[SPOILERS] Athlete and Lewwyn are SHAKA OF THE VIKINGS

[athlete4life10]

What's that babylonian horse archer doing on an unroaded forest hill? Defending against a fork?

That's the only reason I can think of...not that it makes much sense given the current front is in my territory.

I've got the save but only had a chance to open it. Let's just say I'm licking my chops and can't wait to play which will be in about 6 hours give or take.

[athlete4life10]

K...so I finally played turn something or another for the year of 300 ad. I've taken a ton of pictures so bear with me. I may not be able to get it up until tomorrow morning.

The final tally:

TRD (Babylon) - Lost 6 Horse Archer's
Shak-lete (The Vikings) - 0 losses, +1 Great General

More importantly, I'm in no real position to lose units if he chooses to attack. Don't get me wrong, I can lose them...but it will still cost him a couple units before he starts killing mine. I'm pretty pleased with how things went.

Oh and I sent this note to Ruff (Rome):

Hey Ruff,

I'm going to kindly ask you to remove your chariot from my lands and to stop feeding TRD information on my units and cities.

Shak-lete

I didn't think it good to follow that with a "or else" as I just don't want to go that route...though if he refuses I may just declare and kill that chariot.

[athlete4life10]

Ruff sent this to me:

Shak-a-leg,

Firstly - which chariot - I have a few up there.

Secondly - I object to your 'feeding information' comment - I have done no such thing. Unless you would like me too. Or feed him mis-information.

Ruff

A response to Ruff:

Hey Ruff,

If it is as you say, feel free to enjoy the lush fertile lands I possess, from a visitors perspective . Frankly, the e-mail TRD sent me when he declared was such that it led me to believe you were co-operating behind the scenes and he had you in on the whole "declare war on Nakor ruse". If you aren't talking to him about my stuff then no problem. Also I don't think you'll need to feed him any misinformation, I'm going to crush him on my own .

LOL @ Shak-a-leg!

Shak-lete

Pic's to come probably tonight.

[athlete4life10]

From Seven:

Awesome! So, barring some unseen reinforcements, I take it your cities are safe for the moment?


Btw I tried probing our opponents a bit more, but they revealed no new information. Rev apologized for keeping me in the dark and probably doesn't know I am firmly on your side, which is good. Nakor simply did not respond to my suggestion of a defensive pact type deal with regard to Ruff.


I got research visibility on Ruff, he is researching civil service, but I think he has at least a dozen turns left on it.

Rev has a single galley and trireme heading in your direction, but it will be a few turns before they even reach your border.


What tech are you heading for next?

My response:

Ya I'm safe for the moment. I'll be revolting to the big "B" this turn and then whipping some 'zerkers. Nakor's been a bit slow on diplo usually so he may still respond.

I think I'm going to head for Aesthetics and then Literature. I could certainly use a Heroic Epic right about now!

Do you have any designs on the Great Artist at Music? I would like to land it if possible.

Shak-lete

[athlete4life10]

Ruff sent a response:

Shaka,

I was talking to him - mainly to help him in is surprise(yeah right!) attack on Nakor. I was pissed that he gave up on Nakor so quick. I was just getting ready to invade Nakor so a war in the north would have been perfect for me.

So - feel free to stick it to him and tell him that it would have been better for him to continue fighting Nakor.

Ruff

Also had a very quick chat with Nakor and he admitted that the fake war was TRD's plan and he just went along with it.

[Lewwyn]

The King is Dead! All Hail the new King! Long Live the King!

Though at this rate I don't know how probable that is. Athlete gave me the save and tells me, "Oh TRD took Ottowa, its called Sloth now." I think, damn, what a way to inherit a game.

Oh and just FYI this is my first Multiplayer in 4 years. ANd I only played one multiplayer gane in my life and it was a cooperative go round. SO yeah. Complete MP noob here

BUT it's okay. I have Single player experience... and the only way to learn is to play. SO lets pop the turn in (FYI I will begin to attempt to use Screenies, but noob at that too).

First off I look to Sloth. Even better news. Walls in queue and somehow it looks as though TRD took the city with minimal casualties. Oh and btw Athlete forgot to move a couple workers so they bit it too. (No blame just stating what he told me.) AND TRD'll get the revolt under control in 1 turn. Seriously... how lucky can you get with most of your cats surviving and withdrawing. Unbelievable:


Notice the 4 injured cats? ugh ugh. Anyway tons of units too. I don't have much. I've got 4 cats, a GG Berzerker with an extra more and 100% experience, a couple axes, a crossbow done this turn and I;m whipping 4 zerkers this turn. No way I can take that city back right now.

SO should I attempt to sue for peace?

I thought about it, but at this point with the lost city it'll simply put me further in the hole. No at this point, science to zero I upgrade a few axemen that I have build it up and leverage my UU for all its worth. I'm going to take back "ottowa" and then some. AND THEN SOME YOU HEAR ME!

He has chosen unwisely. For the last time.


My plan? Build up an army and squash him. Oh and I plan to build a city south of sloth on the city ruins there, on the hill with bananas, rice and copper. I'm going to build it hope TRD's troops move towards it and smack down sloth. Also I'm going to start moving my triemes close to his main cities and I'm gonna start blockading. Thats cool right?

I am Lewwyn, Hear me roar!

[novice]

I am Lewwyn, Hear me roar!

Awesome! Good luck.

[Lewwyn]

Thanks novice!

And time for diplo! Here's an email from Seven and My reply. We later got on a chat together looked to hash out the future!

Hey Lewwyn (er, male or female?), welcome to the game!

Our nations are indeed friendly (well, as far as I know, of course); I consider you my ally. If it weren't for significant logistical limitations and the fact that I seem to be under threat of attack too, my units would be defending you right now. As it is, all I could do was lend you 95g to complete CS earlier. As I told athlete I would like it back as soon as possible, though I can certainly make allowances if you need some for emergency upgrades.

My plan (I discussed this a bit with athlete) before the attack was to tech to astronomy for galleons, share some with you, and probably get some berserkers in exchange, and use them to attack ruff while you attacked the reverend. (In both cases, it seems, there has been a history of border tension in those directions.)

Instead, Reverend attacked you well before astronomy was due, while Ruff and Nakor have been complicit, and Ruff has now shown intentions of attacking me. (Luckily in my case, I had an 8-turn cooldown NAP with him.) So as far as I'm concerned we will live or die together now.

I no longer know what your tactical situation is - I haven't heard from athlete about it since his city was captured, as he's been busy. I do have a scouting axe in the area, so I can see his forces there, but I don't know what your own forces are composed of; they are not in sight. So an update there would be good. I'm certainly happy to give you advice wherever possible. (Keep in mind though, screenshot exchanging isn't allowed.)

Strategically, I have researched Optics, and built a few Caravels, which gives me slim naval superiority for the moment. And I'm working on Astronomy - the ETA got longer since I swapped to Vassalage and whipped a whole bunch of units, but I think it's due in about 10 turns, maybe a bit more. Once I reach it, Galleons should give us a significant advantage. For the fastest turnaround, you might want to prepare some galleys to gift to me, after which I can upgrade and return them. As you may have noticed, everyone's two best cities are on an island (and coastal) and they're mostly defended with a couple warriors/archers - basically not at all. And many more cities are coastal, too. Galleons will have incredible surprise and maneuverability value, not to mention being twice as strong as triremes which are the best naval units of our rivals.

You now have access to berserkers, but defensively, those aren't exactly what you want. I think that in your position I'd be researching engineering right now - both for pikes and for the extra road movement. Reverend is mostly relying on horse archers and catapults, so both of those would be quite nice. And I think you'll ideally want to retake that city he stole before it takes over its neighboring tiles culturally. With engineering you could attack it from three tiles away, i.e. from out of range (and sight) of all his units. And being out of range of catapults and horse archers is pretty healthy for an army. But like I said I am not sure of your tactical situation.

The one other thing I will say is, I don't know what your impression is, but your (our) position is not bad. Whip out LOTS of troops (I have done this in the past few turns, and you can see how I have gone from 4th in military to 1st this turn), and you won't lose more ground, and should be able to retake your city. In a dozen turns we will have a giant naval advantage with which we can deal immense damage to our opponents. And our economies are fundamentally (barring the war) the best right now, with GLH and Colossus. As long as we stick together, I think we will do well.

I am frequently available on chat; catch me any time!

Seven

I replied I was indeed -

Lewwyn (Manly Man)

There be balls of steel hanging from these loins.

Now in our chat I can summarize I am indeed interested about galleons and surprising our foes. He makes a point tha I am probably not too badly off. Now while this is true, it was a little disheartening to start with a rather puny army. Now as I whip out zerkers that will change. Drastically. We also discussed the benefits of engineering and I agreed completely. I hadn't changed to it earlier, but I had decreased tech rate to zero. After a few upgrades I'll work toward getting that extra movement, and pikes, lots of pikes. Gonna get my city back.

And then some....

[Lewwyn]

Something I noticed... This thread has the most views! I suspect athlete has had a heavy hand in that, making a very lurker friendly thread. I intend to try and keep up with my predecessor. I've been informed that the people want pictures, so pictures they will have.


I am also considering changing the naming theme. I believe currently its... Canada? Its pretty unfamiliar to me. I didn't really take the time to change anything when I got the save this turn because I wanted to pass it along quickly. Next time I'll spend a bit more time with it. What better way to truly get to know your empire better than forcing yourself to rename every city and every unit? (ugh, even writing that to myself it sound tedious).

So lurkers, ideas on a new naming theme? Maybe something Vikingy... Like name the cities after Viking gods? Are there enough gods in Norse Mythology for all the cities I'm going to end up with after I assimilate TRD? Dunno I should research that. As it is 2:30 AM for me though, I will refrain in deference to sleep.

[Lewwyn]

Before I wen tot sleep I checked out the Game email and lo and behold the turn was there! So I played it real quick without changing names.

Only thing really of note is that the area I want to settle the city in is clear of babylonian troops, they've retreated north to defend their spoils. I bet they'll come running back down when the borders pop up. Can't wait to surprise them with an Xbow, two zerkers and a spear holding the new city! by that point (I'm waiting to build it) I will have enough troops to hit sloth. Whipped another zerker and I have 4 other zerkers building 2 are 2 turns out (one is 3 turns and one is 4, I may double whip some of these, blarg).

Okay sleep for real.