How we stand in Chinese War

[duke o' york]

I doubt that anyone has, but don't forget that when you bribe a unit, the spy or dip who has bribed it will move into the same square as the unit. We should take this into account before choosing which unit to bribe as it will have an effect on whether the spy can reach Shanghai afterwards or not.

I'm going to be really annoyed if we take all their cities and the Chinese have managed to sneak a settler out of one of them, leaving us with all the partisans round the cities still and having to hunt down their escaping settler. Not that he'd have far to run...

 

[Dell19]

What would be really bad, is if they have long range scouts who get a city from a goody hut, as it could be a long way away. Although its unlikely...

 

[Kev]

Checks of our embassy and the UN confirm that the Chinese still only have 3 cities at this juncture.

duke: Our spy would bribe the partisan directly to the right. That would be 1 full move as there is no road. Then it would move to the empty road square which would be another full move. Then, 1/3 of a move to get to Shanghai's front door. With 2/3 movement left, we can even take a peek at the city first before bribing (to see if other units it supports will no longer be in the field or the ocean).

Here's a question:

The spy - if not captured - will undoubtedly head back to Beijing. I see that the road from Shanghai to Canton is broken - which would mean that we would be unable to get the spy from Beijing to Canton in one turn (a rushed spy from Nanking will take care of Tsingtao). This is especially true if there are some partisans blocking the way as well.

Perhaps we can get the transport involved somehow. Any thoughts - or should we just suck it up and wait the extra turn to finish them off.

 

[Dell19]

Try and win in the first turn as we need to avoid those partizans. Otherwise we will just have to sit it out and hope that most of their attacks fail, or they continue to pillage improvements.

 

[duke o' york]

We'll have to put up with the partisans for a couple of turns anyway as the spy will take one turn to bribe Shanghai and then be stuck back in Beijing if she survives. It'll take one or two turns to get to Canton depending on whether we use the transport and this does not take account of the time taken for our troops to capture Tsingtao. The Chinese already have a settler next to Beijing so we'd better watch where he's going. I'd say we've got to put up with the pillage idiots for another 2 turns at least, if we can't kill them all by then. It does take time to pillage irrigation and fortresses, but I think roads are gone after just one turn. Also, they'll want a ceasefire each time we meet them, which is not ideal.

 

[Kev]

For the first turn, I know that we can take Shanghai. That will leave Canton and Tsingtao as the remaining cities left.

There's a chance that there could be some roads that we've just not seen connecting Shanghai and Canton. Should that be the case, we'd be able to get to Canton with our spy from Beijing (assuming the spy escapes) the very next turn.

Boy, I'd like to be able to get both Canton and Tsingtao that next turn. It would mean less pillaging to repair and at least one fewer turn that the Chinese could be involved with tech trading. But our troops won't be healed totally, and the spy being trained in Nanking has no shields yet.

There is a way, and I'd like to present the idea to my fellow citizens.

Nanking has a rifle and alpine troops for defense behind city walls. My proposition is to disband the rifle troops for shields to be added to the spy. The spy could be rushed for very little cash and be available the very next turn.

If this were the case, the Nanking spy could then bribe Tsingtao and the Beijing spy could bribe Canton -- and that would do it for our former enemies.

A lot depends on the bribing of Shanghai. Should there be roads to Canton and the spy escape back to Beijing, then I'd like to institue the rifle disbanding plan. Again, it would mean much less pillaging we'd have to sit through and less techs the Chinese would be able to give away in a fire sale.

 

[duke o' york]

This all depends on how much it costs to bribe these cities. Tsingtao will be cheap if it remains in revolt, but I doubt that we could buy Shanghai, Canton, Tsingtao and rush a spy for under 2000g. We may have to settle for only 2 of these cities until we cna either build up some more cash or heal our cavalry.
However, after we dispose of China then I am keen on the plan to take the major Mongol cities next. I believe that Mongolia and China have been at war and that Mongolia may hold some cities (or just one) on the Chinese island as well as their overseas colonies. Still, we ought to take the fight to Mongolia after China has gone and we have celebrated our cities as far as possible. To take their main island and capital will cripple their nation and leave us well in the lead.

 

[Kev]

I'd be MORE than willing to bet that those Chinese cities will each cost somewhere in the 400's - maybe even less depending if any cities have courthouses (doubles the bribe price if I recall). Not to mention that when we take the cities, we'll get cash back from them. Also, we'll be making our own monies each turn as well.

With the cash we already have on hand, I would EASILY think that after two turns we'll be able to bribe the three cities and STILL have about 1,000 gold in the coffers.

I think it'll be worth it as well given the units and the infrastructure that we could inherit as well. It'll be nice to prevent some tech trading and partisan pillaging as well.

The spy would cost, I'm estimating, 25-60 gold to rush if we disband the rifle for shields.

I agree about the Mongol lands as well. Even if we can get a foothold we can ferry units from our Chinese cities (with Shake's in Bejing) to the Mongol mainland. Add some engineers and we can build right up to each city.

 

[elibb]

Just a note- with what I suggested before it would be better to bribe the partisan in the fortress, because of added defense, more moves for the spy, and the Partisan can move further because he starts on a road.

 

[Kev]

Originally posted by elibb
Just a note- with what I suggested before it would be better to bribe the partisan in the fortress, because of added defense, more moves for the spy, and the Partisan can move further because he starts on a road.

I don't think that it'll make a difference either way.

The spy will be able to reach Shanghai in either case.

The bribed partisan will be moving into Beijing - and that can be done from either spot (also recall that partisans move like alpine troops and will move 3 tiles no matter what the terrain - unless of course RR which is unlimited).

The only reason I think that your original plan is better is that we would be bribing the partisan right next to the city. The one in the fortress is more likely to either stay there fortified or spend its time pillaging the road. The one next to the city is more likely, I think, to attack the city.

I don't think we'll even touch the partisan in the fortress. It'll disappear with the rest once we finish of the Chinese anyway

 

[TheDuckOfFlanders]

I don't think we'll even touch the partisan in the fortress. It'll disappear with the rest once we finish of the Chinese anyway

I support that idea.The faster we finish these manchu's off the better ,so i support youre "rifle disband and spy rush" to.

And after that i wanna see some mongol blood shedded. (except they are in possesion of cheese afcourse )

 

[elibb]

IF our spy doesn't escape after bribing Shanghai, we could have the spy to the North exploring Mongol terrirtory destroy an improvement in Kazan and get moved back to Beijing.

Also, if the spy does survive bribing Shangia we could still do it to save us rushing the spy in Nanking, but I don't particularly like this idea.