RB PBEM #1 - Gandhi [spoilers]

[Square Leg]

Well the best news is the support lines to corinth can be broken very easily by spy action - and not only that, there are hills between corinth and the rest of his empire. This means even 2 movers will have trouble re-inforcing. Destroy th road 1NE of Corinth and possibly the one NE of that and why not the one NE of that on the pigs if you can.

Other than that it looks like a stalemate!

Can Dreylin get you a galley on that lake or is it too small (or does he not have a city there?)

Also - could soooo tell what was on the galley before it makes landfall?

If the answer to the above questions is Yes and No then you could have a group of say 4-5 galleys row up towards Sparta. This would indicate you have about 8-10 troops heading into the heart of his kingdom and he would have no choice but to divert resources away from Corinth. Of course the galley's are the trojan horse here and with less troops in Corinth you could attack in 2 turns.

Destroy the roads after he has vacated some troops from Corinth so they cannot easily get back.

Then Raze Corinth! and replace!

[Krill]

Less cannons more Cav and drafted rifles. With spy actions Corinth could be dead in 10 turns.

[Ruff_Hi]

Thx for your comments - all good and pretty obvious so far. I am planning to cut road access to Corinth as much as I can. I don't think the galley option will work - no Dreylin city for starters.

But most importantly, Sooooo has sent his iron to Athlete. Dreylin is trying to block that by closing borders with Sooooo. If the iron trade is not blocked, then no more cannons, Cuir for Sooooo until he gets his second source of Iron on line in 5 to 8 turns. Obviously, I have enough cannons at the moment and need more Cav and Rifles but that is difficult as I only got Rifling last turn .

Sooooo currently has the turn so I cannot update you on the Iron trade status. He also popped a GE recently (GS due in 1 or 2 turns). My hope is that he settles these so that he cannot trigger a GA in response to my war declaration.

[sunrise089]

Krill is right - obviously you can't let Cannons become top defender versus Cuirassiers. Sooooo has hills outside his city, so rifles on top of your stack make it tough for him to attack out. He has some catapults, but rifles' higher strength + hill + horse bonus should make it tough for him to attack out.

[Ruff_Hi]

• FF - Cannon [1]
  
• LQ - Stable [1]
  
• DV - Conf Academy [1]
  
• BH - Cavalry [1]
  
• BS - Spy [3]
  
• AC - Rifle [3]
  
• TN - Forge [1]
  
• KS - Courthouse [11]
  
• Scout (Dead Man Walking) - scouting Sooooo land
  
• Scout (Live Man Walking) - scouting Sooooo land
  
• Tech - Steam Power [5], -103g at 100% science, 134g in the bank (thx to Dreylin)
  
• Opponent Current Tech Research
  • sooooo - Scientific Method [5], 368g, +97g @ 0%
    
  • athlete - Rifling [4], 156g, negative (guess Sooooo's gold went to Athlete)
    
  • mostly harmless - Constitution [108], 81g, +31g
    

It looks like Sooooo is feeding coin to Athlete to help him finish Rifling. I also lost those 2 farms and Death Valley is now starving. Oh dear - this means that I have 4 spare citizens at DV ... what should I do with them ... Artists! And after the EOT, when I complete the Conf Academy, DV is putting out 55 culture v Corinth's 25. I should get those farms back pretty soon.

Losing those farms also meant that DV is in danger of a surprise 2-move attack from Sooooo - I move some of my units from the 'Barracks' tile across.

[Ruff_Hi]

Then Raze Corinth! and replace!

Why raze and replace? What does that do for me except replace a size 10+ city with a size 1 city?

[Ruff_Hi]

• FF - Cavalry [3]
  
• LQ - Cavalry [2]
  
• DV - Spy [1]
  
• BH - Cavalry [2]
  
• BS - Spy [2]
  
• AC - Rifle [2]
  
• TN - Spy [1]
  
• KS - Courthouse [6]
  
• Scout (Dead Man Walking) - scouting Sooooo land
  
• Scout (Live Man Walking) - scouting Sooooo land
  
• Tech - Steam Power [5], -98g at 100% science, 175g in the bank (thx to Dreylin)
  
• Opponent Current Tech Research
  • sooooo - Scientific Method [7], 479g, +116g @ 0%
    
  • athlete - Rifling [3], 133g, negative (guess Sooooo's gold went to Athlete)
    
  • mostly harmless - Constitution [107], 109g, +28g
    

The people watching the above list closely will notice that Sooooo's tech turn counter increased this turn. Well, the game reached me and it said [4] against Scientific Method. That was before I pushed Sooooo into Hereditary Rule - only cost me 120 EPs.

I also revolted to Mercantilism and Nationhood. My own EPs (all leveled against Sooooo) climbed to 25 per turn. I drafted DV, LQ and BS. I also checked those two farm tiles at DV after I ended my turn, they were 50% Indian and 49% Greek. I expect to have them back under my control next turn.

[Ruff_Hi]

email from Sooooo

Hi, sending me out of representation makes the game very unfun for me.
Not that I blame you for doing it of course - I'd do the same thing in
your situation. But I'd like the game to continue being fun for me,
even if I've given up hope of winning, so can I offer you a deal so
you don't do it every 11 turns.

If you stop all spy actions against me for the rest of the game I will
allow you to do the settler jump to get your iron city and give you
compass and optics (not sure if you have these yet).

Its amazing what will drive people to the negotiating table. I'll think about his proposal.

[Cyneheard]

120 EP??? That's brokenly cheap. No wonder there was a push to ban this mission for RBP2. For comparison, how much would it cost you to cut a road?

Big sticks are still the best negotiator out there.

[Ruff_Hi]

• FF - Cavalry [2]
  
• LQ - Cavalry [1]
  
• DV - Rifle [3]
  
• BH - Cavalry [1]
  
• BS - Spy [1]
  
• AC - Rifle [1]
  
• TN - Rifle [4]
  
• KS - Courthouse [4]
  
• Scout (Dead Man Walking) - scouting Sooooo land
  
• Scout (Live Man Walking) - scouting Sooooo land
  
• Tech - Steam Power [391], +100g at 0% science, 77g in the bank
  
• Opponent Current Tech Research
  • sooooo - Scientific Method [6], 598g, +119g @ 0%
    
  • athlete - Rifling [2], 110g, negative
    
  • mostly harmless - Constitution [114], 140g, +43g
    

Those two farms are back under Indian control. - 50% Indian and 49% Greek.