Gavagai's thread

[Gavagai]

I just honestly don't know what to do now, my only conceivable strategy revolved around this spy and subsequent GA. Really, one of those points when you just want to stop playing. And how the fuck Bacchus can research so fast? He was able to research Communism just one turn slower than me at breakeven gold (he actually was making a big profit last turn). And this is given that I totally raped my economy to be able to researh it in 3 turns.
I really so so hate it. What I would want to do is to burn Thebes, concede the game to Furungy and forget it as one of the worst games in my whole carrier.

[Gavagai]

I think the game will end soon. I still want to see how operation "Starfall" would play out but I don't have much hopes for it. I will be attacking Amsterdam at the second half of T204, five turns from now. Furungy has enough time to research Assembly Line and upgrade a couple Infantries after I land (he has quite a lot of gold saved up). I most probably would be able to raze Amsterdam anyway but at massive cost and won't get any further.
I played a really terrible game during last 50 turns and certainly didn't deserve to win this. Being a top power for about 50 turns and achieving exactly nothing is just indecent. I think my biggest mistake was trying to fight what was essentially a two-fronts war: keeping an army in the east to contain Furungy and an another army in the west to subjigate Zanth. What I should have done is to focus exclusively on Furungy the moment I saw him researching naval techs. I didn't do this because I was worried that Zanth would become a runaway if left alone and I would just swap one leader for another without gaining anything for myself. As it turned out, I overestimated Zanth's potential: his economy is still worse than mine I think. If I would manage to burn several Furungy's cities by now, I would be in an excellent shape.

[Gavagai]

And yes, losing the game to Furungy is particularly painful as he didn't play a good game as well. Really, Bacchus, Zanth and even Hum who seem to be making quite a recovery deserve victory more. It was a very interesting game but I feel very bad about the way it is going to end and I feel that this ending is mostly my fault.

[Gavagai]

Well... I decided that I still want to revolt into Theocracy/State Property, eating up two turns of Anarchy and...



A loan I took from Hum, of course. I guess, this picture sums up perfectly what I was doing for the last 50 turns.

[Gavagai]

OK, Hum got Steel. May be he would be able to organize a non-pathetic attack, though my fleet was pretty surely spotted (I can hope to confuse him about where my ships are moving but chances for this are slim). I burned a GS on Physics. With Airships and Theocracy I should be able to dominate seas until Furungy gets Destroyers and prevent him from landing. That's why going for Destroyers would be a better option for him in the vacuum.

[Gavagai]

Decided to research Steel before Physics. Airships are good but Ironworks, cannons and drydocks are all too useful in my situation.

[Gavagai]

A couple of assorted screenshots:



This is my galley chain designed to transport units from Tir na Nog and Aztlan to mainland (or other way around). There is also a galley sitting in Avallon and with circumnavigation bonus I can ferry stuff back and forth in one turn.

Also, this is hilarious:



I would really want to know what it took Furungy to put a dike in this place.

I think I still can win this, provided my attack will be crippling enough. The plan is to take Steel, than go Replacable Parts - Rifling while building a lot of Cuirs and Cannons. After that I will upgrade all Cuirs to Cavalry. Cavalry with Cannon support is actually pretty good against Infantry if in large numbers. With this kind of force I may be able to attack once again before he gets Destroyers and not pillage but actually keep this beautifull peace of land:

[Commodore]

Well, you don't lack for ambition. What kind of numbers are you talking?

[Gavagai]

I didn't do the math yet. Also, I'm still undecided whether I would want to slip in Physics. Let's say something like 40-50 Cavalry and 15 Cannons landing near the Hague by T230 (with a healthy sream of reinforcements incoming). This is a very rough estimate which can be off by a wide margin.
My plan assumes that Amsterdam and Utrecht will get razed during "Starfall" and that Hum will do some noticable damage on his front (otherwise Furungy will have Destroyers before I can master up this attack, I think). So, we are talking about taking three mature mainland cities plus Rotterdam plus cities in the south which he would most probably replant. What works in my favor is that he doesn't have mainland connection with former Alexander's cities. He would need to ferry reinforcements from there and I hope to have naval superiority by that point.

[Gavagai]

And yes, another important factor is whether Furungy would have his railroad network up by the time of attack. With railroads it, of course, would be much more difficult.