Monarch Training 2

[Admiral Kutzov]

Had to search to figure out Tugela. No big deal. IMO, the target is the Germans, not the Zulu.

@ Clive - thanks for your concern. Like I said, nothing major. Got an inch of water in the basement, etc. On the plus side, the 100' silver maple didn't blow over or lose limbs like in the mini-tornado 5 years ago.

 

[Sir Clive]

I'm not going to post a screenshot since it looks very much the same as it did before I started

I will however post a save game in a post following this one.

Not a lot seemed to happen during these five turns although I am afraid
I ended up with 1 less city than I started with However I have got a couple of MAs against the Aztecs which might help .

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pre turn check via the advisor screens .

We are at 20% lux , making +149 gpt, 1547 in the bank.
Most towns have a large excess of happy citizens. We can go down to 0% and make
+238 gpt and only Tugela and Kongsberg will be unhappy. Do this and employ a clown in
Kongsberg. We may lose Kongsberg to a flip anyway . I would rather have the money to
rush a temple if we do manage to hold onto it.

We are at war with Russia . Zulu and Germany. We have ROP with Spain , Ottoman ,
Netherlands and Portugal. No MPPs . We have embassies with everyone with all apart from
Aztec and Zulu . Get embassy with Aztec for 50 g. Tenochtitlan has garrison
of 4 spears and a horse and is building another horse. Zulu have 7 cities

Kongsberg (Ivory) + Zulu Iron (Iron) are currently unconnected to our network

We have 128 units - 8 swords , 14 pikes, 27 Med Inf, 21 Galley , 20 Treb , 31 workers and
7 odds and sods.

Trading - Germany and Netherlands are up Chivalry - We can sell 2 techs to each of the other
civs but none of them have any money . Netherlands want saltpeter + 560 gold for Chivalry.
I decline for now.

Hit start (gulp )

IT Konigsberg survives attack comfortably. Various builds complete . Germnas
start Knight's Templar. 2 Zulu archers land near Tugela .

850 AD (1) Tugela looks vulnerable . We have 1 MI defending, 2 workers out in the open and
no means of getting more troops there quickly. Change all prod on this island to military.
Struggling to find anything to do with our workers - almost everywhere is mined / irrigated
that needs to be.

IT Konigsberg and Tugela survive attack . We get an ancient cavalry produced ! Resistance ends
in Tugela. Now we have embassy with Aztec see if we can get anything useful from them.
Unfortunately not - not much point in calling them in for an alliance since they don't have
borders with anyone we are at war with. Sign MA with Spain against Germany . They may
be able to help us keep Germany at bay since they have a border.

860 AD (2) Empty galleys move back towards Novgorod to pick up troops (unfortunately we
haven't built too many so far ) Workers move towards Novgorod - there isn't much to
improve on our home island so might as well ship them out. Rush buy aqueduct in Hastings as it
is due to grow next turn. Just relised that we don't have FP yet ? We could build it in
Warwick (where we have a Palace prebuild for something) But I will hang on for the moment
as Warwick may be able to get Leo's which would be useful (15 turns) .


IT Zulu capture Tugela - couldn't do anything - not enough troops to defend it and the RGN
beat us . Give Portugal 600g for MA vs Germans + MA vs Zulu. Give Ottomans 200g + silks
for alliance vs Zulu. Get 150 g back from Ottomans for furs. Lux needs to go up to 10% (WW I guess)
We need more miliatry - switch some towns on the mainland to Barracks (inc Dover - we have plenty of
spare settlers with nowhere to go ) and rush some musketmen.

870 AD (3) Move galleys back to pick up troops. Workers towards Novgorod. Sit tight

IT Aztecs + Portugal sign MA vs Germany. Zulu Iron and Konigsberg get battered again but survive.
Decide I should start building FP somewhere - Although we have prebuild in Warwick I think
Nottingham may be slightly better so start it there - due in 14 (next player should still
have option to change it to something useful if vetoed ) . Get ROP with Aztec for ROP

880 AD (4) Move empty galleys southwards, full galleys northwards . 1 suicide galley heads
(hopefully) towards Swazi , NW of Gloucester. Military moves around to defend undefended towns.

IT Netherlands and Portugal sign MA vs Zulu. More attacks on Kongsberg from Germany
- don't know how much longer it will survive. I have pillaged some of the roads leading from
the German territory but they have a lot of troops in the area and we are runnig out of defence
for our Trebs. We hav 1 vet Med Inf, 1 elite pike and 6 trebs left in Kongsberg

890 AD (5) Suddenly realise Kongsberg is no longer in resistance (should have seen
this earlier ) Rush temple for 212g .

IT Temple completes in Kongsberg. No significant attacks from the AI. No sensible trades
available (as far as I can see)

 

[Sir Clive]

Saved game

 

[Admiral Kutzov]

Tenochtitlan has garrison
of 4 spears and a horse and is building another horse. Zulu have 7 cities

I'm quaking in my boots, how 'bout everyone else?

- there isn't much to
improve on our home island so might as well ship them out.

can you join them to existing cities?

I have pillaged some of the roads leading from
the German territory but they have a lot of troops in the area and we are runnig out of defence
for our Trebs.

if in' y'all can't hold it, raze it. The Kaiser get it back under no circumstances. Send a combat settler there? Don't sweat it Clive, lookin' good so far.

 

[Sir Clive]

I'll hopefully play the next 5 turns tomorrow night (London time)

All advice very welcome !

In particular would appreciate advice as
to where / when we should build the FP as this has been causing me
quite a bit of grief !

Also we have quite a few redundant workers at the moment. I suppose
e should be hanging on to them for when we can build railroads but is
there anything useful to be done with them in the meantime ?

 

[Sir Clive]

can you join them to existing cities?

I thought about that , but I never like merging worker into cities until
the rail network is complete since although I normally build lots of workers
I never seem to have enough when I hit steam power.

 

[Admiral Kutzov]

workers are cheap. If you join them to cities now, no big deal as we can build them later to build rails for peanuts.

Re the FP - put it in the second highest spt city, IM (really warped, not so humble)O. Smilie to show I have sense of humor

 

[danz]

Koningsberg started with 1 pike and Zulu Iron never had any. Our invasion force was 99% attacks troops with 1 pike and 1 settler. That's what I was griping about in my log

So, our best defense is bombardment and skirmishing. If it looks like our skirmisher might lose or end its turn in the open (such as when there is only 1 enemy unit in the stack), do not attack. Bombard and wait. The AI will withdraw a wounded unit so it can heal. I've started to save some trebuchet shots until after skirmishers kill off some of the attackers. The last attacker gets bombarded and pulled back instead of being traded for one of our explosed skirmishers. With these tactics, we can hold our beachheads pretty much indefinitely. The flip risk is a little scary, though. Are the free Ancient Cavs worth it? I didn't have th heart to raze the SOZ.

And please don't waste the prebuild in Warwick on an FP. We should build an FP on another island, where we really need it, like Zulu Iron or Koningsberg. Our home island is productive enough. Warwick should build something juicier, like a wonder opened up by a tech we buy from the Dutch or force out of the Germans. There are plenty of really nice MA wonders we could use!

 

[Sir Clive]

Re the FP - put it in the second highest spt city, IM (really warped, not so humble)O. Smilie to show I have sense of humor

Here's the options for FP (AFAIAC at least )

1) Warwick -
Plus points - currently has top spt (21/1), Palace prebuild means FP can
be got next turn
Anti points - Switch to Leo's would build Leo's in 14 turns - nowhere else
can get it that quick

2) York -
Plus points - Means Warwick can get Leos. Currently only (16/2) spt but
can be MMd to get more shields.
Anti points - will take productive tiles away from Nottingham /
Bristol / Dover since will need to work all available tiles
Will take 14 turns to build.

3) Nottingham
Much the same as York.

I would go for Nottingham since although this means waiting 12 turns to build FP we can also (hopefully) get Leo's in Warwick.

I will go with the general flow though (and if I don't go with 1) the next player can change it )

 

[Admiral Kutzov]

I tend to raze the roads on the counterattack trail. i.e. I raxe any road that can be used to attack my city. Thus, I don't worry about defensive units and kill the counterattackers that come into my territory as danz postulated in the above post.

To reiterate, don't worry about needing to rebuild workers later. I think (@ all - head for bomb shelter, I'm thinking) it's cheaper to rebuild them rather than maintain them.

OT - I finished COTM4 and should place in the top 40. Thanks Bede, Sesn, & Scout.

 

[danz]

Here's the options for FP...

I like all 3 choices in terms of shield/gold payoff. The issue is where those shields will be added. Producing more on the home island just means we have more to lug around on our ships. It would be much more useful to get a shield increase (and a flip risk decrease) somewhere closer to the action. That means the most modern units produced where they are needed without the risk of losing them along the way. Each shield produced at the front is IMHO worth 5-10 shields produced at home, considering it would take 5-10 turns to transport them that far away. Also, ships can sink. And an FP would greatly reduce our flip risk. What I would try to do is use the first MGL and rush an FP either in Germany or Zululand, depending on where he's generated. In the meantime, I would slow down on offensive unit production at home, since those units are already obsolete in comparison to knights. After Chivalry, it would make sense to produce some more. Right now, we just need muskets and a little bit later, cannon.

 

[Admiral Kutzov]

danz is on the money. i'd vote no on FP in Zululand. Put it in Kaiser's backyard.

 

[viper275]

Agree too.
@Keiji: I'm pretty sure it's per turn. Never seen it go that high before and it's been fairly correct for me, so I would suspect it's per turn.
@AK: Sorry, I'm bad with poetry. I'll be thinking though, we do need humor. On the subject of the hurricane, I'm very glad scout is okay. He recently posted a bunch of places. Nice thing that you did good in the COTM. For me everyone but 1 civ declared on me and it felt like an AW. I didn't do poorly considering I can't win an AW on Monarch, but I still slowly lost most of my cities, eventually making some 5CC type thing. But I'm getting pretty off topic now .
@Sir Clive: Good set of turns. I think you do better than you think you do .

 

[Sir Clive]

OK - I'm just about to play the next 5 .

General plan - Buld more military , try to get a bit more of a foothold on
the other islands.

I'll take the general advice on the FP - does seem sensible to rush it somewhere remotely if / when we get an MGL.

I'll may leave the FP build as a prebuild though.

Here goes ....

 

[Bede]

@AK and team,

I have been remiss in my lurking. Will download the thread tonight and hopefully post some commentary after Clive's turns.

 

[Sir Clive]

900 AD (6) Trebs redline archers near Konigsberg . Rush spearman in Konigsberg.
Elite Pike tries to get leader by attacking R/L archers - no luck . Join some
of our idle workers to towns which can use them . Land 2 pikes near Swazi.
Rush Aqueduct in Richmond.

IT Zulus pillage near Zulu Iron . Konigsberg produces Ancient Cavalry. Germans attack
our Elite pike but it doesn't upgrade. Germans start Knight's Templar. Rush Barracks
in Zulu Iron.

I'm still undecided how to spend our money . I'm inclined to rush one unit per turn
in Konigsberg and Zulu Iron but not to rush anything on the mainland at the moment

910 AD (7) Merge a few more workers into towns.

IT Zulu's and Germans attack us yet again. Lose a couple of untis near Swazi.
We can get Chivalry from Netherlands for Iron but I don't really want them to have iron.
Zulu Iron completes Barracks and rushes spearman. Konigsberg rushes Barracks (forgot
to do it mid turn ) . Zulus pillage road on the Iron near Zulu Iron

I haven't made a single trade yet during my turns - I guess it doesn't help being
at war with half the civs but there doesn't seem to be anything worthwhile

920 AD (8) More general worker merging where possible and ship movement north.

IT Hurry Marketplace in Gloucester so we can fire the clown / taxman. Pillage
a couple of tiles near Swazi.

930 AD (9) Not a lot . Next player please note there are a coule of Galleys NW
of Gloucester with workers aboard. These are here because I had no use for them
on the main Island and thought they may be useful for roading if we manage to
capture anything on Swazi Island.

IT Our last invader Nr Swazi is killed Konigsberg / Zulu Iron rush again.
4 civs now have Chivalry . We can get it from Portugal for Invention or for 400 g
+ 12 gpt . I'll leave it up to the next player to decide since I only have 1 turn left.

940 AD (10) General movement again . Not a lot happens . Unfortunately a misclicked
(or rather misdragged) on a galley containing a med inf and a treb and it has ended
up in an ocean square half way between Yekaterinaburg and Gloucester. Just hope it
doesn't sink next turn

I may have left the odd worker or galley on goto If so I apologise but none of them
should be in a vulnerable position.

Screenshot isn't much different to when I started (although some towns have grown a bit)

I'll post one with the save in the next post.

 

[Sir Clive]

Saved game

 

[Keiji]

I think I'm up now, so got it. Should have my turns played by the end of the day.

 

[Keiji]

Well, I started my turns. But after 3 turns Zulu Iron all of a sudden decides to depose to the Zulu's. Furthermore I have signed peace with the Germans one turn before. Before continuing onward it's probably better if we decide what to do. In my opinion our supply line is simply to long to be able to support two fronts. That means we have to choose who we are going to go after first. So who will it be?....

Turnlog so far:

Pre flight check:
Luxury has to go up to 20 percent, war weariness is starting to take effect me
thinks. Get Chivalry from the Portugese for Invention. Hurry buildings in Hastings
and Leicester. Switch Nottingham to marketplace and a few other builds to knights.

IBT
Ottomans raze Tugela. Zulu MI kills an MI at Zulu Iron.

950 AD (1)
Nothing major.

IBT
Renew our ROP and Dyes deal with Portugal for fur, silks and 14 gpt
Germans come asking for peace, I decide to take it so we can concentrate
on fighting just one war.

960 AD (2)
Still nothing major. Rush walls in Konigsberg.

IBT
2 MI and 2 impi's run up to Zulu Iron, we really need reinforcements there.

970 AD (3)
Just some more troop movement.

IBT
Zulu iron couragously fights of two Zulu MI, getting 1 promotion.
After that Zulu Iron decides to depose to the Zulu's .

 

[viper275]

The Zulu will pay for the culture flip. Let's focus war efforts on them. Germany can wait. In fact, they might build some nice wonders for us in the meantime.