[Spoilers]C6PBEM23: Krill sidles yonder, and probably fails

[Krill]

The comple tech and civic trees are in the first few posts.

I had Industrialism 35ish turns ago, electricity 2 turns ago, get 2 free techs and because I'm playing China I also get a free eureka and inspiration.

I had open yo research: Computers, Flight, Sanitation, Rep Parts, and Combustion.

I did get Flight though

[Krill]

T168 - healing




Whosit is swinging south, and isn't interested in fighting Scarborough, which is the correct tactical decision following an incorrect strategic assesment (seriously Whosit, defend). I'm just moving the scout away and watching from a distance, I have limited units in place to defend (two field cannon and one line inf, but I would like a few battles on that line inf if I can get them). OTOH, those units are enough to mess up anything that pushes at Urtin Duu.





Victor was sent on Whosits' T168, so if I am to attack Minskin I want to take it by T170.

Pushing the attack is hard though, the passes through these mountains could be an absolute kill zone for the right unit set up. A fort on that geothermal vent (if even possible) and a tortoise promoted melee unit would essentially block the entire route in, and then Minskin exerts a ZoC I can't get past, I have to attack it from the north and west simultaneously.

Well, that double promo line inf corp is battlecry and commando, so with the GG it can hit Minskin from the north next turn. I moved a field cannon up north, in hindsight that was a mistake, but the GS is doing work now. I also see that the Minskin line inf could have been kept tiles back, but I was worried about units in the fog able to destroy the siege tower, so it will take some hits. it has tortoise so it's essentially free XP.

[Krill]

T169 - Whoops.

Have another turn report so I can catch up with current events.

Just for the record: after I played this turn and had taken screenshots, I realised that I did not have a shot from the start of the turn. Hence the first screenshot here was taken after I had played and sent the turn: I loaded the save and made same the movement to show the units as per when I was playing.




When I opened the turn this morning, I was groggy but I couldn't figure out why the movement range of the commando line inf was cut short. Then I realised that there was a unit on the Hanging Gardens blocking the way.

What's weird is that the correct move was to move the field cannon forwarded first. Because of the confines of the tactical map, and the movement of follow up units, if I moved the line inf onto the entertainment district I'd be blocking the movement of the field cannon to attack (specifically I'd have to commit to a course of action before I knew what the situation was).

I (now) know Bambino has a unit in it, but I didn't realise it until after I played most of the turn. It looks like Whosit has units in play and this is where I get to fight him in the field. It's not ideal, my units are poorly positioned and Minskin is still in play blocking most troop movements, but there are at least two exposed units to kill and the Minskin field cannon can get trapped.

There are multiple options: Minskin isn't going to fall this turn, but I need to hit it so that it can fall next turn. There is a rail on Henge, so I can either rail road to the south or north of the Bombay lake, and this just brings into play a cuir attack on the musket. I needed to know what units were behind the field cannon, as it has +6 support, and those are the only tiles availble, but I have my uber line inf able to attack those tiles IF I can kill the field cannon with a single ranged attack (turns out that it only has 50 strength because wonders don't trigger for garrison. Occupied enemy districts do though, so my field cannon was at 81 with the GG). So I knew I could kill it.

If I railroaded the north, I could get the line inf in Bombay onto a tile ready and able to attack Minskin next turn, so I knew I could get a single ranged attack and actual line inf attack in this turn, so it should fall on T170. That left a healthy cuir (with barding) free to act as a blocker somewhere, and the charge but more damaged cuir able to reach the musket. I just needed to damage the musket because without a GG in play it wouldn't retreat and should die next turn. Unfortunately I killed it and I think my cuir is exposed.

So what I did was move up the charge cuir and saw a pike and shot west of Persian (with Echelon) and basic musket north west of Persian. The commando line inf corps get a perfect kill on the pike and shot, but not on the bare musket. I'm most interested in removing units from the board, so take the guaranteed kill.




This left me with the straight forward attack into Minskin to take out 60 odd HP, and next turn it should take two more line inf attacks and two ranged attacks. Even with a turn of healing it should go down. Once I realised that Bambino had a unit in it the only sane option was to block the cuir from trying to break through and wreck my ranged units, but the greater fear is that the musket and cuir are joined by units in the fog to take out the front line cuir corps, and then I don't have units far enough forward to do anything about it.

I can use the artillery corps to blow up Bambino; it can sit on a hill and behind a river, and is promoted to +7 strength against land units so it should be sufficient by itself to defend and destroy the walls, and then do enough damage so the healing cavalry can finish the capture. Not pictured, Russian Blue completed walls, so I need to send a real unit up there (which sucks) but nothing I can do about that. I need to keep my units together.

My amenity situation is bad in a couple of cities, but between these three cities I can see olives, truffles and silks. Capture them and the amenity situation gets better quickly.





I must admit I don't like this, but I can't declare on TAD, so any city that he converts to his religion gets razed. Nothing personal Chev, if I can win without annoying people, that's usually easier, but in this instance if you either can't or won't defend, I'll do what I have to.

[Krill]

T170 - Collapse

Significant developments over the course of a single turn.




I'm writing this a couple of days after playing this turn, so I'm actually not sure how I got from the position in the last turn report, to this: it doesn't feel like it should even be possible. All I remember is that Minskin looked tight, so I made sure every unit had the GG bonus, but I think Persian just got obliterated because it lacked walls.

Strategically, either I had to hold where I was and consolidate, or force the win ASAP. Given I don't know what was about to happen with Oxford, I need to fight these battles whilst I can, with the advantages I already have, because I wasn't sure if they would last.

The only win condition I can reach is domination. The quickest way to Arirang is actually through Whosit and via Abyssinian/Zanzibar, and Chev is not an issue. Then I can position everything to go for the decap shot on TAD at the start of the final war (at the end of the DoF so I have a clock to work to). TAD also has a clock to end the game in a Religious Victory before then, so I know what I have to defend against on that dimension.





OTOH, I do not want the door closing behind me as I move my army through. Bambino will get cleared out with the artillery (the southern arty can't attack, but was positioned there because it doesn't actually make any difference for moving it towards Abyssinian).

Loyalty should be a factor, but with the Amani move and running B&C in Minskin (which never cares for production, only population figures so it's great to capture cities with entertainment districts) Persian loses about 1 loyalty per turn. Once Bambino falls, it flips positive and then the Steel defences mean it will outlast Whosit.








These two screenshots show the trick to nab Oxford. The set up was this turn, to remove all three quarries, then T171 I could chop and insta build OU without risk of losing the quarries for nothing. This is nothing compared to those one turn Mids builds though. I'm running the wonder production card, so with Magnus I generated over 630 production from the stone chops. This was the second reason I took da Vinci: I figured that unless TAD was making 120 production per turn I could get to OU the turn before he would accrue the production for Brunelleschi to complete it.

There is a cost. The loss of the northern stone would have had no effect, and the middle stone, once replaced with a mine, would leave the IZ in the same state, but the loss of the middle stone loses me production in both IZ. But having OU matters so much more than the loss of 2 base production per turn.





Sorry Chev. This isn't close. Even if I take the entire east coast, you will still have cities left: TAD has to convert them, or I will simply raze the onces with his religion. If TAD leaves a pocket of your cities free, then I will safeguard them from conversion. If part of that pocket is on the west coast, that's fine, there is only one city south of Hong Kong that I want (the city which acts as a canal and opens up Tourdion, Ocicat and Nebelung).

Entertainingly, as Whosits' cities rotate into Korea, TAD still has to get units down there to convert them to make sure that Whosit has the right religion as well. Essentially, TAD has to convert every city on the map because I can raze every one that has his religion. That's the game we're playing right now.

[Krill]

T171 - Got Oxford.

Brutal turn to play. It might surprise people to know I don't like these war turns, I prefer the building phases. I like sand castles.







I completely forgot that one of China's bonuses is a free eureka and inspiration when you complete a wonder. As Oxford is an Industrial era wonder, I got the single remaining inspiration and eureka from those eras: Opera and Theatre, and Sanitation. Neither matters one iota.

Oxford gave Flight and Rep Parts. Assuming Oxfords' techs are chosen from those available to research at the point of completion, and not worked out sequentially, this was the best outcome for me.

Combustion would invalidate cuirs, and I lack the card for tanks, so I didn't want that, Computers didn't give me anything but the drone, and Sanitation is worthless. Rep Parts at least gives me the opportunity to upgrade my line inf and I'm unlikely to want to build more in the near future. I will still build more cuirs to upgrade a bit later. Flight is obvious, but the observation balloon is awesome: three range artillery in a world defended by medieval walls.

So the plan becomes: tech Radio, look for aluminium, tech Advanced Flight for fighters and bombers, tech Advanced Ballistics for machine guns, tech Combustion, upgrade cuirs, field cannon and line inf at Chevs capital and do a reverse D-Day straight into TAD's back.

TAD is now down 7 techs: Flight, Electricity, Rep Parts, Steel, Refining for sure because he is not in the modern era, which leaves Rifling and one of Ballistics or Military Science (I know he has Economics because he has a bank). In the next 16 turns he will make, at best, 2600 beakers plus the 1000 from Darwin, enough to get him to Steel and Refining, plus Flight, just about. But no oil or coal for enough battleships or biplanes.

Culture-wise, you will note that I am making 100 culture per turn more than TAD, and I'm essentially even with him (worst case) in civics. I will be first to Ideology, and first to an 8 card religion, and I will have all of the production cards for the new units, and I will have armies and fleets in play.

Let us all just take a step back here and acknowledge: this game is over from a military and economic perspective. I don't want to play the war turns, and I don't want to put anyone else through that rigmarole for no reason. The question now is if TAD can get a religious victory before the end of the DoF, because after that I can condemn every heretic sent to me, and should be capable to stabilising the religious situation with defendable borders. If he can't, then I would expect a concession.





Sorry Chev. I think I managed to pillage five trade routes, which was worth 2100 gold. The capital will stabilise next turn, and I'm buying heavy chariots at 260 gold per pop to act as +8 loyalty anchors in the captured cities, as I have no iron stored. That frees up the naval units to continue the domination. That's 780 gold for three heavy chariots, which then becomes about 420 gold per tank via upgrade. A tank army would be pretty obscene, running through those samurai...102 strength without promotions? Or I can just add them to the two cuir corps I have (and third I'm building). Pretty decent option for the reverse D-Day plan.

I think I can go on record here: If Chev used Yi Sun Sin and created an ironclad on his western coast, then all his cities would have a much stronger base strength and I wouldn't be able to do this. Well, I would, but it would take a few more turns, and that's actually relevant to TAD.





Just showing that capturing these two cities and buying a worker gives me an extra 2 coal. Add in the coal at Bambino, and I can easily upgrade all my frigates, gold dependent, and not have a resource crunch.





Bambino will get hit by a lobbed shot next turn, because with the forward rail creation, the observation balloon (a well spent 960 gold from from that 2100 pillaged, so I'm still 360 gold to the good) will be in place. That privateer is annoying though, but once the city is captured the steel defences will manage it well enough.





Darwin is gone, not that it matters. Spilsbury would be decent but doubt worth the gold when I could just buy an arena and zoo for less. Eiffel is a win more mechanic (or a way to grab Alhambra and the Forbidden Palace to use amenity cards). Bouboulina is unlikely to matter but I'll be accuring points incredibly quickly now so should get her around about the end of the DoF. Napoleon will not matter to anyone. The great people system is almost irrelevant now.





I probably should have placed the Aerodrome one tile further west, but whatever: Bombers in Ponytail can reach Vogon Poetry and Bring a Towel, never mind Babelfish. Bombers drop Babelfish, more battleships through to the lake, clean everything up, tanks finish the job. That WW2 reference is starting to become frightening accurate.

MH will manage to get out the two biplanes after the aerodrome fast enough that I ccan essentially beeline Advanced Flight without delay (and any that does crop up basically gives me the chance to tech Combustion for tanks).

[Krill]

T172

Now to see the power of flight and artillery, against medieval era walls, and of frigates and battleships against undefended settlements.





The artillery obliterated the walls at Bambino, and took out the privateer. Everything else was cleanup. Zanzibar is now firmly in my sights, to help resolve amenity issues. THe plan is striaght forward: move the single arty to the rainforest and hit the city from outside walls range, but because I'm on a clock I have to move forward with other units to start whittling it down (and ensure that ren era walls are not created).

Afterwards, I can place the artillery corps on the aqueduct and the single artillery to one side, and I can pound at both Aegean and Chartreux to remove walls, then roll over them however I feel best. The other cities in Whosits control on teh coast will be dealt with via navy, leaving three northern coast cities from Chev to deal with. If they have his religion, I leave, them, if they have TADs' I raze.





Chev is spreading TADs religion, which is...annoying. It makes me feel far happier with "pissing in his cheerios", to steal a phrase from Commodore.

The plan here is also straight forward: upgrade the frigates next turn (and use the great admiral to create the battleship armarda). Then move then 5 tiles and attack a city, or 5 tiles and promote, and work my way around to Nebelung pillaging and capturing cities as fits into the strategy to not lose to a religious victory attempt from TAD.

To that end, you can see that I'm generating 57 faith. I'm moving every city over to Lilja (faith). I will ensure that Whosits religion is spread to these cities as necessary, then I will surround them with units and Chev will be forced to play his turns whilst I use him as a pinata and human shield from the RV attempt. This will only take a small amount of the faith production, the rest will be used for a more...active defence.





My spy has now reached Babelfish, and you can see what exists here. It looks manageable in terms of defense. In terms of offense, air power will resolve the issues.

[Krill]

T173




Fair bit of damage, so I have confidence that Zanzibar will be rejoining the game next turn. I decided to use the GS healer to allow the units at Bambino to heal this turn.





You know what the best way to get faith is? Pillaging. And I don't need the heavy cavalry in place to hold the loyalty. As I said in the last turn report: Pinata.





It does not look like any city Chev has can last more than a single turn. That means that just by counting tiles, I can plan to get my navy back into position to deal with TAD at the end of the DoF and do the maximum damage possible.





TADs attempt to spread his religion feels a bit slapdash. He seems to be buying everything he can and is just sending it. That is likely to be a problem given my current plans, given he only has to the end of the DoF to win.

[Krill]

Oof, this was not an easy game to play, and I reckon the game was decided based on a) luck and b) Yongle is amenity, not land constrained.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

I was spitefully trying to spread Archduke's religion at the end, but it was only after I'd worked out that I was next on the chopping block, and I had no real effective means of resistance at that point. No hard feelings about said chopping block, btw. You gotta do what you gotta do.

[Krill]

Actually I had no desire to fight any of those wars, and I didn't intend to take the cities until I saw that you were unable to defend the religious victory attempt by TAD. At that point I had no real option but to attack so I could raze the cities TAD spread the religion to, but I could use the northern three cities to stage the invasion into TADs' capital (bombers were just out of range of his capital, but I could enter via the coastal city and just end the game quickly if I got pushed to do so). Plus there were three coal resources there so that supported the battleships (that's the reason I first turned up with frigates, I didn't have the spare coal, I was using 3 coal for ironclads, one for a power plant, and the other two produced every turn were burnt on rails keeping the army moving forward).

TBH, intentional spreading or failure to defend leads to the same steps necessary to stop the RV. If you'd been able to successful defend then I'd have ignored you until the end when I needed to take the capital to force the domination victory. Your cities were amenity sinks, so taking them was counter productive.

Good game, still glad it's over though.