Military Tactics T94-T120

[Kaleb]

SANCTA declared war on us in turn 94 (525 BC) so we'll use this thread rather than turn tactics for discussing movements and plans relating to combat.

The tactics thread will be used to finalise actual movements for the turn. This thread is more planning where we want troops to go to and how we want to conduct our war.

Hopefully it won't get too confusing having two tactics threads!!

Anyway, the lowdown is that SANCTA have declared war and killed a chariot to stop us razing a barb city that they have their beady eyes on:

Spoiler :

The axe that killed our brave chariot is on about 1.5 right now. The other Axe in the shot is on 4.5

SANCTA's power score is about 52,000 above ours!!

They've said they have forges in "all" their cities, so if we assume they have 4 forges this accounts for 8,000 soldiers. We've only got one barracks and I'm sure they have more. They also have more population.

So we can probably assume they have about 35-40,000 worth of actual troops more than us.

An Axe is 6,000 pts and a Chariot 4,000. So if they had they same army as us this could equate to about six extra Axemen. That's certainly nasty, but nothing that a couple of Catapults can mess up.

See this thread for a summary of how the soldier points work.

 

[Kaleb]

One thing we should consider is a naval commando raid up the coast. SANCTA may also be considering this although they don't know what the land looks like on our side of the mountains. Cav told us they have already built a Galley a while back - this may have headed in our direction. We need visibility up the coast ASAP.

This is how the near hostile coast looks:

Spoiler :

The red cross marks where the SANCTA city is. If they are smart, they have lookouts on the southernmost hills. If they aren't watching, we have a chance to drop of a raiding pack - the best landing spot being the forest marked with a blue cross.

If we build a spy, we should drop it off by boat.

 

[Indiansmoke]

Kaleb....They have 6-7 axes more than us, they have metal casting and possibly tririmes, they have forges and barracks in almost all their cities and you want to make galleys and land a "raiding pack"

We have to consider our resources and act defensivly at this point.


I suggest.

1. A warrior on that desert hill next to fish to gives +1 visibility and an extra turn notification of anything comming.

2. Tech metal casting and then HBR or try to get them from trade

3. Actau switch to barracks now and slave them for 2pop, then make some chariots

4. Horse city make non stop units, axes and a spear.

5. Corn gold city slave granary after worker and then barracks, units

6. Iron city make a spy after workboat

7. We fortify our 7th city spot and road it so we get our settler there safely.

8. Pavlodar slave settler for 2 pop at first chance, then barracks, units.

 

[damnrunner]

we need to get 2 woodsmen axes on that forested plains hill fast. Otherwise they will be able to walk through the forest right into our homeland. fortunately, there is a good amount of open terrain where our chariots can do a good amount of damage. I think they will be wary to put axes into any non-forested tiles since they know we have chariots in the area.

If we can take the barb city I think we should - even if we lose a few units. If we raze it they will have to build a city on their own which is a significant commitment of resources that they will have to spend on something other than units. It will also take a settler a while to get a settler over here.

 

[damnrunner]

I think building a galley has merit. If they come with just a galley and troops we can get in their way. If they come with a triremes we can run away or rush a 2nd galley to attack them.

A raiding party would be a major distraction for sancta. But that is a few turns off. We beleive the have 5-6 more axes than us and all of them appear to be in the valley area. There other cities - like ours must therefor be fairly undefended.

 

[mikotian]

another benefit of a small raiding force -- even if it does little to no damage -- would be that Sancta may become more defensive and garrison additional troops for fear of another "surprise attack". This would distract resources from the front in the valley. These resources tied up in defending their home territory may be many times our initial "investment" in a landing force.

That said, it is a risk... Lord knows we are behind on mfg and need every unit we can get.

Lastly, even if we don't land any units we do need ships... A Sancta surprise attack into our shore may be catastrophic.

 

[Kaleb]

The most catastrophic thing for us right now would be SANCTA dropping off some units next to Hazrat-e. That's a game-over move as we have no units nearby to counter this.

We know they already have a galley and if it's heading to us it isn't far off, they could easily have two axes on that.

If they have a trireme coming this way it will be a bit further off but a trireme can only kill our galley and pillage the clams. A galley with units is far far worse. We are taking far too great a risk by not having some greater visibility up our coast.

That's why I think we need a galley to drop off a spy which can watch the coastal advance for us. It's far too great a risk to just have that warrior as our only advanced warning.

A raiding party we may or may not do. If they have scouts on those hills, we probably can't do anything as we'll need the element of surprise for the attack to work. A spy will let us see if they have taken precautions.

 

[Indiansmoke]

what will 2 axes do? certainly not take our capital...maybe pillage a tile before they die, that is all.

Them sending 2 axes is a joke really...4 axes would be different but I don't think they invested in 4 axes in 2 galleys.


Our resources are limited at the momment. Sancta will have HBR in 4 turns and very soon after that there will be a horse archer stack heading our way...we need to prepare for that, that is the real threat.

 

[Kaleb]

I've also been thinking - if SANCTA are trying to bully is into peace they probably aren't about to launch an invasion by sea. But we can check this by sending a probing reply.

 

[Kaleb]

SANCTA attacked us with their Axe across the river and defeated our Chatiot (bah, these guys are lucky). Iszer won with 33hp (so a third of 4.5)

Both SANCTA axes are now below 4

 

[Indiansmoke]

Well it was 4.9 vs 4.2 in their favor..more like we did not get lucky.

at least we killed their woodsman3 axe

 

[Kaleb]

they were crossing a river though...

 

[damnrunner]

What do we want to do as we move up our axeman?

We can foritfy at our future city cite. Or try to get up next to Angle. I think our best option is to move up with the 1st axe and fortify the 2nd one.

The Axe can go into the woods to the east of Angle and try to move in from that side. However, we could also move up through the open terrain right south of Angle. That would invite Santca to attack our axe, but our chariot will be in a good position to counter attack.

 

[Kaleb]

I think the 1st Axe should move NE. We need some visibility and sitting on that hill will give it.

We'll be able to start building a Chariot once our 3rd Axe is finished in Oskemen

 

[cav scout]

What do we want to do as we move up our axeman?

We can foritfy at our future city cite. Or try to get up next to Angle. I think our best option is to move up with the 1st axe and fortify the 2nd one.

The Axe can go into the woods to the east of Angle and try to move in from that side. However, we could also move up through the open terrain right south of Angle. That would invite Santca to attack our axe, but our chariot will be in a good position to counter attack.

Yes the first axe should continue to move up. We don't need to engage with him, just keep the pressure on SANCTA.

 

[Indiansmoke]

We need to stop sending solo axes to that barb city...Sancta will surelly get some chariots there.

We should focus on making one big stack not sending solo units.

 

[donsig]

If we're closer to the barb city then SANCTA is then we can reinforce faster. The key is to try to get rid of that city before if grows to size two.

 

[damnrunner]

I agree with donsig. We can reinforce faster and it will be to our advantage to keep the pressure up.

I agree about the solo axes - but we will be able to cover our axe with a chariot if they get a chariot in the area.

 

[Kaleb]

If we are going to send units up to 'keep the pressure on' it should only be through forest tiles and axes should have spears to go with them.

But I don't really see the point unless we are ready to actualy take the city.

The funny thing is though, that we could let SANCTA develop the city and then just take it through culture bombing.

If on the other hand we scout the area (with spies) and see that we have a chance to take it, our culture bomb should be on Angle itself.

With MS having Ivory it also opens up the opportunity for us to get Elephants around T105 (depending on how quickly MS can tech HBR)

We should also consider giving them Gold in exchange for the Ivory.

 

[cav scout]

Based on the barb move our chariot should go N to take a look and then back S again. This will give the barb axe a chance to attack SANCTA.

SANCTA is on the defensive. We can afford to send one (or even both) of our axes N to keep the pressure on. I propose going up the westside to the forested hill SW of the barb city where he can fortify. This might draw their axes across the river. Our chariots can support the axe and attack the barb city if an opportunity arises.