[SPOILER] PB37 Dark Savant tries not to be a blatant MP n00b

[Dark Savant]

t174:

I recaptured Garrote Gorge; Gavagai only dispatched a lone 1-mover to reinforce it.  This isn't actually a futile gesture, since that means I can have Chichen Itza back for extra defense against Gavagai's incoming stack.  I'm not sure it will be enough.

This time I may actually remember to promote units correctly. 

[Dark Savant]

t175:

Gavagai shifted his incoming stack towards Garrote Gorge.  I was wondering if he was going to attack into 135% base defense (60% culture + 25% hill + 25% river + 25% Chichen Itza, with another +40% for his non-janissary units).  I suppose not.

I'm especially uncertain if I can truly hold that even with a couple turns' notice; here's a shot of the situation:



I've killed most of Gavagai's knights, so most of what he's attacking with is janissaries; there isn't a large stack of knights he can fork cities with.  There haven't been any new landings at Vertigo, which has held, and he's made a landing with 5 units at Middlegate, which I can defend against.

I'm not sure how seriously to try to defend Garrote Gorge -- I have a lot of units that can pile in there, but it's unclear if it will be enough, and it no longer has its walls/castle, and it lacks either hills or a river for defense.

No one else has declared war on me -- I'm wondering when that's going to happen.

[Dark Savant]

t176:

JR4 declared war on me -- I was wondering why that didn't happen sooner.  He landed a stack of mostly knights and catapults over at the island city of Tularean Forest.

I'm wondering why chumchu has yet to declare war on me -- he should have the force to do so by now.  (There aren't any wars not involving me.)

Gavagai's stack is next to Garrote Gorge.  I put all the units I could inside, and I have additional forces following to retake it if he's barely able to capture it.

This time, I remembered to actually promote all my units and turn on autopromote. 

(I'm not actually sure if it's best to promote Oromo Warriors to Drill IV, but I do have a bunch of those promoted as such.)

[Dark Savant]

t177:

Gavagai shifted his stack next to Garrote Gorge northward; he's landed some reinforcements nearby.  I dry-whip a castle in Garrote Gorge and move more units inside.  And also, Gavagai has Castleview lightly defended with several ships inside.  Several knight attacks later, I've retaken the city (that's my most successful sinking of enemy ships this game ), and can re-retake the city next turn if he kills the single knight there; he can only do that with knights, and I have the forces on standby to either counterattack or retreat back towards Garrote Gorge.

JR4 lazily bombarded Tularean Forest with frigates and reinforced his attack stack.  I added a couple extra Oromo Warriors to its defense.

No one else declared war.  I wonder when chumchu is going to join the party. 

Monotheism is in; Theology up next for Theocracy and the discount on Paper.

[Dark Savant]

t178:

Gavagai recaptured Castleview and then maneuvered his galleons to reinforce it with the stack that was reinforcing the attack on Garrote Gorge.

That now has no chance of falling to Gavagai any time soon ... which is why he offered a straight-up peace treaty that I accepted.

Maybe I shouldn't have -- I now had a galleon in place to try an opportunistic raze into the fog -- but I figured it was better to take it.

JR4 bombarded Tularean Forest and captured it.  He lost all his siege doing so, I think.  I should be able to reinforce anything else before he can capture it.

[Dark Savant]

t179:

Okay, it turns out Gavagai offered peace because he tried attacking Garrote Gorge, lost a lot of units, and I'm guessing he wanted to save what was left.  Not much lost because I didn't have much in range to counterattack his injured units, but I suppose it's normal to take a look around and re-offer in cases like that.  I'll have to remember that rather than to impulsively accept offers like that.

JR4 has a LOT of frigates swarming around.  I'll have to see how slowly swapping to Chemistry research is going to be.

I swap most builds back to peacetime builds, and start moving units towards JR4.  I won't be able to capture much of anything soon because I can't challenge his frigates, though.  I might be able to do that if I still had Castleview, but my navy on the east coast now can't reach the west without a bunch of forts which I don't have -- yet.

[Mardoc]

t179:

Okay, it turns out Gavagai offered peace because he tried attacking Garrote Gorge, lost a lot of units, and I'm guessing he wanted to save what was left.  Not much lost because I didn't have much in range to counterattack his injured units, but I suppose it's normal to take a look around and re-offer in cases like that.  I'll have to remember that rather than to impulsively accept offers like that.

Normal, yes.  I have been burned by that once before, though - the other party changed his mind between his offer of the peace treaty and my re-offer.  It doesn't happen often, but it can happen.  So if you really want peace, accepting the offer blind is correct.

[Dark Savant]

t179:

Okay, it turns out Gavagai offered peace because he tried attacking Garrote Gorge, lost a lot of units, and I'm guessing he wanted to save what was left.  Not much lost because I didn't have much in range to counterattack his injured units, but I suppose it's normal to take a look around and re-offer in cases like that.  I'll have to remember that rather than to impulsively accept offers like that.

Normal, yes.  I have been burned by that once before, though - the other party changed his mind between his offer of the peace treaty and my re-offer.  It doesn't happen often, but it can happen.  So if you really want peace, accepting the offer blind is correct.

There's also that chumchu/Coeurva might attack me from the south -- they've now got a very narrow window to do so before I can reinforce the south.  I can defend against what I saw from them a while ago, but they must have more force now than they did then.

I am uncertain how to balance defense everywhere, but I have a few more turns to decide that.

I also just wasn't expecting Gavagai to try an immediate head-on assault with what he had -- I thought it obviously wasn't near enough without the reinforcements he had just 1 turn away.  I really have no idea why he even tried that attack.  

Separately ... I keep feeling like I'm on the verge of collapse, and it keeps just not actually happening.  I suspect a lot of other players would have given up a while ago, but I'm pressing on just because I want to know how to handle gameplay later on.  I'm going to turn research back on next turn, after Castle Ironfist finishes that observatory it was in the middle of, and I need to figure out if I want Chemistry or to just go straight for Rifling.

Another note is that I missed that strategic-for-strategic was a suggestion of general military alliance -- I thought that meant the same as clam-for-clam!  Is there anything else like that I may have missed?

[Mardoc]

Another note is that I missed that strategic-for-strategic was a suggestion of general military alliance -- I thought that meant the same as clam-for-clam!  Is there anything else like that I may have missed?

Um, well, AI diplo is sort of vague usually - so everything I say here has exceptions.  That's kind of the point - if this stuff was too obvious and clear like Bridge bidding, it would be actual diplo and we'd have to add more restrictions.

In addition to what you've said:

Some people will use the resources as attempted hints; for example Iron + horses = watch out for knights.  Or sometimes 'let's invade someone together, using knights'.

Except when they use the resources to hint at location - Iron + horses + wheat + clam can mean watch out for knights invading at your wheat/clam city.  Except if it means 'watch out for swords at your horse/wheat/clam city', of course.

Then anytime there's gold included, it might be a countdown.

Plus, of course, it being AI diplo, any offer might actually be a genuine offer.  Maybe 10 gold + iron/horse for iron/horse means 'you're going to be invaded with knights in 10 turns'...maybe it means 'I'd like to trade iron/horse with you so they don't show up on my diplo screen, and here's 10 gold for your trouble'

[ipecac]

Separately ... I keep feeling like I'm on the verge of collapse, and it keeps just not actually happening. 

Hitting outlying cities for quick gains is relatively easy and cheap. Pressing for the kill often requires a large investment and may not be all that worth it given other threats/targets, especially if the target is crippled and you can mop him up with more advanced units.

It's also easier when someone is piling on from the other end. Now that Gavagai is gassed and peaced out, you'll die more slowly.

I suspect a lot of other players would have given up a while ago, but I'm pressing on just because I want to know how to handle gameplay later on.