Japper leads the Imperium of Man to death or glory

[Japper007]

Turn 97: The Dutch Alliance rides forth!

Big turn!

I open the game to see a LOC_Diplo_Request (so immersive  ):



Alhambram seems to have come out of builder mode, since I already have knight tech he definately has Mamluks building as well. If I read this deal correctly he hits pindicator in 18 turns. By sea I guess? Well I already had a plan cooking for hitting pindicator in 9 turns (outlined below) so I guess I'll delay a bit to dogpile...

I refuse the deal and refresh it with 17 , hope I get Alhambram's intent correctly and he doesn't just click yes on his turn, which he theoretically could do. 

Side note: I love how these forums have come up with so many ways to communicate through diplo interface that we might as well be running full diplo anyways  

Now onto the plan I cooked up on the bus this afternoon, even before I got this delightfull little offer:



I begin by pulling the Legion that was keeping an eye on 'Bram to the south, he'll get to the front as reinforcement.



As you can see I'm about to hit Mercenaries for Proffesional Army when the Crossbow in the capital finishes in 9 turns, a cool 300 gold (which I almost have) will get all those double-promotion archers to Xbows   This was my plan of attack, but a Xbow timing push is even easier with Mamluks on your side 



A little bit trumped by the big news of the turn I also settled the city of Cadian right up on pindicators border, the other drops in two turns.

[TheArchduke]

Side note: I love how these forums have come up with so many ways to communicate through diplo interface that we might as well be running full diplo anyways

You and me both, brother.

[Japper007]

With the settler wave now officialy over I can finally dump Colonization and get back into boosted Campus adjacency, back up to 40 science!



Alhambram rejected my "offer" without resending a new one

Well I did some rethinking on the attack anyways:




As you can see we are not far behind Pindicator, and ahead of Alhambram. I think that once I hit Mercenaries and 4 Xbows (three of which are then double promoted ones right on pindicators border ) I'll be able to take him singlehandedly. A lot of his military score is still tied up in obsolete Warriors and archers, possibly even the scouts he had out earlier. I might just go in earlier without Alhambrams backup, he's free to join in 16 turns if he still wants to of course. 

I reserve the right to change my mind if pindicator shows up with Xbows or Knights on the border though...

[Japper007]

Turn 100:

I founded my last city, but I forgot to take a picture . I'll do a score overview next turn when the empire score has had time to settle.

[Japper007]

Turn 101:



Here's the city I founded last turn, Mars, it has decent first ring tiles and a good position to aid my push into pindicators land.

With the scores adjusted for my added city, let's see an overview:



Despite the city acquisition, I'm still somewhat behind the pack in terms of score. Pind's Empire score in particular was a bit of a shock at a stunning101!

It's all a bit deceptive though as the diplomatic screen shows:



He has less cities, and a lot of them are also smaller than mine! It's just his districts that pull him out ahead; many of his cities have both Holy Sites and Campuses, while mine just have Campuses. He also has two completed Commercial hubs, while I won't go so far as to call "misplay!" here, it does seem somewhat odd to me, maybe he's really strapped for cash? I also don't really get his ludicrous investment in Holy Sites, is Choral Music really doing that much for him? America is not the civ for a religious play...



Alhambram is also one city behind. Strangely enough he has on and of again reoffered the deal to doubleteam pindicatorm but not renewed our friendship. If he is looking to backstab me he's got another thing coming though, he is already behind in military and that gap will get even bigger next turn (more on that below)

In domestic news, I chopped a forest to zone in an Industrial Zone in Terra, which finished the Crossbow and, more crucially, knocked Mercs down to one turn! I started the city on an Aquaduct, it has hit the soft housing cap at 9/10 pop and I need one 10 popper to get the boost to Civ Service. I'll also be finishing the IZ soon, it already has +2 and will get more as I'm about to spam mines in the area around it.

[Japper007]

Turn 102:

Mercs is in, I slot it in immediately:



Let's see what that allowed me to do shall we?



4 crossbows, 4 legions now. pindicator is still up 25 points on me, but a lot of that is tied up in those very obsolete Archers you see on the bottom of the screenshot. I've decided, screw waiting on Alhambram, I'm going in next turn.



I did send Alhambram this deal to make sure he knows I mean business this time, I'm willing to pay him 100 even for a phony war on his part. Just for the hopes of pindicator spreading his troops.

[Japper007]

Turn 103:

Alhambram rejected my proposal, oh well here goes nothing:



This drew pindicator-controlled Valletta and Kumasi (on my side) into the war, however I had a way of dealing with that issue immediately as it popped up: I had two envoys I was saving, as I already had suzerainty of Kumasi and no Theatre squares (so no need to get the lvl three boost from them), with 2 random envoys I earned from quests this was enough to match pindicator's, thus removing him from suzerain status!



Here's the status at the end of the turn:



Attacking pindicators Archers with my double promoted (all have Volley+Arrow Storm of course) Crossbows only doesn't result in a one-shot because of pindicator having both DoF and the innate American bonus (the first time in 100 turns that he gets anything out of his godawful civ choice, stay away from the USA people, it's an awful stinker of a civ). Two shots it'll have to be then. I also hit the Encampment on the left side for 5 defenses damage out of 50. I can already see pindicator made a rookie mistake, most of his archers are outside his territory and have to be moved back into it for a turn to be able to be promoted, allowing me another turn of free potshots (and if he doesn't have Xbows at this point, oh boy is that a misplay and this campaign will be decidedly one-sided )

Next couple turns of action will be clearing that Encampment  and pindicators archers. That Encampment is awfully placed btw, it really should've been on a hill! And it is too far from the city to receive support so it's a sitting duck as well! I get that his thinking was probably something in the line of a trollish positioning, but this way it does nothing for his defense.  

On my own position now: He could kill one of the Legions, but to do it he'd have to move his Archers into positions that'll get them killed. We shall see though, I'll be waiting with baited breath and chewed nails until the save gets back to me

Also note on the side how I'm now correctly at 320 to pindicators 300    I swear to god this damn interface and it's one turn lag! Who thought this was a good idea, how did this even get past QA? The all-around shitty interface design can at least be explained as an artistic/design choice, but how is giving the player objectively false information about his civilization in any way good design? GAH! 

[Japper007]

Turn report was running somewhat long, so here's a seperate post to say why I engaged in this war:

-My Legions are still relevant, especially since the US has no UU in this era of its own

-I'm falling behind slowly, Rome is a strong starter, but I can't match up against Arabia's eventual Science output or a Culture attempt by the Greek player (side note: why didn't Krill build a single Acropolis? Doesn't he know what civ he's playing?   Free envoys are nothing to scoff at, nor is a discounted Theatre Square! I forgot he was even playing Gorgo until I looked at the PYDT client ) or the American one (don't want to fight into Rough Riders either if he continous to run away with the game ). I need a substantial lead in land to compete in the late game. Staying at peace while everyone booms past me is not a winning strategy, but a "lose slower" one.

[Japper007]

Well as any genlurker already knows, I royally screwed my offensive against pindicator, DotF plus America bonus screwed with my expectations of how many attacks my units would survive.

Time for some more unit builds, turtle up-->second wave. I think a grinding offensive favors me, with baths I can keep up amenities without to much trouble so I can wait for WW to eat at pindicator.



I also started fortifying my north, as I don't trust Alhambram at all, especially since he spend the last few turns building Heavy Chariots in an obvious pursuit of Mamluks.

[Japper007]

Argh the second time one of pindicators units shows as decisive victory and RNG-sus decides: "lol no fuck your planning it is left at 1 HP and can retreat next turn". This is like losing those 95% battles in civ 4.

Chopped out another Legion to supplement my crumbling defenses down south, if I can just hold on for 10 turns I'll have walls and at least some semblance of defense. I finish my Industrial zone at the capital in 3 turns and after that I have a nice production line for units (it'll be at 30 hammers by that time, more when it hits 10 pop).

Alhambram is sending me trade at our border, indicating either peaceful relations or that he is building roads to make it easier to backstab me. I hope he still intends to use that Mamluk timing push against pindicator. If he points it at me I'm toast, I can barely sustain this war, let alone another front.