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

[yuris125]

He has another iron in the north I'm afraid

I garrisoned the city with all 4 'phracts which could reach it. Would've been nice to threaten Air Gear, but I felt we had to play it safe for now. His units from Air Gear can reach Mai Hime in 1 turn, so garrisoning it with just 1 'phract was a huge risk in any case. And we won't get a Longbow there for another 2 or 3 turns

[yuris125]

Sian's other iron



Sad to see both irons Fierce could take poached from him

Fierce is dying btw, just 2 cities left. Unfortunately, he's dying to Luddicator, so none of his land is going to fall to us

[yuris125]

T101

NS7 asked for 50g. I stared at the screen for some time, wondering why they thought we should pay them. Then I realised I was moving a great merchant for a trade mission in their capital. I'm not too happy about it, but I decided to give in. The last thing we need at the moment is a couple of Galleons backdooring us

We now qualified for Heroic Epic, and I realised we don't have Literature yet. Oh well, time to get it then

I'm setting up the units for an attack on Air Gear next turn



We have 8 'phracts against what is likely to be 4 Pikes. This time there is no hill and no attack across a river, but the city has 60% defences. I hoped to bombard it with the Trireme, but it had to attack Sian's Galley instead. It killed one, but has only 0.1 life left, and the remaining Galley will definitely kill it. The good thing is, it won't be able to attack our Galley, which contains a Logbow and another 'phract, and they could add the firepower necessary to take the city. The lone 'phract to the north of the main group is covered by an Axe, so he's not at risk from the travelling Pike

[oledavy]

I hoped to bombard it with the Trireme, but it had to attack Sian's Galley instead.

Triremes cannot bombard city defenses.

[yuris125]

And several overview shots. We're not doing great, I think it's safe to say we're in 4th place at the moment, behind NS7, Luddicator and Mackoti. NS7 completed Taj this turn, so they will be pulling further away. Oh, and I believe they're sandbagging Lib, and noone is competing for it, so they can easily Lib Steel or something insane like that. There's no real need to post screens city by city, just a general empire overview and the Demos give a good picture of where we stand

The trade mission I mentioned in the previous post is going to bring 737g -50g I paid NS7 = 687. A decent income, nothing gamechanging, but 3 or 4 turns of 100% research

[yuris125]

As expected, Air Gear was protected by 4 Pikes, and again it cost us 3 'phracts to take it. Both captured cities now have Longbows for protection

Somehow Sian didn't kill our Trireme, but Triremes can't bombard cities (thanks oledavy for pointing it out!)... and I never can remember it

The battlefield looks like this



Inside Air Gear - 3 'phracts (1 healthy) + Longbow
Next to Air Gear - 3 'phracts (all wounded) covered by Axe
Inside Mai Hime - 4 'phracts (2 healthy) + Longbow

I have to say that Flanking promotion line was useless so far. Not a single Flanking II 'phract retreated. Some of them won their battles, even though the chance of retreat was higher (20% for outright win, 25% for retreat). I will have to continue using it however, because numbers don't lie (or they shouldn't!). Chance of survival of a 'phract promoted to Combat I + Shock against a Combat I Pike in a city with 60% cultural defence is 30%, chance of survival of a Flanking II 'phract is 45%

Literature finished this turn, I will build Heroic Epic in Nicaea next turn (it's a 1 turn build with marble and some whip overflow), then we should be able to 1-turn 'phracts there

I'm not exactly sure what to research next. We can research Gunpowder, but I see no particular reason: Muskets aren't better than Longbows for defence, Curis aren't better than 'phracts for offence. The only useful military tech we can go towards is Astronomy, but of course it obsoletes Colossus. The alternative is to go for economic techs: Printing Press and Education (I'm not considering Liberalism, and don't think we have a slightest chance to contest it, unless NS7 forget to check the tech screen for at least 5 turns in a row)

[NobleHelium]

Triremes are big ancient Greek boats manned by scores of men at oars. Their primary use was ramming the front of their ship into the side of other triremes to sink them. And they also had a small marine detachment that was sent over to the other ship to engage in melee combat. There's nothing to bombard with.

[Nicolae Carpathia]

Looks good! Good call on the next tile to move to. If Sian tries to cover that fork tlle with a Pike, kill it, take as good odds as we can. Try to road the tile 4 of Air Gear. Our slider rate is going to drop, so how about Banking for +50% wealth buildings and Mercantilism?

Are blockades banned? If not, then disable that Moai city. Sian could build triremes, but that reduces the number of Pikes we'll have to face.

Another thing to consider: Sian is probably going to be bringing south troops on the Fierce front, simply because one front is scarier than the other. Axes to cover against Pikes aren't going to cut it (though healthy Shock Phracts have odds on Pikes on flatland!).

[yuris125]

Sian could be bringing forces from the north, but 'phracts laugh at pretty much anything except Pikes. His northern front is almost exclusively Maces, and they should be easily killable

Blockades are are banned, yes

Slider is not dropping for a while, GM trade mission + capture of Air Gear gave us 999 gold, that's 5 turns of 100% research. I'm actually considering going for Economics for the free GM. That's Paper - Education - Banking - Economics, nobody has Banking yet, NS7 are ages away from it (they don't have Monarchy!), so I think we have a chance. Note that we don't have Civil Service, do we need it for anything important?

[Nicolae Carpathia]

We need Civil Service for Paper and hence Economics.

Economics sounds like a decent idea, except that if we're doing too well, and NS7 feel safe, they can kill our Great Merchant. So Banking first? Maybe do a revolt into Vassalage and Mercantilism?

And NS7 aren't ages away, I'd imagine Oxford is just about to come online for them, their bpt is going to skyrocket.