I've lost a lot of power from the last turn's battles - and have dropped down to the levels of Mjmd and Mr. Cairo. I imagine we're going to lose even more soon and start to look like a target.
So naturally we blitzed.
From my screenshot I sent the numid that had gone onto the hill 2SW to capture the worker blocking the way to Shrimp n Grits. Our healthiest knight had a 60% shot at winning and then did exactly that. From there the weakest knight moved on to check out Saute It - I had a suspicion it might be empty but it turned out to be exactly the opposite. After I regretted using a knight as I had to delete it - it would have been mopped up by the GG pike easily and just given additional experience that he would heal up from by the time we got to Saute It.
t167 battle:
Code:
81hp C2 Knight v Archer (61.2%) - win
Scouting Barbecue It in the north revealed 1 pike so that is where we blitzed to. Everything above 65 health went to the sheep tile and I was able to use the GG born on t166 to attach to a knight coming from the capital and we got a high-quality unit. This guy ended up being invaluable on the following turn.
In all we ended up like so on t167:
For 168 I was surprised to find 5 pikemen inside of BBQ it. I had seen the one finish at end of turn before but he must have moved everything in the area. I had 16 hitters now myself, and but we were looking at odds of 10% or less - outside of the GG which I wasn't ready to throw away like that. So we threw away knights instead, best guy went into the breach first, and we had to rely on luck to hold in our favor. When odds got to double digits for a numid I threw that in ahead of the knight, trying to save the big hitters for later fights. We got a super lucky roll, winning a 4.6% battle, and so probably came out a bit ahead of average. We won with just 3 units left.
Code:
97hp C3 Knight v C1 Pikeman (11.5%) - loss, 3 hits
97hp C2 Knight v C1 Pikeman (9.6%) - loss, 1 hit
90hp C3 Knight v C1 Pikeman (5.3%) - loss, 2 hits
86hp C3 Knight v C1 Pikeman (4.6%) - WIN!!!!!!!!!
84hp C3 Knight v Pikeman (4.8%) - loss, 2 hits
82hp C3 Knight v 84hp C1 Pikeman (20.3%) - loss, 1 hit
85hp C3 F2 Numid v 68hp C1 Pikeman (11.3% / 44.4%) - loss, 4 HITS!
GG Heinz Guderian C3 Shock Morale Knight v 67hp C1 Pikeman (73.2%) - win!
85hp C2 Shock F1 Numid v 68hp Pikeman (13.6% / 25.9%) - withdraw, no hits
85hp C1 Shock F2 Numid v 68hp Pikeman (11.0% / 44.5%) - withdraw, no hits
81hp C2 Knight v 68hp Pikeman (40.4%) - flawless win!!!
72hp C2 Shock Knight v 52hp C1 Pikeman (66.0%) - win!
85hp C2 F2 Numid v 12hp C1 Pikeman (99.6%) - win
Then it was deciding how to go after the remaining cities. THe catapults I had been bringing up are going with the slow movers to Saute It, along with the knights that couldn't make it to the north. All the knights that healed last turn are now moved up to BBQ it. We have several GG units there now as well, but due to all the culture overlap we couldn't move to threaten anything realistically. Instead units will move next turn to fork the capital and the last city of Superdeath's that I haven't uncovered - which is on the one fogged tile in the area. Coincidentally that must also be where his horse is, as I've never seen a horse in his empire.
There is also the possibility we take his iron offline next turn. If that happens it is going to be a far faster conquest. Honestly I should have targeted that earlier in the war.
Here is how things set up at end of this turn:
And superdeath has brought south all his boats, with us meeting them on the coast:
Have a worker on the wheat tile just in case we're looking at a GG-boating attempt.
And then finally, Jowy. Jowy teched Printing Press. Jowy must really not care who gets Liberalism. Mjmd has the inside track there now, I think. Nobody else wanted to contest him, why should any of the other players start now? Mjmd started his next golden age, by the way.
I continue to whip away. Because if Mjmd invades and I have no units in the south then all this pain against Superdeath will be for nothing.
Well, if you look at the land you have now and add it to what Superdeath has, that's actually a really big blob. So if you don't get run over soon there may be hope yet.
A mistake was made last turn: my units can't actually go to the tile NW of Barbecue It because the city is on a hill and superdeath's culture reigns supreme here. So instead we made do with the following moves:
1. Used the injured 3-move GG knight to cut the road to the iron, disconnecting it, then covered that knight with a healthy one.
2. Moved all the healthy units onto the wine hill to hit the capital next turn
3. Moved the numids that were inside of barbecue it to fork the capital and the flood plain city that I don't have sight on.
4. Moved the healthy 3-move GG knight into barbecue it along with the GG medic so that we potentially have 5 attackers to hit that flood plain city next turn.
The capital was whipped this turn so hopefully cutting the iron prevents a unit from being finished. However, I suspect that superdeath has already played wiht this in mind. We saw archers out of the capital and in Saute It this turn which makes me think he is building non-iron units now. Which is all well for me, better that than pikes.
The swords were in a bit of no-mans-land, with there being more culture than expected. So I sent them back south. They will either be military police somewhere or turn into needed units for Mjmd's impending attack. I hope that he isn't playing games to get the 2nd half of the turn split for when our peace deal is up in 3 turns. I would love to have 20 turns of peace, even if he still techs away and then comes back at me with superior tech. I just want to catch my breath and enjoy this empire for a moment. Also, the puzzle of digging myself out of this hole will be fun in its own way.
At Saute It we moved everything up:
Perhaps a mistake in tempting Cairo. Hopefully he values our friendship and sees this as a sign of trust? And not me just going blind to non-superdeath units and forgetting he was even here. But if he burns it I'll laugh at myself, it's not a huge loss. I whipped a settler out of Curry this turn and it can replace here at worst.
I'll try not to burn all the catapults next turn, but we'll see how the attack shapes out.
Boil It came out of revolt and I renamed it after the 2nd book in the Emberverse Series: Protector's War. Fitting name, kind of. I started a library there as I don't have any better way to pop borders for now.
If everything goes to plan we should capture the last 3 relevant cities next turn and then will only have the ones on the north coast and the island to worry about.
Speaking of the island, it did not go well at sea this turn:
Not only did superdeath win one of the low-odds fights, he did it with a flawless win. So my triremes now have to retreat to the capital and I need to make more boats. I also lost my galley and need a new one. We will try to get 2 galleys going north just to be able to shuttle units quickly to and from the island of superdeath's.
I'm also keeping everything new in the core as I'm now starting to think more about what I'm going to do about mjmd. If Mjmd attacks in 3 turns then I want to defend the core, and so all the catapult builds you see now. I have half a dozen knights in the area and hopefully we'll be able to peel some more knights back after next turn - especially survivors of Saute It. If he attacks in the south and tries to take Gira's old cities I will just whip and fall back. I think I cede him everything up to Crook and Klamath and then make a stand south of Yamhill. But hopefully it will not come to that.
After I conquer the rest of superdeath and all the stuff comes out of revolt we are looking at a minimum of 60 commerce per turn (3c x 20 coastal cities). But this also makes every coastal city immediately profitable and I'll spam out as many as I have room for. Add castles and cothon, get Optics and circumnvaigate, and every coastal city has 6 trade routes and pulls in at least 15c in trade income. But it's just another free modifiers on top of other ones that I have to work for. It will be a big help in letting me recover as it gives instant commerce.
Pyramids
When is the best turn to revolt into Representation? Or do I really want Police State? Honest answer: last turn. But with how whipped down my empire is, and how low the population of my cities has gotten, and how many of them are bumping up against the happy cap - I believe that I would be best served with Hereditary Rule for the short term. Once I start building up then I think I need to go into Rep. If the war had gone easier or if I hadn't needed to whip so much then I could have envisioned Police State and continuing to pump out knights to go after Mjmd. Now I do not think that is feasible as I would not be able to keep things up.
So when is the best turn to revolt into Representation? I need to have specialists to make use of it otherwise I'm just giving up happiness from HR. And since I don't see myself leaving slavery I need to have infrastructure in order to get specialists. I need to have a golden age to get into Rep at this point because until the war is wrapped up I don't want to lose a turn of production in case I have to fight Mjmd again. Once those troops are back in my core then I will feel better.
So I need 300gp pts. I think what I really need is to get the Epics built so I can start really getting great people. Which means i don't see it having any good impact within 30 turns but once I can get a golden age and stuff has grown then it will make a really big impact. Unless Mjmd gets to Constitution within 30 turns, and then this will have no impact.
The trick will be getting the time at peace to build out those settlers and get those buildings. Mjmd might be smart to attack just to get me to stay on war footing for longer, even if he doesn't do anything more than poke around the edges and not commit his troops to an attack.
(August 27th, 2020, 12:17)pindicator Wrote: Perhaps a mistake in tempting Cairo. Hopefully he values our friendship and sees this as a sign of trust? And not me just going blind to non-superdeath units and forgetting he was even here. But if he burns it I'll laugh at myself, it's not a huge loss. I whipped a settler out of Curry this turn and it can replace here at worst.
Yeah, this seems ballsy given your luck this game. Everyone seems to perceive you as some enormous threat. While I think it would be foolish for Mr. Cairo to attack you, it certainly wouldn't surprise me.
(August 27th, 2020, 13:35)pindicator Wrote: Mjmd might be smart to attack just to get me to stay on war footing for longer, even if he doesn't do anything more than poke around the edges and not commit his troops to an attack.
Hard disagree. Anything Mjmd is doing at this point that isn't on the path towards getting a billion peaceful GA turns to salt the game away is a mistake.
I've got some dirt on my shoulder, can you brush it off for me?
It was a mistake, I just got tunnel vision on attacking Saute It and completely was blind to Mr. Cairo's warrior there.
And looking again I'm actually really lucky: Mr. Cairo has already played, and Shrimp n Rice comes out of revolt at end of turn. So he can't burn the city after all.
Now the 4 workers I left unguarded to the south are a different story...
(August 27th, 2020, 14:37)pindicator Wrote: It was a mistake, I just got tunnel vision on attacking Saute It and completely was blind to Mr. Cairo's warrior there.
And looking again I'm actually really lucky: Mr. Cairo has already played, and Shrimp n Rice comes out of revolt at end of turn. So he can't burn the city after all.
Now the 4 workers I left unguarded to the south are a different story...
/sirian
Fortune favors the bold, its better to be lucky than good, etc, etc.
/endsirian
I've got some dirt on my shoulder, can you brush it off for me?
Speaking of nail-biters, peace is up with Mjmd in 2 turns. His power is climbing, and has now passed mine as of this turn. Mr. Cairo now has the top power overall. And yet Mr. Cairo has not attacked. in fact, did Mr. Cairo take my overtures for war seriously before? I kept expecting him to attack AT, but maybe he is following through from when I asked him to help me out against Mjmd?
Either way, I took that deal in an instant. That happiness was very much needed!
On to the action!
You remember we said we were hoping to take 3 cities this turn? When we set up against the capital there was only an archer; now it was joined by a pike and a warrior.
Nothing to do but send the units in
Code:
C2 Knight v C1 pikeman (10.6%) - WIN
95hp C2 Knight v CG archer (78.3%) - lost lol
74hp C2 Shock F2 Numid v Warrior (92.3% / 3.9%) - win
74hp C2 F2 Numid v 8hp CG archer (99.9%) - win
Hilariously we made up for the amazing roll to start the fight off with a loss when we had odds. But the city fell to us.
Next we went over to the main fight, at Saute It. Here Superdeath had moved in another CKN and now he had a castle as well! So the fight was going to be rough. I started with sending in all the catapults, minus the injured one - it bombarded 2% off the defenses. Most catapults would get 1 hit in on the top CG2 CKN defender, hit 5 units with collateral and then on to the next. I decided to send in all the healthy catapults in the end, even after collateral hits became good, because we only had a few more attackers than he had total defenders. After the catapults things looked like this:
The two healthy knights had 60% fights against first his formation C3 GG pike and then the C2 pike and both won their fights. Then we had coin flips against the next pike. Starting with the numid, it lost but did a hit. The next knight lost but got the pike to 1 health. And here I was feeling nervous. We really needed to win this fight if we were going to get through the units. Otherwise our 1-movers were not looking good against the CKNs. So at 50.7% I sent in the wounded C2 knight.
And it lost.
Without damaging the pike at all.
I only had 2 knights left in the stack and they both were at 50 and 54hp each. Their odds against the pike were in the teens.
When I get frustrated I like to put things down and set them aside for a while. Here it was more of a bottom dropping out of my stomach feeling than the anger/frustration of the war declarations I had from Superdeath and Mjmd, but the principle still held. So I decided to move over to the numids on the flood plains and scout out that hidden flood plain city.
Oh cool, empty. I'll take that.
Wait, now that the culture from Bake It is gone...
We can bring in the Combat 4 3-mover GG unit that was in barbecue it!
And at 88% odds he wins against that pikeman!
Now my 54hp knight was fighting against the CG2 CKN as top defender, and with 24% odds I sent it in and it won! This let the longbow go against the other CKN at odds - it lost but put the CKN to 6hp, and now the fights started to fall in my favor. C2 Axe vs Catapult: 73% win. Crossbow vs 50hp Archer: 95% win. C2 Axe vs Pikeman: 89% win. And then the spear killed his wounded CKN, and finally with the very last attacker, my 50hp Knight kills the 1hp Pike and Saute It is mine!
C1 Shock Knight v 58hp C3 Formation GG Auitzotl Pikeman (61.0%) - win!
C1 Knight v 55hp C2 Formation Pikeman (61.5%) - win!
94hp C3 F1 Numid v 55hp C1 Pikeman (31.7% / 20.5%) - lost, 1 hit
81hp C3 Knight v 55hp Pikeman (52.0%) - lost, pike to 1hp
84hp C2 Formation Knight v 55hp Pikeman (50.7%) - lost, no damage
That last one hurt, now we may not get through
But wait!
Take Bake it and then I can bring in the 3-movers from bbq it
C4 Morale GG Bernard Montgomery v 55hp Pikeman (88.7%) - win
54hp C2 Knight v 55hp CG2 CKN (24.4%) - win!
Drill, CG2 Longbow v 40hp CKN (83.7%) - lost, but CKN to 6hp
C2 Axe v Catapult (73.0%) - win
87hp D2 C1 Shock CG1 Crossbow v 50hp Archer (95.3%) - win
95hp C2 Axe v 41hp C1 Pikeman (89.2%) - win
C2 Spear v 6hp CKN (99.8%) - win
50hp C2 Knight v 1hp Pikeman (99.9%) - win
And more: if Shrimp Kabob is empty then the 3-move GG medic can take it!
I really love me some 3-move units!!!
After that we moved units up to take the last two mainland cities. I expect they're all empty but they were both whipped this turn.
I covered with some knights and more importantly was able to move half a dozen knights back south towards the capital. Next turn if everything goes according to plan I expect to move more knights south. Which is right in the nick of time, because if Mjmd is going to try something now I'm going to be able to have some defenses for him. Even better: having superdeath be all but eliminated on the mainland will give him pause for doing anything.
There's just the island city really left to account for. I might be able to slip a galley past his boats, but in addition I put research on this turn and set it to Optics. Getting a caravel and getting more coastal trade routes will be a huge help for recovering this crashed and whipped economy. And if I cannot get a galley past superdeath's boats then caravels will help me remove those boats entirely.
4 cities in one turn. This was a very good turn. We're now tops in city count again, up to 22 to Mjmd's 20.
![[Image: KD7Jrm5.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/KD7Jrm5.jpg)
![[Image: KNt2xHX.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/KNt2xHX.jpg)
