[PB78] Dreylin boldly goes

[scooter]

I think I need to ask this mechanics question, because it's nagging at me and I don't have any experience or enough knowledge to test it myself.

Are there any circumstances where the "Hold" on the barb units could be overridden before countdown expires, freeing it to move?

e.g. if a Held Barb unit is enveloped in a city's Culture, will it release them from their Hold? What if I attack a Held unit, do they then get to retaliate?

Nope, they'll stay put. If the unit is in your culture, it will still just sit there. The only result of this is 1) you won't be able to work the covered tile, and 2) you'll get mildly annoying "barbarian units spotted" messages every single turn. But it will stay put. If alive on T120, who even knows what they will do. Most likely beeline the nearest city and/or pillage on the way. But hard to say for sure.


If you would like to test this and experiment yourself, here is how to set up a test:

1) Start a game, open world builder, add a barbarian unit and set it up how you'd like, and choose Save from the WB menu to create a .wbsave. Exit the game.

2) Open the wbsave in a text editor and search for the unit (ctrl+f barbarian)

3) Inside the "BeginUnit" block, add "Immobile=X" where X is the number of turns.


Now start a new scenario and select your wbsave, and the unit will be locked in place for however many turns you set them to. I believe you need to use CtH (or RtR) for this. There are other ways to do this via the debug console if you're more comfortable doing something like that. Does this help?

[Dreylin]

Thanks for the confirmation scooter. I figured that was the intention, but am paranoid enough to want to confirm.

[Dreylin]

T30 - Getting crowded


With SD's Warrior scouting the area, I decided to move the second Quechua up ahead of the Settler to give more zone control. The 3rd is back in borders and holding NE of Kirk to escort the Worker to the Horse.

Gavagai revolted to Slavery this turn which probably means his Settler is on the move (built at size2). I'd lay money that he founds Buddhism not many turns later.

Scout has completed the N-S wrap:

From he he'll head ESE and look for Thrawn, who I expect to find somewhere not too far from here.

[Dreylin]

Dotmapping:


The biggest problem with the layout is that it allows a city plant 1SE of the Pigs at Pink. Solving that is difficult; the easiest is to move Pink 1E, but that gives up on the defensive bonus of the hill which makes dealing with the Mace more difficult.

Another alternative is to move the city next to the coastal mine 2S to get the Pigs 1st ring and lock out the "SD halfway-ish" spot. That's the compromise between aggressive and not grabbing too many more tiles close to SD. It does create problems with the Eastern Dotmap though; Sheep city can move 1S, but then green needs to shift ESE onto the city ruins which leaves a bit of a gap. The linking city on the Tundra ruins can move NE onto the plains hill going coastal, but then it loses access to the food resources. I suppose it could move 1NW onto the Min instead and fit another in between, but it's a bit of a mess.

The most aggressive choice would be to push my own city SE of the Pigs, but again that's on flatland and pushing close to SD grabbing some of that river. 2E of Pigs might be better in terms of hill plant and leaving the better tiles to an SD city, but it feels a long way out and pretty risky / provoking.

Right now I'm thinking that shifting Pink onto the grassland is the better move strategically, even it it definitely makes the Mace more difficult to deal with once it's released.

I'd welcome thoughts and alternatives.


Edit: side benefit of shifting Pink 1E is that I can most the Sheep/Rice location 1E as well onto a hill. I wouldn't expect to hold the Corn from Magic Science anyway.

[coldrain]

Hmm, tough call on the pink city placement. Hill would be ideal for defense, but that would open a Superdeath city plant next to pigs as you mentioned. And he is CRE, so he can apply a lot of border pressure if necessary. How well can we defend pink if it is on the flat grassland? Superdeath can park an army on the pig tile, and counter attacking with chariots/axes/whatever would be difficult. Just spam archers and a wall?

[Dreylin]

Probably keep a few archers on the Pigs themselves to make it costly to dislodge and then yeah, walls & more archers in the city with a HA reserve? Or we make sure to have Crossbows online before he can get to Construction.

... oooooor we found a religion in the city.

Of course we currently have no idea what the rest of his neighbourhood looks like; he could well prioritise other directions and figure that attacking into PRO is less profitable than the alternatives.

The more I look at it the more it seems right, and the knock-on effect of moving the Sheep/Rice city 1E as well will ease border tensions with Magic Science.

I also think that the Corn/Horse/Pig spot should be high on the list for city 3; the Horses will already be improved and the Pigs will allow it to grow swiftly. I'm umming and ahhing about whether to move it 1E from the current spot, but where it is can share the grass river tiles at Kirk and help grow cottages so I think it's probably in the right spot.

[Dreylin]

T31 -

Superdeath played consecutive turns and his Warrior is now sitting on the Pigs. It could have run circles on the road and returned, but I think he's there watching - whether that's an augur he's settling in this direction is unclear. I put the second Quechua on the top of his Warrior and will leave it there, while the first remains on the forest hill.

I can't remember if Settler races were discussed during setup and I don't see a link in the opening post of the organising thread. Can scooter / lurkers confirm what the rules are for this game?

[Tarkeel]

I can't remember if Settler races were discussed during setup and I don't see a link in the opening post of the organising thread. Can scooter / lurkers confirm what the rules are for this game?

I just checked, and it's never mentioned, most likely due to scooter assuming this to be sequential. That means the etiquette rules are in effect, and turn order is established the turn you become aware of the race. It's often best to notify the other party in case they are not aware though.

[Dreylin]

Thanks Tarkeel. Not quite there yet, but excellent to have confirmed in advance.

In other news Gavagai settled his city this turn:


Doesn't cause an issue for Pink, but we'll have to keep an eye for possible future impact on Yellow.

[Dreylin]

T32 -

Gavagai completed a tech on the interturn, but it wasn't Meditation. No-one has yet branched their research past what I can see.

Also Magic Science revolted to Slavery, so their Settler is also on the way.

I lost Superdeath's graphs for a turn because he blasted past the 42EP balance point. I diverted EP to regain them this turn, but he still hasn't directed his own away. Don't know if that's intention or forgetfulness.