Rat39 - Silence is Ottoman Yellow

[Whomp]

Pre-turn: Start prepping for the onslaught towards the west. Move some units around to get lux down to 10% and RP in 5.

IT the Greeks land a city next to our injured sipahi army. The Japanese move a cav on our continent next to empty cities. He'll be asked to leave.
1290 Ask the Japanese to leave and they declare. Drop lux to 0%. We whack the cav with an elite and the continent is clear. Send the army that was headed to Edo over to Sapporo to knock down the culture there.
Wipe out both rifles in the new Greek city with minimal damage. Our fully healthy army takes out 3 rifles and we finish off a cav with elite sipahi and keep the city for its furs. We'll abandon next turn with a settler soon on its way.

IT The Dutch have infantry.
1295 Take out Sapporo with a loss of a elite sipahi. Move the units on to the galleon to start moving towards the Greek mainland.

IT Dutch land a settler next to our healing armies. They're going to be a pain.
1300 Moving ships as we're getting closer to developing a force for Greece and The Netherlands.

IT Sink a Greek frigate without damage to our stack. Persians come to talk. We trade scientific method for steel, dyes and WM.
1305 Load some boats with units. Take out a Greek settler that's on our future furs. I'm a little concerned with pressing the issue without some defensive units available and with the Dutch getting infantry I'll need to upgrade our cannons to arty. I think they'll be plenty necessary. While passing by Hakodote we use our extra movement from our frigates to redline 3 ships in the city which will help our stack moving towards the furs.

IT Our frigates do the job again against a Greek frigate. Cycle through the cities to get some arty and infantry this turn.
We're deposed in Miami :grrr:
1310 Our deal with the Dutch will expire in 2 turns and we won't be able to ship the arty over until our ships return I'll wait on them. Turn up research to 80% to keep enough cash until our 295gpt deal expires. We're also 3 more turns away from finishing our 89gpt deal with the Americans so we can finish them off. 7 turns on refining.

IT
1315 Our settler lands at the furs and we move 2 of the three armies towards Athens. They'll get a double pronged attack when our other stacks land at Delphi and their incense.

IT we lose a galleon that's near the furs. The Dutch have transports and have landed 4 cavs near Philly. We need to declare on them anyhow since our 295gpt deal is contigent on peace.
1320 Establish our Furs city.
Our army takes out 4 rifles and though we lose two sipahis but eventually take the city. Sink 2 of their frigates on our way home.
The Japanese have been isolated to a island now.
OK time to declare on the Dutch. Wipe out their cav stack and hammer their shipping from our coast.

IT Wow. The Greeks and Dutch hit our fully healthy army inside our Furs city. We knock off 4 cavs and fortunately survive.
The Dutch land a large stack at Philly again.
1325 Wipe out the Dutch stack at Philly. Our ships won't land at Delphi till next turn and there's no way we'll be able to keep the furs city so abandon it.
Summary
We need some defensive units and shipping for the other continent. I didn't want to keep paying 295gpt so I hope you all didn't mind that I stopped that deal after 20 turns. We'll have the same opportunity to stop the American 89gpt deal next turn as well. Sorry I couldn't play more but the last few days have been a bit hectic.

 

[Northern Pike]

Good work taking Athens.

I've got it.

 

[ThERat]

good work...I agree we need more artillery to fight infantry...this game will go a bit longer and flight will help us as well. great job getting steel

 

[Bartleby]

lurker's comment:

I assume we also can't make ROP deals either because we marched into enemy territory and then attacked. Does attacking a unit outside their territory cause any issues?

In my experience marching in to attack does not cause problems for third-party RoP rep. I've never looked to see if the civ you march in against will give you RoP later on.

 

[Northern Pike]

View attachment Rat39-1400AD.SAV, end of turn

 

[Northern Pike]

1325 (0): Hmm. Through various misunderstandings we've ended up conducting our offensive in the most inconvenient, inaccessible part of the enemy continent, with reinforcements arriving on vulnerable one-shot convoys rather than a properly organized ship chain. I'm going to re-base our operations to the Holwerd peninsula, even if it means that we hardly attack for several turns.

I do some MM. Nothing is seriously wrong, but our corrupt towns are building too many libraries and harbours where they're useless. Settlers are the best default build in the zone of corruption late in the game, or ships in coastal towns.

We've also been passive about getting factories built in our second-ring towns, so I switch eleven of these to factories, with many civil engineers assigned (and later heavy lumberjacking). When we have a modest inner core, but have built Hoover, this is vital.

We lose a frigate to the attack of a Greek privateer.


1330 (1): We mine over unneeded irrigation, develop ignored mountains, and merge native workers, so that four of our cities switched to factories will complete them within ten turns.

Our force in Greece mostly heals, but does smite a Greek settler/rifleman team (1-0).

Our main convoy reverses course for the Holwerd peninsula.

The Greeks ask for peace, and it's worth thinking about, since they aren't really the enemy we need to be fighting at the moment. But since we don't have an embassy with Alexander--almost inevitably, in this variant--we can't make a RoP agreement as part of the peace; and that means that our three Sip armies in Greece, now at four units each and not galleon-mobile, would have no good way to get into the fighting against the Dutch. Nor do the Greeks have anything to offer except a little gold, so we say no.

Lincoln asks to renew our peace treaty, on even terms. The Americans are too weak too harm us, and we want to take back Philadelphia and Miami, so we reject his offer and return to war.

Our main convoy repels the attack of a Dutch frigate (2-0).


1335 (2): We take Philadelphia, held by three riflemen and an LB, and sink at least one ship in harbour (7-0). Our first attack causes the Persians to declare war on us due to their MPP with America, so we've got our enemies right where we want them--real AW.

We take Miami, held by two riflemen (9-0).

We grind down a Dutch stack of eight landed between Seattle and Philadelphia (17-0).

We land 28 units from our convoy on the hill next to Argos, while our three Sip armies approach the city from the west.

The Dutch continue to assail our now-empty convoy, losing two frigates while sinking one of ours (19-1).


1340 (3): We take and briefly hold Argos, held by three riflemen and a cav (23-1).

We unhorse a single Dutch cav landed between Seattle and Philadelphia (24-1).

Refining --> Combustion, due in nine turns after we assign extra scientists. We have plenty of oil.


1345 (4): We get the Holwerd peninsula securely blocked off with an infantry army.


1350 (5): We mop up three Dutch cav landed in the usual place between Seattle and Philadelphia (27-1).

We found Wide River, Arkansas Line, and Juke Joint Jump as extra science camps on our own continent.

The Dutch are bombing our armies now.


1355 (6): We ride down one Dutch inf on the Holwerd peninsula (28-1).

We trample a Dutch stack of six and a Persian stack of three, both landed in the usual place (37-1).

We found Sure Feels Good, again on our own continent.


1360 (7): Our attack finally goes in at Holwerd, and fortunately the garrison is only four infantry, so we take the town easily, also destroying three bombers and three frigates (47-1). We gain 269 gold.

We found Calling All Cows on our own continent.

We complete the first of our second-wave factories, in Salonika.


1365 (8): We crush a single American cav landed in the usual place (48-1).

We abandon Holwerd (115 gold for improvements) and replace it with Hold On.

We found Rollin’ Home on our own continent.

Nine Dutch bombers hit our armies healing in Hold On, in addition to which the first Dutch cruisers and destroyers appear, so it’s a good thing our attack on their core is underway.

Dutch destroyers have ten movement points, so they can show up anywhere.

Sinop completes its factory, which gives it production of 32 shields after corruption.


1370 (9): We found the tactical town of Crawling King Snake, giving us access to Maastricht.

The first units ship-chained from Insider to Hold On reach the enemy continent.

The Dutch have marines, which will call for some precautions.

We storm and briefly hold Maastricht, held by six inf and a marine with a bomber destroyed on the ground, though one of our Sip armies falls to 1 HP (56-1). We capture an artillery and gain 262 gold. I hoped to catch many more bombers on the ground, but apparently they’re based in Utrecht and Groningen.

Antalya (up to 42 spt after corruption) and Tlaxcala complete their factories.


1375 (10): Our Lost Convoy—six frigates and three galleons that began the round off the extreme southwestern Greek coast—finally reaches Hold On.

We found the tactical town of Do Nobody Wrong, giving us access to Groningen.

We seize and briefly hold Groningen, held by three inf, and destroy two bombers on the ground (61-1). We collect 247 gold.

We pick off a Dutch stack of three outside Groningen, and gain a Leader/army (64-1).

We lose two frigates to the attacks of Dutch destroyers (64-3). Well, that was bound to start happening.

We see a Dutch aircraft carrier, so that’s where the remaining bombers are.

Kirklareli and Riza complete their factories.


1380 (11): We found the TT of Holler and Shout, giving us access to Utrecht.

We take and briefly hold Utrecht, held by four inf. We destroy a bomber on the ground, capture two artillery, and gain 246 gold (69-3).

Most of the Dutch destroyers (and the aircraft carrier) retreat because we were able to ping them, so our frigates sustain only two attacks from destroyers, and manage to sink one (70-4).

Denizli and Notttingham complete their factories.


1385 (12): We auto-raze Tilburg (garrison of two inf; 72-4), just founded by the Dutch in the area we’ve been clearing. We collect 165 gold.

We found the tactical towns of My Girl and Joy. Rotterdam is at size twenty due to Shakespeare, and we have to approach it from the flank to avoid a cross-river attack, so two throwaway towns are necessary.

An excellent 26-artillery bombardment redlines Rotterdam’s garrison of five inf, and our Sip armies storm the town without difficulty despite the 100% defensive bonus (77-4). We gain 335 gold and an artillery.

We found Slick Titty Boom on our own continent.

Combustion --> Flight, due in nine turns.

We complete two pre-built destroyers.


1390 (13): We found the TT of Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, giving us access to Amsterdam.

We storm the Dutch capital of Amsterdam, held by seven inf (84-4). We gain 255 gold and an artillery.

We break a Greek cav landed in the mountains near Istanbul (85-4).

We smash two Dutch inf outside Amsterdam (87-4).

We found Struttin’ My Stuff on our own Continent.

We bombard and sink three Greek frigates and a Greek galleon off Hold On (91-4).

We upgrade six galleons to transports.

The Japanese want peace, but they have nothing we need, and we’d rather be free to attack their cities whenever we get to them, so we remain in AW.

The Dutch also sue for peace—hardly, when we’ve got them by the throat. They still lack the AT-Electronics-Radio line.


1395 (14): We auto-raze Marathon (garrison of two cav), just founded by the Greeks in the Dutch wasteland, but lose a Sip (93-5).

We found the TT of Have a Good Time, giving us access to Haarlem and The Hague.

We take Haarlem, held by three inf and a marine (97-5). We gain 257 gold and an artillery.

We take The Hague, held by three inf (100-5). We gain 259 gold and an artillery.

We found the TT of Grab All the Love, giving us access to Arnhem.

We seize Arnhem, held by three inf, and sink at least one destroyer in port (104-5). We’ll hold this peninsula, though not the Dutch cities, for the sake of ivory.

Where is the Dutch carrier? We should have sunk it in port by now.

We ride down a Dutch marine outside Have a Good Time (105-5).

We rout four Greek cav landed in the mountains near Istanbul (109-5).

We sink a Greek frigate with a destroyer off Uskudar (110-5).


1400 (15): We carve up a Dutch stack of six landed west of Istanbul (116-5).

We found the TT of The Life I Lead, giving us access to Dutch Karachi.

We take Karachi, held by three inf. We destroy a bomber on the ground and seize 269 gold (120-5).

We auto-raze Jinjan, just founded by the Persians in the Dutch wasteland (two inf and a cav; 123-5), though a bad RNG run almost costs us a Sip army.

We found Fooled Around and Fell in Love, two tactical towns leading forward from Karachi.

We take Eindhoven, held by four inf (127-5). We gain 271 gold and an artillery.

We finish off the Dutch core by storming Bombay, held by three inf. We gain 274 gold and finally catch the Dutch carrier in port (131-5).

Our destroyers sink two Greek frigates and a Greek galleon off Uskudar (134-5).

Outside cities we account for four Greek cav (138-5).

Eighteen elite victories this round produced one Great Leader.

 

[Northern Pike]

We can win as we please now. All our opponents are crippled except for the Persians, and they've never been very strong. I have a combat settler positioned near Delhi and Madras to get us off to a fast start against the Greeks (yes, the Greeks) next turn, but really the next player can strike our enemies in any order he likes.

We're almost out of settlers on the enemy continent, but we can ship-chain more in next turn before the action starts, of course.

I've decided to hold the northern ivory peninsula on the enemy continent, because with the continent mostly railed we can use Sipahi armies to make two attacks a turn and still move them back to block off the peninsula. But if the next player finds this way of attacking, with its constant settler tricks, to be too much work, he can just abandon the peninsula; we don't need any more luxuries to win.

Our Sips and infantry on our continent are almost all in our coastal core cities, for some protection against Dutch marines.

We should stay in AW for the rest of the game. Honouring peace treaties would just slow us down now.

I haven't cut the luxury rate to reflect our control of ivory yet. The next player can do so when he feels it's safe, and provided he chooses to hold the ivory peninsula.

Let's win this one by conquest, since we settled for domination last time.

 

[Northern Pike]

Before:

After:

In detail:

 

[Whomp]

Awesome display of turnplay NP. Thanks for the lesson at the beginning too. It's always helpful when I get that kind of discussion.

 

[Northern Pike]

Not at all; I'm glad you take my comments in the intended spirit. And of course I don't assume that the inaccuracies I discuss are yours specifically; you just have the misfortune to play immediately before me.

 

[Greebley]

Good work NP.

I got it.

I might see what cutting the roads does vs the wall of Armies. Pulling units out of the towns can be nice.

 

[Greebley]

Preturn: Do some MM. Clowns to science.

IBT: Oh my goodness. First the Dutch attack an injured army in a fortress and kill it, then they attack our army that was guarding the choke which was bombed causing it to retreat and then take Crawling king snake. The Sapahi in our town Hold On with our boats are attacked - fortunately they are 3 Cav short of capturing it. Marines attack our new Lux town and other units land nearby.

1405 AD: Well I sell off the stuff in Hold On, move out the boats and abandon the city. There were way too many Infantry that I saw for us to rescue the town.
Capture and abandon Madras

IBT: A marine kills a fairly healthy Army in grab all our Love. Bad Luck, but with no Infantry to defend against Marines things are rough. Our infantry Army kills many Greek Cav.

1410 AD: We capture back our Artillery that was bombarding our Armies. Take out Delphi. Move Armies out of Lux town. Abandon Delphi.

IBT: No attacks on Infantry Army. One Marine dies at Lux town.

1415 AD: Mostly kill off Cav going for the Lux town. Some Armies heal. Gain a leader and use up the last Sapahi filling the formed army.

IBT More Greek Cavalry die. Large stack of Persian Cav spotted.\

1420 AD: Armies needed to block large number of Dutch Infanty.

IBT: First landing on our Continent near Philadelphia.

1425 AD: Halicamassus is Captured and then abandoned.
Crawling Snake is Autodestroyed when we try to capture it. We have settlers to replace.
Clear out landing.

Notes:
Marines with attack 12 will attack armies that have more hp. Be very careful. I think that is how the Dutch broke through in the first IBT. 9-10 hp is just not enough I don't think, 11-12 is.

I did the MM pretty quickly. Likely can be improved.

 

[Greebley]

Note that the town with the Infantry Army has another Lux which is the primary reason I kept it. I don't think there are enough cav left to take it unless we get pretty bad RNG. Some infantry in it would be a guarantee.

Also I saw no bombers during my turns.

 

[plarq]

I guess you can prepare for UN.

 

[Mumpulus]

Got it. Won't keep the game after Sunday afternoon.

 

[Northern Pike]

Well, that's definitely the worst IT I've ever turned over. I'm sorry your whole round consisted of restoring the status quo, but well done.

I've just hit Enter from the position I submitted, and none of these bad things happen. The Greeks try to bombard our army in the fortress at the choke with frigates, the Dutch and Greeks fight each other a bit, and that's all. So I suppose your MM subtly affected the RNG sequence--very interesting, in an irritating way.

Mumpulus, Greebley seems to have let most of my builds renew automatically. So you may find we're building more destroyers and artillery than you want, and not enough Sips and infantry.

I saw nothing of the big Dutch stacks during my round, so they're an unpleasant surprise. But this is still a position in which only the Persians have their original core, and a straightforward win.

 

[Whomp]

Man, I've never seen armies attacked like we've seen.
I'll bet this won't get back to me though.

 

[Greebley]

I think I used the army (which was not otherwise involved in any of it) next to the cav in the choke to attack 2 of the Cav - which changed whether the boats hit or missed and they must have been right at the edge.

I was thinking I didn't mention the fact I got another army on my last turn and I don't see it, so we got two new armies and built one in the capitol which is on the way across so the army count on my turn was the same with the loss and gain of 3. I also shipped over the Knight army, MDI army, and Sip Army so the total army count in action should be up.

Agree on switching the Destroyers over. I might build a few more Artillery, I sent most across with the expectation of building some more for boat bombardment at home.

I also noticed there is a settler which is going to connect up the road for Persia past my first cut road block. I don't think this will be serious as most of Persia's Cav was hurt and is retreating. You might get a bunch of Persian infantry though - not sure.

 

[ThERat]

what an 'interesting' IT. I am sure we will recover from that.

Apologies for my lack of comments lately. Have been loaded with stuff at work, a course and not to mention private life...

 

[I. Larkin]

So I suppose your MM subtly affected the RNG sequence--very interesting, in an irritating way.

It is really strange - logically fight goes first and only after program call build-up stuff. Anybody else had similar experience?