RB PBEM #1 - Mehmed (SPOILERS!)

[Dreylin]

t162 - lets see if there's any hope of getting Aryan quickly.

Istanbul: Infantry - Infantry
Ankara: Hammam - Observatory
Samsun: Airship - Infantry
Gaziantep: Infantry - Hammam
Diyarbakir: Mt. Rushmore - Library
Sarmatian: Harbour - Infantry
Izmir: Infantry - Infantry
Kufah: Grocer - Airship
New Damascus: Airship - Jail
Mecca: Airship - Hammam
Najran: Library - Infantry
Antalya: Workboat - Workboat

Privateer plunders 3g from Ephesus.

No retaliation strike on my Lubeck-killer, but mh has reinforced Aryan: now manned with 3Infantry and 2Cavalry. Looks like I won't be taking it this turn ... or probably next. Guess I'll just have to set up a couple of Destroyers as guards outside while I plan out my next move.

Shuffling some units is about all that's left to do this turn...

[Square Leg]

Do you intend on moving inland against MH?

[Dreylin]

I don't know yet.

As far as Aryan is concerned, I think that a Carrier-load (or two) of Fighters will be required before I can crack that egg; and I will look at whether landing the troops before attacking will be a safe option rather than amphibiously attacking again.

For the SoZ in Augsburg, I'm intending to jump a force of Paratroopers across the Mountains to take it out. That will also need to be supported by Fighters to knock down the defenses, and Airships to attack the guards - which will likely be 2-3Infantry. so something of the order of 6 Paratroopers will be needed.

Along the main front, I'm really waiting for the tile 2N of New Damascus to flip (currently 51/48) which will allow an advance of an extra space towards mh's cities. I think that force will really have to target Vienna first - since it is mh's Heroic Epic city - but I may also need to wait for Artillery before advancing to avoid Flanking loss of Seige.

As far as landing a force around the ruins of Lubeck; I haven't really looked into that option yet, but my feeing is that there wouldn't be a whole lot to gain from it. It's quite a long walk from there to anywhere useful, whereas mh's Railroads could speed an attack/defensive force that way as needed. Maybe if/when I capture Aryan, I will keep the city and use that as a base of operations for harrassing mh's Northern reaches. I should be able to reinforce it speedily by Sea.

As for the Navy; much as I'd like to keep them stationed right next to mh's city, that will be a risky proposition once he starts building Destroyers of his own: a couple of Airship strikes would turn a 70/30 from my favour to his, and then the Destroyer could simply retreat back into the city to heal. Medium-term, the fleet may need to be moved at least 5-spaces away from mh's cities to prevent that retreat option ... at least until Carriers are available to prevent airbourne strikes.

[Dreylin]

t163 - nothing interesting to say here.

Edirne: Airship - Conf. Missionary (natural spread to the Island has been conspicuously absent.
Ankara: Observatory - Conf. Temple
Bursa: Infantry - Infantry
Konya: Destroyer - Jail
Gaziantep: Hammam - Airship
Izmir: Infantry - Hammam
Kufah: Airship - Hammam
Baghdad: Library - Airship
Mecca: Hammam - Infantry
Kayseri: Library - Conf. Missionary
Najran: Infantry - Jail
Malatya: Workboat - Courthouse
Marsin: Workboat - Granary

Well, I'm trying to alternate Military and Infrastructure builds a bit, especially at the newer cities. That probably means that mh is catching up somwhat to my power levels, so I'll be stopping that in the next couple of turns as Artillery and Flight come in.

Bad news this turn is that mh has reinforced Augsburg (SoZ city) with a pair of Infantry. That may well put paid to any thought I had of Paradropping over the mountains for a quick capture.

Mixed news is that mh is burning cash on upgrades - I can see 5/6 Rifle to Infantry this turn alone - and Drafting his population away again. He now has 8Infantry in Vienna and 5 in Medina, whereas my attack stack so far only has 10Infantry with a couple more on the way. Of course I do also have the 7Infantry remainig from my Naval invasion, which are currently stationed offshore the Island awaiting instructions.

sooooo completed a Destroyer this turn in Knossos, and has also filled the city with troops (4Infantry + lesser). So far he only has a Galley fo transportation, but he is also unable to reach any of my coastal cities in a single turn. Maintaining Naval dominance is going to take some work it seems.

Flight still due in 3t, but I can now drop the rate to 80% and -135gpt. I still have a good treasury (250g+) that can be used on emergency upgrades if mh decides to launch an (unlikely) attack with his new units.

[Dreylin]

t164 - quick turn with fingers crossed that computer doesn't crash....

Istanbul: Infantry - Infantry
Edirne: Conf. Missionary - Conf. Temple
Ankara: Conf. Temple - Infantry
Bursa: Inf - Inf
Konya: Jail - Destroyer
Samsun: Infantry - Observatory
Gaziantep: Airship - Airship
Diyarbakir: Library - Cannon (2t, so is actually a pre-built Artillery)
Sarmatian: Infantry - Observatory
Izmir: Hammam - Infantry
Kufah: Hammam - Cannon
Mecca: Inf - Library
Kayseri: Conf. Missionary - Observatory
Strassburg out of revolt; starts Granary

Request Artillery from Ruff.

Both mh & sooooo have reinforced their respective harbour cities, and sooooo's first Destroyer has closed on Ephesus. My Privateers are forced to withdraw to safer waters ... since we do not have OB, sooooo cannot follow.

My Ironclads aren't much use anymore, but they can act as roadblocks around the cities nearer to sooooo's waters. At least the need to defeat them to move next to the city would prevent that ship from bombarding later in the same turn.

Flight still in 2t, but dropped again to 70% at -66gpt. That will leave me with ~400g after completing Flight for potential Cannon upgrades to Artillery & Airship - Fighter. Cannon upgrades will be ~120g, while Airships will cost ~62g ... quite cheap really.

[Dreylin]

t165 - new hard disk received and CIV re-installed.

Artillery started in Istanbul, Bursa, Samsun, Gaziantep, Izmir.

Infantry in New Damascus, Baghdad, Mecca, Najran.

Zonguldak completes Granary, starts Courthouse.


Looks like mh has started to use his Airships for more than just watching; he bombarded the one Jannissary in Baghdad ... the city itself is under no threat, but it does confirm that he knows where my stack is. Guess I can move it closer to the front then ... re-located to New Damascus.

Flight research can be knocked down to 60% to complete this turn, which will leave me enough gold for 3 Cannon-Artillery upgrades this turn, and another next. Conf. Missionary spreads to Malatya, adding to the coffers.

mh is showing Artillery in 4t, so I'll probably be moving the troops forward next turn ... hopefully the tile 2N of New Damascus will flip this inter-turn, 'cos it would be irritating if it waited until after I'd occupied the tile!

[Dreylin]

t166 - time to sally forth.

Ruff requests Flight (& my spare Coal), and then takes my Oil - I still have his.

Edirne: Artillery - Fighter
Ankara: Artillery - Paratrooper
Bursa: MG - Infantry
Sarmatian: Observatory - Carrier
Izmir: Artillery - Paratrooper
Kufah: Artillery - Fighter

The Soren-clock tells me I've entered the Modern Era. After discussion with Ruff I'll be researching Biology next, but for this turn at least I'll be running 0% research to gain gold for upgrades and future funding of Ruff's Electricity research.

In log news; Ruff has declared war on mh (he mentioned something about a rogue Scout), and sooooo has used his airship to bomb one of my Privateers ... it'll heal though, so whatever.

So it turns out that the key tile has flipped, so definite forward movement will be had this turn. Also, mh has decided to centralise his Cavalry force - his 7Cavs have been moved back from the front and are now stationed in Aachen.

Well, many can play at the bombardment game; I send all 12 Airships to pound the forces in Vienna. The first is intercepted, but the rest take the tops off his top defenders. OK, what forces can we advance:

CR3 GG Infantry
14 Infantry (5 take C2, 5 take C1,Pinch & the remaining stay unpromoted for now)
3 Artillery & 6 Cannon
5 Machine Guns
10 Cavalry
7 Riflemen
GG Medic

47 units will have to do for now....

Bring some more troops up to prevent any counter-attacks & spread Confucianism to Marsin.

[Dreylin]

t167 - now what the *(^% was happening in this game again!?

Well, to start the turn I get a trade screen from Ruff requesting 300g & stating "Electricity in 6t at 100%"; now does that mean he's going to need 300g every turn to achieve that, or is this it? (probably the former)

Going to put off deciding on new builds until I've got a grasp on how the turn is going to play out. Complete builds on 4Artillery, 4Infantry, 2Paratroopers, a Destroyer, and an Observatory.

The logs say that I managed to intercept a single Airship attack last turn, but that the remaining 5 flew through and did damage to my advancing stack. mh has shifted the majority of the defenders from Medina across to Vienna, but there's no time to stop and stare, stack advances next to Vienna.

Hmmmm, recon run over Augsburg shows that the Infantry forces have been withdrawn from the city towards the frontlines; I find a stack of 3Inf, 2MG & 2Cannon outside Prague...

Oh, he's also withdrawn the force defending his remaining naval centre of Aryan; forces are now located in the Capital, Aachen, along with the Cavalry force. Just a Musket remains to defend the city....

I reduce the defenses back to 0%, and bring in the troops - fresh C1 promoted Infantry defeats the Musket without taking a scratch. City taken, but do I want to keep it? I have 8Infantry which could defend it, so it would take a significant force from him to re-take. The 8Inf can't reach the frontlines to be useful for quite a while, so I may as well use them for a distraction up here in the North, however I won't gain any defensive benefit from the city for 5t (or if I promote CG), so I think it's best to burn the city down.

mh's Artillery research moves from 1t to 2t

I unload the remaining 7Infantry onto the Hill 1S of Aryan's location; they cannot be seen from mh's borders, and I don't think he has an Airship in range to scout the area. Anyway, next turn they'll advance on Brandenburg (mh's Oil city) and we'll see if he decides to defend it.

With the proceeds of my conquest, I upgrade 6 Airships in New Damascus & Bursa to Fighters. The remaining 2 attack just to keep in practice, as do the 4in Konya - no interceptions!

Move the reinforcements towards New Damascus and it's time to finalise some builds:

Istanbul: Paratrooper
Ankara: Airport
Bursa: Infantry
Konya: Bank
Samsun: Fighter
Gaziantep: Infantry
Diyarbakir: Spy
Izmir: Airport (1t)
New Damascus: Airport (to base additional units)
Mecca: Infantry
Kayseri: Conf. Missionary
Najran: Fighter

Marsin whips Granary & Antalya whips second WB.

[Dreylin]

t168 - on we go...

Ruff takes his 200g for the turn.

Istanbul: Paratrooper - Fighter
Edirne: Fighter - Jail
Bursa: Infantry - Cavalry
Samsun: Fighter - Jail
Gaziantep: Infantry - Paratrooper
Diyarbakir: Spy - Spy
Sarmatian: Carrier - Bank
Izmir: Airport - Fighter
Kufah: Fighter - Conf. Temple
Baghdad: Infantry - Levee
Mecca: Infantry - Theatre
Kayseri: Conf. Missionary - Conf. Missionary
Najran: Fighter - Conf. Temple
Marsin: Granary - Lighthouse
Antalya: WB - Granary


Hmmmm, looks like there was quite a large battle last turn.

Started with a Cannon - killed by Artillery
10 Airships next - 3 Intercepted
6 Cannon - all killed, but large collateral
2 Cavalry - withdraw from MGs but Flank the Cannons
1 Infantry - killed by MG
4 more Cannon - all killed, but yet more collateral

14 Infantry attack - 5 defeated, but 6Infantry, 2MG & Cavalry killed.

1 Cavalry - kills Rifle, and Flanks.

5 Infantry attack - 2 defeated, 3 Infantry killed

3 Cavalry - Cavalry & Artillery killed, 3rd withdraws ... 3 Cannon lost to Flanking

2 Infantry - kill MG & Infantry.

mh also scored 2 GGs, both of which became super Medics in Vienna & Medina.

Losses:
10 Infantry
3 Machine Gun
1 Rifleman
1 Cavalry
3 Cannon

Defeated:
8 Infantry
11 Cannon

Well I think that was /fairly/ equal, but I don't have enough force left in play to press the attack this turn ... or even afford to leave the force in place to heal for a turn. I run the promotions on the remaining forces, and retreat them a square SE; back where I can add forces from New Damascus to defend.

I add 4 Infantry, MG & Artillery from ND and to discourage further attacks I send in the air force to hit the top defenders in Vienna. 4 Airships & 6 Fighters attack, only 1 Fighter intercepted.

Looks like mh has concerntrated his entire force into Vienna; a few more units are in Medina, but the majority of his backlines have been denuded. Not sure how he's going to respond to 8Infantry advancing on Brandenburg.... I load 3Fighters onto my brand-new Carrier, and it heads off to give Aerial support to that attack.

Switch a couple of builds (Istanbul & Mecca) to Machine Guns to replace those that have been lost.

Since I haven't spent all my gold on upgrades, I can afford to run some research into Biology: 40% research gives me 160g for a total of 452g next turn (before Ruff's cut), and Bio in 5t.

[Dreylin]

t169 - sinking feeling when I open the game and see my gpt a significant lump higher than previously....

Ruff takes his gold.

Set all new productions to Culture while I assess the damage:

Hmmmm, doesn't look good; 9 successful Airship attacks, 2 Artillery withdrawals

Losses:
Machine Gun
3 Infantry
2 Artillery
Cavalry
CR3 GG

Defeated:
2 Infantry
Artillery

So very not good this turn. He's put 4MGs and a couple of un-injured Infantry on top of the injured stack; even with an aerial bombardment I don't have enough healthy units to take the stack on. Guess I'll have to retreat further again.

OTOH, the news from the North is much better; the Rifle in Brandenburg remains unpromoted, and there is an injured MG and a second healthy Rifle on the way, but only limited other units would be available to reinforce. I advance my 8Infantry into the forest next to the city and see what other defenses he can muster. The defenses have just popped to 16%, but my Carrier has arrived in range and 3Fighters reduce that to 16%.

Strafe the healthy units in and outside Vienna, but in a string of gawdawful luck, 5/11 are intercepted!

Time for a round of Infantry builds ... Konya starts on a second Carrier, and Izmir (with an Airport) keep going on Fighters for now.

Back to 100% gold now, as I have to consider running some Rifle - Infantry upgrades to keep the stack safe.