[SPOILERS] Sandover(cre/spi) of Egypt

[Rowain]

I think they should have conceded you the game.

Anyway great job till now

[Sandover]

One way to put it is that I'm about to win an early time victory, I guess.

Anyway, it's now 1400 AD. Once again a pretty dull turn, but I did manage to kill barb warrior number 100!



Two more screens will have to do as turn report. I did some detective work, and I think I might have figured out why my oponents are playing so defensively;



Yup, I'm almost sure this is the reason!

Military might has its price though. Scooter is kicking my butt in the GNP-department, and yes, I'm the only one of us who's in a golden age.



My production advantage is rather sickening though, and I'm pretty sure I can launch a third golden age once this one is over as I have two more GPs being born any time now...

Don't think I ever generated a GP out of the HE-city before. Quick speed is fun.

[Darkmantle]

What we are really dying to know, is what you plan to do with the power rating advantage

[Sandover]

Not much honestly. They are the ones attacking me, you know. I'm just the poor victim having to defend myself.

[Rowain]

I'm just the poor victim having to defend myself.

So thats why Germany is now part of Egypt :neenernee

Those pesky German Units have pulled aggressivlly your Units over the border and then impaled themself on your spears makig your poor units all bloody and unable to go home with those stained clothes

[Sandover]

Don't you see Moogle's power rising? I had to take control of Germany to protect the German people from those bloodthirsty Celts.

[Sandover]

Turn 131 - Holding the Line

Amelia is going to take charge of Rome so this isn't over quite yet. It was a quiet turn, however, so I'll just do an overview of my defenses.



The demodernized Egyptian 1st Army with its incorporated German soldiers is tasked with the protection of Germany. Its purpose is twofold;

1. Defeat the Celtic army if it goes on the offensive.
2. Hold off any major attack from the alliance until reinforcements can get there.

I'm checking Samba every turn using my Sentry, so I will get heads notice if any stack approaches - unless it's a pure mounted stack, but that doesn't matter as such a stack won't have a chance against the entrenched Longbows in Jive anyway.



The newly assembled Egyptian 2nd Army proudly guards the entry points to Old Egypt. It's separated into four stacks, of a total of 45 Knights and 20+ Catapults. The oponents only have 15 Knights at the border, and about the same number of Catapults as I do, so I'm clearly at an advantage. The garrisons of Worthington and Weird River have been enforced by drafted Musketmen, while the Roman cities still rely heavily on their Longbows.

I have the force needed to take NLO, but shifting my units westwards would severely weaken my ability to reinforce the coastal passage where the enemy stack is still lurking. I've passed the point when Weird River was expendable, and simply will not make that gamble.

I'm allowed to do another civic swap in two turns, and as of now I'm thinking I should drop out of Nationhood/Organized Religion and go back into Vassalage/Theocracy. 15 Muskets will be enough to garrison the border cities for quite a while anyway, and I would like a third promotion for my Cuirassiers. I can go back into OrgRel again once I need to build Universities, whenever that will be. Oh, and it's finally time for Caste System. Slaving has lost most of its usefulness by now.

A Great Merchant was born in Sandoria. I'm sending him to Cha Cha Cha for the time being.

Bob has Optics, so I expect to see a Caravel built in Lighthouse Point any time now. I need to counter that, so Compass/Optics is definitly next in line after Military Tradition.

[Sandover]

Turn 132 - Formal Declaration

Remember my starting Warrior? He's been roaming around in the northeastern corner of the map for some time now, trapped behind Celtic culture. Why should you care? Moogle just did something stupid.



M'yes, that is spelled "one deleted worker". I've stolen 12 of them in this game so far. Easier than taking from the AI, I tell you...

This means I'm now at war with Moogle. Whatever.

Should I declare on Scooter as well? Nah, I'm not sure they know I know about him providing aid, so I won't spill those beans just yet.

Things might be heating up in the south, as the Roman main stack is looking deceptively powerful with all newly arrived Khmers nearby. The Khmer secondary stack that was previously garrison in Xen has moved east toward the coastal passage to join up, so I think they are getting ready for another attempt.



Sorry about the text, but I think it's readable.

I know that Scooter has visibility on my cities due to his massive espionage advantage on me. However, I also know that only includes the cities he's actually uncovered on the map. With the use of map trades he have visibility from Worthington and Weird River, but that's it. Psamathe and Satet have never been spotted by anyone, and my taking care in not revealing my core to others are paying off heavily. I can see into almost every Roman cities, and half the Khmer ones. They are limited to the two at my border. Wonder who's got the advantage?

Anyway, I need to assume Scooter is updating the fighting nations. I therefore cannot station my catapults out of sight while still being in range to hit an enemy stack marching on Weird River, before said stack reach the hill SW of the city. This is not a problem mainly because of the defense bonus, but because I want them to invade - meaning I cannot make my defenses look too strong. The side effect is that while I wait for them to reach the hill they can launch a mounted assault against Weird River, which I need to be sure I can hold while still not bringing so much reinforcements into the city that I scare the enemy stack away.

Basically, what I've decided to do is screw Catapult support and hit the stack hard with my Knights - all 44 of them gathered on the white tile - when it is still on lowland. So far there are only 1 Pikeman in the stack, the 15+ Khmer Knights are overall worse promoted than mine, and Scooter's reinforcements coming up along the black arrow only concist of Macemen and Crossbowmen. That should result in maybe 35ish wins and 10ish defeats, with majority if not all of their sieges being wiped out as well.

I'm not sure they will actually pull the trigger on this one but I seriously hope they do.

As a side note, I haven't been in contact with Amelia. I fully expect there will be no change in Roman foreign policy, so I'm just going to send a taunting email in a few turns or so. It will probably contain something along the lines of how good I am, and how hard their defeat will be. Yes, that sounds about right.

[zakalwe]

As a side note, I haven't been in contact with Amelia. I fully expect there will be no change in Roman foreign policy, so I'm just going to send a taunting email in a few turns or so. It will probably contain something along the lines of how good I am, and how hard their defeat will be. Yes, that sounds about right.

[Sandover]

Turn 133 - Closing the Gap

Time for revolt number... something or other. Don't really remember how many I've done. Too bad I'm in golden age all the time, as that neglects most of the benefit from being Spiritual.

Vassalage, Caste System and Theocracy were adopted. I'm kind of mad at myself about forgetting to reassign Merc. specialist before ending turn, but I'll just have to live with that annoying error until next time. I did remember to draft before changing civics though, so I'm up to 18 Muskets now. That will have to do for a while, probably until I reach Rifling.

I'm now getting an 11xp Cuirassier out of Satet per turn. Once I have my Stone connected I can build West Point in 7ish turns, so all I need is another Great General (I'm real close) for quad-promo mounted units.

The enemy units didn't position to march against Weird River (meh), so the big event of the turn is the founding of cities number 18 and 19. Lets give a warm welcome to El-Waltz and Dance Party!



Together they cost me about 20 gold/turn. Good thing I have the Forbidden Palace completing in Charleston.

That's enough cities for now. There are some potential sites around - none of which are worth the cost/risk right now.

My Master Explorer Supreme Starting Warrior was killed by Moogle, but did take an Archer down with him. R.I.P.

Amelia built an Explorer in Ravenholm. No doubt heading to the Caravel being built in Lighthouse Point. I can build my own Caravels in two turns, and with such a strong shipyard as Soothsayer Port I won't have any trouble taking control of the sea. The Roman navy will be crushed, and whatever riches are to be found shall be claimed by Egypt. Let the race begin!

Satet generated a Great Merchant at the end of the turn, which was kind of expected. I have no desire to bulb Constitution, I think, so gold missions to Cha Cha Cha are probably the way to go. Should get me to Education in decent speed. I need to put some pressure on Scooter before he can bulb a future tech with Liberalism.

Scooter did, by the way, research Nationalism. But no sign of drafting yet, and his economy is growing steadily, so I'm pretty sure he's doing as little as possible to help the others. His hammer output is crap considering how large his pop is (almost the same as mine) so I don't expect a lot of trouble from him other than in the tech race atm.

I have seen a lone Oromo Warrior traverse the Khmer Empire, though. Tag me as scared!