RB Pitboss #1 SPOILER - Hatshepsut / India

[regoarrarr]

Email to Elkad

Hey Elkad,

As you probably have seen, Imhotep and Shadyforce declared war on me. Errr well they did the first time we played 275 AD, so I am assuming that they will again whenever they get around to playing their turns again.

I know that you are at war with them too, and your armies may very well be all tied up in that theater. But if you have any units in the north that you could spare, I could definitely use them in the defense of Green Township ( that is the city that is just north of my border city of Fairfield).

Also, I have requested Philosophy, and if you would like to exchange World Maps, I would be happy to do that now that Broker has researched Paper.

I also gifted my galley in Brookville Lake to sunrise, who had offered a few units that he could spare.

[regoarrarr]

Reply back from Elkad

techs and maps offered.

I'm not sure what ds has going, need to wait a turn and see what units I can spare there. I had one numidian in your area, I moved and gifted it

Email from sunrise

Elephant aboard and it's back next to your city. I'll be able to load 2 more elephants in 2 turns.

Reply back from Yaz

I've had a chance to go over the emails and look at the game as much
as I can now that I'm back home and I'll be honest that I can't see
that I could really help you by switching right now. We don't yet
share a border and we have a decent amount of distance between us so
unit helping would basically take far too long and would leave me low
on troops. As I mentioned before I didn't think now was the time for
an action as wasn't in the position for it. Right now the only thing
I see leaving my alliance would do, with no firm home to move to,
would be to drastically weaken my position and paint a target on my
forehead which I'm rather not fond of. If we were in an alliance
already then I'd of course be right there to help out but from what I
can see it's basically asking me to do sacrifice myself to come to
your aid now.

I understand now that Krill had some knowledge of the attack but
unless it completely slipped my mind it was not part of our original
politics talk and of late our talks have been focused more on growing
our cities (namely the mundane work of chopping trees).

I do however consider you a friend in the game and wish you luck
(though it might sound hollow I do mean it) and I will do what I can
to avoid aiding any efforts against you from them without making our
friendship too public so that it can potentially still be used as a
surprise move later on which I continue to believe is the best overall
strategic move.

My reply to yaz

Don't worry - I understand. I do think that our eventual long-term interests go together. I'm not sure what Krill thinks, or if he has any feelings from earlier in the game that he is projecting.

The thing that I could really use from you, and it is something that you can provide without anyone knowing about it, is military intel from your quechua that's in the area. Specifically the composition of any stacks in the area, and also if any units are heading north towards my other cities (i.e. away from the main stack)

[regoarrarr]

Okay - I logged on to check force composition. Imhotep has not moved yet but shadyforce has.

He has
1 mace,
4 elephants (jumbinator, jumberto, jumbabout and jumbin jack flask),
2 HAs,
1 xbow
1 pike
8 cats.

Imhotep has 10 elephants in shady's city and I know there's 5 praets, 1 axe and 4 impis around. So that's 20 strength-8 units. I believe I will have 14 strength-8 units that will make it in time to attack out, with 6 cats. I will also have various other "junk" (HAs, longbow, axes, archers, etc)

[regoarrarr]

Chat with sunrise.

(11:46:08 AM) sunrise089: di regoarrarr
(11:46:17 AM) me: and di to you too
(11:46:24 AM) sunrise089: heh
(11:46:29 AM) sunrise089: hows your gold situation?
(11:46:36 AM) me: i swapped to all gold
(11:46:36 AM) sunrise089: do you want extra to use for upgradews?
(11:46:40 AM) me: yes probably
(11:46:44 AM) me: what would be your best upgrades?
(11:46:52 AM) me: i have 1 5xp archer that could go to longbow
(11:46:57 AM) me: and a few promoted axes
(11:47:02 AM) sunrise089: ok, if you're able to log in again this turn I can give it to you
(11:47:11 AM) me: yes i expect to be able to login thisi afternoon
(11:47:15 AM) sunrise089: considering how many cats they have, probably axe->mace
(11:47:32 AM) me: so you think probably i will need to attack out?
(11:47:34 AM) sunrise089: or horse archer->knight if that's possible
(11:47:35 AM) sunrise089: yes
(11:47:45 AM) me: yes i could do a HA ->knight
(11:47:54 AM) sunrise089: but if you really are only 14vs20 units, all strength 8, i think you'll do fine
(11:48:04 AM) me: well we each have assorted junk
(11:48:14 AM) me: he probably has more junk than me
(11:48:29 AM) sunrise089: I mean, with so many elephants in the enemy stack, mace may still make the most sense....I can't predict the collateral with certainty
(11:48:41 AM) sunrise089: we think the enemy units will be on a hill?
(11:48:53 AM) me: possibly
(11:48:56 AM) sunrise089: ok, let me try to be more coherent:
(11:49:01 AM) me: but they can't get to the hill without going on flat ground
(11:49:05 AM) me: let me get an image
(11:49:15 AM) sunrise089: 1) I will gift you the boat back, but I assume i should use it for more unity ferrying first
(11:49:17 AM) me: since we have paper
(11:49:32 AM) sunrise089: 2) you should definately upgrade with all of your availavle gold, as well as my gold
(11:49:42 AM) me: well, here was my thought - only if i move now can the unit that's on it make it to the front in time
(11:49:52 AM) sunrise089: normally the ha-knight upgrade is pretty cost effective, but I'd like it better if you had more cats
(11:50:19 AM) me: http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/7028/turn125a.jpg
(11:50:54 AM) sunrise089: 3) I suppose you should slave the pike since it will reach the front in time....it sucks that it's both a poor defender vs cats and a rather poor attacker as well
(11:51:29 AM) me: yeah
(11:52:06 AM) me: so if you look at that image
(11:52:09 AM) sunrise089: what's the cultural defense like in the city?
(11:52:12 AM) me: 60%
(11:52:15 AM) me: and on a hill
(11:52:34 AM) me: they are currently on the forest 3N of The Castle
(11:52:46 AM) me: 3E2S of green township (my size 10 city that seems to be the target)
(11:53:24 AM) sunrise089: ok...first, make sure you keep some units 1S of green township, in case they try a 2-move atttack on that southern city
(11:53:32 AM) me: right
(11:53:40 AM) me: i have a few units stationed where that elephant is
(11:53:43 AM) sunrise089: in fact, that whole attacj is odd
(11:53:44 AM) me: S-SW of Green
(11:54:14 AM) sunrise089: it looks like tthat pop5 city making a cat would have been an easier target
(11:54:17 AM) me: i thought they might try going up to norwood (size 5 city)
(11:54:19 AM) me: exactly
(11:54:30 AM) me: they have the forest tile 4S1W of that roaded
(11:54:37 AM) me: but norwood just hit 100 culture a few turns ago
(11:54:46 AM) me: and popped borders
(11:55:07 AM) me: the majority of my northern army that was coming down from the far NE is currently in norwood
(11:55:14 AM) me: after having moved this turn
(11:55:14 AM) sunrise089: ok...well if you have the worker turns, you want to make a direct road between pop5 and pop10 cities
(11:55:29 AM) me: ok
(11:55:56 AM) sunrise089: basically if you make a direct SW road from pop5 city your 1-movers can still cover both cities
(11:56:03 AM) me: ok
(11:56:06 AM) me: i might be able to do that
(11:56:15 AM) me: goooo fast workers
(11:56:27 AM) sunrise089: is size10 city still size 10?
(11:56:29 AM) me: no
(11:56:31 AM) me: 7
(11:56:33 AM) me: cap also 7
(11:56:37 AM) me: both whipped maces from scratch this turn
(11:56:41 AM) sunrise089: ok
(11:56:42 AM) sunrise089: good
(11:56:48 AM) me: i'll whip them both again for maces next turn
(11:56:49 AM) sunrise089: have the enemy units moves?
(11:56:56 AM) me: shady moved this turn on to the forest
(11:57:02 AM) me: imhotep moved on to the forest this turn the first time it was played
(11:57:05 AM) me: but hasn't removed them yet
(11:57:10 AM) me: re-moved not removed
(11:57:32 AM) sunrise089: does your front city have walls?
(11:57:35 AM) me: no
(11:58:08 AM) sunrise089: ok, maximiaze food in it if you can, but I think you want to slave a mace (if a mace 3pop on Normal?) and then a walls
(11:58:39 AM) me: okay
(11:58:42 AM) me: yes 3 pop
(11:58:45 AM) sunrise089: 60%+walls+hill....I think if you have 14 defenders they can't even necessarily attack without bombarding
(11:58:53 AM) me: though in fairfield (sw city)
(11:58:55 AM) me: it's size 6
(11:59:00 AM) me: but it tells me it costs 4 pop to whip a mace
(11:59:17 AM) me: oh i bet it's the forges in the cap and green
(11:59:21 AM) me: make it 3 instead of 4
(11:59:22 AM) sunrise089: right
(11:59:33 AM) me: that's why i have to whip the pike there
(11:59:41 AM) sunrise089: ok, that's why I was thinking base4....In MP medi you dont have forges, and in Ren we don't make maces
(11:59:46 AM) sunrise089: or an elephant, right?
(11:59:53 AM) sunrise089: normally that's a 3-pop whip
(12:00:07 PM) me: let me check hammers
(12:00:20 PM) me: ah WE is only 60 hammers
(12:00:26 PM) sunrise089: on quick w/o forge, elephant is 3 pop (as is horse archer) and mace is 4
(12:00:27 PM) me: so i bet i could whip a WE in fairfield
(12:00:33 PM) sunrise089: do that then
(12:00:36 PM) me: right
(12:00:54 PM) sunrise089: Elephant->longbow->crossbow->pike probably for 3pop whips
(12:00:55 PM) me: i can overflow into a pike and possibly 2-pop whip that next turn
(12:01:18 PM) sunrise089: overflow hammers dont work like that, do they?
(12:01:25 PM) me: no
(12:01:26 PM) sunrise089: it will still be an original cost whip
(12:01:31 PM) me: but i already have hammers invested in the pike
(12:01:35 PM) sunrise089: ok
(12:01:37 PM) sunrise089: gotcha
(12:01:50 PM) me: assuming it will grow 3->4 after teh WE whip
(12:01:59 PM) sunrise089: honestly, i'm baffled why they moved into that forest
(12:02:09 PM) sunrise089: their border allows them to start 1 turn closer to your city, right?
(12:02:20 PM) sunrise089: next to the lake
(12:02:25 PM) me: yeah had they wanted to
(12:02:43 PM) me: that would have put them on flat ground
(12:02:51 PM) sunrise089: but they have to go on flat anyways
(12:02:53 PM) me: and i see that they can't get onto the hill NE of the city without first going on flat ground
(12:02:54 PM) me: right
(12:03:00 PM) sunrise089: so either shady mismoved or just wasnt thniking, or it's a diversion
(12:03:10 PM) me: well that's where they all were on the first time we played this turn
(12:03:15 PM) sunrise089: how much of their power is accounted for? any indian spies around?
(12:03:17 PM) me: imhotep shouldn't be allowed to not move there this turn
(12:03:29 PM) me: since he moved there the first time before the reload
(12:03:29 PM) me: right?
(12:03:29 PM) sunrise089: I tend to agree - it's a reload, not a re-do
(12:03:37 PM) me: well we'll see what happens there
(12:03:39 PM) me: and yes i have one spy
(12:03:48 PM) me: it's on the hill 1NE of green
(12:03:52 PM) me: and i believe has movement left this turn
(12:04:14 PM) me: let's see my power is 389 i think
(12:04:21 PM) me: theirs are probably around 350-360 each
(12:05:49 PM) me: i can do a better analysis tonight
(12:05:59 PM) me: but i think there are probably not any units there
(12:06:11 PM) me: i have asked yaz to let me know if any stacks move to the north
(12:06:14 PM) me: since he has a quechua there
(12:06:17 PM) me: i *think* he will do that
(12:06:20 PM) me: but not sure
(12:07:04 PM) me: each have about 76K in tech power
(12:07:10 PM) me: probably 15K pop
(12:07:23 PM) me: 20K buildings
(12:07:39 PM) me: maybe 20K garrison so about 230K in units
(12:08:04 PM) me: 10 ele3s, 5 praets, 1 axe and 4 impis
(12:08:17 PM) me: that's 140K
(12:11:19 PM) sunrise089: ok, so certainly most of it
(12:18:29 PM) me: right
(12:19:15 PM) me: apostolic palace completes next turn
(12:25:56 PM) sunrise089: cool, do you get to put forth a vote right away?
(12:26:07 PM) me: from what i sa
(12:26:13 PM) me: first vote is for resident
(12:26:14 PM) sunrise089: heck, maybe shady won't know how it works and just vote "no" rather than "defy"
(12:26:16 PM) me: then it's votes every 10 turns
(12:26:27 PM) me: so probably not a vote for another 10 turns
(12:26:31 PM) me: but if they do take my city
(12:26:46 PM) me: i'll give them the old "return city back to regoarrarr" vote
(12:27:15 PM) sunrise089: ok, sounds good
(12:27:28 PM) me: i'd like your vote for me for resident if that's all right
(12:27:34 PM) sunrise089: well i'm off to lunch, but I'll log in to the game first (in about 10 minutes) and offer you all my gold
(12:27:40 PM) sunrise089: yes, I'll vote for you as resident
(12:27:42 PM) me: ok and ok
(12:28:24 PM) sunrise089: incidentally, my sense is that between AP votes, gifting gold for units, gift of my units, and being on the same team in RBP2 we have something close to a permanant alliance in RBP1
(12:28:34 PM) me: agreed
(12:28:42 PM) sunrise089: specifically because some of my choices, like not building a single library, dont make any sense without one
(12:28:58 PM) me: i definitely feel closer to your civ than even the other civs in the uta
(12:29:22 PM) sunrise089: ok, fair enough then....i'll offer the gold in a bit, talk to you latersup

A few interesting things -
* Imhotep still hasn't moved this turn, or if he has, he has not moved on to the forest tile that he did on Take 1 of 275AD. I'll keep an eye on that.
* We talk about sunrise and I kind of having somewhat of a permanent alliance
* He's giving me all his gold
* I need to get some workers making a more direct road between Norwood and Green Twp.

[MWIN]

imho said he is not going to paly any more.....Isn't he?

[regoarrarr]

imho said he is not going to paly any more.....Isn't he?

I thought he was only going to quit if we changed the rules, which I don't think has passed yet?

[regoarrarr]

Brief update. sunrise and I have talked a bit about logistics. I will probably post some more pictures tonight.

Elkad upgraded a knight this turn (I am not sure if his email meant 300AD, the turn that just passed, or 325AD the one that just rolled over). He is sending it my way.

I replied to his message

Great - thanks. I believe that this turn (the one that just rolled over today - 325 AD), Imhotep and shady will be moving their units to a tile next to my city. Tragically, many of my units are 1 tile short of being able to reach the city this turn, so I will be logged on when it flips to 350AD to either get them all in the city or attack out.

If it can make it to my lands in 325 AD to gift to me that would be great. If not, I'll take it whenever you can get it!

So yeah - tragically many of my forces are 4 tiles away from Green Twp. Still, I think I can automate them and move them into the city as soon as we flip to 350 AD. That is assuming they move for 325 AD with more than 9 hours on the clock, which shouldn't be a problem. I'm trying to figure out when the turn will flip over tomorrow morning. It's Saturday so hopefully I shouldn't have a problem being around.

I will try and get a sit-rep post tonight.

[regoarrarr]

Okay, apologies if it's too wide, but here's the battlefront.



In true sunrise annotation style!!!

Okay, so as I mentioned earlier, a lot of my units are 4 tiles away from Green Twp, or 1 tile after I move this turn (you'll see some of my units have moved and some have not). Shady and Imhotep have not moved this turn (325 AD). I am assuming they will move on to the dye or the tile 1E of Green Twp.

You can see that shady has sent a 3 unit stack to the north, and dsplaisted is getting frisky. I am currently ignoring those units because I have plenty of units still streaming down from the south.

I will be doing some testing later on and I will report back.

[regoarrarr]

Okay - I did some sims of the units.

I put in their units
14 elephants
5 praets
1 mace
1 xbow
1 pike
4 impis
(and the rest - but the above were the only ones that ever defended)

my units
12 maces
4 eles
2 knights
6 cats

I simulated attacking out. After the 6 cats, on my first try, I won nearly every battle! SANCTA like odds

Actually, the first ones were in the 40 and 50%s but after that I had odds for all of the battles. But I won all but one.

Second sim I lost a few more, but still I think that's the way to go.

If I have time, I'll try to sim what it's like defending.

[regoarrarr]

Email to dsplaisted about his axe

Hi there!

I noticed your axe roaming around near my borders. Given the state of war between me and shadyforce (and Imhotep), as well as your close historical cooperation with shadyforce, it doesn't exactly give me warm and fuzzy feelings!

And while you and I haven't really gotten off to that great of a relationship in this game, I can't help but wonder if I should be expecting a declaration of war from you too soon?

Now, I can certainly take some of the blame for our poor relations, what with the declaring war on you and killing your spear, and on our first contact as well! But that was awhile ago, and we haven't seemed to get anything going. Perhaps we are both set in our ways...

Anyways, given the state of war near my borders, unless you want to sign some sort of NAP, I reserve the right to kill your axe if it keeps hanging out on my borders.

But really I hope for something better between our 2 civs