Dr kossin #29

[Bugg123]

That's excellent play! I only wish the chinese would fall back and defend cities in my game

I think have to give up my war, not making any progress... 200 years of war, 3 cities captured and close to 250 chinese units killed... and they still keep coming. Can't even move to a new city after taking care of one stack because I'd be a sitting duck for the next wave of chinese reinforcements... frustrating...

 

[kossin]

That's excellent play! I only wish the chinese would fall back and defend cities in my game

I think have to give up my war, not making any progress... 200 years of war, 3 cities captured and close to 250 chinese units killed... and they still keep coming. Can't even move to a new city after taking care of one stack because I'd be a sitting duck for the next wave of chinese reinforcements... frustrating...

Interesting, he doesn't have Rifles yet? I saw very few mounted units in my game however, maybe that accounts for something.

Any chance to see a save? I have a bunch of questions and it's probably easier this way

 

[Bugg123]

Sure. Here's a save from the turn before the screenshot of units.

Thing is.. mismanaging diplo lead to worse tradingopportunities later, I think. Also Qin had a DP with HC, so the only way I could mount an offence was if Qin DOWed me. Which he did (may influence military build, I guess..), and being a good AI he dropped his SOD right next to the city with my Chinese invasion army waiting (I mean, seriously....).

 

[kossin]

Hmmm, I sticked to Slavery for almost the whole war, keeping my cities at lower pop to avoid so much angry citizen and not be bashed by Emancipation.
Also, from what I can see you've only drafted from the Globe city? Drafting hurts happiness in other cities but those few extra Riflemen mean a whole much difference.

But I guess in the end the real biter is the RNG. I was able to start my war much earlier but against Rifles =\

 

[Bugg123]

I admit I suck at wars at this level Which is why this series helps a lot!

I should definately have slaved a bunch more than I did. I did draft from other cities, but mostly at the start to get going + when I could within reason on unhappines. I guess slavery for a longer time is one area I'm going wrong a lot.

Thanks for the input anyways. Trying to get better! Really appreciate the effort you put into this series!

 

[AveiMil]

I appreciate the effort too! But if I can be critical I'd like you to focus a bit more on how you actually manage to build your SoD, how you plan the war in terms of perhaps splitting up your forces and what decisions you make to get in the position you need to be in order to DoW.

The skill is in the details

 

[kossin]

1. Estimate enemy forces within range. I've shown this in the Shaka game, just run a unit and count the units. Cities that are far away like in this case don't really matter as there'll be no SoD there since there were no opponents on that side and he wasn't planning war, plus by the time they actually get to the front, he'll have no units left in his first few cities.
2. Draft and whip hard! What's a few turns of angry citizens when you can gain cities from them?
3. Prepare in advance. If you're going for a Cannon war, build Trebuchets ahead of time and upgrade them as you get there.
4. You don't only need state-of-the-art units to kill after Cannons are through... muskets even swords will do.
5. Leave more than 1 unit as city garrison. I usually leave about 3 and move them ahead when the front moves. Nothing sucks more than having a Rifle sniped by a Cuirassier and losing 5 turns of war.
6. Keep whipping and drafting!
7. Can't have too much siege. Seriously, my stacks have more Cannons than anything else, you will lose them.
8. Stack splitting will depend on city garrison size, and whether or not the AI is on defensive mode. If he's still fielding SoDs, splitting is a bad idea but you can mount a second stack to pick off smaller cities.

I'll try to do a better explanation the next time this kind of situation arises. Of course, the more cities you have, the better your production is thus the sooner you get your army off and the bigger it is. Same thing for secondary stacks.

 

[AveiMil]

#2 Do you whip away even citizens working Towns? Do you prepare by building additional farms? Do you run the culture slider to combat angry citizen?

#3 Do you begin to draft/whip before you've reached the neccessary tech's as well? Or do you just slowbuild for instance the trebs?

Thanks

 

[kossin]

#2 Do you whip away even citizens working Towns? Do you prepare by building additional farms? Do you run the culture slider to combat angry citizen?

#3 Do you begin to draft/whip before you've reached the neccessary tech's as well? Or do you just slowbuild for instance the trebs?

Thanks

#2 - Normally I don't over-cottage so this is not a problem. However when I do have them I prefer whipping mines, windmills and even farms. Low pop cities with a food resource will grow back fast. Commerce is still pretty important however as you need to keep researching or you'll fall hopelessly behind.

#3 Yes! Although I prefer to wait for the Globe if I'm going to draft anything under Rifles. Trebuchets might be whipped depending on city sizes and happy cap (if I'm near happy cap already, start whipping, otherwise wait to be closer to the DoW). Getting over 10 Cannons via Trebuchets upgrades works well and doesn't cost an arm in gold.

I just played an offline game with Louis, Deity/Fractal, where I was alone on my island but had early contact via workboat... I got 20 Trebuchets before Steel, did a GM trade mission and invaded Hammurabi on the main landmass. I only had 7 cities (and 2 were pretty crappy with no food) but except for Paris, everything was at size 6~8 for a long time. I'm now the proud owner of 6 more cities with a good chance at gobbling Darius next door with his 11 cities fully cottaged and no Rifles

 

[Sportyatuncw06]

I've never followed an diety level walkthroughts. I am lefted stunned. You were like 20 tech back and 1/3 Quins size and demolished him. I still can't believe this is possible. My biggest question is how do you pay for an army that big and how did you maintain a nation that large? Also how did you put together that many nukes for the endgame?

 

[kossin]

Paying for the army: it's not that bad actually. It's about 1gpt/troop so 50 units isn't that much of a high cost. With enough gold multipliers and a few good commerce cities you barely notice it.

Massing nukes: High production cities and rushbuying (Universal Suffrage). Basically, nukes is about all I built from the time I finished Manhattan Project. Didn't need more happy buildings, workers, science multipliers, no infra... just plain tactical nukes.

Once you have nukes, you can kill anything, even if you're 20 techs behind (Hammy was on Future Techs). Even a Swordsman can capture a city defended by a Mech Infantry after a few nukes...

 

[bobbyboy29]

Fantastic game Kossin! The real message that I took for this game is that in game score counts for nothing. You were bottom of the pack and you took down top dog (in terms of score) Qin with ease. Then just to show off you took Hammy from 4100 points to 0 in one turn! Really great game!