Spoilers!- Superdeath tries his best.

[Hollybombay]

City overview? Tech plans? War plans? Whos winning?

[superdeath]

City overview will come at the next BIG update. Tech plans is Replaceable parts- Rifling- then either head to infantry ASAP, or astro depending on how the political landscape looks. War plans, attack Elkad once i get rifling, if he attacks Shallow before that, i help him take Shallow down a peg or two in what will likely be a very long war. Although im tempted to also hit Shallow once i grab rifles, as i will be at rifles for at least, 10 turns or so before he is.. if i bend my entire civ to building cavs/rifles i should be able to hold my own against any counter.. but Elkad could run around the other way and slam into me. Thinking more and more towards YOLO'ing and prepping for an attack on Shallow..

Who's winning? Shallow, he has the land/city advantage, the border advantage, and the demos advantage. I only have a couple techs up on him right now due to The Taj GA stuff. Ill have city investigate soon on Shallow, which will be nice. Elkad needs me and Shallow to be in a very bloody war to win at this point. Magic needs an act of god, and alot of elbow grease to be anything more than a pita to either Elkad or myself.

[superdeath]

Building up, ive got some attack plans in the works however i dont know if i want to wait for Elkad to make a move and if he doesnt, just run him over at cavs? Or if i just attack Shallow and have Elkad run into him from the otherside? Gah, so frustrating not being able to make this situation work. If i had the city/culture layout of Elkad i would be so much happier, because this long border is so annoying, having to deal with potential attacks on almost any city within 2 turns of war.

[superdeath]

Well ive setup an interesting couple turns coming up... I sent Shallow a PM stating that we are now in a turn split. I also sent Shallow a hopefully easy to read resource trade showing my intentions of, if Shallow doesnt attack Elkad soon, he will be the one attacked. To be more "to the point" of it, i canceled our OB, and moved my stacks into immediately threatening positions, i sent a OB deal right after the resource trade to hopefully show that I dont WANT a war, and im willing to be peaceful. I have enough military might right now, ( along with Replaceable Parts finishing EOT ) to show Shallow that im willing to push my chips all in. Basic plan if im pushed to do it, ill raze the two border cities with as little troops as needed. Yeah, ill lose quite a few knights/ect there, but he wont have a nice staging area anymore down my center. My cat stack is there to prevent/deter any major knight push. He has roughly 20 cats in range to hit whatever i throw at those two cities, along with roughly 20-30 knights that can hit about t1-2 of a war, along with another 20-30 from Elkad's side if he chose to move those.

Elkad has very little defenders on my border, however counting tiles shows that he can reinforce his capital before i could hit it with his Knight stack. If i "half" commit to a war with Shallow, and i see Elkad going all in, ill likely attempt to get a peace treaty with Shallow and then ill run over as much Elkad territory as i can in those 10 turns. Judging from Shallows tech rate i have a 10 turn headstart or so on Rifles, maybe more depending on how much gold he goes through. Thats enough time to get 6-7 rifles out, and possibly alot of upgrades to Cavs if i want to go that route. If i knew that i could run over one of these guys really quickly id probably make a swap into slavery and whip whip whip up a quick army to go smash someone like Elkad, but i cant afford going into slavery yet.. maybe when i get rifles? Its not cost efficient in the long run, but if i can gain alot in the short run by having an extra 10-20 top units on the field... ill have to think it over.

If, Shallow acts nice/neutral and just echos back, and then accepts open borders... ( without attacking Elkad soon ) ill likely resort to plan B:

I simply flip a coin. Heads, i attack Elkad. Tails, i attack Shallow.


Attacking Shallow means a slow horrible slaughter, but if i can get to his cat stack, and catch his knight stack off guard, or force them to run into rifles.. Either way, plan for Operation Large Commitment, Shallow Results- raze the two border cities, prepare for any counter attack, protect the south as much as possible while building a galley or two extra to take the island city down there, then force an engagement outside of Olaf or maybe push for his capital.

Attacking Elkad means a quick war, but horrible political situation.. as a long time "ally" it would likely turn into a grudge match, one that i would eventually win vs the rather backward roman state... but not one i could do while Shallow gets to sit back and tech, or possibly run into me. The plan for Operation Attila Called, They Want Their Sack Back- Would be a quick capturing of the northern coastal cities of Elkads, along with a burning of a border city or two. IF i could get into position, i could capture 3 cities by turn 2 of the war. Defending in cities vs Elkad is a huge no-no as Praets are downright scary when attacking cities. However, if i can slam into his 17+ cat stack his force is basically done. He has a small stack of knights, and the majority of his 1 movers are on the Shallow border. With Cavs/rifles on the horizon.. i dont see how Elkad would survive very long against either Shallow or myself 1v1.

Demos-

 [img][/img]

Production-

 [img][/img]

Power-

 [img][/img]

Units-

 [img][/img] [img][/img] [img][/img]

Trade deals-

[img][/img] [img][/img] 

Current stacks/locations-

 [img][/img] [img][/img]

[Charriu]

I don't want to throw a wrench into your plan, but I don't think this turn split towards Shallow is binding without a settler race or a war declaration.

[superdeath]

Well, to get to the point of the reload. i had captured Evil End and hit Raze city. Then the server crashed me. when i went to log back in, it shows that i didnt raze the city.. I need a reload, as its most certaintly not what i want to have happen.. i dont know how this all works with the combat.

Pictures-

 [img][/img]

 [img][/img]

 [img][/img]

I havent moved anything after that login revealed that it didnt raze.. Thanks.

[superdeath]

Busy busy turns.. First, Shallow declared war, sent two peace treaties and attempted an assassination of an impi in Elkad land. Due to rising tension in the area, and with Shallow completing Military tradition EoT.. i opted not to re-send peace right away and instead ran some cuirs into his Evil End city... because i miscounted with my knight stack and they couldnt join the fight.   So long story short, i razed Evil End, stacked some decent top defenders in various cities, moved my knight stack into a better position and made most of the stack Cuirs. Im running 100% gold right now for either eventually teching rifiling ( 8ish turns full speed no wealth/research builds ) Or for upgrades where they might be needed. Im sure Shallow moved a large chunk of his knights towards me, so ive setup defensive positions around likely attack paths. My only current weakspot is down south where Charriu used to live. Hoping that Shallow doesnt have a decent sized knight stack down in that area quite yet, as i still need to build more defenders there..

Now, this could be the defining moment of this PB where i win.. or I could get dogpiled by Elkad, and Magic could seize/raze/toy with my coastal cities. Shallow has alot of knights last i counted, at over 60. But if he gets his eastern cities taken by Elkad, i should be able to hold off any advance ( maybe losing a city down south ) Ive made more mistakes than Shallow, and Shallow does deserve to win.. but im going to make him work for it.

For any lurkers that may be wondering why i would do this when i could hit Elkad.. Well, its a multiparter: I could never trust Shallow to not slam into me while i was away, even with a 10 turn peace treaty. Elkad still has a decent stack that i dont believe i could take on safely. But the main reason for the attack is, Shallow's gnp has EXPLODED. Pre GA i was a decent chunk ahead in both GNP and tech. Now he is nearly 1/4 times more than me. I have to slow him down somehow, and a dogpile before he gets farther in the tech tree is my only way imo.

Demos-

 [img][/img]

Production-

 [img][/img]

Razed city location-

 [img][/img]

Combat-

 [img][/img]

I still dont know if upgrading almost all of my knights was worth it, compared to just rushing to rifling..( probably not )  but i wanted to have better hitters vs what is going to be countering.  Plus the boost to power graph might persuade Shallow to accept the peace treaty i threw at him. Not trying to throw Elkad under the bus if he attacks and Shallow accepts my peace treaty.. but it will be knocking two birds out with one stone if i get to get away with razing, and Elkad gets dogpiled..

[superdeath]

just a quick update as im running errands, ( waiting at the shopping cart while gf goes shopping weeeee ) ive pulled back in a defensive position. Elkad echoed back iron-iron last turn, and seemed to move into position.. Im going to sit back and get to rifles while i see if Shallow tries anything, or if Elkad tries anything. If Shallow attacks, i smash his knights with cats and clean up. If Elkad goes deep, i smash into his cities with a peace treaty from Shallow. May not have been the best couple of turns of decisions.. but im also not used to having rivals at this stage of a game ( too much SP )

[superdeath]

Well Elkad razed a city from Shallow after i left, if next turn i check and his knights are about to be slaughtered by knights/cats.. then ill send a peace treaty to Shallow and move my cuirs into position. If i can get them into the right staging tiles ( regardless if Elkad sees them or not ) ill be able to take 1/3rd or 1/4th of his cities within 3 turns of the war, providing that Elkad and Shallow dont make peace, and his knights come rushing back.. But looking on the bright side, Shallow is down two decent sized cities! At the very least, that should slow down his rep fueled teching. At least enough that i can fire up my own tech to Rifles here in 2-3 turns ( with oxford completing EOT ) It will likely still be a 8ish turn tech, but if no good openings happen, i might persuade myself to run mass wealth/research to get rifles in place before Shallow finishes RP.

My only real issue is, i know that whomever gets the most land from Elkad will be the winner of this PB ( more likely than not ) but im saddened that i have to break a PB long "alliance". If i didnt think that Elkad would simply collapse once his praet/knight stacks were destroyed i wouldnt be planning on grabbing most of his northern/eastern cities. All of this thinking has me going Rifles-straight to astro. Yeah, it will obsolete the colossus.. but thats not nearly as important as controlling the northern seas/keeping Elkad from blockading my coast. Plus, i can threaten more of Shallows cities and i could maybe load up and take Magic out if it gets to a point where i can defend much easier than Shallow can abuse my really shitty border.

( screenshots to come once Imgur stops its maintenance/ect. )

[superdeath]

Alrighty, the stage is set. I was offered another peace treaty this turn, i turned it down. As im preparing to take either Shallow's ex magic city, or Elkad's ex magic city in the next turn or two. I could also raze his other border city if i wanted to use up valuable cuirs. But the biggest news of the turn is that Shallow is positioned to be 1 tile away from hitting Thanos. So, ive moved a small chunk of my Cuirs + all my recently built cats to go down there to say hi to any potential threat. Ive also moved some cuirs into positions to hit Elkad once i get a decent peace treaty. ( waiting for Elkad to actually lose some units before i take a peace ) If Elkad visibly loses a stack of praets, or better yet, his knights.. ill move in right away. As it is, im looking at Rifling in 6-7 turns. Once i have rifles, ill have hopefully a nice window to get some rifles up, and some cavs ready to take control of this game.

Demos-

 [img][/img]

Shallow isnt running full speed to PP atm, due to him gaining gold per turn. Still, i dont mind how my demos are right now.


Production-

 [img][/img]

Basically running a ton of units so i can catch upto Shallow's numbers AND I can in a couple turns, turn on mass research/wealth and get to Rifling.

Graphs-

 [img][/img] [img][/img] [img][/img] [img][/img]

Tactical situations and units-

 [img][/img] [img][/img] [img][/img] [img][/img]

Have to talk about these a little bit. First off, im prepared to take Shallow's city next turn. Whether this is the former Magic city, or the pita border city all depends on my mood, and if any new defenders come in. The better target to kill strategically is the border city, but i might be able to hold the former Magic city with some of the pikemen that I have over there. Elkad seems to have only lost some attackers and some cats.. not enough to be a target quite yet. Shallow's knights + some cats tells me that he might try and actually siege Thanos or Black Panther. Im currently covering both with roughly the same amount of units, so if he doesnt move just one step forward, then slams into either city... he's in for some pain. Now, on the other hand, he has a horse archer near Deadpool peeking at my stack behind Deadpool.. if he has been paying attention ( Elkad too ) he will have noticed about half of the units gone. Im hopeful that Elkad doesnt make peace yet. If he does, ill have to try and sue for peace, otherwise the moment i see his units move im razing everything he has.