Brick by Brick (Spoiler Alert!)

[TheHumanHydra]

Oh frak, Azza's posted - that could be bad news.

[BRickAstley]

Oh frak, Azza's posted - that could be bad news.

He's got tanks and will be invading all three of you simultaneously alongside launching his spaceship.

[TheHumanHydra]

Someday in a game I want to have an empire so awesome I declare war on everyone simultaneously, just 'cause I can.

He does have maces and pikes; I've seen both.

[NobleHelium]

You mean like this?

http://realmsbeyond.net/forums/showthrea...#pid254918

[TheHumanHydra]

That's pretty funny. But I meant more like a stack in everyone's territory. I guess it could theoretically happen in this game, if I can survive to execute my drafted rifles plan. Yeah, I've pretty much decided on that plan, assuming nothing intervenes. There'd be no real reason not to do it, unless Azza got a pile of grenadiers in time.

[TheHumanHydra]

Serdoa retreated out of Korhal, up to the northeast as far as I can tell, so I razed it:




I contemplated keeping it; it was the (shrined) Buddhist holy city and had a courthouse and granary, but the shrine produced a measly three commerce, the city's tiles were woefully unimproved, and defending it would have stretched my forces too thin right on Azza's doorstep.

I promoted a knight to Medic I and will heal here a turn or two while gathering knights before pursuing. Can't wait for this war to be over so the war-weariness will go away. Third in crop yield and population again, but still first in GNP: one-turned Literature. Music next.

THH - 25 knights, 7 crossbowmen, 1 longbowman, 3 axemen, 2 spearmen, 2 quechuas (2059 hammers total)
Serdoa - 31 horse archers, 17 catapults, 5 axemen, 1 chariot, 13 spearman, 2 archers, 1 warrior, 1 scout (2025 hammers total), cities of Thessalonica, Zz'gash, Nicaea, Char, Constantinople, Korhal

[TheHumanHydra]

Argh - I was expecting this to be a simple turn I could play in a few minutes tonight. Now I'm going to have to leave it till tomorrow, and tomorrow I have an exam.

Azza has declared war on Old Harry and moved an absolutely massive stack into his territory - 27 catapults alone. This is a hot war, blood has been shed, but who knows? Azza could be doing it just to recoup his economic loss from Old Harry's prior extortion. Azza also entered into a Golden Age.

This leaves me pondering my next move - do I continue with my set-piece attack on Serdoa's last stronghold and long-view plan to develop domestically and draft rifles, do I revert to my original plan to attack Azza with cuirassiers, or do I wheel my current army right around and attack with knights while Azza's forces are committed elsewhere? This demands thought.

Mechanics question: war-weariness is tracked separately with regard to each opponent, right? So if I make peace with Serdoa and declare on Azza, all my current (crushing) war-weariness will be gone, right?

[NobleHelium]

Yes.

[BaII]

eeeh really? I thought they all stacked, but they were tracked individually. So when u eliminate their civ it would disappear

[TheHumanHydra]

Thanks, Noble. Good to see you in here, BaII. What does your name mean, by the way? Sorry if I asked you that already.

I played t120 last night. Unfortunately, with exams I don't have the time for a full state-of-the-empire report like I usually do every ten turns. I did develop and put into motion this plan, however:

t120 - army heals; start Music
t121 - army advances; finish Music for free Great Artist
t122 - army advances; finish Drama
t123 - army takes city; propose peace w/Serdoa, start theatres, start Gunpowder
t124 - army begins moving to attack Azza; start Golden Age w/Music artist, revolt to Nationhood, draft 3 macemen, finish theatres
t125 - draft 3 macemen, start catapults/longbowmen
t126 - draft 3 macemen, finish Taj Mahal for second Golden Age, finish Gunpowder
t127 - draft 3 musketmen, start Military Tradition
t128 - draft 3 musketmen
t129 - draft 3 musketmen, finish Military Tradition; new army now consists of 9 musketmen, 9 macemen, 21 catapults/longbowmen for 39 units total
t130 - draft 3 musketmen, start cuirassiers
t135 - new army now consists of 16 cuirassiers, 27 musketmen, 9 macemen, 21 catapults/longbowmen for 73 units total

Obviously I left out the details of which cities are drafting and which are building what. I have that worked out mentally. The premise is that as Azza's army (5 macemen, 10 horse archers, 7 axemen, 27 catapults, 10 spearmen, 1 archer for 50 units total) could crush me in a heartbeat, I need to generate a sufficiently strong defensive force as soon as possible. Further, I'd love to attack some of Azza's border cities while they're lightly-garrisoned to provide for his war effort, but I need to be able to repel a counterattack before so daring. This plan allows me to develop as strong a defence as possible as early as possible. My one concern is that Serdoa may refuse peace just to leave me stuck with war weariness, which I can't draft under. For this reason, and to move up the start of drafting, I may make peace with him before moving on his last stronghold, so he feels he has more of a chance to rebuild and will be less inclined to spite me out of despair. With an end to war weariness, the +2 happiness provided by the silver I'm about to hook up (with forges), the +1 happiness from dyes with theatres, and the +2 happiness from barracks under Nationhood, I think I can sustain the -6 happiness penalty from stacked drafting in a nine-city cycle, and I'll be able to punch the cultural slider up for more. The main decision is whether to propose peace with Serdoa next turn instead, and if he accepts skip the theatres step and go strait to drafting and military construction.

Edit: