Where to will Singaboy steer the Teutonic power?

[Singaboy]

T54:
Marching towards Seoul. Three units move towards Seoul, so far there is no obstruction along the way. Well, let's hope it stays that way.

I move the other warrior back into Ulm. The warrior from Seoul is frozen at the hill it seems. The builder is moving onto another hill at Frankfurt to mine it. Remember that I need 3 mined hills to gain the Eureka for Apprenticeship. I send the first trade route to Aachen for a bonus of 2h1f. The builder drops to 6 turns as calculated. Currency drops to 1 turn. Next turn, I will buy one tile for Frankfurt and lock the commercial hub for both Frankfurt and Aachen in place. This leaves me enough gold to upgrade another warrior if needed on T56. I will need to keep that balance just in case.



Oledavy continues to run away in score. He now has 11 techs, he is also strongest in military strength. (157 compared to my 130).

1. oledavy:   total 67  8 civics, 11 techs, 3 cities 
2. Singaboy:  total 54  4 civics, 9 techs  3 cities
3. Woden:     total 51  8 civics, 9 techs  2 cities 
4. Alhambram  total 48  5 civics, 7 techs  2 cities
5. TheArchduke: total 46  6 civics, 7 techs 2 cities

[Singaboy]

T55:

Currency is in, switch to the wheel, done in 3 turns. State Workforce is 2 turns away, I will swap next turn. As another hill in Frankfurt is mined, its builder drops to 5 turns.
I buy another tile in Frankfurt for 75 gold

With this, I plant both commercial hubs in Aachen and Frankfurt, both cost each 135 hammers. This will take some time, but Aachen's commercial hub will eventually make 5 gpt due to the three districts next to it in the end. However, for now, the swordsman and a heavy chariot are needed.

I move three units toward Seoul and spot two archers. This isn't that great, as I would need to use my archers to take out one of them while the swordsman goes for Seoul directly. This operation won't be as swift as I had hoped. I might upgrade the warrior in Ulm next turn and pull to Seoul for support.

I get a new idea though. oledavy is really running away with the game, he planted a new city west of Hamilton. Woden founded his 3rd city too.
oledavy has a nice campus, that is somewhat away from the city itself. How about pillaging it with my swordsman, while the archers take care of the Seoul archer and I am pulling over a second swordsman to Seoul. With me declaring war on oledavy, it should be clear to TheArchduke too, that he should increase his efforts.

Is this a good idea? I can't just stand by and see oledavy run away with the game. If I do this, I would bring my sword into position next turn SE of the campus, declare war on turn 57 and pillage the campus on turn 58. On turn 57, my archers will take out one of the archers of Seoul too.

[Dreylin]

Wow, that is a very distant Campus ... and very unguarded. Yeah, the combo of sight on that and the 2 archers at Seoul; I think the pillage while taking out the first Archer and then bring up the reserve Sword sounds good. You have a spare Slinger to prevent the Seoul Warrior from disrupting Ulm, right?

[Singaboy]

Well, I have a slinger in Aachen, healing currently. Another sword will be ready in 3 turns, 1 turn into the war declaration. Wouldn't be a problem to fend of the feeble warrior from Seoul. I will upgrade the other warrior next turn and then move it towards Seoul. Once the pillage is done, both swordsman should be able to attack Seoul.

I checked the battle odds and unfortunately, it's only 43-26 currently as Seoul gets a lot of added bonuses. The archers are really just additional unit to take care of counters, their city attacks would be at 16 - 23 or sth like that. However, against the archer outside of the city, two archers will shred one archer easily. One swordsman would cause a damage of around 50 - 70 health. In two turns, with archer support the city should be taken with 2 swords if no other units interferes.

By the way, pillaging a campus gives a science bonus to a tech your rival researched.

[Singaboy]

Another issue. I would like to get the CH and Hansas up in Frankfurt and Aachen asap.

Maybe I should first go for a CH in Frankfurt following its builder. The builder tasks will be: mine hill SW Frankfurt, chop forest SE Frankfurt and mine 4f hill E of horses, which will be grabbed in a few turns by the city). The forest chop would speed up the CH a lot. Once Frankfurt grows to size 5, it would have a production of 10 hammers and could then have a settler out in under 10 turns.

The builder in Ulm will connect cotton (+1g +1 culture), chop the rain forest to make way for the CH and connect bananas +1g +1 culture). This chop would go into a settler.

In the capital, a quick insert of the CH after swordsman and chariot would be good. If I am lucky to get the free envoy for the chariot and with it, 2 hammers for districts, I will be making 15 hpt toward the CH (9 turns).

[Singaboy]

T56:
I swap State Workforce to Military Tradition (as I want to wait for civic policy swap 4 turns). The units between Seoul and Hamilton are trying to stay in defensive position while I move towards the campus. The sword is clearly the best unit to withstand some attack while pillaging with my archers providing backup support.

The second warrior in Ulm is upgraded to a swordsman and will be supporting in due time. Aachens swordsman is two turns from finishing and can take care of the lone warrior next to Ulm. I have a slinger there too.

I will need to be prepared to a response of oledavy, whose military power is slightly higher than mine. I do hope that TheArchduke, who is getting a Great General next turn is reading the situation properly and support my attack on oledavy instead of going after me. oledavy is running away in score big time and we got to slow him down together. If no enemy unit shows up next turn, my archers will take care of the archer next to Seoul. There might be units in the fog of course, which would need my adjustments in attack plans. Otherwise, I am going for a quick slash and burn at the campus trying to avoid being injured too badly.

[Singaboy]

T57:
Seoul grew a third archer, how nice. The campus of Hamilton is still unoccupied   Ulm grew to size 3 and is complaining about amenities too. The builder will be ready in 2 turns and the amenities issues solved for now. I will need more of them for sure though. Well, Seoul has one amenity. I move the swordsman from Ulm up, but it will take 2- 3 turns before it can join the fight.

Aachen's swordsman is done next turn. The slinger there is fully healed and moves up toward Ulm to deal with that warrior there.



Time to declare war on oledavy. We shall see what awaits me. The sad thing is that TheArchduke has declared war on Buenos Aires. He is obviously not focusing his energy on oledavy. I hope my war declaration will give him some hint.

I move the swordsman up the campus and am greeted by a horseman. The horseman will surely attack me, but it will be at roughly even odds (unit strength is 36-36 and the terrain will give me +3) oledavy is somewhat limited in his other options due to terrain.

My archers both move a tile before firing at the closer archer taking it out. I purposely moved my units, so they are out of range of Seoul. If Seoul decides to move its second archer to fire at mine, it will be in range of both and they will easily take that out too.



I will need to play a rather careful game here not to lose units. My third swordsman will need some time before joining the forces to take and keep Seoul while holding off oledavy.
Let's see how he reacts...

The wheel will be done next turn and a chariot started. I am wondering what the pillaging will give me. Research for HBR? I prefer it for Apprenticeship as that will take a very long time (around 10-11 turns)

[Singaboy]

T58:

The beginning of the turn shows pretty much what I expected bar the southern Seoul warrior that moved onto a tile which is really good for me as it can not threaten the builder that comes out next turn
oledavy's horseman attacked my sword and it ends in a tie. Fair enough. He can not defeat me so fast this way. There is enough time for me to pillage and then retreat. The terrain here is not in his favor.
Seoul's 2/3 archer predictably stepped up to attack one of the archers, but that leaves it exposed to be killed.



Research for the wheel is done and HBR on the way to Apprenticeship started. Production in Aachen set to a chariot. Even though Buenos Aires seems to fall to TheArchduke soon ( he now has 3 cities too without the city state), I still get a bonus from Vilnius for it (2 culture in the capital).

Time for action. The slinger next to Ulm bombards the warrior. As the slinger will get a +6 terrain bonus as well as a river crossing +5 bones, it is safe from the warrior. It might get hurt, but that's not enough for the warrior to kill it. Remember, the slinger gets a +7 against city state bonus too. Even if the warrior moves onto the swamp, the swordsman will kill it instantly next turn.

On to the action at the front. Both archers take care of Seoul's archer, it should have currently only 1 archer left. The swordsman from Ulm slowly moves forward and can join the action soon. Let's see what happens next. oledavy currently has a science output of 20.3 bpt compared to my 12.4. The campus alone gets 4 bpt.

I pillage the campus and gain 25 beakers towards HBR. oledavy's bpt doesn't drop in the score yet, but I do hope it will be reflected next turn. If I manage to conquer Seoul, which he has invested 4 envoys in and manage to defend it, I will have caused a severe dent in his science output. Wish me luck

As for the tactics here, next turn, I expect to get attacked. I will retreat the swordsman to the tile currently occupied by the archer, which will move onto the hill SE of it, while the wounded archer will heal a turn and the second sword moving up within range of Seoul. If oledavy's horseman comes down the hills, it will be greeted by archer bombardments and swordsman attacks. Not sure, whether he really wants that. In the meantime, I will get that third sword up to help take Seoul.

[Dreylin]

Looking good.

Terrain there is definitely not going to help him in the short term, but that road over the hills to Seoul could give you problems in a few turns time. Also don't forget he has Suzerain visibility from Seoul so will have a good idea of the layout of your units. You might want to kill that Horse if he gives you the opportunity - hit with Sword, then finish with Archer so the Sword doesn't advance. Clearing the unit out will help, especially since he may be working towards a promo-heal.

Since his forces could well be Horse-heavy, would it be worth getting a Spear out of Ulm after the Builder and before the Settler?

What's the Strat resource status with TheArchduke and the other two right now?

[Commodore]

What's the HBR eureka?