PB78-Superdeath and Nauf beat the field

[superdeath]

Gavagai finally moved his stack out of immediate 2t threaten range, and i did the same. Although, i asked him to change targets from Dreylin to Magic. Dreylin is still dragging in tech, despite having a (multiple) religion and mids'. Only one keeping up with me in tech pace, is Magic. He also happens to have the worlds smallest military. Ive sent him a message that more or less states im going to declare war on you. I only want this city, and then we can peace. If he doesnt take it, or fights harder than need be (providing we all go in, no one backs out/gavagai turns around) then ill simply push and raze his GLH/Collossus capital city. I dont think i can hold it, which is why i would raze it. its a HUGE eco boon to whomever owns it, and as im already doing... JUST dandy, its fine if it goes away...

I am last i checked, without wealth builds/no emergency whips 15-20t away from Cuirs, and probably only 50t from infantry.

Im bad at math tho, so with a grain of salt.






Magic is 100% research, as i can check via city vis. Now, we both have a bunch of culture which bumps those numbers up... Buttttttt my gold saving/his are easily double the next highest. He is also sitting on 2 GP, with a 3rd presumely on the way, or he is trying to get to a first-to bonus for a 3-man into probably Taj. But, we are all coming to ruin the party. I hope.





ALSO. Last turn i positioned a galley on the inner sea between myself and Gavagai to the south. Loaded a chariot and a scout. There was a praet guarding a tribal village on a 2tile island. (hill sheep/forested grass iirc) so anyway, i baited the praet to move by placing the chariot on the hill and waited. The following turn the chariot had died.. however not only did it do a decent amount of damage, it cleared the way for the scout to land and.....


I got Compass. Not. Bad. Not the BEST thing i could have got, but hey, its better than the tribal village i got in the early game that gave me a map of the area that i had already visited... Sooooooooo. Ill take it. Im still riding on everyone thinking im terrible at the game/ect (might be right) and not to care about the score board/tech when they see it. Ive been keeping more or less everyone off tech-vis other than Dreylin atm. Im keeping Gavagai off of it, because i still view him as a bigger threat, at least while he has a large knight/HA army running around. Once i hit cuirs, and then Rifles, i wont care as much. Ive had Magic science on full/nearly full vis since our little war, and he has pretty much not fought back on the EP front there, just enough to get graphs, and he was good.

DZ/Thrawn have gotten vis briefly but i shut that down pretty quick. Im hoping i can keep it off of everyone, and MAYBE get it on everyone, but idk if that would trigger Gavagai if i got tech vis on him. He is probably more ballistic/trigger happy than even i am.


Any questions? Or do i go on another 50t+ hiatus?

[Mjmd]

Overall empire screenshot please. What are your tech goals?

[naufragar]

Any questions? Or do i go on another 50t+ hiatus?

In my experience, this is the opposite way to go about it. People are drawn to stories, and sustained reporting is what creates the story, plus a little finesse from the reporter. Stories are about goals and conflict. (Prince wants to marry princess but there’s an evil step mother in the way, etc.) You’re obviously the hero, but who are the villains? Who are the sidekicks? What are your goals and then what’s happening on your road to accomplishing those goals?

Looks like your goal is to arrange a dogpile on Magic but your dastardly neighbors seem to have other targets? But no matter what you’re still in the dominant position? So my question is what does an dogpile against magic look like? And if successful, what happens next?

[superdeath]

Any questions? Or do i go on another 50t+ hiatus?

In my experience, this is the opposite way to go about it. People are drawn to stories, and sustained reporting is what creates the story, plus a little finesse from the reporter. Stories are about goals and conflict. (Prince wants to marry princess but there’s an evil step mother in the way, etc.) You’re obviously the hero, but who are the villains? Who are the sidekicks? What are your goals and then what’s happening on your road to accomplishing those goals?

Looks like your goal is to arrange a dogpile on Magic but your dastardly neighbors seem to have other targets? But no matter what you’re still in the dominant position? So my question is what does an dogpile against magic look like? And if successful, what happens next?

Well... see, i used to update nearly every turn or at the very least every 5t, with loads of pictures, and words. Didnt get any replies then either. (also, im obviously the villain)

Once this turn shit is settled, and i can play again, ill grab pictures/overview ect.

More or less: I am the tech leader. I am almost done with essential buildings in most cities, and ive recently begun to get some workshops down to increase my production, which is lagging behind some others. I have 3 cities that can 1-2-3t knights, and 2 of those cities are also mixing in catapults. Im not toooooo worried about being hit, except by Gavagai. BUT luckily he moved his units far enough away that i can relax a bit. I dont need my catapults/slow units for any conquest against magic, so im leaving that stack in a nice central area for zone defense. Almost all of my border cities are in chokepoints that make any runby nearly or totally impossible. There are a bunch of forts on the map, but the only one with any naval power doesnt have a city+fort/culture to hit any of my crucial cities. Magic has almost no fleet on our inner sea as its been directed to protect his island/coastal cities elsewhere. IIRC, he CAN build caravels.

If no one did anything/war, i would be a gen ahead in 25t from everyone. Rifles vs musket. Im hoping i dont have to whip, and i can continue peacefully building stuff while using my few military cities to make sure no one gets any ideas. Im still quite high on the power graph, and i have knights which only Gav and Magic have iirc. No 1 person can survive a dogpile on this map, as you border EVERYONE. However, alot of the cities im looking to add, are still pretty nicely tucked into defensive locations for myself. I dont mind sitting back and teching if need be. Ive been approached by everyone but magic, to attack Magic, or Dreylin, or Gavagai.

Im nervously waiting for the time when i become the center of attention, which is why im running break-even science and hope i dont stick out too much. To put that in perspective.. Magic and myself have double the gold savings of anyone else. Id bet that most of the difference between magic and the others lies in his GLH/Collossus. Which..... is in range of 2 players within like 3t of war. And Gavagai in 4t.

[scooter]

Well... see, i used to update nearly every turn or at the very least every 5t, with loads of pictures, and words. Didnt get any replies then either.

[citation needed]

[superdeath]

Well... see, i used to update nearly every turn or at the very least every 5t, with loads of pictures, and words. Didnt get any replies then either.

[citation needed]

pb43, pb48.


Are the ones that come to mind. Im fairly sure my other early ones also, but i dont really wanna go back into bitter-memories.

[superdeath]

Here's all the pictures i think someone could want, ask questions if need be.

Listen, Gavagai is going to feel betrayed. And well, yeah. However, he took forever to chose a target, and then didnt go in for multiple turns. He also chose to attack someone on power-parity vs going another round with MS where he likely would have gotten MULTIPLE cities from. So yes... regrettably i took my units away from the MS side of things, and im moving to use those 2movers to possibly smash into Gavagai's stack if it lingers too long.

I 100% see him taking a peace, or moving his units away if he suspects anything. If he stays bombarding/takes spock he will be hit by alot of shit.

[superdeath]

BIG image dump. Going to split it up into different spoilers so its easier on slower computer/internet to open.

TLDR: destroyed Gavagai's stack while he was invading Dreylin, with Dreylin's collateral help. Wasnt my goal, i wanted to take Magic down another peg because he is teching at the same rate as i am... is 99% likely to get the Taj, AND has 4 great people just sitting around. He currently has the lowest power out of anyone.. BUT even though i had initially agreed to attack Dreylin, i later realized that Dreylin would be a long, hard nut to crack considering location/his 3rd power... so i sent SEVERAL diplo towards Gav to swap targets, which he declined. SO plan B was to severely cripple him. Worked better than i had hoped as his ENTIRE invasion stack got DELETED. (killed) Nabbing me 2 GG's which got shoved into my HE city for nice 3promo knights. I probably could have used it to make a super medic, but i dont think this map is great for slog-fights as it heavily encourages dogpiles due to the natural geography. SO, more beefy units/maaaaybe commandos down the line...

Anyway back to the fun. Dreylin's power has been crippled, his tech-ability is only decent because he has the Mids' as his gold saving rate has always been low and he whipped down decently hard iirc. Gavagai is unlikely to last too long, but can make it somewhat painful if he slams every defender +cats he has into me. He wont win the war, but he will make it more painful. Ive captured 2 cities and razed his only iron-producing city. He is currently getting copper/gold/silver/something else from Magic, but Magic doesnt have a spare iron (hooked, he has another but its touching my border and isnt mined) so he cant make knights, but he CAN make muskets+cats which if given time will be a bitch to take on. NOW... i have a stupid amount of catapults because i like to over-prepare for dogpiles. So, im not toooo worried about my main stack being wiped (mostly cuz not many knights can possibly be remaining) But he might be able to recapture his north-western most city back temporarily which will be a minor annoyance. I was going to raze the city, but figured it would be best to have a nice fortress city against Magic from that angle, and a culture/city preventer from Dreylin grabbing my Gavagai lands. Its a nice crumple zone at the very least.


DZ has been rising in power among other things, and has the most cities. Depending on how hard Gavagai decides to defend down there, i could see him becoming more of a threat than just a nuisance. More on him in another post.

ALSO, we are looking at 10-15t from now having another dogpile on Magic. Magic might make the decision easier for the others when he launches a golden age/gets taj. If i can burn (or keep) his capital with his like 6 wonders in it.. then i wont fear much. Most of his land isnt great to add to my empire. I can basically add his 2 island cities next to me, and the border city thru the mountain pass and POSSIBLY his capital. Not a bad haul, but not the biggest conquest target. Just a geopolitical most wanted rival. My actual best expansion target after the Gavagai invasion is done, is sadly going to be my partner in crime Dreylin. ill have a cuir vs knight edge, and i could hit him from 2 sides, while keeping a decent stack of cats/other on my south east border where i can defend both DZ/magic if he is alive with relative ease.


Im actually liking my chances this game. So long as i can carve a large chunk out of Gavagai at little loss, followed by everyone taking out/down magic b4 he GA's his way to MG's or something.. in THAT scenario i put myself 80% or higher for winning. DZ is probably next highest unless Dreylin grabs a bunch of Magic land/has a stupidly awesome plan.



After all that.... Any questions?

[Mousey]

No questions here, but thanks for the update. Well done, that is a deliciously green combat log

[scooter]

Nicely done!

After all that.... Any questions?

Can you explain in simple terms how the various alliances/dogpiles/backstabs came to be? I have been unable to keep the factions straight after the first time Magic Science got mini-dogpiled. It seems like things change fast and frequently, but maybe I'm misunderstanding.