[SPOILERS] The Rise and Fall of Whositania (all glory to Whositania!)

[Whosit]

In retrospect, I totally made a tactical error last turn in regards to the lost Axe. I completely forgot that city ruins still have a road tile on them and that my combat engineers (I think that I'm learning to use Workers in that capacity shows some measure of improvement on my part, at least) would connect it. I could have easily covered that injured Axe with the spear and even another Axe, and all units could have joined up in formation this turn. Although the loss of that Axe shouldn't spell disaster for my offensive in the immediate future, that it was likely preventable shows that I still have a lot to work on when it comes to tactical maneuvering and planning.

[Whosit]

Turn 91: THE ADVANCE STALLS BUT THE PRESSURE DOES NOT!

Well, it looks like I won't be taking any cities. Cheater Hater had a few more units than I thought, and combat tests show that even an unfortified CG1 Archer in a city on a hill behind 20% cultural defenses is going to take 2-3 Axemen to dislodge. Let's back up to some better news, first.

My scout actually survived his battle with the Barbarian Warrior. I'm going to let him heal up before ordering him to move anywhere else.

There is indeed a City right where I want it. As soon as I can, I'm going to get a Chariot or something down there to start picking off Warriors while waiting for the city to grow to size 2. I really wish I had a Sentry Chariot, though by the time I earn enough XP for that, I think that the need will have passed, but it wouldn't hurt to get to work on that as soon as I can. Hopefully Krill doesn't snipe this.

You'll note that sign mentioning the other city. I wish I could get vision on it without sacrificing a unit. I think I'll rally a few more units into Angle Bay over the next few turns and maybe I can launch another two-prong attack. Now, I moved my forces down into Zulu territory for a few reasons. 1) I think that backing off now would leave me more vulnerable. As long as CH has to keep whipping units to defend, my cities should be fairly safe. 2) I might still be able to pillage the Copper, which would be to my benefit. 3) Maybe I'll get lucky and he'll make a tactical blunder. 4) I did some quick tests and I'm pretty sure that my stack is safe for the time being, no matter what he whipped out in his cities this turn (based on civ stats, I think he whipped all of his cities). My Spearman should be able to take out two Chariots before either dying or being too injured, and my own Chariots can defend a Chariot each (I was hoping to snipe the Chariots across the river, but the odds were too poor). My Axemen can handle his Axes and Impi. Chariots are probably going to be the big threat to me with an Axe-heavy army, so I'm going to keep mixing Spearmen and Chariots into my builds.

I 1-pop whipped Overland Park this turn. The Governor wanted to work both cottages, which meant the Gems wouldn't be worked for a couple of turns. I opted to work the Gems instead of one of the cottages, because it meant my research would be a turn faster. I know cottages should be worked as often as possible, but I think in this case I made a defensible choice.

Speaking of choices, I really wish I could get critique on my war plans and decisions, but I doubt such comments could be made spoiler free. At the moment, I feel mostly in control of the tempo here, but I'm definitely worried about making a blunder and losing my whole army, which would spell disaster.

My Strategic goal is to conquer the Zulu.
Tech-wise, I'm seeking Construction for Catapults because that will give me the actual edge needed to break through his city defenses.
Strategically, my cities are focused on military builds because I'm going to need soldiers to match his and defend future catapults.
Tactically, I am trying to force him to remain on the defensive while preserving as many of my units as possible. I will use my best judgement to avoid losing my army and to avoid suicide attacks with low odds of success. Seek softer targets, and try to force him defend multiple locations at once if possible.

That all makes sense in my head. I'm not sure how far I can push into his territory without dooming my forces. I know a few of my cities are vulnerable if he decided to counter-attack, but at the moment I'm fairly confident I could hold. I'd like to be able to strike out from Angle Bay soon to open another front, but right now the forking attack down south is the best thing I've got.

[suttree]

Thanks for the detailed reports, Whosit. It makes for an interesting read.

[Whosit]

I guess that's a "no" on commentary on my game plan. Heh. Well, I at least hope you are all discussing it in the Lurker thread so I can read it in, like, 4 months or a year or something.

Turn 92: WE ADVANCE BACKWARDS!

I'm getting more and more anxious with each turn, but I must play on. Opened the turn to a white Peace treaty offer from Cheater Hater but that was rejected. A few turns ago, I considered offering peace if I was able to take Kamigawa, but I decided that doing so would probably hurt me in the long run. Now, I don't even have Kamigawa, so 10 turns of peace would give CH more time to rebuild, and even with all the whipping, I'm pretty sure he has stronger cities to rebuild off of. My own empire is growing stronger with each turn, but it's a slow, slow process, and new cities like Plano are still many turns away from having all of their basic infrastructure in place.

After some debate, I planned to try and pillage CH's Copper, but when I moved the first Chariot forward to see what there was to see, I saw this Worker chopping. After about a minute of debate, I decided to trade the Chariot for the Worker (30 hammers for a 60 foodhammer unit). I then decided that I no longer had enough forces in my stack to safely pillage the Copper and not willing to sacrifice another Chariot, I pulled back. I also deleted my Chariot to deny CH the XP. CH had at least 3 Chariots that could hit my stack, plus Axes and Impi, so without extra Spears or Chariots to buffer for my Axes, I think I could have taken big losses. I don't know if my calculations are right, but I think losing a Worker will hurt more than losing the Copper temporarily. Sure, I'd rather he be forced to whip Chariots and Archers than Axes and Impi, but I can deal with them all once I have Catapults.

Hopefully.

It's not visible in that image, but I ended up moving my stack 1N on to the hill. They will remain their, fortifying and healing, and in a couple turns, I'll get a pair of Workers to build a road under them. My biggest concern at this point is that Cheater Hater could send a force due East to Plano, which currently has an Axe and Archer for defense. 2 Movers can get there in 1 turn from Kamigawa. That screen does show I have a Spear queued in Plano, but I'm going to swap to a Granary next turn. 6 hammers will be put into the Spear, so I can 1-pop whip it in an emergency if I have to. Seems like a reasonable precaution.

The Library in Overland Park will get the second chop next turn, T93, so it will be completed EoT93. I'm debating what to build their next. I want a Settler soon, but I think I need a few extra Archers to defend my cities plus any new expansions. I wish that I had another city to peel food off from OP to, but the only place I could settle for that would be overwhelmed by Krill's culture soon. Should I have settled the Copper city 1E of the Copper? I don't know. PV is going to be stuck at size 4 until I get Civil Service.

Avendale is going to make a few Archers over the next few turns until whip anger cools off a bit. Plano is waiting for a Granary and Barracks before it starts to pump out the troops. It will be a nice production site in a dozen turns. Maybe I can get it online in time for the Catapult offensive? Construction is due in 7 turns. I can 1-pop whip the Granary in 5 turns, then it needs a Barracks. I ~could~ whip it as well, but that would leave the city pretty spent and I'd rather grow it into mines. I might just have to do big whips out of Overland Park and Willow Lake.

Angle Bay should be secured in a couple turns after those Walls get whipped. It has wet corn to grow on for now, and it will have a border pop within 10 turns (Judaism spread there last turn) for the Crabs. It can work 2 grasshill mines for a bit of production, so it can probably whip/build some cheap troops like Archers or Chariots or what have you.

This shows the troops that the Zulu have in their two cities. I'll be keeping an eye on them from the hill. I've withdrawn a bit, but my forces are going to remain there because that's the only way to keep troops locked down in those two cities. I don't have a fast line of reinforcement to Plano, so if I let up the pressure then I risk a counter-invasion that way. It's possible that CH will launch a small attack, but I'm much more confident that I can deal with that. I'm going to steadily reinforce that stack to remind him not to leave those two cities under defended. I'm also hoping that I can strike out from Angle Bay to see what's going on at that mystery city to the southwest, see if it's vulnerable.

Basically, I feel as long as I can keep him penned up and whipping until I get Catapults, I'll have the edge. I'm not sure how many Catapults I need, but I need 3 to bombard down city defenses, and then at least 3 more to actually attack, so I'm looking to get 6-8 shortly after Construction. I don't know how.

Overland Park and Willow Lake can whip 2 out each at high cost to the economy: 4
Prairie Village can build them in 3-4 turns each: 1
Avendale and either Plano or Angle Bay can take one for the team: 2?

So I can probably squeeze 6 out in the span of 4 turns, and then I'll need.... at least 4 or 5 turns to stack them together. So let's say it's going to be 10 turns from the completion of Construction before I'm really ready to get going. So about 17 turns away. Nearly 3 weeks. A lot can happen in that time. If Cheater Hater whips enough, he could dislodge me, or just have enough stuff to counter-attack anyway. We both know his hill cities are well defended with those Archers. However, in that span, I hope to capture that Barbarian city and maybe settle another one of my own. I'll post something about that in a moment. Essentially, I'm hoping that Cheater Hater will ruin his economy fighting me and that I can hold him off long enough to win before I lose a war of attrition. So far I think I've gotten the better trades.

War Losses
Whositania Losses: 3 Chariots, 2 Axeman
Hammers: 160
Power: 24,000
Zulu Losses: 4 Axeman, 1 Archer, 2 Impi, 1 Worker, 2 Cities
Hammers: 495
Power: 35,000

[Whosit]

I have a rough plan for settling the southeast:

I'm not completely happy with the dotmap, especially with that one lake being missed by every city, but at least all except "C" will get some lighthouse lakes. Blue is kind of my "pink dot" but I don't expect to get it. It's too risky to try settling first, especially while I'm embroiled in war. I'm also sad about missing that Marble, but I already have a source (for now). Things are subject to change, especially as I plan to try and sneak my scout around to see the few tiles in the far south that I missed.

"C" is where I plan to settle next just so long as I get a few Archers to defend the new city. I was considering building a Galley out of Plano as that would be a faster way to shuttle units over. I don't know what I'd name that city. Maybe just... South Plano.

On a completely unrelated note, Krill accidentally gave me some info. He had e-mailed me a couple days ago asking about turn order, and that I should message CH, Commodore, and Caeldorn if my schedule was going to change, etc. etc. He mentioned that we were on an island, though. Sure, I probably had enough information to guess that, but as you can see, I never got a scout out far enough to know for sure. I though maybe Dtay and Krill were just between me and anyone else. But now I know we're on an island. Neat.

Oh, yeah. Speaking of Dtay and Krill, I'm pretty much just crossing my fingers that they leave me alone. I'm sure neither want me to gain all of Zululand, but 1) I'm far weaker than they are anyway and 2) I'm hoping that they leave me alone out of fear of the other one attacking them.

Taoism was founded a couple turns ago. I don't even have Construction. Or Currency. It's almost 1 AD and I'm backwards as all fuck.

[Whosit]

Turn 93: WAR DRAGS ON

We're entering the point of stalemate here and I think the turn reports are going to slow down until something big happens. Angle Bay was whipped, so it'll have a Wall next turn. Barracks next. A few troops are completing soon. I think I'll muster some more forces at Angle Bay and see about striking out that way. I want to add in a few more chariots, too, just to give my stacks some more threatening range. I would not be surprised if Cheater Hater has that mysterious city stuffed with defenders, but at the very least he probably can't pull defenders from his southern cities or vice-versa so long as I've got my own stack keeping watch.

Overland Park's Library is going to finish. I'll have to decide whether or not to just start producing that Settler right away or not. I think I need extra troops to defend it, so it depends on the build time. The city doesn't have a ton of production, but maybe I can configure it to get an Archer or two out in reasonable time. My workers are starting to run out of things to do, as my big cities are either hitting their happy caps and my smaller cities are just... tiny and growing slowly. I'm hooking up some health resources I never bothered connecting, and I'm building some more roads to make travel within my empire easier. So, that's all good.

This is what I can see, and the power charts show that he whipped out enough soldiers to replace all of his losses from the first couple turns of the war. I still have the higher power by far, but he can probably catch up if given enough time. I just don't know how much time that is.

My southern stack is currently 5 Axemen, 1 Chariot, and 2 Spearment. I think I would need at least twice that number of units to capture either of his hilltop cities, but I think that if I add another 1-2 Axes and 1-2 Chariots, I could perhaps try to take out the copper again. However, I doubt I can spare those units quickly enough to make it worth it.

Failing to capture Kamigawa during the first thrust is really bumming me out, and I'm not looking forward to all this costly sitting around and waiting, but now I'm pretty much committed to waiting for those Catapults and seeing if I can make/exploit any openings in CH's defenses.

[Whosit]

Turn 94: Stuff Happens

I was unable to finish this turn due to a thunderstorm happening I guess at Caldeorns, and he had to shut the game down immediately. I was able to make most of my moves, though.

I have an 8 Turn Settler in Production in Overland Park while the remaining whip anger cools off. How will I get defenses to the new city location? No clue~ I'm also a bit short on Worker labor, but I'll probably manage something soon.

Avendale was about to grow into unhappiness (still 3 unhappy faces from the whip!) so I am working a cottage instead of the wheat to buy time. I realized I can give the wheat to Prairie Village to grow it a bit larger, but why do that? I could put some more mines up, but actually, there are some grasslands in range that I could put some cottages down on. It could stagnate on size 6 working 2 cottages in addition to the mines it was already working, and really there's no reason not to. I can always farm over them later when I have other cities to pick up economic slack, but at the moment I really should be looking for ways to squeeze as much commerce and production out of my cities that I can. I'm just sad I didn't think of it until now. I'm amassing more troops, and the countdown to Construction continues.

I could use a few more Workers, but I'm going to have to make do with what I've got. Overland Park is really the only city I'm letting do econ builds. The Library didn't change the EtA on Construction at all, but I feel better actually having a Library at long last.

Oh, and someone got a Great merchant and someone built Hanging Gardens. Hooray for people doing better than me~

[Whosit]

Just a quick update.

CH offered peace. I declined, looked around. I noticed that CH has settled a new city, so he's not completely stuck in his current position. I moved the chariot from Angle Bay to get vision on that one city I couldn't see. I forgot to take a picture, but it was basically defended like the other cities: A couple archers, an impi, and axeman. Maybe something else. It's on flat ground, though, so it would be easier to take. However, I ended up offering peace. At this point, 10 turns is time enough to get catapults out, and it's not like he wasn't going to build military anyway. My main concern is if he resettles the city I razed because then I'd have to kill it again. Oh well. If he does, he does.

I'll have my own settler out in 7 turns, so I'm going to have to start preparing for that. If he does take peace, I'll shuffle some units around and camp out that Barbarian city until it grows to size 2. It's probably growing at 1fpt, so that's gonna be.... slow. I hope it's not building a Worker. Time to populate that frozen wasteland!

When I am ready to go to war again, I think my main stack will strike out from Plano. I would like to have a second stack to hit that flatland city, but that would need at least 6 Axes, plus 2 spears for defense, and my catapult stack would need at least as many units. We'll see what I get, but at best I might just be able to do a 2 axe/2 spear harass/pillage stack. Better than nothing if I want him to focus on 2 fronts. I think? I have no idea, really. In the meantime, I'm trying to grow my cities and work a few more cottages. Judaism is spreading to several of my cities, but I don't know if I want to spend a turn in revolt to adopt it.

[Whosit]

Turn 96 Report

Peace has been signed with Cheater Hater. I fully intend to declare war again as soon as I have a number of catapults. I assume he will be preparing for round 2 as well.

I met Ruff this turn. He got a scout through Krill's territory, apparently.

Same number as cities and me, but he's doing better in score. Krill's declared war on him, though, so somehow I doubt he won't be doing so well for long. I hope he bleeds Krill, though.

Zendikar has a wall now. I wonder if CH will be putting walls up around his other cities. I think catapults bombard at 4% vs walls, so I'd need a dozen to knock a wall down in 1 turn. I doubt I will have that many, so I guess I'll have to decide if it's better to bombard a turn and let CH bring in more reinforcements, or just suicide in a lot of cats. I will note that in round 2, it is absolutely necessary that I cut off his supply of metal. I'll try to see if he picks up Iron Working or not.

My military. Hopefully I can move as many Axes as possible into front line positions.

I've maximized growth and commerce in all of my cities, and this had the welcome effect of cutting Construction from 3 turns to 2. I've also noticed that Judaism has spread to most of my cities. I think that I will adopt Judaism in a few turns. I'm growing the capital to size 8, and I think I'll try to whip the Settler out of Overland Park if I am able to. I thiiiink I can just 2-pop whip it in a couple of turns, but I'm not 100% sure. In any case, it should regrow quickly.

I'm tempted to try and squeeze a city in west of Angle Bay, but to be honest, I should just settle the tundra now and worry about the west after I've killed and absorbed CH, which is still my overriding goal.

[NobleHelium]

What's your rough timetable for the next round?