Chevalier Rides Again: A City Lights exploration

[williams482]

Why did you decide to keep Akkad instead of liberating it, as you had originally discussed?

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

I planned to keep it for a turn because I was worried that immediate liberation would teleport damaged units into range of Tokyo's defenses (including an ironclad fleet), and wanted to ensure I could execute the vital upgrades that were the whole point of heading there instead of to Tokyo first.

Buuuuut it looks like Firaxis patched the "defer a decision on a conquered city" loophole and when I opened up the next turn, Akkad was a fully integrated member of the empire. :I So right now I will try to hold it if possible, if nothing else to act as an irritant to Japan - taking Oslo and liberating it to Norway might make the difference in population pressure, although the clock is ticking - and if not, then either ignore it or if necessary capture it again and liberate it right away this time.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

210 Images

Japan is holding the save - he does that a lot these days - so here's the images I took on my other PC from the turn.



I reach Mobilization, which enables me to organically form Armadas - my lone BB armada so far has been the product of Santa Cruz, the Great Admiral who can be spent to convert 1 regular unit into an armada. The +17 combat strength keeps my BBs ranged strength competitive even with Japanese cities. 



First mass media. The next goal is ideology and then I'll be grabbing Class Struggle for the Communist government, which will enable vastly more policy slots in my pretty constrained government. This is the one area of research I still dramatically lead the field in, and have all game, thanks to Nan Madol. It'll still be 30 turns, since I have no way to research Radio and boost Mass Media within 11 turns. Japan may conceivably get here at the same time, since his better science CAN get the Radio boost and shave 4 turns off his total. 

Here's the current government:

 
Most of it, I think, is self-explanatory. Obviously Press Gangs and Levee en Masse are necessities, keeping my gold generation from tanking and enabling me to crank out ships as frantically as I can. Two more economic spots are spent on gold and production - Triangular Trade for gold production and Naval Infrastructure to boost both gold and production in my harbors, for more ships. Gold is one of the areas of the game I've been tops in, and have even been able to buy units outright (ie, I bought a worker a few turns ago to repair some Japanese pillaging before I hunted down his privateer fleet). 

Wisselbanken boosts my trade routes to Norway and Phoenicia, just good sense. And Drill Manuals is vital, giving me +3 coal and slowing the bleed of that resource. Once I'm out of coal, I'll lose the ability to repair my ironclads, and my coal-units will also suffer a -5 strength penalty. That won't matter much unless I need to win another general engagement. In the worst case, I can suicide my ironclads into cities until I reach a level of coal units I can maintain. Other steps to mitigate the resource crunch is settling some tundra oil cities (Japan has access to none of these, I have two!), and then oil can be substituted in my 3 coal factories, freeing up resources for 3 more BBs or ironclads. I'm also rushing to Combustion as quickly as I can, followed by a dash to Destroyers. Ironclads upgraded into DDs will be able to beat any Japanese unit AND burn oil instead of coal, reserving the coal for the battleships. Japan has the science to get there first (he only just unlocked Steel, however), buuuut he has no oil access and I don't intend to relax my blockade to give him any. 

Finally, boosting Industrial Zones seemed the best use of the remaining slot. This was Oligarchic Legacy's +5 combat strength until I defeated the Japanese navy, but with no prospect of a major fleet engagement on the horizon I take the risk of dropping the +5 and trying to squeeze out more production instead. I could use this to boost my campuses with Natural Philosophy or Rationalism, as I think Japan and Phoenicia are doing - but frankly, I have the tech I need to win the game. BBs and ironclads will sort out any power on the map right now, I just need more of them. 

On the frontlines, Japan unlocked Steel:


I have 1 armada and 4 BB fleets shelling this turn. The fifth fleet and the lone BB I will join into another armada (note to self: build 2 more battleships. With the x2 VA boost, they can be joined to my other 4 fleets to give me 6 BB armadas, enough to sweep the seas and shores of Japan clean). The sacrificial raiders I actually pull back - one, after scouting, can't quite get out of range, but at least he'll distract Japan's land units for a bit. The frigate fleet has vanished from Oslo, indicating to me that Japan is abandoning this city and concentrating his forces near Nidaros. I'll have a fight on my hands when I proceed to Japan's west coast, but note the power differential - I still have him 3:1, and I am better able to concentrate mine. Virtually all Greek power is bent on the Gulf of Tokyo at hte moment, Japan is still scattered. Liberating Oslo and burning Tokyo/Nagoya should still be doable, and with that the war will be won. 

Turn ends with Olso at 50% walls and 65% garrison health:


50% is the threshhold to take increased garrison damage with each shot, so given my extra BB firepower available next turn, I can conceivably lower the HP enough to enable ironclad attacks. So we should see this liberated to Norway next turn, just in time to save Akkad from flipping to a free city (if not, no biggie). 

Amusingly, the river near Stavanger floods and lays siege to that city:


One thing to note here: note the "No power!" icons on all the Japanese cities! He has Coal Factories at every single industrial zone. I also note that the ironclad at Nagoya (off-screen just east of Tokyo) hasn't healed. Conclusion: He's run out of coal already! I pillaged two sources with privateers, one on the north coast and one near Stavanger before being sunk, and the northern one now has me garrisoning it with a Line Infantry to prevent repairs  (if you squint behind the portrait of Gorgo at top right, you can JUST make out the worker facing my Line Infantry in Greek blue). That means he can't upgrade his frigates to battleships AND his ironclads fight at reduced strength, so even once I finally run out of coal in ~5 turns we'll still be on even footing.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

7 days now he's held the save.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Randoms 211

Japan held the save for a little over a week, and when it comes back there's two developments, one that I can shrug away, one that is negative:




Situation outside Oslo - I get reports of 2 units attacked and 2 units destroyed. Thankfully, it's my 2 shield privateers at Oslo - I build two of those every turn so no worries. To do so, Japan had to expose two ironclad fleets. I can't quite manage to arrange things where I can both kill the fleets and the city on this turn, but I get close. Careful shelling from battleships and privateers actually sinks the more exposed fleet:



Era points as my single privateer sinks an entire fleet. Again, there's no reason to ever group these guys up - they're not combat units! They're screens and raiders! Think of them like destroyers and you won't go far wrong. 

That leaves the one closest to the city. If I finish it with my battleships, I won't have any shots left over for the city, but if I sink it with my ironclad, then I can't capture Oslo this turn. Eh:



Note the 20 point strength disparity between our two ironclad fleets! Sure enough, he does have a coal deficit - this is my last turn with a coal surplus, sadly.  I'm at -7 coal per turn, and no new resources really in prospect. Upgrading the fleet to burn oil might help. Anyway, on top of that, I have a great admiral, negating his +5 bonus for being Japanese in shallow waters, and I have the Embolden promotion for another +7. Astonishingly, he's running Oligarchic Legacy and I am not. If I'd fought him in the open ocean while running Oligarchic Legacy myself, this would be a 30 point difference between identical units! 

Conclusion: The Japanese navy is completely outmatched in terms of quality at the moment. Quantitatively, it's not close either, and he keeps losing ironclad fleets in exchange for privateers. My power has hovered at 3000-ish, his at 1000-ish, and his production capacity has taken something like a 25% hit since the war started as these two cities fall. 

Situation in the Gulf of Tokyo, end of 211:


Oslo is done to 4 hp and 80 wall strength. I dangle some more bait ships for Japan to shoot at, but honestly I don't really mind even if he kills the ironclad fleet - I have more and losing coal units eases my resource crunch a bit. I don't think he can, though, that bastard has the turtle promotion for +10 strength against ranged attacks. The bombard and city walls should barely dent it. Remember, wall shot strength is based on the most powerful ranged unit you've built (williams, ljubljana, any other mechanics-strong lurkers: Do city walls take into account fleet and armada strength, or merely the most powerful base ranged attack?), so he's hitting with at most frigate firepower against a unit that will defend at strength 116. Good luck. 


 
To the north, the ironclad fleets at Nagoya and Tokyo have upgraded to ironclad armadas, just a turn behind me. That's a bit unfortunate, especially if he does as he ought and stuffs them into the city. When I move north against Tokyo next turn (should begin the attack on 213 or 214, target date for city's fall is still 220), I will see if I can dangle some bait units. Japan has shown that he's tactically aggressive, even when he oughtn't be, and is seeking every chance to hit back. So if I can lure them into open waters and sink them, that should speed up the process of taking Tokyo.
Again, in case you've lost track of my big picture here, burning his second city is the strategic goal of this entire campaign, and it's my estimation that it will be a game-winning move. Tokyo is tightly integrated into hsi city adjacencies and produces a significant chunk of culture, science, and, er, production. Furthermore, its fall will also seal Nagoya's fall, as it's cut off from the rest of the empire and exposed to my navy. That reduces Japan to just 4 cities on his west coast - Takematsu, his capital at Kyoto (in the fog just west of Tokyo), and the two captured Norwegian cities of Stavanger and Nidaros. 

Let's see, other developments...a Samurai Army is ashore in Norway-in-Exile:

 

Oof, that's bad news for Norway. I will try to bring any Privateers I have in this area into supporting range. Also, that bastard is triple promoted, while Norway is still training Archers and Berserkers! Uh oh. Also, Japan has +3 intel on my movements, when I sort of thought I had the intelligence edge - I'd run many listening post missions before the war started. He might have a trading post in one of my cities? Or his spy is just running listening post after listening post? Not sure. 

Overview of my core (geographic reminder if you've lost track: I am on the far side of the ocean from Nagoya, broadly north and east of Japan. I'm also north and west of New Norway, which is due west of Japan/Old Norway). 


All ships, all the time. This train isn't stopping until the game is over. I have all the tech I need - Phoenicia just unlocked Square Rigging for Frigate construction, forget about Steel for battleships, Indonesia is years behind that, and, well, we've all seen Norway. Once I run over Japan, well, then we'll just go one by one through our remaining foes.

I have built or am building 3 settlers since the war started. One founded Coaltown, atop an isolated coal deposit on the Phoenician mainland. The other two are bound for tundra destinations in the north where the chilly settlers will become oil millionaires. One tundra rig on land will unlock Plastics, which will let me build damned near a dozen off-shore rigs and ensure I have oil for Africa. 

Overview of Japan:

[williams482]

williams, ljubljana, any other mechanics-strong lurkers: Do city walls take into account fleet and armada strength, or merely the most powerful base ranged attack?

As both of us got thrown by in PBEM20, city walls do take into account fleet and armada strength, but don't update when units are merged into fleets or armadas. The wall stats will only update if a fleet/armada is built or upgraded directly.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Got it. So my walls should fire with BB fleet strength, since I upgraded frigate fleets, but my Santa Cruz-made armada won't proc the wall strength update.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

You have to be FUCKING kidding me:




There is exactly one (1) Congress resolution that absolutely SCREWS me and it comes up TWICE with only one era of separation? Come the FUCK on with this bullshit. I hate the World Congress so fucking much. So freaking random, so little player agency, and such a drag on the game. 

I'm mad. 

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

City Lights, Turn...78

Well, guys, my last update on the City Lights game, which has been going for 18 months at this point, was back in May on turn 65. Over the summer and fall, we have played...13 turns, as this game drags on at an agonizing pace. The main culprits are Rome and the Netherlands, who frequently hold turns for a week or more each. With everyone else taking a day or two, that means you get about 1 turn every 3 weeks, with occasional longer hiatuses. The result is a disjoint game and, since it's 'friendly,' I don't feel like it'd be kosher to build a massive navy and go murder the two offenders. I'd be better served just to port the save over to single-player, honestly.

 BUT, since we ARE supposed to be exploring the potential of City Lights, here's a look at the Cree Empire, 5 months later. I haven't annotated the screenshots as I was doing last year, since I'm typing this update from work before my students come in and I haven't quite the time.



My core cities of Canterlot, Definitely Not Rapa Nui, Baltimare, and, increasingly, Manehattan, are becoming fully mature. The original 3 in particular are becoming monstrous. Canterlot and DNRN can build anything in 1-turn between their faith production and their urban districts, and their science is competitive with Korea's seowon economy despite me having relatively few developed campuses (yet). My first wave of expansion cities on the northern coast are finishing out their Desert Folklore Holy Sites, which will instantly translate into +10 production boosts for each city. 

Canterlot, my capital, is almost literally out of things to build:

 
It has two urban districts (a Classical & a Renaissance borough) and 4 other districts, needing to reach size 13 for its next. The Holy Site, far to the west, is actually closer to DNRN and is boosted by two adjacent mountains, DNRN's Government Plaza, a holy site and campus (both belonging to its sister city), and a Classical borough (belonging, of course, to DNRN). Combined with my Desert Folklore pantheon giving adjacency for desert tiles and Canterlot's holy site is at +9 adjacency, which is boosted to 18 via the Scripture civic I have slotted, and due to my Work Ethic belief that 18 faith is converted to production, 25% of the city's total. 

The Campus is next. It is adjacent to two mountains, DNRN's holy site, the commercial hub, and the Classical borough. That gives it +6 adjacency, doubled to 12 via the Natural Philosophy civic. The Classical borough is home to an Elder Teachings building, which enables a project (repeatable up to 3 times) which grants +2 production to campuses and boosts their Great Scientist generation. So it also is contributing 6 production to Canterlot. 

South of the Campus is the Classical borough. It is adjacent to a mountain, the campus, the commercial hub, the Industrial Zone, and the city itself - all told that adds up to 8 production, 1 gold, 1 science, and 2 food. It's also on top of a niter deposit. The specialists working the district generate a further 4 production, 2 science, and 2 faith. 

Southeast of that is the Industrial zone. Bordering some of Baltimare's mines, the Urban borough, the city, and a mountain, it has a pedestrian 4 adjacency. Note that I built Macchu Picchu next door - I am overflowing with production and my territory is very mountainous, so it was an easy call, and that's contributing a bit here. All told, the city has built every building it possibly can (once the University completes...), so it pumps units for eurekas and inspirations in its spare time. 

Definitely Not Rapa Nui is similar, but with only 33 production a turn it's still churning through buildings. It needed to build the Ancestral Hall and now the Intelligence Agency on its government plaza, still needs shrines and temples, libraries and universities, etc. It diverted, as well, for the Pyramids wonder to give all my builders +1 charge. Still, it will gradually mature. 

Here's my first area of expansion outside the core, the Wild West:


Manehattan in the center has developed into a city to rival DNRN, with 34 production per turn. It is young, only founded a short while ago, and has a Classical borough with Elder Teachers and a Campus finishing a library, in addition the mandatory Holy Site. Fillydelphia is a valuable rural city like Baltimare, but I'm not sure how to develop it with further districts - probably a Harbor to avoid taking the useful rural tiles, but beyond that? An Encampment to try and trigger the discount for other cities? An entertainment district will be vital later? Not sure. Need to think. Vanhoover is tentatively going to become a rural city, as I spot a nice Aqueduct/Canal combo to place a +6 Industrial Zone to cover the western districts with factory production later. Along the northern coast, Salt Lick City, Las Pegasus, and Maneaco are young plants still finishing up their holy sites. Salt Lick will then build Petra, Pegasus will go Urban, and Maneco has no choice but to specialize as a rural city, if it does at all.

Also visible are my 5 trade routes. This number will grow, as lighthouses/markets/Farmer's Markets are the next priority after Holy Sites. Most funnel to Baltimare, given the food and production yields, but as the cities mature I'll instead start running routes either to Phoenicia and Korea for gold/science or from my urban cities to my rural ones to maintain food and population growth. 

South of my continent, over a small sea, I've settled a colonial zone, New England (to contrast Old England on the far side of the world). 


Buckingham and Manechester were settled first, and along with Trottingham are building DF holy sites near the Phoenician isthmus (Phoenicia is occupied besieging Brussels to the southeast, which is shielded by Mt. Roraima on one side and the sea on another, so you can only approach from two tiles - good luck!). New England is home to valuable citrus and banana plantations, and will be mostly a farming area, but I do intend to make Manechester an urban city down the line. 

West of New England is the island of Yucatan:

 
Saddle Arabia is overrun with barbarians and needs muskets to clear it out, then it will be home to a single city. La Venta's island of Yucatan will host 3 more mostly filler cities, as we start to draw near to Roman and English borders over the western oceans. 

North of Yucatan, west of Equestria is the island of Mexico:


Mexico is home to a Pony colony on its southeastern coast, and has more expeditions pushing to settle along the southern coast as well. A final city is planned for the northwest, near Holland, but Dutch explorers are starting to sniff around and I may lose the Yokeyo site. 

East of New England we find the Phoenician homelands:


Note the siege of Brussels in the southwest! Phoenicia has plenty of Cothons and decent science and culture, but has made little use of the City Lights districts. I would have eaten Kumasi before Brussels. 

Northeast of Phoenicia is the Korean core:


Korea has made extensive use of Rural districts in particular and has one or two Classical Boroughs, and seowons everywhere. He also has sprawling colonial possessions around the world. His science and culture are clearly tops, but he doesn't have the production I do, and I feel fine with where I am as my universities come online. 

East of Phoenicia and southeast of Korea is the Roman Empire:


Territorially very impressive, the Romans are pretty underdeveloped and making no use of any City Lights districts. 

North of Rome, there's a lot of territorial tension with England:


England occupies an isthmus between the Netherlands to his northeast and Rome to his south. The English player has complained about cramped territory, but he does have lots of offshore islands and stuff to settle, as well as the single best start location in the game - his capital is adjacent to Kilamanjaro! 



The Netherlands is the only real unexplored area of Earth left:


The Dutch player persistently refuses offers of alliance, denying us both the shared Cree visibility we would gain, as well as the boosted trade routes. He doesn't trust me and thinks we're too far apart to beneficially trade, although my western colonies will soon abut his eastern frontiers (over a sea, but still) - see Yokeyo's pin in the far east. 

So yeah, that's the state of things. At this rate, we might finish by 2030?

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Randoms 212
oh:


Instead of neutering Nan Madol and tanking my culture again, the random players vote to instead double Indonesia's faith income. That's no biggie at all - Indonesia has something like 10 caravels and 20 jongs by my estimation, but that's an outdated navy that can't hurt my ships and can't threaten any of my cities seriously. He's a long way from fleets and armadas yet, too. So I blew my fuse for nothing, but still, the world congress sucks. 

We start the turn with the long awaited fall of Oslo, about 2 turns later than my optimistic projections:


Remember, he finished Steel for an instant 400 HP city wall on 210 and then on 211 he unexpectedly attacked out with 2 ironclad fleets - which were promptly sunk. 2 raiders shell the city and then I move in with a Caravel fleet. I want to preserve my BBs and ironclad's actions to head north. I intended to liberate the city, but if I do that right away, Norway will not have Steel defenses in place and there are Japanese siege units about. I need to clear them out and then I can gift the city to my ally. 

In the meantime, the fleet heads north for Tokyo. My goal here is to take and burn the city by turn 220, which should finish any chance of a Japanese comeback:


An ironclad armada defends the city harbor, but that only exposes it to my BB fire. After some consideration, I move in with all my privateers, as well - no more BBs are in range, but hte little ships contribute their fire, which can't be healed as long as he's out of coal, and I give Japan too many targets for his city and encampment defenses. We will put the entire coast to the torch next turn and begin the formal bombardment of the city. 

Also, an amusing note, Kyoto is 3 tiles away from one of the eastern sea tiles. I can shell the city in perfect safety from this ocean, but I need line of sight first. I will move a privateer into range on the west coast to spot the city, then relocate a spy to the Japanese capital and begin shelling it. That will tie up a BB fleet but should be worth it. 

Final setup at Tokyo:


Next turn 4 BB fleets and 2 armadas will open up on the city, if we don't need to sink the armada first. I estimate the walls can be brought down in 3-4 turns of shellfire and the city will fall on the same turn, so we are in time to beat our 220 deadline. I also formed my first ironclad armada, with a target of 5 armadas as soon as I can. 

In the north, I trade a unit for time, as line infantry bravely prevent Japan from repairing one of his two coal mines:


He's under bombardment from a privateer armada and frigate fleet, covered by an ironclad fleet and caravel armada, so he's doomed, but every turn I buy is a turn Japan is stuck in coal shortage and a turn closer to Tokyo and Nagoya falling. Once those cities are gone, I don't see how his 4 surviving cities can hold me off. 

In the west, near the Norwegian islands:


He's keeping units back to garrison against future raids. I keep my distance. WIth the two frigate fleets I've spotted, as well as the ironclad fleets, he could run right over Norway's weak cities, but I don't think he's thinking offensively right now. Good. 

Final overview of the theater of war:


In theater, we can deploy:
2 battleship armadas
4 battleship fleets
2 ironclad armadas
4 ironclad fleets
1 ironclad
6 caravel fleets
2 caravels
21 privateers!

Against that, we have identified:
2 ironclad armadas
1 ironclad fleet
1 caravel armada
2 frigate fleets
1 privateer armada

Plus the city defenses. Even if he concentrated everything off Nagoya again for defense, I should be able to run right over it. He fundamentally can't hit my combat units - my ironclads and my battleships - unless I allow him to by moving into range of his fixed defenses, because I am ALWAYS screened by my privateers. To chew through those, even if his ironclads all got a free kill every single turn, he'd still need seven turns - by which time I'll, of course, have built 14 more! And also hit his ironclads with my battleships and my own ironclads. 

I suspect he has one more ironclad out there, since his coal production should all for 4 coal units total, and there may be more privateers or frigates. But we have the whip hand. In the course of the war so far, we've lost 
{Out of time for update, will coutn up casualties later}