AU 601: Alexman's Roman DAR 2

[alexman]

This is my second DAR for AU 601 - Introduction to Multiplayer.
My first DAR ended with the discovery of Gunpowder.


Please do NOT read this thread if you are playing the game and:

1) You have not yet explored the entire map, including all ocean tiles

OR

2) You have not yet discovered Gunpowder

OR

3) You are jshelr

[alexman]

480 AD

When we last left Caesar, he had just obtained Gunpowder from Babylon in exchange for Iron. This made him nervous, because the Iron trade route from Rome to Babylon had to pass through both Egyptian and Germanic territories. A bribe from Greece to either of those empires to declare war on Rome would disrupt the trade route and ruin Roman reputation in the eyes of the world.

Therefore, there was no other alternative than to pay both Egypt and Germany to declare war on Greece first. The Egyptian alliance was very cheap, but Caesar had to pay the Germanics 34 gold per turn. He figured this considerable amount was worth saving his trade reputation, which would allow him to obtain valuable cash and technologies for gold per turn and resources in the future. As a side bonus, the Germanics, who were by far the most powerful AI in the game, would harass Greece from the north while Roman armies made their way to attack from the east.

Speaking of Roman armies, all five are finally on their way to Greece, pillaging Carthage and Persia along the way.

Greece has started catching up in technology, big time. In just a few turns they learned Theology, Feudalism, Invention, Education, and perhaps Printing Press (we don’t have it, so we don’t know for sure). They must be paying the civilizations they are at peace (Carthage, Persia, and the Celts) in gold per turn. I don’t see any other explanation. This means that Caesar will definitely not bribe those civilizations to go to war against Greece.

[Arrian]

I love Knights in Roman red.

Russ is in trouble.

-Arrian

[vmxa1]

That is so scary, lucky for the AI you are not allowed to wipe them out. Too bad we can't say the same thing about Greece.

[alexman]

500 AD

As you know, the snobbish Romans do not think barbarian cities are worth conquering, but that doesn’t mean that they cannot steal their resources. With the settling of Hippo Regius and Nicopolis, and after a rushed Temple, the Roman empire laid claim to Celtic furs and Germanic horses (notice how Germanic workers are still mining the horse hill for Rome). Of course since Caesar is a nice guy, he gave Hermann back his horses – for the right price, of course. After all, the Germanics need their horses to fight the Greeks.

By the way, these latest two cities bring the Roman total number of cities to 24, which of course means that the next leader will build a sixth army instead of rushing a University. Caesar is debating between an immediate 2-Medieval Infantry + 2-Musketman army (6-6-2 stats) for homeland defense, or leaving it empty until the arrival of Cavalry (8-5-4).

[MarkG]

:ignorance-due-to-long-army-duty:
who made the cool knights graphics?

[alexman]

They're out-of-the-box Knights in Armies.
By the way, just to make you jealous, when I was in the Greek navy, I had access to Civ2.
Where there is a will, there is a way!

[alexman]

520 AD

The lead Knight army spotted a Greek Hoplite in Persian territory, had a chance to attack, but after hearing stories of Trajan's experience, decided to retreat two tiles to the southeast.

If Greece has a ROP agreement with Persia (very likely), and the Hoplite advances three tiles southeast along the Perisan road, it will spoil the surprise party.

[Mad Bomber]

Its going to be a bad day for Jshelr.

Well played so far, Alex especially with your leader farm you had up north.

Too bad about Trajans army, I would have waited for reinforcements before letting my armies go roaming about the enemy countryside. Trajan could have been useful for holding Greek forces up north while hitting him on his southern flank (as you appear to be doing now)

nonetheless, you seem to have things well in hand even with the Trajan debacle.

"Trajan,Trajan; Give me back my legions" -Alexmanius Caesar

[alexman]

530 AD

It's OK about Trajan. It was fun to finally do some battle with Greece, and he was victim of a bad RNG. Even after getting wounded by attacking the Hoplite, he had 6 HP remaining, and a strength of 6 on the mountain. That's like an elite Rifleman with an extra HP, and yet he got redlined by a Swordsman. Also, if he had survived, we would have had fewer Knight Armies, since we're at the maximum for our number of cities.

Back to the present, the lone hoplite did indeed advance three tiles to discover our Armies. Russ offered to surrender, but that would have made a lame ending to the DAR.

So we agreed to this challenge: if Greek troops manage to defeat another Roman Army, Caesar will recognize the Greek bravery and forfeit his claims on Greece. Rome will retire from the game and Greece will be free to battle the AI to Alpha Centauri in a SP game.

So the game goes on. The two lead armies advanced at full speed towards Greece, pillaging the roads to delay the return of the Hoplite to defend Greece.

[Mad Bomber]

Re: 530 AD

Originally posted by alexman
It's OK about Trajan. It was fun to finally do some battle with Greece, and he was victim of a bad RNG. Even after getting wounded by attacking the Hoplite, he had 6 HP remaining, and a strength of 6 on the mountain. That's like an elite Rifleman with an extra HP, and yet he got redlined by a Swordsman. Also, if he had survived, we would have had fewer Knight Armies, since we're at the maximum for our number of cities

Back to the present, the lone hoplite did indeed advance three tiles to discover our Armies. Russ offered to surrender, but that would have made a lame ending to the DAR.

So we agreed to this challenge: if Greek troops manage to defeat another Roman Army, Caesar will recognize the Greek bravery and forfeit his claims on Greece. Rome will retire from the game and Greece will be free to battle the AI to Alpha Centauri in a SP game.

So the game goes on. The two lead armies advanced at full speed towards Greece, pillaging the roads to delay the return of the Hoplite to defend Greece.

Only one? I might have agreed to 3 out of the 5, but one is too easy, especially with jshelr's army roaming around.

[Solomwi]

Pride goeth and stuff, or do you have a scheme I'm not picking up on, alexman?

[vmxa1]

Alexman probably has had enough and is ready to retire. One thing is that if Greece does pull it off, you have done a lot of work to make the SP easier for Russ.

[alexman]

540 AD

If I keep my Armies healthy and in support of each other, I may have a chance. We will not rush into any attacks where the Armies will be left exposed. Fortunately, Greece does not yet have Gunpowder.

But in the end, as with all AU courses, it doesn't matter who wins.

[vmxa1]

The one problem I have with the way the game does combat, is that it does not always pick the defender I would like.

It will pick that army in a stack, even when it is down to 2HP's and you have units that are healthy. I know it thinks the army is better, but you know you do not mind losing that individual unit.

In your case that should not be an issue as all are the same type and it should come down to HP left.