Bugs 2.1 The Gauntlet Revisited

[gozpel]

Pre-turn - Cities are in (dis)order with lots of clowns and stuff, leave them for a couple of turns. Up science to 70% to get Metallurgy in 2t and losing 49gpt.

Did check with Korea and they sell horses for 20gpt, but as we can't upgrade I rather wait until we're closer to MT.

1010AD - Orhan's army kills musket in Shantung and raze the town.

Load 3 MI in a boat, destination Ningpo.
3 more MI's in another boat, going to Chinan.

1020AD - We learn Metallurgy. Lower science to zero but noone will sell Physics, not even for 164gpt? That's over 3000 frigging gold and it's only doubtful.

It's obvious we have to rely on self research and pointy stick. I want Sipahis.

Research MT at 60% for now, losing 20gpt - due in 6t. I will have to lower that or find a way to get more gold.

Army take Salonika. Unload 3 MI next to Salonika and 3 more next to Ningpo.

MM cities and we're doing -7gpt atm.

1030AD - Half a dozen priveteers are chasing our caravels.

Elite MI kills spear and take Ningpo

We kill a musket and a spear in Chinan, lose a MI and take the city.

Peace with China for a town and Navigation, I need to get our cities in working order again.

Everyone has ROP with Portugal, I buy it too for 26g and WM. He got a bunch of cavs on the island, so this is just a weak insurance.

Our cities are pathetic, MM and hire taxmen and scientists to get MT in 4t.

1040AD - Canton MI -> musket
Iznik musket -> cannon
Mugla musket -> cannon

Drop off settler on the island.

Hire more taxmen and put cities on diet to keep up the research.

1050AD - An elite priveteer attacks our caravel, who defeats it with one hp to spare.

Tsingtao library -> cannon
Antalya musket -> cannon

Bingol founded on the island -> library

Delay bank in Istanbul so we can start build Sipahis when we learn MT in 2 turns.

Only 2 more turns of this horrible micromanagement.

1060AD - Renew luxdeal with Carthage for 24gpt, we can't do without it right now and we can't fight them until we have at least some sipahis.

MM even more and starve cities (they won't lose pop) to get the gpt up.

Buy horses from Korea for WM and 22gpt.

1070AD - We learn Military Tradition -> Physics

Istanbul bank -> sipahi

Raise luxtax to 20% and put the majority of the specialists back ot work.
Turn off research completely for now and we make 155gpt.

Check diplo, Cartage and Korea seem to accept gpt deals, but 155gpt is only doubtful for Physics. Byzantines and Portugal would never do gpt deals with us.

An interesting note, Carthage doesn't have saltpeter, but we're locked in a deal for 18 turns.

1080AD - Nanking library -> harbor

1090AD - Edrine university -> sipahi
Mugla cannon -> sipahi

I reneg peace with Carthage and get Physics for 35gpt and 316g, where 150 gpt was only doubtful before. Weird.

1100AD - Hangchow caravel -> library
Bolu library -> barracks

Denizli riots

Next player can decide what to do with the research, we might have a chance to get a tech in 5 turns when we reneg peace with Portugal. If we save gold until then we might be lucky as the AI usually make gpt deal for peace and it would save us heaps of gold.

I sent over troops to Salonika, Portugal got cavs in Luanda and would use them if they got a chance. Fortify the troops on the saltpeter and send more troops down there, we need to protect the resource.

 

[gozpel]

We should rush stuff on the island, to get harbor and border expansions.

 

[microbe]

Good job in such a tough situation!

I think we should prepare a war against Carthage when the deal runs out.

 

[gozpel]

Tough situation doesn't really describe it, painful is a better word

But Sipahis will make everything so much better and a Golden Age will be our saving grace.

 

[Justus II]

Way to go, Gozpel! I agree with leaving science off for a few turns, then try to buy one of the required techs from Portugal, (Whichever we can get the better deal on) and then research the other. Hopefully our free Industrial tech will be worth something, we could get lucky and get like Medicine, which the AI tends not to research early. Regardless, it's one less we'll have to buy. That, plus our Golden Age, should let us catch up a bit.

Good point about the island, I would definitely rush infrastructure and shuttle over defenders, let those cities focus on what must be built there.

As for the gpt issue, I know I've read somewhere (like we discussed earlier) that an alliance rep hit isn't quite as severe as a resource rep hit, which is total. The alliance rep hit does repair over time, but imposes a huge premium on gpt deals, usually to the point of making them outside of possibility. However, in peace negotiations, that penalty is removed, as the threat of war is the collateral, if you will.

 

[Bede]

Got it.

Play tonight.

 

[Bede]

0-1100
Feeble attempts at micromanagement accomplish nothing, so rush a settler in Ningpo, then switch back to harbor

1110
Rush the library in Salonika

1120
Rush the library in Chinan

1150
Time to put the squeeze on Henry. And he allows as how continued peace and 60gpt will get us Theory of Gravity, Perhaps it is also time to put the squeeze on Wang as well, for Magnetism, which we get for peace and another 60gpt. And our free tech is....Nationalism. Looks like I mortgaged the next 20 turns for a mess of pottage.

The only nation missing anything is China and they are still down Physics and Military Tradition but have no money.

1160
Rush a few more gold producing buildings

1170
The trade embargo ends.

1180
A couple of courthouses and marketplaces finish and our income jumps by 14gpt.

A close look at the situation suggest a couple of galleon loads of Sipahi landed on Mao's little island with some cannon might be just the thing for the inaguration of our GA. He has neither iron nor saltpeter so the war should be short, sharp and decisive. And what more appropriate place to launc from than Beijing?

Wang calls wanting to re-up the silks for furs. Since he offers 5gpt in addition to the furs take him up on ot.

1190
Henry wants to re-up the silks deal as well. Since his payment goes up take him up on it.

1200
There is something to be said for peace. In three turns we have managed to get back about 1/4 of our income as trade deals were renewed and courthouses, harbors, marktetplaces and banks came on line. With the advent of Nationalism we can start hiring cops instead of tax collectors to boost both income and output. In csome cases cops can even replace clowns as the reduction of corruption adds to contentment. Cops work best in towns that have banks, tax collectors elsewhere, to boost cash flow. They work even better in towns with courthouse to boost output.

The navy, such as it is, has been shifted to the west for upgrade to galleons and a possible invasion of China. I really hate picking on the little guy, but it seems the lowest risk way of kicking off the GA. There are still 9 turns to run on the Peace Treaty with Hannibal, so if my successor want to change direction and go for Cathage there is plenty of time to redirect the cannon and Sipahi to the north.

 

[gozpel]

Carthage didn't have saltpeter when I played, so he would be a nice target. I never was afraid of rifles when playing Ottomans, as long as I had enough sipahis to counter the losses.

But then just to get into GA I suppose China is easier.

Nationalism was a bummer, but that seem to be our way through the game

Good work on continuing the peace and other deals and fix the infrastucture anyways.

 

[Justus II]

Got it, will play tonight. Looking at our situation, I don't see much to be gained from China other than the GA and some corrupt cities. Carthage, on the other hand, offers more possibilities, and our military is considered Strong compared to them. 9 more turns of Sipahi should be enough to, at a minimum, get Hippo, Leptis, and the Spices, as well as a decent tech discount. Also, we know from their Rails they have access to coal, and with all the jungle around Hippo it seems like a likely spot. I will probably try to buy Steam Power first (we haven't had a Peaceful discussion with Theo in a while ) so we can see for sure where the coal is at. Depending on our income, that may have to wait until the first turn of the war, so our GA income is enough to make the payments, but at least then we can set some realisitic objectives, so we don't stop short of any coal sites.

 

[microbe]

Agree on Carthage. I had wanted to do that long time ago.

 

[Bede]

Cartago delenda est.

 

[Justus II]

Strategy: As discussed, I think Carthage makes the better target, so I prepare for the invasion when our peace deal ends in 9 turns. They don't have Saltpeter, so their best units are Riflemen and Knights. Looking over the map, they have 2 sources of Iron, but only one source of horses, near Carthage itself. They have rails, so we know the also have coal (or at least access, but with all that jungle, I'm betting they have their own). They also have Spices right across the border at Hippo. My plan is to gather a stack of Sipahi and a few MDIs, get our trebs and cannons to support, and start with Hippo, then see how far we can get. I'd like to take everything from Carthage south, leaving the Portuguese city as a buffer, and make peace. I definitely want Steam Power first, though, so we ensure that we get coal if we don't have any of our own.

Pre-Turn: do an insane amount of micro-managing, for limited benefit. It reminds me of those plastic puzzles, where you have like 15 of 16 squares, and have to move all of them in different directions just to move the one piece you really wanted to move. I had to constantly swap one tile from one city to another, but I was able to shave a turn of a couple Sipahi, and (combined with Police) get several turns off some of the courthouses. I also use Wealth to zero out the shields at Nanking and Izmit, so they can start Explorers (We'll be needing at least a couple). Shift a few garrison troops around to free up some soon-to-be disbanded archers.

IBT: Mugla-Sipahi>Heroic Epic (I'd love to get a Sipahi Army out of this next war).

1210 (1) Move more troops, disband 3 archers to speed up the explorers and shave a turn off a Sipahi in Istanbul. Galleon and caravels head to island to pick up the Army and trebs.
IBT: Portugal completes both Universal Suffrage and Smith's, no cascade. That may actually work to our favor later, as no one has started ToE yet, if we can get headed to Sci Method by the end of this war, we might be able to make a run at it without fearing a cascade.

1220 (2) More troop shuffling. I merge our one native worker into Mugla, to boost production toward the Epic, after more tile shuffling to free one up.

1230 (3) Load the MDI army, a couple Elite MDI's and some Trebs to bring back to the mainland. ROP with Portugal expires, I chip in 2gpt to renew, as someone said, it's a cheap insurance policy.
IBT: Antalya-Courthouse>Sipahi

1240 (4) More prep.

1250 (5) Spice deal ends with Carthage, freeing up a little cash, which is spent as I bump lux up to 30% to compensate. Need to hire a couple police or clowns in totally corrupt cities, but most cities adjust fine.
IBT: Bursa, Istanbul complete Sipahi, start another.

1255 (6) Horse deal is up with Korea, and the prices increase 50% (33gpt), but we gotta have them, so I renew. By next time, I hope to own Carthage's stallions! Rush the 2 explorers, so they can get in position.
IBT: Tsingtao-Court>Explorer, Nanking, Izmit-Explorer>Settler.

1260 (7) Disband an archer and rush the explorer at Tsingtao.
IBT: Tsingtao-Explorer>Sipahi

1265 (8) Final prep. Our defenses have always been pretty paper-thin, time to beef them up in case of counterattacks. I draft a Rifleman in all our size 8+ cities (I let the size 7's slide, as I don't want them to drop to size 6 and kill our unit support). Gives me 8 new defenders, which should be a better cover for our border cities, and a couple can advance with the stack. Happiness shouldn't be too much of a problem once the GA kicks in anyway. I also cash-rush the settler at Izmit.
IBT: Canton-Sipahi>sipahi, Edrine-Bank>Sipahi, Izmit-Setter>settler.

1270 (9) OK, this is it. I temporarily drop lux to 0, as I want to see what's possible for tech deals. I renegotiate peace with Carthage, and they would sell Steam Power for 100gpt. Unfortunately for them, I'm already set to invade, so I cancel negotiations anyway, but at least I know we can afford the price when I talk to Theo.

I debated taking a slow approach, moving all our bombard units up the first turn and attacking the second, but Hippo is only showing a regular rifle on top, so I decide to charge in with the Sipahi directly, catch him before he can draft any conscripts. First Sip retreats, wounding his rifle. Second loses 2hp, but kills the second reg. rifle, which of course triggers our Golden Age Income (even at 30% lux) jumps from +11 to +120gpt. Next Sipahi dies, promoting the wounded rifle. A 4th Sipahi loses 1hp killing the wounded vet, and a 5th Sipahi kills off the final regular rifle, and we take Hippo. I keep the city for the moment, until I can get our settler in place. This connects the spices, so it'll be easier to adjust our lux spending.

Time to get some Steam. I renegotiate peace with the Byzantines, and true to the market price, I get Steam Power for 100gpt and Peace. I could have saved about 15gpt by throwing in Spices (we got 2 at Hippo), but I don't want to take any resource risks until we can secure it a little better. The good news is we have Coal! Just outside Istanbul, actually. Better yet, Carthage has some too, near Sabratha, easily within reach. Looking over the map, believe it or not, everyone has coal but China and... PORTUGAL. Grabbing that second source from Carthage will result in a WINDFALL (and we'll have to sell it, or they will SURELY come to take it). I move our little stack of 6 Chinese workers adjacent to Istanbul to start building our first stretch of railroad. Unfortunately, those are the ONLY workers we have, so the rest of our rail-building will be slow going. We did capture 3 workers from Carthage, though.

An explorer dashes in to try and pillage the Horses, but Hannibal was smart enough to park a Knight on top of them. So, plan B is in effect, and I move the MDI army, with the other 2 explorers, to a mountain north of Hippo, where they can reach the horses next turn.

Re-Micromanage everyone at a 20% lux rate, we are making +89gpt.

IBT: Carthage counters: Reg rifle charges out to kill an MDI that snagged a worker pair. Knight kills one of our Conscript rifles covering a wounded Sipahi, but is redlined. Two knights die attacking Sipahi and Rifle in Hippo, promoting the Sipahi, and another knight retreats vs. another MDI. We lose the opening explorer. Iznik-Bank>Sipahi.

1275 (10) The Army moves on top of the horses, pillaging a rail tile enroute, and the 2 explorers move there and double-pillage it, breaking the connection. No more Knights. Near Hippo, our Elite sipahi kills off a reg rifle, so another sipahi can finish off the redlined Knight underneath. An MDI kills off another redlined Knight. That leaves him one visible Knight, on a mountain, my odds are better if I let him attack me, I fortify everyone else in town. Thanks to the rail line he was thoughtful enough to leave in place, my settler arrives at Hippo with movement remaining, so I can Abandon Hippo, and replace with Riza. I didn't want to take the chance of a flip, even for a turn or two, with both Spices in the borders.

At Leptis, the bombard stack opens up, one of the 2 cannons hits, wounding the vet rifle, but then all 6 trebs miss the reg rifle that replaces him. First Sipahi kills the top rifle without a scratch, second loses 1hp taking out another reg rifle, leaving the wounded vet on top again. I'm out of Sipahi here, though, so I hold off. There's a couple Elite MDI there, but I was hoping to save those for picking off wounded or older units, if I find them, to leader-fish. So I'll fortify for now.

That's ten, so I'll hand off, although I'm very tempted to keep after Hannibal The main stack with all the bombards is outside Leptis, and we have a few Sipahi healing in Riza. There's a couple new Sipahi due next turn, at Istanbul and Bursa (I rushed it), within range of Leptis, so it should fall next turn. I'd feel safe keeping that one, I think our borders will almost swallow it up anyway. Then it's up to the next leader, but I'd definitely push on at least to Carthage and Sabratha, securing the horses, the other coal site, and a steep tech discount. Carthage's best defender right now is a Conscript rifle, they are weak compared to us, so I'd say keep up the pressure. Epic is due in 6, a leader for a Sipahi army would be another objective, not only for now, but for any eventual faceoff with Portugal.

As for tech, I had a couple scientists start on Electricty last turn, but I don't think there's anyone yet this turn. My thought was wait (or do minimal research) until we're ready to extort Medicine and/or Electricity from Carthage (hopefully both), then research Sci Method as fast as we can. If we can research it before the AI, we would have a chance at TOE and a big leap in science. No one has started it yet, so I assume that means they don't have the tech yet, it's not usually a high AI priority. Unfortunately, we can't prebuild for it, so it'll be a real race, our only hope is to get the tech before they do, and DON'T sell it.

Anyway, enough on the long-term strategy, someone's got to fight a war first!

 

[Justus II]

Warning, most of our city defenses are still little more than cardboard, so keep an eye out for any serious counter-attacks, especially if they start to move some ships. I haven't seen any yet, and hopefully we can draw everything toward the center. Don't be afraid to draft some more Rifles if threatened, though, since we can't upgrade our older troops, a Conscript rifle beats a vet Spear or Archer, and is at least as good as a vet Pike. We can always disband the obsolete stuff later. And with the GA, our happiness is doing fine.

EDIT: By the way, I forgot to mention, but we need, oh, about a MILLION workers to start Railing our lands. I have 3-4 cities started, mostly corrupt ones, I figure we can cash-rush a couple every other turn, until all the banks and stuff in the bigger cities complete. I've tried to keep all Barracks cities working on Sipahi, but any non-barracks city that completes a job would be a good candidate for a worker farm.

Justus II <= Just played
grahamiam <=Up now
microbe <=on deck
gozpel
Bede

The Save:

 

[Justus II]

*Bump*
What, no one wants to play our Golden Age?

I believe Grahamiam is up, unless he is out of town or something? No response yesterday or so far today.

 

[microbe]

I'll take it tonight.

EDIT: got it.

 

[microbe]

preturn:

I can't help laughing when I see the tech situation.
China: we are up ToG, Magnetism and Military Tradition, and lack Chivalry, PP and Music Theory.
All others except Carthage: up Chivalry, PP, MT, Economics, Medicine, Communism, Industrialization, Electricity, Ironclads and Facism. That's a total 10 techs. I've never seen this many techs before.

I would like to switch Izmit and Iznik to settlers but I can't.

Hire a scientist to start min on Electricity.

IBT 3 knights lose to our musket and conscript rifle, promote both, but a cav kills the musket and Izmit is captured.

(1)1280AD:

@Leptis:
bombard takes 2-hp off a vet rifle.
sipahi 2/2 kills conscript rifle.
elite MDI kills 2-hp vet rifle.
another elite MDI kills NM and we raze the city.

@Izmit:
vet sipahi kills vet knight but redlines.
3-hp sipahi kills redlined cav and we capture it back.

WW is 20% so we have to raise lux to 30.

(2)1285AD: Kill 1 knight and 2 cav.

(3)1290AD: We kill 2 cavs.

IBT Carthage now has infantry!

(4)1295AD:

@Carthage:
vet sipahi 3/3 kills reg infantry.
vet sipahi 1/2 kills conscript rifle.
vet sipahi 0/3 kills NM.
vet sipahi 2/3 kills NM.
vet sipahi 3/1 retreats from NM.
elite sipahi 1/2 kills the NM and we raze the city.

Spices to Portugal for 32gpt.

IBT Carthage infantry kills our conscript rifle. Portugal demands TM+32g, sure.

Istanbul starts Military Acadamy. Heroic Epic completed.

(5)1300AD: move to Sabratha.

I renew peace with Korea, pay 84gpt for Medicine. Our only hope is to get ToE now.
I renew peace with Portugal, pay 118gpt for Electricity.

We are making +12gpt. I start min on Sci Method.

I lower lux to 20 again and hire clown, to make it 50gpt.

Istanbul then start on rifle instead of Military Acadamy, as it will prepare for ToE (factory first probably) so no long-term project anymore.

IBT Korea demands TM+33g, I say NO! It declares and we get our gpt back.

(6)1305AD: We lose horses from Portugal, but we'll get it from Carthage soon.

IBT Korea lands a cav.

(7)1310AD:

@Sabratha:
3 reg infantry all bombarded to 2-hp.
vet sipahi 0/2 kills infantry.
vet sipahi 2/2 kills infantry.
vet sipahi 0/2 kills infantry and we raze the city.

We kill the Korean cav. It has destroyer and transport already!

Ocea is defended by reg NM so I launch the attack this turn!
vet sipahi 0/3 kills NM.
vet sipahi 3/3 kills NM and we raze the city!

I could make peace with Carthage and get Industrilization by 51gpt, but I'll wait until next turn as Istanbul can start building factory next turn.

We found a city and aggressively get wines from Portugal. This allows us to fire many clowns.

Renew peace with China and get 50g.

Rush a settler in Nanking.

IBT reg rifle defends off infantry.

(8)1315AD: I make peace with Carthage and pay 48gpt for Industrialization, and start factory in Instanbul.

We connect our horses.

I raise sci to get Sci Meth in 14 turns.

(9)1320AD: IBT Portugal wants to renew silks deal with 25gpt. I get it for 32gpt instead.

(10)1325AD:

We'll complete factory in Istanbul within 5 turns, and then it should start a coal plant. Please time it so that we research Sci Method just before the coal plant completes.

The highest priority is to get ToE. For this purpose please optimize the tiles around Instanbul. I have two stacks of workers railroading there now. Also convert irrigation to mines whenever appropriate. Give the best tiles to it.

After getting Sci Meth we should try to hold the tech not to trade, but that could be risky as AI might demand it. Portugal and Korea seem to have very shield-poor capital, so we have a chance at ToE. Do not buy more techs before then.

We are still at war with Korea, we need to send some sipahi to our island for better defense. I already called back the caraval at Chengdu.

We have a couple of settlers coming up to claim the land of ex-Carthage.

Warning: let's not build too many factories. Only do so in core cities with decent shields. We don't have enough workers to cleanup pollution.

 

[Justus II]

Excellent turns, way to put the Hurt on Hannibal! Good call making peace when you did, and we are probably better off with Korea declaring (assuming we can get peace before they get tanks! ). We are now about 1/2 way through our GA, so be careful not to overspend ourselves when it ends. I would guess Grahamiam can swap back in if he's available? Otherwise Gozpel would be next.

 

[grahamiam]

i'm back but i'm up in 2 already tonight so it's not likely i'll be able to get to this till tomorrow. if someone wants to swap again, that's fine by me.

 

[microbe]

Next up I think we should prepare to take out some cities form Portugal. Our only weakness is the eastern island. We need to send over some sipahi.

It would be good to let the AI fight, but MA with Portugal against Korea is very expensive (>100gpt).

 

[grahamiam]

got it. will play and post tonight.