[Spoilers-PBEM14] Hannibal's Ottomans, Lewwyn and Luddite

[NobleHelium]

That "for a price" in parentheses looks a little over-emphasized there, heh.

[Lewwyn]

That "for a price" in parentheses looks a little over-emphasized there, heh.

Maybe. It felt pretty natural while I was writing it. He may read to deeply into it or not. But, yeah there's some emphasis there.

Its hard because I don't know exactly how he views me. In the WW4 game, Zak painted a pretty aggressive picture of me. If that's the community held view, then it may not matter, hahaha.

[Lewwyn]

Games moving again.



Serdoa sacrifices an archer to kill my axe. I wouldn't have moved my axe there if I had known his units were there. I wish Scooter would have told me. Technically I'm still ahead in hammers because of the scout kill :D

I guess I won't be able to stop him from getting horses. On the plus side I'm going to get my own soon. Settler is done:



Stupid interface bugged out in the screenie, but the Settler was whipped in Keystone. The best part about this is that now Keystone finishes a spear in 1 turn and grows in 1 turn. Eureka makes an axe in one turn and grows in one turn. Esoteric is 3 turns from starting the worker/settler cycle. Mt. Nebo is the only odd duck. My worker needs to finish the road on the gold and then farm the rice for it. Then it needs to mine the hill (chopping the forest) into a granary. It's set to a library right now, but I probably should have had it on a granary. Not a big deal though, given only 1 hpt right now.

[Lewwyn]

Great...



Man Serdoa has a lot of archers. I think he's going to try and attack me now. He built a barracks which is seriously bad news. In fact, this is going to be dicey. I can't whip the axe next turn. I'm 1 hammer too short. 1 hammer from salvation. If I had switched to an axe one turn earlier I would be able to whip it in time.

My axe in Eureka will be one turn too late as well. It can only reach the rice next turn and the city the turn after. If he brings all his archers and the axe he might be able to take the city. I only have 3 axes and a warrior there. But he would have to bring all of them to take it. If he fails to take the city that first attack I'll have two new axes in the city to rebolster the defense.

Also my borders just popped in the nick of time. Hopefully that 20% cultural defense is enough to make him think twice about attacking. If he doesn't delay though, I still have a decent shot.

Worst possible scenario is his axe wins even though my axe has odds. (6.75 v 7). I'm down to two axes and a warrior. Two archers die attacking my axes, but hurt them (3 v 6.25). Then both wounded axes die from archers. He has one archer left. My warrior will have odds. 25% fortify, 20% culture, 25% unit ability. 3.6 v 3.0, but he lucks out and wins that.

That's worst case. I have odds, but he's had tremendous luck. I should be okay thanks to the culture, but if he sacs the city, I'm gonna be furious at myself for letting him get this close. I shouldn't have lost the axe going to his horses. I shouldn't have wasted time in Mt. Nebo not building another axe. I focused just a hair too much on growth.

If I do lose the city, it will auto-raze because I won't grow it next turn. When that happens, Serdoa might consider peace... or not... I mean I'm still going with my HA plan... In any case it will be a loss, but I will be able to overcome it, IF he gets lucky again.

[Lewwyn]

Here are my cities at the end of Turn 51:




Keystone is looking good after the double whip and regrow. Spear done in the city as well. The new city will be working that grass mine.



Yay, Eureka, it regrew as well. I'll probably fuss with the tiles next turn. I was going to go granary, but maybe it would be more prudent to rush out another axe. I will see next turn.



Esoteric is growing next turn thanks to the farm. Also, the WB finished and will move to the fish. Border pops next turn as well. I'll put one turn into an axe or a granary and then at pop 5 I'll be working the fish as well, and just start pumping workers.



Mt. Nebo popped borders and that helps a load. Thing is that I really screwed myself on this axe. And looking at it now. I have to grow the city if I want to whip the axe after I survive Serdoa's attack. Well if he takes it, and keeps it I can easily take it back with CR axes out of Eureka. Guess I need to make an axe instead of a granary in either case.

[Lewwyn]

Serdoa hit me with some diplo

Lewwyn,

I have again a stack of units near Mt. Nebo. Do you get more forces into it this turn like the last time or might we speak about if you do want to agree to my offer and gift me Mt. Nebo? Of course the land-split as I layed it out in one of my emails would be part of the deal too. And I am not sure that I still could pay a settler for it - after all your aggressive settling has set me back and that needs to be rectified. But I am open for your suggestions how you want to repay me that.

Kind regards,
Serdoa

Sounds like he just wanted info and to see if he could get the city and peace without actually risking it. I'm not going to grow the city next turn.

I responded:

Come at me bro. I've got odds against your 5 archers and 1 Axe thanks to the culture pop.

Didn't I already tell you war until the end of the game? I wasn't kidding. I hope you like War Weariness. Keep building units bud.

Lewwyn

I'm such an ass sometimes

BTW when you read this Serdoa, I'm totally egging you on, and its nothing personal.

While him building units is a bad thing for me militarily its also good for me in terms of out growing him and slowing his horses. Nothing has changed due to this exchange.

Oh and Edit. I do feel less comfortable about my odds. He'll probably be able to take the city on the second assault. I messed up my micro and realized I still can't whip an axe in Mt. Nebo after the first assault. I will not grow the city and eventually it will auto raze. Which is fine by me. I can get a new settler out lickity split from Esoteric. I'll be set back a bit but Serdoa won't be getting stronger.

[Lewwyn]

Serdoa:

Maybe I should tell you that there are more units as just those 1 axe and 5 archers you could see on the hills?

Me:

If you can take it. Take it. I'm not giving you anything. Never will.

So I just remembered there was a spear that killed that axe. If it promoted and healed he could have moved it towards Mt. Nebo to land on the pigs this turn. If he did, I can't stop it. In which case... I may just run all my units out of the city and let him raze it.

I'm going to finish HBR>archery>masonry and build a new settler, rebuild Mt. Nebo and chop some walls. hahahaha

[zakalwe]

Its hard because I don't know exactly how he views me. In the WW4 game, Zak painted a pretty aggressive picture of me. If that's the community held view, then it may not matter, hahaha.

Nah, I can't imagine. It's probably just me...

Come at me bro. I've got odds against your 5 archers and 1 Axe thanks to the culture pop.

Didn't I already tell you war until the end of the game? I wasn't kidding. I hope you like War Weariness. Keep building units bud.

[Lewwyn]

Nah, I can't imagine. It's probably just me...

YUP! :neenernee

[MWIN]

You should have odds even with extra spear. I guess, you will have to play odds and hope for best. If he fails, you can easily take Beshbalik....