Tusk1 - Ladies First

[Elephantium]

I'm not sure either, but anyway - got it.

CBob, I like the basic structure of your plan, but we'll lose Heliopolis and more if Spain has any Conquistadors left. I'll see what I can come up with

 

[LKendter]

I think war will come with Spain by the end of your set. It is only a question how long to return most of the stranded troops overseas. Not to mention fill the armies on our continent.

I doubt those 3 overseas cities of Spain will give us much grief.

Now trying to recover that army on the wrong side of Spain gets interesting. If we gift those cities, will the army return to us?

 

[CommandoBob]

Now trying to recover that army on the wrong side of Spain gets interesting. If we gift those cities, will the army return to us?

Do you mean like if we took those three cities, thus making that land totally ours, and then put our armies into some little, easy to recapture city, such as Samosata (no hills or forests nearby), gifting Samosata to our dear, sweet loving wife Isabella as a peace offering, which forces her to somehow foot the bill for the armies to return to our elegant bachelor pad in Nagoya, so that we can turn aournd and declare war right away with all our armies now in the homeland and thus confirmng to wifey that we are the low-down, back-stabbing, scum-bag, scoundrels she thinks we are?

Delicious!

 

[Elephantium]

If we gift those cities, will the army return to us?

Yes, but I consider that to be an exploit.

 

[LKendter]

@CommandoBob - you are up in LK151

@Elephantium - any progress on the turn?

 

[Elephantium]

I'm partway through the set and plan to play a few more turns tonight.

 

[Elephantium]

Turn 1 - just moving troops back to home.
Turn 2 - moving more troops...
Turn 3 - zzz...
Turn 4 - Build a few cities. We have Settlers sitting around costing us 2gpt each in support.
Turn 5 - Filling in most of the holes in the railnet at home...
Turn 6 - I'm running out of worker jobs...
Turn 7 - start shipping workers over to the beta continent
Turn 8 - ship more workers
Turn 9 - We have over half a dozen Infantry and more than 50 Cavalry accumulated. We're ready to attack...looking at the diplomacy screen, in 5 turns.
Turn 10 - Refining > Steel. Lux slider back to 0%.

 

[LKendter]

Roster:
Elephantium - just played
CommandoBob - swapped
Kulko - UP (MIA?)
LKendter - standing by
MrRandomGuy

 

[LKendter]

Do we give up on Kulko?

 

[Elephantium]

I'd say so. Kulko hasn't posted since February.

 

[LKendter]

Roster:
Elephantium - just played
CommandoBob - swapped
Kulko - (dropped)
LKendter - up
MrRandomGuy - standing by

 

[LKendter]

I've started playing this, and I've gotten as far as starting the UGLY war with Spain.
Spain has bombers, and this isn't fun.

 

[Elephantium]

Hang in there. It's painful at first, but you should be able to raid their main bomber bases fairly quickly.

 

[LKendter]

1700 AD (0)
I'm not sure why we have all the workers putting forest on top of mines. Most likely we already got 10 shields from these tiles.

It looks like we have more than enough armies troops to deal with the three cities on the other island. I'm going to pull some of those troops home.


1705 AD (1)
I start loading up the armies.


1715 AD (3)
(IT) Watching Spain move destroyers and transports around tells me our chain between the island will break once the war starts.
I'm starting to recall all those ships to port.


1720 AD (4)
The advisor says Spain is furious with us. I wonder how she will feel when we hand her the divorce papers?
She is insulted when I insist she shares all techs.
WAR!

Jaen is razed having just 1 defender.
New Constantinople is razed with a cavalry being the best defense.
Santander is razed with 3 conscript infantry. We destroy a transport in harbor.
I do nothing on the home continent. I prefer to late Spain burn some troops first.
(IT) As expected, we lose the 2 northern cities.


1725 AD (5)
I stumble onto another Spain stack on the new world with 5 units and a settler.
We wipe out the small stack off 7 infantry losing 1 elite cavalry and 1 vet cavalry.
Leading fishing pays as Here Comes the Divorce gives us another army.
We don't have enough artillery to wipe the stack of 25 out. I pack 22 infantry into Pi-Ramesses. No way she takes that.
I hit Matsuyama with armies, but lose one in the process. It is razed, as it has the stink of our ex now.
Based on this, I realize we need artillery and settlers more than cavalry at this point.
(IT) We are really screwed.
Spain begins to hit us with bombers!
We are going to lose the small island as 5 units land there.
A stack of 12 units lands by Athens.

 

[LKendter]

1730 AD (6)
That stack by Athens included 2 infantry, one of which really pounded our full health cavalry army. We wind up losing a cavalry army in the new world.
WT Pike man arrives in the new world giving us the army back.
We wipe a stack of 7 cavalry in the old world. I follow up wiping out stack of 2 cavalry, and 1 ancient cavalry.
The big stack of 16 units is wiped since most of the infantry were pounded down to 1 HP. We lost just 1 cavalry, and got several elite promotions.
(IT) As expected, Byblos and Abydos are lost.
The next tech choice is combustion. I would like to work toward flight to deal with the Spainish bombers.
Spain landed another 10 units by Athens.


1735 AD (7)
We hit the stack of 10 by Athens that luckily only had one infantry on top.
Another stack of 11 is wiped near Pi-Ramesses with the cost of 1 elite cavalry. An additional stack of 2 is toasted.
(IT) The Samurai army trying to escape the northern trap is wiped by bombers.
Another 16 units land by Athens including multiple infantry. I also can desperately use artillery in the new world.


1740 AD (8)
The stack of 16 by Athens is gone for the cost of a regular infantry and a conscript infantry that failed vs. a 1 HP cavalry.
Yes, I drafted this turn. 16 units with limited armies was too much. I can't afford to drop all the armies, as they need to deal with the infantry on top.
We have just 8 units to wipe in the old world.
(IT) We get a break by Athens. I'm very glad, as our armies can get back to 100%.

 

[LKendter]

1745 AD (9)
(IT) It looks like Athens is finally getting break. It is another round with nothing landing.


1750 AD (10)
Crazy Medieval Infantry arrives, and we have another army.
Leader Overload Cavalry arrives, and we have another army.
Shimonoseki is razed.


Summary:
I think I got the bulk of the offensive troops gone. The new world is secure.
The old world is a mess. I didn’t get any of the bombers in the last raze. Spain will have oil to the end, as one of their sources is buried really deep in their territory.
The next person can decide how to keep moving forward. Combat settlers and / or large stacks of infantry to cover should let us get artillery next to another city. We all these bombers trying to take cities is all but impossible in my opinion.


Roster:
Elephantium - on deck
CommandoBob
Kulko – MIA and needs to confirm still interested.
LKendter - just played
MrRandomGuy - UP!

 

[MrRandomGuy]

I've got it.

 

[MrRandomGuy]

Played most of the turnset already. Just a few more turns to go.

The war with Spain is much easier than anticipated. Spain is pretty much done. I'd be surprised if the game isn't won in the next turnset.

 

[MrRandomGuy]

0: 1750 AD

Assessment:

New world has been conquered. We have plenty of defensive units in the New World so while there is a threat of an invasion we can probably handle it.

With bombers in play the next steps need to be made very carefully.

I had an interesting idea on how to do this. Madrid is the Spanish capitol. If we attack by land it will take a while before Madrid can be taken. However if we devote some of our forces to attack by sea we could take Madrid and thereby deal a huge blow to the empire. The only problem is there is no way to quickly move the ships so we would have to risk them in open waters. Still, I thought it worth trying

IBT

It looks like my idea may not work. There are at least 4 ironclads, 3 cruisers, and 3 battleships pummeling our railroads and worker improvements. Land may be our only option.

A transport places a lone cavalry near Athens. Lol.

1: 1752 AD

Athens Cavalry is destroyed.

I decide to use some artillery to attack the ships bombarding our lands. At the very least it will slow them down for a bit.

2: 1754 AD

I'm moving forces to attack Spain by land. Spain has too many offensive ships to make an attack by sea possible.

IBT

2 infantry and 2 cavalry land near Athens

3: 1756 AD

Infantry and cavalry by Athens are destroyed

Toyonga is raized with no losses. Shimonoseki is founded 2 tiles west of it to make Rostov easier to access.

Canterbury is raised. New Canterbury is founded one tile south of it.

IBT

Combustion is researched. Flight is due to be discovered in 8 turns.

2 Crusaders and a cavalry land near Athens. Gee looks like they want Athens bad for some reason lol

4: 1758 AD

Rostov is captured with the loss of one cavalry. Toyama is founded on a good spot in the New World.

St. Petersberg is captured with the loss of one cavalry.

Ise is captured with the loss of one cavalry.

Invading units by Athens are destroyed.

IBT

5 cavalry attempt to retake Ise and fail.

Yet more troops arrive near Athens.

5: 1760 AD

Hakodate is captured with no losses.

York is raised with 2 cavalry lost. A guerrilla was spotted in the city.

New York is founded one tile north of the ruins of Old York.

IBT

Unfortunately I forgot about the troops near Athens. Spain takes advantage of my forgetfulness and raizes the city. The Great Wall is lost. Oops!

6: 1762 AD

I kill the troops in the New World first thing to prevent another city raize.

Hastings is captured with no losses and 5 bombers are destroyed.

Omni is captured with no losses.

Novgrod is captured with the loss of one Cavalry.

Moscow is captured with no losses.

London is captured with no losses. We have control of the Pyramids again.

IBT

Spain tries to take back Moscow and fails.

A cavalry lands near Stop The Wine.

7: 1764 AD

Cavalry near Stop the wine is killed

New Athens is founded over the ruins of Athens.

Echizen is captured with no losses. There was a Flack spotted defending the city.

Yekaterinburg is captured with 2 cavalry lost.

Bizen is captured with no losses and we got a GL out of an elite cavalry. I use him to make an army.

Yaroslavl is captured with no losses. I abandon the city and New Kagoshima is founded where the city used to be.

8: 1766 AD

Matsuyama is founded in the northeastern part of the new world.

10: 1770 AD

Valencia is captured with no losses and we now have control of Magellan's Voyage.

Santiago is captured with no losses.

Murcia is captured with no losses and a gain of a cannon.

Seville is captured with no losses and a gain of a cannon.

Summary and notes:

Old England and most of Old Russia have been conquered. Whoever takes the turnset next needs to slowly send artillery out into Spanish territory with infantry defending them. We have enough siege units to knock several size 12 cities down to below size 6 in one turn.

I kept cities that I was able to knock down below size 6. The flip risk isn't as bad plus if any of the cities do flip back they won't have the bonus defense that you get after size 6 and 12. Cities where there was major resistance I just abandoned/raized and built a replacement city on the ruins or near them.

In lieu of automating workers (at this point in the game is when I normally start doing just that because the game is just about won) I simply fortified stacks of workers outside of cities to make them easier to find. We're getting to the point that worker actions are becoming less and less needed as we capture more and more cities.

It appears that Spain has no bombers left. The last IBT she attacked units near her cities with ironclads, battleships, and cruisers.

 

[Elephantium]

Got it. Looks like the end-game, gentlemen!