[Spoiler] RB Pitboss #2 - Shaka of Rome

[Morgan]

Are speaker and sulla so much of a threat that your saling halfway round the world to deal with them? What will you gain from razing or taking a city? Do you think it's worth the oppertunity cost - i.e the unit supply cost, the cost of building 4 galleys, that could have been 2 settlers instead.

Judging by your screenies Sulla seems a little crowded - 2 unfriendly civs as neighbours - do you not think that they at the very least will keep Sulla in check? Ecominically and troopwise. I cannot understand why your fighting other peoples battles, you could have played along with the CoW allience maybe gifted 4 paets to the war effort, then turtled up and claimed some land. I know it's best to be in a tech allience, but you could have been part of it without sailing halfway round the world.

It seems from the screenies you have plenty of land to expand into, theres even a barb city with gold in the 1st ring FFS, your Praets could be taking that city and forming a beach head for further settling - the furs/clam/wheat/iron is a great spot, the 2 clams/silk is another. you could be settling 25% of the land area leading to an unstoppable steam roller of the rest of the contient.


I fully understand why you've joined the war, but I don't think it's in the long term interest of the Roman civ, your early conquering has left you in a good postion, you musrt be nearly top in land area and pop? Expolit your strenghts.

[novice]

Are speaker and sulla so much of a threat that your saling halfway round the world to deal with them? What will you gain from razing or taking a city? Do you think it's worth the oppertunity cost - i.e the unit supply cost, the cost of building 4 galleys, that could have been 2 settlers instead.

Judging by your screenies Sulla seems a little crowded - 2 unfriendly civs as neighbours - do you not think that they at the very least will keep Sulla in check? Ecominically and troopwise. I cannot understand why your fighting other peoples battles, you could have played along with the CoW allience maybe gifted 4 paets to the war effort, then turtled up and claimed some land. I know it's best to be in a tech allience, but you could have been part of it without sailing halfway round the world.

It seems from the screenies you have plenty of land to expand into, theres even a barb city with gold in the 1st ring FFS, your Praets could be taking that city and forming a beach head for further settling - the furs/clam/wheat/iron is a great spot, the 2 clams/silk is another. you could be settling 25% of the land area leading to an unstoppable steam roller of the rest of the contient.


I fully understand why you've joined the war, but I don't think it's in the long term interest of the Roman civ, your early conquering has left you in a good postion, you musrt be nearly top in land area and pop? Expolit your strenghts.

You forgot to add "just my 2 cents".
Although in this case, it was more like a dollar.

[Rowain]

Are you Sullla iin disguise trying to seperate Rome from the attack?

Have you read the full thread here? Whosit has explained why he joins in.

All other comments by me would be perhaps spoilerish so I refrain. It would be better if you ask your question in the lurker thread.

[Morgan]

Yes my whole dollar, sorry if i was forthright.

I seem to have missed a page of this thread, a very informative page as well, my aplogies. Most of my questions have been answered.

Even after the lengthy explaination by Whosist, I still feel it's not the best strat for the Roman people, it's difficult to get an acurate picture from the sidelines so i'll shut up now.

[Whosit]

Yes my whole dollar, sorry if i was forthright.

I seem to have missed a page of this thread, a very informative page as well, my aplogies. Most of my questions have been answered.

Even after the lengthy explaination by Whosist, I still feel it's not the best strat for the Roman people, it's difficult to get an acurate picture from the sidelines so i'll shut up now.

Heh, good thing I have an explanation somewhere. I don't even remember writing it! You do have some valid points, and what I'm doing probably isn't the best move from an economic or militaristic standpoint, but as I maybe mentioned (?), I think that there are good diplomatic reasons for doing this. If a major alliance is being formed, even a temporary one, it seems like I could acquire a lot more goodwill by participating than staying on the sidelines. Also, I really do view Sullla and Speaker as a threat, what with their monstrous tech rate.

As for the Barb town, the Inca beat me there. Totally on my part. I never had a unit to spare for that city. I was either fighting Korea or preparing to set sail. However, if I move quickly, I can still grab my Globe Theatre spot, and some other decent locations. Centralia will also provide a decent route to expansion, though the maintenance costs will be higher.

I haven't been focusing on expansion much lately since my economy has kind of reached the breaking point as it is. My plan right now is to build a few more Praetorians to assist in defending my front with Seoul, as well as some extra for Settler escort/protection duty when I start building Settlers again. If nothing else, I'll just stomp on the Inca a bit when the time comes . . . .

Anyway, I'd be a boring player to follow if all the decisions I made were rational, right? Right?

[Rowain]

Even after the lengthy explaination by Whosist, I still feel it's not the best strat for the Roman people, it's difficult to get an acurate picture from the sidelines so i'll shut up now.

No need to completly shut up but such discussions are far better done in the Lurker thread (Less risk to influence the players or to accidentially spill spoiler-info etc etc).

[Ruff_Hi]

@Whatsit / Whosit / whoever you are - nice pics - thanks for the review.

IMO, this is the sort of thing that lurkers really shouldn't answer, as it depends on comparing your progress with that of other civs. Unless someone is dedicated to lurking on this thread (unlikely with Sullla in the game), we really should steer clear.

You forgot to add "just my 2 cents".
Although in this case, it was more like a dollar.

Are you Sullla iin disguise trying to seperate Rome from the attack? <snip> It would be better if you ask your question in the lurker thread.

Guys - great job of lurker control - very nicely done!

[Whosit]

@Whatsit / Whosit / whoever you are - nice pics - thanks for the review.

Whatsit? That doesn't sound very mysterious or cool. Surely you're not talking about me.

Glad the pictures help. I took another look and realized I should move that northern sentry out to try and see just where the Inca plopped down their city. It's possible that it is too close to my Globe spot, in which case, there will be blood.

[Whosit]

Quick turn update: 2-pop whipped Libraries in Byss and Ryloth. Since both are major commerce towns, that hurts! At 20% science, went from +2 to -5. Byss will grow next turn, so that should take some of the sting off. Still 4 turns until the Library in Nar Shaddaa, but then I can start the Monastery and get Confucianism spreading.

Shiloh was apparently razed, so my troops will go to Freddy-burg. It'll take awhile, still. But it sounds like the plan is for the other armies to harass other cities, so hopefully F-burg will be light on defense when I plunk down my 8 Praetorians. Personally, I think that razing Shiloh was nothing more than a symbolic victory since it was such a new city. Still, certainly better than nothing! And it should hamper Spullla's zone of control in the area.

As for the above plan, I was going to suggest something like it myself, but glad I don't have to! If I am able to hit soft targets, that will be very nice. If I take the city, I believe that Jowy wants it. That will make a nice gift, I think. At least, I'll try to phrase it as a gift even though it has been decided already. After all, you remember my diplomatic goals regarding Greece.

[Whosit]

I feel like I'm in the "The Empire Strikes Back," except that I'm not playing the role of the Empire.

Hi CoW, thought you may be interested in this message India just sent me


Dantski,
We find ourselves in interesting times, don't we? I'm sure you've heard by now that Jowy and athlete/kalin have suffered a crushing defeat, as Speaker wiped out 90% of their attacking stack in one major battle. We've concentrated our attacks against their units thus far, but now that they're gone, your stack will come under fire next.
If you want to walk around pillaging individual tiles, that's your decision. Supporting a dozen units in our territory is hurting your economy pretty badly though. As you saw at Gettysburg, our core cities are well defended and will not be falling without a herculean slaughter on your side.
So... why bother to continue fighting anyway? This is actually a perfect time for you to cash out with your winnings, like a blackjack player after a hot run at the tables. Your allies have done all the fighting and dying, and you've been able to score some minor gains untouched. If you continue, you're going to be in for extremely bloody, grinding battles that do nothing to increase your chances of winning the game. And even assuming that you would be able to take us down (which is looking dubious at the moment), what then? Jowy, athlete, kalin, and Nakor are all playing on the same team in RBPB3. It's blantantly obvious that you are the odd man out in that alliance. If we are gone, you will be the next target invaded from both sides at once. Furthermore, Nakor spent weeks telling us that he was going to attack you, then cravenly sold us out at the last minute. He has been lying constantly in his emails. Do you really want "allies" like those guys?!?!?
Instead, you could sign peace with us and use your army of axes to tear through Nakor!!! His army is beyond pathetic, and half of it is ridiculously out of position up in our territory. Remember that we never made any kind of aggressive move against you earlier. Nakor stuck that silly city of Crydee right next Gao and has been trying to win the culture war there. Again, why not hit his pathetic military and double the size of your empire that way? We'd happily work together with you as your ally in that endeavor.
The choice is up to you. I think you'd have a lot more success against Nakor than against us though!
Sullla
The Killer Angels

First off I want to assure HRE that I have no plans to attack them. India NEEDS to be dealt with and I will not be turning on anyone here.

My main thought is that their email reminded me of the Apolyton writeup where Sullla said they were spinning for all their worth in emails to their neighbours. I just wanted to reaffrim my commitment to CoW.

-Dantski

Nakor said that he got a similar letter, though he didn't elaborate, but I'm guessing that Sullla told him to go after Dantski? I'll have to ask him, I suppose.

My reply:

Dear Friends and Allies,

This is unfortunate news. I'd like to hear from Jowy and Athlete and Kalin regarding the status of their forces, and how many losses they were able to inflict on Speaker and Sullla. If this information is correct, I believe that it will be necessary to rethink our approach to the fight. My force of Praetorians is powerful, yes, but I am not particularly eager to send them on a suicide mission. I do not think that my attack will be successful without support. Like Dantski, I support the Coaltion and believe that the Killer Angels must be stopped, so I want to make sure that my contribution is as effective as possible.

As for the spin, it's possible, though as I'd mentioned, I'd like to hear a combat report from Greece and the Rebel Ottoman Alliance before making any decisions. If the battle was one sided, that would mean that we lost a large number of troops while promoting their soldiers. However, if there were roughly equal losses, it's not quite as bad, but still pretty bad. And they have the advantage of being able to quickly reinforce their own territory. Let's put our heads together, figure out how to best manage our remaining resources, and figure out the best way to deal a significant blow to these guys.

To victory,

Whosit, Galactic Emperor

That more or less sums up my position. I'm not gonna dump off my troops all by their lonesome just to get slaughtered. That would be a waste of my resources, and a waste of effort on the part of the whole Coalition. Hopefully we can scrape up another stack, of which my troops can be a part, and deal some damage. I don't think that we'll get any clean victories, but if we can burn down even one of their core cities, that would be a victory.

Of course, I could turn this boat around and go after the Inca, but that would be foolish for so many reasons.

Basically, I'm waiting to hear back from Jowy and Kalin to get their assessment of the damage. I think part of the problem was that their combined stack was too light on Spearmen (only 1, if I recall), so they took a lot of damage from Horse Archers.