LK76 - AWE - Pangea, No armies, Random Civ

[LKendter]

We continue to move forward in percentage of area and population. To increase the area count cities along the coast such as New Delft and Hilversum should be building temples. Every square helps toward domination. This game will be a domination win.

While I agree we could use a few more workers we need to be very careful where we build them from. I really want to get our northern science cities back to size 7 for the extra unit support. These cities have enough tiles quality food tiles to support size 7+ with multiple scientist.

If we are going to build a few more please use the new small cities in former Mongolia that are not close to size 6 and have no specialist. I don't want to have to pay more money, lose scientist and lose size 7 GPT support just to get a worker. We are in much better shape after all of the razed Mongol cities.


I don't know how common it is, but our new cities are not set up right with the Governor. They are set to emphasis production. We need these cities to be emphasis GROWTH. They have just one value - food, and need to concentrate on that.

 

[Tomoyo]

lurker's comment: Oh me my, this is such a great game! I'll be certainly following this game. I have never seen a modern war with this intensity!

The comment: Marines won't be a problem if you can get bombers/artillery to damage incoming ships, provided you can see them. Since you are worried about your core cities, you should see them coming.

Okay, not much of a comment, but you guys covered everything else!

Great game, and hope you win!

 

[Greebley]

The primary reason those towns are size 6 is that several of the northern cities drafted recently. We needed some extra troops as I didn't want to leave coastal towns empty when troops were needed for the assault on Isen. The difficulty was that I didn't know about the Babyonian bombers. This meant some Infantry died on the first turn and I needed more troops than I expected to keep the bombers from killing units.

Note that unhappiness is getting to be a bit of a problem in some of those cities.

Agree that size 7 is best. Perhaps the best plan is to only draft in size 8+ cities. That will also give them time to recover. Now that we know about the Babylonian bombers we can plan better.

(How long does it take to recover unhappiness from drafting? 20 turns per draft? Anyone know? I was wondering if that was right during my turns).

 

[Zwingli]

After 3 full turns, we have completed research on Combustion (juggling the specialists/rates shaved a turn) and I plan to head for Mass Production next. Wallstreet will be rushed next turn and we will have ~600g in the treasury upon completion. Both Babylon and Sumeria are currently without oil and have switched to producing marines and TOWs for offense. Unfortunately, their existing bombers, tanks, and mechs are around to cause us losses.

We are set up for an attack on Ur where the 6 bomber Sumerian airforce currently resides but have run into 2 problems. First, Babylonian bombers reach the red line as I have recently discovered (contributing to the loss of 4 units on the last IBT). Secondly, retreating Sumerian units go into Ur to heal greatly increasing the number of units we would have to take out. I guess I will have to let some Sumerian units scoot by without bombarding them.

This picture is from the start of turn 4.

 

[Zwingli]

1820 AD (0)
Hire some extra specialists and kill 1 exposed TOW. Begin a roading project toward Ur to allow more city construction and bring the Sumerian capital into range.

IBT- Our artillery stack is bombed by every Sumerian and Babylonian bomber, and all make successful hits. We only lose 1 cavalry and 1 infantry though as one of our exposed cavalry retreats under the stack

1822 AD (1)
1 loss for a modest number of kills. Most of our artillery are out of comission for the turn from movement, so not too much available to attack.

Raising science shaves a turn off of Combustion, and we still make a modest profit. The Hague starts stock exchange and I shuffle tiles and starve the city to get Wallstreet a turn earlier.

IBT- Defeat 2 cavalry, but we lose the infantry and cavalry defending New Leidin and the Aztecs capture it. Elsewhere we exchange an infantry for a mech and TOW.

1824 AD (2)
Kill 2 cavalry and recapture New Leidin. Overall, we kill a good number of mechs and inf for 2 losses.

Found New Lawersoog on the row of hills to bring Ur into artillery range and strongly garrison the city.

IBT- We lose 2 infantry in New Lawersoog and kill an equal number of attackers. A TOW/artillery pair shells New Lawersoog during the attack.

1826 AD (3)
Science is turned down on the last turn of Combustion for a big surplus.

We lose 2 cavalry, but eliminate the TOW/artillery pair capturing the gun. We kill a good number of infantry and riflemen without further loss.

IBT- Our forces at the Sumerian border defending the captured artillery are heavilly attacked and Babylonian bombers finish them off. We lose 2 cavalry and 2 infantry. The walls of Bactra are bombed out by Sumeria.
We learn Combustion (start Mass Prod) and complete the last stock exchange.

1828 AD (4)
Wallstreet rushed in a small town well behind the front lines. City name is changed to Wall St.
We found New Tilburg and New Zwolle trapping a large number of healing Babylonian units behind our lines. With the new cultural borders we should finally be able to drive out the Babylonian stacks.

We destroy one of the Babylonian stacks and a couple of free units without loss. Also yellowline some of the destroyer/transport stacks hoping they will retreat. The hitpoint losses are low enough that we might be able to take out Ulaanbator next turn.

IBT- No attacks besides bombardment, but some injured destroyer stacks don't retreat. 3 injured mechs enter Ur, so no dice on an attack there.
Wallstreet completes, and our income takes a nice jump.

1830 AD (5)
I use almost all of our artillery to redline the defenders of Ulaanbator with a high percentage of misses. Unfortunately, as at Ur, the Mongols were using the city as a healing post and there are at least 5 infantry. Our first two elite cavalry die promoting the first defender, and there aren't enough artillery remaining to ensure the defenders will remain redlined. With the residual artillery and our cannons we are still able to take out a decent number of guerillas, a couple marines, a retreated TOW, and an infantry.

Wounded cavalry have been shifted to cities threatened by Sumerian marines.

Post-Turn
Given that Ur is a capital city with 2 wonders at a troop transit point, I would guess the city has at least 6 defenders (plus any healing units). According to the combat calculator, a 4hp cavalry has a 58.6% chance of taking out a 1hp fortified mech on grass (even if our first attackers are 5hp, they are likely to take some kind of defensive bombard hit). We can expect to take 4-10 losses capturing or destroying Ur (RNG fickleness accounted) and should have at least 18 healthy attackers to ensure taking the city. On the other hand, taking Ur will most likely permanantly destroy their annoying airforce and really hurt one of our top rivals. It appears that Babylon has around 4 bombers, so with enough infantry the red and yellow bomber range lines are not impenitrable.

In terms of research, I think we should self research up to Motorized Transport and Flight, then make the decision on self research vs. stealing. The appeal of tech stealing will partially depend on the number of techs we are behind in the Modern Age (i.e. have the AI ignored the Ecology/Modern Armor branch).

 

[Greebley]

I like your city wall to threaten Ur.

We continue to make progress. I don't think Ur is impossible to destroy. It won't destroy all the Sumerian Bombers (some were based in a city in the FOW on my turns), but it will get a decent number of them. Worth doing IMO, even with some losses. Cavalry are soon going to be obsolete so losing some to take our a key city seems worthwhile.

 

[hotrod0823]

I see it but will not start until late tomorrow or Saturday the earliest.

Hotrod

 

[LKendter]

Signed up:
LKendter
Greebley (vacation Nov 20th to Nov 30th)
Zwingli
hotrod0823 (currently playing)
Meldor (on deck)

Remember 5 to 10 turns per round - STRICT 24 hours got it, total 48 to complete.
Additional restriction: No armies

 

[LKendter]

The good news is percentage of world owned continues to increase. The population numbers are also improving. It looks like it shouldn't be too many more turns to get the $1000 goal. I know it helps long term, but it still doesn't stop my frustration of no air defense and fighting mechs with cavalry.

The obscene number of Babylon troops inside our borders seems to be going down.

The only frustrating part is the military numbers. The cavalry count seems stuck floating between 10 and 15. The infantry count is still to light.

 

[hotrod0823]

1830 AD (0): From the looks of the pock marked front the bombers are still in full effect. We are 7 turns from mass production and slowly building our economy on our way to 1000.

INBT: Kill 4 Mongol infantry in defence and lose 1. Sumarian bombers attack but didn't see any from the Babs. BTW why was the movement so fast. Could hardly keep track.

1832 AD (1): Build a lot of units artillery, cavs and infantry. Continue to build more. Kill a redlined mongol infantry but it took 2 cavs to do it. Bomb the heck out of Ulaanbatter. Take out the barracks, market, libray and 2 citizens as well as wound the units inside. Kill a couple Aztec cavs and get leader. Lose a cav to a red line infantry my luck is awful. Hurry MIddleburgs university. Kill a redlined mech.

INBT: New Enschede was bombed then attacked and destroyed by a combo of Sumerian Tanks and mechs and finished off by babs infantry. Killed 3 TOW in the process but lost 3 infantry. Killed 3 Sumerian TOW in defence and a Sumerian tank.

1834 AD (2): Kill 3 Aztec Cavs and 3 Mongol infantry. Bomb Ulanabatter again but don't have enough units to make a play for the town. Need to have free cavs that can attack.

INBT: OMFG! Our elite infantry and 2 cavs on our arillery stack are killed and the artillery is taken by Babylon. That is not cool!

1836 AD (3): Kill 5 more Aztec Cavs behind our lines. Take our stack back . Fail to kill a redlined TOW behind our lines. Take a couple more Mongol infantry. Have to move away from Ulaan... because of the Artillery fiasco.

1838 AD (4): Forced to move our artillery elsewhere to deal with landings. Kill 2 mechs and 2 TOW. Along with 2 more aztec cavs and a couple guerillas. Take out another TOW and wound a stack of approaching mechs/TOWs in the north.

INBT: Yuck, New amsterdam was bombed and attacked we lost artillery that were in the town. NOT sure how many. It was protected by 3 infantry. This was the first turn that that town was bombed at all.

1840 AD (5): Manage to recapture New Amsterdam and load up with 3 more infantry. Kill off a few more TOW and a mech that is threatening New Amsterdam. Take a couple more shots at Ulann.. but there are a lot of units in that town. No behind the lines activity this turn.

 

[Zwingli]

Sounds like very rough going, but at least our artillery stack wasn't demolished or spirited away to Babylon. Maybe we will have to hold off on further advances until our own tanks come online and concentrate on stabilizing/improving our current holdings. Aside from Ur, we wouldn't gain much from any small advances we might make with cavalry, and would have to move into Babylonian bomber range.

 

[LKendter]

New Enschede was bombed then attacked and destroyed by a combo of Sumerian Tanks and mechs and finished off by babs infantry.

INBT: OMFG! Our elite infantry and 2 cavs on our artillery stack are killed and the artillery is taken by Babylon. That is not cool!

1836 AD (3): Kill 5 more Aztec Cavs behind our lines. Take our stack back

INBT: Yuck, New Amsterdam was bombed and attacked we lost artillery that were in the town. NOT sure how many.

The was the most depressing turns I have read in ages.

I do have one major question: Why was are artillery stack so WEAKLY defended. One lousy infantry is absurd for protecting our artillery.


Signed up:
LKendter (on deck)
Greebley (vacation Nov 20th to Nov 30th)
Zwingli
hotrod0823
Meldor (currently playing)

Remember 5 to 10 turns per round - STRICT 24 hours got it, total 48 to complete.
Additional restriction: No armies

 

[hotrod0823]

It wasn't just one I 2 or 3 but it wasn't enough they were bombed and killed.

Tell me about it I had to play the awful thing. I was half way through and very disappointed and not even sure where it was fooled up. .

I hope this doesn't get back to me I don't know if I can take the stress of watching the stacks get masacred.

 

[LKendter]

I hope this doesn't get back to me I don't know if I can take the stress of watching the stacks get masacred.

Sorry, but it is guaranteed to get back to you. The massive infantry loss will delay much of an offensive for awhile.

========================

I took at look at the game and we had a reversal and lost 1% of land area. The momentum is lost for the moment.

In 1830 AD we had 12 cavalry, 47 artillery and 51 infantry. We now have 16 cavalry, 53 artillery and 41 infantry. I don't know what Meldor will do, but I feel it is time for a lock down, pure infantry building, and wait for tanks.

I have questions looking at the game.
Why do we have 11 precious workers asleep in New Zwolle?
Why after the artillery disaster is our main artillery stack protected by 1 infantry, 1 merc, and 1 cavalry?
Why are 4 infantry in Bactra with NO threat? I don't understand a lot of the infantry placement behind the lines. We have the too weak of artillery protection stack. Our core cities have no defense despite multiple transports with possible marines in range.


Hotrod0823 did you rush to complete these moves? Even looking at the cities I find multiple MM mistakes with civil engineers while building units. This really makes me feel like you rushed the turns out the door.
I would prefer a skip over rushed moves. IMO this game is close to Sid in difficulty, and it simply doesn't have room for mistakes.


This comment is to all players:
Please don't fortify cavalry in cities without barracks. 1 HP cavalry needs two turns to heal in that city, but one turn to heal a city with barracks.

 

[hotrod0823]

The short answer: YES - I felt a bit pressured to play and once playing did not feel confortable at all with how things were going.

The plans I had for Ulaan... fell apart and the loses of infantry and artillery stacks midway made me feel very uneasy with no real idea how to better protect or untilize the stacks.

The game has progressed beyond my level of understanding I suppose. This AWE has played much different than any other I have been involved in.

 

[meldor]

I see it and will work on it tomorrow.

 

[Zwingli]

Note: I will be without civ access from 11/25 - 11/28.

 

[meldor]

1840 AD (0)
I clean up the issues that Lee had and I also draft some infantry to cover some cities that are in danger on the coast.
(I)We lose tow infanty, the lose 1. They land a marine at Silk and Salt.

1842 AD (1)
Pound everything I can, Kill 3 Cav, 3 Infantry and a Tow for the loss of one infantry and a Cav.
(I)We lose no troops but we do get pillaged. They lose 1 guerilla. We have an infantry and TOW land next to Silk and Salt.

1844 AD (2)
Pound and kill 2 Mechs, 5 Infantry, 1 TOW, 1 Guerilla, 1 rifle, 1 Cav and 1 Jag Warrior all for the loss of a single Cav.
(I) We get a knight landing at Silk and Salt. The only other thing of note is a retreat of a Mech. MassProd is in, MotTran due in 7.

1846 AD (3)
Take out 3 Cav, 1 Knight, 1 TOW, 2 Guerilla, 5 Infantry and 1 rifle. Unfortunately it cost 2 Cav.
(I) We lose 3 Infantry, they lose 2 TOW and 1 infantry.

1848 AD (4)
Take out 4 Cav, 3 TOW, 2 infantry and 1 Mobile SAM. No losses.
(I) They lose 2 Guerillas and a TOW. We lose a Swiss Merc.

1850 AD(5)
Take out 3 Cav, 1 Mobile SAM, 2 TOW, 6 infantry, 2 rifles and 1 Marine.

Tanks due in 5.

I cleared all but one of the mass of units in our territory. I built up forces and defense, we now have at least 1 infantry in all coastal towns.

20Cav, 54 Inf, 25 Cannon, 55 Arty

 

[LKendter]

I cleared all but one of the mass of units in our territory. I built up forces and defense, we now have at least 1 infantry in all coastal towns.

Signed up:
LKendter (currently playing)
Greebley (vacation Nov 20th to Nov 30th)
Zwingli (vacation Nov 25th to Nov 28th)
hotrod0823 (on deck)
Meldor

Remember 5 to 10 turns per round - STRICT 24 hours got it, total 48 to complete.
Additional restriction: No armies

 

[LKendter]

Is there a bug with Satellites and revealing the map?

All of a sudden in 1852 I see the *WHOLE* map. I know Satellites reveal the map. However, I didn't think the all civs benefited.

GAME HALTED until someone can supply an answer.