Military, Viking 1100AD

[GaryNemo]

Viking Military Support Plan 1100AD

In 1100AD Viborg had these units: Crusaders: Rout Upps TFalls,
  Legion: Dellham, Viborg: Horse & Phx

At this point, the Upps Crusader has survived, now Vet, soon dead unless it manages to kill both Viking Cats. Routskilde and TFalls no longer support war units.

Viborg now has: Dellham Legion, Viborg Phx, Upps Knight (was Vib Horse), and a Dip. So the Horse was rehomed in Upps. Please do not do this again, rather keep Upps at full productive potential. Viborg has one Phx, and is building Phx 14/20 in 3. Lets instead build a Dip, and rehome the Upps Knight in Viborg.

Lindow Moss supports one Settler, needed to irrigate Upps so as to activate the Iron. LM size=2 grows in 26, so we wait forever to work the Peat. LM is building Settler 30/40 in 4. Suicidal, if you ask me. Let's instead build a valuable Gems Caravan, and consider rehoming the resident Upps Archer. Building a Van also permits LM to support a war unit, a Veteran built by Uppsala.

Changing Viborg to support the Upps Knight, and LM to support the Upps Archer, doubles the build rate of Uppsala Barracks to 4 shields. Then IPRB $8 Crusader in 5, rehome it in LM or V3, build another Crusader. Or a Knight? In the absence of a General directing our forces in detail, Knights may be a better investment. Hips Knight in Upps, 2 Knights available up here. 2 other Knights, one in Ren shipping here, one None guarding Elysium Wonders.

V3: building Phx 6/20 in 7. Not sure, maybe a Dip? Also has a Dip. 2 Dips total, one in V3, one in Viborg.

V4: Forest NE of Iron, needed to support the third Upps Vet build. Of course, we need better control of the territory to found V4 here.

Lone Bison is empty, building Phx 3/20 in 6. Not sure. Seems since enemy can not land here, a Dip guard would suffice. Then build a Harbor or Temple.

Routskilde: None Crusader needed to kill Archer.

Comments?

 

[GaryNemo]

General Military Support Plan 1100AD

REGIA CIVITAS: could support a war unit. Building 6 shields per turn, supports 2 resident guards, and a Legion stationed permanently Elysium. Building Dip, Magellan in 3, Aquaduct.
TFalls: needs Road. serf to Forest, Van in 1, Silk Dye or Gems. Could support war unit.
Penguin Flats: could support war unit, but far away. Busy w Temple.
Octavia: could support a war unit, no Temple, now supporting 2 Settlers and building another. Settler after Settler.
Nemo Bay: could support a war unit. Silk Van 0/50 in 8
Mordhiemia: Could support a War Unit. Settler 18/40 IPRB $4 in 7
Neuma: Supporting Legion guarding MD. Crusader 1/40 in 16
Reneaux: New Knight shipping North, build Market (A)
  Phx & Warrior guards. Keep Warrior or disband?
Fort Anarchy: could support a war unit. Or Phx in BB is available. Grows in 3 onto Whale. Knights 16/40 in 8.
Monks Towne: Settler in 2. Could support a War Unit
HillMine: Phx 2/20 in 12? Bring Dip here now.
Castle Jayne: could support a war unit
Routskilde: serfs to Ocean, Peat, Crusader in 2, grows!
Lindow Moss: could support a Vet Upps Unit, first grow onto Peat.

We could support substantially more war units. However, we are bleeding, our losses are enormous, and we have had no General for perhaps three months. The Lighthouse of Trondheim is already protected by city walls. There is no need to rush there. I will go on recommending an occasional unit to protect our ability to build more cities, actually focusing on productivity, Caravans and Settlers.

What NUF needs is a General to order the units under a specific coordinated plan. Merely asking for more units, which I have been honoring, is no longer of interest to me without specific unit move plans.

Comments?

 

[Duke of Marlbrough]

Ok, here's my suggestions.

Pull back the Crusader so it is inside Viborg. That will allow the units in there to attack out of the city, but have defenders in the city to cover anybody who gets through. Crusaders by themselves in the open die just like a warrior does; quickly.

I don't think we have enough troops to try and push forward right now.

I also don't think we have enough troops to try and take out a Viking city that is behind city walls. At this point in the game, we have to assume they have 2-3 defenders per city, so that means a need for about 4-6 crusaders per city. That's even assuming we can get the Crusaders to the city. If anything, I would have a Knight/Dip/Crusader stack slowly working its way towards the city. Being sure to stay on defensive terrain.

But, I would pull back the Crusader into Viborg, let the Catapults apprach, then kill them with the units from within the city. Ideally using the Knight for one kill and if it's made Vet, then the Legion for the other. Until we have the needed units, I would just defend the city. By fighting out of the city it gives us the extra square of vision so we know what's coming to us. Keep all the units healthy and make them vets while we are defending, especially try to keep the Crusader healthy in case something with some defense value appears.

Plus, I would focus more effort on protecting Rout. If the Vikings have a city there I doubt their troops are far behind. A lone crusader defending the city won't be able to handle it if too many units show up, or if the units can attack first. We could bribe the Archer that is next to Rout for somewhere between 100 and 150 gold I would guess. If we wanted to, that would allow us to move the crusader out and check the status of their city.

 

[ainwood]

In the immediate-term, Duke's plan is sound. Pull the crusader back to the city. I would imagine that the AI will be smart enough to 1.) Keep the catapults in the forested squares, and 2.) not stack them. However, even in the forest (they won't be fortified), we should be able to take them out before they attack. I don't think they pose a real threat.

As for Routskilde, I think bribing the archer is a good plan - not because I think it is a serious threat in itself, but it is a good quick way of getting an "offensive-defensive" unit - it should be able to handle catapults in the open terrain etc.

I would like to see more military units, but understand Gary's concerns: Merely asking for more units, which I have been honoring, is no longer of interest to me without specific unit move plans.

What we actually need to do is build the military now (for the next ten turns or so), but not commit it into anything but defensive roles. We need to build an army of several units and launch a co-ordinated attack, not just attack in dribs and drabs.

It appears that we have a number of knights, and as a random suggestion, I would suggest using two (or maybe three at the most) of them to disrupt the vikings. Keep them to defensive terrain as much as possible, but have them on the viking mainland pillaging the odd square here and there, knocking out the odd low-defense value units (catapults again). They can be completely sacrificial, but the point is to make the AI concentrate on them, rather than on attacking our cities.

 

[Elsaak]

won't it be interesting for this Crusader near Viborg to pull back right on South, instead of entering into Viborg ?
it would let him the time to restore his health, and permit to check any invasion by the East side of Viborg...?

 

[funxus]

I've had a look at the game and here are a few conclusions:
1) There are a few ways to approach the Vikings. Either we work are way towards Trondheim (i.e. capture Hladir and then Trondheim). This seems to be what we've tried to do, but the vikings seem to move all their units towards us. We'll probably be able to handle the units coming towards Viborg, but it'll be hard to advance here. Another way would be to load two boats with vet crusaders and take out Trondheim. Then we should bribe Hladir (since it has a citywall), the others we can take care of as it fits us. This plan will take time, because we don't have any barracks (except in Upps), and no caravels, and no crusaders.
My suggestion is to capture new vik city outside Routs., sign for peace or cf if we can. Then build up an army of vet crusaders and caravels.
I'll have a new look at it later on.

 

[Jayne]

How do we feel about bribing the city near Routskilde? I'm not sure we have the units to take it by force, and we probably don't want them sending a new attack unit every other turn. What would be the maximum price we'd want to pay for the city?

 

[funxus]

I think there is a crusader in Routskilde, and a new one is soon finished. We could bribe the archer, move it into Routskilde and then launch the attack with the crusaders. Hopefully it's small enough to be destroyed, because I don't think we want a city there anyway.
Or if it's cheaper we could bribe the city and starve or build settlers for expansion on the peninusla.

 

[funxus]

If we attack, we maybe can get them to vet too, making them good for attacking Trondheim

 

[Jayne]

Unless anyone objects, I will bribe the archer. Fortify the archer in Routskilde then scout with the dip. If the town is size 1 or 2 (I can't imagine it will be bigger in no more than 4 turns) I'll attack with the 2 crusaders.

 

[Duke of Marlbrough]

I'm for bribing the archer, but I also like the idea of bribing the city; if it's cheap. A nice cheap city never hurts. The city should cost less than the Archer if it's fairly small. It's probably somewhere around 250 gold for them both. Plus, it would give us visability for the rest of the peninusla. I'm sure the Vikings will send more troops down there, so the Crusaders could still get some exercise and become Vets.