LK151 - WM, where are we?

[Northern Pike]

Great work fighting through those various frustrations to eliminate America.

Regarding the flips, it's pretty well pointless to keep exactly one unit in large, resistant cities from civs with superior culture. A unit in that role is far likelier to be lost in a flip than to reduce the resistance, or to prevent a flip. When we choose to keep large cities taken from a culturally strong enemy, it's best just to accept that they'll be resistant and useless until we eliminate their civ.

I've got it. I expect I'll need the full week, since this will be a heavy-war round whether we choose to attack Venezuela or the Zulus. I haven't looked at the save yet so I can't comment on that decision.

 

[LKendter]

When looking at Venezuela, look at all of the cities that are a pain to get at. I found several including the Siberian island, one in Scandanvia (IIRC), and several odds spots.

I think the Zulu are compact like the USA.

 

[Greebley]

I like the idea of Army fishing against the Zulu. We still don't have a Cav army right? It will make taking Ven much eaiser if we have a few more than 3 Armies.

 

[LKendter]

I like the idea of Army fishing against the Zulu. We still don't have a Cav army right? It will make taking Ven much eaiser if we have a few more than 3 Armies.

We still have several obsolete elites (MDI, etc), so we have some help there.

 

[LKendter]

I realized one thing that I didn't stress. Most of our core is on buildings to take advantage of our GA. With Smith's locked, markets / banks are very much worth it.

 

[Northern Pike]

We've conquered a lot of tundra, but the turns are taking a correspondingly long time. So, CB, my regrets, but I probably won't be getting the game to you on the weekend--Monday is likelier.

 

[LKendter]

We've conquered a lot of tundra

Sounds like you went with the Zulu. Hopefully all there obsolete units will give us some leaders...

 

[Northern Pike]

Yes, we attacked the Zulus...but as usually seems to happen when we go to war specifically to generate armies, our luck has been putrid. Thirty-eight elite victories so far have yielded one Great Leader. I may be able to squeeze about ten more elite victories out of my remaining turns.

On a more positive note, we're in a strong position to pull off the ToE-AT-Electronics-Hoover sequence, with two good pre-builds going for the Wonders. The Babylonians are building ToE but we're well ahead of their pace.

 

[Northern Pike]

View attachment LK151-1050AD.SAV, end of turn

 

[Northern Pike]

950 (0): I agree with LK that a delay before we attack Venezuela is wise. They may be just about to kick off their GA with a Llanero; also, they're at war with China and the Aztecs, so if we give them some time they'll send most of their striking power deep into Africa (given that those are African civs in this game).

So, the Zulus it is. We declare war. They have twenty-one cities, three on islands but eighteen contiguous in extreme eastern Siberia:

 

[Northern Pike]

 

[Northern Pike]

We can't get a clean kill of the Zulus, since they have island cities in the Canadian Arctic. The same is true of Venezuela and Australia. In the Zulus' case it doesn't matter; their cities are small and their culture is weak, so sending their capital to a distant spot should be enough to prevent flips.

We can't push far until our workers are available for combat railing next turn, but we launch our Zulu campaign by taking Newcastle (an Australian foundation, like our next two targets) easily enough.

 

[Northern Pike]

 

[Northern Pike]

We rout the defending force of a pikeman and an Impi without loss (2-0).

And on the interturn:

 

[Northern Pike]

 

[Northern Pike]

960 (1): We storm Bathurst, garrisoned by a pikeman and two Impis, but lose a cav (5-1). We capture four workers in the town.

We seize Toowoomba, held by two Imps and a maceman (8-1).

 

[Northern Pike]

 

[Northern Pike]

Outside cities we smite seven Imps, three macemen, and two knights, also capturing two workers and a settler = two workers (20-1). We get just one promotion to elite.

We buy a worker from Russia for 110 gold and our WM.

The Babylonians have Replaceable Parts, so they're really tearing along in tech and should have SciMeth soon.


970 (2): We sell Astronomy to the Aztecs for 39 gpt, 14 gold, and their WM.

We found the tactical town of Henry Akeley in the Siberian taiga, bringing us within range of Amatikulu and Ibabanago.

We capture Ibabanago, defended by two Imps and a maceman (23-1).

We take Amatikulu, garrisoned by two Imps (25-1).

We abandon Ibabanago and replace it with Albert Wilmarth one tile farther forward, giving us access to Isipezi and Isandhlwana.

We storm Isipezi, held by a pikeman, a knight, and an Imp (28-1). We capture a trebuchet.

We seize Isandhlwana, defended by two Imps (30-1).

 

[Northern Pike]

 

[Northern Pike]

Outside cities we slay two Imps and a maceman, and capture two settlers = four workers (33-1).


980 (3): Our Golden Age ends and I adjust all our MM for inglorious times—the most depressing chore in the game.

We sell the Australians Education for 17 gpt, 32 gold, and their WM.

We found the tactical towns of Walter Gilman and Keziah Mason, giving us access to Umtata, Hlobane, and Ngome.

We capture Umtata, garrisoned by two Imps and a maceman (36-1).

We take Hlobane, held by a pikeman, an Imp, and a maceman (39-1). We capture a catapult.

We storm Ngome, defended by a pikeman, an Imp, and a maceman (42-1).

Swazi is close enough to Ngome that no tactical trick is necessary, and we seize it from its garrison of two Imps, capturing a trebuchet (44-1).

We found Brown Jenkin, bringing us within range of Tugela.

We capture Tugela, held by two Imps, but lose a cav (46-2).

We can now attack Bapedi and Mpondo without founding further tactical towns. We first take Bapedi, defended by a pikeman and an Imp (48-2). We capture two trebuchets and a catapult.