[SPOILERS] Mountain, go

[yuris125]

Bonus: me in Brighton yesterday. I believe the first photo of me published on RB

[Ceiliazul]

I always pictured you as kind of catty



I Kill Me!

loving the thread so far, keep it up.

[yuris125]

T43

The game slowed down a little, we're only getting 4 or 5 turns a week.. and I usually was too tired to update after playing. Will try to update more regularly again!

I'm up to 3 cities, with the settler for the 4th almost done



I'll settle the horse spot as the 4th city; because it's an AW game, I feel it's important to have all units available - never know what I might need

Oxy is trying a little bit of diplomacy on me



I'm working a bare riverside grassland in Ravnica for a turn to set up a 2-pop Axe whip. I feel it's a proper diplomatic response, which should keep me safe for a dozen turns

Researching Masonry to be able to build Walls - again, I want to have all defensive options available. I already have Writing, but didn't have a chance to put it to use yet

[yuris125]

This game is seriously going to be the worst reported RB game ever. It's been 3.5 months since I updated last time. There's been a lot going on in my life that kept my mind occupied, and didn't let me to concentrate enough to write an update. That story now ended (not in the way I hoped I'm afraid), and here I am, back in the thread

It was T43 when I updated last time. Last night I played T82. The fact that we played less than 40 turns in 3.5 months is another clue to why it's been difficult to concentrate on updating the thread

I'm going to go through the saves from the last 40 turns tonight, and report all interesting events that happened during that time - and there were some!

[yuris125]

T45-50

Oxy founded a city on the land bridge between us, next to the disputed horses between us



Retep's small force came from the north to be annoying



I moved my Warrior onto the corn to prevent pillaging, and whipped an Archer to be safe against Warriors

In the south, moved a couple of Axes towards Oxy's new city, and found his own stack of units. This started a stand-off which would last for quite a few turns

Retep's Axe came behind the Warriors



I set up a chop into my own Axe. This is why there are benefits to Agg trait in an AW game - my fresh units match well against those of my opponents, even if they built them with Barracks and have promotions

Founded my 4th city on T48 near the horses



This made my empire look like this in T50. 4 cities, with the Settler for the 5th almost finished



Shandalar is building Settlers and is good at it; Ravnica is an awesome production city which 1- or 2-turns Axes. The rest of the cities handle other needs, be it Workers or military

Demos are reasonable. Low GNP - this seems to be the theme of my recent games. Perhaps I over-expand, perhaps I undervalue GNP in general, but I just always fall behind in that category. Competitive crop yield and MFG though



And my mighty army as it was on T50

[yuris125]

Not much happened in the next 10 turns. Retep suicided his Axe into my Archer, and his Warriors started to through the NE corner of my empire. I killed one, couldn't kill the other. This put a slight dent into my plans, as I was going to settle the 5th city next to the gems, but wasn't sure Settler's passage was going to be safe. So, the 5th city was founded on T53 on the ivory. Getting the luxury sooner was good anyway, as I was getting deep into unhappiness



Stand-off in the south continued. Looks like Oxy was going to chop the forest where his Axes were, then realised he was going to lose defensive bonus, and decided against it



I tried to sneak a Chariot past his defenders to have a peek into his territory, but didn't realise the spear could reach it. Even gave the spear a promotion. That was silly

Founded the gem city on T57



Stand-off is still going on. Oxy got Chariots in the city now, so I built a Spear to add to my stack. This was getting silly, as we were both tying up forces in that stand-off, but I absolutely didn't want him to move towards Ravnica using defensive terrain for the whole way



6 cities on T60. Lots of unhappiness, but I'm counting on it going away when I connect to gems



Economy is starting to be a worry, and demos reflect it, with GNP being even lower than 10 turns before



Stand-off in the south. I decided my stack was good enough for the moment, and set Ravnica to build a Settler



Army on T60

[yuris125]

More uneventful turns followed. I couldn't keep expanding at the same rate, and decided to claim the spot E of the gold as the next city. It was a risky settlement, way too close to Oxy, but I needed the gold

Wetbandit built an Oracle on T65, making him a proud owner of both Stonehenge and Oracle. Oxy completed 2 wonders on T67, building Pyramids and Great Wall. On the same T67, I settled the 7th city



This made my empire look like this on T70



I'm limping to Currency best I can, with scientists hired in Shandalar, and working cottages over farms. Awful, but you do what you have to do. In demos, I'm falling behind in primary categories



Stand-off in the south didn't change much, both sides are still maintaining positions



Army on T70 includes a Settler, which I won't be able to use until Currency is finished

[yuris125]

On T76 I discovered Currency, and immediately founded the 8th city



This is going to be a whip city in the near future, and a reasonable GP farm down the line

On the same turn, the southern stand-off finally reached its conclusion. These are the staks we had on that turn



I knew mine was much smaller, but with a defender advantage, I didn't think he could get through without Catapults. He decided to try. When I loaded T77, I saw this



Would've been a reasonable trade for him if I didn't have other forces in the area. But I did, and this gave me an opportunity to counter-attack



Axe killing his lone Spear was the easy part. Then I moved in the stacks from both Ravnica and Zendikar. Chariot remained in Zendikar, but could join the attack thanks to the road

At the start of T78, forces were positioned like this



I was certain that I could kill his whole stack next to the city with average RNG rolls. They ended up being good. I took a 33% shot with Chariot on the healthy Axe and won. Then an Axe attacked his wounded Axe at 41% and also won. Wounded Chariots were of course easy. So - flawless victory



After all this, the city was still defended by 2 Axes and a C3 + Shock GG Axe, so I couldn't really threaten it. I still moved my units next to the city, and got some more favourable trades



This was a good win for me. I didn't make any real gains, but reduced Oxy's army, and my stack is camped forest just outside his city, blocking his road towards Zendikar. I also have a unit on his flood plains farm tile, so he can't work that. And I got a GG as well, and will make a strike force Axe of my own

Meanwhile in the north... the last event log also had an entry about enemy being near Innistrad. Retep settled a city there, and moved a Worker defended by a stack of Axes to build a pig pasture



This was surprising. Covering a Worker by a unit weak to a 2-mover, within reach of my city... not exactly what I expected. I immediately started a Chariot in Innistrad. But that's the story for the next chapter

The empire on T80



Demos



Army

[yuris125]

And this brings us to the last played turn so far, T82. Screenshots are from the start of the turn, which is unfortunate, because things did happen this turn

In the north, I had 2 Chariots in Innistrad, with Archer + Axe on the forest tile next to Retep's stack



I attacked. Both Chariots won at 90%, then I took a 50% shot attacking his last Axe with my Axe, and won as well. This revealed his new city, defended with a single Archer. I might be able to take it next turn. I even kept the Worker, as I didn't see a way he could recapture it

I also founded my easternmost city on the spot marked in this screenshot. This is my 9th



Now Settlers are going to go to the west and see what they can claim there

In the south, the stand-off continues



In 2 turns I'm going to discover Construction, and see what I can do with Cats

In general, I would say I successfully got myself out of the hole. My CY and MFG are both competitive (MFG is tied for 1st), and GNP is getting there. State of research is a concern. Azza completed MoM on T80, I didn't even think about going towards Calendar yet. Ideally, I want to go CoL next, then HBR. Maybe HBR first, and get gold from capturing Retep's cities? Tempting....

Oxy's huge point lead is also a concern. Not sure how much it's inflated by wonders though. Demos are a better indicator of empire state than score. Right?

[yuris125]

Say miaow if you read the update? Can't blame anyone who dismissed this game as a lost cause, but would be nice to know that my epic work was not for nothing