First off, an inventory of troops shows we've got
- 10 swordsmen
- 11 pikemen
- 18 mounted warriors
- and 2 catapults.
MWs were the strength of our attack when we first went into Persia. We've still got 18 of them, but now they're spread out amongst the Persian lands, mostly healing and doing guard duty. The breakdown is as follows:
- 6 MWs are outside Arbela, waiting to take the town
- 2 are northwest of Persepolis, stacked with a catapult
- 2 are holding down the fort in Pasargadae
- 1 is in Antioch
- 1 is north of Antioch
- 1 is south of Tarsus
- 1 is in Tarsus
- 1 is in Susa
- 1 is in Gordium
- 1 is in Bactra
- and 1 is northeast of Pasargadae. All 18 present and accounted for.
I honestly think that 18 mounted warriors (and perhaps...four catapults, if we were desperate) should be able to take Persepolis. The problem is that we've hit a wall capturing towns: with no spears and pikes to defend new acquisitions, all of our units are waiting to heal/are on guard duty in cities/both of these.
So I think our Big Problem is that our units are spread out around the newly captured Persian towns, and they're not really concentrated for one last break towards Persepolis.
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Plans we could consider:
(Note that hammering Arbela is probably a good idea in all these cases.)
1. Take Arbela and cut out of the war by signing peace with Xerxes. Build cultural improvements in the surrounding cities to push back the Persepolis radius and use the twenty turns to develop our core's infrastructure and our outer cities' defenses.
Pros: We don't have to spend any more energy on the war effort. This means we won't have to build more offensive units for the forseeable future; most of our military spending will just go to defenses, and everything else we can slam into building infrastructure back home.
It will be difficult for Xerxes to expand when we've got a ring of cities around him. After the 20 turns, we should have enough of a lead on him that we can dispose of him at our leisure.
Cons: Admittedly, the land around Persepolis isn't half bad, so all things considered it may be a better idea just to find a way to take it now and get one more productive city. In exchange for maybe ten turns of reduced core productivity while we spend on the military, we gain ten or fifteen more of a useful Persepolis.
2. Favor building defensive units in our outer cities, leave the core alone (unless it, too, is going to be heading for Pikemen). The new units will allow time for our MWs to heal as well as freeing them up from defensive duty. Once our MWs are ready to go, we can group them south of Persepolis and prepare to strike.
Pros: This wins Persepolis over sooner, turning it into a productive city.
Cons: We'll have to round up some defensive troops - building or cash-rushing, although we're kind of low on money for the latter (as a result of our speedy research) - and wait a turn or two for the MWs to heal. Sending troops in from the north will be slow, and it'll also take time to bring our forces together on the south side of Persepolis for the attack.
3. Give some emphasis to defensive units where they're needed, but also build catapults in the northern ex-Persian towns. Since they'll be bombarding, they can do damage across the river without having to worry about a penalty (I assume the fording penalty is removed for bombardment). Then a smaller number of MWs can be summoned to the south to attack Persepolis, since the units inside will already have seen some damage. The hill NW of Persepolis has a road and could potentially be used as a staging area.
Pros: Logistically, this works out a little better, because the MWs that are already in the south can attack without crossing a river, while the MWs in the north can stay on defensive duty or be used to guard catapults.
Cons: Catapults are kind of an iffy proposition as far as bombardment is concerned (not that we have much of a choice), and they still take time to build and move around. It's hard to say how many catapults is enough for this job.
4. Pillage and fortify outside Persepolis, with the goal of starving it down to size 6, neutralizing its defensive bonus. Then a forceful attack can be made.
Pros: The only resource really required here is patience, as we'd just have to regroup everything onto Xerxes' good food tiles and wait for starvation.
Cons: The plan will take a while, and most of the units we have in the area are MWs, which means Xerxes has a chance of building/rushing an offensive unit or two and trying to bust out. I'd prefer to get out of this with no casualties if at all possible.
5. Build knights in the north and attack Persepolis with more powerful units.
Pros: Once the knights are built, the job probably gets done quickly.
Cons: It's rather anticlimactic and I doubt we'd learn much of anything.
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Right now I'm actually leaning towards taking Arbela, calling time, and regrouping. Healing our injured units adds at least a couple turns to most of these plans, as does the process of actually attacking Arbela.
Since X is going to be on the ropes anyway, I'm less concerned about him staying alive an extra twenty turns or so.
@ team - I'm sure I've missed an idea or two. What else is there?
