RB Pitboss #2 [SPOILERS] - Speaker and Sullla

[Reagan]

If this war is simply Jowy + athlete against us, we're extremely confident that we'll make it through with minimum damage.

I presume you included this to help ease Nakor's mind that you're not going to lean too heavily on him for assistance with Jowy/kathlete. However, there's a flip side to it -- one that might make him think "Hmmm, if they're strong enough to handle an assault from two teams, why should I help them?" If that happens, Nakor might be more inclined to work with Dantski or another civ(s) against you. As Speaker noted, you *are* blowing away the competition in terms of GNP and crop yield. Just like with a hippie infestation (gratuitous South Park reference), it's best to take down the top opposing civ threat while it's still growing, not once it's too big to handle. Just food for thought . . . .

edit to add:

to vehemently

You need another "o". :D

[Cyneheard]

Look at Thebes. Jowy is working a bare grassland tile. That calls for a double .

[Sullla]

Yeah, but the alternative is giving the impression that we're going to be steamrolled by the triple alliance, and no one wants to join the side of a losing war. It's a legit concern Reagan, but I think we do better playing this off confidently than sounding weak and fearful.

Besides, having seen what Jowy's got incoming, we *ARE* confident that we're going to make it through with minimal damage. Speaker's going to post here in a bit with some more on our defenses. I'll just say right now that we're going to bait Jowy into moving in with his phalanxes, and then crush his stack with overwhelming force.

I went ahead and sent the last draft to Nakor, FYI.

[Speaker]

Here is a look at the battleground, with a quick explanation about defending in multiplayer.


From his position on the forest hill, Greece can see into Chancellorsville. Our "defenses" are 1 Axe, 1 Horse Archer, 1 Spearman, and 1 Archer.

"This is going to be easy," Greece thinks.

Next turn, the defenses will look completely different, with the following units in range to defend:
4 Axes
5 Horse Archers
3 Archers
2 Spears
1 Chariot (currently in Gettysburg, can move up if needed)

The absolute best thing Greece could do, as far as we are concerned, is move onto the red circle. The 2 Horse Archers that complete in Gettysburg and Antietam next turn can either reach the city center, or attack the red dot, but will not have enough movement to reach the tile above the red dot.

The question you are probably wondering is: why bother with the subterfuge? Why not pile everything into Chancellorsville and try and dissuade Greece from attacking?

In this particular case, it is to our advantage if he moves directly toward Chancellorsville, so we want it to appear weak.

Kathlete's Horse Archers can only reach the forest hill next turn, so if Greece moves off the hill, we will have at least 1 turn to attack them without cover.

We will have the following odds on attack with our Horse Archers:
Combat 1 Spear: 24.1
Unpromoted Spear: 26.8
Combat 1 Phalanx: 73
Unpromoted Phalanx: 77.7
(the odds would be much better if we had enough time to build Stables, and add the "Shock" promotion)

If he moves onto flat ground, and assuming we don't get unlucky, we should lose 1 HA attacking the Spear, and then kill 3 or 4 Phalanx. That is half of his army, and leaves him with no prayer of killing the city!

The defense is much easier if we can separate the two stacks. If they timed it properly and stacked the HA on top of the Phalanx, we would not be able to attack. When defending against 2 players, 50/50 is not good enough.

However, if Greece dilly dallies and waits for the Ottoman army to catch up, we'll have time to build more units, so that's alright with us too!

[antisocialmunky]

Thanks man. That's a great explanation.

And wow, it would have been impressive if he did the lyrics of "Never Gonna Give You Up" as the names of his units in his stack. That would have seriously impressed me. But no, he just mentioned it.

[Speaker]

One other thing I neglected to mention:

If Greece was to move NW onto the forest, he could put us into a bit of a bind by pressuring two cities. We could, however, protect the hill with a few units, and we have plenty of workers to road, if needed. But generally speaking, we should have chopped that forest NW of his position long ago. Leaving forests in front of your cities is a recipe for disaster!

[Shoot the Moon]

If Jowy were to move NW, what would the correct response be, aside from moving a couple of units to the hill? I have a guess, but want to see what someone who actually knows MP would do

(Note: I ask this only to try to improve my MP skill and see if I understand MP warfare correctly. I honestly have no idea which tile Jowy is planning to move to)

[Sullla]

Early morning turn update:

* Turn 100 has started (my how time flies!) Neither Jowy nor Kathlete have moved their units yet; they've got about 6 hours remaining to do so. I wonder if they'll request a Pause.... The one downside to a 2 vs 1 situation is having to coordinate with your allies, and since Jowy is in Sweden and Kathlete are in the US (I think), they're going to have to fight some time zone issues. Perfect!

* I grabbed the Demographics screenshots for our team, but of course did nothing else so far.

* Got an email message from Broker and plako:

Dear Killer Angels,

Thank you for keeping us informed and good luck with your warring efforts.

I'm trying to figure out what is the state of the world currently diplomatically and where to place us in the future. So far I've been neutral towards against most nations, but I suspect maintaing neutrality is becoming harder in the near future. We also haven't yet met dsplaisted that is a pity since I think we might have a common enemy.

I hope I'm not too blunt and I understand if you don't want to answer, but could you share your opinion concerning the co-operative/allied parties in this game?

Based on your description Jowy and Athlete/Kalin are working together and I think Athlete/Kalin have decent relationship with Whosit and probably not so good with dsplaisted. I don't know how DMOC/Nakor and Dantski feel towards your enemies or you. Do you suspect Dantski will be joining the attack against you?

Best regards,
plako

This gives us the perfect opportunity to respond and ask about what resources they discovered on their offshore island, which is something Speaker brought up yesterday. Will cover more stuff later today, once we see what the other teams do.

[Speaker]

Out of curiosity, how many of you lurkers who have contributed to this thread are playing in PB3? I hope to be able to swing by your threads and make some suggestions to you!

[Kyan]

Oo pick me pick me!