[spoilers] Let's Play Civilization 4.5: Realms Beyond the Sword

[Commodore]

It’s time for land pushes, not sea. Superdeath has a right proper privateer swarm now, so I don’t think I’ll be able to slip much past him anymore. However, I’ve already landed a nice dozen knights on his mainland, plus a few assorted crossbows and a mace. That’s not enough to conquer, but I’m very hopeful to knock out Yall Diseased and AllMyProblems and gain some safety and space for the precious Great Lighthouse prize.


A tiny land war is erupting out east. The galley can scurry back and forth safely one more time before it pulls too much of a garrison out of Cardinal Glick; I think that galley is empty but I’d hate to be wrong in that guess. Until my own privateer mass trickles down from the big north ports I’m going to be sneaking around this little sea area.

I was thinking going for Tasmania for conquest names, seem sensible?

[Commodore]

Bleg time, too. I'm currently reading the excellent book "The Fatal Shore" by Robert Hughes, it's a magnificent work.


Does anyone have a good history of New Zealand to recommend?

[Commodore]

I’m beginning to notice a theme in this war. My sea odds have been awful (that was a >60% shot, and the privateer who cleaned up got wrecked despite the 97% odds, but I’ve been nice and successful on land pretty consistently. The one losing fight was at 35%, and the mace got mauled (0.4/8). 10xp knights will hopefully also make him twitchy; that city capture over hills there was Flanking II/Mobility.

From the looks of things, this was a scramble-Superdeath had a force on the mysterious border with Dark Savant, he hurriedly tossed his fast-movers (those four horse archers and the still-extant chariots) in to this lynchpin city and he’s doubtless bringing up the crossbow/mace/catapult following force. I’m not sure exactly how big it is, but he’s more likely than not going to be hating me more than Dark Savant, so it’s going to be the house that gets thrown.

[Commodore]

‘Twas a great battle, outside the gates of AllMyStuff. Tragically, all five forward knights got themselves wiped out, but they killed three more horse archers in dying. Superdeath is preeeetty tilted right now; he pushed forward a settler just to soak up an attack. Fortunately, mobility knight to the rescue. And the only thing that Superdeath has that really threatens knights are war elephants; one had moved into AllMyStuff, but got lucky and killed it at 35%. In the end:

Vishnu bless penny-packets. I think I’m getting a decent feel for Superdeath at this point, he’s going to prioritize attacking and individual wins, and is not going to pull back to mass. Not shown right now, but he’s got four privateers and a trireme all waaaaay the hell pushed deep into my littoral zone. It doesn’t feel nice, but they can be uncomfortably ignored while I just pitch knights south.

There’s nothing fun about having to tie down two thirds of my power in Gavagai-borders, but his power has more or less plateaued now, so I’m diverting the steady stream of 10xp knights down to the tip of my territory. The biggest need right now is carrying capacity; if I could have all two dozen knights in a solid knot outside of Fillmore I could be confident of sweeping the rest of Superdeathistan like clockwork, but as it is I’m having to use tactics. Gross. It’s fun and all, but that’s mostly certainly not how you’re supposed to win at Civilization 4.

[Commodore]

Not shown right now, but he’s got four privateers and a trireme all waaaaay the hell pushed deep into my littoral zone. It doesn’t feel nice, but they can be uncomfortably ignored while I just pitch knights south.

Really? Nothing? This is prime material, gang. In any case, duder scatters his whole dagum navy to rip up nets, so of course Superdeath now no longer has much of a navy. More ports means more hulls, guy.


I had mentioned the east island sideshow. He's being Boudy Murica, so every fresh unit appearing has a huge number of promotions. Still, the four knights I have here on the island will hopefully be plenty. Thanks to Superdeath's cavalier worker attitude, I now have a captured worker to snag the much-needed sugar luxury ASAP. Nice island.


It looks like Superdeath was chastened by what I said about penny-packets yesterday, he pulled back everything to Fillmore (Moai city), and is bringing up enough catapults to definitely make pushing in painful. Much as I'd have liked to go forward, the remaining knights are very hurt, gotta heal. It's a standoff here in the neck of America, but thanks to his decision to throw away his navy I'm at last able to reinforce again.

[Commodore]

Realize it's been a while; here's my CORE:


...and in contrast, my CONQUEST:

[Juri]

Sorry if this is a stupid question but what's the reason for settling some of those cities you have earmarked in the core block? What is the benefit to you of settling the site next to the capital?

[Commodore]

Sorry if this is a stupid question but what's the reason for settling some of those cities you have earmarked in the core block? What is the benefit to you of settling the site next to the capital?

Not a stupid question at all; after all, the reasons thus far have clearly been not compelling enough. I have however reached what's called the Conqueror's Plateau, where each new city no longer increases the maintenance of the old cities. With every inland city gaining a pair of 3-commerce trade routes and a free Mercantilism specialist, they pay for themselves more or less immediately upon settling. Coastal cities (like the filler not marked 3N of Old Plymouth) are an even better deal thanks to the Great Lighthouse. They'll grow slow, but still be not nothing.

[Mardoc]

[quote='Commodore' pid='723019' dateline='1583434868']
Really? Nothing? This is prime material, gang. In any case, duder scatters his whole dagum navy to rip up nets, so of course Superdeath now no longer has much of a navy. More ports means more hulls, guy.

So now that you've got some experience with it...any conclusions on RtR naval changes?

[Commodore]

Really? Nothing? This is prime material, gang. In any case, duder scatters his whole dagum navy to rip up nets, so of course Superdeath now no longer has much of a navy. More ports means more hulls, guy.

So now that you've got some experience with it...any conclusions on RtR naval changes?

That is a huge question, there have been a ton of changes. Some, like the fact that circumnavigation is now available to everyone, are completely great. Others, like the moving of privateers to paper and the allowing caravels to carry any kind of unit, are generally positive but does kind of distort the tech path of it. What I am most worried about is the movement change. On the one hand, I do support trying to actually add a little bit of terrain interest to Naval Combat, however, the net effect of all of Krill's movement changing is that the already way too fast early galleys and mid-game galleons are completely overpowered and near impossible to defend against. When you couple that with the crossbow change, otherwise a decent little change that does indeed help make a cool choice between crossbows and catapults, it does however make the sirian doctrinal strikes even worse and earlier. The glory days of Barrage II tanks are back from vanilla, baby.

I'm not sure how best to solve this particular issue. It is much easier now to make some extremely well promoted ships thanks to the lighthouse and harbor change, just not giving navigation 1 to galleys isn't really much of a solution, they still can easily be 3-movers with the right experience civics...everything all comes together to make them even more horrifying than before.

I hate to say it, but unfortunately the very worst thing is that the fundamental math of Naval Combat has remained the same. It's all about messing up the biggest flotilla and smashing it into the rivals flotilla. Splitting up into penny packets is lethal as you saw, the ocean change certainly doesn't allow for the same level of tactics as you see on land, and there is no equivalent rock paper scissors calculation like there is with land units.

It is a pity that Krill seems to have rage quit out of the game and is now avoiding the forum entirely out of justified shame. I feel like this system has potential here but there are definitely extant issues.