Brick by Brick (Spoiler Alert!)

[TheHumanHydra]

I love that video. By the way, all my cities of any importance have three units garrisoned in them, for just that reason!

[TheHumanHydra]

This sums up the turn:



I opened the save to discover Serdoa had declared war on Azza. Bwahaha, this means his field army is not where it should be to defend against my assault! Of course, this could just be another one-turn extortion war. I hope it's not and Serdoa manages to take or raze a city or two in the few turns before my attack so Azza is set back at this time too.

I guess this means Serdoa really didn't expect to be the target of my attack. Maybe he thought I'd be attacking Azza (a fair prediction), and decided to join in early!

Second, having discovered Civil Service, I adopted Bureaucracy and Mercantilism. I debated about the second, but calculated that the specialists would more than make up for the lost trade while also providing me with much-needed Great Person points (I haven't had a single Great Person yet save my General). I debated about Organized Religion too, but ultimately decided the greatly-increased upkeep was not worth it when I wasn't even sure I'd be building any buildings in the near future - who knows, guys, this could be the end of the game? Also only half my cities are Jewish.

I realized after the fact that this would telegraph to everyone that yes, that massive troop buildup is (at least partially) knights. Only Old Harry knows this so far. I've been tracking his army's movements carefully, trying to discern how he will exploit the situation created by my attack. I'm not sure yet; he might join in. He might also try and backstab me, but he must realize that would be suicide.

Another side-effect of my civics swap is that I've totally reset the fabric of world trade relations. Now Old Harry (sorry, buddy ...) and Azza are no longer receiving their "extended peace" bonuses with me, and since they just had a war, and Azza is now at war with Serdoa, and Serdoa's war with Old Harry ended shortly before, no one should be receiving such bonuses.

Finally, you can see my infantry forces have set out into Old Harry's land. Boy did that do a number on my gold-per-turn. The cavalry are as planned waiting a turn in order to minimize such costs. Next turn they too shall put hoof and boot to cobbled way, thence to war.

[TheHumanHydra]

Erg, I just realized something awkward - since I adopted Mercantilism, Old Harry has no reason to keep borders open with me. He might try and prevent me from reaching Serdoa, depending on whether he thinks harm to Serdoa benefits him or not. I think he'll let me through; all the same, now I wish I had waited a couple turns to switch civics.

[TheHumanHydra]

Interesting turn. I hesitated before sending the save, afraid I'd messed something up: I'll be attacking next turn if all goes according to plan.

Old Harry also switched to Bureaucracy. Looks like red tape's where it's at right now. He didn't close borders (yet).

I did something mildly clever on the war-front (well, clever for me, probably not for you experienced Civ-people):



That knight had come up through the length of Old Harry's territory since it was faster; it had enough movement to bob over to the border and have a peek before crashing at the staging area. (The poor citizens of Kettering, forced to entertain several hundred thousand, if the demographics are to be believed, rowdy soldiers for a turn.) I gave it Sentry so it could see into the city:
four catapults, a spear, and an archer there now, and 18 horse archers 1SE of it. Interesting that Serdoa's field army is where it was when he ended the war with Old Harry, and not down fighting Azza ... is this another bait-and-switch war, or did he realize his peril? Who was he planning on attacking, Old Harry again, or me preemptively? Or did he see my units coming? We'll find out after the game! (Or I will, at least.)

Anyway, this presents an interesting situation. If Serdoa does or has been doing something similar to what I just did with his knight, then he'll see my army coming and be able to respond in some way. He could be creative, declare on Old Harry and whack Kettering, teleporting my army ... somewhere, since we don't have open borders. That would cost him in horse archers, though, as Kettering's defended by three spears and he can't hit it with anything else, he'd have rekindled an old conflict with another imminent, and it would only delay the inevitable. He could declare on me instead and again hit Kettering, but his horse archers would die on my spears and lances. He could pack Thessalonica with them and hope for the best, but they'd probably be annihilated. Or he could surrender the city and retreat to fight another day. Probably the most prudent (from my perspective), but how many times might he have to do that before making a stand?

Or maybe he hasn't, and won't, see my army at all, and will leave his horse archers right where there are in accordance with whatever strategic dictums he is following. In which case I'll be able to hit them unawares with 17 knights next turn, needing fear only the river crossing penalty, hopefully slaughtering all but one or two of them. His field army destroyed, this campaign would get a lot easier.

For this reason I'm really excited for the coming turn, and hoping he'll leave his army right where it is, and uncovered. Unfortunately Serdoa's now going to be gone for several days, and may or may not be able to play the turns! The agony of waiting! And just you wait; I have some epic theme music and visuals cooked up to celebrate the occasion if I do get my great and terrible battle. I wonder what I should name it ...

[NobleHelium]

I think your knights are wielding clubs and not lances.

[TheHumanHydra]

It's so weird that they're wearing, like, feather costumes but have barding on their horses. Serdoa's horse archers look better-equipped ...

[TheHumanHydra]

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:

2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.



Serdoa saw me coming and moved into the city. He made peace with Azza. My whole host is on that plains hill tile 2E of Thessalonica, reinforcements in train.



Everyone else is at 11 cities now; time to build another settler or two. Too bad this war is hurting my economy so much (unit supply). I'm not planning on keeping any of Serdoa's cities except maybe those with wonders - too much of a drain, but something like the Great Lighthouse might help more than it would hurt.

My army at the outset of the war (after ending turn):

[Qgqqqqq]

Where's the GG going?

[TheHumanHydra]

Thanks for the question, Qgqqqqq. He's in the stack, to be transformed into a super-healer when the need arises. Do people normally do that before launching an offensive? That would save a move point, I suppose, but sacrifice flexibility.

Does anyone find it funny that I'm launching a major invasion with no catapults (well, I've got one trundling along behind now)?

[TheHumanHydra]

First blood:





Isn't that a nice pecuniary shot in the arm? I razed the city, as it would have been nothing but a drain on my economy:



Serdoa opted to trade space for time and retreated his army toward Zz'gash, where reinforcements are gathering:



This did have the unpleasant side-effect for him of hastening my army's advance a turn, as my foot soldiers were able to move over newly-neutral roaded tiles. I could have advanced the bulk of my cavalry to striking distance of Zz'gash, but opted for the safer approach of keeping all my forces together, as I don't have enough knights at the front to take the city in one turn anyway. As you can see, it will be possible for Serdoa to pick off some of my isolated knights this turn. I valued the intelligence they provided, but perhaps should have protected them better (by grouping them with additional knights). But that might've just made a better target ... here my inexperience is showing. I hope it doesn't add up to failure.

On the strategic side, I am contemplating opening a second front here:



If all Serdoa's forces are concentrated in his south-east, even a few knights (say half-a-dozen) may make a decisive impact in his back-lines. But I may need all those knights on the main front.

A final couple notes about the war, one hopeful and one not so. First, notice how few spearmen Serdoa has. I'm sure he's building them along with catapults everywhere, but clearly he was not prepared for a mounted invasion. Also, he did raze at least one of Azza's cities; that was not a phony war. From this I surmise I achieved strategic surprise in my attack; Serdoa appears to have had two turns' warning I was coming, which does mean I did not achieve tactical surprise. The main thing is that his forces as they stand at the outset of the war appear totally unsuited to this conflict.

Second, notice how many horse archers Serdoa has! He still had a substantial army coming out of his war with Old Harry, and he obviously built more to attack Azza - and he's been whipping. I am afraid - as I was going into this war - that he may develop such quantitative, if not qualitative, superiority on the battlefield that he will be victorious. If he'll just permit his present army to be brought to battle and I can destroy the greater part of it, I will hopefully be able to send my mounted forces forward rapidly, even recklessly, to take or destroy as many of his cities as possible and deplete his whipping-base. That potential back-door attack might do the trick as well. If not, this war will become more difficult, and I will become more stressed.

Finally, I regained research visibility on Serdoa this turn (I was set back in my espionage by my revolt and the fact everyone's started to finish courthouses). He's researching Aesthetics - whaa? I don't think wonders, even the Heroic Epic, will help him as much as more spears or, you know, longbows or something. (No, I don't actually think he's going wonder-chasing - unless he thinks he can hold me. Maybe he can! But I'd still go for Feudalism if I were him; I don't think he has it.)

Next turn I'll do a full cities-and-graphs update. Any questions before then?

Edit: Oh, maybe I'll keep a tally. That could be fun, and informative (it's units lost, not destroyed):

THH -
Serdoa - 1 catapult