RB PBEM #1 - Gandhi [spoilers]

[Ruff_Hi]

• FF - Catapult [1]
  
• LQ - Palace [6]
  
• DV - Mace [4]
  
• BH - Crossbow [2], Courthouse [5] delayed
  
• BS - Library [3], forest chop
  
• AC - Catapult [1]
  
• TN - Longbow [5]
  
• Dreylin's Lackey (new worker) - roading some tiles for Dreylin
  
• Scout (Dead Man Walking) - scouting sooooo's North
  
• Scout (Live Man Walking) - scouting Athlete's land
  
• Tech - Gunpowder [1], -64g at 100% science, 107g in the bank
  
• GP [3] - 100% Scientist (DV)
  
• Opponent Current Tech Research
  • athlete - Banking [107], 263g, +73
    
  • mostly harmless - Paper [420], 72g, +57g
    
  • sooooo - Nationalism [17] @ 0%, 236g, +39g
    

Sooooo finished 2 maces [+18] this turn so he has jumped up to 255 in power. I finished 2 cats [+10] so I am losing ground slightly. I have 2 maces and a crossbow that should finish next turn so I am not that worried.

On the tech front - I am still not sure where to go next turn. Need to talk to Dreylin. Options are Drama (1) or Engineering (3 but will need some gold for this).

[darrelljs]

Ruff,

Would it be possible to give a quick screenshot or two showing your defensive stack, and what you think are likely attack paths and corresponding defensive responses?

Darrell

P.S. I can't recall with espionage visibility can you see sooooo's army inside his borders?

[Ruff_Hi]

wow - a non Ruff post!!

Sure - I can do that. I'll also try to illustrate the shortcomings of city visibility. I am pretty sure I know what sooooo's stack looks like. I also know where it is. I am going to park most of my defensive units on the tile marked 'Barracks' above to play zone defense between BH and DV. I'll also be chopping that forest at DV so that the valley between sooooo and myself is a pure killing field.

[Jabah]

Regarding spy actions in MP: are all the 'nasty' options still possible or is it SP only. By nasty I mean things like forcing a change of religion state or civics.
Sending Soooo in unwanted civics (out of representation to start with) frequentlty would certainly be a lot of fun (even if possibly costly, but taking into account his lost turns to revolt back might be worth it)

[Cyneheard]

And what about nasty AP options? Stop trading only works for one turn, and Declaring a Crusade has similar problems. And Dreylin would have to agree to a cheesy AP victory...after letting athlete and mh each take a city.

[Ruff_Hi]

Regarding spy actions in MP: are all the 'nasty' options still possible or is it SP only. By nasty I mean things like forcing a change of religion state or civics.
Sending Soooo in unwanted civics (out of representation to start with) frequentlty would certainly be a lot of fun (even if possibly costly, but taking into account his lost turns to revolt back might be worth it)

My understanding is that they are available. However, Sooooo and I currently have a NAP (expiring on T100) that rules out harmful spy activities. But thanks for a great suggestion - I will keep that in mind as things heat up over the next 10 or so turns.

That said, I am planning an active spying activity for next turn - more later on that.

[Ruff_Hi]

• FF - Conf Missionary [1], city configured to max growth
  
• LQ - Palace [5]
  
• DV - Mace [1]
  
• BH - Crossbow [1], Courthouse [5] delayed
  
• BS - Library [2], forest chop
  
• AC - Wealth - mis-timed a forest chop here
  
• TN - Longbow [4]
  
• Dreylin's Lackey (new worker) - moving to road some more tiles for Dreylin
  
• Scout (Dead Man Walking) - scouting sooooo's North - heading to the marble area
  
• Scout (Live Man Walking) - scouting Athlete's land
  
• Tech - Drama [1], +42g at 20% science, 43g in the bank
  
• GP [2] - 100% Scientist (DV)
  
• Opponent Current Tech Research
  • athlete - Banking [213], 339g, +76g
    
  • mostly harmless - Paper [419], 135g, +63g
    
  • sooooo - Nationalism [3] @ 100%, 123g, -116g
    

[Ruff_Hi]

One thing that I have learnt from passive spying is that it isn't a total cure - you cannot see everything in the subjects territory. It is as if a unit was standing in the city tile - you see the tiles that such a unit could normally see. However, if you watch closely, you can keep an ultimate track of units builds being built without having to revert to the C&D numbers game.

Here is a pic of Sooooo's territory on T96 ...



Note that Sparta has 1 turn to go on a cat. Assuming that sooooo doesn't muck about with the build queue (which I can check anyway), you will see the unmoved cat in the city next turn. See, on T97



You can also see that he started a knight in his military pump city (Corinth). Also, I know that he does not have his Heroic Epic in play yet (I can check each city providing I know where it is built). The knight also tells me he has connected his iron (city in cold north that he planted a few turns ago).

Now, if you look back at those pics again, you can see three tiles in the fog 2 tiles North of Sparta. Based on a report by a Dreylin warrior - sooooo has a goodly stack of units there (2 HAs, 2 Maces, 3 Cats, 1 Phalanx). I can keep tabs on this (sort of) by watching the cities that finish units and watching them move to the front. If I really want to confirm the actual units, I can move my spy in Corinth to check that tile (but that loses me my stationary bonus).

[Ruff_Hi]

I don't have many battle plans at the moment. However, this is the current situation as I see it ...



I am chopping that tile 1N of the Corn (for the hammers but also to remove the cover). BTW - that is a 2 turn chop and I don't lose a turn moving into the forest - the power of Fast Workers with The Hagia Sophia wonder). I will also be roading that tile as well as the 3 tiles North of Death Valley (2 x grassland, 1 floodplain) for mobility and also different access routes to sooooo's land.

You can see the units in Corinth, Death Valley and Block Head as well as the tile marked 'Barracks' that will be playing zone defense. I also have other units coming to the front at 2 tiles per turn (really need Engineering which will be my next tech - will take about 4 turns to research - I might talk to Dreylin about borrowing some gold so that I can knock that off in 2 or 3).

Looking at possible attack routes, the obvious move is onto the hill 1NE of DV (the tile 1 NE of that is 80/20 sooooo's so I am probably never going to own it). Thinking about it, I should move some units there (2 x crossbow, 2 x longbow, 2 x pike) to block that access route. That said, I will get a couple of turns warning as I don't see him moving against me with the units he currently has in Corinth - he will have to bring up the units in the fog and I will see him do that. I should probably build some walls at DV too (I have stone connected so that will be quite quick) and a Castle (+1 trade route) too. Hmm - that might be a waste of hammers as gunpowder is just around the corner.

[Ruff_Hi]

Someone mentioned spying. I finally put my EPs against sooooo to more active work ...



My power jumped and I can now build knights too.