[Spoilers] This Perfect Place

[Mr. Cairo]

Random q - theres nothing you can see on the monster tag Jormanger to your NW?

What exactly do you mean? Adrien has a wb around there atm, scouting. Is there something else I should be able to see on the tile itself?

As in a currently revealed resource

Nope, should there be?

[Mr. Cairo]

So Gawdzak got the Hanging Gardens, adding 10 pop to his empire. He is starting to take off with the game, so I'm going to have to take some drastic measures soon, but I'll get to that later.

First of all, my GS was born, and built an Academy. Which is why my GNP the turn before I get Currency looks like this:



I also founded a city this turn. Presenting, The River Sings:

Has nothing but food, so my plan is to grow onto cottages on those grasslands, whip out a library, then grow back to the cap and hire two scientists to get started on my next GP, which in all likelihood will be used for a GA.

So, drastic measures. At the moment, I'm building a bunch of chariots to make a play for Ecbatana, which is mostly defended by axes.


I can hit it with 2-movers from the Ivory tile once the plains tile SW of it has been roaded, so other than my power graph going up, there'll be no warning. I also plan on doing some subterfuge by moving some 1-movers into a position where they can move in to defend the city the turn I capture it, making it look like they're covering some workers. Right now the city has 3 axes and a spear, assuming that he puts that scouting spear into the city before the truce runs out, I'll need at least 10, maybe 12 chariots. Which is certainly doable in the next 5 to 6 turns. After that, I'll pause and defend while I get HBR and Construction.


This is one option, and I haven't decided if it's the best one. While I'm confident that I can do it, it will force Gawdzak to focus on war while we're still at tech parity. If I wait until I have some HAs and Cats before launching a more general attack, I may have better long-term chances. But I don't know if I can wait that long before doing something to slow him down. I don't even know if capturing Ecbatana alone would do all that much to slow him down. One other benefit to a later attack is that this plan of taking Ecbatana on the first turn of a war will still be available, but I'd also have enough 2-movers left over to head strait for Persepolis. Capturing Ecbatana and razing his capital would certainly be enough to slow him down, perhaps fatally. Well, it really depends on what Gawdzak does over the next few turns.

It may be that I would last longer in this game by not attacking Gawdzak, and simply making myself too difficult for him to eat, but that's no way to win.

[El Grillo]

Could you show your Military Adviser screen? How large of an attack force are you thinking of?

[Mr. Cairo]

well, there's not much to show at the moment, some axes, spears, and chariots. I have the top power in the game, but it's not enough to attack Gawdzak with as it is. What it was enough to do was capture that island from Adrien, put a decent garrison on it, and still have enough left over to keep Gawdzak from thinking my border with him is empty. Right now I'm building chariots, with the intention of attacking Ecbatana when the truce runs out with 10-15 of them. But if I decide to wait for HBR and Construction, then I'd think more along the lines of 5-10 chariots, 15-20 HA, ~10 cats, and ~20 assorted axes, spears, swords, etc. My plan in that case is to hit Ecbatana with 2-movers, while going after his city to the west of Ecbatana that I don't know the name of with the 1-movers and cats. I'd take Ecbatana on the first turn of the war, then send the 2-movers straight down towards Persepolis, in enough numbers to raze it. Then I'd consolidate, and continue advancing. The reason I'm leaning more towards the second plan is because I need to do enough damage at the beginning of a conflict with Gawdzak to ensure that I can actually win later, after he's swapped into war mode. Taking Ecbatana alone seems like a good way to send Gawdzak into war mode, while still leaving him with enough cities and whippable population to ensure my own eventual defeat.

[El Grillo]

Thanks for elaborating, I'm always curious about how people decide how large of an invasion force to bring in multiplayer games.

[Mr. Cairo]

Thanks for elaborating, I'm always curious about how people decide how large of an invasion force to bring in multiplayer games.

So am I. This is my first MP game, so I'm mostly going from what I've seen in other PBs, and not what I'd do in a SP game

[Mr. Cairo]

So, now that I know how long it will take to get to some key techs, I have a more concrete plan. I've decided to scrap the chariot attack on Ecbatana, and go all-in on a proper attack with HAs and cats. HBR will come in 4 turns, Construction 4 turns after that. I need to maintain the element of surprise as much as I can, so I'm not going to suddenly start whipping multiple cities every turn. I've been pretty consistent with 1-pop whips every turn or two lately, and I'm going to continue along those lines, but whipping out units instead of granaries and monuments.

[ReallyEvilMuffin]

So, now that I know how long it will take to get to some key techs, I have a more concrete plan. I've decided to scrap the chariot attack on Ecbatana, and go all-in on a proper attack with HAs and cats. HBR will come in 4 turns, Construction 4 turns after that. I need to maintain the element of surprise as much as I can, so I'm not going to suddenly start whipping multiple cities every turn. I've been pretty consistent with 1-pop whips every turn or two lately, and I'm going to continue along those lines, but whipping out units instead of granaries and monuments.

Any rough timeframe of attack?

[Mr. Cairo]

So, now that I know how long it will take to get to some key techs, I have a more concrete plan. I've decided to scrap the chariot attack on Ecbatana, and go all-in on a proper attack with HAs and cats. HBR will come in 4 turns, Construction 4 turns after that. I need to maintain the element of surprise as much as I can, so I'm not going to suddenly start whipping multiple cities every turn. I've been pretty consistent with 1-pop whips every turn or two lately, and I'm going to continue along those lines, but whipping out units instead of granaries and monuments.

Any rough timeframe of attack?

<15 turns from now. Basically, up until I get HBR I'll be building axes, some chariots, and some spears. Once I get HBR it's all HAs, and once I get Construction, I swap into cats, and go as soon as I have enough of them in position, maybe around 8-10, I attack. Then I swap back to HA+some elephants. My only plans for the attack itself are what I outlined before, which only covers the first three turns of the invasion, and even then only the first turn concretely.

BTW REM, any reason why you asked about that island with the monster on it?

[ReallyEvilMuffin]

So, now that I know how long it will take to get to some key techs, I have a more concrete plan. I've decided to scrap the chariot attack on Ecbatana, and go all-in on a proper attack with HAs and cats. HBR will come in 4 turns, Construction 4 turns after that. I need to maintain the element of surprise as much as I can, so I'm not going to suddenly start whipping multiple cities every turn. I've been pretty consistent with 1-pop whips every turn or two lately, and I'm going to continue along those lines, but whipping out units instead of granaries and monuments.

Any rough timeframe of attack?

<15 turns from now. Basically, up until I get HBR I'll be building axes, some chariots, and some spears. Once I get HBR it's all HAs, and once I get Construction, I swap into cats, and go as soon as I have enough of them in position, maybe around 8-10, I attack. Then I swap back to HA+some elephants. My only plans for the attack itself are what I outlines before, which only covers the first three turns of the invasion, and even then only the first turn concretely.

BTW REM, any reason why you asked about that island with the monster on it?

Just couldn't see what resource it was, and mildly interested as to what it could be (given there is no food available from the island)

Would this be total war, or some set objective and nothing else?