[Spoilers] Suboptimal - Welcome to the Tlachtli of Blunders!

[suboptimal]

Turn 159

In the south a 2x promoted musketman has shown up:




It’s got some company with the support bonus. Up at Xenocrates/Diocles two of the cavalry have disappeared from view, as has the Great General. I don’t know if they’ve gone south or north. North would be a problem but I think the cavalry would still be in view if they went that way.




The options here are to declare war and take out the city or turn and attack the musket. In looking at the terrain I decide that I have the time to take the city. The musket will not be able to attack any of the crossbowman next turn – the closest one will be in the swamp and the only unit Japper would be able to attack directly would be my own double-promoted musket. Let’s grab the city:




After the attacks the garrison is at 12/200 health. Ugh. Situation after attacking:




I should be able to take the city with a musket and a knight and turn the crossbows north to deal with the threats as they come in.

Builders continue their charging and chopping work. I’ll find out next turn if the builder charge overflowed into the bombard at Begin or not. The chop at High Speed finishes a second Frigate. I resume working on the field cannon for an eventual reinforcement down here.

Colonialism will complete in three turns. For timing I’ll put a turn into Scorched Earth in order for Find to get out its second frigate. There’s a caravel there that’s at 202/240. I’ll chop that out four turns from now and drop the overflow into a Bank.

[suboptimal]

Archduke, for your reference here is my current thinking on upgrades:

On T161 I switch from Colonialism (1 turn remaining) to Scorched Earth
T162: Resume Enlightenment
On T163 Frigate @ Find completes and I chop out the caravel. Enlightenment completes, start different civic, remove Press Gangs & Public Works, slot in Professional Army & Free Market. Upgrade 2x southern horses to cavalry. Do northern one if needed.

From there I'd keep those policies in place until I can get three frigates upgraded to battleships (1-2 on T165 when the northern city is settled, third to follow), then get rid of Professional Army for a bit and put in Rationalism for the science boost.

[TheArchduke]

Thanks for the info.

Shame about those rolls, the Knight could get away.

I would use the city as a healing base and raze the NE city.

A outright conquest of Kongo is realistic, so doing damage and breaking their spirit/his ally is more important.

[suboptimal]

If I take the city (he could still get walls done this turn) and he responds in force I can regroup around it for when I complete Steel on Turn 164. Upgrading a crossbow or two to field cannon instead of horse to cavalry in that instance is also an option (and a bit cheaper).

[suboptimal]

Turn 160

Let’s see what kind of response I’ve gotten in the southeast…




He’s moved the knight out of the city. Interesting. One musket is sufficient to take the city, my knight and a crossbow shot will be enough to also kill the knight. Western musket attacks the city, taking it. I keep it and start a monument for lack of anything better. I also rename it Diminished. Middle crossbow moves north, southern crossbow moves towards the city and shoots, knight finishes the kill.

Looking at the support bonuses the Kongloses knight to the north has two more units behind it, but my recollection is that they are Ngao Mbeba. However, based on Japper’s gold expenditures (about 100 every time his gold dropped to near zero) he’s probably upgraded all of them as they went through Waffles. Crossbows shoot, muskets move up and:




There’s a unit in the fog NW of that westernmost knight. I sense a field cannon upgrade coming here. Archduke, do you think I try to hold the gap here (that northern musket I just used for the kill will get killed next turn) or back off and set up around Katango? I’m thinking the latter while I wait for field cannon upgrades, Steel to complete and cavalry (literally). I also wouldn’t be surprised if some Greek troops showed up down here – fully half his army remains unaccounted for. I might need to move my spy around a bit after the current mission completes.

Elsewhere around the realm the Campus is finished at Oddfellows and Begin’s excess production from the builder charge did not overflow into the bombard...good to know. Cant’s Encampment completes next turn, Welcome’s Industrial Zone in 6 turns. Settler at How is also done next turn. I need to unload Public Works when Colonialism completes so I’ll get one turn into a builder there and then finish out a three-charge builder. It’s headed to Bunker for some improvements there (two rice farms and a mine up on the desert hill). Given the force count over at Kongo I do stop the bombard and resume the musketman for some local defense. That’ll take six turns as it’s partially completed.

Internationally Greece has completed two banks (Euclid and Hippocrates). Rho21 remains a column behind me on the tech tree so hasn’t completed that tech yet. Kenneth and Find will both work on banks once they get their current builds (market and frigate, respectively) out of the way. I’ll put one more turn into Economics and then start Sanitation until I need Steel completed in a few turns. I also see that rho21 has pushed his Envoy count at Geneva to 16.

[TheArchduke]

First of all, was there a reason to advance and kill your own musket? Why not soften it up in melee and kill it with a crossbow. A thrown away unit right there.

Anyway, without any reinforcements to hold the I actually would fall back and try to kill units. Japper is sure to throw away his units even more then you, let him.

Kapsalon if taken let´s you heal. The terrain except for the mountain gap provides no defense bonus. Fall back.

[suboptimal]

When I advanced the musket for the kill I didn't have vision on the units to the northeast. Looking at the terrain, support bonuses and what he's got available to attack I may still have the unit (though redlined) when my turn comes around. I'll try to pull back to the former Katango and use the crossbows to their fullest effect there. What helps me out is that he has no ranged forces in the area. I'm thinkin the upgrades will be a field cannon and two cavalry to come in from the west.

[TheArchduke]

Imperative should be a punitive strike on Kapsalon after he exhaustes units.

You want Japper to become a non factor which he suprising even myself refuses to do so on his own.

[suboptimal]

Yeah, that's the idea. It'll be a matter of holding out that long first, though if I set up around Katango/Diminished correctly that should be doable. The swamp within the city's borders is not ideal for that, though. I'm also concerned about a Greek cavalry showing up.

[suboptimal]

Turn 161

Whenever the game I’m in has an active military engagement (as opposed to the “paper war” of the last 60 turns) I always feel like I’m going to open the save to find a hot mess waiting for me. This engagement has been starting to have hot mess potential and…




“I’m not dead yet”. Time to fall back a little bit. I’ll get everything else out of the way then come back to this.

First things first. I’ve got a bit of a civics dilemma. I wanted to hold Colonialism to get a double policy swap while I wait for the frigate in Find to complete, then use The Enlightenment to get Press Gangs and Professional Army unslotted. However, right now I don’t need Public Works so I’ll complete The Enlightenment, start Nationalism, replace Public Works with Professional Army, do my upgrades now and then take out Press Gangs when Colonialism completes. Over on the tech side I’m going to hold Economics for the boost and start Steam Power.

How has finished the settler and starts a builder. Sing for the Submarine has finished its market and I start building a bank. The builder at Welcome completes a farm triangle and will now head south to Sing for two pastures, a forest chop and maybe a jungle chop for good measure. Having finished the Encampment I’ll complete the Monument in Cant and then start on a musketman. I was thinking of farming the floodplains up here but Begin needs food and housing more than Cant so I’ll get a couple of farms down that way (or do a chop-and-mine on the forested hill to the west). Mine a hill at Kenneth and that completes this round of builder management.

The good news is that with Industrialization and some of the builder improvements I’ve now got four cities at or above 30 per turn: Begin (32.5), Cant (30.4), Kenneth (37) and How (39.9) with three more in the mid 20’s: Find (24), Welcome (25.2) and Maps (25.2). For the time being this is keeping production times reasonable. That will change as the game goes on, though. Following Archduke “keep on building” advice was definitely the right call , even if a bit ironic coming from him.

Having moved everything else I now deal with the mess in the south. In order to get the death-lined musket out of the way I first move the eastern musket southeast. The death-lined musket moves to the now-open tile and the two units then swap tiles. Next turn I’ll upgrade the crossbow by Diminished and then bring it forward while the death-lined unit heads to the city for healing. While I’m here the two crossbows shoot at the double-promoted musket, bringing it to under 30 damage. I’m not going to go after it, preferring instead to leave my own double-promoted musket fortified in place. I’ll have enough gold next turn to upgrade two horsemen and a crossbow for reinforcements in this area. The situation at the end of my turn:




Another concern here is Welcome’s overall status. It’s currently Unhappy at 1/5 amenities. The problem, though, is that as a foreign-founded city war weariness will continue to accumulate here until it hits its cap at -20, so I’ll need to start getting ready for rebellions. Once the IZ is complete I’ll have to get out some troops for just such a contingency.