Lost an axe otherwise would be #1 in power. The delay to expansion has a cost on demographics. I have restarted research to Writing this turn as I have use for it shortly.
Misclicks aside, here are Ventessels options. Note that his axe is 80hp, and he is not allowed to promote it until his half of T67, so when I play next turn it will still be 80hp and C1.
Retreat to northern desert hill after pillaging the river silver. Nothing I can do to stop this (the pillaging, this happens in all scenarios), I don't get to make another attack, GG bar stays at 24/30.
Move ministack to western silver, place C1 chariot underneath the stack. I have 4 spears, a 97hp C4 axe, C1 chariot and 74hp axe to attack it. Guess what, that ministack dies, I have odds in all battles. Lowest odds battle is a 70% battle for a C2 spear against his spear.
Move ministack to southern desert hill, place C1 chariot underneath the stack. Same problem. My 97hp axe has 85% odds to win, I have one battle where any of my spears have 30% odds to beat his, but so long as his spear takes 1 hit, then the C2 spear has 72% odds or better and as the C2 spear also has formation, his spear will always be targetted even if the spear has something like 20hp. Then the rest of the spears obliterate his stack.
Move ministack to the corn, place C1 chariot underneath the stack, place the chariot that has pillaged the river silver under the stack. I considered this as the most annoying outcome, but frankly it's not any different to moving to the desert hill. The river may help the chariots, but the spear is the main obstacle at this point and I would have an extra 74hp spear to help attack the stack with towards the end anyway (90% odds are the worst it would experience against any of the chariots).
The river doesn't help the chariots when facing C1 spears. I considered putting the chariot and a spear on the corn, but that removes one spear from attacking the desert hill if Ventessel moves there, or the silver. Also considered moving a spear onto the grass cow, but same problem against attacking the silver. The only benefits would be if Ventessel moved to the corn, no effect if he moves to the desert hill. It's a move that makes sense IMO, but I'd be putting a lot of faith on beating his spear outright with 68% or 72% odds in the scenario for the western silver, leaving me with one fewer unit to make up poor odds. I only need to hit his spear once to then get good odds on a follow up attack, 95% chance of that.
So basically, 2 axes, 1 chariot and 4 spears in AF, one spear on the plains cow, build a 3XP quechua for a medic and let Ventessel make his own mistakes again. I have my 8XP unit now. And if next turn that C4 axe dies I'm throwing my PC out of the fucking window.
(July 4th, 2017, 03:33)Krill Wrote: Well, lost an axe but killed axe and two chariots and have that 9XP unit. Full report unlikely due to time constraints but sufficed to say I mispromoted a unit due to feline interference that screwed things a bit. Ventessel split stack and moved everything to the copper except two chariots which he moved to the river silver.
If he does not retreat now I will change my opinion of the attack from negligent to attempted king making. He tried but he has 4 units left of the starting attack and whilst he can pillage a few tiles more it would cost him those 4 units to do so. That's not a good trade, because I'm 3xp from a GG and denying me that would be important, adding that to AF means some nice CR2 units to attack him with in 20 turns.
I'll be kind. I'm going to change my mind to "Clueless" or "Poorly advised". There's nothing wrong with not understanding the game, it's not like it's an important life skill or anything. But if any ded lurker told him to rush me and then failed to provide him with guidance you were unreasonably cruel.
I'll also point out that I logged in a second time after ending turn, before Ventessel played, and changed the production to a worker. Ventessel okayed me logging in to take a screenshot.
Basically this picture is how things were at the start of turn. I'd changed production from a quechua in the knowledge that I'd basically tilt if I couldn't kill that stack this turn, so either way a medic is irrelevant. Better to get a turn ahead in whipping out workers.
Battle log:
Axeman 0, C4, 97hp v Ventessel Axeman, C1, 80hp. 95% Win!@33hp, 5 rounds lost, odds of result 11.3%, odds of this result or better 83%.
Spearman 1, C2 Formation, 100hp v Ventessel Spearman, unpromoted, 100hp. 27% loss, 37hp spearman, 6 rounds lost, odds of result 8%, odds of this result or worse, 17%.
Spearman 0, C1, 95hp v Ventessel Chariot, C1, 100hp. 97.9% Win!, 52hp Spearman, odds of result 14.9%, odds of this result or better 82% (4 rounds lost). GG (Heinz Guderian) Born in Room 101
Spearman 2, C1, 100hp v Ventessel Chariot, C1 Shock, 80hp. 99.8% Win! 100hp (bit fucking late). Odds of result 33.4%
Axeman 3, C2 Shock, 74h v Ventessel Spearman, unpromoted, 37hp. >99.9% Win! 74hp. Odds of result 70%[/b]
Basically, the RNG has tried to take a giant dump on me in this way. I've lost 3 battles, one of them was my own stupidity however was used to my advantage this turn in killing that axe. The other two losses were a 90% axe loss and that 72% spear loss. I figured that a Formation spear is actually not that valuable given I was about to pop a GG which I will add to AF, giving me the ability to build them at will. Spearman 2 is now at 2XP, none of the other units promote now (however Axe 0 is at 11XP, so only 2 XP from C5 and not giving a shit about anything for the next 50 turns, HA be damned).
The loss of 3 tiles has given me the HE unit, a GG and crippled my neighbour. I have a holy city and I am not behind in tech.
Food bar is at 5/30.
Whip worker T67, dump 24+10 hammers into a terrace and 8 food into the bar T68, worker T69, double whip T70, over 19 hammers plus 7 hammers to finish Terrace T71 with 6 extra food produced, food bar at 18/26, then use plains cow, pig, grass corn, 11fpt to grow eot72 with 11 food saved out of 13 and 14/28 box. Grow every other turn so eot78 back at size 7 working all improved tiles again. Build Library whilst growing?
I look forward to this changing of the coming turns.
Cities 3 and 4 (WP and 12M) are essentially crippled. 12M will have a terrace chopped on T72ish and needs to then go onto a junk whip cycle, waiting for the plains hill sheep to be improved. Probably a triple whipped settler at size 6? I'd like to double whip a light house actually, and Sailing is due T77ish? WP needs to finish this worker eot70 at size 2 with no terrace, no hammers, and no forests to chop. And I want a galley for island trade routes ASAP plus giving up the pig to AF. Options? Grow to size 3 and work as many hills as possible, but no workers to improve that grass hill. Probably going to be stuck at size 2 building the terrace then 1 pop whipping it? I also want that workboat for the Whales, but without giving it all the resources that can't happen. Do I need 7 workers actually? Should I whip that second worker from AF, or should I go for something a bit different like another settler...
Looks like WP was the main victim of this war on my part.
Crop yield and gnp numbers are a bit concerning, but considering the circumstances demos look pretty good.
Are you planning on suing for peace?
Is there any hope remaining for Oracle? If not then need to get a temple whipped and a priest hired soonish. (Do you have Priesthood yet?)
7 workers may be overkill depending on when your next settler is planned. Most of your cities are still small and are getting whipped?
Otoh, there are 3 excellent tiles near AF that need reimproving once you've got those pesky kids off the lawn.
I see no reason to offer peace with Ventessel, in reality I believe I should be planning his demise at this point. He is no longer a threat though, an annoyance at most.
Next turn I need to sit down and plan micro out. I already have a plan for Oracle and it's linked to Writing, Priesthood is already researched. The most obvious change is to stick AF at size 5 and build a settler though. I need to figure out how to quickly get a terrace in WP and the rest should fall into place.
Turn will roll close to midnight according to Ventessel. As we are at war I would not normally play a morning turn, but given the lack of threat he currently presents I will make an exception tomorrow, I can play the turn before running away to deal with adult responsibilities. but it does give me a chance to report this turn.
I considered a second double whip. tl;dr is that I cannot grow both WP and AF at the same time, I do better by growing one, then stagnating the other. Due to this, I am hand building the terrace, regrowing to size 6, then stagnating at size 7. I intend to Oracle Aesthetics. With Silver hooked, and enough gold I can then research Lit in 7 turns, maybe 6. My intention is to overflow a full turns production into HE, finish HE then just start bullying people with 1 turned, 3 promo units. Due to build time for HE, I believe it most prudent to tech Sailing>Lit, settle Marble, the hammer savings on the HE make up most of the cost of the settler. This plan leaves a window between reaching size 7 (again) and starting HE, this window will be filled up with finishing the library started after the Terrace and settlers. I believe I can have the HE finished by T90. Compare to PB5, this is 25 turns sooner. That is 25 units I can build by that point. Consider this assumption for my views on how to play out the rest of this game.
Note Oracle at 60/150. I can whip the chariot for 1 pop and overflow these hammers into the Oracle. Flexibility has a cost: due to the attack from Ventessel and my uncertainty at needing additional units, I decided building the chariot was the correct move. I do not doubt this decision, I acknowledge that in this situation I was wrong however I will never accept that believing opponents are incompetent and make unwise moves is the right way to plan out a strategy (without proof prior that they will make the incorrect move, at which point it moves from an assumption to a gamble.)
I do not know if I will finish Oracle, however my main competitor seems to be stuck at 3 cities and under attack so there is room for a measure of surety in this assumption. Oracle gives me the option of a GP for a shrine. I would want a temple to speed this up, and a library to then give me a second GP @ 11gpp for a golden age at a point where I would need it to revolt and pump out more great people and force a chain of golden ages...but I am not certain this is needed. With an early HE pumping out units, I believe the more appropriate strategy would be to consider the need for secondary unit pumps to enlarge the empire, and try to keep as many cities as possible on economy, for as long as possible. If I can then keep opponents off balance at some point I will reach #1 position and then the game becomes a matter of forcing concession.
Due to AF intending on building HE, I need to turn R101 into a settler pump. I require R101 to sit at size 5, at 21foodhammers per turn, to fulfill this. Look at happy, this is without silver, furs, whale or revolting religion. I will hook silver T70, the furs T75 (whilst also making a grass hill mine), happy is not a long term issue (thanks CHA) Size 7 with a terrace and 11fpt is easily achievable, that gives 4 turn settlers. Therefore R101 is about finishing the Oracle ASAP at minimal cost (ie whipping is a consideration but I do not wish to do this) then managing the happy cap increases with growth to that happy cap and building workers to keep up with this settler output. Tech can go to hell, if I need to build missionaries I tech Meditation, build a monastery and then churn out missionaries at 18hpt from this city between settlers.
OK, this is the real micro challenge that makes the other 3 cities subservient. WP may become dead weight, a worthless city if not treated correctly, or it could become the portt that gives me access to the see, to 2c trade routes, marble and maintains worker output for the next 50 turns.
Size 1 cities a useless. WP at size 5 can work the whale (even without the lighthouse, Whale is good for happy and 2/1/4 tile), grass cow and 3 grass hills. That is 13hpt, 4 turn galleys, 5 turn workers (so almost keeps up with R101 settler output with good worker MM) and only uses a 4 food tile to do so. Therefore the aim is to see how I can get WP from this position into a 5 pop city ASAP. That basically means, how quickly can I finish the terrace? Growth without the terrace is bad, as 1 pop at WP = 1.5 pop at AF, so better to grow AF with a granary than WP without one. I also need workers to repair damaged tiles, to improve 12M and WP. So I need to finish this worker. The chosen path means keeping the food res to finish the worker, overflow into a terrace, then use the grass hill mine and the cow for 4 turns, then whip the terrace. Then I need to regrow on the pig for 2 turns, full food box form that, then pick up the grass cow to size 5 whilst the worker from AF and WP, plus the worker that was farming 12M corn get the tile improvements at place at both AF and at WP.
What is the timeline for this? worker eot70, terrace eot75, grow@2 eot77, grow@3 eot78, grow@4 eot80, grow@5 eot82 if working whale, eot83 if working mines. This requires pig and grass cow from T78, pig T76-77, grass cow T71-75. The rest of the time, AF with the terrace keeps the food resources.
This is trivial. Grow@2 eot68, work the corn and the grass hill forest T69-70, whip granary T71, then just grow, intending to double whip the lighthouse at size 4 and to get the plains hill sheep hooked ASAP (ie from T82), and then use 12M as an auxiliary unit pump on a whip cycle. There are limited tiles worth improving, better to just rely on a 60 hammer lighthouse to give usable tiles.
AF is growing back to size 7. I don't need more units, I can't start SoZ this turn. The library makes sense, but I can't finish it by eot76, it will finish eot76 and then tech will resume. I can't get growth eot72 and eot74 to fit with the library build, but ultimately it's not that important. I need a settler for the marble city, comes from here. So if the library finishes eot76, that's a settler eot80
Triple whipped Oracle this turn. Next turn finish the chariot, and grow to size 5, then build the settler due eot76 due to overflow and previous hammers invested that are in the process of decaying. You know that I'm taking Aesthetics, worst case I have a coin toss to get Oracle. I may work in a temple after that settler, to grow to the happy cap and speed up the shrine. Theoretically, if I went temple after Settler I would finish the settler eot82 without a whip, so that gives a GP eot98 at the earliest. Temple is a likely build unless I have a dire need for units as I do want to grow, and the library is not that important until after the GP is produced (then I want the library, work 3 specs and a GA in the mid T120's). I will likely give up the rice to a city to the SE that has two gems tiles. IW is most likely to be researched after Lit due to the happy cap boost and the commerce gained from it is greater than all other available techs, and it gives me access to CR2 agg swords...1 per turn built. So if IW is likely, I want R101 at happy cap before it gives up the rice. R101 makes 23food hammers per turn at size 7 without the rice.
Whip terrace T75, work the cow. T76 avoid growth, work pig. T77 turn off avoid growth, work pig, grow@2, foodbox 17/24. T78 use grass cow and pig, grow@3, 13/26 and need a mined hill or a cottage on T79. Worker 5 has been sent to mine the silver, so the other two workers will have the hill mined T76, and a cottage T78. Trivial, except I need a galley asap. Expected double whip required...so Sailing finished, swap to galley then whip after one turn. Painful but necessary.
Sailing is something like a 4 turn tech. Tech turns on T77, so finishes around T80. Build a lighthouse for a turn, and double whip, then regrow. Looking at growth eot73, grow@3 eot75, grow@4 eot78, grow@5 eot82. Work boat finishes eot78. Probably better to dump a single chop into the lighthouse and whip it before growt to size 5. Worker micro should tie up with improving the plains hill sheep easily enough, using one of the workers that just improved the silver.
For lurkers perusal. Not the roading workers. I don't know if Gavagai is planning settling further forward, and ultimately it doesn't really matter much in terms of the game. Ventessel will not take much to take over compared to other players, and then I'm throwing units at Gav. He will likely bitch about us getting into a mutually destructive war, but that's irrelevant (and wrong). Boudicca needs the space, and simply forcing him to spend resources from his entire empire to counter the effects of a single city is a good long term strategy that will make him easier to overwhelm later on, including the investment in military tech which he otherwise would not want to do, not when he could be taking advantage of the cheap EXP and CRE buildings.
Also note the issue he has with being forked. This is not the most defensible front city location, which is what makes me think he is moving forward now. I'm already moving units down.
