Chevalier Rides Again: A City Lights exploration

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

FYI, the randoms game died to a game-breaking bug (Norway couldn't load the save anymore). And my friends are taking about one turn a month. Sooo these are mostly dead. Might load up the City Lights games in SP just to play them out.

[williams482]

That's unfortunate.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Back in Friends #2, since randoms is dead (I declare victory, I was running away with that one), I finish the Pyramids as we slog closer to turn 60. We're still in the ANCIENT ERA, friends. This game started in flipping MARCH. 

Anyway, builders are somewhat nerfed in city lights, since you get so many miners, fishers, and farmers from your rural districts, but Pyramids is still nice to grab when you have +10 Work Ethic production out of your desert holy sites. 

Check out these build times in the core:




Urban districts boosting adjacency + Desert Folklore + Scripture + Work Ethic is fueling a massive production boost across the empire. Research is far behind Korea and on par with Rome, but considering I'm the Cree and at the top of a VERY slippery snowball slope I feel good.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Randoms, Turn 109

We resurrected the randoms game from the game-breaking bug about a month ago and have played about 15 turns or so since, so I have an update. 

Here is the main situation:



Norway proved unexpectedly vulnerable to Japan's attack. Despite near-military parity when they began, Japan has knifed through Norway's cities and reduced him to a single tundra plant in the south and a desperate colony across the seas. 2 Norwegian cities and 1 city-state have fallen to the samurai. This unexpected development caught me flat-footed, in the midst of massive infrastructure builds across my empire. I have been steadily working on harbors, industrial zones, and settlers - my gold is poor, but so is my production. I miss Work Ethic! So my military, which we maintained at a comfortable interval over any immediate threats, was not in position to immediately intervene against Japan. 

Since, I have crash-researched Caravel technology and dispatched an immediate relief force. 



Two caravels, all I could afford to upgrade at first, followed by a third, will hit and burn Hattusa. We will then raid along the Japanese coast, burning fishing boats and attempting to sink the Japanese navy in these waters before they reach caravels themselves. I am also racing to Exploration to unlock Press Gangs, at which point every city will go over to shipbuilding once it finishes the immediate infrastructure. Barad-dur alone will continue to build settlers to claim an unsettled continent in the northwest, which I pray to God holds Niter since I have none elsewhere. 






Here is the current state of our government. Finishing my harbors and settlers, while trying to build gold reserves. In a few turns we'll drop probably Colonization for Press Gangs, once I do the math with Veterancy. 

Home front:



Sorry, no time to annotate. Three island plants - Cirith Ungol, Nurn, and Durthang - are getting harbors up first. The homeland is either finishing IZs which will be the core of Industrial-age production, gold-generating buildings (harbors, trade), or the capital, which is on settler duty for the foreseable (I have at least 4 more sites that are pretty necessary). Each city will swap over to ships over the next ten turns and we will attempt to swamp Japan in Caravels.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

My screenshot didn't take, but the only news for turn 111 is that we successfully raid and burn Hattusa from the fog. That should be a minor blow to Japanese science, and will put the 'skeer' in Japan.

He shoudl hit caravel tech soon, so I am monitoring his gold reserves - I have only 3 caravels myself due to poor gold generation, with 2 more I can upgrade in the nearish future.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Randoms 111

Turn 111 brings me news that Norway has made peace after the loss of his three mainland cities, leaving him in exile with a small island colony only. He still has hundreds of strength points in longships:




I can only assume he was caught very badly out of position, despite Japan's spiking military score, nearby encampment build, and massed army. The timing rush of Samurai caught him with his pants totally down and Japan has made himself into a viable #2 power.

My main weakness right now is my weak and scattered military. I have only 3 modern ships and will be a long time building more. I have a good edge in research and have nearly completed the two Industrial Zones that will be the core of the empire in the factory age, but that's a long way off. I also have preserved my science and culture edge substantially, though, and will be rounding off infrastructure soon. Once I get Press Gangs I think I can kick out a few caravels, but gold generation will dictate the maximum size of my navy (and the total lack of niter meaning I can't go on the offensive against Japan  ).




Indonesia is irrelevant, never be able to catch up in production, research, or military - the galleys and quads he fields are no threat to my cities. Phoenicia COULD become an issue but he has a great deal of catching up. And so does Japan. So, my grand strategy  must be to prevent a combination of Phoenicia and Japan against me. I want to build up a navy powerful enough to control the seas around Phoenicia most of all, capable of torching most of his civ if it comes to war. That should cement my winning position. I won't go aggressive, even though that's objectively best, because frankly it's boring. I want to see if I can build my way to victory as Gorgo in an island game.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

My games with friends have dragged on. Nearly a year in, we have reached...turn 47:




I have no plans here anymore. I can't remember anything I was trying to do when turns come 1/two weeks. 

The second game - started because they wanted to start in live play to "get deeper in" and move the game faster, has reached the ripe old age of turn...60:




Well, the Classical Age is coming next turn, so maybe before April, and I can go Monumentality -> settler spam. Desert Folklore Work Ethic is bootstrapping me into dense Urban districts while districts are cheap.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

City Lights with Friends, Turn...65

Not a typo. In the 70 days since my last update, we have progressed from turn 60...to turn 65. That is one turn every two weeks, yes. If the game goes 200 turns, it will take 8 years to complete at this rate. Joy. Be careful of who you play with!

Anyway, I can only barely remember what my plans were a year ago, but here's where we're at - A Cree civilization in the middle of a monumentality snowball:




Overall situation is excellent. Science and culture are #2, about 80% of Korean values, but Korea has the best early growth curve in the game with their seowon districts - I only have 4 completed campuses myself, which are more expensive for me to build, and not as easily boostable. I am counting on my superior production and population growth as I sprawl out wide with my empire to make up the difference. 

To the east you can see the Cree's 3 developed cities of Canterlot, Baltimare, and Definitely Not Rapa Nui. Baltimare is a coastal trading city, with rural districts, meaning you can't put stuff like campuses or commercial hubs and have a high adjacency there, but you DO get cheap boosts to farms, mines, and other countryside improvements. You also get boosted trade routes, so Baltimare (and the other coastal hub of Fillydelphia to the west) are my two rural hubs, serving as focal points for the planned network of trade routes. Right now I only have 3, one each from Canterlot, Manehattan, and Vanhoover, boosting those cities. 

In the center, Manehattan, Vanhoover, and Fillydelphia are getting their infrastructures in place (or building a settler for the western isles, in Vanhoover's case). I have 4 completed holy sites and 4 completed campuses, with more on the way, and 2 completed Classical boroughs with 1 more on the way. The Classical borough costs 10 gold and -4? amenities, but provides massive adjacency boosts to districts and is quite productive itself. 

To the north, settlement of my island is nearing completion. Monumentality buys me an average of .2 settlers per turn, and production costs are about the same due to the Work Ethic adjacencies, so for a while I was firing on all fronts. As the nearer sites are settled, though, I shift back to infrastructure projects and hoard my faith to purchase new settlers directly on the frontier. I have one island with 4 good sites to the west, 1 to the southwest, and 1 due south:



An example of the settlement plan due south of my island. It's shared with Phoenicia (Korea is also on the continent, northeast of Phoenicia), but a thick belt of mountains (including Mt. Roraima natural wonder) and a pair of bays narrows the access to the western half of the continent. Phoenicia occupied my first choice of site, but in retrospect loyalty would be an issue at that site anyway, so I am relocating to the western side of the bay. That can be settled without disturbing my other 3 pins, and I'll shift one pin a single point east in order to retain access to those third-ring hills.

The cities themselves aren't planned yet, just the sites selected, but I will found them and work the high-growth tiles in order to purchase settlers. Might shift Magnus here, as well, to make use of his population-saving promotion. 

On the whole, it's a hugbox. Biggest hurdles are planning infrastructure and mapping future needs - production is sorted with the holy sites, but I DO have dire need of amenities and of gold. So my next two districts have to be harbors/commercial hubs and Entertainment Districts, for certain. Experiments with Retainers and other amenity-boosting policies also will be in order.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Randoms, Turn 166

It has been 50 turns since our last randoms update, the end of the Japanese conquest of Norway. In that time, we have mostly pursued peaceful development (rather than instantly attacking and overrunning Indonesia, as I probably would if I were going all-out for victory). Industrial zones and factories are blanketing my empire, and despite having no faith income and thus no monumentality I have built the largest empire in the world:






Coal income is modest but enough to support a small fleet of ironclads or battleships. I also have nationalism so I can begin fielding 'fleets' (I'd prefer "squadrons" or "divisions" since a fleet refers to an entire group of ships to me, but w/e). Now, I thought about just peacefully teching to space, but Japan is an urban monster if left to develop and has many advantages over Sparta*. Japan's tech rate is very near to mine and he has very nearly as many techs in the naval category (although I am pacing him overall). I, however, have been a superior diplomat and am running numerous trade routes to my Science Ally, Phoenicia, which is boosting both our rates. One thing to note is that my culture collapsed due to a spectacularly unlucky World Congress dice roll - a resolution to neutralize city-state suzerainty bonuses came up and Culture states were picked on the baffling tie breaker rules, neutering Nan Madol. I haven't bothered to build monuments or anything since I have higher priorities. It should end in a few turns and culture will return to game-leading levels. 

Anyway, I have decided to act militarily to knock Japan out of contention before he can build his empire even more. We're probably about 20-30 turns out, but here are my plans to prepare for war and then the war plan itself:


Let's break down the busy screenshot.

First, Japan has about 1150 power to my 700 power, give or take. That's a 3:2 advantage, although hopefully a fair amount of it is in Samurai from his Norwegian war. However, we cannot declare war until we have a powerful fleet in place. I can outproduce him, I think, but his large cities will be a very near match for my entire imperial production potential, so we'll have to steal a few marches. 

So, step one is a massive shipyard construction spree empire-wide. I am running Veterancy in my government for +30% production on harbor buildings, and will be finishing up across the next ten turns. Niter income is very limited, so Frigates will be produced out of most likely Osgiliath using Magnus as governor - Magnus has a promotion that grants an 80% discount on resource requirements, so I should have no issues spamming frigates. Everyone else will build caravels, plus I intend a massive wave of Naval Raiders as well which will burn Japan's exposed coasts to the ground. 

The real coup de grace is at Cirith Ungol, the island just northeast of my mainland. I am building a coastal Industrial Zone here, which will complete in two turns. My other IZs nabbed me the Great Engineer Isidore of Miletus, who has two charges granting a total of 430 production towards wonders. That will get me about half of the Venetian Arsenal's 930 production. I have a Magnus chop preparing that will net me possibly another 150 production? So optimistically Cirith Ungol needs to come up with 350 production on its own. The city is running massive amounts of trade routes and is in range of a Coal Factory, so it's getting about 50 production on its own. Thus, within 10 turns I can expect to finish the Venetian Arsenal, which will cause every ship I build to spawn with its own clone. This is the most vital naval wonder in the game and Japan has, curiously, neglected it despite having 3 coastal Industrial Zones himself. I have scouted the map thoroughyl and no sign that it's under construction anywhere. 

Once the VA finishes, I will finish a wave of caravels across the empire, netting me about 14 if I counted correctly, plus 4 frigates. That will more than double my current fleet in a single turn, and I will continue building ANOTHER wave of 14 behind that, and so on, and so forth. Japan will be buried. Research is close to securing Refining for Battleships in about 15 turns and Ironclads about 5 turns after that, so depending on Coal supplies I'll have a few modern ships supported by waves of older fleets. 

Once the war comes, here is the plan:



Here is Japan. Scouting indicates that he has two fleets, one gathered near Nagoya facing me and a second covering Kyoto/Takamatsu Bay in the west. The two fleets are divided by the Japanese mainland and can only reinforce each other via a lengthy voyage around the north of his island (by contrast, all my harbors save two face southwest, and the two northern harbors, Osgiliath and Barad-Dur, are only accessible via a snaky one-tile wide channel, very defensible). Tokyo, his second city, is the heart of his urban sprawl.

That suggests the plan. Our first thrust will be at Nagoya to split Japan's defenders in two, similar to the way we defeated ljubljana and Woden's fleets in PBEM20 by taking position off their east coast to divide their fleets. I will move quickly and target his ships first, defeating every vessel in sight before moving on the city itself. Then, the combat vessels will hold the northern channel (which is VERY close to my own harbors for quick reinforcements, bwahaha), and the battleships/a few melee ships will burn Nagoya and Tokyo. If Japan loses his initial defense fleet, he'll be totally unable to reinforce his east coast in time to save those cities, and once Tokyo burns, Japan is out of the game:




With Tokyo gone, we shoudl be able to liberate Akkad and Oslo, which will make Norway happy, and Japan will be down to four - very powerful! - cities, and the war will be decided. I'll be able to grind him down from there, since there's no way the 4 Japanese cities, however well-developed, will be able to compete with my entire empire boosted by the Venetian Arsenal.

Key wrinkle is Phoenicia. I need him on board, so hopefully I get an alliance renewal before striking. Indonesia is behind and will be scarcely able to build frigates, and will have no chance against Steel defenses, so he's irrelevant. Norway I have a military alliance with and he has a grudge against Japan, so I'm hoping between him and the +3 Great Admiral and another +5 great admiral (and possibly some Spies + Listening posts) I will have an irrefutable strength edge in addition to my numbers. 

So, tune in here sometime around July to see the fireworks. 

*Side note: I have been playing a vanilla civ this game. Almost no land combat and I haven't built acropolises since I prioritize my hills for production on a relatively flat map. So I'm quite content with my position here, since I'm up against Norway/Japan/Phoenicia/Indonesia on an island map.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Randoms, Turn 201

A quick update on the last 50 turns. 

On turn 179, the main Japanese battlefleet was detected anchored off Japan's eastern coast, at Nagoya:




At the time, it consisted of an ironclad leading a handful of caravels, city walls, and an encampment with crossbows garrisoning the fortifications. That became my first target - not the city, I had no intention of running head-first into what was clearly going to be his citadel (Victor arrived a few turns later), but the fleet. Once the fleet was defeated I could maneuver freely against any city on his east coast, and Victor couldn't be EVERYWHERE. Tokyo and Akkad (see map above) were both obviously vulnerable - losing Tokyo, his second city and the core of the Japanese city sprawl bonuses, would be game over for Japan.

Also on turn 179, we finished our ace in the hole:



The Venetian Arsenal completes at a distant Mordor island, letting us quickly double our naval strength. We commence an emergency ship-building program in every single city.

For 22 turns, we build up, and assemble our fleet off the coast of Nagoya, screening my capital ships with privateers. The little buggers are cheap as hell to build, will be able to burn out the Japanese coast once the fleet is finished, and prevent him from getting first strike on my valuable ironclads or frigates. I have 6 coal available, with 3 more I might gain from a settler, so after a coal factory in Osgiliath finishes I field 5 ironclad fleets (no battleship fleets, yet). Those will be my main method of bringing down the Japanese navy, supported by swarms of caravels and privateers. 

Japan matches with nearly a dozen ironclad fleets of his own, and so I start to maneuver around Nagoya. Either he comes and fights me outside of shallow waters, or else I can hit his rear cities. I stack bonuses - spies boost visibility, I sign a military alliance with Norway, presumably bitter over the loss of his core, and slot oligarchic legacy, and on turn 201 Japan snaps and launches an attack:



7 ironclad fleets, 1 frigate fleet, and a great admiral against 5 ironclad fleets, 5 frigate fleets, 10 caravel fleets, and a LOT of privateers (dozens all converging here, 5 in theater) (and a few loose frigates and caravels not in the main battle fleet). That's after his opening strike takes out 1 caravel fleet and 1 privateer, damaging two more caravel fleets. I have a huge preponderance of force now, and I intend to use it and keep adding on to it - the beefy Japanese cities can churn out ironclads in something like 3 turns each, and he has 8 of the fuckers. 

I concentrate my firepower on the tip of the extended Japanese line, hitting his left flank with every single frigate and privateer in range, then moving in with my ironclads. Four ironclad fleets are sent to the bottom, including the double-promoted beast, and every single Japanese admiral is teleported to the city away from the rest of his fleet. New balance of forces is 2 damaged Japanese ironclad fleets and a frigate fleet in the south, plus an extra ironclad fleet in the north, versus my united force holding the channel between Nagoya and Tokyo:



So, that's the opening of the war. I lost less than 5% of my fleet in the opening salvos and took out over 50% of the Japanese in response. He has many more ships on the map, and can spit them  out endlessly, so my plan is to maintain the fleet as a massive Death Star, wipe out anything else I can find that floats, and then move north against Tokyo. I'll throw every last frigate and ironclad I have at it, gladly trading my existing navy to burn that city. The empire will continue pumping out reinforcements while I try to settle some oil cities and boost coal production, as well.

On the Japanese west coast, a small raiding squadron of 7 privateers goes into action, but he has caravel fleets in garrison:


I expect to lose those 2 right away in a failed gamble to go for the coal mine. Need to be more cautious here. At least that's only 3 turns' production from one city to replace. :I 

Norway hasn't declared war i nsupport, but Japan DID attack Phoenicia as well. He has 900 power, a welcome addition to our order of battle, and might be counted on to pin down some Japanese forces on their west coast? But by and large I figure I have to win it myself.