RBP7 [SPOILERS] - The Chronicles of Nyania

[Lord Parkin]

We've spotted our first barb Axe up north. Will make sure to have some extra Chariots on alert up there.

Borders expanded at Pwnage, so started hooking up the Cows - they'll be done next turn.

Pencilled in the sixth city spot... we can found there or 1E of that spot on T86 I think. Or if we decide to found 1E or 2E of the Corn, that'd be a turn later on T87. The Settler is currently being built in the capital, and can be whipped on T82.



The barbs are currently quite busy around us, as you can see. Once the borders expand at Trololopolis that should help a bit.

Speaking of Trololopolis, the Granary is about to finish there. Next up we could go for units or a Library.

[nabaxo]

Speaking of barbs, didn't our neighbour to the south have the Great Wall? *hint, hint, nudge, nudge*

[Lord Parkin]

Speaking of barbs, didn't our neighbour to the south have the Great Wall? *hint, hint, nudge, nudge*

Heh, fair point. Though right now we're probably better off avoiding initiating a second front unprovoked. We could manage it, but it'd be easier if we deal with our problems in the west separately.

Of course, if HAK attacks us, we'll head there in an instant. But judging from the diplo thread, HAK's been having/is having a minor spat with Plako, and I don't think we want to do the slightest thing to discourage that from continuing right now.

[nabaxo]

True that. Let them keep fighting is always a good idea.

[Lord Parkin]

...feel free to enjoy your paranoia, checking in on things whenever I finish playing my turn

Seems like the folks we're aware of so far are actually pairing off fairly neatly. Mongolia's fighting us, things appear to be tense between HAK and Plako (who are also playing cat and mouse with logins), and now apparently Xenu and Seven are having some sort of tiff (and holy heck, would you look at the logins over there ). Of course, this may well be proved wrong at any time with a surprise dogpile. But for now, it seems remarkably neat for a game that's supposedly Always War.

Oddly though, I haven't heard much in the diplo thread about conflicts in other parts of the world. In fact, I may be mistaken, but I'm not aware of any current conflicts between players that we haven't met. Have I forgotten someone? Is it really that peaceful in other parts of the world? Seems odd if so.

It amuses me slightly how I'm picked on incessantly when I'm genuinely not playing any clock games whatsoever, while Mackseven are constantly logging in on both sides of Xenu. If this stuff about a war between them turns out to be genuine, I'd bet that intentional double moves are going to be happening more than occasionally over there.

[Lord Parkin]

Well, the RNG showed us some love this turn. We inflicted significant damage on Mongolia without losing a single unit. Suffice it to say that Azza is unlikely to be happy.

From my recollection:

Chariot vs Archer - 50% win
Chariot vs Archer - 60% win
[Mongolian city razed... again]
Chariot vs Archer - 60% win
Spear vs Chariot - 99% win

Had more units in reserve, but didn't need them. About a 1 in 5 chance of winning all those battles without losses (actually a bit better due to retreat odds). Wasn't expecting that, but I'll gladly take it. Will grab some pics later.

[Lord Parkin]

So here's the current situation. Pretty much a complete reversal of just a few turns earlier - we're now starting to gain control of the whole Corn-double Gold area. That's what happens when your rival overstretches and, combined with a little bad luck, loses all but one of his military units in the area. (The last one will be picked off next turn.)

We might even be able to consider sending a Settler of our own there soon if we can continue to hold it. We'll see anyway.



Did I mention that's the third time Mongolia has burned a Settler on that location? The first time we razed it (ASM leaving it undefended), the second time we killed the Settler before it settled, and this third time we destroyed the city 1 turn after it was founded (defended by 2 unfortified Archers against 3 Chariots). It's kind of morbidly fascinating really... you can understand why Mongolia would want that spot, but they're not exactly playing it safe. They've burned 300 hammers on Settlers alone based on their desperation to settle that area... let alone the 100+ hammers worth of units lost trying unsuccessfully to defend it. Ouch.

Overview of the wider area, including my slightly awkwardly-placed espionage tallies.

[nabaxo]

How are things on the other front?

[Lord Parkin]

All quiet on the eastern front. I'm not particularly concerned though. There was some massive battle between Xenu and Mackseven this turn (a GG popped while I was in the game with Xenu), so we can deduce that his units are unlikely to be anywhere near in any significant numbers anytime soon. As for HAK, he's equally likely to be bluffing as serious. We'll still reinforce the front down there, but I won't be entirely surprised if we don't see anything for a while.

Finishing up the Granary in Aybabtu with a double chop, and will then overflow into a Spear or two. I still haven't seen a single metal unit from Azza to date, but when/if we do we can easily switch to build a couple of Axes. For the time being Spears + Chariots should do us fine.



Pwnage is developing into a rather nice city. I'm considering building the National Epic there, as it seems to be about the best place in our empire for a half-decent GP farm. Other folks are already getting their Great Scientists, and we haven't even started on ours yet... need to get moving. So we'll need a Library there before too long.

This is also where we'll probably make a shot at the Great Library, if someone else doesn't grab it before us (which is entirely plausible with our crappy tech rate). Backup plan would most likely be the Parthenon.



Regarding new cities, we can either found the Fur city on T86 and the Corn-Gold city on T95, or do the Corn-Gold city on T88 and the Fur city on T93. Thoughts? I think we can hold the Corn-Gold area from this point on, as we've now completely repelled Azza (death toll: 4 Archers, 1 Chariot, 1 Warrior on his side; 1 Chariot on our side). The Fur city is still naturally safer though.

[nabaxo]

Do we have gold? (It seems we do on those city screenshots). Because if we do, we might be better off short term to settle for the fur happiness.