Das Boot (directed by Wolfgang Petersen and Singaboy)

[Singaboy]

T87 - continued

The war in the west. Well, who would have thought it to be a war with two naval powerhouses in Civ 6. Where are the U-Boots when you need them  

Anyway, I declare war on Japper as I want to attack this turn and not next. Midgard needs to be attacked as long as the defenses are low. Unfortunately, I can only attack once this turn with a horseman landed the previous turn. The odds are nice even when considering attacking across the river.




The attack causes a damage of 56. Midgard will heal to 164/200 in between turns. I land several units including 2 archers and the warrior in the north. In the west, I retreat the wounded galley which covers another horseman about to land. I replace the blockade with the galley at full health. If oledavy attacks, it will be at reduced odd of 27 vs 25. He might just choose to heal. 




How does the attack continue. First of all, I really hope to have another round of attacks without the added defense of a horseman or iron. The next turn I can attack with two horsemen thanks to the Great General 5 movement points. One archer can attack too, but gets the -17 city attack penalty. Assuming, the city is still at 20 strength, three attacks will cause a damage of around 130, reducing its defense to less than 50/200. With 6 possible attacks (3 horsemen and 3 archers), the city should fall on T89. Of course, I have to see what Japper's archer is up to. I might have to divert the northern archer.

If we assume that the city strength increases to 28, I still stand a good chance to take it in two turns thanks to the many attackers I have. 

I have another galley with a horseman in tow, the quadrireme is on its way too. A horseman will join from now every two turns and crossbows upgrades are only 3 turns away. Things don't look too bad even considering I fight two enemies at the moment.

[Singaboy]

Besides the war, what are my plans with regards to technology and civics. let's have a look at both trees.

Tech tree:
Machinery is a mere three turns away. My next goals are stirrups, which have dropped to 7 turns thanks to feudalism. Knights in 10 turns seem like a really good prospect to win this war. I might have to build a few more chariots to upgrade them rather than building knights from scratch.
The other technology I can't leave out of my sight is cartography. With celestial navigation done in a few turns thanks to improved sea resources, I will need to build two harbors. Kiel will surely be one city for that, the other maybe Zitronenhain as it is so deprived of any district. With two harbors I could then go for this expensive technology and upgrade two galleys to caravels. I need two caravels for the government technology and of course,e naval warfare anyway.



This brings us to the civic tree.

I am heading for exploration and need two caravels for it. For that, I need Mercenaries which I have just started to research. The other per-requisite is Medieval Fairies. I am planning to produce a builder in Weinberg after its current water mill to start on a CH. Together with a harbor, I should be able to establish 4 trade routes.

[Singaboy]

Turn 88:

I open the save, wondering whether city defense has gone up. Excellent news is that it is still at strength 20. The weird thing is, it has a warrior in there. Either Japper produced a warrior all along or gold rushed one. I do hope it is the latter. His archer has moved SE, I would have thought, he would move SW to support Midgard from the rear. By the looks of it, he started a wall, though I doubt it will help him much now.

There is a again a flurry of messages of war and peace declarations. The more the merrier.



I start to attack the city with all three units, using the archer first to reduce damage of the horses. The result is a damage of 134 combined (this is a little less than average damage done by calculation). The city has a remaining health of 30/200 and will of course, stand at 50/200 at the next round of fights.



I moved troops around for the next round. The warrior in the north moves from a -2 defense tile to a +3 tile decreasing damage it will sustain when the archer bombards it. The warrior in a way, is a sacrificial unit here. I rather it gets damaged than archers and horsemen. The third archer lands SE instead of further north to avoid the counter attack. I can afford to play this a little safe here. I am sure I do not need three archer attacks next turn.

Japper might attack with his warrior but that attack will prove futile. He might retreat it. We shall see. I moved the galley forward for two reasons. I want to pin oledavy there and bombard him. If his galley attacks my galley, his galley will be open to my counterattacks. Also, in a way, I am hoping he attacks my galley as I would rather pillage the crabs next turn before taking Midgard. Sea resources are so exposed in Civ 6 MP games, they will end up getting pillaged. The only reason why I need to farm two of them is for the celestial navigation.




Midgard is a real block in my advance forward and I am glad to move all my units past in soon, though it may take some time. This time gives me the opportunity to send more units to the front. My military score is now at 450+, while both Japper and oledavy have around 150-170. Whatever it is that oledavy wants to send to Japper's help can't be that much for now. Let him spend more hammers on units to slow him down. That is never bad.

As for Japper, my hope is to take Midgard for his iron and leave his cities at low strength until he has horsemen. 

Finally a look at the empire scores. I am ahead due to my empire score not science or culture. Kiel is back to a library while Zuckerstadt will finish its campus in 2 turns as well. Time for more science. Kiel really needs to be able to employ specialists.

[Singaboy]

Turn 89:

The situation at the start of the turn. A few things to note. Japper moved his warrior out of the city. He still doesn't have a horseman and the iron that oledavy is sending to him, will only get to him during the his part of T89. I am hoping that he bought the warrior seen here and is out of cash for an upgrade.

I secretly hope that Woden takes advantage of the fact that oledavy is giving away all his resources and attacks him (since oledavy declared war on him to grab Stockholm as his suzerain). Something needs to be done about oledavy.

Anyway, Japper shot at my sacrificial warrior. That might be bad for my warrior but it might be even worse for that promoted archer. We shall see. oledavy is smart and occupied the crab, knowing that it will be for him to pillage next turn. There is nothing I can do about it. At the moment those crabs are useless to me anyway and that +1 food for the farm is insignificant here.



It is time to take Midgard. With oledavy's galley and Japper's warrior and archer in mind, I attack first with the archer to the east taking the city to 31/200 and use the horseman with the lowest health which is next to the city to take it. The first milestone of the campaign is achieved. With it, I get Celestial Navigation thanks to the crab farm. City strength increases to 32 and health to 100/200. This is important, should oledavy decide to attack the city via the sea. I now have 2 iron connected. Japper has no iron but will get oledavy's iron. Since Japper has no encampments, the only chance for a swordsman he has is to upgrade whatever warriors he has.



So, what to do next? I decide to try and be swift here with Japper's units as long as we can strike them before moving west. I use my second horseman to attack the fleeing warrior bringing his health down to 47/100. This guy is doomed. I will try and gain as much exp as possible here for my horsemen to gain some promotions soon. I assume that moving forward, defenses have to be somewhat harder than Midgard's.



I then shuffle the units around, the wounded warrior moves west. It is in range of the Japper's promoted archer and will have to potentially survive a 30 vs 17 attack resulting in a damage of +/- 50. I would have to be really unlucky to lose that unit. However, I move my third horsemen toward the archer. Japper's only chance is to escape NW and then embark. Let's see what he is doing this turn.



I move other units up to be able to strike oledavy's galley, which my galley attacks this turn. If oledavy decides to pillage, I hope it will eat up the galley's movement points (it has a movement of 4). This would enable me to get an archer to shoot at it with my galley to boot. I move the General in such fashion to cover all horseman. The fourth horseman can land next turn and the covering quadrireme continue to move west.
The wounded galley has reached the shores of Zuckerstadt to heal while a third galley is blocking the access to the south. For now, I have 2 additional horsemen (total of 6 currently) moving west. A fourth galley has been finished by Salz am Meer and it starts yet another galley done in 3 turns. Together with an additional galley ready soon in Zitronenhain, I will have 6 galleys, that is hopefully enough for now and I can switch out of Maritime Industries when Mercenaries are done in 5 turns.

I need to implement the policy that saves me 1 gt per unit as unit costs are mounting. Zuckerstadt will finish its campus next turn and then start building crossbowmen, though at 180 hammers, they won't be done fast especially without the right policy. I will need to evaluate the situation next turn. I might wait for 4 turns for the policy changes.

Aachen uses the overflow of its 6th horseman to build a trader. I need more production in cities such as Kiel and Salz am Meer to get harbors up and running. For that, a trader with its +4 production is ideal. I have locked harbors in 4 cities (Kiel, Salz am Meer, Zitronenhain and Midgard). My goal is to get 2 harbors in time for cartography. I am now thinking to research mathematics after machinery for the +1 sea movement and then head for cartography. If oledavy with his insane science gets there first, he can rule the seas with a strength 50+5 unit against my measly 25 strength galleys. An attack with a 55 vs 25 naval units can mean instant death.

For now, I am also trying to emphasize production over city growth as larger cities will only result in more unhappiness with war weariness creeping in for sure. To counter that, the builder moves right north toward the citrus at Zitronenhain. A galley there is in tow and will catch up with it next turn. The additional galley there will make sure to protect the citrus plantation. The builder will then move west to improve some land around Zuckerstadt and Aachen.



Looking a little longer term, it might be a good idea to get walls up in most coastal cities to prevent them from being attacked by caravels. As such, Kiel and Salz am Meer are really exposed. They would do better with city walls once their harbors are up.

And on a final note, I forgot to rename Midgard, as I had thought for a suitable name for some time. it shall be named Hufeisengipfel (literally horse shoe peak) honoring the iron and horses there with a towering mountain next to it.

[Singaboy]

Turn 90:

The water mill in Weinberg gives me the Eureka for Construction and a 4th envoy at Buenos Aires. The campus that is done in Zuckerstadt results in the Inspiration for Recorded History. The campus and three city growing results in an increase in science of 5.4 and culture of a mere 0.9. My science at 36.3 is only half that of oledavy I am in fact worried about his superior units that he will field sooner or later this way.




The situation on the western front. Japper's archer has fled and embarked potentially. I have to leave the archer alone for now. His warrior has moved into the woods. A long boat (I assume the first of two) has come into the picture from the north. I would like to move north to support the assault on the next few cities. However, I can't afford a long boat to interfere.
Checking the unit upgrades, I think I am going to delay those upgrade for 4 turns when they cost me 95 gold each. I could then easily afford to upgrade all three archers and the warrior too. I want to save more gold for potential chariot -> knight and more importantly, galley -> caravel upgrades. I don't see the point to upgrade two archers now completely raiding my treasury.




The first thing I do is to attack the warrior. It is history and the horseman is at 12/15 exp for an upgrade. I spot yet another warrior. If the warrior is going to land, it is in direct line of my horsemen.

The situation in the west at the end of the turn:
I move the third horseman forward and promote it with coursers, giving it +5 strength versus ranged and siege units. In combination with the General bonus, this is a potential 45 versus 15 against archers. This is a one attack kill on average. Of course, terrain and rivers might negate that but I can relentlessly hunt down archers that are outside cities. With its promotion, the horseman is back to full health
the next turn, I will move the horsemen forward with the westernmost moving onto the horses to pillage them. I need to make sure, that Japper is down to one iron and one horseman from oledavy. Without encampments, he can't build any swordsman or horseman.

As for the long boat, I set up a potential trap. From his position, he can only see my warrior. If he moves south to attack my quadrireme, the weaker of both naval units, he is putting himself in real trouble. There are two archers that can attack the boat. The galley and quadrireme could attack too. I really hope he doesn't turn around but falls for the trap.

To the east, there are three more horsemen, one of them just landed on Japper's Island. Two wounded galleys heal at Zuckerstadt and Midgard, which I forgot to rename yet again





The home Island gives me some headache. Growing cities have few tiles to work really. Kiel has 7 citizens but only 6 tiles to work. This is ridiculous. I need the library soon to employ a specialist. Salz am Meer's galley dropped to 1 turn and that means I will get 2 more galleys next turn. Zuckerstadt starts a chariot to make use of the production bonus and get a second chariot for knight upgrades. The overflow from that chariot can then flow into a crossbow (would take 10 turns for now).

Weinberg starts a builder, which of course, are getting ore expensive. I need it to chop the forest where the CH is supposed to be. I need to develop more pastures as well for more gold and culture. In the north at Zitronenhain, the builder is near the citrus, which will increase the amenities and I hope, drop Mercenaries by 1 turn. I want to swap policies as soon as possible to upgrade and save gpt.

Research is set for mathematics for an additional naval movement point.



Just to give you an idea about my army, here is the overview including its support cost:
Next turn I will have 7 galleys and 1 quadrireme. I hope this gives me some prowess for now until caravels make an entrance. I need more ranged units. 6 horsemen for now seem like a good number for my Norwegian campaign.

[Singaboy]

Turn 91:

The long feared but not unexpected news of the turn is that Japper has upgraded his warrior to a sword using oledavy's iron. His city defenses will be a lot higher than without that sword. However, I doubt he can build any additional swordsman for the time being, so I should attempt to kill that unit as fast as possible. In fact I should try and take out most of his field army to prevent too much slow down of the fight.

Science and culture have slightly dropped as Hufeisengipfel has the first -1 war weariness point. I better connect the citrus fast. However, Japper has not fallen into my trap and instead chosen to attack my galley from the northern position. As he would be in a potential position to rob my builder, the builder has to stay in place for an additional turn. Japper's long boat has potentially a movement of 5 (Viking bonus + maths). I will need to be careful here, but want to defeat his navy as soon as I can to start besieging his cities from the sea. With the additonal galleys, my income drops further to +13 gpt. I really need to change civics. I also stop production of military for a bit. The unit upgrade of archers to crossbowmen will cost me an additional +6 gpt.



The previous turn, I spotted Woden at Buenos Aires and expected the following move. He can have that builder, I don't mind as long as Buenos Aires is left alone. I really need that city for the amenities. In future, I might have to send some navy there to prevent a capture. I doubt Woden would attempt to attack the city with its walls and archers though.




Let's turn the attention back to the western front. I move one horseman forward to reveal this:
On top of the swordsman, there are two promoted archers and Asgard works on a wall. Good thing I brought a battering ram along. I move my promoted horseman along to the front for a flanking bonus and attack the swordsman to bring it to 65/100. My horseman is now at 73/100. I do hope that my attack will get Japper to counterattack and expose his units.
My wounded horseman that was meant to pillage the horses is pulled back into Hufeisengipfel to heal. It would have been in danger from being attacked by both archers and potentially perish.

I hope that Japper is following oledavy's advice in the diplo thread to retreat his sword into Asgard and move the archer in place instead. If he does that, his archer would be doomed due to the promoted horseman and archer attacks.

At sea, I decide to move the galley towards Asgard to cut off the long boat from retreating. The quadrireme attacks the long boat and brings it down to almost 50% health. The long boat is down to 25 strength due to it being damaged. Now, what can Japper do with it?
He could try to escape to the east, but I have two galleys waiting there. He would be trapped and his long boat doomed while exposing his capital. oledavy asked him to protect Asgard with the long boat, so I assume he will try and retreat there. I do hope that my galley will have a ZoC and stop his long boat in its path home.
I will have to see where the boat end and whether I can attack it with any boat or even the archer.



This is the situation at the front at the end of the turn:
Besides a few skirmishes, I assume I will have to wait for crossbowmen to attack Asgard in earnest. If I simply muscle my way toward the city, I might lose troops and that's the last thing I want. Of course, this depends a lot on the fact whether I can eliminate those archers. And it will depend on Japper's capital. I have to assume that the walls could be up any time. Since my battering ram would need an additional two turns to reach the gates of the city anyway, the attack can't commence that early.

As for my navy, producing that many galleys seems to pay off. If I can rule the entire eastern coast of Japper's Island, it will be a lot easier. Also remember, there are still two horsemen on the way to the battlefield. I guess on T95, with crossbows and horsemen, I can make a proper effort to take Asgard.



Back to my main Island. With military production pausing for a while (except for the lone chariot in Zuckerstadt), it is time to push for harbors as I need them for a 4th trade route and more gpt.
I switch Salz am Meer and Zitronenhain to harbors, but Zitronenhain can't produce anything in a meaningful time. The city has hardly any production capacity. It currently takes the city 33 turns to produce a harbor. Well, it will need a trade route to improve that. I can't afford to wait that long as I need two harbors for caravels. I spot that Aachen can in fact build a harbor in the lake next to the city center. It will result in a +3gpt bonus  
That is great news and it takes 6 turns to complete. Initially I had planned to build crossbows here at 6 turns, but that needs to wait. I am worried about oledavy's research. I rather get caravels soon. Secretly, I am hoping that Archduke, who has been really quiet and is building harbors a lot (he makes 9 GAP) would use his navy to attack oledavy rather than me. We have a NAP until T120 and I need to ensure, we stay at peace and go after oledavy together.

[Singaboy]

Turn 92:

Japper has pulled back his swordsmen and attacked my horseman with an archer. His long boat has disappeared. I assume it has either moved west towards Asgard or north. I shall find it, I hope.

It is clear that Asgard will be the key to take out the Vikings. Hence, I must not rush into it losing units unnecessarily. I will need to wait for crossbowmen and then together with horsemen and galleys make the final push for it. From the diplomatic thread, I read that oledavy is sending units coming in from the west. It might be a good idea to send two horsemen in form that direction since the direct approach is pretty congested anyway. The timing of crossbows ties in fact nicely with the arrival of my full horseman force and galleys to attack the city from the sea taking turns.



I move back the wounded horseman (at 49/100), the promoted horseman moves onto the horse pasture and we gain some handsome reward. I suspect his second archer is in fact on that tile in the fog. I assume both archers can not fire at my horseman from their positions. I hope I am right in case, though I am not quite sure.

The remainder of the troops is positioned in a waiting pattern, with all three archers being upgraded in 2 turns to crossbowmen. I will also use the opportunity to upgrade the warrior to a sword. The plan is to have three horsemen approaching Asgard from the south though only two will be able to attack. The western horseman will disembark and then land again on the tile west of the mountain to join the attack from the west. As oledavy might have some archers there, this horseman could help to clear some units there. Overall the terrain is terrible for an assault on the city though.

As for my navy, I push them towards Asgard and the quadrireme discovers the wounded long boat. Japper has the advantage that he can sail into deep waters though his movement bonus is gone there. It is fine with me if he stays in those waters as I can move in on Asgard with my galleys. Next turn, I gain an extra movement for all naval units. If the long boat stays where it is, my quadrireme can attack it again.

At home, nothing much is happening, the only thing to note is that I am sending a third trade route to Aachen and due to that, reduce the harbor in Salz am Meer by one turn. The builder will connect the citrus finally next turn before turning his attention to Zuckerstadt to improve the sugar as well as put two lumber mills into the woods.

[Singaboy]

Turn 93:

To take Asgard just got harder as it finished its walls there. That must be the reason that my horseman on the horse tile got bombarded. I will need real muscle power there to take the city hopefully. I will have to take out his units too to be able to make proper progress. I might lose units myself in the process but there is a need for sheer force or my campaign gets stalled.

Mathematics is done and mercenaries a mere turn away. 




Zuckerberg finishes its chariot and starts a monument done in two turns. I need more culture as oledavy is double in research and has caught up in culture. He is a real threat in this game. I connect the citrus. Hufeisengipfel starts a slow city wall. With those actions, science and culture go up a notch. Next turn, Kiel will have its library done for an additional 4 science as I can employ a specialist. I doubt it will do anything to drop cartography by a turn. I have to assume it will take 8 turns to get it with the Eureka in place in 4 turns.
Once that infrastructure phase is done, Aachen, Zuckerstadt and Kiel will go back to military production. I am contemplating to insert a quick 2 turn recorded history after Mercenaries to be able to swap out of the upgrading civic, which I only need for three crossbows and the warrior for now. The next time I want to upgrade a unit, might be to get knights and caravels. However, to upgrade a caravel will be really expensive. Next turn, I will use 315 gold for the upgrades, which leaves me with roughly 170 gold. With a gpt saving policy in place, I will make around 30 gpt from then onward. This might increase with harbors and potentially more markets etc. I will have an estimated 400 gold in my coffers by the time caravels will be available. That should be enough for at least one upgrade.

The situation at Asgard is not easy. The direct route from the south will get my into the path of two archers and the city walls. My horsemen will have to sustain quite a bit of enemy fire in the process. In order to divert as much firepower as possible I will bring three horsemen north with one being able to replace the horseman that covers the battering ram. At the same time, crossbows will move in too potentially attacking archers rather than the city.
Galleys from the east will attract attention too.
The western horse has disembarked and will certainly draw attention from the archer W of Asgard. I hope to attack at least one archer from there. The battering ram will be in position in two turns. I am not sure how this will play out and I might not be able to take Asgard after all. We shall see.

[Emperor K]

Thanks for your excellent reporting, i enjoyed your PBEM 2 report.

[Singaboy]

Turn 94:

During my overseas trip. reporting might be a little less comprehensive. Anyway, when I open the save, the city defenses have gone up to 41 thanks to the swordsman inside the city.
What a difference a single unit can make. The city is flanked by 3 promoted archers and that can mean real trouble. oledavy is chipping in with his army. I guess long term, I will need an ally or I can forget this.

Mercenaries is in and I swap policies for 1 turn as I need to upgrade 4 units. I also need to have Conscription for more gold for the caravel and knight upgrades. I upgrade 3 archers to crossbows and one warrior.

The front is really tricky, but if I hesitate, I feel I will achieve nothing here. I need to make it difficult for Japper to concentrate his fire on a single unit. I also need to take out the city walls as soon as possible. Hence, I move quite a few horsemen forward. Japper can concentrate his firepower but only on maximum 2 shots at one target. He might choose my wounded horseman covering the battering ram. In fact that might be the best choice. If he concentrates on my western horseman, I might lose the ability to flank him from the west.

My crossbowmen will be slow for now and need two turns before being able to join any action. I have plenty of galleys though to attack Asgard and retreat. The wounded galley used the fish to heal. Japper's third archer cant join the attack due to the terrain.

I also plan to send a crossbow in via the eastern sea, but it will take 4 turns to arrive at the cow east of Asgard. Next turn, with new policies I will start to produce military again. Zuckerstadt will finish the monument just nicely to produce crossbowmen.

My science increased thanks to Kiel's library and specialist and that is important as Cartography drops by a turn (6 turns + Eureka left). To research knights has dropped to 5 turns as well which will be the next target technology. It should take less than15 turns to get to a new government if I can upgrade two caravels. Some pillaging might be required here to get more gold.