[PB69 SPOILERS] Magic Science and Nobody Else in Pitboss 69

[Magic Science]

Turn 152 to Turn 156 – 840 AD to 920 AD
Part 4
   
Turn 156.
Gin-guelito attacked Tin Mine with 8 Horse Archers.
They killed the Pikeman, the Crossbowman, and 2 Horse Archers, and lost 3 Horse Archers (1 saved by withdraw).
This was a bad trade, and I cannot afford much more of this if I am to hold off Naufragar. However, its not all bad. They made a terrible mistake. .

They upgraded the Warrior to a Spearman in Ursula like I thought, but that was all, and that was not enough. According to Vodka (what a lovely phrase, ), 2 Combat I Horse Archers and 1 Combat I Shock Chariot had about a 90% chance to defeat the lone Spearman and capture Ursula, which would clear the culture for my units in Iago to attack and destroy all the Celtic Horse Archers once and for all. The 1 more-wounded Horse Archer would capture the blocking Worker. Neat trick to try, though. .
ATTACK!! .


   
I was lucky and captured Ursula on the first attack at a loss of no units. .
I thought about razing Ursula. There was no more Seafood in the fog, so it would be a bit better if the city was 1W and had more land tiles. Why did Gin-guelito settle it at the very end of the land like that if there was no more Seafood? However, I thought the difference in quality was not worth 100 hammers and much delay, and after the imminent annihilation of the Horse Archers it would be easy enough to hold Ursula, so I kept the city.
By the way, I don’t rename captured cities.


   
Then it was time to kill the Horse Archers.

I started with easy Pikeman and Ballista Elephant attacks.
Then there was 1 healthy Horse Archer left that I could not get good odds against with any unit. The Spearman 1E of Iago could not join the attack because there was no road on his tile and I needed both sets of Workers to rebuild the road from Iago towards Javert and Creon, otherwise Naufragar’s pillaging would delay the whole campaign by a turn. In the end I attacked with a Catapult, which was stupid because the other Horse Archers were all below 50% health already. . But it did the trick.
The rest of the Horse Archers were killed without issue, though one unlucky Axeman was lost.


   
I advanced. Naufragar’s pillaging failed to delay the movement of the Catapults from Iago, so I was still on schedule.
One of the Guerilla II Crossbowman stayed behind to protect the Workers on the northern Plains Hill. If I was smart it would have been the wounded one. . I don’t even remember when he was wounded anymore. Could it really have been The Battle of Joker way back on Turn 146? I have a real problem with not giving my units time to heal.

That stack of 6 Axemen 1W of Creon was the greatest force Gin-guelito had left.
I arranged things so I could defend Ursula and Iago from them if necessary, but I don’t feel like explaining it. This report is monstrously long and the whole thing was pointless because of course they didn’t try to attack Ursula, that would be stupid.
I will say that I deliberately left the Hamlet and Mine between Iago and Ursula intact to protect the roads beneath them from Naufragar’s Chariots. That was neat, I think.




ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS ABOUT THE ABSURD 4-PART MONSTER REPORT?!?!?!

[Magic Science]

ILLEGAL DIPLOMACY!

Hi Magic,

Do you want us to establish a turn order for turns 162-163 (the turns before and after our peace treaty expires?) And if so, which half would you like?

After t163, I'm assuming we won't be bound by a split unless explicitly at war.

-naufragar

Hi Nauf,

Sure, let's do it. I figured I would naturally end up playing after you on those turns, just like I have for many many turns now, since that's the way the windows have been working out, but we can make it official. To make it official: You will play in the first half on Turn 162 and Turn 163, and I will play in the second half. I will even wait if I have to.
Sound good to you?

-Magic Science

Just so you know.

[Magic Science]

Non-sequitur, Naufragar and Superdeath have not been using Spiritual effectively at all.

[Magic Science]

He agreed.

[scooter]

No questions, but I really enjoyed reading it.

[Tarkeel]

ILLEGAL DIPLOMACY!

Hi Magic,

Do you want us to establish a turn order for turns 162-163 (the turns before and after our peace treaty expires?) And if so, which half would you like?

After t163, I'm assuming we won't be bound by a split unless explicitly at war.

-naufragar

Hi Nauf,

Sure, let's do it. I figured I would naturally end up playing after you on those turns, just like I have for many many turns now, since that's the way the windows have been working out, but we can make it official. To make it official: You will play in the first half on Turn 162 and Turn 163, and I will play in the second half. I will even wait if I have to.
Sound good to you?

-Magic Science

Just so you know.

I don't think that's illegal; quite the contrary it's a very smart move to avoid timer shenanigans.

[Magic Science]

No questions, but I really enjoyed reading it.

That works too. Thanks for reading. .


Turn 157 and Turn 158 – 940 AD and 960 AD
Part 1
   
I offered Sheep for Sheep to Commodore on Turn 156, so this is him echoing it. What an immense relief! . My Great Merchant was clearly visible on his border when he played Turn 157, so he would not have echoed this unless he was okay with the Trade Mission. Like I said, until the last minute I just assumed Commodore would allow my Trade Mission to proceed. Obviously, all was well in the end, but it was still a mistake not to think such an important thing through.
For the record, I did arrange to defend my Great Merchant from misfortune and treachery with 1 Pikeman, 1 Crossbowman, and 1 Axeman on the 1 turn between leaving my culture and reaching Commodore’s capital.

The other diplomacy that happened this turn was Corn for Corn from BING_ac. What an immense relief as well! . Yes, attack Superdeath. . Though I still don’t trust him as much as I trust Commodore and Pindicator, and I have yet to actually see any Knights. Strange.


   
SUPERDEATH HAS DISCOVERED GUILDS! .
Even since he kindly built that Workshop within my vision, I have been checking its yield every turn, and on this turn, it increased from 2 hammers to 3 hammers.
This is bad.

If Superdeath trains an army of Knights, then I can still be safe, but it will require significantly militarizing the border at Bolan-Mei and Da, and I desperately don’t want to do that. The struggle against Naufragar (and Gin-guelito, but not for much longer) is bitter and expensive, and if I win, then I seriously think it will not end. Naufragar needs that Celtic land as badly as life itself, and he put us in a situation where it’s all or nothing. As long as I control it instead of him, he will do nothing but poke and poke and try to find an opportunity to attack at some point along our ridiculous border. If I hold him off when he inevitably attacks on Turn 163, I’m not sure when we make a binding Peace Treaty. Ever? Never?
The point is, I desperately need every unit I can find to fight Naufragar, and I will for a very long time, probably until I can use the land advantage to outright conquer Naufragar, so I want every other border to be as demilitarized as reasonably possible for as long as reasonably possible. I comfortably achieved that goal with Pindicator and Commodore, I had it with BING_ac and then there was a scare and now it seems fine again, and I had it with Superdeath and now there is a scare. Will it be fine again?
Maybe. Superdeath might go east and participate in the Fall of Rome or the aftermath. Gavagai wronged him a lot worse than me, and Gavagai might last a little while longer at Mediolanum (now inexplicably named “Happy?”). He might be distracted by an invasion by BING_ac. That seems likely to me. Lastly, he might just no do anything threatening. Superdeath’s pre-existing Power is poor, and his Crop Yield and MFG are poor as well, so he might be incapable of training a big enough army fast enough to be threatening. Also, he is also checked-out, and he might be too checked-out to invade anyone, as absurd as that sounds to say about Superdeath of all people! However, an engaged player who was planning an attack with Knights would have already started whipping up a storm this turn and last, and Superdeath did not whip at all. .
I shall wait and watch and hope vigorously. .

Also, there is a Castle in Tortuga, so Naufragar is confirmed to have Engineering. I think his Chariot movements over the now-uncultured roads of the Celtic conquests could confirm it to, and I was ready to analyze them carefully, but that would be useless now.


   
Meanwhile, Gin-guelito moved most of their units into Creon and left Javert defended by 1 Axemen.
I decided to advance towards Creon and to not try to capture Javert with my Sentry Chariot, for the same reason. I want to deny Naufragar any chance to settle up on me outrageously under the protection of our Peace Treaty. He must not be allowed to deny me the city on the southern Plains Hill. That place is vital for defense in the coming war. Technically, if you look closely to the northwest, there are legal spots available now that block me, but they are resourceless garbage spots. If I burned Javert first, he could bring a Settler out of the fog over the roads and settle an actually reasonable city for the Sheep and Corn that blocked my city before I burned Creon and made my city available. If burn Creon and Javert the other way around, then there is no such opportunity.
Therefore, I would not have attacked Javert even if the other healthy Chariot and Horse Archer were with the attack stack as they could have been if they had not stopped to pillage last turn. Those 2 2-movers did catch up this turn, though.

On to Turn 158…


   
Gin-guelito totally abandoned Creon and left only 1 Horse Archer in Javert.
My course of action was clear, but not before I took a few minutes to second-guess myself. Da-Bie, the city on the southern Plains Hill, could be settled this turn like I wanted, but what if Naufragar used this Peace Treaty or a future Peace Treaty to do other outrageous things down here? He could settle 1st ring to the Corn and get it as well as the Sheep! I never thought about that before. Anyway, eventually I reminded myself that Naufragar would never settle such an offensive and indefensible city, and proceeded.
I tried my luck at Javert with my healthy Horse Archer, won, and razed the city.
I tried my not-luck at Creon with my Sentry Chariot and razed the city. Actually, looking it over again now I see that it only cost my Sentry Chariot 1/3 of a move, just like moving over my own roads. Interesting.


   
Once again, Gin-guelito did not move their fleeing garrison to a place that would still be safe after the abandoned city fell. All those units could be 1NE of the Fur, but instead they are vulnerable upon the very tile upon which they destroyed my starting Scout, Zhou Daguan, so long ago. Ironic.
I considered not attacking those units. I hadn’t planned on being able to, and I hadn’t planned on capturing Gendo until after the next war with Naufragar. I don’t need to capture Gendo now; it’s secure from Naufragar, and it’s a minor liability, rather than a necessary asset, in the defense of my new territory. Attacking those units might cost me a unit of my own, and it would leave many more wounded and unable to heal and return to Joker in time. I plan to switch a lot of units between the Joker stack (under construction) and the Iago stack.

However, in the end I attacked! . It was likely to cost me no units, and there would be enough healthy units left over to do all the switching from Iago to Joker that I wanted. Also, it might let me capture Gendo early, and it would be nice for the city to start developing for me sooner rather than later. Lastly, Gin-guelito is basically a minion of Naufragar at this point, so killing those units is like weakening him too. Otherwise, they could come cause trouble if I had a moment of weakness.

[Magic Science]

Turn 157 and Turn 158 – 940 AD and 960 AD
Part 2
   
The aftermath.
I finally got to use my Ballista Elephants’ special power to fight a Horse Archer instead of a Spearman, which probably saved me an Axeman. . Then I lost no units to kill all units.
I also killed the lone Axeman 1W of the main stack. Fortunately, the Settler was there for some reason, but unfortunately, I was an idiot. I had to use a Chariot to kill it, and I decided to use my prospective Medic, so I went ahead and finally promoted it for battle… to Flanking I. . Which does not lead to Medic I after all. Oh well. I was already planning to train another 2 Chariots in Bolan-Mei real quick before Guilds, and it is no problem for them to both be Medics while these ones can both by Sentries. It just requires more back and forth switching, but there is enough time for that.

Then Gin-guelito was left with only 1 unit in the whole wide world: a Spearman. They can whip Gendo for another unit by Turn 160 and maybe another on Turn 161, and any units I send cannot heal and return to the main stack at Iago in time. I think I might not capture Gendo yet after all. Still, it is worth a try, so I sent in a rag-tag force. The selected 6 units plus the 2 Chariots. We shall see.
If I do not capture Gendo, I will not make a binding Peace Treaty. It is not so bad now that I got their Settler, but Naufragar could still use their culture for outrageous trickery. Unfortunately, this means I cannot extort them for all their money, but I could still try for a Cease Fire to briefly deal with War Weariness. It is causing several unhappy citizens at the moment.

Lastly, I spread out with my Catapults to pillage everything, even the Village. I hate pillaging all these developed Cottages, since I only have 3 of my own, you know, but Naufragar leaves me no choice. He truly is a menace to society. The Catapults will all head back north towards Joker next turn.

I also completed the Trade Mission this turn, and I thought a lot more about the specific turn-by-turn logistics of arranging everything for showtime on Turn 163, but that will have to wait until next time.

PSEUDO-EDIT: Also, I settled Da-Bie this turn, of course. I am running out of awkwardly derived Cambodian number names, probably to the relief of some. Da-Bie and Iago will both finish Walls but not Castles by Turn 163.

REAL EDIT: Cross-post.

[Magic Science]

ILLEGAL DIPLOMACY!

Hi Magic,

Do you want us to establish a turn order for turns 162-163 (the turns before and after our peace treaty expires?) And if so, which half would you like?

After t163, I'm assuming we won't be bound by a split unless explicitly at war.

-naufragar

Hi Nauf,

Sure, let's do it. I figured I would naturally end up playing after you on those turns, just like I have for many many turns now, since that's the way the windows have been working out, but we can make it official. To make it official: You will play in the first half on Turn 162 and Turn 163, and I will play in the second half. I will even wait if I have to.
Sound good to you?

-Magic Science

Just so you know.

I don't think that's illegal; quite the contrary it's a very smart move to avoid timer shenanigans.

I agree. I just posted those messages for transparency. The header was facetious.

[Magic Science]

Archers are obsolete and cannot be trained after you unlock both Crossbowmen and Longbowmen. Right. .
I distinctly remembered otherwise and a quick Worldbuilder test somehow supported me last turn, so now the plan is disrupted. This could be bad, but I could  just spend the gold on upgrading Horse Archers to Knights instead. Previously, the plan was to keep building Archers after Feudalism and get Longbows by upgrading. It's like building 2 Longbows for the production cost of one! So long as you have enough gold. Or so I thought.

How does queue-upgrading work, again? Horse Archers being trained on the last turn before Guilds WILL NOT FINISH, right? Like even if it reads (1 turn) for a Horse Archer, it will resolve to a Knight with more than 50/90 hammers invested already, correct?