What would you have done?

[Carolus Rex]

What would you have done in the following situation?

It's very early in the game, you only have about four or five cities. A barb horsie and barb leader are standing next to each other (adjacent squares). You have a vet NONE horsie, whose first move brings it in a position so it can kill either the barb horseman or the leader. Which would you choose?

It was raging hordes, so picking off the leader gives 150 gold but then the horseman is probably killed by the barbarian horseman the next turn.

However, if you kill the barb horsie first you will probably get the best of both worlds (gold and your horseman survives). But you still have to chase the leader and the attack on the mounted barb unit might cripple your unit. There were no other barbs nearby that could cover the leader.

So would you sacrifice the NONE vet horseman for 150 gold or would you try to take out the barb horseman and hope to get the leader in the next few turns?

To avoid biased answers I'm keeping the actual outcome to myself for a while.

Carolus

[Ming]

Take out the horse and get lucky on the king.
Unless you HAD TO HAVE THE MONEY for something, I would remove the threat. Where is a diplo when you need them

[jpk]

I agree with Ming. At the beginning of the game units are hard to come by, especially a unit that can move two squares.

[DaveV]

I disagree. Money = units. With an empty shield box, you could buy another horsemen for 75 gold; if you switch from another unit, it's only 50 gold. So you have enough cash left over to buy 3-4 rows of shields on some other unit.

After the barbarian horsemen kill your horsemen, they'll wander around weakened. You should be able to pick them off before they're a threat to your cities.
[This message has been edited by DaveV (edited November 01, 1999).]

[Carolus Rex]

You're assuming I had horseback riding, I don't remember if I did.

But suppose I didn't have it, no rushbuying of a new one possible. Would that make any difference for you?

Carolus

[Sir David]

Take out horse and then the leader... if it gets to complicated, start a new game.

[DaveV]

CR,

If I weren't able to build another, I would indeed be more protective of my horsemen. But that's why I research Horseback first.

[Carolus Rex]

OK, I take that as a "horse first" suggestion.

So without horseback riding it's a 4-0 victory for killing the horse, 3-1 if I had discovered it already.

Anyone else?

Carolus

[Smash]

a dilemna.How do you get these situations.

no horseback-remove threat kill horseman hope to get lucky.

horseback-hmmm kill leader build another horse or dip to bribe that horse.

[mingko]

It depends on how far away the none horseman is. If it is far away from my city, I incline to get the horseman first. Otherwise, it depends on terrain. As the king and the horseman is separated, probably there are slow terrains nearby. But I will still go for the king first if my horseman is near my cities. Go for the horseman and the king may sneak away. If I fight the king, I still have some chance (although less than 50%) to survive.

[geofelt]

If the duo might attack an adequately defended city, then just wait for the horse to attack, then chase the leader. Otherwise,attack the horse first, you might get both. If you attack the leader, your non-horse is gone, and you have to build another unit and get it back to the area which it was exploring. This costs time, and you need to uncover those huts asap.

[Sten Sture]

If there is a mountain within two squares of the barb I will go there instead. The barb leader will probably rejoin the barb horse and attack your horseman. With you fortified on a mountain, the barb horse will die easily and then you can make better use of terrain movement to catch the leader stuck in the woods or on a hill. 150 and maybe a vet horse!

If it is completely in the open I would kill the horse and chase the leader. If it is in mixed terrain, I will try to get to a spot where the leader will get stuck in one movement squares while I can go around them; or attack toward water to trap the leader.

[Ming]

SS... don't be so sure your horseman fortified on a mountain will survive if you are playing Deity. I've had phalanx fortified on a mountains get killed by barb horseman Didn't even knick the horseman either.

[Sten Sture]

Ming - Your barbs must eat Wheaties! It doesn't always work, but the percentages should give you a fighting chance to get the leader and not lose your horse; and I readily admit that I would more often than not attack the barb horse and hope for the leader. If in CRs initial scenario the barb units were stacked, I will defend and look to counter attack almost everytime.

If it is not raging hordes then I would definately kill the barb horse. Anything less than 150 for the leader and I'll let it go in this scenario.

[Carolus Rex]

This is what happened.

I attacked the horse, killed it easily. Finished my turn and the barb king started running in the opposite direction.

Then two new barb horsies and a king popped up out of nowhere right next to my horseman and killed it!

No gold, only a dead horseman!

If you want it all, you lose it all...

Will go for the horse first the next time too though, how often can a thing like that happen?

Carolus