Darrell and Ilios Spoiler Thread

[darrelljs]

There is a HA on the tile labeled Pre-Assault now. Kill it. I have three Catapults, next one will take two turns though.

Darrell

[Ilios]

Horseman is dead, at the cost of a Warrior. They know we have Copper...

[Ilios]

Darrell and I have spoken. We're attacking Mardoc's Yggdrasil city on T55, with 15 Axes, 3 Catapults and 1 Adept.

That is all.

[Ilios]

T53:

The upgrade:



I've actually saved too much gold!

Mardoc desperate for spoils?



I'll take out that Horseman next turn if it's still there...

Which brings us to my next point. I made a mistake!

I hadn't considered that Darrell moves before me, which means that I won't be able to move my Workers and road on T55 (because it would mean Darrell Catapults won't be able to attack on that turn). So, I'll need to road the indicated tile on T54 (removing the surprise factor), and having to cover those Workers with a couple of Axemen.

And to think I pooh-pooh-ed Darrell's offer to send one of his Mud Golem's to the front...

Anyway, we'll soon know if our opponents have anything to stop us. Power rating says no...

[darrelljs]

We lost two Workers and an Axe, they lost two Horse Archers. Dogs.

Darrell

[darrelljs]

(This is what you get when I play the turn for Ilios).

Darrell

[Ilios]

Yeah, I screwed up...

When playing the save, I seriously considered covering the Workers, but decided against it.

Let's review the situation:

T53:

I figured that moving an enchanted blade C1 Axeman on Yggdrasil would be enough deterrent, coming to the logical conclusion that Mardoc wouldn't waste valuable military resources to harrass my Workers.

Granted, Mardoc came out ahead in the hammer exchange, with 130 hammers (two Workers, an Axeman) against 80 hammers (2 Horsemen). But they must have seen the massive power increase (my power is now about three times Mardoc's), and must know an attack is imminent. Those two dead Horsemen were about 20% of his real power, while I still have 15 Axemen left.

And let's not forget the Hippus Worldspell, which would have turned his Horsemen into S5, M5 monsters.

All this to kill two Workers, which I just needed to road NE of the pre-assault tile.

Mardoc's move was nice, and it did delay our attack by two turns, but I just can't see the benefit (I'm might be missing some sort of master plan here, you never know... )

Because the delay allows me to increase the strike force to around 20 Axes total, and will probably let Darrell join his fourth Catapult to the stack.

[darrelljs]

At the start, I see no enemy units anywhere.



My Mud Golem advances and roads. He spies:



75% withdrawal isn't going to help very much in a city . I send in my units. One Catapult bombards the defenses down to 0%. Three attack and withdraw. I then promote them and cast Repair. Resulting situation:



Power charts:



I suspect this is the last turn of the game. If not, Sanitation is in and we just gained 16H/turn. Code of Laws due in 4.

Darrell

[darrelljs]

Ilios, let's get very conservative with our cities. I'd hate to have a HA pair swoop in on the wings of Warcry and raze one of our cities. I think we have enough troops already in place to finish this off, as you are about to kill 65% of Mardoc's "real" power. I'm going to put some more Warriors in my city, probably get them up to three each when the current Catapult (#6) and Adept (#3) complete. I'd suggest you do the same.

Darrell

[Ilios]

I just wanted to show you the power of the new Financial trait:



I'm paying all my civ expenses (including around 20 gold unit upkeep costs), with a settled GP, two Markets and a Merchant specialist, augmented by God King and Financial gold multipliers.

On to the assault!

I move a Warrior on the hills south of the tundra, and spot the Horseman:



I don't bother upgrading the Axemen to C1, to grab some more exp.

Seven attacks later, we take the city:



I decide to keep it, because the Monument survives.

I then use an Axeman to attack the Horse in the north. It retreats, but is still in range of an Axe, who proceeds to kill it flawlessly.

I'm not sure what Mist and Mardoc can still do to stop us, to me this looks like game over.

Ilios, let's get very conservative with our cities. I'd hate to have a HA pair swoop in on the wings of Warcry and raze one of our cities. I think we have enough troops already in place to finish this off, as you are about to kill 65% of Mardoc's "real" power. I'm going to put some more Warriors in my city, probably get them up to three each when the current Catapult (#6) and Adept (#3) complete. I'd suggest you do the same.

Darrell

I would doubt Mardoc still has a lot of Horses left, but I've kept some units inside each city.

The capital is now building a Settler.