Turn 94, 690 BC

[nbarclay]

The strategy forum thread involved only limited testing. I'd be interested to see how the calculations rate WCs compared with immortals; do the calculations take mobility into consideration, or just attack and defense values? In any case, the fact that Vox's warrior upgrade unit has an attack of four and ours has an attack of three definitely gives them an edge in military strength for the moment. But when we upgrade to medieval infantry...

[Aeson]

To be honest, I think it's better that they beat us to the Pyramids. For our friendship, and the world view of our two civs. Our GA is already started, and we do have good enough growth rates already. The Pyramids would have boosted that of course, and it might have scared the other teams. Our score progression will hopefully be somewhat matched by Lego's now and we won't be the defacto target.

Sun Tzu's is as good a wonder now that our GA has started. I wouldn't count on it giving us any Barracks in captured Voxian cities. They are likely to play like Lux at that point, and their whipping probably means we want to raze everything we could keep anyway. It will help if we send Settlers along with our stacks though.

Taking out a civ with Sun Tzu's later in the game becomes very annoying. Bombardment stacks can't destroy the Barracks, and so the defenders can't be bombarded down over the course of several turns. If the Pyramids are the 'target' wonder, Sun Tzu's is the avoidance one.

The only problem I see with Sun Tzu's is that we might lose the Collosus too by building it. We were probably going to be building units anyways with the current situation, so it's not really a big deal.

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The military advisor doesn't properly account (if it accounts for it at all) for the advantage of movement. WC's and Horsemen are undervalued in relation to their worth. Immortals get ~6 points, while a WC gets ~3... even though they are usually about on equal terms (Immortals more valuable in the Mountains/Hills, WC/Horsemen more valuable in the flats).

Also our Swords are slightly less valuable than their Immortals. I wouldn't be suprised if we are at or even slightly above Vox's number of units. We should upgrade one unit at a time when possible (checking the military advisor between each one, all can happen on the same turn) to pinpoint just where Vox's military stands at.

[nbarclay]

We still need a decision on whether to go ahead and add a worker to EotS this turn before it grows and whether to short rush our barracks there.

[Aeson]

It costs us 44g? It's worth it IMO, in conjunction with adding the Worker. That 44g + Worker basically gives us an extra unit (if we would wait the extra turn for the Barracks to build, it cuts out a unit), and/or several 'upgrades' from 20 to 30 shield per turn units.

We need the Spears upgraded, and it leaves us enough cash for them right? The Pikes then give us the extra turn we need to upgrade the Swords. That initial stack has to go around us. If they try force their way through they might not even kill a single Pike (with 3 of them on the Mountain 9 of Arashi).

Let's cover the Workers with a Sword or two this turn (regs) and move all the Spears back into Arashi for upgrading next. The road will be done in time for them to move back out and fortify next to Vox's stack the following turn (if they go that way).

[nbarclay]

One sword on the mountain should be enough to keep Vox's spearmen from attacking, and would avoid tipping our hand about what swordsmen we really have in the area. By the way, until more forces than Vox has ready now get in position to attack, I'd be tempted to garrison the mountain with just two pikes and a sword and keep the other pike in Arashi. With a little luck, if we keep Vox from seeing our medieval infantry, they won't have a clue we have them until we strike - and even then, Vox might end up just knowing a bunch of their units died, not what killed them. But if we put all three pikes on the mountain, they'll see that our lead defender in Arashi is a medieval infantry.

[Harovan]

Sorry for chiming in a completely off-topic matter, but I don't want to ask this in a public forum, and we have enough native english speakers here. Can anybody explain me, what a Grand Mall Seizure is?

[Aeson]

3 vet Immortals and 1 spearman at the mountain 2 of D-ville.

Can we get the names?

If they are vets... how did they get there? 1 or even 2 could have been whipped in Dissidentville, but I'll have to check the growth pattern to be sure. We've only seen 1 vet Immortal from the screenshots, and the Warriors headed that way were regs.

[nbarclay]

General Jon, Beta the Bold, and Dissident the Deadly.

[Aeson]

A grand mal is an epileptic seizure (grand mal is a type of epilepsy). They are characterized with violent spasms and loss of consciousness.

[Harovan]

I see, thanks.

[Theseus]

We're gonna short-rush the Barracks AND build Sun Tzu?

[nbarclay]

From encarta.com's article on epilepsy:

In a second type of epilepsy, known as generalized seizure, tonic clonic, grand mal, or convulsion, the whole brain is involved. This type of seizure is often signaled by an involuntary scream, caused by contraction of the muscles that control breathing. As loss of consciousness sets in, the entire body is gripped by a jerking muscular contraction. The face reddens, breathing stops, and the back arches. Subsequently, alternate contractions and relaxations of the muscles throw the body into sometimes violent agitation such that the person may be subject to serious injury. After the convulsion subsides, the person is exhausted and may sleep heavily. Confusion, nausea, and sore muscles are often experienced upon awakening, and the individual may have no memory of the seizure. Attacks occur at varying intervals, in some people as seldom as once a year and in others as frequently as several times a day. About 8 percent of those subject to generalized seizures may have status epilepticus, in which seizures occur successively with no intervening periods of consciousness. These attacks may be fatal unless treated promptly with the drug diazepam.

[Aeson]

I don't like it. We don't see any of those names in GoW's screenshots, and they didn't have time to whip 3 in Dissidentville. Still a chance that they ferried a few on the E around Grog's sight, but then why aren't Vox's other troops there? They should be.

If GoW is lying to us (next turn will be almost for sure), lets pretend to stay in the dark about it. We can't tell for sure before they get Feudalism out of us... probably next turn it becomes apparent.

Are any units on the mountain 3 from dissidentville? (have one of our WC's check)

[nbarclay]

The barracks is needed in EotS no matter what; Sun Tsu's would come too late. Short-rushing it lets us get an extra WC or half a medieval infantry that we would not get otherwise, which is only a very slightly worse return on the gold invested than the 50% return on upgrades.

[Aeson]

We're gonna short-rush the Barracks AND build Sun Tzu?

Sun Tzu's will be too late to help us in EotS. We need the barracks there to stop Vox's invasion. 1 turn sooner means 1 extra Pike/Horse, which is worth 44g IMO.