[SPOILER] Nicolae Karpathia Khan of France

[Nicolae Carpathia]

T25!


Whoop! First 2nd city! . Btw, I actually messed up my original naming scheme, I got it wrong AND I just realised that the capital's name doesn't show up on the diploscreen.


Capital builds a chariot using settler food-hammer overflow and just in time to work the grass forest hill that will be chop mined.



I pulled a worker back to base for a turn, shaves a turn off that and will be in position when Mama's borders pop in 3 turns and take over the corn. That will be immediately chop-mined. It's a shame that city will be lagging for a couple more turns than the original other city site, but I still haven't explored it fully and I didn't realise it had copper. Also, I dropped my science slider down to

Demos



Oh yeah, and copper's going to be a bit of a pain to hook up. The plan after this is to go Chariot-Worker-Settler, settler should be out on T35, Settled on T38. I might be able to tighten up the micro plan over a week or so, depending on how busy I am. In hindsight, I think Mama is sorta weak, I really should have settled 74 of the copper, but alas I didn't know about the copper earlier, I thought that city would be choked by jungle, and I hadn't scouted the location properly.

Another thing to consider, I noticed an Ethiopian scout to the northwest, the sign is visible in the 3rd picture. I don't think there's toroidal wrap, considering map settings say cylindrical and my maintenance is actually lower than my sim's. That meant GE made contact with Ethiopia.

Thoughts about the map: I've basically been of the opinion this map resembles an inland sea map, with big "loops" of water centrewards from all the capitals. I'm at the 12 o'clock position, Sareln at 9 o'clock, Ioan at 3 o'clock (except he moved to 2 ). Gives 2 nice fronts to defend, I really need to consider how to respond to Ioan if he starts getting aggressive. I've played him before, he's done things like attack me specifically to slow me down, yeah, I really need those axes ASAP, or at least force some pressure on him. Hmm, may need to go iron working after pottery to chop those jungles straight away to get rid of the jaguar highway. Still, axes should be fine defending the city, it's just that I don't want to get choked. Maybe immediately order up a couple of axes when copper comes online, sentry the jungle, and block key tiles.

[Nicolae Carpathia]

A picture!



Oh man I really wish I had planted a city in my original plan. However, didn't know there was copper and rice there as well, and I wasn't sure how Sareln was going to respond to my aggression. Hmm, I guess Sulla's point that ancient age war hurts everyone may be right. Between the 3 foods and 2 hills, you have a powerhouse city that wouldnbe online very fast. I really wish I hadn't settled Mama where it is now. Oh well, settler in 4 turns, I have a worker roading there which will cut down travel time by a turn. I have a warrior heading towards the proposed city to garrison it, and a chariot that will be heading south to scout and maybe harass Sareln. I know he just completed a settler, if it's heading north, then I may be able to cut it off and deal some serious damage. I'm sending a warrior east to scout out Ioan as well. I really should look into pressuring him a bit, shame about the jungle. I also want to get rid of that scout, it's a nuissance.

Demos:

[Nicolae Carpathia]

Bad news. Ioan went to the trouble of building a barracks and a chariot-countering spear. It could be defence for a city plant. It could be a choke or attack. I have 7 turns before it can reach my borders. 8 before it can walk into my new city. How to respond...

[Nicolae Carpathia]

My sims hook up copper on T37. The question is, I can either finish chop-farming the forest corn, or I could chop the forest hill adjacent to my capital. The former would give me a chance to lure and trap the spear on the corn tile, the latter would let me hit the spear out of the city at ~80% odds. Hmm, I like the former actually, gives me a better strategic option and sitting on a forest hill doesn't help him an awful lot if I'm still working the 5/0/0 tile next to him. It's going to hurt my development a bit as I'll waste alot of worker turns walking through jungle to my copper city. At worse, I'll have 3 warriors in Mama, which should stop Ioan just ramming his spear against it until it dies (PS. that sounds wrong).

Shame I'll need to pull my chariot back a bit, but my workers and settlers will be walking outside my culture and getting munched by a wolf would completely mess me up and leave me incredibly vulnerable.

[Nicolae Carpathia]

The spear moved onto the silks. I'm going to stick to this T37 plan as long as as it keeps moving forward. The big concern is that he's built a barracks, that's nearly a worker, or half a settler! That kinda telegraphs aggression. Another concern is that it's T31, and no one's settled yet! Maybe next turn, but I'm 5 turns away from settling my 3rd city! This could bode ill, I'll end my farmers gambit after this city and secure my position with a trio of axes. Another concern is whether I should switch from mysticism-meditation path onto hunting/IW, to chop out those dangerous jungle tiles and get some spears out. Maybe I should change, I can't push growth AND pursue a religious path AND react to aggression with a good safety margin.

[spacemanmf]

At worse, I'll have 3 warriors in Mama, which should stop Ioan just ramming his spear against it until it dies (PS. that sounds wrong).

Snigger, chortle.

[Nicolae Carpathia]

The spear is still moving forwards, everything seems to be under control though any mistake will be critical. At worse, he can pick off 2 warriors, maybe 3 if I miscalculated, so I'm loading 3 warriors into Mama and keeping 1 in reserve for capital MP. I'm starting an axe on T37, should appear at EoT38. Next turn I'm revolting into slavery.

Sareln finally settled ~2 turns ago, which is kinda terrifying because what the hell is Ioan doing? His power isn't increasing, his only real unit is the spear, is he gearing for a Jag rush or something? I don't get it.

Also, thanks to moving those units out of borders, I now have an extra 1gpt supply cost. That sucks. I'm still researching Meditation, though I made a mistake and should have teched Poly instead as that way there's a chance I could land Buddhism in my new city to get to 3rd ring borders and hook up the gems. Yes, I have a really good happy resource in the 3rd ring of my 3rd city This is a big deal, I really really REALLY wish I settled that site as my 2nd city as I have a better chance of landing a religion there.

Moral of the story: early settlers are overrated unless you can match it with good scouting information.

[Nicolae Carpathia]

An auspicious day for the Frangolians!

(Note images come from reopening the save, so not everything may be in order)



Ioan DoWed, moved onto the forest hill. I left 2 warriors on that forested hill as well, he has 70% odds but I don't expect him to take it as it gains him nothing. This is harassment, not all-out war. He could move 7, which ties down troops in the Mama and the forest hill, or he could move 1, which will temporarily cut off the corn.



A 3rd city! The copper is roaded, will be mined next turn.



Sareln has a warrior nearing my borders. If he moves closer, I'm killing it as I can't risk anything tying up a flank. I'll make peace immediately afterwards, I believe he's in a catch-up mentality right now. I hence moved my shadowing warrior out to sentry the border again. I also moved a warrior out of the city to get a bit of scouting done, found another city site so that I don't need to get up to 50 culture to connect those gems.



Ioan's finally settled, this is good, he's not going for a rush on 1 city. I can weather this, as I have more cities and can hence develop faster. Hunting to protect against chariots, and IW to get rid of the jungle highways comes next.

Have these wars hurt me? Yes. I lost scouting information, settled a suboptimal 2nd city site, and drew notice in my choke on Sareln. I've built more warriors and earlier due to Ioan's pressure, when I could have been building workers and granaries to speed up my growth curve. I lost alot of worker turns to inefficiency, as I had to optimise for connecting copper quickly. I'm going to have to 1-pop whip Mama. I've lost map control, that one spear forced back my sentry net and I hence can't tell if his latest city is towards me or against me.

Have these wars hurt Sareln and Ioan? Yes to Sareln, I hit him at a critical time, just as his worker completed, I denied him alot of turns of growth and production and infrastructure. I'm not entirely sure about Ioan, he settled embarassingly late, so it looks like poor decision making in general. I mean, I normally aim for a T35 settler on normal speed, this is quick speed. Give him 3 turns of movement, and that's still incredibly slow.

Also, I've finally gained graphs at EoT on both of them. They're both focusing EPs on me because they're I've been drawing notice with my score and growth. How about the tactically important ones for now?





His power has remained fairly stable, though my power comes from a swarm of worthless warriors and his comes a spear, and hopefully not a chariot. Considering the spacing of resources, I really hope he doesn't have a chariot right now, I haven't been preparing for it. However, the area's fairly jungly, which nerfs chariots a bit. From the power graphs, there's a risk that a chariot just appeared, though it will need 6 more turns to hit me, and I can no doubt bring a spear to bear in that time.

And one last thing, Buddhism came in with no great fanfare. Appeared in Mama, which is fine as it needs the happiness more (right now). Hunting will come in on T38, IW on T49 at this rate, but I'm planning to lay down a bunch of cottages as soon as this current threat is over. Making +19b/-4g, I need to go binary research, as otherwise I'm losing a commerce from rounding errors.

[Nicolae Carpathia]

A turn!

Hooked up iron, whipped a granary in To me. Ioan built the henge, which is great news as he hasn't been sinking hammers into trying to kill me. I may try and punish him for that by settling that hill city I've been eyeing, it will give me a defensible front. If he tries to steal my resources with his free monument, then I just road up to it and kill it.

Ioan moved his spear onto the corn. I moved a single warrior off onto a flatland forest, and reinforced the hill forest, to give him a choice between taking the warrior at favourable odds or pillaging the farm. Let's hope he takes the former. I've given the fish to Mama, so its growth isn't crippled, I'm going to whip off a 1/2 tile to generate a single axeman and that will be enough.

What else? I DoWed Sareln again and killed his warrior on a flat forest with my chariot at 78% odds. I couldn't afford to let him tie down resources, and that was the best odds I'd get for a while as he was moving along defensive terrain, and would reach a hill jungle next turn. Yeah, that's right, I'm at war with both my neighbours! That's okay, Sareln's power is low and I immediately offered a peace treaty. Hmm, that could be a mistake, I wouldn't want him to feel at ease, but his demos are low.

Buddhism spread at eot to To Me. Great news!

And oh shit, I just realised, I made a mistake and KAM is working a 2/1 tile instead of a 1/5 copper. Damn. At least that city isn't critical to my plans. Hmm, I can actually make the most of it by building a workboat in my cap using overflow, so that I can get to 2 pop quickly working the pigs and clam. Probably suboptimal, but hey, population working improved tiles is population working improved tiles. I could always use that 2 commerce.

[Nicolae Carpathia]

Oooh, Ioan brought an axe to the party as well. I can deal with that. Overflow from granary goes into an axe, 1-pop whip an axe as well.

I tried simming out how many C1 warriors it will take to kill a C1 spear on flatland, and the median number seems to be 3 warriors. I wish I had a tool to calculate this, I still don't fully understand how combat rounds work and the overall probability of winning (considering they're dependent events). I know someone who does have such a calculator, but I don't think they'll make it available to me

Let's see, if I don't kill the spear, that means his axe/spear pair will fork my corn and my capital. That ties down alot of troops, as he could double-team any single axe and will deny me alot of growth. If I take the risk and it fails, well, then I've just lost 30h of warriors. Advantage Ioan. The city won't be at risk, I have an axe appearing at EoT in Mama and To Me.

Fuck it, let's go for it.


YESSSSS!!!!!