Japper and Cornflakes' team thread

[Cornflakes]

3 turns to Stirrups, 4 turns to Mercenaries (shaved a turn off with an envoy after you made peace). The question is now, do I upgrade everything immediately? Or do I save gold on maintenance by only upgrading a single Crossbow + Knight initially wait until the last minute on the rest?

[Japper007]

I'd upgrade everything immediately, that has the added benefit of being able to make Sulla (overly) cautious when advancing. Parking a Legion within striking distance of a few Chariots is possible, knights completely deny the area to him.

We'll need those upgrades asap either way:

My reaction to the turn:






CMF is threatening Kinshassa now, he doesn't know this of course but that is a lovely fork he's setting up for Sulla  Now my troops are moving through the town anyway (haven't delayed them), but should I make attempt to hold it or no? That would mean you have to defend my capital on your own and will likely be struck from behind by Woden.... Also TJB is toast...

Our oppertunities are slinking by the turn

[Cornflakes]

Kinshassa doesn't add much to the immediate empire, and is 10 turns from wall, and even walls (as seen at TJB) are only a 1 turn delay against a determined attack. Therefore I don't think you should seriously engage CMF there, but might as well slow him down somewhat. You can park your crossbow on the hill 1SE of its current position, where it can support Kinshassa and also cover some of the tiles to the north of you capital. Park 1 Ngao (the injured one with the promo) on the forest 1SE of Kinshassa where it can fortify and heal back up to full strength. Then fortify the other injured on inside the city to heal. With only 2 land approaches, and one of those a 4-turn hike) the city will be safe from a 1-turn snipe. Make CMF maneuver for a couple of turns first and possibly give us a chance to pick off units, then you can abandon the city after its taken 1 turn of attacks.

[Cornflakes]

My power is up to nearly 450, Sullla just under 500, CMF about 580, Woden about 600. Mercenaries in 2. We might yet be able to hold the line until the next generation of military. On the one hand, it would be nice to get put out of our misery, but on the other hand it would be satisfying to spoil the other team's prospects of an easy invasion in the nick of time. After I upgrade I'm going to offer DoF to W/CMF.

Sullla is scouting out your capital with a great person ... great writer? It was some long hyphenated name which I didn't recognize.

[Japper007]

It's a Great Scientist, Abu al-Qasim al-Zahravi AKA the "Father of Surgery". One of the greatest Medieval Arabian physicians. He has the bonus that heals nearby troops faster, if you "retire" him all your troops gain +5 healing per turn and I believe you get a Eureka.

[Cornflakes]

Mercenaries in, and I upgraded everything that I could which should bring me up to about 650 strength. Really wish we had another 1000 for additional upgrades. If just one of our neighbors would make peace and support us against the other I think we'd be safe.

Woden now jumped over 800 power so probably has upgraded to knights now. CMF is over 700, Sullla over 600 now. I have a horseman in the east which spotted a CMF heavy chariot and Woden crossbow on the northern road towards NM so I expect the hammer is about to drop soon in the east.

[Cornflakes]

Japper, please accept the request for 6 ... I know, not much but I need it to upgrade one last knight next turn.

Ok lurkers, grab your  This may be the biggest clash of land forces to date on RB. Current power ratings of the various combatants:

Cornflakes/Khmer: 679
Japper/Congo: 190
Sullla/Rome: 757
Singaboy/China: 349
CMF/England: 584
Woden/Nubia: 931 

Oh how I wish Woden had let me snipe the GGeneral with project + faith patronage like I was planning   Alas, he/she? is now aligned with the enemy and approaching our borders. I expect declaration of war in the east withing about 2 turns. I would be surprised indeed if we have more than 3 turns of peace remaining in the east.

Having never fought a war of this scale I'm trying on the fly to figure out the best way to maneuver the troops. How does the "defender's advantage work out in practice? Some screenshots and thoughts to follow ...

[Alhambram]

Ok lurkers, grab your  This may be the biggest clash of land forces to date on RB. Current power ratings of the various combatants:

Cornflakes/Khmer: 679
Japper/Congo: 190
Sullla/Rome: 757
Singaboy/China: 349
CMF/England: 584
Woden/Nubia: 931 

If you look to total power ratings of warring players, it isn't biggest clash yet but it might be soon, total power rating of your list is 3490.
In PBEM 2 at turn 160/161 when war between me and oledavy/Woden started, total power rating was 4035 (Alhambram 1683, Woden 1420, oledavy 932).

[Japper007]

I've chosen the following battle line:



If I move up further I risk loosing my units to Sullla's XBows, this way whatever he can hit me with at least take retalliation damage.

[Cornflakes]

   

Woden's crossbows ... Are they starting to advance? Or still assembling in preparation? Why is he leading with crossbows and not melee or mounted troops? As you can see there are a couple more units and a GG in support.

   

In the west I got smart and cross-referenced the support bonus between the various units and placed signs where I expect additional units to be located in the fog. Sullla is leading with a line of Legions, we know he has crossbows, and also see a knight in the north.

So how best to proceed with the fight? I fear that Woden's much larger power rating, combined with the assistance of CMF, will be more than enough to eliminate us. It is virtually impossible for us to build replacement units. My capital can build a crossbow in about 16 turns. The other cities?   try 16+ turns  I have 2 builders with a total of 4 charges. The 1-charge builder I'm going to use to harvest the Deer, and the 3 charge builder I'm going to use to harvest the one forest in my borders, and then probably harvest 2 jungles to eek out just one or two more units. No point in mining tiles that won't pay themselves back before I'm eliminated.

One thing I need to keep in mind when drawing up the battle lines is that if all three of my cities fall then my units instantly disappear, therefore I will need to carefully balance defending Kongo with Khmer. Looking first at Khmer ...

The un-walled city in the southeastern plains is completely indefensible. I shall not even try in the slightest to hold it. Any action in that area on my part will be constrained to sniping ill-placed units on the plains that get in range of my encampment. I have another crossbow completing there in 3 turns. I'll move out the knight in a couple of turns so that it spawns there in the encampment rather than the city center.

It looks like Woden is aiming for my norther city first. I'm going to put up a strong fight there, but not commit all-out. My plan tentatively is to hold the line at Japper's capital until one of my two walled cities falls (whether that be the capital or the northern city). As things start getting grim I'll start retreating more towards the back side of Japper's capital, and once my first walled city falls my army will completely abandon Japper to his fate and make a dash home for a last stand.

Siege units will be my top priority to kill in the incoming armies.