(February 24th, 2022, 17:33)Amicalola Wrote: Piccadilly, if you have any thoughts on my game (or the game in general), I'd love to hear them! Especially on the most recent turns, like my war and the peace treaty. Were you expecting me to offer peace when I did?
I can do that and I already wrote a bit in my thread on civforum. But I think I better restrain myself from saying more than necessary before the game actually ends.
The peace treaty did not surprise me that much, I was thinking about offering something similar myself. I was actually more surprised by the attack.
Looking forward to reading your story and the show that is still to come.
(February 24th, 2022, 17:33)Amicalola Wrote: Piccadilly, if you have any thoughts on my game (or the game in general), I'd love to hear them! Especially on the most recent turns, like my war and the peace treaty. Were you expecting me to offer peace when I did?
I can do that and I already wrote a bit in my thread on civforum. But I think I better restrain myself from saying more than necessary before the game actually ends.
The peace treaty did not surprise me that much, I was thinking about offering something similar myself. I was actually more surprised by the attack.
Looking forward to reading your story and the show that is still to come.
Looking forward to reading it, and hearing your other thoughts soon then! Or maybe not so soon, I suspect this game could go for a while...
The attack was motivated by this, basically: "If Miguelito and I stop Piccadilly, I have a small chance to win. If Piccadilly's spaceship finishes, I have no chance to win. Therefore: I should help stop Piccadilly." But once Miguelito was blocking me from Lazteuq's territory I felt my chance to win was 0% even if we stopped you, so I might as well offer a (very favourable) peace. I was very glad you accepted it!
I was really impressed by your spaceship-building, by the way. Before I had city visibility (early T230s), I kept thinking you were much further behind than you actually were, because you basically got every part done within ~3 turns or something. Really nice job with that. It was also good to see because now I can prepare for Miguelito to do the same thing...
(February 24th, 2022, 17:38)superdeath Wrote: NOW... what is the game plan?
I am considering doing three broad posts in the next week or two. The first is to answer this: my current situation and what my plans are. The second is a 'how I got here,' because this game has been completely wild for me from start to finish and I would love to write a cohesive summary of that. And the third is another 'Around the World' series, since a lot of people have died and the world has changed dramatically since T200. But these would all be pretty long, so we will see if I end up having the time, although I will promise at least the first one.
(February 25th, 2022, 04:36)klops Wrote: I guess it's much easier NOW. Devastation and Domination! :D
Gratz on your tactics, although I agree that it was kind of a jerk move But hey, you have to piss off some people if you want to win a big game. (or you have to be much better on micro and makro than everybody else)
To a point, although we have to be pretty calculating. I made a big mistake from T230-240 trying to fight too many people at once, so I need to be very careful about who/where I push and where I don't.
Thanks! Yeah, my micro is much better than when I started last year, but my macro still needs a lot of work, hence the wild ride. At least I predicted the jerk move a while ago...
(December 12th, 2021, 05:32)Amicalola Wrote: T221...
... Currently I'm still trading with Mig, since he's giving me grain resources. Piccadilly is a terrible trading partner here, because they also want grain resources. But I'm obviously prepared to swap sides, if it looks like Mig is pulling in front. We might need to be sleazy backstabbing jerks, if we're aiming for the 1% chance. Sorry in advance, everybody.
Hello, I have realised this turn that I don't really understand how SDI works. For example (and this my main question), if I nuke this tile of Lazteuq's, will Miguelito's SDI activate? It is not his territory, but his units will be hit obviously. I have found very inconsistent information online, and projects can't be build in the Worldbuilder for testing, from what I can tell.
I don't really want to bite the bullet and just try it, because if it activates it's 1500 hammers down the drain (actually it's a large city whip and I have a very limited number of those left in the game, so it's worse). But I will play the turn tomorrow regardless, to not slow the game any further. Any answers/info appreciated.
Ill donate 5$ to the hammer fund if it doesnt work how u want it.
"Superdeath seems to have acquired a rep for aggression somehow. In this game that's going to help us because he's going to go to the negotiating table with twitchy eyes and slightly too wide a grin and terrify the neighbors into favorable border agreements, one-sided tech deals and staggered NAPs."
-Old Harry. PB48.
I modded a version of CtH to make all the relevant things available at game start and costing 1h and ran a hotseat test game, and it looks like SDI will in fact activate if you launch a nuke at a third party's territory, or even unowned territory, but it would damage the SDI controller's units. (in this image De Gaulle of Egypt has SDI, I launched one ICBM into his territory and it was shot down, then one into Babylon's territory, without SDI, and it was also shot down).
On the next turn, I shuffled the units around and targeted the unowned tile:
Is this what you mean by inconsistent information?
Yeah, pretty much. That thread itself has conflicting answers, and then there's a bunch of other conflicting information out there as well. It looks like the most detailed poster is correct in this case though, from the tests.
(February 27th, 2022, 13:56)superdeath Wrote: Ill donate 5$ to the hammer fund if it doesnt work how u want it.
(February 27th, 2022, 14:12)El Grillo Wrote: I modded a version of CtH to make all the relevant things available at game start and costing 1h and ran a hotseat test game, and it looks like SDI will in fact activate if you launch a nuke at a third party's territory, or even unowned territory, but it would damage the SDI controller's units. (in this image De Gaulle of Egypt has SDI, I launched one ICBM into his territory and it was shot down, then one into Babylon's territory, without SDI, and it was also shot down).
On the next turn, I shuffled the units around and targeted the unowned tile:
Thanks so much! That's really good info, and a smart way to test it. Looks like the ICBMs are not going to be useful against Miguelito then, since it's 6000 expected hammers to hit one nuke (and that's only the average). I'll probably mass a small collection (maybe like 8?) and use them somewhere all at once, and maybe I'll catch Miguelito off-guard and hit a critical 'safe' stack.
I think the other question I'd have is whether launching a nuke adjacent to SDI territory (but with no units even adjacent) triggers it. So I guess whether it's the adjacent 8 tiles, or the targeted tile itself, that matter territorially (although consistency's sake suggests it's the adjacency, since it seems to be for units). Whether units and territory are considered differently, is probably a better way to put it. But that's not relevant for this turn, and I really appreciate what you've done already. Thanks again!
It's a shame I have two unused tactical nukes over by Cairo at the moment, being able to nuke that stack/city I showed would be pretty enormous right now. Oh well, Miguelito wins T247 pretty handily, but that was expected with the first strike, and he hasn't won the game yet. Will finish the turn and post the reports over the course of the day.
Tactical nukes iirc, have a good chance of evading SDI tho!
"Superdeath seems to have acquired a rep for aggression somehow. In this game that's going to help us because he's going to go to the negotiating table with twitchy eyes and slightly too wide a grin and terrify the neighbors into favorable border agreements, one-sided tech deals and staggered NAPs."
-Old Harry. PB48.
T247
I've just started my masters degree and it turns out it's considerably more difficult than a bachelors; who could have possibly known? The coursework is enjoyable, but this week is a becoming rude awakening. With that in mind, we're probably looking at briefer reports again, with an occasional 'details special,' compared to the DZ/SD war reports or last turn's. Anyway, onto the turn:
The East (Cairo War)
Cairo concentrated his defense on the Astro island, with ~20 modern units garrisoning Denizli and Mugla, and his fleet sailing to protect it. I wonder if he was hoping to make a last stand over there, once the mainland falls. The fleet is decent-sized (~10 battleships and 5 destroyers), and I can take it on with my own similar sized fleet to likely damage it, but then I am vulnerable to Miguelito sallying out of Piccadilly's lands. So instead, we take the nuclear approach:
This leaves most of the ships at <25 strength, and our destroyers swarm the fleet like piranhas. The ships are massacred, and then, thanks to the bullshit magic that is City-Raider2 tanks, we are able to conquer the whole island.
Meanwhile, on the mainland, Cairo attacks out with plenty of troops. He kills 8-10 tanks, some fighters, and a bunch of old junk, but we are able to mop up virtually all the attackers in retaliation. We invade the north coast from our southern ports:
...while the other half of our Piccadilly navy reaches the west coast.
Meanwhile, the land advance continues mostly as expected. I will highlight one critical mistake:
I intended to promote this tank to Commando and capture Arrival. Can anyone see the issue? This was at night when I thought I was playing the whole turn, and trying to be fast. Can't be making mistakes like that if we want any chance of competing with Mig...
In summary, despite the Commando setback, this part of the turn was a raging success. We captured 20 out of Cairo's remaining 34 cities, although he's certain to take a few of them back. We can bomb out Cairo's only remaining oil source next turn, as well. The Ottoman military has collapsed way faster than I expected, and it looks as though we can probably kill Mr. Cairo by T250. With a lot of luck, it could actually happen next turn.
The West (Retreating from Miguelito)
Miguelito was always going to get the first strike in (after I waited too long to retreat, that is), and he made the most of it. I simply haven't sent enough troops (especially ships) in this direction over the last 5 turns, because I've been too focused on Mr. Cairo. So Miguelito smashed through what I did have without breaking a sweat.
That isn't the whole log, but you get the idea. We take a lot of casualties trying to retaliate:
Most of our battleships and destroyers in this area are sunk. I have mostly retreated the transports such that we are out of range of Mig's missile cruisers, but tactical nukes could still ruin my day.
Miguelito also besieges the Astro island, and we are in no better a position to relieve it.
There are ships on their way, but in too small number to make an immediate difference. Whether we can hold the Astro island remains to be seen.
If the Cairo war was an overwhelming success, the Miguelito war was an equally overwhelming disaster this turn. Our 'navy' in the West is in ruins, our islands are at risk, and our armies are scattered. I am in full retreat, desperately trying to save the tanks on the transports; it's hard to know if Miguelito has any of his own nukes nearby, since he can produce quite a few per turn with base hammers. I should probably assume that he does, from now on. Even without nukes he has completely occupied the oceans, and will likely begin taking the nearby islands over the next few turns.
The Bigger Problem (Economy: Catastrophic. People: Rioting)
So uh, our breakeven research rate right now is.....
25%?! That's like, cripplingly bad. Another way of putting it is that our breakeven is about 2000 beakers per turn, in an era where the techs cost over 10000. Not just that, but we're still behind Mig by 3 key military techs - this is going to be an uphill battle... Again, thank goodness I signed that peace with Piccadilly, or Miguelito would have already won.
Part of the problem is corporation expenses, which account for nearly 2000 base gpt now (3000 with inflation). But the bigger issue is that our core cities, the ones with Observatories and Banks, have just had enough of their Dear Leader. We're looking at 2-4 unhappy faces even in Size10 cities at this point - the Vespertine Empire's internal clock is finally running out.
The Grand Plan (...Is Not Yet Decided)
Broadly speaking, I need to hit either the East or West very hard, and just defend the other direction. Currently, I'm leaning towards hitting the ex-Piccadilly continent with everything I have, since Miguelito has already done so much damage in the West. But that could definitely change based on circumstance next turn. I will decide next turn however, since the Cairo troops will need to be sent in the correct direction starting then.
To that effect, I have also started approaching the other players for a crumb of friendship. I sent peace to Charriu and Lazteuq, on the off-chance they take it. I also approached Civac, Ichabod and Frozen with offers to help fight Miguelito. These offers are all entirely genuine; I have no intention to fight any of them for the rest of the game. If even one of them responds, I'll be over the moon. It still feels a lot like 'Amicalola vs. the World' over here.
Regardless, I can't fight Mig with the current tech situation. It's the same as fighting Piccadilly was, except my numbers advantage is much smaller. So I am taking drastic measures for the next 3-4 turns:
The very-low-hammer cities will continue whipping troops, but otherwise I'm putting most cities on Wealth for a few turns. I need Computers, Robotics and Composites ASAP to have a chance of competing, and I think it's worth taking 3-4 turns of wealth builds to research those quickly (My GNP at 100% barely cracks Miguelito's even with 2500 gpt from Wealth ). The cities will keep growing, and get ready for the mother-of-all whipping sprees starting at about T252. The Core Continent might already by furious with their dear leader, but they ain't seen nothin' yet.