[SPOILERS] yuris125 on a Pitboss77 boat

[yuris125]

Realised thinking about the game last night that SD attacking me is actually a major lose condition. If SD attacks me in the next few turns and moves the army towards our border, then Scooter hits him on T166 as per our diplo, Scooter easily makes major gains which I get dragged down by a defensive war. This would likely be enough for Scooter to get game-winning position

What I said about me having SD's cities within strike range on the first turn of the war equally applies to my cities on our border. I need to make sure SD is not tempted to attack them




Luckily, Nagasaki, which is the most important city in the area (high food, very whippable), is not too easy to hit. I need to get eyes on two circled tiles - if I do, I should have visibility everywhere important (unless SD canals through the tile 2S of Spiro). Spaking of canals, him forting a tile NE of Spiro and hitting Nagasaki from that direction is also a danger

Matsuyama is the most threated city, and one where I need to focus on defences the most. I already built walls there (I think? the picture suggests so? not sure why it's still showing 40% defence rather than 50%), and will probably leave a samurai there, it won't join the attack, plus add a longbow

Suo is expendable, and I think Yokohama is far enough and has tiles around it under control - but will have to keep an eye on it

I'm also considering a canal through the marked hill next to Tokyo for slightly easier navigation, it's not using the mines too much at present, and I think going through the island rather than around it will be beneficial

For my own attack plan, I think Spiro is the most logical first target, it is the best city I can easily hit. Will need to figure out how much I need, I expect to have 5 galleons by the attack turn - will I be able to fill them, and will that be enough?

[Dreylin]

Matsuyama is the most threated city, and one where I need to focus on defences the most. I already built walls there (I think? the picture suggests so? not sure why it's still showing 40% defence rather than 50%)

Is it because you have a ship selected rather than a land unit? I know the displayed percentages change on a Walled city if you have a gunpowder vs pre-gunpowder unit selected, but never paid attention to ships because the first that can bombard require Gunpowder.

[yuris125]

Yes I confirmed it this turn, when a ship is selected walls are ignored, with melee unit active it does show 50% as it should

SD whipped an extra crossbow in Spiro, so it now has 2 crossbows and 2 archers on defence. It's still takeable with 10 samurai with these defences, but hammer exchange is not favourable. This may be trickier than I expected - I may have to research Construction, so that I can add some catapults to the mix and not attack cities amphibiously. Meanwhile, Scooter did get to frigates and thus has the option to bombard city defences

This is where being last in turn order may benefit me - the order is Scooter - SD - me, and when Scooter attacks, there's a possibility SD will choose to move units to the other side of the empire. But I wouldn't count on it. Still thinking about the most viable attack plan

[yuris125]

Put Construction in the queue, it was a 1 turn tech, it does feel like I will need catapults, and I was going to need it on the way to Chemistry anyway. I will also have to include some longbows, so that samurai stack doesn't get demolished by crossbows

Unfortunately it is starting to feel like this war is happening too early after all, I would've preferred to get to frigates. On the other hand, if Scooter does have major success and starts killing off SD's army, it's important to be part of the attack. Think unless I see evidence of SD collapsing I will try to limit my commitment. Ideally I would take over the Spiro island and then wait and see. If SD doesn't suffer major losses, the plan will be to be to preserve my units as much as possible, try to peace out after snatching a few cities, and send the army Bing's way

[yuris125]

I'm looking around SD's land and can't find a good opening, there's at least a crossbow or two in every city




I will have access to muskets soonish, but muskets no longer get XP from tataras. I want to make things happen with samurai, and as it stands there's no good way for an amphibious attack

I think the plan will be to land on the rice tile SW of Spiro and see what I can do. Spiro will be the big prize for me, so I would like to hit it first, before SD can figure out defences. After that, I'll just grab whatever I can on the periphery, but none of those cities are amazing. Even Mesa Verde, the Moai city, won't be that good without Moai; taking it would be a blow to SD, but I'm not convinced I want to hurt him that much - he still needs to be strong enough not to fold to Scooter

I will only have 4 catapults in the initial force, which is not amazing, but better than nothing

There's some merit in just landing longbows and catapults, and keeping samurai on ships, so as not to expose them to crossbows if SD manages to kill the rest of the units. Still thinking about that detail

I will be ready to go on T166 as per diplo with Scooter, but will only go in after him. The turn we're attacking on is open to interpretation, since we communicated "in 10 turns" rather than the turn number, and Scooter received my reply on T157. But I definitely want Scooter to be the one hitting first - and hey, might as well take any advantages being last in turn order offers me - technically we're still attacking on the same turn, even if I'm waiting to follow his lead

In the meantime, Mr Cairo is severely lagging behind in power, still doesn't have Astro, and just founded Taoism (so he didn't even start Astro research) - hmmmmm.....

[yuris125]

Actually I wonder if I could convey the idea to Scooter of attacking Cairo rather than SD. SD's power is going up as fast as mine, I don't think we'll catch SD unprepared, whereas Cairo seems unconcerned about building military. On the other hand, if Scooter attacks SD and can't make progress, it would be beneficial for me. But on the third hand, I did agree to a joint war, and want to honour this commitment, even if I don't want to commit heavily. Certainly an interesting situation

And one more thing. Cairo going for Philosophy suggests that maybe his intention is to Lib Astro. I can probably interefere with it, I have two great scientists and can bulb Philo and a good part of Education. Problem is, I don't really have a good Lib target. Would Libbing Chemistry be a waste?

[yuris125]

I'm going to back out of the war against SD. He just did another big round whips, and while most of them were not on our border, he added a longbow in Spiro. He does have at least one crossbow in every city, two in most, even not right on the border




Can I make gains? Probably, anything can be done with a big enough investment. But it wouldn't be easy pickings

I said last turn that I wouldn't mind Scooter being stuck in a prolonged war - well, he could well be thinking the same about me, that could be the thinking behind him pointing me in SD's direction. But more likely, it's just the case of SD reading the situation and getting enough units to make war against him untenable

Scooter still has a peace treaty with SD, so I couldn't include his war declaration in the diplo - these were the messages I sent, hopefully conveying the message that me declaring war on SD is no longer beneficial, and I will not be joining the war







Now, look, I built a samurai or 15. Where shall I put them?

I'm actually going to wait and see. If I'm not attacking SD and think Scooter's advantage in naval tech is too much, the choice is between Bing and Cairo. While Cairo has weaker military, I do have decent value trade routes with him, so would prefer it to be Bing. I did have a clam for clam exchange with Bing on T158, so unless I want to do the dishonorable thing, I have to wait a few turns. Which also means that I can see how Scooter's attack is going, if Scooter does go ahead with the plan of attacking SD on T166. If SD weakens the defences on our border, I would still have the option to jump in

[yuris125]

As a side note, I didn't want to include an "adopt XXX" thing in the second diplo message, since I used "adopt Buddhim" in the first message as an indication that the "declare war" clause is no longer possible. As a result, Scooter could click accept in the second message, forcing me out of OB with SD. I would rather he didn't, but if he does, so be it

One more thing, I will probably add more specialists in Kyoto, so that I can get a few non-scientist great people. I have two great scientists who I intend to use on Education and Printing Press bulbs, but after that I will want another golden age for switch to Representation/Mercantilism

Finally, look at Scooter's 400+gpt income. I really hope he has some wealth builds going, otherwise the future is not looking bright at all

[yuris125]

Scooter went ahead with his attack this turn - and it was a turn earlier than per our diplo, he basically went in as soon as the peace treaty was up. I'm waiting to see what happens. Thing is, SD's defences are largely crossbow-based, which is very effective against me, but if Scooter had time to build a strong musket force, and has frigates to remove city defences... I don't fancy SD's chances. But - because crossbows are ineffective against muskets - he could well leave them on our border, and I won't have an opening even if the war goes badly for him

Both SD and Bing sent diplo messages suggesting I attack Scooter. Guys, did you look a the tech screen? I would like to, but I can't fight frigates

Instead, this is the primary plan of my attack




I have a staging tile out of Bing's vision, and in one move I can unload a mixed stack of samurai / swords / cats on the hill next to Core City. If it's not too heavily defended (it wasn't last time I looked), a detachment on 5-move galleons can hit Nyx Station on the same turn. From there I aim to hold Core City (I don't want to raze it, I want the Confu shrine) while sending units up north and acquiring the northern cities

Liberating Ise is part of the war plan, but not a huge one. Thing is, Bing still has a huge garrison in Lemuria, and I would like it to be stuck there and be ineffective. Me taking Ise would give them something useful to do. On the other hand, Ise still has 80% my culture, and if I do want to take it, it would be preferable to take it before it goes below 75%

[yuris125]

Scooter and SD signed peace, with SD giving up a city. This puts Scooter at 30 when no one else broke 20 yet. And now there are 2 frigates and 2 galleons on my border. Seemingly there's no reason for them to be there, unless Scooter wants to hit me now




If he razes Suo, no one cares. Yokohama wouldn't be a huge loss, but I'd rather no lose it. Satsuma (the shrine city) would be a huge loss, and it is in range of 5-move ships if Scooter has the XP required for Nav 1 on those galleons. I don't know if he can have it - he's not charismatic and is not in theocracy - but Satsuma is too important to risk it. At the same time I don't want to overreact when the war isn't even declared

In the end I ferry 2 archers from Nagoya to Satsuma (this is why Nagoya is unhappy this turn, it's empty but is getting a freshly built samurai as a new defender), and drywhip a longbow in Satsuma and Yokohama. I also move a galleons with 3 samurai from the force setting up for an attack on Bing into the southern sea. Should war be declared, I may have to delay Guilds and spend gold on units upgrades. But I think Scooter is just poking and probing, looking for a weakness - and perhaps I demonstrated enough awareness to deter an opportunistic strike

That said, Scooter's play is showing how dangerous it is to fall behind in naval tech - he's not even attacking me, just his presence on my border is enough for me to look for vulnerabilities and making sure I cover them to the best of my ability, without overreacting, but sometimes making plays I'd rather not make (I definitely didn't want to dry whip my cities)

Nevertheless, if Scooter doesn't attack, I'm still setting up for an attack on Bing on T168, 10 turns after our clam for clam exchange