WAR Party: Early battle plans

[Donegeal]

Well, its never too early to start planing!

I know our Glorious SMC is a BIG fan of the Swordman campaign, however, I feel that it is in our best interest to have our first war with Archers. Our civ choice DEMANDS that our first attack is an Archer ruch.

Why?

For the simple reason that Archers upgrade into BEZERKERS!!!

The target of this initial attack should obviously be our closest neighbor, the Ottomans (who NEED to be dealt with before they get their UU). Three (maybe four if we can squeeze it in) cities with barracks (only 20 shields as a military civ!) then go nuts on building our upgradable Archers.

Discuss!

[UnOrthOdOx]

Berserker upgrade cost 100 EA. FYI.

Current DM plan (subject to change) Warrior/scout in 3 turns, settler in 11 turns, spear/warriors, settler, barracks

City 2 placed no later than 15 turns from now. 4/5 to build warrior, 4/5 for second warrior(might go spear here), settler, barracks

[Donegeal]

Originally posted by UnOrthOdOx
Berserker upgrade cost 100 EA. FYI.

Yes, but they cost 70 shields each to build. Which do you think is easier to come up with, 100 gold or 70 shields?

[Inverse Icarus]

i've done some archer rushes in my day, and they usually work out fairly well.

when they fail, however, they fail miserably.

but we do start with warrior code, and we do have bronze working now, se we can archer rush as soon as we have some groundwork laid down.

if we're gonna do it we're gonna do it fast.

[Inverse Icarus]

Originally posted by UnOrthOdOx
Berserker upgrade cost 100 EA. FYI.

Current DM plan (subject to change) Warrior/scout in 3 turns, settler in 11 turns, spear/warriors, settler, barracks

City 2 placed no later than 15 turns from now. 4/5 to build warrior, 4/5 for second warrior(might go spear here), settler, barracks

umm... try 50 gold.

STOP UNDERMINING THE WAR EFFORT!

(and yes, i don't have leos in this scenario, see attachment, although this is 1.21)

as for your plan, sounds good. how fast is Asgard going to grow, as compared to to how long the settler will be out? would having a spare warrior garrisoned (and thus, a workable third citizen) speed anything up? the garrison could also escort the settler.

another scout would be nice, but i can easily see yourself justiifying a warrior.

[Inverse Icarus]

archers cost 20 shields. when Asgard is size 3, it should be working 3 shielded grasslands, all mined (this is assuming we don't overlap. if we do, it could work a forest, which would aid in pop control).

working these 3 tiles (2 shields a pop), plus the home tile of 1 shield, it's 4 turns an archer or spear (i loathe non-accel production, too used to it i suppose). all other cities could have comparable rates, assuming they get to size 3, and corruption isn't a superwhore.

we should be pumping out settlers too (i'm not the DM minister, but whatever), even when our preperations are in full swing, teetering between 2 and 4 pop.

[Hot Mustard]

A thought on long-term military strategy:

On Diety, we cannot expect to complete any wonders ahead of the AI without an early decision and focussed effort to do so. There's two wonders that I think could be pivotal for us in this game.

The Great Lighthouse - If there's any chance at all (I haven't played Diety enough to know.) that we could get the Great Lighthouse, we should go for it.

Leonardo's Workshop - The combined arrival of our UU and this wonder (Invention) makes it seem predestined. If we build legions of archers in the ancient age, save some funds, and stockpile shields somewhere to complete this wonder shortly after it is available, we can send out waves of Viking war expeditions that will be unmatched until Marines.

I think the combination of these two wonders could win the game.

[Inverse Icarus]

the way this map looks, to me anyway, we won't be needing the lighthouse (or boats) any time soon.

[Hot Mustard]

Originally posted by UberKruX
the way this map looks, to me anyway, we won't be needing the lighthouse (or boats) any time soon.

Look at the minimap - there's plenty we don't know. Just because our mapmakers were wise enough to a) not make the islands too small for effective starts; and b) give us an early opponent so that the game doesn't turn into an isolationist snore-fest - doesn't mean they didn't respect our wishes for an island-hopping map.

[Aggie]

Since we have an enemy so near we must begin preparations for an invasion. We need about 3/4 cities to crank out archers then rush our dear neighbors. Hopefully we can do this before they have a chance to wipe us out.
Aggie

[Octavian X]

Agreed. The key to the game this early is fast expansion, and early, overpowering attack.

[UnOrthOdOx]

Originally posted by UberKruX


umm... try 50 gold.

STOP UNDERMINING THE WAR EFFORT!

(and yes, i don't have leos in this scenario, see attachment, although this is 1.21)

I swear it was 100 last time I played...

Do you happen to have accel production on that scenario?

as for your plan, sounds good. how fast is Asgard going to grow, as compared to to how long the settler will be out? would having a spare warrior garrisoned (and thus, a workable third citizen) speed anything up? the garrison could also escort the settler.

Settler will be out 3-5 turns. The third tile would not be upgraded, but would bring in another 2 food/turn (4 total since we will lose 2 tiles worked for the settler) +1 commerce since it would be on the river. Im not entirely sure on how the food is saved after a settler comes out, is it a % of the food box, or is it a set #?

ie, if we spent 2 extra turns in a size 3, that would yield us 8 food more than we would have if we popped the settler at turn 11. If all that food is stored, we would be at size 2 ONE turn after the settler left, assuming my math and memory is correct, I don't have the game in front of me right now.

[CiverDan]

An archer rush sounds like the best plan. make an early attack against the ottomans, then lay low until invention. The only thing that my change these plans is if we have other civs with Knight-replacing UU's, like the Chinese or arabs.

[Inverse Icarus]

Originally posted by UnOrthOdOx


I swear it was 100 last time I played...

Do you happen to have accel production on that scenario?

god, i loathe non-accel prod games

[Kloreep]

Originally posted by UnOrthOdOx
I swear it was 100 last time I played...

Do you happen to have accel production on that scenario?

Whatever the explanation is, I think the 50 gold cost must have been reduced from the default we'll have to pay; normal upgrades are 20*editor value (or 2*cost), and 50 is not divisible by 20.

Settler will be out 3-5 turns. The third tile would not be upgraded, but would bring in another 2 food/turn (4 total since we will lose 2 tiles worked for the settler) +1 commerce since it would be on the river. Im not entirely sure on how the food is saved after a settler comes out, is it a % of the food box, or is it a set #?

ie, if we spent 2 extra turns in a size 3, that would yield us 8 food more than we would have if we popped the settler at turn 11. If all that food is stored, we would be at size 2 ONE turn after the settler left, assuming my math and memory is correct, I don't have the game in front of me right now.

All food is saved when a settler is popped (assuming the city doesn't grow the same turn the settler completes, of course). I'm not sure how two extra turns would yield 8 more food... yes, the third grass river tile would yield two food, but the citizen working the tile would eat two food. (Or maybe I'm not following the times involved?) The only gain would be one commerce, plus a faster bounce back like you say (though the commerce would be sucked up by the lux slider unless we have two garrison units in Asgard by the time it reaches size 3).

Of course, once we get a third tile even partially improved by the worker, a third Asgard citizen will be much more valuable.