[Spoilers] Fintourist and Old Harry have nothing to see here

[Old Harry]

If we're fighting dtay's infantry I think getting assembly line is the right move - we can start researching this turn can't we?

[Fintourist]

We are chatting about this, but let's just note here as well that 2metra was too quick and already played his turn (and whipped+drafted quite a bit) so it's not technically okay anymore to switch our research. But next turn we probably start grinding towards Assemly Line, which means that we will have draftable infantry available when our peace with mack runs out.. Just in case..

[Old Harry]

Turn 227 prolog

It's been a while since I did one of these. Don't worry I'm not back full-time just yet... Anyway Fintourist isn't wrong about the chaos - the world is a powder keg right now, and what we do next all depends which way Commodore and Dtay jump. I think we need to put ourselves in a position where we can take dtay's island from him in a turn (any longer than that and he'll draft some infantry in West City and Milos):


Our six-move galleon would let us take Berlin and burn or take Fortunato with three amphibious cav onboard (76% for three fights means we should win two of them, right?) At the same time Sewer Jack is vulnerable to 2-movers (it has an Infantry in with the Musket at present, but maybe he'll move away...)


Finally dtay's real strength is on his west coast - he's got too many units here for us to keep Hamburg, then we'd need a huge naval assault to actually make any progress against the Kannone, Muskets and Infantry that he'll be producing now.


So if Commodore does attack do we jump in that turn, or do we wait a turn or two, hoping dtay will move his forces east and fearing that he'll sniff the dogpile and reinforce his vulnerable spots? Our army consists of
- 18 Cav
- 23 Cuir
- 15 Knights
- 28 Catapults
- 10 Cannon
- 33 Muskets
- 12 Rifles
And a bunch of crap. Right now that could do some damage to dtay, but if he continues to draft Infantry then we'll just bounce off him. We're due another Great General soonish which could do some commando damage to his backlines (he has a lot of cities with only one unit in).


First up we'll move one of the airships Commodore sent us to see if he's actually


Mack offered Wheat for Sugar, which I turned down as we already get Wheat in trade. And at this point I'm off for a bit. Will finish off the turn later on.

[Old Harry]

Turn 227 cont.

The loaned airship gives us a good sight of what William did to 2Metra last turn. I suspect there will be some comeback from 2Metra and this stack of knights and Cats though... If I wasn't suddenly looking towards dtay I'd be salivating at the thought of all those Cats getting used up on William rather than us! Unfortunately even if they do kill a whole lot of each other's units we just don't have the firepower over here to start making inroads. Another complaint about our central position causing us to need forces on every border .


I made an executive decision that we don't want to pester 2Metra any longer (feel free to overrule me next turn FT!) - I think William has the whip hand right now, so the less 2Metra is worrying about us the more damage he can do to him. I pulled our Frigates back from their blockading duties and moved them to cover a possible attack on dtay - we could hit the two western cities on the island next turn, then we move our ships into the city to be protected from the ironclads. I hope the way I've moved the ships will look unsuspicious to dtay, but even if they are suspicious he can't actually sink any of our loaded galleons. One other thing - we shouldn't attack Hero's Passing, even though it's empty - it's not worth anything to us, and not attacking might cause 2Metra to empty other coastal cities to defend against William...


In the east I chickened out and we can only hit Berlin, Sewer Jack and Hamburg next turn, not Fortunato. But that's fine - it was actually better defended than I thought so we wouldn't have taken it anyway. We could get a four-move Ironclad or two from Jamestown if you think it'd be useful, but I think Cavalry are more help to us right now...


I think our beaker bonus for Assembly line is 65% - 45% for known tech bonus from four other civs knowing it . We're also running 10% espionage this turn to hide our units from dtay for a turn or two (hopefully longer).

Demos and power - I worry that Mack is gearing up to hit us at the same time as he devours Azza - fingers are crossed that that isn't the case. Powerful defence those crossed fingers.

[Fintourist]

Ha! OH takes over and we are immediately with one foot in a new war!

Anyways, these things make me
- We only have couple of turns left of our enforced peace with mack so we are kind of inviting him to pile on us
- Commodore probably isn't ready to attack dtay yet so we are going in alone if we initiate action immediately
- Dtay has infantry, we will still need those couple of turns to get our own
- It's maybe a long shot, but if we attack immediately we rule out the minor hope of dtay attacking 2metra and puttings significant amount of troops out of position

One other thing - we shouldn't attack Hero's Passing, even though it's empty - it's not worth anything to us, and not attacking might cause 2Metra to empty other coastal cities to defend against William...

I was wondering whether we should take it as a sign to WilliamLP that there is something happening here in the east and that we actually forcing quite a few 2metra units to stay here.

...

Aaaanyways, I'm more than uncertain about this attack, but not saying no or anything. I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of an invasion force you did put together

[Old Harry]

Ha! Perhaps I wasn't clear - I think we should be in a position to attack the turn that Commodore does. If we declare on dtay right now we declare on Com too and wreck our economy. Anyway I logged in as I wanted to see what Com is up to and he's offered a war trade for 16 gold - which would mean he's attacking turn 244. That's consistent with his last offer (I think), but so far in the future that the game might be over by then! There is no sign of military mobilisation over here, just defensive forces (nice use of Ironclads by the way). I didn't offer anything back yet.


So actually I'd use the airship and aquatic troops in the west to see what you can gain from the remains of Ichabod for the next ten turns, then think about dtay. Did 2Metra pile into William last turn by the way? I didn't check...

[Fintourist]

Ha! (vol. 3) I see!

I'm heading off to a party right now, so if you have time/interest in playing the current turn that's great. Otherwise will do it in the morning! Focusing west and organizing an attack in 16 turns with Commodore sounds good if we are still alive!

[Old Harry]

Afraid I'm going away for the weekend in three hours, so no can do. I'll request a pause.

[Fintourist]

I'm way too broken/kaputt/säpäleinä for a proper report.. But it seems that our galleons scared/alarmed dtay and he drafted/upgraded/moved in infantries in threatened cities. I have our troops in a bit more passive positions currently, but I think someone with a clear head could build us a new plan where do we want to keep all our forces during this defensive peace time.

[Fintourist]

Still too exhausted for proper reporting, but here are couple of screenshots:

1. I totally misclicked a privateer and suicided it against a frigate from plako Here is my way of saying I'm sorry although plako just got free XP out of the fight:




It will surely be misinterpreted in some way

2. Mack made peace with Azza and he has finally started converting his MFG into power:




We still have couple of turns worth of enforced peace, but does anybody else smell doom?

Round of drafted infantries might be something to consider immediately when Assembly Line comes in? Well, at least our own power graph is going into right direction as well and it probably needs to keep doing so. Currently I'm feeling pretty exhausted (mostly due to my physical condition), but regardless of what happens, if attacked we won't go down without a huge pile of bodies..

3. 2metra took a city back from WilliamLP. I actually think he should be taking more, because William captured way more cities than he should be able to defend when we remember that Ichabod still had quite an army left when 2metra took over.

4. As reported last time, dtay has infantries in his border cities now. With mack building power, dtay being alarmed, 2metra and WilliamLP changing only limited number of units, our attacking prospects seem again very very limited. So what needs to happen is to signal mack that we aren't tasty at all. Hope he starts fighting against plako/scooter and meanwhile we try to improve our position in some creative and desperate way.. :P