Sengoku Chevalier: Hiun no Kishi

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Weekend is quiet, we only play two turns. Mostly just positioning around Fukushima - I have my next wave of Samurai in place with Victor and DOTF ready. But the rough terrain keeps me from trying to just rush Whosit's ranged units. I need light cavalry, I think, to really get at him. 

Krill and Archduke are glaring at each other, I suspect, and so there's a Sitzkrieg on the western front. Guess that makes me Poland?

A good omen.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

A quiet few days continues. Whosit unexpectedly pulled back after scouting my defenses with a great general - he tried to lure a Samurai out of position to be shot to death, but I didn't budge:





I've been making use of Admiral Yi to scout the northern sea, before I commit him to an ironclad. Upgrading him here should lock this sea down and give me options against Whosit's flank, although I need frigates to really make an impact here. Should build a trio or so of quads before Square Rigging, in retrospect.

In the south, new Roman city at Ha Long Bay:



And Whosit is loyalty flipping a former Korean city to the southwest, so he's got that going for him. Krill's milpower spiked - perhaps the Roman withdrawal is Chinese pressure on the west at last, and Whosit is forced to transfer forces while holding me off with a minimal force? Just in case that's what's happening, I don't offer peace. If I see his offensive gearing up to go in, but for now I keep our war alive to boost Krill's odds of savaging Whosit's core. 

Situation in the south is...economic:



In the north, I take a bold gamble:


All five placed campuses begin construction, most with sub-10 turn build times. All five finishing will give me approximately +25 science, or once again placing me on par with Rome. Upgrading the adjacencies via policy card will net us nearly +50, or within spitting distance of the Khmer. Then we race for factories and get those dwon to cover the core, and hope that Krill/Archduke hurt each other enough that MAYBE I can sneak in? Oh, and Krill cripples Whosit. Need that to happen, too.

ie we're still not going to win, but a 1% part of your brain whispers "so you're telling me there's a chance..." in the background...

[williams482]

How fast can you build one quad? Just one looks like it would allow you to burn off your niter stockpile by upgrading it, which would allow you to build more as the stockpile replenishes. Repeat as desired.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

I'll have to check next turn. I think my frontline is thick enough at the moment (and I have lots of reinforcements pre-built) that Whosit is momentarily stumped. That's why I think I have the leeway to violate one of my maxims of war (always be building units until the war is over - against humans you always need more than you think!) and try to rush out the campuses. Without those, I'll simply continue to sink furhter into oblivion; with them, I may be able to catch up to Roman science (production & population are other matters entirely).

So that SHOULD mean Fukushima and, potentially, Kato, can kick out a trio of quadremes over the next 10 turns, as well. I have the gold reserves to upgrade them, and can probably beg the niter off the two western powers. THAT...actually would seriously harm Whosit's attack, and even enable me to go over to the attack myself along the coast.

Hm. I think that's the play, actually. I'll put the coastal campuses on hold to get the quads out.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

The last two turns weirdly quiet as Whosit pulls back across the front, even as he signs a peace deal with Khmer (sitzkrieg indeed, I bet Krill & Archduke are glaring at each other over their border and so neither one is budging a bit against Rome). 

156:


157:



Indeed, the entire Roman army has vanished from the front. What's he up to? I have firm control of the northern sea with Admiral Yi there ready to drop an ironclad at any moment, until the Romans build one of their own out of Bambino (and he hasn't yet, I can see his combat strength). So a flanking move to the north is unlikely. Krill I know isn't seriously attacking in the west, and he's at peace with Archduke. So my best guess is the Romans are shifting their weight south. 



He has a good grip on the isthmus thanks to Nebelung, and can begin to push towards my cities here. The terrain is tight but with field cannons shielding his advance he may be able to get in blasting range of Todo. I have a pair of Samurai, but need to navigate past Hong Kong. Might be time to kill the city-state if I can spare the force and so secure a quick route of reinforcement, without having to sail around as presently. 

The north I'm no longer really worried about. I'll have a pair of frigates available in 7 turns, and he'll need at least 3 turns now just to get set up to push on Fukushima. If he gives me more time, I can get that up to 4 frigates, which I estimate is the maximum required. THAT will not only let me counter-push on Takenaka but even threaten Bambino, and potentially provide cover for an attack on Aegean if I can get the siege units. 

The south is more problematic. It's cut off from my core by Hong Kong & Nebelung (I really wanted Ikeda and the city between it & Takenaka to anchor my empire, in a perfect world I'd've settled as far forward as Aegean, Chartreux, and Ocicat). But I also can get some quads out there in the next few turns, and that would enable me to control Sagami Bay, including threats to Nebelung, Ocicat, and Tourdion. That leaves only the center at Todo & Hong Kong, and I could clean that up IF I managed to get a grip on either coast. 

So, as usual, my strategy devolves to trying to get control of the seas. We'll get our campuses out which will make our science competitive with everyone but Krill, then focus on factories & ships, and THEN try a decisive push on Rome.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

All quiet on the western front. Roman army isn't visible at Takenaka, nor does it seem to be transiting the narrows to the southern front. Best guess it was finally pulled away either by Krill or by Korea. 

I am getting my small frigate squadron put together, in about 7 turns it'll be ready and I can begin a counteroffensive in the north. Meanwhile I'll get campuses and workshops built out while I rush for industrialization, then grab factories and I might be in decent-ish shape, depending on coal.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

It is turn 160 and we just finished our first campus:




now, that wasn't actually the plan to delay it so long, though I did fully intend to de-prioritize science in favor of food nad production this game. Except, well, uh, we didn't get either of those in our spawn, either. We're easily thousands of science behind Krill at this point, but we have to hope that he gets dragged down somehow by Archduke and, I guess, Whosit? I dunno, I don't actually expect that to happen - I expect Krill to win fairly handily at this point. Assume I've conceded to Krill and Krill alone, lurkers, unless I retract this statement at a later date. I no longer think Archduke has the horses to really keep up with Yongle, and Whosit as we know I've dismissed basically ever since his failed attack on Korea. 

Speaking of:


Does that look like a defensive deployment to you? Because it looks like a defensive setup to me. Quite why Whosit abandoned his assault on me right as he was on the brink of hammering through my last defensive line, I'm not sure. Perhaps the casualties he suffered discouraged him, but he should have known he could outproduce me. Maybe Krill launched an invasion in his west? Best I can figure. He signed a military alliance with Archduke and got him to declare war on Korea, so he'll have no real problems with Korean units (poor greenline has no one he can military ally with now), but it's China that's the real threat. 

Anyway, I'm fine with him holding hte city for a bit - I'll retake it once Frigates come online. Swing my samurai through the pass to the south as well as sailing around, and swarm the city. Should be straightforward enough against the presented defense, and I'll throw in a missionary to convert it back to DotF. 

But I'm still violating my rule, mostly out of desperation, and building infrastructure in a time of war:

 

We'll catch Roman science in less than 10 turns or so as these beauties finish.  



Then Industrial Zones and Factories, pray for good coal deposits, and then maybe we can actually BUILD stuff for the first time all game.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Slowly rolling again. Congress turn. Useless resolutions. Whosit and I are struggling for control of Hong Kong, and he has momentarily swayed them against us.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Screenshots when I get home, but Whosit offered peace- status quo ante, in essence. He'll return my city and a bunch of luxuries besides, in exchange for 600 gold of reparations (and some extra sea turtles). I mull it over - peace would be good for both of us, obviously. But I think he's more desperate than me. I counter-offer, asking for my city AND the isthmus city he settled, in exchange for the gold AND I throw in all the coal Krill sent me. 

Oh, did I mention the coal? Can't remember. Krill offered 30 coal for 30 niter a turn or two ago. I didn't need the coal but figured he wanted the niter to quickly upgrade some frigates, or to get rid of the coal to BUILD frigates and upgrade them to battleships more quickly, something like that. Anyway, on the grounds that anything that hurt Whosit was good for me, and besides I'm not averse to playing kingmaker at this point, I accepted. Anyway, point is, NOW I wanna see if I can take that coal and turn around and squeeze an extra city out of ROme for it. THat would solidify my position, enable me to pass Whosit, and perhaps even draw within striking distance of Archduke!

[williams482]

That's an interesting offer, and an ambitious counteroffer. Not a lot of players are game to give away a naturally settled city they are in no danger of losing, so I'd bet against that being accepted.

Are you sure you could even hold the city against his loyalty pressure?

I think the original deal could be fair, but comes down to the naval situation. How long until you can spend that gold on enough quad upgrades to just take your city back yourself?