MM1: Defiant Sid.

And here is the state of the art:
 

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Now we have rails we need to prioritize a line running the length of all our islands, with enough ships between the gaps to get a decent number of units across. Once this is done we can commit every single unit we have in every turn, and pull them back the second enemy troops land.

In terms of military focus I agree the Zulu look best to take next. We have to get the Americans before too long to stop their culture win, and the Zulu are on the path to them.

I'd like to see Electricity (and then Rep Parts) stolen next because I think we should aim for an Inf army to invade America with. With just one Inf army we can be safe from tanks (I think?), and it would make taking America a whole lot easier.
 
OK will try to it tonight. My main question will be do we have time to do the Zulus 1st and then the Americans?
 
In terms of culture, probably yes. In terms of bombers, not sure. Railroading does not go very fast, these things take time. Also, we need to pillage Zulu out while still trying to raze simultaneously their weak poorly guarded cities and contain their swarm of cavalries and whatever evil Shaka decides to send upon us. It might be a close call even if we throw in all the zerks and cavalries we have.

It is also very dangerous with flipping, use of a calculator is a must IMO in this particular layout. 1% chance is a lot. In 20-30 turns the cities might actually flip may be much sooner. We should be prepared to war with them anytime.

Paradoxically, going against America now and pillaging with whatever armiy (swords+explorers) we have at hand them seems to be better choice for me however, I am not sure.
 
How can it be best to go against America now? What happens when the Zulu demand something, for instance...
 
This is a very difficult decision. Anarres is correct that if we go at America we will lose the two cities on the Zulu Island along with the ivory as we cannot fight both of them and America will certainly buy in the Zulu's and/or they will come waltzing across our territory and start a war. OTOH if we wait to take on America they will have mechanized infantry and flight and we will not be able to use the Army cover. The AI will definitely bomb armies if it can. We will then have to land enough troops to gas them and I think this will be difficult given our relatively low production capacity. Update: I played a couple of turns and managed to steal electricity from the Mongols and trade it to the Egyptians for industrialization. I now have enough for another steal attempt. I could try to steal the Corporation from the Zulu's and if successful trade it to the Mongols for replaceable parts. I would do this if we decide to take on the Zulu's. If not I think I would just steal replaceable parts from the Mongols. The Mongols are down to a OCC and are no threat. Also, I popped over to American waters and noticed that their cities where defended by riflemen so they must not have rubber. My inclination is to forget the Zulu Island and take on the Americans full force now. We have a ton of trebs that can be upgraded at great cost to arty and with this and a few Zerks and cavs I think we can take on the Americans. Most of their cities are now >12 and they're just going to run away with it if we don't move soon.
 
Hmm, tough call.

I guess since you are in the game you can judge better than us, but how do you intend to keep units safe on the American island? At least if we go Zulu first we can get an Inf army to use against them...
 
The primary goal of the American war might be just pillage-pillage-pillage. We don't need to take them out, just slow down their research. So, I was thinking of putting there just a sword army and explorers. If it survives, we are good, if it dies, no big deal. On the Zulu front, we can focus on units and arty instead. Need lots of pillaging there but they sould have vented at least part of their gas out in the Mongol war. Their military is formidable but we can handle them for a few turns which might be enough to pillage resources.

IMO, knowing where rubber is, is the top priority, as well as having some civil engineers. They bring 2-4 shields/city/turn but it is a great help with civilian builds. IIRC, Corporation is less expensive compared to RP. Hence, we would have to pay the Zulu rather lump sum in gpt to get RP from them. Considering the flipping risk, we don't want any deals with them atm.

But I'm not sure about it. Once we finish railing, we would be on the safe side against any invasion. So, even if we lose a number of troops and ivory, and 2 cities on the Mongol-Zulu continent and may be even 1 or 2 on Japanese continent, still we keep the chances to survive and overcome the bad guys.

Basically, what I mean is start war with America and prepare to war with Zulu as soon as we have intercontinental railroad laid out.
 
anarres said:
How can it be best to go against America now? What happens when the Zulu demand something, for instance...

IMO, we just don't have enough units for two large offensive campaigns. But we might have enough units to advance on the Zulu or at leat efficiently defend against them. May be we can get dyes in the process, relieve our cities of cultural pressure a bit and make peace with them once Zulu would be little threat. The main goal of American war is to slow them down so that they don't run away too far.

I'm also concerned greatly about Egypt. They grow in power, slowly but steadily. If they wage aggressive war against Persia and expand, they might become a runaway AI as well. Though looks like corruption is hurting them pretty badly with all these widely spread cities.
 
1435: Careful Steal of electricity from the Mongols is successful. To Egypt for industrialization, peace and 203 gp +33 gpt. Continue railing. We are average vs the Zulu but are spread out and have a lot to defend.

1440: railing

1445: I will try to steal corp from the Zulu and do a 2-fer with Mongols. so move a few troops around in case of failure.

1450: Steal attempt from Zulu fails and we are @ war. Zerk army with 4 zerk backup takes out the Zulu Dyes city (Ta-Tu). Move what troops we have up to the front line cities on the Zulu mainland. Use sword army to cover the ivory colony

1455: Zulus move up 5 cavs on our Ivory city. Bombard and destroy all 5 losing 1 Zerk.

1460 : 3 more cavs move up on ivory town with rifle cover coming in behind. Exposed cavs taken out with no losses and we get a leader which becomes a cav army. Some Zulu ships have been dancing around our core but do not land.

1465: Careful steal of RP from the Mongols is successful. This is nice, we have a virtual monopoly on rubber. Egypt has 1 source everyone else is lacking. No tanks, no infantry. Zulus land 4 cavs on the home front and we bombard a bit but lose 1 cav of our own taking them out. Also, take out a few rifles and cavs on the Zulu island losing 1 zerk.

1470: These cavs just keep on coming on the Zulu mainland and we are still average. 4 more are taken out with no losses.

1475: Zulus land 4 more cavs on our home island. They are removed losing 1 cav and 1 sword. I barely have enough military. Also find on the IT that I missed a cav on the ex Jap Island and they take an empty city (Batsfjord). We take back next turn.

1480: upgrading some arty. Kill a few rifles and guerrillas.


1485 There is a lull on the Zulu Island and so I send out the cav army. Bombard Intombe and cav army crushes the city.

1490: I send the cav army pillaging as I don’t really have enough troops to start a campaign and protect Ivory town. I’d really prefer peace with Zulus to go after America

1495: More cavs and rifle/guerrillas stacks to kill. They just keep coming at 4-5/turn. We take them out and get another leader. I turn him into an army but don’t fill it as I don’t have the troops.

1500 Pillage/rail/ fight off Zulu.


We are lucky to have almost all the worlds rubber. I haven’t done much with the Zulus although we do own a dyes square if we could get it connected. We still have pretty poor production capacity and we need more cavs, we have plenty of trebs to upgrade to arty and plenty of army cover. We just need the cavs. I really want to switch to the Americans and start pillaging but I needed the sword army for cover. I have ships in New Oslo ready to go with some explorers and the sword army. The sword army should not get attacked since the Zulus did not attack it. I would just send it over as soon as the Zulu ships clear. I think we can handle a 2 front war but just focus on the Zulus. America would buy them in anyway but at least they are at war with Egypt so will not be buying them in. I would not try to do much against America but just get the pillaging started.


BTW: Sorry for the delay I just don't have much time. I say we finish this at a slow pace with the 3 of us if that is OK with you 2. Feel free to play as slow or fast as you like.

Anarres is up.
 
lurker's comment: Nice work guys and a brilliant read. DON'T GIVE IT UP! Have you seen how many views this thread has? I saw the count and opened page 1 for a look. I've now sat here for the last 2 hours reading it. (well actually there was a bit of an email storm in the middle as one of the boys travelling in india sent a message sturring some of us about the footy finals just played)
 
Looks like it is working !! :)

We can try to hold off against Zulu and set up an offensive pillaging against America, all at the same time. But no wonder, we have few units. Stealing is expensive. We might divert some cash to rushing cavalries instead. We're probably on the safe side for a short period of time (until flight and then fission/ecology).
 
Yeah I don't see a need for more stealing ATM. I spent some $ on arty upgrades and a factory. We have a city that will be a 2-turn cav factory and 1 a 3-turn but we are still pretty shield poor. We do have a nice collection of trebs/arty.
 
I forgot to post a "got it", but I am playing.

Mark, Great minds must think alike, because I have already spent our first 3 turns cash on upgrades. :)

btw, we are using drafts from our corrupt cities to help the factories get built and we are doing well against the Zulu.
 
Am on it, but a little busy this week (another suprise rush release for our product). I will finish by this weekend at the very latest.
 
Anarres can we get what you have and while I said there was no time limit could we say a week max to get something back. Akots will be up.
 
I am on turn 9 and will post it when I get home tonight.
 
Preturn (1500BC): Take out a 1hp frigate with a 4hp galleon. Wow, there's some serious trade potential here!

Buy Navigation, Music Theory, WM and 4 gold for Theory of Gravity and Magnetism from Persia.
Persia get Nationalism...
Give Steam and 377 gpt to Persia for Nationalism.
Sell Industrialisation and Electricity to Persia for 327 gold.
Sell Replacable Parts to Persia for Democracy and 40 gpt.

So, we paid 10 gpt and got 4 techs. :D


AI: Lots of Zulu units appear.


Turn 1 (1505AD): The Zulu forces easily get killed for only 1 cav lost.

I ship up another few cavs from home and make us another 3 cav army. Next army is another Zerk one - they are still very powerful.

Now a pic to make it interesting:



Notice the inf stack in the Zulu territory? That has a settler in and next turn our ships with zerks will sail through it and attack Ngome from the fresh water tile, and we will have our dyes.

I spend the few hundred gold we have in to upgrading some pikes and trebs. I also draft units in our site 7+ corrupt cities and disband them for shields.


AI: Lots of Zulu units appear, but none attack the inf stack!


Turn 2 (1510AD): New Stockholm is founded and we attack Ngome: The zerk army takes out 2 Rifles, then another zerk kills the last unit (cav).

After raising Ngome I send in another settler to complete our short-cut through the island.

Our 2 Cav armies are blazing a trail of destruction amongst the Zulu heartland. I recon we will own the island within 5 turns.

Sell Wines to Persia for 9 gpt, WM and 9 gold.


Turn 3 (1515AD): Found our city in the Zulu lands and send the zerks to attack Ulaanbaatar. We lose 3 zerks razing it. :(

Another settler goes in to Zulu territory this turn to get take Kazan next turn. We also have 13 Inf and 15 Arty now, and quite a few more Trebs to upgrade.


AI: The Zulu Cavs arrive in force and we lose 3 or 4 units with some unlucky RNG. :(


Turn 4 (1520AD): First i take Tabriz - a peninsula city we've isolated for a few turns now. Since our Arty has arrived in force it is trivial to redline the 3 rifles and take with a couple of cavs.

Our healed zerk army takes a shot at Kazan. We take 2 Rifles, a ship load of Cavs and one of our Cav armies finish it off.

Sorry guys, but WW just hit and I had to put lux from 10% to 20%. At least this will be over in a few turns and we can turn it down again.


AI: The usual Zulu cavs attack, about 4 or 5.


Turn 5 (1525AD): Again I found a city in Zulu lands and send in zerks/cavs, except this time I also bombard and raze 2 cities instead of 1.

Weird - I can turn lux back down to 10% and I haven't made peace with anyone this turn. :hmm:


Turn 6 (1530AD): Last turn I founded a city and captured a stationary American Cavalry in it. This will allow us to force them to declare war. I will make some juicy trades before declares - this turn it's just the "you must withdraw now" diplo option.

I found a city 3 from Zimbabwe and send in 20 arty to pound it. Our armies and a couple of cavs finish the job and raze it.


Turn 7 (1535AD): Another agressive settler pushes us 2 tiles from the new Zulu capital Ulundi. This time 18 or our 30 arty redline the units and the troops move in and raze.

The remaining arty redline the last 2 Zulu cities and our troops just manage to take them (we have no losses, but simply not enough units to take out all the 1hp troops).

The Zulu are dead, and the way to America is clear, and lux goes to 0%. FWIW I checked and although we could have taken cities from the Zulu near the end, they wouldn't even come close to giving us an IA tech...


I buy The Corporation from America for gpt then demand they leave. They declare war and I take out their lonely unit.


Turn 8 (1540AD): Finish healing units and prepare for the American invasion. The Zulu island is almost fully settled now.


Turn 9 (1545AD): I ferry across lots of units (arty and armies) over to America. Persia takes spices from us for 4gpt and 23 gold.


AI: America lands some on our eastern islands, and Persia then attacks in their turn. We have moderate defences there, it should be enough.

We lose our supply of Gems from Persia, and a trade Embargo against us between Arabia and Egypt ends, so Egypt may have lux's.


Turn 10 (1550AD): First I check our happiness and we need the lux back from Persia. I get it for 3 luxs, Saltpeter and 2gpt. Hopefully this will help in their war against America. groucho

An infantry is added to our beserk army and our sword army, and Cav to our Cav army.

Instead of shelling the city I landed next to, I decided to shell the shell the surrounding terrain first, to start starving it. Also, now arty takes hp from units first it is highly likely that 6 arty won't be enough to do any damage past this turn. Not being able to hit barracks really sucks!

With our 6 galleons at the crossing to America another 24 arty make the crossing. We have another 7 waiting, along with assorted zerks, infs and cavs.

I also mobilise!!! Well, we are at war with America until they are dead, and over my set of turns I have been preparing our cities - finishing off markets, banks and courthouses quickly (forest chopping and disbanding conscript infs). We really need every little thing we can get to help us, and mobilisation is no little thing...

A very important note - we can get lots of free shields from our fully corrupt cities. I have been using them to rush settlers in the corrupt cities or city improvemnts in our core cities. Our citizens are getting real unhappy but they will still be productive for quite some time. Oh, and remember to draft an inf the same turn you get to size 7 or you will lose out on regrowth when you do draft.

On the diplomatic front our remaining civs can be summed up quite easily:

America (Fascist) is the world leader at the moment. They have 63,000 culture and are ahead technologically. Only their lack of rubber has saved us so far. Well, that and the choice of Fascism as a government type. :ack:

Persia (Monarchy) is still furious at us, but is busy at war with all the other AI and so not really any threat.

Egypt (Fascist) is also strong, and pretty level in techs. We have Corporation and Rep Parts, and they have Fascism and Communism, and a couple of obsolete techs.

Arabia (Monarchy) is still lacking Monotheism, so I don't think we need to worry. I am not sure if they are giving us WW or WH, but that alone means I have not made peace in my turns. I think we should probably make peace.

BTW, if you really hate the idea of Mobilisation just make peace with Arabia and don't bother re-mobilising. ;)

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