[PB25-SPOILERS] The Lunacy of the Reign of HAK Continues

[MindyMcCready]

I just checked the defense order versus cats:
-Given the hill, the LKs are going to be the first defenders vs cats. So those 7 cats will bang up our LK pretty badly. I thought that the swords might defend if both were C1,...but that doesn't seem to be the case.

So those 7 cats means 7 very, very wounded LK plus 4 heavily collateraled LKs. So we'd be looking losing odds for our WEs given collateral. Then our cats would be a bit exposed to whatever HA are around. We'd probably survive and could destroy whatever he has left given our siege,...but that battle isn't as sure of a thing.

So it's very important to have that extra 25% defense for any further away units as well as generating a retreat since this battle isn't as one-sided as we might hope.

[HitAnyKey]

So my stack was not decimated. Gavagai left the city empty, sending everything back towards Wendys. So I took the city....

It even came with a Granary, Aqueduct, & Market!



Currently sitting here staring at the screen trying to decide what to do with my stack. Do I send it SW onto that Forest? Or do I move it into the city, see where he sends his stack, and decide what to do next turn? Sadly I have to make the decision before I log out, so no time for a response....so I'll likely just randomly pick an option since right now I'm really not sure.

And here's the usual demos and graphs:

And now back to staring at the screen....

[GermanJoey]

What did you end up choosing, the city or the forest?

[HitAnyKey]

I just noticed that the tile SW of Five Guys will probably not have culture in it. So our next move if we don't hold up could be SE of Wendy's on to that hill. I don't think that that changes anything except that we could kill Wattaburger with a HA and/or chariot. We could try to hold the city to get him to waste some unitss on the attack.

But this is where things are going to get a little dangerous. If we take Five Guys Gavagai will have cultural control and can hit us with cats anytime that he wants. I would say that our move on Five Guys is a diversion and the real objective is to hit Wendy's the turn after. The hill at Wendys won't make too much difference given his lack of defensive units.

So if we generate a retreat at Five Guys I wouldn't even leave units to protect it but instead move everything SE of Wendy's for the main battle.

Just reread this post and it made me realize that I could move right next to Wendys this turn and don't need to only do the 1-tile move onto the Forest I mentioned. So that is likely what I'm going to do in a few minutes.

[HitAnyKey]

What did you end up choosing, the city or the forest?

Neither yet....especially since I just noticed that his stack now consists of 9 Numidians....



If I move onto that hill (or even the forest), I have no idea how I'll hold up to that new stack. Plus, if I move there then he can send his Numids past me and just go retake the cities I left behind me. So now I gotta think for a bit more on what to do. I knew this would all be a crazy risk, but in my tired post-Busch Gardens state I'm having trouble deciding what to do.

[HitAnyKey]

So I was groggy and tired last night, and most likely completely screwed my game. I'm running through in my head what I did again, and realize it was likely the most stupid of things to do. So I'll probably be logging in later to see my entire stack destroyed, and cities taken back/razed by Gavagai. Really wish I didn't have to rush through that turn, but having spent a tiring day at an amusement park I didn't have any option. Oh well, this has still been my best Civ MP game to date here, so I'm happy with the results either way.

What I ended up doing was moving the stack onto the forest. After I did that, I realized the Horse Archer could reach Whataburger and I debated for a few minutes on whether to hit it, or just move the HA with the stack. Ended up being bored enough to have it kill that Chariot and raze the city. Probably shouldn't have done this, but I just wasn't sure what else to do at that point. Five Guys currently has a single LK and single Sword in it, with everything else 1W on that Forest. In the end I literally chose randomly regarding what to do with the stack, since I just couldn't see anything that would have a good outcome (other than simply fully retreating back towards McDs).

And since I didn't have time to sim out what that stack of Gavagai's might do....well, that's where this all fell apart. So he'll easily be able to recapture Five Guys, and probably very easily wipe my stack. I just hope I somehow deal heavy enough of losses to him as well when he tries. Not that doing so will really make much of a difference. It would simply mean both of our games or in the drain. Commodore & retep NAPed out again, so I suppose that means Commodore is going to try to hit me while I'm distracted by Gavagai.

[HitAnyKey]

Ugh....I hate myself. I was just spending some time staring at the screenshot again before I start doing a couple hours of work before joining my family for afternoon fun and my brain only just now caught the detail that I SHOULD have done. That HA that was able to reach Whataburger would have just as easily been able to reach Wendys which was empty. I could have razed that city (or even kept it, but probably would have razed it) and then my stack would have been able to slam into his on the offensive. So now that one mistake of not seeing that late last night has likely cost me the game.

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

Ugh....I hate myself. I was just spending some time staring at the screenshot again before I start doing a couple hours of work before joining my family for afternoon fun and my brain only just now caught the detail that I SHOULD have done. That HA that was able to reach Whataburger would have just as easily been able to reach Wendys which was empty. I could have razed that city (or even kept it, but probably would have razed it) and then my stack would have been able to slam into his on the offensive. So now that one mistake of not seeing that late last night has likely cost me the game.

Yup. That was the play you should have made. Using cats to create advantageous odds for your hitters in enemy territory can be a rare circumstance. Erasing cultural borders is sometimes the only way to surprise and outmaneuver your enemy on his turf. This was certainly a lost opportunity.

That said, don't beat yourself up. When uncertain it is sometimes best to log out and think it over before making a rash choice. I cringed reading that you essentially flipped a coin to decide what to do. Anyway, the game is seldom won or lost on a single decision so keep up the struggle. You never know where things will go from here.

[HitAnyKey]

The biggest problem is that I didn't have much time to log out and think it over. It was late at night after an exhausting (albeit fun) day, and there was less than 2 hours on the clock and I needed to get to bed. I lost connection to the game at one point, so that kinda forcibly caused me to log out and think things over slightly. But it wasn't enough for my eyes and brain to focus enough on the fact that I could reach Wendys with the HA. I apparently was so focused on the annoying fact that I couldn't reach his stack this turn, that I missed the fact I could sneak past it with my fast-mover to then allow my stack to move the 2 spaces along the road in what would then be no culture.

[HitAnyKey]

So I lucked out....he did not attack my stack. He did kill the HA I used to raze Whataburger, which is to be expected....



But now I really don't know what to do. Mindy, hopefully you'll see this and maybe give me at least some thoughts other than my own. I'm thinking that if I move next to Wendys on that hill, he'll finally decided to hit my stack and destroy it. So I'm trying to decide whether I just fortify in place in the Forest or retreat the stack back to Five Guys.
Since there is enough time on the clock this time around, I'm going to wait until later tonight to finish the turn. I'll post the other regular updates shortly.