Zalson plays one turn at a time [COMPLETE]

[Zalson]

T114
And Ramesses has iron working.

I should have planned the unit shuffle better. I wish I could have said that attacking from the north was intended to allow rapid movement on to Thebes. But alas.



And I am going to lose Basra because I am an idiot. And also because Ramasses seems to have a beeline instinct toward a city he has never seen.



And very nice. I am at 0GPT at 0% science…

T115
Thank goodness for the AI.

The protective archer kills the non-protective archer with 50% odds.



Commerce is back up to +7 gpt. Woot. Manage to get that down to +2 at the end, since I’m going to grow several cities.



Thebes added an axe with another one on the way. I’ve 8 axes in position next turn and 4 cats in position turn after that. So probably 3 turns till it falls.

Damascus finishes its lighthouse and starts an axeman.

Baghdad configured to grow next turn.

[Zalson]

T116
I’ve been playing this game for a while and I have no idea what that red number next to the great person icon is. Is that the number of turns of whip anger left? Any who, here's my complete cities overview.



And here's the field of battl-- wait. No! Warrior 2!



Oh.

I mean: that was a cunning plan to win a coin flip. Let's do it again.



Yes. Yes. A cunning plan.



I also sent several axeman to cut Ramasses' iron. Kind of an inbetweener turn.

[Zalson]

T117
Helipolis comes out of resistance and is going to … start an archer. i’ll whip the archer next turn so I can send my axe and catapult to defend.



Bombard 1/2 of Thebes’ defenses this turn. Also, burn down Ramesses’ iron — then move one 1SW to see Memphis.



I’ll need to get those workers back into the theatre some time soon. Memphis will be a tougher nut to crack.



Demographics. Very nice to see myself at #1 in crop yield — accompanied by a high approval rate. That means that I have room to grow — and I am growing.

T118
Mecca finishes its archer. Do some unit shuffling and some additional scouting to the south.



The annoying thing is I can't find a way to move an extra unit south to kill Pi-Ramesses. I'll need at least 4 axes and 6 cats to take Memphis. So that'll need to wait until I can divert from Thebes.

Whip the archer in Heliopolis.

Once I take Thebes, it’s time to think of an exit strategy. Ramesses should lack any additional strategic resources, which means I should be able to clean up the remaining 4 cities in about 10 turns.

Ramesses is, of course, making cagey strategic moves. Like building a workboat and a galley.

5 catapults to hit Thebes next turn and 7 axes to take out 5 units. Unfortunately, 2 of those units are axes.

Okay, I can’t resist. 1 more turn.


T119
Heliopolis starts a lighthouse because I don’t know what to build there. I think about it and switch to Madrassa.

Naturally, somehow, Ramesses has horses. 1 war chariot in Thebes.

Minus 2 catapults for collateral damage and it’s a cakewalk.



Not sure where those horses are coming from. Knowing my luck, Ramesses has a city off continent.

Finish a barracks in Najran and start a catapult. 2x whip next turn.

2x whip a catapult at Medina.

2x whip the madrassa at Najran.



Basra will finish its Granary once I can get it to a 1/2 full food box. It’s not like the 1 extra food from the horse helps it grow at all. Better to fill up at size 1.

Cranking ~130 bpt. I realize now that I should have held off on the whips until i managed to get out code of laws. Also, I should wait to get the Madrassa in Najran before cranking it. So 1 more turn of gold.

[T-hawk]

I’ve been playing this game for a while and I have no idea what that red number next to the great person icon is.

Expenses paid per turn by that city. It's a red coin, indicating negative.

[Zalson]

Thanks, T-hawk. This means that Baghdad gets a courthouse the turn it's available. I'll also slot one in at Najran and Kufah. Obviously, Helipolis and Thebes will get some.

I am also going to be founding the marble city sooner rather than later. That + Judaism will be a 1-turn chop of MoM. Alternatively, I could switch to Hinduism for 5 turns.

I definitely need to not play turns in 3-turn chunks. I stop paying close attention to what I am doing which is not the best.

[Zalson]

Pop in and: the galley and the workboat are headed somewhere. This all but confirms that Ramesses has some land off this continent. I need to kill him FAST.

To that end, I am going to do split my stacks, avoid healing, and move on Memphis ASAP. I should be able to hit it 3 turns with nearly my full stack. i'm even going to take the wounded units. They can at least help with bombarding.



I'm being a little risky here. the axe on the hill is prime War Chariot bait but I'm hoping that the axe that follows is enough to kill the chariot if it indeed takes out the axeman. Foolish, foolish.

Around the rest of the empire:

2 pop whip for a catapult in Kufah. I'll overflow into another worker.

Medina completes a catapult and starts on an axeman. However, I don't need another axe to finish off Ramesses. I've got 12 and he's got 5 units. So, I put the overflow into a market. This city is a holy city, after all.

Najran starts a market after it completes the Madrassa. Waiting an extra turn to start research means ... I get the same number of beakers? ... probably should have screenshotted it last turn. But the real difference is that I'm going to get CoL in 3 turns. Woot.

[T-hawk]

Why such a rush? You don't need to kill him completely right now. The only downside of not doing so is some extra unhappiness in your conquered cities, but you can manage that and it fades with time. Take the mainland cities and sign peace and don't worry if he goes and hides off on some sandbar.

[El Grillo]

Regarding the hill 1N of Memphis, a War Chariot could hit your Axe and (thanks to the road) retreat back into the city. Something to keep in mind when playing against humans

[Zalson]

Sorry: the rush is to drive him from the continent, not to kill him completely.

El Grillo, yeah, I realized that after I moved...

[Zalson]

T121
The new disposition of forces:


Attacking memphis:

1N of Memphis:
2 axes (CR2,C1)
1 cat (CR1)

en route
4 axes (2 wounded, 2 fresh)
3 cats (2 wounded, 1 fresh).

Garrison:
2 archers (1 CG1, one no promo) on a hill (40% defense)
1 war chariot (flanking)

The goal will be that the wounded cats help bombard, and then the healthy cats attack for collateral. The healthy axes kill and the wounded axes can clean up. Expect this to fall… turn 123.


Attacking Elephantine:

1N of Elephantine:
3 axes (1 C1, other 2 unprompted yet)

En Route:
2 cats (1 healthy, 1 wounded)
1 axe (CR2)

Garrison:
2 CG1 Archers on a hill (20%)

Elephantine will be a tougher fight but I have 3 catapults incoming that can be there in 5 turns. If I can’t get decent (coin flip odds), then I’ll wait the 5 turns for those cats to get in there.


The rest of the empire:

Mecca



Mecca and Damascus grow next turn. Damascus will grow onto two priest specialists and will work on its market until the whip penalty is up — although maybe a 3x whip is more advantageous, with the overflow into a courthouse? Not sure.

Mecca will grow onto the cottage that Medina is currently working with a goal of growing onto the next one once it gets another size. Once its done with the current missionary, I’ll … switch to a market. probably should have built the market earlier. The missionary is for the marble city.

I think Baghdad will 3x whip the settler for that city and then go onto a courthouse. It finishes a catapult next turn.



Whipped the granary in Basra. 4T to grow. Will be able to put 16 food in the box for size. Next improvement is going to be a farmed FP. This will probably be nothing but a troop builder. Not sure i want heroic epic here though. It’s only got 17 base hammers. Meanwhile, Medina has 19 and the food to work all those tiles… still not sure that’s advantageous.

Actually, the more I think about that, that makes Basra a better candidate. It can do nothing but crank units that way…

So basra will overflow onto a barracks.

Kufah switches to a wealth build to preserve 33 overflow for a courthouse. That also has the benefit of growing me to size 6. I think what I’ll do is: drop the overflow into the courthouse then 2x whip with the overflow into a worker.