Cornflakes Goes Classical ... or Quantum?!

[Cornflakes]

   

Including the one at death's door, I destroyed the 11 Camel Archers at the cost of 3 Phalanxes and the 2 sacrificial catapults. 205 hammers lost to destroy 990 hammers. Then those last 2 battles at the top, Commodore left two Camel Archers dangling in the neutral lands in range of my pike, phalanx, and two knights. I mentioned that we had been sparring in the north, and this is a continuation of that action.

Speaking of the north …

   

This feels like desperation, or a last gasp attempt. This would be a lot more scary with 16 Camel Archers that died in the two cross-map raids. I whipped Horse Archers everywhere that I could, including dry whips (2 pop even without a forge). I will have 3-4 in range this turn, and will dry whip a few more to ensure that I can flank everything away. The deficit has ballooned, but I can build wealth after killing that cat stack to stay solvent.

[Qgqqqqq]

What is your plan to win?

[Cornflakes]

What is your plan to win?

I'm adapting to the circumstances. Until 2 turns ago the plan was out-build Commodore by incorporating Yuri's and then Scooter's lands. Now ...

   

   

That's 12 catapults, 3 pikes, a sword, and a Great General!! killed at the cost of 6 catapults and 2 Phalanx (including the one that I delete along with the workers). My defenders are behind a river, and I would welcome any unit trades at this point. I'm planning to push hard for Tin now. If I can raze it, we would both be down to single city elimination. It is also a powerhouse commerce city that really pressures me culturally. If I can pull that off I'll be absolutely loving my position.

   

As-is, Commodore will have to whip hard to equalize militarily in order to holding Tin, negating his current commerce advantage in the short term and buying me time to continue my expansion if I fail at razing Tin. My commerce situation is somewhat worrying, but my capital can single-handedly put me into positive territory building wealth. So as a last resort I can limp forward with the Aether keeping me afloat.

Even after destroying Commodore's stack I was able to get 6 defenders into Frequency to avoid any possible chance of Commodore trying to use that Catapult stack as bait empty Frequency in order for him to strike with Camel Archers from the one fogged tile. 3 Phalanx on a hill behind 100% castle defenses should take at least 7 or 8 to overcome, plus I have 2 HA and a catapult for insurance.

[Cornflakes]

Next turn I reposition all my wounded into Frequency. The knights from the Camel Archer slaughter will be able to reach 2SE of Frequency next turn as well. Therefore I can place my Super Medic 1SE of Frequency and heal everything back to full health in 2 turns In this time I'll be able to squeeze out at least 5 more catapults and a couple HA. Then we evaluate our chances for razing Tin based on how aggressively Commodore whips defenders.

In general, the plans now is to pressure Commodore aggressively with my core production. This will serve a twofold purpose:
1) Tie down Commodore's forces in defensive positions (and defensive unit mix) to reduce the opportunity to pressure my expansion
2) Stunt Commodore's commerce advantage by forcing whips, and pillaging towns around Tin.

Commodore is in a tough spot. He doesn't have the catapult force any more to wipe a stack in the field, but if he whips catapults they don't get defensive bonuses ... and he also doesn't have enough hitters to back up a catapult stack. If he whips Longbows for the defensive bonuses they will be unable to challenge my forces in the field. But if he whips Camel Archers they won't be effective without catapults to soften my Phalanxes (and C3/Formation knights), and they won't get defensive bonuses. I think he's going to have to whip Grieg and Tin back-to-back for Longbows, whip the next line of cities for Catapults, and whip the furthest cities for Camel Archers. In this way he can field a mixed stack which can stand up to mine. But this will destroy his economy and give me time to solidify my expansion.

   

Here's something you don't see every day: Shock Catapults Barb axes are the one weakness of Phalanxes.

I have now stacked 5-7 whip anger in most of my cities ... and this is after 60 turns of continuous war, meaning that most of my cities have been whipped a dozen times. This is also the reason why my expansion is so hugely powerful: Each new city is a new whip queue with a reset whip counter. My expansion is now nearly self-sustaining. My first settlement will be whipping the settler for BLUE in 2 turns. I still have 10 Phalanx, 2 Pikes, 2 sentry HA, and 3 catapults on defense here. I'm not taking any chances on Commodore getting a cheap raze. The existing military will converge on BLUE and I'll have emergency hammers invested at all three existing cities to whip additional military. Given the distance and my sentry HA patrolling the neutral zone I'm confident that I can maintain security in combination with my core stack tying down defenders.

[Cornflakes]

Commodore whipped sparingly so I decided to press hard. I reconnected iron this turn to whip a round of knights everywhere. I paused the settler for BLUE dot to squeeze out one more Knight whip. If I can raze Tin or Grieg that would be huge. Not only would that be a massive commerce city or Pyramids razed, that would put us on an equal footing with single city elimination.

   

I have 1 catapult next to Tin now, 4 next turn, 6 the following turn, and 10 in 4 turns (aka, an eternity ). Next turn all my knights and HA converge on tile signed "Fork". This will force Commodore to split defenders between the two cities. My guess is that moment will present the best opportunity with 4 catapults threatening Tin and the mounted stack threatening Grieg. If Commodore covers that threat I'll have 6 more knights able to hit Tin on the same turn that all 10 catapults are in position for the brute force front door assault.

Alternatively those 6 knights could hit Commodore's newly settled weak point (flatland silver city) on the same turn that they could hit Tin with the 10 catapults. I feel like overwhelming force breaking down the front door is the way to go. Tin is an immensely valuable economic city, and Commodore's path to victory lies through reaching and exploiting the next generation of military tech before I out-expand him. After burning Tin, I can pull back my battered survivors to reinforce Frequency and then push the gas pedal on expansion in the east.

[Cornflakes]

Commodore slipped up and left a single pike on defense at Grieg while I have 3 Morale knights in range 10% odds on the first and expected outcome is about half health remaining according to the combat tooltip. Should be easy … RIGHT?!

   

Flawless loss now 2 morale knights vs 1 still full health pike. But I have to continue. Throw in the next …

   

Loss, but down 1/3 heath

   




Cost me my super medic, but well worth it to raze pyramids and get Commodore down to single city elimination. Now I have to decide whether to press the attack on Tin or withdraw and play for the longer game.

[Thoth]

Nice!

[Cornflakes]

I snuck in through the back door for the assassination kill:

   

   

[Zed-F]

Congratulations!

[Thoth]

Well done!