[Spoilers] The games they are a changin' - Ichabod Civ 6 PBEM 3 as England

[Ichabod]

Congrats on your conquest!  Fun reports, too!

Thanks, Mardoc.

[Ichabod]

By the way, Pindicator, I'm leaving on my trip next tuesday. I'll reach you through email giving my steam account info, so you can log into the PYDT site. I haven't used the app that you can download, I have been downloading and uploading all turns manually, because it's pretty simple.

You have full freedom to do as you please during the turns you play, no need to try and follow any of my previously stated plans, I'd probably end up not following them myself. Just do what you think is best. I'll be gone from September 15th to August 3rd, but I'll likely have to rest a bit after the trip, so if you can play a few more days after that, it'd be good.

And if anyone is in Ireland (mostly Dublin, but I'll spend some days in Belfast and Amsterdam too) during that time, come give me a hello and laugh at my poor english speaking skills.

[Ilios]

I'll be gone from September 15th to August 3rd

That's quite the trip!

[Ichabod]

I'll be gone from September 15th to August 3rd

That's quite the trip!

I want to explore every inch of the place! 

I meant August 15th to September the 3rd.

[pindicator]

Do I understand Rowain's post correctly to mean that he can't play and that the game is on pause for 2 weeks? And does that mean I play the next turn?

[Ichabod]

I played 3 more turns, which I think are going to be my last ones before leaving. I made one big mistake that ended up costing less than it could/should, due to a bit of luck. Anyway, lets present the turns.

It's interesting that I could do a very good propaganda report, because our international situation is way better than our domestical one. I could show our glorious fights abroad and when Pindicator would open the save, he'd see that we are really struggling at home. 



Without further ado, here's my big mistake. I got greedy and moved my warrior that was defending the Capital west, to explore. When I opened the save on the following turn, here's what I saw. Kaiser's scout + barb invasion... The main problem was that Kaiser's scout could beeline to our borders and pillage our Campus, and we could do nothing about it, if he moved straight there. I thought a lot about what to do and decided to retreat my warrior to try and make the barbs more likely to attack the scout. I also started a scout on my Capital, which would be the only unit that could get an attack in Kaiser's scout while he occupied the stone tile. Perhaps we could kill it then, if the scout got further injured by barbs.

The northern barb camp also spawned a horseman, and that horseman position made our builder be under threat, if he left the city. I moved him to the forest tile, because I considered chopping that one to speed the caravan. But as you'll see, the barbs made the builder moves too risky on the following turns, and the builder is protected inside the city, as of next turn (at least builder delays in Civ 6 don't feel as costly as on Civ 4).

By the way, I can't see the barb camp to the west in the revealed map, and that's one of the reasons why I wasn't prepared for such a barb force to appear from that direction. I get the feeling that the barb scouts are bugged this game, in the sense that they don't show the "!" when finding a city.



I met military Preslav, that Kaiser met first. Kaiser got a lot of CS envoys for free and he'd be in a very good position if we didn't put him in check, I think. It's even more surprising that Kaiser lacked military units when he had a militaristic CS helping. The quest is to build an Encampment, which I guess we'll do soon enough.

Ah, we got the Campus ready and our science is pretty high right now.

----



The barbs appeared to have fixed my mistake, since I think they killed Kaiser's scout. Bad news is that there's even more barbs coming. Since we completed State Workforce, I changed our military policy card to +5 barb strength, to help with the invasion (the economy card is still the +1 hammer, since we are not building anything that can be boosted). We can change this anytime, spending one turn in Mysticism or Military Tradition (as you'll see).

The damned barb scout really messed up our retreat, so I decide to fortify in place, hoping that only the HA would attack. The warrior is close to a promotion, but I was afraid that going north, to flat terrain, would mean the HA would kill the warrior in a few more turns. We make our stand on a +6 tile, with +5 combat strength and hopefully a fortify bonus.



Internationally, I killed Kaiser's very damaged slinger and decided to attack Kumasi. Kumasi has a very good Suzerain Bonus and we already have an Envoy there. But it's also a great city, already mostly improved, with granary and monument, with a 2 charge builder running around, great defensive location against Kaiser and NO MILITARY UNITS WHATSOEVER! It's too much of a bonus to pass. So, I moved the warriors in a way we could siege the city next turn.

---



Warrior survived (13/15 xp) and we have the scout ready (he's 15 strength + defensive bonuses against barbs, so he can help a little). I moved the barb 1E, where only one horse can attack him (so he'll definetely survive for the promo), and moved the scout to the sheep tile. I started a spearman on the Capital. It's the perfect situation to build a spear. We are not running Agoge (and agoge doesn't help spearman production, so we don't lose anything), we need help against cavalry barbs and we want the unit for the Eureka it gives (which will free up our likely Great Scientist to get a more useful one).



Northern archer killed the horseman, but another horseman spawned (covered by the popup). Archer has enough XP for a promotion already, and with the defensive terrain and barb strength, he can take the next one too. Hopefully the spawns stop, otherwise we might need to retreat.



And after a long struggle to get the Military Tradition Eureka, we get it for free! The scout that was defensing that camp vacated it, for some reason, and we captured it for 40 gold and the Eureka. Pretty nice. This scout is going to flank Kaiser if he keeps going west. I think this is a good opportunity to try to sneak a district pillage, since Kaiser's units will be occupied to his west. It depends on luck, but it's a good opportunity.



I moved one of the archers to the top of the forest hill and I find Kaiser's army. I think the archer can survive, because it has +6 defensive strength and I think Kaiser might be afraid of moving one of his archers forward to attack mine (which he needs to do, since the full strength archer can't attack from that tile). My attack against Kumasi isn't threatened by this units, so I went in.



I pounded the city with all units that were avaiable, but I think that was a mistake. I should have captured the builder with one of the archers. I don't think we'll lose him next turn, but there's definetely a chance. maybe he moves to the desert tile and Kaiser captures him? Not sure if that's possible considering ZoC rules. But, alas, I think we should have made it a sure thing.

Next turn, Pindicator, remember to pillage Kaiser's TR before capturing the city, because that TR is likely going to disappear once we capture Kumasi. The city is 100% toast and you have the option to pillage farms to heal, if needed. I would just attack with the Archers to get XP and finish it up with the Warrior that is closer to a promo. The archer under threat from Kaiser also have a promo, in case he survives. Kumasi can repair the broken buildings, but starting Ancient Walls there might be the best idea. It's up to you. Ah, going forward, perhaps trying to build the Pyramids on that desert tile is a good idea.

I'm not sure if we should keep pressing against Kaiser, it's up to you and what you see. Can we use those Neutral roads to get some unexpected archer shots on him? Perhaps going through the desert tile is better? Perhaps using the worker to cut that forest tile (into Ancient Walls) and freeing up more space for units to pass through? Feel free to do what you think is best, I just bolded some ideas that I think could be good.



We can finish the Civics any time you want to change cards. Right now, I think there's no need, so we can keep going for PP. Maybe finishing up Military Tradition for the support bonus? I think the Envoy from Mysticism could be the third one we put in Geneva (after completing their quest).

Try to avoid reaching Classical era before we finish Geneva quest and before we make peace with Stockholm (we need 5 more turns I think), so we get new CS quests. This means not finishing up PP or HBR.



Domestic situation is a bit of a mess, but I think we have enough to hold with the barb strength card. I don't think much more barbs will come from the west, because their camp has to be far, otherwise we would see it. Hopefully the northern camp stops spawning units (not sure why it still makes horses...) and we can finish up the camp. If the spear is ready in time, try to kill one of the barbs with him. Ah, and when things settle down, the new scout can explore the west (I'd go northwest with him, because west/southwest seem to be where the barbs are coming from, better to send the spear there).

I think that's basically it. I think I have your email, Pindicator, I'll send my steam info there. You can access the game through this link: https://www.playyourdamnturn.com/game/ee...89de403099

[Ichabod]

Do I understand Rowain's post correctly to mean that he can't play and that the game is on pause for 2 weeks? And does that mean I play the next turn?

Yes, I think the game will be paused for two weeks. Since Rowain will be back before I am, you get to play the next turn and conquer Kumasi.   When I receive the notification from the new turn, I'll send you an email to let you know you are up.

[pindicator]

Woohoo!
You left me a nifty puzzle, but nothing that doesn't look solvable!

[pindicator]

We got a turn again!

Turn 51



Astronomy finished.  

Other inter-turn news, we did lose that archer to Kaiser.  Looks like his 2 archers were indeed enough to finish our guy off.  And while that's unfortunate, it doesn't put us at an awful position.  It may be enough to stop our push at Kusami, however.

Speaking of Kusami, we took it.  In detail, we did the following:
- Warrior sitting on the trader pillaged it.
- Healthy archer in the south attacked Kusami
- Healthy archer to the west moved 1 tile east on the road; I was hoping to pillage the mine for some science but that needs full movement sadly.  So we again attacked Kusami for exp and to redline the city.
- Injured warrior west of Kusami pillaged the farm to heal up to full.  I felt that the short-term benefit of 25 health was worth it here, but it was pretty borderline.  Technically it only gains us 10hp as sitting in place over friendly territory heals 10.  But that builder we just captured in the city can fix that up right away.
- The warrior on the silk took Kusami, losing 19hp.  He did not pillage the plantation as that gives faith and we have no use for faith right now.
- Wounded archer in neutral territory sat in place to heal

Capturing Kusami also gave us the Eureka for Irrigation (yay farms!).  It has a damaged monument and granary, but no districts.  I chose to repair the monument first (2 turns), but I think I want to build walls immediately after.  From the screenshots last turn, it doesn't look like there's any way that Kaiser could have moved his archers this last turn that would let them move and shoot into our units next turn.  So I feel pretty comfortable with how Kumasi is set up right now.  We'll try to push on towards Japan's capital after this -- so actually, maybe we should chop out an archer instead ....  I think the 2nd charge of that builder should be to hook up the horse at Master of War

I sent our eastern scout towards Kusami and got some intel on his back side.  Now, he should still be in the fog because tiles only have 1 range of unit.  And Kusami has planted an encampment, but I really doubt he's actually putting hammers into it right now.  We also know what tile the capital city is located on now; it has to be the tile west of that forest due to encampment and culture rules.




Thoughts on advancing past Kumasi:  I know he has 2 archers, like they didn't move before they fired and they are still on the 2 tiles to the west of the iron.  When we advance we either need to rush them and accept a loss or two, or swing everything north of Kusami towards that barb camp and then come in on the flat ground.  That will depend on what he does of course.

And that was the easy part of the turn.


The capital was a puzzle.  The barbs had the situation like this:




The big question was how to save our units.  It looks like on defense the warrior would take 17 to 26 damage from the horse archer if on a hill; 19 to 29 on the flat.  The wounded horseman barb actually has the same strength so the same numbers apply.  In that case we have a small chance of losing him if both units are able to attack.  Moving the warrior to the capital to heal would almost surely end in his death as all 3 barbs would have a shot at him.  

But the answer I think is in the fact that the warrior will promote after his next battle.  At 13/15 XP we should just need to survive a battle on defense to be able to promote.  So I moved him to the hill NE of his current position and he should attract only 1 attack from the horsearcher there.  The scout is too injured; I'm moving him into the capital to heal.  We risk our tiles being pillaged but I don't see any way to prevent that from happening anyway.

And the last question was the archer by the camp.  I have personally had enough of that camp being around so the archer moved between the barb horseman and the camp so we can destroy the camp next turn.  If we get hit by the barb we can move and promote to heal up.  Finally I also moved the finished builder to the forest beside Hard Rain.  I'm going to chop out the trader and then start another unit.  Considering we just gained 2 free builder chargers in the captured builder at Kumasi, I figured this was something we could get away with now, with the other 2 charges being used on the Wheat and Horse at Watchtower.  The builder at Kumasi can chop into a wall or unit and then use it's last charge on the horse at Masters of War.

Anyway, here's the situation post-moving at the capital:





I also took a look at some of the demographics, and in case anybody wants to tinker with those:



Actually, those are before we took Kusami. So we're up another 4 or 5 points from there.

[pindicator]

Turns 52 & 53

I took a little more time to dig into the demographics, and I came out with a few tidbits:

- Kaiser has Declarations of Friendship with both suboptimal and Rowain, both done within the last 10 turns. That tells me that there likely won't be a peace here until he's gone.
- Rowain has declared friendship with Bacchus, but not with suboptimal
- Rowain has 4 cities, and if you consider that one of our cities is size 1 in occupation, we're really not much different there.
- Both our science and culture per turn lead the pack by a wide margin, and yet we are tied with Bacchus in tech and behind Kaiser in civics
- Kaiser is in Autocracy government. He's the only one in the Classical Era (i think), and he definitely is the only one to Political Philosophy.

Wish I had more time to write up a report but I've let the time get late on me and I'm working long hours this week. So let's just show what the situation is now:




The builder just chopped the forest east of Kumasi (which needs to be renamed), and that cleared half of it's walls out. I'll probably just finish the rest naturally; it's due in 5. If suboptimal or Kaiser should be tempted to take the builder I'm confident our forces are enough to recapture it and destroy the defending unit. I'm trying to manuever forces so that we can be positioned to advance on Kaiser should the opportunity come together. I don't think he knows we can hit his southern archer along the road with a warrior. So if I can move archers north to push and fire at the same time we should be able to drive him back. Still, I'm thinking more about holding Kumasi, so I'm still in position to respond should he decide he needs to press foward.

After dancing around the borders a bit I decided to risk the scout to get sight on Kaiser's capital. We could try to push the scout back around to pillage the holy site or encampment, but I probably should have picked another approach for that. Going farther north risked getting bopped by suboptimal though. So I picked a more southerly point to risk the scout on. Thankfully the decision is rewarded; it appears that Kaiser literally has everything at the gates of Kumasi. If we can break through then we have him. I would love to get the builder at Kumasi westward next to improve the horses at Master of War; that would free up our other builder to chop into a horseman at Watchtower.

Suboptimal also has a pair of units northeast of Kaiser's capital. I first thought he was trying to attack, or at least contain Kaiser himself. But considering the friendship declaration, I think they may be there as reinforcements should we press on.

I offered suboptimal a trade of our 2nd silk for 3gpt. It isn't much, but suboptimal only has 2 cities, and I want to give him reason not to get involved. I'm not sure we should go far enough to Declare Friendship yet though. I could see us getting in a settler war with him later on.

Back at home the barbarians are going a little nutty




This time I thought it would be a little clearer to show the beginning-of-turn picture. The barbarians are chasing my wounded warrior towards Hard Rain. And I feel vindicated for my decision to chop out an archer at Hard Rain; without it that city would have been in big trouble.

This turn I had the warrior retreat into Hard Rain, and the builder went with him as there were no other safe squares to move to. The scout at the capital had healed last turn and now moved to the sheep tile to keep within spitting distance of the barb horsemen. And knowing that I had 2 new units coming next turn I decided to promote the archer at the barb camp in the east rather than attacking. Geneva even helped us out a bit, killing off a barb horseman that had moved towards Watchtower.


Back to big-picture, we finished Irrigation these last two turns and I put us on Currency. But I think I might just finish up Wheel instead. I have a feeling I might want heavy a chariot before we get the opportunity to build horsemen. All the same, we will only want to put 4 turns into Currency; we'll have the trader done in 5 turns and that will give the eureka.