[Spoilers] The Network assimilates ipecac, Ruff_Hi & Dreylin (Monty of Vikings)

[Dreylin]

Plan at Hsung-Nu sounds solid; pity it seems likely we won't be getting a Heroic unit out soon.

I'm not sure I like 1W of the Clams unless you're thinking we'll put another city along the Western coast of that area? 2W of the Clams may be slower to get going, but it will be a much stronger city and it blocks any other city sites in the area. How long until Keystone's 3rd ring borders pop; would they grab the Clams for us?

Monarchy in 2t is nice; I trust we have Workers lined up to connect all our Wine? Do we have 3 or 4....

[ipecac]

2 wines will be hooked up. Can't hook up wines at ZIF safely without Adrien being able to snipe.

Elum moved Immortal that can hit our Corn-farming worker and Galley that can hit that and Active Link, so Barb-killing is postponed.

In other news Elum started GA (probably with his Prophet) and went into Caste.

[ipecac]

So: a neighbour is annoying us with two galleys. Again

It's Elum this time, he left the Immortal within the Spear range:


And no, we didn't kill the Immortal, because it's likely to be a trap. Axe and Spear moved back into city, Chariot moved on top of Immortal.

In other news, Adrien flashed a Praetorian and we got Monarchy. Dreylin and I aren't decided on what tech to go next: CoL->CS is too long and doesn't give us any new units, Feudalism will take too long. CoL by itself is nifty but we may have to go Construction or HBR depending on what the neighbour with Praetorians or the other neighbour in a Golden Age with HBR and Ivory does.

[ipecac]

The situation this turn:

Elum unloaded 2 Horchers as shown. His Immortal threatens our two workers but we have a Spear on Galley that can defend them; I think we unload the spear and road with the two workers. I swapped AL to put a turn into a Spear so we can whip it if necessary. Hsung Nu looks lost, however. Also, Elum is heading for 3T Feudalism.


Johns has an exploring Galley that can hit NB, though I really doubt that will happen. He should meet Elum in 2 turns time.


For some reason or another Adrien has left his city with only one defender, a C1 Spear. We have a 63% chance of taking it with our C1 Shock Axe on the Galley (Amphibious + Hill = 75% terrain bonus). Also, Albert Einstein born in a distant land, and Adrien just started a GA. There's also an Adrien galley 2E of our trireme which is blocked in the screenshot.

What say you, Dreylin? Shall we declare on Adrien?

Upsides: We have a good shot at getting rid of that annoying border coty.
Downside: He has AGG Praetorians and just started a GA.

[Dreylin]

Immediate thoughts:

Elum - put Spear/Axe pair NW of Barb City & Chariot into AL. Drop Spear on Workers. Move troops S from TP to ferry over to support new city. Fued could be worse and makes it cheaper for us.

Adrien - 2/3 is IMO not good enough odds to provoke a second-front war. Can we slip a second unit onboard without him realising to give us odds next turn?

[ipecac]

Loaded a Chariot onboard...will increase overall odds of victory to 93.9%.

Old Harry logged in after just now and it looks like we're having sort of a naval stand off: I moved the Western Trireme 1E so that it can counter if there is any Galley dogpile..

Moved 1NE and back to check that there is no 4th galley 2NE.

[Dreylin]

I'll look at the picture tonight and offer comments on the naval situation then. One thought, has AP popped its 3rd ring borders yet / is that coming soon? If we raze that city, it'd be nice to know he couldn't just build it again!

Oh, and did you forget to end turn, or leave it pending something? Shouldn't be an issue, as it looks like this turn is going to need a pause with 3 others left to play, and I can probably hit the button tonight if needed.

[ipecac]

I'll look at the picture tonight and offer comments on the naval situation then. One thought, has AP popped its 3rd ring borders yet / is that coming soon? If we raze that city, it'd be nice to know he couldn't just build it again!

No 3rd pop yet. He reinforced the city with an Axe anyway, so that plan's out. Interturn: johns declared on Adrien, GE born in far away land. CH converts to Bureaucracy, Grimace to Confucianism.

Down south, we have an interesting situation:

Elum can't hold the city, so the only thing I can think of is a cheesy 'gift' to Adrien

Spear vs CI, Shock HA odds are 73.4%, the other HA is C1 with 5.2/6.


In the north, a Galley picked up a Praetorian and can possibly fork our two cities. However, we can have two Axes in each if needed so we should be fine. Of course, they could be headed to Hsung-Nu (Toroid!) which is 6 tiles north by Galley.


In the southwest we are ready to plant 2W of clams with a Spear that can reinforce the city when needed.

Misc: CH has increased his EP spending on us by 1 to bring it to 50. Not going to bother trying to maintain graphs. Also, as we have our own corn now, we're basically giving CH a free Clams. Can you log in to renegotiate it to Wine + Clams for his spare Ivory? It might be a deterrence for Adrien.

Oh, and the three Galleys East have disappeared probably due to john's war dec on Adrien. Good riddance, I say.

[Dreylin]

How do our NW fronts with Elum look? Now would not be a bad time to attack him since Adrien is occupied elsewhere.

How is the Chariot in AL promoted? Maybe hit the HA first with it and hope for a withdrawal, then follow up with the Axe and leave the Spear to hit the second HA?

We should probably whip the Spear in AL if we can, and we need a spear at Clam city because of that roaming Immortal.

What is our Trireme situation in the North; can we spare one to move through the canal towards that new Adrien Galley? Good call on switching both those cities to Axes, but make sure NB puts in enough hammers to enable a 1pop whip next turn (you probably did, but I can't see from the picture).

Also not sure that KJ can afford to slow-build the Library; we need units from here for the front IMO.

[ipecac]

Still playing, but things are going fine:

How do our NW fronts with Elum look? Now would not be a bad time to attack him since Adrien is occupied elsewhere.

He has Axe, 2 x Immortal and a Spear in Zohak. We can't do anything on that front.

How is the Chariot in AL promoted? Maybe hit the HA first with it and hope for a withdrawal, then follow up with the Axe and leave the Spear to hit the second HA?

It was C1.

It died but allowed us to kill the HA with high odds with the Axe, which is now at 4.0/5, 5/5 exp. Unfortunately we can't kill the other HA because of Adrien's Axe. I'm planning to fortify it in the city instead.

We should probably whip the Spear in AL if we can,

We already have a spear in the area.

What I am planning to do is to move the Axe in the city 1E so it can reinforce Hsung-Nu next turn and whip a replacement. If necessary we can upgrade the warrior in Active Link to a Spearman.

and we need a spear at Clam city because of that roaming Immortal.

We can found and have a Spear shipped this turn.

What is our Trireme situation in the North; can we spare one to move through the canal towards that new Adrien Galley? Good call on switching both those cities to Axes, but make sure NB puts in enough hammers to enable a 1pop whip next turn (you probably did, but I can't see from the picture).

Also not sure that KJ can afford to slow-build the Library; we need units from here for the front IMO.

to all three. Swapped to Axe for Network Bridge.