(Vanilla 1.61, Emperor Standard Conts, save attached)

Need some advice from the military experts here. I've been buddy-buddy with Cyrus the whole game while I've slowly assimilated everyone else on our large continent. I could have settled back into builder mode quite some time ago if I wanted a Space win, but I decided it would be more interesting to try for my first Emperor Domination win instead. So it's down to me and Cyrus now. (Alternatively, I could try a transoceanic invasion of the other two island continents, but I'm not sure I have the time.)

My question is purely a matter of tactics - how do I get this thing started? Obviously, the real details are in the save, but here's the summary:

1) Tech: We both have Infantry, he has Rocketry, neither of us yet have Flight or Industrialism. He doesn't yet have Electricity, while I have both that and Radio.

2) Resources: I have everything, he does not have Coal - so no railroads or coal plants.

3) Power: I have a little over half his power. Most of his power consists of some very large Cavalry stacks. I can bring this up quite quickly at this point, since I've been spending recent turn industrializing.

4) Manufacturing: I have about triple his manufacturing (again, he has no coal). I'm pretty sure he has Plastics and is working on Three Gorges somewhere.


I'm thinking about two basic options:

Plan A: The traditional method - declare on him, wait for his incoming stacks to enter, and blow them away with bombers. I'm guessing I could pretty well annihilate his Cavalry stacks that way and then do a blitzkreig through his cities. If I can contain his initial counterattack, my manufacturing power will pretty much ensure my ultimate victory. I see two problems: first, I'm not sure where he would attack (probably Gao, but I'm not sure) and second, it seems lacking in style. So I'm also considering...

Plan B: I can capture Arbela on the turn of declaration with tanks and bombers, then immediately move in a vast horde of double or triple garrison infantry. I'm hoping that this would result in his immediate attempt to take Arbela rather than spread his troops out everywhere else. However, since he doesn't have rails only his Cavalry can reach Arbela on the next turn. So either he blows an enormous number of Cavalry attacking garrisoned infantry or he holds them back in the field along with SAM's and artillery, which promptly get whomped by my bombers.

Certainly, additional plans are welcome. I look forward to seeing what the evil geniuses around here can come up with - modern war is really not my strong point.

Hmm interesting dilemma.

With his stacks of cavalry I would be inclined to use the bomber scenario. But that depends on how close to the next good techs you both are.

His troops in open territory are much more vulnerable than in cities, so I would try to draw them out as much as possible and then maybe do a back door attack with tanks on his cities in the interior, since they are probably more lightly defended.

I downloaded the file, gonna play with it.

Declare war and destroy his stacks of cavalry with arty (or bomber). Finish off with infantry so you get some nice experienced foot soldiers. When you have killed a few of his main stacks you can advance yourself.

Sounds like I am in a somewhat similar situation against Alex. Only thing was I have infantry and arty and he doens't :)

But cavalry is a huge power boost, but with the coming of rifles and better infantry they aint that good. You will see his power making a dive. Lowering city defences with bombers is a excellent way to quickly take his city's using fast units to cross the heavy cultural areas of the enemey. Aim for tanks..

Maybe it's less stylish, but war should be efficient. The AI isn't stylish, it just form huge stacks which scream for siege units.

Check his troops positions first and maintain a good force of siege units in all possible defend areas.

First question: Will conquering Saladin be enough for a domination win? If not, you probably won't have time to fight another (overseas) war before someone spaceraces.

I'll take a look at the save tonight....

peace,
lilnev

first if he has rocketry there will be artilleries all around the place.
Second you already have radio?
You just need flight and oil to build bombers, that's really a no-brainer!
Bomb him flat, and then play with style :lol:
You don't need tanks.
You just need bombers, and infantry. If you can go to artillery too, so much better. If you can't, just draft and buy infantry. Should be more than enough.

I'm at work and can't open the save, but I have the feeling you could try for a "marine surprise"
= capture arbella in one turn, bomb down the counter attack, if any while "sneaking" transports full of infantry to the next coastal city. If it's in bombing range from either arbella or any of your cities You could be at + 2 cities in 2/3 turns. After that, it's a walk in the park.

I looked at the save. You should be fine. You'll need to conquer the other guy (Mansa?) on your continent to have enough land for domination, but that won't be a problem. Cyrus' stacks really aren't that big. They're mostly in that northwest city, with a few reinforcements in the capital. He'll either strike north at Gao or west at I-forget-the-name. He also has some troops and transports in the south, so he might attack the southern border city, or he might try an amphibious manuever. Two of your border cities have no cultural buffer zone, so those are the most vulnerable. He can move artillery up to them and attack in the same turn. A couple of suggestions:
1) You don't need defense in depth in most of your cities, only the ones on the border. Leave one rifle and move the rest forward. Even if he were to try something sneaky, railroads give you so much mobility you can easily counter.
2) You could either wait till flight (bombers) to declare, or you could trade for artillery. You definitely want one or the other so you can collateralize him when he steps into your cultural zone, and later to take down his cities.
3) It's really cheap to upgrade rifles to infantry. Do it on a large scale.
4) Expect one large attack, as he spends his surplus troops. After that you should be able to mop up without problems.

good luck,
lilnev