Turn 232 – 1610 AD
I logged in to find Aquaman’s garrison the same as I had left it, so I sounded the attack, sent in the brave Incan marines, and…
Yeah, combat luck was NOT atrocious, and they took it without complications.
An entire galleon of muskets died before a single one of the defenders did, but that was to be expected, and they did enough damage in their fights for the next few attackers to capture the city with only one more casualty. In total, I lost 3 musketmen and one swordsman in the battle. That left me with only four swordsmen and three musketmen for offensive units in the area, most of them badly wounded, which means that my city-capturing offensive is out of steam for now. However, Superdeath moved riflemen to all of his remaining coastal cities on his half of the turn, so there would not have been more city captures anyway.
Holding and developing Aquaman will be a very interesting task. Superdeath’s rifles and cuirassiers would stand a good chance of taking the city back if I ever let them launch a large assault against it, so the Incan Navy will need to maintain a strong presence in the area at all times to block galleys. The two key tiles are the ones to the immediate north and northeast of Shazam, since those are the ones that MarvelDC galleys would need to pass through to reach Aquaman in one turn, and if they take more than one turn, then I can easily sink them. In regards to the city’s development, the main problem is how culturally swamped it is, which I hadn’t really considered before. It has so few tiles that mass starvation will start as soon as the revolt is over, so massive whipping will start immediately, probably for culture buildings. At least I got a very good infrastructure haul of a terrace, a lighthouse, a market, and a courthouse.
Now for those sneaky plans I mentioned.
But first a quick recap of what has been happening in the chaotic mainland war, because it is relevant to my plans and it has been interesting to observe from afar. I definitely appreciate the distance, though. It’s good for my health.
After my last report of what was happening, a few more cities were captured, some were burnt (including Sidon
), and I’m sure that many more units must have been slaughtered, but all three civilizations were building new troops so fast that their power graphs barely even ticked downward. Then shallow_ru signed a peace treaty with Superdeath. I briefly thought that this meant the current round of wars was coming to an end, but Superdeath proved me wrong last turn when he declared war on his erstwhile ally Elkad, and the Orphans kept up their offensive as well. Under this pressure, Elkad has already lost… six cities, I think. His score has diminished more than 700 points from what it was ten turns ago, and he felt desperate enough to switch into slavery and start whipping a lot. I feel confident predicting that he is out of the running for victory now, and if things continue at the current rate, then the problem of how to get to third place may take care of itself. Probably not, though, since you can see that the Orphans have made peace, which brings us to the present situation.
Whew.
The first new idea I have been thinking about is called “Operation Commodore” for reasons that will soon become obvious.
As I mentioned before, Superdeath has bolstered all of his coastal garrisons with riflemen. Killing one of those amphibiously will take about 4 or 5 musketmen, and then there are the units underneath them, and it gets to the point where my five galleons aren’t enough to hold all of the musketmen who would need die for another attack to work. The inland cities probably have less defenders, but since my units can’t land and attack in one turn, they would be wiped out by cuirassiers, and since Superdeath would get a turn of warning, the threatened city would have its garrison bolstered anyway. Too bad there isn’t a way to land and then attack in one turn… Except there is!
If you land a unit and then give it the Morale promotion, then it can use the movement point from Morale on that same turn! This can extend my threat range for surprise attacks one tile inland, which is just enough to reach Wonder Woman. Last time I checked, which was only three turns ago, Wonder Woman had one axeman for defense. A well-promoted musketman would have about a 65% chance of winning that fight, which I think it good enough to at least try setting this up. Next turn, one of my galleons sails west to pick up Gustavus Adolphus II from Kabul.
The second idea doesn’t have a name yet.
Historically, Elkad has maintained a sturdy defense of White bear. The city has culture, walls, and a castle, all boosted by Chichen-Itza, and its defenders were three well-promoted longbowmen and a musketman. However, it is becoming more vulnerable now. A longbowman and the musketman just left to help defend the mainland, and I am almost to frigates to bombard tile defenses from the sea. Therefore, I am considering an effort to capture the city.
I don’t have every detail of the plan figured out yet, but I have a general idea of what to do, which I will explain better as it becomes more refined and the time to attack draws nearer. Look to see the city fall around Turn 240 if things work as I hope they do.
I logged in to find Aquaman’s garrison the same as I had left it, so I sounded the attack, sent in the brave Incan marines, and…
Yeah, combat luck was NOT atrocious, and they took it without complications.
An entire galleon of muskets died before a single one of the defenders did, but that was to be expected, and they did enough damage in their fights for the next few attackers to capture the city with only one more casualty. In total, I lost 3 musketmen and one swordsman in the battle. That left me with only four swordsmen and three musketmen for offensive units in the area, most of them badly wounded, which means that my city-capturing offensive is out of steam for now. However, Superdeath moved riflemen to all of his remaining coastal cities on his half of the turn, so there would not have been more city captures anyway. Holding and developing Aquaman will be a very interesting task. Superdeath’s rifles and cuirassiers would stand a good chance of taking the city back if I ever let them launch a large assault against it, so the Incan Navy will need to maintain a strong presence in the area at all times to block galleys. The two key tiles are the ones to the immediate north and northeast of Shazam, since those are the ones that MarvelDC galleys would need to pass through to reach Aquaman in one turn, and if they take more than one turn, then I can easily sink them. In regards to the city’s development, the main problem is how culturally swamped it is, which I hadn’t really considered before. It has so few tiles that mass starvation will start as soon as the revolt is over, so massive whipping will start immediately, probably for culture buildings. At least I got a very good infrastructure haul of a terrace, a lighthouse, a market, and a courthouse.
Now for those sneaky plans I mentioned.
But first a quick recap of what has been happening in the chaotic mainland war, because it is relevant to my plans and it has been interesting to observe from afar. I definitely appreciate the distance, though. It’s good for my health.
After my last report of what was happening, a few more cities were captured, some were burnt (including Sidon
), and I’m sure that many more units must have been slaughtered, but all three civilizations were building new troops so fast that their power graphs barely even ticked downward. Then shallow_ru signed a peace treaty with Superdeath. I briefly thought that this meant the current round of wars was coming to an end, but Superdeath proved me wrong last turn when he declared war on his erstwhile ally Elkad, and the Orphans kept up their offensive as well. Under this pressure, Elkad has already lost… six cities, I think. His score has diminished more than 700 points from what it was ten turns ago, and he felt desperate enough to switch into slavery and start whipping a lot. I feel confident predicting that he is out of the running for victory now, and if things continue at the current rate, then the problem of how to get to third place may take care of itself. Probably not, though, since you can see that the Orphans have made peace, which brings us to the present situation.Whew.
The first new idea I have been thinking about is called “Operation Commodore” for reasons that will soon become obvious.
As I mentioned before, Superdeath has bolstered all of his coastal garrisons with riflemen. Killing one of those amphibiously will take about 4 or 5 musketmen, and then there are the units underneath them, and it gets to the point where my five galleons aren’t enough to hold all of the musketmen who would need die for another attack to work. The inland cities probably have less defenders, but since my units can’t land and attack in one turn, they would be wiped out by cuirassiers, and since Superdeath would get a turn of warning, the threatened city would have its garrison bolstered anyway. Too bad there isn’t a way to land and then attack in one turn… Except there is!
If you land a unit and then give it the Morale promotion, then it can use the movement point from Morale on that same turn! This can extend my threat range for surprise attacks one tile inland, which is just enough to reach Wonder Woman. Last time I checked, which was only three turns ago, Wonder Woman had one axeman for defense. A well-promoted musketman would have about a 65% chance of winning that fight, which I think it good enough to at least try setting this up. Next turn, one of my galleons sails west to pick up Gustavus Adolphus II from Kabul.
The second idea doesn’t have a name yet.
Historically, Elkad has maintained a sturdy defense of White bear. The city has culture, walls, and a castle, all boosted by Chichen-Itza, and its defenders were three well-promoted longbowmen and a musketman. However, it is becoming more vulnerable now. A longbowman and the musketman just left to help defend the mainland, and I am almost to frigates to bombard tile defenses from the sea. Therefore, I am considering an effort to capture the city.
I don’t have every detail of the plan figured out yet, but I have a general idea of what to do, which I will explain better as it becomes more refined and the time to attack draws nearer. Look to see the city fall around Turn 240 if things work as I hope they do.
Participated in: Pitboss 40 (lurked by Mr. Cairo), Pitboss 45 (lurked by Charriu and chumchu), Pitboss 63 (replaced Mr. Cairo), Pitboss 66, Pitboss 69, Pitboss 74
Participating in: Pitboss 78 (lurked by GT), Pitboss 79 (lurking giraflorens)
Criticism welcome!
Participating in: Pitboss 78 (lurked by GT), Pitboss 79 (lurking giraflorens)
Criticism welcome!
Also, the attack won’t kill many of his units or hurt his ability to make more very much, and that’s what I want him to do for me. Why should I care about his economy? 
You see, Canoel only had one axeman defending it this turn, which could have been easily defeated by three muskets. However, I chose to attack White bear with the three muskets from the western galleon, the one that could have reached Canoel, before using the troops from the eastern galleons, the ones that could only reach White bear. That meant that when I scouted Canoel’s garrison with the caravel, I found it vulnerable, but all of the troops that were luckily still alive thanks to that 4.7% chance victory were too far away. 
Then Elkad moved approximately twenty-seven defenders into the city next turn, and the opportunity was gone.
I’ll have you know that it hurts me inside to see the Orphans’ core coastal cities guarded by lone warriors and spearmen. I want to burn those things down so much. 
To bad whatever jerk built this map didn’t decide to include a canal spot.