Great news on the Mist region! We did get a little unlucky again, but not very: My estimate of 0-4 losses didn't include the additional fights against the units on the iron, and also assumed we'd be clearing the LB with a Pinch Knight to allow us to hit the Oromos with Pinch Knights from the start and get better odds overall. I should have explained that better; sorry! Fortunately we brought enough force to capture the city and take out the landed force anyway though!
Did we offer peace to Dark Savant? With any conditions one way or the other?
Landing those units on Mist Island was a clear mistake on Dark Savant's part, and many of his promos have been questionable throughout the war. (Much worse than the small promotion mistakes we made last turn; for instance, once we have transport ships free for the purpose, especially if we get peace, we can always promote a couple new Muskets to Guerilla 2 to guard Mist and send the CG2 guys back to flatland cities like Radnashiri.) Those are just little tactical errors though, and it appears that he made the right strategic moves in his war with Gavagai to push his borders back, so we can't let our guard down with him. Hopefully he'll accept peace and we can at least secure the sea border in that direction for another ten turns.
I'm not surprised GJ didn't attack our Caravel. If he wants to stay peaceful, why provoke us? If he wants to attack soon (but not yet) why tip his hand? I'm not sure where exactly the Caravel/Privateer encounter happened, but I'm curious about whether he postured threateningly toward our Caravel, or whether he just left the Privateer with his Frigates (or moved it off somewhere else). I don't see any reason to keep our Caravel out of Greek waters if we'd gain any advantage by sailing it there, honestly. It's useful for gathering information, such as whether he's willing to sink a ~harmless Caravel. That said, it might be even more useful someplace else, such as keeping an eye on Gavagai to our West. (So long as we have OB, we can always just send a random Trireme to see what's going on too...)
(November 2nd, 2017, 10:56)JR4 Wrote: Things are looking promising! But do bear in mind that an all-out attack by Joey(or dtay for that sake) could destroy us pretty quickly.
Yup - especially if we're building infrastructure as they prepare to invade. Of course, dtay "has enough on his hands right now," but based on the power graph and what we know of his unit mix and Civ ability, there's a chance he could finish digesting Team C before our Universities and Oxford have had time to pay for (themselves and) Education. More urgently, with dtay's army off on the far side of the world, one of GermanJoey's best reasons not to invade us (the risk of handing Muqa to dtay on a silver platter) doesn't really apply. I don't know what the tactical situation looks like with GJ right now, so I don't know how threatened we should actually feel on that front. If he wants to go after Nambui and Oghul Qaimish, it could make sense for him build a bunch of Frigates, but only if he already had an enormous force of Knights - and I wouldn't be building Galleons if I were about to go after a land neighbor with a border like the one he has with us. Also, of course, I wouldn't want to attack us at all in his position, at military tech parity, in this era, and at these power levels, because...
Quote:We would certainly make whoever comes for us pay dearly.
I'm glad to hear it! It is of course vital that we remain capable of doing so if we want to remain in the game, but we seem to be doing that.
Quote:The Education path is a bit of a gamble, especially combined with going into non-XP civics but I feel that we have to take some risks in order to stay relevant.
That does make sense as long as we get peace with Dark Savant and expect to remain at peace with GJ. (With dtay invading his other neighbor - and lately taking another city - up in the north, we can probably be safe in assuming he won't be hitting us right away.) If we don't get peace with Dark Savant, I don't think we can go into an infrastructure push; in that case, we'd have to convince him that we can (and will) keep hurting his civ if he won't take peace. I have some suggestions on that if you'd like, but step one as always would be continuing to produce units, for offense and defense alike.
Quote:D-mishi could possibly build a University. Perhaps some other cities on the west coast could whip out a Uni also. The improved tech rate should help us reach critical techs. Well, as long as we`re left alone..
Do those cities have Observtories already then? Or are you also favoring the culture bonus from a University?
Quote:All in all I`m pleased with the military campaign. We got 2 quality cities out of it and some infrastructure. Our losses were a bit higher than expected, but nothing too horrible I think.
I definitely agree!
Quote:Joey still doesn`t have Steel.
Is there any reason to think that's what he's teching? I guess it's possible, but like us, he'd have to pay full price for Drydocks after producing a major fleet, and I'm not convinced that Cannons by themselves justify slow-teching Steel this early in the game. Also, he has some pretty expensive other techs right now if I'm reading the demo screen correctly:
dtay: He's ahead of us by Philosophy, Nationalism, Liberalism, Steel, and now Constitution. We have only Aesthetics and Literature on him.
Team C: They have Alphabet and Printing Press. We have Meditation, Theology, and now Education on them at a minimum, but I can't see all their "Can Research" techs. They seem to be pursuing Rifles, which Carthage might not live long enough to put into the field.
Dark Savant: He's got Drama, Philosophy, and Alphabet on us. We've got Theology, Paper, Chemistry, and now Education on him. He's belatedly trying to catch up to Chemistry.
Gavagai: Seems to have only Alpha and Drama on us, while we've got Theo, Paper, Banking, and now Education on him. And at last report, he was saving gold on MilSci. You know what? Forget what I said six turns ago. He can still wreck someone's game (potentially including ours) but after his failed attack on Dark Savant, even if he comes back to conquer Ethiopia later, he's not really in contention anymore.
Krill: He has Drama, Music, Alpha, and Philo on us. We have Monotheism and Theology (but he has the SP so he doesn't need either) and now Education on him. Krill is going for MilSci like (perhaps) Gavagai, but unlike Gav, Krill has an actual economy.
And last but not least:
GermanJoey: He's up by Alpha, Drama, Philosophy, Nationalism, and Constitution. We're up on him by Paper and Education. The fact that our neighbors have so many more beakers than we do is one of the reasons we need to spend those we have as wisely as we can!
Speaking of techs, what's next for us? I posted my thoughts up-thread already of course, with the only update being that now that we have Education, we could tech Economics if we thought we could get the Merchant (only dtay has the prereqs for it right now) at the cost of the inability to build any more Castles, and losing a trade route and 1/4 of an espionage point in each city that has a Castle already. Also it opens a couple of civics that we probably don't want to use right now. The tech with the biggest Known Tech Bonus for us would be Alphabet, but I don't think it's very helpful for us right now. Second-biggest KTB is a tie between Drama and Philo, for what it's worth. Note that Drama's Theaters allow Artist specialists, which might be important in Tulrean Forest and Mist since it sounds like we're leaving Slavery at least until we get Nationalism....
[EDIT: Also, do we have a plan for the GG? I can suggest a couple if you'd like, although I'd need more information about our units' promotions - e.g. do we have any unpromoted Galleons? And how many xp does our Medic Keshik have? - to suggest details. And speaking of the medic Keshik, is there a way to get it into Mist by the end of the turn?]
Lots of talking points there! I`ll get back to them this evening. We offered white peace to Dark Savant so hopefully he`s accepted it (or offered it back). If we get peace I think we`re set to go for a big infrastructure push. If not, I agree that we need to keep building a lot of units.
No Peace offer from DS, so we`re still at war. He landed another mini-stack near Mist! We don`t have odds against those units so 2 Catapults returned to Mist and can knock them down a bit next turn. Our troops are injured and need to heal for a turn. Our Frigates are blocking his port cities so he can`t move more troops out unless he`s building a Fort on a tile and get them past our Frigates.
All units on Mist island retreated to the city itself. He can`t get odds against our CG2 Muskets on a hill, right? Even if DS lands more units our Catapults should take care of that easily. We have another 3 Catapults, a Knight and that C1 M1 Keshik (7XP) in range of Mist. They are all 4 tiles away from the city. DS has 2 Galleons in Steadwick and another one in Nighon. The cities are under siege. He`s got something like 7 units in Steadwick (a single Oromo and some Pikes and Longbows) but could have more units on the Galleons. Nighon has a single Longbow so we could perhaps try for a raze.
We started a University in Borte because that`ll pay back quickly. We didn`t make any civic swaps just yet and keep building units in a lot of our cities. Nambui is building another Frigate for its own safety. One thing I haven`t mentioned is that Gavagai is building a lot of ships. He`s got 2 Frigates near D-mishi and 6 Galleons further west (not in range). The garrison of D-mishi was strengthened with another G Longbow from the mainland and will keep building units. We lost sight of Joey`s Frigate/Privateer stack so that`s good. Our Caravel is sneaking around NE of Fountain Head.
Research was set to Military Science as we really need better weaponry and we need it now. We`ll have to save gold for at least two turns (maybe three) before turning science back on.
A Pikeman was loaded on a Galleon in Radnashiri so that it can attack the Ethiopian Knight on Mist island if DS decides to split his forces there. I`m kind of hoping he does exactly that, fearing our Catapults. Next turn we`re probably getting rid of them but we might lose some improvements. We should prepare for that by shipping over a couple of Workers. Also, Mist needs a Work Boat, so let`s start that next turn in one of the cities near Mist.
The reason why I thought about building some Universities in our western cities is in order to build the Oxford asap. It should help us getting those 7 Unis built. We`d like more than that eventually but let`s see how many hammers we use on infrastructure in the coming turns.
Joey`s tech path could be just about anything. Is he going for Mil Science? Or maybe Steel? Or Democracy for the SoL? Who knows. Imo we really need to get a big military tech now to dissuade any attacks. Those Grenadiers and SotLs will be very helpful against DS if he still refuses to take the peace. Drama is somewhat useful for us but popping borders in our newly conquered cities isn`t that crucial, as the culture of Carthage and Ethiopia will stop us from using the second ring bonus tiles.
The GG is in Muqa, haven`t thought too much about what to do with it. Suggestions are most welcome.
I just hope Dark Savant doesn't suicide those units against Mist: I want to set up a high-nineties attack for our 16xp Pinch Knight so it can get that 17th xp.
Any chance we can build another Knight in Muqa instead of another Musket? I really like 10-xp Knights, and my sense (which might be incorrect) is that we have more of a need for healthy Knights right now than for Musketmen to cover our cities.
Do we actually have any units on a Galleon that would be in range of Nighon next turn? He might reinforce it of course, but any units on Galleons SW of Mist can fork 4 different Dark Savant cities (although Fountain Head has high defenses, so he'd have to nearly evacuate it for us to attack it amphibiously before we bombard the defenses down). Relatedly, where are our boats in the south? It would be a good idea, if we can, to make sure DS isn't sneaking some 5-move Galleons around to sneak-attack Chubei or Tularean Forest, e.g. with Amphibious Pinch (or Cover) Oromos.
I wouldn't bother with a Workboat for Mist unless it looks like we can raze Lakeside. As soon as Lakeside's borders pop, the crab will flip back to Dark Savant, and remain in his possession for a long time. (Relatedly, popping borders in our new acquisitions is very important so that we can eventually get access at least to our first-ring tiles! Of course, if dtay continues to roll over Carthage, their culture won't be a long-term issue, and if Dark Savant is stubborn about fighting us, that'll leave him vulnerable to Gav again, so...
On the GG: If we can get 17 xp on a Knight and then promote it without using the GG, that gives us more options. We could even consider settling the GG in our HE city so it can produce 3-promo Knights and 2-promo Grennies and Cats even when we're in Bureau + OR. Later, we'll also be able to build West Point there and produce 4-promo Curies and Cavs when we're in Theocracy (or 3-promo Grennies, Rifles, and siege units even in OR or Pacifism). I honestly think that's the best use of the GG if we're able to promote a 17-xp Knight by other means to unlock West Point.
I assume we're planning to build the HE at Bulugan once our military situation stabilizes, right? (If we're still delaying the HE for more units, Borte should definitely be building a Knight instead of a University too, by the way. A Borte University pays for itself in commerce pretty quickly, but not in military power.)
Still no peace offer from Dark Savant. I didn`t expect one this turn after he rejected our offer last time. He decided to fortify his units on the Iron tile, not pillaging anything. That`s good news. So, in order to get odds our B2 Catapult hit his Oromo. Loss. The other units (a Pike and a Formation Knight took 2 hits each.
The unit that gave us the best odds was a C3 Knight so..
C3 Knight - Knight 50 % - WIN! Yes, finally some luck!
C2 Pinch Knight - Pikeman 67 % - WIN!
Okay, that went very well indeed. Time to try for 17 XP. Come on now...
C2 Pinch Knight - Oromo 88% - WIN! The Knight is up to 18XP and will promote next turn. EDIT: I agree with building the HE in Bulugan. We should probably finish the Knight first and then reassess the situation.
DS is probably waiting for Frigates. He`ll get them in 2 turns. But he`s got to build them before he could threaten us and the Peace Treaty with Gavagai is soon running out (5 turns iirc). How about offering him peace again next turn? Our units need to heal and the M1 Keshik will help with that. When the troops are healed we could load them on Galleons to threaten more cities of Dark Savant`s. No units are currently on ships in Mist.
Joey moved out his Frigate/Galleon stack from Seven Mysteries and is probably attacking Carthage. 2 more Galleons are N - NE of that stack. A few extra units were crammed into Nambui, to not let him have any ideas.. It`s got a garrison of 11 units and could be reinforced by at least 5 more on the coming turn.
Universities were started in Toregene and D-mishi. Borte also kept the University build. It`s just 3 turns away from completing. Muqa should have built a Knight last turn, I missed that. It could build another Knight after the Musket is finished.
Also, dtay is building another city N of Chubei. He`s waited a long time doing so.
