[SPOILERS] yuris125 on a Pitboss77 boat

[yuris125]

Don't want to login tot he game out of turn, but from memory, not counting Chemistry, techs Scooter has and I don't
* Military Science
* Scientific Method
* Communism
* Banking
* Economics
* Philosophy

And I have Aesthetics / Literature / Music on him

So something in the ballpark of 14k beakers ahead? Plus better economy, State Property must be amazing on this map, and of course his city count is almost double mine

Before the world war, I would say 95% Scooter, 2% myself and SD, 1% between Bing and Cairo - and a prolonged multi-front war against Scooter was a requirement to have a chance of a non-Scooter win. Such a war did start, and it makes the chances something like 90% Scooter, 5% me, 4% SD. But unless Scooter starts losing important cities, he's still a huge favourite. His lead is so big that I would say even if the war ends with him losing 10 cities, he will still be favourite

[Cornflakes]

His lead is so big that I would say even if the war ends with him losing 10 cities, he will still be favourite

[yuris125]

A calm before the storm kind of turn. Scooter tried to attack at Satsuma, but it didn't go well for him




However, he did finish Physics this turn (to the question of how ahead he is). That means airships are about to come into play - that's in addition to SotL, which already make sure that frigates, while a necessity, aren't really the answer

For now Scooter pulls back and regroups into this stack




I'm pretty sure the galleons in this stack are the ones from which he attacked Satsuma, so they can't have more than 2 units (one of them is the grenadier who attacked and survived). But I reinforce the city with 3 more samurai anyway, just to be on the safe side (Satsuma is a good staging point for anything I might want to do with them in any case). He also has to keep in mind Bing's 18 caravels (currently in Nagoya) - don't know if he feels safe completely ignoring them, or if they're at least somewhat of a factor

At Silver Lake, I go ahead and promote Samurai to combat 3. He whipped grenadiers in both cities on that island, and is bringing an extra galleon. I would've preferred to promote them to city raider 3, but since it looks like they will have to defend, it's better to increase the chance they survive. If I get a chance, I will bring another galleon or two of samurai, and those can be city raiders

And that's the turn. Chemistry comes it at eot, next turn I'm mass whipping frigates

[yuris125]

Looks like SD might claim the first Scooter's city of this war




Depends how Scooter plays it. If he chooses to sail some units from Silver Lake to reinforce One Eye Cat (which currently has only two muskets on defence), I have 2 galleons full of 9XP samurai (who can take amhibious promotion) in Yokohama, they can join the attack on Silver Lake if it becomes viable

In any case, looks like SD and I are likely to split this island, unless Scooter wipes out one of our stacks

Other than that, things quietened down for now. Scooter pulled back his ships, and I whipped a dozen frigates across the empire. The potential attack on Kartul through a fort is back on, Scooter no longer guards the passage if I complete the fort. But as it stands, even if I take the city, I would have to raze it, probably better to wait until I'm in position to hold it

[yuris125]

I don't know how, but Scooter held One Eye Cat, without weakening the garrison in Silver Lake




I positioned three galleons full of samurai (although only 6 of the 9 can take amphibious) so they can fork both cities next turn. Although if I see SD's galleon stack sailing towards One Eye Cat, I'll let him have it. At this point it is important to ensure SD gets something out of this war and stays in it, and if the goal is to stop Scooter from winning the game, it doesn't matter that much who captures cities

My privateers to the west of the island killed a galleon. It may have been empty, and I might lose them both to frigates (although not sure if Scooter will take these attacks, both frigates I see in range are wounded). In any case, I think it was worth the risk

I ran the numbers for my attack on Silver Lake, but they showed only 26% of taking the city. We don't take these odds. One more turn of bombardment then. I just don't have enough attackers, it is currently 11 attackers vs 7 defenders, and two of the defenders are highly promoted crossbows, so samurai odds won't be that good even with collateral

I don't understand Scooter assembling ships west of Nagoya. Are they there just for defence? Can't figure out how they can be used offensively

Setting some cities on Wealth, to try to get to MilScience faster. Current eta is 7 turns, I would like to shave a turn off it. But also I will need a lot of gold after finishing this research to upgrade samurai to grens

[yuris125]

Turn starts with SD asking for some of his money back




I accept. Hope there's no doubt in anyone's mind that this is a legit deal

In Silver Lake, Scooter upgraded crossbow defenders to grens




I actually thought it could have been a mistake, since upgrade ruins fortification bonus, and grens didn't seem that much better than crossbows against samurai. But the numbers didn't back me up. Guess grens fight better than crossbows when not at full health?

Anyway, the numbers showed over 80% chance of taking the city, so I went ahead




All 5 catapults died (which I was perfectly fine with, I don't anticipate much fighting on land, and was happy to get value from them), as well as 5 samurai. The calculator says this was a somewhat lucky outcome, I was supposed to lose 6.5 samurai on average (although this is difficult to set up accurately, due to some attacks going from land, some from water with amphibiouos, and some without). I did win a couple of 30% combats, so sounds about right

In any case, that's first blood. Most of the turn I spent thinking about what next. And I am still thinking. Going west makes the most sense since that's where my force is, but no doubt Scooter expects that

SD should take One Eye Cat, assuming those galleons are full of units. I am worried about the situation on the other side of the empire though




The besieged city is almost certainly falling, and that could give Scooter an attack route on SD's capital

I'm undecided what to do with the great general I got this turn. Military academy in Osaka, military instructor to be able to build triple-promoted grens, or sprinkling XP on 5 ships to give them Nav 2 - all these options have merit. I have to be mindful of Scooter getting one as well - I haven't seen the generals he got in the field, but he also may have access to faster ships, including potentially a 7-move galleon

Also shown in the log above, Scooter completed Taj. His golden age is never ending, is it? (I was in no position to contest it, so didn't even try)

[T-hawk]

Turn starts with SD asking for some of his money back

I accept. Hope there's no doubt in anyone's mind that this is a legit deal

Do other players even know when a deal like that happens? It doesn't show up in the foreign advisor, right, since it's not an ongoing per-turn deal? Can other players tell any difference between that, versus you just spending gold on teching and SD saving gold?

[yuris125]

I don't think a one-off gold deal would be visible to others, no. Unless they track SD's gold every turn

Was more a note prompted by the discussion around SD's gpt deal to me. Both his 100gpt to me and me sending 200g to him could look bad out of context

[yuris125]

Quick question, if I have a medic 3 unit on a ship, does the healing effect still apply to units not on that ship? And does it apply to units on the same tile, but onboard other ships?

[T-hawk]

I think so - it's everything on the tile or adjacent, no other conditions - though it's been forever since I've seen it in a game.