[Spoilers] luddite tries to remember how this game works

[luddite]

As i expected, he's running his stack away. Shame. Its OK i guess, doesn't really change things in the long term, just drags things out more. But psychologically I wish I could fight a big battle at some point instead of these endless maneuvers.

[luddite]

I can catch him! He's pinned in that location between my central and southern forces. There's no way out for him without fighting.



(obviously this isn't ideal since i'm letting him hit me with his catapults on flat ground, and I dont have enough in my northern/central stack to actually kill him. But i'll take what I can get. I was able to deal some good collateral damage too, thanks to mobility)

Up north, I'm taking a turn to heal. Kind of annoying but I don't want to risk getting a bad roll against an archer. I'll also move in that AT for some reinforcements. It seems like there's no *hurry* now. And as long as Tours is stuck building archers it's no threat to me. Annoying that I can't catch those wounded musketeers but.. c'est la vie.



and, maybe this is overconfidence, but I'm going to have dardanelles build a settler. I feel like my current forces are enough to finish this war, plus I'd really like to get that spot with the gems. or something with horses.

[luddite]

I wonder what he'll do? From testing I know that an AT with max collateral from catapult hits has about a 50% chance vs a musketeer. But I don't know what it's like when the musketeers are also wounded, world builder doesn't have a good way to test that. He might have to just go for it since they're going to die anyway.

Or will he abandon the catapults and run the musketeers north? I unfortunately don't have enough hitters to kill them all. Just 1 AT and 2 axemen. The same 2 axemen that have been doing work for me all game.

What a funny game this is :P I never would have thought this artillery vs gunpowder fight would hinge on a couple of axemen.

[chumchu]

Glad that you are enjoying it more now. It is certainly an unusual Situation

[luddite]

Well, that's that. No beating around the bush here. Mr Cairo attacked, and the battle went about as well for me as it could have:



Not a single loss! What an odd feeling. I've been playing this game for about 4 months now, and this big climactic battle happens when I wasn't logged in. I almost didn't notice at first, I thought his stack had run away until I checked the log. Good job, Hernan Cortes, you killed those catapults like a champ. He's now at 12 XP . I was probably a *bit* lucky here to not take any losses, but this was inevitable with that positioning.

It's not *entirely* over yet, because he does still have units up in the north that will take time to deal with. And I have to make sure he doesn't sneak around and hit my cities where I'm not looking. But basically, this feels like the end of the war. I'm now way ahead of him in both power and production.

[chumchu]

What were the odds? It seems like a crazy attack from the results. Did he gamble because you trapped him? Well played.

[luddite]

What were the odds? It seems like a crazy attack from the results. Did he gamble because you trapped him? Well played.

Thanks! 0% for the early catapult fights, going up to 20% for the musketeer vs AT fights. Going by https://civ.zulan.net/vodka/ I should have taken 1 loss. Kind of lucky that my AT didn't take too much damage to get past the last fight, but I don't know the exact odds there. It was a complicated battle!

Anyway he didn't really have much choice, I would have just smacked him with artillery the next turn.

[Tarkeel]

The combat log will have the exact odds for each fight if you scroll back.

[Jabah]

The artillery was not top defender against any musqueteers ?

[luddite]

Looks like the artillery rolled well enough to handle all 6 cats as the top defender, before it finally took enough damage that the musketeers took over. then the musketeers did well, with two of them winning flawless victories:



Big ol shark fin. He's now down to what he had at the start of the war. meanwhile oxy is up to first place in power:




Minor annoyance: his borders expanded at Tours this turn. I was going to combine in that south hill, now I can't get there. my stack up there is kinda isolated and I may lose it. But i've got reinforcements coming soon.



time to split up. I can go after Chartres in the northeast while also sending more artillery back to Paris. and I was even able to capture a worker with my mobility arty. Feels good to be on the winning side of a war  



I think next turn I revolt to HR? I'm at my happiness limit from all the whipping.