The Spartan Academy

[nbarclay]

We'd have to run a delaying action to keep Tim zig-zagging southeast and southwest instead of going due south if we want to build #7 before he gets past where it will be founded. (As long as Hack stays due south of him, that will work.) Of course you can bet Vox won't be at all happy about such tactics. We'd likely also have to delay Willy just a little bit.

Nathan

[Harovan]

Nathan, I thought about this, but going south to Tim right now, while it is possible, would lead him in the direction to EotS... What do you think, would that matter?

I agree with DeepO, that the military advantage of site #7 and the fact, that the southern sites don't need defenders for a while outweights the economic advantage of other sites.

[nbarclay]

Right now, we need warriors more than we need WCs. Nothing powerful enough to need WCs to take it out is headed for us, and we'll have a lot of settlers to escort and cities to defend with Voxian warriors wandering around. So while I do think it would be good to make #7 our second or third new city, I don't think it should displace #3 from the top spot unless we're planning to use it to cut off Vox's warriors.

[Harovan]

Originally posted by nbarclay
unless we're planning to use it to cut off Vox's warriors.

That's the point, I guess. They wouldn't know if we have another civ to our south or not.

[DeepO]

Either that (and I'm not sure it will be completely enough, I'm counting on 13 turns at the earliest to buid that city), or divert the worker to build a road straight to the horses. Doing so would take us 12 turns, but it would also speed up the settler with 2 turns... getting there in time so Tim can't reach it. A serious commitment, but we need that road anyway, so not a complete loss. If we go that route, I would like Hurricane to build a worker asap, to compensate... EotS should be alright with its current improvements.

DeepO

[DeepO]

Uh... crossposted while I was counting. Yes, the whole point is that the Southern cities are guaranteed Vox-free. If we decide to trust them

DeepO

[DeepO]

Oh, and I don't mind leading Tim to EotS, they will know it soon enough. We can only delay that for a while, while we can keep #3 permanantly out of sight.

DeepO

[alva]

How strange that with all the ability we as GS posess, we can't handle two miserable warriors from a team with members such as Flash...

Where are we failing? We have been doing nothing but reacting, instead of dictating...
We seriously need to look for a gap to at least get parity(sp? equilibrium).
How? Either trough bluffing or action, whatever!!

I still say the warriors must go, they have come far enough IMO.
I actually hope VOX does not move Thadeus...maybe we wouldn't be able to do anything right away, but we would have a clearcut goal.

[DeepO]

Nah, I don't agree with you, Alva. We have so far lived up to our expectations, but we can't account for having some bad luck from time to time. Vox simply outmaneuvered us, because they were faster. We're coping fine.

DeepO

[nbarclay]

Originally posted by Sir Ralph
Nathan, I thought about this, but going south to Tim right now, while it is possible, would lead him in the direction to EotS... What do you think, would that matter?

If diplomatic negotiations fail, I wouldn't mind getting in Tim's way as a means of expressing our displeasure over Vox's hypocrisy. Also, if we don't attack Willy, he'll see the area where EotS is whether Tim does or not, and if we do attack Willy, having Tim head more toward EotS (if that's the way he chooses or go, which it may or may not be if we're due south of him) would put him in better reach for Willy's executioners to deal with him next (assuming we win the battle with Willy). So I think giving Tim a hard time is probably a good move if negotiations fail.

Nathan

[nbarclay]

Vox didn't outmaneuver us. They simply took advantage of terrain that had us outmaneuvered before we even started exploring.

Nathan

[alva]

True, but shouldn't we able to stop them?
Diplomatically or otherwise..
,hmmm, I know, it looks easier then it is...

I guess I just don't get why they are able to send two warriors (deep) into enemy territory(ok, not really ours yet), hold one to block passage, defend their cities and guard their other? mutual border and explore that side too?!?!

Something just doesn't add up...
What Dissident said about the Barbs, keep going through my mind.

post:
Barbs are random
dissident:
"ah, thats explains alot"
????

[nbarclay]

The obvious answer is that they aren't exploring their other side, and aren't all that concerned about defending it either. So either they're lying about having contact with someone else and they have relatively little land beyond the chokepoint, or they met their neighbor quickly but quickly reached some kind of agreement that causes them not to make exploring in that direction a priority. (Or maybe their neighbor is fortified on a chokepoint not far from Vox's capital, making exploration in that direction impossible?)

Whatever is going on, Vox obviously trusts their neighbor (assuming it exists) not to rush them early. That may argue in favor of its being RP, which has expressed a fairly strong interest in a relatively peaceful game. And such trust lets them concentrate the vast majority of their efforts in our direction. (Based on the power graph, DeepO and I are both pretty sure they have four warriors total compared with our five at the moment.)

Nathan

[Theseus]

Building north and then SW of EotS will give us enough time to prevent a Vox scout from seeing the southern part of our lands, and thus from knowing whether we are in contact with another civ.

The jungle is too far away to support a city in the event of an Immortal attack.

Good defense in key positions, a military road network, and WC wolfpacks / kill zones... these are my favorite things.

Otherwise, I think we should focus on (R)EXing a VERY strong core, and building a production advantage.

Keep it simple.

[nbarclay]

Originally posted by Theseus
Building north and then SW of EotS will give us enough time to prevent a Vox scout from seeing the southern part of our lands, and thus from knowing whether we are in contact with another civ.

How does building north fit into cutting anyone off? According to my timing analysis, it would come too late.

The only logical cutoff I see is to go ahead and build our horse city (planned for the coastal hill by the horses), and that works only if we use some delaying tactics. Anything else that could achieve the cutoff would compromise what seems to be a solid, well-thought-out build plan.

Nathan