Is this winable? (Noble)

[Edgler Vess]

So ive won my second Noble game (Space race, continents, standard size, normal speed). I had started the game with the intention of doing a domination or conquest victory but my ability to traverse the water and wage war from it is...lacking. In order to force myself to get a bit smarter about the water I started this game:

Noble, Standard size, archipeligo, tiny islands, high sea level.

The start seemed ok, got a bit of a tech lead, lost the race to liberalism, turned Deli into a GP machine, my production in Deli is good (sort of) from the Moai statues, but because i was wonder spaming I let Louis grab more land than I should have, I couldnt wage any early wars (no copper no iron) but I do have oil, its 1892 and im on a "beeline" for tanks but its 50 turns away, the idea would be to get to tanks: spam a ton of them out of Dehli and go crush Louis and win through score (weak, I know, but any others are prolly to late to try). No one seems to be a threat as far as a cultural victory....any help?

 

[cabert]

how can you lose the lib race when you have a tech lead?

I would open the save, but I haven't updated to 3.19 yet sorry.

My opinion is if you're on a beeline, you shouldn't be 50 turns away.
seems you already have combustion, right?
did you start building boats?
enough?
If you have, it's time to build wealth and put your economy on 100% science.

 

[Edgler Vess]

I got greedy with Lib, was trying to snag steel with it, but it backfired and light blue got it, I JUST got combusition (last turn on the save), map is pretty rough for resources everyone seems to be researching kinda slow...have built any modern boats as Im going to start actually hooking up the oil on my island on this turn..

 

[nbcman]

If you didn't have iron, why go for steel? No cannons and without iron IW is not as important.

Rifling or Mil Sci would have been a better choice.

Along with cabert's advice on building boats, build machine guns at your inland cities (if there are any) since they don't need any special resources.

 

[Birdman6]

A lot can happen in 50 turns so I wouldn't wait. What are your best military units right now? Start planning your war now and launch ASAP...planning meaning build boats (with escort), scout your landing point and how you'll get there, scout your first target city and what its defenses are, learn what techs your enemy has and consequently what his best units are, think about how you can maximize damage with your surprise attack.

Don't just send tanks, they'll get slaughtered. Your army should be diverse with units of different abilities to handle different situations. Send attackers, defenders, siege, navy, air, etc all together.

But if you wait 50 turns for tanks, then you'll have to wait another 30 while you build them and before you know it 100 years has gone by and your enemy is stronger than ever. Just get going now and get some frigates to defend your coast. As long as you keep him from landing on your territory he can't touch you.

 

[miked1991]

I might suggest if you build too many wonders... play a game but ban yourself from building any world wonders at all, just the national wonders. if you force yourself to spend those hammers on more rifles you might conquer many more civs

 

[Edgler Vess]

Rifleman are as good as Ive got now (with machinegunners in each city, but one i think). Planning the war now is prolly a good idea though, if I dont I think ill run out of time. no such thing as an inland city on this map, its so fractures you can almost go around the world in a fishing boat, great fun so far though, even if I lose and/or its just not winnable at this point I still learned some about the water...

 

[Nials]

You have destroyers and oil, which nobody else has. On an archipelago map that is a huge advantage. The units you have are fine for attacking. Destroyers can be used to remove cultural defenses and you can bring a few trebs per city to suicide and soften up the defenders.

 

[Edgler Vess]

You have destroyers and oil, which nobody else has. On an archipelago map that is a huge advantage. The units you have are fine for attacking. Destroyers can be used to remove cultural defenses and you can bring a few trebs per city to suicide and soften up the defenders.

Yeah, ive got about 7 destroyers now, declared war on Louis and moved in about 12 units, wasn't enough but ive got his coast all blockaded while I build enough riflemen to take Paris, think I screwed up that first landing prolly could have had it by now..

The good news is his almost his entire fleet is stuck in port in Paris, should be only a matter of time, bad news is, im falling behind in score....up to 1919 now..

 

[Edgler Vess]

With the botched intial landing Louis was able to put up a machine gun before I was able to mount a second wave of rifemen/trebs (no iron for cannon), so I lose and another game falls into oblivion ....Lessons Learned:

1) With a lack of hammers anywhere else but your capital you really have a very limited shot with an army, if you lose it, your screwed.

2) On an island map, you have to REX even if the wonders are cheap and fast, strategic resources are incredibly vital due to the limited amount there are: if I would have had the iron/copper and louis didn't I could have went after him (or anyone else for that matter early.

3) Take the mimimum amount of troops you think youll need and multiply them by 1.5. if you have extra you can always use them to backfill/garrison.

4) 1892 is getting a little late for your first war, go early or not at all.

5) Try to have some idea by the start of the AD years how your going to win this thing, score may work but its pretty weak...

 

[cabert]

didn't you try to draft?

 

[Edgler Vess]

No, I didnt, failure on my part.....have to remeber to do that next time im in a similar sitatution

 

[Birdman6]

I'm curious how you carried out your first landing that failed:

- You said you sent 12 units, what were they?
- What units did the enemy have? (i assume they didn't have the machine gun at that point)
- Did you attack from the boat or move onto land first?
- Did you pay attention to the terrain?

I gotta say lacking both iron and copper is a pretty severe disadvantage. I'm sure experienced players can handle it but it's probably enough to make me start a new game.

Attacking machine guns with riflemen is of course a bad idea. Without gunships or tanks, your best bet is probably cavalry. The 1st one probably dies but the 2nd one probably wins.

 

[Edgler Vess]

Attacked with Riflemen, and trebs Louis's defending units (4), were Grenadiers. Moving onto the terrian actually hurt me more than it helped, I landed on his shore and had to sit there for a turn before I was able to start attacking, i should have attacked from my ships or had at least 2 more set of 4 troops (total of 20) would have made the difference...

strangely enough the 'Lessons Learned" from this wipeout I applied to my most recent game (Fractal, Normal Speed, Standard Size) and I got my first domination win...Pacal's UU (The spearman that needs no copper) is GREAT for an early rush....oh and the early random event that you can get (Tower shields that provide a 25% bonus to archers is way overpowered), I ran my first set of spearman guys (Hoku?) through the first AI like a hot knife through butter.

 

[Nials]

It's true that you have to wait an extra turn when you unload units, but you suffer an attacking penalty of 25% if you attack directly from the ships unless your units have the amphibious promotion.

Congratulations on the domination win