[Spoiler] RB Pitboss #2 - Shaka of Rome

[novice]

I think screenshots are the only way to get the chat transcripts from the game, so it's a pain. A summary is just as well.

[Whosit]

Mail call! At least I can just copy and paste this!

Dear Whosit,

Unfortunately the final battle against the Byzantines didn't go so
well. We lost 3 out 5 HAs at good odds. The good news is that we
eliminated Byzantium and can now concentrate our forces on India. We
hope you'll have better luck in your war!

Regarding your plan: I forgot to mention last time that razing
Pyongyang seems a bit excessive. Is that because you are only
concerned defending it, about maintenance costs, or is it poorly
positioned? I am asking because it would save you the cost of a
settler, which is usually worth in my opinion. The other issue that I
thought is that keeping 2 praetorians in your capital for defense also
seems a bit too much. I think that a pair axe/spear would do the job
for bit cheaper... However that may make sense if you plan to use
those praetorians in the CoW attack. Also, I expect that you'll
continue building troops in your capital until you finish Korea off,
so in an emergency you could always whip.

Let's stay in touch, let us know if you have any questions or ideas.

Kalin for Team A/K of the Ottomans

Didn't need to deliberate on a reply.

Dear Kalin and Athlete,

It is most unfortunate to hear of your battle losses. It's always frustrating when the odds turn against you. However, at least you have taken care of your problem and will have time to rebuild. Once the next turn begins, I will start my own war. We'll see how my luck holds out.

Regarding P'yongyang: The reason I was planning to raze it was because my simulations indicated that I would probably capture it with the last unit in my stack and, assuming that Korean reinforcements would be arriving, I was worried about holding it. However, for some reason, plako has moved his Axemen out of the city. It has just been whipped, though, so I might see one, even two more Axemen when I arrive. The good news is that they will be fresh and unfortified, which should slightly improve my odds. If things go well, I will capture the city rather than raze it. If my losses are not too bad, I will head for Seoul immediately and pillage everything in my path. I think that plako and Broker know that I am coming, just not when or where.

I disagree that keeping two strong units in my capital is too much. If plako decided to make a counter attack, he could easily send 3-4 Axemen and some Archers my way, which could be a serious threat to lesser units. Granted, he'll probably be on the defensive, but I do not wish to take undue risks. And, as you say, I can always use excess Praetorians in the Coalition attack, although I do not think I will be able to divert resources against Sullla before my borders at home are reasonably secure--that is, until I have secured or neutralized Korean border cities. I plan to update the Coalition momentarily. I definitely do not want to be dead weight, but since I've been planning the strike on Korea for awhile, that's my first committment.

On the brighter side, I will have finished Sailing next turn, so hopefully our Open Borders will give us both some much needed foreign trade routes. Also, the only Iron I see in your territory so far is what I mentioned earlier, 2W of the Horses (south of Coruscant).

Best regards,

Whosit, Galactic Emperor

Speaking of the Coalition, got this very interesting letter.

Hello members of CoW.

This is a general reply to most of your comments and the whole situation It's good to have so much discussion going on. Anyway, straight to business.


Cities:
I agree that we will raze these cities. Obviously it's not in my best interests to raze cities that would fit well in my nation. But I understand it'd be unfair that we who are close get cities while those far-away wouldn't. As long as everyone participates in the war evenly, then I have no problem razing the cities. Though if we end up in a long dragging war and providing most units, then we'll discuss again


India's 5th city:
4N of Chancelorsville, so 23N 1E from whatever was the point Dantski was using. It was settled a couple of turns ago. I saw the settler and negotiated with India that I'll let them settle that if I get a site east of Thebes (my front city, 21N 4E of Dantski's point). Had it been a settler race I would have lost, since I already saw the settler ready to get there, though I don't think they knew I saw it.


Attack plan, fronts, logistics:
See the image attached for my suggestion of our attacking plan. Myself and Ottomans would attack from the north, first going for a flatland city in their core (Chancellorsville). From that point we can go either for the capital, for the northern city (which should be pretty harmless) or for the east city. Mali and HRE would attack from the south, either the capital (Gettysburg) or eastern city. Rome would land at Gettysburg either to help Dantski or to land a surprise attack. This is the trickiest part, I'm not sure which is a better idea. I think if you can get those 8 praets pretty quickly, we could postpone the attack a few turns to give you some extra time. If you guys think the surprise attack would work, then we let Mali attack the east city on flatland.. That way both me and Mali would draw troops AWAY from the capital, which then would be assaulted by Rome. Tell me what you think.

Color code btw for that map.. Red is current India cities, Green is future India cities (speculation, though they've told me that they'll settle south next and those locations would make the most sense), Blue is my front city and the brown line is Dantski's lands (not quite scouted yet). Black line is the coast.

General strategy for the fight would be to use our numbers and the surprise factor against them. A quick lethal blow. I think if it comes down to a long dragged war, we'll be at a disadvantage because the distances are long and they're no pushovers skill-wise. Comments?


Construction:
Sure I'll go for it. 5 turns to Maths, then I'll go for Masonry and Construction. Should take 20-30 turns depending on how heavy I'm on military or whips.

India's techs:
They're currently researching monotheism. I'm not sure why, I had the impression that they would go for calendar. 2 turns until mono, then we'll see I guess. If you're wondering how I know, I can see their research due to my EP. We decided to stop spending EP on eachother, exactly at the turn I got their research visible Anyone got an idea why they would want mono?


Comments, questions?
~ Jowy

That Jowy can see Killer Angel research is a real boon. It's good that they're not heading for military techs just yet, but their tech pace is frightening, still. I'm nearly dead last in the economy, actually, I probably AM last now that Byzantium is gone. These wars are going to hurt me badly, so I'll just have to use all of my skills to bounce back. Yeah. Skills. My only experience really is that I played a SP game where I engaged in a couple of extremely early wars and broke my economy to the point where I was losing cash at 0% research. I did get back on my feet and became one of the tech leads in that game, but that was against the AI. I imagine that against humans, especially with no tech trading, that once I lose the lead, I'm gone. Nevertheless, my plan will be to throw cottages down everywhere and pray. I will tech Writing, Math, Currency, Code of Laws. Screw Aesthetics, that was a smokey bit on my part to ever believe I'd get those wonders.

[Kyan]

Erm, unless Jowy has paper- i'm under the impression he shouldn't be sending attachments including maps as per the rules of the game.

Maybe i'm mistaken though?

[Whosit]

Erm, unless Jowy has paper- i'm under the impression he shouldn't be sending attachments including maps as per the rules of the game.

Maybe i'm mistaken though?

Hmm, I hadn't thought about that. I only thought that applied to screenshots, but I'll go double check the exact wording of the rules. I suppose that might violate the spirit of the rules, now that you mention it. I'll let the Coalition know.

[Whosit]

By the way, the rules only specify screenshots and maps, though I had assumed "maps" were in-game maps. Anyway.

It'll probably be a couple of hours before I can send this, but here's my war declaration draft to Korea. Thoughts? I don't want it to come across as mean. Y'know, aside from the fact that I'm trying to destroy them.

Broker33 and plako of Korea,

I am sure that this does not come as a surprise to either of you, but I wish to decide the fate of our civilizations on the battlefield. Last time, I was in the wrong, but now (if you will indulge me), "there will be no one to stop [me] this time."

As per the new rules voted in, we will split the turn clock 12/12. Because I moved first, I assume that I will take the first half, and you will take the second.

May the strongest empire survive.

-Whosit, Galactic Emperor

[novice]

I haven't really thought out the "correct" answer, but I guess you have the option to declare early next turn and claim the first half of the turn, or wait until after Korea has played and claim the second half.

I *think* there are tactical advantages to having the second half, such as your opponent not being able to whip units immediately in response to your moves.

[Whosit]

That's true, but I've been thinking of a couple other tactical decisions.

P'yongyang has just been whipped, so I'm not terribly worried there. But more importantly, I believe that plako has a group of Axemen 2-turns away from P'yongyang. If I move first, they will almost certainly head back, but I will be able to attack first by using the first half. If I use the second half, there is a chance that they will go somewhere else, but IF they return to P'yongyang, they will reach the city before I can attack. Basically, I've decided that giving up 2nd-half benefits is worth getting a shot at P'yongyang with fewer units inside. Though I still expect 2 fresh Axemen by the time I can attack on T84.

[Jabah]

Being first to move is probably better for now, you declare and move your troops next to Pyongyang and leave them only one turn to move units before your attack. (if you let them move first, they will have 2 turns to bring reinforcement where they expect the assault to happen which is quite obvious))

Now that they have axe, disconnecting the horse will need brutal force (but is not that important now)

(edit, -crossposted- you had that already sorted !!)

[Whosit]

It is done. There is no turning back now. I will walk the path of blood. Mwahahahahaa!

*Ahem*

Declared war on plako and Broker. Moved troops in. Finances say ouchie. But I'm holding at 30%, and I've cut Imperial Center's growth for a little extra cash (working lake rather than rice). I'll have pics and stuff later.

As expected, a fresh axeman appeared. There are enough hammers leftover for a second next turn. I do NOT expect additional reinforcements by the beginning of next turn. However, I could be unpleasantly surprised. You never know. I won't know for certain until the end of THIS turn.

However, odds look very good. I'm doing some more sims, but I have about 68% odds vs. the Axemen, and 88% vs. the Archers. It's too early to say, but I expect 0-1 losses. I'll have to sim a lot more to find out what'll be average. If I have no losses, or very few, and minimal injuries, I will head out to cause Seoul some damage.

[Whosit]

More mail! Here's something I sent to the Coalition. I'm basically trying to cover my rear, since I figure those who weren't in the know might look at me askance for starting my own war at this time. Even if I take no losses to seize P'yongyang, preparing for a two-front war is going to be a pain. My poor economy . . . .

Dear Friends and Allies,

I assumed the picture was alright; I just wanted to be clear. Since we all agree that there's no problem, I'll just forget about it.

In other news, you are all probably aware that the Empire is now at war with Korea. This is part of the reason I expect to be delayed a bit. Please note that this has been in the works since before the Coalition was formed, so I was caught up in the planning while "I had enough on my hands." I just want to assure everyone that I will do all I can to contribute to the operation against the Killer Angels. Korea has recently acquired Copper, which killed my hopes for a very quick win, but I think that I still have the situation under control. I believe that if I can inflict enough damage on them, I can simply contain them while I prepare for an amphibious attack against Sullla and Speaker.

The bad news is that my port town is still relatively small, but it should grow soon enough. Galleys are still expensive, so I may only be able to transport 4 Praetorians at a time, but if that's what I can send, I'll send it, and have more behind them. Hopefully that's alright with everyone.

To victory,

Whosit, Galactic Emperor

Kalin has started the gears for our own Triple Alliance.

Dear Jowy and Whosit,

We have been talking to both of you about a 3-way alliance and you
both were favorable to the idea, so let's do it! We are honored to
have such great allies.

Starting now, we are formally allied in the... Three Musketeers
Alliance (?). We don't have to go with that name, but I kind of like
it.

We need to establish our goals and to this end we invite you to
discuss. I suggest to start:

* A defensive pact: we will help each other with everything we can if
we get declared war. For offensive operations we help when possible
after discussing on a case by case basis.

* We give each other preferential treatment with respect to resource
or other trades. For example, we should explore exchanging units when
it makes sense (e.g., expansive Greece can build workers, aggressive
Rome can build stronger melee, and the Ottomans could draft
Janissaries).

* We help each other when possible with research. For example, once
currency is discovered, and one party needs Feudalism for defense, the
others can loan cash to speed research.

* We don't attack each other until our alliance expires or gets
dissolved, at which point we would get some automatic NAP. We should
discuss the specific conditions.

Should any issues arise between the 3 of us we should promise each
other to discuss first and try to not let anything come between the
allies. I think we all trust each other enough now to be able to bring
up anything.

Let me know if you have any other ideas.

Together we'll be stronger!
Kalin for Team A/K of the Ottomans

I am already trying to figure out how I can align Jowy to my side when I eventually go toe-to-toe with the Ottomans. Does this make me evil? Or just pragmatic?

Speaking of . . .

Question to Lurkers: I still haven't gotten foreign trade routes with any of my allies. Does anyone know what's up? Is it due to intervening neutral territory? For example, dsplaisted is between me and Kalin/Athlete. I have Sailing now, but do I need Open Borders with the Inca to get trade routes with the Ottomans?

My reply to them:

Dear Kalin, Athlete, and Jowy,

Glad to see that you have got the ball rolling on this one. It kind of slipped my mind, what with everything else going on. I think that this agreement will put us all in a strong position down the road.

As for the name, I would prefer something like "The Three Galaxy Alliance." Or perhaps something more mundane like the Triple Alliance (or Triple Entente?). Somehow I imagine that agreeing upon a name will be the hardest part of forming this group.

As usual, you've laid out a good list of clauses to be included in our alliance. I'll need a little bit more time to consider them all and see if I can come up with anything myself, but there's nothing that I find objectionable.

This may not necessarily require a clause in our charter, but I do think that we should thoroughly explore the central island and divvy it up if it looks to be valuable. If our alliance controls the central sea, we can have a significant strategic advantage over other civilizations.

I think that I will have to wait until tomorrow before I can comment further, but things look positive.

Best regards,

Whosit, Galactic Emperor

I'm feeling quite tired, actually, so I think that I shall retire for now . . . . See you all tomorrow! I'll get pictures of the actual attack, too. Promise.