[SPOILERS-PBEM14] Sandover(phi/spi) of Egypt

[Sandover]

It's no use Ichabod. I'm way too stubborn!

Turn 115

Engineering vs. no engineering:



Okay, so maybe "knights vs. an archer" is more appropriate. Sue me. My point is that Lewwyn's main forces are stuck in Thespis Hill unable to reinforce. His catapult stack might be able to make it there (I assume he's got one and that it's somewhere around Thespis Hill).

[Sandover]

Turn 116

So I lost yet another city to scooter's boating expeditions. Come on, be a man and fight me head to head already! RIP Quickstep.

Anyway, this:



And this:



Ought to make up for it.

I snuck war chariots onboard my galley some time ago and refrained from killing a worker couple with them just recently. This time the diversion payed off.

[Sandover]

Sandover,



I regret to inform you that I had no choice but to raze another city of yours this turn, the laid-back coastal town of Quickstep. Now honestly, after you declared war and razed a size1 city with 1 building in it, I wonder if it was worth it to declare for that and get 4 cities razed in return?




Look, I realize you don't want to turn on Gaspar, but allow me to make another offer. You being slightly sloppy and getting cities razed is NOT typical for you, and I can't help but wonder if you're not really enjoying things right now. I'd like to make you an offer that I think will be much more fun for you, and will give you a legitimate shot at winning (don't get me wrong, it benefits me enormously too), and more importantly (I'm guessing), will give you a chance to do some fun conquering. Honestly it'll be a slaughter. But why would you even bother with that?





Because the problem is, you can't hold out against me really - I have Lewwyn AND Serdoa on my side, which means I have a ton of disposable units. I know that attacking you head-on will result in enormous casualties for me (higher on my end than your end most likely), but I'll probably have you sufficiently outnumbered... Also I'm about to kick off a Golden Age (ETA 4 turns) which will make things even more lopsided... But really, what's the point, because you and I both know that Gaspar is winning this thing anyways, and all this really is for me is some fun warfare and a chance to tell you that you "chose unwisely." I mean I'll happily fight this war and I'll have fun, but I know that in about 20T I'll just concede to Gaspar anyways. So let's spice things up for both of us. I'll offer you this:




1. NAP with a length of your choice (long enough to cover all other aspects of this agreement). This will include Lewwyn and Serdoa as well.

2. 25 Cataphracts (mostly 9XP btw) to use against Gaspar.

3. 3 settlers to help you re-found cities that I've razed

4. A loan of 8 workers to help you do any rebuilding that may be necessary (I'm guessing not much, but they still may be useful)

5. Triremes/Galleys if you wish to harass Gaspar from the ocean as well

6. If necessary I will give you up to 2 resources to help with happy/health problems that you may have (your choice to an extent - by that I mean you specify "2 happy" and I'll get you 2 that you do not have).




In return I get:




1. Psamathe

2. Guarantee that you will kill Gaspar




Other notes:

1. The Cataphracts can never be used against me ever.

2. If you take at least 6 cities from Gaspar (honestly capture, no cheese temporary gifts which I think is illegal anyways), you can keep the Cataphracts permanently rather than returning them to me.

3. You will make an honest and genuine effort to kill Gaspar - he must be effectively eliminated (meaning he is no longer relevant) from the game before you would ever turn and attack me.

4. You keep any and all spoils from Gaspar




-------




That's the offer. I'm quite sure you have Guilds by now which means you are fielding Knights, Pikes, and Catapults, and adding 25 Cataphracts to that force would make you so strong that you would *easily* roll over anything Gaspar would have... I believe he's fielding Holkans at the moment judging by the power graph. Look, I recognize you want to be loyal to him to an extent, but really, how has he helped you? He's watched me raze 4 cities of yours and rally together a 3v1 against you, and his power graph has flat-lined while mine is about 7X his. I know what he's doing - he's teching to Rifling and then draft. That'll be good FOR HIM, but you will have mostly crumbled by that point and I think you recognize that. Yeah you'll hand me *heavy* losses, but nothing I can't handle given the extra help I have. You and I are actually about equals in tech as crazy as it sounds, and this invasion would give you a decided land advantage over me and it would net you a couple helpful wonders (Great Library + Colossus), which means you'd have a legitimate shot at winning again, and you'd finally have the production capacity to give me a real 1v1 showdown rather than you cobbling together a defense and letting coastal cities get razed. Wouldn't that be more fun? Let me know.




Thanks,

scooter

Scooter,


I might be sloppy due to not giving the game proper attention, but I'm still having fun. Stratego fell to me this turn, and Lewwyn lost a city as well. If the 3 of you are about to beat me I haven't noticed yet!


Egypt will not, under any circumstances, acknowledge foreign acquisition of its territory as anything other than an unlawful hostile occupation. Psamathe is to remain under my banner, and Thespis Hill is to be liberated. Nothing you say or do at this stage will change that goal.


DEATH TO THE CAPITALISTS! LONG LIVE THE PHARAOH!


His Dark Lordship, Pharaoh Sandover

[Sandover]

And a general notice. The screen shot didn't bite on the razing of Stratego when I played my turn. I wasn't willing to not have such an awesome picture in my thread, so I replayed to what I think was an exact replica of my moves up until the point where I could grab the shot. In case there's a discrapency between what I posted and what's in scooter's thread (I'm thinking his GG might be named differently perhaps, not sure how that mechanic works don't remember the name of it from the first time I played) be aware that this is the reason.

[Rowain]

I think the more frustrated he gets the more fun you have

[Sandover]

And I think you're right Rowain.

Hah, fair enough. FWIW, I posted my offer in my thread. I got this response:



Bobchillingworth: I'd take that deal in a heartbeat

Dazedroyalty: I think it's way too generous. I also think he'll say no.




And I agreed with both of them. Was worth a shot right?

I suppose there's no harm in trying.

[Sandover]

Prophet Gaspar,

One of my sentries looking for scooter's staging tile spotted Byzantine cataphracts passing by Candy Land, heading into Ottoman territory. SCOOTER IS COMING FOR YOU!

I gifted two workers. Use them to immediately build a road north of Masters of War and then have them gifted back to me. This will let me protect the access point to your core, but I'm afraid I'll probably come up short if I'm forced to handle an impending attack on your east. You need prepare your defenses - there's no other option. Both Serdoa and Lewwyn are supporting scooter, so pick off their spies if possible.

Most of scooter's forces are scattered across his territory and haven't made it to the front yet, but he's recruiting some serious shit (as expected), and I can't successfully counter-attack him even if he sends more than half his army south.

His Dark Lordship, Pharaoh Sandover

[Sandover]

Turn 121



Aww... Scooter wasn't cold-hearthed enough to leave his wounded cataphracts who captured Oracle First behind without protection.

:rolleyes:

It's party time!

Casualties:

[COLOR="Yellow"]7 war chariots
2 knights[/COLOR]
[COLOR="Silver"]8 cataphracts
1 great general[/COLOR]



Too bad on losing two knights at 85%+ odds, but I surely don't mind that kind of trade. Cataphract nr. 8 was a wounded one sitting on top of the city ruins.

What was the great general doing there anway?

Prophet Gaspar,

Just a few points of interest:

I killed 8 cataphracts and a GG at the cost of 7 war chariots and 2 knights. I also sabotaged the road connection to Sheepland in order to stall any capitalist reinforcements there.

Scooter is preparing a diagonal move on Masters of Wars (there are 6 cataphracts and 2 workers on the tile 2S1E of Thespis Hill). I can't afford moving my forces into the city as that would leave Psamathe a sitting duck. How long until the borders expand? Can you do anything to hurry it up?

I will claim the small rice peninsula in our west shortly. My culture is enveloping the rice so I don't see you making any use of it.

Lewwyn is only 1 turn away from having engineering.

His Dark Lordship, Pharaoh Sandover

[Nicolae Carpathia]

Holy crap, nice trade. Were the war chariots getting that many hits in?

The pharoah is back, baby! Don't let the start get you down!

[Sandover]

Holy crap, nice trade. Were the war chariots getting that many hits in?

Even at 0.1% victory odds you can expect to do some damage. I didn't check on every attack but best I got was probably the one that brought one of the cataphracts from 12 to 7.7 hp, which was quite severe. Only 4 of them was at full health so the 8 war chariots I used (1 withdrawal) had no trouble ensuring my combat II knights a walk in the park.

The pharoah is back, baby!

Hell yeah!