Gr7 - AWM vs 30 civs on a giant map

[ThERat]

IT
this time its a Carathago merc and some Indians that clog the choke
India lands 2 units in Persia
we get ecology, synthetic fibers in 4, but at large deficit, need to MM to prevent bankruptcy

2. 1864AD

Persia:
2 units are taken care of for an elite promotion

Hittite:
Tyrana is razed, set up attack for 2 more towns next turn

Ireland:
found Belfast

Continent:
poor Indian infantry is shredded to give birth to 53rd army
Atico is razed for 111gold, take Khabarovsk, keep it to be able to attack Chengdu
defeat 9 defenders there and raze Chengdu for 8 gold, abandon Khabarovsk
Yakutsk is razed for 172gold
Vitcos is taken for 176gold, keep it to advance faster
Andahuaylas is razed for 180gold, but it costs us a fully healed Cav army
this allows us to attack Arequipa, capture it for 183 gold, again keep it to be able to attack even further inside
raze Ollantaytambo for 189gold
set up for next round of attacks and abandon Vitcos and Arequipa

found Wellington, Aukland, Napier, Christchurch, Palmerston North, Kaikoura, Dunedin and New Plymouth

thanks to the generous 'funding', we have now 3200gold in the kitty

MM and we can get synthetic fibers in 4 at -385gpt, rush some settlers since we soon run out
(only 4 of them left)

picture shows the former cities (purple circles) and our next direction of attacks

 

[ThERat]

IT our city near Spain gets attacked by 1 zerk and they land 3 more units, we escape unharmed

3. 1866AD
clear all landings

continent:
while attacking Cusco, get another army, capture town for 226gold and 1 arty
raze Macchu Pichu for 233gold and 5 arty
capture Juli for 222gold, capture Hangchow, raze Xinjian and Karachi and Punjab for 90gold
raze Shanghai, capture Ica
start to attack Beijing, abandon those captured towns

China and Inca down to 5 cities each now

found Brisbane, Canberra, Perth and Sydney

Ireland: found Shannon

Hittite:
raze Kanesh, attack Harran and keep town, from there we start to take out the rest
(checked their military and they are pathetic and still a democracy)

home continent:
found Drachten, Fast Growth, Lake game, Wheat a Cow and Southwest Harbor

 

[ThERat]

4. 1868AD
2nd continent:
Tiwanaku razed for 335gold, Huamanga falls for 357gold
raze Beijing, Tsingtao serves as advance town first, before being razed
thus manage to raze Canton, bombers kill all units in Tientsin and it is razed by cav army
almost devoid of targets use 2 cav armies to get to Bangalore and capture it to redistribute armies for
next round of attacks

Hittite:
defeat 1 unit and we capture Kadesh, capture Ivriz + Tarsus as well
than enables us to attack a 2hp rifle with Cav and we capture Hattusas

home continent:
found Doordrecht, Den Helder, Forrest Peak
found Adalaide, Gold n Iron, Black Whale, Ohakune in Persia

if we don't go beyond the choke, we are running out of space for new towns
we currently have 352 towns

IT Hittites can muster 1 cav attack, Greece lands some units in Hittite land

5. 1870AD
2nd continent:
attack Nanking and

capture Cori whatever and get 350gold for that
capture Vilcabamba for 579gold, am now able to attack Theveste with regular tanks
capture it, so we can get faster movement through the moutains there
abandon all of them
on the other side capture Tatung and Dacca and am able to raze Chittagong, raze Bengal as well
found Border push and Vancouver

Hittite:
capture Karatepe, Ankuwa, Hubishna and Aleppo
they have now 8 towns left

we are getting closer to the 2nd choke, to close it, we need 14 armies
the potential choke to cut off the enemy and allow more cities to settle, however, we have 50% land already
no more settling soon

home continent:
found Bugsodate, Williamsound, Eastend
found Persianomore in Persia

 

[Greebley]

At this point, I would found a city outside the choke and let the enemy freely attack it to get rid of excess units. I suspect our Inf armies could handle them on defense.

The two cities outside the choke that would be of use would be to grab the 2 extra Luxuries.

 

[ThERat]

IT the Spanish must have been released out of their prison since they bring on plenty of units at the choke
our choke town defended by 1 Inf army, a tank and 1 mobile SAM defeats at least 40 knights/conquistadores
the army is left with 1 hp, the tank gone, but we stand

we get synthetic fibers and og for amphibious warfare, that we can get in 4 turns at 0% science
we also get the UN

6. 1872AD
the Spanish stack is around 100 units strong
after seeing this, attack on Delhi, that we would like to keep, is postponed until the choke is secured
set up attack so we can have a clean sweep by next turn hopefully
start to shred some of the Spanish units

Leptis Magna falls with only 1 unit inside, Utica on the other side is also razed

Hittite:
Emar, Alalah, Alaca Huyuk and Samuha fall,
upgrade a few tanks there, 4 cities left that could fall next turn if we are lucky

MM for growth since we can do 0% research, all the cities that were starving are also set back to growth

IT the Spanish onslaught continues, 23 units attack and die at our town now with 3 inf armies

7. 1874AD
Hittites first:
capture Kumanni, workers RR so we can reach and take Malatya with MA's, take Katna and Yalburt the same way

preparation fo the assault on next Island are up, we need transports however

other continent:
attack last Incan city and we get rewarded with a handsome amount

no more Incans now
start assault on last carthagian city, but rest for next turn, we need armies for choke attempt

take Jaipur first, Indus falls next and Kolhapur
Madras is razed, Lahore falls

before deciding to take Delhi, pound Spanish stack to judge better
our mighty and very numerous artillery (over 100 I guess) pounds Spanish units properly
the combination of arty/bombers and tanks is lethal for around 50-60 units

after losing a few tanks, we manage to take the city of Delhi including Leo
flip risk is too high, decide to keep city for 1 turn and then abandon it after upgrading exercise next turn

the choke in the south is now effectively sealed, plan to found a city there and open it for the AI to burn units next turn

 

[ThERat]

any opinion regarding Delhi? I feel its too high a flip risk, but of course we could fill it with minimal units and retake every time? Now, that the choke is sealed and we clear all cities and units behind it, we could keep it on low military.

 

[Own]

lurker's comment: A simple request, could you please, at the end of each turnset tell how many armies you have? Thanks

 

[Greebley]

I would grab 2 spear form the Arabian Isle and use them to suppress resistance.

If it flips, pound it with artillery to size 1 and you are all set.

If it doesn't flip then we do it the slow way and starve it.

In other words, we would be hoping for the flip....

 

[ThERat]

ok, will station a bunch of arty next to it. I will also try and send some units over to those 2 Indian towns on an Island anyway.

for our lurkers:
mil reports at beginning of turn 8:
55 armies: 1 Pike, 1 Sword, 2 MW, 1 MDI, 10 Knight, 20 Cav, 3 Inf, 15 Tank 2 MA
we have around 160 artillery, 50 bombers

 

[ThERat]

8.1876AD
land first tank army in Zulu land

2nd continent:
form some outposts to be able to see any landing that might occur (there are cities to build now)
attack last carthagian city, keep it as strategic place in the north

attack Bombay and realize it has Magellan in it, keep it for that reason as well
get Calcutta and set up attack of moutainous Hyderabad for next turn
kill the Spanish stack (around 50 units) so we won't get any trouble behind the choke, pull settler in position to get a tile with jungle, so units cannot bypass the town
when they attack
move towards the south shifting the borders as well, destroy New Delhi and Logrono

we are very rich, rush 3 factories and an army in Mauch Chunk

MM to max out taxman using civassist, we now make 2300+gpt, I also change artillery to bomber build since we really have enough artillery and
can't make use of them since they slow progress
contemplate stealing communism for police station, but a price tag of 3500g really puts me off

IT Spain plants a new city directly at our army choke

9. 1878AD
Zulu:
take out Isandlwhana, but that's not enough to form an airfield
send over a 2nd tank army and rush a settler in Hittite land for support next turn
sink Spanish and Greek galleons near Hittite

2nd continent:
situation before taking on Spain

raze Hyderabad, new town Palma goes first, after defeating 5 defenders there, Murcia is next
kill 9 units in Seville and it still stands, Zaragosa is better, after defeating 5 units, take town
pound some stacks of Spanish, that are close to the border hoping for leaders (this way can make use of our artillery)
then defeat another 11 units in Seville and the city finally falls
found Attracting Enemy to do exactly that and rinse the land of their units, rush rax in there
narrow the front-block by almost exclusively knight armies, it is getting crowded

form wine and gems colony and we own all 8 luxes that are available

 

[ThERat]

IT the Spanish response is pretty lame, they are gassed,however some stray pikes destroy our wine colony (left it unprotected unlike the gems colony)
Americans send around 40 units, but they get badly injured passing our labyrinth of armies
we get Amphibious War
even though we lost the wines, we are loved all over the place

10. 1880AD
Zulu: drop a settler and 5 MA's. next turn we can form a combat city and then raise hell there, also suggest to build airfiled
with a slave
Japan: the Island city has no units, since we bombed them all, rushed a marine (in Aleppo, transport waiting in Samuha) that can capture the city next turn

2nd continent
form another wine colony, this time protected
now for the big advance, that if lucky can lead all the way into America
first take Madrid, from there, Valencia is only 1 tile away, take it after defeating 3 units
Barcelona is next, raze Santiago that is now in the hinterland, Toledo next, but lose 2MA there
Vitoria is captured next to get to Seattle, spot a huge Greek cav stack (32 of them) there
Seattle is very heavily defended and after beating 17 units, we raze it

manage to plant a spy with America and investigate Buffalo, 2 defenders only
take it to open up the territory for setting up next round of attacks next turn
trying to advance to San Francisco, I run into huge stacks (around 150 Greek units, however all slow movers), divert to Boston

also clear every single of the Spanish and American units so that we can shift the choke
get finally a MGL doing that, clearing the Greek Cav stack results in another MGL
while advancing towards America spot more and more truops, this should get very exciting next turn
our new front-town has enough defenders I hope, just for the case that the city breaches, seal the access to our land behind there
VERY IMPORTANT: there is a rubber source in former Spain, that America could claim by settling a city. Please pillage it next turn

sent out a transport with tank army to reach the islands to the west of 2nd continent, but spotted 2 Indian frigates, hopefully we
will survive the IT attack we have another cpnvoy with 1 transport and 3 destroyers close by as well

MM for science again, get computers is 4 at 60% science and no deficit
I would like us to go for robotics




closing remarks:
fighting has to be planned really carefully taking into account the distance between cities etc.
Also, we must make sure we keep that choke closed at all times, there are too many units around. the gap can be entirely filled with
knight armies next turn
Niagara Falls and Lee's Gold need a worker short rush to be able to build a 2-turn MA

situation:
we have 58 armies, 142 artillery, 50 bombers, 34 transports, 67 tanks, 87 MA, 88 Cavs
372 cities, which equals to 52% land

as for our competitors:
none of them acquired steel throughout the 10 turns. America, and India are most advanced
Scandinavia and Greece lack refining on top of steel
with us severly hurting India and now America, they aren't a threat. Scandinavia is the only democracy and we can cause some great
WW soon, when we go after their towns
America lacks coal and rubber, thus has only rifles for defense

city count for the enemies:
Scandinavia 25
Greece 19
France 19
America 14
Ottoman 11, Aztecs 8, Zulu 8, India 6, Spain 2, Japan 1

save
as a note, I switched off movement animations, too painful with so many units around

 

[Greebley]

Roster:
Greebley -
ThERat - Just Played
Markh - Up
Sir Bugsy - On Deck?

Excellent Progress, ThERat

Markh,
I am guessing you can finish this off if you play a full 10. Feel free to play 5 though if you are short on time.

 

[ThERat]

maybe 10 turns are a little optimistic. We can certainly take out Zulu in 5 and then Ottomans as well. Aztecs campaign needs to be started, I simply didn't want to commit units there yet.

But, the main continent seems to be an issue now with so many units there. I fear they will block us due to their sheer number. Maybe, we should just settle a city with rails around and not surrounded by any obstacle. this way the AI can attack from all sides and burn their units.
Else, they will end up blocking each other and running back and forth. We can station 5 armies inside and our main artillery force, maybe 100 plus those 50 bombers we have within reach. Thus should be enough to properly pound them.
Also, America is not RR due to lack of coal and Greece seems to be that way too, this alone will slow us down a lot.

Markh, a few comments for you to really note:
I did MM before the end, so you can just press enter (of course maybe you need some time to familiarize yourself with the sheer extent of the game).
Every turn can take up to 2-4 hours depending on the time you are willing to plan your strikes. So, be prepared for that.
and again, make sure the rubber source now open is pillaged. we don't want to see American infantry that would make life so much tougher. Especially Cav armies are pretty ineffective against them.

final comment: very enjoyable game, a pity I had to stop after 10 turns now. i am sure I won't see this game again

 

[Sir Bugsy]

I wonder if I'll see this again. Can Mark close it out?

 

[markh]

I will take it later today, but I will not be able to begin before Friday evening (European time). As I will have a quite busy weekend (during daytime) I only have the evenings, so I will go for 5 turns probably. That leaves some fun for Sir Bugsy, too.

Great turns ThERat, so finally I have some fun with modern armor, too.

 

[markh]

I will start my turnset today in the evening. Had a look at the situation yesterday, but I was too tired to start it.

 

[markh]

IBT : I sometimes hate this game. An Indian cav kills a Modern Armor with 3 HPs and a Greek cav kills a Modern Armor also with 3 HPs left.
We love the...day all over.

1882AD : We take Bapedi, Miami, Philadelphia, Ulundi, Boston, Intombe
3 MGLs
Lower Research to 50% -> Computers still in 3

IBT : It is amazing how cavs kill 3 HPs Modern Armors, we lose again 3 MAs to enemy cavs

1884AD : We destroy the Japanese
We lose a fully healed MA to an IMPI
we take New York, Chicago, Washington, Baltimore, Santander, San Francisco, Herakleia, St. Louis,
2 new armies

in 1888 we will take the last island city of Spain. America is down to 4 cities and we begin to take Greek cities. It is quite difficult to lay the rails to the front through former American lands as there are so many Greek and Scandinavian units. But in Greek land everything is railed so we can proceed faster there. I will continue this evening.

 

[markh]

1886AD : We lose a destroyer to a Frigate
We take Corinth, Rhodes, Zimbabwe, Hlobane, Mpondo, Argos
2 new armies
We destroy Spain

IBT : Computers is in -> Miniaturization

1888AD : 4 new armies
We take Denver, Houston, Atlanta, New Orleans, Ephesus
The Zulus are gone

America is down to one city.
I will play one more turn and hand over the game tomorrow evening.

 

[Ansar]

we lost a MA to a fully healed impi

lurker's comment: OMG!!! Thats worse than

 

[General Mayhem]

Lurkers comment:

I've lost a MA to a 2 hp spear before, which is why I rather scoff when people complain about