LK149 - WM, Indonesia

[LKendter]

1275 AD (0)
It is marginal, but I send magnetism to Egypt for $172, WM and $21/T.
(IT) Another AI kills the visible Chinese cavalry by Banjarmasin.
Zululand and Sioux sign an MPP.
Persia and Songhai sign peace.
Zululand declares on the Mongols.
Our newly elite musket protecting the pillaging move barely held off a cavalry.


1280 AD (1)
Starting to build up the stack to deal with Samar
(IT) This time China kills a musket with a cavalry attack.
I am enjoying watching the Persian cavalry kill Chinese cavalry.
Russian and Songhai sign peace.


1285 AD (2)
I have to scramble to deal with China dropping a cavalry by Surabaya.
Our small bombard doesn't help much. Despite that we make some forward progress without any losses. We get a bonus of 2 workers for our troubles.




(IT) China kills the Persia unit near Surabaya. That is a double break as not only is Persia gone, but that cavalry got knocked down to 1 HP that will make it easier to kill. The RnG takes back as a rider kills a fortified musket in Cimahi behind walls.
China lands a cavalry by Bandung.

 

[LKendter]

1290 AD (3)
This was worth a dead musket. The knight's revenge is very nice.



The fresh army gets knocked down to 5 HP clearing a cavalry on a hill. That was after I lost a cavalry attacking, as that was NOT the direction I wanted to send the army.

You know I am desperate for more cash when I agree to give America theory of gravity for WM, $52 and $/7T.
(IT) Persia and Babylon make peace.


1295 AD (4)
(IT) Russia and Babylon make peace. Russia also makes peace with Egypt.
I'm seriously tempted to say no, but I give Argentina WM and $17.


1300 AD (5)
I give America magnetism to get dyes back. We also pick up WM, $20 and $4/T.
(IT) The AI turns are really dragging. There must be a lot of cities changing hands.

 

[LKendter]

@Elephantium - let me know you estimate for the weekend. I want a least one more turn early Friday, and I will post the save if you can get to it.

 

[Elephantium]

The weekend isn't looking very likely.

 

[LKendter]

OK, I will just keep the game longer.

 

[Northern Pike]

Having two cav armies really gives us some prospects. A third to let us build the Pentagon would be even better.

It's pretty funny that the Persian cav that squatted on our lands for a thousand years helped us by distracting the Chinese cav.

 

[LKendter]

1305 AD (6)
The last citizen in Banjarmasim turns out to be Chinese.



We got 7 workers for our trouble, including one that must have been captured by China. With rails hopefully soon, we can't get enough workers.

We also got a bucket from killing a nearby rifle guarding it. I'll take every bombard unit I can get my hands on. We are way short for a slow march forward.

I notice that Lahore is now Persian. China is getting hurt from multiple sides. I think the alliance with Persia was the key to reversing a potential cluster.
(IT) New Bekasi was hit by 2 riders, but the musket behind the walls held.
We get another annoying landing by Surabaya. I'm running out of troops to scramble, as the front need every unit possible.
We lost our ivory supply.

 

[LKendter]

1310 AD (7)
Surakarta is founded near the remains of Macao. I moved it to the coast to claim the fish, and get our seafaring bonus.
Our economy just crashed to -112/T. We must have lost a large income payment.
A: I sell our map everywhere possible to grab token cash. This gets us to $126. I cancel our alliance with Persia. I doubt they will sign peace with China in the near future. They are pounding China nicely in former India. We now make $82/T.
B: America has not more GPT. I can't raise anything there. We get straight peace with Germany for $21. I squeeze $20 from Egypt for a peace treaty.
C: I squeeze another round of $1 from most nations for our WM. BLEH - $137 is only close to a deal with Argentina. $122 and $1/turn gets peace.
I really wanted straight peace. We are back to $252/T. That is doubt with China so we need to find more revenue.
D: I swap all cities to cavalry that can do so. I ship our only horses to Mongolia for spices and $47/T. $299/T is still doubt with China. I cancel our gems deal Argentina. $329/T is "close" to a deal. I want play room once that is a deal, so I need to find even more revenue.
E: I configure all cities to pure commerce. We now make $411/T and now I killed the token scientist for nationalism. China for give us rails for $375. We have some play room.
F: $383/T gets us steam from Persia. We have 4 connected sources of coal. That isn't a problem. Nobody needs our coal.
Steam power goes to Babylon for medicine and WM.
G: Steam power goes to Australia for sanitation, ivory and WM.

 

[LKendter]

I am totally exhausted after the above, and am more than ready to turn the game over.




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I still have no idea how we are going to win this, yet alone pull of the standard domination. However, I do have a short term goal that will help us a lot.
I'm setup to raze Shantung. That will take pressure off of Surakata. We want that second source of horses about Nanking. If we can keep getting GPT and a luxury from Mongolia for that it will help a lot. As I've said, we really got screwed on the resource front.


Our cities need to be reconfigured, and happiness fixed. Some of them will probably need to peel workers before pop dies.

ROSTER:
LKendter (just played)
Northern Pike (up)
(skip to Jul 17, and Aug 1 to Sep 5)
Greebley (on deck)
Elephantium

 

[Greebley]

Nationalism is one of those techs that cost us 50% more. If we have 2-3 techs to trade and can get it for cheap we should do that. However, after 20 more turns and our cash back, we will have only 11 turns left to research left. I am thinking we should complete the 50 turn run and pursue other techs for now. It does mean 31 more turns without rifles though.

In other words, I think I would rather complete the 50 turn run, then spend large amounts of gpt to acquire it We are far enough behind that getting a tech for no gpt is worthwhile. We should make sure we keep a scientist every turn.

 

[LKendter]

With having rails, razing those China cities will really pay off. We can't get enough workers at this point. With our economy still bad, I prefer the 1/2 speed workers with no GPT costs.

 

[Northern Pike]

Some wild trading.

I've got it.

 

[Northern Pike]

It's unlikely that I'll be able to play another round before my August unavailability, so I'm trying to get a lot done now. I'll post by Tuesday, or Wednesday at the latest.

LK, is the cultural victory activated for the AI in this game? And is the threshold just 100K points (low for a map of this size), as the Victory Status screen says? It's relevant because the Sioux are already over 120K, and the Mongols appear to be at barely more than half that. So quite apart from the danger that the Sioux will double the Mongols’ total and win, we can’t attack the Mongols, if this is really the situation.

 

[LKendter]

Yes, cultural is enabled. It normally isn't a problem. I've never seen an AI run away this badly on this map before.

 

[Northern Pike]

View attachment 356303, trades not made

 

[Northern Pike]

1310 (0): We sell Medicine to the Egyptians for 98 gpt, 2 gold, and their WM. This allows us to return to normal, rather than all-commerce, city management.

We move three cav by ship to positions from which they can attack the Chinese units next to Surabaya next turn.

The Chinese rifleman and Rider adjacent to Surabaya both attack, and both perish (2-0). That's good luck; if the rifleman had stuck to pillaging in the hills, in the usual way of slow AI units, dealing with it might have been costly.

The Chinese and the Mongols make peace again. We can't afford an alliance to bring the Mongols back into the war.

We renew our saltpetre deal with the Argentines, with the price increasing to 68 gpt.


1315 (1): Our nine-unit bombardment of Shantung achieves only one hit, but even so our two cav armies take the town from its garrison of three riflemen and a longbowman without loss. We sink at least one vessel in port (7-0). Disappointingly, our razing of the town yields no workers; that begins to happen in the IA, but it's unusually damaging in this situation.

 

[Northern Pike]

 

[Northern Pike]

We capture a Chinese worker left uncovered between Banjarmasin and Madras.

The Chinese land a Rider and a longbowman next to Djokjakarta. We have cav on Borneo now and it won't be a problem.


1320 (2): We found Jambi on the ruins of Shantung.

We expunge the Chinese Rider/LB pair next to Djokjakarta (9-0).


1325 (3): The Chinese have pushed a six-unit force into the hills and jungles north of Cimahi, so we'll deal with that problem rather than advancing this turn. We massacre the whole force, but don't get a GL in two elite victories and lose a cav (15-1).

Bah--we lose a musketman on a hill to a low-odds attack (15-2).


1330 (4): We ride down the Chinese longbowman that defeated our musketman (16-2).

We move our two cav armies and three independent cav adjacent to Chengdu, leaving our bombardment train behind to save time, since it's ineffective against riflemen in big cities anyway. I want to take Chengdu before Nanking for the sake of maintaining our mobility, because too many Chinese cities' borders converge at Nanking.

We renew our wines deal with Germany, for 32 gpt rather than the previous 30.

We're informed that the Zulus have wiped out the Songhai.


1335 (5): The Chinese have sent six units--three Riders, two LB, and a rifleman--into the gap between Surakarta and Jambi, but that's where our cannon and trebs are, and we slaughter the intruders without loss (22-2).

Chengdu is held by two elite riflemen, a veteran rifleman, and an LB. We storm the city without loss, but the elite rifles wear our armies down considerably (26-2). This time the razing gains us five workers.

 

[Northern Pike]

 

[Northern Pike]

We unhorse a Rider near the ruins of Chengdu (27-2).

We yield to a Mongol demand for 21 gold and our TM.


1340 (6): We ride down a Chinese rifleman, again in the Surakarta-Jambi gap (28-2).

We found Manado near the ruins of Chengdu.

Palembang completes the Military Academy. The improvement to the strength of our armies is more important right now than the ability to build armies, which Pal would do much too slowly.


1345 (7): We pick off a Chinese LB north of Banjarmasin (29-2).

Our cav armies seize Nanking, garrisoned by three riflemen, without loss (32-2). We gain five workers from the razing and also capture a cannon and a treb.