[SPOILERS] Team EggHeads: DMOC and TeddyKGB (Now Lurker-Friendly!)

[DMOC]

Turn 128 - 325 AD

This was an exciting turn. Lurkers, you finally have something to do other than see us and Yossarian complain about suttree! First, let's indeed confirm to everyone that Rome did declare war this turn, on DT. They must have used some chariots to capture a size 6 city from DT. Since Rome declared war, both Blame Caledorn and us declared war on Rome as part of our Defensive Pact, so each of us will try to take or raze the nearest Roman city to us. That's Arretium for Yossarian and Antium for us.

First, I decided to see what was lurking in the waters. One (empty) galley went into the heart of Rome. Next turn, it can pillage and since Rome doesn't even have Sailing, they won't be able to do anything about it. Our second galley unloaded our settler to the north and went back into our territory after I realized that one galley could see both Ravenna and Antium. The galley in our culture has a single axe loaded in it. (I don't think I want that settler to be founding the city there -- more on that later.)

Here are the two northern Roman cities. Fortunately, most of their army is away in DT's area. I used 'sign mode' to indicate the city I'm highlighting in the following two screenshots.

Here are the 23 units we have on the silver tile.

After discussing in chat, the three of us (me, TeddyKGB, and Yossarian) decided that I'd move my non-catapult units one tile north of Rome's silver, and all seven catapults one tile north of that. We had kept our catapults in Illinois, so they only had half a movement point left when they were on the silver. That was a mistake, and is going to cost us one turn in attacking Antium. The plan is for us to attack and raze/capture Antium on turn 132.

Next turn, the southern galley pillages, but the northern galley can unload its axe and take on 2 catapults to facilitate transportation. We'll re-evaluate based on what Rome does.

Here's a combat 1 chariot who's looking into Rome's land. He's safe unless Rome has a chariot in the fog.

Here are images that DT sent us before Rome attacked (I think this was turn 127):

Say, DT makes really good images. Why don't they update their spoiler?

That last image has 27 praetorians, 10 axes, and 6 chariots.

And images that Yossarian sent us today (turn 128):

Here's what I mean about saving our settler in reserve. If we're going to be at war with Rome, why not have that city there to serve as an extra (inexpensive) buffer to us that can potentially reap significant rewards down the line with the marble? And if we attack Antium and can raze it, that city by the marble is what we'll want to have anyway. So unless said otherwise, I'll keep moving that settler over. It's not a huge deal that we didn't settle last turn; our costs are so high that it might actually be economically beneficial to keep settlers waiting.

By the way, I also tried to get India involved. I'm not sure if it'll work, but just an idea.

Here are the demographics:

Rome has 574,000 soldiers. I'll have to do a quick calculation but I think we're pretty much safe.

Rough estimate of Rome's military:

In DT's land:
28 praetorians, 12 axes, 9 chariots, and 2 warriors.

Antium and Ravenna: 5 praetorians, 4 axemen

Rome (the city) and Cumae: 3 praetorians, 1 axemen, 2 chariots. Cumae is size 6 with 1 praetorian.

Other stuff near Yossarian: 5 praetorians, 2 axemen, 1 chariot

Not sure what's in Neapolis, I'd estimate 1 praetorian.

Total estimated military: 42 praetorians, 19 axes, 12 chariots, and 2 warriors. That is 2*2000+12*4000+19*6000+42*8000 = 502,000 already!

From techs, Hunting + Mining + AH + BW + IW + Wheel + Mathematics is 34,000. So all together that's 536,000.

Now we have population. They have cities of size 6,6,5,4,4, and 4 for a total of 29 population points. That should be 14,000 so that is now 550,000 power.

Now, they've also captured what was a size four city (I'm pretty sure DT whipped it for 2). I think capturing a city automatically decreases it by one? Even so it won't really matter, that contributes 2,000 or 3,000 so being on the upper end that's 553,000 power.

Finally, they have 6 cities that have barracks in them (I'm pretty sure they built them everywhere). So that's 18,000 total power, and thus we're at 571,000. So roughlyspeaking, we're only missing out on some mysterious 3,000 power! That could even be a barracks from the captured DT city, or could be some difference as a result of Rome losing 1 chariot to attack DT's city but getting another unit in return. I think we've basically figured out their entire power! In other words, there should be no hidden stack that will ambush us!




Whew! That was a lot of war-related stuff. Here's the non-war stuff.

Our city builds:

Note: the Hindu missionary is going to Berkeley. After that spreads, MIT is the only major city we have that doesn't have Hinduism. We'll get to that soon. And notice that Washington is 1-turning a worker. That will be our 15th worker, and I think we're set for the game. Finally, don't worry about happiness; we're going to hook up our dyes soon.

Here's capital, which I assume will just grow onto the mine next turn and keep all cottages. I'd like it to be size 13-14 ish and with academies/markets, etc., the coastal tiles aren't too bad.

Some amusing consequences of us being Creative and culturally pressuring India:

Technology. I don't see any updates so SutOxy and Cat/Bandit must not have teched anything. Say, Cat/Bandit haven't responded to my emails to them.

I'll keep watching the gold count, to see who is researching and who's not. And to see if Rome's going to lose any gold per turn.

Our other settler:

Miscellaneous:

-All cities have surplus happiness (i moved a chariot into UT Austin) except Stanford. But we get dyes soon.
-Worker M I moved on a forest can do a 24 hammer chop into Stanford for market
-Workers L and K are near Michigan. If we just save our settler for that marble/silver/deer/crab spot then those two workers should just continue cottaging and roading Michigan. But reserve 2-3 tiles for farms.
-Workers near wisc: yeah, sure let's chop that other forest there. Hopefully arki won't be upset but he really should have founded a city there a while ago (but he has higher priorities)
-We'll found UC San Diego on turn 130 (best choice imo, because we have 2 workers already on the forest and there's no need to get the city founded one turn earlier)

When the turn rolled, SutOxy got a Great Merchant, and our trade with DT was canceled (we were gifting them spices).

By the way, who got the Great Engineer this past turn? (T128?) Yuufo/Bisons?