[SPOILERS - PBEM19] Huayna Capac of Ottomans - yuris125 & Maestro

[yuris125]

T107

Sent 100g to RL7. Revolted to Nationhood and Theo. Moved units towards Echo of Moscow, where the staging area will be. Sent a Jan and a Cat on a Galley to Love Radio, and a Trireme just in case. The rest of the Love Radio stack will mostly be drafted and whipped. Set us to research Engineering, due in 2t - I think improving road movement is more important right now than getting Knights faster. We should get a massive overflow, which could be sufficient to research HBR at 0%, while collecting money for Guilds

Note that we won't be able to spread Hinduism and Judaism in Theo, so the Hindu missionary we got from Commodore, and the Jewish one being built in Retro FM will have to hand around in Ultra until we revolt back and are able to use them (actually, the Jewish Missionary built will probably be auto-cancelled now that we're out of OR)

If GES doesn't cancel open borders, we should send the scouting workboat to take a look at his hub region, see his defences, and make the strike at the hub look more convincing

[Maestro]

Hey Yuri, I've had some personal stuff come up so i won't be available as much for a few days. Actually, might as well not be vague: turns out I got laid off on Friday. I'll try to check in with opinions on stuff, but for now I'm taking a short break. I should be in before we actually start warring!

[yuris125]

Oh wow, that's bad news. Best of luck!

[yuris125]

T108

Drafted Best FM, Ultra, Echo of Moscow. Stopped a Uni in Ultra, spending 7 turns to build a Uni during war preparations is not the best use of hammers. Now that we're committed to an attack, Oxford will have to wait

RL7 completed Notre Dam, and can research Rifling I feel like we're handing the game to RL7, but if we do, and they win, they thoroughly deserve it

MNG is still alive, and a Great General died in combat this turn, I wonder whose GG it was

Some cities can whip Jans at size 5, but I want them to grow to size 6, then draft, then whip. Because you can only draft at size 6 or higher, but can whip at any size

As it turned out, we still can spread non-state religion with missionaries, even in Theo. Commodore's missionary convincingly talked about the power of Hindu to citizens of Ultra, and they embraced the new faith

[yuris125]

T109

Drafted Nashe, Europa Plus, Monte Carlo
Research at 80% to finish Engineering this turn
The 2nd Galleon incoming, will get it next turn
We have research visibility on RL7 this turn, they're working on Steam Power, due in 2t
We have overtaken Commodore in power. We're last in score, hopefully a successful campaign against GES will fix it
Decided to build a Galley in Rock FM, it will help our logistics, and will help to convince GES we don't have better ships
I'm still undecided about composition of the stack we're going to load on Galleons. We want as many Jans as possible, to be defenders in the cities we capture (I want to avoid razing as much as possible, we gain nothing from cities we raze). At the same time, we're going to attack cities with high cultural defences, so unless GES leaves them undefended, Cats will be needed. At the moment I'm thinking about 9 Jans / 6 Cats in the first wave
Interestingly enough, GES didn't switch to military civics, he's still in Bureau/OR. Good news for us, I guess

[yuris125]

T110

Drafted Maximum, Retro FM, Rock FM
Got 2 more Galleons from RL7
Agreed with RL7 to send them bananas for whales. An extra happy resource will help to support our drafting. Decided not to cancel the banana for corn trade with GES, it will be cancelled automatically when we declare, no need to make hostile movements right now
GES's power is growing, but lagging behind us. Not surprising, considering that he still didn't adopt Nationhood
Engineering in, HBR will be researched next turn at 0%, then we'll see if we can 1-turn Guilds
Commodore told that he will be getting Rifling in 2 turns. Good think GES is behind in military techs, otherwise our attack would've been doomed

Commodore also suggested that we invite RL7 to support our campaign by attacking from the north. Maestro, if you're around, I need your input. I don't want RL7 to gain even more territory, but their involvement could help us to keep the cities we capture. If we could also get further NAP extension from them, it would be even better. Our attack is scheduled for T117-T118, I don't think it will be over in less than 20t - exactly by the time our NAP with RL7 expires. Our army will be extremely spread out, and if they attack with Rifles/Cannons at that point, they will easily take our gains from us. I would very much like to develop GES's land in peace for 20-30 turns after the war - assuming it's successful, of course. So, do you think we have a chance of getting further extension of the NAP, and do you think we should invite them at all?

[yuris125]

What do we want to research after Guilds? In my opinion, high priority techs we need are:

Printing Press - to increase research rate
Music - to build culture in captured cities, also a required tech for Military Tradition
Rifling - obvious
Banking - to switch to Mercantilism post-war (or continue to Economics for Free Market)

I suggest getting Printing Press and Music first, then evaluate whether we need Rifling or stronger economy first

[Maestro]

Regarding the potential involvement of RL7, I think the worst case scenario is one where Commodore and we drop a lot of hammers to earn a few cities, and RL7 swoops in 10 turns later to take easy cities on an undefended flank. The best way to avoid that is to move quickly, take we want from GES, and sue for peace. He may not be willing to negotiate, but it's worth a shot.

We have to proceed, because GES will runaway if we don't attack. This is really our best shot, when he's still behind in military tech. As you said, it may make RL7 the new runaway, but it still keeps us in the game.

For tech, I also like Printing Press first. Extra tech and on the way to rifles. By that point we'll have an idea how the attack on GES is going. If it's a smashing success and we get a peace deal in place, then we go all out for economy techs. If he digs in and tries to recapture his losses, we push for more military.

[Maestro]

Oh, and I like the attack path: should keep us out of sight, making it a true surprise attack. When we declare, we should see what's defending Ballast Point. If it's not much, we should just go for a direct amphibious invasion. The lack of collateral damage and the painful 50% defensive bonus mean that it would need to be pretty weak (like, an axe) for that to be more profitable. However, we have to remember that GES is spiritual, so with even 1 turn of notice (the time it takes us to land our units) he can revolt to nationhood-slavery and whip-draft 2 extra defenders. Just something to keep in mind.

[yuris125]

T111

Got the last 2 Galleons from RL7. Our army is almost ready in Echo of Moscow. We will be able to depart T113, which is exactly on schedule. We need 5 turns to get to the shores of Egypt, but the last turn needs to be made with war declared. The earliest we can do it is T117, therefore we cannot set sail earlier than T113. Very happy we managed it well and didn't lose any time

The naval attack stack will consist of 9 Jans/6 Cats. I think this should be enough to capture and hold two eastern cities, Ballast Point and Mission. Then in 5 turns we can bring the second wave from Radio 7, which should be able to capture AleSmith and march on his capital, Stone. If we capture (or even raze) Stone and Alpine, the war will be a major success

Drafted Retro FM (again!), Dinamit FM and Radio 7

HBR in, Guilds can be 1-turned, so we'll start building Knights next turn. Printing Press will be next for research

Got a map trade from RL7, so we finally can see all of his land. Our own land is so underdeveloped, it's humiliating

Our workboat got visibility on GES's border city in the hub, which is still defended by a single War Chariot (!). Of course, we still have 5 turns of NAP left...