Das Boot (directed by Wolfgang Petersen and Singaboy)

[Singaboy]

Turn 113:

Seven turns until both Archduke and oledavy will try and hit me hard. I am making a last ditch effort to get Woden to wake up and understand that ultimately, he will be a victim of that naval alliance too.
I hope he understands his position and that it might be better on my side to restrain Archduke and oledavy. I really think, he would be at the receiving end too, when Archduke and oledavy attack him from both sides, as they try and do with me soon.

There isn't much I can do about it, but hope for the best. I fear Archduke more than oledavy. First off, Archduke has shown his willingness to go all out for attacks in PBEM2. He won't bother to lose a few units if he can sense an overall victory. He got an armada and a Great Admiral. Nothing worse here. I got to split my navy and can field 4 caravels and 1 frigate by the time he will attack. That might be completely underwhelming against his might. We shall see.
 
My hope is that oledavy fumbles as he has done so far. Neither in PBEM2 nor in this game so far has he shown a willingness to go all out and attack with losses. He hesitated when attacking Seoul in PBEM2 though I am sure with some guts, he could have conquered the city. I am hoping I can bluff him a bit here too.

I did that last turn when I moved aggressively forward. My aim here is not to attack Saturn now but to psuh through a second caravel for defense purposes. hell, oledavy is having his DOTF =10 strength there. Unless I am willing to lose lots of units, I would be foolish to attack now. I hope my positioning of the crossbows deters him from attacking my boats. I guess he expects me to try and water my units. Not gonna happen right now.



Unhappiness is mounting in my empire thanks to staggering war weariness. It's now at -14 amenities due to that. Zuckerstadt is down to displeased. I am moving my new builder to connect mercury next turn to ease this a little.
The other thing is the vital capture of Japper's last city.

He has given oledavy all his gold. The city does not have a wall yet nor an archer. It's now or never. I attack with the crossbow and then both horsemen and the city is down to 84/200. That's not too bad. Though both horsemen are wounded, they can still attack next turn provided Japper doesn't finish the walls or an archer. The city will be at 104/200. Ideally, my crossbow attacks at even odds and can take around 30 health off the city which leaves roughly 75 health. That should give both horsemen positive odds of around 8 -10. A surplus of strength 8 results in average of 40 damage which should be enough to take the city.

I am really crossing my fingers here that Japper doesn't finish either walls or an archer. If that happens, I will be thrown back quite a bit and need to wait for the knight to arrive which would take another 4 turns to attack. I feel if that happens, my fate against oledavy and Archduke would be sealed. I really need my new holdings to be productive to have a chance.

[Singaboy]

Turn 114:

The most important issue when opening the save is of course, the message that none of my units in the north have been attacked. This means certainly the end of the long war with Japper. It started on T87. oledavy used the opportunity to attack my caravel, but my goal here wasn't to land or attack, but to squeeze the caravel through so I have some sort of navy near Teeplantage. The city could be a power house thanks to the Natural Wonder bonus there.



Just to give you an idea how much the war has hurt me for happiness, it's a staggering -15 here. the status won't change until the next turn of course. It's a blessing that Buenos Aires is giving me so many amenities. Otherwise I would suffer a lot more.

The final chapter of the war:

I attack the city with both crossbowman and the healthier horseman. The odds are now clear. By the way, did Japper's builder improve the sheep during his turn as a parting gift for me? Not that this city is more than a frozen isolated city, but that's nice

I conquer the city as expected and broadcasted by oledavy prior to it.   

A little celebration is in order though it is really short lived thanks to the war setting I am in now. More on that later on. Poor Japper was the victim of my expansion plans. It could have hit oledavy too if he had been next to me as his military wasn't any stronger. Unfortunately, he sits in a safe corner, trying to rally everyone against me. For the record (again oledavy feeling compelled to comment about everything), I lost 2 galleys and 1 swordsman. Little sacrifices for an overall efficient and lucky campaign. It could have stalled at Japper's capital had he played a little more patiently. I was lucky too, to be able to split my troops and yet, take cities in both directions.

Unfortunately, Japper had not built much of an infrastructure nor improved the tiles. He got a mere district with the holy site at his capital, not a single harbor (as a Viking). He spent a lot of his energy producing expensive settlers. The two northern cities are not worth it in my opinion (I have much better land left on my own Island but no time nor hammers to produce them)

Science and culture immediately make a big jump thanks to the occupation penalties lifted. The rates go up by more than 10. This is vital in a setting where I now play against three humans. The builder connects mercury to help with amenities. Square Rigging is almost done. I will have to head the path to musketmen and cavalry. With the horsemen I have, cavalry could save me in land wars. Unfortunately, on the way are many technologies which still need a Eureka. (I would need to build an aqueduct, barracks, an armory and two bombards). Maybe Aachen can somehow squeeze that in. 

6/7 of the new cities are building their walls now. I will need every inch of defense I can grab onto. Remember I have the policy card activated that doubles hammers for walls. What I need in my new holdings is more population for decent production. New traders will improve the non existing road network there too. Teeplantage gets its trade route next turn. The builder will harvest the wheat next turn (tile gets incorporated next turn) as the city doesn't need more wheat. It should get the city to grow. After that, I will chop the forest next to it.

I was contemplating to annex Toronto, but with a 3 enemy war looming, that might be a bit of a stretch. My +7 bonus against city states and a GG to boot would make minced meat of Toronto though.

Finally, I have setup my promoted caravel in such a way, tht an attack from the west would get the attacker into the crossfire of two x-bows which would be GG boosted. I hope oledavy would make such a mistake, but doubt it very much.

A look at my home Island:

Aachen and Weinberg have joined the war production with Kiel following next turn. Kiel will produce frigates from next turn onward. By T120, the turn Archduke could attack, I would have 5 crossbows, 1 knight, 5 caravels and 1 frigate to face him. I suspect Woden is not ready for war yet and might consider the pre-emptive strike on Archduke on T120, if he has not upgraded his navy then. I will need to avoid giving my plans away. However, if Archduke sports caravels and frigates on T119, I will not be so foolish to attack. At least, it will give me 10 turns added non-aggression with Woden.

As for civics, in 2 turns I will get Civil Service and Meritocracy. This will boost my culture as it gives +1 culture for each specialty district and should result in +14 culture a turn. This in turn, will shorten my path to Guilds.

Guilds hold very strong civics for me:

- Craftsmen, which will boost my Hansas (much needed production for my core cities)

- Town Carters, for doubled CH adjacency bonus

Things look good, one might think, but thanks to the diplomacy we have in this game, I am more or less screwed. Well, I can blame myself for agreeing on such setting. Honestly, I did not know, this diplomacy would enable cheese such as troop movement details, trade details such as shifting of resources and more. Call me stupid for entering such a game.

It is clear with such setting, that the leader of the game would be target #1, but with this sort of diplomacy, it's much easier for the rest to chase and hunt me down.

I am in no position to win this game against naval attacks from three sides. The only chance I would have is to raze Archduke's cities with naval attacks and do the same to three of them robbing them off their cities. There is no way I could conquer and hold cities with the occupation penalties. I am not sure, how on earth I am supposed to gain an upper hand against Archduke's navy with 2 and soon 3 Great Admirals. oledavy might build the Venetian Arsenal (great that both Archduke and oledavy so openly talk about it so none of them wastes shields, that's even more cheese).

My only chance would be to kill vital navy in the initial attack as long as Archduke as no upgraded navy. I need to check where his research stands now.

I thought about this long and hard, but imagine PBEM1 with this setting. All of them could have ganged up on Sulla, shared all intel and I am not sure at all whether Sulla could have prevailed. Mind you, Sulla started from his own corner of the land. In this game, I am open to attacks from all three without a clear frontline for me. The other two PBEM's would have ended very differently too, I reckon. In short, I now detest this setting. Well, the game was fun while it lasted, but it won't be fun to fight a war, I simply can't win. The tech lead those three are talking about is laughable (In fact oledavy has more techs than me and is even on tech beakers now).

Next game I would want to participate should be an AW game with clear rules (to me Venetian Arsenal ought to be banned too, the bonus is insane) and no cheese.

[Singaboy]

What has been said has been said and I think there is nothing much to add. The only issue is Jester's decision for a 3-2 or a 4-1. I also hope that my riling up had some effect that the three opponents won't freely spread each detail of information as oledavy seems extremely defensive about it. Good!

Going forward, how to keep up with them and not falter so quickly. My hope is that at some point, their seemingly strong alliance will break and in-fighting starts. Wouldn't be the first time. However, I mustn't be seen as a driving force, else they would hesitate.

Nationalism is the civic to aim for after civil service and guilds. It is a long way though. I calculated again and should be getting guilds at 3 turns if I make something like 60 culture a turn. I hope the removal of war weariness issue and with it, an increase in happiness coupled with Meritocracy gets me there.

After that, I should aim for Nationalism for the corps. I am going to do a proper analysis next turn when I can check the civic tree properly.

I do hope that the increase in production due to Craftsmen in 5 turns (just when the war starts) will help me keep an appropriate navy afloat. Frigates are 280 hammers, which is pretty massive. Even with the 100% policy, this would be 140 hammers.

Again, I have to tell myself to keep a cool head and not rush into any disaster. It has worked so far even when getting frustrated with the prolonged sieges of Japper's cities. Likewise, I must not lose my cool when facing Archduke's navy.

[Ituralde]

Thank you for your open analysis of the situation you face in the game and in the diplo thread.

I look foward to your future reports and how this war will eventually shape up. Good luck!

[Singaboy]

By the way, as the rumors were floating in the diplo thread about units lost in this campaign. The final tally of the war losses:

Singaboy: 2 galleys, 1 sword
oledavy: 1 galley, 3 archers
Japper: 2 long boats, 1 warrior, 1 sword, 1 spear, 5 archers

[Singaboy]

Somehow in line with the feelings of the crew of Das Boot, the motto now is: "Du hast keine Chance also nutze sie"

Turn 115:

The change in war weariness has nice effects on both production, science and culture. No more ecstatic cities, but all are fine. Science is at 78, culture nearly 46. Square Rigging is done.
Jester is keeping to his word and had offered the friendship I hoped for. I am hoping we can get an alliance for not only the Inspiration but also for better intel.



I check out Archduke's navy and unfortunately, he has caravels. No Square Rigging for him yet and I hope it will take a while. A surprise attack is a little difficult here without an overwhelming superiority in numbers.

For the research I go after Education as it is a stepping stone for banks as well as industrialization which would be important for a factory. I won't get a Great Scientist anyway, so I might as well research it the hard way. I am hoping to build a barracks and armory in time to get on the path to musketmen.



At Hirschfeld, I harvest the wheat, the city grows immediately to two (77 food from the harvest). I assume it will grow to 3 next turn again. Via micromanagement, I get the walls to be done next turn (I wil swap out of Limes next turn). The same is achieved in Teeplantage. Weidenfels gets more production for a turn too to make use of the policy. In sync, science and culture inch up a notch.

The other things here is the temptation to attack Toronto. The knight could easily hit the city hard and the horsemen can take care of the other units. I just need to battering ram to get close to the city. It will be at the gates in 3 turns.

I have accumulated enough gold to be able to upgrade a galley to a caravel, the quadrireme to a frigate and a slinger to a x-bow. Kiel starts a frigate but that takes 10 turns. I need to wait for Craftsmen to help with production big time. let's hope the culture plays out in such a way that I can get that in 1+3 turns.

[Mardoc]

I thought about this long and hard, but imagine PBEM1 with this setting. All of them could have ganged up on Sulla, shared all intel and I am not sure at all whether Sulla could have prevailed.

Take a look at Civ4 PB2 sometime. Sullla was the target of a 5-way dogpile in that one. I'm pretty sure it wasn't even public diplo, it was just 'when you meet someone, exchange e-mail addresses'.

[Singaboy]

@Mardoc, I am planning to play an AW PBEM next if there is enough interest. Too much bad blood with such open diplomacy. I will have a look at that game.

[Singaboy]

Turn 116:

Civil service is done, onward to Guilds. The game is suddenly very quiet, the calm before the storm. I need the Hansa adjacency bonus soon for improved production and more military.



I assign new policies as discussed earlier. Limes is out, so is Serfdom. Meritocracy and Professional Army are implemented. 

The jump in culture is big, in fact due to playing around with tile assignments, it's 63 culture, an increase of 15.8. Not too shabby. I am not happy that Guilds take 4 turns instead of the hoped for 3 turns. I want to get rid of Professional Army soonest after upgrades 3 units for 370 gold. I also need the production bonus.

Guilds is 192.5 culture and I am making 63*3 = 189, such a narrow miss resulting in a big loss of production. I decide to buy a monument in Weinberg which results in 65.1 culture and indeed drops Guilds to 3 turns

I am preparing for the assault on Toronto. I can ill afford to have a entry point for other here, entering my land via capturing the city state. I start the attack in turn turns when the knight can attack with a ram in tow. I am sending a horseman north with the caravel and spot a lone settler from oledavy north of Titan. Maybe I should land my horseman there and attack the city there. In fact I could mount an operation starting from Toronto and cause a commotion with him there. Better tie him up with skirmishes before he thinks of attacking my core.

Zuckerstadt has finished another caravel and starts a frigate, currently taking 7 turns. I am really hoping that Craftsmen will help me produce those units a lot faster.

[Singaboy]

Turn 117:

My intel that I have been conducting every turn near Archduke's closest city tells me he too has frigates now and with his GA, they are scary stuff. I don't think I can match them at all, maybe in big numbers which I do not possess. My only hope here is to slowly wear him out and outproduce him with my German Hansa power. However, with Woden and oledavy joining in, there is not much I can do to stop all of them for now.

So, the game slips into a dangerous lull, where I am half-resigned to my fate. That's quite a change from 10 turns ago, where I still harbored the hope of an even fight with Woden on my side. Jester is obviously a non entity, sadly.

I continue to prepare the attack on Toronto next turn. I am a little worried about his crossbow. I can't reach that with my horsemen on the initial turn of attacks and it might cause some harm together with some stray units.

The plan here is to attack Toronto with the caravel and knight next turn taking out the city walls. The embarked horseman will land next to the city while another horseman will attack the sword. I think that my horseman can survive a single crossbow attack but I am not too sure about a combined attack with that archer on oledavy's Island.

I also think that oledavy sort of expects me to land over there to mount an attack. Good, let him be on the alert mode.



On my home Island, production is humming away but unfortunately, not at the frantic pace I would like it to be.

I have upgraded one additional galley to a 6th caravel. Salz am Meer will produce a 7th caravel and then production will shift to merely frigates. My new frigates will all be too late to have a meaningful say in the first round of exchanges. Aachen will produce this one more crossbow before starting with builds that speed up via Eurekas such as barracks and armory, maybe an aqueduct, two bombards, a military engineer etc. Weinberg will remain focused on purely military production too.

The real issue here is that there is no clear front for me and all three could attack anywhere they like with me being unable to respond in time. Nothing I can do. Such is the nature of the map.