Talks about music. The famous talk show feat. yuris125 & Nicolae Carpathia

[yuris125]

T75

We got another resource for free NS7 offered us marble this turn. Interestingly, they have exploring units in our land, and did it when they noticed we have Calendar. It's like they were saying "guys, build MoM, we don't mind if you have it". Well, they didn't need to ask me twice MoM due in 6 turns

We're just 5 techs away from Cataphracts: Monarchy, HBR, Feudalism, Machinery and Guilds. Admittedly, they're expensive techs. But for now, I'm ignoring all other techs, even Monotheism and CoL. I feel getting to Guilds asap is the best chance we have in this game

To be honest, I'm still undecided about where to send those 'phracts. Will depend on the situation by that time, of course. But basically, the choice is either to attack the leaders and hope we can do them some harm, or attack the outsiders and hope to annex them completely. I think we can score a decisive victory against Sian, and behind him is Fierce, who is as far behind others as NS7 are ahead. If we get the land of both players, we may become competitive against NS7. While attacking NS7 could yield very little return, they're too strong, have too strong production, and by the time we get 'phracts could have too strong tech lead

I'll post screenshots later, T75 is a landmark turn, we're now in AD years

[yuris125]

T82

Well, first of all, we lost MoM to Mackoti. I didn't pursue it too aggressively, we could've gotten it with chops, but Workers had more important things to do, supporting our much delayed expansion. However, we cashed in 220g of failgold, which saw us through research of Feudalism. 3 techs away from 'phracts (HBR, Machinery, Guilds), and I even managed to sneak in Monotheism, although didn't revolt to OR yet. I'm thinking of revolting to HR, OR and Vassalage at the same time, and as late as possible, to avoid paying for 2 high upkeep civics at the time when research is our highest priority

However, war can come much earlier than we planned or wanted



This is a very lush island to our NW. We already have a city there, and on the Galley there is the Settler for another city. However, Sian sneaked his Settler and is probably going to found a city next turn. I'm not going to give it up this easily, so I think there can be only one response if he does

Bad news: we have only 1 Axe on the island, and he has 1 Axe as well (they're on the same tile this turn). If he founds a city and moves his Axe into it, we can just attack, hopefully win the battle and be safe for a couple of turns. If the Axe continues to move around the island, it will make things much difficult, because we don't want him to attack our Axe, we want to be the attacker. But I don't want to let his city stay for even a turn; as soon as his city gets its first ring, our attack will be much more difficult

So, what do you think? With Feudalism discovered at EOT, we can very quickly research Archery (I suspect it will be an overflow research, 1 turn at 0%) and get access to Longbows. Sian is only slightly ahead of us in power, so he won't be able to do much. But we're completely unprepared for this war

In any case, I would say this act seals Sian's fate - I'm now very much inclined to send our 'phracts against Sian rather than against NS7. Yes, I know we stole his stone, but it doesn't mean he's entitled to aggressively settle us!

Here are a couple of screenshots of elsewhere in our empire. Despite us being behind in expansion, we're somehow holding with the pack. NS7 are clear leaders, Mackoti is clear 2nd, but we're in contention with Sian and Luddicator, and a successful 'phracts campaign will bring us back in contention for the win





Basically, we only have space for 1 filler city on the mainland, 1N of the iron. Plus a city on the spot where Sian's Settler currently is. That's it, more land will have to be acquired by war

[Nicolae Carpathia]

Vote Yes for Iron city, to secure our borders. Remember, Knights need Iron. Make sure the worker is well covered to get the Iron improved. Luckily there's no road on the Pigs.

I can't remember Sian's traits, is he Creative? If no, we have a longer window to attack. I'd tend towards waiting anyway, I'd rather attack when we have phracts than attack while unready. Any evidence that people have engineering? Look for any known tech research bonus.

Also, try and get the plains jungle 1S of the peak on the Sian border chopped, so we can 2-move the border city.

May be worth going max food everywhere, to stockpile population for Cataphract whips.

That's all the advice I can think of.

[yuris125]

Sian is Hatty, so he's Cre

I don't want to give him so many nice resources, especially taking into account that he doesn't have much of an army (according to the power rating), we have all border cities protected and will be able to build Longbows next turn

[Nicolae Carpathia]

Devoting hammers towards axes will slow us towards Cataphracts. Plus, letting him know we're gunning for him now will raise his power rating later. Let him try to builder away, oblivious to our advantages.

Also, even if Sian's borders get popped, we can hit it directly from Laodica. We can even hide a pair of cataphracts in a galley, unload them inside the city, and take it turn 1 of the war.

[yuris125]

I'm not going to devote anything towards Axes. Razing one island city Sian's going to found is the only goal of this war. I don't think building Longbows on the border with Sian is going to delay us much

As for alerting him... I'm sure he realises he's pinkdotting us. If I declare war, raze the city and immediately offer peace, he may well reject peace, but he will know why we attacked him. I don't think he will be concerned about our threat more than he is now

[Nicolae Carpathia]

Okay, I get you. Do we have any more troops near the island city? Say on the Galley?

I still think he's getting complacent. Why, if he was really concerned about us at all, he'd be spiking his power. He probably thinks it's simply tit-for-tat.

[yuris125]

Nothing on the Galley, but we have an Axe on the stone tile. If the war starts, we can move him to the island quickly. I think I will pick him up in any case, we need garrison for that second island city we're going to found

The main concern is that we can lose the first battle. What are the odds for an unpromoted Axe attacking an unpromoted Axe on flatland? My gut feeling says around 80%, the chance of defeat definitely isn't negligible. But I think it's acceptable

This war can have another benefit. If Sian doesn't take immediate peace, there's a reasonable chance for us to farm a 10XP unit. Heroic Epic will be huge for 'phracts production

[Nicolae Carpathia]

5v5 is a fold-change of 1. So 50%.

Flip a coin.

[yuris125]

Ah. I'm an idiot, for some reason I thought Axes get 50% bonus only on attack. Shows that I didn't Axe-rush anyone for a while