LK149 - WM, Indonesia

[Northern Pike]

View attachment 354835, end of turn

 

[Northern Pike]

1130 (1): We have plenty of knights which can reach New Chinan (just founded near the ruins of Bekasi), so we might as well take shots there until we lose one. In the event, the town is held only by one rifleman and we auto-raze it without loss (1-0).

 

[Northern Pike]

 

[Northern Pike]

One of the knights that razed New Chinan is ridden down by Chinese cav (1-1).


1140 (2): We take the same sort of speculative shot at Indus--that is, we'll try until we lose one knight, then set up a more serious attack--and again luck favours us, as we re-take the town without loss (held by a rifleman and a maceman; 3-1).

 

[Northern Pike]

 

[Northern Pike]

The barracks and harbour in Indus survive the fighting.

The other knight involved in razing New Chinan falls to Chinese counterattack, but otherwise the Chinese stay away (3-2).


1150 (3): By ship-chaining, we move six of our few remaining slaves to the ruins of Serang, where they build a road and so restore proper communication between Depok and the peninsula (Vietnam and Malaya).

We advance a settler north of Depok, so if it survives the interturn, we'll be able to replace another of our razed cities in Indochina.

We send the Americans Physics for dyes, their WM, 3 gpt, and 4 gold. There's nothing (except optionals) they can be researching that we don't already have, so we can't lose a better opportunity by doing this. We're then able to cut the lux rate to zero, bringing us to 61 gpt with 230 gpt due to come back soon.

We lose one musketman in the stack covering our advanced settler to Chinese attack, but otherwise get away with the manoeuvre (3-3).


1160 (4): We bombard and unhorse the Chinese cav that attacked our advanced stack (4-3).

We found New Bekasi, on a hill in the wasteland where Bekasi and New Chinan were razed.

New Bekasi attracts more attention from Chinese cav than I'd hoped, given that it's on a hill, and we lose two musketmen there (4-5). Perhaps things will change when we get the town's walls rushed.


1170 (5): We cut down two redlined Chinese cav outside New Bekasi (6-5).

Our wrecked reputation requires us to trade for techs by renegotiating peace, which is a real leap in the dark. So, we first set our cities for maximum gpt, and get out of our present 230-gpt peace with the Aztecs for 5 gpt. As an island civ, we can fortunately place almost every citizen we have on a two-commerce tile.

First we buy Theory of Gravity from Argentina for 243 gpt as part of a peace renegotiation. Next we're able to sell ToG to Egypt for 104 gpt, 153 gold, and their WM--an unexpected windfall. Then we send ToG and 92 gpt to Germany for Magnetism, also as part of a peace renegotiation.

We buy saltpetre from Argentina for 53 gpt and our WM, doing this before we acquire MilTrad/cav since it's cheaper that way.

We send ToG and Magnetism to Australia for MilTrad, ivory, and their WM. I don't like putting Australia into the IA, but my reasoning is that we can never return to the idea of landing there without some armies; we can only generate armies against China; and we can't keep that war going any longer without cav. We desperately need a luxury not paid for with gpt, too.

Finally we send MilTrad to the Songhai for 21 gpt, 25 gold, and their WM--not much of a return, but we need it.

We upgrade six knights to cav in Bandung.

The Chinese attack our other front-line city, Cimahi, and defeat a musketman and a knight, though they lose two cav (8-7).


1180 (6): Our cavalry do well in their debut, smiting seven Chinese cav around New Bekasi and Cimahi with some help from our knights (15-7).

We sell MilTrad to Babylon for 14 gpt, 14 gold, and their WM.

Bah--New Bekasi is a hill town and now has walls, but Chinese cav knock off two musketmen there as easily as if they were on open ground (15-9).


1190 (7): We finish putting together a complete coastal defense in the Philippines, so landings there shouldn't be a problem.

We bombard and crush a Chinese cav outside New Bekasi (16-9).

This time the Chinese attack Cimahi, defeating a musketman and losing a cav (17-10).

Ugh, the Mongols are at peace with the Chinese. We didn't have an alliance there; we were just hoping the Mongols would stay at war with China on their own initiative.


1200 (8): We expunge a Chinese cav outside Cimahi (18-10).

Three elite victories this round didn't produce a Great Leader.

 

[Northern Pike]

The wasteland:

 

[Northern Pike]

We've repaired some of the damage to our position and entered the IA. There's still no apparent road to victory, but we can play on and see what happens.

We can continue the Chinese war without too much risk, hoping to generate an army, since they'll grant us peace on even terms when we want. Our running out of musketmen to absorb their attacks on our cities may force us to end the war, though.

If we do decide to make peace with China, we should try to re-take Banjarmasin with cav first. The attack would probably work, but holding the town with the war continuing when Samarinda and the Chinese rail line are so close would be very difficult.

We should rush New Bekasi's temple as soon as we can afford it, though when that might be isn't clear.

We have ship chains in place to move the (mostly obsolete) units covering the coasts in the Philippines elsewhere quickly, if that's what we want to do.

Some of our cities are micromanaged for commerce rather than shields, so our rate of production is even slower than it might appear. Palembang is producing a cav every four turns, at least.

Surabaya has a full food box, and so should peel off a worker after it builds a university this interturn.

I'll leave most of our ships with their movement so the next player can find them.

 

[LKendter]

I'm glad to see the IA. Having cavalry should help to. We still have plenty of challenges, including getting to rifles. I'll let Greebley judge how much more we can do versus China. The challenge in China is even taking another city doesn't open up a path to a different civ.
Long term, I still suspect we are stuck trying to invade Australia if we can get a strong enough tech lead. The problem is we keep losing that because of our dependence on their ivory.


ROSTER:
LKendter
Northern Pike (just played)
Greebley (up)
Elephantium (on deck)

 

[LKendter]

ROSTER:
LKendter
Northern Pike (just played)
Greebley (up)
Elephantium (on deck)

 

[Greebley]

Ok, I am back and I got it.

 

[Greebley]

Preturn: Looks ok
IBT: We lose a Caravel that I moved to the Frigate I didn't see. Our Musket holds off a Cavalry. Zulu demand a small tribute which we pay.
1210 AD: Kill the Cavalry
IBT: Sioux are building TOE.
1220 AD: No Chinese to fight.
IBT: Again single attacks on our two reachable cities. Lose a Musket and a Cavalry retreats.
TOE Completed by Sioux
1230 AD: Two elite victories vs a redlined Cav and redlined (after bombardment) Rifle.
IBT: Aztecs and Mongols ally vs China pulling Mongols back into the war.
1240 AD: Pillaged the square that allows China to attack both towns. Get a Leader from the Elite Cav after losing one Cav vs a Rifle. Create a 3 unit Army and move it forward. I want to block China from free attacks vs our city.
Make some Minor trades to balance the budget. Songhai gets Magnetism for free due to a misclick.
IBT: Aztec get Universal Sufferage.
1250 AD: More units killed but no leader.
IBT: Sioux destroy the French.
1255 AD: Two stupid Cav on Plains take our Army to 1 hp. I started the Mil Academy.
IBT: Lose a Musket on the Iron.
1260 AD: China is finally quiet. We are prepping for an attack, but army has to heal.
1265 AD: Units move toward Chinese city of Banjarmasan. Kill off a landed MDI.
1270 AD: Units and Army move next to Banjarmasan.
IBT: Landing of a Cavalry. No sign of China
1275 AD: Kill Cav landing. Capture Banjaramasan. We have a radius expansion for this city from when we owned it. I am able to pillage the ways in except for under the Army.
Notes:
I would definitely starve Banjarmasin to size 1 as the first unit is Indonesian so we can completely remove the Chinese citizens and have no chance to flip. Note that we are now next to Persia as well as China. I think we want to continue the war with China though. I would remove all but one Musket out next turn in case of flip as we starve it down. It can't be attacked unless we moved the army -after Samarinda is gone, then it will be safe even with an army move, as the hill with the army will be in its borders.
Army is really helping us advance carefully. Its ability to pillage has been a real boon but soon it will be too open to really be able to advance. We need Rifles.
New Bekasi can still be attacked by China, but they haven't with its 3 Muskets with one Elite. Until we get Macaco, it should keep this defense.
Pillaged the Mountain with the Army to make Banjarmasin safe. Also had to pillage where 2 Muskets and Cavalry are. The Chinese shouldn't have enough Cav to take them out - maybe an attack or two.
I think we should abandon Samarinda (sell improvements). Its really too close to Banjarmasin. We can move the Cannon/Trebs under the army the next turn, then bombard and capture the next. I am making more Cannon to make bombardment better.
After Samarinda, I would go for Macaco. I think we should continue the war.
We don't have enough units to make towns happy enough, but I thought we should wait for draftable rifles.
For Islands, I have tried to leave Cavalry on some. We can also set up boat relays to move Cavalry to where an attack is. Any 2 cities within 6 can carry a Cav to a new island without using the Cav's movement - but this only works if there is a Caravel in the city when its needed. If this was planned out it would help get 2-3 Cav where its needed.
Ships that don't stop in a town are usually attacked. I was doing town jumping as much as possible.

 

[LKendter]

Getting an army back is great.

Persia next to us is a huge break. If they can clear the Chinese towns in India, we get a far more manageable front. I agree 100% that Samarinda is a city to raze. I can't look the game up at work, but IIRC China is a cultural monster. Trying to capture and keep any Chinese cities will be high risk.
The challenge is how far to we have to go into China to get something useful. I would love to get a natural luxury, another iron to trade, saltpeter, etc. With the high culture issues, any of those towns must be razed and replaced.

The interesting this is as we move forward vs. China we get to abuse the fact they already have rails.
We know China has coal, the only question is where.



ROSTER:
LKendter (on deck)
Northern Pike
Greebley (just played)
Elephantium (up)

 

[Northern Pike]

Good work pillaging the tile that gave Chinese cav access to Cimahi. That makes our defense much easier.

Macao is a hard objective, being on a hill, so perhaps we should be thinking in terms of a thrust through Samarinda to Chengdu.

I don't like leaving Pekanbaru held by one weak unit when the Persian Immortal adjacent to the city might get ideas. I'd move in a unit from Semarang.

BTW, it's interesting that the long-term Persian squatters on our lands have lost the settlers they were covering. Will the AI disband settlers it decides can't settle, or were they just lost to budget deficits?

As LK says, we won't be able to hold any Chinese cities, so we need more settlers for raze-and-replaces. To begin with, Surabaya should build a settler after its present cav, to capitalize on its full food box. And instead of Jakarta's building the temple it's just started, we should run it for six turns as a three-turn settler pump, which is easy enough.

While we're starving Banjarmasin down, all the specialists we run there should be clowns, unless we're leaving the town empty so that no citizens can come out of resistance. Even in this tight financial position, it's not worth risking the sequence whereby citizens come out of resistance unhappy and riot, doubling the flip chance.

Is it a realistic prospect that we're going to go over to self-research when we get most of our gpt back in seven turns? If not, we should switch the university Makassar will complete in two turns to a bank, despite the minor loss of shields. Makassar is a high-commerce, low-shields city that will take a long time to build whichever structure we don't choose now, so it's a significant decision.

Tusker, please be aware that when we've given away gpt for techs as part of a peace renegotiation, the funds don't come back automatically. I believe that in seven turns you'll have to contact the Argentines and replace our 247-gpt peace with them with one costing about 5 gpt; otherwise we'll just pay them 247 gpt for peace indefinitely. That's how it worked with the Aztecs in my last round, anyway.

Edit: And we'll also need to contact the Germans to get out of that 92-gpt peace.

 

[Northern Pike]

We can get 21 gpt and 172 gold from Egypt for Magnetism. There's no reason not to do it.

 

[Elephantium]

I need a skip. This week has been brutal.

 

[LKendter]

ROSTER:
LKendter (up)
Northern Pike (on deck)
Greebley (just played)
Elephantium (skipped)

 

[Northern Pike]

I have a short period of travel coming up, lasting until the 17th. From the 18th to the 30th I'll be able to play, perhaps two rounds if things work out. Then my major period of unavailability will begin, until September 6.

So, LK, there's no need to hurry with your round; I won't be able to take the game for a week anyway.

 

[LKendter]

For me the next two nights are good, then 12 / 13 have no time. I pretty much need to play now.

@Elephantium - will things be better in a couple of days? We could consider this a swap, rather then skip.

 

[Elephantium]

I might have some time to play over the weekend, but it's not guaranteed.