[SPOILERS]The 3 Muscateers playing Ragnar of Rome!

[Catwalk]

Attacking is not worth extra GG points; only fighting in your land, having the great wall, and/or being imperialistic increase GG points (all 100%, additive bonuses).

But attacking gives more XP, right? And since GG points are based directly on XP points, it boosts GG points indirectly. Also, I read somewhere that IMP differs from other bonus as it halves the points required (effectively multiplicative stacking).

Thanks for the tip Sian! What about other promotions? Still better to get an instructor? Any way to know where he'll be born?


t102 teaser

I got my scientist last turn, and I decided to launch my Golden Age 1t before completing Taj Mahal for the following reasons:
1) I would very likely use them for a GA after this one expires anyway, saving me unit upkeep in the meantime
2) I get to draft 1t sooner
3) I get to use Theocracy 1t sooner

Also, Taj Mahal was not grabbed by someone else this turn so I will be completing it at EOT as planned. That means I'm set for a consecutive 18t of Golden Age Already drafted my first 3 macemen on the waterbat border, feeling a lot safer already!

I will be able to switch to Mercantilism soonish if I go for Guilds and Banking. I will lose 24 commerce in trade routes (probably closer to 15 when Waterbat closes borders) and gain 18 specialists. Civic cost will go up by 6. Solely in terms of commerce, that looks like a pretty good deal. The GPP will be mostly wasted, but getting another 2 specialists in my GP farms isn't bad at all.

[Merovech]

Yes, sorry, attacking gives more XP and therefore more GG points indirectly. I am pretty sure Imperialistic is not multiplicative, however.

[Catwalk]

It seems you are correct about IMP, a quick test shows that an IMP leader requires 30 GG points for the first GG, same as in my current game.

[Catwalk]

In other news, I just realized I'm in deep shit (again). Azza gave birth to a Great Artist 12t ago when he researched Music. If he uses it to bomb F, I would be at massive risk of being swamped completely in JJ. He will easily control tiles all the way up to JJ, and I will have a hard time recovering them. I'm strongly tempted to make a dash for Literature and Drama in order to rush a theatre there for a rapid 9 culture per turn. I could then rush Hermitage in the meantime, completing it around the time the theatre pops up. That would increase my culture per turn from 5 to 28, allowing me to claim my 4th ring in around 12t instead of the 35t it'll take at the current pace. I can add a monument and a temple after the theatre for a total of 32 culture per turn. That'll give me 92 culture on the city tile, 72 in the first ring and 52 in the third ring. His city is generating around 12 culture per turn, allowing him to generate 72 points of tile culture in his third ring.

Other than military implications, he'll also be stealing my silver resource and further suffocate my fishing boats. Suggestions welcome

One not entirely crazy option is to put a theatre in CC and work two artists in order to boost my chances of generating a great artist myself. Already it's at 51% with 149 points out of 268, if I leave it be for 10t it'll drop to around 45%. Yet another option is to switch to Caste System and/or Pacifism for 5t before switching back to Slavery and Theocracy. I can run a max of 5 artists in CC, generating a GP in 4t. Chances of getting an artist will only be raised to 55%, though. I also won't feel very safe without being able to whip for the next 5t.

[Catwalk]

t103 military update

My eastern front now looks as follows:

As planned, I have a large stack of units standing in range of both cities. Both of them have a Praetorian and a Longbow fortified, since he can't 1-move me with anything other than his lone chariot. He has a very menacing army of catapults: 4 in Candace, 3 E of Candace and another 2 up by his capital. With that kind of collateral, all my units will likely be at 25% health by the time he invades. Still, he's only fielding axemen against me so far. If he moves his stack up against one of my cities, I'll be able to strike out against his soft belly before he manages to damage my units. If they're going to be damaged to pieces anyway, I may as well take out a number of invaders before I get bombarded. I even have a single catapult of my own to damage them with first. One small problem with my formation is that I don't get the fortified bonus in either city, and I can only reach the southern city if I wish to attack out. Were I to attack out from the northern city, I'd have to stand outside the city and attack, unable to defend the city from the counter attack. I think I'll split my troops on two tiles so that I can send at least 4 units to attack in either location. I'm feeling confident about my chances against waterbat, drafting is working like a charm and I have a large standing army over here now. I also have a major advantage in tech and promotions.

As I mentioned earlier, Azza has become my main threat. He has 4 boats threatening me this turn, 2 galleys and 2 triremes. Even though I have 3 triremes (1 of them has C1), I don't like those odds much. I do feel confident about defending DD as shown in the screenshot, preventing him from making an amphibious attack this turn. He can land his troops on the coast instead, poising him to strike on the following turn. Unless they're all promoted crossbows and macemen, that's not much of a threat. If it is indeed crossbows and macemen, they're a threat but I think I'll be able to defend. He won't have enough to invade DD, and I can bring in 2 catapults + more drafted maces to smash him into a pulp. I have a very decent stack in JJ, but I know he has more troops out of sight. I'm not sure how many, at least an additional 3 war chariots. I wanted to chop down the forest this turn, but that would allow him to pile on to the forest tile with his entire army. He has Engineering now, so I need to be very careful. And again, if he uses an artist bomb I'm completely screwed. My own artist will be born in 8t with a 45% chance, can't go fast enough!

Lastly, on to some better news:

That's pure drafting power. This is the first turn I've had a sizable gap down to #2, and it'll keep growing from here on out. I have tons of spare happiness around my empire, so I can easily keep drafting 3 maces per turn for the next several turns without really impacting my economy all that much. Thanks for the tips about drafting, it's working even better than anticipated.

[Catwalk]

Brief update: I'll be unable to hold Porny Porcupine (NW of Dingy Dingo), it'll be subjected to a naval invasion next turn. What sucks is that I could have had caravals on this turn, preventing him from landing. What sucks even more is that I could have had 4 triremes instead of 3, which may well have been enough to stop him from landing.

I'm considering offering Azza Porny Porcupine for a 10t peace treaty, although he's unlikely to take that. He has a lot of military merchandise he wants to play. I don't think this war will go well. I could easily have held off one of them, but both together will probably be a disaster. I'm not whining (yet), catpiles are fair game and I was set to run away if not stopped. Yet somehow it's a lot more fun to play when things are going well

[Catwalk]

Done wallowing in self pity for now Tried bribing Azza with Jagged Jaguar, he declined. I think that was a very generous offer, so I'm definitely up against the wall here. I'm going to try to bribe Waterbat with money, doubt it'll work. Sent him a 12 gpt proposal for a 20t NAP, will go as high as 20 gpt if needed. If I'm able to evacuate one of my fronts, I have a pretty massive army that I think I could squash the other player with. AGG + lots of barracks + Theocracy + slight tech advantage (all have maces and crossbows now, but I don't have an outdated army of axemen) + Castles is going to be really helpful. At least that's what I'm counting on

[Catwalk]

t105 teaser

I received the save this morning after being responsible for delaying it a full 48h (24h myself, and I forwarded it too late the following day for it to make it back around), slightly calmer now. I've resigned myself to losing Porny Porcupine and being smacked around navally. So I boot up Civ, take a deep breath, and this is the sight that greets me:

VICTORY!!!

He loaded 4 war chariots on his galleys, used 2 of them to attack amphibiously and landed the other two! This was a major tactical mistake by Azza, I'm immensely relieved that I'm not the only one messing up lately. I really needed a break like this, not only to score a nice little victory (won't make a huge difference) but also to get my spirits back up. And up they are! I'm fired up to kick ass now, and I'm feeling confident about my chances again. My Praetorian survived without a scratch (love those odds!), and can now safely attack one of the War Chariots at odds 99% for more XP and GGP (3 GGP per XP, meaning a minimum of 6 GGP per succesful attack). The last one will likely escape, but it's not a major threat. Amusingly, I had already given up on Porny Porcupine and was working 2 coast tiles instead of FP farms since I assumed I wouldn't be holding it. And what's worse (as mentioned previously), I actually offered Azza Jagged Jaguar for peace last turn. Fortunately, he declined. I'm not out of the woods by any means, but given the events this turn that was a bad offer to make. If he wants it, he'll have to come take it. And unless he brings at least twice my number, he's not getting anywhere near it. I didn't know amphibious incurred a 50% penalty (technically a 50% bonus for your opponent), that was more than expected.


Azza now has 2 triremes and 2 galleys hanging around in my culture, while I have 3 triremes immediately W of them and 1 trireme in Dingy Dingo. More importantly, I have no idea how I missed the upgrade button last turn (EDIT: Turns out you can't upgrade a unit after it's done movin, didn't know that). Of course I can upgrade my triremes to caravels, at a paltry cost of 41 gold a piece. So I'll have great odds on his triremes (3 vs 2.2) and won't even need to upgrade the triremes that will be attacking the galleys. Azza has 2 triremes down by the coast which are poised to go pillage my seafood. I think I'll be able to foil this too. It's probably best to let him pillage the first one and let him think he's getting away with it in order to sink his entire fleet without losses. That way I can use all 4 ships to sink his northern fleet this turn.

Waterbat is still marshalling his forces against me, messed up my recon a little this turn so I'm not sure if he'll be ready to strike this turn or not. Won't change my defense plans any, I'm ready for the onslaught. He upgraded all his axemen to maces in Candace, that's bound to be expensive. I chopped my deer forest last turn to deny him cover, will be moving my fast worker out of the way this turn.

DUN DUN DUN

[spacetyrantxenu]

I disagree with what Sian posted about a medic not being very useful here. If you expect to be attacked by massed collateral having a medic in your defending stack will allow you to counter attack at higher strength after the interturn healing on whateverunits of yours survive the initial attack. Just be sure that your medic doesn't end up defending and getting wiped out.

As for the great general point generation discussion, you may already know this but just in case: whenever possible try to attack with units that have at most a 99.1% chance of victory. At higher than 99.1% you only earn 1 XP per kill, 2 XP at 99.1% or less (until whatever odds it takes to get 3 XP -- does anyone know that right offhand?). There is probably an odds to xp chart posted around here somewhere but this is a phone post so I'm not looking for it

Good job so far on Azza! When you can I'd highly recommend teching Gunpowder now that you're drafting. Better muskets than maces for the same pop cost. Take the fight to him!

[Catwalk]

I disagree with what Sian posted about a medic not being very useful here. If you expect to be attacked by massed collateral having a medic in your defending stack will allow you to counter attack at higher strength after the interturn healing on whateverunits of yours survive the initial attack. Just be sure that your medic doesn't end up defending and getting wiped out.

I have my GG running around now, so I will need a decision soon. Azza isn't invading yet, so I suppose I can keep it around until he does as I will have at least one turn's notice. Which unit would you promote if I use the GG for that? Would you spread the XP among multiple units?

waterbat is poised to invade GD on the eastern front in 2t, these are his forces:
11x mace
10x axe
4x catapult
1x warrior
= 21 combat units + 4 siege

I have been drafting energetically and can field the following:
9x mace
3x catapult
4x longbow
1x crossbow
2x praetorian
1x axe
= 17 combat units + 3 siege

My troops are promoted better than his, and I have +125% defense in both cities (plus the 25% hill bonus). Most of my troops are positioned in between my two cities, so they reinforce the city he goes for. There's no chance of him doing enough collateral damage to get through, if he tries it will be a slaughter. And if he spends time trying to knock down my defenses (with both walls and castles in place), he will simply buy me time to get more macemen and catapults there.

As for the great general point generation discussion, you may already know this but just in case: whenever possible try to attack with units that have at most a 99.1% chance of victory. At higher than 99.1% you only earn 1 XP per kill, 2 XP at 99.1% or less (until whatever odds it takes to get 3 XP -- does anyone know that right offhand?). There is probably an odds to xp chart posted around here somewhere but this is a phone post so I'm not looking for it

Didn't know that, thanks. I think 3 XP is somewhere closer to 80%.

Good job so far on Azza! When you can I'd highly recommend teching Gunpowder now that you're drafting. Better muskets than maces for the same pop cost. Take the fight to him!

Just got Guilds EOT, Gunpowder will take 2t and then I'm set.