[Spoilers] darrelljs (FDR)

[darrelljs]

Thanks guys .

Okay, here is my staging for any Yaz incursion (the red numbers are for how many Galleys are on that tile).



First thing to note, I did some world builder tests. The red border in the NE corner shows the fog removed by culture from the Persian capital. The other thing to note is that a Galley, regardless of Forests, sees one tile across water, but TWO tiles across land. Also, it will see land across water (2 tiles), but not water across land (1 tile). This is also confirmed via world builder.

So, my staging ground is western blue dot. I will station 6 Galleys there. To guard the northern passage, I will place another Galley to the NW. The western Galley will peek north each turn to check for Yaz's invastion fleet on the western yellow dot. If his fleet stops there, I have to block by moving my fleet to the western purple dot, no choice. Otherwise, he can move SW of western purple dot and land his troops before I sink him. If he is taking the purple dot path, then he will see my lone Galley and assume his fleet is safe to land. I will strike out of the fog and drown his troops :aar:! That covers the unlikely northern passage.

For the southern passage, I will place a Galley on the orange dot. This boat will peek one east every turn. If I see his stack on the lime dot, I will retreat back to the orange dot, and move my fleet west of the western blue dot. He will see a lone Galley and probably try and sink me to clear a path. If he does, I will come out of the fog the following turn with devastating results. If he does not attack, well an interesting game of cat and mouse will develop . If he is on the other phase, his first ship will see me when he hits eastern blue dot. He will have the choice of moving everything up to face my lone Galley (in which case I will kill him), or not (in which case we have more cat and mouse).

I really, really hope he sells those units to Ruff so I can be assured the attack is off, because I am eating it right now in unit supply cost .

Darrell

P.S. I really love the endgame in chess; its definitely my best phase since my mind is so simple . The problem here is very similar in nature.

[darrelljs]

Oh...one thing to note is that I'll be in position in two turns. I need to ask Ruff if his workboat saw any Galley activity. If not, I think my blockade was setup in time .

Darrell

[T-hawk]

I love seeing detailed tactical analysis like that.

The other thing to note is that a Galley, regardless of Forests, sees one tile across water, but TWO tiles across land.

Is this right? I believe that a water unit (galley) can see a land tile across a land tile, only if the more distant land tile is high elevation (hill or peak) and is not blocked by a feature (forest or hill or peak) on the nearer tile. It's the same mechanism as a land unit potentially seeing a high-elevation land tile from two tiles away.

[Rowain]

Thanks for your great update . But 8 galleys are alot of hammers especially if Yaz doesn't attack. What will you do if all stays peacefull?

[T-hawk]

Did you ever make a deal for Japan's copper? Neither thread says whether you did or didn't.

[darrelljs]

Is this right? I believe that a water unit (galley) can see a land tile across a land tile, only if the more distant land tile is high elevation (hill or peak) and is not blocked by a feature (forest or hill or peak) on the nearer tile.

Here are the screenshots I am basing this on:

Thanks for your great update . But 8 galleys are alot of hammers especially if Yaz doesn't attack. What will you do if all stays peacefull?

Thanks . Yeah, 8 Galleys is probably overkill but better to be safe than sorry. I'm blessed with really high production, so while it delayed my expansion, I'm still ahead of the curve.

My guess is he is going to attack. He told Ruff that he wanted to trade an Axe/Immortal/Galley for two Workers. When Ruff agreed to the trade, he changed it to the units for a Worker on t60, and the Galley for the second Worker sometime after. Now, why delay on the units? He doesn't need them but he desperately needs Workers . Odds are he spots me, but at least this way I've got some chance of sinking his fleet, especially if he is careless.

Did you ever make a deal for Japan's copper? Neither thread says whether you did or didn't.

Hopefully this is idle curiosity . I have not cleared enough fog to ask for Japan's Copper, that will happen in two turns. I will have Horse hooked up in two turns as well. If you look at my tactical map above, you will see that if his fleet was taking the northern route, AND on western yellow/pink dot, he can unload his units this turn. Note that the tile south of western pink dot is defogged by Ruff's workboat, and I verified there were no Yaz Galleys there. If he does land, he'll need 3 turns to march to my city and attack, across a river, with 40% culture defense. I'll have time to whip an Axe and upgrade a Warrior to a Spear, as well as get a whipped Chariot up from New York.

Darrell

[T-hawk]

Here are the screenshots I am basing this on:

I see where you went wrong. In the third picture, the galley is seeing the middle grassland tile and forest tile over the WATER tile to its SE. If the tile SE of the galley is land, the galley cannot see the middle grassland and forest, unless they are hills.

[darrelljs]

Chat log for the lurkers, plans and screenshots sometime tomorrow .

darrelljs: killed one galley and left the other at 0.5 health
cost me two galleys
if you are interested

Yaz: I am
Nice fleet you have hehe

darrelljs: yeah, was going to blockade you but it was a little late
you took the plains island approach?
only way you could get there I guess

Yaz: Yeah took north of 3 tile island, then w of plains island then south
Messed things up because I thought war could only be declared on 55, otherwise I would have moved south earlier so I could land closer

darrelljs: that would have been good for me, I'd have had 3 boats there blcoking
if you had waited two more turns my entire fleet would be to the east
better to be lucky than good I guess

Yaz: Couldn't have stopped me landing while we were at peace

darrelljs: nope, that's correct

Yaz: So got any new defenses you want to tell me about ahead of time? :D

darrelljs: nah, patns totally down
you got me good
it was the fleet or nothing

Yaz: I don't 100% believe that.

darrelljs: I don't blame you, but you'll see for yourself in a few turns

Yaz: Especially with amount of mistakes I keep making by not having set in stone plan

darrelljs: lets see on turn 57 I guess you'll have visibiliy and can attack on turn 58

Yaz: I'll point out this is purely a strategic attack based on opportunity. Nothing against you

darrelljs: oh of course
you had an army, were cramped, and I had the great lighthouse guarded by warriors
it was the right move, its up to me to find a way to stop you

Yaz: Nice that somebody agrees

darrelljs: heh-heh...well good luck, but not too good

Yaz: Plus you crush both myself in ruff in every single category on the charts.

darrelljs: yeah, I'm humming, too bad my military is paper
I was really hoping I had one more turn to get those gallyes in place

Yaz: btw did he let slip this might be coming? I made mistake of telling him just because I got giddy at the idea lol
Yeah the positioning seemed a bit weird

darrelljs: ruff did not tell me this was coming

Yaz: That sounds like very careful wording

darrelljs: we could always make peace now for some kind of deal...a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush

Yaz: I'm sure we may be able to come to something but I'm not sure I'm ready to play my hand yet before I see what's dealt.

darrelljs: fair enough, but by then I might change my mind :P

Yaz: Plus greater light house is an aweful nice prize

darrelljs: yup
can't blame you for wanting it, especially on this map

Yaz: yeah
only probably is it will be seperated from my land by your giant navy and have krill on my west

darrelljs: true...something to consider as you decide how to best utilize your menacing troops

Yaz: indeed

darrelljs: okay, I got to run...keep in touch

[darrelljs]

Okay, here is the tactical map:



My first two Galleys died attacking Yaz. There was a 46% chance one of them would win and I'd be able to finish off his "navy" on turn 55, but it was not to be. The remaining Galley has no where to run, at least. That's the bright spot. The other spot is a bad spot :thumbsdow. Three Axes and an Immortal on my mainland, and I still lack a strategic resource.

As I discussed earlier, while we were at peace I could not stop his Navy from parking at my borders. Assuming he wants to minimize my ability to react, he needs to a) keep his navy hidden, and b) use the Galley's extra movement to land as close as possilbe to Washington. Ideal timing would put him next to the Rice while we still had enforced peace. He was one turn late, and claimed to have mismanaged the unit movement. Of course, my entire Navy was heading east so he would have been able to sail right up to the Rice if he had waited. Better to be lucky than good .

The southern route is three turns form his coast to a Rice debark, while the plains island route is six turns. Ruff spotted a Settler and an Immortal near his land. I don't know all the facts obviously, but my suspiscion is with tight play he could have gotten another Immortal and another Galley in that three turn difference and taken the southern route. A stack one turn closer to Washington and with an extra two units turns a grim situation hopeless. Perhaps Ruff's Work Boat (highlighted in the tactical map) was the reason. If he suspected Ruff was feeding me information, he couldn't very well sail in that direction. Hopefully there are enough details in his thread for me to satisfy my curiosity on this post game .

Here's a picutre that shows where Yaz's stack can be on various turns:



Remember I am first in the order, so I've already played turn 55. That also means that if he takes the direct route to Washington, I have the front half of turn 58 to get something, anything into the city before he attacks. The good news is that I have 40% culture defense and he's attacking across a river. The really bad news is I have no strategic resource (my Worker can't connect Horse until turn 57). Too bad his stack isn't Immortal heavy .

I'll put my defense plan up in a day or two...

Darrell

[T-hawk]

You did an admirable job sniffing out the Yaz attack before it happened. Well played on getting into your neighbor's head. You knew he was at war with Japan, building units, then made peace, and he was suspiciously quiet towards you. As Yaz said in that chat, he told Ruff his plan, though Ruff didn't quite leak it to you.

My question of "did you trade for copper?" could definitely be seen as leading. Let me explain on that - I didn't ask until Yaz had already posted a screenshot of his unit dropoff. So you'd know of the attack as soon as the game got back to you.