Chevalier Makes Do

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

So far, it's looking like there's a lot of room for naval influence. I think I can set up an Encampment defense at the neck with Russia and at the possible land bridge to the east (since no one ahs met me yet from that direction, I think not), and then build a bigass navy like in PBEM7 to terrorize the coasts and use that to expand. Enough to counter a runaway Rome that's eaten all her neighbors? Tough to say! Probably not! But, dammit, at some point, building HAS to compete with the Classical Age rush or else there's just One Right Strategy in Civ6 multiplayer, and I don't want that to be true. 

But it probably is. 

Well, with some much-appreciated assistance, I held out as long as I could. Thoughts on whether it'll prove enough for you or someone else to defeat the One Right Strategy?

Well, now it looks like TBS is going to run away with the game. Double everyone's science (those lovely mountains), double the culture (Lavra + Colosseum), a fortified position on both fronts, and Cossacks. 

Basically I think I need to either brace for Cossacks, or try and hit him first with, I dunno, Muskets? Knights? I'd need to build some cavalry. I'd like to take the initiative, of course, but I don't have the science base to do that yet. 

So, Alhazard wants a t100 update, so I GUESS I'll update my thread again, even though I don't wanna. D: 

Mostly, things have been quiet. I have finished my settler push and gotten about halfway through the RND push. Goal is to trigger the district discount, then get some encampments and campi going. Then a fleet, then try and do what I can to Russia. It's not a solid plan, and I think I've shot myself in the foot by pushing for that wretched discount. I need 2 more RNDs to finish to trigger it. I also have a few builders ready to go, but I want to get 2 or 3 more in queue before I trigger feudalism. Probably greedy, but eh. 

So let's run through the empire. Here's Manticore:




One of my only high-production cities, I'm using Manticore to pump out traders and builders. At size 7, with any luck I'll be near the discount and I can place an encampment to the north, coordinating with other cities. That will be my defensive line against Cossacks. I also need to get a library online to boost science a bit. Or quads! Manticore has a lot of demands on it. 

Gryphon:




It has grown large, but is hampered by poor production. There are some nearby hills to fix that, but I need builders first. Builders, builders, builders. I also plan to slap down a campus to the southwest, adjacent to a Yeltsin campus. That will take me to 3, with one or two more planned to give me a robust science infrastructure.

Sphinx:




Growing well, but it needs builders to chop. Not sure what district #2 should be, either. Another IZ? Skip it and focus on building up the Harbor? Another campus? Can never have too many campuses. Maybe even a theater square! My plans are so terrible! :D I'm really phoning this game in.

Grayson:




Needs builders! 

Yeltsin:




Actually decent. Just needs a builder for a trio of jungle chops into a campus!

Lynx:




Completed Petra last turn with a deer+forest chop. Going to be a crown jewel once pop grows and I get builders out. Will I have time for that? Probably not since it's already turn 100 and Cossacks come out in like 40 turns. Well, whatever. 

Beowulf:




neeeeeds builderssss

Medusa:




Poor terrain makes it a marginal city. Might throw down an encampment here to shore up Basilisk's defenses. 

Basilisk:




Growing fast. Needs an encampment. Later a campus in those double mountains? 

On the whole, I need to finish infrastructure, then spit out a bunch of builders, then go full military. I don't think I have time for that, but as I said I'm phoning it in here. 

Here's the empire as a whole, and my scouting information over the last 15 turns:

[Jabah]

Thanks for the update.
the plan still to get frigates and terrorise the world (is it possible before cossacks terrorise you) ?

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Thanks  for the update.
the plan still to get frigates and terrorise the world (is it possible before cossacks terrorise you) ?

It is, on both counts.

First, is it possible to reach frigates? It's hard to be certain, since TBS has a science rate double mine (for comparison, I'm in third, and Alhazard only leads me by 6 points as of turn 100 - no biggie at all. TBS is in a league of his own in this game), but Square Rigging is right behind Cartography, which I have inspired and mostly researched now. Military Science is deeper in the tech tree, but still bee-lineable. Still, I think I have time. 

Second, it's going to be key to my defense plan. 

With Cossacks, I figure you need to do two things:

1)Lure them out of their territory, where they are frightfully strong
2)Immobilize them so you can actually kill the damn things.

For that, I need a defense in depth, and good terrain. It looks like my best bet is the hill north of Manticore and Basilisk:




A pair of adjoining encampments protects ranged units behind, while holding (hopefully) muskets. I haven't done the math on P&S versus Cossacks, but I already have the warriors in place for Muskets. That defense would STILL get swamped, I think, but not if I can choke off the number of screaming Russian horsemen boiling over the isthmus towards it. So, to that end, my plan is a pre-emptive strike as soon as I have the ships in place at Voronezh. That city I can easily take from the sea and put to the torch to prevent recapture:




If this is accomplished, Russia's nearest borders would be Astrakhan and Moscow, forcing a long walk for the Cossacks - then they have to struggle over the 3-tile wide isthmus at Vilnius. A squadron of frigates to either side can sweep the entire area with fire, and any survivors run into my encampment wall and small army fortified there. 

So, in essence, the plan is to use 8 frigates to seize the initiative from the Russians and prevent TBS from building up a heavy Cossack blow. If I can get to 12 frigates, a terror squadron of 4 with a small party of marines can range down the Kandy peninsula and try to burn the two Russian cities down there. If I can do that and hold my own lines - a big if, I know - then I can knock TBS out of the running. At that point we're full steam ahead on Operation Buccaneer, when our goal will be to take and burn as many coastal cities as possible, so the last thing ot threaten me would be some other  runaway science civ blasting through my defenses with tanks or something, and the game will probably be decided long before then.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

The same turn I had all my Caravels in place and was set to strike TBS to keep him upgrading to Frigates...he upgraded to frigates. :I Of course he beelined there, 6 turns before I could get there. 

Fuck.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

I rejected a hopeless attack which would cost me all my quads. Instead I'll try and withdraw to the south and preserve as much of my fleet as I can. I have ships in other waters, too, so I might be able to upgrade 4 Frigates - that's the Russian attack force.

He also doesn't have melee units yet, so I might be able to defend Manticore. Probably not, which means my game is over, but I'll mount the best delaying defense I can think of. DAMN. If he'd gone for anything other than Square Rigging right away, I'd have made it there and been basically set. Why does TBS have to be a competent player? I told everyone else the game is over but Alhazard doesn't believe me yet. He'll see.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Update: I have reached Frigates and upgraded 5, with harvests inbound to upgrade 4 more in the next ~5 turns. TBS pillaged all my harbors for 1,000,000 gold (it's the new meta), but his navy is spread out and I can maaaybe snap up a few isolated ships?

But Sphinx is going to be razed. Nothing I can do about that.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

I made an oopsie.

I only counted 4 Russian Frigates in the inner sea between us, plus 4 more on either side. I thought that was the bulk of TBS's navy, so when I counted 2 off Sphinx, 1 pillaging near Grayson, and 1 sailing away from Manticore, I thought I knew where most of his naval power was. I crept forward with the intention of throwing my quads around one frigate long enough to pick it off.

'cept it turns out he has those four frigates, PLUS ANOTHER four right in my face, that sank all my quads. I could rush in and do some damage, I suppose? But I only have 3 Frigates on hand to strike back, meaning I will lose this fight. But if I pull back the odds won't get better.

What the hell, I'll flip a coin, I'm just marking time until Alhazard realizes the game is over.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Obviously I've been checked out of this game for the last...-checks watch- two months or so, so I'm not SUPER motivated to post.

however, I understand that lurkers are curious, and after the thread TBS will probably want to know what my defensive strategy was. So if anyone has any questions, feel free to ask and I'll do my best to answer.

The pitifully few Frigates I managed to upgrade were able to ambush a Russian squadron off the east coast. I sunk 2 frigates, but there are 2 more (at least, perhaps more) and a promoted caravel against my 5 frigates. I have a sixth frigate en route, but that's really it as far as my navy goes. Didn't have the gold to upgrade more.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

So there were, indeed, more lurking in the fog. My navy is doomed to go down fighting.

Look, the only person who isn't ready to give in is Alhazard. But what the hell is he going to do? He's not going to get a tech superiority - Russia is already at Cossacks. He's not g oing to overwhelm TBS with numbers - it's a two-tile chokepoint with encampments ready and waiting. He's not going to win at sea - he has NO ships, and Russian naval might is now uncontested. So he has no way to kill TBS, he has no way to prevent his own coastal cities being destroyed.

Like, this g ame is over. It's been over ever since TBS hit Frigates before I did. Just let us eeeeeeend this, Al.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

I thought about groveling for peace so that Alhazard would concede defeat, but that feels vaguely unkosher.

Instead, I withdrew my remaining navy - I have potentially 5 frigates if I can get my last 2 quads upgraded somewhere - upgraded a crossbow to improve city defenses, and started shooting at Russian invaders in my western lands. We'll do what we can.