A proper road from Nambui to the west coast would include the tiles 3W and 2W/1S of Toregene....
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[SPOILERS] JR4 tries his luck in PB 37
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I posted that in a rush since I see you're playing the turn, plus I have guests coming over soon. Perhaps less urgently, but much more importantly, I'm really glad you're still having fun with the game!
That archer did heroic work defending Babukhan; I'm eventually going to have to write a story just for that battle. If I'll be honest though, if I'd realized we were defending that city with just one archer and a chariot, even I might have realized we needed more! I also think this situation qualifies as enough of an emergency to whip Borte. As you say, if Gav takes peace, our military build-up won't necessarily be wasted.... Losing that lake tile is bad news, but you're right that there's nothing to be done about it right now. (September 2nd, 2017, 13:30)RefSteel Wrote: A proper road from Nambui to the west coast would include the tiles 3W and 2W/1S of Toregene.... Oh, I misread it. I thought you meant the road from Chubei. Our workers can start that road next turn. I`m in a hurry, turn report coming up in a couple of hours. (I didn`t whip Borte this turn). Gavagai did not take peace. Empress Gi is under siege and might fall next turn.
TURN 127
According to Civstats, Empress Gi was captured this turn - and razed. It looks like Gavagai wanted the plains hill site after all. This was the situation at the end of our turn. Yep, that`s a lot of boats there! Our first Trireme was built this turn, as you can see of the second screenshots there are plenty more to come in the next few turns. Even D-mishi started a Trireme, as we have to get control of the seas here. It now has 2 Archers and an Axe so I don`t think it`s falling any time soon. If dtay or Joey were to pile on we`re in deep trouble (well, we kind of are already!). Getting Construction at eot will allow us to produce better units. Actually, I don`t know if we should take a white peace anymore, which would allow Gavagai to consolidate Babukhan. He`ll definitely have Longbows when the Peace Treaty runs out. Let`s just focus on getting rid of those Triremes close to our mainland and make another couple of Galleys to ferry over units. There are two Keshiks on their way to the west coast. Let`s see if those 7XP mounted units can make a difference. When Borte`s Forge is done, it`ll be able to make a lot of units quickly. We have a couple of island cities building Spears, as I figured those to be needed as a deterrent to a Knight attack (or an amphibious attack). The thing about Babukhan being under defended is totally on me. It`s just stupid to build a Barracks and then switch to a Courthouse (which is a good building but still..). It should of course have whipped out a couple of defenders. However, I`m really surprised (and impressed) by the force he managed to muster quickly. It seems that an attack over sea indeed is the best way of making progress. I`ll keep that in mind for the future!
I had computer troubles (which may return; I'm working with an olllllllld machine) but it looks like we're watiing on Dark Savant for a bit anyway. Let's see what I can suggest on the upcoming turn though:
- Gav isn't going to let us get rid of his triremes, though the nearest ones should at least hold back for a bit. We'll need more triremes in the sea than he has before we can successfully push back against him. Even preventing him from getting through a tile will be iffy once he consolidates his naval forces. - Daliyetimishi isn't that safe with just three units. Gav may have been able to land as many as six units on its deer tile already, based on the ships we've seen, if he's been producing some on his gold island or ferrying them over to it from his mainland. Even if he doesn't, he can have even more units in the area soon. It won't be long before he'll be able to threaten Daliyetimishi and at least two other coastal cities at once with a single naval stack. If that's a military unit on the Galley south of Danashri, good: A fourth unit should be decisive for holding Daliyetimishi for another turn, and since he probably won't attack our trireme, we should be able to deliver the unit safely (I don't think we can get any others onto western boats T128 no matter what we do). If his triremes moving to the tiles E and 2N of Daliyetimishi and he lands half a dozen units on the deer, I think we would have to move our trireme and the galley (with passenger) to the tile currently occupied by our empty galley, and unload the unit directly into the city - which would then presumably whip its Trireme to get good overflow into its next unit. (It would whip the trireme anyway though, unless Gav's galleys are left in a weird configuration such that it's better to dry-whip an Archer.) Obviously the Trireme from Oghul Qaimish would just move 2NW to help us concentrate force in the area as well as we can for now. There are of course many other things Gav might have done though, from offering peace (I doubt it) to temporarily withdrawing his eastern triremes (at least slightly) to bringing even more force into play from out of the fog, which might make the moves I described here ineffective or incorrect. I guess we'll have to see! - I didn't realize quite how light we were on units - I should have though. (I guess Gers, population, and some of our tech all made our power look closer to e.g. Gav's than it really was.) We really, really need more units in the west. I would hold off on Cats for now just to get units onto the board; if Borte or Bulugan can one-turn so much as an Archer, they should to that rather than starting on something too expensive to get in a single turn. Toregene is a little further away though, so I would consider building a Keshik there next (even though it lacks a Ger) if we're willing to whip it the following turn, just to get another (good) unit to the front a turn earlier than another slow-mover could get there. - With Construction in (hopefully - as long as we were completing it with some margin) we'll no longer have to worry about the river-crossing movement penalty, which will allow reinforcements to reach the front sooner. That may turn out to be a very good thing. - I'd like to ferry some units from the eastern islands to the mainland (replacing them with new units produced at the islands themselves) if our defenses out there are adequate. Not sure if that's the case though. If we do manage to hold Daliyetimishi, it might be worth building walls in Radnashiri for an extra +30% strength to all the units in there, but ... I think it's still more valuable to keep producing more units right now. 
Yes, we got hit really hard at the wrong time by a competent opponent. Gavagai only has 2 Swords + 2 Axes left of the force that captured Bakukhan but he might ferry in more troops. Maybe it would have been better to make a fourth unit in D-mishi. The unit on the Galley is a Worker unfortunately, that will not contribute to our war effort (directly). We are really stretched militarily as it stands. Let`s make sure to make more troops asap to defend our lone island city on the western sea and our important port cities on the mainland.
There are 4 more units completing end of turn iirc, so hopefully it`ll be enough to stave off the first wave of the attack. You know, being under a real attack puts much more pressure on me as the turn player. Let`s just hope I can avoid terrible blunders from now on. Leaving our island cities almost undefended is equivalent to blundering a Knight in chess, I think! Construction should help us getting units to the front faster. We`re definitely finishing it eot. If building a few more cheap units is what it takes to defend our borders, then so be it. I`d like to get some Elephants/Catapults soon as well. I hope he`s offered peace but we should certainly prepare for war. EDIT: I hope you sort out your computer troubles. It`s much more fun to play when there is a discussion instead of a monologue.
I'm afraid I don't have much to add other than moral support and post-hoc analysis.
Strategically, pushing this hard is a gamble by Gavagai. He can't kill or even truly cripple you with ancient naval forces (unless others pile in  ) - just maim you enough to give you no other aim in the game but to hurt him back. This may mean that he is happy to try and draw a line short of that point. All you can do is "encourage" him to back off and look for future opportunities in one direction or another. SPI at least gives you flexibility to exploit chances once the medieval civics come in...
It may have looked easy, but that is because it was done correctly - Brian Moore
September 5th, 2017, 05:32
(This post was last modified: September 5th, 2017, 05:37 by RefSteel.)
 (September 4th, 2017, 07:21)JR4 Wrote: You know, being under a real attack puts much more pressure on me as the turn player. For sure; the tactical complexities can be enormous, and it can have a huge impact on the game. I hope you're enjoying the turns with all this extra intensity! (As for the specific stuff I mentioned above, the fact that we have just a worker on the galley obviously changes the calculus considerably. I look forward to seeing how we've played!) Quote:If building a few more cheap units is what it takes to defend our borders, then so be it. I hope so at least! We need something to stall Gav's units, and it doesn't matter how great a unit is if it arrives a turn (or more) too late. Hopefully our triremes can at least start delaying any further attack pretty soon; if we can get enough into the water to actually control the sea neary, that would be great - but we'd need a lot, [EDIT: and I'm not sure to what extent we can afford them when we could be building land units. I'm not sure I have a very good sense for what we've actually seen and when in the theater of war.] Quote:I`d like to get some Elephants/Catapults soon as well. I hope he`s offered peace but we should certainly prepare for war. I definitely agree with this! Quote:EDIT: I hope you sort out your computer troubles. It`s much more fun to play when there is a discussion instead of a monologue. Also with this! My computer seems to be cooperating for now, and even if it gives up the ghost, I'll still be able to read and comment from library computers on breaks at work. That's a lot more limiting than my home computer though, obviously.
TURN 128
As expected, Empress Gi was razed. Gavagai wanted the plains hill with the pigs in the second ring. Look at our rng luck last turn.  I expected at least 2 casualties for Gavagai. On a brighter note, no forces disembarked on Dalietimishi island, so our defenses will likely hold. (There is an Axe/Keshik pair that can land in the city next turn). Gavagai`s two Triremes defend each other so to say, so we have to build a massive fleet to get rid of them. We have two Triremes and another completes eot. I`m still a bit worried about the sheer amount of boats he has in the fog but hopefully we`ll be able to hold on. Generally, the cities closest to the front are making 1 movers while the others that have a lot of production are making Keshiks (Nambui, Muqa and Chubei). Actually, we have 8 cities that will grow eot! Oh, and only two more turns until that Priest will arrive. So it`s not all bleak. We`re easily completing Monarchy in 2 turns. Having even more happiness will be good for our border cities in particular. @Shallow_thought We will make sure that if this war drags on, then Gavagai will pay a huge prize for it. I`m actually inclined to reject an "unfair" peace offer now that he has hurt our chances of winning a lot. A straight peace offer I`d still consider, though. And then make sure someone else gets the attention of our army. |
