[Spoiler] Team slowwalk of the Reservoir Cats (Suleiman/Korea, slowcheetah + Catwalk)

[slowcheetah]

To be honest things are going rather poorly, my midgame work has been pretty terrible. Here's the demographics screen for how badly things are going:

The only team not in a golden age is Xenu's, and the top power in the game is Sian.

I actually do have a reasonable amount of units and have three more turns to build up more, before the NAP ends.

However, though I could hold out in a landwar Sian can now tech chemistry. Once he gets Frigates online I'm pretty doomed. I can probably get there at a reasonable pace, because I'll have two Gsci's at that point to allow partial bulbs of PP and Chemistry. But I have to research Monarchy, Feud, Guilds and Gunpowder before I can do that.

Dazed and Xenu appear to be less interested in a dogpile. Noone is actually willing to confirm anything and Dazed's power is pretty flat, plus he has been spending a load of EP on me. I could probably take a fair bit of land from Dazed, but as soon as I attack him, Sian will attack me and I'll crumble. Best thing I can hope for is Sian decides to attack Xenu for some reason, gets bogged down and allows me to actually start building infrastructure again. Or the dogpile happens but that is looking increasingly less likely.

To end on a bright note; Moai city is finally up.

I should get some use out of it before Sian burns it to the ground.

[Ceiliazul]

Here's the demographics screen for how badly things are going
...
Once he gets Frigates online I'm pretty doomed. I can probably get there at a reasonable pace
...
I could probably take a fair bit of land from Dazed
...
To end on a bright note; Moai city is finally up.
...
I should get some use out of it before Sian burns it to the ground.

Sadly, reporting on this game has gone to hell, so I have no idea what the other teams are doing. For sure, those demos are NOT that bad, especially with everyone else in a GA.

It sounds like you've given up already, which is certainly too early. If the dogpile plan ain't going to work, make a new plan... fortune favors the bold! You sound a bit scared about getting dogpiled if you declare war, but that's by no means a sure thing. What IS for sure is that doing nothing is going to get you killed.

What's the global NAP status about now? How is diplo going with the other teams?

[slowcheetah]

Sadly, reporting on this game has gone to hell, so I have no idea what the other teams are doing. For sure, those demos are NOT that bad, especially with everyone else in a GA.

Yes sorry about that my reporting hasn't been particularly good recently either. For instance I did engineer rush the Taj which I don't think I mentioned. I may also have misspoken sightly, Sian, Dazed and me are all in golden ages Xenu is the only one who isn't. The stats are worrying because I am also in a golden age and have the lowest crop yield.

It sounds like you've given up already, which is certainly too early. If the dogpile plan ain't going to work, make a new plan... fortune favors the bold! You sound a bit scared about getting dogpiled if you declare war, but that's by no means a sure thing. What IS for sure is that doing nothing is going to get you killed.

What's the global NAP status about now? How is diplo going with the other teams?

The problem is at my current technology level (maces and catapults), Dazed is the only player militarily weak enough to hit (although he has access to maces now). However, Sian is far and away in the lead; he is currently the leader in both GNP and MFG by a large margin. Has built the wonders (deep breath):

Stonehenge, GLH, Colossus, GLib, AP, SoZ (annoyingly) and the Sistine Chapel.

Actually that's not that many now I list it out:

He is also now up techwise:

He has on me: Monarchy, Feud, Guilds, Gunpowder, Lit, Music, Theo (promotions!)

He is down; Paper, Education, Lib and Nationalism

The problem is the only technology with military use that I have on him is nationalism. All the rest are economic, which, coupled to my lower MFG's means there probably isn't a way to successfully attack him without allies.

The NAP situation stands with no 'official' NAP that I am aware of between anybody but Sian and me. That NAP runs out on turn 111, and around that time I'm expecting to be knee-deep in knights. A few turns after that Sian will have access to frigates which'll overrun my current force of triremes (still the most advanced naval vessel in the game :P).

While I'm not giving the game up, I currently don't have the means to dictate what goes on. I need to follow Sian up to Chemistry in order to maintain some semblance of miltary parity. Hopefully while doing that I will be able to slot in some Seowons, to get my research rate back up to a reasonable level. Or Sian will attack someone else and I can consider stabbing him in the back.

In order to actually take out the leader; some kind of coordinated action needs to take place. But neither Dazed nor Xenu have been responding to my emails lately; they've probably been busy which is fair enough, but it does mean that there isn't much I can do to dictate the game.

[slowcheetah]

Turn 109-

Diplomatically, things have changed slightly, BoldlyXenu is definitely in for the war, and have offered to help reinforce some of my cities with longbows (TMC being the most likely candidate). Dazed claims he still wants war, but is sending decidedly mixed signals. It turns out he signed an NAP with Sian until turn 125 because Sian was threatening his cities with knights. His justification for this was that the war was scheduled for turn 125, with me being the main party pushing for a later war. However, I feel telling us he was threatened and allowing assistance would have been better for the overall fight against Sian, because it'd have stretched him thinner. Admittedly, Dazed was looking out for himself, he almost certainly would have lost cities.


It's two turns until the NAP deadline with Sian (turn 111), on my turn I'm going to send my fleet of 8 triremes into his waters, and attempt to pillage and annoy him. The only purpose of this is to attempt to delay his acquisition of chemistry; or at least his facility for pumping out frigates. My land troops will remain stationary; I do not have enough power to attack at a positive hammer ratio, so I may as well fight him in my own lands.

My current troop numbers are 20 Maces, 3 crossbows, 2 Pikes and 13 hwachas.

[Catwalk]

I suggest trying to negotiate an iron-clad deal that can't be broken without losing reputation. Vague intentions are no use. Not criticizing you, just saying that it sounds like dazed can weasel his way out of any deals being made currently. I can try to help with diplo tomorrow, if you like. Oh, and sorry for lynching you :neenernee

[slowcheetah]

The problem with it so far has been the deal has had to go three ways, and while we were discussing what the ironclad rules should be there had been no actual agreement to them yet. To be honest I think the future of the game depends on whether Sian rolls me over when he attacks. If he doesn't; we may be able to organise a counterattack.

Damn you for lynching me!!!!:neenernee The end of Day 2 couldn't of gone worse,. We were all setup for a nice mislynch of you, then you roleclaim, then Zak smokes out Ichabod.

[slowcheetah]

Oh yeah I also birthed a Great Artist from Headache (at about 2% odds). Currently I'm planning on firing a golden age with him and the scientist I have got sitting around, however a culture bomb in TMC could also prove useful.

[slowcheetah]

Turn 111- Declares war on Sian, doesn't attack anything

The first thing I felt on opening this save was actually relief, Sian had finished researching chemistry BUT I'd forgotten that frigates also require astronomy so at least my navy hasn't become totally obselete. This was tempered because Sian can now research military science or more worryingly steel, and possibly stomp through my land with cannons.


Anyway the three fronts:

TMC




I moved the triremes and galley into Sian's culture for scouting purposes and to threaten.

Troop numbers-

Slowwalk forces

TMC- 10 Macemen
7 Hwachas
1 Crossbow
1 Axe
1 Spear

Sian Forces

Joao II- LB
2 Crossbows
6 Knights (1SE)
1 HA (1SE)
The furthest knight is on his own.

Plan for survival, sit behind walls unless Sian assembles troops directly in front of TMC. If he does hit with Hwacha stack and attempt to kill. Simplistic but I think I have enough forces there to pull it off. If I am occupying Sian in TMC, Mehmed II would be a nice place for dazed and Xenu to counterattack (would only be Xenu at this point). Currently I think TMC is fairly secure.


The tundra



My Forces

OHP-
5 Maces
2 Pikes
6 Hwachas
1 Spear
2 Axes
2 Chariots including 'Tits Mcgee' My medic three Great General


Missing Gifts-

3 Maces
1 Axe
2 Spears


Sians Forces

3 Longbows
6 Crossbows
1 Spear
1 Archer


Conclusion; I probably should have moved some of my forces out of OHP to act as cover for Missing Gifts. As it is Missing Gifts will probably fall particularly if Sian has more troops in the fog. However, OHP feels fairly secure and that is probably the most important city in the empire. I have a pretty good road network so stationing in between would have allowed both cities to be covered, if Sian doesn't push forward this turn I'll be pretty happy.


Islands


Southern Islands.

Navy
3 triremes and a galley

Forgot to Call
Whoops.

Hot Secretary
1 Mace

I didn't care too much about Hot secretary or even forgot to call, so I haven't reinforced them as I would have liked. Instead I focussed on the more important mainland cities. I wanted to kill the trireme, galley pair of Sians but it is placed on the ocean within his culture so I can't. I have blocked access as best I could with the triremes, but if that galley of his is loaded I'll have to get pretty lucky to save Forgot to Call.


I'll probably lose a few cities, but should be able to keep my main core intact for a good amount of time. Just waiting for everyone else to be ready for a counterattack.

[slowcheetah]

Turn 112

Opening up the save revealed some pretty bad news; Sian evidently remembered to check 'Forgot to Call' for troops. Breaking through the trireme I had guarding, his galley unleashed a longbowman and knight on the defenseless city.

My 'Hot Secretary' also got fired, Sian showing a distinctly odd taste and replacing her with Montezuma:neenernee. It took two knights and a horse archer to overcome the valiant maceman stationed there.

In response to these atrocities I used the only weapons I had (navy) to kill his galley and pillage some seafood (a clam and a fish). That ought to show him. I also launched a rescue mission and saved a worker stranded outside 'Montezuma'.

Ok so now on to next turn's threatened locations.

Trying to Sleep

My Moai/Stone location is currently guarded by two macemen and soon a longbowman in addition to trireme water patrols coming within the next two turns from the jungles southern coast. Currently, it feels fairly safe.

Get Me Jewelry

The important gold site currently has a guard of

3 Maceman
1 Crossbowman
1 Axe
1 Spear
They will also be joined by a two-turned longbowman before Sian's 5 knights and horse archer hit. Unless I get unlucky this place should survive; the inevitable gold pillaging could cause problems though.

Missing Gifts

This city is almost certain to fall next turn, luckily I now have horses hooked elsewhere, but the loss of silver will be a big happy blow.

Sian has
13 Knights
6 Crossbowmen
1 HA
Outside of the city

Within the city walls.

3 Maces
2 Spears
1 Axe
1 Crossbow


This all sounds pretty gloomy, however, I am sure that some of you will have spotted the maceman three tiles away. He's on top of a stack of:

5 Maces
4 Pikes
6 Hwachas
2 Axes
1 Spear
1 Medic 3 great general Chariot

I don't think they are visible to Sian (please correct me if I'm wrong), and I think they will do a pretty good chunk to Sian's stack after it has taken Missing Gifts.

TMC
It's eerily quiet there, Sian has clearly moved his knights out of coastal viewing range, he's clearly working himself up for a big push but I'm not sure when it'll hit.


Elsewhere in the empire, happiness is going to become a problem very shortly. Precious metals, silks and spices have all been snatched from citizens who have already had their freedom taken from them by the draft. Revolution is in the air, and my citizens are going to stop working if I don't pay attention. I'm also currently losing gold at 0% research, some judicious killing of troops in battle should rectify that though.

In attempt to solve the situation I am begging some happy from Dazed and Xenu, both have two gems and Xenu has two wines. I've also offered some map trades, in order to better know Sian's borders.

[slowcheetah]

Turn 113

Missing Gifts has been razed .
Sian won a comprehensive victory there using his army of knights and crossbows. He lost 2 knights and a crossbow in exchange for all of my missing gifts units.

However, no use crying over spilt milk, I may have lost access to silver but Xenu came through with trades for wines and gems. Which will tide me over for happiness until at least next turn when my gold gets pillaged.

This turns threatened cities are Get me Jewelry and On Her Period.
Upon opening the turn Get me Jewelry looked exactly the same as before except that Sians horses were standing on my gold. I drafted another mace and will complete a longbow before Sian attacks. The city will definitely stand, but the loss of gold is very annoying.


On Her Period
Upon opening the save the situation looked like this:

My Army (E of Wheat)
5 Maces
4 Pikes
7 Hwachas
2 Axes
1 Spear
1 Chariot GG

In OHP:
2 Hwachas
1 Pikeman
1 Chariot

Sians Forces
SE of Hannibal
Three irritatingly unreachable crippled knights

On the Deer Tile
3 Knights
1 Crossbow

On the Tundra Hill
2 Injured Crossbows
1 Knight

On the Forest NW of the Horses
7 Knights
3 Crossbowmen

Not caring about the lives of my catapulteers I promoted them all to barrage and suicided them into Sians biggest stack. This did pretty some pretty good damage. I then sent in my troops, maces first in an attempt to deal with the crossbowmen, followed by the pikes. With an Axe and a Spear cleaning up the last two units. Unfortuntely, I forgot to take a picture so I can't show you exactly what happened until I get turn 114, but from memory:

Sian lost
7 Knights
3 Crossbows
540 Hammers worth of Units

I lost
7 Hwachas
2 Maces (I think)
323 Hammers worth of Units

There was some combat luck involved (two maces won 30% battles) but I still would have had enough to finish off his stack.

Currently my remaining units are positioned on the wheat with four pretty much full health pikes. 1 Axe is on the forest tile and 1 is on the plains 1N of the forest tile. Hopefully they'll take two shots from a Sian counter attack.

I also produced a GG from the war I already have a medic three unit so i think I am going to settle him in my capital. Trying to Sleep (Moai city) is also another possible location, for some promotions on boats.

Oh and Sian research compass last turn, presumably in an attempt to stop me pillaging his fish. As a result techpath for the next few turns will be Guilds->Compass->Optics. Optics also has the beneficial economic effect of letting me net my whales, which will help with my happiness issues.