[spoilers] Commodore: Worse than Toku, it's Giggles of Siam!

[Commodore]

Easy part is over now. Scooter retreated in good order, covering his axe and pillaging his road, while moving chariots to cover his impis south near gold. But for now? We'll enjoy a good turn. Farewell, Subway.


Our power is at a low ebb this turn, next turn we'll have two spears and an axe more, and the turn after three axes can complete if we go that direction. I'm considering what we want for the front, I'd like to start exchanging XP at a better rate, we need 13 more for a great general, but I think they're even closer. The totals we see in Zululand right now, by the way, are three impi, two chariots, and an axe, with lots of chops coming heavier.


On the plus side, we're looking at about eight turns on Construction at full burn once we settle the western island (I was thinking of the more suburbanly name "Hawk's Ridge"). Call it another fifteen turns, although we might be able to shave a bit, particularly if we can pillage the gold mine.


As you can see, the trees are almost all gone in Central Generica. We need to get mines online to replace them stat.

[Thoth]

Getting all 8 of LSG's grass cottages worked by t95 would be good.

Sooner would be better.

VA can work a non-riverside LSG cott at size 5 (with fish/pigs/2 scientists).

TM can work 5 of LSG's cottages at size 8 (happy once whip anger wears off).

So at size 9 in LSG we want to work 2 cotts, 2 Crab, 3 grass mines, 1 marble and 1 PHM. We may want a Lighthouse to speed growth once the Axe/galley/Lib are done?

We can do construction in better than 15 t

[Commodore]

Agreed, but we need to no ignore Team Impi Despair over there either. I think you're double-counting too, VA and TM share a capital cottage, only four riverside cottages shared by TM.

Regarding the eastern dotmap...discuss:


Seem like some nice pressure points? Just a note, the spot 1N of McDonalds needs just a lighthouse and some nets to get to an amazing +16 food bonus.

[Commodore]

Turn 87, and they're retreating again. I want to pillage that gold and pressure that city, ideally timing things so that I get a pair of cats crashing into it before they have cats of their own. So glad to be able to see their research here.


Archers aren't the best cover in the world, but they defend before chariots against impi and before axes against chariots; that's more than enough. Unfortunately, full chopping/scrambling means this is going to get ugly quick, but in the north and the south I've got spears inbound to help. If we get lucky and can smash the city, we will, but right now I want them to mainly feel psychologically oppressed.


Soldier count reassures me somewhat here. I think one reason I'm able to match production with the Zulu even now is with the whip...not just the +4 (thanks for stopping the horse trade there, guys) but also the large number of granaries. I'm trying to get Hidden Valley in on this too, for whatever its worth, and even Willowbrooke before too long once I net clams. Consider those two axe builds my current MFG "tax rate", somewhat dampening the good numbers you see. 16 turns and a turn of travel before that Academy, by the way.


Okay, so, Mr. Thoth orders more capital cottages, Mr. Thoth gets them! I'm going to gamble a bit on those gems and gold staying with us, and grow Lakeside Garden up another +1. It kills my soul, but we need to work the plains forest to get four overflow hammers, which will let us squeak out a work boat two turns after the galley, island needs its fish. Riverland 1NE sprouts a cottage the turn we grow.


Meanwhile, Tranquil Meadow is one turn away from getting its first village 1S. The donated corn doesn't slow the settler, which is chopped out next turn. Workers then road 1N of Lakeside Garden down there to enable the settler to get to the ship on time. I see that Library you slipped in there, Thoth. Imma let him finish, but first we need another worker.


Let's see how this goes. War seems a little less hardcore-mode at the moment, but that's because we still lack the two critical techs of Construction and HBR. Trust me, I'm going to try to get a mammoth with a frickin' ballista on its back out of every single city the turn after HBR rolls in.

[Commodore]

Well, this was a setback.

Nothing for it, just rebuild and stack better next time. One coinflip loss really wrecked things there.

Note the ironic survivor, Nicolae. :P

[yuris125]

I come back to RB only to see myself die in combat :P
A brilliant story, very nicely done so far. Look forward to seeing how it develops
Do you intend to fight scooter & co to the end? Or are you going to stop the war and switch to full-scale expansion at some point? I believe you don't have Currency yet, do you think economy will be ok?

[Commodore]

I come back to RB only to see myself die in combat :P
A brilliant story, very nicely done so far. Look forward to seeing how it develops

Sorry for the welcome, Yuri's Rangers will be reborn, my own fault for taking them out of the woods. It's a fair major setback, basically the XP given up here plus the GG means I'm fighting Agg for a little while, plus the looming specter of a 3-move impi is out there now. Still in all, fight on.

Do you intend to fight scooter & co to the end? Or are you going to stop the war and switch to full-scale expansion at some point?

Unfortunately, Fin/Ind means that can't exactly out-peace these guys, and I don't think they'd use peace for anything but massing up a stack and seizing the initiative, which is what they threaten to do now anyway. I'm not going to win without out-expanding them, though, so it's Pink Dots and Pro Archers all along the front.

I believe you don't have Currency yet, do you think economy will be ok?

The economy is actually doing okay, although I'm worried about war weariness constraining things a bit soon. Much as I'd love Currency, the nice core of riverside cottages is paying off, and the next two cities of "Intercontinental Trade Routes" and "Gems Mine" ought to pay for themselves too.

[Commodore]

So with the unpleasant defeat of my detail in the north, objectives around McDs are somewhat more reserved. I think we're going to still pressure the gold mine area, but we need to avoid taking very heavy losses. Still might be possible to make something happen elsewhere, though:


How well defended are those backline cities?

[Commodore]

While waiting around...Tooth, using your cryto-hypno wizard powers, how light do you think we can run on the front, particularly in light of the incoming GG terror-men?

[Thoth]

While waiting around...Tooth, using your cryto-hypno wizard powers, how light do you think we can run on the front, particularly in light of the incoming GG terror-men?

I think it's time to beeline Gibbon.