[SPOILERS] Roland and Suboptimal Team Up

[roland of gilead]

CMF could have wiped me out by then.

Nah...after all he'd be fighting a land war in Asia. 

This is true.

[Bruindane]

speaking of weekend testing I won't have time unfortunately and i only say that as we have an issue heading our way. I get married on 22nd May then go on Honeymoon on the 24th for 15 days.

i will be able to play on all but the 22nd probably up to the 25th when i will be out for 2 weeks. not sure how we handle that.

Congratulations!

I'd be happy to play the turn sets.  I'm in Pacific Daylight Time (GMC-7) making the end of ljubljana's time slot 10 pm my time.  I suspect the turn will be ready earlier based on PYDT.

I do use a Mac laptop with Steam/Civ with all the DLCs except for the New Frontier Pass. To test, I successfully opened one of Kaiser's saves from PBEM18, and PYDT has a Mac client so I think it is compatible.

[suboptimal]

Fantastic!

Turn 116

First things first...check resources for Russia’s niter count. They have 2 this turn. Milpower is 1222, no frigates visible anywhere yet but can confirm they have them as base city defense is 35. Australia has started attacking jongs off their former capital’s coast. My galley in the middle of the sandwich will get sunk next turn. I move the jong in Hearts & Bones south, staying out of view this turn. I can one shot the nearest galley next turn. Over in Australian waters the Aussie galleys have been attacking my jongs. Thought I got a screenshot but I didn’t.

Hmm...stop and fight or kill galleys? I have those two northern jong swap positions and then sink the Aussies. At Low-End Theory I unlink the knight and hit the city with two jongs. That zeroes the garrison and the knight swims in for the raze. I also get the eureka for Military Science. The destruction of the city lowers the loyalty penalty at the former capital to -3.8 per turn. The monument should finish in two turns, buying me a little more time. I can see Marshall Mathers over the silver so I’ll take out the garrison next turn (provided there are no galleys) and take the city the turn after. I’ll stop to promote the swordsman to let the fleet catch up and then continue to the next target. The knight will head for the districts at Dark Twisted Fantasy, pillage everything out while the fleet comes around and then I’ll take the city with the fleet and the knight (unless frigates show up – it’s pretty clear where I’m headed here). The two jong in near Demak Sultanate head east, stopping one short of their max movement and promoting with Bombardment.

At Demak Sultanate proper I buy ancient walls for 80 and get an immediate city attack...at the base ranged strength of the jongs...which kills the archer. I expect I’ll be able to hold the city until the frigates show up, though I could have medieval walls in four turns which would slow them down just a bit. I keep the swordsman in the city because I need a loyalty garrison and there really isn’t anywhere I can go in one turn to see a bit more of the countryside.

Here’s the after:




The Aussie galleys were adjacent to my westernmost jong, the city of Low End Theory was where the knight is and there was an Aussie archer on the mine 2SE of Demak Sultanate.

Back up at Big Island the horseman reaches the outskirts of Mother & Child Reunion. Builder moves into Proof’s territory, chops the forest into the Campus and will lock down its Commercial Hub in two turns. Back home OC’s second archer heads for the coast while the first one embarks. It’ll head to Graceland and the second will head for...somewhere on Big Island. Builder moves over a tile and puts in a lumbermill. Wandering galley reveals the city center of Krasia, which I had skipped on my first jaunt eastwards. It’s in trade route range of Have a Good Time and that city finishes a lighthouse in three turns.

Elsewhere, Archduke has DoF’d Australia. As an FYI, Woden has built nothing with a melee combat strength greater than 35. His base city defense appears to be 25 so longships appear to remain his strongest unit. I find this...curious. Kaiser also founded a new city on the island NE of Good Time:




I expect to see a second one along the river in a turn or two. We’ll need to keep an eye on both of them.
Roland, the niter buy at Diamonds is 165. Dunno that we need to do that just yet. I’d actually prefer to spend 110 at Graceland to purchase the cove tile for a Harbor I can do that in a couple of turns myself, though. Oh yeah….about Military Science:

[roland of gilead]

Turn 117

Get a call to world congress which i assume is for capturing the poor Aussie capital but it isn't. not interested in any of this.



Settle Ryan kent and will chop out walls next turn.



Get my second era score boost from forward settling Suboptimal. Fuck him eat my culture.



Switch Steve Davis to producing a Quad from walls. Walls are close so can always switch back.



Sub any recommendations on defense at starfish island beyond walls?

[suboptimal]

Screw it, I'm going to forward settle your ass into the next PBEM!

I think defensively at Starfish Island you get walls up first (so, that would be "no" ). That gives us ranged city attacks across the entire channel. A siege weapon in the city would make for reasonable defense (that's why I've got a trebuchet build going). The city's location also helps - it can only take ranged naval fire from the tiles to its north and the tiles NW & SW of the wheat. At some point we'll need a couple of ships in the area but when will depend on the appearance of Russian frigates.

[roland of gilead]

Just you stick to your big fancy new island.

[suboptimal]

Turn 117

Machinery is complete, start Square Rigging. The galley southeast of Hearts & Bones has been sunk. My jong by the Russian galleys are starting to get low on health and a frigate has shown up. I have an odd notification:




I don’t quite understand that notification as it doesn’t let me scroll through or cancel it. Odd. Click the World Congress icon.




I think it’s to allow others to call an emergency, which we can’t call because, well, I caused it. I cancel out of it. The deal is Roland offering me 10 niter. Into the stockpile it goes. OK...non-Aussie stuff first.

Archers continue repositioning towards Big Island. Builder is headed to Diamonds for a lumbermill. Graceland’s library is complete, I can buy the Harbor tile in two turns. I’ll build a spearman, buy the tile and start the Harbor. Over a Krasia the Aussie missionary is embarked...and now it’s dead. I move the jong up here southeast to see what’s around and find a redlined galley. It’s dead. Might have some company up here next turn. Builder moves to the pillaged horse and the horseman kills the barbarian scout. I’m running Confucius back to Hearts & Bones for transfer to Demak Sultanate so he can go for a walkabout. Proof is growing next turn and has nowhere to put its incoming citizen. I swap citizens around at Fifty Ways, move the bananas to Proof and shuffle bodies there. Now for Australian matters.

My two jong need to catch up with the rest of the fleet. CMF is also up to 26 niter. He’s either got a lot of mines or he made a trade with someone ([i]post turn addition: Australia appears to have given him 16 and Phoenicia is short 10 from last turn though Woden did gain 14). I’ve screenshotted the global resource report for later use. Redlined jong moves east and promotes. I want to sink a galley but that’s not feasible right not, so the other one will follow after I get the rest of the fleet moving. Lead jong goes up to Marshall Mathers and spots two more Aussie galleys and a warrior:




Closest galley is on the bottom. Two more jong move up, one hits the city. Others move east, final position:




The knight heads east and gets adjacent to the Holy Site. It’s on flat ground and I’ll pillage it next turn with the Campus going the turn after that. Something to note:




Those are the combat odds of the knight against a CS 28 chariot.




The knight could kill it in three attacks by itself, even accounting for healing. Depending on the value of the Holy Site it might just be worth it (and better) to kill the city off. If I want to pillage the lumbermills after the district I need to go all the way around the mountain to the west. The Holy Site needs to die because it’s providing 18 per turn. I think if the knight can kill off Fantasy and take out Flower Boy on its own then I can either turn the fleet around at Aquemini to face the Russian navy or find an escape route to avoid a possible pincer move in that area.

Kaiser gifted a good chunk of his gold to Archduke, who now has over 2000. I sense some upgrades coming from him in the next turn or two.

Roland, as a team our tech + civic + empire score is the highest at 548. CMF/MPTF is second at 510. In some respects that makes us the leader of the game.

[roland of gilead]

something strange here at least i think so. not playing till you get a look sub.

when i start turn i get



if i hit begin voting i go straight to



if i hit escape it's the same

[roland of gilead]

i get it may be against us but we should get to vote right?

[roland of gilead]

some thoughts. they get an emergency declared they must be confident of taking the capital back. that will be why that chariot is there so Australia can take it back and get bonus production. they also get stuff from the emergency right?

can we use this info if we think that is what they are doing. get first strike on those frigates as we will know where they are and we can hide your jongs?

anyway lets discuss later