[SPOILERS] Caesar Amelia of Rome

[Rowain]

....but I'm rather surprised that the game itself is garnering much interest, what with the lack of war, novelty, or well-known participants.

Oh it has an interesting settings, roughly equal capable players and most of all the lurkers can read the threads without feeling dumb and sometimes even critizise the play which is always fun

[Bobchillingworth]

Word on the grapevine is that you had a chat with Scooter recently.
Your interpretation and commitment to that conversation would be interesting.

Did he post the email & subsequent chat, or just mention it? I can paste them here myself if the latter is the case.

My interpretation is that timmy is looking by far like my best target for future aggression. He is settling land that I covet, doesn't seem to have great defenses, and is a softer target than Sandover (who I have better relations and an on-going trade deal with). Scooter has also felt pressed / threatened by timmy's expansion, and so it looks like I could have an ally to "trim back" timmy's borders some. I wouldn't be looking for full elimination of the Khmer, although if he totally collapses or something I might consider it- rather, I just want to free up some land for myself. I intend to raze any city I take, if and when I go to war, so as to limit the psychological incentive for timmy to try to take them back, although I'll keep anything really well-developed or positoned.

My "commitment" to the chat, assuming that's the word you meant, is that I was being honest. I intended to open a dialouge for potential future goal-oriented brief military cooperation with scooter for a common objective, and I believe that I succeeded in that regard. I'm not looking for the long-term grand alliance marriage that TT seems so keen on, nor am I going to do anything stupid like pass around my chat with scooter to everyone.

I did send timmy an email yesterday actually concerning his settling plans, and it does sound like he is founding another town this or next turn in my direction, which is very unfortunate. I'd like to burn it depending on where he founds, but while I have no compunctions against early war none of my production centers are anywhere near him and it would take at least a dozen turns just to march my army toward him- an army that I would have to build first. So I'll probably just suck it up if he takes "my" land, continue to settle other locations, and then strike along with scooter once I have a reasonable production base established.

[pocketbeetle]

I think we need an update here Bob.
What's going on in Rome?

[Bobchillingworth]

Heh heh, figures that this game is getting interest now that we seem to be headed for a true world war.


I'll try to type up a large summary Friday / Saturday, which should be the same time that I finally attack timmy. I certainly have a lot of information and thoughts to share on my empire, strategy, opponents, and especially the map.


Of course, the attack may be postponed indefinitely depending on how Sandover responds to my latest email, the one asking for assurance that he isn't coming after me. He posted in his thread after he recieved it & got lurker comment, but hasn't written back to me yet... I'm going to assume the worst if I don't get a reply in a couple days, and shift my army to my border with him, instead.

[pocketbeetle]

Looking forward to it.

[Bobchillingworth]

Looks like I might finally have to post a real update tonight, having "forgotten" my weekend one. Suffice it to say, the war is going rather well as of three turns in

[Bobchillingworth]

Okay, so obviously I've been neglecting this thing for ages (literally- I lasted updated in the ancient age :P )

As everyone who follows this game knows, I've declared on timmy in conjunction with scooter and soon-to-be Sleeping Moogle. My reasons for the conflict are few and poorly articulated, especially with Sandover threatening to murder me as of like four turns ago, but essentially I want his land, see his unchecked growth as a major threat considering the excellent quality of his territory, and the war gives me closer relations with scooter, who will shortly become Sandover's main competition to win.

Man I love run-on sentences.


Anyway, while my "what the hell I've been doing for the last 60 turns" update is still pending, I did feel obliged in the euphoria of my first battle to share some of my brilliant tactical acumen.


Here's timmy's garrison in his "forward town", which is my main target. I intend to raze the city and re-found substantially later, when I can spare the garrison needed to secure the location.




And here are my own forces:



Including the pillaging chariots (I'm happily pillaging hamlets and cottages- I need the cash, won't hold the land for a long time, and once I do I intend to farm most of it anyway), my army totals 7 praets, 6 war chariots, 3 regular chariots (one medic I), and four catapults.

I was surprised (and relieved) that timmy hadn't attacked me between turns... last turn his city had the same garrison, minus the crossbow and plus three catapults.


Speaking of which, where did he send his collateral? I smelled a trap, and decided to investigate with a chariot. Behold!






Sneaky, sneaky. Obviously his intent was for me to waste a turn bombarding, and then he'd slam me with the catapults and mop up with everything he had available between the collateral stack and the city garrison. An un-promoted praet was getting about 25% odds vs one of his axes (checked on the previous turn) or 7% vs his crossbow, which was surprisingly good. I promoted all of my catapults to city raider I, threw them at the town, and got surprisingly good results:





Two withdrawals and one perfect win! Next it was time for the praets and WC. I promoted the first one to city raider I and took out his top defender at about 75% odds; everything else I sent in won with 95% odds or better.


The aftermath:




So, killed almost a dozen guys for the loss of a single 'pult, got about 150 gold between the capture and some pillaging, and spawned a GG. Turned out pretty well, I think


I was still in danger from the catapult stack, of course, so I pillaged the roads (including the one on the ruins) leading to my stack. Now if he wants to hit me, he'll have to run out onto flat ground where I can first-strike and wipe him out first. I could also retreat to the desert hill should I need to. I'm now streaming in a constant supply of praets, catapults, HA, and a few random spears and axes (plus a crossbow from Sandover). I'm going to heal up, then try to advance with about 15 praets, 7 catapults, a dozen mixed mounted (HA / chariots / WC), and some random axes and spears.


Edit: Actually, he might be able to road toward me with those two workers and still hit me. Still was worth it, plus he now lacks combat units to wipe me out entirely in one move.


I wish I could keep my GG, but I'm sending it now to Sandover, to whom I owe it for peace. The details of my long relationship with Egypt are interesting and frequently confounding, but that's the subject for another post that I'll write... eventually

[T-hawk]

Looks like some pretty good tactical maneuvering there. Keep up the good work.

[Bobchillingworth]

Thanks, but it looks like I've already paid for my hubris:





timmy was indeed able to road to my stack. He also apparently had a large amount of hidden HA. My units were all wiped out, save for a catapult which I suicided this turn for some collateral. I should have promoted more of my units after last turn- a few of them could have been made combat I or two, which would have helped- although I think the stack still would have been doomed. I only took down a chariot and a couple cats on the defense.


I'm pulling back what I can salvage; I have enough reinforcements on the way that I should be able to hold one of my front cities, but timmy can fork me and I'm not very skilled with defense. Feudalism in 2 turns, so I'm going to have to hope that he either maneuvers poorly or holds position to heal, so that I can whip and ship in a proper defense. My offense is dead for now, so I'm just going to try to hold out until scooter can run roughshod over timmy and I can regain the initiative.

[Bobchillingworth]

I was afraid that timmy would move on to attack and raze my city SW of his former town, but he seems to have retreated back to his own borders, presumably to heal. If he returns, I'll have a party waiting for him.