Sengoku Chevalier: Hiun no Kishi

[williams482]

Some textbook counterattacking here.

Is that new pop 4 city on a different continent than Whosit's capital? The only way I can think of to get a city to pop 4 instantly is the Hic Sunt Dracones golden age dedication, which only works on foreign continents. That's a curious choice for a dedication unless Whosit was planning on significant settling into your dominion, or anticipates a naval conflict in this era.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Yeah, Hic Sunt Dracones is the only possible way to get a city that size. I think his capital is right on the continental divide.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Whosit's counters: He pursues my horseman in the south (mistake) and kills it, while red-lining one Samurai in the north and killing the one that was in the pass, leaving the situation like so:


Three bombards, two field cannons, two men at arms, and two muskets against five Samurai and 2 crossbows. 

Straightforward enough. I redline one musket and kill the other, while pulling out of range of the field cannons.


I am focusing on and killing the melee units, clearly. He's lost two muskets and a battering ram here in exchange for one samurai of my own, soon to be two on the next turn - but if any melee unit ends turn in range of the city, it dies. I don't think I can stop the five ranged units from battering down the walls, and ultimately taking the city, but at least I can make him bleed for it. 

In the south, the man-at-arms pursues and kills my horse, but is one-shot by the Samurai I have in garrison:


The Pike to the north has no support bonus, so there's nothing on the tile behind him. The nearest unit for all I know is the Man at Arms back at his new city plant. The anti-cav unit will get mauled by the Samurai, so until he sends reinforcements this southern offensive is dead.

Had I been Whosit, I would have sent most of my army south first, leaving a force to cordon off the north. Either I draw Japanese troops out of the thick terrain around Iruka and into the open, or I overrun these undefended cities fairly easily. Then I can approach from the south and the west at the same time, a broad front that lets me overwhelm the Japanese forces instead of blasting my way slowly through the pass as he's opted for. (A frigate or two on the northern ocean would also speed things up tremendously). 

Anyway, 8 turns to weather until I can try and persuade him to sign a peace treaty in this mutually destructive war. Archduke comes and scavenges some niter from me in exchange for all his iron, which I accept to keep the Samurai tap open. I'm building an average of one a turn, so my losses are eminently sustainable thus far. Are Whosit's?

[Jabah]

Since your very injured samurai outside Iruka is very likely dead, would it not have been a good idea to 'kill' his missionary (if it was on the original tile which is difficult to see) and use the new samurai inside Iruka to attack the musket (but not kill to stay in the city) and finish it with ranged ?

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Not a bad thought, but that Samurai moved into garrison only at the end of turn - you can see him marching on the road to the city on my start of turn screenshot. He couldn't reach the musket, otherwise yeah, I would have killed the missionary. As it is, I'll lose DotF for a while until I get another missionary there. I can only afford one every 6-7 turns, and no real way to increase faith income at the moment due to demands on all my queues for units.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Whosit abandons the southern offensive for the moment, as his pike withdraws out of range. In the north, he shoots my redlined Samurai dead, and moves up three bombards to blast down Iruka. The city must fall, I think, but I can cripple the man at arms, and if it's weak enough he won't be able to capture the city next turn. I can hit any bombard with 4 attacks, but not enough to kill any of them, so the man at arms is the play here. With no melee units strong enough to survive a tangle with my Samurai the city will stand, for a couple of turns, at least. Then we fall back to Fukushima and repeat the process, extracting as heavy a price as we can until Whosit gives up.

7 turns until I can offer peace. Will he take it, or will he want to at least salvage Iruka out of the debacle this war is becoming? 

The play was obviously to roll over greenline. Korea is checked out (has scarcely updated his thread in six weeks), technologically far behind, and much less defensible than me (I assume, because I'm pretty damn defensible with my Samurai and hills). I know I said geographically I made the most sense as a target, because that wouldn't open a new front for Whosit the way taking Korea thrusts him between Krill and me, BUT that analysis also needs to take prospects of success into account. Korea could have been overwhelmed and digested far more easily than I. If I were in danger of leading the game, I might make more sense to attack than a weak civ like Korea, but I'm not - Krill is. Fighting Krill makes sense. Fighting Korea makes sense. But Japan made the least strategic sense UNLESS Whosit could guarantee a relatively quick and easy conquest - which he couldn't. 

Anyway, if we don't want to call the game for Krill already, Whosit and I need to kiss and makeup. I doubt he sees things that way. But if I can get peace, then we can both build up and try to rein in the two monster civs to the west.

[williams482]

Do you have any military tech upgrades on the horizon?

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

I've grabbed Coursers, which I need to start building to counter the bombards - need to be able to maneuver and reach the units. I don't intend to upgrade Samurai to muskets yet, as I find the unique units more cost effective (and I haven't the niter anyway). Right now I'm working again towards Industrialization after a detour to grab Medieval Walls & Coursers at the Castles tech.

[williams482]

Is ballistics a plausible target? You couldn't get the boost for it and would have to research the whole thing, but field cannons would be a tremendous help firepower-wise.

[Jabah]

With 3 shoots and a samurai attack (obviously dead the following turn but you could/have already some spare ones), you couldn't trade for a bombard while you managed earlier for musket (or close to). Is it just losing Defender of the faith in the city ?
Obviously, killing/neutralizing the Men at Arms is a priority anyway for the turn.
How expensive are missionaries right now ?