[SPOILERS] PBEM 8 - WarriorKnight's Spoiler Thread

[WarriorKnight]

Been a while since I've posted a screenshot, so here's the Demographics:



I'm in a GA, so the GNP and MFG figures are higher than usual (and I'm researching Gunpowder which 2 civs already have) but I'm happy that I have 3 times the rival average GNP. (My bpt is somewhere around 770).

I did kill a rego galley who was exploring, and I now share a border with him (a coastal city of his has 1 archer for defense, very tempting...)

[WarriorKnight]

Power and Culture graphs show that Serdoa has lost a small city or two. It wasn't me so it must have been India (or maybe a galley invasion from rego). Anyway, thanks to Serdoa's power drops I'm going to see if I can crack Constantinople with Cuirassiers. Military Tradition in next turn, and then I'll try and scout out the city while preparing.

[WarriorKnight]

Lot's of GP born recently. ad hoc got a Prophet, and someone got a Engineer and a Commander. I also get one this turn.

...

It's a Prophet! :dancing5: Time for the Hindu Shrine.

MT done EoT. India is going for Steel, that could be bad news for someone.

[WarriorKnight]

India captured Angora.



Guess Serdoa couldn't hold up against India. I've scouted out Constantinople and there is no way that city is falling without significant siege support. I don't have that, but India will soon have cannons. If he is using siege, then he's only moving at only 1 tile a turn, which gives me some time to plan.

I'm only 5-6 turns away from rifling and therefore cavs. No-one else has anything better than muskets and Knights ATM and India will son have Cannons which die to cavs. It's a bit risky since if Constantinople falls before then I'm in trouble, but cavs would effectively wipe out anything else in the medieval era.

So hopefully I can reach cavs before India kills Byzantium. If I can't, Cuirassiers will have to do.

[WarriorKnight]

Maybe instead of trying to stop Shoot the Moon I should invade ad hoc. My front with soon-to-be India will be safe since India will have to start again with new culture and my two frontline cities have a lot of cultural defense. Plus I need to deliver some payback for the Dog Soldier rush way back then.

Checking in-game reveals he doesn't even have Engineering, so I'm probably going to attack him first since he doesn't have any pikes.

[WarriorKnight]

Well Serdoa's eliminated now, and I can see the Indian military:



Quite a big stack with 2 GG's. I could take it on but that would involve heavy losses on my side with no gains while rego loses nothing. Instead I'm going for ad hoc with the first battle scheduled for next turn. Hopefully I'll get some decent land out of that.

India (hopefully) can't take any cities from me without siege support since I have rifles against his knights. If he does bring siege, then he's going to take a long time walking through my cultural borders once they reset (which they will, next turn or so). Only other way to attack me is via the sea, but he doesn't have compass or Replaceable Parts yet so nothing better then Triremes can hit me (he actually just finished Nationalism, which I assume is en route to Military Tradition).

My next tech is Astronomy. As much as I don't want to obsolete my Colossus, Frigates and Galleons are a huge edge. Observatories will hopefully make up for the lost commerce.

[WarriorKnight]

Well here's the first battle:



Battle of Molag. This city will fall as I also have some additional Cuirassiers and Cavs in Sunny Side up, and the only anti-cav units he has in there are obsolete spears.




It burned, as I can't be bothered trying to defend that city while simultaneously attacking the other front. That will likely be the last city to burn though, as I want some spoils out of this war. I also lost 3 knights and a cuirassier, which probably wasn't a great hammer trade but I did get a bit unlucky in the process (lost the 3rd knight at 96% odds ).

Also with the loss of Molag, I got his Iron source. I hope that's his only one, as that means he won't be able to build pikes, knights or crossbows anymore.

Instead of Astronomy, I got Constitution as it only takes one turn (forget the screenshot, I built research somewhere) and representation is too tempting given I'm switching out of Bureaucracy next turn.

[WarriorKnight]

I'll try and write a better summary next turn, but in the few turns that have passed I've ended my 18 turn double-golden age and started a new one (I am soooooo glad I got the Masoleum), Astro is done so now I'm getting Observatories and Oxford out (completely forgot about Oxford ), India is massing an army in Constantinople to make sure I don't get any funny ideas about attacking there (or preparing to invade and letting me see everything, not very smart though) and the next phase for attacking ad hoc should happen next turn.

[WarriorKnight]

Epic battle time:





Got unlucky a bit at the beginning, but after that I had zero losses all at 95+% battles, so it evens out. I didn't have enough units to kill everything, but next turn I'll finish the job. It's possible that I could be counterattacked between turns, but since ad hoc left 9 cats in the city for me to kill I doubt he has many left to strike me with, and most of my units have the majority of their strength left.

On the other side of the empire:



The amphibious penalty was too high to attack from the boat, so I landed and got 2 free workers for my trouble. Next turn I'll bombard and Chaokia will fall.

India is bee-lining Astro, getting Optics this turn. My biggest fear is that their army in Constantinople moves in on me, I'd have to draft a ton to be able to get rid of that threat.

[WarriorKnight]

Both Chaokia and Verbobonc fell. Next I'll heal for a bit while deciding how best to fork ad hoc's remaining cities.

Got Steel EoT for Cannons. I'll need to build Ironworks eventually but I'm too busy building units ATM. Can't decide whether to go for Democracy, Sci Method or Steam Power next. Probably Demcracy then Communism so I can switch to US and SP while in my golden age.