[SPOILERS] Nakor and Jester..Second time's a charm :)

[CFCJesterFool]

In ~8t we'll need to close borders. Details of the slowest attack ever...


I'll switch to a galley next turn. Redemption will finish the galley and archer then grow to sz 8 and 3 pop whip a settler for the clam site. Afterwards, we'll 1t the catapult and then continue 2 pop whipping catapults. The archer will garrison Redemption. The other units will be sent to Moria.


The catapult will get to within 1t and then I'll get out an axe, 2 pop whip another axe, then finish the catapult with the whip OF going into another cat. Every unit here (except for an archer) plus the units from Redemption will attack Waterdeep. The FP cottage will need to be roaded so we can attack from the grass tile. I'll use only one uncovered worker to minimize any possible losses from Gavagai declaring war to prevent the tile from being roaded. That means our attack will be coordinated with finishing the road (i.e. 3t countdown).


Units for the secondary stack (Waterdeep). The best plan, imo, is to attack both Waterdeep and Wall St at the same time. We'll send both of the axes already here to join the Waterdeep stack.


Two turns left on the pasture then start chopping forests. I'll 1 pop whip the granary into catapults. Build/chop/1 pop whip catapults until the city can't whip anymore.


First WC is for the clam site. The second WC will give us two for the Waterdeep stack. Probably build another axe or two to reinforce the Waterdeep stack as well. An archer will be built for the garrison so we can send the axe and spear already here to join the offense.


The workers will mine and road the silver then probably help chop forests over at Hail Mary. Hopefully we can grab another happy resource by trading away this extra silver. At the very least, Rohan will be freed up to whip without us going broke. The demos...


Still looking reasonable. We might actually have a shot to reclaim our cities. We also opened borders with Yurimack this turn.

[Nakor]

I really hope we get a shot! How hard are you pushing for cat's?
They seem crucial to getting a shot here...

[CFCJesterFool]

I really hope we get a shot! How hard are you pushing for cat's?
They seem crucial to getting a shot here...

Right now, just pre-building cats. Really need to get out the settler and finish the granary in Hail Mary first (so ~8t left till full scale war production, i.e. start of whip cycle). When we close borders in 8t, every city except Sanford will be whipped every other turn to get out units. In roughly 18t (start of the war), we'll have approximately 15-20 cats. We could delay the settler (and galley) for the clam site and speed up the attack if you think that is better. The granary in Hail Mary should be done in ~5t and we're going to need the units from there for the Waterdeep stack. The limiting factor in how soon we can attack is Hail Mary getting the granary done (otherwise 1 pop whips will be unfeasible).

[CFCJesterFool]

T118 demos...


T119 demos...


T119 power graph...


5th in power...yikes. Looks like other wars are about to start. Gavagai might be going to Machinery which would make our attack very difficult. Hail Mary can whip the granary next turn so I think we're going to speed up the attack. I think we are running out of time and not sure we'll be able to settle the clam site before the war. I'll check next turn to see if I can spot improved iron.

@ Nakor: Thoughts? Do we still go for the galley+settler or just start whipping units? I'd have to say forget the clam site for now. I can't stress enough how hard attacking crossbows will be (i.e. we'll lose a bunch of units and can really only afford to replace cats that we suicide). Not impossible (we have siege) but at most we could take back only our former cities before running out of steam. I'd like to at least raze a city or two (besides recapturing Waterdeep and Wall St.) as revenge for Gavagai's past transgressions.

[Nakor]

I agree! Let's skip the clam site and whip units (catapults) like there is no tomorrow...
Better die fighting....

[CFCJesterFool]

T121 part 1 :


Just what we needed (i.e. I accepted the trade). Too bad we'll lose this trade once we close borders with Gavagai since I think our trade connections are going through him. Still, the trade doesn't hurt us and we're not building walls anyway. Tbh, last few turns I've been more focused on war prep than playing the longer game (i.e. making trades with the other players). Offered this trade as well...


Same problem here. Pretty sure Gavagai settled the marble so we'd have to take that city as well to get any foreign trade routes. Sacagawea could theoretically scout out a sea route to Sian assuming we take both Waterdeep back and Gavagai's marble city. Speaking of Sacagawea...


Need to keep scouting with a priority on opening up sea trade routes. I've set up the option on getting city visibility of Gavagai's cities...


Right now we're saving gold but I'll spend just enough on EP so that we can go 100% EP to get city visibility the turn before we declare war if we decide we want to. I strongly suggest we do so. Knowing where his troops are (and quantity) will be invaluable. Also, at the very least, it forces Gavagai to divert commerce from researching since he would naturally try and get Machinery as a response to our attack. With collateral plus WCs, we can fend off crossbows but our stack would be vulnerable if we go marching through Gavagai's culture (since cat reinforcements would be too slow in reaching the stack). Realistically, once crossbows show up, the war is pretty much over. Met Serdoa just recently...

[CFCJesterFool]

T121 part 2 war prep:

The axe completes EOT 123...keep T123 in mind since it is the important part of the screenshot.

Already have the 2 pop whip for the axe set up which will I will do T123. The farm needed for re-growth from whips will be finished T125 then the worker will road the FP which will be completed T129. Tentatively, we close borders with Gavagai T123 and start the war T130 (unless we still don't have enough cats for the initial attack). I'll whip Moria aggressively if we don't have enough catapults (~4-5 needed initially) by T128 (last turn cats from Moria can reach the final staging point). The idea is to stage the new units T128 and move them to the grass tile 1 NE of the FP on T129. T130 we can attack Wall St. directly.


Whip the cat T123, finish the remaining units in the queue and then whip more catapults. The two workers at Sanford probably will do the road west of the PH mine then head towards Moria in case we need to re-road the FP tile.

Same thing here...whip cat T123 etc. The archer is so we can send all the units here to join the Waterdeep stack. After the archer, Rohan will 2 pop whip catapults although WCs would also be good to dump hammer OF into (since they can reinforce quickly).

The first catapult finishes T123. That is why I chose T123 to close borders with Gavagai. He has two chariots in our territory and hopefully they get kicked out north of Sanford (ideal). A second catapult can be whipped T125. The forest with the "road then chop sign" will be chopped T126 and then roaded T128. Originally I was planning on the workers at Sanford to improve that tile but they are needed elsewhere. The silk tile will be chopped T127. Hail Mary should get out ~3-4 cats by T128. I'll get the GH 1SE of the stage tile roaded T130 so we can move to the GH in Gavagai's territory on the first turn of the war.


Borders pop EOT. We'll have to come back later and chop the forest into the library. We'll be working the silver before we close borders with Gavagai. Hopefully that means we can stay afloat when we lose our foreign trade routes. War is hell...yes? The demos...

We're hiding a lot of military power plus we don't have IW (which gives 10,000 soldier points) and of course our population is quite low (i.e. pop contributes less to our soldier points than the other players). I think we are in good shape. We'll see though.

[Nakor]

Looking good!
Do you really think we should close borders? Two scouting chariots can see a lot, but closing borders gives our plan away clearly and gives him a 6T warning....
We're going all in, and probably fail, but we can give it a go! Let's hope someone else declares before us, so Gavagai has to send his forces somewhere else.

[CFCJesterFool]

Looking good!
Do you really think we should close borders? Two scouting chariots can see a lot, but closing borders gives our plan away clearly and gives him a 6T warning....
We're going all in, and probably fail, but we can give it a go! Let's hope someone else declares before us, so Gavagai has to send his forces somewhere else.

Once Gavagai sees catapults and troops moving to the staging points, he'll know what is up anyway. There is no way to not give warning (either he actually sees the units or we close borders). Better imo, to keep him guessing on what we have in our attacking force and also hide the fact we are making a two pronged attack. If we're lucky, Gavagai won't even realize we have catapults.

Another point to consider is when we close borders, other players also will be made aware of the fact that Gavagai is most likely going to be attacked by us. Anyone who might be inclined to DOW Gavagai will know they will have a war ally (us). Maybe that helps them decide to give it a go?

[Nakor]

Ok! We'll see how things proceed...