Field of Glory Empires MP Game New Thread.

[devoncop]

Waiting to attack
Execrable foes,
Yonder rebels rise!
Zounds! -- ah quick, ally!



Ironically, the turn after I temporarily broke alliance to work on picking up the offered territory, rebels pop up randomly there! -- which I assure you I had nothing to do with, because they're going to make my problems more difficult. (And also I have no idea how to instigate rebellions in other territories in this game, or if that's even possible. But for many reasons I wouldn't do that to Egypt, including because pissing off Egypt would be suicidal.) Still, I can re-ally with Egypt faster now.  O:-) Hopefully this will add some legacy or civilization points for Egypt.

Having consolidated my expensive new army, I find I'm exactly the same power (in the AI's estimation) as the Qats, including fort for fort (or I'm one point more in fact). So I'm sure I'll be marching next turn for the rebellious coastal territory, and trusting my puissant fortifications (soon to be upgraded) to....

....

.......

...um. I picked up a new navy last time, or so I thought. I totally forgot to check on their whereabouts. They didn't spawn in and attack the enemy blockaders -- I suppose I would have seen such a report -- although on the other hand the blockade is gone. Something to look into next turn.

That's cool.

The other abandoned Egyptian coastal region may well rebel too but either way the slaves temporarily in charge will give your army some useful experience before you return to deal with the Qats.

I have been hoping to get a harbour built at least in the Red Sea so I can give some easy naval support for you but it seems you may be there first !

As soon as you take the second region send a peace request and we will ally again. I just hope Arabia , my loyal ally doesn't mug you before you manage it !

[JasonPratt]

I suspect I won't have any need to take the second area, so I already sent the alliance re-request. (We're still "cooperating" I think.) I may not recall correctly about that area being part of "Arabia Felix", though. I don't recall that it is, so consolidating Arab-ix for the benefits won't be an issue if so.

Even if I'm mis-remembering, I should have no reason to try to pick it up in the foreseeable future.  O:-)

[JasonPratt]

All to westward ride!
Bringing freedom from
Chains of slavery there.
Dare the Qats invade??


I'm running into an obvious constraint (which I can't figure out how the Qats are getting around yet) that there aren't a lot of people living in the Arabian deserts, even down near the coast. Which is screwing with my manpower. Thus, while I have plenty of gold to pay people with (thanks to generous donations from various superpowers who I suppose are hoping I won't pick a side to help militarily one day, or else pick their side ;)  -- since I doubt our poetry is worth supporting that much  >:D ), and while I have metal enough to work with, I don't have enough people to deal with normal yearly attrition turnover.

That means I can't get an army large enough yet to thwomp the Qats, who continue to steadily build up their army. (And whose fleet is still off blockading the coastline -- I have no idea what happened to the fleet I supposedly seized from local merchants to help out their mercantile goals, the choice no longer shows so I must have 'used' it, but the blockading fleet prevented it from spawning I suppose...? I didn't let the policy choice linger around long enough to expire.)

So, over to those dire "lestes" rebel ganglords who rose up against my ally, and who have created a slavery depot. DID SOMEONE HERE ORDER SOME FREEDOM?!


It's possible while my army is gone (and I'll have to use it or lose it to the manpower deficit), the Qats will take the opportunity to invade my capital; but if so, that could be to my benefit. I'll be worse off if they go after my harbor territory, since they'll easily steamroll the defenders there.

[devoncop]

All to westward ride!
Bringing freedom from
Chains of slavery there.
Dare the Qats invade??


I'm running into an obvious constraint (which I can't figure out how the Qats are getting around yet) that there aren't a lot of people living in the Arabian deserts, even down near the coast. Which is screwing with my manpower. Thus, while I have plenty of gold to pay people with (thanks to generous donations from various superpowers who I suppose are hoping I won't pick a side to help militarily one day, or else pick their side ;)  -- since I doubt our poetry is worth supporting that much  >:D ), and while I have metal enough to work with, I don't have enough people to deal with normal yearly attrition turnover.

That means I can't get an army large enough yet to thwomp the Qats, who continue to steadily build up their army. (And whose fleet is still off blockading the coastline -- I have no idea what happened to the fleet I supposedly seized from local merchants to help out their mercantile goals, the choice no longer shows so I must have 'used' it, but the blockading fleet prevented it from spawning I suppose...? I didn't let the policy choice linger around long enough to expire.)

So, over to those dire "lestes" rebel ganglords who rose up against my ally, and who have created a slavery depot. DID SOMEONE HERE ORDER SOME FREEDOM?!


It's possible while my army is gone (and I'll have to use it or lose it to the manpower deficit), the Qats will take the opportunity to invade my capital; but if so, that could be to my benefit. I'll be worse off if they go after my harbor territory, since they'll easily steamroll the defenders there.

I am assuming you have switched your pops out of money producing and into food producing roles and are building herbalists etc that give you manpower boosts as well as more food production ?

All will increase your manpower availability.....also once you get to 300 metal you should see the decision allowing you to sell 300 metal in exchange for a big chunk of manpower .....around 300 in one go.

[JasonPratt]

I'm not likely to see 300 metal stockpiled anytime real soon, but I'll keep that in mind, thanks!

Of course I'm keeping an eye out for manpower increasers (usually the blue properties, which go into the top row along with green/food properties). I don't always get options for them (and I'm not in a position yet to have the luxury of converting infrastructure points to re-rolling property proposals), and up until recently I didn't need a lot of manpower increase. Basic manpower is a factor of things other than the health properties, though. And yep, I've been amping up food properties on a regular basis since turn 1, not least so that I can have more worker groups working on things! (I'll get to grind through that constraint soon on nearby territories which only have an oasis; and in my Rhaetia test games my capital territory takes for freaking ever to get anything made including food production properties by which I can gain more worker groups to get things made faster.) Even so, I'm using manpower (for initial and ongoing costs) faster than the food production can keep up, out here in the desert.

The game helps offset this by a mechanic, which varies among cultures and nations for balancing purposes, where the nation can field x-number of troops at no costs. For Rhaetia that's 10, if I recall correctly -- I don't recall what for Saba. (It really hasn't been an issue so far. ;) But I've clearly transcended that now with my emergency levy!)

[JasonPratt]

Eastward back again,
Freeing slaves enslaved.
Gathering for war,
Homeward first and then...!



The campaign to free the slaves worked better than I had hoped, although in the process I discovered that the rebels were themselves former slaves rising up against Egypt. But they were still turning around and enslaving themselves and other people, and they had a chance to stop that already. So now I have stopped it for them.  Have some farms instead! (Quite a Biblical outcome there.)

The fleet off our coast appears to be starving and has no combat power, which is fine except that I have no way to whack them yet. If Egypt wishes to sweep those pitiful pirates off the trade route, I will surely have no objections!

While I can field an army strong enough to beat the Qats in the field, I'm unsure whether I have enough to deal with their garrison, too, at the same time. If the game allows me to work on them piecemeal, I might win. The Qatabian army is mostly skirmish, including light cav, with I think only one or maybe two regular foot. I have a bunch of lights, too, but also significant foot, so while I might be very worried about gaming out an invasion in FoG2, the automatic battle tends to throw lights directly into the fray where regulars can mow them down. So I like my chances: if I have enough time to consolidate my forces and strike out. Manpower is still a problem right now. I'll need this year, next year (to get the two forces used to one command) and the year after that for making the attempt. The Qats might try going for my harbor meanwhile, but if so then at least their forces will be split and I'll get it back eventually.

[devoncop]

I am unsure whether I even have a functioning harbour on the Red Sea yet to build ships.....If I do then I can sort the pirates out for you....no problem.

The Qats garrison, like yours may well include some heavies so bear that in mind....for the Capital usually 2 of the Palace Guards.

[JasonPratt]

True, their power is nothing to sneeze at. If I could feasibly wait, I would.

Speaking of waiting, as he noted through the in-game chat, SteveLohr, who plays Rome, will be heading off soon for hurricane damage recovery (and Dorian has strengthened to a Cat 5 this morning, God help everyone in its way), so we'll be going to two-day turnarounds for the next few weeks. Certainly for a worthy cause!

It'll be interesting to see what the AI gets up to with Rome in his absence...

[devoncop]

True, their power is nothing to sneeze at. If I could feasibly wait, I would.

Speaking of waiting, as he noted through the in-game chat, SteveLohr, who plays Rome, will be heading off soon for hurricane damage recovery (and Dorian has strengthened to a Cat 5 this morning, God help everyone in its way), so we'll be going to two-day turnarounds for the next few weeks. Certainly for a worthy cause!

It'll be interesting to see what the AI gets up to with Rome in his absence...

Yeah best wishes to everyone in the Bahamas and Florida. Looks like a terrible one hitting.

I can confirm that my red sea harbour arrives next turn at last so Egyptian naval vessels will soon rid you of your "Captain Jack Sparrow" issue  :)

[besilarius]

Jason, it seem that you need a better general.  How about this guy?
He did rape Thrace thrice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vN-ttCBHyx8

[Speedy]

, so we'll be going to two-day turnarounds for the next few weeks. Certainly for a worthy cause!

My understanding of how it works is we will have 2 day turnaround for 2 maybe 3 turns, then he will be classed as idle and the computer will take over and it will no longer wait the full turn duration for orders from him.

[devoncop]

A new turn and huge developments.

The Seleucids have allied with Judea and declared war on Egypt, Nabstene and Arabia whilst Egypt's own alliance with th Carthage has brought them into the conflict too.

Jerusalem is under siege but it's walls are formidible.

Th e Egyptians now have a small fleet on the Red Sea to help out the Saba next year.

With the player representing Rome away on hurricane duty the prospect of any help from Rome which may have been possible has gone so it seems the timing is "fortuitous" for the Seleucid forces and it is almost inevitable that the Antigonids will join in to make the result beyond doubt but we shall see.

[JasonPratt]

In a year or less
Just for freeing slaves
Kindled decadence!
Legacy returns.



I have no clear idea why, but my decadence jumped by 29 points in one turn, so now my CDR rank has plummeted from 2nd place to around 25th.  :o Studying the tally gives me no help in understanding the sharp falloff. Was there a patch??

The Qats picked up a bunch of mercs last turn, somehow -- someone must be giving them cash, because I can't see how they can afford to keep this up. Even with the cash, they should be starving for food, but here they still are. And the new troops are top quality, too, 3 stars mostly. So no invasion any time soon: we're at parity on the ground now, or they might be a bit better!

My manpower hangs at -5, but it's slowly improving. My units aren't suffering badly from manpower shortages anyway.

I'm finally back from negative legacy (after raising emergency levies several turns ago.)

I'll have to consider creating sucker-territories nearby, to lure the Qats into splitting their forces trying to take them for themselves. (Aside from the nice challenge of bootstrapping up some desert oases into blooming civilization!)

[al_infierno]

Okay, I gotta get one thing off my chest.  When you miss a turn in multiplayer and the AI takes over for you, it generally plays pretty safe...

BUT WHY DOES IT INSIST ON PLUMMETING YOUR ECONOMY BY QUEUING UP DOZENS OF TROOPS YOU CAN'T AFFORD?!?!

This crap makes me wish the game would just do nothing for me when I miss a turn instead of letting the AI run my country for me....   :pullhair:  That and re-arranging all the citizens in every region to focus on one single production... I just can't be bothered to go manually un-fuck every single thing the AI did every time I miss a turn.  I just quit at least half of the multiplayer games I had going except the few that I care enough to put in the effort.

/rant

[devoncop]

Okay, I gotta get one thing off my chest.  When you miss a turn in multiplayer and the AI takes over for you, it generally plays pretty safe...

BUT WHY DOES IT INSIST ON PLUMMETING YOUR ECONOMY BY QUEUING UP DOZENS OF TROOPS YOU CAN'T AFFORD?!?!

This crap makes me wish the game would just do nothing for me when I miss a turn instead of letting the AI run my country for me....   :pullhair:  That and re-arranging all the citizens in every region to focus on one single production... I just can't be bothered to go manually un-fuck every single thing the AI did every time I miss a turn.  I just quit at least half of the multiplayer games I had going except the few that I care enough to put in the effort.

/rant

Thankfully I am able to not miss turns being retired but for those with real life jobs that must be a pain.