AU 601: sabrewolf's DAR

[vmxa1]

In an SP game of C3C I am not in a big rush to build the FP. If it was PTW or CivIII, that is different.

In an MP game it is more imperitive, well maybe that is a bit strong. So it depends on when you expect to move the palace and how.

If not soon, then build the FP. I would think any place like Pompei/Byzantium should work, if you then plan to move the palace to the north of the area.

I am thinking that you get lots of land around those spots and are close enough to the AI that you keep presure off of the front line cities for culture flips.

Understand I am more of a shot from the hip guy and do not sweat getting the extra ounce. On the other hand I have not had to face humans.

[sabrewolf]

thanks for your opinion!

byzantium wouldn't be a good spot because it has too little food. 4 plains and 1 floodplain - the rest are hills and mountains. so FP would be a bit wasted there. pompeii however sounds very good.
and your argument to take pressure off the front cities... well, i guess then i should build it further north as germany and the celts are harder to control (persia just needs 2 choke-points defended and carthage hasn't even got writing yet...

i'm planning to move the palace once rome, antium and veii have produced enough buildings (cathedral, library, university, courthouse, etc) and when i get a leader for that in the right moment

the next two leaders will go towards armies. maybe a knight army, or maybe saving for a cavalry army (1 empty army is waiting for chivalry in augustadorum) (4 knights is 6,5,3 )

[sabrewolf]

230ad

killed warrior, bopped greek settler

and...

...

[vmxa1]

Yes I saw the less than great tiles, but I am also interested in getting the neighborhood cities a boost, not just the FP city.

Anyway without looking a the actual save and counting shields it is hard to know. I really don't see it has a crucial choice so long as it is not poorly placed.

I love the Pentagon. The 4th unit makes the armies so much stronger.

[sabrewolf]

i captured sparta!

as i've seen in some 1on1 games against andydog, he tends to keep his behind towns less defended. and i presumed (correctly) that the 2 hoplites and 2 swordsmen near knosses were in fact reinforcements coming from sparta. as they couldn't arrive back in time and andy wasn't suspecting my 2nd cavalry army to come "from behind".

so i took a shot at attacking it and got it with my 2nd AC army.

edit: improved image illustration. the 4 turns after the capturing of knossos:
1: hide in hills
2: pass through the desert to iron mountain (at this point he may have discovered me, as his settler and warrior were where the lower workers are standing. i presume they were heading south before... but after my assault on knosses went back north)
3: W, N, N: kill warrior, capture worker, surprise andy (who's units were at that time on the blue circled tile)
4: move 1: worker captured, move 2: pillage, move 3: attack sparta& take it.

i was thinking of razing it, but the barracks came in handy and i can always use a regrouping city in the middle of greece.


invention is coming next turn, but chivalry is still nowhere to be seen

[sabrewolf]

250ad

scoreboxes in comparison

after taking out 2 greek cities and 1 settler, i should have double his score soonish.


as to why his defences were so weak: i presume he didn't expect me to come through persian lands while at war with them. but he probably expected me to get babylon and egypt into war. so i expect he has quite a few hoplites and counter-attacking units up north.

so my next cities are going to be western ones. (corinth is cut off since the spartan liberation)
and i'll always try to shoot out of the shadows so he has no idea where i come from.

btw: taking sparta must have been a great blow to his economy! he had the gems tile roaded and mined so it was producing around 6 tradeunits (gems: +4, road: +1, republic: +1) and 3 shields. he had a marketplace (i sold it instantly) and most likely a library. so that tile alone gave him 9 beakers/gold. in republic, with the river and the roads, sparta (was size 6) must have been producing about 22 tradeunits. minus corruption: ~18... so ~27 total. what a blast to his economy!

[vmxa1]

Ouch

[Mickeyj]

Fiesty - sabre - fiesty

Great tactics, I'm now only to pleased we removed you from the ironciver early on

[sabrewolf]

Originally posted by Mickeyj
Fiesty - sabre - fiesty

Great tactics, I'm now only to pleased we removed you from the ironciver early on

thanks!

i'm not a bad player, but i suck awfully at human diplomacy (well, people don't tend to cooperate too friendly with the point leader ).

that's why 2 human players is ideal for me. no unfair plotting, no sympathy bonuses/disadvantages... only AI diplomacy where rules are the same for everybody


i never had any problem controlling the AI. i was at a time at war with 3 AIs and greece. every tech i researched was a first tech, so i always had trade value.
i just wished we had chosen emperor level. things wouldn't be this comfortable (for either of us), but at least it wouldn't be a 2-way battle, but maybe even a 8-way one.

eg. i've heard that alexman had quite some quarrels with gallic swordsmen (but also was successfully leaderfarming), while the celts in my game hardly exited their peninsula (3 unconnected plains cities). germany grabbed a lot of land, but their cities are so wide spread that reinforcements took too long to even defend them against egypt.

maybe next time emperor

[sabrewolf]

i have updated the illustration and strategy report here:

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?postid=3212016#post3212016

[JimiD]

Are you playing the 3 city elimination rule?

[sabrewolf]

no, why?

if you mean my quite optimistic text a few posts ago, that's because i feel quite comfortable now about the outcome of the game.

[JimiD]

hmm

must have been reading too much AU history of late, I was sure there was discussion about a 3 city elimination rule, but I have read back through the original posts and cant now find the reference. That or I'm just getting old and making things up.

It will also teach me not to post at work, when i havnt time to check these things first.

[sabrewolf]

maybe that was an old AU course, but i'm quite sure it's not in this game.
actually i'm 100% sure, because germany lost 3 cities (2 to egypt, one destroyed by the celts)...

[sabrewolf]

260ad

not sure if this is good or bad news. but i've solved the sparta situation. andy actually helped me decide, by placing the 2 vet hoplites and 2 vet swordsmen on the mountain beside sparta.

so what were my options? i had an attack capability or 5 turns. but hoplites or mountains have defence of 6. my big AC army has an attack of 4... so i'd probably win 1 battle, maybe even 2, but my unit would be scrap and in grave danger.

so i gave up sparta by selling the barracks and abandoning it and gave it a shot at corinth. a hoplite on hills is has defence 4.5, and i was hoping for it to be the only unit.

unfortunatly it wasn't, for there was an sword inside!!! having suffered heavy losses with that AC army (from 13 to 4 HP), i withdrawed to a position he couldn't counterattack.
and the other AC army (4 of 10 HPs left) fled into andy's fog of war.

here before the attack with the future movements painted in: