[SPOILERS] Serdoa as DeGaulle of Maya

[flugauto]

Oh.. and retake the city Bigger took. I haven't forgot that either. Please BRick, let me in peace. I promise in 20 turns I'll move 20 Knights against Bigger if you do that. And 20 turns later I move 60 against Commodore

Oh, looking forward to that.

Could you show your capital, please.

[Gavagai]

Could you show your capital, please.

+1

[Serdoa]

Sorry, forgot to take the screenie of the cap. I'll make a complete overview tomorrow, I hope my wife won't kill me for taking another hour on this instead of playing DDO with her.

Anyhow. As predicted BRick attacked me. He lost 5 (or 6?) HA against my 1 Holkan and several Axes on a hill. I don't know how many HA he has left now, but I'd expect something between 10-20 (I have no idea about techs, apart from that he has not many, so I can't really gauge how many soldier points of his are real soldiers). He probably can take or raze New Fish, but I am not sure why he would, because he can't hold it. And he might even get counterattacked by xenu as I explained in my last post (though I am sure xenu won't do that, and instead will probably screw around with scooter...).

I will have Feudalism at the end of next turn, BRick can at best raze New Fish at that point. If I do get some gold loaned by someone (lets cross fingers) I can immediately upgrade Archers to Longbows. If I could just upgrade the two in Mayapan (thats the border city next to BRick) and the 2 in the iron-city a turn later he won't take those or only with high losses. And lets not forget the 5 Holkans running around nearby + 5-6 Archers. I am certain I can keep the cities I had, but as I said he might take or raze New Fish and maybe even the Iron City and Mayapan.

If he does though, I will strike back. I started a GA now and can now 1-turn Catapults in my capital. I can also change to Police State if necessary, but I'd like to wait till next turn at least to see if I want Slavery instead of Caste as well. I also get 5 XP on all ground units there (got a GG from the fight last turn). And I will 1-turn units there even after the GA. Also in my 2nd city which does have Moai now. I am certain I can produce more units than he can, because I have in the GA the highest MfG now and even outside the GA I should have 3rd to 4th highest. Fuck it, 15 more turns and I might have catched Commodore (if he had stopped doing anything that is ).

I knew when I saw the start I won't win this, but it still annoys me when I get attacked while I am in builder-mode. Even more when I myself regard the attack as "not clever", lets put it that way

[Serdoa]

Ok, so let me rant on a bit.

I did propose to BRick a peace treaty if he returns New Fish to me. That might sound like a bad deal for him first, I mean he has a stack of 7 HAs (except two all fully healed and C1,S1) and 1 GG-Axe (C1,S1,that +25% against Archers, CR1) in my lands as well as 4 HAs (really beaten up, one is at 3.4 health, the rest is at 1.0 or lower) and a GG-Medic. And 3 full health HAs nearby.

So, in short (and easier readable)

7 HAs, 1GG-Axe
4 HAs, 1GG-Medic Scout (beaten up stack)
3 HAs outside my land

My forces right now? 5 Holkans, 5 Archers, 1 Catapult, 1 LB in my main city. Another Archer and Holkan next to Mayapan. 1 Archer in the Quirigua. 2 Holkans ready to be ferried. Oh, and I will complete 1 LB and 2 Archers in the war-area this turn. Hey, you know what certainly would help? A neat picture:



Ok, maybe it is not that neat... anyhow, I think it suffices to show my position. He can't attack my main city with all the troops in it next turn, and I do have enough troops in there (it has walls) that an attack is stupid anyhow. But what about Mayapan and Quirigua (lets call it Iron-city)? Well, he could attack Mayapan. But there will be 1 Archer completed that will be upgraded to a LB. Mayapan has walls so that unit will have str 10.5. His best HA that could attack has str 3.4 and I think C1 and C2. Yeah, thats not going to work. Especially as another Archer will be present there as well. That should be enough to hold this city for this turn.

Next turn this city will have 3 LBs, 2 Holkans. He will have at best 8 HAs that can really attack and that GG-Axe. So that could get dicey. Only, I can move 2 Archers from the Iron-city in as well. And with that it already gets unlikely that he can raze it.

Now, that means I would sacrifice the Iron-city? Yes, it does. It has 2 pop and just recently finished the Granary, honestly, I don't care if he razes that city, I will have resettled it in a few turns. I wouldn't be happy, but thats it. And he would lose his army in the process because my Holkans, Catapults, LBs, Archers and Axes (I forgot them in the picture, I do have 2 Axes as well) would move after him. He would be trapped up there.

So, the gist of it? That attack was stupid. He has taken New Fish but he can't hold it. Even if he moves all his units in. Because I will have Knights in 10 turns. But apart from that, he needs to get his HAs out there and quick. Because his peace-treaty with xenu will expire (I forgot that, so thats probably why he felt he could move out with his forces). And when that happens I doubt xenu will sit there and look at his cities that are certainly not defended with that many units. Heck, I see 15 HAs right now, thats 90.000 soldier points right there. Plus the Axe is 96.000. 21k for population. 56k for tech. Thats already 173k and highest is around 270k. Leaves 97k. I would assume 5 Barracks, 5 Stables for another 25k. 9 cities, each defended by at least an Archer would be another 27k. Probably 3-4 galleys for another 8k. Thats 37k left in units. Thats what, 5 Axes and 2 Spears? If thats all what is defending the two cities he took from xenu I think they will soon change possession.

I really don't get this attack I am sorry. I mean, look at this overview-map

There are several more city-sites to settle for him. Why attack instead? Why your second neighbour when you probably struggle to defend against one of them? Even worse, do you see that city of Merohoc on the rightmost part of the map? He should be the owner of this city - but he didn't colonize these islands it seems, despite them having probably as many resources as my whole land has now... Really BRick, that might be "fun" for you, but you actually had decent land to compete with the leader. You just didn't use it at all. Heck, we are 140 turns in and your cities are still at best size 6? How do you do that? Why no Monarchy if you miss happiness resources? And then you could have used those units for happiness-garrison if you really think you don't need them against xenu.

The sad thing is that this throws this game even more into Commodores favor. By taking out scooter (no clue how that happened) he had already enough land to himself to launch a spaceship - and all of that land should be easy enough to defend imo. Some sentries into the water once we have ocean-faring boats and he is fine. We others now will have to fight against each other first to even get into a position to fight Commodore. But I am not in the position as I border him. If I attack someone he will either settle up on me or simply attack me (I'm actually impressed that didn't happen already...). Now I did get attack so what are the chances I get the jungle-area between us? Yeah, around 0. And if he gets that, he is close enough that he will be a constant threat. Most likely I will sit there, try to defend and will wait till Lewwyn has taken Azza out, and both attack me. Probably one joining after the other started it.

So, that leaves most likely slowcheetah and plako to be contender for the win (Lewwyn will just get steamrolled afterwards by Commodores nearly twice as big empire). I'm not sure if plako can even contend though, at least not right now. Maybe with some smart play and if he can take out Merohoc. Which easily could happen tbh. Especially as I would not be in the slightest surprised if BRick would attack Merohoc next...

Oh well... what I also don't get: Why is BRick not taking peace and gives New Fish back. He should have realized by now that he can't win this war nor hurt me enough that I won't come back for him. If he leaves now, I might simply file it under "opportunistic attack" and be done with it, simply because there are more important enemies to take care of.

Lastly, shot of my Capital. Still no Library, but it is not meant for that, it is meant for production. What does not look as impressive as I had to switch ouf of Caste and Rep. (slavery and police state currently). I will switch back before the GA ends and than switch again (next GP soon enough) to Theocracy, Police State as soon as I have Guilds. And then I will kill someone

[Serdoa]

Obviously when I update I am too torough and nobody has any questions left. Well, maybe you guys could ask how the war is going? Because BRick obviously has no time to update when I look at his thread (and his play times - I take around 1 hour - 3 hours to play a turn while he takes 5-10 minutes, what probably puts him at a disadvantage tbh and might be reason for why he attacked me in the first place, because he didn't really think it through).

Anyhow, T143 was the first turn that the Empire striked back... should that be stroke back? Sounds like a heart-stroke, so probably not. Oh well, English is not easy.

For reference, the overview picture from last turn:



I did move the 2 Archers from Quirigua out of the city onto the tile 1NE of Mayapan. As expected BRick tried to kill one of them and failed




Kinda unlucky there, though I think he should not have attacked in the first place. Well, I think he should have taken peace or rather never attacked me in the first place, but only looking at this situation, he had no reason to attack me there. But I think he has several times in this war already forgotten that I will create new, additional units in my cities and so probably thought that is a last-ditch effort to hold Mayapan. Well, it is not BRick. When he played his turn I had 2 LBs and 1 Holkan in the city. So he probably thought if he takes out one of the two incoming Archers I am done. Though of course I did produce another Archer last turn that was upgraded to a LB and brought another LB and Holkan via Galley.

That led to the situation that I can't hold Quirigua as he moved his 7HA,1GG-Axe stack onto the grassland 1SW of it (I think, maybe it is on the desert 2SW, it really makes no difference though). Even if I had upgraded both Archers to LBs I would probably not have hold it (but it would have been costly for him to take it, probably 2-3 HAs). I did unfortunately miss-check if I can 1 pop-whip an archer in there two turns ago. I checked it via a city with Forge and didn't realize that. So when I saw last turn that I can't get the 3rd Archer in before he attacks, I decided to abandon it. It didn't even have walls and only 2 pop, so clearly better to late it get razed if he decides to do so.

So, long story short, with his only HA in that small stack that was at half-health damaged it opened up a possibility to attack it, as I had now 2 Holkans and 2 Archers (1 damaged) available while still keeping 4 LBs in Mayapan. I decided that had to be enough to keep it against his big stack. If he does kill all 4 of them with 2 units each he can take it. I doubt he can kill it with less and I actually think he might very well need more (he should have around 4.5% chance to kill it with his first attacker so if I win all of those battles as I should and just one of my units keeps healthy in the process, he can't take it).

Attack!



Thats 3 down. On that small stack was now only left 1 HA and his GG-Medic-Scout. I really wanted that scout dead and started to debate with myself if it is better to move my damaged Archer into the city, just to have one more unit he has to go through and make a conquest of the city basically impossible or if I should attack at 28% odds. Guess what I decided?



Yes!! Maybe all my actions this game will also finally prove that I am indeed playing risky, no matter if PBEM or PB. Yes, as can be read in other threads as well, I am still upset that I was accused of cheating just because I am playing risky.

Combat Details for those interested:



With those wins under my belt I decided to really push forward. Well, thats not true, I had decided that last turn already. In the overview picture you see all my troops in the coastal-city. In reality I had moved them to the tile 1NW of his 3 HA-stack. He moved those now 1SW onto the jungle. In attack-range of the city. As I told last update, I was bringing in 2 Holkans via Galley. And I had moved two workers in the city last turn as well, to build a road if necessary. Turns out that was a good thing. The workers roaded the tile 1E of the city, the two Holkans were unloaded in the city, keeping there movement. I used the catapult I just had finished to attack his 3 HA (kinda a waste, but I'd rather lose a catapult that can't get into the fight anywhere else now). After that the 2 new Holkans attacked, and won. The last HA was finished by an Axe, because I hoped he would get up to 8 XP. Turns out he only managed to get to 7 Oh, well, still 3 more HAs down.

I now moved my catapult, 2 Holkans, 2 Archers next to new Fish. He has one damaged HA in there which I doubt will stay. Maybe he brings more troops, we'll see. If not, that city goes back in my possession next turn. The other troops (1 Axe, 2 Holkan, 2 Archers, 1 Catapult I think) moved to the hill 2W of Mayapan. He can attack this stack, but if he does, he will still have to take 2 battles that he has odds to lose before he get winning odds. He might still take them of course, but it might batter up his troops enough that I can take them out next turn.

Last action this turn was offering him peace for returning New Fish and 100 gold. Till now he could get it just for New Fish. If he does not take it again and instead razes Quirigua, I will all-out war him. Just to give an idea what that means: I did dial tech up again and will finish HBR this turn and in 4-5 more turns Machinery. I will get a Engineer in 6 turns that will bulb Engineering. At that point, I just need to produce Knights. I do finish a settler this turn to settle Horses, another one next turn to resettle my Iron. So latest 7 turns from now I should start Knights. I think I will need around 3 more turns to get to Theology (I will produce wealth of course). That will be time I use to set up Barracks everywhere and Stables in my capital. So in 10 turns I start to produce Knights, probably 1 turn them in the capital. If I get a unit to 8XP in the meantime, I will get HE in my Moai-city. That will lead to 6 turns for 5 Knights. That only will be ~25 Knights that are available in 25 turns from now. Another 20 are probably produceable from my other cities in that time. Everyone will be 2 Promo except those from the cap that are 3 promo.

BRick, take peace - or get erased from this world in the next 35 turns (and yes, Commodore will roll me after that).

[DaveV]

Anyhow, T143 was the first turn that the Empire striked back... should that be stroke back? Sounds like a heart-stroke, so probably not. Oh well, English is not easy.

"struck back". And no, English is not at all easy.

Verb conjugation questions: the sure route to lurker comments .

[Gavagai]

1. How exactly are you going to one-turn knights in your caputal? On your picture I see 23 base hammers which can be increased to 32 (sustainable long-term) and further to may be 38 if you would let your capital starve for a few turns. With forge and police state it gives us 57 hammers maximum - this is during golden age but yet without guilds (workshops still get +1 hamer from guilds in RB mod, do they?) If we adjust for these factors, we will have 35 base hammers max and 52 with multipliers. And knights cost 90 hammers.
Of course, even my top figure can be further increased in near future, if you find happy to grow your capital. But I just don't see, how you can increase it by almost factor 2. What do I miss?

Edit: Sorry, missed the fact that you've switched out of caste. Didn't get used to RB-Mod buffed workshops yet. Well, my question still stands as caste will add only about 15 hammers to my top figure. It will give us 72 hammers and the need to work 4 more workshops in addition to those, which I can see in BFC. And you can add only two more.

Edit2: Ouch, Civil Service. Ignore my rambling then, sorry for being stupid.

2. Am I correct that you are in a police state now? From where do you get your happiness?

[novice]

You have Guilds already?

[Serdoa]

1. How exactly are you going to one-turn knights in your caputal? On your picture I see 23 base hammers which can be increased to 32 (sustainable long-term) and further to may be 38 if you would let your capital starve for a few turns. With forge and police state it gives us 57 hammers maximum - this is during golden age but yet without guilds (workshops still get +1 hamer from guilds in RB mod, do they?) If we adjust for these factors, we will have 35 base hammers max and 52 with multipliers. And knights cost 90 hammers.
Of course, even my top figure can be further increased in near future, if you find happy to grow your capital. But I just don't see, how you can increase it by almost factor 2. What do I miss?

Edit: Sorry, missed the fact that you've switched out of caste. Didn't get used to RB-Mod buffed workshops yet. Well, my question still stands as caste will add only about 15 hammers to my top figure. It will give us 72 hammers and the need to work 4 more workshops in addition to those, which I can see in BFC. And you can add only two more.

I will have 8 workshops each producing 4 hammers (2 for workshop, 1 for caste, 1 for guilds) = 32 hammers. Add 2 from the capital itself for 34. 9 more for the 3 hills = 43. +2 for the engineer = 45. Bureaucracy + Police State + Forge = 100% increase. 1 turn Knights. Total pop needed: 16 (workshops and hills each 1 food for 11 + 2 from center + 4x 5 food tiles = 33 food, 32 needed).

2. Am I correct that you are in a police state now? From where do you get your happiness?

Happiness: 4 standard + 1 for capital + 2 for CHA + 2 for gems + 1 for whale + 2 for gold. 1 more that I have right now no clue where it comes from. Anyhow, Ball Court will be finished in the cap this turn (1 turned) for another 3 happy. As you can see by the last screenie it has 13 right now, so that will be 16.

@novice

You are right, my bad. I thought about bulbing Guilds but somehow when I looked it up thought Engineering would be what I want... And Engineer will bulb Machinery -> Engineering -> Guilds right now for me. Hm, good that I 1-turned HBR this turn. Means next turn I won't start on Machinery (well, I have nearly 200 beakers in it already due to an event) but instead save gold till I have enough to run 100% till I have Guilds and use the Engineer to bulb Machinery instead.

Btw: I did start this GA with an Engineer. I did not realize that I could build Maces if I instead bulbed Machinery. Not sure if that wouldn't have been better actually as I would be closer to Guilds AND Maces would slaughter his troops also on the attack not like LBs which are mostly good for defense (at least without catapult-support).

[flugauto]

Happiness: 4 standard + 1 for capital + 2 for CHA + 2 for gems + 1 for whale + 2 for gold. 1 more that I have right now no clue where it comes from.

1 happiness from religion?

It would be interesting to see the power graph with all the unit exchange effects, maybe in a turn or two.