Where to will Singaboy steer the Teutonic power?

[Dreylin]

Oh man that's rough, but it'll be all the more heroic when you win the game having fought back from this deficit!

Can this game get any worse?

Seriously though, NEVER ask that question....  

[Singaboy]

There is one consolation. If I am not wrong, an attack by the horseman would give my warrior +6 exp. This would result in the warrior being able to promote to lvl 1.
Of course, after that any barb fights will only give +1 exp. I have to really see what the barb spear and horseman are doing next turn. Different scenarios are possible. If the horseman gets in range of an attack on turn 9, I might just fortify on turn 8 (giving me +10hp while being attacked by the horse). The horse would lose some hp while my warrior can upgrade and gain 50hp in the process, hopefully enough to avert being defeated by the horseman+spear combo.

I might have to play with time here too, though that would risk another barb popping up. Currently, there are 9 turns to CoL (and +5 strength vs barbs) left. With my civ making 1.4cpt so far, this resulted in 1.4*6 = 8.4/20. Hence 9 turns left. My city will grow next turn and make a measly 1.7cpt. That is enough though to drop CoL eta by 2 turns, coming in on turn 14. Keeping my warrior alive and getting a slinger online should increase my chances.

[Singaboy]

Well, my consolation was plain wrong, the AI performed a real nifty move and after attacking me, I do NOT have enough exp to get promoted. What a bummer. In my test games, if a horseman attacks, you got 6 exp. Probably depends on the amount of damage you do. Anyway, my warrior is almost dead.


I thought quite hard about the next move and decided to move across the river onto the hill. I am not too sure whether the horseman has enough movement points to attack across the river onto a hill. Moving across would cost 3 movement points, which it has left after moving onto the stones.


Well, if the horseman indeed takes out my warrior, it can than attack my city 2 turns later. It would injure the horseman in both attacks (warrior and city). A turn after its first city attack, my slinger would be ready and hopefully be ready to take on the horseman. Of course, if another barbarians spawns, it will be getting all the more difficult to dig out of this hole.

City grew to pop 2 and I decided to work both forest and hill stones for added production (7.3). CoL will be ready in 6 turns, not shown yet as the last turn was still 1.4cpt. My scout crossed the river and found fertile new land, potentially high production. In fact, my capital looks like the weakest of the locations in their surroundings.

Looking at the score sheet, I got a real shock. This is revealed:

First of all, I did not know that a mouseover would show you the player...anyway, how on earth did China get 2 civics at this stage? They get 60% Eurekas, but CoL doesn't profit from it anyway. How can this be real? Anyone has any explanation? Initially I thought, maybe it's Gorgo and he beat up a lot of barbarians (impossible with a mere warrior as you can see with me struggling to even stay alive). All of us are now pop 2. My growth to pop 3 will be delayed a fair bit as I need to produce more units to simply stay in the game. I plan now to build another warrior after its slinger to take on the barb camp. A slinger alone is not going to do anything, far too weak on defense.

[Singaboy]

The warrior got to live another day Mister barb horse wasn't able to cross and attack with 3 movements left. For once something went right. However, he has a new friend. Well, this nest of barbs will need to be smoked out once I have the right policy and more troops. Gorgo would love that for the free culture. Maybe the game thinks I am actually Gorgo's Greece?


I am trying to bring the warrior back home without losing him. Too valuable. It takes 3 turns on flatland, but if I move via a direct route SE-E, that horseman will catch me right away. I decided to move SE SE to pull a different southern route and maybe get lucky. What do we spot?


Another scout, but without an !. Don't tell me there are more barbs around. Anyway, this might be a blessing. I need a mere 2 exp for promotion and maybe, if he attacks, it might be enough to give me that and save me for another day or two. I hope that the horseman can't see me, too.

Looking at my city, the computer decided to grab a 2-1 resource tile. Wheat will take 12 turns to come online. Given that I need production right now and the fact that I don't really have 3 great tiles to work, a delayed city growth is not too disastrous. I could always buy the wheat tile for 50gold. My slinger is 3 turns from finishing. I guess I have to postpone the builder and get either a warrior or slinger out.

The scout is continuing NE without anything is sight, sadly. A militaristic or cultural city state would be most welcome.

[gunnerxtr]

Pulling for you Singaboy, those early horsemen are a real nuisance.

[MJW (ya that one)]

Two horseman @ turn 9??? That is total BS. I really feel for you.

[Singaboy]

turn 2: barb camp
turn 3: scout at city
turn 7: 1st horseman spawns
turn 9: 2nd horseman spawns

This is indeed nonsense and should be tackled with. This is prince difficulty, not deity. I do recall a game in deity Civ4 where we all were attempting to survive the barb onslaught.
It wouldn't be so bad, if the barb AI would be a little less aggressive and less competent. Additionally, if units resemble the current state of the game, that would only be fair. None of us can make archers, spears, swords, chariots or horsemen, and yet, you have to face this.

Now I have to hope that my warrior gets attacked by the scout and survives (currently 24/100 hp left). A mouse over for an attack of my warrior on the scout showed major victory. With that I could move 1 tile E and promote the same turn gaining 50 hp.
I am not sure, whether this is sufficient health to survive a dash back to town which would take 2 turns. I would potentially get attacked twice by the horseman and might not survive this (the barb scout could join the fun too). Maybe the second horseman heads west. Maybe there is a city state nearby that joins in and helps?
At least I will gain a slinger in 3 turns. It would stay around town until there is another warrior support. This would take 5 turns due to the production overflow. A slinger would take 4 turns.

CoL coming online will help a lot, too.

[Singaboy]

And the cat and mouse mini game continues. Unfortunately, I am the mouse in this case. Mining is done and I start on animal husbandry. Scout moves north and still doesn't spot anyone...no city state. this is getting really frustrating.



My mouse (warrior) moves onto the forest as the horse won't be able to attack it then. Strangely, though I don't see the barb units, they know exactly where my units are. Typical civilization AI cheats. No worries, I will also have friends coming online soon. The slinger is ready soon and I will get a warrior after that. And CoL won't take too long as well.

[Singaboy]

On turn 11, the horseman again tracked my warrior exactly, standing next to the forest. There is no escape for me this time. Time to face the music.



Well, my warrior has 24hp left, it lost 26hp during the first horseman attack on turn 8. I check the strength comparison. It's 12 to 17, pretty bleak. However, I will get a bonus for being in a forest (+3). I might get a fortification bonus since I simply fortify. Maybe another few pts? I hope the battle would start as a tie and result in my warrior losing maximum 23 hp. If that were the case, the following turn I can promote and gain 50hp + 10hp for fortification heal. That should be enough to survive and reach my own city...

I need a favor from the RNG this time.

In other news, I am last in score with 7, tied with 2 others. The leader has 10, number 2 has 9. The scout is out of the woods and can move faster but yet to discover anything.

[Singaboy]

As turn are played quickly this late night, the crucial next turn comes in very fast.

and....drummroll
Yes! The warrior survived and gets promoted too! Exactly what I needed to get this warrior through alive. Seemed impossible when that horseman popped... And what do we spot at the gate of Aachen? A fourth barb unit. Luckily my first slinger is ready just in time.


I do what needs to be done. I move the warrior NE and then promote it. Since the barb horseman is pretty beat too, I shouldn't need to worry about its attack.


At my capital, the slinger starts to work on that horse archer. If that unit is foolish enough, it might just give me the chance to get the Eureka for archery.


And finally, the scout has covered a lot of land but yet to find anyone