kjn's Ryde (spoilers!)

[kjn]

Heh. We're SPI - you could've revolted as soon as we got BW.

[kjn]

T30 - 2200 BC

My, the barbs are thick around here. A total of three warriors are visible - one in the east and two in the west. At least the copper is visible where I had surmised earlier.




First action is to revolt to Slavery - we're SPI so no reason to hold things off. Even with a barb warrior moving onto the sheep, Ryd can finish off the skirmisher this turn, and Stark is close by. As long as the barb doesn't pillage the sheep tile but moves on, the micro should hold here.




Fröderyd is worse off. The skirmisher is 5t away, and Stark (or the new skirmisher in Ryd) can only reach Fröderyd T32, but the closest barb warrior can raze the city eot31. So I'll have to bite the bullet and whip the skirmisher, which shoots my micro plan to hell - it's a loss of 12-18C. I think that'll delay the Oracle with 1t - I still have the 4g pillage-gold and the bonus commerce I've picked up from known techs - but it might be 2t.




The whip will go in T31, that way I'll grow in 2t instead of 3t.

After I end turn, the barb warrior pillages the pasture. Pity that.

Demos after ending turn:

Analysis will have to wait for when I have the demos for the intervening turns.

[kjn]

T31 - 2140 BC

The sound of the whip was heard in Smålind for the first time, in the city of Fröderyd, so that the realm could be defended against the barbarian hordes descending from the east. They were not Danes that came, not yet, but it was certain they would come. The Danes were always coming.

The skirmisher in Ryd stayed put, while Stark went past Ryd where he could reinforce Fröderyd.




With the micro plan for the T35 Oracle shot to hell due to the pillaging of the sheep and the loss of the silver mine, I put in a turn in a granary. Next turn, I should be able to get to 13 foodhammers by working the new grass mine in Ryd.

I also decide to go via Polytheism instead of Meditation. More expensive, but I get a better shot at founding Judaism that way, unless Catwalk picked up Masonry this turn (he had another tech coming in this turn, together with a clear drop in top GNP).

The barbs decided to not move directly against my cities:




Plan is to send Stark to guard Fröderyd, and for the skirmishers to attack the barb warriors (the southern one in the case of Fröderyd).

Demos after ending turn:

Again, analysis will have to wait, but I think TZ got a bunch of land points a turn earlier than I had expected, which would account for their monster score increase.

[kjn]

Gah. Catwalk leaks. He's posted a bunch of spoilers about his game in Boldly's thread in PBEM 44. At least he's only spoiling his own game.

And another thing to consider: I managed to stunt TZ's development quite badly (delayed their tile development with maybe 6-10t compared to me, and forced them to chop an impi), and now the barbs managed to raze their second city.

Should I go ahead and go for the kill here? (Yeah, you lurkers want blood, I know.) Skirmishers aren't ideal city-takers - I'll probably want a few axes for that - but they should be able to choke TZ quite effectively until I can gather a city-busting stack.

But I wouldn't be surprised if TZ will whip a second settler quite soon, and with the road already in place they might even be able to found the city the same turn the settler is built.

[Commodore]

Kill Catwalk?

[kjn]

Well, I will probably settle for TheStick first. At least in-game.

I also need to decide where to put my second and third cities (copper and horses in that order, probably). Which means getting more scouts out. Though I guess settling on the copper will be ok.

[kjn]

T32 - 2080 BC

Well, the plans were already laid earlier. My new skirmishers properly baptised in blood. Stark went to Fröderyd to cover the city against the last barbarian warrior.

Ryd started its worker run in preparation for the Oracle. It won't be as effective as the original plan, but I think it'll work. Fröderyd will grow back to size 2 next turn, and can pick up the silver mine again. I think I'll be able to get Priesthood T36.




With the chops needed T36, and Fröderyd not growing to size 3 until T39 or so, I can use Alfred and Karl Oskar to chop for the Oracle. That means Hulatorpaheren is free to pasture the sheep again, and then road towards the copper. Alfred puts in a cottage-turn 1S of Fröderyd, and I start a granary there.

T33 Alfred and Karl Oskar will go into the forests, and then they will chop T34 to T36.

Barb moves after ending turn:




I plan to promote Elg (the skirmisher 1S lf Fröderyd) to C1 and move him into Fröderyd, and Stark can cover the silver mine. Docka will probably cover the sheep. Or does anyone has better ideas?

Foreign news and C&D

Demos and city screens:

Sternum was whipped 4 to 2 this turn, probably a settler to re-found their second city. I sent Citron onto the rice to take a look, and see:




No sign of his impi, though. Hmmm... A C1 skirmisher get 31% odds against his CG3 warrior. Seems like a skirmisher rush might work. Not sure if I should retreat Citron or put more pressure on TZ.

Otherwise, AT gained a tech in 3t, grew his capital to size 6 and whipped his second city from size 2 to size 1. Power rose with 4000, after adjusting for TZ's settler whip. I'm fairly sure that's another unit from TZ, eg a whipped spear or chariot.

[kjn]

Consolidated report, T33 and T34 (2020-1960 BC)

Lots of things happening these turns, but most of it was of minor note.

On T33, TZ had an axe in Sternum, probably built with whip overflow and maybe a chop (another forest is missing within Sternum's BFC, I think). Citron went back to cover the pass, and on T34 TZ moved two of their workers next to the rice, and moved the axe out of Sternum.




I shuffled my units around Fröderyd to handle the remaining barb warrior, and Stark won his battle on the silver mine against the barb warrior on T33, earning a promotion. The barb warrior to the north moved south again, but is quite a bit away still.

My current army is three skirmishers (2 C1 and one with a promotion pending) and the CG3 warrior (promotion pending). Most of them are wounded, but not badly so.

On T34 I got contact with AT as well. You can see his blue warrior to the west in the above picture. In response, I've concentrated my units in my core so they can protect my workers, my cities, and maybe ambush AT's warrior.

I'll get Priesthood at eot35, and the Oracle on eotT36.

Foreign news and C&D

Catwalk grew his capital to size 5, and AT grew both his cities: they're now size 7 and size 2. I got a power increase of 4000 from units (and 1000 from population).

I currently have two unassigned techs on AT and one on Catwalk.

We got a barb city plant when the turn rolled. It's probably 3E of the copper, so it might fit in nice with a city on the copper (I intend to cram in the cities quite a bit here).

[kjn]

T35 - 1900 BC

Continued with the plan: 1-pop-whipped the worker in Ryd (at 39/40), and also picked up the newly restored sheep pasture, for 34 overflow from the worker. With the two incoming chops I will one-turn the Oracle next turn once I receive Priesthood.

AT moved 1E onto the forested hill, so I don't need to cover the workers yet. I let Stark and Elg heal this turn, while Docka moved 1S, where he can reinforce either Citron or ambush AT's warrior if it moves unwisely.




TZ has his axe covering his two workers on the rice, and there is a barb warrior to my north, 3N of the clam.

End turn. Unlock achievement: first to one-turn a tech in PBEM 42. The barb moves onto the sheep hill 2N of the silver.

(Does Oracling a tech counts as an research achievement? I get Polytheism T35, Priesthood T36, MC T37, and Masonry maybe T38.)

Foreign developments and C&D

Demos at the start of turn 36:

AT whipped his second city to size 1, TZ grew Sternum to size 3 (and gained 1000 power from pop) and researched a tech in 4t. I think Mysticism or Masonry are the most likely candidates, since the GNP values changed little.

Unassigned techs this turn: TZ 1, AT 2, Catwalk 1.

T35 C&D addendum

I went back to the T35 save and played around with various techs and GNP values, so I could fish out known tech bonuses. In all cases I produce 25 raw beakers, and list my resulting GNP value.

Single-discount techs

Priesthood: 32
Meditation: 32
Sailing: 32
HBR: 32

Double-discount techs:

Masonry: 37 (fits with 25 * 1.4 + 4 + 2 - 4)
Writing: 40 (fits with 25 * 1.55 + 4 + 2 - 4)

Ie, AT and TZ both knows Writing. That leaves one unassigned tech with Catwalk and one with AT.

[kjn]

T36 - 1840 BC

AT moved his warrior 1N onto the cow, so I moved Elg to cover my chopping worker. The barb warrior had moved onto the plains hill sheep, and could move onto the silver T38. I promo-healed Stark with C1 and sent him into Fröderyd. Having two units to deal with makes things much harder - I'd really prefer to avoid whipping the city again until I have the granary up.

Both chops came in, and together with the worker-whip overflow:




My new worker is named Åsa-Nisse, and is sent to join Hulatorpaheren in creating a road to the sheep and a future copper city. Alfred and Karl Oskar will develop the area around Fröderyd and towards the horse location.

I don't have quite enough money to 2-turn Masonry at 100%, but with 24C I have quite a bit of slider flexibility, so I run 50% gold this turn, and should generate enough beakers to finish Masonry next turn.

End turn. And the barb from the north moved SW, and was joined by another barb warrior coming from NW. I will probably lose the silver mine - even with river defense bonus and on a hill Stark can't hold against both warriors.

Foreign developments and C&D

Demos after ending turn:

TZ grew their second city to size 2. That's it.