picklepikkl embarks on the Fool's Journey

[picklepikkl]

Oh yeah, I have all the cavs who were going to provide support for the attack on Thomas Hobbes, plus my other two stacks were untouched. I was expecting my southern stack to get hit, but didn't think it could get wiped.

But greenline didn't declare yet, bleh.

[ReallyEvilMuffin]

I'm really bad at war. Sigh.

War is all about mobility this game. Thats why huge numbers of mounted troops are used, and in these eras galleons/transports. You need to threaten multiple cities so he has to spread his forces. Stacks are rather vulnerable in the open due to collateral causers, and being so immobile.

[picklepikkl]

I guess I didn't realize how strong collateral was. 3 cannons and 3 cats (Ancient Age units!) caused a wipe of 15 technologically superior units.

In hindsight, possibly I should have waited on advancing on Thomas Hobbes until the other two stacks reached their positions as well, thus arriving outside three cities on the same turn. Alternatively, I guess Panzers? But Industrialism is so many techs away.

Really, it's this sort of thing that makes me wish I had a more experienced dedlurker. Making this up as I go along is, er, causing issues.

[DTG]

Infantry are a little underwhelming. It's really easy to build Cavalry with Combat 1 + Pinch at this stage in the game, and they then get decent odds attacking Infantry on flatland even before collateral. Machine Guns can help a bit, or you can add in a bunch of Cavalry with Formation to help defend (and a big stack spreads the collateral).

[picklepikkl]

That makes sense, and really I should have done the math on how I would defend against this myself.

The major thing I have going for me is a much larger production base than Dreylin, who is several techs away from Assembly Line still. Hopefully greenline does finally decide to jump in; I could really use him forcing Dreylin to spread his forces. Grumpy about him accepting the Iron for Iron trade with the execution date if he didn't intend to join, but such is the peril of AI diplo.

[picklepikkl]

Today I woke up to discover that a very dear friend of mine died in a climbing accident. I'd been meaning to call her to catch up "one of these days." That will have to wait, I guess.

Oh, also Dreylin wiped my 27-stack. Because of course he did.

I had enough emotional control to withdraw my surviving forces as opposed to just throwing them at Dreylin's walls in a pointless exercise of frustration. Not even sure what I picked for builds in my cities -- whatever got me to "End Turn" fastest.

[Dp101]

Holy crap, I'm really sorry. You might want to ask for a sub for a bit if you feel like keeping up the turns is too much right now.

[picklepikkl]

Thanks, Dp.

The turns come once a day, because Dreylin plays in the late evening after kids are in bed. I don't think it's worth putting the brakes on the game when at this point the Deeply Involved Thing I was trying to do has come to a screeching halt. I can just keep playing until Jowy decides to fuck someone up and end the game.

[picklepikkl]

In what leading commentators are calling "a complete dick move," I've razed Thomas Hobbes. (I think I already used that joke once this game, I forget)




It won't bring Maria back, or help me finish in the top two, but I'm petty enough that a spiteful kick to the kneecap does make me feel a little better.

[picklepikkl]

Dreylin sent me the turn, but Facebook decided it would helpfully suggest a Memory for September 23, which happened to be a post she was tagged in and Liked.

I don't really drink, but this feels like the sort of situation that calls for heavy drinking. The turn can wait until morning.