Handy 22 Always War C4 Noble

[handy900]

those datalogger reports contain no soul...

Yeah. I agree with that. Useful for keeping track of kills & stuff.

 

[handy900]

Overview:
Reconnaissance flights are a huge plus for us.
Bombers are unbalanced – look for them to be neutered in C5.
Battle Plan
My two goals were:

1 Chip away at the American stack and eventually establish base
south of Foothold that would bring our bombers in range of the Americans
in the South. This was accomplished with a city placed on hills where the
AI must attack from flat land. We can bomb and kill them at will.
This is as close to a C3 “kill zone” as we will ever get.

2 Begin taking cities and land via culture in the NE in a counter clockwise fashion.
Both of these went pretty well with the limited number of troops making
this a somewhat slow process.
Our kill ratio is getting a lot better with bombers on board so the taking of real estate in the NW should accelerate.

Good News It appears the two pronged approach may work pretty
well going forward.

Bad News Japan snuck in and razed Hovd.
I just totally missed them landing on the IBT. I will be more diligent in
the future.

Research
I wanted gun-ships since they are a 100% bonus against tanks.
With bombers and tanks and gun-ships we will be unstoppable until
America
gets MI.

In the Northwest. I numbered the cities in a counter clockwise fashion.
I think we have adequate bombers to take these cities (in Shanghai) but
we could use some more units to attack with.


In the Northeast: America’s stack is gone, but they have gun-ships.
You can bomb gun-ships, so that is not a problem.
BUT – they are almost invisible so you have to look closely to spot them. Bring back the color disk from C3!
Japan has tanks, but I never saw a decent stack from them.
It would be nice to grab the luxury on the other side of the mountains
when it become safe.


The next target. Tanks and artillery should not suffer any losses taking Nanjing. Next turn bomb defense to zero, then on the following turn
weaken the defenders and take it.


Unless America has a second stack they have not revealed, we look to
be in good shape for Domination.

Soulless log attached

 

[Greebley]

Bombers are powerful, but I am not sure they are too powerful (I feel they are too strong in C3C). Air superiority makes a huge difference in real life too. Also a civ can build anti-air making bombardment expensive. It will be interesting to see how it works when we go after america who has fighters on intercept.

 

[ThERat]

Pre-Turn
first things first
the game had the wrong name for too long rename it
looking at the civics, indeed it now says police state NO WW, well, surely not true
we currently hold 41% of the land, 23% to go

IT some units are running about and approach Shanghai


1. 1956AD
wow, the bombers rock here as long as the enemy has no AA units
2 bombers are enough to bring down all units to 50% health in Nanjing
bomb and take our the Sam unit next to Shanghai
take out 2 units in Nanjing, the city will be ours next turn


2. 1957AD

after an easy fight, Nanjing is ours
advance towards Libyan, also send out 2 stacks of tanks against the remaining 2 Chinese cities. If we can take them out
WW will go down as well as thos motherland whiners...
take out 2 American transports that were filled with units. is this a new feature that in Civ4 they do not get accompanied by
protection?

IT no counterattack again

3. 1958AD
start to attack Macao with 3 tanks, 4 LB's left inside
lose a tank at Elephantine and it has 1 unit left inside

take out a Sam next to Shanghai, spot a barb town
take care of that for 1gold

bomb Libyan's defenses down to 5%, Stack moves closer
bomb and kill an American tank

found city in the south, we should grab the crabs for more health which is a real issue in this late game

IT defeat a Sam with inf at Nanjing

4. 1959AD
Mao has a big stack next to Shanghai, maybe we can take him out before that


unfortunately there are additional units now in Elephantine, we can't quite take that town
defeat a unit there but send in reinforcements...China will only be gone next turn
soften the stack next to Shanghai and take out a few units, nothing of a worry now

Libyan 6 defenders are shattered and will be easy to attack next turn
Nagasaki has some really powerful defense and many units inside, a hornets nest. Kill 2 stray tanks from Japan

IT in a smoke move China moves out a defender from Elephantine
Monte gets desperate at Libyan and attacks with a cat

5. 1960AD
take out 3 units at Elephantine and get this funny message

China is history

on the other side of that Island, bomb and attack


the attack on Kagoshima and Nagasaki won't be so easy though


to be continued

 

[ThERat]

6. 1951AD
move units towards Kagoshima and Nagasaki,
Kagoshima has only 3 defenders currently, that's a good target

since we have units now directly next to Japanese cities I expect a very tough response
but we have softened all those units in Nagasaki

IT we lose a tank and gunship to believe it or not, 2 artillery, our units were hiding in the forest....

7. 1962AD
bomb Kagoshima's defense to 15%
lose a tank against all odds, but the artillery we have, cleans up the city and


I do hope for some reaction by Japan so we can defeat them in the field rather than in heavily protected cities
that would be very tough

kill 2 American tanks + 1 gunship

IT Japan suicides 2 artillery at Kagoshima and we spot some cats
we finally get plastics

8.1963AD
Nanjing and Macao no longer rebel, of course that affects our economy, well not too badly
found 2 more cities on that continent

move 4 units into American territory, maybe we can pillage a little since our progress now is somewhat stalled
Japanese defenses are pretty strong

happiness is great and we are able to reduce lux to 10%, increase science to 50% and satellites are done in 6
another factor: we gained health due to the fact that rice is now connected (at Nanjing)

IT it seems that Japan is now more daring and I see a few units around, but no attacks

9. 1964AD
watch a huge thunder storm pass by, no not in the game, but here in S'pore. It's rainy season, switch off computer
to be safe (btw in case anyone would bother, S'pore has the highest density of lightning of all major cities in the world)
ok, back to the game
our 4 units in America take out a tank and pillage 2 tiles

good news, Nagasaki has only 8 defenders left now, we should seize that chance
start by taking out tank, cav and artillery next to Kagoshima
move a few units within striking range of Nagasaki and take out another tank

spot a settler trio between Japan and America and take it out

IT the Japanese are now in attack mode, advancing towads Kagoshima and Nanjing with several tanks
America however leaves of pillager stack alone

10. 1965
there are alltogether 4 stacks of Japanese
4 tanks + 1 Sam next to Nanjing and 10 units next to Kagoshima

clear all units next to Nanjing, by calling in help from Shanghai and Libyan

use the airforce of Forward base to bomb Nagasaki properly
there are 8 defenders and we have exactly 8 attackers

kill machine gun and inf, now only artillery and other junk left, let's see


this leaves the 2 stacks next to Kagoshima
airforce is ordered, this softens both stacks nicely, I love artillery, I mean bombers

wipe out the whole stack

the pillagers continue and make some 50+gold, but they might get attacked anytime

IMPORTANT: we have a great scientist in Rome, next player to decide what to do with him
maybe keep for GA? He could rush an academy or help out with research for computers, but not our top priority

 

[ThERat]

save

The Future:
Eiffel tower will complete next turn in Rome, we might be able to reduce lux to 0% and increase science
Tabriz is building Statue of Liberty for added specialists, but ready in 11 only

health is not an issue at the moment

I would try and advance towards Japan and even Monte, it is faster that way
I guess both will be gassed soon after we have taken care of that huge Japanese stack

we are at 46% domination, but we should build some missionaries for more culture in the new lands to get faster expansion and more land
I would keep all cities, they don't ruin us and the Japanese core looks pretty good and useful

the furture direction of expansion


New York


the world at the moment

 

[ThERat]

Roster
1. Greebley -
2. Handy -
3. ThERat -
4. Sir Bugsy - up
5. Obormot - PC crash issues

I really enjoyed my turnset. After a while it dawned to me why:
many units to carry out fights. Bombers taking the role of artillery. Japan turning agressive instead of just sitting back.

ps sorry for the lengthy report

 

[handy900]

Bombers are powerful, but I am not sure they are too powerful (I feel they are too strong in C3C). Air superiority makes a huge difference in real life too. Also a civ can build anti-air making bombardment expensive. It will be interesting to see how it works when we go after america who has fighters on intercept.

Yeah, that was just a little joke. Bombers were neutered in C4 to only do 50% damage which seems just about right. In other solo games the fighters on patrol did take a bit of a toll which is also a nice touch. Using bombers to view the ocean each turn would be a good idea for us so the AI does not slip any more transports across the sea. We could also use some a couple more carriers to bomb ships and then kill with Battleships. They can move to bomb America if we don't see any ships.

I do wish you could use artillery to "wound" units in the same fashion bombers can wound them. Maybe cats take of 10% HP, cannon 20% HP, etc. Not sure what % is best, but I like the concept.

ps sorry for the lengthy report

I liked it.
I was having so much fun I kept playing after I posted the save. The bombers really turned up the "fun" quotient in the game. If we could do a little HP damage with cats in the early game I suspect it would turn up the AW fun quotient a good bit.

 

[Sir Bugsy]

I have it.

Rat - I liked the report. I think it is very important to share new facts with each other. This is the only C4 game I am playing at the moment, so my learning curve has been suffering.

 

[Methos]

lurker's comment: @TheRat: I noticed in your pic where you captured Elephantine you are not given the option to raze the city. Are there actual times where the game forces you to keep the city? I'm guessing it was an error in the game.

 

[handy900]

Bugs - some things I noticed (these are in the thread - but here is a summary).

* You will have to use transports to carry the gunships over the sea. ThERat could do it, so I must have made an error. Ignore this comment.
* You can airlift a tank, but only if it has full movement.
* Using bombers to recon the map helps you a great deal.
* AI Gunships are almost invisible if you play zoomed out a little. You have to look closely to see them.
* Bombers are close to the C3 version. You can "bomb" improvements, or "strike" units. You can bomb a city to get the defenses of the city to zero, then strike units to get them to 50% hp.
* It does not take long at all for captured cities to become productive because corruption is less. Courts are good to build quickly to help the economy.
* Bombers can be wounded, you can heal them also.
* America has air defense, not sure about Japan. I doubt anyone else has it.
* Pillaging is good income.

 

[Greebley]

lurker's comment: @TheRat: I noticed in your pic where you captured Elephantine you are not given the option to raze the city. Are there actual times where the game forces you to keep the city? I'm guessing it was an error in the game.

Ya, I am curious too. It seems weird that one time it doesn't give you an option.

Unless theres a new wonder I haven't heard about that makes a city unrazable.

 

[Merzbow]

Ya, I am curious too. It seems weird that one time it doesn't give you an option.

Unless theres a new wonder I haven't heard about that makes a city unrazable.

Another lurker's comment... I've been denied the opportunity to raze a city only when that city was originally mine. Probably specifically if the citizens are > 50% your civ.

 

[ThERat]

well, I also don't understand why for the last Chinese city, which was formely Egyptian, I wasn;t even given the option to raze. I thought maybe the game is in some buggy mode, but for the next city I was given the option again.

We need to monitor this occurence. maybe any of the beta testers can enlighten us.

Handy, as for your list:
gunships CAN be airlifted as well. Any units (even settlers+ Great Person) can be airlifted as long as they have full movement. But, the target city can only receive 1 unti per turn unless it has an airport in which case there is no limit.
This is very important to note for a potential beachhead.

and for the record:
only America has AA units, that's why bombing them is hardly effective at all. Suggest to take out Japan and Monte first with much less resitance.

 

[handy900]

gunships CAN be airlifted as well.

That is good news. I am not sure why I could not do it. Pretty sure I had full movement, but I only tried it once and then just put it on my list of "stuff about C4 I wish was different".

 

[Kylearan]

lurker's comment: Hi,

ps sorry for the lengthy report

I like your recent reports: Long, lots of screenies...

-Kylearan

 

[Greebley]

and for the record:
only America has AA units, that's why bombing them is hardly effective at all. Suggest to take out Japan and Monte first with much less resitance.

Yes, I think we should definitely do this. In fact we may be able to win without ever attack the Americans at all which I would prefer. At the very least we should take Japan and Monte out now while they don't have aircover.

I should have mentioned this I guess.

 

[Sir Bugsy]

Japan and Azteca are where I'm working.

 

[Sir Bugsy]

Pre-flight – 1965 – Put on REM’s first record, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! and the Cure’s first record for inspiration. Go over Handy’s list and write it all down.

IBT – We lose a worker and complete La Tour Eiffel.

1966 – Bomb Edo and an Aztec city to 0% defenses. I can’t remember how to transport a gunship by air so I go back to the thread… again. This is why it takes me so long to play. I can’t remember the game mechanics. Every time I have to leave the game it means several minutes of loading when I go back. I have no idea. OK it appears that if you use a promotion on a unit, that counts as movement. In order to airlift a gunship, you will see a CH-47 type button for airlift. I kill four Japanese units and lose a gunship. Start marching on Edo.

IBT – My computer is so slow, I am able to start playing the next turn when I get a bunch of red messages from the IBT. Several units in America are bombed.

1967 – Kill an Aztec and a Japanese. Set up for the first wave of assaults on Edo next turn. It will take at least two turns.

IBT – Lose all our units (4) that were in America.

1968 – See Bede hanging out in Greenwich Village. Kill everything but two workers in Edo. Those two workers are enough to hold the city.

This is taking a long time. I feel like an idiot as new things keep popping up.

To be continued....

 

[ThERat]

Bugs, I figured that gunships cannpt take the cities, you always need to let another unit take out the last defender. I also learned that the hard way