[SPOILERS] Woden and ljubljana like boats

[Woden]

I have at least 1 spare trader many of the English cities can rebuild them in 3 turns. I will just have to be careful where I send then. Speaking of traders, any routes that end or any routes you can start need to go to Thor. You are running Wisselbaken, right? That will help increase Thor's production for the upcoming Manhattan Project.

Can you still build quads? Might be a good idea to have your Japanese holdings build them for future upgrades. My income should improve within the next 10 turns and I will have some pillage income.

My hope is I can chase him off in the south for a few turns while my ironclads from the southern sea can make it over. Then, I can move my fleet north to chase him around your shores.

[Woden]

Here is what I find just moving a few ships up...
   

The plan is to kill these ships with battleships and keep moving my ironclads up, looking for more ships. My bets guess if that there is more ships along Geneva's coast and probably a bunch of fleets along the small island on the west side, ready to pounce if I go looking where he pillaged. My battleships at Nsibidi can kill the 2 northern privateers and Freya can kill the one by it. Then, I move south and kill whatever else I find. Should be like shooting fish in a barrel.

[ljubljana]

That is fine with me. I am guessing there are not too too many privateers coming behind whichever ones are currently here, as his plan is likely to bleed me dry in Australia by trickling in 4 or so ships per turn. The sad thing is that such a plan has quite plausible odds of success...

edit: And yes, I can still make quads. I can swap to Press Gangs now and start on some. But I don't know if that's really a good idea as you will need all the income you can get for destroyer upgrades. I would say calculate out how much money you will need to use up all your oil on destroyers, and I can use anything left over on quads.

edit2: I am thinking about moving my 3 caravels on the Russian front over to Australia as reinforcements - are you okay with that? They will do next to nothing against Russia's main fleet but are pretty strong vs. privateers and with a GA in tow.

edit3: I also do not know if I should go too crazy with the privateer kills this turn. I am not sure they would move up like this if they did not have more privateers behind it waiting to pounce, and the 1-promoted half-health caravel fleet has a second promotion ready to go that would be wasted if it dies...

[Woden]

Too late to write the conclusion of my report but I kill 11 privateers (2 fleets and 9 singles) near Geneva. I spotted an injured Caravel but not sure if he has any more south of Freya. I have a pretty good blockade protecting my battleships, so we should be good to move north. If he does have much more down there, he will most likely hold back until my fleet leaves. I don't suspect a counterattack since I did kill 11 ships.

As for the privateers by Australia, if you don't engage them, they will just disappear and attack in a few turns, probably with friends. Not sure the best move. Is it possible to promote and then position to have more ships being able to reach them next turn, in case he attacks again? Anyways, good luck on your turn. I am off to bed, so won't be bale to offer advise until morning.

Given the numbers I found near Geneva, it was the right play. I figure 4 or 5 privateers could kill a battleship or ironclad, so I saved 2 ships per turn if I just went north to chase after his northern fleet.

Edit: Make that 12 privateers, I forgot the one that Freyr killed.

[ljubljana]

Wow!! 11 privateers, that's an amazing haul! Definitely the right decision there - that is 570 milpower, probably most of their privateer fleet down here.

[ljubljana]

Turn 168 - Phoenicia

This turn felt a bit stupid...maybe because it was played between the hours of 3 and 5 AM. That's EST this time, by the way - greetings from a tiny AirBnB in New York...



Your field cannon claimed another victim in the form of a promoted single Cossack originally on Linear A's iron. That attack plus the city strike plus an attack from the promoted P/S on the campus was enough to score the kill here. Then, I combined the P/S that got the kill (and was therefore out of position) with the unpromoted one to the SE, creating a promoted corps on the campus. Our little triangle should not be in any real danger of breaking for one more turn.

I also finally realized I should give the coal tile back to Cuneiform while the city is not in danger of falling, as Victor's Garrison Commander promotion will then grant +5 CS on defense for the unpromoted corps on that tile. As soon as williams gets battleships, I will need to give it back, though, as I am not sure Cuneiform can hold out for more than one turn once those hit the scene. I also noticed that I was getting +5 from GC even when hovering over an attack with the new P/S corps, which definitely should not be happening...



Unsatisfying defensive deploy, because I couldn't figure out a way to get more than one kill without exposing precious frigates or low-health caravel fleets to a counterattack. I did kill one privateer with my two new caravels, which will merge into an Embolon fleet next turn if not dealt with. I could have gotten a second kill in the NW, but that seemed foolish as it would have left my precious frigates exposed and could have cost me the half-health Embolon caravel fleet as well.

Let's see what they do. If they kill one of my caravels, it will be probably a 3 for 1 trade for them, and I will actually be able to hit all the privateers in response with ships from Illmatic. If they disappear, I can consolidate my line, finish off Illmatic, then hunt them with all my ships at once with the GA rather than in ones and twos like this. I don't really think they will go for my caravels, as they have clearly been trying to whittle down my frigate numbers...but of the visible privateers, only one is in range of a frigate. They did manage to separate one injured Embolon caravel fleet from the rest off in the NE, which is trying to rejoin the group now, but I think it will survive 3 hits from the privateers in range if it comes to that (and likely promote in the process). Best guess is that they will seemingly disappear while actually positioning to hit my frigates next turn - if they do that, I should be able to scout and attack them before they get the chance.

Illmatic walls are down too. Not sure if I should kill the health for you next turn as well - it seems like I probably should, but perhaps not if it means wasting my chance to go after privateers. Australia did not move the field cannon as I expected, so I was able to finish off the walls with my half-health triple-promoted fleet (the White Bear), which is about to become a full-health quadruple-promoted fleet

No Renaissance Walls in Rodeo, either, huh? Well...apparently suboptimal took suzereignty sometime in the recent past by dumping 16 envoys in Valletta! I went ahead and started moving Amani over there myself, losing 2 culture from Antananarivo, in case I need to do the same with my own 14 envoys after Scorched Earth. I also...started Scorched Earth and swapped from Limes to Press Gangs, and am starting to put cities back on ships as they finish their P/S builds.

Australia is below 3CC suboptimal in milpower now - ouch! With Russia having lost 14 units this turn, we stand a real chance of catching their combined score next turn for the first time all war. I still do not feel great about our long-term prospects, but wow, I sure never thought we'd live to see that happen

edit: I will have to remember to pin the privateer positions from this turn when I open the save so I can get a sense of where they might be hiding next turn if they reposition to go for the frigates...

edit2: Remind me how much oil you expect to have when Combined Arms comes online? It should be about 320 gold per destroyer upgrade in the discount policy, so I figure we should max out on those before upgrading any more quads to frigates...and also probably do my IC upgrades first too. So I think I will mostly focus on caravels for now instead of trying to replenish my frigate stockpile...I badly need to do the latter, of course, but I think we just won't have enough gold to make it a priority. If you have niter to spare, though, feel free to send me 20 and I can start hand-building a new frigate in Fort Lakton, at least.

[Woden]

edit2: Remind me how much oil you expect to have when Combined Arms comes online? It should be about 320 gold per destroyer upgrade in the discount policy, so I figure we should max out on those before upgrading any more quads to frigates...and also probably do my IC upgrades first too. So I think I will mostly focus on caravels for now instead of trying to replenish my frigate stockpile...I badly need to do the latter, of course, but I think we just won't have enough gold to make it a priority. If you have niter to spare, though, feel free to send me 20 and I can start hand-building a new frigate in Fort Lakton, at least.

I have 2 sources already hooked up for 6 oil per turn right now. I also have a builder sailing over to Fort Miln that should be able to hook up a 3rd source in 3 turns. Finally, I have a 4th source in northern Japan, where the tile will be claimed in 6 turns. I figure I would wait on until it is claimed since I should have plenty of oil with just the 2 sources I have hooked up right now. I figure I have 6 turns, so with 6 per turn I will have 36 in storage. At 320 gold per destroyer (or 640 per fleet), I probably will only be able to upgrade a few ironclad fleets right away. 

I am going to have to see if I can get more gold and may need to drop Natural Philosophy for a short while (which gives me about 25 science) for something that provides gold. The -2 gold maintenance cost card is at mobilization, so that would help. I can replace the extra coal card if I upgrade enough ironclads. 

My civic plan right now is to switch of Suffrage in a few turns and work on Conservation and help speed it up with some pillages. If I can bring both down to 1 turn I can swap into the upgrade card so 1 turn and not have to be without the OL card for too long.

[Woden]

At Illmatic, I think if you leave the tile in front of the city, I can move my fleet ironclad there on T189. If you can kill the Cossack, that would be extremely helpful but it doesn't have to be next turn. My plan for the fleet ironclad is to pillage the iron next turn and then move in front of the city the following turn and pillage the mine. I have a promotion that I can use if he attacks it but want to hold off using it until I need too. I should be ready to pillage the horses on T190. There is also the outback station to pillage but I have no clue what yields those give, if any.

Anyway, no need to shoot at the city unless you want to experience farm it. If you have other objectives (like killing privateers), go for it. We have a few turns before we take Illmatic. I also should look to see if I can get a berserker near it to pillage the inland tiles. There is a campus and some lumbermills that could be useful.

[ljubljana]

Oh sorry, that 320ish cost is my estimate for a fleet upgrade (in the discount policy), not a single destroyer upgrade. We are definitely going to need more gold soon, though. At least once you finish Suffrage you can swap to Democracy and add more economic policies - harbor doubling + Conscription will get you some ways towards fixing this. Maybe that is motivation for doing so before Conservation...

For my part, I will probably leave Grand Armee for Conscription once this round of P/S builds finishes, depending on how dumb that seems at the time (eg whether it looks like I will need even more P/S). Also, my gold is your gold, and feel free to ask for it whenever you need it as long as I won't lose a unit from strikes.

No mention of your new friend?

An inexcusable slight! Lord Nelson will join up with the rest of the captured British fleet in a few turns, where he will supply top-quality moral support while we wait for enough gold and coal for IC. He may find the ships a bit dated for his liking (our flagship is the 1573 Dreadnought not the one at Trafalgar), but I'm sure he'll make do

edit: re Illmatic, yeah, I will probably not shoot at the city too much then and will focus on privateers and, if we are spectacularly lucky in that respect, maybe working on Rodeo. Although the defense strength buff is coming very very soon so maybe I do need to get the health down somewhat before that happens... The sad thing is, taking the city is going to help williams quite a bit by giving them free campus pillages I don't think that's enough of a reason to not do it, but it's a real shame after all the effort we put in at the campuses in Phoenicia...

edit2: According to civwiki the outback station gives health, lmao...

[Woden]

Battle of Geneva-T187

This was a interesting battle, trying to figure out what ships should attack and when. I ended up not being able to use one of my fleet battleships but, luckily, I didn't need it. Here is the start again, I moved some ships and my GA up to locate the pillagers...
   

To start things off, I brought the 2 single battleships up by Nsibidi to sink the fleet on the west side. Then the battleship in Thor sailed out to sink the single one by the Admiral. Next, Freyr sank the one it could reach (3 kills) I left the one in the south live for a little bit longer while I move my other scouts up and found more ships...
   

Now, I find the farthest ironclad than can reach the 2 northern privateers and took them out (2 kills), only to find...
   

A fleet privateer in the west. I brought one of the privateers near Loki down to kill it but first moved my GA within range help secure the kill. (1 kill) I moved my scouts down to find more privateers.
   

From the support bonuses, I know these are the last ships in the immediate area. This is where I realized I haven't used the fleet battleship at Nsibidi yet and now he is out of reach. I bring the fleet battleship out of Loki to kill the middle privateer in the group of 3, then kill the other 2 with the fleet ironclads next to them. Next, I bring the fleet ironclad protecting Loki's harbor down to kill the northern one of the 2 next to Geneva. Finally, I kill the last one with the single ironclad. I left this guy for last since I wanted to see if I can link him up with the other single ironclad to make a fleet, which I am able to do. (5 kills). Overall, I killed 11 (I guess it was 1 not 12). Here is how my fleet ended up....
   

The fleet battleship moved down to protect the harbor and IZ at Loki. The way my fleet ended up, I should have good protection for my battleships. There is one small gap in the line but anything that attacked through there will be dead on my next turn. The battleships and ironclads over near England position south of Akkad island. I did merge 6 ironclads and 2 battleships, bringing my required coal down to 30. I will still be short but only by 2. I might need to merge a couple more battleships before I attack his fleet. I have a builder heading towards the coal mine to fix it and I did buy a Cuirassier to help protect the mine but I will need another one before I fix it, so the unit can survive against his cossack corps.