3 grams - Prodigal Son's

[grahamiam]

67shieldsx4 = 268g. i suggest we turn off research 1 turn after industrialization so we can cash rush it. sound good? a reliable souce of coal is worth it, imho. we won't gain anything by leaving it at 10% either or have some scientists do research that turn, so just go max gold for 1 turn, get the cash, rush harbor, then go full throttle for espionage.

 

[RowAndLive]

cash rush sounds good. While I'm working on it, I've maxed-out lux spending, since I'm yanking what garrissons I can. We simply don't have enough troops for the land area and shape.

Will see how it works out and advise tonight.

 

[grahamiam]

cash rush sounds good. While I'm working on it, I've maxed-out lux spending, since I'm yanking what garrissons I can. We simply don't have enough troops for the land area and shape.

that's why the factories and coal plants are so important. once we get them, we'll be able to do rifles every 2 or 3T, and we'll have all the defenders we'll need. this is definitely one of the toughest spots i've been in and it's good fun we are right on the edge of getting a hand on this again, good luck.

edit: for the coal plants, we should alternate them, so only 1 or 2 cities are building them while the rest of the factory towns build defenders. just make sure the best towns start them as soon as possible so they are in the que before we lose our coal again. i have no illusions that black lung will stay ours for this war with the Byz.

 

[M60A3TTS]

The fat lady is warming up in the bullpen. One more ally with Theo, and we'll quite likely be overrun. We have about 81 units and 24 are workers. The most common unit after that are pikes, and we're down to about 5 cav. FWIW this is what I would do. Get every last worker to fort the following, even taking them off rail duty: Coal tile-both hill tiles nw of Tours-silk tile ne of Tours. Strip the rear area towns of their garrison pikes and muskets and man the tiles indicated along with Tours, Onnontare, and Owego. Reinforce with all the trebs we have. Use the cav army to counterattack any injured units. Upgrade swords to MI so they can be used to take out redlined units. We can't retreat from here, because without the silks, it just forces more citizens to become entertainers, and without the coal, no rail. NOT ONE STEP BACK!

In the bigger picture, if we're not building factories, we need more troops. Ditch any improvements under construction in non-core towns that aren't totally corrupted and switch to rifles. After industrialization, I'd REALLY research communism. The reason is simple, #1 priority now is survival, and we stand a better chance getting back on our feet with collectively greater shield output than with an Intelligence Agency.

 

[grahamiam]

In the bigger picture, if we're not building factories, we need more troops. Ditch any improvements under construction in non-core towns that aren't totally corrupted and switch to rifles. After industrialization, I'd REALLY research communism. The reason is simple, #1 priority now is survival, and we stand a better chance getting back on our feet with collectively greater shield output than with an Intelligence Agency.

i agree with the builds, but we can't revolt till we stabilize the front, so commie is really no hurry. if we can't stabilize the front before revolting, we won't win anyways.

edit: ok, let's go commie next, before espionage. i think it's a mistake as we're underestimating the power of stealing (reference BZ9 if you want to see the power of it), but if that's what the team wants, it's fine with me.

 

[Bede]

Following the discussion with great interest and can't wait to get my hands bloody again.

Concur with M60 that Communism is the way to go soonest.

 

[M60A3TTS]

If we hold the line successfully here, Theo will be at the table to offer peace just in time for us to finish the research, say within 15 turns or so. Then we can revolt. If we don't hold, the whole question of research is probably moot.

 

[grahamiam]

If we hold the line successfully here, Theo will be at the table to offer peace just in time for us to finish the research, say within 15 turns or so. Then we can revolt. If we don't hold, the whole question of research is probably moot.

why do i like espionage 1st then?

here's my thinking:
15T till commie, 21T till espionage (assumes 6T of anarchy and 15T to research it), then we shut off research. This is about 36turns.

if we go espionage 1st, then 15T till espionage, 10T till we steal commie (assumes 200gpt with research off and 2000g for a careful steal, starting at 0g in treasury) and 6T of anarchy = 31turns

i think espionage route could be quicker, but it depends on how much gpt we make with research off. the more we make, the faster it will be. or will research be 2x faster in commie than monarchy?

edit: i also realize it's a risky move, but if it pays off, we're in much better shape.

 

[RowAndLive]

Sooner is better, but the risk is higher. We don't have a money tree, and that's a lot of $$ to flush if our attempt fails. We also need to exist for it to work.

While I personally would favor esionage first, I do see the commie-first POV.

 

[grahamiam]

ok, it's settled then (3 for, 1 against). go for commie asap, but i still think that harbor in black lung is worthwhile

 

[M60A3TTS]

Under normal circumstances, the logic would make sense. Regrettably, we are not operating under those conditions. One look at F3 makes it plain why we got clotheslined by Theo, and quite possibly may have more visitors in the near future. Our rather corrupt monarchy just cannot support building a military that will deter anyone but Joan.

As far as a careful steal goes, what if we fail? 2000 gold also buys a lot of unit upgrades. We have at the moment a medieval army in an industrial era. That cash could go a ways towards improving that situation.

In any case, we've given R&L some food for thought since he's still up...

edit...late post. Sounds like we have a plan.

 

[denyd]

Just grabbing a quick word between meetings. I didn't get to read all the recent posts, but how about mobilization?

Check back later.

 

[M60A3TTS]

If we mobilize, that will affect our ability to put factories and coal plants in.

Edit: Looked over bz9, and kudos to g-man and the rest for an awesome SID victory- Having said that, I don't think there's a parallel to our particular situation. Those Iros were pulling in 1000-1300 gpt as a Republic for the same time frame and could make steal attempts at will. We can do maybe ~200, and can't leverage steals with trades unless it's part of a peace settlement. In bz9, you fail at stealing, you try again. We fail and tick off the wrong party, we may be in the middle of a dogpile.

 

[grahamiam]

Edit: Looked over bz9, and kudos to g-man and the rest for an awesome SID victory- Having said that, I don't think there's a parallel to our particular situation. <snip> We fail and tick off the wrong party, we may be in the middle of a dogpile.

yep, i shut up now. we go commie 1st, then figure it out from there.

btw R&L, we have too many clowns and too much lux and science tax. suggest you download the popheads mod to make it easier to determine who's happy and who's not. instructions are in the zip file. fire as many clowns as possible. we should be getting more this turn than 14g.

 

[Admiral Kutzov]

Commie gets us all the cash we'll ever need. All we need to do is survive that long with silks.

 

[RowAndLive]

btw R&L, we have too many clowns and too much lux and science tax. ... we should be getting more this turn than 14g.

I had mentioned before that I put all the cash out to lux in order to pull the garrissons, and left it that way until I could fix it. After I finished MMing, we were at ~+157gpt. Only 1 clown IIRC.

IBT: Alleghany takes a pounding. Byz attack rifle & 3 pikes on coal, but fail, killing 2. Byz kill exposed 3/5 cav. Cav attacks Owego and retreats.
The attack was much more minor than expected, but they've moved up 7 more rifles & 1 cav. Perhaps they're temporarily gassed already?

Industrialization comes in > Commie.
Paris riots > tax.
VFalls rifle > rifle, Gayagaahe lib > rifle, Kawauka worker > MI.

1325 – 5
Change Kente from market in 9 to court in 3. Change Oka from lib in 10 to rifle in 10.
Change univ builds to fcty builds. Leave Devil’s Tower on a bank.
Catt changes to Fcty, losing 32 shields (2 turns).
The Byz have 3 frigate + 1 galleon near Paris / Avignon & Centralia.
Draft in Gewauga, Latrobe, Gayagaahe

Rifle in Owego kills red cav. We still need to look at more drafting, and rushing the rifles, as there is now a galleon on the W coast too.

Falling asleep in the chair. Next player.

 

[grahamiam]

I had mentioned before that I put all the cash out to lux in order to pull the garrissons, and left it that way until I could fix it. After I finished MMing, we were at ~+157gpt. Only 1 clown IIRC.

sorry, we had talked about shutting research down for 1 turn, then i looked at the save and saw we didn't need to. i figured that the happy/content/sad faces were starting to blur together.

M60 is up.
i will be away till Monday. If bede want to swap, that's fine with me.

 

[M60A3TTS]

Got it and started, but time to call it a night. Suffice to say in 1350 we're holding our own.

 

[M60A3TTS]

The save at 1375AD

Preturn- Lux tax from 40% to 20%, putting cash flow @ 235gpt. That upgrades 3 pikes to rifles every two turns. Have to change a few taxmen to entertainers, but no production is affected. We have the majority of our workers on an individual tile putting down rail in anticipation of losing our coal colony. With slave labor, that’s a 12-turn endeavor on plain terrain. The concerns I have here are as follows. First, a lot of these tiles won’t even be of use until we get hospitals. Second, we need fortifications to help shore up our weak front-line defense. Finally, I’m just not ready to concede the coal colony we have.

Switch Salamanca from rifle (2) to factory (6). The reason is that a rifle costs 80 shields. Sala is @ 35spt. That produces a rifle every 3 turns. With a factory the build time will be down to 2 turns.

Join a 3rd cav to the army and knock off a reg rifle. Knight kills 2hp cav. Build a fortress/barricade on the coal tile and start working a fort on the hill tile 2NW of Tours.
Hope everything holds next IBT.

IBT- Byz lose 2 cav while we lose 2 knights and a pike attacking the coal colony. That was brutal. Those barricades didn’t seem to pack the defense they’re supposed to. Cattaraugus factory>coal plant. Allegheny pounded by the Byz navy.

Turn 1 (1330AD) Switch harbor for aqueduct and hurry in Onnontare for 44g so it can grow to size 7 and get the additional fortified bonus.

IBT- Allegheny pounded again. Lose a pike at Onnontare to a cav, Theo lands a cav in our rear.

Turn 2 (1335AD) Cav army is healed, so it dispatches two Byz cav. Join a Frenchman to Onnontare, putting it at size 7. Worker actions. Add a pike to Allegheny to absorb frigate fire, as we’ve lost a couple pop with a single defender.

IBT- Trade embargo between Aztec and Celts against us ends. Two Byz cav fail against Tours, one dead, other red. Allegheny hit. No losses.

Turn 3 (1340AD) Our elite cav kills the red cav. Worker actions to bump up production.

IBT- Trade embargo between Aztecs and France ends. Byz cav make a concerted effort to get at our coal and Tours. Lose a couple rifles there, and she loses a couple of her own, with 3 injured.

Turn 4 (1345AD) We finish off all the cav that were part of the raiding party. Cav army takes care of a vet rifle, losing 4hp. More rail work now. Overall unit count, no real change, but more rifles than pikes. Science up to bring in Communism in 15.

IBT- Theo loses a cav at Tours. Celts finish ToE.

Turn 5 (1350AD) Pop a red rifle and capture a Byz treb. Cav army kills two cav. Worker stuff.

IBT- Spain renews peace. Byz shift troops around, but side-to-side, not forward.

Turn 6 (1355AD) Shift the troops around to keep all our towns and forts as safe as possible. More rail.

IBT- Trade embargo between Spain and Celts ends. 2 Byz cav die in failed attacks. No losses for us.

Turn 7 (1360AD) More sparring and rail building

IBT- Celts renew peace deal. More shelling. Lose a rifle and pike to cav attacks at the coal field. Ganogeh has a couple ironclads firing away at it.

Turn 8 (1365AD) Four newly-minted rifles move off to the front.

IBT- Byz cons Spain into trashing our peace deal and declares. Byz infantry dies against the coal field.

Turn 9 (1370AD) Cav pillages the road by Kiohero that the Byz are using to bring their own cav against us.

IBT- No losses. Byz are moving further south, now threaten Kawauka. Start coal plant at Salamanca.

Turn 10 (1375AD) Fort the army to heal. Elite MI goes red, but kills vet rifle. Move workers up to complete the chain of forts and put a couple units in each. Theo now has 23 rifles, 1 musket, and 5 longbows that are cut off. Note the lone Byz rifle 2NE of Avignon which is empty at the moment.

Not a word from Theo throughout. The harbor at Black Lung has not been rushed, so the coal field by Tours remains our sole source of coal. Allegheny is hit every turn by about 10 frigates. Manufactured goods per F11 went from 222 megatons to 320, so we’ve increased production almost 50%. Communism in 7.

 

[M60A3TTS]

The new front line