TheArchduke and the Gentleman Bastards lead the Mongol Horde

[TheArchduke]

I understand the need for speed with respect to the keshig, but I think a six turn build time would have been better than spending gold worth 8 knight upgrades to get it earlier, no?  

The problem with UU's that cannot be upgraded into is reflective of the inability to develop city production at the same rate as the production cost increases in units and the strategies that have resulted from that (chop-powered production, income-building) The Industrial Zone appears meant to help but it fails miserably in that objective - even if the factory stacking wasn't nerfed I don't know that the benefits outweighed the build costs.

6 turns in the capital, which is a further 4 turns away. That is 11 turns of an attack happening now or when Japper is conquered.

Speaking of which, the first city is out, Japper Milscore is 55 and his gold is gone.

Probably not an upgrade to raise defense but maybe a warrior panic quick buy in the border city. Or something.

   

[TheArchduke]

Anyway, to nicer news.

New Civic, -1 gold per unit takes me back to +40 gold.

   

And in the south we advance and dow on Antanarivo finally, smashing one swordsman and two horseman, capturing both for the ever growing horde.

   

Apart from that some chops, builds and whatnot.

[Shimomo]

I keep forgetting you can capture horses. Beautiful.

I agree with prioritizing speed > upgrades; even chariots can still play a part due to the strength modifiers at play and the speed of the horde's advance. You won't catch anyone off guard at this point, but you can certainly still overrun them.

Speaking of which, is it impracticable to attack Japper without the ram? If CMF is already on his west, Japper probably has nothing to the east.

[suboptimal]

Four knights attacking his capital without a ram could take down the walls and take the city in two turns. At 51 v 27 they'd average about 12 damage per attack - the first four attacks might take down the walls in one turn and once the walls are down three attacks would take the city (avg 78 damage). A level of diplomatic visibility or a Great General guarantees the walls down in one turn.

A ram would cut the attack to one turn - one knight takes down the walls, another three take the city.

[TheArchduke]

Disappointingly the city holds out for one turn.

   

   

Apart from that, mayhem.

A harvested crab and 2 more turns and the northern horde is ready.

   

[TheArchduke]

Turn 100 overview time.

First the turn.

   

We enter Medieval next turn. Only the Dutch and us are in a golden age, Korea and Cree seem to enter a normal age.

   

We attack an archer before we sack and capture the city. Several promotions are earned. Rout sounds good, but charge is better. I doubt we can reach lvl 4 except in SP.

   

And we jungle chop (without any cards or Magnus) a Kesqik and the boost to Civil Service.

   

[TheArchduke]

Science:

Cree                 21
Korea               66
Mongolia            52
Netherlands       49

Culture:

Cree                 15
Korea               32
Mongolia           82
Netherlands       66


Empirescore:


Cree               74
Korea           121
Mongolia      189
Netherlands   94

Milpower:

Cree            96
Korea          300
Mongolia      878
Netherlands  360

Cree´s numbers are depressing, especially milpower.

Korea is the sole credible threat remaining and with those 6 cities by the Cree could manage to catch up.

It would take him from 7 to 13.
I am at 16, soon 17 with the CS in the north, so it is a question who can kill their neighbour quicker, we are both at 3x times the power of the other one, so who knows maybe we will do this at the same speed.

   

The heartland of Mongolia. Both the capital and my second city Karthain boost an encampment and an Ordu. Pretty much the whole army except maybe 2-3 units have been built or chopped out of those two. Right now two concentrate on a campus and my lackluster flood plain city with devastatingly low production makes an industrial district. A settler will be finished as a final expansion and then a gov district and more commercial hubs.

   

Pyramids out of Talisham (former Granada) which is one of the few cities to actually build units apart from our heartland. Salon Corbeau builder is overdue.

   

Former Sumeria boasts rather productive cities. 2 commercial hubs are done soon and there will be 1-2 more campi erected here.

   

Former Georgia with 2 newfounded cities in the last turns. 3 iron mines will make this city a low population science center.
A library to catch up and soon 2 ship chops.

   

Our newest conquest. A useless farmball in the middle of nowhere. A healing station and a monument, nothing more.

[suboptimal]

Looking good on all counts. The thought of a Knight with reactive armor brings some pretty funny images to mind, though.

[TheArchduke]

Well, seeing Oligarchy powered Pikeman, I can safely say that any Mongolia is not that OP it seems.

My Knights are a bit weaker then those, so it comes down to maneuvre and positioning, let´s hope Alhrambram makes a mistake somewhere.

North:

   

South:

   

[suboptimal]

After all the hemming and hawing I've seen about anti-cav units in other fora it looks like someone actually found a use for them. This might be a case where overpowering by sheer numbers comes into play.