RB PBEM #1 - Mehmed (SPOILERS!)

[Dreylin]

Further correspondence with Ruff:

Dreylin,

It sounds like I should run 1 turn of gold and then back to research. I have a bank going into my capital (finishes end of next turn) so I don't really want to dial down tech at the moment. Actually, this email may be too late already.

Re Tech - agree with Steam Power. My thinking is Railroad after that as we are several techs from Assembly Line (Econ required).

Ruff

Ruff,

Drat, you're right; I think that I forgot to offer you my treasury last turn.

I've been expecting to get Econ from athlete as part of a Peace deal (it would be worded so he gifted it to both of us). Problem right now is that I need him to come to me with an offer, otherwise my bargaining position is fried; unfortunately I had a set-back in the war recently and can't really approach him at the moment. I am about to disconnect his Iron though, and once I start getting Cavalry & Rifles on the scene maybe he'll be more interested in negotiating.

Dreylin.

[Dreylin]

t121 - no builds completed over the turn, so let's check the logs:

Cuirassier withdraws
Cuirassier kills Jann
Jann kills Cuir
Jann kills Cuir
Cuir kills Jann (flanks Cannon to death)
GG Cuir kills Jann
Cuir withdraws

<Sigh> the withdrawals are annoying, but the GG's victory was at 33% and the other victories were at 65-70%.

The injured Cuirassiers have also retreated out of the back of the city to heal, leaving 7Muskets and a fresh Cuirassier to hold the line.

Well, there's not a lot can be done with 2injured Cannon and a pile of hurt Jannissaries, but at least he won't be attacking again next turn so I can move up reinforcemens and fully heal. I am going to move my GG medic back N a space behind the front lines. If there's an opportune moment in the fighting, it may be worth slipping him back into our lands for the free upgrade.

Down at Kufah I finally disconnect athlete's Iron supply. I leave the two Janns who pillaged in place on the Iron, and move the other two back to the Jungle hill. I don't see that athlete has the units in place to mount a counter-attack and hold that hill without fatally weakening Kufah's defenses, and I will need more units when I move to take the city. The third and fourth Cannons are 1 & 2t behind the stack, along with a further Jannissary. With athlete's mounted stack distracted in the North, I think that should be sufficient.

Unfortunately with WW starting to hit, there's only Bursa that can be drafted without a large happiness hit ... I should have held off Diyarbakir last turn.

Quick MM pass through the cities; Istabul will complete the first Cav next turn, Ankara's Bank is whipped, Bursa & Samsun will complete Cannons, and a couple of other cities will upgrade their Cuir builds to Cav and put off completion by a turn.

EPs dialed back down to 0% now that I have visibility back, and we'll make 111g this turn. I offer my treasury of 106g to Ruff as agreed.

Checking on techs, I see that athlete now has Steel ... and that sooooo is supplying him Iron. Hmmmm, now what did we learn from the 'poly demogame about resource trades; will they be cancelled if I close borders with sooooo? I can't remember fully, but it's definitely worth a try to prevent athlete having access to Iron.

[Cyneheard]

I believe the demogame had trade routes cancel, but not resource trades. Realistically, if (barring one side having Merc) trade routes are blocked, then resource trades should be, as well. But that is not the game design.

[Broker33]

IIRC you would have to declare war on Sooo to close the resource trades. Closing borders didnt work for Imperio in the demogame. War did.

[Dreylin]

Well during this turn the situation was:

I am Imperio
athlete is RB
sooooo is Banana

I am at war with athlete already, and as we saw in the demogame, he can still get resources through from/to sooooo/Banana. But since I still have OB with sooooo (just as Imperio did with Banana), there is a 1-way route from sooooo to athlete. Theoretically, if I close borders with sooooo, there should be no route between athlete & sooooo because neither can pass through my lands.

Anyway, as I said if nothing else it's worth a try ... and it gets any nosy Greeks out of my borders.

[sunrise089]

One thought: why upgrade, ever, a GG healer. Unless the unit isn't a healer, I never upgrade my GGs, since I always want them to defend last.

[Dreylin]

One thought: why upgrade, ever, a GG healer. Unless the unit isn't a healer, I never upgrade my GGs, since I always want them to defend last.

Right now I'm toying with the idea because I could really use some more / stronger offensive troops. I agree that I wouldn't usually consider it, and tbh I don't think there will be a good opportunity anyway. But I'd like to have the option even if I don't expect to use it. It does have 3moves so can still move back onto the stack and attack Damascus in the same turn, and healing rate is the same whether he's on the stack or not.

[Dreylin]

t122 - First Cavalry rides out of Istanbul!

OK first things first; trade screen shows athlete is still receiving Iron from sooooo. Drat.

Combat log shows no attacks carried out between turns.

Just the 8 Muskets in Damascus, with 12 Jannissaries outside. Even with just 3Cannon I think that weight of numbers should allow ts to be a success:

Fresh CR2 Cannon vs. Musket @32% - dies
Fresh CR2 Cannon vs. Musket @54% - withdraws without a scratch
Injured D2,CR1 Cannon vs. Musket @31% - dies

Jann vs. Musket @32% - dies
@71% - wins
@59% - wins
@32% - dies
@65% - wins
@66% - dies
@69% - dies
@87% - wins
@94% - wins
@99% - wins

GG HA vs. Musket @>99.9% - wins
Heroic HA vs. Musket @>99.9% - wins and captures Damascus! :D



So the next question is: can I keep it?

Examining the city shows it contains just a Lighthouse and the Shwedagon Paya, so it's not worth it for the buildings.

Can I defend it: no. I can get 2Muskets and a Cuirassier into the city with Heroic HA, but athlete can counter with 2Fresh Cuirassiers, 6injured, and a Musket.

So Damascus burns.

2Jannissaries remain un-used; both injured. Due to the cultural idiosyncracies following the capture, they could hit athlete's Cuirassier reserves. The first would have poor odds, however if it caused sufficient damage, the second would fight his GG healer. Attack odds are just 27% though, which is probably not sufficient to guarantee enough damage to the un-injured Cuir on top. Best to keep them on defense to minimise reprisal opportunities.

Despite the fact that they arenow moving in the wrong direction (away from Medina), I move the reinforcements (Jann, Cann & Cuir) up onto the stack. Oh, and athlete's time to Rifling goes back up to 5t.

At Kufah, another Musket has appeared to bring the total to 7 (with 4Longbow). The expeditionary force moves back towards the city, with an additional Cannon joining the main stack. Depending upon the dispositon of athlete's Cuiassier stack, the time to hit Kufah will probably be in 2t once the Cannon total is up to 4, and the Jann count has reached 9. At that point there will also be two trailing Janns to prevent reprisals.

Istanbul - Cavalry, Bursa - Cannon, Samsun - Cannon.

Draft: Samsun, Gaziantep, Izmir.

With the 139g from capturing Damascus, I can offer Ruff 150g and still be able to run a turn of max science (@-99g) to complete Compass and give a decent overflow into Optics.

[Dreylin]

Let's see if athlete wants to negotiate:

Taylor,

Once you get the game you'll see that Damascus is no more. I didn't want to have to burn it to the ground, but I didn't have the forces to keep it and protect the rest of my stack. Anyway, I am still looking to negotiate a settlement if you are interested?

You gift me Kufah and send Economics to both Ruff and myself. You would be free to re-settle the Damascus area, however all trade relations with sooooo must cease. We would sign a NAP along the lines of our previous agreement with a 10t cancellation and minimum term to at least t150, I'll even throw in Rifling.

Let me know what you think, and if it's too much then make me a counter-offer.

Andy.

Two key changes to my previous offers:

1) Damascus area - with the original city gone, any cultural build-up would have to start from scratch. Yes, the culture contributions remain, however in the time it takes to pop a new city's borders to 4th ring I will be able to overtake his culture on any key tiles.

2) Rifling - simply, if he takes it from me then I can guarantee it doesn't reach sooooo. I know he's only a few turns away in any case, so it really makes little difference.

[Dreylin]

Hey Andy,

Thanks for the heads up. It's a shame but I guess I underestimated the power of cannons and numbers. I really thought I'd hold for at least a turn, giving my cuirassiers a chance to hit a weakened stack. Guess not. Yet another mistake on my part...In turn I had to kill your Heroic HA. I couldn't just leave him there without punishment for razing Damascus.

Apart from Kufah, I don't believe you can attack me anywhere's so that should give us a chance to discuss peace. I'm not overly interested in it, as rather then play a weakened civ it almost interests me more to fight to the death, however I would be more than willing to accept the aforementioned terms as long as Soooo gets rifling in the deal. Any other trade relations present and future with Soooo will be ceased. Whether you or Ruff give me and Soooo Rifling or you allow me to finish it and gift it to Soooo is up to you. All other terms will be accepted.

To Recap:

I am free to resettle Damascus.
I give Kufah to you.
I send Economics to both you and Ruff.
We sign an NAP with a 10T cancellation and minimum term to at least T150.
You/Ruff gift rifling to both Soooo and Myself or you allow me to finish researching it and gift it to Soooo.
All other trade dealings with Soooo cease and the trade embargo will last the duration of this new NAP with you, however the trade embargo will not be renewed if our NAP is.
Oh and also you are not allowed to settle any further west then Kufah.

Taylor

Hmmmmm, I guess I need to see what Ruff thinks of this.