Cookbook B (Boudi) Discussions

I haven't thought about if the continent is enough, it usually isn't.
Cathy built the colossus, so might even make sense to postpone Astro.
Getting economy up to speed with this size of an empire takes it sweet time, so win date is almost certain to be late unless there is something I can't think of.

 

Spoiler T160 to End :

I took the last two Russian cities in the east. St. Pete had Colossus, which was my first wonder and significantly boosted my pre-astro economy. Spain immediately attacked Russia, which I found hilarious. I immediately attacked Spain again, first taking Madrid which had now finished the Sistine Chapel. This was actually an important wonder for me, as it allowed me to pop borders in all my newly acquired cities without revolting out of slavery or teching drama. I dropped my religion (wasn't currently building troops using Theo, and I figured the end would be more of a quantity than quality brawl). This let me get to pleased with DeGaulle, so I had some confidence he wouldn't attack me and I could make resource trades. He did however attack Izzy. Unfortunately he was too late and as soon as he landed I took her last city. I teched to Mil Science to upgrade my advanced maces to grens.

Spoiler :

I don't delay in taking Russia for fear of French intervention. Here is mighty Russia's last stand, and it happens to sync up with the last bit of exp needed for another GG . All told 8 of the G3 maces from the original 36 had survived, and they had conquered the entire continent with minimal defensive support units.

I finish Mil Science and build 4 military academies in cities with 2-3 GGs the AI settled. Also build some duns for G3+ grens! I get absolutely pounded by privateers, so I next get Astro and built like 5 frigates to swat away the mosquitoes. Steel was the last tech I needed, with the endgame plan being to just spam cannons trusting that enough could overcome even more advanced units.

Spoiler :

DeG is really scary. He's got a super advanced Persia as a PV and he himself is spamming units like there's no tomorrow. So we gotta have a plan. Step one is attackoing his navy. I use fresh grens (can't withdraw from ocean attack) and give them amphibious. He actually had even more ships in this city last turn, you can see they just sailed out And Orelans (not shown) had an even bigger naval stack in it, but had 3 machine guns. I'll never compete with his Navy, this is purely about warscore / weakening his power to break the PV. I've seen Persia already revolt/rejoin from him, he's not super tight, and he's got a more advanced military than either of us. I was able to take this city with only 9 troops, so I was actually able to evacuate one ship of 3 grens back to base. Tours was razed and army deleted.

Spoiler :

Second phase of the plan is to take this island down here as a beachhead. I can land in the future on the continent safely over 3-4 turns, so I can save on how many galleons I need to build. Most of his army is still backward and this is an easy grab with the city revolt.

Spoiler :

Part three was dealing with his huge stack that was already on my continent. It's chilling in Madrid. I've got the rest of my army chilling way to the south by the nearest unowned tile waiting for him to pop up. A 1500s brawl with maces and knights. I wiped the stack with few casualties. The huge power loss caused Persia to break PV . DeG actually landed me with more reinforcements of a similar mix a couple turns later. Instead of amphibiously taking an unguarded city, he landed right next to the bulk of my forces. Classic So wiped another ~20 units. DeG then came with some gold begging for peace and I accepted. I did *not* however end the war with Persia. I wanted to secure that he couldn't PV back for as long as possible, and all he did was move some destroyers near me. I finished my cannon spam and moving my army to the island.

Spoiler :

After the truce expired I peaced out with Persia and attacked DeG again with everything I had. DeG had skipped over rifleman entirely and was on Infantry/Destroyers/Airships

Spoiler :

Fortunately we had a lot of backup We took Dijon and Grenoble easily.

Spoiler :

Meanwhile my economy is Something about war anger, destroyer blockades and emancipation.

Spoiler :

Persia starts plotting. We push through Amiens decisively. DeG's morale broke and I'm crunching numbers with the victory screen.

Spoiler :

I end the war whip out some settlers and run specialists to pop borders. GA is born, which was insurance for a tighter result. In hindsight, missed opportunity to not have focused it ahead of war for earlier victory.

Spoiler :

I'm 4 turns from finishing Meditation while Persia's army of tanks or something is barreling towards me, but I stab the earth with my flag.

I'm pretty happy with the win and with Celts living up to their potential with gallics and duns. I doubt it's the fastest victory, but I felt it was secure despite the rough conditions. Usually the breakout war is the most crucial point, and with 3 dozen G3 maces it felt guaranteed. Instead the nail-biter was if Persia would break the PV. Fell behind economically, but that was in line with going all-in with grens, the endpoint for G3/duns, and because I chose to conquer instead of vassalize so that I'd just need to take a bite out of DeG instead of capit him. Brennus has better traits, but with Boudi the UU/UB are viable. I also felt they fit very well here against AGG AI with small land but strong commerce.

 

@drewisfat

Spoiler :

Such a lovely finish!
I adore that you utilized the special opportunity, sort of like going with amphibious grens with ragnar. Fastest finish be damned, you get gold star for the creativity effort.

 

Really well played, @drewisfat!

(and sorry for falling out of these games, though I probably didn't have all that much to contribute at this level anyhow)