[SPOILERS - PBEM17] novice and spaceman - Suryavarman of India

[spacemanmf]

Ok, T179. More cash sent over at the request of Darrell.



I noticed that we're sending Shoot some happy for health. We probably need it, though, so I didn't cancel. I requested bananas off Darrell since he seemed to have spare. He was going to offer a spare sugar but it got subsumued by Shoot's culture.



I found Dave's (hopefully last remaining) boat stack, and it's quite a chunky one. It's probably where all the marines are. We should be able to have 17 missile cruisers and 12 destroyers in that vicinity in 2-3 turns. Darrell may be able to offer aerial support plus a few destroyers.



Incidentally, I felt we needed some more flexibile aerial support so I chose a carrier build in one city.

Anyway, the main action of the turn was the razing of Hattin. Boats to reduce the defences, bombers to injure the infantry, marine to take very good odds to take him out. City razed.



I carefully moved our boats out of range of Dave's stack (which has max range 8 for his destroyers), even if he builds a fort, which I don't think he has the workers for just yet anyway.



This is Dave's stack moused over. For reference.



More shortly.

[spacemanmf]

Have run into a potential bug. Discovered aircraft gifted in a city do not fall under the typical 4 unit limit. I.E. - I can currently operate six aircraft out of Jerusalem, even though it does not have an airport. Obviously this bug benefits me immensely, however, I feel like it's cheating the game engine and should not be allowed. Will wait on consensus before playing the turn.

I actually commented on this earlier. I'd noticed it but it didn't seem to affect things so I didn't raise it as an issue.

I whipped a marine then switched to Caste System. I was tempted to switch to Nationhood, but we only have one size 8 city and, whilst it would taken Capital out of unhappy, we had 11 units completing at the end of turn so I kept Vassalage for that benefit.

F1 screens.




And, to finish off, a shot of the Overexposure arena, where we plan to take Nazareth in a couple of turns. A marine will be airlifted here next turn from Capital. (Note to self, a unit needs full movement points to be airlifted.)

In case you were wondering, the save was sent on.

[spacemanmf]

Some intel from Darrell:



The above screenshot shows that some of his boats are holed up in a well-defended fort. I think the bombers are in Damascus. Darrell's boats are under threat.

This shows a stack advancing towards Overexposure territory. He could potentially have 20 marines on here, and there are plenty unaccounted for.



I suspect they are two moves away from Overexposure, although we'd have to see (there are some Nav I transports in there). It might be that we send our navy east to try to intercept that stack with our fast-movers. We have bomber support in Overexposure to help.

[spacemanmf]

I've opened the save and done some scouting. First up, though, we sent all our cash to Darrell on his request. Stealth bomber upgrade turn is next turn.



I also inspected the Overexposure area. The good news is that if he sticks to the pace of the slowest units (5-move transports) then we can intecept his boats next turn.



His other option is to hide them in Archangel. However, that would be risky without unloading some of the marines that he presumably has on the transports since he only currently has one infantry defending Archangel.

Another option would be to try to raze Leningrad - however, it would not have aerial support and so would cost us a few marines. It also would leave our boat stack exposed to both his boat stacks (plus we don't know what he has in the fog).

Our stack can comprise 10 missile cruisers, a battleship, 10 destroyers, and two marine-laden transports.

I've since scouted the mini island with a bomber and he has an MC 1W of the ruins, which is where I would have put the stack. Now it will go either 1N or 1S of there. It doesn't really matter since our 9-move boats can get anywhere from there.

Actually, we can get 67% odds on the missile cruiser since it is only Combat I and we are Combat III, so I think I will take it out. It may help keep our units hidden, although he has two fighters in the vicinity which could easily scout.

I am going to load up the transport at Overexposure, since they can unload in time if necessary, but they will be ready to attack next turn. I am also going to airlift a marine there, as well as get two mech infs ready for airlifting there next turn.

Thoughts/comments welcome.

[spacemanmf]

Following chat between Darrell and Shoot, and Darrell and me (and novice), this is the resultant proposal:

Shoot,

We are open to both signing a NAP until Apollo. A couple of points:

1. The NAP would expire end of turn you build Apollo, or end of the cycle 9t from now (original expiration), at our discretion. This is to preserve our admittedly not earned first strike capability.

2. Part of the definition of "Aggression" for this NAP include providing material aid to enemies. So, no more providing military to Dave. Frankly we are also pretty tired of this game and its just prolonging things. If you have any deals over the next turn or two you've agreed to its okay to let those execute but after that let's try and speed this up for all our sakes :-).

Darrell & Nospace

[spacemanmf]

In the meantime, I have adopted Nationhood and drafted three mech inf. In Overexposure, Offshore Account and Net Borrower. I didn't feel Slavery was needed this turn so I kept with Caste System.

I am putting together a south-western task force, which will comprise the following: 5 missile cruisers, 2 destroyers, 3 transports holding 10 marines and 2 mech infs.

This is the staging area.



And this is its target.



I've stationed an airship in Darrell's Pitcairn Island to give us more visibility in that area. However, we do need to keep an eye on whatever navy Dave has in the vicinity. His navy gathered in the fort is only two moves away, although his boats can't be everywhere.

It's also worth noting that Dave should see it coming since he can scout Farmers Market with his airship.

[spacemanmf]

Ok, I went for the attack and won at 67% odds. I then staged this on the same square.



The units shown by the mouseover are a couple of 11-movers that could also join on the attack (they were next to Constantinople a mere two turns ago!). They can be seen next to Shoot's lands in the SW.

We have plenty of options for next turn, depending on what Dave does. We get 50% odds for our Combat III missile cruisers vs his Combat II battleships, but they will improve once collateral takes a hold, plus there are only five battleships. I'm guessing he only gets 25% odds attacking our stack.

One option for him would be to retreat through World Series. That would leave us free to capture Nazareth and Archangel, as well as raze World Series, blocking the canal (he could build a fort but his options are limited). So perhaps not.

He may well unite this stack with the one at the fort near Byransk, perhaps on the square 1SW of Leningrad, dumping off any transported units in Leningrad and World Series.

[spacemanmf]

Heh, not sure I agree with this...

Frankly we are also pretty tired of this game and its just prolonging things. If you have any deals over the next turn or two you've agreed to its okay to let those execute but after that let's try and speed this up for all our sakes :-).

I seem to be getting quite into it, although the turns are quite long and it's been easier because I've been off work.

So anyway, what else in the turn. I sent 3 bombers and 1 fighter back to Darrell for upgrades. I used the others for scouting or healing. I sent 4 missile cruisers back outside Constantinople to help out Darrell since he is losing destroyers there under sustained bombing.

Build queues.




I end the turn and we go top in power, despite gifting 3 bombers and 1 fighter back to Darrell (although we still have a few bombers on loan).



Here is our army after ending the turn.



And what we can see of Dave's this turn.



This compares to what Darrell can see.

[novice]

Woot, free wifi on the plane. 2012 is amazingly futuristic.

Great job, and looking fun too! Very satisfying to control more and more of the map.

[spacemanmf]

I've been chatting with Darrell quite a lot for these last few turns, but I haven't posted any of the chat logs. Presumably Darrell is doing given he included it in his latest post (which he shared with me).

However, here's a chat with Dave, who is in good spirits despite the game situation.

16:25 me: hey

save's yours

David: just downloaded it

kill anything?

me: check your turn log

:-)

nothing substantial

a single boat i think

16:26 you've consolidated well

16:27 David: what posessed you to kill that poor little missile cruiser :P

16:28 me: it looked funny

:-)

David: came away from that battle with 81 HP I see

nice

a good day for the Indian navy

me: had 67% odds

David: Combat III, that's how you got 67% odds

me: yeah

16:29 worth a punt vs Combat I

at worst I would lose a boat for a boat

David: oh hello

16:30 I don' suppose you'd mind telling me what's in that stack

it runs off the screen

me: haha

stupid interface system

David: It's rather annoying

I could keep tabs on your fleet strength while it was in Edessa

now I can't tell how many are there exactly

me: interesting to know

16:31 i'm kinda hoping you haven't got much navy left anyway

but you can't be too careful

that turn where you sunk our boat stack was quite painful - you had similar of course, but still

16:32 David: lol

you've had a 2v1 naval kill ratio

if that makes you feel any better

bombers are killer

me: yes, actually

yeah

darrell is finding out about your bombers it seems

16:33 David: teehee

btw, did I sink a transport of your marines awhile back?

me: yeah that was the painful turn

we lost quite a few

David: statistics show me killing more marines than I recorded

16:34 me: i think you killed something like 10 land units that turn

1 or 2 infantry, the rest marines

we got a bit ambitious

David: was this the stack south of Sidon? or the one east of Jaffa?

me: it was maybe 2S of sidon

16:35 you sent destroyers vs 3-4 battleships and 3 transports and eventually got good odds

the ones near jaffa were empty

David: I gotcha

okay, that comforting

they didn't just die in vain then

me: no

David: I mostly attacked that stack out of frustration

me: i can understand that

it can't be much fun

16:36 although you're taking it very well

David: lol, I'm still having fun with this game

embrace every new challenge

so, I understand you will be going after Shoot soon?

or is that just Darrell

16:38 me: depends if he wants to launch basically

16:39 right, gotta go - catch you later

16:40 David: see ya!

He indeed noticed our stack, but it's too big for him to see what's in it! I neglected to confirm its contents.