[Spoilers] Woden takes on the World (PBEM18)

[Woden]

Turn 249-continued
Ichabod called a special session because I used nukes. He is trying to increase his combat bonus against me. I put 3 votes in striking it down. I figure suboptimal will only put his free vote into it since the actual world congress is after the next turn and he will probably want to focus something with culture. Ichabod only had enough diplo favor for an additional vote, so all I need is 3 votes. If sub puts more than his free vote, I will lose.

[Woden]

Turn 251
For your viewing pleasure...


I also nuked Misty Mountains and will take the city next turn. I think I vaporized most of Ichabod planes and might have stopped his advance. I did lose Osgiliath. My navy is about 2 turns form Fez and destroying Ichabod's navy. Hopefully Fez can hold for a few more turns.

[roland of gilead]

so much fun

[Woden]

Turn 252
Only new movements from Brazil is moving a few land units towards Fez and Porto Alegre. I think I have stopped his advance to Gondor....



He has (had) a tank up by Gondor that I killed with a bomber and a couple of modern tanks attacks. I nuked Misty mountains last turn but left it under Ichabod's control for the time being. The city won't heal and any units he puts in there for teh next 9 turns will lose half there health. I also don't believe he can repair anything while the fallout is still there. I can't raze it since it was my city originally and no need to conquer it right now. I need a few more units to raze Manaus before I take the city and keep it mine. Next turn, I will have a missile silo at Helm's Deep and will be able to reach Natal, Belo Horizone, and Rio once I can get a few units in range to capture them. I have 1 nuke in storage, another one due in 2 turns, and 2 more done in 4 turns. I think I will go after Natal, Belo Horizone, and Rio plus Manaus with those 4. I will have a few more after those and I might launch a few missiles at suboptimal's inland cities.

Out in the ocean...



Brazil came out to play, sinking one of my battleships. I respond with sinking those 3 ships plus an ironclad up by Hobbiton and a battleship near Fez with some bombers. I still think I am a few turns from sinking the rest of his fleet but I did split my navy and have about half sailing towards Fez that will sink his fleet, then sail south to raze his coastal cities. The other half is sailing south to keep pounding suboptimal's cities, which my bombers started working on this turn. Not sure if I can get a destroyer to reach his city next turn but it will be destroyed in a couple of turns. Suboptimal settled another city this turn, just off his northern coast. I will raze his more developed cities before going back and attacking his new cities. Ichabod did hurt me pretty bad but I think I have turned the tide and will start making gains on him, thanks to my nukes.

I am still trying to figure out how Ichabod has 3 levels of diplomatic visibility against me, gaining a +9 CS. Listen posts should only provide +2 levels with a higher level spy. I am also running the anti-spy card that makes his spies operate at -2 levels. Is that broken and not work? He doesn't have a trading post in any of my cities, as only I and Kaiser have them in any of my cities. Do they not show up if we are at war? Is there a government plaza building that grants extra visibility? I might nuke his government plaza to see, it is in Bel Horizone. The city won't heal and any units in it will get hurt from the fallout, so maybe worth it to see if it impacts it.

Edit: Isn't there a great person that adds diplomatic visibility? Quick wiki search says Mary Katherine Goddard is a great merchant that gives +1 diplomatic visibility for all civilizations. I will have to check the GP recruitment page on my turn, I bet Ichabod recruited them. That would explain the extra level of diplomatic visibility.

[Woden]

Turn 253
Rocketry is in and you know what that means...

Missiles!


I didn't have enough to save Fez, it will be gone next turn but I decided to nuke Natal to get ride of the fighter and field cannon. I will buy a helicopter next turn to raze Natal. I want to save my tanks for defense and non-nuke city captures. 

My fleet was barely able to get into range to kill one of Brazil's battleships. I expect Ichabod to be able to kill one of my boats but then I will clean up his remaining battleships before sailing down the coast. I haven't decided if I want to nuke his capital next turn or wait until I can capture it right away.

[Woden]

Turn 256
I am a little behind on updates, I have been too busy IRL to update but wanted to share a video...


I nuked 3 cities of Brazil in 1 turn. I did not capture them right after. I figure I can kill his army and let the cities sit for a bit. They can't heal and any tile nuked can't produce anything, even the city center. I think a nuked city without an encampment is limited to only building builders and maybe running projects if a district is out of the blast range. He can't fortify the cities with a unit as they will lose 50 HP per turns. So, there is really no need to take them immediately.

I am pretty much on a campaign of destruction right now. No need to keep cities, I already have the largest empire and if I keep them, they will only cost me happiness. This game has turned into a bit of a slog. Units are taking 8-10 turns to build because my most productive cities are building nukes. I have been building builders to get forests and lumbermills everywhere I can to help production and I am chopping anything still left. But it doesn't really matter, thanks to his ridiculous combat advantage (+6 for diplo visibility and +5 for military alliance), he can kill any unit I get near his cities. So, I am left to nuking them. 

I have a few turns still to update and will do so if I have time tonight.

[roland of gilead]

i love that you play with the music on.

[Woden]

Turn 262
Sorry for the lack of updates, been fairly busy IRL and this game has become a slog. If it were a SP game, I would have quit playing a while ago as the end is quite certain. I have been chipping away at both suboptimal and Ichabod for the last dozen or so turns and they are both shells of their former selves.

I finally captured Ichabod's capital this turn, having nuked it 6 turns ago...



He is down to 6 remaining cities. I should be able to take John Lamarr next turn but he might retake Cassius with the army modern tank you can see. He might bring Egypt back into the game again. He did that with another city and it added a bunch of war wariness to my Egyptian conquests. So much so that I had to spend nearly 2,000 on a stadium at Gordon Malloy to help elevate some of the unhappiness. It doesn't help that I am throwing nukes around every chance I get. Here is my current unhappiness without Egypt back in the game...



52 war wariness. You can add about 30 more if he brings back Egypt. I find it funny that I have a happy city and 5 content cities still. I am building a few zoos/aquariums to help keep my cities above the -20% penalty at -3 happiness and did place another national park at Hobbiton. Even with all the war wariness, I am still in the dominate position. I wonder who is holding out, is it suboptimal, who has been founding new cities to replace the ones I razed or Canada, who has finally had a chance this game to attack someone? Canada asked to join the war a few turns back and I gladly accepted. I need help taking out suboptimal, as what is left of my army is fighting Ichabod and replacement units are slow to build. Not sure how Ichabod feels about this game, he has done a good job making this difficult but he is pretty much spent. He only has 1 productive city left, Vitoria. 

Over at England...



I was able to nuke Truly of the Yard last turn, thanks to my spy and finding a tile where only 1 SAM could hit the bomber. Luckily, the nuke landed and my bomber only took 38 damage. I was even able to vaporize a settler. I did miscount the tiles needed to take Auntie Wainwright this turn, ended up 1 tile short on the destroyer. If williams482 takes the city I am going to sail my fleet over and finish off Ichabod. Let Canada and England duke it out for a while before I come back and push towards England's capital.

My plan is to head towards Giant Death Robots (because why not) and continue the push to take out both suboptimal and Ichabod, with more focus on taking out Ichabod first. I have another nuke finishing in 2 turns and will have another 3 in 6 turns. Not sure if I will need any more after that. I should be able to finish Ichabod off without need anymore nukes but may use one to speed it up. I want to save a few in case Canada decides to go out with a bang or is the one holding out. If I can get suboptimal's capital, it should only take a nuke at Canada's capital and another one to clear a path to end the game. Regardless, I should have a good chunk of my army rebuilt by the time our alliance ends, so I should make quick work of Canada anyways.

[Woden]

Turn 267
We just had a special session in the World Congress (waste of a turn, especially when it takes 2 days to go around)...



The emergency against suboptimal failed and the one against me passed. I actual voted against the one against suboptimal. You may wonder why? Well, if I voted for it and Ichabod voted for it, we would get enforced peace and I am so close to taking him out. No way I was going to let him game this stupid mechanic to continue this game. In hindsight, I probably could have voted for the emergency because I am pretty sure he called the one against men and sunk a bunch of diplo favor into it, so he would have been back at war with me but, then again, he could have used it to trap me. Regardless, willaims482 and CMF, when you read this, the reason I voted against your emergency is because I couldn't risk peace with Ichabod. Besides, what is +2 or 3 CS anyways.

In the game, I have Ichabod down to 3 cities, after taking and freeing Venice this turn...



Ichabod is down to 17 and 14 and pretty much out of the game. Last turn I did capture a settle he was trying to sneak towards Canada. I was lucky that I brought my battleship forwards to see if I can find a few of his battleships that killed a couple of my subs. I just so happened to run across an unprotected settler and had enough movement to capture it.

Next turn, I will finish 3 more nukes and might be able to get a silo down at Vitoria to hit all of Ichabod's remaining cities. Then it will be a few turns to capture them and he will be out of this game. I am still not sure if he is the hold out or if suboptimal still thinks he has a chance at a cultural victory.

Speaking of suboptimal, Canada took Auntie Wainwright before I could get a boat to capture the city. This allowed him to grab a few more of suboptimal's cities. But, he was not able to make anymore gains beyond the cities I removed the walls from. Now, all those cities he captured are revolting back to suboptimal. Maybe if Canada wasn't greedy and let me get the only path to sub's capital, we could have killed sub by now. Now that I sailed my fleet back towards Ichabod to take him out, I need to sail back and take sub's cities again. And it looks like all of sub's cities will be back in his hands in less than 6 turns. Stupid.

Anyways, I am having all my cities build nukes once they are finished with their current builds. No reason not to go out with a bang. I need to take the captured settler and plant a city close enough to suboptimal where I can get missiles to his capital, then I can end this game once my alliance with Canada is over.

[roland of gilead]

Trying to bore you into defeat.