RB PBEM #1 - Mehmed (SPOILERS!)

[Dreylin]

How can you tell where m-h has intercept missions and their range?

If a Fighter is on an Intercept mission it circles around above the city, otherwise you won't see them other than in the mouse-over. I have Spies in Medina & Vienna, so can see that they aren't on Intercept, and have visibility on a couple of other nearby ones. Augsburg I can't see, but I have an Airport advantage on him in that theatre so can outnumber him.

mh has not had any on Intercept since the turn I attacked and we exchanged 9-each.

[Dreylin]

t181 - forward the 1-movers!

9 new Tanks roll out; new builds are a combination of Tanks (if complete in 1t or in 2t at a city on the frontlines), Bombers, and a Battleship in Sarmatian.

I'll have to juggle some planes around to get the bombers to the front (and they may not even be there in time to take part).

OK, what mischief has mh found for this turn ... well it seems like he's managed to shoot down two of my Fighters, for only some damage to one of his. <Sigh> he's still only taking pot-shots and is unwilling to expose any sort of larger force to a counter-attack; very frustrating.

Gah, even more frustratingly, it seems that our nation has turned Buddhist! Guess I know what that picture was all about in the players thread <Sigh>. It's going to be a 5t wait until I can switch back to the true religion, and until then I'm stuck with only a handful of cities gaining the benefits of Theology. What I wouldn't give for the "Inquisition" function in FfHII to allow me to remove those heathen religions!

Cristo Redentor is a 4t build in Izmir, so I'm going to queue that up after the current Tank. Meanwhile that has taken a sizable chunk of mh's EPs, so now I have visibility on all of his cities.

Tanks move towards the front; there are now 11 in position South of Bursa, with another turn for them to arrive. The 1-movers start their advance:

36 Infantry
7 Machine Guns
19 Artillery

I've kept the GG Medic back for a turn to help heal an injured Fighter in ND.

4Fighters in Vienna & an injured on in Medina, so I'll keep 5 on Intercept over the advancing force. Bomb a couple of units & a pair of cottages from Najran, the Farms and some of the Mines at Vienna, and another Hamlet.

I notice that my tech-rate looks weird, and realise that since I'm now Buddhist I've lost most of the bonuses from University of Sankore. Argh!!!!

[Dreylin]

Ooooooo, following the exchange in the public thread, mh has send an offer of Peace ... sort of:

Hi Dreylin,

so you want Medina for peace. Anything else?

Just for the record:
I am not trying to delay you or anything. I am pretty sure I can cause you and your army a great deal of pain in the next few turns. And I am looking forward to that.
However, if you can think of a twist in the game that promises to be equally interesting, I am all ears.

mh

Hey mh,

Well since you're offering, how does Vienna & 1/4 of the standing army in that city sound?

If not, I guess I'll just have to grin and endure the pain again.

Dreylin I.

Doesn't hurt to try, right?

[Dreylin]

Vienna is the only city that will be of any use to me.
If we somehow come to an agreement, I want us to fight side by side against Ruff very soon. Or just fight him alone, with you granting right of passage.
For that I need Vienna.

I won't backstab sooooo in any way.
But I am fine with you winning this game, by whatever means.

I will get no joy out of being a dismembered vassal.

mh

Well now we know where we stand, at least.

Fair enough. Just as you won't betray sooooo, neither will I abandon Ruff, so I guess we fight on.

Dreylin.

That's cool.
On we fight.

I might have a proposal/request of a different kind in a few turns.
Lets see what the battle of Vienna brings first, though.

mh

[Dreylin]

t182 - Vienna -1t

Well, a mixed bag of builds as some cities continue on Tanks while others slip back to Infantry and a couple move to infrastructure.

Log is interesting this turn:

I caught a Spy at Najran (by the timing one of mh's, so probably a start-turn check)

mh made only one flight with his Fighters, which <surprise!> was successful in shooting down one of mine. I'm really getting frustrated by this irregular picking off of odd Fighters; I can't help but feel that he's re-loading the save to get maximum results with no losses - 1attack this turn, 2last turn, with none the previous few turns. Maybe I'm wildly off-base, but there seems to be no consistency to his attacks, nor to the number or location of the Fighters he's holding back. <sigh> Maybe he's explained it in his thread and I just look silly right now.

Anyway, the big (& frustrating) news of the turn is that Ruff has completed Cristo Redentor. Ah well, guess we've Anarchy in store in a couple of turns. Izmir starts on another Tank instead.

The 1-movers sidle up next to Vienna - which is now packed with just about all of mh's units apart from the Artillry (in Prague) and the dregs on Paratrooper duty at Augsburg. I've managed to accumulate and station 20Tanks in range of Vienna along with 10Cavalry. There are a few more Tanks dotted about just out of range, and a couple more which may be able to stage a lightning strike on Medina.

I adjust the Air Force some; the stronger Fighters (& first Bomber) are in ND & Bursa, while Konya is just out of range of either defending the stack or striking at the city. The Eastern Carrier flies its Recon mission and then heads back West so it can be in range of the city next turn; meanwhile the 3 Western Carriers have formed up in Konya and moved West to offer additional cover to the advancing forces.

Those Fighters not on Intercept duty manage to take out a Pair of Farms, Windmill & Coal Mine at Vienna; Town/Village at Prague (just in range); and a pair of Windmills outside Florence.

mh has 8 Fighters in range of my stack - stationed in Vienna & Florence - and in turn I have 8Fighters on Intercept at ND, Bursa & aboard ship; all C2 FWIW.

As a final step I'm going to promote 4Rifles to Infantry in Bursa; I'm probaly not going to be able to take Vienna next turn, so my Tank force may need some defenses on the plains outside. 98g left,

[Dreylin]

t183 - Sorry for the delay ... it's a loooooong one!

I took mh's lack of public taunting as a good sign that nothing dreadful had happened to my troops between turns! I was proven right:



OK, so I was hit with 6 Artillery with only 1 withdrawal - better than usual results! The skirmish also saw a GG born in Sarmatian (waaaaaaay away from the front <shrug>). Other than that minor scuffle, mh seems to have pulled virtually all of his troops into Vienna to defend from my stacks. And I mean all; he has practically cleared out Medina!

He's upgraded 5 Infantry to SAM, but at least 3 have already been promoted once, so are unlikely to be able to pick up Interception promotions, and with only ~150g in the bank, he'll not be able to upgrade many more. So what would be the implications of my waiting a turn before assaulting Vienna...?

First off we need to look at units; by waiting a turn I can add ~5Tanks and ~5Bombers to my assault force. He can pull in any other units built last turn from the surrounding cities (which I will be able to see in fly-past), in addition to a unit built/whipped diectly in Vienna and up to 3 Drafted Infantry. So without further info that suggests at worst an equal addition of forces, but likely slightly in my favour.

6 Artillery attacked, so at least 9 remaining in Prague. Beyond the 5Infantry which actually engaged the Artillery, only superficial damage was done to the stack: all would heal within 1t.

Also, by holding off for a turn I can use the Artillery to fully remove Vienna's defenses, a less temporary & more reliable solution than having a Spy cause a City Revolt.

On balance, I think that holding off for this turn is more beneficial to me than it is to him.

(BTW, I would appreciate lurker comments on this decision - though obviously ones which can be made without spoileriffic info from mh's thread. I'm also happy to answer requests for further info on this and any other topic)

With that decided, we turn our attentions to Medina; I have 3Tanks in range, and with my airforce free from attack duty at Vienna, I can use some of them against Medina.

The question now becomes one of whether it can be afforded to keep Medina, and this is what has consumed the bulk of the time this turn has taken. The approachs to the city would remain inside mh's culture, so a significant force would have to be used to prevent an easy counter-offensive. I had some hopes that through use of Guerilla 2 units, I would be able to sever the Rail & Road links to the city - I have several such units in the stack, however none could reach the hill to the NE of Medina and also pillage. I next thought of the fresh Infantry in Baghdad, a quick WB test showed that unfortunately even if I should connect Medina by RR - it is 4tiles of RR, the city and then onto the Hill beyond - a G2 unit would finish movement on the Hill without the option to pillage.

The force I have available in New Damascus, much of which could be shuffled around to stock Medina, would likely be insufficient to deter a counter-attack. However, after having stuffed virtually all of his units into Vienna, it would seem to me that mh is unlikely to be willing to spend very many of them on re-taking what's left of Medina.

And then yesterday morning as I was getting into the shower I remembered a stockpile of unused units which could be used to Garrison the city:

.
.
.
.

The Paratroopers!

I have 9 positioned outside Bursa, and if I prepare the ground correctly can reach Medina this turn after the city has fallen! Add in a few Infantry & upgrade a few Rifles from ND and mh would have to invest a not-inconsequential force to re-take the city. As an added bonus, the Paratroopers would then be a much more potent threat to him, with an option of jumping much further into his territory.

Now if I keep Medina, I can also use it to stage an additional Fighter wing in range of Vienna. I inventory my Air Force, and thus determine what I have available with which to bombard the city & guarding Infantry: 2 Bombers & minimum of 3Fighters. The Bombers will all target the defenses, while the Fighters will damage the Infantry itself:

28% Cultural, Infantry 14.8/20 (G2,CG1,D1).

{Those overflights also reveal the contents of Prague: 11Artillery & 2Anti-Tank (1injured)}

Tank (CR2) @ 42.4% odds - loses, but Infantry down to 8/20h

Unpromoted Tank odds are 87%, so I promote Combat 1 to improve to 90% - takes the city. 101g, Bunker(Hmmmmmm, I think I've just had an idea....), Granary, Hammam, Forge, Academy, Market, Grocer, Courthouse - I nice haul of buildings - 3Pop & Resistance for 4t.

New Govenor installed. Tank promoted to Charge (anti-Siege) to defend against a possible counter-attack. Rail the SW approach and then I can move in the Paras. Leaving a CG2 Infantry in New Damascus, I shuffle the remaining units around to Medina: 3Rifle, 5Jann, Cat. Due to distance they cannot upgrade once they have arrived, however the two Rifles from Medina can giving me 3Infantry in the city. The fresh Infantry from Baghdad, I promote to G2 and move onto the hill NE of the city; I cannot pillage, however it will take multiple units for mh to dislodge it, and will be able to do so next turn and then move back into the city.

I also take steps to ensure that is the only approach to Medina. The cottage 2E of the city is taken out by a Fighter from New Damascus; this allows my GG Horse Archer to move onto the tile, pillage the road, and then return to the stack. The tile ENE of Medina (West of the stack) is cleared by a freshly-promoted G2 Infantry from the stack.

As for the stack itself, I promote the two uninjured 7xp Infantry to G2 to become top defenders, and then use 4 of the Artillery bombard the city to 0% defenses. I have one G2 Infantry injured to just 3/20h; he's going to be no use on defense, but he can do some good ... he marches North through the hills and captures 3 of mh's Workers. Then all units are deleted.




That's the land units dealt with, so it's off to the other services ... usually I'd move straight onto the Air Force and bombard all over the place, but there has been an interesting development in the Eastern Ocean:



Now I really don't have any idea what sooooo's reasoning behind moving his Galley into the open ocean without escort (maybe he wants to publicly decry the Piracy as an excuse to declare War), but there's no reason for me not to take him up on his offer. My guess for the roving Destroyer is that it's following the Carrier I had stationed with the Eastern battle-group, but moved back West to take part in the assault on Vienna. (It is currently in harbour in Strassburg).

I've been keeping careful watch on sooooo's Naval builds on the lookout for Transports. None have yet been built - and that the Galley has not been upgraded still surprises me. Up until a few turns ago, he has not been in Theocracy, so the majority of his Destroyers have only 4xp - that means they cannot promote to F1, Nav1 for the extra movement so I can manage my forces with that knowledge. However, he has been out-producing my Navy in recent turns as I concentrate on Land units for the Western front. I need to be careful, and re-start ship production at Konya as well as Sarmatian.

Anyhoo, back to business:

Privateer swoops in to kill sooooo's Galley; 2000 Soldier points lost, which I think means that the ship was empty.

Quick view of Knossos shows 4Destroyers but no other ships in port. sooooo has 8 Destroyers total (3 in Ephesus plus the one roving) to my 7 ... though my first Battleship has just rolled out of the yards of Sarmatian. I think that once sooooo has any Transports, I would be forced to make a Naval move against him, but as it is I'll just be careful how they are deployed to minimise any potential loss if he does decide to attack.

One of the Western Destroyers is added to the Eastern Stack, and the Battleship moves to cover the Transports outside Sarmatian. I will also move 2 of my Carriers back into Strassburg after bombing runs so they would be available if hostilities erupt in the East. One Destroyer will stay with the 2 remaining Carriers outside Konya to cover from sooooo's roving ship.

OK, Aerial attacks:
First Bursa, where a strike on a Cavalry reveals that Augsburg & Nuremburg have both been emptied, though the Para-guard remains. Additional Fighters have nowhere more useful to move, so target those units in range with bombing runs.

Carrier groups now move in:
First Fighter destroys the Farm NW of Vienna. This also reveals the contents of Florence: a GG Medic Infantry, an Artillery, and 4Fighters (one at half-health). The other Farm and re-built Windmill are also destroyed by the first Carrier's Fighter wing.
Second Carrier contains C2 Fighters; these are all set to Intercept, and then the Carrier is moved back to Strassburg, from where it can still cover the main group.
Third Carrier will also head to Strassburg, but not until it has taken out the Coal Mine (1 failure) and an additional Plains Mine at Vienna.
With Vienna virtually stripped (again), the final Carrier targets the area around Florence, taking out 2Windmills with one failure.

OK that's it for offense, just the Workers, Spies & builds to finish with.

Oh, and the brand new GG in Sarmatian. With Confucian Theocracy taken away, I think he's best used merged into a Military pump city. The obvious choices are Sarmatian for Naval and Izmir - which has gone back to out-producing itself! I think it has to be Izmir, producing a unit per turn for the foreseeable future, rather than Sarmatian's every 2-3turns.

Workers are set quickly; 4 were used for connecting Medina, 3 are on the large island, 2 are RR near Bursa to be available on that front, and the rest are configuring Zonguldak for National Park (started this turn).

That leaves the Spies and takes us back to the idea I had when I captured Medina and noticed the Bunker. Since I no-longer need the pair of Spies in Vienna to revolt the citizens to remove the defenses, they can be put to other uses ... the first of which will be to sabotage the Bunker and thus allow my Air Force to do full damage to the defenders. But I don't want to risk mh being warned of the target and able to re-build it on his next turn, so I will hold them off for now. The Spy in Medina I will move onto the hill NE of the city to join the G2 Infantry and give me another potential method for cutting that RR access next turn.

Builds: max-unit production is the name of the game here; Airport cities continue churning out Bombers, as does Bursa since I cannot swing a 1t Tank. In general, I attempt to get a 1t unit, however if that is not possible I choose the highest-cost 2t build ... and so on. Mostly it's Tanks, Infantry and Bombers on the build screen, but I do add my first Submarine to the queue in Kayseri.

Medicine will complete at EOT so I dial the tech down to minimum. It's a tiny fraction off at 30%, however a quick switch of an Engineer specialist to a Scientist at Istanbul (Academy) brings it into line. With my Merchant ready and waiting in Ankara, I should be embarking on my Sushi adventure shortly.

Oh and while I'm at it, Ankara is due to pop a Great Person at EOT. Odds are: Engineer 38%, Prophet 29%, Artist 20%, Merchant 13%. Everything is useful
since my other GP is a Scientist, but maybe an Artist would be good for Medina...?

OK, here we go ... and we have a Merchant!

[Dreylin]

E-mail received from Ruff yesterday, followed by a chat this morning:

Dreylin,

I have started to move forces against Sooooo at Sparta. He has stationed quiet a number of units in his Northern coastal cities. I would like him to have to keep them there ... is there anything that you could do to encourage that? I'm wondering if you have any navel assets that can reach those cities, bombard and then run away and hide again. That would at least keep him in two minds.

IIRC, each city has about 5 destroyers, 5 to 6 infantry and a couple of MGs. I did see a galley sitting offshore last turn in his Southern city.

My bomber squadrons are systematically dismantling his capital. His Capital's commerce tiles dropped from 66 to 54 to 43 over the last 3 turns. That, and keeping him out of Representation should slow his tech rate down.

Ruff

Ruff.Hi: just read your public note

me: still finalising my turn post to thread, then will get to your message

Or we can discuss here and delay my post further....

Ruff.Hi: guess my little message about the galley was countered

me: Well I spotted it

Ruff.Hi: or had you seen it already

me: for some odd reason he moved it out on its own

Ruff.Hi: checking the waters?

me: I'm keeping close tabs on both sooooo's cities
(looking for Transports)

Ruff.Hi: cool - if you can somehow show him that you are ... that will keep those units busy

me: He also sent a Destroyer out for a view

Ruff.Hi: let me know if you want some spy action help in taking down defenses

me: My Destroyer fleet sits 3-4tiles away from Knossos

Ruff.Hi: in a city?

me: and my Transports are parked outside Sarmatian
no
in the water

Ruff.Hi: ok, but close enough to sail over, knock down defenses, sail back

me: my coastal territory
oh yes

Ruff.Hi: great - that should force him to keep forces on hand

me: Transports can reach Knossos

Ruff.Hi: I have my paratroopers sitting in Shangri La

me: (they are empty, but the threat is still there)
Has he started the stupid Para-gurad that mh has been using?

Ruff.Hi: and he has units in his capital ... forcing him to keep units in his capital

me: *Para-guard

Ruff.Hi: para-guard?

me: My word
mh has covered all possible drop sites with assorted obsolete units

Ruff.Hi: oh - v funny

me: (around Augsburg)

Ruff.Hi: no he has not
I am keeping his workers busy rebuilding farms

me: If you see any Explorer builds, that would be the explanation

Ruff.Hi: while I hammer his towns back to bare earth

me: Been doing the same to mh

Ruff.Hi: excellent

me: He's been re-building 2-3Farms & a Mine or two at Vienna forever

Ruff.Hi: the good thing (from my point of view) is that Sooooo has really only cottaged up his capital

me: yeah

Ruff.Hi: and it is very hard to rebuild towns

me: I can't get at mh's capital yet
indeed

Ruff.Hi: they both have tanks now
so the ground battle will be a real struggle

me: well, they have the tech for tanks

Ruff.Hi: true

me: I have 20-odd waiting to roll into mh

Ruff.Hi: I should build some anti-tank units
20! impressive

me: mh has ~15AT in Vienna though.

Ruff.Hi: my early builds were all bombers
now on tanks

me: vice-versa

Ruff.Hi: can your bombing fleet reach Vienna?

me: oh yes
my Fighter fleet can
I held off attacking this turn

Ruff.Hi: right - so these next turns are going to be very interesting

me: because I calculated the delay helps me more than him
Oh, thought of the turn:

Ruff.Hi: how so?

me: Sabotage the Bunker
before sending in the air Force

Ruff.Hi: good point
can you take down a particular building?
I will have to check
what tech are you on?

me: Re: delaying - he can add ~5-6 units to Vienna on his next turn
whereas I can add 5Tanks & 4 Bombers in range

Ruff.Hi: I think I am sitting on Communism or Democracy but at 0%
I might up my EP spend against Sooooo to help pay for these spy missions

me: Plus I get to bombard his defenses rather than having to spy-explode them

Ruff.Hi: right

me: I just finished Medicine

Ruff.Hi: which is good for ... hospitals?

me: yep
& Sushi

Ruff.Hi: ahh - you got the right GP hanging around
?

me: yep
(actually just popped one, but also did that trade with sooooo)

Ruff.Hi: he has generated a number of other Great Merchants recently

me: yeah

Ruff.Hi: when do subs come into play?

me: I just started my first one
think it's Ind

Ruff.Hi: he might be trying to run one over to mh
maybe some airship missions to spot them

me: Hmmm, Destroyers should see subs though

Ruff.Hi: that might have been what he was doing with the galley
distracting you from a sub?

me: maybe

Ruff.Hi: I'll keep my eyes on what he is building in those coastal cities

me: Do Fighters spot?

Ruff.Hi: don't think so
only airships
can we still build those?

me: don't think so
& I only have 1 left

Ruff.Hi: shit - I just upgraded my last 3 to fighters

me: Destroyers can see though, right?

Ruff.Hi: no idea

me: So I just have to do some sweeps with them

Ruff.Hi: I'll go back over the last few turns and check what he is building in those coastal cities
I will let you know
he had a Merchant sitting around in the North doing nothing
it is gone now ... but it might have been used for his GA

me: OK, I'll work out what to do to spot them

Ruff.Hi: I guess if he does manage a trade mission, I could steal some gold from him ... I wonder what the EP to Gold conversion rate is

me: Checked CFC unit listings:
Destroyers, Airships, & other subs
nothing else can see subs

Ruff.Hi: I've stopped trusting CFC a little
most of the info is based on Vanilla Civ and it is wrong for BtS

me: next time I'm in-game I'll check the Civlopedia

Civlopedia agrees with civstats regarding the units that can see Subs. My one remaining Airship is on the Southern tip of the large Island, and I generally use it for recon missions into the North of mh's territory. I may want to divert it southwards next turn to scout for Subs. Actually, the Destroyer's position is 7tiles from Knossos - that would be reachable for an F1,Nav1 promoted Submarine....

[Krill]

That was one uber turn report :b: Great reading

[Dreylin]

Aha, so I don't need to worry about Subs yet...

Duh! Duh ^ 2

Subs needs Radio tech ... Sooooo is still 20 turns away from that. Guess you have some time before you need to go sub hunting.

Ruff

Ah well then, nothing to worry about; I'll have a couple of subs out by then.

Back to wondering why he'd send out the Galley then....

Dreylin

And according to sooooo's post it was just weed ... hmmmmm, not sure I'm convinced; and what was the point of sending the Galley out anyway!?

[Dreylin]

t184 - let's try to keep this one a bit less epic, OK?

Hmmm, multiple spy noises, I think....

Medicine to Ruff; stick research on Rocketry for now, I think.

AP Elections ... have to vote for Ruff since I'm now Buddhist.

OK, so bugger-all happened between turns it seems. Well I did lose a Spy, but that was the one I'd moved out of Medina not either of the ones in Vienna. Oh, but I did also catch one of mh's (I assume) snooping around near Mecca, but no counter-attacks ... nothing!

Doesn't look like Vienna has added any troops either, though 1Fighter seems to have departed. So first things first is to fly some recon and scout out his backlines. The Para-guard has migrated Eastwards, but there's still a Spear in range of Najran so I Strike at that. Yep, the Cavs & Exps are scattered round Prague now and Prague has built up to 15Artillery. I also spot the first HRE Tank sitting in Nuremburg. Oooo, there's another in Florence - visible after Airship recon from Malatya.

Well I really have to attack this turn, otherwise what's this all for, right?


First things first, sabotage the Bunker; 385EPs w/53% chance ... failed.

Round 2: Succeeed, and Spy returns safely!

OK, from the Air Combat article at CFC, the Interception chance is related to the health of the unit, so we want to damage that as much as possible first.

So Artillery:

8 Barrage2: odds start at 1%, but are up to 15% by the 7th.
CR2 @ 18% withdraws, next 4 at 32-46% die,

OK, probably time for the Bombers, but first a single Fighter to check there
are no Fighters on Interception duty: one from the Carrier targets the Coal
Mine; unsuccessful raid, but not Intercepted.

BTW, after the Artillery have done their work, the MGs are on top vs. the Bombers, so I can grind them down a bit as well!

3/7 are intercepted, but the other four knock ~25% off the defending MGs.

Time for the Tanks to come in and remove the Anti-Tank units - they have an Interception chance and will always have best odds vs. Tanks, so best to get them out of the way.

27Tanks available, but only 18 with 2promos to spend thanks to mh's meddling.

First CR2 has 14%odds and spawns a GG when he dies.
Fortunately, after that it's up into the low 40's for the next 3 and I get 2/3 victories including mh's Anti-Tank GG!

Well the CR2s have all gone in and we've taken the Anti-Tanks off the top, but only won 8/18. but now healthy Infantry are defending, so it's back to the air.

Fighter wings active: 3 are intercepted, but 15 get through and do an average of 20% damage to defending Infantry or MGs. I still have 6Fighters on defense, which should be enough to keep off any revenge attacks.

Back to the Tanks:

CR1 gets 79.9% odds, while C1 gets 79.6%. So I send in the CR1 and move on to promoting Combat 1.

Heh, I win the first 4 and then lose the next ... talk about following the odds!

So 9 Tanks; 7Infantry & 1MG killed.

Nearly time to send in the Infantry and Cavalry, but first we have a half-dozen Artillery previously promoted to Drill2 to attack at ~50%. Again we go with the odds and lose 3/6.

Inf & Cav are still running into MGs at mid-20's odds to start with, but get a couple of lucky victories and win 7/13 Infantry - MG battles to bring up the Infantry and another of mh's GGs: Arminius.

Infantry-Infantry battles go a little worse than the MGs; Arminius wins the first, and despite greater than 50% odds on most battles I end up 3-3 to finish with the C2 & C1,Pinch ones. Then the Cavs take a turn and with ~50/15% manage to lose 5/9 and withdraw from the final one vs. a SAM. Ah well.

Now we're into C1, D2 & G2 Infantry left, but the odds are up to 60's/70's/80's and a further 9/13 Inf-Inf battles are victories. I keep just 3 Infantry back; the CG2's which are still healing.


So a rough total:

Infantry - 14
Cav - 5
Artillery - 15
Tank - 10

Total: 44

Plus injuries to aeroplanes (3Fighter & 3Bomber) and a Spy.


mh:

Infantry - 22
Machine Gun - 8
Anti-Tank - 7
Great General - 1

Total: 38

Hmmmm, not too bad considering, and I think it's unlikely that he has enough healthy force left to take advantage of his stack of Artillery to make a
counter-attack.

Now to guard the stacks:

The Eastern 2-movers are joined by 2 healthy Tanks, 7Infantry, a Machine Gun and the 4Cannon from Bursa. The Western stack is reinforced by the Paras: I can bring in & upgrade forces to keep Medina safe, and I think that 9 extra healthy units will make the Western stack an unappetising counter-attack prospect.



Medina adds another fresh CG2 Infantry from Mecca, and I promote a CG1 Rifle, G1 Jann, and C1 Jann to bring the total defenses to: 7Inf, 3Jann, an injured Tank, and a rogue Cat.


OK, non-war stuff:

New Great Merchant, Richard (Dick) Whittington, incorporated Sid's Sushi in his birth city of Ankara. 6food, 21culture, and -8g in base corp payments ... good job we get 12g back from the HQ through Wall Street. Ankara starts on an Exec - ooo, a 1t build with lots of overflow; I may end up alternating with 1t Tanks here. It may also be time to turn some of the Farms into Cottages.

sooooo's Destroyer has headed back to the East a bit - now sitting in neutral Coastal waters 1W of my stack. He's up to a total of 9 now (mostly inside Knossos) to my 7 and a Battleship. I may need to upgrade a couple more of my obsolete Navy, as well as set Konya onto another Naval build: Destroyer with lots of overflow....

Dial up a whole bunch of 2t Tanks in the rest of the mainland cities requiring builds, and tweak a few tiles to get units out faster.

2t before I can revolt back to Conf, and my next Great Person is due in 8t in New Damascus of all places: 8% Prophet, 21% Artist, 71% Engineer.

I choose Rocketry as the next tech target (Ruff is on Communism), but will be running at 0% for a while for upgrade cash. Rocketry will give Attack Subs, which may still be useful against sooooo. 0% gives 16t @ 608gpt

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apart from y'know the massive WW that is going to hit! Guess I'll be in Anarchy next turn switching to Police State.



Ouch!