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Carch, UberKrux, and I played an Assassin game last night. I played very poorly and wound up resigning. I would love to hear from Carch or Uber regarding who ultimately won.
The Assassin format presented several challenges that I did not handle well at all. Carch was my assassin, while Uber was my target. Carch opened his attack on me by bombarding a Fort I had constructed near the border. His seige weapons were actually on his side of the border. I naturally sent in the cavalry after his siege, only to remember the "severe" attrition damage you take for entering anyone's territory other than your target's. So I had to withdraw, and basically allow him to knock down the fort. The only thing I could have done was target my own seige weapons on his, but unfortunately I hadn't built any seige on my defensive front. This problem repeated itself in different variations throughout the game for me. I had my troops in defensive stance most of the time, however even still, they would have a tendency to cross the border when engaged with Carch's invaders. I could not figure out how to keep them from crossing the border without using Stand Ground stance, which of course exposes me to easy flanking. So I had to either accept the severe attrition, or constantly back my troops away from the border and allow Carch a free ride on my buildings near the border.
Meantime, on the attack, Uber had figured out a clever way to work around the severe attrition damage. As I built up my attack force, Uber of course could not send in troops to engage them preemptively. However he did send in a continuous series of spies. The spies all died quickly, as I had scouts so my troops were able to see the spies and open fire immediately. However it allowed Uber to keep track of exactly what forces I had and where they were headed. I tried to be sneaky and crawl along the edge of the map until I had a straight shot at his capital, bypassing his outer cities. Assassin is always Sudden Death capital elimination (lose your capital for a second and you're out), so normally my idea would be a good one. However Uber was completely aware of my tactics due to his reconnaisance, and he met my invaders outside his capital with a force that had to be twice the size of mine.
This leads me to another point. I had basically built two armies, one to defend against Carch, and one to attack Uber. They both lost. Given the size of the force that Uber used to defend against my invasion, I suspect he wasn't attacking Carch at all yet. This aspect of Assassin basically boils down to "do you feel lucky today?" I could have concentrated all my forces in just one army and sent it to attack Uber, leaving myself totally exposed to an attack from Carch. Or I could have built a totally defensive army and ignored Uber, just playing defense against Carch until Uber eventually (hopefully) attacked and eliminated Carch. But I chose to try to do both, and it wound up costing me both battles. I suspect Uber chose to play defense only for a long time, presumably until he had nukes. With my split army, my invasion had no chance
Later in the game, Uber used another clever way to get around the severe attrition damage rule. Carch was knocking on the doorstep of my capital when Uber hit Modern (Carch and I were still Industrial). I told Carch that Uber was probably getting ready to nuke (you know, cult of the ICBM and all that). Carch realized the danger and called off his attack on me. He said we shoud go get Uber's oil sources. But of course Carch himself couldn't do anything about it since he couldn't invade Uber. I tried to muster another invasion force to go after Uber, but I was so far behind at this point that Uber slaughtered me. I suspect that Uber still hadn't attacked Carch yet. Anyway back to the clever part, Uber did in fact build nukes. But instead of nuking Carch, he nuked me! The severe attrition damage does not apply to missles. You can target whoever you want apparently.
I eventually resigned, mostly as a favor to Carch. Once I resigned, he would be allowed to attack Uber directly without the severe attrition damage. I was so far behind anyway that my fate was inevitable.
I definitely learned a lot about what not to do in Assassin games. I would love to hear from Carch and Uber, regarding who eventually won and their take on the game in general.
The Assassin format presented several challenges that I did not handle well at all. Carch was my assassin, while Uber was my target. Carch opened his attack on me by bombarding a Fort I had constructed near the border. His seige weapons were actually on his side of the border. I naturally sent in the cavalry after his siege, only to remember the "severe" attrition damage you take for entering anyone's territory other than your target's. So I had to withdraw, and basically allow him to knock down the fort. The only thing I could have done was target my own seige weapons on his, but unfortunately I hadn't built any seige on my defensive front. This problem repeated itself in different variations throughout the game for me. I had my troops in defensive stance most of the time, however even still, they would have a tendency to cross the border when engaged with Carch's invaders. I could not figure out how to keep them from crossing the border without using Stand Ground stance, which of course exposes me to easy flanking. So I had to either accept the severe attrition, or constantly back my troops away from the border and allow Carch a free ride on my buildings near the border.
Meantime, on the attack, Uber had figured out a clever way to work around the severe attrition damage. As I built up my attack force, Uber of course could not send in troops to engage them preemptively. However he did send in a continuous series of spies. The spies all died quickly, as I had scouts so my troops were able to see the spies and open fire immediately. However it allowed Uber to keep track of exactly what forces I had and where they were headed. I tried to be sneaky and crawl along the edge of the map until I had a straight shot at his capital, bypassing his outer cities. Assassin is always Sudden Death capital elimination (lose your capital for a second and you're out), so normally my idea would be a good one. However Uber was completely aware of my tactics due to his reconnaisance, and he met my invaders outside his capital with a force that had to be twice the size of mine.
This leads me to another point. I had basically built two armies, one to defend against Carch, and one to attack Uber. They both lost. Given the size of the force that Uber used to defend against my invasion, I suspect he wasn't attacking Carch at all yet. This aspect of Assassin basically boils down to "do you feel lucky today?" I could have concentrated all my forces in just one army and sent it to attack Uber, leaving myself totally exposed to an attack from Carch. Or I could have built a totally defensive army and ignored Uber, just playing defense against Carch until Uber eventually (hopefully) attacked and eliminated Carch. But I chose to try to do both, and it wound up costing me both battles. I suspect Uber chose to play defense only for a long time, presumably until he had nukes. With my split army, my invasion had no chance
Later in the game, Uber used another clever way to get around the severe attrition damage rule. Carch was knocking on the doorstep of my capital when Uber hit Modern (Carch and I were still Industrial). I told Carch that Uber was probably getting ready to nuke (you know, cult of the ICBM and all that). Carch realized the danger and called off his attack on me. He said we shoud go get Uber's oil sources. But of course Carch himself couldn't do anything about it since he couldn't invade Uber. I tried to muster another invasion force to go after Uber, but I was so far behind at this point that Uber slaughtered me. I suspect that Uber still hadn't attacked Carch yet. Anyway back to the clever part, Uber did in fact build nukes. But instead of nuking Carch, he nuked me! The severe attrition damage does not apply to missles. You can target whoever you want apparently.
I eventually resigned, mostly as a favor to Carch. Once I resigned, he would be allowed to attack Uber directly without the severe attrition damage. I was so far behind anyway that my fate was inevitable.
I definitely learned a lot about what not to do in Assassin games. I would love to hear from Carch and Uber, regarding who eventually won and their take on the game in general.
?
, but he just sent me the full replay. Haven't watched it myself yet, so I don't know who won. It's zipped.
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