Japper and Cornflakes' team thread

[Cornflakes]

It looks like you attacked Nan Madol again this turn rather than retreating you Ngao and archers? If you just retreated you had a chance to save your capital! Why throw away HP against walls when you'll have much better odds against Rome's troops on defense in the jungles and forests west of you capital? I see that we can't make peace for 2 more turns, but at least retreat your troops to make a last stand against Rome, no?

I needed your troops to defend the jungle in order to buy a couple turns to get to Mercenaries. I think we had probably a 70/30 chance of saving your capital if you had full strength Ngao out in front, now I don't know if we can save your capital

   

[Japper007]

Two of them promoted by doing that, the other only one attack away, but yeah I should've moved back. I just didn't see the Sullla stack on my turn before I went to do tile assignments And I only read your report after playing...

[Japper007]

Beyond the Major problem discussed above (have started beating my retreat from NM this turn, I looked at movement predictions and I can make it to HoD before Sullla with my Ngao at least as he doesn have a GG) a few minor annoyances also popped up:



I'm about to lose my Iron Mine to a barb that popped in from the fog



Had to withdraw my settler (which was just one fucking turn away from settling damnit ) because Seoel (Sullla is their suzerain, because of course he is ) had a Swordsman there randomly

Also slotted in Bastions, not that it helps a whole lot.

[Cornflakes]

Woden and CMF's power both shot upwards into the 500 range, I think both have now equaled or passed Sullla's (I can't remember exactly what Sullla had). I'm going to slot Bastions as well when Mercenaries completes.

[Japper007]

Mpinda fell, as expected

Sulla has decided to push against TJB instead of my capital, which should give it enough time to finish walls (5 turns). Did you spend all the gold btw CF? I could use a little to upgrade an Xbow to boost my bombardment (which is pitiful right now)

I peaced out with NM now that my units were mostly on the correct side of it (didn't want the game to catapult them to the northern coast, that'd be disastrous) 

I saw your units are moving in now, lets make the last stand at my capital a violent and glorious one together (and bloody for Sulla ofc...)

500 UCS for CM/Woden is terrifying (indicates knights) but a little far down our main list of concerns right now. If they jump in on our backs we are 100% boned even if we prepare.

[Cornflakes]

Woden is actually over 600, CMF 550, Sullla less than 500. I'm over 300 now. I sent you enough gold for a crossbow upgrade (still 6 turns until I can upgrade with Mercenaries). Take care of that crossbow! Don't throw it away lightly, or any unit for that matter. At this point all of our units are essentially irreplaceable.

I'm going to save the remaining chops that I have for knights once Stirrups comes (4 turns). I think I'll be able to chop out 3 Knights before being relegated to slow builds.

[Japper007]

Thanks for the gold, even though it was a bit of "a cigar from my own box" as we Dutch say I'll be careful with the Xbow, I think I'm just going to park him in the capital for potshots

Now we can get to some actually decent bombardments:




Bastions+Xbow upgrade means I can hit Sullla's Xbows for 60, Legions for 40. That is enough to force retreats I'd say, even just temporary ones make him lose turns.



Minor request but could you reroute one or two units to screen my settler to the spot here. It would provide another strong point agaiinst Sulla as well.

[Cornflakes]

Could you be more specific where you want the settler to go? Do you want it back at the original pin on the map? A concern I have with a forward plant is that it is simply not possible to prevent conversion to the heathen religion which is crusading against us. A forward plant that gets converted is a death trap. I think we can hang on to our religion at the capital due to military presence. Plus without walls a forward plant is not much of a strong point.

I'm not going to advance my military beyond the current cultural limits of Heart of Darkness until I upgrade them so we have a few turns to decide.

[Japper007]

I actually moved the pin after Sulla's invasion (used to be on top of the Oranges IIRC, very exposed ) to be on the river prong which is far more defensive. It would also get us 7 tiles for healing and vision, giving us back some map control. EDIT: yes the pin without text is where I want it...

I'm okay with just setting the Settler to sleep in my capital too, it would mean we start falling even further behind the curve though.

[Cornflakes]

I'm just afraid we'd see the city go up in smoke before it has a chance to contribute anytning, or over-commit our army in trying to defending it. Ideally I'd like to keep my forces about where they are now ... close enough to your capital that I can hit Sullla's troops when they advance, but close enough to home that I can return and defend if W/CMF invade before Sullla gets there.