[SPOILERS] Cornflakes and Q Eat 'Em for Breakfast!

[Cornflakes]

Soooo close to resuming. I know that I'll have a diplo waiting in game when I log in so I'll wait until tomorrow so I don't get stuck.

[Cornflakes]

Game is back online Got myself reacquainted with the game and grabbed a bunch of screenshots. I'll lay out my thoughts regarding each of our fronts and general strategy, and maybe speculate about which type of victory to shoot for

[Cornflakes]

Had to replay the turn. It wasn't that big a deal. I managed to remember all the units that needed orders canceled before they automatically executed It only took about 10 minutes to replay because most of my time spent in game is just planning. I just logged back in to take another screenshot (and create another save ).

[Cornflakes]

AT took this trade The importance of this will become more apparent soon.

Short term planning ... next 10 turns or so.

I'll start with the 2metra front since peace expires there first, and the rest of the short term plan hinges on the events in the north.




This is the area around Google. Massive troop buildup. 2metra has 20 assorted units trapped in Google. I have 5 cannon, 2 Cats, and roughly 30 hitters on the hill 1S ==> mincemeat ... Here's the plan:

– Bombard with one Accuracy catapult. Send probably the 2nd Catapult in to hopefully hit the top defender. One of the cats has 10XP, so another option is to upgrade him to a Cannon for about 170g. That's really expensive, and if I give him B3 he does as much colateral as a B1 cannon, so I'll just sacrifice the 10XP Cat against the top defender with B3.
– Possibly promote 1-2 cannon to CR2? haven't decided exactly. At least 3 of the cannon are 9XP. I could also go CR1 + Barrage or B2. I'll wait until the time comes and then sim it.
– For the rest of the combats, by general guideline is:

Code:

Def captureGoogle()
    While cityCaptured == False:
        If mace > 70%:
            ATTACK(mace)
        ElseIf musket > 70%:
            ATTACK(musket)
        ElseIf Knight > 85%:
            ATTACK(Knight)
        Else:
            SUICIDE(mace)
       cityCaptured = checkIfCaptured(Google)

I will keep Google upon capture, if only to force 2metra to attack it again (and possible repeat trap ). I have a sentry HA in the stack which will check out Tiflis after captureing Google. If I see a stack in Tilfis I'll abandon Google completely. If I do not see more than a couple knights I'll leave a couple CG muskets.

Evacuation plan after capture
I could use my giant army to press Tiflis hard, but given that I have NAP's expiring with Bigger and Commodore plus a frisky AT those units are desperately needed elsewhere ASAP. I've therefore devised a plan to get up to 100% of the attacking force 1NE of Paradigm by EOT 191. Bigger can move on Paradigm T191, but I have first move in turn order so will arrive in time since he can't 1-move Paradigm (I'll have at least 3 units in Paradigm to prevent GG morale knight funny business).




T188: 2 workers complete a fort on the hill 1S of Google with the stack next turn and 5 Nav1 galleys enter fort the same turn.

T189: *ATTACK and CAPTURE Google*. After completing all attacks 1-movers will be out of movements points, but knights will have 1 left because city in on flatland.
– 10 one-movers that have no MP are loaded onto galleys and dropped in Volcano (YELLOW)
– Galleys move 1NW, knights move off hill into galleys and get dropped off in Volcano (ORANGE) 4-move galleys

T190: *NAP with Commodore expires*
– 1-movers in Volcano will walk to Pork Chop (GREEN)
– Knights move 3N1W of Blimp (LIGHT BLUE). From here knights can reach Postos Village next turn if threatened by Commodore, and again we have 1st in turn order.
– Nav1 galleys will move 1NW out of Volcano and pick up the remaining 1-movers who wouldn't fit on the boats last turn, then move to 1NW of Pork Chop (PINK). The units can't unload on the same turn they've been loaded.
– 2 regular 3-move galleys (currently under green "sign mode" 1N of Pork Chop) move to the sign in the middle of the (GRAY) line.

T191: *NAP with Bigger expires* I declare war and immediately offer peace. If he accepts or re-offers then we get another 10 turns NAP. If he refuses then we're not kidding ourselves with a false sense of security. In any case our units will be in position to repel invasion at Paradigm like so ...
– Nav1 galleys enter Pork Chop. 3 galleys unload while 2 remain loaded. The loaded galleys continue on south to the "galleys to chain" sign where the regular 3-move galleys are waiting to receive and transfer them on down into Blimp (GRAY). This frees up 4 units from Blimp (on AT intimidation duty) to head for Postos if threatened by Commodore or Paradigm if Commodore hasn't declared.
– All one movers in Pork Chop move southwest to 1NE of Paradigm (BLACK).
– Cannon from Blimp will be sitting 1SE of Paradigm already.

T192: Bigger could potentially move a stack of 2-move Musketeer and Knight units 1NW or 2NW of Paradigm. I expect him to move one scouting unit in to take a peek (unless he has spies) and then decide not to try invading. If Bigger invades:
– Cannon from Blimp (sitting 1SW of Paradigm by this time) hit Bigger's stack first, then any cannon from Google with high health, followed by any units that get decent 75+% odds. The rest of our units stuff Paradigm and sit there behind the walls defying Bigger to come at us.

[Cornflakes]

That's the first 5 turns of my short term plan. The next 5 turns depend on whether Commodore and/or Bigger and/or 2metra and/or AT are at war with us, so I really can't plan much beyond these few turns.

I do have another Evil Plan up my sleeve for destroying AT's entire army and capturing SWAT without getting hit by any of AT's collateral. This plan requires (1) Bigger accepts peace and Commodore is at peace or at least not pressing hard, (2) AT doesn't move either of his stacks for the next 10 turns, and (3) AT doesn't add a significant number of Grenadiers and cannon to his stack. No time right now to elaborate on the plan. If these conditions are still met in 5 turns I'll take the time to draw up that plan. Here's the relevant screenshot of the area if you want to guess.

[Cornflakes]

Here's Blimp, my 2nd military pump and my best hammer city when not building units (paradigm is still slightly better at about 72hpt when building units). My plan is to use the next GG here for a Military Academy to add +20hpt of unit production. If I get Blimp to 45hpt base I can 1-turn Grenadiers/Cannon.

In it's current configuration i'll have enough overflow from the harbor to 1-turn a Gren next turn. After that I'll go down to ~50hpt (2-turn Grens/Cannon) and work those two 3/0/3 lakes instead of mines so that I can grow a couple more pop. I need to work and additional two more WS to exceed 45hpt.

EDIT: Blimp is the reason I really want to capture SWAT. Right now I have to keep a heavy garrison in this city due to AT's threatening attitude and the importance of this city. Capturing SWAT would (1) greatly widen the culture buffer, and (2) give ME the border hill fortress.

[Cornflakes]

I'm considering this as a quick-fix National Epick city. Right now it has decend hammer output so I could get it online in less than 10 turns, but by retooling the land to Farms I can get +12 food surplus at 7 pop. This will let me support 6 specialists without starving, so I'd need to grow 2 more pop. With the free MercSpecialist that's 7*3*2 = 42 GPP/turn. The first GP would pop out in about 10 turns, followed by another probably 13 turns later, 16 turns, 19.

[Qgqqqqq]

I like. (Especially the code )
Are we running EE on AT?

[Cornflakes]

Well over a million soldiers, with another 3 cannon + 1 Grenadier (34k) completing EOT. The plan from here on out is basically until we have enough land/pop for Domination victory. Economy is EP based, targeted spending to steal from whoever has a tech we want, saving gold when nobody has a tech we want. Except for Jails when I can slip them in I probably won't build much besides military/spies. Therein lies our advantage. Everyone else must keep up with the Jones's RE tech and economy and cottages/specialists. We just WS away and pick off the weakest neighbor 1 at a time :sniper:

I like. (Especially the code )
Are we running EE on AT?

Yes, right now AT since he has research set to Replaceable Parts. Also another hint at my Evil Plan regarding SWAT... it involves use of evil spies ... and maybe a Commando if the opportunity presents itself

[Cornflakes]

Slight change of plans ... since the game is down I couldn't actually do anything today other than sim the coming 2metra battle. I realized that bombarding the walls is useless since I'm going against primarily Knights (with just 1 musket and 3 maces).

I'm really torn on what promotions to give the cannon. I get about 50% with Barrage II, while CR2 gives me ~85%. But if a cannon is going to die I'd much rather it have B2 since it'll do more collateral.

I threw my cannon at the stack in various promotion configurations. Tested the results if I upgraded both Catapults to cannon (370 gold I think, for little actual combat benefit). Best results were achieved when sending in 2 Cats, followed by B2 Cannon. I lose on average 2-3 cannon and 0-2 muskets,although of course the only thing that really matters in the end is the RNG in the actual game