Zalson plays one turn at a time [COMPLETE]

[Zalson]

Couple of busy days mean I have been completely unable to play at all.

However, it’s basically all just “build units" and "load them onto ships."

T235: dry-docks go in everywhere. Start Galleons.

Upgrade all camel archers to cav.

T236:
Realize I should have switched to Theocracy on T236. Rats. That would have given most galleons an extra movement point.



The mass cavalry upgrade did some things to my power.

I’m now at 18 Galleons. The next round will be followed by a round of frigates. Then it’ll be build wealth for the journey(?). We’ll see how many casualties I take the first time around; I can’t imagine it’ll be that many: Ragnar had 3 pikemen and 10 longbows.

I have 40 cav. The first expedition is on their way: they’re going to drop forces in Shaka’s territory, who’ll hopefully allow us to kill Ragnar in 2-3 turns.


Our first expedition.

Most of the new galleons I’ve created are a little too far away to be able to serve in the initial assault, I suppose. (EDIT: this is not the case, in retrospect)

They’re 8 turns away from my staging city and then 4 turns away from Ragnar. It’s not a big deal but it’s something to keep in mind. So, with that said, I’m probably 8 turns or so from laying the smack down on Ragnar.

Actually, for all the galleons on the east coast, it would have been faster to circumnavigate. I probably should have planned this a little bit sooner.

Anyway, I hope to take all cities except for Nidaros on T1 on the war. Nidaros I will take on T2. The real question at this point is: do I want to  keep these cities? I'm rather inclined not to keep them. Just burn the entire continent to the ground, shuffle the units into position, and then burn Shaka's cities (all except the one he founded on the furs).



T237
Finally decided to pay attention to where I was moving things and got things in better position.

T238
Apparently forgot to report on this turn. However, Steam Power came in turn T239 which means that all river cities got levees (well, except the ones where they had like 2 river tiles (Thebes).

T239

The presence of Levees means that Damascus is a much better city than Medina. So Mecca is slowly going to starve down to a smaller size while Damascus picks up all the riverside tiles.

I get a great scientist who I’ll use to get Scientific Method. Victoria gets a great engineer…. for a purpose I suppose I will find out about when I get to Victoria’s house.

More unit shuffling.

T240
I make the rather dastardly move of sending my Cavalry through Ragnar’s lines.

They will all be in position next turn.

Unfortunately, it’ll will have to be T243 about when I attack. That’s when I’ll have all my assault troops in position, it looks like.

T241
Democracy comes in. Start economics and will finish with 100% overflow and will get scientific method after that.

Everything is getting into position on T241. I’ll give you the big reveal in another post: who’s attacking what and where.

I do have enough galleons now, though, to load/unload everyone across the sea. So that’s nice. Unfortunately, the disembark was a little slow. The epic unit shuffle on T242 should be fun.



Alarming power spike

[Mardoc]

The real question at this point is: do I want to  keep these cities? I'm rather inclined not to keep them.

I would suggest you keep any cities that claim new happy resources, enough cities to give yourself vision of any attempted settling parties so you don't have to burn a continent twice, and enough cities that you can cash-rush/upgrade/heal units in, between wars (it looks like there's a chance Victoria gets to a military level that makes you need reinforcements or upgrades). Oh, and maybe cities with wonders that have global effect, if any exist. Of course those categories can overlap, so it may only add up to a handful of cities total.

But it does look like you're going to be wrapping this one up pretty darn soon

[Zalson]

T242
The clam before the storm. Attack will come on T244, because then I’ll have everyone in position.

Here’s a line of ships. No ships of the line, of course. Too slow.



T243

Sing, muse, and let slip the dogs of war.
Sing for those lost in Jelling and Roskilde.
Of Birka and Tonsberg and Nidaros.
Uppsala and Bjorgvdn are weeping.
And Haithhabu burns in the night.
Sing of brave Vikings, trodden in dust,
‘neath the hooves of horse
under a hail of fire and lead.
Sing for the Vikings who are no more.








T244
Let’s declare war. Then, naturally, I revolt Uppsala before I can hit it. Dang.



Naturally, the attack at Bjorgvdn does not go well. for some reason, i decided not put spies in all those cities.

So, I am going to train some more spies and use them to destroy Shaka on T1.

Tons berg has nothing, so it burns. (well, a settled great engineer isn’t enough for me to keep it).



Jelling has an academy but nothing worthwhile.

Roskilde has nothing so it burns.

So, in 1 turn, I killed 4 cities, lost a bunch of Cav in the north. Spies will be used for all interior cities going forward. It’s just too valuable not to. Naturally, I totally screwed the pooch with the spies. idiot.




T245
Ragnar’s counter attack takes out two wounded cav.

Scientific method comes in.

Take and burn the temple of Artemis at Uppsala. We’re Jewish; we will not worship that heathen goddess.



Burn Bjorgvdn. Ragnar tries to block Haithabu with a catapult but that won’t work.





I’ll keep Haithabu around because it claims incense. And keep Nidaros for the Pyramids. Oh, and the ENORMOUS NUMBER OF GREAT PEOPLE!





And that’s it for Ragnar.

And that’s it for the vikings.

i didn’t even get a chance to see what happened to their power graph.

I’m going to leave it at that. The next move now is to do the same thing to Shaka. But that was so incredibly fast that … well, I don’t know what to do with myself. Some scattered thoughts, I guess, in response:

I realize why people concede when they do.

I’m getting communism next turn. I’ll switch to that, and then start research on … um … combustion? Destroyers/transports would make this a LOT quicker. Physics might also be on the list.

But, man, what else should I do?

Yeah, a break is in order.

—

Sing, muse, and let slip the dogs of war.
Sing for those lost in Jelling and Roskilde.
Of Birka and Tonsberg and Nidaros.
Uppsala and Bjorgvdn are weeping.
And Haithhabu burns in the night.
Sing of brave Vikings, trodden in dust,
‘neath the hooves of horse
under a hail of fire and lead.
Sing for the Vikings who are no more.

[Zalson]

T245 (continued)
State Property and Communism come next turn.

I’ll switch to Universal Suffrage, State Property and Caste System at the same time.

The unit shuffle continues. The nice thing is that I’ve got t-t-t-ton of galleons. The bad news is I have to manage the management of them.

I also will need just one more great person after the spy from communism to keep the golden age going. I can get the physics scientist with my scientist (which I’ll do; no point in a corporation at this point). The profit I am going to get from Thebes in 4 turns should serve nicely.



Power graph from last turn.



I’m putting some espionage into Shaka, hoping to get some city visibility. It it looks like I’ll need about 8 units for each city. He has one stack of about 10 units. He’s got 8 cities which means I need to kill about 74 units. I’ve got about 40 cav and 14 rifles in the theatre. the issue, as always, is application of the maximum force. I think I can probably take it on the chin and still win.

This does mean that my spies need to go to Victoria over. Also, a little dismayed to realize that Mecca will get another great scientist before the great prophet from Mecca.

I’ve also realized that cannons have no value any longer. Cavalry and frigates are much stronger.

T246
This just in: I somehow managed to create a privateer. This will enable me to … harass victoria? I guess?

Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good.



Also, I think I’ll need to carefully manage Mecca as it starves down to a smaller size. It’s just not as good as damascus.




Maybe I want to bulldoze those cottages for watermills? And add some windmills? (That’s the right choice, as it prevents me from starving).

I think that Universal Suffrage is more useful to me now than Rep. Najran and Mecca will lose 2 happy (but they’ve got a surplus). The larger issue is that I’ll lose over 100 beakers. But I think the extra town production will make up for it. I’ve got at least 70 towns (I think). I guess there’s only one way to find out.









PROD AFTER

Trading about 388 beakers for ~200 hammers is a little steep. But I need units more than research now. Once the statue shows up, I think it’s a losing proposition though. It does make Najran my best hammer city though, which is really nice. 5 turn Kremlin in Najran, though!



I’m about 3 turns away from being able to attack Shaka. It’ll take me that long to get troops on to his eastern seaboard.

Fortunately, this time around, I’ll have significantly more concentrated force (than when I attacked Ragnar)



For this turn: 100% espionage on Shaka. Then, once I have visibility on him: 100% on Victoria (I’ll need a spy or two in each inland city. So let’s order those up now, so that in 10 turns I can take her down.

I’m guessing that it’ll be about 10 turns before I can kill Victoria. But I’d like it to be in 1 turn, if I can.

Cities that are in revolt lose all cultural influence? Right?

Anyway, I’d to play another turn but considering that this one took me an hour… yeah…

[T-hawk]

I’ve got about 40 cav and 14 rifles in the theatre. ... I’ve also realized that cannons have no value any longer.

Not for bombarding, but do you know how collateral damage works?  You attack with a few (about five) cannons at a city, and even though most will die, they knock everything down to half or so health and then everything else of yours wins with no further losses.

Trading about 388 beakers for ~200 hammers is a little steep. But I need units more than research now.

Right.  That trade isn't great in the abstract, but your win condition involves only hammers and not beakers, so only that matters now.

Cities that are in revolt lose all cultural influence? Right?

Only from a culture-flip revolt.  Not from a spy revolt.

Anyway, I’d to play another turn but considering that this one took me an hour… yeah…

Kuro, are you still going to play 52 of these?

[Zalson]

Oh yeah, I know how collateral works. It's just that I'm trying to finish this as quickly as possible: it takes 5 to 6 turns to walk the cannons up to a city. In that time, I can blitz through 2 cities with my stack of 20 cav. Yeah, sacrificing some units but -- what do I need them for? Conquer the non-existent barbs? That's mostly what I meant by "useless."

That is why I am thinking of getting Physics ASAP (and probably should have done that sooner rather than later). Airships can get a little damage to defenders which makes the top of the stack much easier to break. Realistically, the only unit I fear right now are triple-promoted pikes -- and even those guys aren't that much of a threat (except amphibiously -- and that's what rifles are for). And I think only ragnar had them.

If cannons could attack off ships, though....

Only from a culture-flip revolt. Not from a spy revolt.

Dag yo. Thanks. Spies are still useful (commerce for reduced damage modifiers!) but it does prevent a 1 turn conquest (unless I wanted to spend the next 10 turns just building spies and then spreading culture in all of victoria's cities and ugh).

[Zalson]

T250
The beginning of the end for Shaka. Unfortunately, my force isn’t manifested as tightly as I had hoped. I’ve only got 3x his power.



First target: Nodwengu. We’ll rebase my airships here to hit the big stack in Ondini.



Lost one rifleman stupidly attacking against a longbow but other than that, took Nodwengu flawlessly.



Lots of buildings survived capture!



Disembarked north of Nobamba. Maybe not the best tactical choice but I hope it convinces Shaka to attack rather than stack in cities. We’ll have to see.



Other than that, next turn, all cities will complete airships next turn. I’ll need some places to store those units — so I’ll be capturing more of Shaka’s cities. Realistically, I should have kept up my play and replanted cities all over Ragnar’s land. Oh well. Also, should have brought more cannon.

[Zalson]

T251
With 52 frigates built and maybe 40 available, I am finally able to reduce defenses in 3 cities to just about 0:

Ondini


Nobamba


Ulundi


And had troops available to grab the first 2.


Then it’s just the airship and unit shuttle. My hope is that the stack in Nongoma decides to counter-attack Ondini. We’ll see; might have enough units to shred the overland attacking stack.



T252
First war weariness in Najran.



Shaka did indeed shred that stack threatening Nongoma. I think if I’d given promotions to the Cavs, I probably would have won. Dang.

I also mismanaged my airships. instead of attacking vulnerable cities like Ulundi and … uMgungundlovu (try saying that 1 time slowly), I wasted their attacks on cities I was unable to hit, such as Nongoma and kwaDukuza.



It wasn’t too big a deal, of course.



Although, I really should have prioritized Ulundi first. Chichen Itza could have shaved probably one turn off attack.

Shaka, cagey as he is, attempts to swamp an in transit galleon with his caravel stack. Nice try, buddy. I think he might be able to get one but not a loaded one (I hope).



Next turn is curtains for Mr. Zulu.

T253

Shaka’s Caravel blitz proved effective. Sank one galleon (which may or may not have been full).


However, it was too little too late.







1 UNIT SHORT! My 1.5 health cavalry didn’t have enough juice to get even 1 hit on the 0.52 health pikeman and so withdrew from combat. Should have brought one more. What an idiot.

T254
And that’s all she wrote.



Just Victoria left. Planning commences after a break.

[Zalson]

Finished the game on t264. Report upcoming.

[Zalson]

Victoria’s going to be a bit tougher than Shaka and Ragnar. She’s got about 1/2 my power and more dangerously: she’s got it all at the front. So I’m going to need to bait her stacks into an attack. The nice thing about that, though, is I can pick my poison.

First things first, I’ll need to get everyone staged in the south.

Well, no: first things first is to get all my cities to stop building units and build … wealth. I don’t need any more units. I just need faster turns.

The real issue is this stack right here:


Once that one goes down, won’t have many issues.


Combustion comes in next turn. That means destroyers and transports — and an end to research for a good while. While aircraft would be useful, I just don’t see me getting them quickly enough. I’ll attack victoria in 2 turns, I think. Just enough time for me to get my units in place and attack.

T255
I guess we’re starting early:



So let’s sail out.




T256


Landfall and control of the seas. Trying to goad the stack to attack my defenders northwest of Coventry.

T257
Statue of Liberty comes in. Timely! Not really too much point in going through all my cities and fixing them up at this point, so I won’t. But I did get the Statue in a 10 turn build out of Najran.




There’s the stack of doom.




And here’s mine staying put.

T258
Landfall on the eastern front.



Stack of doom moves into position.



Here we go.

T259
No attack from the stack of doom, so I’ll make victoria’s move for her:


40 to 1 kill ratio. Some how managed to lose an 80% combat flawlessly (no hits) which was a major bummer. Otherwise, I would have been an infinite victor.


Now it’s just the cleanup.

T260
Lose 1 galleon in the interturn. No idea where it was or if it was loaded.

The issue now is: how to kill Victoria in fewer than 10 turns (answer: not that hard).



Once we kill York, that’ll open the route to London and Nottingham. Then, we’ll loop around to Lakamba and Chichen Itza.

….

And then the game crashed 1/2 through T261. So I had to replay that turn although I had more misfortune the second time around.

T261 (try 2)
Victoria decides to kill two workers that i stole from her — and then also poisons the water at Coventry. Oh the humanity!



Warwick has a very thorny set of defenders, costing me 2 highly promoted cavalry. Dag, yo.



Newcastle: not so much



Next turn could be it….




T262
Can’t be T262 turn: don’t have enough units that can reach Nottingham/Hastings in 1 turn.

Did have enough to take several other cities, though.





And I think next turn does it.



I did make an error with the Cavalry at Nottingham; they should have been 1N. Then they could fork Hasting and Nottingham. Darn.

t263
Thus falls Oxford.



thus falls Mayapan.



2 successful missions at Hastings and Nottingham and it’s all over but for the screaming.


Nottingham



And Hastings, falls to Great General Cao Cao, who’s been fighting for Arabia since the war with Egypt 2 millennia ago.




Shift-Enter for the conquest victory — and completing flight. And being told that Shandong is undefended. And that I need a bank in Basra.

…

Naturally, I forgot to screenshot the victory message. Because of the stupid Bank message.