[Spoilers] Hashoosh, Gaz and the crew - The CANZAC Alliance sail the high seas

[Gazglum]

...although also I think Yuri is still dedlurking Mackoti? So there is that, too.

I don't mind Yuri dedlurking Mackoti. If Mackoti is dedlurking HIM I wouldn't be too happy. But there has been no movement at his thread except tumbleweeds for weeks.

[Hashoosh]

PB16 spoilers

Well this game seems to be awfully reminiscent of what's happening right now in PB16 for me. Except I'm facing like 30 knights with nothing but longbows.

But hey, at least you beat him back (for now). I'd say definitely don't move up against him at MK, maybe send a scout to get visibility if you're feeling particularly cocky. 1 great use for a GG is to get medic 3 (it's almost game-breakingly good) on a unit that won't enter combat (like a scout, or a warrior).

Is that jungle tile 1S of Yuri's lonelephant a hill? I'd wager that'd be better than settling right up on his culture, and it's coastal to boot.

[Gazglum]

But hey, at least you beat him back (for now). I'd say definitely don't move up against him at MK, maybe send a scout to get visibility if you're feeling particularly cocky. 1 great use for a GG is to get medic 3 (it's almost game-breakingly good) on a unit that won't enter combat (like a scout, or a warrior).

Is that jungle tile 1S of Yuri's lonelephant a hill? I'd wager that'd be better than settling right up on his culture, and it's coastal to boot.

Medics are terrific in offense, but I don't really see that we will be running a successful offensive campaign like...ever?

YOu'll be the one holding the baby, so what would you prefer?

I think the jungle hill is a good idea for a replant. It would get the Grreat Lighthouse trade routes as well.

[Hashoosh]

Not too sure. Settling a GG doesn't accomplish much if we're not chm, or if we have one of the +2xp civcs. Settling more than 1 in our HE city could be a boon, however. Do we have an HE city? i'm still fiddling around to get RBmod and civ to kiss and make nice so I can have a proper look at the save.

[Qgqqqqq]

We're CHM

Good job Gaz, well played to make him bleed! My one worry is he has a bunch of HA in the fog to hit us with - not worth worrying too much about, but be prepared to lose that stack.

And yeah, defense defense defense! Just keep up a good stack of units and catapults for zone defence and stuff a few longbows (eventually) in any front city. If we do have a temporary advantage, then use it to reinforce/protect the new world.

[Gazglum]

Good advice from all, thanks guys.

This was another good turn, or at least it would have been in a duel. Yuri wants to keep on partying, so he attacked my surviving vulture stack with 2 catapults (both killed), and then brought down war elephants to take out a spearman, a vulture and a catapult. In response I levelled my troops and killed 3 more war elephants (although I did lose a high odds fight with a vulture). If he wants to keep trading 40 hammer War Elephants for 23 hammer vultures I am happy to do so.

I feel bad for him though, as he's had bad luck with his catapult withdrawing.

More interseting, perhaps, is that he did take Vandal in the New World, but seems to have lost one of his axemen doing it (or he moved the third one back into the fog). SO he had 2 axemen in the city, and I had one axemen with two promotions available just outside.



My plan had been to retreat him back to the African Queen, but I saw an opportunity here, and I have more troops ready to defend the Queen if needed. I gave him shock and city attack and eliminated Yuri's full strength axeman from the city. Then I loaded a Vulture onto my galley and sailed it due east towards Vandal. He will be able to unload against the city in a turn, attack the turn after, AND I'll put the archer from The Nautilus aboard also.

Yuri could try counterattacking my vulture on the jungled hill, but he'd likely lose the battle. The city is in revolt so he can't whip. Unless he can get reinforcements into it in the next 2 turns, he's going to struggle to hold it. And its a terrific spot that might dominate the continent, and its also only accessible from my sea lanes rather than his.

He who laughs last, laughs best.

Turn end:
Yuri killed 2 vultures, 1 spearmen, 1 catapult (102 hammers)

I killed 3 elephants, 1 axemen, 2 catapults (203 hammers)

Yuri continues to dominate me in army strength, but if we keep picking the battles on my turf I think I can hold him.


ALSO

- Dhalpir moves a lone horse archer towards HMS Pinafore. I may whip walls there to warn him off.

- Ilios still doesn't have civil service, Yuri is teching paper rather than military techs, Dhalpir is going engineering.

- I think we should settle the Great General in The Flying Dutchman. +10% strength triremes would be a big deal, and it could also produce level 2 infantry. I was intending to put the Heroic Epic into the Jolly Roger, but that's not as much of a naval pump and can already 1-turn classical units, so its not been a prioirty.

Hashoosh, let me know if your'e still struggling to get the game loaded. Also, have you emailed Novice to be added to the tracker?

[Gazglum]

The RNG giveth and it taketh away, and it has now made up for my early game poor luck. I had considered disbanding the vulture left in Yuri's terriotory from last turn's counterattack, but decided to leave it as a road block. Yuri lost a war elephant at 96% chance trying to mop it up.

That seems to have sapped his morale, as it would mine, and there was no further attack this turn. I think he may have decided to retreat for now.

Over at Vandal his axeman promoted to strength but is still at less than full health, and I have 2 vultures and an archer to hit it next turn. I cant' see any unit capable of reinforcing him in that time.

I got Iron Working and found that I only have ONE source of iron in the whole empire and its still not within my borders, so its lucky I waited so long to get the tech I suppose. I'm considering gunning for Philosophy as the next tech. We should be able to get it first, and if I can make peace with Yuri after taking Vandal I could then run 5 turns of pacifism/caste system to get our great scientist out.

Hashoosh, have you got everything in place? I need to officially commence the Handover ceremony tomorrow night.

[Hashoosh]

Tomorrow night would mean... Sometime in the next few hours? This is making my head hurt.

I guess I hadn't realized we were CHM, settling a GG is pretty freaking awesome for CHM leaders. Maybe don't whip walls, but whip a spear into the city Dhal's threatening with a HA?

I'll try my hand at loading the save again, I think I've gotten the problems figured out.

[Gazglum]

Tomorrow night would mean... Sometime in the next few hours? This is making my head hurt.

Tomorrow night means about 8 hours from now, now. Basically i'll play the next save and then do a writeup, and you can play on from there.

Charismatic troops level at 2/4/8xp I think. So there's no immediate difference from non-charismatic as to what level troops come out until you've settled 2 generals + theocracy. But that's why I favour putting him in the naval pump city, because that does make a difference immediately, and with theocracy we could have a serious naval advantage.

[Gazglum]

TURN 93: The Departure of Gazglum

Ok Hashoosh, if all goes well you should receive and be able to play the next turn. I should still get the turns, and be able to check them (after a 48 hour gap) for the rest of the week at least. Chances are that I might well be able to play a turn here and there if you are busy, but I can’t rely on it.

I’ve scattered some signs on the map this turn, mainly showing where I was thinking of putting future cities. We have room for 4 more on our mainland, and at least 2 more on the New World, depending on how daring you feel.

I’ll give a turn report then run through my thoughts about where the game is going. Feel free to debate or ignore them as you see fit!

Turn 93
Yuri didn’t attack again, but our new scouting chariot saw that he building up a new stack, though maybe its there for defense. I moved back to our side of the border, if he kills it with the horse archer we could kill it back with the spear, but maybe lose the spear. Regardless, as long as you keep the catapults and vultures back for zone defense, Yuri will make no further progress in this direction without a big buildup of fresh troops, I would expect him to wait until macemen now.



In the New World we took Vandal as planned. Lost one vulture, but won flawlessly with the second and backed him up with an archer. If Yuri won’t take peace we need a spearman here too, asap. This city claims marble, corn, banana, sugar and copper, so I am happy to have got it in exchange for losing the Argo. If we can keep it, at least.



At this point, I offered Yuri peace. We can’t make any more gains against him, but he might struggle to make gains against us as well. I hope he decides that its in his best interest not to prolong the tit-for-tat fighting.

If Yuri DOES take peace, then we have 10 turns we need to take advantage of. I think we should tech philosophy, then run caste system/pacifism to get Great People and pop all borders, before switching back to military or manufacturing techs as the enforced peace draws to a close.

If Yuri DOESN’T take peace, it’s a dilemma. I think if we tech feudalism and build a few double-city defense longbows from The Flying Dutchman we can keep him at bay. But what he is most likely to do in this situation is to ferry his elephants to the New World and try to sweep down Vandal > African Queen. We’ll need to move some of our own troops to match him and be prepared to whip walls.

It might also be worth pumping out 2-3 more upgraded triremes from The Flying Dutchman and using them to cut his ability to ferry troops between his mainland and his cities on the New World.