[Spoiler] RB Pitboss #2 - Shaka of Rome

[regoarrarr]

So based on this picture



How do you expect Slaze to move, and what are you doing to defend?

[Whosit]

How do you expect Slaze to move, and what are you doing to defend?

Hey, is that one of those leading questions? Not trying to get inside my head, are you?!

Well, I've identified 3 likely moves. Rather, 3 points of attack. 1N, 1Ne, And 1E of Bestine. I expect slaze to attack the most vulnerable point (since I don't see why he wouldn't notice it), and all I can do now is shuttle as many troops into the city as possible, and whip another catapult. I pulled the Warrior out because I was swapping Garrison with Kuat (a Praetorian), but maybe I should have kept the Warrior just for another warm body to kill. Of course, now it has lost the 25% fortification bonus, but that probably wouldn't have amounted to much.

Otherwise, there's really nothing I can do since I don't have any other reserves available. A bit of an oversight on my part, but I am in a two-front war. When slaze moves adjacent to the city, I can attack with two Barrage I catapults and hopefully get some lucky rolls there.

Odds are the city will be razed, since slaze can't expect to capture and keep it, what with my stack running around, so I may try to wipe out his remaining troops and counter-attack Tiwanaku and raze it, for whatever that's worth.

[Whosit]

Didn't do what I expected, and what he did didn't turn out like I expected, either. He attacked my stack, and pulled a couple of Catapults I couldn't see out of nowhere. But what pisses me of is that, aside from the catapults, he took no losses. All of his fights were around 68%, so I suppose there's no reason to expect that he'd lose any of them, but I was sure that I was going to fare better. If this is an indication of things to come, I'm in for a lot of trouble.

Not sure what to do now. Not sure if I can keep my existing troops alive or not. My "stack," if I can call it that, has one Catapult left. Should I slap it with Barrage and hit his troops, just to force him to slow down? Many of his troops are already injured, so if I duck into the forest, he might not pursue.

I've whipped the Catapult in Bestine, after all. If I get a chance to whip a Praetorian next, I will, and Kuat will continue to reinforce the city with troops. Still no sign of visible movement from plako, aside from stacking all of his Triremes.

Also, there is a lot of silver on the outer islands. Guess us four won't have a monopoly on it, after all. If I had realized just how many islands there were out there, I wouldn't have focused on Centralia so much. Looks like another strategic error on my part.

I'm pretty pissed off. I guess my sims aren't worth their weight in bits. And now I won't be able to reinforce Byss at all. I'll have to come up with something.

[Whosit]

Gahhhh, will I never cease to be an idiot? I should learn by now to think before I commit to moves. I threw my catapult at slaze's stack (it actually retreated, for all the good it will do), and did . . . some damage. I thought that slaze could hit me as I continue to retreat, but I just noticed a possible escape route that still gets me to Bestine ahead of him (if he went directly for it, still), so I SHOULD have saved the Catapult for defense.

50 hammers, gone (well, technically 45, since it was one I trade a Praetorian for, but still a HUGE waste). I'll put a picture up later if I get a chance, but using the current one as reference, slaze's stack is on the Copper, my remnants are south of it. I thought I should move into the forest for cover, but if I move 1SW, and have my Worker move 1SW and start roading, I can finish the road and actually get into Bestine before slaze could hit my moving stack.

Well, I suppose the silver lining is that I noticed this BEFORE I actually moved my Praetorians. Otherwise I'd really be screaming.

[Whosit]

Bah, since I stayed up so late anyway, here are some pictures.

Looks like this is another overview shot of the battlefield. You can see what a sorry state my forces are in:



That stats on slaze's stack before I act like an idiot:



And after:



As you can see, that was totally worth it.

Well, my troops ran southwest, and the Worker moved southwest as well to start the road. Even if slaze goes after my stack, the Worker should finish in time to flee to safety. Good old Chewie.

Here's where I'm thinking of setting up shop:



I've since renamed the signs "North Taris" and "South Taris." Oh, and the city in the middle of Centralia will probably be "Nal Hutta."

I'm thinking of choosing the south spot simply because the crabs will go to waste, otherwise. There's room for 3 decent cities on the island, but I didn't take a shot of the whole thing. The southern spot has a few less base hammers, but more food, so I could build a workshop or two. With 4 hills to chop and mine, I should be able to use this as a naval base, supposing I can protect it from a Korean invasion.

Of course, I'm still many, many turns away from having the forces to spare to settle and secure the island.

So, 3 more turns until I can try to salvage myself. Will plako make his move this turn? I can only hope he continues to wait. With each passing moment, he makes himself more and more . . . um . . . not . . . fighting me. OK, that one didn't work out.

[Strike700]

Is that bottom city spot still on the river?

[Cyneheard]

It doesn't look like it is (otherwise, the tile would be 2/0/1 instead of 2/0/0).

[Strike700]

Whoops

Doesn't look like the top one is either.

[seifer_md]

It should be, you just don't get the commerce until you chop the forest.

[Profane]

A Lumbermill or Preserve should get that 1c from the river even without chopping the forest down, I think.