AT loves it when a plan comes together!! [Spoilers]

[AutomatedTeller]

ok - pics:

First - military situation:



that aint' great, but upgrading 3 of those archers to LB will help, as will adding a couple of chariots to soak up collateral. I think I can get 2 in there - I definitely can if I get engineering in trade.

I'm still hoping for some money from someone, but that seems unlikely - it would be nice to get a couple more upgrades.



Can't pillage the clam (its in ocean), but I can blockade... which I think doesn't do a lot, but it does deny him some food. We'll see.

Demos:





Jowy is second - I'm guessing with something like a 100K lead on us in power.

That stack is 205K of units. We are up Machinery, Metal Casting and Compass, which is 16K, plus we have 10K of totem poles. He has HBR (10K) and presumably a few stables @ 2K each (say, 8K total) I assume he has HE - he has a unit eligible for it. So, we are up a small amout in tech and probably infr - but I think that's his stack there. I don't think he has a lot in reserve, especially since he's got to protect his ivory city from Commodore. I also expect that he'll dribble in more catapults as he goes.

Tech situation:

[AutomatedTeller]

Well, I got some cash. 180 gold from Cornflakes, in return for compass and open borders. I hate to do it, but A) it means he's less likely to attack me and B) means I can micro and get 2 more LB upgrades.

No one else was stepping up, so there it is..

that will mean 5 LB's, which will help a lot. another 200 gold will be nice for 2 more upgrades, and andother 400, engineering and iron would be great... but unlikely...

[AutomatedTeller]

a couple of questions will come up:

1) I will have 1 cat that is able to hit the stack, maybe 2 if I can trade for engineering. Do I hit the stack this turn? Should I even hit the stack? If he attacks this turn, i"ll have 14 or 15 defenders if I don't use the cats, 12-14 if I do (depends on engineering). 15 might well survive the attack - he only has 12 elephants.

If he waits, I'll have 3, maybe 4 or 5 more defenders (LB, XBow and Mace, maybe a couple more chariots), though of course no walls. I really am unsure what the right thing to do is - I'd hate to have lose the city on a chariot killing the last defender when 2 catapults would mean that it survives. Any thoughts?

Course, if he waits, he'll have 2 more elephants and another axe, too, so he might do that. And, if he waits, I'll be able to upgrade at least 1 and I think 2 more archers to LB - that's something. I guess I think he'll hit me - time is not on his side.

2) Say I can get iron and engineering. Should I upgrade the spears to pikes? I think the answer is no - the LB are the stronger defenders.

[Serdoa]

1.) Cats depend really on the situation at hand. If he can push through it might be worth it, but normally you'd try to preserve them till you can actually use them to weaken his stack enough to mop it up.

2.) You write that Pikes are the weaker defenders than LBs. I would agree in general with this, but when it comes to mounted units I am not so sure. Have you actually calculated their numbers? Imo LBs with 2 promos will get 95% unique defense bonuses (25% city, 25% on a hill, 45% CG2) while Pikes with 2 promos will get 120% when fighting mounted (100% mounted, 20% C2). Both are Str 6. What am I missing?

[AutomatedTeller]

Ooh - good analysis.

It's probably irrelevant - I can't imagine jowy didn't cut my iron and I don't have another hooked up (another preparation mistake, since I have 2 others in or near my borders)

And, clearly, the elephants will be hitting the pikes - there's no chance the axes hit them.

oh - but the elephants can get shock, which means that, effectively, they are the same (C1 + shcck is +10% for elephant, -25% for pike, vs. C2 being +20% for elephant, or a total of -15% for the pike...)

Well, still probably irrelevant. Like I said, it's kind of unbelievable that Jowy didn't cut my iron, so I'd have to be able to trade for it, and I don't see that happening...

[AutomatedTeller]

I think I'll have to kill TT. He asked for Paper AND Feudalism for Engineering, without offering anything more.

I'll take it, but it really sticks in my craw... that 1610 beakers vs. nearly 2100.

[AutomatedTeller]

He made the mistake of sending his units in unpromoted, so I killed an elephant with my mace - good deal there

He did kill my iron, so I upgraded 5 archers - 1 CG III, I CG II, 1 GII and 2 CG I.

the defense is now 5 LB, 1 xbow, 2 spear, 2 archer, 2 chariots, 2 catapults and 1 badly damaged mace, facing 11 elephants, 9 cats, 5 axes and 3 chariots.


next question - obviously, I get the first half of the turn timer. I made commodore on offer, which I dunno if he'll take - feudalism for iron and 400 gold. if he takes it, then I can upgrade a couple more spears and LB.

There is 12:47 left.

What's the gentlemanly thing to do? End turn now? Wait and end turn at the 12 hour mark?

Jowy basically doesn't play till the morning, anyway.

Obviously, it makes a difference.


In other news - Cornflakes is trying to put a settler up in the same area we are. He could block us from mindy's moai, but it's a crappy site for him - can't get food or really anything.

Pics later.

[AutomatedTeller]

ok - jowy's been playing in the morning, so I'm going to end turn before I go to sleep in a couple of hours.

Some pics:

Killing an elephant with a mace



The defense:




The blue line represents what our border will be if we lose LA Law. I'm building LB in both cities.

Our blockade (pretty sure these are allowed)



Barbarians to the south:



Offer to commodore:



offer to 2metra



peace offer to jowwy:



What do I do if he counters for LA Law? I guess I decline - he can take it, but he'll wreck his army doing it and open himself up to commodore coming from the rear...

[AutomatedTeller]

I didn't grab picks - but I couldn't get the build in LA Law to get me 50 hammers for a LB, so I drywhipped a spear - if commodore takes the deal, then I *think* it will autoupgrade to a pike and complete. I am really unsure. We'll see

I also played around with wealth so I could get enough gold to make 2 upgrades next turn, which I'll use either on spears->pikes or archers->LB.

[AutomatedTeller]

FInally, I didn't post this before:



That's Cornflakes, moving in. If he builds on the red star, we can't build except on the rice, which we'll probably do. It gets the clams, after all, and some other coast.

if not, it hink I'll settle the blue square, shutting him out of the area. Honestly, it's crappy place to build except on one of those blue tiles..