Woden, I've been thinking about our plan of action for Kongo/Khmer, and while I don't want to be over-confident, I think we have good chances.
Japper's military score stands at a paltry 90, which means all told he fields some combination of 2-3 Ngao Mbebas and 3-2 archers - hardly a formidable force. Enough to wipe out in the first couple of turns, in fact. Cornflakes is little better, at 128 - we know he has 3 archers from the earlier war (if I'm recalling unit numbers correctly), so throw in a handful of warriors and we've got total numbers. My army can probably handle both combined on the defensive, as things stand now.
Deployments: Given the low score of Kongo/Khmer, and Nan Madol's essential role in my economy, I'm leaning towards stationing my army on their turf. It's also a good forward deployment for attacking Cornflakes' expansion, which I think is the most exposed city they have and the place we should start our campaign.
Nubia, it makes sense to marshal at Leyte/Actium, and march from there (not declaring war until we have to, I should think obviously).
Here's the terrain:
The direct path between Leyte/Actium and Cornflakes' capital is thick, tangled forest and jungle. To the north, his expansion itself is in jungle, but it stands behind some open plains - your swiftest approach is probably to swing west, then south and approach that way with your horsemen. In the meantime, I can block Nan Madol, then attack from the north and west of the city to surround it. Hopefully, at some point in this campaign we have the opportunity to meet and destroy Khmer's army on the field - Kongo will be I don't know where, either deployed at his own cities, or, worst-case, right there alongside. In that case, I defend until you can arrive, then we defeat them together.
After Cornflakes' expansion is down, we can easily approach his capital from the north. The terrain IS restricted - a couple of narrow mountain passages - and it might be difficult to force against determined defenders. But, the northern approach bypasses his encampment and a difficult river crossing, so I think it's our best bet. Once Cornflakes' capital falls, the rest of the campaign against Khmer is mop up.
Right now, depending on how things go, I may be able to split from the Nubian army and press towards Kongo's capital. If Japper loses his army defending Cornflakes, then we want to push forward aggressively. I'll advance and hit the capital over that desert, which seems exposed. Again, once Kongo's capital falls, the rest of the campaign is mop up.
Finally, the new Kongo city is exposed to the sea, and represents a fantastic defensive position against Rome if I can get walls, ranged units, and a decent navy around it. If I can seize it early in the campaign, then with luck I can lock Rome out of the campaign entirely until 102. So, I already have one galley, which should be enough. I'd like to get 3 quadriremes out as well, to bomb the city down. Not sure how to handle walls, can't sail a ram all the way over there. I think if he gets walls up, I'll just abandon the attack until later, but if the city is vulnerable, I will take it.
Here's a visualization:
The next problem to solve will be defending against Rome/China on that front - unless I can grab both canal cities (not likely), we won't have a good chokepoint. You'll have a GG advantage, but Singaboy's faith income is enormous and theocracy will grant him terrifying production, so a Chinese city will infinitely spawn units. How can we prepare to meet that?
If you could grab a religion before the war and maybe lock down the Crusade belief (since Wats is taken) and, I dunno, Stewardship?, that would make us a bit more militarily threatening and might counter-act some of the disadvantage there.
Japper's military score stands at a paltry 90, which means all told he fields some combination of 2-3 Ngao Mbebas and 3-2 archers - hardly a formidable force. Enough to wipe out in the first couple of turns, in fact. Cornflakes is little better, at 128 - we know he has 3 archers from the earlier war (if I'm recalling unit numbers correctly), so throw in a handful of warriors and we've got total numbers. My army can probably handle both combined on the defensive, as things stand now.
Deployments: Given the low score of Kongo/Khmer, and Nan Madol's essential role in my economy, I'm leaning towards stationing my army on their turf. It's also a good forward deployment for attacking Cornflakes' expansion, which I think is the most exposed city they have and the place we should start our campaign.
Nubia, it makes sense to marshal at Leyte/Actium, and march from there (not declaring war until we have to, I should think obviously).
Here's the terrain:
The direct path between Leyte/Actium and Cornflakes' capital is thick, tangled forest and jungle. To the north, his expansion itself is in jungle, but it stands behind some open plains - your swiftest approach is probably to swing west, then south and approach that way with your horsemen. In the meantime, I can block Nan Madol, then attack from the north and west of the city to surround it. Hopefully, at some point in this campaign we have the opportunity to meet and destroy Khmer's army on the field - Kongo will be I don't know where, either deployed at his own cities, or, worst-case, right there alongside. In that case, I defend until you can arrive, then we defeat them together.
After Cornflakes' expansion is down, we can easily approach his capital from the north. The terrain IS restricted - a couple of narrow mountain passages - and it might be difficult to force against determined defenders. But, the northern approach bypasses his encampment and a difficult river crossing, so I think it's our best bet. Once Cornflakes' capital falls, the rest of the campaign against Khmer is mop up.
Right now, depending on how things go, I may be able to split from the Nubian army and press towards Kongo's capital. If Japper loses his army defending Cornflakes, then we want to push forward aggressively. I'll advance and hit the capital over that desert, which seems exposed. Again, once Kongo's capital falls, the rest of the campaign is mop up.
Finally, the new Kongo city is exposed to the sea, and represents a fantastic defensive position against Rome if I can get walls, ranged units, and a decent navy around it. If I can seize it early in the campaign, then with luck I can lock Rome out of the campaign entirely until 102. So, I already have one galley, which should be enough. I'd like to get 3 quadriremes out as well, to bomb the city down. Not sure how to handle walls, can't sail a ram all the way over there. I think if he gets walls up, I'll just abandon the attack until later, but if the city is vulnerable, I will take it.
Here's a visualization:
The next problem to solve will be defending against Rome/China on that front - unless I can grab both canal cities (not likely), we won't have a good chokepoint. You'll have a GG advantage, but Singaboy's faith income is enormous and theocracy will grant him terrifying production, so a Chinese city will infinitely spawn units. How can we prepare to meet that?
If you could grab a religion before the war and maybe lock down the Crusade belief (since Wats is taken) and, I dunno, Stewardship?, that would make us a bit more militarily threatening and might counter-act some of the disadvantage there.
I Think I'm Gwangju Like It Here
A blog about my adventures in Korea, and whatever else I feel like writing about.
A blog about my adventures in Korea, and whatever else I feel like writing about.
, but I also lose the +4
/turn) with traders, RND, and commercial hubs (if discounted), then split your cities between military and a few more settlers. My crossbows will be 85
Not 100% sure how Enhancer beliefs work against the founder of the religion but DotF works in friendly cities, so if at war, it won't be a friendly city to them but will to me.