RB PBEM #1 - Mehmed (SPOILERS!)

[Rowain]

You may be right. I tried to take a step back yesterday and get my head to tell my gut that continuing the war just hurt my chances to win the game, but it didn't seem to work very well!

Oh I didn't say it to get you to sign peace with mh. If you think it's best for your empire proceed in any way you want . In a way I wanted to remind you that this is still a game and that it is just Ottomans vs HRE and that it must not reach you on a personal lvl (at least not too much). Afterall we should still be a community after the game ends

The way I see it there are two challenges left in the game for me; #1 of course is reaching the game-mandated victory condition before any of the other players, which in this case is beating Ruff's drive to Space either with a Spaceship of my own or a Cultural victory. #2 is breaking through Vienna and being able to strike at the juicy core of mh's civ.
..
A quick check of the demographics shows that I'm out-producing him 4:1,

With your tech and production-advantage #2 should not be much of a challenge. Good luck in pursueing #1 .

[Dreylin]

t190 - no foriegn messages greet my start.

All but one city finishes a build this turn! I'll deal with most of it later, but Rock 'n Roll completes in Izmir; Angkor Wat dialed up next - 8 Culture/turn, due in 2t.

Hmmmmm, well the log gives me bad news: guess mh has remembered his C4 Fighter and has shot down one of mine ... gave a good account at least and did 50% damage. Worse news is that mh's Great Person was a Spy ... I guess I can look forward all sorts of bad stuff happening to me in the coming turns....

Apart from that, it looks like he's pulled all his available unit into Vienna - I guess to ward off my stack, but maybe he's planning to strike out in a blaze of glory? Regardless, my plan had been to withdraw the stack from his land and wait for more healthy units to join before pushing forward.

Now that the Railway connection has been completed, it's also time to pull back the stack from the Fort. One of the Tanks pillages off the improvement, then the majority head back to the site of Bursa Reborn, while a couple go to reinforce Medina.

Bursa Reborn founded on the city ruins; Granary started, working the Horses for speed; due in 3t.

Well it looks like sooooo has left Ephesus with only an Archer to guard it, while Knossos has an Archer and an Infantry. I may only have a single Infantry on my Transports, but I think that should be enough to deal with an Archer.

Destroyers bombard down to 0%, and the unpromoted Infantry has >99% even unpromoted ... Ephesus burns and takes sooooo's last 2 Destroyers with it. I promote the Inf C2, rename it Ephesoops and leave it there incase sooooo feels like sending a unit away from his main front to take some revenge.

129EPs spent on a Counter-Espionage mission in Medina; Spy gets back to Istanbul safely.

With virtually all of mh's SAM's pulled into Vienna, I can wreck some havoc safely as long as I stay 2t away from the city. All of Vienna's Mines are stripped, along with the Stone and Aluminium at Prague. I send in and lose a Fighter at Aachen, so that the following ones can destroy 2Farms and a Windmill. Nothing else can be reached from the Carriers, so the remaining Fighters are set to Intercept and heal as appropriate.

So what's left ... ah yes, builds. Istanbul & Ankara start on their respective Confucian Academies, while the rest turn their eyes back to military. Sprinkle a couple of SAMs in there, and I think that it's time for a round of Infantry ... particularly in the Western cities where they'll get 2 Promos.

Malatya (Southern-most Island city) starts an Airport, while the other two work on their Barracks. Strassburg will contribute with Guided Missiles. Zonguldak has just completed the National Park and is running with an extra two non-specific specialists; the quickest way to deal with that is to punch in a Theatre before it works on National Epic.

Communism will complete at EOT, and then we'll follow with Mass Media ... maybe the last tech to be researched.

[Dreylin]

t191 - bother; I had the post written then Vista BSOD'd and now I have to cobble it together again.

I remember Ruff requesting Communism (to be made up with MilSci now the GSpy is gone) and the Coal I'd temporarily reclaimed from losing Bursa.

The log told me that Ruff had adopted Empancipation and thus sent a couple of my cities unhappy...

I caught a Spy near Bursa, and noticed that mh doesn't seem to have popped his GSpy against me yet. Later in the turn I also noticed that Ruff has started re-directing his EPs towards me now that sooooo is on the rack, and I decide to return the favour.

mh gets in two successful flights: a Fighter kills an Intercepting one of mine (based in Najran), and a Mine at Konya is destroyed. I have only one Worker in the vicinity, so the mine will take 2t to rebuild. I also note that I have a theory for why mh's aerial attacks seem sporadic - that the log doesn't report failed attacks, just successful ones. It may have taken all three of the Vienna-based Fighters to hit that Mine, but since the log only shows me one success, I have no way of confirming. Thus those turns when I didn't see an mh flight inbound was due to successfully slipping through the sentry net, but unsuccessfully destroying the target. If that's the case it's a pain, because it doesn't allow you to see the unsuccessful targets.

Oh, and there was good news from the East; Ephesoops my galliant Infantry & Greek-burner successfully fended off the counter-attack intended to destroy him, beating a Tank at 22% odds! He loads back onboard a Transport, which heads towards Knossos. I also sent a Tank out to the island for use in an amphibious attack, and since there is now no-longer any threat to the cities out there, I can gather the additional units which were stationed there and bring them back to land - 2Inf & Jann.

Knossos should fall next turn ... oooo, Ruff has been Bombing it for me, so the units inside are at only half-strength. Bonus!

Most of the rest of the turn is the standard moving, healing, setting up next turn's military (and Jail) builds. Mass Media due in 3t @60% (+129gpt) which will bring up the end of the Golden Age. Great Spy is stored in Ankara, and we wait to see what (who) pops out of New Damascus at EOT: 67% GE, 25% GA, 8% GP - fingers crossed that I'll be able to found my second corp.!

OK, now it's time for something radical ... some thinking and planning. Yeah, been too little of that around recently I know.


Thought #1:

if I'm going to be running culture soon rather than research, how will that affect the happiness situation in my cities? i.e. if I run 70% Culture, will the happiness offset the WW and allow me to exit Police State?

Answer: A rough calculation based on current WW numbers seems to suggest the possibility, but I'd need to put Jails & Theatres into a couple of cities. Of course a renewed offensive with associated casualties may tip the scales.


Thought #2:

Removal of the Statue of Zeus from the equation would change things; can Augsburg be taken?

Answer: Paratrooper raid is the only viable option in the short-term. Most of mh's Para-guard have been disbanded, and he's front-piled all his units into Vienna so maybe I have a window if I re-use a tactic from before:



So I've got a healthy 5 Paras in place for a drop next turn, a pair of Spies on each approach ready to cut the routes, and 5 Bombers to remove the defenses/knock the top off defenders. Whatever he adds this turn could be joined by a drafted Rifle and likely a whipped unit next turn, so I'll have to assess whether or not to commit to the jump, or to wait for more Paras to join the troop.


Thought #3:

After finishing off sooooo's coastal defenses, I really should get a bunch of units onto Transports and threaten mh's Northern cities at the same time as the main force moves on Vienna.

[Dreylin]

t192 - Angkor Wat completes in Izmir and a Great Engineer pops in New Damascus.

A quick check of the logs:

Catch a Spy near Medina, but also lose one near Augsburg.
Lose 2 Fighters without damaging either attacker <Sigh>
Oh, and mh has used his GSpy on me, so I've lost visibility.

OK, let's assess the situation the situation around Augsburg; with main visibility gone, I just have my Spies' visibility to go on. Augsburg contains a single Artillery, and a SAM is sitting 1E of the city. Cannot see beyond to the East, but there is an Explorer on the hill ESE under the Spies and another further East. mh has also pulled his 3Fighters back from Vienna into Nuremburg and his Artillery has left the frontlines as well.

I have a Fighter and 5Bombers in Najran that I can use for recon; start by sending the Fighter to attack the SAM - cheapest unit, and if I damage the SAM it's less likely to intercept any later attack.

Success! Here's the situation:



OK, so the only other unit in the area is the Infantry 1W of the city - so he's put a unit on each of the hills to prevent my landing, but as you can see I can still land on the plains and can even reach with the new Para in Najran.

An important thing to note is also that Augsburg was whipped to finish that Artillery - it was size6 last turn. That means that to add a unit to the city would require a cold-whip, and the only unit currently available for 2Pop or less is an Explorer. Once I cut the roads, the maximum defensive force would be: Infantry, SAM, Art(*maybe), 2xExplorer - 5units, and I can get 6Paras over the mountain.

You can also see the reminder note next to the Najran; with 3 of mh's Fighters likely to be on intercept overhead next turn, I'll want to bring in Fighters of my own to take them out/damage them as much as possible before sending in the Bombers.

On that subject, I'd better make the most of them this turn:

Bomber attacks SAM and is shot down
4 remaining Bombers take the SAM & Inf down to 1/2 health, and the Artillery down 16%

OK, Spy time: one on the empty Northern Hill, and two on the Southern. Now you might think that the hill with only 1 Spy is more important, but I learned an important thing in recent Paratrooper testing ... they may not be able to attack after a jump, but they can still pillage. So because the Northern hill is empty it's therefore a valid target for a jump and if the Spy fails I can still sever the road if needed ... though at a cost of a Paratrooper for the attack.

Spy1 on Southern hill: 127EPs @55% ... succeeds!

Now for the Northern hill: same cost & odds ... fails.

Ah well, Worker finishes the Fort and I send one of the Paras in to pillage. "Road-cutter" will probably be killed by an mh Tank (~75% odds) but may get lucky like Ephesoops, so I decide not to delete him.

The other 5Paras jump onto the Uranium and we'll see what happens next turn.


Now for Knossos; Ruff has bombed the units down to half health, and I can use just a single Destroyer to knock the remains of the defenses away.

Tank vs. Infantry @95% - wins.
Jann vs. Archer @99% - wins & Knossos falls.

126g, 4Pop Granary, Drydock, Forge & Courthouse. Ruff had asked earlier if I could keep it for him ... I cheekily asked why don't I keep it for myself, but that didn't go down too well. Anyway, I can see that Ruff has taken Argos (just over the hills to the East), so I don't see a counter-attack coming. I keep the city and then offer it to Ruff in exchange for MilSci.


GE airlifts into Ankara; next turn I'll found Creative Constructions there and start sending out Execs. Izmir is now at -2 unhappy, but I'll push the overflow from Angkor Wat into Eiffel this turn and then switch to a Jail next turn. Oh, on the subject of Angkor Wat, I need to go through and switch any Engineer specialists to Priests while I'm setting up builds for the turn. Looking at the current potential force:

14 Artillery
23 Tanks
4 Anti-Tank
4 SAM
9 MG
5 Paratroopers
20-25 Infantry

I think another round of Tanks might be in order while I'm in Golden Age ... 8 due next turn.

[Dreylin]

Had a meandering chat with Ruff this afternoon, starting with this game:

me: BTW, what's Knossos worth to you...?

Ruff.Hi: a settler and about 5 pop worth of growth
why?

me: well I'm thinking that if I take it and can hold it, why shouldn't I keep it...?

Ruff.Hi: because DeTOG said that soooo's land was mine
(didn't it?)

me: but we dissolved DeTOG, right?
isn't that the first clause of the new treaty?

Ruff.Hi: I guess - does that mean we dissolved all of our stated and unstated agreements too?

me: don't know
such as?

Ruff.Hi: what is me spreading Conf to sooooo's ex-cities worth?
well - the 'Soooo's land is my land' one for one

me: hrm
so you would be spreading conf around?
I guess you still get the AP hammers, right?

Ruff.Hi: true - if I build the Conf buildings

me: well if this is a "thing" then I'll hand the city over

Ruff.Hi: a 'thing'?

me: I have no desire to cause tension between us this late in the game

Ruff.Hi: was just about to redirect all of my bombers :P

me: ... until I start sabotaging Spaceship parts, or course
Ah, but you csn't declare war without breaking the treaty, right...

Ruff.Hi: use of non-banned spy activities is totally expected
did you notice that I tilted my EPs against you?

me: yep
did the same

Ruff.Hi: ahh - and so the end game starts ... lol

me: maybe

Ruff.Hi: how is your war v mh going?

me: I still have mh to deal with
plotting a Paradrop to raze Augsburg
will see how that goes

Ruff.Hi: augsburg?
critical resource?

me: SoZ

Ruff.Hi: ahh - good point
aren't you in civic that eleminates WW?

me: 'cos I have that extra from some liberal policies of yours....
I haven't built 100% of my Jails

Ruff.Hi: my people are lov'n it
listening to R&R music, watching Ollywood films

me: (they don't give bonus like yours)
Hmmmmm

Ruff.Hi: lol
I hope to be done with Sooooo in a few turns - let me know if you want some experienced troops

me: They would probably come in handy
If you wanted to take part, I could gift you some Transports

Ruff.Hi: I am currently struggling to find jobs for my fighters - so I could send those over now

me: and you could attack mh from the NE
more Fighters could be put to use

Ruff.Hi: ok- let me know where you want them and I will send over a squadron or two
I ran 3 workers into your territory to build a fort
only to find that I couldn't do it when I got there - arrg

me: then they turned around

Ruff.Hi: yep
should have sent 1 just into your territory to test

me: or you could have gifted them and let me build it....
then moved them back

Ruff.Hi: petty sure I couldn't use the fort anyway
and there aren't any targets in range anymore anyway

me: yeah

Ruff.Hi: ok - catch you later - have some smelly dogs to bath

me: heh
have fun!

Ruff.Hi: yeah sure

Then we chatted about Pitboss #3, and then onto PBEM2.

[Dreylin]

Oh joy.

I hadn't accounted for Airports, had I? I guess I'd figured that he wouldn't have bothered to build them having better things to do.

<sigh>

[Dreylin]

Oh joy.

I hadn't accounted for Airports, had I? I guess I'd figured that he wouldn't have bothered to build them having better things to do.

<sigh>

Well the "good" news is that I'm pretty certain that Augsburg doesn't have its own airport - going back 4 turns to the last time I had full visibility on the city there wasn't one there and mh was building a Public Transportation, and we know he's built an Artillery as well since.

Bad news is that Aachen definitely has an Airport so he can put a sixth unit into Augsburg. Since I only have 5 Paratroopers positioned to attack, that pretty-much means my chance to take the city is over.

[Dreylin]

t193 - how shall I embarrass myself this turn...?

Well, it looks like mh has airlifted in a Tank and built the expected Explorer, thus bringing the unit count up to 6. He's also upgraded the Infantry to a SAM, must be to increase his interception chances since he's used the Fighters to target my Paratroopers.

The surprise to me is that he risked attacking with his Artillery; if it had not withdrawn, he would have been left with just 5units in the city, and a roll of the dice would have determined whether or not the city fell.

There's a substantial-enough reserve party with a pair of Workers ready to forge across the hill, so my Paras will die anyway, so I may as well use them to get a few additional xp before deleting them.

Send in the Fighters & Bombers to strip the defenses and take the top off the Tank. C2 Para now up to 95% odds - Tank defeated. The three healthy-ish Paras take out the two SAMs and the Artillery at >90% odds, leaving the 3.6/24h final unit just a 30% shot at the top Explorer ... which he loses. <shrug> I think it was worth throwing the dice on that last one just to see what might have happened if the Artillery had died rather than retreating. (I may have made some silly mistakes in this game, but attacking with the Artillery was a deliberate risk; I wonder what the odds were?)

The surviving 4 are deleted - mh has had enough free xp from me - and it's back to the drawing board for attacking Augsburg, though I will put my 5 remaining Paratroopers into the Fort just to keep mh on his toes.


Other events from the log:

MilSci came in from Ruff (very useful, I'm sure), but he's also gifted my 4fighters and 3Bombers to add to my stash ... they will come in useful, especially since mh has shot down another one. I think I really should stop putting Fighters on Intercept missions; they seem to have an approximately 0% chance of even damaging his C3-5 pair.


Well this is interesting; mh has abandoned Vienna and moved his forces back into Prague! I guess it's not a huge surprise since I've effectively stripped the surrounding tiles of improvements, can mount a defensible attack across the mountains, and the city itself is down to size1. So I can waltz in and take the city now whenever I want ... so the question is do I want to?

Taking Vienna doesn't mean much if I can't take out his army as well, or unless I'm pushing on immediately into mh's lands. I don't know that I'm ready for that yet, as I haven't planned out an assault on mh's core without assuming that most of his army had been defeated. Instead I'm faced with walking into his core with his entire army on alert.

There's also a very good reason for me not to take Vienna yet ... the Heroic Epic (and Ironworks to a lesser extent). Once I capture the city, mh can re-build the HE in another city - one with more production.

OK, I don't think I'm ready to run into mh's core, so I'm going to leave Vienna well enough alone for this turn at least ... well mostly alone, I'll bomb off the defenses incase mh changes his mind next turn and reoccupies.


Take care of some admin tasks around the civ, Workers, etc. I also start to load up some units into Transports to head to the NW ... it's about time I re-settled Aryan - for the Fish, and to have a substantial force at the North end of mh's territory. I'll dial a 1t Settler up somewhere to load up next turn.

Creative Constructions is founded in Ankara, bringing 18culture into the city, and I dial up an Exec. I also dial up Ruff and let him know that I'll be cancelling the Copper & Iron gifts; we start chatting and he offers to sell me some of his experienced Tanks @100g each ... hmmmm, seems a bit expensive, but I'll see what he's got to offer in the range of promos. I also ask whether he's got a GG medic handy; best he can do is a WoodsIII which I snap up for 75g.

Well it's the last turn of the Golden Age, so I should examine my civics options:

Free Speech & Caste System are no-brainers, and Organised Religion is needed for religion spreading. That leaves Merc/Free Market trade-off and whether I can jump out of Police State yet?

Free Market will save me ~25g in corporation payments right now and more down the line, but will also cost me 22 Specialists - with associated Culture and hammers/beakers/gold. Of course I get additional Trade Routes from the switch, but that benefits Ruff as much if not more than it does me since he gets the same ... and my cross-ocean routes to boot.

Switching from Police State to Representation would screw up a couple of cities which aren't yet equipped with Jail, Theatre, or both(!?), but that would only last for a turn or two until they're built. On the other hand, the chances are that mh will use some of his bazillions of EPs to revolt me into different civics so I'll be needing to revolt again at some point so I think I'll stick in Police State for a little while longer, and stay in Merc as well.

Sadly, I was wrong about my religion timings, I can't revolt back to Confucianism until next turn.

I dial up a selection of Missionaries in the lower-production cities and units in the more-productive ones. Izmir switches away from the Eiffel Tower for a turn to push through a quick Jail.

[Dreylin]

Y'know I really just shouldn't bother replying to mh's posts; even when I manage what I consider to be scoring a point, he barely acknowledges it and then comes back with two more. Ah well, guess I'll never learn.

On the good news side, I've struck a deal with Ruff to increase the size of my army:

Dreylin,

Here is my current tank inventory ...

3 x Combat III
5 x Combat II
3 x Drill III
15 x Drill II
1 x 3/2 XP
2 x 7/2 XP
1 x Drill II, Intercept I

I might have miscounted - I thought I only have 29.

Some injured and some being used to kill Sooooo

Ruff,

Well, as we discussed in chat, I'll take 10Tanks of my choice off your hands at 100g each if you throw in an additional 2 of your choice. I'll take them from the top, so 3xCIII, 3xDIII, 1xDII,IntI, 2x7xp and - hmmm - I guess a DII to bring it to 10. If you can airlift them in then New Damascus is the target, otherwise run them into Edirne (leave them in the city if poss) and I'll move them over myself. No great rush on delivery, but would be most useful in the next 3-4t. Request the cash for each of the first 10 to be delivered, with the final 2 to follow within a turn of the full 1000g payment ... sound OK?

Dreylin

[Dreylin]

Oh, so it's obvious then:

Hi Dreylin,
you come over a bit annoyed in your public posts.
Do you take offense in my posted pictures and taunts?
For me it is part of the fun, but I will stop the moment you think it is not appropriate.

No harm done, I hope.

mh

Hey mh,

So it shows then, huh. Yep I'll admit they irritate the heck out of me, but that's what they're for, right? 9-)

I guess I am a bit thin-skinned, but part of it is frustration: especially at the delay between you posting them and me getting the turn back to see what you're going on about, but also that I have made a couple of silly mistakes during our wars which you have not failed to point out in glaring detail!

Anyway, it's certainly appropriate and I don't take offense, so if you're enjoying it please don't stop on my account.

Dreylin.