[spoiler]Pindicator's pb80 thread

[pindicator]

046

Clearly the raging barbarians aren't enough, and Commodore has decided to send his own units out towards me:




Not pictured: the archer SW of the gold mine which my Keshik just killed. 10xp unit already, sweet!

His scout had seen empty cities and so he decided to push forward: i had already had axes in construction anyway (to counter all the spears), but they'll be chopped & whipped out in time. I imagine he's going for the copper out of principle - but I'll have iron hooked up in about 3 turns anyway. Still, we whipped Chihuahua for one axe, and next turn a chop finishes there for a second. We'll have 3 keshiks and a chariot too, if needed.

I'm more interested in trying to hit Roulette now that he's weakened the garrison there. 6 keshiks and 4 workers should do it?

Clearly I'm not going to get to 10 cities by t50 now that I'm fighting Comm - but I will be starting a pair of settlers soon. Labrador is going to continue to pump and whip them out: its last one is in position to settle city #7 next turn, and it grew into unhappiness so I can triple whip the next one out. Although I'm not quite sure where he goes yet!




Everything looks good except for crop yield. My food situation is really awkward, but we'll be stretching east and southwest here to try to settle the best spots available.

[pindicator]

047

It's been a while since I've been the target of a Commodore Duel-to-the-Death ™




I don't know what his inland forest empire looks like, but I certainly see better lands than I have in the bonus resources surrounding. If he thinks I have a better setup, I think he is mistaken. I am confident i have the better capital, but after that the advantage goes to him. Regardless, he seems to be making the calculation that he has to win now in order to keep me from racing ahead - exactly what I was thinking with him. One of us is wrong, but both of us are fighting in the meantime.

Commodore does not simply harass either. He rushes for the throat:




Obviously my game changes here. We have to go more towards Dual mode and try to survive what I assume is Commodore chopping and whipping out axes and spears. The scouting keshiks are returning in time to help Chihuahua's defense. The archer will take a position on that central forested hill to keep Commodore from taking it and splitting my defenses. And unfortunately GoldenRetriever is on its own: chopping out a second axe before it goes back to keshik production.

I considered switching Labrador off Settlers but we still need to have something going for the future. Heck, even the island cities are going to be pumping out and shuttling units back to the mainland if this war carries on.

We did settle a 7th city this turn. Poodle is the first foothold in the jungled east:




Normally I'd want to develop this more, but we're going to 1) chop the granary, 2) chop a Ger, and then 3) constant keshiks due to the war.

Sadly I think our scout is about to meet his end:




I wonder how much Commodore has scouted that way...

[pindicator]

048

Getting more and more the feeling that Commodore feels he has worse land and that this is his only choice.




Two spears down in Roulette means another is coming north. The chariot is the one my archer spied inside his city last turn. Him only having two spears in that city is pretty huge - I'm thinking 6 keshiks should be able to burn it from the fog as soon as we repulse this attack.

But still, chickens and eggs and counting things before they hatch. Did a painful whip and whipped off the gold mine at GoldenRetriever. Then realized I had mistaken the timing on the chop, so we're chopping a spear now, finishing the whipped 2nd axe next turn, and then finally going back to Keshik production there. Really we may stay on axes anyway.

His spear/axe combo reached the gates of Chihuahua this turn, but we have a pair of axes in the city. If he moves everything up against that city we'll have to keep the keshiks there - but if he does not then we can possibly kill off his stack. If he splits the stacks and puts the axe/spear on top of the copper then I know I can kill it at the cost of an axe. I'm not really worried about him cutting copper. I am worried about being able to concentrate forces, so I'm being a bit dramatic in making sure everybody has a decent garrison and am trying to be axe-heavy to counter his spears.

Besides, even if he does manage to sit on top of the copper then I have a backup ready just in time:




Basset Hound just popped borders end of last turn, so we'll be able to hook iron up t50 - that should be just in time should Commodore be able to pillage my copper. I also switched this city over to a Keshik: the time of it getting to the front lines will be the same, and I want to have more keshiks for an eventual counter attack. Closer cities will continue the infantry, distant cities will be on Keshiks. It certainly helps that I was incentivized to build Gers thanks to them being cheap culture choices. (Seriously, this is overkill for Mongolia. Please reverse it.)

[pindicator]

050

Signs of Thoth




The ivory is improved, so he must be from the southwest. If I wasn't in a war against Commodore I'd be landing Keshiks and trying to gain a beachhead over here. I think it's really important that I do get a foothold of some kind, otherwise we just might not have any chance against Thoth. Instead I'm dealing with this green barbarian to my south:




Sure looks like he's going to settle my ivory, doesn't it? Well, bring up your settler and plant your city Commodore; I'm going to see if I can make you pay for it. We're teching Construction straight away and will make sure to come at you with a stack of catapults as soon as I get there.

In the meantime, I think I can get together 8 keshiks within the next 5 turns. Really didn't like the idea of whipping my capital for one, but I think it has to be. The overflow is going into a much-needed worker. Similar the overflow at Labrador went to a second galley - we need to either use two galleys to push towards Thoth or we need to see what that island is to my northeast. Labrador grows and then starts another settler immediately after. The settler that just finished is going onto the island to grab the filler cow-rice spot. I hate it, but I just don't have the worker support to send him to the best spot in the northeast, and I can't really send him to the southwest without dealing with Commodore. Nor can I spare some units to send him onto Thoth's mainland. So we'll take what we can right now.

Graphs and Demos. Thoth sure looks like he's running away with this:

[pindicator]

I really don't get Commodore here. He has all this beautiful land to his east and west that he can grab with ease - but he's going to spend a lot of resources and waste a lot of worker turns just to grab something and deprive me of it?

If this was a dual then it makes some sense, but there are 3 more players and I'm sure some of those resources would have been better spent expanding his empire. When I did my drive by, Comm was 6 cities to my 4. Now I'm at 7 and he is still at 6.

[pindicator]

Some Turn 50 Reflections / Thoughts on the state of the game:

• I need more workers. Probably going to just do a round of workers in Labrador, Basset, and Weimaraner next turn. That will bring me up to 10 total. It feels worse because I'm so spread out.
  
• We're going to have half a dozen Keshiks really soon and I'm not sure how to use them best. I might try to hit Roulette. I might swing farther south and just ride for Commodore's capital. But I dont want to throw them away either, because...
  
• As soon as the Commodore situation feels more stable I want to get half a dozen Keshiks on Thoth's continent. Maybe even ride straight for a city. This feels a bit pie-in-the-sky, but his power is very low and it would be nice to catch him off guard.
  
• What do I do with that settler? Am I really going to settle a location that only claims a jungled dry rice?? This feels wrong. But do does sending the settler 7 turns east. Also- my capital is at happy cap, so the fish is really being under utilized and so it's not just a dry rice. I still am not enthusiastic about this next city ...
  
• After the round of workers, Labrador and Weimaraner go back to settler production. Chihuahua, Golden, Poodle, and Basset continue with units. Eventually Basset and Dobermann whip out settlers for the West. Hope to get all this out by the time Construction is done, then it's catapults and war elephants (assuming Commodore does plant a city in my face).
  
• If there's no city in my face, then more workers and Calendar are next.
  

[pindicator]

052

I did not expect this




Commodore's units gone, the roads pillaged .... Commodore, what were you doing?

I sent a cease fire deal and am sending my keshiks towards the boats. Let's try to capitalize

[pindicator]

053

Commodore sent a peace offer and I took it.

Final butcher's bill for the first Incan-Mongolian war:

Incan Losses: 1 archer (25h)
Mongolian Losses: 1 Keshik, 1 Scout (65h)

And now the Keshiks head northwest:




2 are on the boat and will unload on Thoth's continent in 2 turns. Another pair will be right behind. And a 3rd pair a few turns behind them. I think we'll have the 4 just scout the landmass closest to us, and then by the time the last pair is ready to come up they'll advance by boat while the others go by land. All 6 together should be able to do some damage to an unsuspecting neighbor.

New plan for development here too:

First of all, I did settle Portie (nickname for the Portuguese Water Dog) because I decided it was going to be my worker pump. We'll chop the granary and then whip out workers at size 2, regrow to 2, repeat for a bit. That's my justification for settling a filler city so early. Basset Hound is going to get some missionaries out for the island, and then whip out a settler to take the last northern spot by the cows.




2 new settlers here: Labrador's is going to the far northeast (where I see 3 barbarian galleys, one of them with a promotion - RIP Thoth's galley) and the one from the capital is going to the southwest so I can try to claim the gold that way. Weimaraner, Labrador, and Golden Retriever all then need cheap markets. Then we'll hire some specialists at Labrador and get our first golden age - hopefully in time for us to swap religions, get into Hereditary Rule, and end in either Vassalage or Civil Service. Until we start laying down forges we are only going to build boosted buildings. But we have a lot to choose from: Gers, Granaries, Markets, and possibly an Aqueduct if I want to make a play for Hanging Gardens.

Wealth builds are getting us to Calendar - actually Basset may need to build Wealth instead of the missionaries. Then we need to figure out tech. Probably Construction in case Commodore gets ideas, but I'd also like Metal Casting, Metal Casting, and maybe even up towards Literature.

[xist10]

Are that 3 barb galleys in the NE ?

[pindicator]

Yeah, they are positively swarming over there.

One of them is Combat-1 so I assume it killed off Thoth's galley from before