How do you feel about my offering an economic alliance to Phoenicia for trading purposes? My feeling is we will need most of the next 30 turns to kick Indonesia's teeth in and take their stuff, and it let them focus on Archduke/Kaiser. Now, it would also piss off Archduke, but he can't attack us for 22 more turns, until 146, and he'll have a hot war in that time. The danger is it keeps us from intervening to take Norwegian/Phoenician cities if we need to, but the risks from that I feel are offset by the lucrative gold I could make as my trade routes shoot up over the next 15ish turns.
Also, how close are you to Caravels? If we could upgrade one of your two galleys (or both, if you have Professional Armies), and have them accompany my fleet up to Brussels, that'll be a good way to goose your production and jumpstart Reconstruction.
Got it. I'll offer one to Ljubljana, and I'll go ahead and offer a DoF to Norway so I can offer him a research alliance (most likely) next. The military alliance is obviously going to Australia in - 4 turns, amazing! That's great news, we shouldn't face heavy combat before then, except in the land campaign in Eastern Australia.
This turn was more fun than I expected! I'll also do a more in-depth strategy post on why I do some of the things I do afterwards.
To quote Woden, start the turn with...
And, more importantly, with...
Excellent. Sub and Roland are the only players to get here before me, so we'll maintain our production edge into the Renaissance. Russian culture is finally starting to show in the civics - for the first time all game I have the second-most civics completed, behind China and its monstrous culture. Now, sub has Press Gangs, so assuming Call Me Al is similar to Borodino - probably slightly worse, given its much lower population - I can expect a jong out of there probably once every 6 turns or so, supplemented by a faith purchase every ten turns ASSUMING SUB WOULD STOP BUYING BUILDERS OR WHATEVER (seriously, check his faith - the madman did it again, he just lost all but two or perhaps three jongs and he spent 150 faith on...something).
Naturally we swap out Professional Army (upgrading one more caravel, courtesy of Sub's trader) for Press Gangs:
Now, how do 6-turn jongs compare with my new shipyards? Well...
Borodino:
Frigates every 5 turns, or Caravels in 4.
Knyaz Suvurov:
Navarin:
Even Mikasa, my weakest shipyard:
Not pictured is Petro, but it'll be on the same tier as Navarin next turn once the harbor completes.
My discussion of the shipyard issue went long, so I spoiled it. TLDR: Even if China has harbors to match these 5, I think sub and Roland are still screwed.
So, to Sub's single shipyard, I have fully five - on this half of my empire alone - that can each keep pace with him more or less. Meaning I will build ships 5 times as quickly, meaning I will soon have 5x as many ships as him (actually, right now in raw numbers I have very close to 10x as many, I think. See next post). Now, I am building alone, and Sub has China in support. Like I've said before - that's the wild card. How many shipyards does China have, and are they near Russia in quality? If he has 4 cities that can build ships, and each of them is a match for any city on Mikasa Bay, then we might be in for a slugging match. But that doesn't account for my OTHER three shipyards, all just as good, over on the other side of the empire, so even in a worst case scenario a naval arms race is 8:5 in my favor. And that doesn't account for quality.
Sub and Roland have backwards tech, increasingly - neither has reached square rigging, which means Cartography is still probably 7-8 turns out for them at best rates. I'm building mixes of frigates and caravels, but by and large my ships are going to skew towards Caravels. Why? Because frigates are for taking cities, but caravels are for naval superiority.
The main deciding factor there is caravel's higher defense scores, meaning they take much less damage than frigates/jongs but hit for about the same strength. This is balanced by the fact that frigates/jongs don't take counterattack damage, but generally in a 1:1 fight a caravel is going to maul a frigate to death. Furthermore, Caravels can be boosted by Oligarchic Legacy if necessary, Frigates cannot - and to top it off, Caravels are substantially cheaper, and don't cost resources to boot. So they're far more spammable. Thus, sub is going to find his jongs pretty hard countered by my caravels - you can have 5 caravels for the cost of 4 jongs - and at the rate he's trickling them out he's going to lose control of the sea very, very quickly. If he researches Cartography himself, then he loses the ability to spam galleys - I have 24 survivors running around the oceans, sub has like 2. If he delays Cartography to get out more galleys, then he's limiting his maneuverability to coastal waters - which was the decisive factor in the campaign against the jongs - and then he's competing with upgrade gold with China. The two have a combined income about 50% higher than me, but I've already upgraded mostly, I have multiple gold-generators coming online (does Sub?), and they have to split their upgrade gold between two powers. If China upgrades Frigates - well, those are Indonesian Caravels not appearing.
Topping matters off, my fleet now has the edge in experience and it's led by a Great Admiral. And...well, there are other factors I'll get into. But bottom line: I don't see how I lose this war at this point. This analysis went long, so spoilering it.
Now, you also noticed, no doubt, that my interface looks weird. I played around with a Civ V reskin mod yesterday, and found it kind of charming, although it takes some getting used to. I forgot to disable it for today's turn, so just try and vibe with the different look for today, I'll turn it off tomorrow (unless lurkers don't mind, in which case I kind of am getting used to it).
Moving on in order, Fuji finished its Monument and has grown to size 4, so it gets started on a Harbor:
It's a pretty steep 12-turn build, but will be worth 10 gpt and ultimately 10 production down the line. With the jongs sunk and two caravels on patrol here there's no urgent need for more ships - and the immediate needs will be met by the other two cities, so I can spare Fuji the build time. I must remember to repair those fishing boats, pillaged last turn by the barb frigate. Speaking of:
Magellan gets his feet wet with a spot of training, leading our first caravels into action against the frigate. Remember my discussion of their relative strengths above - this frigate is getting crushed. The same will happen to Chinese frigates or Indonesian jongs, and I'll have way more than one caravel then. Donskoi is finishing the Man at Arms next turn, so we'll sink the frigate and clear the camp. Then the two caravels will become the nucleus of the Second Caravel Squadron (CarRon2), part of the forming Fourth Fleet. *
*
Fourth Fleet, not yet built, is projected to be composed of the Second Caravel Squadron, 6 ships strong, and the Fourth Frigate Squadron, also 6 ships strong. Fourth Fleet is going to remain on reserve to cover Australia's eastern flank against the Central Powers. If I get into trouble with Indonesia, I'll bring them up to support, but I don't anticipate that and the travel time is prohibitive. In the best of all worlds, Fourth Fleet will be able to lead an attack on Miln and Tibbet's Brook to effectively knock Japan out of contention and secure the win. I need to start building the ships now if I want to have them available later, so after the urgent infrastructure projects are done the 3 cities in this area will begin that build immediately.
Further east, we have revealed 4 English city centers:
Together, the pictured RNDs account for 20 gpt and 20 bpt for England. They face Phoenicia across a fairly interesting, island-dotted ocean:
This will probably be Archduke and Ljubljana's dancing table soon. I'll try to keep my writer on hand as a foreign correspondent to keep y'all updated. We also need better maps of Northern England/Japan and of pretty much all of Norway/Phoenicia.
On Svalbard, a chop reduces Seniavin's lavra to 1-turn:
Ushakov also finishes next turn, and all 3 cities are converted to Fine Weather, High Waves, so we'll immediately see a jump of +20 production island-wide next turn. Our next task is growing to size 4 (building out granaries and monuments in the meantime) and then begin the endgame science complex.
Other builder action sees fish and lumberyards at Oryol, a mine at Mikasa, and multiple fishing boats at Borodino. I haven't been reporting it, but virtually every pop in the Russian empire is working an improved tile - and I have by far the highest pop in the game. For example, Borodino, which will grow to size 12 in just 5 turns or so, is working only one unimproved forest:
And there's a builder on the way to fix that. Oryol, nearly 6 pop strong, can churn out a 9-turn campus:
Note that Oryol is practically at the snow line, yet is growing into a substantial city - I've really grown to appreciate fishing boats in this game.
Enough building, on with the war. First, let's handle the land war in Eastern Australia. My screenshot is ruined by the tooltip, but the knight withdraw west into the Eye of the Sahara (attrition should be a thing), the HC vanished into the interior, and the sword occupied the holy site. I have good odds on the sword, so I send in the courser, covering the campus as I do.
The sword is left redlined, my courser is down to 50% strength. Now, sub could swap the sword and knight and hammer my courser pretty hard, but if he does he's exposed to both crossbows. If he crosses back over the river, he won't have hte movement to reach Marco's second crossbow there, and marco can fall back and let me take up a defensive position on the woods. I bring down my frigates, headed for Ilmatic, and we're left with this in the east:
My chariots are maneuvering around Ilmatic to pillage for gold and faith and science once we attack - Marco will have a surplus of builder labor once The Blueprint runs out of things to build and it costs no charge to repair, so I think the benefits are worth the cost. Uh, sorry to the good citizens of Australia. War is hell.
In the far northern theater, GalRon4 finds an Indonesian galley trying to flee:
I surround it with as many ships as I can, although 1 can't attack, before I begin the battle - I wanted as much flanking and support as I could get. A few moments later ~25% of the surviving Indonesian navy is on the bottom:
I move the rest of Four up and I bring up GalRon2 (-1 galley detached to Ilmatic in case I need a melee ship to take the city) in the rear in support. These two squadrons, 11 galleys in total, are going to move up and pillage that harbor/lighthouse in a few turns, knocking out some Indonesian GPT and getting me a lot of upgrade gold. The walls will punch with jong-level attacks, so we will probably lose 1, possibly 2 galleys if we're unlucky. However, if sub repairs, he won't be building ships here until the frigates arrive and begin reducing the city for real.
Over near Novaya Zemyla, GalRon1 and lead elements of GalRon3 are on a similar mission, nosing through the waters to hit targets of opportunity (traders, land units in transit, etc) and find and pillage harbors.
Most of the Third is back at the entrance to Shikishima strait, supporting Marco's galley, but I'm pulling them back this turn - we can't sink a jong in the narrow strait anyways and sub is being cautious with it, so I think Marco should pull back for an upgrade and my 5 ships should join up with the other 7 to begin a 12-galley sweep up and down the coast.
One of the scouts spots Chinese sails on the horizon and we encounter our first Chinese unit of the entire war:
Not sure why Roland has a lone quadrireme out here. We pounce with standard tactics, bringing up all the support I can, then smashing the ship:
Only two attacks are needed. Roland just finished a quad and a galley this turn (55 strength jump), so I think he's got about 9 quads and 1 galley still. The 9 quads will be a problem for my galleys if they're all in one spot or if they upgrade, but if I spot Frigate upgrades then I'll just drop back to join my forming Caravel and Frigate squadrons near the rear. Then the united fleet will sail out to confront the Chinese fleet.
Here's the final setup. Next turn we sail northwest:
If the jong comes out to play in vengeance of the quad, then I should be able to trap and swarm it. That's why I'm operating all my ships in 6-ship squadrons - they're exactly the right amount of ships to surround something, and they can trap and sink any individual jong they find, losing only one member if the jong gets a first strike. The same will go for individual frigates. Basically, never operate your ships alone if you can help it - always have support nearby when in a hot war.
Overview of the east:
Osylabya finishes its lighthouse (trade route #3) next turn. I would normally start on Caravels here, since I need 6 eventually, but actually there's a more immediate way it can contribute - the Great Lighthouse. It can't be built with Chinese fuckery, and it would add +1 movement to every ship in my navy upon completion. It's a 10-turn build, which means the opportunity cost is 2 caravels. +1 movement permanently is worth delaying 2 more caravels for what would be a reserve fleet anyway, I think, so that's my next project. It means Donskoi will need to take most of the burden of shipbuilding in the east, but it should get out 2 caravels in that time. Then it and Oslyabya can combine to finish CarRon2, and then all three cities can work on FrigRon4 (I know, goofy-sounding name).
Center:
Starting 2 frigates and a caravel next turn, which in 5 turns will take my total ships in this theater to 4 frigates and 2 caravels. Then one more round of ships, plus the two sluggards joining in, will finish up my initial striking force for Indonesia.
I also pin Oryol's size 7 district, an entertainment complex that would reach 5 cities. I'm going to be very short of amenities when the turtle resolution ends, evne though I control more than anyone else on the map - because my pop is much higher. Unhappiness will begin eroding my edge soon, so even though I can't really fix that before Zoos, I need the districts down soon because my slots are so limited. I want an armory at some point, even a military academy, but that might have to be Sevastopol's next district (unless I go for a harbor).
West/Svalbard:
Two lavras finishing next turn. My faith is about topped out, unless I start building shrines and temples. I may.
Diplomacy. I offer amenities with Japan, since when the Turtles resolution expires in 8 turns I'll be losing 3 amenities:
And I send a DoF to Norway and offer an economic alliance with ljubljana. Ljubljana will go after Woden, so Woden won't know it's part of a larger alliance offer, but what can ya do.
A War of Engines, or, a look into Russian naval organization and procurement:
If you read my reports, or if you read my off-site PBEM against randos, you'll notice that I have a tendency to group up my units and refer to them as a designated army or fleet - First Army, Second Fleet, etc. etc. You'll also probably have noticed that I've grouped up my ships for phase 2 of the war into squadrons. This isn't just vanity on my part, or because I'm roleplaying, but it actually does make a difference in how I plan and play the game. I thought I'd share really quickly what my system is and why I use it.
Order of Battle
For most of the game, I don't bother organizing units - when your military consists of 5 warriors and some archers there's no real need. You know where all your units are and you have a few, very small tasks that need doing. So any larger system of organization is pretty much just a vanity project.
That changes when you have dozens of units and multiple fronts or theaters to think about. You can send units all over willy-nilly, but then sometimes you get too many guys in one area (a log-jam) and too few in another (your few units get their asses kicked). So, when the numbers get large, and when I start operating in more than one area, that's when I start to create an actual order of battle for my military. Military units get divided into armies, generally, with each army having a designated geographic area and a defined task or purpose (if you have no purpose...why did you build the units? Why send them there?). Naval units are the same, only organized into fleets. Each fleet has a defined task and a general operating area.
Then, within each fleet, I have a squadron. A squadron is a group of ships - all of the same type - that moves and fights together. I name them so I can easily remember who they are and what they're for. First Galley Squadron, Second Galley Squadron, etc. Generally I associate the numbers with the fleet - I haven't mentioned it, but First Fleet consists of Galley Squadron 1, Galley Squadron 2, Frigate Squadron 1, and Caravel Squadron 1; Second Fleet consists of Galley Squadron 2, Galley Squadron 4, and Frigate Squadron 2. Even numbers go with 2nd Fleet, odds with 1st. Even-numbered fleets are in the east (Fourth Fleet, composed of CarRon2 and FrigRon4, is in the east), odd-numbered in the west.
Now, why organize squadrons? Why six?
Well, you should never send out units alone, unless you don't expect trouble. A single ship is basically vulnerable to disaster - if it runs into anything unexpected, it has absolutely no help and can only run, basically. A squadron operating together ensures you always have friends available to help you out. Second, a ship should never sail out without a purpose. You should always have a mission in mind - and squadrons are an easy to way to organize and keep track of what missions your ships are carrying out. So, GalRons 1&3 are exploring and raiding China, GalRons2&4 are raiding Brussels before linking up with FrigRon2 to form 2nd Fleet and beginning the invasion of Brussels proper.
Why six? Because generally, more than that is wasteful for any one task. IF you're bombarding a city, it's almost impossible to get more than 6 frigates around it. If you're fighting units, 6 units is the MAXIMUM that could ever attack a unit. So, six gives you enough muscle to be pretty sure you'll succeed at whatever immediate job it is, without wasting a bunch of ships doing nothing OR doing other tasks. If I finish off the Indonesian navy, for example, it might be tempting to just have units wander randomly - but the squadron system lets me generally keep my galleys clustered in such a way that they always have supports.
Contrast this approach with Roland, here:
Where was this quad going? What was it doing? Why was it alone?
He can't be exploring, sub moved through this area ages ago. Did he intend to garrison Shikishima with it? To raid Russia? Why come alone, then? Why not stay with his other quads as a group and move en masse to Shikishima? That way, if he ran into my galleys here, he could either make a fight of it, or run if he thought he couldn't win. If he was raiding, he had to expect Russian opposition, so what would a lone ship accomplish other than getting quickly sunk?
Same with Sub's lone galley - why was it all by itself? Why did he bring it down to the battle area alone? Now, it's possible that sub was scouting with it, but that's so wasteful - it's a promoted galley and he is in desperate need of every hull, let alone something that could be upgraded to a promoted caravel. Instead, this galley, like the presumed sentry outside Novaya Zemyla about 10 turns ago, was lost to largely no purpose.
So, squadrons exist as a means of ensuring I keep my ships organized nad supporting each other. The name of each unit tells me what kind of unit it is - right now Russia fields 3 types, Galleys, Caravels, and Frigates - how many ships - a Division, which I haven't used, is 3 ships, a Squadron is 2 divisions, etc., a fleet is non-standard but consists of multiple squadrons operating together - and where it is (even numbered - somewhere in the east, odd numbered, out west somewhere). So, I can keep straight in my head where all 34 ships of the Russian navy are at any given moment and what they're up to.
Build orders and procurement
This also helps with production planning. I know roughly how strong each squadron is, and I can estimate my enemy's strength based on the perfect intelligence of gold, military power, and resources Civ VI gives me every turn. So, using a bit of logic and prediction, I know about how many ships I'll need to carry out any mission I can think of, or, how many ships will be able to take care of themselves without suffering significant losses. That helps me to decide how many ships to build.
Now, generally more is better, and "as many ships as I physically can" has been my driving motivation many times. But eventually you reach a point where you have to balance. I have multiple cities that need harbors, lighthouses, essential infrastructure like shipyards or Industrial Zones (crucial for eurekas of key techs like Steam Power and Industrialization) - so when can I build those important things and not ships?
Well, I know that First Fleet is understrength by 4 frigates and 5 caravels at the moment. I also know that I can't use it to attack until I hit those strengths. Six frigates and six caravels are perfect for a one-city job - 3 each to attack the city, with others in reserve to cover losses or cover against enemy reinforcements. If I know no reinforcements are coming, I can split up into two divisions of 3 ships each and work a bit faster. So, I can't build other things until I fill out those 2 modern squadrons. Then, we can think about infrastructure, while training further follow-on units to join up with First Fleet.
Similarly, at Fuji, I know that I have a target for 4th fleet of 6 frigates and 6 caravels - enough to cover against surprise attack, and to launch a powerful attack against Milne or Tibbet's Brook*. I also know I don't have immediate need of those ships, so as long as I budget my production to hit those targets by turn 146, then I can pursue other projects like the Great Lighthouse (or at least, judge how far short I'll be of those targets and decide if that's worth it).
*
*Kaiser's southern plants are all off the coast - I guess he intends them more as research bases than production ones. Accordingly I can ignore them until the main Japanese fleet is beaten and its shipyards are captured. Tibbet's Brook, Milne, Fort Krasia, Lakton, and Angiers are the 5 Japanese shipyards.
So, that's why I have fleets, armies, and squadrons (and yes, it's SUPER annoying that Civ VI names its lategame combined units fleets and armies). They let me quickly determine what jobs my military is capable of, give me a rough templete for moving dozens of units on a turn without losing all sense of organization or coherence, and let me figure out how to balance my unit builds with my infrastructure builds so nothing is neglected.
Bonus: Here is the Russian Order of Battle as of turn 124.
Did you know there's a unit list on Civ VI now? I don't know when that was added. Here's all my units:
Right now, Russia fields 24 galleys, 3 caravels, 7 frigates, 2 warriors, 3 archers, 3 heavy chariots, 1 courser, 8 builders, 2 traders, and 5 great people.
Russian Army:
Unorganized. 2 archers and a warrior are defogging the southern hemisphere - it's cheaper to faith buy new units than to spend the gold to upgrade these into something modern. 1 warrior is fortified and holding back barbs on the southern frontier in Svalbard - pushing south might run into nastier things like swords. The heavy chariots and courser are operating in Australia - 2 patrolling near Ilmatic for mischief from there, 1 at sea having been a body-blocker, and the courser is on the front lines.
If I build a significant military force during the Sakhalin campaign, I might organize that into a proper army, but for now the units are all independent.
A fascinating read as usual, thanks for sharing your thought process. I'm reminded of old-school RTS games like Starcraft Brood War where you were limited to 10 control groups of 12 units, and different players had recognizably different styles of how they'd organize their units and production over the course of a game.
(May 9th, 2021, 09:59)Chevalier Mal Fet Wrote: How do you feel about my offering an economic alliance to Phoenicia for trading purposes?
I noticed Ljubljana trading messages in this forum before he played his turn. I think they were seriously discussing the alliance...
Otherwise, I re-suzerain Valletta and faith-buy Ancient Walls in MBDTF as well as a Water Mill in the Blueprint. I really need to increase the housing of the Blueprint (will hit 7 population next turn)...though an Aqueduct improvement would probably be a bad idea right now.
They did seriously discuss it, but not, alas, to our benefit. We'll get there, but I start the turn by finishing off the barbarian frigate:
The real reason I sent Magellan out here was to farm era score, of course. Next turn he'll transfer back to the west and take command of First Fleet. I will need his services soon, I think...
To diplomacy. Woden took the offered DoF, but Ljubljana rejected our alliance. He did offer no hard feelings, though:
Well, to show that I'm open to any kind of trade improvement, I offer him a research alliance instead:
I toss the economic alliance at Woden, too. The alliance tab reveals that both already have a military alliance "with another civilization" - gee, I wonder who that could be. I can't, alas, check on Sub and Roland yet (until I get a combat preview, that is), so no news there. I wonder why Ljub rejected? The DoF locks us into peace for 30 turns regardless, so he loses nothing. Does he not want to tip his hand to Archduke? Good luck if that's the case, but it won't work. Or did he intend someone else to get the econ alliance - maybe even Archduke himself? Again, good luck.
Oh, well. All will become clear later, I expect.
My most lucrative and shortest route seems to be Navarin, so I buy the trader there:
It'll go to Oracle Bones and back, out of the way of any pillagers (like the jong due to wander through in about 10 turns), and should establish a decent trading post for some diplo visibility. The extra +3 from Printing will also help with Sub/Roland - I should be ahead of them there, since they JUST reached Square Rigging (Roland) this turn. Which reminds me - after Medieval Faires, I shall head through Guilds to Diplomatic Service, and use that to train a spy. He will be dispatched to either sub or Roland, whoever I'm fighting more (so probably Sub) and begin raising my visibility level.
Finally, I make what I expect will be my very last Monumentality settler purchase. At nearly 750 faith, settlers are fast becoming not really worth the investment - but this one can go east of Donskoi onto Thesa and establish a shipbuilding colony in the tundra there. The only other good tundra spots are west of Svalbard, on that tiny island, and I don't think it's worth the faith. The Thesa colony alone will take 70 turns to repay the faith cost of the settler - instead I think of it as a way to reinvest faith into production, which can become ships. That'll give me 4 yards on Fuji Bay, and, if necessary, a continental toehold to GMC an army for Japan.
Onwards. Borodino could build a 4 adjacency industrial zone in 4 turns:
I opt for a frigate first - it'll go onto the IZ after this build, when the other 4 cities are all on ships. That will repay itself in only 31 turns, an absurdly short time horizon for a a district, and I might even speed that up with the Craftsmen card, which is a military card. It'll also be worth another 3 points of era score - I think I can score one more golden age, although I don't know if I'll stay in Monumentality, as the GMC will increasingly compete for faith purchases.
Oslyabya starts the Great Lighthouse, a perfect 10-turn build:
Unless China started it already, I think I should be good to grab this. I believe you can't speed it along with builders, and most people won't have 29-production harbor cities they can spare for this kind of project.
Moving on in order, the jong appears exactly as predicted, so we know sub is running hell for leather and isn't thinking of making any more mischief in the east. THat effectively means he's out of the war for literally longer than it'd take sub to faith-purchase another jong:
By the time it's relevant again I should have a massive fleet waiting on the far side of the world. I carefully keep my great writer on an ocean tile - he'll wave as sub sails by, but will need to cool his heels for a bit. My land units vaguely in the path I divert either towards the pack ice or to nearby islands to wait out the passage.
Also, note a couple of things about the Japanese cities -
1)Harden's Grove will have an excellent Industrial Zone later
2)Shepard's Dale built a theater square first, I guess because it's cheap for Japan.
3)2 of the cities have water third ring, so it'll be ages before Kaiser builds harbors and makes these cities remotely dangerous. I would ahve settled on the coast first and squeezed in these cities a bit further south.
To the front. Sub swapped hte knight and sword and hit my courser, redlining both units. Marco then finished the sword with his crossbow. I can finish the knight, but not with the courser:
The HC is no threat at all by itself. I blast the knight. The chariot can't kill my courser, I don't think (21 hp and the most damage I should suffer is 18, if I'm calculating right), and will be annihilated by Marco's crossbows, so the Indonesian expedition is mostly cleaned up.
Otherwise my frigates close in on Ilmatic - I keep out of sight, in case sub forgets they exist or something - and will begin the siege next turn:
Marco, if you bring your Man at Arms northwest next turn, onto the quarry on the near side of the river, I'll bring in my chariots on both flanks, which will besiege the city via ZoC. Sub will have to choose between shooting the 2 chariots (in pillage positions), your man at arms, or my 3 attacking frigates.
In the north, GalRons 4 and 2 creep closer to Have a Good Time - I'm on deep water so safe from galley attack:
One galley is detached to scout out Japan while we're in the area, and one is detached near Ilmatic to serve as a last-ditch attacker, otherwise all 10 galleys are concentrated here. What kind of navy am I facing?
Well, we described pretty much the entire Indonesian military on turn 100 or so, which consisted of 600 points. After that, sub peaked at about 800 score before suffering losses, so we know he added about 200 points worth of units. 4 of those were jongs, and of those 4, 3 were with the main fleet and were destroyed, apart from the lone survivor. 4 jongs...more or less accounts for the entire increase, actually.* We know 2 survived, and I speculated that he had perhaps 2 galleys not with the main fleet. That's still true. Sub probably has his single jong in theater near Shikishima (I pinned it for reference), meaning there's perhaps 1 or 2 galleys, maximum, opposing me here. I'll keep an eye on his military score for a ~55 point spike representing a new jong, but he keeps spending his faith on irrelevant things, helping me out.
*This isn't quite true - some of those jongs were quad upgrades and would only represent an increase of 30 points, so he might have one or two more land units that he didn't before.
That, by the way, is how I know about what force requirements I should have. These 2 squadrons will outnumber any opposition 5:1 so I should be good to pillage next turn. GalRons 1 and 3 will face maximum of 1 jong supported by 2 galleys, and their 12 galleys are more than a match for that.
The First and Third Squadrons do have to be cautious. China reached square rigging and dropped 10 niter and 160 gold on a 'mysterious' upgrade.
Bizarrely, he only upgraded one ship - did he just want the wall strength increase and he's planning on a caravel-heavy force? Regardless, I pin the possible areas the frigate could be and keep most of my squadron concentrated out of range. I don't need to withdraw unless he makes 3-4 more upgrades, so I will cautiously concentrate my forces and bring my 3 modern ships up in support. I do not intend to get involved in a massive battle yet, but with only 1 jong and 1 frigate to worry about, my 12 galleys, 2 frigates, and a caravel should be safe enough. In 6 turns 5 more modern ships will be joining and I can begin the Shikishima battle.
We'll stay west of the island and gather my forces there:
The intervening oceans make it hard for Sub/Roland to maneuver for the next 6-7 turns, so I can maybe use that to my advantage if they do come out for a scrap.
My exploring great writer reveals another Phoenician city-center, with 2 others nearby.
It borders Woden's capital, interestingly, much like The College Dropout borders Borodino.
Overview of the east:
Barb camp should be clear by 128 and then the MaA will head to Thesa to help garrison the shipbuilding colony. Hopefully Kaiser won't take offense to me claiming useless tundra.
Center:
Back to its usual military dominance.
West/Svalbard:
Lavras finish and all 3 cities are productive. Working on granaries to grow to 4 for their campuses.
Honestly, I wonder if I ought to make them shipyards, too? Should check and see how long caravels take. 3 more cities building would bring me to 11 total, more than some entire civilizations have cities.
Let's see...my 3 frigate attacks should combined do about 70 damage per turn to the walls of the city. If we have it under siege, too, then it won't heal. Sub should hit back and wound a frigate each turn, but he only has 200 hp. So turn 1, 3 frigates attack, Walls at 130. Turn 2, rotate out wounded frigate, 3 frigates attack, walls at 60. Turn 4, rotate out wounded frigate, 3 attack, walls are gone and nothing else can shoot at me. He has 200 faith and makes 60 per turn, so he can purchase a galley but not a jong in the time he has.
Marco, I think we can plan on getting your capital back by turn 128. Sorry it took so long, I had to run down the jongs first or, well, we'd've lost all of eastern Australia.
Meanwhile, with only one Chinese frigate so far, I think I'll probe cautiously, going slow with GalRon1 until I have Galron2 and my modern ships up. I will not bring on a major battle until Magellan joins with 5 fresh ships, but if that lone Chinese frigate wanders by it's a prime target for an ambush, or if I can pick off other isolated Chinese ships.
(May 10th, 2021, 18:59)Chevalier Mal Fet Wrote: Woden took the offered DoF, but Ljubljana rejected our alliance. He did offer no hard feelings, though:
Hmm...privately, I don't buy it. I think an offer to trade Diplo favor with Diplo favor could deliberately trick us into a false sense of security, and in reality they could be just buying time and building a competitive navy before deciding to come against us.
Perhaps the best way to test out their genuine intentions is to ask for a bank loan, receiving a lump sum of gold and sending them a certain amount of gold per turn. If we ask for this bank loan on, say, turn 140, we will only have 15 turns of a DoF left with them. If they accept the bank loan, it probably signals that they will want peace until turn 170 because they want to profit off of that initial loan. If they refuse the bank loan, then we know that we're probably going to war as soon as the DoF finishes.
Of course, it doesn't have to be turn 140. I think turn 136 or turn 137 could work perfectly well.
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