It's Chevalier's Thread and He Can Do What He Wants To

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Let future Chev deal with it. That guy's a really nice chap.

Nah, that guy's a jerk. I'm glad to dump this headache on his lap, screw him.

I have a few more turns. The turns are more involved than PBEM13, so I procrastinate reporting a lot, which backfires since the turns keep rolling in and I just end up behind. I'm also using PBEM14 as an excuse - most of my reporting time has been spent polishing up the man (and, er, learning how the hell the worldbuilder and Cornflakes' workaround works). Let's go through my screenshots and work out what I was up to, eh?

First up: Woo!




New government time, first medieval government! Gimme dose juicy policy card slots:




I go with this, apart from Raid which crept in as a misclick since it's not like I'll be doing any coastal raiding with no privateers. I swapped in Limes, not Raid. Naval Infrastructure is many times better than Natural Philosophy, since the Golden Age dedication grants Harbors and Commercial Hubs science adjacency equivalent to their gold. I start to get a grip on my money hemorrhaging and continue to drive my science higher. 

We're also somehow ahead of the Dutch here, as they're probably going for Exploration:




Makes sense, I guess, since they can't boost Monarchy. With it boosted for me, though, it was an easy call to grab the government early. 

Let's see, what else? In the north, our frigates fire their first shots in anger as we clear out the friendly natives from our continent once and for all:


 

Thus is my last slinger avenged. 

Meanwhile, 4 more Frigates sail for Mohenjo-Daro. The Dutch send ships to stop me, but they are far, far too late. Even if they did beat me there, I'd just use my envoys and dump 'em out. As it is, I can beat them to the punch and save my envoys for Zanzibar (I did post the gossip screen showing Zanzibar declaring on Emperor, right?). It must be near Emperor and Japper, so I'll go sniff it out. There's also another culture city-state somewhere near Archduke, I think, unless his high culture is from Mohenjo-Daro alone. Not sure. I need to explore the south a bit more in that area. 

Handy feature of Alliances in Rise & Fall: You know EXACTLY when they'll expire. Why this information isn't available by default, I have no idea (bring back the Diplomacy overview!)




We renew with Emperor, and ignore Rowain's request. 

I do some back of the envelop calculations, and quickly conclude that there's no way a mine would pay off over harvesting copper now - the game will be decided one way or the other long before 100 turns passes (the expected time for the gold to come out ahead from a mine). So I harvest for another infusion of cash. This next batch will grab me some caravels - galleys are too slow to cut it, and I need melee units to take cities. 




The next step is to focus research. Assuming we can fix our gold, next-gen naval tech is Steam Power (2 shipyards), locked behind Industrialization (3 workshops, not gonna happen), locked behind Education (Great Scientist - probably not happening) and Mass Production (A lumber mill). We can, at least, grab the lumber mill. I spend 60 gold nad upgrade my 3 slingers into archers at last, and boost Machinery. We'll grab that and then plant a mill at Zobrist for the boost. Little maneuvers like this are as basic as Civ VI gameplay gets, but I think the system is working as the designers intended here. It's a fun series of small decisions.






Civics research is also pretty easy. Ultimately we want Exploration's Press Gangs, of course. But first, we can grab an even better government while we wait for some boosts:




Guilds won't happen - we'll only have one market at best. But we CAN get up to 4 trade routes fairly quickly when we seize Muscat and Mohenjo-Daro, which will let us boost Medieval Faires. Now, Theocracy is a better government, with a nicer selection of policy cards and better bonuses, and we also unlock Wars of Religion, which grants me +4 strength against everyone not following my religion (ironically, this does not include the Archduke. But Crusade will take care of that!). 

So much for that turn. Next up...

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Let me say, there's a reason that I first stopped lurking and started, er, dedlurking with PBEM4, our first naval-themed PBEM. There's a reason my very first city founded in my very first PBEM here was named Trafalgar, and there's a reason why I've gone for a navy in every game I played.

I really love sailing warships.




Their clean lines, the elegance with which they move, the sheer beauty of the vessel - not like those ugly piles of metal that are modern battleships - they're things of grace and power. I also love the destructive capability they have, their incredible range, the fact that even a humble 4th rate carries more firepower than entire armies do on land. It's absolutely one of my favorite periods of history, and I'm a history teacher in my day job. And in Civ VI, this is represented by the Frigate.* I'm so happy to finally fire my first shots in anger this PBEM, and the Frigates tear through Mohenjo-Daro's defenses like a hot knife through butter. All that's left to threaten First Fleet is an archer, which is casually dispatched by a single volley from one of my ships. 

Oh, yes. Either you have Frigates, or you die. Archduke's Sevens are even more powerful than this when attacking a city, roughly at the level of a Fleet or even an Armada. Jealous. 

We'll take Mohenjo-Daro next turn, when my Caravel arrives to occupy the city. That will knock about 10 points off Archduke's culture (2 theater squares, and his capital boost), add some gold and science income to me, and give me a new production base on this island. Emperor has settled just to the south, so we're not alone, otherwise I'd start pumping settlers here. 

In less exciting news, I upgrade a Caravel for Second Fleet, boosting Exploration: 



That's the target after Theocracy. 

I also start to explore the north end of Rowain's island using some spare quads from the sentry net. Looks like we can take a shortcut from home waters to the far side, where most of his cities are.




Soon after, I finish Machinery:




I also upgrade a third and final Caravel to enable Second Fleet to strike multiple cities at once. we'll have 8 Frigates concentrated here, and just 2 will blast through a city's defenses. 




We have enough gold to last until our harbors come online, so no worries about negative income. We'll help things along by capturing Mohenjo-Daro's harbor:




This also knocks Archduke's housing down a bit - he's had all his cities effectively on fresh water, a great suzerain bonus. His pop growth will be a bit slower, now - he has more rivers than I do, but I think ironically less fresh water overall given a lack of lakes. I only have 2 non-fresh water cities, and one is Davis, which I captured. Mohenjo-Daro will be renamed for a suitable bullpen pitcher whenever I remember to do that. 

In the sea between Rowain, Japper, and Muscat, I find a barb caravel after it attacks a frigate. Here's why you want more Frigates than Caravels:




Oh, I didn't take a picture of the actual combat. Anyway, the Frigate shreds the caravel in response, the two there easily sinking it in one blow and picking up more experience. This is a power trip. In 25 turns we'll probably have it all turn to ash as Archduke burns our cities, but for now, at least, Arabia is on the upswing, and I'm having fun. 

A second coastal American city:




We can take both this and Baltimore and leave Rowain with just 3 cities in the interior. If his army comes to reclaim either city, we blast it. I'm fine with the cities flipping back and forth, it's mostly denial value until I whittle through the American forces. Rowain will have good science, but that means nothing if he's locked on his island. 

On the next turn, we find Rowain's 5th city, a coastal one, and a former religious city-state!




Liberating this will grant us access to Colossal Heads - meh - but also boost all our Shrines with +3 faith apiece, for a net gain of +8 faith. Not too bad, actually, and we can always murder La Venta afterwards. So this will be a primary target. Rowain's power has surged to 450 (to my 1350), but he's out of gold:




Crab harvests will need to account for any further growths in American power. Not sure how large a navy he has, I've seen 2 caravels and a galley. I'd like to know where they are to first strike them if possible. 

Scores:




Archduke's culture is at 57, five points ahead of me. He and Rowain have 85 science apiece, 5 behind me. So we're about balanced. The game really depends on who can get gold flowing fastest, now. I'm hoping my Heroic Age will last for 20 more turns or so so I can build on this edge. 6 more turns to Muscat. 


*Bit of an odd choice - why a support ship and not the main line of battle ships? But Civ units have never made much sense beyond a vague sort of flavor, anyway. This is not a historical simulationist game, which is a rant for another time.

[shallow_thought]

Personally, I think that the WWII and early "big gun" ships have a certain beauty of their own, but there's no disputing the charm of the age of sail - and some of the literature it spawned, such as Hornblower and Aubrey/Maturin.

While frigates may have been relegated to the scout/cruiser/escort role by Napoleonic times, "frigate-built ships" were the front line warships of the Elizabethan age, dancing around the Spanish Galleons. And by the early/mid-nineteenth century large frigates were coming back into fashion, their single large-calibre gundecks offering more bang for the buck as guns grew more powerful. Early iron-clads like HMS warrior (which, unlike the monitors that Civ thinks were the sum of all ironclads were not particularly slow) are basically frigates. Awesome, big frigates.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Personally, I think that the WWII and early "big gun" ships have a certain beauty of their own, but there's no disputing the charm of the age of sail - and some of the literature it spawned, such as Hornblower and Aubrey/Maturin.

While frigates may have been relegated to the scout/cruiser/escort role by Napoleonic times, "frigate-built ships" were the front line warships of the Elizabethan age, dancing around the Spanish Galleons. And by the early/mid-nineteenth century large frigates were coming back into fashion, their single large-calibre gundecks offering more bang for the buck as guns grew more powerful. Early iron-clads like HMS warrior (which, unlike the monitors that Civ thinks were the sum of all ironclads were not particularly slow) are basically frigates. Awesome, big frigates.

While I'll grant that some later superdreadnoughts like Yamoto, Bismark, or Iowa have some grace to them, on the other hand you have monstrosities like Fuso or Agincourt. -shudder- On the whole, the aesthetic seems to be drawn from the Napoleonic model, when the frigate was LEAST important as a main battle ship (although certainly essential in its support duties like scouting, escorting, and raiding! Visiting the USS Constitution is on my bucket list!). 

I missed a couple of turns while I was out of town. 

Three main things to note while I was away:

1)Emperor managed to snag suzerainity of Muscat. I have 4 envoys and Amani up my sleeve, but I plan to absorb Muscat anyway. I declare war and begin reducing the city. Only 2 or 3 frigates can fire each turn, due to the city's geography, so it will take 3 turns. 

2)Archduke reached Merchant Republic and converted to gold generation. He is back up to +30 gpt, a serious issue since it means he can expand his military once more. Hopefully he spends the excess on knights, as he transfers his land forces to Emperor's two islands! I plan to fix my own gold problem, then go back to military expansion.

3)My infrastructure is completing and I have taken the lead in all research categories - 100 science to 98 Dutch and 90 American, 58 culture to 57 Dutch. Archduke leads in gold and milpower, a long term problem. 

Okay, now for the current situation:




Aqueduct in Escobar finally fixes the capital's long-term housing issue and inspires Military Engineering, which i wanted mostly for the Nitre. We have one source near Rios, which is promptly improved. Escobar still has a food problem, but some farms will fix that. If I can reach size 7, a harbor and lighthouse will finally get the capital to its full potential. 




The siege of Muscat is ongoing. It will fall next turn and finally put us back in the black. We'll also net our 5th trader (a lighthouse is finishing at Gordon next turn), and be able to inspire Medieval Faires. On the whole, gold won't be an issue. One regret is I do have all those envoys plugged into M-D and Muscat that are now wasted, a problem for Merchant Confederation, but whaddayagonnado? I'm searching for Zanzibar near Japper's territories, but nothing yet. It might be in the south between Japper and Emperor, which will take me AGES to reach. :/ 




North of Japper's island, I find two small cities instead. One is a newly-founded English settlement, another (not pictured) just to the north, in the tundra, is an American city. Interesting moves by both Emperor and Rowain - I think Emperor was caught off-guard by Japper's attack and had these settlers already out. He has founded 2 or 3 new cities recently, meaning he was caught right on the tail end of a big settler push to catch up. On the whole, his game has gone disastrously since the Dutch took the city-state on his island - the initial war cost him and Archduke time while gaining Emperor nothing, and since then he's been penned into his start and constantly lagging behind. 

Japper has pushed expansion at the expense of infrastructure, with totally backwards tech and culture - 40 science and 30 culture, to my near 100 and 60 in both categories. Rowain has done the opposite - competitive research, but laggardly expansion. He's founded 2 new cities in the last 5 turns as he belatedly tries to catch up. Both he and Japper have small militaries, 500 points to my 1400 and Archduke's 1500. Rowain is broke while Japper makes 50 gpt. 

I plan to offer friendship to Japper. Long-term, he's less of a threat to me nad more likely to butt heads with the Dutch. Attacking him would be totally foolish. My path to victory right now, I think, is to raze America's coastal cities and sink her navy, then turn to the Dutch and try to do the same. Those two things accomplished, I can use my superior tech to crush Japper and claim the win. That's what we're working on. War with Rowain soon, once my navy is concentrated and Muscat has fallen.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

We're back, after a long winter's nap.

Now, uh, what was I up to?

Oh, right, steadily researching towards Machinery:




I snag Education, unboosted because, despite having the highest science rate in the game, I have yet to earn a single Great Scientist. :/ In fact, other than my Great Prophet, I've earned no great people, since the English keep snagging hte Great Admirals with those monstrous RNDs. Emperor is on the way out of this game very soon, though, so stay tuned. 

Also I eat my last city-state. Muscat is weak and ready to fall:




Note the 8! adjacency Harbor + CH combo, worth 11 gpt/science right there. Good for a 5th trade route as well - this will fix all our gold woes in one blow! 




Nice. The game won't update our yields until the end of turn, but this pushes us well into the lead in every category except milpower and gold generation. 

Ironically, guess what the two most important yields are at the moment? :D 




To the north, just beyond the new English city, we find Zanzibar! I knowed you was out there! We immediately dump 3 envoys into Zanzibar for a gold boost, and I move in Amani. She'll come in handy to snatch suzerainty from Rowain in a bit. I've got a few more envoys up my sleeve to catch him off guard. This, coupled with Muscat, coupled with my harbors finishing, should push me back into the black. Without Church Property my economy would ahve been sunk. Now, the others - Japper, Rowain, and Emperor - did a decent job of balancing gold generation, but it came at the cost of science development, imperial expansion, or military - or all three. Japper is dead last in everything except empire now, even milscore as Emperor is apparently thrashing his navy! However, I have no time or capability to exploit that, so I send Japper a DoF. When Archduke and I's alliance expires, I'll try and upgrade that to a military alliance for a cool +5 military strength against all of Archduke's units. That will neuter his 7 Provinces advantage. 

At home, I finally trigger the district discount!




Note the cost of most districts compared to Campuses and holy sites. I only have 2 holy sites placed, so we won't be able to go on too great a building spree. But it's decent. I will throw down an industrial center once the tile opens up, since I don't want to purchase it - need to conserve gold for more ship upgrades. A factory will reach damn near all my island, if hte game lasts that long. No way I'll build 3 IZs and Workshops for the Industrialization boost, sadly. That's not a good production-to-science ratio, not when I need every scrap of production going to either increased gold generation or increased military power.

Archduke's navy has massed opposite Emperor:




...yeah. That's gonna hurt. I need Emperor to hold out long enough for me to hit Archduke from the other side. Is that possible? Maybe. He has one inland city near Mohenjo-Daro - but the Dutch army is there (which is bad news for Mohenjo-Daro down the road). He's also got the inland city near Rowain, and THAT might hold out a bit longer. I'll need to cross my fingers. Japper seems to be going for razing more than conquest, so he doesn't need Emperor totally finished off. 

With Education done, I veer from the Steam Power beeline to pick up Printing. At only 3 turns, it's cheap to grab. What does it do for me? Mostly that Diplo visibility buff, which in turn grants +3 combat strength against everyone else - a poor man's great admiral. Archduke can get here in good time, but I'm not sure about Rowain. And if they ignore it, so much the better! I've also got traders running to Archduke for some more visibility boosts with a trading post. I don't THINK they stack, so I'm not looking at a +6 total. But every little bit counts, and if I can even get a small edge it's worth it.

Here are the scores and the homeland. First infrastructure builds are finishing and we're swapping back to ship production. I will pick up Maritime Industries next turn to resume naval expansion. I need to be even stronger by turn 160. Note my commanding lead in Empire score - I'm developing a lead in both total cities and total districts. Archduke has 2 more civics than me (Guilds, Medieval Faires, Exploration in lieu of Divine Right?), and one more tech (no idea, I have a ton <5 turns from completion). As always, he leads in Era score, too. 

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

You've actually only missed two turns - Emperor was gone for like two weeks. It sort of coincided with my motivation to play and report plummeting all around, but I do have a duty to see this thing through. So let's get y'all caught up and head for the finish line - or, given this thread's content, should that be home plate?



Regardless.


To remind everyone where we were, I sit between Archduke, the strongest military power in the game, and for the most part the leader in science and culture throughout, and Rowain, who has largely fortified inside his own island and expanded slowly, but has a serious science infrastructure - the equal of the Dutch. Emperor attempted an early game attack on Archduke after the Dutch seized the city-state on his island, but it ended up being mostly a draw - both civs were set back, Archduke from his previously dominant position into one that's merely highly competitive, and Emperor from okay-ish into irrelevance. Japper, after a typical slow Japper start, has been steadily skyrocketing in most categories and has just fought a one-sided war with the English, sealing Emperor's fate, but the Indonesians remain far behind the rest of the world. Archduke and I were barrelling towards war, but I offered peace and alliance instead - why should the two largest civs in the game duke it out and let Japper or Rowain back into the game, when we could instead go and thrash the rest of the world? Archduke accepted, at the cost of a minor island city (which I intend to reconquer early in our inevitable war), and I seized two nearby city-states and have been preparing for a showdown with either Japper or Rowain.


Okay, so let's dive in with new stuff now.


First, I unlocked the last key tech before my war with Rowain:






Printing. Why printing, which seemingly has no immediate military application? The answer is because Printing grants +1 visibility with every civ in the world - and in VI, you gain combat advantage for every extra level of visibility you have over your opponent. Either Rowain has this tech, in which case I neutralized a +3 advantage he had, or he doesn't, in which case I just gained +3 over him. Every little edge counts. No GA prepared, but I have a horde of frigates, with caravels and a few unupgraded galleys in support.


So, how will this thing go?


First off, my war aims:


1)To remove Rowain as any potential threat to my empire and holdings, and from victory contention.
2)To preserve my forces as intact as possible for the showdown with the Dutch.
3)To gain any profit I can from this war.


Second, let's observe Rowain's empire:






He has, to the best of my knowledge, 4, possibly 5, coastal cities - I don't know how deep La Venta Gulf goes - all the way to Washington? In addition, there is the city of Philadelphia on an isolated island to the north. Philadelphia is size 1 and inland - irrelevant. Boston was founded less than 5 turns ago and cannot possibly contribute much to Rowain's economy yet - irrelevant. So, the known major strongpoints of American power are New Orleans, La Venta, and Baltimore. Of these, New Orleans is the largest, then La Venta, and finally Baltimore. Finally, La Venta is a former religious city-state.


Furthermore, Rowain has concentrated what defenses he can in the face of my attack. Both La Venta and Baltimore showed a caravel garrisoned and a crossbow stationed nearby to provide defensive fire support. New Orleans I anticipate has similar defenses. The American navy, near as I can discover with my scouting, consists of a bare handful of caravels and galleys. I have seen no Quads and Rowain does not have square rigging. Overall he fields 500 strength points to my 1500. I have 3 archers, 1 warrior, and 1 sword - the remainder is Frigates and Caravels to the limits of my treasury, with 8 quads and 2 galleys waiting for upgrades.


My strategy, then, is fairly obvious. A few more points of analysis:


A)Rowain's empire is very vulnerable to attack from the sea. He has outdated naval tech and no navy to speak of. Caravels are of limited use at best against frigates, and any of his 3 caravels (1 was a galley, but I assume he will upgrade) will be instantly destroyed in retaliation. Thus, I can take his coastal cities easily.
2)Destroying Rowain, on the other hand, is very difficult. The large cities of Washington and Charleston are inland and safe from naval assault. My own ground forces are paltry. This is a tradeoff I accepted - an army might keep you alive, but it won't win you the game. Whoever owns the seas, ultimately wins the game. Armies are useless for this, which is why beyond the bare minimum I have ignored mine.
d)Rowain's army seems to be dispersed in an all-around defense.
V)Occupation penalties will limit American cities' usefulness to me, so I will not gain much in strength from this attack.
4)Liberating La Venta, on the other hand, boosts my faith income further, which is a highly useful currency that I use to boost my own science and military might.


With this in mind, here is my plan:


I. In the opening phase, I aim to hit La Venta with every ship I can bring to bear. Targets, in order of priority, are
1)Killable units that can threaten my fleet
2)Unkillable units that can threaten the fleet
3)Any target of opportunity.


We will destroy any American forces near the city, then liberate La Venta. This avoids occupation penalty, boosts my own economy, and is relatively risk free.


II. We will then range south and hit Baltimore. Baltimore is exposed and nearby La Venta. It is not as useful a city as New Orleans, Rowain's largest city, but the proximity makes this an easy call. It is defended by 2 caravels and a crossbow. Anything exposed outside the city will be destroyed first, along with the walls, then the city will be sieged down. Hopefully, Rowain's defenders are now in motion to either recapture La Venta or reinforce Baltimore.


I don't know if Baltimore should be razed or occupied. It will never contribute much as an occupied city, but it WILL contribute some. The city lies under the guns of my frigates, which Rowain will never be able to destroy once he loses his coastal cities, so I should be able to hold it trivially with a handful of ships.


On the other hand, I WILL have to defend it with those ships. This ties up forces and prevents them being deployed later against the Dutch. By razing, I can instead keep a lid on Rowain using second-line quadriremes and concentrate all useful ships against the true enemy.


III. With Baltimore reduced, we will reverse course and sail north, shelling targets of opportunity, but at least 4 ships and a caravel will fly to New Orleans with all speed. They will begin the same siege tactics there - firing from offshore first and eliminating ranged units, and generally trying to minimize my exposure.


IV. Homeland defense. With my navy on the east coast of America, and my paltry army, it's possible Rowain will attempt a counter-attack by sending his own army across the narrow straits to attack my own east coast. I have stationed multiple quadriremes here to patrol. Even knights will be penalized in the water, and unable to counterattack, so I ought to be able to shoot any invading army to pieces. I've also stationed my own ranged units and swords on the coast to fire on enemies as they approach. Won't upgrade to Xbows unless absolutely necessary, however. Gold is the sinew of war.


So, I move in, and open my attack. A caravel, warrior, and crossbow await me, plus the city walls. First, I reduce the city-walls from out of the range of the crossbow:






Two bombardments shred the walls and satisfy me that I can move up and safely target the crossbow:




Two frigates move in and destroy the ranged unit. Another finishes the sliver of health from the citywalls, so all Rowain has left to respond with in this theater is the caravel, which can’t one-shot a frigate.




Half my Frigates on scene have moved, but I have 4 still in range to attack and 3 more coming up from the south. I cannot take La Venta this turn, since my galleys can’t reach position to seize the city, so instead I range south, searching for targets of opportunity. I find a warrior and an embarked archer. The warrior I kill, the archer is redlined.




The archer survived because of an error on my part. I foolishly moved one of my frigates all the way to the end of its movement coming up, instead of going tile by tile. So, when the archer was revealed, I couldn’t halt and shoot, and the frigate was wasted. It shouldn’t matter, hopefully.

The end of the turn looks like this:




La Venta will be seized next turn and liberated, to feed my holy sites +12 faith total - a 20% increase! Not bad. Rowain has a caravel in each nearby city to respond with, as well as a crossbow outside of Baltimore. My fleet is positioned such that I think he can’t hit any frigate more than once. And if he moves out his caravel from Baltimore to attack, then it gets deleted on my turn and the city is easier to capture. On the whole, I think things went fairly well on this front.

In the north, I increase Rowain’s headaches by dumping all my envoys into Zanzibar:




I take suzerainty, and the city reveals the whole island to me and declares war on Rowain. City-states can and will capture nearby enemy cities if you let them (please don’t ask me how I know this), so with any luck Zanzibar will wander over and raze Philadelphia for me.

The rest of the world is quiet. I found Japper’s city-state, as i map out his island:




Archduke also declared war on Vilnius in the gossip column - that must be south of Emperor’s island somewhere, the last area of the map I haven’t explored. It will hurt his culture temporarily, but in the long run it’s a net gain for him.

Demographically, I have taken a decisive lead. Science has reached 120 points to Archduke’s 97 and Rowain’s 95. Culture is at 65, to 56 Dutch, my nearest competitor. Military is 1500 to Archduke’s 1700, the last area of concern.

As my harbors finish, my income has recovered, and my 28 gpt leads Archduke and Rowain - who are the only other two powers with significant militaries. Japper and Emperor’s mini-war was fought with domination scores below 400 apiece. I aim to horde it until I can do a mass upgrade of my remaining quads and galleys.

So, the main problem now is to prepare a navy capable of beating the Dutch. I’m researching towards Mass Production, with the vague idea of either Shipyards or Ironclads as soon as I can get there, and culture research is directed towards Merchant Republic’s Press Gangs. Then we’re going ot start cranking out Frigates from every city I can. Archduke is a little behind on infrastructure, so I’m hoping to steal a march.

Scores and overview:

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Turn 144

I open the save with some trepidation. I'm pretty sure I've thoroughly scouted Rowain, I know what he can field, but nevertheless a deep part of me awaits fearsome surprises - it's one of my biggest weaknesses as a general, I'm very cautious. I try to keep in mind Grant's words of wisdom ("Oh, I am heartily tired of hearing about what Lee is going to do. Some of you always seem to think he is suddenly going to turn a double somersault, and land in our rear and on both of our flanks at the same time. Go back to your command, and try to think what we are going to do ourselves, instead of what Lee is going to do."), but it doesn't come naturally to me.

So it's a pleasant surprise that all Rowain managed to accomplish was flipping Zanzibar against me:




No units attacked at all! The caravel didn't mount a forlorn hope, and Rowain made the very dubious decision to upgrade the warrior in La Venta to a musket. The units lurking in Baltimore also didn't strike out at my troops. Now, I've pointed out, they wouldn't accomplish much, but they surely could have done more rather than waiting in place to die.

The lack of movement, and the unit upgrade, make me wonder if Rowain doesn't quite grasp how city combat works in this game. See, the musket and caravel are totally irrelevant to city defense other than adding to the city's defensive strength, which in turn lessens the damage my frigates do. But their HP? Doesn't matter. Both of them stacked? Does absolutely nothing. I still have more than enough ships to bombard city HP to zero, which means both those units will be destroyed when my galley () sails up and assaults the city. A lot of money spent on those two unit upgrades for nothing.

So yeah, let's do that:




As I bombard, I push a frigate deeper into the Gulf of La Venta and confirm that Washington is, indeed, landlocked. Two more bombardments should do the trick:




And now the coup de grace from the 25 strength galley against the 59 strength city. The galley takes a lot of damage, but it's irrelevant since it wiped out all of the musket, caravel, and city. What Rowain SHOULD have done, if nothing else, was scatter his units - attack with the Caravel and do some damage before you die, and start withdrawing the musket. At the very least I have to dedicate a couple of units to wiping it out, and those units can't start ranging towards his other cities. 

In the south, scattering is exactly what Rowain did. I find the Baltimore caravel fleeing south, where it is unlucky enough to bump into a trickle of units sailing back from the conquest of Muscat:




Destroying the mobile units is more important than the city, so I detach 2 frigates to hunt it down, while an oncoming caravel mops it up.




It also reveals a galley fleeing south. That I doubt I'll devote much effort to - if it ever ventures near a military unit it'll be wiped out almost instantly, and he can't upgrade it to a caravel without reaching his own territory, which he won't have much of soon. There's the chance he could, I dunno, ally with Japper or Archduke and upgrade that way? But in all probability I'll bump into it and annihilate it before then. Instead, I blast down the walls of Baltimore from outside crossbow range. Next turn we can move in close, wipe out any remaining defenders, and seize the city:




So that's the southern front basically wrapped up, which means it's time to start shifting my attention to New Orleans. I have 14 turns to raze it and redeploy to face the Archduke. Should be enough time. I hope Emperor puts up a better fight than Rowain has so far (-knocks on wood-), I'm still paranoid about a small American fleet emerging in the north and crushing that wing of my own fleet. To that end, I have one of my patrol quads running in and out to scout out the northern cities. Nothing in Boston:




No way can that city crank out a caravel in any decent time. I wonder what Rowain is building? Not walls. 

Let's see, what else? 

I release La Venta, as planned:




I station Amani there to get me the full suzerain bonus of +4 faith per holy site, +2 in the capital (so only net +10 faith, ah well). She'll be established in 5 turns. I also get my 4th trade route online, finishing Medieval Faires:




I think I'll have 7 total once all is said and all is done? Maybe 8, need to check how many lighthouses are still coming online. We're running them to Port Royal for now, since gold is all-important. When I declare war on the Archduke (or vice-versa), the traders will all be instantly teleported home. As a bonus, the trading post thus established gives me a diplo visibility boost with the 'Duke, and that sweet combat bonus. I'll lose it if I capture the city, but hell, that's a trade worth making (no pun intended). At that time I'll redirect my traders to La Venta, most likely. 

Finally, before the scores and overview, my scout Quad has found some of Emperor's fleet. Emperor is now third in mil score, ahead of Rowain! and Japper (???).




He has frigates - I wonder if he needs gold for upgrades? I have none to spare, really, and it'd probably be better spent upgrading my own units since one more frigate more or less would just get run over by the Dutch fleet. Still, it's looking like Emperor's better prepared to resist the Dutch than the Americans (-knocks furiously on wood-) were to resist me. I want to find Vilnius, which I think is the last city-state on the map.

Scores, overview:

[Sullla]

Thanks for these updates Chevalier! Everyone else has stopped updating their threads so you are our only source for what's happening in this game. I'm enjoying watching your campaign play out and seeing Arabia finally start to hit its power spike in the midgame. Naval power truly is everything on an archipelago map like this one.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Thanks for these updates Chevalier! Everyone else has stopped updating their threads so you are our only source for what's happening in this game. I'm enjoying watching your campaign play out and seeing Arabia finally start to hit its power spike in the midgame. Naval power truly is everything on an archipelago map like this one.

I'm glad people are still following along - turn pace on this game has been pretty horrid. We started in...June? And we're only just nearing turn 150. The long breaks let me talk baseball, but damn, it's nearly time for spring training and we're still going!

On the whole I still am not satisfied, really, with Arabia. The faith-economy is fun, don't get me wrong, and I can see what the designers were going for with a religious-scientific civ. But for multiplayer, I stand by what I said earlier - it's a LOT of upfront investment in order to get a payoff that frankly isn't that great, especially when compared with science powerhouses like Korea or Australia, who can get just as large returns for less effort. Admittedly, Mamluks playing no role in this game (I would have built HCs instead of galleys on a land map...) probably nerfed my choice somewhat, but I definitely would have had an easier time with Rome - which of course is why I didn't take them.

Turn 145

T-13 til Archduke can declare war and he conquered Vilnius. He'll have about 10 turns to smack around Emperor if he wants - which, given how the American campaign has gone, is more than enough. I just hope that Emperor can knock out a few ships before he goes down by playing smart. Archduke has 200 milscore on me, which I THINK is mostly accounted for in the 6 heavy chariots I found. In terms of total ships we're damn near parity, and I just found a settler of his - so he's not building more ships. So with any luck he shifts to infrastructure in an effort to catch up to my fast growing science lead (which will fade in 9 turns when the golden age ends), and I can use the same time to build MORE SHIPS. I have some strategic and operational thoughts on how that war will look, but I'll save that for later. Let's look at the front instead.

Still no unit attacks. Rowain's only damage this war so far has come from La Venta's counterattack on my galley capturing it. The American galley in Baltimore has fled, as did the crossbow and injured archer.

Sweet, that means it's time for me to pop this baby out. 

Behold, my turn report - in song form! 









Oh, oh, oh, woke up today
Feeling the way I always do!
Oh, oh, oh, hungry for a city that I can eat!




Rowain's army I beat;
His poor coastal town
Is going down!
There's a favorable breeze,
Oh, oh, oh, sending my fleet
Through the waves to the streets that I seize
Good morning Baltimore!




Your gate's like an open door -
I'm sorry to do you injury
From my inevit'ble victory!
Good morning Baltimore!
And as my marines come storming ashore
The world's gonna wake up and see
Baltimore and me!




Oh, oh, oh, look at my fleet
Whose fleet can compete with mine today?
Oh, oh, oh, my apostles are putting on a show
They're ready to go!
Their primary motif
Is to Enhance my beliefs
They seem to say, "Crusade is all for you!
So, oh, oh, don't hold me back
'Cause today all my dreams will come true
Good morning Baltimore!




There's the galley who lives next door
He was trying to flee from me
Of course, entirely futilelyyyyyyy - 
Good morning Baltimore!
And as my marines come storming ashore

The world's gonna wake up and see
Baltimore and me!





I have all the frigates, I have all the ships,
It's time to send Rowain into eclipse
I see all those Dutch Sevens looming ahead
So let's wrap up this up before I drop dead!
(Before he drops dead!)





So, oh, oh, I think I stand a chance
'Cause with my religion enhanced, I'm a lethal force!
Oh, oh, oh, Archduke better make a move
'cuz I'm in the groove!
The lurkers tell me no
But my fleet tells me go!
It's like a drummer inside my heart
So, oh, oh, don't make me wait
One more moment for my conquest to start...
Good morning, good morning
Waiting for my conquest to start




I love you Baltimore!
Your gate's like an open door -

I'm sorry to do you injury
From my inevit'ble victory!
And I promise Baltimore
That as my marines come storming ashore

The world's gonna wake up and see
Gonna wake up and see
Baltimore and me...
Yes, more or less we all agree
Baltimore and me...
Someday the world is gonna see
Baltimore and me!

[Cornflakes]