RB PBEM #1 - Mehmed (SPOILERS!)

[Dreylin]

Really?? I thought they could...

Yeah, I must admit that I was surprised; it makes them a lot less useful imo.

[Dreylin]

t175 (1750AD) - mh's first turn with Fighters; let's see what he's up to with them....

OK, first I refuse Ruff's request for Crab, Sheep, Rice & Copper. I have no problem sending my spare Health resources, but that's my only Copper and Copper is the resource doubler for the Confucian "Cathedral". Besides, I thought I was already supplying Ruff with at least one of those Healths.

Set a couple of cities to Culture and bring up the Event Log:

Fighter has shot down HRE Fighter - yes!
Fighter has been damaged by HRE Fighter - wha!?
Fighter has been shot down by HRE Fighter - whoa?
Fighter has been shot down by HRE Fighter - Hmmmm.

OK, so these Intercept missions; are there any odds on them listed somewhere I don't know about? I suspect that I just got some really bad rolls there.

Oh, and he also destroyed the Fort - which must have been his target.

Well, two can play at this game, I guess:

First Fighter targets the Copper Mine next to Augsburg:

Your Fighter was Interecepted by an enemy Fighter (-50%)
Your Fighter has shot down an HRE Fighter

OK, so I guess there's a lot to learn about these missions; I can get injured and shoot down a fighter in a single run? Does that always happen with a successful flight?

OK, second gets through and destroys the Mine with no Interceptions. I'm going to keep the two C2 Fighters on Intercept and send in the third to target the Uranium Mine ... bah, failed.

Target a Farm outside Vienna:

Shoot down an HRE Fighter
Shot down by HRE Fighter (damaged 50%)
Shot down by HRE Fighter (no damage message, so I guess damage is not guaranteed) ... oh, & mh gets another GG
Shot down
Shot down
Shot down - going well this
Shot down (w/ damage)
Shoot one down (damaged) - Yay!
Shoot one down (damaged)
Shot down (w/ damage)
Shot down
Shot down (w/ damage)
Shoot one down
Shoot one down
Shoot one down

Hmmmmm, by my reckoning that sucked rather a lot.

Killed: 7
Lost: 9

OK, so not quite as bad as I thought, but I guess I'll be needing some more Fighters ... dial up another 6; 4 in 1t & 2 in 2t.

Hmmm, there's one injured Fighter left in Vienna & one in Florence; I'll pull in a couple of those I'd kept back for Interception duty to finish them off:

Shoot one down (damaged)
Shoot one down (damaged)
Fail to destroy Mine - Huh!? OK I'm sure that Mine was in range of a remaining Fighter; maybe Interception chance goes down with damage?
Destroy a Farm - that target was definitely in range!
Fail to destroy Farm

That brings us to 9-each, as well as a Mine & Farm successfully bombed. Not ideal I guess, but then I do have 22 Fighters left to his 7 (no sight into 2cities)....

I pull an additional 3Fighters into Najran to bring it back to full-compliment for next turn.

Final acts of the turn are to whip the Confucian Temples into Strassburg & Marsin for 2Pop each. Both cities are prettey short on Hammers right now.

Oh, and sooooo seems to be pursuing Rocketry now rather than Radio.

[regoarrarr]

http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/strategy/air_combat.php

[Dreylin]

Thanks rego, I probably should just have looked that up myself!

So 50/50 odds on the C1 vs. C1 combats is right (for the record, the total is 11/10 in mh's favour).

Ruff and I had a chat about the same last night:

Ruff.Hi: Dreylin - I noticed that you had some extra health resources that I didn't have and asked for a lend

me: Oh bugger
I forgot to send them to you
Cancelled the original request
because it's my only Copper
(& I thought I'd sent you Rice already)
meant to review existing trades and then send
can you live without for a turn?

Ruff.Hi: I asked for copper?

me: (Reeeeeally don't want to have to re-play - lots of Fighter on Fighter action)
Yep

Ruff.Hi: stupid me
np - will try and ask for only spare helath that you have that I don't next turn

me: Well it's a Mining Inc. resource

Ruff.Hi: don't want to talk all of your copper
didn't meant to either

me: But is also the doubler for Conf. Cathedral....

Ruff.Hi: I recorded my turn via video as a report to the lurkers
turned out very choppy so I scrapped it

me: Ooooo, going techno!
You had many dogfights yet?

Ruff.Hi: catching up with the Jones
yes
going pretty well
you? and how are they going?

me: Lots this turn
about 50/50
we each lost 9 Fighters this turn

Ruff.Hi: mine run about 3-1 or 4-1 ... do you have any promotions on your fighters

me: Wowsers
all are C1
some C2

Ruff.Hi: I think I lost 1 and Soooo went from 7 to 4 or 5
hmm - I must be having really good luck
maybe Sooooo's aren't promotoed

me: Ah, but I bet sooooo's don't have Promos
mh has Pentagon

Ruff.Hi: but I did lose a C2 one that sucked

me: so all of his are
Is soooooo in Theocracy?

Ruff.Hi: right - so that +10% is changing a 50/50 to 65/35
no idea

me: that would pretty-much be it, yeah

Ruff.Hi: prob philo for the +100% GP
but the big news of the turn is ...

me: yeah, that's what I'd expect too

Ruff.Hi: Sooooo swapped from Radio to Rocketry

me: indeed, I spotted that

Ruff.Hi: which, as I mentioned to you, I think is negative play
what is your timing on tanks?

me: Well I misunderstood Intercept missions

Ruff.Hi: I think Sooooo understands them but I am just giving him a pasting

me: but also we have more production than they do

Ruff.Hi: and getting GG pts thrown in too

me: so can each out-produce Fighters
Bah, mh got ANOTHER one

Ruff.Hi: I have 4 of my cities on wealth

me: he's had ~6 so far
Ah

Ruff.Hi: so that I can run 100% tech

me: Ind was due in 4t before I hit EOT
@70%
but I can probably knock down to 60% next turn for same result

Ruff.Hi: are you playing in PB3?

me: nope, you?

Ruff.Hi: radio in 5 after EOT
yes
got any suggestions re leaders?

me: I will complete Ind at the end of my t178
so You will have it on your t180

Ruff.Hi: and I get it at the ... right
which is about when you will get Radio

me: Excellent
my plan atm is to mass-produce Tanks

Ruff.Hi: no idea what I am teching after that - dial down tech and build units baby!

me: and then 2-move Vienna in pincer with a 1-move attack
I may pick up Medecine
(urgh, why couldn't I spell that!?)

Oh, I checked the game this morning and I'm sending Ruff all of Sheep, Crabs & Rice already!

[Dreylin]

t176 - Aerial warfare, Ho!

Well, no attacks by mh last turn but, WTF! "Global Warming strikes near Ankara"!? Oh marvelous, a Grassland Town (2f, 7c) is now a Desert.

Time to take out my disappointment on Mr. mh of the HRE, I think...

Failed to destroy the Mine!? Hmmmm, maybe mh has taken his Fighters off Intercept missions? Yep, Mine destroyed by the second. Guess I'll strip the land around Augsburg. 2 Windmills & another Mine taken out.

Lots of injured Fighters in New Damascus so I bring Hernan Cortes into the city to speed things up. The uninjured Fighter takes out the Wheat Farm at Medina. The two in Bursa are set to Intercept incase mh decides a counter-attack is in order.

Re-stock ND with the fresh Fighters and dial up some more in the Airport cities. Throw in a couple more Artillery & MGs, and then a couple of health/happiness buildings in some of the borderline cities.

Drop research down to 60% and still Industrialism in 3t; now at +65gpt.

[Dreylin]

t177 - Broadway completes in Izmir.

Hit Musicals to Ruff & World Map trade.

Builds complete for the turn:
Artillery 2
Fighter 6
MG 2
Hammam
Library

mh has struck back and blimey he's winning more again: 3-1 losses. He also takes out a Mine and 2 Farms at Najran.

OK, looks like I'm going to need to put even more Fighters on defense at Najran and maybe more at New Damascus. Actually, there's nothing left to target at Augsburg, so I use 1 for a Recon Mission, one is healing, and then the remaining 5 are on Intercept (I move a fresh one in).

mh has only 2Fighters in Vienna, so I only need 2 on Intercept to prevent destruction of property. One is healing, so that leaves 5 to take on his Farms: 1 is intercepted by a MG, but the rest all evade and all four of his Farms are destroyed.

I also use the 2 Fighters in Baghdad to take out a Village at Medina. (I'm preferring to destroy Villages and Towns since the difference is yield is 2c between Hamlet & Village where the rest are just 1c different)

I re-stock my Carriers, and 2 new Fighters are brought to Bursa. Airport cities (Najran, NewD, Ankara) start on new Fighters, while the rest are on a mix of infrastructure (Conf. Temples & research/gold buildings) and units mostly selected so that they are due to complete in 2t with lots of overflow. That way when Industrialism completes there'll be lots of extra Hammers ready to go straight into Tanks....

mh seems to have finally dialed his Science meter up to 10, but I don't think it will be enough. He shows Ind in 8t, which gives me a 6t window to exploit my production superiority to crank out Tanks and destroy him with prejudice.

[Dreylin]

t178 - double-turn today I guess.

Setup another couple of builds to complete next turn. Nothing extra in the evnt log, so let's have a look at what can be bombed off this turn....

Doesn't look like there's any Fighters on Intercept at Vienna so send in the Fighters - two Farms destroyed, but then fail twice to destroy a Mine. Carrier fleet is back at full strength, so I take out a pair of lumbermills at Florence, the Coal Mine (with one failure), and another Mine at Vienna.

A Workshop at Medina is destroyed from New Damascus, and then we'll have a look at Najran: there are no improvements at Najran to bomb, so instead I'll have a go at the units which are back on Paratrooper patrol. knocking the top off a Cavalry shows that the Fighters aren't on Intercept. OK, so I'll take out the Musket as well, but there aren't any other units in range. Oh wait, I can reach some of the improvements at Medina from there as well ... take out another Farm.

Well that's it for this turn. Industrialism still due at EOT with research dialed back down to 40%. Looks like mh has found some extra cash since his research time is now down to 6t. Oh, and I notice that he's built his first Anti-Tank in Aachen this turn ... he must know what I'm planning.

[Dreylin]

t179 - Tanks for the memories?

Ruff takes Ind, and in-turn I request Radio.

Dial up 16 Tanks: 7 in 1t, 5 in 6t, 3 in 3t & 1 in 4t.

Hmmmmm, 4 sources of Aluminium on the map: one in extreme NE in sooooo's territory, one in the NW inland from Aryan (not in mh's territory), one between Prague & Vienna, and a final one on the main Island. An interesting distribution, since there doesn't seem to be one anywhere near Ruff.

No inter-turn attacks from mh, so what damage can be done:

Strike a couple of Cavalry on anti-Para duty at Augsburg.
Destroy a couple of Hamlets at Medina.
A Farm and a Windmill at Aachen are taken out from my Carrier group.
Three Farms and a Mine from around Vienna, and finally a Workshop at Medina.

Dial up Medicine next; 4t @ 60% (+34gpt).

[Dreylin]

t180 - Tanks starting to roll.

7Tanks off the line, and another 7 dialed up.

9 due next turn, 6 in 2t & a single in 3t.

Looks like sooooo's dialed up the research rate on Rocketry and it's now due in 2t. Ideally that would mean I'd want to attack on the turn he discovers it, i.e. the turn after next. To coordinate the attack with my 1-movers, they would need to set off this turn.

That force would be: 25Infantry, 18Artillery, 7Machine Guns, and 6Rifles.

I'm not entirely certain, but I think that would give me an attack force of 10-12 Tanks. I think that an additional turn will nearly double that number, as well as allowing a further 4Infantry & an Artillery to join the 1-movers. So if mh gets his hands on Rocketry, what does that mean?

Well, he's not going to be able to build more than one SAM in Vienna before the attack hits, but he will be able to upgrade a bunch of Infantry. Is that necessarily a bad thing though? SAM are str18 to 20 of Infantry, and also don't have the +25% vs. Gunpowder. Yes, my Fighters will have a much harder time joining the fight, however the ground fight will be against weaker units. Also, an upgrade would re-set the Fortify bonus, and wouldn't allow for upgrades on the turn it takes place, so no Interception promos on the units.

All-in-all, not a dreadful event that I have to twist the attack around. So I'll be moving the 1-movers forward next turn, in which case I also have the time to upgrade those Rifles to Infantry. 480g needed, and 558g in the bank, so that's a bonus for the attack force.

OK, with the ground plan worked out, time to look to the Air. Hmmmm, looks like mh has found a slight chink in my Fighter net; he's taken out a Town West of Baghdad. Guess I'll have to review what's guarding where. Still no mh Intercept Missions, so we'll just fly right in.

No improvements to bomb at Augsburg so target a couple of the Para-guard units: GG Inf (WoodsIII), Spear & Cav. Put the Fighter in Baghdad on Intercept to patch up the hole. There's an AT outside Vienna, so I'll bomb that - send one in for 30% damage, second is Intercepted ... oh, a 20% chance, 'K; third gets through to take it down to 50%.

Take out 2Farm and a Mine at Vienna using units from ND & Bursa. The Carrier group targets two Farms at Aachen, and bomb down a new Anti-Tank in Florence.

With only 78g left in the bank I'm going to drop research down to 40%; Medicine now in 4t @ +245gpt.

[regoarrarr]

How can you tell where m-h has intercept missions and their range?