Turn 190 - Phoenicia
Well, I ended up bailing on that plan after my IC fleet revealed this:
A second GW, so killing this one is...not useless, since it means they would at least have no scouts on this side of Runic, but not as impactful as I hoped. What pushed me over the edge was the fact that my IC fleet would be automatically scouted by the other GW, and I noticed that a Russian melee ship could actually sail around Runic to the tile between the two GW and hit me next turn, which could kill the IC in conjunction with the city strike. So my IC scurried back 3SW with its iron-plated tail between its legs. At least there it shouldn't be scouted unless there really is a huge wave of Russian ships to our north. I also dropped the other IC fleet from the south into Linear B juuust in case the defense strength gave away that something was amiss.
I think this deploy is a bit better than some of the other ones I've put up lately. That gap between the caravels and the frigates means no frigate sniping from that angle - Russian privateers would have to go all the way around the weakened caravel to find any frigates. They could still pick off the single caravel if they have ships in range, which is the main flaw (it didn't have the MP to get any closer), but that would cost at least 2 privateers and is hardly a slam-dunk for them.
You can see that I wasn't too brave about going for the Cossack, since I couldn't kill it and I was nervous that the fleet caravel + field cannon could kill my double-promoted Elizabeth Bonaventure (70-health caravel fleet, which is still kicking from way back at the start of the TAD war!) if I left it outside the GA range. But our horsey friend might be as good as displaced anyways with the one good hit I got, as it will be much deader if sticks around until next turn. I also did 28 damage to Rodeo and highrolled Illmatic to zero out the health. Looking around, it looks like Illmatic and all the other visible Australian cities have just bare campuses, no libraries or unis or anything, so maybe it won't be a disaster after all if we take the city (post-Russian Refining) and give our foes one science pillage.
We also may have a, uh, uniquely compelling reason to not expect too strong a counterattack on this turn because:
Their MA has lapsed! Let's see how long it takes them to get it renewed. If we are very lucky, maybe roland will not notice the renewal bug (since they might not be planning to hit any units this turn) and we will get a full round of no +5 CS for Russia
More miscellany: I feel comfortable saying that Russia has definitively messed up at Svetlana/Oracle Bones:
Liang is way too late to save this city, as she has been dawdling in doomed Runic/Hieratic/etc. for the longest time. I think we are about to see the rarest of all MP Civ6 occurrences: a free city that stands on its own feet loyalty-wise (since it will get a 10-point boost from independence to offset the -1.9 loyalty from population). It is also sufficiently out of the way that I don't think it will be conquered for some while. Could we actually see a free city survive to the end of the game?
...I could capture a barb camp next turn! Probably not worth it though, as this sword will make an invaluable anti-privateer scout once it joins the rest of the fleet. Its trek has led it through frigid Indonesian wilderness, past terrifying close encounters with Russian knights, and now almost all the way back to Phoenician-born Leif Erickson. When they compare maps, they will rediscover that the world is round
How bad do you think my war weariness is, if you had to guess? I admit I have not checked it directly in kind of a while. But I haven't lost that many units, really, other than at the Battle of (W)oden that will live rent-free in my head for the rest of forever. And most of my deaths have been at home, too, which significantly mitigates the penalty...
...oh
I beg you for all your extra luxes (and diplo favor), offering up a meager 200 gold in exchange:
And then I get a little more desperate than that:
I saw that you had an extra dye, so I'm trying to trade my one dye to suboptimal so I can beg you for that, too. It would be worth more to Bruindane, who has the larger empire, but China has been rejecting my lux deals of late, so I figured maybe sub would feel more like being nice to me this time...
Speaking of diplo favor, you will notice that Russia got a bunch last turn too - apparently an emergency against them, presumably called ages ago by China/Indonesia, ended on the same turn as yours. So we are not out in front of that race as Australia will get a big favor gift next turn, too, and has crazy high favor income for some reason.
I actually think we should try to buy some of China and Indonesia's favor off of them. Maybe you could ship them some luxes for their diplo favor? If they aren't going to use it to help us, maybe they will give it to us so we can help ourselves. If I could, I would trade Anoch Sun to China for their 220 diplo favor. And...I actually could trade 8 hammer per turn Nsibidi to China for all their favor... That might be a good move if it weren't so cheesy, some of the resolutions (100% hammer discount on military!) are crazy impactful.
There is also one more trick we can pull: on the last turn before the WC, remind me to gift half my favor back to you. It is worth more in terms of votes if evenly divided between us than if one person hoards it all and ends up spending 70 or 80 favor for one marginal vote. That could make the difference if our opponents decline to do so.
edit: dare me to try to sneak that sword into He Was My Brother?
edit2: Wait, is WC after this turn or next turn? If it is after this turn, please reject my diplo favor deal as it will cost us votes. If it's after next turn, I can give you the favor back next turn and you will at least save 26 from not having to pay your deficit.
Well, I ended up bailing on that plan after my IC fleet revealed this:
A second GW, so killing this one is...not useless, since it means they would at least have no scouts on this side of Runic, but not as impactful as I hoped. What pushed me over the edge was the fact that my IC fleet would be automatically scouted by the other GW, and I noticed that a Russian melee ship could actually sail around Runic to the tile between the two GW and hit me next turn, which could kill the IC in conjunction with the city strike. So my IC scurried back 3SW with its iron-plated tail between its legs. At least there it shouldn't be scouted unless there really is a huge wave of Russian ships to our north. I also dropped the other IC fleet from the south into Linear B juuust in case the defense strength gave away that something was amiss.
I think this deploy is a bit better than some of the other ones I've put up lately. That gap between the caravels and the frigates means no frigate sniping from that angle - Russian privateers would have to go all the way around the weakened caravel to find any frigates. They could still pick off the single caravel if they have ships in range, which is the main flaw (it didn't have the MP to get any closer), but that would cost at least 2 privateers and is hardly a slam-dunk for them.
You can see that I wasn't too brave about going for the Cossack, since I couldn't kill it and I was nervous that the fleet caravel + field cannon could kill my double-promoted Elizabeth Bonaventure (70-health caravel fleet, which is still kicking from way back at the start of the TAD war!) if I left it outside the GA range. But our horsey friend might be as good as displaced anyways with the one good hit I got, as it will be much deader if sticks around until next turn. I also did 28 damage to Rodeo and highrolled Illmatic to zero out the health. Looking around, it looks like Illmatic and all the other visible Australian cities have just bare campuses, no libraries or unis or anything, so maybe it won't be a disaster after all if we take the city (post-Russian Refining) and give our foes one science pillage.
We also may have a, uh, uniquely compelling reason to not expect too strong a counterattack on this turn because:
Their MA has lapsed! Let's see how long it takes them to get it renewed. If we are very lucky, maybe roland will not notice the renewal bug (since they might not be planning to hit any units this turn) and we will get a full round of no +5 CS for Russia
More miscellany: I feel comfortable saying that Russia has definitively messed up at Svetlana/Oracle Bones:
Liang is way too late to save this city, as she has been dawdling in doomed Runic/Hieratic/etc. for the longest time. I think we are about to see the rarest of all MP Civ6 occurrences: a free city that stands on its own feet loyalty-wise (since it will get a 10-point boost from independence to offset the -1.9 loyalty from population). It is also sufficiently out of the way that I don't think it will be conquered for some while. Could we actually see a free city survive to the end of the game?
...I could capture a barb camp next turn! Probably not worth it though, as this sword will make an invaluable anti-privateer scout once it joins the rest of the fleet. Its trek has led it through frigid Indonesian wilderness, past terrifying close encounters with Russian knights, and now almost all the way back to Phoenician-born Leif Erickson. When they compare maps, they will rediscover that the world is round
How bad do you think my war weariness is, if you had to guess? I admit I have not checked it directly in kind of a while. But I haven't lost that many units, really, other than at the Battle of (W)oden that will live rent-free in my head for the rest of forever. And most of my deaths have been at home, too, which significantly mitigates the penalty...
...oh
I beg you for all your extra luxes (and diplo favor), offering up a meager 200 gold in exchange:
And then I get a little more desperate than that:
I saw that you had an extra dye, so I'm trying to trade my one dye to suboptimal so I can beg you for that, too
. It would be worth more to Bruindane, who has the larger empire, but China has been rejecting my lux deals of late, so I figured maybe sub would feel more like being nice to me this time...Speaking of diplo favor, you will notice that Russia got a bunch last turn too - apparently an emergency against them, presumably called ages ago by China/Indonesia, ended on the same turn as yours. So we are not out in front of that race as Australia will get a big favor gift next turn, too, and has crazy high favor income for some reason.
I actually think we should try to buy some of China and Indonesia's favor off of them. Maybe you could ship them some luxes for their diplo favor? If they aren't going to use it to help us, maybe they will give it to us so we can help ourselves. If I could, I would trade Anoch Sun to China for their 220 diplo favor. And...I actually could trade 8 hammer per turn Nsibidi to China for all their favor... That might be a good move if it weren't so cheesy, some of the resolutions (100% hammer discount on military!) are crazy impactful.
There is also one more trick we can pull: on the last turn before the WC, remind me to gift half my favor back to you. It is worth more in terms of votes if evenly divided between us than if one person hoards it all and ends up spending 70 or 80 favor for one marginal vote. That could make the difference if our opponents decline to do so.
edit: dare me to try to sneak that sword into He Was My Brother?
edit2: Wait, is WC after this turn or next turn? If it is after this turn, please reject my diplo favor deal as it will cost us votes. If it's after next turn, I can give you the favor back next turn and you will at least save 26 from not having to pay your deficit.
