[Spoiler] Any volunteers for a human sacrifice? Brennus of the Aztecs, by Krill

[darrelljs]

Good to see I got my Corn back.

How many turns would a 1 pop whip save on the Settler?

Darrell

[Krill]

Wouldn't do anything.

[darrelljs]

If memory serves a 1 pop whip is 30H, and after that its 20H? Or I guess 20H and 14H on Quick. What if you worked the Pig?

Darrell

[Krill]

Your numbers are right. WTF? Will start to work the pig from next turn anyway, and the settler would be at 45 hammers after this turn. Then it would go 64/83/102 (and finished), 19hpt due to new tile configuration. So I could 3 pop whip this turn saving 3 turns, next turn saving 2 turns, and the turn after that it is a 2 pop whip saving 1 turn, and then a 1 pop whip saving nothing and giving overflow to...a chariot, probably.

[Krill]

We live in Interesting times.

Or at least azza does.

[darrelljs]

If we're lucky we'll get a drunken Krill update in the next few hours.

Darrell

[Krill]

Most likely not. There should be a flu'd up Krill turn post in about 2 hours though. Or maybe 2 turn posts, because this turn almost got played in 3 separate ways.

[Krill]

OK, so what happened on this turn? Frankly, everything. When I opened the game, this is what I saw:

FFS. azza has an axe and he will definitely have more than 1 around, so I need to scout out. Also, note the barb warrior, I probably have to deal with that as I doubt it will suicide against the axe.

The warrior is on the hill, and still forted. I need to know this, so I know where I can put my chariots so azza doesn't see them. Still, it's another unit to deal with.

Oh for gods sake. Two axes, both C1, one of them with another promotion to take, and a fast worker. azza can declare war next turn and take out my warrior, but I'm not sure if he'll do that. It's not necessarily the smart move, if he doesn't know of my chariots.

At this point I moved away and checked out the north with the galley. And it wasn't pretty.

WHY DO I HAVE NO SEAFOOD! And I can't even get the sodding galley out. next turn I'll move the chariot to the forest, then onto the galley and back to the city, and move it down south. The galley I'm considering deleting to save on upkeep. That silver city can probably wait a good while now.


So I have a look around, to take note of my position. And it turns out Pingo have taken their city back:

So, looks like Commodore has lost that war if he has been kicked off the continent. Pity, I wish he had crippled Pingo, would have made the game much easier for myself.


And the overview:

Note, the yellow borders in the top right are Nazul. the green on the left is Pingo, the road in the bottom left is right next to azza's borders and he has an axe just in the screenshot. That jungle area is starting to look rather cramped. If azza captured the barb city and held it, I'm looking at 3 jungle cities.

Now, at this point, I need to give you a few stats about my starting area. They are probably not that believable, given my demographics, but trust me they are.

I have 27 flat grassland tiles, excluding food res, and including silks in my entire empire, and I'm currently using using 17 of them. The remaining 10 are at WTF? (3) which can't use them unless it grows, but doesn't need cottages as the HE city, 1 at RVC which could be worked in 2 turns as a cottage, 1 at DP which has just been settled, and 3 at SC which doesn't have the food surplus to work them. With the entire peninsula settled I'll have 30 grasslands.

I'd have more grasslands from two jungle cities than the rest of my empire combined. So it's not unfair to say that my start is not a good long term place to stay, and I need to move out pronto. I need that southern jungle, and if I have to go to war to get it, so be it.

With Nazul there are two important city locations for both of us to contest. One of them is the "Two" sign, to stop a potential 2 mover attack on either the other jungle cities or SC. The other is the grass hill 336 of the "Two" site, taking 2 food res, and basically cutting Nazul off from the southern jungle, or opening up a huge chunk of it for Nazul to settle. If I'd beelined IW and pumped out Jags I could probably of settled and held both cities, but the cost would have been a useless tech pace. I'm still not that concerned about the second position, but I want to "Two" site, so the settler from WTF? is going down here. I will have nothing to hold it with but chariots and warriors...so...fun times.

FWIW, the same reasoning applies on the other side with Pingo, and is why I want to capture that city from them.

azza has an obvious 1 tile wide isthmus city plant, taking ivory with it, but to really incorporate the barb city he needs to settle around the "Here" coastal site. That would put him at risk of a Pingo attack, and he has ot hold every city. I would not have expected him to push for hte barb city because I don't see how he can hold it long term. But with that southern road suggesting he has another way around he might just settle as much as he can and ignore the long term consequences of his actions.

For azza to hold this jungle, he basically needs me to not settle much further south. If I settled the middle "here" sign, then we are basically going to be in conflict for the rest of the game. So congrats azza, my aims just changed, you are now my number one priority to deal with.

Now, to go and explain how I deal with you...

[Krill]

So how do I deal with azza in the jungle? Build units and kill anything he sends. It's a simple plan and it should work when you consider the facts on the ground:

I have something in the region of double his crop yield. In the next 4 turns my MFG goes from 50 to 70, and his MFG is around 30 right now. I have more pop than him and slavery is nerfed, and it's the same distance from his capital to the barb city as it is to WTF? He has a road towards the barb city but I can easily do the same. So in a battle of numbers I can win.

I change tech to Archery, and with the overflow from that I can 3 turn HBR. Exactly as the tech finishes, so does the settler from WTF? and I build HA in a variety of cities. 5 turns after that I should have at least 5 HA, plus assorted chariots (5 total, at least, maybe 7 chariots). The change in tech priority means I need to find another way to get a GS, and here is the method:

I have 3 workers in this area, with 3 chopped forests I could get the library done in 6 turns, and then work 2 scientists later on, so that I hit 99 gpp the turn the Gp pops from DF.

The advantages of this route is that it doesn't matter what anyone else does. If Nazul settle that hill city, I'll just wipe the city off the map with the army and then move onto the barb city. Have to wait 5 turns? That's another 5 HA and a chariot as back up. azza probably can't stop that and it might even be overkill.

The downsides are fairly obvious. I'm painting a target on my back, pissing off 2 players and I want to piss the third off. I won't get the GL, nor the SoZ, and the HE isn't on the cards either. I am currently relying on the SoZ to get the HE unit, so if I miss that, then a might miss out on a huge amount of hammers. My tech pace will likely get damaged a fair bit supporting the units, and out of my land. I'd probably have to go IW third, which would round off the next ten turns. I'd need to settle the jungle, so I'd need to find potentially 3 settlers very quickly to fill in the jungle which would wreck the tech rate even further.

So whilst I'm fairly certain I could pull such an attack off, it isn't a great long term play considering other players reactions.

[darrelljs]

So whilst I'm fairly certain I could pull such an attack off, it isn't a great long term play considering other players reactions.

That won't stop you, will it?

Darrell