P vs ST (not for ST)

[Peaster]

72 : (6/30/05) ST played today. He had a hidden cat in the Mpondo area (30,30), which killed my warrior stack. I got Phil and took Poly (for better D). Next will be Feud in about 10t. His stack near Intombe apparently got back on the boat and left without firing a shot.

No Zulu attacks/bribes/etc. I am mainly consolidating my position. For example, making more warriors before feudalism obsoletes them. I am working on 7 more settlers, to take full advantage of HG. Also, enough vets, boats and barracks for military parity.

Global thoughts about the next ten years or so:

Since my homeland now seems fairly safe, I am probably winning the game. I should keep the game fairly simple and keep relying mainly on growth to increase my advantage.

ST's production = 40s/t, and I can bet he'll use it on the war. I get 75s/t, so I can match his defense spending and still devote 35s/t to growth, vans and militia.

I believe that with equal force, the defender has an edge. Of course, ST can concentrate his forces on a few surprise targets and expect to win some victories. I might lose up to 4 cities in 10 turns, but I can probably build 8 new ones during that same period. Also, it seems the attacker is more likely to lose major units (like catapults) than the defender. So, it's all good.

Goals: I want Hlobane/Zim to be 99% secure. I can't defend everything, but I want at least 1/3 of ST's surprise invasions of my minor cities to fail. So I will keep cats/etc in a few randomly chosen cities like Lonsim.

I want more boats, vets, and roads. I want some dips in stacks along coastlines to bribe ST's boats as they return from deliveries.

By 82AD, I'd like to be halfway to another Wonder (probably Pyramids, but maybe STWA or LH). I want to increase my growth lead to approx 25 vs 12 cities. When ST gets Poly, I should have Feudalism, and be making pikemen. And by 82AD, I should be ready for a major attack, perhaps on Cheb.

73 : An American trireme with passengers appears near Zimbabwe. Two Zulu triremes and a dip have just arrived there to start "Operation Zim Sea". My idea is to attack ST's loaded triremes (repeatedly, until sunk) and to bribe any empty ones. I think this plan gives the Zulus a naval advantage. The Americans cannot easily do the same to us because a) bribing Zulu boats will be too expensive near Zim, and b) Zulus are not as likely to carry valuable cargo. Also, Zulu production is higher, so we can recoup from losses faster.

After some play testing, I found that my two boats have about 2-1 odds of success, when attacking twice against a lone defender (if we both lose a boat, but only his boat has passengers, that is a Zulu success). So I attacked, and was a little surprised to win with my first boat. It was wounded, and became a vet.

My second boat + dip ventured out to explore a little to the north, and found a second enemy boat, also loaded. Maybe I should have attacked it, from a Bayesian point of view. But I retreated, hoping to get another 2-1 advantage sooner or later. The dip got off the boat, in case ST decides to attack it.

Not much else to report. Just strengthening my position according to plan.

[Peaster]

We are up to 77AD now, but I am having problems getting into Apoyton to update the log. Maybe I can do it in a few days. The Zulus won two naval battles near Zimbabwe, but there has not been much other action. I am happy with the course of the game, and hope to extend my lead.

[Peaster]

74 : ST attacked my wounded vet trireme with his rookie one, but lost. I assume his passengers (probably the ones mentioned in 72AD) disembarked first - not sure. My vet is barely alive, but the naval battles of 73AD-74AD will probably give me control of the Zim Sea for many turns, providing an extra layer of protection to my homeland, and allowing me to attack Cheb pretty soon if I want.

75 : ST builds his 12th city. I have 5-6 settlers, but they are travelling to better sites, or building roads. So, my growth has temporarily stalled, but I still expect 25-30 cities in 10 turns, with very little American growth. I have a pretty good defensive ring around my homeland now, and would not fear a moderate invasion, by about 6 units, for example. Lonsim and my Midlands (Ngome/Swazi/etc) seem pretty safe, and my other isolated cities are fairly expendable. I have about 150g on reserve to rush walls/units as needed. The Zulus are number one at Military Service, meaning we have about 50 per cent more troops (though most are just warriors).

76 : (7/12/05) No attacks by either side. The Zulus are building up the Empire - aiming for the right balance of sentries, attack forces, settlers, vans, etc.

Next Phase: I will not abandon my main plan of using HG (and maybe the Pyr's) to outgrow the Americans. It seems to be working, though my settlers now need more turns to get to good sites, and 3 are slated to make canal cities, on fairly drab sites.

But eventually I will need a plan to destroy the Americans. To start this process, I have decided to take control of more map, and to squeeze some borders, so that when I do destroy a city, ST cannot replace it easily. I have chosen 4 separate plans for this over the next 10-15 turns:

a) Take control of the Zim Sea and most of the land between Intombe and Stribro. If possible, I will also start an assault on Cheb/Stribro. It will hardly be a surprise, and just a few vet phalanxes on hills will be tough to beat. But I should probably test ST's defenses - maybe he is not as prepared as I have imagined. I'd like a 3rd boat and 2 more vet cats (or ele's) first.

b) Contest the western end of the Inland Sea (Mpondo Sea) by building a port, a canal city, 2 boats and a dip (similar to my naval plan for the Zim Sea). If possible, I'll also plant a dip or two along the coast, hoping to snag a lone boat.

c) Build up the Lonsim area with rush buys: a barracks, a settler, a boat, vets. Eventually, I would like a surprise attack from this region.

d) Sea 35 forms a natural barrier between the American homeland and my cluster of central cities (Swazi, etc). I want 1-2 boats on it for a surprise invasion of Kladno, a currently-empty size 4 city, which I imagine to be on/near the coast.

77 : My healthy boat explores near Cheb, while the vet heals up. Not much else.

78 Lanaca : (21) (read it backwards). This city connects the Great Ocean with a major inland sea, and virtually insures Zulu naval control of this area.

My routine is to build any cities at the beginning of the turn and then watch for happiness problems. Lanaca creates two unhappy faces elsewhere and requires a new Elvis in Bapedi. It seems I am reaching a "point of diminishing returns" w.r.t growth and should aim for Mike's in maybe 15-20 turns, maybe before Pyr's or STWA.

I rush a barracks in Lonsim (per plan c) and also discover that ST's 12th city is somewhere nearby. But I am down to about 130g and will postpone any other big RB's.

I prepare steadily for plans a) and b), though my settlers are taking time for a road + (pre-charged) irrigation. Also, a settler from Isand is heading for Sea 35 (plan d).

[Peaster]

Dear Audience: These years are not as critical as the early 60's, but there are some clear story lines developing around the 4 plans I made in 76AD. The plans are not going as smoothly as I'd like, and it should be interesting to see whether ANY of them will succeed. As always, your comments are welcome.

79 Mqondo (22) : On hills, a little north of the ruins of Mpondo. It will help connect and defend East and West Zululand - eg Naples and Ngome.

ST surprised me with a boat + warrior + cat stack N.E. of Amati. It appears he is going to build a canal city exactly where I wanted one. My settler must retreat from his cat, and I am not sure where to send it next (east alone? road the hills Tugela-to-Amati ? get on the next boat at Tugela?)

Or, maybe his units are just crossing the isthmus between the Mpondo Sea to the Great Ocean, and the boat is waiting for them ? Where did this boat come from, anyway ? What is the target ? Maybe I need to explore the map a little more.

80 : ST kills off 2 Zulu warriors near Slany and 1 near Cheb. Not too serious, but I'll have to pay for even more rush-builds in Lonsim to stay on track in that zone. The city has just reached size 4 (a first), just finished a barracks, and now it is making a settler (probably). I have support problems there, and in Isand, and will need another city or two in this area just to keep the balance.

ST's units near Tugela/Amati have vanished, but I detect that Brno (13, built 1.5 turns ago) is nearby, probably not exactly on the canal square. I will have to find it and destroy it before I can do much in this area. Also, with an ST boat + cat on the loose, I have 3 cities in constant danger. Tugela will make a boat next turn to explore and/or carry my settler somewhere. If ST attacks it (and/or Amati) quickly, he can probably raze them. These cities were on my "expendable" list, but of course ST doesn't know that. He will have to make a seemingly risky landing on hills to attack there, and I might be able to RB a cat in time to counterattack.

More bad news: my phalanx + settler from Isand have run into an ST phalanx stack near their intended destination on the coast of Sea 35. So, building a port on Sea 35 now looks very risky, even if my units survive the encounter.

So, in the last 2 turns, ST has dented all 4 plans mentioned in my 76 AD post! None of the plans are dead, but now I hope to succeed at maybe 2 out 4.

Of course, my meta-plan of HG/growth is still alive. I have 22 cities vs 13, plus 5 settlers, and great Demo-Stats. Hlobane and Zim seem safer than ever, and my gold reserves are up to 150g. I will have feudalism in about 3-4 turns, with many interesting options then.

[Peaster]

Four turns later: ST built Brno on a canal square, but not on hills, as I expected. It's on mountains ! I play mainly SP Civ2, and IIRC I have never seen a city on mountains. How can it grow? But I have to admit that it makes sense - with a couple of phalanges defending, it will be very very hard to conquer. And as a canal, it has great strategic value. I may try this idea myself, to gain an foothold in difficult areas, such as a Sea 35 port.

Meanwhile, I will deny Brno any grassland squares so that it can't reach size 2. And maybe I can gather enough catapults together to raze it someday.

ST's 2 boats emerge in 81AD, west of the Brno canal, loaded with units to threaten my coastal cities. I guess I have to get used to this until I can contest the Mpondo Sea. I do have decent naval control of the ocean west of the canal (Bapedi Bay).

The settler aiming for Sea 35 was scared off into the east, but has not found a good site. This diversion was probably a mistake - now I wish I had taken my chances on (or near) the 35 coastline.

81: Neogu (23) ... my third attempt at a port on the Mpondo Sea, after losing Mpondo and Zungu to the Americans. Neogu was built on the ruins of Zungu - basically surrounded by forest. This time I will install a phalanx + cat ASAP, which should defend the city easily against normal-sized invasions. The city will build boats, boats, boats... and I will try for more ports ASAP.

I have lost my outpost near Slany and don't know what ST is up to in the S.E. region. I am planning a 2nd city near Lonsim in about 8 turns to solve support problems there and to solidify my hold on that corner of the map.

82 : ST played on Aug 12 after a 3 week delay (though I was away half of that time). His boat has dropped off a phalanx stack (with a cat, I assume) near Tugela. I have a boat + dip nearby and bribe his boat for 84g (value = approx 200g?). I rush a rookie cat in Tugela, for an 83AD counterattack. This costs another 86g, reducing me to 52g, and slows down some Zulu plans elsewhere. But surely these bribes and these military victories will pay off eventually...?

83 : I learned Feudalism and next chose Seafaring. A few explorers will force ST to defend his cities, and they should help with invasions and as sentries. I am also thinking of Navigation + L.H eventually, to control the seas. People say L.H expires too soon, but in this game advances come slowly, so I think the LH would last 40 good turns.

Tech Options? I'd like to line up some vans before getting monotheism (vs tech theft). Chivalry seemed good, but I'd be irritated if ST stole it, skipping over W.Code + Feudalism. Construction (for fortresses) seems unnecessary on this rocky map.

Meanwhile, ST has finished Polytheism and moved on to study Trade. I will step up production of vans and pike men.

An American catapult defeats my phalanx defender in Tugela, and the reduced city riots. But I just rushed a (non-vet) catapult there, and it defeats that stack (just barely - I guess the American phalanx was a vet). Also, my vet trireme in Zim emerges to destroy ST's nearby boat + one unknown unit. This removes the last American units from the Bapedi Bay area... except for that annoying little canal city of Brno.

Our units are bumping into each other more in the east, too, but no combat lately.

84 : ST builds Tabor (14), which I quickly detect in the south central region. I am a little surprised he has grown this large without HG.

He used a boat (from Stribro?) to plant a phalanx stack on the mountain at (14,12), probably to trap my advancing troops. But I had a vet cat at (14,14) and attacked this stack - a bit risky if his phalanx was a vet, but I didn't like the alternatives. I won [yes, I have probably been pretty lucky].

Nearby, I loaded a phalanx onto a boat, intending to plant it near Cheb next turn. I expect he will see my plan easily, and attack with his boat with almost 50-50 odds. I would have preferred to bring in my vet boat for back-up, but it will be healing in Zim for a few turns.

I sent a boat + warrior from Tugela south to the pole, planning to go west later, towards Lonsim. I saw an unexpected hut, and let my daughter pop it with the warrior, but got we 3 barbs.

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Lately I have won more battles, but ST has placed his cities with greater skill, and has won the race to some key sites (eg Brno and probable control of Sea #35). Unless unhappiness slows him down, he seems to have the initiative, at least in the South.

I am 4 cities behind my goal of a 2 to 1 size advantage - the score is now 24 cities to 14. I have not built a Wonder in about 30 turns, and probably need another 10 for a minor one, like LH. I have not been able to organize any real invasions yet.

But I am optimistic about conquering Cheb + its suburbs, sooner or later. This would give me total control of the north, and free up many resources. With normal luck, I expect a boat on one of the southern inland seas eventually, and then I should have better chances to attack. My major weak spots of the past (eg Tugela, Isand, Lonsim) seem defendable now. I have 6 settlers on the map and 6 more in production, to meet my growth goals.

[Peaster]

85 Cheb (25) + Salamis (26) : Finally, ST makes a clear unexpected mistake, and leaves Cheb empty with a Zulu boat nearby. Playing hotseat mode, I can't tell how many units the city was supporting, but a visible phalanx disappeared from a nearby mountain.

ST had a catapult in Stribro not long ago. If it is still there, he can probably raze Cheb in 2 turns with a direct unsupported attack. Nearby Jachymov is also empty, and may be vulnerable to my boat + horse next turn, depending on the unknown coastal terrain up there.

I have suddenly achieved my 2-1 goal, at least for a moment; the city score is now 26 to 13.

Not much action elsewhere - the 3 barb horsemen on the pole just disappeared, so my warrior got back on the boat. IIRC this has also happened in my SP games... for some reason the barbs/AI don't like to attack on the poles ?

I have several settlers approaching their sites, and am converting more production up north towards vans, so that I can have first pick of the next WoW [eg MC, STWA, Pyr or LH].

[Peaster]

Our units are bumping into each other pretty regularly now, as we try to establish our boundaries and make good use of our troops. I expect casualties will start to rise on both sides, maybe in unpredictable places.

86 : ST has just built 3 new cities, so he has 16 (at Deity, with no Wonders). I am surprised - and wondering how this works out for him.

Considering how many units ST has lost lately, and that he has just built 3 new cities, I expect his forces are rather depleted right now. Also, the Zulus are number one in Mil.S (at 11), which probably means I have about twice as many units as the Americans (though most of mine are just warriors). So, I intend to play a little more ambitiously for the next few turns, not worrying quite as much about unseen American boats that might or might not be lurking nearby.

I am leaning towards building Sun Tzu as my next Wonder. Making vets from every city is pretty nice when you have 30 cities. I will probably not make any new barracks, and will sell most of the current ones. I have 5 vans in the oven (in the north/central zone) and I can easily start a 6th soon.

Since I just got Feudalism and ST just got Poly, I am making about 10 pikemen right now. By the time I make STWA, production should shift towards vet cats, vet ellies and a few explorers.

I'll have to compete with ST for future WoWs, such as LH + Mike's, because he will have Trade soon. But I figure that I can make vans about twice as fast as he can. I don't mind splitting Mike's/JSB with him, if I can get the Pyr's too.

I think the LH will have extra value in this game and I may build it as my 3rd WoW. We don't need the usual no-sinking-trireme feature much, but having some vet boats would help to control the seas. This is pretty crucial because invasions by land are difficult on such a rocky little map. In fact, neither of us has really even tried an invasion by land, so far. I have a few good units south of Ngome, but they are up against phalanxes on mountains, so they are probably stalled until I can bring in more force.

87 Ereeh + Prague + Frenzi (30) : = a northern canal, a port in Bapedi Bay, and a companion city to Lonsim. I can see that Brno (the annoying little American canal city) has its flag up, but is rioting, even at size one. I guess this means my basic strategy, to exploit HG, is still working.

Strange events near Isand. ST has a boat there, in the inland sea #14 - which seemed impossible. And it has just delivered a cat stack to the hills near my undefended city. I don't know why ST didn't deliver one of them directly into the city, to raze it. It was supporting 6 units, so this would have hurt badly. Luckily, I have a vet ellie just north of town, and it defeats the cat + phalanx stack before ST can change his mind.

Now how did that boat get here? I was pretty sure from
triangulation, and because I couldn't see any cities, that ST had no ports on this sea. What I forgot was - ST can build a city adjacent to my fortified unit, and I won't see it unless I activate the unit. Which is exactly what happened (see the screenshot below).

This new canal city of Plzen, on a mt between Sea 35 and Sea 14, is going to be as much trouble for me as Brno. If ST can establish a short ship chain + a few ellies/cats in Plzen, he might raze 3 Zulu cities real fast. I need to dominate Sea 14 (aka the Sandy Sea) quickly with 2-3 boats + dip/etc, just to defend my 3 small ports. Just like Brno, Plzen is rioting, but I guess ST doesn't care.

My Settler has walked about 10 turns SE from Isand (the endangered city with support problems) only to meet an American warrior [I was lucky to spot the warrior before building an undefended city this turn, as I had planned]. I guess my Settler will have to retreat and meet up with a defensive unit before it can build a city. Compared to the settler that built Plzen, my Settler is quite a failure.

I think this means ST's new city (Karlovy...?) is nearby, NE of Lonsim. My boat is nearing the Lonsim area from the SE, and it should help a lot with scouting, defense (eg with a dip on board), and maybe with a surprise invasion. Slany is empty and seems to be on/near the coast. I think (Chomutov...?) is on the island near Lonsim, and with luck it might be empty when I sail past it next turn.

I have launched my first boat onto the Mpondo Sea, from my only port, Neogu. It carries a Settler and phalanx, ready to build a 2nd port on the mountainous tip of the peninsula east of Brno. This new port will be a great lookout for American naval traffic towards Brno or my homeland.

My vet trireme has been repaired in Zimbabwe and I am gradually moving units into the Cheb zone, mainly by sea, preparing to strike at Stribro or Jachymov pretty soon. I posted a phalanx on the mts between Cheb and Stribro, and just hope it doesn't get bribed or blown away before my next turn. I don't have a 2nd phalanx in the area, so losing this one would slow me down several turns.

I wanted to found Frenzi on mts (near Lonsim and a whale) next turn, but was worried that ST might still raze Isand with his boat this turn. So I founded it on hills and rehomed three units from Isand to it. It cannot quite access the whale, but I expect Chomutov(?) is using that tile already anyway.


Here is the Persian view of the Sandy Sea before my 87AD turn. Isand is in some unexpected trouble, partly because I couldn't see the canal city of Plzen. It's on the mountainous canal square in the lower left corner, next to my blind fortified phalanx.

[Peaster]

88 (The End) : From my previous post - "I think (Chomutov...?) is on the island near Lonsim, and with luck it might be empty when I sail past it next turn. " This is exactly what happened, and the warrior on my boat took Chomutov, making the city score 31 to 15.

ST resigned. Not a huge surprise, though I was a little worried about raids around Isand or Tugela, or that he could use the rocky terrain to set up a very tough defensive position. My general plan for the future was to

a) build STWA for a lasting edge in combat.
b) make inroads into his homeland with explorers + fortified pikeman stacks + Zulu cities on mountains, to deny him room to regrow and to create threats. I don't mind moderate losses doing this, since my production is higher.
c) to amass overwhelming force in a few areas at a time; to remove fringe cities such Stribro, Brno, Jachymov, Tabor.
d) minimize science, to keep the situation stable.
e) control the seas with boats + dips + LH (maybe), to contain American raids, colonization and trading - and threaten Zulu raids.
f) continue to grow.

[SlowThinker]

Greetings from America!
But I think I will not post here but in the main thread.
I only wonder where you got so much time to write such detailed reports... because you are playing also 2 PBEMs, and I think the Hammer is quite busy, isn't it?

[Peaster]

As you may have guessed, I spend most of my free time on Civ2. Also, my work hours are very flexible, especially in the summer. The Hammer game was pretty interesting for the first 7 turns, but after 3 of my major cities got nuked in 814AD (and many other problems) I don't think it will take much more of my time !