So, OT4E's got knights and this is basically going nowhere. I feel slightly less stupid about not checking the events log: the golden age was a response to the war declaration.
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[SPOILERS] Fire and Blood: Nyles Standish and Zalson watch the world burn
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So, OT4E's got knights and this is basically going nowhere. I feel slightly less stupid about not checking the events log: the golden age was a response to the war declaration.
I don't think it is that stupid. Obviously, it would have been better to make sure he could not switch into slavery but that's crying over spilt milk. Attacking pindicator probably would have been a better choice, too. He has a history of belligerence with us, a legitimate casus belli, and, like you said, is focused a different direction.
But that doesn’t matter now. Per game rules, can you ask OT4E for a city for peace? Is city gifting permitted? Basically, you'd be saying "my bad, I don't want a destructive war but I also don’t want to let you off the hook for free.” We definitely have the upper hand for now, just because of the element of surprise. We should press our advantage. Can he give us:
We should be willing to compensate him (say 100 gold/ 10 gpt per city) but we should be aggressive. Maybe ask him to give us 100 gpt or something? He left us with an opportunity and we took it. Unfortunately, there isn't the ability for us to make a "give us this city or we attack" offer. Also unfortunate that he switched back to slavery -- then you could have more easily threatened his cities in this way. But alas. Anyway, the point of this offer is that he can get back onto his golden age and we can get back onto clawing ourselves back into contention. But we can press our current hammer advantage into taking some of his commerce. If not, we bleed him by pillaging and taking cities and workers that he leaves exposed. You have, I think, perhaps made someone else able to win the game. Who knows? Maybe it's us? Are there other allies we can ask to enter the war against OT4E? What is the damage of these ... 15 whips to his economy? Did he whip every city? Obviously, not every unit will be able to reach the front lines and they're probably going to defend his core. But maybe we can move in and fork him? That reaction from him shows he's taking this seriously and that he views you as a threat. He's taking no chances. So perhaps a diplomatic option will present itself? If he doesn't accept the peace, that's all right. Time to get some pistols and a doctor on site. Not sure how we pay 'em in advance and treat him with civility. Maybe an intercessor can go out so we can have deniability? #hamilton You have a brief advantage. Make the most of it. (Or not. It is just a game). But my only other piece of advice would be that: whatever you choose to do, do it hard. -- Addendum after your post: He has knights only as long as he has horses. Can we attack those resources?
November 11th, 2016, 18:46
(This post was last modified: November 11th, 2016, 18:47 by NylesStandish.)
I'm leaning towards pussying out hard at this point.
Without checking the resources, he's probably got more than one source of horses and iron simply due to the vastness of his empire, having taken over ipecac entirely and some of StarDoor. One of the sources of horses is on the same tile as Rusty Horseshoe, the wonder city that was such a juicy target and certainy OT4E's main defense point. Denying him resources is not feasible. Fifteen whips does some harm to his economy, but not enough to hurt him too much. He's still pulling down several hundreds of gold/turn to our 50 something. Also, my whole plan to fork Rusty HorseShoe and The Small One is toast because I didn't realize that Rusty HorseShoe's 3rd ring culture covers the tile I needed to road to fork the two cities after taking Sweet Times. This means the horse archers need another turn to get there and makes their assault that much weaker. Pindicator is the only player who also borders OT4E and has the strength to cause him significant trouble, although I'm sure he'd rather finish killing StarDoor for the time being, and the giant power spike from all of the knights OT4E whipped might dissuade him from stepping in. (OT4E's score jumped by about 150k soldier points). OT4E has at least 4 knights that will be able to defend Rusty HorseShoe next turn, as well as the 4 units from Sweet Times and another archer from another city coming in. It's overwhelmingly unlikely that I'll be able to take Rusty HorseShoe, and without taking that out I don't really think this attack does much damage even if I could fork the cities and hit RH next turn, much less with the extra turn of delay. It boils down to me razing 2 mediocre cities and putting OT4E into full on revenge mode while getting all of my HAs killed. It probably ends up with him in a stronger winning position once he takes us over. Knights own pretty much everything we've got, but I think I can make more use of the HAs in defense if he doesn't take peace. If we make a bunch of catapults and hit his stack of Knights as they come in, it might weaken them enough for the HAs to mop them up (or at least have a chance) while taking out whatever collateral he brings along.
I will assume we have peace. That or we have decided double moves don't apply to us, which is also acceptable.
So, I haven't spoilered myself but I think I might now. since I can't play and there hasn't been a post in a quarter, I figure you don't take issue with that?
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