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Send a quick additional note off to athlete:
Quote:Hey,
Sorry for holding back slightly last night, but I didn't want any risk that mh would have advance notice of exactly when the attack would come. Anyway, I guess you're on the spot now....
Oh, and I realised that I forgot to answer your question yesterday about espionage visibility; basically, I can see the land as if I had
a unit stationed on each of your city squares, with standard visibility rules applied. So depending on the terrain, I only see a 1-2t halo around the city.
Andy.
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So what are your goals for this war? What do you think you can accomplish if m-h stays alone? What can you do if athlete and/or sooo reinforce him? Or what will things look like if athlete joins you?
I'm sure you've at least thought some about those - just wondering....
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regoarrarr Wrote:So what are your goals for this war? What do you think you can accomplish if m-h stays alone? What can you do if athlete and/or sooo reinforce him? Or what will things look like if athlete joins you?
I'm sure you've at least thought some about those - just wondering....
Well, I would very much like to cripple mh's teching ability, and thus remove one leg of the stool from TOG. Having said that, my initial sims suggst it's going to be a slog to take Vienna from him. My lack of 2-move units is also going to hurt me when it comes to moving deeper into his territory.
Materially, there's not a lot that sooooo can do to help - although his teching is quite enough at the moment. Athlete would be prblematic if he decided to break our NAP and aid mh. I don't think he's not got a large force and he's just switched into completely the wrong civics, but evn his small force would cause problems if added to mh's.
If athlete did join me, our goal woul then become erradication of mh. I would probably aim to keep a city in the vicinity of Vienna (probably moved NE), and Mainz on the coast for a second Iron source. athlete is welcome to the rest; it would really hurt economically to try and keep more than a couple of cities, so better him than me....
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athlete is considering his position (which doesn't really sound good for me):
Quote:Hey Andy,
I certainly am on the spot. I can't wait to open the save up though I am happy to have more time :-). I really am truly torn by the upcoming decision. Anyways no worries about holding back, I understand, though the declaration was sooner than I had hoped/expected. I'll let you know though.
Taylor
October 7th, 2009, 13:34
(This post was last modified: October 7th, 2009, 14:05 by Dreylin.)
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On the other hand, maybe mh isn't getting the back-up he expected.
Quote:Hi Dreylin,
interesting how a bunch of cannons can open up desperate diplomatic channels again. 
Are you set on your attack on Vienna or is there a chance to talk terms with you?
Obviously I am rather attached to that city.
But then again I am attached to the rest of my empire as well, so anything goes.
I will take a barrage of cannon balls as a "no".
mh
Of course if he can talk me into a 5-10 turn delay in hostilities, then he'll be fielding Cavalry....
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If he were to say "Name your terms" what would you consider taking for peace?
Or are you all set on  ?
"We are open to all opinions as long as they are the same as ours."
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Well, let's see what he might be prepared to offer me for peace:
Quote:mh,
Diplomatic power from the barrel of a gun indeed. 
Well I have to say I'm not sure what you'd be prepared to offer me to get me to back away from this fight. From your point of view, I guess it's been building up since our inability to negotiate a mutually ageeable settling pattern in the region, however for me it only stems back to your refusal of all of my offers to trade for Metal Casting. That of course was followed by your formation of / participation in a de-facto trade embargo against me, which led to the current diplomatic shape of the world.
On the wrong side of a 3vs2, my only recourse seems to be to exploit a momentary military technological advantage to either neutralise one of my opponents, or to pursuade/bully them into switching sides so that I am now part of the "3"...
My rationale for this conflict is not for acquiring territory so much as it is ensuring that in 20-30t I am not the one facing down an invading army an era ahead of my own. If you think there is a way for you to provide me that security then I am willing to consider any offer.
I know that sometimes diplomacy can be slow, however I do not expect Vienna to fall overnight. Please do not take a first round of cannonballs as a refusal, merely a negotiating tactic.
Regards,
Dreylin II.
Well I've left him an "out" if he's willing to take it, but somehow I doubt he'll switch sides at this point ... or this quickly. Then there's the trust factor if he did indicate a willingness, as well as the wildcard that athlete represents in this whole thing. I gess we'll see if anything is forthcoming. <shrug>
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Dantski Wrote:If he were to say "Name your terms" what would you consider taking for peace?
Or are you all set on ?
Well I don't know that I'm confident enough about the ultimate success of the attack to not at least listen to what he has to say. As far as territory goes, anything he can offer me is really a poisoned chalice: it elongates my borders and makes defending myself that much more difficult. Even just Vienna would make my frontlines that much more exposed to an attack from athlete. Pretty-much the only option I've left him is to switch sides, or at least give us full-access to his teching.
Of course what I really want is for athlete to join me in destroying mh and dancing on his corpse (oops, did I say that out loud?)
So let's see if I can nudge him in that direction...
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Quote:Hey Taylor,
how's the decision-making going?
I don't know whether to take it as a result of your influence, but mh has already contacted me and asked for peace. Of course he's not made an offer yet, so we'll see what he has in mind.
Andy.
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t109 -
OK, preliminaries first: Ruff feeds me 82g.
Bursa: Cannon - Cannon
Konya: Cannon - Galley
Diyarbakir: Jannissary - Jann
mh attaced with his 4 Cats on the interturn; all died to Cannonfire. 2 Cannon injured, and slight collateral on most units (Janns ~8.3/9).
OK, so the following forces are now in Vienna:
3x Musketmen
4x Longbomen
2x Macemen
2x Landsknecht
He has moved his 4Knights NE of Vienna to offer the option of a counter-attack at Bursa. I have 5Cannon & 2Janns closing on Bursa now though, so it will be safe.
There is an additional Musket NW of Vienna, and 2Knights & a Musket on the hill 2NE - along with the 2Workers needed to re-connect the road.
I can also see athlete's force 1S of Medina:
3x Camel Archer
2x Horse Archer
2x Chariot
2x Catapult
there is no road connection between the current location and Vienna, so they cannot attack (either side) this turn. 2cities are working on Camel Archers which will complete next turn; all others still on infrastructure.
So the first question is whether to attack the city this turn. To do so, would have to be with partially-removed defenses (in the 20-30% range) then attack with 2-3Cannon and Janns to follow. Janns say 3t to heal, however I have a HA with 5xp and a promo remaining so I bring it up and promote to Medic ... all Janns heal in 1t.
Well I think that decides it; full bombard this turn and attack next.
Cats bring defenses from 65% to 48%
Un-injured Cannon reduce it to 7%
One injured Cannon can heal in 1t, so it does.
Second injured Cannon will take 2t to completely heal, so I consider using to bomb off the remaining 7%. I think healing is the better option though; the Cats are not going to be very useful in attacking, so can be used to trim off the remaining defenses next turn.
2 additional Janns & another Cannon move up to join the stack making it:
7x Cannon
8x Janissary
5x Catapult
3x Horse Archer
1x Pikeman
Reinforcements en-route: 5Cannon, 2Jannissary - however none will reach he stack next turn. Bursa just started a 2t Cannon (looking at forces, this is switched to Jann), but the only new troops next turn will be a Cannon at Istanbul and a Jann from Gaziantep - both several turns away.
I know that I will need to be Drafting if I get into a 2v1, and now seems to be the time to make the switch. Losing the turn of Anarchy is a pain, however it will give me the flexibility to draft out of Bursa if I need an extra unit for defense / offense next turn. Since Bursa has trouble growing it wouldn't be ideal, but having the option may be vital.
Revolt to Nationhood.
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