[Spoiler] RB Pitboss #2 - Shaka of Rome

[Whosit]

Thanks for the update! Have you had any diplomacy with Slaze yet? Also, how close are you to getting a great general? Will you be going for a super combat praet, medic 3 unit, or settling for the extra promotion?

Nice to hear from you. You named yourself after pretty much the best thing from The Scarlet Letter. Anyway, I actually keep forgetting to check my GG progress, but I plan to settle the first one in Kuat for the extra promotion. 3 Promo Praets, and 1 Promo boats. Not that bad.

If you capture a Spulla developped (enough) city (the one you are aiming at in the latest plan), there should be a bit of cash with the capture...

Yeah. The cash would be a very nice thing, so taking Freddy-burg is a main goal of mine. And I believe I would turn the city over to Jowy, so I won't have to pay the Maintenance costs for it. Let's just hope that it isn't heavily defended. I estimate that a fortified Axeman will have odds against my Praetorians. I might win due to numbers, but it could become very costly. City will probably have 50% defense bonus minimum. I need to double check to see if it's on a hill. I can't remember. Hill would be rather bad.

Edit: Oh, and I haven't written to the Inca yet. I've actually been meaning to, just to say "hi" to slaze. I don't want to talk with them very much, because I don't want to talk about NAP. I believe I mentioned one before the game was paused, but now I'm not so sure that I want to sign one.

[Whosit]

Interesting times indeed:

Dear Whosit,

Your fleet saw Stardock being build in a day. Our lone axe is waving towards those fierce preatorians.
Good to see your fleet sailing there to help our allies!

I like to inform you of a chat I had with Plako "in-game".
He asked for our aid against you after your NAP ends at t150.
He's beelining Construction and will build Hwuecha's or whatever they are called.
He is interested in trading some against a few longbows of us. Can you agree to such a deal\, if we go forward with it?
Of course they won't be used against you, but it might be good to have a few.
So you might need to build some more defense to keep Korea away.

Besides that, Korea isn't planning on more cities on the main land, just one near the coast between Seoul and La Mut. We won't bother them there but will claim the Iron site soon. They have plans for 7 cities now, not that much in my opionion.

How's the scouting of Centralia going?

Hope to hear from you soon!
Nakor of HRE

Quite the plan, pissing off BOTH of my neighbors. Hmm. I'll have to be ready to attack Korea as soon as the NAP ends. I'm going to ask Nakor if he can assist me with that. Getting them off of my continent should be good enough. I might want to try to pick up Metal Casting before T150 if at all possible so that I can build a couple of Triremes to stop a naval invasion. I'll have to crunch some numbers to see if that will be possible, considering how expensive MC is and how weak my economy is going to be.

My revenge against the Inca may have to wait until I can deal with Korea, but we'll see how quickly I can prepare.

[Whosit]

Reply to Nakor:

Dear Nakor and DMOC,

Yes, my fleet did see the construction of Stardock. It seems that we passed by just in time. My sailors will make certain to stop and say "hello" on the return journey. There is not much to update about Centralia since I have just resumed explorations after the long pause. What I can tell you is that across the way from Stardock is a spot with two Sugar resources and maybe something else. I'll take a closer look next time I am able to log in.

Thank you for your information regarding Korea. I will indeed have to bolster my defenses. I may even have to prepare for a first strike. I am not that eager to face Longbows, though, but make such a trade at your own discretion. I would actually like to know what you think of assisting me in removing Korea from the main continent. You could do what you want with their new coastal city. I would want to secure Seoul for myself, but you could actually capture it, if you want the gold for doing so, and then gift it to me. I do not know if I will have Construction in the next 40 turns, but it's not terribly likely at my current tech rate. Any siege that you are able to secure, one way or another, would be very useful in an attack. Alternatively, I could research Horseback Riding and use Horse Archers to protect my Praetorians from Korea's Hwachas (which get a bonus vs. Melee units).

I hope that you are willing to lend me your assistance. Likewise, in the event of a dispute between you and the Romali, the Empire will make every effort necessary to support your claims. Unfortunately, so long as the shadow of Korea's eventual betrayal hangs over me, it will be more difficult to lend you such aid. Of course, I may be mistaken, but I recall that you once suggested that such a dispute would be inevitable. For the time being, however, I wish you the best of luck in the war against the Killer Angels. My soldiers cannot arrive quickly enough.

Best regards,

Whosit, Galactic Emperor

Three techs I could possibly need to deal with Korea: Construction, Horseback Riding, and Metal Casting. I might chat up Athlete and see how likely the odds of me being able to buy some Horse Archers off of him are. I'd even do a Praetorian for Horse Archer deal, so long as his HAs come with 2 promos. Seems like it'd be a pretty good deal for him.

I could live without Metal Casting, but I'd need to crank out Galleys. I've got shit production cities on the outer coast, so I may have to explore an off-shore base. But that's not gonna happen in the next 40 turns.

Construction is probably the most important. May have to pursue that before Currency. If I have Catapults, I can at least fight a defensive war, and can go on the offense, as well. I'll want to throw up walls in my border cities. Filler will be tough to defend, so I'll need to keep my defenses fluid.

In order, I probably want:

Metal Casting, Construction, Horseback Riding, especially if I can score HAs off of one of my allies. Maybe I can even buy Catapults from Jowy! With 2-3 Triremes (dunno how I'd build them . . . probably have to whip them), I can probably disrupt the flow of troops from Korea's island cities, and prevent an invasion. Wish I had Circumnavigation, but, well . . . Of course, I'll have to check how feasible teching that would even be! And I still have plans to expand and such. Heh. This could get very interesting.

Not much else now. Looks like I'll be busy trying to figure out how to keep my empire alive while also destroying my many enemies. It would probably be more rational to delay my attack against the Inca, but every turn I delay, they will grow stronger . . . . Of course, since I know that Korea wants a piece of me, they'll probably attack while my back is turned. Drat.

[Whosit]

Alright, I've done some in-depth analysis of my empire, and I now see that I've been mismanaging things quite badly. Most of my troubles are with Worker actions since I have not listed and prioritized the improvements that need to be made, so things have been done haphazardly. However, I think I can move on the right track to complete:

Operation: Destroy Recalcitrant Enemies Absolutely Dead (D.R.E.A.D.)

Don't you just love backronyms?

There's going to be a lot of information, so I'll probably break this into a few different posts.

First, the overall goals:

1) Build new settlements
2) Expand the army
3) Destroy my enemies
4) Rinse and repeat

I will need to focus my cities on either Commerce or Production.

*Imperial Center: Commerce/Research (Work high-commerce tiles and hire Scientists).
*Carida: Commerce/GPP for 9 turns, then Max Production.**
*Byss: Commerce
*Kuat: Production
*Nar Shaddaa: Production/Commerce
*Ryloth: Commerce.

**Will generate Great Person in 9 turns at current rate. May be Prophet or Scientist. If I cut GPP, Imperial Center will generate a 100% Scientist in 12 turns. Prophet could be "trade bait" for Nakor, but it may not be worth it.

I have prioritized improvements for these cities:

Kuat, Nar Shaddaa, Ryloth. Each need an additional cottage for their max size configurations.

After that, I am prioritizing preparations for my two new towns.

First to be settled will be Bestine (northeast). Second, Alzoc III (filler). Prep for Bestine involves laying down roads and pre-chopping forests. Prep for Alzoc III involves laying down some roads, building cottages, and pre-chopping forests.

I'll post detailed build plans later. The first few batches of Praets will be used for garrison in my new towns.

I may also consider putting down my first settlement on Centralia, but that will depend on how far Bestine and Alzoc III stretch my economy. I will also factor in the Silver, and see if that will significant improve my existing cities.

[Whosit]

I'll post detailed build plans later.

Later . . . is still later.

Practicing my "war set." I basically have half an hour each morning to move my units in the first half of the turn. Not as much as I'd like. Sullla's Warrior is still wandering around my territory, but hopefully I can cap it when I declare, or at least prevent it from causing trouble.

Just a few turns/days left now.

Found some more interesting things in Centralia. Will post pictures this evening.

[Whosit]

Caught Nakor in Google Chat. Copied, but not cleaned up, sorry. I wrote an e-mail to a similar effect re: The GP deal.

Holy Roman Empire
me: Hello, Nakor? Do you use Google Chat?
Holy: yes!
me: Excellent. Just thought I'd try to speak to you in real time for a moment.
I did get your letter, too.
Holy: ok, I;ve got some time... but the kids are walking around and need to go to bed in about 15 min..
me: That's fine. I only have about 15 minutes myself.
One thing you might be interested in: I found another source of Silver in Centralia, about halfway up the west coast.
Holy: Interesting!
That suggest one east as well
Looking at the symmetry of the mao.
mapo
me: There is one on the west coast. I plan to take it.
Holy: We might be able to get a settler up there quickly
if that's ok with you.
me: Yes . . . though I will want to discuss claims with you.
Holy: sure!
me: It will be easier after you have scouted a bit, but essentially, I want the southeast quadrant for myself.
Holy: that sounds like a decent proposal.
I guess we want to aim at the southwest
If that's ok with you.
me: Yes.
I don't have that area scouted out as well, but I'll have some more info in a few turns as my Galleys sail past.
Are you planning to research Feudalism soon?
Holy: we are thinking seriously about it.
but we need to choose between math of feud
me: Hm.
Math would be valuable if you plan to chop a lot more forests in the near future.
But Feudalism would keep you well protected.
Actually, I just remembered something more important.
I can lay this out in an e-mail later, but I want to discuss a possible "trade" if I generate a Great Prophet.
Holy: not a lot of chops in the near future, so I think Math can wait.
Interesting! What do you want to trade it for? Great Scientist?
me: Yes, that would be great, though I was thinking of a bit of something else, but I'll get to that in a moment.
I should have my Great Person in about a dozen turns. Do you have an ETA for your own?
(Note: Prophet is not a sure thing, but this is probably the greatest chance I'll pop one in the near future)
Holy: We have one in a dozen turns as well, and a second GS a while later.
But that might take a bit longer.
To be honest, we do need that first GS ourselves.
for an academy
me: Hm.
We all need the GS for the academy.
Holy: indeed!

What was your other idea?
me: I give you the Prophet (assuming for the Confucian Shrine) in an exchange for a Scientist (sooner the better, but we can work that out). Plus . . .
Once one of us researches Currency, you will give me 1 gpt for each of my own cities that has Confucianism. Hold on, it's not as bad as it sounds!
1) I will do my best to spread the religion beyond my borders.
2) As you build Market, Grocer, and Bank, you will end up making a profit off of my income.
Does this sound reasonable?
Holy: It does, but I need to discuss things with DMOC first. Need to calculate the GS against the GP.
me: Right.
The income for me would be more important if I have to wait for your second GS, of course.
And I'll probably be going Math > Currency myself.
Holy: I can understand that
me: Since I can't fund my expansion with super-courthouses.
Holy: There's that!
We'll get our first next turn. That saves 6 gp in maintenance
me: I'd kill for that.
Holy: same here!
Ok, got to go! I'll talk things over with DMOC (when he returns) and get back to you. For the second GS, we'd do it for sure, but the first... well... I'll talk to you about that.
me: Of course. I'll put an e-mail together so we have a paper trail.
Holy: great! gotta bring my little girl to bed now. Have a nice...day? evening?
me: Afternoon.
Have a good rest.

Best result for me would be the G. Scientist now and the promise of gold later. How many GPP is needed for #2? 200?

I also got a message saying that Holy Rome would be willing to assist me vs. Korea, so that's very good!

[Square Leg]

How many GPP is needed for #2? 200?

Yes, correct.

[novice]

Best result for me would be the G. Scientist now and the promise of gold later. How many GPP is needed for #2? 200?

Yup, and 300 for #3, and so on. (On normal speed).

Edit: Dammit. I guess I'll have to find something else to comment. Why would you work to spread confu beyond your borders? How does that benefit you?

[Whosit]

Edit: Dammit. I guess I'll have to find something else to comment. Why would you work to spread confu beyond your borders? How does that benefit you?

It wouldn't benefit me. Directly. However, it may help foster good will with Nakor and DMOC. I try to take such considerations into account when I decide upon my actions (such as with the Coalition). Of course, I am limited by my ability to read the other players, and by the fact that I cannot foresee the future. In this particular case, though, it was also part of the sell.

I'm also starting to realize that I'll have to be much more careful in "managing" the sizes of my opponents. Nakor could grow very large and powerful because of his UB. I'll have to try and grab as much of the Inca territory as possible once I go to war, and also grab the outer islands and . . . yeah, there are so many ways to expand in this map.

I also came up with this just a moment ago:

Cities to convert to Confucianism by Priority
1) Carida
2) Imperial Center
3) Ryloth
4) Byss
5) Kuat

Priority is based on the value of an extra population point. Carida could push out 20 hpt at size 7, if my calculations are correct. That's 3/2/2/2 turn Praetorians. Or 2 turn Missionaries. Or pretty fast whatever I want. Imperial Center would probably work the grassland Iron mine with its new pop for a little more production while focusing on Commerce.

[Whosit]

I'll post detailed build plans later.

Later . . . is now.

First, a little bit of nonsense:

My attack route to Fred-burg:



Even with Level 2 borders, my fleet should remain undetected until the turn I actually declare war (and invade). It does not appear that you get 2-square vision over water from the diagonal. If I am wrong, then they have 2 turns to prepare rather than 1. Less ideal, but I can work with it.

Landing ETA: Turn 109. I can hardly wait. It will probably happen Friday, maybe Saturday.

Centralia:



Slightly outdated, as I started a "sign map." It could probably do with some more in-depth analysis, though. Can't get all my cities on fresh water, but that's OK. For the most part, the best plan seems to be to nab at least on food resource, and cottage everything else. I want to see if I can nab that northern Iron/Rice/Banana spot. Or maybe settle between the Banana and Gold to get the Whales.

"I sank their battleships! And their whales!"

Something else I was looking at:



I think that I can settle Filler (Alzoc III) by around T123. That gives me 27 turns to develop it before the NAP runs out. At best, I can get Level 2 borders, but look what that would do. I would gain control of that all-important hill. I imagine that plako will chop the forest down before I gain control. Still. Nar Shaddaa and Ryloth should have popped Level 3 borders by then, gaining control of Seoul's lake and Furs, and Nar Shaddaa's second ring. I'll basically have nearly ideal zone-of-control of the area. I can move adjacent to Seoul in 2 turns from that hill, and I will have vision into Seoul, as well. I can see an attack coming, and react accordingly.

Now, I estimate that Seoul will have Level 4 Borders in about 30 turns, give or take. Probably 25 or less, really, so it might not turn out so well for me. Still, I think I'll manage to control the important tiles.

OK, on to the builds. Actually, I'll do that in a second post to avoid out-of-control length.