LK153 - Australia

[Northern Pike]

Nice progress on the war.

This may be clearer when I open the save, but is there a particular reason why we're researching Banking?

I've got it. I won't be playing for a few hours, if anyone wants to comment.

 

[Greebley]

Banking is the one we eventually want but don't mind taking 40 turns to get. Gunpowder and Astronomy are too important to wait 40 turns for. It is also important but is lowest priority of the 3.

 

[Northern Pike]

Great--I assumed that was the rationale but it's good to have the specifics.

 

[LKendter]

I give them 4310 gpt for invention.

There has got to be a typo in that one. I doubt out economy is that good.

I mentioned this above, but just so it’s clear, I think our rep is ruined again. Not sure why.

This is a total WTH this game. As far as I know we all avoided sending goods out because of broken trade route risk.

Here is praying we aren’t screwing ourselves over with keeping Indonesian cities. I utter despise flips, and dealing with foreign citizens.

ROSTER:

LKendter (on deck)
Elephantium
Greebley
Northern Pike (up) And already got it.

 

[Greebley]

Oh, we can't do gpt deals at all so that is plain gold and not gpt.

Negotiating peace costs us even more (the cost for peace added in) with the leading world powers.

I think we should be conservative with our spending this game and keep the gold for tech. We could also boost science as this is more efficient than gold.

 

[Northern Pike]

View attachment 393398, end of turn

 

[Northern Pike]

250 (0): Whoa--whatever luxury routes we re-established are now re-broken, and most of our cities are unhappy. I have to put the lux rate up to 30%, 155 gpt.

We know all the surviving civs on earth, so there won't be any more contact reports.

Four workers between Canberra and Toowoomba are burning a jungle that doesn't belong to either town. I cancel that job and leave the cities with a nature reserve.

We sell Chivalry to Argentina for 29 gpt and 46 gold.

Wagga Wagga barracks (rushed) --> temple, Alice Springs settler --> settler.

Two jungle burns complete at Cairns, one revealing BG.


260 (1): We cut down two depleted Indonesian spearmen trying to retreat away from our beachhead (2-0).

We move a large stack forward on the Indonesian home island.

Canberra barracks --> galley. I hope to set up a six-turn, size 9 --> 11, unit + settler cycle here.

Adelaide worker --> worker, Perth aqueduct --> galley.


270 (2): Our SoD moves nearer to the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, but it'll have to move next turn too to avoid a cross-river attack, and make the assault in 290 AD. The need not to have our knights on top of the stack poses some tactical problems, as mentioned by Greebley.

We bombard and shatter a sword/spear pair trying to push east towards Wagga Wagga (4-0).

We yield to a demand from the Sioux for 100 gold.

The Egyptians are building Bach, so we know that Cleo detoured into Music Theory.


280 (3): We close in on Jakarta.

Melbourne knight --> knight, Adelaide worker --> worker.


290 (4): After a reasonably effective bombardment, we easily take the Indonesian capital of Jakarta from its garrison of one swordsman and four spearmen, capturing two workers (9-0). After some thought I keep the city for tactical speed, though we may have to abandon it later if the citizens prove mulish.

 

[Northern Pike]

 

[Northern Pike]

Jakarta comes completely out of resistance on the interturn, surprisingly.

Canberra galley --> settler, Sydney knight --> pikeman, Alice Springs settler --> settler, Perth galley --> galley, Cairns aqueduct --> marketplace.


300 (5): We merge Melbourne up to 24 spt at size twelve, for three-turn knight production.

We ship-chain two knights directly from our homeland to the front, for the first time.

We slay one swordsman attempting to advance towards Jakarta (10-0).

We merge three workers into Cairns, which now that it has the FP and an aqueduct is too promising a town to be left to slow natural growth.

The Sioux have discovered Astronomy, so we can execute a twofer that doesn’t involve Cleo (since she has everything and we could never get any gold back from her at the end of the process). We buy Astronomy from the Sioux for 200 gpt and 1085 gold, necessarily as a peace renegotiation; trade it to Persia, along with 507 gold, for Gunpowder; and recoup 105 gpt and 1091 gold by selling Gunpowder to the Sioux.

Egypt is now ahead only by Music Theory. I expected worse.

We have three sources of saltpetre, one hooked up. Unfortunately that one is directly under Woomera, so the usual procedure of disconnecting it so that we can build pikemen instead of musketmen would probably be more trouble than it’s worth.

Adelaide worker --> worker, Hobart marketplace --> musketman, Broome marketplace --> barracks, Freemantle aqueduct --> barracks.


310 (6): We move our SoD in Indonesia adjacent to Surabaya.

Our trade routes are back, presumably thanks to Astronomy, but for the moment I’ll only make trades we’d make even if we weren’t receiving the luxuries involved.

We trade Printing Press to Russia for 400 gold, 10 gpt, and silks.

We send Education to Babylon for 51 gpt, 100 gold, and wines.

We cut the lux rate to 20% and we’re at 220 gpt.

The Indonesians are clearly beaten, so we don’t need to limit ourselves to one axis of advance. We prepare a landing at Tangerang on RL Borneo.

We lose a pikeman to a swordsman’s attack out of Surabaya (10-1).

Jakarta worker (rushed) --> worker, Sydney pikeman --> caravel, Melbourne knight --> knight.


320 (7): We storm Surabaya, held by three swordsmen and two spearmen (15-1). We capture a settler = two workers.

 

[Northern Pike]

 

[Northern Pike]

We send Theology to Germany for 41 gpt and 32 gold.

We trade Construction to the backward Brazilians for 121 gold and gems.

We grant Venezuela Engineering for 23 gpt, 20 gold, and dyes.

We cut the lux rate to zero and we’re at 328 gpt.

We lose a pikeman to a counterattack against Surabaya (15-2).

Canberra settler --> maceman, Adelaide worker --> worker.


330 (8): We cut down the swordsman that attacked Surabaya, and its escorting spearman (17-2).

We land six combat units and four catapults next to Tangerang on Borneo.

Jakarta settler (rushed) --> worker, Alice Springs settler --> settler, Perth caravel --> harbour, Port Augusta harbour --> aqueduct.


340 (9): We expunge four spearmen of Tangerang’s garrison, but the town remains held, by a horseman (21-2).

We yield to an Egyptian demand for spices. Unfortunately we have so many spice sources that leaving all but one disconnected would be impractical.

The Indonesians make a rather clever landing on Palembang Island, where we have only one unit, but our ship chain should let us react in time.

Sydney caravel --> caravel, Melbourne knight --> knight, Brisbane marketplace --> trebuchet, Adelaide worker --> worker, Bathurst aqueduct --> marketplace.


350 (10): We smite the sword/spear pair landed next to Palembang, though the first battle is close (23-2).

We rout the final horseman defending Tangerang and seize the city (24-2). We capture a settler = two workers.

 

[Northern Pike]

 

[Northern Pike]

We move our SoD adjacent to the next city on the Indonesian home island, Bekasi.

We bombard and strike down a would-be pillaging spearman outside Surabaya (25-2).

We found our first city in New Zealand, Auckland on North Island.

We finish clearing the jungle in the Melbourne-Brisbane-Cairns triangle.

Seventeen of our twenty-five victories this round were by elites, but they didn’t generate a Great Leader.

 

[Northern Pike]

Foreign shores:



Baa-aaa-aah:

 

[Northern Pike]

The Indonesian campaign is clearly won, and it’s just a question of getting adequate forces to all the places where they have cities. They still have ten towns and two of them are very distant (Kamchatka), so getting a clean kill may not be easy. I think we can still keep most of their cities, since we can afford to work their populations down with worker and settler rushes where necessary. Places over size six, such as their present capital of Semarang, we might raze. We have settlers well forward for those cases.

The Indonesians will also give us three cities for peace—perhaps four, by the time they’re down to five—and we may be able to exploit that factor, and then take their final city after twenty turns.

When we finally receive an army, we should arrange a safe victory for it while it only contains two units, since we can’t transport three-unit armies yet.

We’ll have to evacuate Tangerang after this safe interturn.

The settler/pike pair southeast of Perth can board the galley coming to meet them from New Zealand next turn, and found a city at 1 on the screenshot. Then the next settler out of Alice Springs can found at 2, and we’ll have New Zealand locked up. Note that galleys have a safe route to New Zealand now—our two galleys in the area are at the two ends of it.

The Egyptians have just pulled ahead in tech again, with Navigation. They and the Sioux and the Persians also have Music Theory.

Canberra is on a cycle whereby it builds a forty-shield unit (caravel or maceman) from size 9 --> 10, and then a settler from size 10 -->11. It needs adjustment at size ten or it will build the settler a turn too soon.

Melbourne is building three-turn knights, but if it’s just left at 24 spt working a mined desert it will slowly lose food. Two turns out of the three it can work an irrigated plain at 23 spt.

We should try to get both Brisbane and Cairns merged up to size twelve by the end of the next round, though Brisbane will need some tile improvements (irrigated desert) and Cairns will need to complete its marketplace. There are only three jungle tiles left to clear in our homeland, so we don’t need to treasure every worker.

Adelaide and Alice Springs need the usual attention after they produce workers and settlers, respectively.

Broome is in last-turn-of-the-build MM and can be set for more shields once it completes its barracks.

Please note our galley fortified off Indonesian Semarang.

 

[vmxa]

Lurker:

What is the unique unit for the Aussies?

 

[Northern Pike]

The Anzac, a superior rifleman (5-7-1).

 

[LKendter]

ROSTER:

LKendter (up)
Elephantium (on deck)
Greebley
Northern Pike

 

[ThinkTank]

Which map are you playing this game on, is there a biq file I can download from the maps thread?

 

[LKendter]

This is being played on a world map that I put together. If you want a copy I would have to post the .BIQ and setup info to this thread.