[SPOILERS] Rusten enters uncharted waters

[Rusten]

Completed the elimination of Borsche this turn by taking his final two cities. Nothing offshore.




Following the mindset of never being happy with what you got and to always crave more I declared war on DS. Made all the right decision so far, we'll see if this ends up the same way. But I really don't trust him long term and he's right in my face. He was very quick to stop trading with me after either he initiated or SD offered it to him, and it was a pain to get any sort of trade started even before then. I remember saying early in the game that I thought we were natural allies, but that never panned out and I don't think it's because of me.

I decided to change my setup tile for quicker deployment. By going 1 NW of Abidjan I was able to unload all my units and hop into the galleys again on the same turn with reinforcements. That was one of the reasons I delayed the DoW. The other was waiting for DS to move units into SD's territory. I knew he'd want a piece before Commodore took it all. Not a huge stack, but less for me to deal with. I unloaded the musket on the hill with my caravel first to make sure there was no siege SoD stack nearby.




And speaking of Commodore, I decided to send him a fish-fish+iron-iron+declare war on Dark Savant trade. The message being: Let's split DS together and then be friends after.
Time will tell what he decides to do. I'm hoping that he considers OH a big threat and doesn't feel the need to antagonize me any time soon.

Decided to go rifling first and will complete it in 3 turns. I'm in such a good spot and one way to throw it all away is being unprepared for something. Delaying universities and observatories by 4 turns doesn't matter. Having drafted rifles 4 turns earler is a very nice safety net, even if I don't go all out using them against DS. I have such a huge empire that it's impossible to have units everywhere. Being able to draft 5 rifles immediately helps in that regard.

[darrelljs]

It feels like the victory you can achieve earliest is Culture, and its a matter of ensuring security. The map size makes Domination daunting simply due to the effort required, and Space shouldn’t be as fast?

Darrell

[Rusten]

It feels like the victory you can achieve earliest is Culture, and its a matter of ensuring security.  The map size makes Domination daunting simply due to the effort required, and Space shouldn’t be as fast?

Darrell

With an empire this big I think space might be faster than culture. Getting 5k bpt shouldn't be a challenge. Getting 10k? Not impossible with wealth/research builds. I should explore this in more depth, but my gut feeling is that space is faster as every city can contribute towards the goal whereas culture doesn't scale as well. For a normal size game culture has the upper hand.

I may do a war turn report later but no time right now. But the good news is that Commodore sent back a fish+iron trade so hopefully we can stay friendly. I didn't accept but sent an identical offer back to him to confirm and let him decide if he wants it public or not. I usually keep them hidden.

Poor Gavagai is going to get his UU (grenadiers) when OH and I already have infantry. Or at the very least are very close to it.

[Rusten]

Quickish update.




I captured the southernmost city the turn prior (amphibiously) as it was only guarded by a longbow without fortify bonus. Lost a musket for it, but Abidjan on the other hand was a flawless victory. The first treb retreated at ~33%, the second at ~55% and then it was all 95+% from there.

I'll be able to road the tile 1NW of the city next turn with 2 workers so I can reach the forest tile 3NW of Porto Novo with my trebs next turn already. Using a stack approach to this war as I don't think DS can punish and once I take Porto Novo it will be easy to pick off other weaknesses. It also holds the Chichen Itza which I'd prefer to get rid of. It's possible that he will throw all his siege at me and try to flank my trebs, but Porto Novo is not on a hill so I think if it comes to it I can take it without siege. If he allocates everything to defend the city I can also use my galleys to pick off weak targets.

Visibility is king. Some privateers will help out with the remaining northern fog.




Crop is now (T172) >1000. It was at 800 on T167 -- just to give an idea of how quickly it's rising.

[Rusten]

Dark Savant is very fond of infrastructure.




Bear in mind this is only what I kept and it's already too much for a small filler city. It has no independent land tiles or food resource. Also shocked that he didn't put a city in the forest area (area visible in previous post), it can even grab a fish tile. Much better than the one he settled on the incense.

[Raskolnikov]

^^ A bit shocked by the city yeah. I guess he was using the fish and whipping?

I note you are pillaging everything, even roads? you wanna prevent knight counters? I haven't looked deep at the logistic but I would have thought they could be usefull for later reinforcements.

[Rusten]

I note you are pillaging everything, even roads? you wanna prevent knight counters? I haven't looked deep at the logistic but I would have thought they could be usefull for later reinforcements.

Only pillaged with a purpose, and yes, mainly to prevent counterattacks. One of the first things you should look to implement into your game transitioning from SP to MP is to always keep workers on your front lines in war. Much better to create the roads you need the turn you need it than to give the opponent a chance to use the same roads. This turn is a great example of pillaging giving tactical opportunities. More on this as the post goes on.

My sentry knight revealed DS' stack and it's big enough to wipe what I currently have. 20+ knights, 20+ siege and plenty of stragglers. 




Need to switch from brute force to tactics, but at least it's way more fun this way. I sent my stack back and prepare to head north using the defensive terrain. I will use the seas to poke and prod and force him out of position north and south. His exterior is not well defended at all. I still don't respect his units enough to warrant leaving emancipation for nationhood. The rifles can wait. Right now emancipation and growing cities and cottages is my main concern.

4 of my galleys can reach this crab tile next turn. 




Can unload up to 8 knights and 2 pikes to capture Malabo. It's only guarded by a single warrior and his knights are out of range right now so it's looking likely it will fall. Possibly keeping it just as a distraction and because it will be easy to recapture later, but if I wend up going for Walvis Bay as well that one is likely razed and resettled after the war. His response this next turn will determine how the units are unloaded.

Here's the end of turn state of units.




As you can see I've pillaged all of the road tiles except for 1 next to the captured cities. DS not having any workers within 3 tiles means they're completely safe from counterattacks. Not needing to worry about those 20+ knights is a big boost. Zanzibar is surrounded by hills which means that workers can never surprise road and attack it. If I had not pillaged these roads DS' 20-knight stack would be in range of the city and I could not keep my navy in there. I'm very happy to have a secured beachhead and port on his landmass, it will make things easier going forward.

Also completed the Angkor Wat this turn. Not usually a priority wonder, but with this empire it's actually a big boost. I'm already making a temple in every city anyway for the other religious wonders. Diatom is the poster child for AW efficiency.




On a side note I have a golden age available whenever I need it now. Diatom was also switched to a pike, not a monastery.

[Rusten]

Dark Savant didn't make any moves and he has only one knight within range of the two cities (Wolvis Bay).




2 things in particular to note here:
-Wolvis Bay and Malabo are the same size as the previous turn.
-That catapult was clearly completed this turn and left Malabo.

This means that the most defense he can put in Malabo is to upgrade the warrior to a pike and send the catapult back. I have 4 knights in range which is enough to raze it. Wolvis Bay can be reinforced by 2 catapults, the Kagali longbow, a knight and might have 1-pop whipped a defender this turn so I'm not guaranteed to raze that one, but I'm hopeful. I have 2 pikes, 4 knights and 2 more knights that can attack amphibiously next turn. Worst case I up and leave -- he has no units available to attack me.

He has 30+ catapults so I will finish steel before making huge grounds, but at that point he should be screwed. They don't get flanked by his knights nor take collateral from his catapults. I can upgrade the trebs I have already produced. Steel will take 3-4 turns.

Here are the demos. Not posted them for a while.

[Raskolnikov]

First in food/prod, second in GNP/soldiers? Time to start another game

Seriously though, what will OH do next? (send canons your way?)

I've catched up btw, you better post daily now. (another question: did you get an explanation from Elkad? What did he have in mind with that loan/DOW sequence? Was he bribed? I giggled at the Viking period, as opposed to the gentle scandinavian one )

[Rusten]

Still have no idea what Elkad's idea was, and he still owes me 60 gold even disregarding any interest. He'll likely be dead soon so maybe he can shed some light.

Yeah, I'm wondering if OH will try something with a navy and muskets+cannons, which is partly why I'm following him to steel. As long as I get drydocks up at about the same time as him I should be ok. Right now his army is still mainly knights which get slaughtered by Urukku pikes, so he'll have a hard time making much progress. I also have the advantage of having my whole empire on one continent as opposed to bigger islands (like OH), so long term it will be very easy to defend with railroads.

If he does attack I simply adopt nationhood and draft 5 rifles per turn and hold. Can't see myself losing any important cities.