[Spoilers PB27] REM tries to get a handle on this mod

[ReallyEvilMuffin]

Cheers, REM. How's the empire look now?

I am catching up rapidly spamming org courthouses, and having just got calendar. I have gold, gems, whale and ivory happy currently and traded for silver. I will have fur in a few turns once Amondom has it's culture expanded, my spices cottage will give me access in 4 turns and I will get Turlock's silk plantation up in 4 turns too. GS in about 6 turns probably for a cap academy with the 2 gold and take it from there.

Amusingly 2 exact spots which I wanted to settle popped barb cities. I will plant above Rastenford soon and 3W of Rostov for that other fish. I really should put down some Moai soon also with the cost reduction and having stone. Either in the new city above Rastenford (best utility) or barb Mauryan (will get up faster, probably here)

Once the culture expands and they all become a bit more productive I think I will be well placed to be competitive this game. I am under no illusions about being near the runaway leader of taotao for example, but I have a good city count and land count, but most importantly when you don't count my white elephant city only 2 real neighbours. I essentially have a large back part of my empire now that I can really focus on eco.

Elkad will be a pain, although in the war dec he really only razed the city inbetween my core cities and stupid far away plant and a few mines in yargosavl, while I razed all the improvements there in the peace after so he has not gained much. Him being agg is a little annoying although he doesn't have a huge force as it goes. I may try and scare him a bit posturing my HAs with no real intention of attacking until knights. Who knows though, depends on power and builds and taotao really. He seems to have had a bit of an easier time against donovan, although I think CH took some of the cities and he didn't have a second aggressing war to fend off. He has however put a REALLY ambitious city right on my doorstep. I don't think it will gain much except be a liability in a later war however...

Borsche looks very weak currently mostly of issue as he is my silver supplier. Otherwise I am off exploring through taotao the rest of the world. I should probably spare a chariot or 2 now. Here's the global overview. I should get much taller quickly with the extra happy, the WW and whip angry wearing off and the happiness buildings coming up!

[ReallyEvilMuffin]

Cheers, REM. How's the empire look now?

Genuine question for you - would you in my position have moved cap to the gold or not? I can't decide if it were a good idea or not. I think overall it was but still undecided.

[ReallyEvilMuffin]

So things are trucking along nicely. Cities all coming out of resistance. Elkad has blocked off my southern city and will not open borders... I have 2 more filler cities to make in my lands in the next 2 turns. I have 5 more cities than taotao and am probably the city leader although not the pop leader as most of mine are smallish, just popping the borders in Beastland.

I was quite content with my position because we have good relations, but also despite bordering taotao because if he tries anything on me firstly I have a decent amount of military but also there seems to be a bit of a standoff there 3 ways between him, Sedora and CH. I doubt any could war easily presently without the others dogpiling in and making it messy. Hence my border with him is very sparsely defended, but I can get HAs over there extremely quickly.

I had an annoyance earlier - I had reached CS and was plannign to revolt into that with PS from the mids, given I really don't need any happiness from the civics and the bonus hammers would be nice, however I have passed the threshold where I will take 2 turns of anarchy for 2 civics rather than 1. I had a GS born but the plan was a beuro cap with an academy. If I were any of the others he probably would have been burned on a golden age, but with the golds being too useful to pass on an academy and a lot of cities nowhere near a happy cap in the new beastland territory I felt a GA could be delayed and I would just swap to CS.

However events have moved me to a much more favourable position. NS has declared on Elkad. I am unsure what he will be able to do exactly, he has far fewer cities and not much of a troop advantage, along with it being a poor time to war (unless he got trebs/maces early?), but Elkad is whipping very heavily. I have a good amount of city visability on him and he has left my front very poorly defended. He had a stack of 10ish spears that are very far from his frontlines, and other troops moving.

I am going back into war whipping mode for HAs on my borders and will probably be able to snipe quite a few cities. I will let the spears get far enough away from me and take things from there. I can't see taotao being able to hit my back and Elkad is my only other neighbour. NS would probably appreciate the help too. I feel bad about double teaming and this will hurt the eco again but I won't have as good an opportunity to claim land as this!

I rather like the very similar set up that everyone seems to have (and I rather messed up sorry GJ!) and it does make an interesting map. Only slight downside I would say is that early war is very effective as it meant I picked up 3 new UHR from taking commodore land. I understand it is supposed to stimulate trade but myself and taotao are in very strong positions being pretty much free of needing trade for happy.

Making 200 gpt gold currently. Got a lot of courthouses and much vertical growth I can achieve though! Finally have moais and all looking quite good! When I have the land points for the northern conquests along with the vertical growth and my new teching power I expect myself to settle above the mid pack that I am in currently certainly in 6th. Maybe even in the higher pack.

[ReallyEvilMuffin]

So I took the game by the horns. I don't think I have a chance long term vs taotao unless I take some risks, so I declared against Elkad this turn. I moved a couple of units into Dutch territory beforehand and there is nothing on the border. If a few knights turn up though it will really mess up my day. I'm making a lot of EPs with all the courthouses, have tech visability on him and will get city visability on him like on Elkad next turn, so will be able to see anything coming (not that I could do much v knights currently).

Now really regretting not going golden with that scientist... I could have got into CS/PS for free, then boosted myself on to emancipation during the age. Really underestimated how powerful that civic is. In a very large empire like mine adding a commerce to mines and cottage/hamlets/villages... Nevermind the windmill/watermill changes. Could have boosted through to there easily and at the end of the age got a free swap into it. Chalk that up to not knowing the mod well enough.



My moves on Elkad last turn

Slow stack to take Outlaw, a few swords, ele and a few cata. To be joined by 2 movers this turn.
2 mover stack of 13 HAs well promoed, 1GG axe and a chariot to get to his cap in 3 turns through guardsmen.
5 HA a GG axe and 2 chariots to go for priest kings.
A few slow units to take raiders in 2 turns, and fighting slave next turn.

Good results on the attack. Only a warrior in priest kings, quickly dispatched and units in to cover. I want to keep that city. Rather than fully reenforcing Outlaw he attacked out some non covered 2 movers - I think being attacked on 2 fronts he just wants it over. Only an axe and 3 spears in Outlaw. Took Fighting slave loosing 1 axe. Guardsman empty. He can try and hit back but I guess he will see I'm heading to his cap and try to cover it. He has very few units around in general. I should take Outlaw and raiders next turn. I also have a galley coming that I will strike assassin with in 2 turns which only has a warrior in currently.

I feel sorry for Nyles, I already have much more to show for warring V Elkad, although he did burn my city about 20 turns back... From what I could see Nyles has only one city so far. I can see injured units so I guess he must have units close. Only concern is the 15 odd spear stack that was in Outlaw that moved at the start of the war. As long as that has been used I am safe. I should be able to get about 1/2 to 2/3 of his empire including his cap. Nyles has few cities so shouldn't be able to mount a counter... I should hit either knights or pikes in about 5 turns and then be safeish. Still without many enemies bordering me either. I have a nice location, as long as taotao doesn't go for me.

[ReallyEvilMuffin]

I feel more sorry for Nyles now... Elkad is pissed at him allowing

Raiders taken for 1 axe (1 archer on defence), HA and chariot to try and hit the town in the black where it should be. Slightly cautious of the English chariot but nowhere they can declare and cause an issue at the moment.

Very little going my way here. Vision chariot saw all the surroundings and the lack of defence in Captive so I marched out staying out of hitting range of most his units.

Finally the stack on the cap. I thought there would be a little more in there, hence the overkill. Took Outlaw for 1 catapult, had 1 axe/3spear in.

Plan is take Tarnsman next turn with the HAs and move on through trying to make sure I gain as much land of Elkads over Nyles. I should have more than enough units to hold him back in the new conquests. I will take assassin from the axe/spear on the galley hopefully too, and then Explorers next turn and the city with the clam above asassin. Good thing about Elkads cities is they are quite lose to my cap and so the maintenance should be fairly low for the cost. Also I have a link to my white elephant city again!

Machinery next turn and with overflow hopefully should be able to power on to engineering. Probably the safest move over going to guilds. I need to get pikes to cover my south against taotaos knights.

Actually will probably pop back in and change a few spear builds to get auto upgrades to pikes. As soon as I get some I will casually show him them on the border... No point getting attacked without reason. Good thing about taking Elkad is that I now have my own silver and dye, and also deer. Still need rice really, health is starting to get maxed out in a few cities. Max research I am actually top GNP and I think 2nd food. Forgot to take a demo shot. Also I realise I forgot to do the turn 125 update thing... I will get a few more pictures of the empire too.

[ReallyEvilMuffin]

Ergh. Nyles razed Elkads cap. Very annoying. Very very annoying. Still as long as there wasn't an academy in there or anything it can be rebuilt easily. I will get a settler there in about 6 turns and it shouldn't take too long to be productive resettled. Another 3 cities taken this turn, Elkad only has 7 left now, of which 2 are easy for me to claim and I should get most of the others.

Worldwide plako has declared on Nyles, so he will probably be killed soon. I don't know what his priority will be, but I can't imagine he could fend off plako if he had all his remaining forces back as he is quite small.

Also thankfully my southern border is safe. Mack/taotao declared on Noble last turn. Wish I could see that fight. I can now concentrate on economy and see if I can compete with him. Despite his runaway GNP and production, I have currently 33 cities to his 23 and a better empire shape/position. Those 2 are both bordered by the rather large and well militarised CH. I hope he doesn't dogpile onto Noble... That would gift the game to mack/taotao. Depends how that war goes on whether I have a chance to grow back bigger. Not easy but not impossible.

If I consolidate out the gains from Elkad and I am now very unlikely to be hit from anyone with serious power (Borsche might try something but he is also quite small) I think I will settle out in the top 4 currently with a lot of potential given the land advantage. (and it is pretty much ALL good land unlike a lot of the junk random maps that occur)

[ReallyEvilMuffin]

Urgh. Mack has galleons. Well worse dutch indiamen with 4 slots and 6 strength. Even if I had astro too I couldn't fend those guys off. To cap it all he has a peace treaty with Sedora. My coastal cities will be easy pickings. I can't see him going for anyone else. I can get engineering in 2 turns and have got a few spears ready for upgrades but I am completely open to that kind of attack - I can't run the kind of garrisons needed to defend against that effectively. Especially when he has a MFG near double mine. If he takes my land which he probably easily could now he will be at about 40 cities with minimal unit loss, and then picking up the rest for little effort. Ah well, I tried. The victory type will be any of his choosing - I could believe from this lead he could probably get a dom victory with no diplo...

[ReallyEvilMuffin]

The more I think about this the more annoyed I am. I've been enjoying this game. I've had some good wars. Taken a good opportunity against Elkad. I've had a few misplays not getting to currency ASAP, not getting alpha early and underestimating the power of the new emancipation. Also Panicking and settling a crappy 4th city, and not going golden with the GS I had.

However even if I had played all those perfectly I still do not think I would be ahead of mack here. His early expansion speed without a helping trait was breathtaking, he had a very good early war with seemingly minimal loss and now has org like me to help him run his empire.

I don't know where his west goes but being safe from Sedora and by proxy CH (as Sedora knows Mack cannot attack then CH would leave himself open) unless he borders someone more tempting west I'm so dead... Who the hell techs to galleons before CS! He has had them for a while too because I have had research vision on him for about 5 turns and not seen that. Even counting the lush map Galleons around 300AD is just mental. He has so many beakers on me it isn't even funny. In hindsight I should have guessed something is up thinking about it as his cities went ren a while back. I doubt he has edu or gunpowder yet with everything else, although I would not put it past him.

He should pick up Taj for another free GA, GM, lib and get perhaps even SM... Hat is well off to him. Unless the other side of the world the Krill civ/Gavagi are not too far behind, although they seem to be warring currently, and I know I am second CY about 80 behind Mack. He is dominant in every area.

[Alhazard]

Who the hell techs to galleons before CS!

http://realmsbeyond.net/forums/showthrea...#pid156619

[GermanJoey]

However even if I had played all those perfectly I still do not think I would be ahead of mack here. His early expansion speed without a helping trait was breathtaking, he had a very good early war with seemingly minimal loss and now has org like me to help him run his empire.

Taotao played all the early turns, and I think you forgot that they're Cre, definitely a strong early expansion trait.