gmaharriet
Ancient Crone
you may want to post the save venerable mentor
Good idea, AK!!!
Bede, I know Aabraxan will need it, and I'm itching for a look too.
Gma02: First Come, First Severed - Training Day Game
- Thread starter gmaharriet
- Start date
Good idea, AK!!!
Bede, I know Aabraxan will need it, and I'm itching for a look too.
It's Friday morning (GMT -6), and greygamer can only play weekends. Additionally, my internet connection is out at home, so if I take this turnset, y'all are just going to have to trust me. 
eek: , I know.) With that said: Greygamer, do you want to swap and take this turnset? I'll need to know by no later than 4 p.m. CST (GMT -6), so let me know.
eek: , I know.) With that said: Greygamer, do you want to swap and take this turnset? I'll need to know by no later than 4 p.m. CST (GMT -6), so let me know.
scoutsout
Minstrel Boy
As a finer point for those who haven't done "spy missions"... if you get a spy planted successfully you will be able to see the overall composition of the enemy's forces in the F3 screen. If you want to see a city's garrison you have to conduct the "investigate city" mission, or you can "steal plans", which will allow you to see the location of all soldiers for a turn. The latter two carry the risk of losing the spy... but the last one is pretty nifty to watch the first few times you pull it off.
gmaharriet
Ancient Crone
Thanks, Scout! That's very useful info. I've never tried Espionage (though I have seen screenies of reports other people have posted), and it should be especially useful when we go to take on France. 
I PM'd greygamer about the time I posted regarding a swap, but have not heard anything back. This is my Got It, and I will get my set played over the weekend. Due to my home internet situation, I won't be able to ask questions, nor post until at least Sunday, maybe Monday.
Before I forget, the save is HERE.
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Turn 0: Preflight
Joan will trade Espionage for either Ivory and Furs or for Steel. While our reputation will be of little practical value after Elizabeth's elimination, I don't want to trade luxes, because I don't want Joanie putting her clowns back to work.
After all these centuries, I see that the French still have a settler pair up by Cirta. Hope springs eternal, I guess.
IBT
English frigates come out of the fog to shell our attackers and an English cavalry kills an MDI that I left standing by Carlisle (0-1). Wounded English frigates off the southern edge of The Choke retreat into the fog.
Camulodunom: Infantry-->Infantry
Gergovia: Destroyer -->Destroyer
Agedincum: Infantry-->Bomber
Catatractonium: Cavalry-->Cavalry
Starvation at Leeds
Turn 1: 1380 AD
Send destroyer to light up wounded English ships.
Bomb an English Man-O-War (1-1)
Bomb an English Man-O-War (2-1)
Bomb an English Man-O-War (3-1)
Bomb an English Galleon (4-1)
Rearrange Leeds for more starvation.
Shell an English Cavalry by Leeds.
Kill it with an eCav (5-1) -- no leader.
Continue railing in and around our lands by France just to ensure that we've got multiple rail routes for troops.
Build a couple of airfields just on the edge of French territory.
Shell English Frigates.
Bomb them (7-1)
Shell and kill the English cav that killed our MDI (8-1).
Rail the mountain NW of Warwick and build an airfield, which should allow bombers to reach Warwick, Liverpool, Nottingham and York. Move a bunch of artillery up onto the mountain and cut all English roads leading to the airfield. Should make defending it somewhat easier.
Fortify a stack of 6 arty E of Entremont. This will the the home defense stack, useful for pinging boats.
Check for trades to see if I can get Espionage.
Joan will give me Ivory, Espionage, 6 gpt and her Territory Map for Steel. I shuffle around, and take 7 gpt and leave the TM behind.
Swap the army in Entremont for the Intelligence Agency. Due in 2.
Bomb Warwick. Barracks destroyed.
Bomb one set of horses. Improvements destroyed. (I just couldn't resist.)
How do you like this?
Switch Memphis (+4 fpt) from Wealth to settler. (I always like having a couple of combat settlers around).
Go back to talk to Joan about trades. I really wish I had internet at home right now.
I take the second deal. I don't see any need for Fascism, and we can use the gold. Besides, Joan "would never accept" 327 gpt. So sayeth our advisor. The only thing Joan will (or can) offer for Flight is Fascism. No thanks.
IBT
A Bulgar attacks an infantry! Almost needless to say, he does not succeed in killing our infantry.
English cavs shuffling around.
Alesia: Infantry-->Infantry (though I consider a bomber (less waste))(2)
Lugdunum: INfantry-->Infantry (2)
Tolosa: Coal Plant -->bomber (3)
Curovernum: artillery-->artillery (8)
Turn 2: 1385 AD
Shell and bomb an English Cav (9-1)
Rebase bombers closer to the front lines.
Tear up more English roads to funnel their troops.
Send two vCavs to disperse the Bulgars and take their 25 gold!
There's a bank being built at Burdigala. Given that we're running 100% science, I have to wonder why. Given that it's 7 turns out, I don't wory with it. Switch a couple of bomber builds to fighters (and rush 1 fighter for 184 gold) for recon duty.
IBT
I slip up and English troops get perilously close to an undefended Manchester.
Intelligence Agency is completed at Entremont.
Entremont: Intelligence Agency-->Army
Camulodunum: Infantry-->Infantry
Agedincum: Fighter-->Fighter (2)
The French complete Shakespeare's Theatre at Lyons
Turn 3: 1390
Kill the English cav by Manchester. (10-1)
Reinforce Manchester.
Cut rails to Warwick and begin carpet-bombing major food sources near English cities.
IBT
Alesia: Infantry-->Infantry (2)
Lugdunum: Infantry-->Infantry (2)
Lapurdum: Destroyer-->Cruiser (6)
Turn 4: 1395
Kill an English cav w/ eCav (11-1) no leader
Shell Warwick. Looks like it only has 3 defenders, all rifles.
Raze Warwick. (13-1)
Bomb all defenders out of Liverpool. (15-1?)
Send in Bede's Horse and raze Liverpool.
Begin lining up workers and sorting them by Spanish Main. While there's a ton of work that could be done near France, there's not much that is necessary. I've tried to create redundant routes for attack and defense, but it's getting pretty crowded and Joanie's troops are getting fidgety.
Just out of curiosity, I check to see what Joan would give for Flight: Fascism, World Map, 20 gold and 32 gpt. No thanks. The ability to bomb the snot out of her troops is worth more than that.
IBT
Camulodunum: Infantry-->Infantry (2)
Tolosa: Fighter-->Bomber
Cirta: Harbor-->Wealth (I think I started that harbor on my last turnset, didn't I?)
Pollution strikes at Lapurdum. Fortunately, it strikes right next to the Pollution Patrol guys.
Turn 5: 1400
Disperse an Alemanni encampment and take 25 gold!
Rush a few settlers and bombers.
Continue sorting workers in Old Spain.
Rejoin a bunch of native workers to reduce unit support.
MM the empire to get MT in 1 at +952 gpt!!!
Send two armies down to Nottingham to polish off two redlined Defenders. The Mausolleum of Mausollos is there, but I have no use for it. Team, I hope you'll forgive this, but . . . raze Nottingham.
Notes for Next Player:
Once Mass Production comes in, set a bead on Motorized transportation. You've got a ton of taxmen right now, and many of them can be switched back to scientists.
Als before starting the next turn, you could wake those 75 workers in the giant worker pile NE of English territory, and rail down south of the freshwater lake to canterbury. It just got very late and I won't have time to play any more turns on this round.
I'd also recommend using some of those workers to build an airfield on this hills North of the line dividing York and Dover. Bombers stationed there could hit Dover, Coventry, York, London, and Reading without rebasing. That'd make for a fast sweep of the rest of English territory on our continent.
Oh, and plant a spy with the French. I meant to do that.
This is what remains of the English on our continent.
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Gma02 1375+
Turn 0: Preflight
Joan will trade Espionage for either Ivory and Furs or for Steel. While our reputation will be of little practical value after Elizabeth's elimination, I don't want to trade luxes, because I don't want Joanie putting her clowns back to work.
After all these centuries, I see that the French still have a settler pair up by Cirta. Hope springs eternal, I guess.
IBT
English frigates come out of the fog to shell our attackers and an English cavalry kills an MDI that I left standing by Carlisle (0-1). Wounded English frigates off the southern edge of The Choke retreat into the fog.
Camulodunom: Infantry-->Infantry
Gergovia: Destroyer -->Destroyer
Agedincum: Infantry-->Bomber
Catatractonium: Cavalry-->Cavalry
Starvation at Leeds
Turn 1: 1380 AD
Send destroyer to light up wounded English ships.
Bomb an English Man-O-War (1-1)
Bomb an English Man-O-War (2-1)
Bomb an English Man-O-War (3-1)
Bomb an English Galleon (4-1)
Rearrange Leeds for more starvation.
Shell an English Cavalry by Leeds.
Kill it with an eCav (5-1) -- no leader.
Continue railing in and around our lands by France just to ensure that we've got multiple rail routes for troops.
Build a couple of airfields just on the edge of French territory.
Shell English Frigates.
Bomb them (7-1)
Shell and kill the English cav that killed our MDI (8-1).
Rail the mountain NW of Warwick and build an airfield, which should allow bombers to reach Warwick, Liverpool, Nottingham and York. Move a bunch of artillery up onto the mountain and cut all English roads leading to the airfield. Should make defending it somewhat easier.
Fortify a stack of 6 arty E of Entremont. This will the the home defense stack, useful for pinging boats.
Check for trades to see if I can get Espionage.
Joan will give me Ivory, Espionage, 6 gpt and her Territory Map for Steel. I shuffle around, and take 7 gpt and leave the TM behind.
Spoiler :
Swap the army in Entremont for the Intelligence Agency. Due in 2.
Bomb Warwick. Barracks destroyed.
Bomb one set of horses. Improvements destroyed. (I just couldn't resist.)
How do you like this?
Switch Memphis (+4 fpt) from Wealth to settler. (I always like having a couple of combat settlers around).
Go back to talk to Joan about trades. I really wish I had internet at home right now.
Spoiler :
I take the second deal. I don't see any need for Fascism, and we can use the gold. Besides, Joan "would never accept" 327 gpt. So sayeth our advisor. The only thing Joan will (or can) offer for Flight is Fascism. No thanks.
IBT
A Bulgar attacks an infantry! Almost needless to say, he does not succeed in killing our infantry.
English cavs shuffling around.
Alesia: Infantry-->Infantry (though I consider a bomber (less waste))(2)
Lugdunum: INfantry-->Infantry (2)
Tolosa: Coal Plant -->bomber (3)
Curovernum: artillery-->artillery (8)
Turn 2: 1385 AD
Shell and bomb an English Cav (9-1)
Rebase bombers closer to the front lines.
Tear up more English roads to funnel their troops.
Send two vCavs to disperse the Bulgars and take their 25 gold!
There's a bank being built at Burdigala. Given that we're running 100% science, I have to wonder why. Given that it's 7 turns out, I don't wory with it. Switch a couple of bomber builds to fighters (and rush 1 fighter for 184 gold) for recon duty.
IBT
I slip up and English troops get perilously close to an undefended Manchester.
Intelligence Agency is completed at Entremont.
Entremont: Intelligence Agency-->Army
Camulodunum: Infantry-->Infantry
Agedincum: Fighter-->Fighter (2)
The French complete Shakespeare's Theatre at Lyons
Turn 3: 1390
Kill the English cav by Manchester. (10-1)
Reinforce Manchester.
Cut rails to Warwick and begin carpet-bombing major food sources near English cities.
IBT
Alesia: Infantry-->Infantry (2)
Lugdunum: Infantry-->Infantry (2)
Lapurdum: Destroyer-->Cruiser (6)
Turn 4: 1395
Kill an English cav w/ eCav (11-1) no leader
Shell Warwick. Looks like it only has 3 defenders, all rifles.
Raze Warwick. (13-1)
Bomb all defenders out of Liverpool. (15-1?)
Send in Bede's Horse and raze Liverpool.
Begin lining up workers and sorting them by Spanish Main. While there's a ton of work that could be done near France, there's not much that is necessary. I've tried to create redundant routes for attack and defense, but it's getting pretty crowded and Joanie's troops are getting fidgety.
Just out of curiosity, I check to see what Joan would give for Flight: Fascism, World Map, 20 gold and 32 gpt. No thanks. The ability to bomb the snot out of her troops is worth more than that.
IBT
Camulodunum: Infantry-->Infantry (2)
Tolosa: Fighter-->Bomber
Cirta: Harbor-->Wealth (I think I started that harbor on my last turnset, didn't I?)
Pollution strikes at Lapurdum. Fortunately, it strikes right next to the Pollution Patrol guys.
Turn 5: 1400
Disperse an Alemanni encampment and take 25 gold!
Rush a few settlers and bombers.
Continue sorting workers in Old Spain.
Rejoin a bunch of native workers to reduce unit support.
MM the empire to get MT in 1 at +952 gpt!!!
Send two armies down to Nottingham to polish off two redlined Defenders. The Mausolleum of Mausollos is there, but I have no use for it. Team, I hope you'll forgive this, but . . . raze Nottingham.
Notes for Next Player:
Once Mass Production comes in, set a bead on Motorized transportation. You've got a ton of taxmen right now, and many of them can be switched back to scientists.
Als before starting the next turn, you could wake those 75 workers in the giant worker pile NE of English territory, and rail down south of the freshwater lake to canterbury. It just got very late and I won't have time to play any more turns on this round.
I'd also recommend using some of those workers to build an airfield on this hills North of the line dividing York and Dover. Bombers stationed there could hit Dover, Coventry, York, London, and Reading without rebasing. That'd make for a fast sweep of the rest of English territory on our continent.
Oh, and plant a spy with the French. I meant to do that.
This is what remains of the English on our continent.
Spoiler :
Three cities in five turns - pretty good going but I bet you could have had five.
And razing is the way to go.
As I said before using firepower like bombers and artillery to pillage when you can reach a city is wasteful. If you feel the need and have one to spare you can always use an army as you don't lose movement and won't be attacked.
Pillaging is a useful tactic when you absolutely, positively need to deny the enemy a resource, like oil or rubber, when you know they can out produce you. That is not the case with England. Lizzie is done for and it is just a matter of killing all her troops.
The bank at Burdigala was started to give a slight boost to the economy once the science budget is slashed to zero after MoT. And I really didn't feel the need for more troops at the moment. We can turn out two turn infantry and two turn tanks/bombers from at least three cities.
Any newly trained troops should ship to the other continent to be there when the time comes.
All in all it seems a cleanly played round, though losing that mace
And razing is the way to go.
As I said before using firepower like bombers and artillery to pillage when you can reach a city is wasteful. If you feel the need and have one to spare you can always use an army as you don't lose movement and won't be attacked.
Pillaging is a useful tactic when you absolutely, positively need to deny the enemy a resource, like oil or rubber, when you know they can out produce you. That is not the case with England. Lizzie is done for and it is just a matter of killing all her troops.
The bank at Burdigala was started to give a slight boost to the economy once the science budget is slashed to zero after MoT. And I really didn't feel the need for more troops at the moment. We can turn out two turn infantry and two turn tanks/bombers from at least three cities.
Any newly trained troops should ship to the other continent to be there when the time comes.
All in all it seems a cleanly played round, though losing that mace
scoutsout
Minstrel Boy
I'd say somebody's been payin' attention to the Monk's schoolin'.Aabraxan said:
This may sound like picking a nit... okay, I am being nit-picky... but one of the reasons I was able to do as much damage as I did on my set was because I wandered around the empire waking stuff up. There were a lot of onesie-twosie artillery pieces in the empire that were assembled into stacks that were... more dangerous.
I know I'm bad about leaving stuff scattered about un-fortified (and Bede, please chime in if I've made you nuts in past games...) but this does have the advantage of letting the next player know what they have available and where it is...
Here's a suggestion: If you're going to fortifiy a stack of something, leave one un-fortified one on top... so the next player at least sees the one. It's really easy to cycle past something useful if it's fortified.
I have mixed thoughts on this move. I think running a few spy missions has tremendous training value in the context of this game... but the only time espionage is really game-changing is when you're behind in tech and need to steal your way to parity. Armies are so very useful in a game that will look like AWE as you reach endgame...
Again, I'm picking nits.
That's something you've got to watch for... those barbs will also use the rails, and pop up in some tactically annoying spots.
Not a bad idea at all, IMHO. IIRC, we're way below the domination limit. A few carefully placed towns on the French continent will limit Joanie's maneuvering room. A few along the English frontier can consolidate your lines, and... "keep 'em in front of you".
This relates to something that Harriet (justifiably) got onto me about in a PM... not sharing enough specifics on how I fought my last round.
I think it was Choxorn who noted was that there were a lot of English troops surrounding a city I had just taken. They were mostly redlined, and I mopped them up after taking the city... allowing my mop-up troops to retreat to barracks to heal... but here's the thing to bear in mind - you don't necessarily need to kill something to take it out of the fight. All you have to do is beat it up enough so that it can't do any damage.
Here's another way Artillery can be really useful: In the opening rounds of the war, Lizzie was sending what she could against me... including a lot of Pikes, Longbows, and MDI. Middle Ages junk units, and no immediate threat to anything...but I didn't have enough Cavalry to skirmish those troops and continue taking cities. I took some artillery and redlined those troops. I didn't waste the effort chasing them with Cavalry, I just pummeled them with Arty and let them be. In the following IBT, Lizzie would retreat those troops back within her borders...
Bottom line: Those troops were taken out of the fight for a minimum of 3 turns by redlining them. As often as not, our Cavalry would take the cities they were trying to retreat to before they could get there. That left me free to "chase strays" with mop-up troops that would not get exposed to enemy counterattacks... since they were doing the mop-up duty well within the safety of our (new) borders.
If you can learn to "pull the strings", you can use this AI behaviour to whittle down a superior enemy. Sirian did a magnificent job of this in the Sid Vicious game that Bede hosted.
Sounds like it's high time to get Joanies troops busy!
All in all, that looks like a well played set.
Probably true. I guess I was just nervous about separating armies from arty and single units, and armies were the only things that could reach English cities from neutral territory.Three cities in five turns - pretty good going but I bet you could have had five.
Yeah, I should have moved more over.
Thank you and . . . danged fog.All in all it seems a cleanly played round, though losing that mace
I did try to play at least a little attention.I'd say somebody's been payin' attention to the Monk's schoolin'.
I thought about that. In my solo games, I tend (particularly by this stage of the game) to leave a "Homeland Security Division" fortified on the rails right next to my capitol for dealing with any AI invasion attempts. I considered leaving the arty unfortified (or one of the, as you suggested), and should have.
No quibble about either the value of armies, or the type of game in which spies really become useful. Here was my thinking: (1) we already had 11 armies on the ground; and (2) planting a spy lets us more accurately measure Joan's troop strength. Obviously, stealing techs is of no use to us. Stealing plans might be.
If you can learn to "pull the strings", you can use this AI behaviour to whittle down a superior enemy.. . . . All in all, that looks like a well played set.
Thank you. Tactically "pulling strings" is one of those skills that I'm working on. At this point, if I succeed, it's usually because I stumble onto it. Sort of like the Manchester incident in my turnlog. "Perilously close" might have been an understatement. That Cav was right next to an undefended Manchester.
gmaharriet
Ancient Crone
Got it, though I haven't looked at the save yet.
Looks like a good set, Aabra.
My, oh my! Me thinks the landscape has changed a bit since my last set, still fighting the Mongols.
Question... I've never built the Intelligence Agency or planted a spy, though I think I stole a tech once after someone else had planted one.
Anyway, if we should try to plant a spy and get caught, might that tempt Joanie to declare before we're ready to take her on? We still have a largish English island to conquer before we're done with Liz. Would it be better to wait until we're just about to attack France?
Gonna go look at the save and be back shortly, probably with more questions.
Looks like a good set, Aabra.
My, oh my! Me thinks the landscape has changed a bit since my last set, still fighting the Mongols. Question... I've never built the Intelligence Agency or planted a spy, though I think I stole a tech once after someone else had planted one.
Anyway, if we should try to plant a spy and get caught, might that tempt Joanie to declare before we're ready to take her on? We still have a largish English island to conquer before we're done with Liz. Would it be better to wait until we're just about to attack France?Gonna go look at the save and be back shortly, probably with more questions.
I've only built the IA and planted spies once or twice, so take this FWIW . . . Yeah, I think it might tempt a little, but I don't think we've got a lot to fear from that. That largish island of Lizzie's is no match for our 2-turn infantry and cavs, especially once we wipe our continent of other civs. At that point, it becomes a matter of taking control of the seas to prevent invasions, and shipping troops over. The question is: how far in advance of the French War do we want or need intel on her troop strength?Question... I've never built the Intelligence Agency or planted a spy, though I think I stole a tech once after someone else had planted one.
scoutsout
Minstrel Boy
I wouldn't sweat that... IIRC, it usually takes a few repeated unsuccessful attempts at espionage before they'll declare on you. For some reason I recall the number "3" as the right number of turns to wait after a failed espionage mission. Just note it in the log in bold if you have a failed espionage mission, that way the next player will know how long to wait.
Though I don't know exactly what the game looks like, I think the tactical situation on the French continent is managable enough to be worth the risk.
It couldn't hurt to plant a spy in England, as that will let you count how many noses Lizzie can still count among her military... if nothing else it'll let you know how quickly you can pull troops away from the English front to face the French.
There's no such thing as too much money, you know.
Usually, they will, but only if they have poor diplomatic relations with you. If they're annoyed or furious, they're almost sure to, even though she's paying you a lot of money and would ruin her reputation if anyone was left. And, AI's will declare war over a failed spy mission even if it ruins their rep- Quintillus' Conquest of the World game proved that, when the Aztecs declared war over a failed spy plant even though they were paying him 308 gpt for Atomic Theory (And there were plenty of AI's left in the game, too)!
There are three possible outcomes when planting a spy
1) successful
2) fail and you make them angry
3) fail and they declare war
Should the mission fail you need to wait three turns before trying again. Before that interval ends the probablility of failure is 100%.
The third outcome is less likely the stronger your military versus theirs.
1) successful
2) fail and you make them angry
3) fail and they declare war
Should the mission fail you need to wait three turns before trying again. Before that interval ends the probablility of failure is 100%.
The third outcome is less likely the stronger your military versus theirs.
Bucephalus
Shooting from the lip....
lurker's comment:
I have to question your wisdom on this, Bede.
In Goz12, Zerksees successfully planted a spy on the Iroquois, the turn following an unsuccessful attempt.
Link (post 341)
gmaharriet
Ancient Crone
Ok, I'm back with an armload of questions/observations, some of which apply to this game and some just to provide our Venerable Leader with some teachable moments.
Thank you all for the input on spies. On the one hand, attempting it earlier would leave time to try again later if we should fail. OTOH, I'd kinda like to bring our 2 Cav Armies home to fight this war, and a DoW might make that a
move.
@ Buce - Seems like I've read that each turn that passes after a failed attempt increases the chance of success by about 1/3, but my memory may be faulty.
French Continent:
As mentioned, we have 2 Cav Armies near France and bringing them home should speed up our war with Liz a bit. I'd like to upgrade our MDIs in France to free them up.
One of those armies is standing on a roaded, but unrailed mountain just outside our territory. We have 21 slaves with movement left. I propose using up 18 of them to rail the mountain so the Army can sail home with full movement.
The other 3 slaves I plan to use to build airfields, as the only airfield we have on that continent is not in our territory. One would go on a railed hill near Basra, since the French could plant a town between there and Bolton and could cut off the area from reinforcement. The other 2 would be near Bolton and/or Seville and would also facilitate moving a few individual troops back to our main continent. Maybe this is "overkill", but would make sense if Liz were stronger. Opinions welcome.
France currently has no iron except the "infamous" mountain east of Basra, just outside French Rusicade. I can't recall the rule on denial of resources, but a Guerilla on the mountain would ensure Joanie has none unless her borders expand. Another option would be to rush a settler and plant a town next to the mountain.
English War:
I noticed there are 2 armies inside English territory on unroaded mountains. Am I correct that it will use up a movement point for them to climb down? Since there are approx 75 slaves nearby with movement, I thought I'd put 11 on the mountain that's reachable, 9 for a road and 2 for an airfield on the next turn. If an airfield were built there, is it usable by us in foreign territory?
There are also a batch of arty covered by (I think) infantry on a railed tile inside English territory with nowhere to go forward except into the shelled potholes and, of course, a single movement. Would it make sense to use one of the settlers due next turn to plant a town on the hill behind them in neutral territory so they'd have full movement to go elsewhere? If not that and they do move forward into the shell holes, how many slaves do they need to take along to road and rail those holes? I can't remember.
I'd also like to upgrade any Rifles/Muskets doing MP duty at home to free up existing Infantry to cover slaves railing to our armies standing on the southern roads near English territory. Is there something else that would be better use of our gold?...approx 900 in the treasury atm.
Should our transports be heading south, covered by better boats of course, in preparation for moving on to Liz' southern island?
General Question:
I see we have a few Destroyers and another due next turn. I never use them, usually building cruisers with better stats instead. What is their use? Are there times they are better than cruisers?
Sorry for so many questions. I know we can win this without doing everything I've mentioned, but this IS a TDG and I'm trying to fill in some of the gaps in my knowledge, as well as keep our wise Monk busy.
Thank you all for the input on spies. On the one hand, attempting it earlier would leave time to try again later if we should fail. OTOH, I'd kinda like to bring our 2 Cav Armies home to fight this war, and a DoW might make that a
move.@ Buce - Seems like I've read that each turn that passes after a failed attempt increases the chance of success by about 1/3, but my memory may be faulty.
French Continent:
As mentioned, we have 2 Cav Armies near France and bringing them home should speed up our war with Liz a bit. I'd like to upgrade our MDIs in France to free them up.
One of those armies is standing on a roaded, but unrailed mountain just outside our territory. We have 21 slaves with movement left. I propose using up 18 of them to rail the mountain so the Army can sail home with full movement.
The other 3 slaves I plan to use to build airfields, as the only airfield we have on that continent is not in our territory. One would go on a railed hill near Basra, since the French could plant a town between there and Bolton and could cut off the area from reinforcement. The other 2 would be near Bolton and/or Seville and would also facilitate moving a few individual troops back to our main continent. Maybe this is "overkill", but would make sense if Liz were stronger. Opinions welcome.
France currently has no iron except the "infamous" mountain east of Basra, just outside French Rusicade. I can't recall the rule on denial of resources, but a Guerilla on the mountain would ensure Joanie has none unless her borders expand. Another option would be to rush a settler and plant a town next to the mountain.
English War:
I noticed there are 2 armies inside English territory on unroaded mountains. Am I correct that it will use up a movement point for them to climb down? Since there are approx 75 slaves nearby with movement, I thought I'd put 11 on the mountain that's reachable, 9 for a road and 2 for an airfield on the next turn. If an airfield were built there, is it usable by us in foreign territory?
There are also a batch of arty covered by (I think) infantry on a railed tile inside English territory with nowhere to go forward except into the shelled potholes and, of course, a single movement. Would it make sense to use one of the settlers due next turn to plant a town on the hill behind them in neutral territory so they'd have full movement to go elsewhere? If not that and they do move forward into the shell holes, how many slaves do they need to take along to road and rail those holes? I can't remember.
I'd also like to upgrade any Rifles/Muskets doing MP duty at home to free up existing Infantry to cover slaves railing to our armies standing on the southern roads near English territory. Is there something else that would be better use of our gold?...approx 900 in the treasury atm.
Should our transports be heading south, covered by better boats of course, in preparation for moving on to Liz' southern island?
General Question:
I see we have a few Destroyers and another due next turn. I never use them, usually building cruisers with better stats instead. What is their use? Are there times they are better than cruisers?
Sorry for so many questions. I know we can win this without doing everything I've mentioned, but this IS a TDG and I'm trying to fill in some of the gaps in my knowledge, as well as keep our wise Monk busy.
Oynstein the spymeister said:
Looks like zerksees got lucky.
So to amend the statement
1) if you attempt to plant a spy on the same turn as you have failed the probablilityof failure is 100%
2) On succeeding turns the probability of success increases
3) After the third turn the probability of success has reached its maximum assuming that the flag has not expired.
So if you want to take a 1 in 6 chance of success go for the first turn after the failure, if you want a 1 in 4 chance wait for the second turn. After the third turn it will be better than 1 in 3. And once the flag expires it reverts to 1in 2. There is no indicator if the flag is still in place.
So I always wait three turns to get the best possible odds of success.
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