Das Boot (directed by Wolfgang Petersen and Singaboy)

[Singaboy]

Turn 81:

We have our second horseman, Kiel finished its Hansa and two cities grew in size giving us a little more science and culture. Japper declared war on Jester. I assume he is trying to pull the same stunt that he did with me. This is good in a sense that one of his long boats is far away. I will most likely swap into maritime Industries and get two additional boats out.
Engineering and Feudalism have both reach more than 50% and it's time to swap out of those.



The first thing I do is to assign the trader of Weinberg to establish a route with Aachen. Not only does the city get 1f 4 hammers, the route also builds a road through the hilly terrain cutting traveling time there. It will effectively cut a turn for my builder to move to the rice tiles too. I have sent a warrior south just in case.
Weinberg will finish its Hansa in 4 turns and then go for the water mill. Border growth is due in 5 turns to include the first stone boosting production that little more that I want.

Kiel starts a builder that will be ready just in time for the Feudalism policy change to 5 charges while now profiting from Ilkum. Kiel really works some lousy tiles. I need to build a market and library there for the citizens to become specialists.



I have a few choices for technologies and will soon pursue them anyway. Construction will need to wait for the walls (in 3 turns), Stirrups needs Feudalism (done in 6 turns). Mathematics will give me +1 naval movement, but I start with Celestial Navigation to research to 50% and wait for the Eureka. Once Kiel is done with its builder, it will improve 2 water resources. I can then lock harbors where I deem them necessary.

Military Training is ready on T82, enabling a policy change as my GG is ready next turn. I will get an envoy from it just as I get through the diplomatic policy cards. I am not sure what to do with those two envoys yet.

In the west, my warrior keeps on checking out the coast. One horseman has moved up on the shore while the second horseman is on its way there. I have also started to pull an archer from the east coast over for support. Ideally, there are spots for 3 ranged units to attack Midgard while three horsemen could attack from the east. If naval situation permits, the galley could get involved too. A lot will depend on Japper's preparedness. I hope his mind is busy with Jester for now. Japper's military score is still around 130 while mine exceeds 300. Midgard will be a key city due to its iron and horses.

Once T82 is done, I will have to draw a proper invasion plan. I am aiming to water my units on T87/88, when the second galley is back in that spot. War would have to be declared a turn later or so, once Japper knows what is happening. It will be a fluid situation initially with more units moving toward the front while starting the war. I will have to fight Midgard with archers, while I hope to upgrade them once the city has been taken. (Machinery should be done in 3+6 turns on T90).

[Singaboy]

Turn 82:

Quite an eventful turn. We get another civic and with it, a policy change. We also get, of course, the Great General and an envoy, the second envoy is due next turn.



I exchange Strategos with Maritime Industries for now. This is to build 2 quadriremes. Ultimately, I need to get Conscription to make sure, I am not bleeding too much for unit support.





I am checking the effect of the new policy and can see that I am able to build a quadrireme in 4 turns now. The same will apply to Salz am Meer once its Hansa is done next turn. It would be nice to get the 100% bonus into a nice overflow to produce the campus faster. I could build a quadrireme in Salz am Meer in 4 turns (done T87) and a galley in Zuckerstadt trying to emphasize food over production to delay it to T87 too and get a huge overflow. The battering ram can't be delayed for my campaign, but if I produce the galley (65 hammers) in three turns instead of two, I am looking at a potential overflow of 30 hammers to be put into the campus.

In the image below you can see some troop movement in preparation for the coming war. The new General has been teleported to Zuckerstadt. The second horseman used its extra movement to embark to save a turn moving north. The archer covering the salt at Salz am Meer is moving north too, while the eastern slinger is moving west to cover said salt. I can no longer afford to cover every tile with units, but will keep on occupying crucial tiles such as the campus, Hansa and horses.



A look at the Great People points. I finished the race for the Great General. I am leading in Great Engineer points (in fact nobody has built an industrial district), I am in contention for the Great Merchant. oledavy is churning out a lot of science and it is either due to a 100% adjacency policy card or some projects. His is gaining 7 points a turn and this quite worrying. I will need to speed up science too.

If my campaign against Japper goes as I hope, I will need to turn my attention toward oledavy. I can only hope my superior production will be able to match his science.




A look at the score at the end. It does look quite nice for me, but oledavy is not to be underestimated as his science is crazy right now. A table below will provide more clues. I switched to Drama and Poetry as the upper half of the civic tree is waiting for Feudalism to get its Inspiration. It will be done in 5 turns when the second rice has been farmed.

[Singaboy]

A look at the current score:

Science
Singaboy 27.0
oledavy 45.1
Archduke 19.3
Woden 36.0
Japper 14.8
Jester 17.2

Culture
Singaboy 21.6
oledavy 15.4
Archduke 12.2
Woden 14.4
Japper 13.7
Jester 9.9

Domination:
Singaboy 340
oledavy 201
Archduke 163
Woden 251
Japper 133
Jester 155

Singaboy 6 cities, 11 civics, 16 techs, 21.8 gpt
oledavy 5 cities, 10 civics, 15 techs, 4 gpt
Archduke 6 cities, 8 civics, 14 techs, 26 gpt
Woden 4 cities, 8 civics, 16 techs, 22 gpt
Japper 5 cities, 8 civics, 13 techs, 10 gpt
Jester 3 cities, 9 civics, 13 techs, 22 gpt

Looking at the different scores, oledavy looks scary with a superior science and a culture output that is not too bad either. Woden is next in the rankings. Japper and especially Jester are starting to fall behind. Jester must feel the hurt of a lost city and is now potentially being harassed by one of Japper's long boats. Noticeable is oledavy's relative low gpt and that might be due to his army without CH and Conscription.
In terms of military strength, I am far ahead of anyone and have a General to boot. To my delight, Japper has still done nothing for his military but his boats. Unless he starts to produce some serious military, he will have an issue soon.

Let's have a look at my invasion plan. I had to work backwards from the turn I attack Midgard to coordinate my movement for 3 horseman, a battering ram (which might not be needed), 3 archers and the Great General + galleys. I assume an assault on T90/91. Three black pathways are for three horsemen. One horseman is already at its starting position, the second horseman will reach it on T85. The third horseman, currently produced in Aachen, will join from the south in time.

It will then cover the battering ram, that leaves Zuckerstadt on T84. The ram will join another horseman on land on T88 while the last horseman will continue to sail around the southern peninsula to land on T90 south of Midgard.



In sync, three archers will move just behind the horsemen to assume positions east of Midgard to fire at the city. There are currently two galleys that will help to ensure a smooth passage across the straits. A third galley will cover my eastern shores just in case. Salz am Meer will get a quadrireme on T87, that will quickly move north to support the campaign, Zuckerstadt's galley will be ready the same turn.

The galley which anchors currently at Zuckerstadt will accompany the horseman in the south and depending on resistance shown, could also attack the city. If Midgard continues to be without city walls, I could potentially take the city on T91. In the ideal scenario, three archers, three horsemen and a galley should be able to conquer a defense 20 city.

On T90, I will get machinery to potentially upgrade archers to crossbows to strengthen my attack. Of course, Aachen will continue to produce horsemen until I feel Japper is crumbling. Let's see how the initial phase of the war is going and especially, how Japper responds to my invasion. I assume on T88, when my troops are all but visible to him, he will demand to know what is happening. I could wait for him to declare war but that depends on the situation.

[rho21]

Thanks for your excellent reports so far.

Out of interest (and I know it's tough to answer hypothetical questions), if Japper hadn't launched those coastal raids against you earlier what do you think you'd be doing now? Still setting up to attack Japper?  Preparing to attack someone else? Going for more of a builder strategy?

[Singaboy]

Thanks for the nice comment I personally find it interesting and entertaining to read turnsets. Likewise I find it better to write about my own turns to remind myself of what I am doing and thinking.
Likewise, I hope there are some people that enjoy following my thoughts and screenshots.

The question you posted is an interesting one. I am not launching a strike against Japper out of petty revenge. There are several reasons:

- My constant fear of Japper's coastal pillages made me build up a sizeable defense. Instead of just sitting there, it could be put to good use
- Norway seems to be a constant threat for coastal raids, hence it is good to get rid of that threat
- Japper has still not build much of a military and seems an easier target than say, oledavy or Woden. He is also just west of me. I am in no mood to fight with Archduke so soon yet again.
- I generally dislike pure builder games (I am in fact not good at it) and am a warmonger at heart. I also think that for lurkers a game with mere builders is far less exciting than a game with crazy wars
- Building a large empire with just your own settlers has become quite difficult. My 5th settler will now cost 200 hammers, even Aachen needs 5-6 turns with Colonization. Remember that I still want to build three additional cities on my Island, that's another 690 hammers.

I know I am gambling here as my attack could fail miserably or provoke an alliance against me. Better try and fail than merely sitting back. My intention is to get my NAP with Archduke renewed around T87 (it expires T89), just as my war with Japper is inevitable.

[Singaboy]

Turn 83:

The road to war...

Preparations are going as planned. Another horseman is done in Aachen, Salz am Meer finished its Hansa and starts a quadrireme (4 turns). Zitronenhain acquired a new field, the rain forest to the west. I do some mirco management, so that Kiel can stop working that awful 1f1h sea tile. The builder remains at 4 turns though.

The troops move west, 2 horsemen will reach their starting point next turn, the third is on its way to embark and join the battering ram. Three archers follow close behind. In fact, it is pretty congested there.

I get another envoy and after thinking about it, I drop both envoys into Lisbon to enjoy +8gpt for the moment. It gives me a little more intel at Woden's land but that is not the purpose. I hope Woden doesn't get this wrong. I just need to gpt that my army is draining away from me. With my currently army, it is still only 13gpt but will only get worse. I will need to enable the 1pgt per unit policy soon. That would currently save me 10 gpt, quite substantial. However, I need to finish those naval units first. I am sure naval warfare will feature very prominent in this game.

I spot a barb camp to the east on my Island. Can't complain here, it's only my second camp here. I am sending the warrior over to probe around. My eastern galley will reach that spot soon too and can help to find out what threat there is. No horsemen for sure.

By the way, thanks to Salz am Meer's Hansa, Aachen's central Hansa now makes 6 hammers a turn. Kiel's CH is making 4 gpt as a result as well. That's the power of adjacency.





With some increasing tension, I am checking on Japper. His military strength increased by 10. I guess it is the healing of a long boat as he is at war with Jester. Stay over there, please. I check on Midgard and discover, that it is producing a harbor there. Japper is not making any Great Admiral points yet, though the other harbor town is producing a harbor too. I can only hope that he finishes the harbor just before I launch my strike. I can use a harbor more than anything. As long as he is building that harbor, he won't produce troops.

[Singaboy]

Turn 84:

Japper posted that his university schedule would allow him less regular play. Well, I would be glad to help Japper concentrate on his studies even more (I hope I don't have to eat my own words later on).

I have been doing some thinking about the invasion and I think I can speed things up to attack on T89 with 3 horsemen (supported by a General and battering ram), 2 archers and a galley. Unless something goes really wrong and Japper is able to field a sizeable opposition, the first city should fall fast. After that, I would need a short consolidation to advance deep into his core.

The city walls of Zitronenhain are finally ready. We get Engineering and I think I might have made a mistake to let the overflow run into Celestial Navigation which has more than 50% anyway Zuckerstadt finishes its battering ram and starts a galley. Zitronenhain also starts to produce a galley after much thinking. With 100% bonus, I might as well make good use of Maritime Industries. The Archduke will get a  Great Admiral next turn and might be a real naval force to be reckoned with. As if he has read my mind, he comes and offers a renewal of the NAP. I would have offered it to him on T86, bu there is no reason to decline now. It will free my hands on the northern borders and only worry about Japper and some eastern advances from Woden (doubtful at the moment).




Let's have a look at the production of my capital. It makes 27.3 hammer toward horsemen (that's without the 50% bonus). A nice 2 turn horsemen production for the time being.
For research, as planned, I start Machinery done on T90 in time for upgrades at Midgard. I am accumulating some gold for those upgrades though without the proper civics, that might be a little costly. I might want to wait for mercenaries. Drama and Poetry will be done next turn. However, it still takes 3 turns til Feudalism kicks in. I need to be careful to delay the completion of Kiel's builder for a turn to gain +2 charges.



In the north there is a real traffic jam building up. It is time to embark units and start moving toward Midgard. Upon analysis of my unit movements, I come up with a really chaotic sketch to pan out the unit movements to attack on T89. I need to ensure that

a. my units stay out of view until T87
b. horsemen can all attack on T89
c. The General is in range to influence all three horsemen
d. archers are in range as well
e. though doubtfully needed, the battering ram is there just in case



I started to embark some units, the paths of all three horsemen are marked in black. Unless I am mistaken, all my units should be invisible at T86. The westernmost horseman will be covered by a galley. The northern flank is protected by another galley too. The orange lines makr the paths of three archers. Due to the traffic, one archer won't be able to attack on T89. Actually thinking about it, if I change the path of the southern horseman + General on T88 to west instead of NW, all three archers can attack too. The western galley would split from the horseman on T88 to be able to attack on T89 as well.

Of course, the situation will need adjustments if there are units from Japper or long boats. However, I do hope that the fact that Japper won't be alerted to my troop movement until T87, on T88 all units have made landfall and are safe from naval attacks.

On T87, two additional naval units will join and support the invasion. I might build a few more archers for coastal defenses after that in case someone else wants to attacks me.

[Singaboy]

Turn 85:

Drama and Poetry are done, I do not change any civics for now. That will happen when we get Feudalism in 2 turns. Jester has come forward with a request for friendship. I do dislike them in-game and hence, will post this via the diplomacy thread we have. I have no intention of attacking him in the next 30 turns, he is not really in contention of the game.
My favorite next target would be oledavy after Japper. I did not really fancy his intervention of Archduke's proposal. Of course, he would like me and Archduke to fight, while he could then extend his science lead. I am glad Archduke stuck to his suggestion and we have a NAP until T120. Together with a NAP with Jester, this gives me almost free hand to conquer Japper. I wouldn't mind the alliance with Archduke to be honest to take out oledavy.




Weinberg continues to grow and is now at pop 4 while finishing its Hansa. With its trade route, the city makes 14 hammers per turn. There is a lot of potential in this city. By the way, growth is down to 6 turns as I farmed the 1st rice after taking the screenshot, increasing its housing to 6. Next turn, I can switch production to the stone hill for 2f 2h. I think, with a water mill, the growth will be even faster and the city might outgrow the tile growth. I am sure I will have to buy some tiles here eventually. For now, I would like to get a water mill, a monument and then go for the CH. Weinberg will be my target pop 10 city, I reckon.

The water mill and its Eureka will pave the way to knights and saltpeter in due time.




In the west, the slow march toward Midgard and war is continuing as planned. Japper should still be unable to spot my units for now. In two turns, the truth will be revealed. I am not sure, whether Japper will declare war on me, but on T88, when I invade his land, I will be the one who has to do it anyway. A new horseman is on its way to the northwest too.




Let's have a look at my cities and happiness:
With Buenos Aires giving an extra +1 amenity, it couldn't get any better. I have 3 luxury resources and a staggering 13 standard ones ( I only now realize that multiple copies of those resources also count for Buenos Aires. This is huge. This means 3*4 + 13 = 25 amenities. 4/6 cities are in fact ecstatic. I have to make sure by all means to keep Buenos Aires at all times. Good thing, I am gaining a fourth envoy with the water mill.

[Singaboy]

Turn 86:

When you have a really nice plan, be prepared to throw it overboard and come up with Plan B:

With tensions rising in the diplo thread, I am sure that oledavy with his really thin skin must be fuming mad. He had hoped to get everyone rally behind him and got the cold shoulder not only from Archduke and Jester signing NAPs with me, Woden hit him hard to with rhetoric. This is beautiful Let's hope oledavy gets derailed a little. His science is really scary and something must be done about him.

It is clear too, that oledavy is trying to help out Japper as much as possible. We shall see pretty soon what that could mean. Let's start with the empire management. Due to more happiness, Aachen gets a 10% bonus and makes 28 hammers a turn now. Next turn, two more naval units are ready. Feudalism will finally be done then. I switch Kiel to a library (after the initial choice of a monument), to finish the builder a turn later. Weinberg's water mill is down to 4 turns thanks to more production with the stones. I sacrifice a turn of growth in turn for it. With another farm next turn and the faster water mill, growth will explode soon enough.




In the north, I move the galley west and we get to see a Japanese galley. This is really no good. Not only is he blocking my access to Midgard, he will almost certainly broadcast what he sees. I need to block his access to the east too to make sure my units are in no danger. oledavy will most likely declare war on me and try to attack me. If he doesn't declare war, I will do it and attack him with combined forces. Next turn, I will have 4 naval units there. I might have to keep Maritime Industries in place and sacrifice unit support.




So what to do next. I will move my units in a way that Japper still can't see my units, but prepare for a quick landing instead of a careful preparation. Below is the setup at the end of the turn:

- The northern horseman has landed and is within the Great General's influence. It can in fact attack Midgard next turn. If nothing happens on Japper's side, it will be a 40 vs 20 attack causing 50 damage.
- The warrior in the north checked whether there is a long boat approaching from the north. It can land next turn to move onto the horse.
- The northern archer embarked this turn and is able to land on T88
- The center archer will land together with the battering ram next turn and able to shoot on T88
- The northern galley moved south to cover the Great General and archer. Both will land next turn. The galley will move further south to cover the horseman there that can only land in two turns.
- The western galley covers the horseman. It could well be attacked by oledavy (his galley is promoted a potential +7 strength). That would give him a 12 point advantage, which of course, is not good at all for me. However, when I checked it was 30 vs 25, so hopefully he gave it a +1 movement promotion.

I am glad that I am producing a few more naval units. Japan with its +5 strength is no joke. Once I take Midgard, I have to be careful to be able to defend it against a naval attack. The positive aspect here is that I can land most units in two turns and be safe from oledavy's galley. The negative part is that my archers and naval units are diverting their attacks towards oledavy's galley rather than quickly taking Midgard. The city is of great value for my entire campaign.

Japper has only 1 iron and 1 horse. If I can take Midgard, he has no iron. and can't upgrade his warriors. So far, Japper has no encampment and can't really build horsemen. Exciting turns ahead really

[Singaboy]

Turn 87:

From the diplomatic thread, it is now clear that I am going to fight two civilizations. Let's see how that will play out in the long run. The bad news is that oledavy will gift Japper his horses and that means, that Japper can build them without encampments of which he still has none. I will need to pillage Japper's horseman source soon after taking over Midgard. The other fear is that Japper can upgrade a warrior before I take out Midgard. I need to take that city as fast as I can.

I do hope that either Woden or Archduke take this opportunity to attack oledavy now that he is gifting away his only strategic resource.

When I open the save, there is a flurry of news flooding in due to the fact that oledavy and with him, his city states declared war on me. As I suspected, he has attacked my galley but the damage is not critical, the good news is that he upgraded his galley for +1 movement. The situation in the west can be seen below. I sort of suspected that Japper is bluffing when threatening me with him sinking my troops. I don't see any of his long boats and I suspect, he has them somewhere near Jester's land. Anyway, the bulk of my initial force is going to land this and next turn. Japper does sport a promoted archer though. I am glad I have a warrior next to it to block him from interfering at Midgard for a while.

oledavy's galley is blocking my galley from moving toward Midgard. Since I can't sustain continued attacks from it anyway, I am going to retreat this galley and move the other one forward. I have two new naval units this turn and they will join the fight soon as well.




My first action of the turn is to farm the second rice and trigger Feudalism. I want to get to Merchant Republic as fast as possible, Feudalism is a crucial step in that direction. The added farm speeds up Weinberg's growth to 3 turns in sync with the water mill.



I can select the civics again but due to the geopolitical situation, I am not going to swap out of Maritime Industries. Instead, I am only implementing Serfdom for more builder charges. I wish I could implement Conscription to save me 15 gpt, but at the moment, I need to produce more military. I will have a new chance to switch policies in 7 turns.

Before looking at the west, a final view of my Island. Salz am Meer starts another galley done in 2 turns. Kiel switches back to the builder. Aachen has produced a 5th horseman and continues to do so at frantic pace. Zuckerstadt takes all the overflow from the galley production into the campus, which is done in 3 turns  After that, it will start to produce crossbows. Though expensive, I will need more crossbows for the war against Norway and Japan as well as for better homeland defense from naval attacks.