[SPOILERS - PBEM17] Kyan Does Dallas. The Orange Sensation.

[oledavy]

With astronomy finished, I ran a second turn at max gold, using the overflow from astronomy + specialist beakers to research alphabet.

The first East Indiamen completed this turn. For a naming theme I decided to go with my favorite armed force in the world and name them after ships of the British Royal Navy Present at Trafalgar - starting after this first one.



The second one was named after Nelson's flagship, the HMS Victory.

You can see how many are coming up in my domestic advisor screen.



Du Fu delayed my estimate of bulbing education by two turns, much to my chagrin. He's sitting around the capital waiting for a buddy to start a golden age. It seems as though I need to get Oxford up ASAP.



That's Krill's capital of Brazil, and he just completed Oxford, sending his GNP at max science through the roof. I shudder to think of what he could do if he was running bureaucracy as well.

I give you, Krill's new city of Egypt!



Founded to redeem that clam resource. I already have the turn again (that was a fast go round), so another more detailed turn update of t106 will be upcoming shortly.

[oledavy]

Here are the tech standings at the conclusion of t106. The 'comparison' on the spreadsheet shows the number of beakers I'm behind or ahead of the player. I'm exactly where I thought I was - a bit behind the pack, but not significantly. Shoot is farther behind than I thought. A couple thoughts:

- Last turn, everyone researched a tech: Rego = Compass, Krill = Printing Press, Shoot = Paper, NoSpace = Gunpowder. It looks like everyone except Rego is beelining to rifles one way or another, though compas is probably just a brief diversion for harbors.

- I'm the only one with astronomy, drama and music, though I don't expect my monopoly on astronomy will last long.

- Krill and I are the only ones with nationalism, I'm surprised no one else has researched it yet.

- Rego is the only one with theology and divine right. It makes sense as these techs are only really good for running a priest economy.

- Shoot researched literature? 191 beakers only, but a curious diversion when he does not have the 10xp unit for the heroic epic yet. I guess he really wants the National Epic?

- Shoot and I are the only ones without education

[oledavy]

Ships of the Royal Navy present at Trafalgar, courtesy of wikipedia.

HMS Victory
HMS Royal Sovereign
HMS Africa
HMS Temeraire
HMS Neptune
HMS Leviathan
HMS Conqueror
HMS Britannia
HMS Agamemnon
HMS Ajax
HMS Orion
HMS Minotaur
HMS Spartiate
HMS Belleisle
HMS Mars
HMS Tonnant
HMS Bellerophon
HMS Colossus
HMS Achille
HMS Revenge
HMS Polyphemus
HMS Swiftsure
HMS Dreadnought
HMS Defiance
HMS Thunderer
HMS Defence
HMS Prince
HMS Euryalus
HMS Naiad
HMS Phoebe
HMS Sirius
HMS Pickle
HMS Entreprenante

[oledavy]

War is coming - a world war. Everyone's power levels save for Krill's are starting to ramp up, and I intend to be ready to weather the storm. Rego built a galley in T-Hawk last turn, I'm unsure of what he plans to do with it. Our NAP is in its cool-down phase right now, and I still haven't decided whether or not to hit him up for a renewal.

This turn, the HMS Ajax, HMS Orion, HMS Royal Sovereign and HMS Prince were launched. I haven't decided how to deploy the growing fleet yet, but I did detail three ships to explore the remaining black areas on the map - to see if there are any remaining lands to be settled. Though Rego and NoSpace can undoubtedly surmise that I have these ships, I'm not going to reveal my hand just yet and will do everything I can to keep them out of sight while exploring. I'm debating whether or not I should surreptitiously probe their lands.

The HMS Prince found this:



I've already queued up a settler in Hattin claim that island and the crabs, it will be a nice fishing village and will not be terribly expensive because of the nearby Forbidden Palace.

Things remained quiet on the mainland this turn as I churned out more East Indiamen with infrastructure builds mixed in. Buddhism spread to Jerusalem, and I sent Shoot an updated ledger:

[COLOR="DarkOrange"]Shoot -

I realize this is the THIRD email I've sent you this morning, but Buddhism spread to Jerusalem this turn - so, here's the updated ledger:

t94 - 1 city
t95 - 3 cities
t96 - 3 cities (requested 7 gold payment)
t97 - 3 cities (requested 3 GPT)
t98 - 3 cities
t99 - 3 cities
t100 - 3 cities
t101 - 6 cities (requested additional 3 GPT)
t102- 6 cities
t103 - 6 cities
t103 - 6 cities
t104 - 6 cities
t105 - 6 cities
t106 - 7 cities (requested 1 gold payment)

I believe Rego is spreading Buddhism to Plako in order to construct five monasteries total in his bureaucracy capital.

Dave
[/COLOR]

Additionally, I renegotiated health resource trades with him in game.

[COLOR="SeaGreen"]Dave,

A quick note, but I noticed in game that we have a deal going from way back before you even took over that is you giving me clam and rice for my deer and wheat. However, I have long since secured my own source of rice, so I was wondering if you might find it agreeable to adjust the trade to be clam and pigs for deer and wheat (as I lack pigs). If you find that agreeable, feel free to cancel the previous trade and offer the new one in game.

Shoot[/COLOR]

[COLOR="DarkOrange"]Hey!

Consider it done.

Dave[/COLOR]

Rego completed the Spiral Minaret and the Parthenon last turn:



GNPs are spiking for everyone. Shoot is now in his long-awaited Golden Age, Krill has Oxford, Rego is running that priest economy, and NoSpace has those Representation-powered mercantilism specialists.

End of turn East Indiamen count:

[mackoti]

Why did you build so many eastindianmans?

[oledavy]

I am building a lot of East Indiamen for a variety of reasons.

1) First and foremost, to loan to Shoot and Krill so they have transport and naval supremacy for Operation Sledgehammer. Our basic approach to this war is that they supply the ground troops and I supply the ships.

2) They are not going to ever go obsolete. I have no real reason to replace them with transports later in the game. Provided I don't get knocked out of the running, I will be using them for the remainder of the game as the backbone of my amphibious assault force.

3) For now, they are also a naval superiority unit, so I have to have some extra unloaded transports around the clear the seas of galleons, caravels, triremes and galleys.

TL;DR version:

I need to have enough for

1) transporting my own units
2) clearing the seas
3) for Shoot to transport units
4) for Krill to transport units

[oledavy]

Okay lurkers, time for the curtains to go up on Operation Sledgehammer. This is the first time I have planned an attack against human opponents, so please be merciful. I expect I've made a number of noobist mistakes in this plan already At the same time, any thoughts or criticisms of this plan and how to make it better would be more than welcome.

I spoke to Krill today and confirmed that he is onboard with the plan, I spent a couple hours and formulated this operational strategy, along with maps of the target areas. I emailed the following plan and images to Krill and Shoot:


Overall Thoughts

This plan operates under the assumption that we will be attacking with East Indiamen, Riflemen and Catapults, and that NoSpace will be defending principally with rifles. Furthermore, it assumes NoSpace will not possess frigates at the time we attack.

We really need to scout out their lands to have a better idea of the defending forces, as well as defog a few of their hidden cities. After the NAP cancellation, I will try to use some of my East Indiamen to that end. If either of you have caravels, they would be invaluable for that too.

Operation Sledgehammer includes only two amphibious assaults (though more can result if ana opportunity presents itself). My concern is that without a way bombard a city’s defenses down from the sea, these will be terribly costly and should only be resorted to in the case of taking down the high priority cities.

The basic premise of this plan is to raze NoSpace’s most important cities (Pyramid Scheme and Trading Post) on the first turn and land 5 smaller stacks to begin besieging the peripheral cities. The idea to overwhelm their defense by threatening so many cities at once that they cannot defend them all. The innate weakness of this plan is that it invites defeat in detail. To combat this, all 5 smaller stacks land on hills adjacent to their target city, so I would recommend at least a couple guerrilla II riflemen for each stack.



The Northern Front

The basic objective on the Northern Front is to capture/raze the cities of Net Profit and the hidden city. There is also the option to for Gold Rush and the presumed city on the peninsula.

Task Force #1
Composition: 3 East Indiamen 6 rifles, 6 catapults
Objective: Net Profit.

Task Force #2
Composition: 3 East Indiamen 6 rifles, 6 catapults
Objective: Hidden City



The Eastern Front

Shoot has a variety of options here. The first turn moves I outlined call for razing Trading Post and positioning Task Force #4 on the tile 1E of Cornered Market, assaulting the city if the opportunity presents itself. From this tile, the task force forks three cities including the GLH City – but further assaults will depend on the defenders NoSpace has in each city. I’ve marked a grassland hill that Shoot can land his forces on to begin a siege of Cornered Market if all the cities are too well defended.

Task Force #3
Composition: 5 East Indiamen, 20 rifles
Objective: Trading Post

Task Force #4
Composition: 8 East Indiamen, 16 rifles, 16 catapults
Objective: Cornered Market/GLH City/Hidden City



The Southeast

NoSpace currently has their largest force concentration in Hostile Takeover, and with the three-way NAP cancellation, will probably mobilize defenders here to protect their iron. Once they realize no attack is forthcoming and their navy is destroyed, I will believe they will make a limited offensive out of the city towards Ankara. Here we have the possibility to take the city and seize their iron through the ‘back door.’ A possible Task Force #8 could move through Rego’s land and make an amphibious assault on the city, or besiege it from the jungle tile 1SW when the Indian forces leave the city.



The Southern Front

The plan on the southern front is to raze Pyramid Scheme to the ground right off the back and force NoSpace into a turn of anarchy. Smaller stacks will land adjacent Farmer’s Market and a currently hidden city on the peninsula. Farmer’s Market should fall pretty easily; as it is unlikely to be relieved by forces from the mainland. Task Force #6’s landing zone bisects the peninsula and cuts off the city of Tipping Point.

Task Force #5
Composition: 5 East Indiamen, 20 rifles
Objective: Pyramid Scheme

Task Force #6
Composition: 3 East Indiamen, 6 rifles, 6 catapults
Objective: Hidden City

Task Force #7
Composition: 3 East Indiamen, 6 rifles, 6 catapults
Objective: Farmer’s Market

The biggest concern in planning this operation is what Rego will do. Shoot believes that he is working closely with NoSpace, and will likely become involved in this war. Furthermore, it is not a game-winning proposition to let Rego - the score leader - play Sim City while we throw all our production into units. To deal with the possibility of war with Rego, I have planned Operation Mjolnir (going with the hammer theme). Mjolnir is an opening attack on three of Rego’s west coast cities to kick off or respond to a declaration of war with a decisive first strike



Operation Mjolnir – North

Task Force #8 is the possible force that enables the back door landing and razing of Hostile Takeover. Task Force 9# can fork Rego’s three northernmost coastal cities.

Task Force #8
Composition: 4 East Indiamen, 8 rifles, 8 catapults
Objective: Hostile Takeover

Task Force #9
Composition: 4 East Indiamen, 16 rifles
Objective: T-Hawk/Ilios



Operation Mjolnir – South

Another attack on Rego’s West coast, leaving just Sciz and Bato standing after the first turn of war.

Task Force #10
Composition: 2 East Indiamen, 8 rifles
Objective: Nowitzkiville

Force Totals

Shoot

36 rifles
16 catapults
Forces to pin Hostile Takeover

Krill

32 Riflemen
12 catapults

Dave

40 East Indiamen (11 to Krill, 13 to Shoot, 16 to Me)
44 riflemen
20 catapults

Note that this just includes forces for the opening attack, and does not address follow-up forces. I do not have the production capacity to launch all three proposed assaults (Sledgehammer, Mjolnir, Hostile Takeover) and supply East Indiamen to the two of you. I listed all three to show the possible options.

Unresolved Issues

- Do we need a naval superiority force to clear the seas?
- Do we need naval pillagers?
- Do we need a pillaging stack or two?
- What should the exact force composition look like? (any cavalry, trebuchets, cuirassiers?)
- How should we divide the spoils of war?
- How should we handle Rego?
- Does securing NoSpace’s iron source (for frigates and possibly cannons) need to have a higher priority?





Alright, kudos to anyone who made it all the way through that massive block of text and images.

To give me maximum flexibility in the coming turns, I have decided to not renew my NAP with Rego. This will also serve to keep him guessing and perhaps make him stop his buildfest to train some units once he sees my rising power levels and my revolt into theocracy and nationhood. I have no real need to renew my NAP - my navy will soon be strong enough to stop any invasion he might launch at me. I'm going to keep permanent naval squadron in the Eastern Sea to forestall this possibility.

The one thing I haven’t addressed yet are the terms of my loaning East Indiamen to Shoot and Krill yet, mostly because I have not yet decided how I will approach it. I still have not asked Krill why he spent those EPS on me.

Thoughts anyone?

[bato]

Wow a lot of effort went into that plan, I hope it goes through butreality usually differs from plans.

Another attack on Rego’s West coast, leaving just Sciz and Bato standing after the first turn of war.

Bato will never fall, no matter how many units you throw at that city.

[oledavy]

Bato will never fall, no matter how many units you throw at that city.

[oledavy]

Shakespeare's Golden Age finally has come to an end. It just reminds me of how low my GNP is compared to everyone else's now that it's back to its normal value.

I finished paper, and put the overflow into printing press, running 100% reserach for another turn to get one turn on printing press. Darrell and NoSpace researched Compass and Rego finished Optics.

I switched into Nationhood and Theocracy:



Thanks to Nationhood, I drafted my first free maceman in Damascus. First of many to come



Here is the island the HMS Prince discovered last turn, along with the future city location:



I debated over whether to found it on the hill or grassland, but decided I would prefer to work a 2/4/0 grassland workshop (after SP) to a 1/3/0 grassland hill mine.

The HMS Orion discovered another island out west.



So far, there's no real reason to settle this land without any resources in sight. However, I doubt the mapmaker would stick this island out there without any incentive to settle it, so I queued up a settler in Beruit in anticipation of founding at least one city on that island.