[PB78] Underdogs and undercats: The Mrrshan warlords visit the world of Civ IV

[Donovan Zoi]

DZ, can you give us an update on your latest acquisitions? You seem to have navigated this stage perfectly with Gav on the way to elimination, Dreylin damaged but not too badly, and SD remaining in the top position.

From here it could be just one more step to victory if SD attacks Magic and Dreylin joins us.

Thanks, thrawn!  The last few turns have been a lot of fun, the kind of fun that typically leaves me in analysis paralysis.  There's just been too much to report! 

So my apologies on that.  Let me see if I can get us caught up over the next 24 hours, as I feel the whole story needs to be told.  Then maybe we can get back to discussing things before they happen, as there will be some big decisions to be made on the way to T200.


Turn 162

I was fully staged to join in on a concerted effort against Magic 12 turns ago, and was waiting for Magic > SD to play (in that order).  However, SD joined the turn first, meaning he’d be taking no action this turn.  And here I had our troops exposed on Iran’s southern border!

I decided it would be best to jump Magic as well, to see what the heck was going on.  And I’m glad I did:

Quite the change of plans.  Out of the two, I preferred Gavagai as my target since there was a better flow into his lands.  Though I knew it would come with risks, I replied in kind to SD and did not reply to Gav.

Now what to do about these Magic troops?  I rushed all forces back to Morrig, like it never happened.  This is not a fight I would undertake alone.









Well wait…I needed a road to get my XBows back undetected, but I fat-fingered a Farm instead.  So when Magic logs in, he’d be left wondering why some of my XBows are walking casually away from our peaceful border.  And as it turns out, he sent me a legit food trade the following turn, which I gladly accepted.  Now I can set my sights on Gav while securing more health to support Mentar’s growth.

One wrinkle that remained is that I somehow lost SD’s mounted stack!  Next turn, I’ll need to scramble a sentry near Quayal just in case…


Turn 163

Found it! (shortest cliffhanger ever )




Showcasing the tightness of this map, SD’s troops went from the doorstep of Iran to…outside of Herculis?  It was a tense couple turns, but I figured I’d be last on the list of possible scenarios.  The most likely was that he was moving into Federation territory to catch Gav off guard.  He wouldn’t sneak up and pinch Lahore from me, would he?

In domestic news, we finally settled two cities in our core that will grow to be great hybrid sites.

[T-hawk]

I don't think I've ever seen a size 2 capital with size 13 and 12 cities next to it.

And really, a misclicked worker order changed the entire flow of wars in this game?

[Donovan Zoi]

Turn 164

WAR!

Not from us, yet.  But Gav attacked Dreylin the prior turn, losing only 7 units of 65 in the conquest of Spock.  However, Dreylin had enough troops to take it back and also had 3 sizable stacks lying in wait for Gav to advance.  This dance will go on for the next few turns, with Spock exchanging hands twice each turn and being left nearly empty as a dare with both parties cautious of losing their stack.







And here’s Gav’s core, barely defended.  My Rilla 3 XBows could definitely be of use here, especially with a hilled railroad outside of Bombay. 




But I want to see some action from the others on Gav’s stack first, lest I approach too soon and he peaces out with Dreylin to 1 v. 1 me.  With SD’s troops in the mix somewhere, I had a feeling we’d be seeing some heavy fireworks anyway.


Turn 165

This was a big turn strategically, as we finally discovered Guilds. And not a moment too soon.  I had many Horcher builds queued up at 16/90 to whip a field of Knights quickly

The attack avenues were also set up.  First, Morrig troops could access our eastern Fort on 2 turns to begin an advance on Golden Sphere.  Bombay would be an easy detour for my XBows.




We were also starting to send troops out to remote Phyco to make a play on the Lahore region.  As well as sending a mounted assault on Pataliputra (a preview from T166)





Surprise GP Play

This was also the turn we spawned our GP in Reticuli, and in a 40/60% upset we spawned a Great Engineer!  I was secretly hoping for this, as I have been coveting the Parthenon for quite some time.  However, I determined I’d forgo this prize a much better fit, and one that aligns beautifully with our military theme.





Upon taking a closer look, this Wonder pick really fills in some gaps.  I even checked the Tech thread to make sure it wasn't banned.

–It adds +2 GP towards a Prophet, to go along with Paya’s +2  (I’ve also got one Temple here for an additional +3)
–It gives us just over one culture level worth of defense, which will be essential in holding off post-Walls attacks from Muskets.  And also Cuirassiers, which is important since in current time, SD may have just completed Military Tradition.
–It won’t expire until Rifling, which has me considering ways to prolong the discovery of that tech for as long as possible.  I’ll be sharing those ideas soon.

[Donovan Zoi]

I don't think I've ever seen a size 2 capital with size 13 and 12 cities next to it. 

Ha, yes this city is still an afterthought.  I'm currently using Mentar's food to boost Morrig a bit.

And really, a misclicked worker order changed the entire flow of wars in this game?

Not quite!  The funny part is that Magic didn't even know our stacks were there in the first place. The turn of events was pretty much:

T161: Magic plays, SD plays, I played after and advanced.
T162: SD jumped Magic in the turn, I noticed and logged in to retreat, Magic logs in scratching his head about the 4 guys tying their shoes with their backs to him; offers food trade.

I still wonder if Magic even knew how close he was to losing it all.   

On T163, in order to de-escalate further, I actually retreated the errant farm workers without completing the road.  Had the road been completed the prior turn, it may have actually caused more concern than this slight blunder.  And had I not had the foresight to catch SD's move in time to retreat?     It wouldn't have been the end of the world, but I'm glad I did.

[williams482]

Chichen seems to be an underrated wonder at Realms Beyond. It's useless in singleplayer and inherently reactive/defensive, so it's difficutl to truly leverage it, but it sure does help slow down a potential invader. Ljub got good use out of it in PB75, and Thrawn, Ljub, and I all had our eyes on it for this game, when set defenses are vitally important for protecting whichever borders you aren't invading across.

I'm guessing there will be some lurker criticism about spending a GE on it (unless our rivals were chasing it as well...), but I'd say good move to get it in play immediately without Reticuli being unduly detoured.

[xist10]

I understand a bit, why CI is not valued that high.
It delays an enemy stack by maybe a turn (per city) and generally, if you defend in a city, something has gone wrong - where the 5 additional catapults could have been helpful to prevent that. And you do research rifling relative fast.

Yes, the delay is extremely helpful and 25% can defend against random raids - or even commando actions.
You do need to delay rifling sometimes, because you need steel first - my PB79 is a primary example.

Anyway, I do think this wasted an GE.
You could argue that there was neither enough other GP for a GA or a better wonder on the horizon, but in that case, I think a bulb could be better.
And like I said, I do not want to delay rifling. Maybe you need to invest in steel first, but if you can research rifling, you should do it in most cases.
And CI is no argument to delay rifling.

[T-hawk]

Although I think you may have the mechanics wrong, Donovan. The +25% defense from Chichen Itza works like walls, so it doesn't apply against gunpowder attackers, and you said you wanted it against muskets.

[xist10]

Do they ? I think they remain. I do have pictures in my PB70 thread (#151) where the 25% remains after I have researched gunpowder units.

[Cyneheard]

Do they ? I think they remain. I do have pictures in my PB70 thread (#151) where the 25% remains after I have researched gunpowder units.

You need to check the actual combat math when a gunpowder combat happens to verify, not whether it's visible on the screen.

[T-hawk]

The +25% will always show to the owner, but it will not show to another player when they have a gunpowder unit selected.