PBEM5(Q) Everybody Wang Kon tonight!

[AutomatedTeller]

I have someting to think about.

I have 3 turns left on my GA and I think I might be able to get banking in that period of time, which is great - mercantilism is powerful for duels, really want it.

The question is:

do I also switch in caste at that point?

merc/caste would give me 13 merchants, or over 40 gold! That cuts my expenses by 1/4, which is huge.

The problem is, of course, that I cannot whip. And I dont' particularly have any places that workshops are awesome for, either. But with guilds, still, they are the equivalent of hills, so they are useful.

[AutomatedTeller]

We are back. Got guilds, and am 1 turning banking. I (finally) used the scientist I got a few turns ago for an academy. i was saving it for a bulb, which is insane.

Still haven't figured out if I should go caste or not once I get mercantilism. Whipping is important.

Without caste, new cities get an extra citizen, which is an extra hammer (plus 2 culture when I build sistine), which is nice. Plus they can whip.

I think I have to keep slavery. I wanna run caste, but his power is too high for me to do that.

[AutomatedTeller]

damn, his power is growing. I think I'm going to get hit somewhere with a stack of 15 knights, so I'm likely to lose SOMETHING at some time. Maybe I need to force a battle somewhere, i dunno. I'm building a lot of knights, though.

[AutomatedTeller]

He did, in fact, dump a ton of knights up on efrafra. I didn't pay attention to how much upgrades cost, so I could only upgrade one bowman to LB instead of 2. I should be able to kill 2 knights, and might get 3 or 4. In any case, he's going to have a lot of knights tied up there (pike, speak, LB, bowman and scout - I had an LB in the pipeline, but couldn't whip it), so that's at least 5 knights tied up there, probably 5+ 2-4 killed/withdrawn.

here is a pic:



That northern stack will hit Efrafra, with the HA taking out the stragglers/scout. I HOPE that the 9 knights will move south to NIMH, because then I hit that stack with cats, pikes, knights, and maces. If he holds off, well, we'll see.

if he has another stack that can hit redwall abbey, then I'll have a problem.

I set my research to 0%, btw. I'm turning off research for awhile, though I think I'll go to gunpowder instead of drama.

[AutomatedTeller]

Well, he burned Efrafra, only losing 2 knights doing it. That's annoying.

But he did put part of that stack in next to NIMH (5 knights and an HA)... not as much as I'd like for him to have put, but some is better than nothing.



3 catapults later, they were chum to my knights and pikes, though I somehow lost a knight along the way - not sure how that happened.




I upgraded 3 HA to knights and will continue to upgrade a unit or two a turn.

I am hoping he takes on the pikes and dumps a bunch of knights next to NIMH - I'll kill that stack, too (I think - it might depend some on whether I get a GG early or not).

I think he might pull back, though, or try to move around to the other side. I'm not sure, which is why I'm moving a sentry HA up that way to help wtih visibility.

[AutomatedTeller]

Very exciting - he dumped a group over by Zuckerman's Farm this time. It had a bowman and a spear in it... very vulnerable.

Course, next turn, he's lost 2 knights, everything is injured, and the farm will have 2 pikes, 2 LB and a bowman, plus more units in range. If he attacks, he loses. My guess is that he retreats, in which case I will be able to kill some of the retreaters (unless he has reinforcements). he cannot get completely out of range.

i'm also building wealth in NIMH, so I get better eyes on the surrounding territory. I'm
kind of worried about him swinging around to Manor Farm.

Here is an overview pic:




Black Square is where I killed his stack near NIMH.
Red Square is his current, wounded stack next to Zuckerman's Farm
Blue Square is Manor Farm, where I'm a little worried he's coming in next, but that's hard.
Brown is 100 Acre Woods, my main military fort on the east side. It has a castle and CG III LB, plus some other stuff and is making a pike next turn. I assume it's safe... if he has another huge force of knights, it might get burned down.

South is Breakfast Flock, where i have Moai. that's vulnerable. it says a knight, but it's making a pike. I have a warrior that can be upgraded and another pike nearby, but it's probably the most vulnerable border city I have... But I think i get 2 turns notice on it. I should be ok. I'll probably put a LB in there, as well.

I have a reserve in the middle of the civ.

btw - he researched BANKING this turn. He still doens't have math, to say nothing of construction. I can only assume he's nearing strike?


I made myself a super medic with the GG I got, as well. Plus, of course, I finished Hanging Gardens.

[AutomatedTeller]

I am not sure why he did what he did - he killed a couple of pikes and an HA and then pillaged, instead of retreating. So I killed another 5 knights and an HA - lost a pike at !90% odds doing so and will probably lose the bowman I used to kill the last unit, but hey.

1 turning alpha, then paper and philo on the way to education and liberalism.

My soldier count is now higher than his. He still doesn't math or catapults. I might have to take the battle to him, though it's tough - I am pretty sure he still has 10 or more knights around.

[AutomatedTeller]

Now I feel a little bad.

he did show up at manor farm (and at RedWall abbey)
(he got a little whimsical here)





Neither location was particularly in danger - I have a ton of pikes near redwall abbey and I could road knights over to at least reduce the stack at manor farm - kill one of them - shuffle around defenders to cover.

What happened... well, it wasn't pretty for him.




That's one knight killed by a pike at 80% odds, then 4 knights killed by knights at 50/50 odds. The other 2 are HA. And I suicided a catapult along the way.

I started on paper on my way to liberalism->nationalism->mil trad. 2 turn paper while still building up money for upgrades... it's not a bad thing at all.

[SevenSpirits]

Nice going!

[AutomatedTeller]

thanks.

He backed off at Redwall Abbey. so no blood this turn!

I'm planning a few more cities - resettle Efrafra, another hill city north of the farms to A) get wheat (I actually built a garden!) and B) be another mil city and then a couple in the empty spaces up north.

Mil build up is still going strong - I've got 3 major cities on full military (though I am slipping culture into 100 Acre Woods here and there - my first strike will likely be to kill one of his cities that is providing culture issues there)

1 turn to paper, then bulb education.

I'm thinking about getting optics - there are enough lakes that water sight is nice, and the whales will be a nice boost to economy/hammers for Centaur Aisle. It's a bit of a side jaunt, though.