strong as it is, there's no need to keep forests around for the hammer yield. By the time we leave Slavery, workshops ought to be boosted enough to take its place; there's never really a need for a forest.

Plan looks good to me. The best defense is a good offense... I think. Not sure how weighted combat is in favor of the defender here.

It's fairly defense tilted for most of the game. Roads and the whip let a defender react very quickly, and there are a lot of defense bonuses available. Culture defenses are double FFH's, on top - so TT already has +60% in his capital and Holy City. Note that TT caught me out of position, at a spot where he could hit in the second turn of the war, and I've already achieved stalemate. Generally you need a tech lead or a hammer advantage or both to have a chance of successful offense.

Why am I doing this anyway? A pair of things: I have more Power at the moment, which means what I see is nearly all he's got. And I've got the stronger empire. I've had more GNP than TT all game, and more hammers than him all game, so I probably have a slight military tech lead (although if he skipped econ techs, that won't be true). I've got Forges and Barracks spread pretty well. I've just gotten techs for a step and a half beyond the units I've seen; HA should have odds on every unit in his stack, anywhere but fortified in a well cultured city. I haven't seen any spears at all from him, and I haven't given him any reason to believe they're necessary - only one chariot in my army. And Construction is due in ~6 turns (will fall somewhat as I convert population to hammers), which is another major step up in military: catapults!

And, on top, I've got a bunch of prechopped forests that I had been preparing for a Pyramids run, a lot of pop I'd been growing for GNP purposes, and a bunch of workers with no higher priority than chopping out an army. So in addition to a significant conventional production advantage, I've also got a lot of non-demographic hammers coming out very soon. Oh, and one more thing: I've played the last two skirmishes very timidly, taking out one unit and asking for peace, even when I had a significant advantage in having metal when he didn't. He's probably expecting to be able to get peace again if the tactical situation turns, and hence he won't go all-in himself just yet. He knows I can't expand east without going through him, but he never saw the ocean to my west, so he might be thinking he just needs to persuade me to expand away from him.

I think I've got a brief window. I think I'll be able to surprise TT on several fronts: HA are a military step up, I'll be dumping a lot of hammers into military very very quickly, and I'm switching from passive aggressive to AGGRESSIVE. I think the surprise should let me wipe out his current army and make a couple cities' worth of progress before he recovers. Then it'll be 6 cities to 3, I'll have the initiative, and should be able to pillage him a lot. It'll just be a matter of drowning him in hammers - catapults will be available, which will let me crack the +60% cities, and I should be able to sacrifice two units to kill one of his.

Main downside of this is that I'll be tanking my GNP again, possibly leaving myself vulnerable to whoever's on the other side of TT. But, well - it's clear that I've got to take on Twinkletoes regardless sooner or later. I'm basically out of room to grow (had two and half decent cities left to found), and it's clear he won't give me rest. Best to war while I've got that window. I'm just hoping to make the war quick and decisive enough that a veteran army can keep me safe while I rebuild my economy.