Sengoku Chevalier: Hiun no Kishi

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

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.

It's distantly possible. About 12 turns, so it might be my goal after Caravels - Caravels are a step on the road to Industrialization, and I thought I might upgrade my two galleys to boost city defense strength further. After that Ballistics is probably the play. One important aspect is it enables Cuirassiers, which can outfight my Samurai on neutral ground (62 v 48 strength). Near my Victor city I can fight them on equal terms, but outside of that I'll be very vulnerable.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

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 ?

Missionaries are about 180 faith for me at the moment. Each one I recruit grows more expensive. 

I examined an attack on a bombard, but I was only getting the Military Alliance boost against them - so +5, not the +15 including Victor & DotF. Maybe because they're on foreign territory? So even all 4 attacks would ahve at best red-lined a bombard, and the other two could have finished the city with the intact man at arms. With him red-lined, whosit will need to bring up a fresh melee unit to actually strike the finishing blow, and I hope to muck that up as much as I can. The city will probably fall within the 7 turn window anyway, but the longer I draw it out hte more I can hope to discourage Whosit and grab some kind of peace.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Yeah, Whosit has worked it out. He's mustered his superior firepower and now shields his melee units behind the ranged boys. I can still buy perhaps a turn or two by shielding the city:


The bombards outfight the Samurai without Victor & Defender of the Faith, so I can only really effectively strike within my own territory. 

The south is mostly abandoned and I plant a canal city next turn (Settler produced many turns ago, long voyage - was intended for the northern isthmus to shield the south):

 

6 more turns until I can offer peace. Should I trade Iruka for a peace treaty? Krill doesn't seem to be pinning any units down at all, nor are Korea/Khmer doing much. Nuts.

[williams482]

I wouldn't trade away a city. Attacking you was dumb to begin with, I doubt being given a city and 10t to reposition is going to make whosit's strategic prioritization any better. He'll probably come right back.

Whosit breaking through past Iruka under fire is going to be a pain, as that mountain and volcano placement definitely favors you. It gets dramatically easier if you can't enter it's territory for 10t, and those bombards can just slowly march through the gaps. Maybe it works out okay if you can clog up all the neutral tiles to the southeast, but Whosit could break a peaceful blockade there with tile purchases.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Yeah, most likely he'd just it as 10 turns to move up in safety and then repeat the process at Fukushima, and then I'm cooked. I'm cooked regardless, but at least I can ensure that Whosit doesn't win from this, either. Maybe in future games - should I play any - that will matter when people think about invading my civs. Ah, well.

Overall, my spirits are surprisingly good. Like, it sucks that I've lost, already, but honestly I accepted that the game was over for me back by turn 50 or so. I think I did well drawing near to striking distance again, where if you squinted and the dice fell just right you could see Japan clawing its way into contention, but being invaded is pretty much a guaranteed loss in any game - even if I fend off the ravenous Roman wolves, I'll still have burnt so much production that could have gone to finishing my workshops and campuses and getting out factories that I'd never catch up to Khmer or China. I should be bummed about that, but the baked-in "this game is already over" has made me pretty zen the last six weeks.

[Jabah]

Can he even keep Iruka. Your loyauty there should be far too important and it might revolt back to you long term

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Nah, check the map - he's got more pop nearby than I do.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Aw, nuts. That's why Whosit was so eager to update:


Sorry, end of turn screenshot.

Anyway, a Courser took Iruka, obviously. I didn't think that was possible - I thought he'd need to use his ranged units to kill my unit, not weaken the city. If he did weaken the city, then he'd need to use a melee unit to kill my Samurai, and not have a unit available to capture the city, at which point I'd throw in another Samurai and we'd repeat the process for a turn or two (optimistically). I ALSO lost my Samurai in the pass to the south, somehow. It was behind rough terrain, so I was waiting for him to move his field cannons adjacent so he could shoot it - I'd get a free shot at the field cannons first. Instead it seems he could move and shoot on the same turn, despite the terrain, or he had enough melee units to kill it. So, a couple of faulty assumptions & underestimations of Whosit's fighting power leads to me losing about 40% of the northern army in one turn, as well as my defensive position. 

We fall abck to repeat the process and pray for relief. 



Figures.

[williams482]

Oof.

Maybe Whosit slotted logistics and got enough extra movement on the field cannon that way? Along with industrial roads that should give him good strategic movement along with occasional tactical benefits on his borders.

Tactically, I can't see Whosit's deployment but I think you've dropped back a tile too far. The mountain and forest hill provide cover from ranged strikes, so until Whosit can march troops all the way around to the south, you should be able to set up a fairly secure defensive position on the grass hills second ring to Iruka.

[Erasmas]

I just keeps coming doesn't it. I have been stubbornly rooting for you even though the situation was despearate, and just when it seemed you could play a role again in this game, more bad news. Good luck with your Zen.