Commodore continues his probing, the two galleys we saw in Blue Moon are now coming towards the capital
Not really a concern. Included a catapult in the stack I moved into the city, this way we don't reveal the numbers, but reaffirm that we have them. Started a trireme in Big Red Dragons just to protect the nets in the future; if Commodore pillages the fish at the capital, it will be annoying
Commodore slowed down his military build-up, and we should as well. We're paying 13gpt in unit maintenance, will be 16 with the trireme and 2 more catapults still in production. We can afford this, but cannot afford much more
We fightin' (probably tomorrow, think it's too late for Miguelito)
Commodore landed this stack
With the mounted stack reappearing, that's now 6 horse archers and 5 chariots
I'll run the numbers, but with 3 catapults in range I think this should be fine (well, we'll clean up the small melee stack, the mounted stack will probably stay away)
The numbers showed that hitting the stack with two catapults with barrage was the way to go. So that's what I did. Both catapults died, but from there bowmen had 90% odds and won all their combat (axes were still getting odds in the 40s with all the anti-melee bonuses on Commodore's units)
We did get a great general out of the deal. We haven't really discussed what to do with one. We don't really have a weak unit to put it on for super-medic purposes, probably the chariot would be the best if we want to do that. But simply settling him to be military instructor in Big Red Dragons isn't a bad idea either. What do you think Nauf? We're truly getting to the point of the game where my rustiness is going to show
The biggest problem with this victory is that all our bowmen had to lose fortification bonus, as well as hp, in order to attack. I don't think Commodore can brute force his way into burning Boros Burn this turn, he needs to kill two units, including a spearman, to even get there, and I whipped an extra spearman for safety. With two more catapults in the area, I think we have a decent chance of cleaning up the stack if he tries to attack the city. But really, it does get complicated. I'm behaving like an AI, moving units around See-Scape and Gruul Smash to and fro, doing my best to ensure I don't get caught out. Not sure how successful I am at it
I don't think there's an easy answer about the Great General. The military instructor is more immediate value, since we'll be fighting in our own territory for a while, so the medic isn't as crucial. On the other hand, a chariot medic doesn't go bad, and if we eventually want the Heroic Epic, it's an easy Level 4 unit.
Fair - I was wondering if there was an established meta for using great generals. My instinct is to settle the first one - it allows us to produce double-promo units in the main production city, which to an extent counters the Agg trait of other leaders. It will become less effective as we switch to vassalage/theorcracy, but will come into its own again in the knight era, giving the extra XP to build triple-promoted knights right away
I'm not sure on Heroic Epic, Literature is not in our immediate plans, and 200 hammers is a substantial investment on this map. It will pay off quite quickly, especially as we start knight build-up, so we probably will want it by then. But chances are we will find a way to create a level 4 unit in some way by then
Commodore sacrificed a horse archer to trade for our spearman + wounded bowman
4 horse archers are unaccounted for - think it's fair to assume they're loaded into the galleys, and Commodore is probably looking if he can hit our capital, currently defended just by 2 axes and a catapult. But we have a bowman and another axe coming over from Gruul Smash, and the bowman E of the capital is at 2.5/3 hp and will get city guard promotion. I think we're fine against an amphibious attack, and if Commodore lands the stack, it will be exposed to catapults
The great person is a scientist. So we're sitting on it until we research Monotheism and are ready to finish Monarchy during golden age
Speaking of Monotheism, Commodore is clearly going for Judaism, with him quickfire-researching Mysticism and Masonry, and being on Polytheism now. We can probably deny it to him
And one more thing, since Nauf brought up unlocking Heroic Epic - I realised while reviewing our cities and defences that it should be unlocked by the starting archer?
T100 pics under spoiler, the big picture is that we're up Construction and down HBR on most of the field, and are generally in a strong position, as long as we can continue repelling Commodore's attacks (and Thoth's if he sends the praets in again)
The capital. Will probably start working those baby cottages to the west now that its great person finished, and whip anger is wearing off. Does need its food fixing with Commodore tearing down the fishing nets - workboat will come from Big Red Dragons after the trireme it just finished
Gruul Smash. The next great person is likely to come from here (and likely to be a scientist as well). Down to barebones defences, and I don't feel comfortable having just 3 units there. But now that it controls the second ring to the south, we will have time to react should Thoth decide to invade, and I should be able to bring some units here once we repel Commodore's attacks, assuming we do. Post HR, this city will work a lot of coast, hence the lighthouse build
Big Red Dragons. The production centre of the empire. Right now it's sitting on both caps (it's the only non-fresh-water city in the empire, so health is an issue), but we can build an aqueduct and a garden to help. For growth potential, this is probably where Moai goes if it goes anywhere, so we can work coast as the city grows. But for this stage of the game, I'm happy to leave it on size 7 with this tile assignment. Even if we do have to work a crappy pre-Guilds workshop
See-Scape. The poor poor See-Scape, unable to work its food tiles due to whip anger. It is now firmly a Babylonian city, and will be good soon enough. But for now it doesn't have enough specialist slots, nor enough citizens to work them, and still has to worry about the possibility of Thoth trying to reclaim it. The city is putting a turn into a lighthouse, which it will need eventually, but its next build will actually be a temple, to help a bit with happiness and unlock another specialist slot
Boros Burn. The point of contention with Commodore, and still very much work in progress in terms of development. Also needs food fixing after Commodore pillaged the farm. Won't stop me from whipping it next turn to make sure we have enough spears should Commodore continue his attack
GNP - didn't realise Commodore went below Thoth on this metric! Our GNP is fluctuating depending on tile configurations, but we're at least competitive
Production - honestly pretty even between everyone except Thoth, maybe with us a smidgen ahead
Crop yield - ours dropped considerably due to being unable to work the seafood at See-Scape, and Commodore pillaging two of our high food tiles
Power - we're fine. Thoth's started going up again, so perhaps we do need to be ready for another attack from him. Hope we don't have to defend against him and Commodore at once - that could get problematic
For ourselves, pretty much all our units are in cities, so can be seen on city screenshots. The only exception is the stack in between Red Deck Wins / Gruul Smash / Boros Burn, which currently consists of an axe, a bowman, and 2 catapults. Although I think axe + bowman will go back to Gruul Smash now, leaving just the catapults in the middle, ready to bounce wherever they're needed
For Commodore, he had the mounted stack of 6 horse archers / 5 chariots for the recent attack (as well as the melee stack we killed), we don't know where it is any more. Nothing else noteworthy, apart from the fact that he still has an archer and a scout on that hill where we originally planned our second city. And yes, the scout still moves in and forces me to RESET THE FARM every turn (well, not right now with the farm destroyed, but I expect it will continue once it's rebuilt)
For Thoth, he still has the same stack of two axes and a spear parked on the gold hill, and that's all we can see. We should gain control of that hill in a turn or two, then we'll see more
For visibility, unfortunately I didn't do much exploring this game, our scout was more focused on making sure we could work the tiles we want, without disruption by other scouts. As a result, I know very little of Miguelito, I haven't even seen his capital
Honestly, this is a concern, Miguelito is in a strong position after defending Commodore's attack and landing Colossus, and the fact that we know so little about his progress is worrying. From pop numbers in the demos, I believe he's on 4 cities, as is Commodore
This is what we see of Commodore's land - full visibility of two cities, and we at least know the size of his capital
Commodore I think had the strongest opening, but his biggest advantage was in the early game. I think that's why he tried to make things happen, first against Miguelito, then against us - unfortunately for him, without much success. With the age of dog soldiers near the end, and the importance of happy cap boost from Cha diminishing, he's probably behind Miguelito and ourselves. Could be why his thread hasn't been active lately
Thoth... I actually looked at the posts at the start of the game, and Nauf posted this in the start analysis
Quote:-Southwest's neighbors both have excellent spots to settle up on him. The other players are usually only especially vulnerable on one side.
And what do you know... both Miguelito and ourselves settled on Thoth (in our case it was forced after Commodore took away our preferred second city spot), and he ended up sitting on a single city for a very long time, before giving in and settling a crappy city which can at least work the horse pasture. I don't think he would've been in a great position even if we didn't take See-Scape off his hands. If he wasn't Rome, someone probably would've put him out of his misery by now, but attacking into praets without at least crossbows and catapults is not an appealing idea
I'm actually moving a few axes down to See-Scape, there's only 5 units there and reinforcements take longer, that city is more vulnerable if Thoth decides to send in the praets. If he goes for Gruul Smash, we can just scrounge units from the capital and Boros Burns, and it's easier to get catapults in range. See-Scape would likely have to survive the initial hit before catapults get there
Will try to deny Judaism to Commodore, we want Monotheism anyway, for OR as well as as Monarchy pre-req, so might as well
![[Image: Civ4ScreenShot0268.JPG?raw=1]](https://www.dropbox.com/s/w0vwgqr321obiew/Civ4ScreenShot0268.JPG?raw=1)
As you say, a really nasty 2v1 can spell doom for anybody.
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