[Spoiler] RB Pitboss #2 - Shaka of Rome

[Cyneheard]

Seconded on the overview, but could you avoid the dark blue (2nd section)? It's really hard to read that blue against the greenish background.

[Whosit]

Seconded on the overview, but could you avoid the dark blue (2nd section)? It's really hard to read that blue against the greenish background.

I just made it white. I agree that it was a little hard on the eyes.

[Whosit]

OK, some random math, too.

Forum = 150 hammers.
Courthouse = 120 hammers.
Forge = 120 hammers.

No bonuses on any of these buildings.

Whipped citizen = 30 hammers. So . . .

Forum = 5 citizens.
Courthouse = 4 citizens
Forge = 4 citizens

Since Metal Casting is nearly complete, I may actually whip Forges before Courthouses. Why? Well, I do love production. But also because, if I recall correctly, any overflow gets the benefit of the newly complete Forge.

So, for example, if a city has 55 hammers invested in a Forge, the whip nets 25 hammers of overflow. With the 25% bonus, these are increased to 31 hammers. I would most likely whip into a Courthouse, and whip again when able to. That's a lot of Population down the drain, but most of my cities have enough of a food bonus that I can grow them back without too much pain.

Since I went ahead and teched Monotheism, I may even want to revolt to Organized Religion before I start the whipping. Those 25 overflow hammers would become 37 with the total 50% bonus (so long as the next project is infrastructure). In that case, I would only need 23 hammers more before a Courthouse could be whipped with 2-pop. I could even 3-Pop whip it immediately if I had enough citizens (well, after the hammers get applied).

Would that be worth the turn of Anarchy? Not sure yet. Might very well be, though. If I had research Monarchy, I'd revolt to Hereditary Rule as well just for the heck of it, but I won't be waiting on that.

I dislike the Anarchy, but I just have to bite it. I should also revolt once I plan to do mass infrastructure, to get the 25% bonus going early. I still need to spread Confucianism to Kuat and Dathomir, though, but neither should be working on Infrastructure in the near future (well, Kuat is finishing Heroic Epic, but I already have Marble, so it's OK).

Dathomir, while I'm talking about it, will probably alternate between soldiers, Workers, and Settlers until Centralia is settled to its full extent. A Courthouse would be useful, but I could always whip it in at some point.

I think the best thing about this plan is that it would mean I did not tech Monotheism for nothing. Again, though, I would not implement this course of action until I feel my border with Korea is mostly secure. And Carida will whip nothing, because it has only a Cow and dry Rice for food.

[Whosit]

After a bit of thought, I think I have come upon a more concise way to describe how I feel about my current position in the game:

If this were a horse race, I would not bet on me, but I am hardly out of the race!

[Whosit]

Things just aren't going to go easy for me, are they?

Tiwanku is full of troops. It will take my 4 Catapults 3 turns to wear down the 50% defenses, and it will be 4 turns until I can attack. I anticipate several more whippings of Longbowmen.

There are already: 1 Longbowman, 7 Axemen (many promoted Shock), 1 Chariot, 1 Spearman in residence. I have 11 Praetorians, 4 Catapults, and 1 Medic Axeman.

Korea is also taking the opportunity to attack. They must have moved their stack at the end of the last turn. 4 Hwachas, 6 Axemen, and 2 Spearmen, plus 2 Longbowmen in the area. All told, that's 80,000 soldier points worth of troops, I think. Out of approximately 291,000. No, 76,000 points . . . Hwachas are still worth 5,000. So about 25% of their total soldier points.

They have Feudalism and Civil Service, but neither contributes Soldier points. However, they are one tech away from Macemen!

So, the new plan: Metal Casting > Machinery > Archery. Crossbowmen it is.

I'll have pictures up tomorrow, but Alzoc III is a lost cause. I have withdrawn my Garrison completely. I expect, and even hope that plako moves his full force in and razes the city. I suppose I could be out of luck if he simply sends in one Axeman to destroy it. Didn't think about that, but defending it just would be foolhardy. The plan is to attack his stack as soon as it enters my land, but the problem is that it could go after Alzoc III, Nar Shaddaa, or Ryloth. I should be able to get reinforcements to either, but it's going to be a sticky situation.

[Whosit]

I've run some sims (better stop, I have like, two deadlines tomorrow that I'm behind on . . . T_T), assuming that plako moves everything in and razes Alzoc III. Though I really have no idea what he's doing, hence another reason that these sims are premature.

Anyway, if such a scenario occurs, I expect to lose 1-2 HAs, my Catapult, and 1, maybe 2, Praetorians. Everything that remains, mine and his, will be badly wounded. I would expect him to pulls his surviving units back into his territory to heal. My units would likewise heal and await reinforcements.

If he DOESN'T do this, things could get tricky. It's all conjecture. I'd probably hit the stack with the HA to deal flanking damage, and cram whichever city he's going after with troops. Damaged Hwachas won't deal as much combat damage, but I'd still have to worry about their collateral damage. Still, Ryloth and Nar Shaddaa both have 50% cultural defenses, and one is on a hill, the other is behind a river.

. . . seeing as how plako will notice that I've emptied Alzoc III . . . . Argh, maybe I should have left one unit in to force him to attack. I don't know. Now that I think about it, he can just raze it with that Longbowman of his and move his stack elsewhere. Stupid, stupid.

Seeing as how I've ended my turn and all, I can't go back and make changes. I probably should have just slept on the decision. I was too concerned about leaving a Praetorian to die to think about the fact that it would still force him to commit a couple of troops to the attack. Well, no, the stack would have been on the hill under the protection of the GII Longbow. I need to stop thinking about it.

Going to crank out a few more cats from Imperial Center and Carida, and whip Praetorians out of Nar Shaddaa and Ryloth. My income is going to sink . . . .

Bah. I may as well send one last message to plako. He surely won't heed it, but I think my movements will have tipped him off that I know he is coming, anyway, so I won't reveal that I am prepared for him.

[Whosit]

More spam. The horrible thought occurred to me that plako might have another stack waiting in the shadows, or on a Galley somewhere, or who knows what. I do not have a good idea of how many cities he has or what his population is, but I made a very rough guess.

Out of his estimated 291,000 power (only 100,000 less than mine), I estimate about a third to be from population and buildings. There are 76,000 soldier points worth of units visible to me, plus I know that he has at least two Triremes (6,000 more). That still leaves a little more than a 1/3 left for more units.

I should have double checked to see how many cities he has now. 8? Random guess. If his units are mostly Axemen and Longbowmen, that might account for just Garrison units. I guess if his units are anything else, I shouldn't have to worry about them (Archers, Spearmen).

The likelihood that he has a second stack as large as this is unlikely, but I wish that I had more information.

[BobRoberts]

You all certainly live in interesting times!

Thank you kindly for the updates, enjoying the read!

[Whosit]

Brief update, since I should have left the house already.

Logged in. Slaze seems to have abandoned Tiwanaku. I'm guessing that he's moved all his units 2E. Oh, and he whipped the city to 1-Pop, probably a Longbow. I should be able to take it if I sacrifice a Praetorian. Want to keep the Catapults for now, since I expect a counter-attack.

I don't know if he whipped just to spite me, but I can capture the city--it shouldn't auto-raze since it has a ton of culture in it. I'm also not entirely sure why he abandoned it. I would have been tied up there awhile, and taken losses to secure the city. Is he planning a counter-attack?

Oh, and he sent me this terse message "I'm gonna beat you." We'll see, buddy.

Plako happened to log in before I left, hence why this took up so much time. As I suspected, Alzoc III was seen as a challenge. I think that they wanted either Nar Shaddaa or Ryloth for peace, possibly both, but that's just not going to happen. It sounded like there was still a small, maybe 1% chance that they wouldn't attack. I wish I had more time to negotiate, but I don't think that there's anything that I could meaningfully offer them.

War is probably inevitable. Again, not TOO worried about Korea, though which way they go could cause me some stress. If all else fails, I just whip my cities into the ground. Not my ideal option, of course.

Gotta figure out what slaze is up to, though.

[Whosit]

I stayed up late just to bake these pictures for you all . . . .

So, this is the stack plako had on T151:



What slaze had:



What I did:



What slaze did:



T152

Plako destroyed Alzoc III, as expected. Also, as expected, he used one unit. It was destroyed.



"Battle" of Tiwanaku:







My first combat loss. The First of many, I expect.

Finally, how I arranged my units:



5 on hill, 3 on jungle-hill. Athlete pointed out that there is a road to the south that I forgot about. Still, slaze would be very foolish to take back Tiwanaku after this. We'll see. He has gotten Construction, so he may have another trick up his sleeve.

Athlete also suspects that plako has a second stack hiding. I hope not, but I'll have to deal with whatever he throws at me.

Current analysis:

Plako: Quite competent.

Slaze: Possibly insane.

Seriously, I'm not sure what slaze is trying to do. His best bet would have been to hole up in Tiwanaku. If he attacks me on the hills, he is sure to lose most of his stack (he will damage me, but I think that I can absorb it--he seems to be using the whip to raise most of his army, while I have 2.5 production centers).

2 turns until Kuat completes the Heroic Epic, whereupon it will just be spitting out Praetorians non-stop. Too bad I needed that yesterday.