[PB78] Dreylin boldly goes

[Dreylin]

T109 -

Turns out I was wrong about Calendar; Magic just completed MoM, which is bad for all of us. Good thing we have a dogpile planned:



Not completely certain what the 10gpt is on his side? Is he trying to bribe me into a war I already planned ... OK, I'll take it!

I sent back 6t and then a second one with 4t on my side to indicate I might go early.

Edit: maybe he's indicating a 10t minimum war length?

[Dreylin]

T110 - Mixed Messages

I see that Magic has posted for the first time in a long while. Well his Merchant just came in and with MoM just finished, I guess we're going to see the first Golden Age. This bodes ill for us all.

In other news, apparently I just won a settling race with Gavagai in my Southwest:


Note that Mathews is 4 tiles from my Capital where the highlighted spot is >10 from Gavagai's. There is no space now between Mathews and Delhi that a city can be founded on, so he has a long walk back to somewhere to settle.

I sent him Pig/Pig and followed with mutual Copper/War with MS/5g to see if he is also in on the plan.

Oh Mathews? From what I can tell from my research online, he is the first Redshirt death from TOS. Borrowing the Ivory from Kirk, the first chop will put out the Monument (Missionary also arrives next turn) and then the second gets the Terrace completed. Oh actually I should build Wealth for a turn so the first chop goes through OrgRel as well!

Also highlighted the attack plan; pair of Galleys currently have 3x HA loaded and will have an Axe or additional HA added before moving the first leg. Declaration turn they land the first wave and load up a second from Orange. Then we see if those units are sufficient to take the city.

Meanwhile everything else I can scrape together creeps up and lands on the blue X the same turn. It's totally well thought out, but the idea is to add pressure on this border while everyone else does the same on theirs.

[Dreylin]

Actually, new plan: I'm going to 4T Metal Casting, then T114 I chop a Trireme out of Mathews which will be able to guard my Galleys or take out his depending what I can see from Blue cross. The active Worker in the above shot moved West anyway and can be in the forest S of "2T Chop" next turn and I can complete both on T114.

[Dreylin]

Turn just rolled and I logged in automatically, then realised that Gav might have something to say about losing the Settling race and I should probably let them play first just to be sure. Sent him a PM; I'd just queued builds and started looking around, but hadn't moved anything yet.

[Dreylin]

T111 & T112 -

Gavagai wanted to take a look at things so I held off the turn until he had played. This meant I rolled the turn, so I pre-emptively double-checked with him that we weren't in a split so I know I could play the rolled turn. I've been playing early in the turn for a long while, I'm aware that the current turnsplit is Magic before Thrawn so it might make sense for me to try to play after Magic to preserve a 2-way split only, but honestly I think that our timeslots work if I play first as well. I'm going to play it by ear, but not sweat too much if it makes sense for me to play first and create a 3-way. Also worth noting that the 4 of us are pretty-much attacking from 4 separate directions, so we shouldn't need to maintain a strict order between us outside of the split with Magic.

OK, so with the kinks worked out of the Trireme plan, I'm going on T115 as originally planned. I signaled this to both SD & Thrawn since I'd previously implied I might go earlier. In addition to the main assault on LL, I'll pull together about half a dozen Horse Archers to venture into Magic's land territory from Sulu. I should also have an Axe/Spear pair to provide defensive support.

[coldrain]

Fingers crossed that no reinforcements appear on the island in the next couple of turns.

What's the plan or next great person, if there is one?

[Dreylin]

Well they can whip in 1-2 additional units, which is why the amphibious second wave is important. I also have suspicions that the galley is not empty and could drop off reinforcements. If LL does look unattainable, the forces can be transferred across to link up with the move against Anti-Tyre. Iron Working may have to be next to get Swords swinging.

The original Great Person plan was to get something out of Kirk first as some sort of combo Engineer/Priest. Unfortunately my economy is now running largely on Specialists so it’s going to be hard to stop myself popping a Scientist sooner rather than later. I do need to assess how possible it might be to postpone that without killing my tech, but I need Priesthood to allow for the necessary SPI temples to be pushed into Kirk, and I’ve just delayed Priesthood once maybe twice.

Will have to look at Scientist beelines, or maybe I take the Golden Age to get to some key techs.

[Dreylin]

T114 - Totally innocent maneuvers...

2 main things for this turn. #1: Prep for war:


Magic's juggling some units around - that's an XP-bearing Spear that just moved into Anti-Tyre with the un-promotable one moving out under my Chariot. Oh, and the Galley disappeared, which might be more concerning as it could be ferrying units over. We'll see how things develop, but it's worth noting that Thrawn burned a Magic city just West of here last turn, so there's already some attention here without my movements.

#2:


I produced the Settler a few turns ago with the intention of sending it NE past Chapel to grab for the fertile lands left empty between Gavagai, Thrawn and myself. Then I barely beat Gavagai to settling Mathews and saw indications of settlement planning in the area. Expanding SE is pretty-much the only route for Gav now, so I decided that on the brink of a mutual war was not the time to box him in. So I sent the settler up here instead. Hence the ... light support. FWIW, that Samurai is a bit of a surprise; it shows every indication of having been displaced somehow. It will definitely pose a problem if it comes South.

Actually, I'd better go back in and switch some builds around to make sure...

[coldrain]

Was it great Wall border expansion that moved the Samurai? Looking forward to upcoming action  

I forgot if it was mentioned, but do you have construction done to build catapults? Are those a priority in the near future?

[Dreylin]

Was it great Wall border expansion that moved the Samurai?

That'd be it I bet, yeah. Good spot.

Looking forward to upcoming action  

I forgot if it was mentioned, but do you have construction done to build catapults? Are those a priority in the near future?

Currently saving gold on Priesthood after finishing Metal Casting. The good news is that no-one has Machinery yet; it would suck if Magic had that in hand as was about to field Crossbows. Only 1 person has Construction; I have not seen any Catapults in the field yet. Can't quite remember Iron Working; I know Thrawn & Magic have it, but can't recall if anyone else does. Superdeath & Magic also have Horse Archers, again I have not seen from anyone else.

What I /need/ next is CoL for Caste System, but as you say I probably need to pursue a military tech - either Construction for Catapults or Iron Working for Swords. I'll see how the initial engagement and the other players' involvement goes and then make a decision on the fly in a turn or two.