AU 601: sabrewolf's DAR

[sabrewolf]

310bc

this looks interesting

[sabrewolf]

290bc

hermann was lucky and unlucky this time!
the germanic elite swordsman shredded the celtic archer and that spawned an MGL. too bad my AC was there to pillage and suddenly saw him and killed that leader

but as it's AI anyway, the leader would have probably hurried and archer or swordsman, so no big deal

now i just hope I get this lucky too soon!

speaking of luck: i missed a spot before the era change and now there are 16 barbarian horsemen around. the biggest problem is my very high money deposit. if they should take a city (several time) then the money is gone and i actually saved it up for the 2nd carthage land-grabbing city (in place in about 6 turns)

btw: as soon as that one is placed, i'll have peace with carthage, help them build roads (of course just the bridging territory) and give iron to persia


edit: greece has currency! so i was lucky with the trade this time! and i was wrong about republic... we all have republic so andy has to research construction to be back in the race... i really DO hope he gets monotheism as did 2 others. that could really f#ck up his future... but if he gets feudalism or engineering, then i'm in trouble

[sabrewolf]

question:

how much war weariness effect will he feel in republic? currently he has the opposite (several time war happiness), but i'm hardly likely to give him peace and some day he may have to/want to declare war against an AI.

does WW have the same effect in MP as in SP?
can i even consider going for democracy?

[Arrian]

WW exists in PBEM, yes. Republic is a dicey proposition, and I'd say Demo is right out.

-Arrian

[sabrewolf]

thanks, arrian!
but has it got the same effect as in SP?


250bc

impressive!

egypt has captured hamburg! that means: weaker neighbor of mine... stronger neighbor for andy

but i would have preferred the 4 war chariots i saw going to greece, instead of germany...


230bc

some barbs died to my now-elite-AC. but 8 are still visible. i've given them a honeypot: vet legionary 2 tiles SE from them and vet spear NW from them and hope mine kill at least 4 of them.

meanwhile herrman has a spearman-defended settler coming out of a town. my legionary is right at the spot and will attack if he is in range... 2 more slaves can't harm )


210bc

too bad! he just founded hannover... missed opotunity

barb plan was successful. 6 gone, 2 left... spear died but legionary survived and has been promoted (3 HP damage)

something very wierd and (half) worrying. persia has dispatched 8 archers (7 visible)... i really hope it's against carthage and not against me

[sabrewolf]

190bc
hannover was burnt down to rubble by one single gallic warrior... i'm fortunate i'm not facing them in war

btw: i havn't seen a single MW (germanic rider iirc) yet... i guess i'm lucky.
but i havn't seen a single leader yet, so i guess i'm not that lucky


170bc
ok, now i'm scared

the front 3 are heading around leptis magna, so i presume they are going for my 3rd iron city

damn, i need that peace with carthage to give them iron... but then i'm worried they may attack carthage and therefor break the trade route again... what should i do? abandon the iron outpost so they aren't temped to attack it? delay there movement by placing units in front? but will my units be there in time?

[sabrewolf]

it's definate... persia has got an eye on my empire and has 11 archers, 1 horseman, 2 spearmen (and a settler) heading my way. (see screenshot). could be a great leader-farming ground, but i'm at the moment struggling to block their way.

as you can also see, i've founded aurelianorum near to leptis magna. why? a) the planned location (bottleneck) has permanently been blocked and b) cultural rushes allow me to make a passage over to persia by land...

[sabrewolf]

and now for the best part of 150bc:

MY FIRST LEADER!!!

i had 3 elite battles.
1st: elite warrior (left) attacks 1HP swordsman (over the river)... wins, no leader
2nd: elite legionary (right) against reg archer... wins, no leader
3rd: my elite AC attacks a swordsman in the field... wins... and leader

this is going to give me (if i manage to get the leader back safetely) an army, so i can at least build the herioc epic and later on the military academy for the case that i never succeed again in leader-generating

i guess it's going to be an AC-army with some speed and a a little punch...
A: 3+3+3=9, divided by 6: 1.5 --> attack 4
D: 2+2+2=6, divided by 6: 1 --> attack 3
M: 2+1 --> movement 3
that's like a rider, iirc... and with 12-15 hitpoints

that's... if i get him home safetely

[sabrewolf]

here a funny quote from the celts... probably you've seen it, but it's a newey for me

[sabrewolf]

ok, here i've compiled some historical comparisons based on the dates selected here.

first, the minimaps!

as you can see, i know the most of the continent except a few tiles in celtic and persian lands and a bit bigger area in greece...

[sabrewolf]

and here are the scoreboxes

notice how andy stays not far behind until 1250bc (not more than many other greeks in comparison to the romans) but then starts falling back more and more and more.

i've seen as slight boost in his points in the last few turns (not catching up, but at least speeding up), so i presume he's placed some more cities. but i really wonder what that guy is up to!

and with all the AI i've chased upon him (war chariots and bowmen don't really harm hoplites), he's probably got quite a few elites and maybe even leaders
and with his free tech coming up, i'm shafted if he doesn't get monotheism and completely screwed if he should get engineering (which i'm researching, but won't get in time for his era jump). i guess in such a case i'd buy monotheism and go full power for theology... oh well... we'll see. his probably going to get the era jump within the next 3 turns (estimated)

comments, ideas, strategies, etc. are welcome!
your convincing of me to build the SoZ has payed out so far with 1 (better than none ) leader...

finally, here are the scoreboxes:

[sabrewolf]

130bc

he's got the tech lead!!!! for the very first time in the game

construction obviously gets so cheap when everybody has it that he can easily research it
oh well... i think i'll give up this strategy of bribing AI into war... i've done i 3 times and every time he had another tech to buy himself out again

i guess i'll focus on the AI now... with 13 persian units around, and the fight against germany and celts for northern lands is now my prime objective... except... what do you guys recommend?

[sabrewolf]

ok, now the persian are beginning to pïss me off... and as i felt comfortable with the number of troops in the area, i provoked the persians a bit (gimme tech gimme money!) and then demanded them to leave the territory

note: i know this is an exploit. and i wanted to minimise the exploits i use. but seeing the tech power of andydog (he's given everybody all techs so all are 2 ahead of me ), i think i'm allowed this one.

anyway... persia declares war and i start leader-whoring (my first leader just built an army up north). it took 2 elite wins against the germans and another about 5-6 elite wins against persia (i even let spearmen attack regular archers) and then finally, another leader spawned.



this time, he was near to a city of mine, so i sent him to selexxx, built another army and filled 1 (a bit risky, i know) AC into it and attacked twice (promoting the AC inside to elite).

this means, as of next turn, i can build the heroic epic

too bad there are only 5 persian units left, otherwise i could have tried for more next turn...

[sabrewolf]

50bc

3 more elite victories, no further leader.

but i've killed off the complete persian attack force and lost only one unit. 3 more archers coming up in 2 turns, maybe with a successful outcome.
i'm hoping for 4 armies, because then i could build the pentagon.
a 4xAC army would have the stats 5,3,3 and a 4xknight army would even be 6,4,3... all with 12-15HPs...

but i'm still only halfway by number of armies and with most of the persian forces obliterated and the germanic country crumbling (leipzig was captured by the egyptians), i fear i won't have too many possibilities anymore.

maybe later on again after heroic epic
but anyway... finally the militaristic trait kicks in

[vmxa1]

You only need three armies in the field to build it. It then allows a 4th unit in an army.