[SPOILERS - PBEM17] Kyan Does Dallas. The Orange Sensation.

[oledavy]

[COLOR="DarkGreen"]Dave,

First, I threw my stack at Plako last turn in the hope it would allow you to take it next turn. You're going to wind up short on units next turn, but my hope is that between my GG healer and troops I am moving up (and yours that should survive pretty easily, especially after your cannons go in) that we can capture it a turn or two after.

Thanks for the airships, I'd be happy to repay with loaning you back, however I can't guarantee how many will be healthy after the assault on Plako.

In regards to the gpt, right now Plako has 60 base commerce per turn for you. So would say 30 work? (I assume at least some of those workshops will be converted to cottages and thus going more toward 50% of the current base commerce seems reasonable).

Finally, could you attack the destroyer that Rego has 5N of Mardoc next turn (will explain in our chat).

Shoot[/COLOR]

Looks like this war will last one turn longer than I anticipated. Nevertheless, we should still be able to mop up and take the city by turn 151.

I agreed to Shoot's proposal for 30gpt, which is pretty reasonable. I'll begin payments after the city comes out of revolt.

Going to try and kill Rego's destroyers in the north next turn.

Shoot is also open to ending the game, but at this point would like to play a little longer. I think the five of us will have a pow wow after Rego is dead and decide where this game is going.

[oledavy]

[SIZE="3"]Report from the Eastern Front[/SIZE]

The Siege of Plako



Shoot was unable to take Plako on his turn. but he did manage to bring Rego down to twelve wounded defenders left in the city. Unfortunately, he took a lot more losses than he anticipated and is down to two infantry, three rifles and a super-medic left from his original stack.



On his turn, Rego attacked out of the city with one of his rifles, killing my highest strength accuracy cannon. I began my attack in earnest:



Suicide Cannon - Damages 7 Units, DIES
Suicide Cannon - Damages 5 Units, DIES
Suicide Cannon - Damages 4 Units, DIES
Suicide Cannon - Damages 3 Units, RETREATS
Templar Rifle vs. Incan Machine Gun 64.5% LOSS
Templar Rifle vs. Incan Rifle 82.5% WIN
Templar Rifle vs. Incan Rifle 84.4% WIN
Templar Rifle vs. Incan Rifle 84.4% WIN
Templar Rifle vs. Incan Rifle 85.1% LOSS
Templar Rifle vs. Incan Rifle 83.1% WIN
Templar Rifle vs. Incan Rifle 84.4% WIN

My last cannon retreated at 77.6% odds. I then attacked with seven of my rifles (I had an eighth, but it was at low strength and wasn't getting decent odds). I did manage to kill his great general rifle. Unfortunately, I lost a couple of favorable battles, meaning Rego survived the turn with two machine guns and five rifles still in the city. Me and Shoot's forces are now stretched perilously thin and I'm not sure if we'll be able to take the city without more reinforcements. Shoot is moving in more troops from Zakalwe and Mardoc, while I have started moving up my infantry/rifle stack from Rostov.

Here is the situation after the battle:





I wasn't able to gain visibility on Profane last turn, but I'm pretty sure he pulled most of the defenders out of there to defend the capital. At the very least, he moved his pair of machine guns off the oil tile. Next turn I expect he'll draft and whip Plako for another rifle and machine gun - dragging this out longer. The bright spot on the horizon is that my five surviving rifles will all promote next turn. This siege could be going significantly better, I expected the city to fall this turn. However, nothing can change the end result, even if Rego is able to hold off our current attacking force, he is just delaying the inevitable.

One thing this war has driven home to me is my lack of tactical finesse. Rego has repeatedly outmaneuvered me/capitalized on my mistakes. Despite losing ground and being outnumbered, he has been killing my troops at about a 1.3 to 1 hammer ratio. I am very grateful for my allies - if I had to fight him on completely equal terms I have little doubt I would be defeated.

In the south, Rego moved a pair of his destroyers into my waters, north of Hattin. I'm not quite sure why he made this move, even leaving them in the open ocean and losing the +10% coastal defense bonus.



I hit them with my two remaining airships out of 1995WorldSeries and then sent in my destroyers.



The HMS Matthew lost at 70% odds



However, the HMS Titus and suffered only minor damage.



I mopped up with the HMS Indomitable at 60% odds.

You may be asking yourself: why did I attack with a frigate when I still had another destroyer handy? Here's why:



If you look closely, you'll notice he now has a transport in Commodore. Last turn, it occurred to me that he might try to whip a transport in the city to attack 1995World Series, currently staffed by only a single CG2 Rifle (I pulled the other forces out for the current attack). When I booted up the save, I noticed that he had whipped the city. I didn't have a spare airship to perform recon, but decided to act on a hunch. The original idea was to move the healthy HMS Titus and HMS Mark - my only two destroyers in range - into the channel to block him from boating 1995WorldSeries on his turn. However this plan was derailed when the HMS Matthew lost its battle with the Incan destroyer.

He has a pair of destroyers healing in the city, one combat I, the other combat II, while mine are both combat II. I expect he'll hit them with airships then try to plow through. It will likely come down to a coinflip battle between his loaded transport and my wounded destroyer if he decides to take that risk. On the other hand, he may decide to hold off because he now has visibility on this:



I moved up my landing force, and loaded up the pair of pinch rifles I had overlooking the oil tile, it's pretty much irrelevant at this point. In total I have sixteen rifles and five cannons loaded up, more than enough to take Commodore, currently staffed by a machine gun, five rifles, and a catapult. Depending on how things play out around Plako, I may detail troops to go land around Profane, since I'm guessing it's lightly guarded anyway.



The last combat action of the turn took place in the north. Rego's destroyer was right where Shoot said it was. I took an 80% odds battle on it and won. The problem then was that the HMS Retribution was at twelve strength and had nowhere to hide. So, I moved it into Shoot's waters and am hoping for the best.





All this fighting spawned Horatio Nelson in Jaffa. Rather ironic considering my ship naming convention I'm going to try and get a 12xp rifle to attach him to, in order to create a commando unit and unlock West Point in one go.

[SIZE="3"]In Other News[/SIZE]

Constitution came in at the beginning of the turn:



I burned through the rest of the gold I had saved up, running 60% science and 20% on the culture slider. This put me through most of corporation.

As for teching worldwide:

Shoot researched biology
Darrell researched radio
NoSpace researched corporation

Not much else to report. My first pair of settlers finished, and six more are queued up. I'll be shipping them out shortly. Oh, and I noticed this:



Probably just mapping things out. Though, it does confirm they have destroyers out now.

[oledavy]

I've exceeded my bandwidth usage on PhotoBucket until tomorrow, so this will have to be a picture-less update

TL:DR Version - Darrell destroyed the last of the Incan Navy, Shoot razed Profane, and I took Commodore.

Rego did foray out with his destroyers, sinking both of mine. The RNG really did not break in my favor this time. After hitting the HMS Mark with airships, he attacked, sinking the HMS Mark flawlessly. He then mopped up the HMS Titus at ~25% odds with his other destroyer.

In the event that he did attack, I was counting on winning that second battle to force him into a risky destroyer vs. transport battle. However, he loaded three rifles aboard the transport, and moved them all 2SW of the city, to block the channel and threaten landings.

I had chatted up Darrell earlier and told him of the possibility that Rego might foray out. Shoot told me what Rego was up to, and informed Darrell of the location of the Incan Navy. And so, the Egyptian destroyers waiting to the east pounced and killed Rego's fleet. Additionally, Darrell killed Rego's last destroyer in the north, ending the threat from the Rego's navy.

Commodore was staffed by a pair of rifles, a machine gun, and a catapult. Additionally, three airships were stationed in the city. I weighed attacking this turn versus landing and attacking - ultimately deciding to go in. I did this to prevent him from drafting/whipping another defender in the interim and to prevent the airships from retreating to Plako.

This was a battle of absolutely bipolar RNG luck.

I knocked down his machine gun with my airships in range, then sent in an unpromoted rifle, amazingly bringing the MG down to 4.7 strength. Four more rifles suicided against his pair of defending riflemen, then my combat I rifle won at 18% odds. I then used a pinch rifle to mop up the machine gun. At this point, the catapult came up as the defender and I sent in a combat I rifle at 99.2% odds...and lost I think that's the most favorable battle I have ever lost since I started playing civilization. I mopped up the last pair of defenders flawlessly and took the city.

Final Score:

Templar Losses

6 rifles

Incan Losses

1 Machine Gun
2 Rifles
1 Catapult

I got an impressive haul of infrastructure from the city, taking intact a lighthouse, granary, harbor, courthouse, jail, the obsolete Parthenon, and the Apostolic Palace. I will probably research theology to activate it, and build temples across the empire to capitalize on the hammer bonus.

Rego had three workers near the channel building a workshop, which I detailed a rifle to take out. They'll come in handy for rebuilding after the war. I think he was probably building a fort there to serve as a canal, and then cancelled the worker action at the end of the turn. The workers had the idle animation, there was no town there to actually pave over. However, if a canal was so important, why not put a unit there to guard them?

Rego left the city of Profane staffed by a single seriously wounded rifle. Shoot used his super-medic (with mobility) to raze the city, and kill the airships stationed there. He expects to lose the GG next turn.

I'm detailing the spare forces from the Commodore attack to assault Plako, advancing from the Southeast. They'll attack on t152, the same time that my rifle/infantry stack arrives from the northwest. Shoot grouped his forces north of Plako to heal, and is moving in additional infantry from the northeast. I wish I had the map to show, but barring some bad RNG luck, this war will be over with the fall of Plako on t152.

Corporation finished at the end of my turn, giving me an immediete 70 gpt boost. The fall of Commodore's borders allowed me to capture the ivory tile north of 1995World Series - helping me with WW by giving me +2 happiness in most cities.

In international news, Darrell and NoSpace both researched assembly line.

Darrell loaned me an addiotnal destroyer, but I didn't have any need for it so I gifted it back. I have a replacement for the HMS Lend-Lease inbound to his territory, as well as the HMS Retribution. My first pair of settlers are headed to the east of Rego's continent, due the same turn Plako should fall.

[oledavy]

Rego killed all but one rifle in my stack northwest of Plako. I pulled the surviving rifles under the cover of my advancing infantry/rifle army on the grassland hill.

I should have pulled that force onto the hill last turn

I landed more rifles and cannons southeast of the city. The one drawback to this is I will have to cross a river to attack the city on t152.

I detoured to theology, while Darrell and NoSpace researched artillery.

[oledavy]

Message to Darrell

[COLOR="DarkOrange"]Hey Darrell -

Just a quick note, I gifted you back the damaged HMS Retribution - now combat II. Additionally, I sent you the HMS Luke. I hope it serves as a worthy replacement for the HMS Lend-Lease, sunk in a single ship engagement with an Incan destroyer north of Mardoc. Please send the condolences of a nation to the families of the crewmen who perished aboard the ship. Their bodies have been interred in a mausoleum on the grounds of the Templar Armed Forces Cemetary outside Jerusalem. They will be forever remembered for their bravery by my people.

Thanks again for the assistance

Dave[/COLOR]

[oledavy]

Message to Shoot

[COLOR="DarkOrange"]Hey Shoot!

Quick update on the game. If you didn't notice last time you had the save, I loaned you my last pair of airships, dropping them off in Mackoti.

As your recon may have made you aware, I have two stacks advancing on Plako that I hope will be enough to get the job done. So, on t151, in anticipation of this, could you hit the city with every airship you have in range and sent in all your troops? In theory, this should allow me to take the city when I get the t152 save and end this.

Additionally, even if we do decide to continue this game, I am not planning on researching mass media any time soon. So, I am reactivating the Apostolic Palace. Just wanted to let you know if you wanted to start throwing up Buddhist Temples everywhere. Hardly decisive at this point in the game but still a nice bonus

Regards,
Dave[/COLOR]

[NobleHelium]

I'm pretty sure that the AP is locked into one religion for the entire game, regardless of who owns it. So you'll need to build Jewish and not Buddhist temples in order to get the hammers.

Yeah, I'm not dedlurking for darrell anymore.

[oledavy]

I'm pretty sure that the AP is locked into one religion for the entire game, regardless of who owns it. So you'll need to build Jewish and not Buddhist temples in order to get the hammers.

I was under the impression it's effects went to the religion of whoever the resident was. That would be rather suckish, if you're right I just wasted 450 beakers

Thanks for coming by and giving my thread a visit

[oledavy]

This was a relatively quiet turn. The war is finally winding down, though it seems it will last until turn 153 instead of 152.

[SIZE="3"]Diplomacy[/SIZE]

Shoot sent me this email:

[COLOR="Green"]Dave,

Mackoti is too far from Plako to hit it with airships (although only slightly unfortunately), so I wound up gifting them back to you in Rostov so that they would be in range to hit Plako. As I'm sure you're aware, I also have my own stacks advancing on Plako from the north; once they get in range I'll hit the city. In the mean time I spread out a bit to deny him working what tiles I could deny.

Good to know with the AP, thanks for the heads up.

Shoot[/COLOR]

Shoot has two armies inbound, one from Zakalwe and the other from Mardoc. He wants to wait an additional turn to minimize losses. I would rather shed that war weariness a turn earlier, but I'm not complaining. This way, Shoot will take the lion's share of the losses to take the city. It also gives me an extra turn to ford the river with my army south of the city, and avoid attacking the city across the river.

Shoot gifted me back three of my airships I loaned him. They're now based out of Commodore, renamed Kursk. He now just need to give me my other five back.

I sent him this email:

[COLOR="DarkOrange"]Ah, I did not see your incoming stacks. I have not had enough spare airships to perform normal recon the past couple of turns. This gives my forces southeast of the city a chance to cross the river before attacking. Eagerly awaiting our victory on turn 153

Dave[/COLOR]

Lastly, I received this from Darrell:

[COLOR="Yellow"]Thanks, glad you were able to put them to good use :-).

Darrell[/COLOR]

[SIZE="3"]Report from the Eastern Front[/SIZE]



At long last my armies reached and surrounded the city of Plako. Shoot's forces are spreading out into the surrounding countryside. Most of Rego's troops are still wounded but in the process of healing. My southern army will move one west next turn to avoid the river crossing penalty.

[SIZE="3"]Domestic News[/SIZE]

The hippies are really getting on my nerves. I whipped the ironworks to completion in Constantinople for three pop. I would rather now have done that but the city was going to starve otherwise.

I have five settlers inbound. I will be re-founding the SevenSpirits, Pindicator and Stalingrad locations on t153. They will initially cost be a bundle, but should begin paying for themselves in short order. Other than the towns around Plako, Rego's countryside survived intact and well-developed.

Assembly line is going to take me three turns to research at 100% science, or approximately 1500 gold. I'm saving up for two more turns and on t153, the same turn the war is over and I'm done running the culture slider, converting to full research.

Shoot researched combustion last turn, surging ahead of me in beaker count.

And....end turn.

Any epic ideas out there for how I should write up the fall of Plako?

[oledavy]

[COLOR="Green"]Yeah, your t153 will be the turn to go in.

Just a quick note, but what are your plans with the rifle to the SE of Zakalwe? I hope you aren't planning to settle that area

Anyway, here's to getting rid of war weariness!

Shoot[/COLOR]

Yeah....this could be problematic.