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Woden's and Chevalier Mal Fet's [Insert Clever Name Here] Team Thread
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 (April 8th, 2018, 10:26)Chevalier Mal Fet Wrote: Oh, and Woden, would you be willing to play my turns from May 5-10? I will be out of town on those days on a remote island with no Internet access. I can play your turns. PM me your client token from your PYDT profile and I will just reinstall the client with your info and work off the website for my save.
My official turn report will have to wait until tomorrow but want to post that it looks like Cornflakes will be able to play one last turn before getting eliminated next turn. His capital is sitting at 78/200 HP without any walls. I might lose a knight but have 3 more to attack plus 6 crossbows. There is really no hope for him. It also looks like Japper will be leaving the game next turn too. I have a complete report up tomorrow with the next turn. It is too late now and I am too tired.
Turn 118
Quick update today, as life quiets down around England. Emperor rejected my trade and offered nothing in return. I wonder if he has plans for the wine - perhaps to share with Archduke - or if he just wants to spite me. If it's the latter, I confess I'm a little wounded. We've co-existed peaceably for close on 200 turns now, there's been little border friction, and Emperor and I in particular gotta stick together when we're the last two newbies left in a game full of multiplayer veterans. He could think that I'm under more pressure from amenities than I am - I'm not - and that I desperately needed the trade to keep afloat. Oh, well - woulda helped both our civs. On the war front, the end is near for Japper:  He's done a great job defending against overwhelming forces this second time around. If he had known Sullla's attack was coming, and if he had taken steps to meet it, what might have been...Again, c'est la vie. One of the central mysteries of this PBEM to me is how Japper fell so far behind. Consider - when Cornflakes took over Khmer about turn 50, he had only his capital. All his settlers were more expensive, and his one expansion had just been razed by Woden and I. But Japper? Japper lost nothing in our earlier war, not even units. He was left mostly unmolested the whole game, he had the Pantanal right there at his capital to provide early culture and growth. And he managed to accomplish - well, not as much as I would have hoped for. He was late getting a second city, he was very slow getting a third, and his fourth and fifth came almost simultaneously with Sullla's attack. Now me, I consciously opted to put expansion aside for a while to prepare for war. We've already established that that was a big mistake on my part, possibly my biggest of the PBEM so far. Was Japper doing something similar? I look forward to exploring his thread after the game to find out. I go ahead and pull my caravel away from Sullla. He's hovering around the city and won't give me an opening to take it.  Well, can't blame a guy for tryin'. That means that this phase of warfare draws to an end without my having fired a shot in anger. What went wrong there? I think the answer is easy: Gold. I didn't have enough gold to upgrade both Woden and I's troops, I upgraded Woden's since he's got the GG, and I had to sit and watch most of the war. The other big gold investment was the VA, which cost the equivalent several crossbow and knight upgrades in tile purchases. I don't regret that second one at all. Lessons learned for round two: Both Woden and I need to have gold on hand. I need a large force of modern units ready to go when war breaks out again. I'm going to keep my land army small - if I could gift the damn thing to Woden I would. My second biggest mistake this PBEM was building those bloody chariots. Useless things. My new goal with 30 turns of peace is to build up a force of frigates and sea dogs to challenge Sullla for control of the sea. I think 10 frigates and 4 sea dogs would be sufficient, plus 4 caravels. I need more on the slipways, though. I saw in PBEM4 and PBEM5 how devastating naval losses can be. In order to do that, I need my cities more productive. Order of the day remains the same. Granaries, lighthouses, and aqueducts where necessary. Gold as a secondary concern. Science last. Culture is still competitive thanks to Nan Madol! Science I'm reduced to making hard choices for key techs. With my army, while Woden goes to take Geneva after he finishes Cornflakes, I'm wondering if it's stupid to leave the whole thing idle. I need ot put it to good use. Woden, I'm wondering if I might embark a small land force - a few crossbows and knights, maybe one musket if I can research quickly enough - and going to raze Lisbon. that'd put a severe hit on Sullla and Singaboys' finances, and we've seen how important gold is. I'd also like 3 frigates and a caravel, which would be enough to take the city-state, maybe even without the land units. I'm sending a scout ship to try and map the way to Lisbon even now.  Here's my core. Only 2 settlers left, and then I need a few more builders. It'll be nice to get out of colonization. I might do one settler out of Trafalgar, but that has to be all - the damn things cost 300 cogs now. These will just barely be able to repay themselves in ships and trade, I hope. I think my best chance at catching up is via builder labor. Not through chopping woods, although I'll do that when needed, but through chopping food. My tiny population, relative to Archduke's, is a big part of why I'm so far behind. It's time to harvest wheat, rice, and cows into bigger cities, jolting myself up into competition again. Will that work? Well, builders are damned expensive now! But as I see it it's my only shot - building conventionally will never let me close the gap. Lesson learned for next time, but I have to do what i can now. (oledavy, let me just say that this experience really makes me appreciate what you pulled off with all your prebuilt ships and crab harvests in PBEM4. I never paid much attention to your economy, and I should have. I said I was rubbish at that part of the game, and I wasn't lyin'. I do much better at grand strategy and diplomacy, I think). So how do Woden and I win? I think we strike in our last window - when this DOF with Sullla/Singaboy expires, before we get too dramatically outteched, while our opponetns are hopefully fighting each other. A good navy can take Sullla's canal cities and let my whole navy pour into his south coast. Sea Dogs and frigates can give me ownership of the shores, and Woden's army can fight in former Kongo lands with Rome/China unable to reinforce. Everything we do from here on out needs to be bent on that goal.
I Think I'm Gwangju Like It Here
A blog about my adventures in Korea, and whatever else I feel like writing about.
IMO, I think we should leave Lisbon alone for the time being. It will hurt us more to raze it than it will hurt them. Singaboy is getting massive income from religion, so won't make much of an impact on their economy, were I am going to put the next envoy from Naval Tradition into Lisbon to get +4
 per CH. I have a feeling Rome/China will raze BB if they go to war to hurt Germany/Russia and that limits city-states even more after Seoul is taken by Rome/China and we take Geneva which will also put envoy pressure on Nan Madol and Valletta. We will need money for upgrades and I plan on sticking my next envoys into Lisbon and Muscat, as they are relatively safe from a war between Rome/China and Germany/Russia. I think down the line, we should raze Lisbon but let's get some upgrade money first and get other income sources going (crab city, trade routes, and banks). As for how do we win, I think we improve our economies to suppose a massive fleet/army, then pound them into submission. If you can get a big enough navy together, we can have you go raze everybody's coastal cities while I push with an army. Given the timing, I prefer going against Rome/China first as Cossacks are coming of age and Russia is right next to me, where we have the Kongo/Khmer buffer with Rome/China. Better to wait until at least Infantry to push against Germany/Russia.
And don't worry about getting outteched by everybody else. Once I conquer the Khmer capital, I plan on buying a missionary to send to my core to covert Traueret and then buy another to spread to the new cities I plan on in Khmer's jungle. I have come to the conclusion that it is okay for us to use Jesuit Education because China is getting good return on their belief (+4
 to wonders) and they will have the option to use JE too. Now, you may say that Rome/China will just use JE too and pull ahead but they need to build a holy site and shrine first to be able to spread it since Kongo can't build them , so doesn't have them. With all the wood to chop plus all the food I plan on harvesting in my core, I should have a bunch of faith coming in the next 20-30 turns. Plenty to buy libraries and universities after I chop out a few Campuses in the new lands. We should be able to pray our way to tech parity, if not be able to lead.
(April 8th, 2018, 22:39)Chevalier Mal Fet Wrote: (oledavy, let me just say that this experience really makes me appreciate what you pulled off with all your prebuilt ships and crab harvests in PBEM4. I never paid much attention to your economy, and I should have. I said I was rubbish at that part of the game, and I wasn't lyin'. I do much better at grand strategy and diplomacy, I think). I appreciate the shout out  Still, a bit of an Apples and Oranges comparison, I wasn't really fighting a hot war while I was pushing the VA towards completion, so I was able to do extensive pre-builds. Also, your DoF's may accomplish much the same effect here. Nobody can assault you while you get to build a bunch of ships in the coming turns. Yeah though, in my two games thus far, the only way I keep my economy and military going through the late renaissance/early industrial era is by harvesting every single crab and copper within sight, upgrading just gets really expensive really fast.
Nubia-Turn 118
Is it me or every time I state the hope of a quick turnaround, the save takes forever to get back to me. Well, last turn I was hoping for a quick turnaround on Sunday but nope, didn't happen. Cornflakes last another day. I open the save to new war declarations... Rome/China are attacking Seoul. Most likely to slow down Germany. I think this solidifies are resolve to take Geneva. Maybe we should wait a little bit for people to waste some envoys trying to get Suzerainship of Geneva? It will take a little bit to reposition my forces, so we will see in 5 turns where things are at. At the front... I hit the walls with all but 1 crossbow to remove them... I then hit the city with the last crossbow and 3 knights... City is left with 78/200 HP. I have more than enough to take Cornflakes out next turn. I will probably lose a knight if he throws everything he has at 1 but think it is a reasonable lose to take him out a turn earlier than if I was more cautious. Down south... I move the ram back into the city since I don't need it now. It will wait for my knights to come over on their way to Geneva. Cornflakes' trader moves onto the tile with the Musket but I move the Musket towards his capital and pillage the trade route with a warrior for 120 , which is enough to buy the forest tile to chop at Traueret (which I do). Back home... Barbs are starting to show up. Good thing I built those swords. Nu-Kandy hit one with the walls and I move my units up to attack next turn. That is about it for this turn. I did convert Horus for my 3rd conversion. I will start on Osiris next turn and Isis the turn after. Anyways, I just got the notification that it is my turn, so time to eliminate Cornflakes...
Full turn report to come tomorrow, but Sullla took over suzerainity of Geneva - I kicked him out, reasoning that 15% science for even a few turns is something I don't want him to have. We can wait until Woden gets his army all around it, then murder the city state the instant I lose suzerainity, I don't intend to invest anything more in it. This was just a time-buying measure.
In a few turns I'll be able to swap into meritocracy/trade confederation and get my science/culture rate up near Woden and Singaboy again. Hopefully the capture of both science states brings Archduke and Sullla back to ground a bit. If that happens, and Sullla/SIngaboy get into a war with Germany/Russia, our chances are still good.
I Think I'm Gwangju Like It Here
A blog about my adventures in Korea, and whatever else I feel like writing about.
Nubia-Turn 119
And then there were 6. Got the PYDT notification that Japper was eliminated before I downloaded the save, so I knew Sullla took him out. I open the save again to new war declarations... This time from Geneva declaring on Khmer. I didn't see any mention from CMF that he put more envoys into the city state, and why would he since we are going to capture it. I go and check it out... Well, we can't have Rome getting 15% more science as soon as they take Seoul out. I guess we go attack ASAP. Good information to have as it will determine the units I use to take the Khmer capital. This is what it looked like at the beginning of the turn... As expected, Cornflakes was able to kill a knight. I also notice Rome's and China's units hanging out. I think they were seeing if they can poach the city. Sorry boys, but this one is mine. I hit the city with any of my crossbows that don't have a promotion coming (which are teh 2 2-promoted ones) and then with the healthy knight on the northern jungle... The health knight was not enough to take the city but I hit it again with a not-so-healthy knight and take the city... Boom! Cornflakes is eliminated. You started in a shitty situation when you replaced Mikeforall but you can back and were a hell of a competitor. Good Job! I start a settler (11 turns). I am thinking I might have to buy a builder over here to get these cities going. There are no improvements in the northern city and lots to chop in the capital. Back home... I have a little bit of a barb problem. I hit the sword by Nu-Kandy with the city, the other sword with the musket and sword, redlining it, and hit the crossbow with the other sword. Probably should have not hit the sword with the sword after the musket because it will probably suicide against my sword and I won't get the boost for Square Rigging. Then again, I still have the scout and camp, so no real lose. Over at Osiris... Missionary converts 3 population and still need 1 more to convert the city. Walls are also ready to chop... 112  yield from the stone (280 boosted). Plenty to finish the walls and commercial hub next turn. Might have some overflow into a market or maybe builder. I will have to see how much. As always, I do need lots of builders during these peaceful times. Here is an overview shot... I have decided the settler will go to the canal spot and the settler out of Thoth next turn will go to crab city (it is quicker). Not sure where I want the next settler out of Isis to go and may delay it until the one out of Khmer's capital is finished. May switch to a builder when it gets down to 1 turn. You can see all my cities are unhappy. Here is a look in the reports... War wariness is really starting to impact me. This war could not get over soon enough. All that war wariness should be gone in a turn or 2, so happiness will return and my yields will go up. I did get a second silks at Cornflakes capital and since CMF already has one, I looked around and did this... He was the only one that had something I didn't and I figure it helps us both and makes them think we want lasting peace. Not sure if he will accept it but worth a try. Now for some peace building to catch up and get ready for the next war. CMF, I will send the tundra city after I can get a watermill and granary in there for you. Also want the builder to finish. I figure the watermill and granary will make up for the delay. Should be about 10 turns. |
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