Attention Lux: And So it Comes... War

[Jon Shafer]

Okay, I need some help here guys. I need more active members and some good ideas quick. Otherwise, we may not have a need for anyone at all soon.

Okay, war, great. So where does this leave us?

• Neu Demogyptica has 4 Swordsmen (one veteran and 3 regulars) and 1 Spearman in a stack to the tile just south of Regio Equorum.
  
• We are 1 turn from building a Horseman in Regio. In or near Regio, we have 2 Spearmen and 1 Worker.
  
• We just finished a Settler in Invictus. I'll let you know what I think we should do with it in a bit.
  
• The map image tells the rest.

Awesome you say. Now what?

We have a few options, these are the ones I personally see... there might be more that I'm missing:

• 'Standard' defense scheme: We finish the Horseman or whatever in Regio, build City #4, pump out Horsemen, do what we can with them, etc. I personally am not too fond of this plan.
  
• My plan:
  
  We consider Regio lost. Their force is too strong, and I seriously doubt that we can hold it, even if we throw all we have into the fight.
  
  We must engage in some kind of limited withdrawl from Regio, in order to keep our main army alive. We really only have 2 Spearmen to work with right now. We probably won't even finish the Horseman in Regio, so we shouldn't rely upon that. If we get it, then that's a bonus for us.
  
  A necassary move is a progressive, step-by-step withdrawl until we can force a stand and destroy their army. I propose we use 1 Spearman to slow down their forces in Regio, and retreat 1 Spearman along our road, pillaging it along the way to help slow them down. The new settler will join with Invictus and bring us back to city size 3, which will be necassary to finish units, buildings, etc. for the war.
  
  We connect the iron at all costs: use the Worker to get around their forces, connect the iron then build a colony. All our warriors make for Invictus at godspeed, while Invictus builds a Barracks. Once the iron is connected and the Barracks is completed, we'll have 3 Swordsmen ready for the fight instantly, in addition to whatever we can scrape together from Campus Felix. We'll have the Swordsmen ready in 8 turns.
  
  Up until the point we get our Swordsmen, we fight a defensive war, slowing the ND forces at any possible junction. We then force a final fight on the plains to the west of Invictus.

I feel that this may be the only way to slow them down to a sufficient level to keep ourselves alive for long. GoW told me that it's a possibility that they could build a road down from them to us, and would have 2 Horsemen ready in about 3 or 4 turns. This would certainly slow NDE a bit, maybe just enough. I haven't had the opportunity to talk with RP yet.

[ixnay]

Hoo man.

Regio looks like a lost cause with the forces they have amassed. Pulling back and regrouping seems to be the best option we have unless something miraculous happens.

[statusperfect]

And kill the scout with a warrior. Use that warrior to pillage road. Talk to Roleplay and GoW.

Attack swordsmen with archers. That's 50/50 win and only 20 shield cost against their 30. We won't have the time to wait for iron.

[statusperfect]

Maybe this is the time for us to make a public announcement in the Demogame forum?

I have a feeling this will be a propaganda war.

[Vlad Antlerkov]

Statusperfect's suggestion sounds good. Since it'd take a while until that iron would be ready, and we need troops ASAP...

Or we could just get a bunch of lucky rolls from the RNG.

As for the propaganda... any way we could post a pic of that stack next to Regio (just the stack, and a little context)?

[statusperfect]

Originally posted by Vlad Antlerkov As for the propaganda... any way we could post a pic of that stack next to Regio (just the stack, and a little context)?

Great idea. We have to point out that NDE sneak attacked us. And make everyone think they're a rogue nation.

[WarriorPoet]

Hold up...all is not lost.

I propose the following:

Move the spearman into Regio, fortify, switch horseman to spearman, and attempt to rush build a wall ASAP. All other cities need to build archers/horsemen ASAP.

Attack the scout and pillage the road, build units like mad, force building them when possible.

If they attack regio with two fortified spearmen, there is a chance that it will hold, albeit a small one. However, if we retreat, then they will persue us to our capital, where we may yet loose the war.

Their strat will follow one of two courses.

Either they attack our two spearmen in regio in an attempt to conquer and destroy it or they avoid the pyric victory and move towards our capital. The best option is to force them into a pyric victory, and build up our army. They will loose valuable time and units attacking Regio, and if we do hold it, then we can still build horsemen.

Also, we should queu up many horsemen in each city, so that if we loose the horses, we can still build horsemen, in the cities that have queued them.

Look, this isn't hopeless, it's a sign of desperation from NDE actually. If we can force them to loose two swordsmen, then the war is over.

[ixnay]

Originally posted by statusperfect
Maybe this is the time for us to make a public announcement in the Demogame forum?

I have a feeling this will be a propaganda war.

This sounds like a perfect idea. A small screenshot and a demand for an explanation in their recently-posted foreign affairs thread would probably be most effective.

[Jon Shafer]

Originally posted by ixnay
This sounds like a perfect idea. A small screenshot and a demand for an explanation in their recently-posted foreign affairs thread would probably be most effective.

Consider it done.

[BigFurryMonster]

Your Furry Friend never runs out of original ideas.

The following is a quite drastic evacuation plan. It'll work if Roleplay helps us.

It is based on the fact that ND thinks they are making war on us, and that GoW and RP will stay aside. And I think they are correct - for the first 20 turns or so. GoW is not strong enough, and RP is too far. By then, we'll be mopped up by ND.

This plan is based on the premise that:

• Neither GoW nor RP will come to our aid in time
• Both GoW and RP like us more than they do ND, especially if ND becomes too strong.
• RP is willing to take a bit of a risk with us.

It is also my guess that ND really does not want war with RP.

Now - what's the plan? It is:

• We just made a settler in Invictus. We send him south along the coast.
• We abandon Regio Equorum.
• We trade Campus Felix for a small city deep in RP territory.
• We fight a "retreat-war" but give up Invictus eventually, moving our Palace to RP's former city.
• We become a vassal state of RP. We help them tech-wise.
• Our settler will found a city somewhere near our new capital.
• ND will not want war with RP, and will therefore not attack Campus Felix.
• Our spearman-army will retreat somewhere safe (possibly in GoW territory) until GoW and RP have gathered forces to counter-attack ND.
• ND gets blown to tiny bits by RP, maybe with help of GoW.
• We'll get our land back eventually.

Yes - this is drastic. IMHO, the alternative is to fight a losing war. Not much fun. This plan is all about fun and creativity.

What do you think?

[Jon Shafer]

I think that may be a bit too risky. That puts full reliance upon GoW and especially RP. Even if we do survive that way, we'll end up subservient to them for a very long time, probably for the rest of the game. Keep in mind, that's only if they do defeat NDE. They may simply ignore them and forget about the whole thing... what's in it for them, after all? They could always team up and take out NDE eventually anyways.

This war isn't lost yet. We need to get to the iron, and we need to slow NDE down, but those are the only two requirements. If we can do that, then our chances of winning are great.

We will see what can be worked out later at the meeting today.

[Vlad Antlerkov]

Now, in the ISDG forum, should we warn the rest of the Apolyton team that NDE isn't to be trusted (unless Borc grows a backbone)?

[Jon Shafer]

I think everyone pretty much knows that already, it's not really necassary.

I got a PM from Darekill, basically saying that war is inevitable, and they will do all within their power to destroy us. It is now a war for survival, and we must be victorious, or this is the end. Good luck, Lux Invicta. May we rise up and become the champions of this game.

[CiverDan]

Rushing the wall: Wont work. It wont be built until next turn, AFTER they attack it. The same goes for anything we try to build in Regio this turn, it will be available only after NDE attacks it, IIRC. This leaves us with 2 spear in Regio. No realistic chance of holding it.

My Plan:

1) Abandon Regio. If they take the city it wont be destroyed because it is size 2. We can't let them take it.

2) move all spear in direction of forest junction this turn. Will decide where to move next turn based on their next move and potential help from GoW (i.e. to Iron, Felix or invictus). One VERY important question: is the worker on a road?. If not, we cannot expect to connect the iron because NDE troops will be in the way.

Onr problem with this: if GoW cannot help us in time, and they got for Campus Felix, We will not be able to hold that city either.

Second option: We keep one Spear in Regio: This means they capture Regio, but we we at least wound a sword and then have to use spear to defend. Then thee have 3 swords to march toward our other cities The 2nd spear heads towards the junction. Rush Horse in Invictus, Queue horse in Campus felix Then we just build archers to defend.

[Zero]

we have no iron or horse around us anywhere.

We lose regio we're pretty much screwed.