[Spoiler] RB Pitboss #2 - Shaka of Rome

[sunrise089]

Is it me, or did Speaker pick up a new handle? Civ Stats says that a "Orateur" logged in, which sounds a lot like "orator" which means "a person who speaks."

Hehhhhh.

Hehe, yeah, that's an alt name. Sometimes when non-ladder games are hosted in the civ lobby ladder players pick different names so they can have fun without worrying about their reputations. I'm "nightfall911" for example

[Whosit]

Yes, this works. A unit is on land and can defend as soon as you click Unload, even if it has no movement left.

Good to know.

OK. So. Slaze is going to fight to the death. Fine. My plan is to pull my forces back immediately. Half will go to Bestine, the other half to Byss. Bestine will whip a Praetorian as soon as I log in, and the overflow should be enough to finish walls in one turn (since I am borrowing the Rebel's Stone). Byss is working on Walls, as well. Main purpose is to try and slow down any direct attack.

With about 6 Praetorians and 2 or 3 Catapults in each city, that should be enough to hold out against an attack, or at least slow it down (Barrage Catapults to attack enemies).

A problem, which I was aware of before, is that I do not have a road linking Bestine to Byss. That needs to be fixed, though I really need to build a couple more Workers. Dathomir will probably have to do that.

I think I have 4 turns until Machinery + Archery is done, but I could be wrong. Need to double check, hope it's not longer, or I am in trouble. I estimate that I have 4 turns before plako can launch his Macemen attack (accounting for the logistics of gathering them up and moving them). Less if he somehow got the gold to upgrade all of his Axemen . . . .

The Galactic Empire is now under siege. These are dark days.

I've come to realize that Athlete has to depend on my for tactical support and advice. How unfortunate for him, given my own track record. Turns out that he wasted his Great General on a mis-promoted Chariot. I gave him some links to the civ fanatics War Academy, so hopefully he'll find something useful there. I've also encouraged him to build a Trireme fleet, so hopefully he'll do that.

Sent an e-mail to Holy Rome since I haven't heard from them in awhile.

I know that pulling yourself out of a hole is the whole "Realms Beyond thing," but someone always has to die. Yeah, still might be me. Gotta really try to play smart from here on out. OK, Whosit out.

[Whosit]

Hmff. Out-played again. Slaze sure had me fooled. I'm not very good at editing these pictures, but:



The list of my stack is too big, but I'm not sure what I can do about that. I also have 3 Praetorians and a catapult in Bestine (I will have a second whipped out before T162).

I have a chance, but it will depend if he attacks my stack or not. Be thankful that I'm not quite as paranoid as Ruff, or I'd stop updating. However, I am only going to be here for two more turns at the most, but depending on how things go, I may be able to oversee the battle of Bestine. I'm not very happy to turn things over at such a critical juncture.

The big question is whether or not slaze decides to attack my stack. I am going to have to see what might happen. He shouldn't be able to see my Worker, so I am hoping that he heads straight for Bestine, assuming my stack will get there too late. This is confidential information, understand?

Of course, there are many variables. Will slaze take the path I have indicated? Will he attack my stack? I am going to pay for forgetting to put a road 2E of Bestine--I had intended to road every tile, but I missed that one, somehow. If Slaze moves 1NE, rather than 1E, I cannot attack him. He will have to cross a river, but he outnumbers me. I'm going to test that scenario, as well. I'll have 2 Catapults to sacrifice, but he'll still vastly outnumber me.

I think that I need to consult with Athlete again, see if he recalls what slaze did when they fought. I'm not sure about his M.O. yet. He cannot see into Bestine, so I am hoping that he will confidently cross the river. Even if I hit his stack with two Barrage I Catapults, his own Catapults can be promoted City Raider II, and the 50% city defense bonus will be meaningless. 8 wounded Axemen can defeat 3 badly wounded Praetorians. Shit, for lack of a road . . . .

Of course, even then, I could eliminate his stack, but I'm down a well-developed city, so he wins.

[Kyan]

Nice update pal. Best of luck!

Wish i could help more than that but alas, it would be unfair.

Exactly what days are you away pal?

[antisocialmunky]

Yeah thanks for the regular updates!

[Whosit]

Exactly what days are you away pal?

I will be gone early Saturday morning (April the 10th), Sunday, Monday, and probably all of Tuesday (April the 13th). I'll have more detailed instructions by Friday, but I would encourage you to always let the timer run out fully. Partially to minimize the number of turns player, and partially to give you the option of logging in to see if anything needs to be whipped (one of my "contingency" instructions will be to whip out a [possibly specified] unit if a city appears in imminent danger).

In addition to trying to survive, I'll be busy trying to craft instructions to cover all possible eventualities, only to know that something unexpected will occur. *Sigh*

[Whosit]

According to some WB Sims I ran, even if slaze drops his troops off across the river and adds the healthy Combat II Longbowman currently in Tiwanaku . . .

I have roughly 20% odds of keeping Bestine, based on 20 sims. I should be happy that it's larger than 0%, but . . . I'm going to see if one more Praetorian would make a difference. If it will, I will actually whip one out of Kuat for 3-pop. Since Carida has finished its Forge, that city can pick up some of the unit-building slack while Kuat regrows. Losing Bestine is really not in my best long-term interests.

[Whosit]

I found that a fourth Praetorian will drastically increase my odds to about 50% . . . however, I also noticed that I overlooked an attack route that slaze could take that would bypass the river, which would hurt my odds again. So perhaps I only have 30% odds if he does everything right.

I'd also like to mention that, in my sims, slaze's units had an uncanny tendency to win fights at odds well below 10%: Wins at 5-6% weren't uncommon to see from one battle to another, and in one particular fight, the Spearman won a 12% battle, and then a 9% battle. I hope the rolls are not as bad for me in the real battle to come.

I really hope that slaze takes a more direct route, but by now I realize that he's not likely to make such mistakes. I actually hope that he attacks me in the field, since we're more likely to come to a draw (trade units).

Athlete caught me in-game (which kept me up much later than I wanted to be tonight), and I gave him some tactical suggestions. If I understood him right, he was originally planning to leave his eastern forces without catapults to defend themselves. Didn't seem like a smart thing to do.

Well, I was originally hoping to say something like "now slaze will know not to underestimate the power of the Dark Side," but with my new realizations, all I can say is that I have to trust in the Force to guide me through my darkest hours.

[regoarrarr]

When running your sims, did you have the option checked that changes the random seed on reload?

[Whosit]

When running your sims, did you have the option checked that changes the random seed on reload?

Yes. Most of the fights were different each time, if only slightly, but there was still that odd tendency for the attacking Axemen to win at under 10% odds. Out of 30 runs, and about 300 fights . . . well, there might have been only about 15 such wins (I didn't start tracking them until about half-way through), well within the realm of possibility. I just hope the actual fights don't lean that way.