[Spoilers] Shallow Thought and Hitru's series of (unfortunate?) events

[shallow_thought]

Elkad joins Superdeath in a GA. Technically, we could do the same next turn, but we'll probably hold off. We get Guilds in 2t, but want to a round of whipping that turn, finishing the knights EOT after in Vassalage. I just have to be careful not to finish any HA's over the next two turns (more accurately, not with enough overflow that they will finish as knights that same turn). So, who are we likely to be hitting? SD's stack of HA's is on the highlight tile (you'd have thought I'd have taken a picture before moving my scout away, but no ). While an attack on Elkad is a possibilty, I'm increasingly sure it's Charriu. SD doesn't have OB with Charriu - I could have sworn he did a few turns ago.




We're actually behind Charriu in power right now, but that won't last. I think we commit as soon as possible after Guilds. The faster we move, the more likely we are to beat Superdeath to some of the gains. It's going to get interesting in the middle - I don't know what SD's main angle of attack will be, but we do have our cap, Moai and IQ well placed to pump reinforcements, while JS2 builds enough to handle the other border. Planting our new city in the face of Charriu's main stack while attacking him could be considered a brilliant diversion, or just a waste of hammers. I guess we'll find out. The following picture actually fails to show SD's most likely initial strike, at Byblos in the north, but it shows how we're (hopefully) going to be racing for the core. Of course, we don't know what Elkad will do.

[Old Harry]

Do you have a supermedic or a candidate lined up?

[shallow_thought]

Seven whips, some of them double, this turn. Not exactly subtle. More to come next turn as Guilds come in (helped over the line with a wealth build from BeaB), just before the GA and switch to vassalage.

Charriu has spent a turn cutting RFS-81's defenses down to size. To be fair, that stack is going to crack that city like an egg, given that Elkad doesn't seem inclined to interfere. Holding it against the storm I think is coming will be a completely different matter. The stack does force us to keep most of our existing 2-movers over here to counter it; along with cats that should be plenty, although we need to deter Elkad as well.




Charriu's core looks pretty open. The cities on our border are not much different, maybe archers instead of warriors. My thinking is we pretty much brute force things for speed. We'll have time for a round of collateral with a handful of cats at Iron Claw (we don't have many in the area, 4-5), but then we just sweep on as fast as possible to Karlabos and - hopefully - beyond. I think it will be mostly shock first on the knights, deal with those spears. I don't think he has longbows yet. I've not even seen cats from him yet, so he's a long way from pikes.




Total power is a match, but we'll see what that looks like in 3 turns.

Do you have a supermedic or a candidate lined up?

Yeah, we have an 8 XP medic 1 Imm sitting with our GG ready to go all super. I think I'd like to get another Imm up to medic 1, were going be in a two front war (albeit against one player), give us the option of a second medic. The first medic needs to go with the knight stack initially, but if that goes west we might need the backup.

[Old Harry]

Cool, 28xp means a 3-move supermedic. That's nice.

Oh, and have a look at the combat calculator for knights Vs spears - iirc c2 does as well as shock and works against other units too.

[shallow_thought]

Nine more whips recorded by us in civstats. That seems too few. OK, one was for a granary, but I'm expecting to spit out 10 knights next turn. Not too shabby - I'd much rather overcook than undercook this attack; I'm fed up with being on the sidelines. One or two weren't even needed, but it's our last chance - we're going Caste from here on in. GA triggered, Vassalage and Caste chosen, dice in hand ready to roll . We actually have our first knight already. I got a big "out of sync error" flash up and vanish. While still distracted I managed to misclick and upgrade our Great Medic Immortal, while trying to promote him. No huge deal, but I'd rather not have him defending stacks. Will finish promoting him next turn. One of my least favourite bits of the interface, th e way the  commands move about as you click them.




Hey, I can show off our Moai city properly now. Not shown: Hostile Hospice, struggling to work even two artists - going for the GA now, after several turns of stagnation, means that we're not able to get too many GPP out. AA has a full food bar and will head for a GMerch, but no actual starvation this time. I'd love to be working scientists somewhere during the GA as well, but we need hammers. Capital might manage to work some when it next grows in a turn or two.




And to show that I've not held back with the whip, look at Lemony S. That's three whips in a few turns: one for a missionary, two into the HA/Knight. But we've a big happy limit and plenty of time to let the unhappy wear off - hopefully. Let's see how safe we feel about not being in slavery in five more turns.




In other news, Elkad whipped quite a bit, and then immediately (before EOT) dropped out of Police State and into Rep/Caste/Pacifism. Doesn't he lose the bonus hammers by doing that? Or maybe it was all forges and courthouses . He'll have Engineering - and thus Pikes - in 2t, so I'd really rather pick on someone else. Speaking of Charriu, he's finished bombarding down RFS-81's culture. With only 3 trebs he obviously felt he should get it down fully. Note that galley - we may need to try for a trireme out of GG to cover MM. One x-bow would walk into the city. Hopefully he wont feel free to spare one...




It did occur to me after the last report that our core cities are actually less defended than Charriu's. The difference is that we've been keeping a reserve (cats, axes, welly) around to move to cover against an attack, while I've seen no equivalent in Charriu's lands. Of course, we're about to send it on the offensive . Let's hope that Superdeath is honest and Magic Science doesn't want to poke us.

Cool, 28xp means a 3-move supermedic. That's nice.

Oh, and have a look at the combat calculator for knights Vs spears - iirc c2 does as well as shock and works against other units too.

Ooh - quite right. Thanks for that. What's also interesting is the difference the hill makes. Fortified, walled spear against knight is 65% in spear's favour on a hill, 65% in knight's favour on flat. The change in odds from a small switch in effective strength around the break-even point is surprisingly big.

[Commodore]

In other news, Elkad whipped quite a bit, and then immediately (before EOT) dropped out of Police State and into Rep/Caste/Pacifism. Doesn't he lose the bonus hammers by doing that? Or maybe it was all forges and courthouses .

Nope, hammers generated by the whip are instant.   Magic hammers generated that way are a great reason for Spiritual to want to chase Police State, and you can game Organized Religion that way too (overflow isn't divided out). 

It's still completely possible it was all forges and courthouses, of course.

[shallow_thought]

In other news, Elkad whipped quite a bit, and then immediately (before EOT) dropped out of Police State and into Rep/Caste/Pacifism. Doesn't he lose the bonus hammers by doing that? Or maybe it was all forges and courthouses .

Nope, hammers generated by the whip are instant.   Magic hammers generated that way are a great reason for Spiritual to want to chase Police State, and you can game Organized Religion that way too (overflow isn't divided out). 

It's still completely possible it was all forges and courthouses, of course.

So many tricks still to learn .

[shallow_thought]

So, what did all that whipping (just before a GA) achieve ? We're second in power. But I think we've just opened a gap over Charriu. Back of the envelope says that we're 131,000 above the average of him/MS/SD. Oh, and somehow we're still first in crop yield despite everything.




Based on the fact that I'd like to have the treb from the capital, our timetable is that we declare on T162 and hit Iron Claw on T163. Charriu will be justified in declaring never-ending blood feud (for this game at least - awkwardly we're lurking OH together in PB42 ... could be frosty). Technically we could attack someone else, but Elkad will have pikes, SD has just sent crab-crab (oh, and switched to vassalge too), and MS ... I'm just not set up pschologically or vision-wise for that. I'm not good at switching targets or changing plans at short notice. Sorry Charriu. I do think it's likely he'll come looking for all our knights soon, but that's why I'm rushing a bit.




I don't think we'll be in a position to attack Charriu at RFS-81's cap though. It's still there; I don't think Charriu took many losses last turn (1 sword, 1 treb? - seems fortunate). RFS-81 has a Great General for some promo-healing, and maybe an upgrade if he has the tech, so he might have another turn left after this one.




We'll be ready to plant our new city ASAP. Operationally it's a minor nightmare, with Not Rome forking JS2 and the new site, and the lake blocking us from moving troops rapidly. We need Engineering and a reserve of even more knights before Elkad starts to feel too frisky. I'm hoping he will join in dismembering Charriu for a bit. He'll get an iron-iron offer next turn, and an OB one the turn after that...

[shallow_thought]

RFS-81 scattered that Great General's XP over his whole stack and promo-healed. Charriu could be bogged down there a little longer. He appears to be absolutely oblivious to us as a threat - if anything he's stripped more troops from his east. We have a crab-crab deal, but it's well over 10t old. I'm just thinking he perhaps sees that as a NAP that needs to be cancelled? I'm actually worried that I've made some diplo error somewhere and strongly indicated future peace. Anyway, here is our gathering army. We'll get another knight out of BeaB and we have a treb already on the map that's not listed in the pic.




Of course, I'm probably grossly underestimating the difficulty in attacking a human, at least with my limited non-existent experience.

[Old Harry]

I think your t-1 stage tile might be visible to him.

What happens if Charriu takes Golden Void then heals his stack in the city? Do you have the units to stop it moving on your territory?