Charis
Realms Beyond
It's a on-the-edge time for the Koreans, doing quite well but a razors breadth away from major lifestyle changes. The turn-style for this game is more typically 20-turns, to be able to plan and execute a major campaign (whether war or building), although tis kind to let Skyfish enjoy the H'watcha. Mind you, I really do hope Hwatcha are around, and in MUCH larger numbers than they are now, for some time to come 
Hehe on the 'odd units on the road. I had this lineup between
Shimonoseki and Manp'o:
- - X - X -
- X - X - X this gives us 100% access between cities but lets
the Mongols move and attack, *and be attacked* freely.
You've been on the fence between option A (war asap with Mongols) and option C (20 turns of building, hoping to stay out of war, preferably with Mongols and Indians in a stalemate)
If Mongols have no iron and no saltpeter, it would not surprise me in the LEAST to see them come after us. That's not alarmist, but our next leader must be ready for it if it comes - that means *several* vet rifles or more in each of our four Mongol-front cities to absorb round 1. After round one our rails will let us respond well to emerging threats.
Note, the longer Mongols war with Indians, without iron and salt, they will *quickly* become gassed - or at least their cav supply will dry up, so that's a good thing. The Mongols did ebb and flow units sometimes up sometimes back during my watch, so don't assume they're "coming for us" just because a few go back. They've been fighting right at the border, so if no Indians come out of town, the Mongols see no target and pull back. This leads Indians to venture out, and the Mongols reverse.
A key thought - taking peace now with Mongols does not mean 20 turns of peace!. They're running all over our land and there is no RoP. I virtually guarantee that we could start a war *whenever* we wanted by telling them to get out - I can't imagine the arrogant Temujin would quietly go. Plus... if we declare war via a boot-out, there are three advantages:
i) we pick *exactly* the turn for war, not "Now or hold for 20 yrs"
ii) we can thus pick a turn where the Mongols have a slew of very wounded attackers right next to our cities with Hwatcha
iii) we'll get war happiness since they will declare!
Nit for next leader to correct - you left the best defender in Shimonoseki as a pair of *pikes*
Upgrade 1-2 NOW, or move in
a rifleman. That's just begging for us to lose a key frontline
city to a small number of Indian cav.
Bottom line recommendations:
- Fix defense of Shimonoseki NOW
- Do nothing with peace treaty at all now, and Mongols will ask mid turn to extend it for free - *do so*. Do NOT sell iron or salt, or cave in if they demand those
- Beef up defense in all front line cities and be ready for war at a moments notice, but don't force the issue unnecessarily - the more turns of war the more units and econ both sides lose and the greater our productivity base becomes
- Forget libs just now, we have a limited window for making Hwatcha and must crank them out en masse. It's still cheaper to buy tech - although by end of era we may want to self-research
- If you judge a good time for war, boot Mongols out, let him declare, take peace with India and in a *separate* deal buy an alliance with him vs Mongols - *unless* you fear that would lead to a Mongol implosion and the Indians becoming a superpower. But we can't allow a 2-front war/dogpile on us, so I would tend to take the alliance. If we dance with Mongols, it will ceraintly last 20 turns and they will rue the day
- Long term dream - the entire "mid-continent" of our current empire plus all points south to the sea are 'ours', with an eastern
border right where it is now and a western border at the 'thinnest' point, ie down and just slightly west of Paegam, hence a front on both sides of only 3-4 cities to defend.
Pardon if I'm making *too* many strategic comments here, but as the entire future of the Korean nation depends on a decision to be made on THIS turn, I know Skyfish will ask for input
Also, I'm unusually fresh on the situation, just 7 turns from when I finished a long reign. But feedback from other teammates would be excellent, and in any case, it's Sky's call.
Good luck Skyfish!
Charis
Speaker
Skyfish <-- UP
Meldor <-- ON DECk
JMB
EDIT - Oops, the Mongols have salt, horses, and rubber, so actually, all they need is Iron. At this age it's a very epensive resource, and the only benefit they'll get is rails (rails we will take over when we conquer) - It might be a good option now (before) IBT to go ahead and sell Iron - drop down sci and lux to zero first, renegotiate peace, and buy something like Sci Method AND Corporation. I bet we could get those two cheaply, perhaps in the 100-125gpt range for both (three tech would probably go to 300gpt and would not be worth it). If we do this as 'insurance' to *intend* to keep the peace for 20ish turns but provide a nice smack if they reneg and declare, this is honorable. If we do it fully intending to goad them into war on turn 1 to 5, it's dastardly. (Now, if opportunity knocks around turn 12-15, well hey, this isn't called Asian Rumble #2 for nothing!!) For not much to lose, selling our iron like this is likely the best way to try to get caught up in techs. Note I left Replaceable Parts out of the suggestion above, as that would end our Hwatcha supply for good. Faster workers/rails and infantry and artillery and civil engineers and seeing where rubber is are strong compensating factors though. Hmmm... actually.... with 24 H'watcha on hand those could be 'finishers' after artillery shells units down to 1hp
Still, I would prefer to see 40 Hwatcha before Rep parts. Speaking of horses, btw, India lacks them, meaning we might sell them and get another nice discount on a tech after a while. With tanks due soon for them, we don't give up much selling them horses)
Hehe on the 'odd units on the road. I had this lineup between
Shimonoseki and Manp'o:
- - X - X -
- X - X - X this gives us 100% access between cities but lets
the Mongols move and attack, *and be attacked* freely.
You've been on the fence between option A (war asap with Mongols) and option C (20 turns of building, hoping to stay out of war, preferably with Mongols and Indians in a stalemate)
If Mongols have no iron and no saltpeter, it would not surprise me in the LEAST to see them come after us. That's not alarmist, but our next leader must be ready for it if it comes - that means *several* vet rifles or more in each of our four Mongol-front cities to absorb round 1. After round one our rails will let us respond well to emerging threats.
Note, the longer Mongols war with Indians, without iron and salt, they will *quickly* become gassed - or at least their cav supply will dry up, so that's a good thing. The Mongols did ebb and flow units sometimes up sometimes back during my watch, so don't assume they're "coming for us" just because a few go back. They've been fighting right at the border, so if no Indians come out of town, the Mongols see no target and pull back. This leads Indians to venture out, and the Mongols reverse.
A key thought - taking peace now with Mongols does not mean 20 turns of peace!. They're running all over our land and there is no RoP. I virtually guarantee that we could start a war *whenever* we wanted by telling them to get out - I can't imagine the arrogant Temujin would quietly go. Plus... if we declare war via a boot-out, there are three advantages:
i) we pick *exactly* the turn for war, not "Now or hold for 20 yrs"
ii) we can thus pick a turn where the Mongols have a slew of very wounded attackers right next to our cities with Hwatcha
iii) we'll get war happiness since they will declare!
Nit for next leader to correct - you left the best defender in Shimonoseki as a pair of *pikes*
Upgrade 1-2 NOW, or move ina rifleman. That's just begging for us to lose a key frontline
city to a small number of Indian cav.
Bottom line recommendations:
- Fix defense of Shimonoseki NOW
- Do nothing with peace treaty at all now, and Mongols will ask mid turn to extend it for free - *do so*. Do NOT sell iron or salt, or cave in if they demand those
- Beef up defense in all front line cities and be ready for war at a moments notice, but don't force the issue unnecessarily - the more turns of war the more units and econ both sides lose and the greater our productivity base becomes
- Forget libs just now, we have a limited window for making Hwatcha and must crank them out en masse. It's still cheaper to buy tech - although by end of era we may want to self-research
- If you judge a good time for war, boot Mongols out, let him declare, take peace with India and in a *separate* deal buy an alliance with him vs Mongols - *unless* you fear that would lead to a Mongol implosion and the Indians becoming a superpower. But we can't allow a 2-front war/dogpile on us, so I would tend to take the alliance. If we dance with Mongols, it will ceraintly last 20 turns and they will rue the day
- Long term dream - the entire "mid-continent" of our current empire plus all points south to the sea are 'ours', with an eastern
border right where it is now and a western border at the 'thinnest' point, ie down and just slightly west of Paegam, hence a front on both sides of only 3-4 cities to defend.
Pardon if I'm making *too* many strategic comments here, but as the entire future of the Korean nation depends on a decision to be made on THIS turn, I know Skyfish will ask for input
Also, I'm unusually fresh on the situation, just 7 turns from when I finished a long reign. But feedback from other teammates would be excellent, and in any case, it's Sky's call.
Good luck Skyfish!
Charis
Speaker
Skyfish <-- UP
Meldor <-- ON DECk
JMB
EDIT - Oops, the Mongols have salt, horses, and rubber, so actually, all they need is Iron. At this age it's a very epensive resource, and the only benefit they'll get is rails (rails we will take over when we conquer) - It might be a good option now (before) IBT to go ahead and sell Iron - drop down sci and lux to zero first, renegotiate peace, and buy something like Sci Method AND Corporation. I bet we could get those two cheaply, perhaps in the 100-125gpt range for both (three tech would probably go to 300gpt and would not be worth it). If we do this as 'insurance' to *intend* to keep the peace for 20ish turns but provide a nice smack if they reneg and declare, this is honorable. If we do it fully intending to goad them into war on turn 1 to 5, it's dastardly. (Now, if opportunity knocks around turn 12-15, well hey, this isn't called Asian Rumble #2 for nothing!!) For not much to lose, selling our iron like this is likely the best way to try to get caught up in techs. Note I left Replaceable Parts out of the suggestion above, as that would end our Hwatcha supply for good. Faster workers/rails and infantry and artillery and civil engineers and seeing where rubber is are strong compensating factors though. Hmmm... actually.... with 24 H'watcha on hand those could be 'finishers' after artillery shells units down to 1hp
Still, I would prefer to see 40 Hwatcha before Rep parts. Speaking of horses, btw, India lacks them, meaning we might sell them and get another nice discount on a tech after a while. With tanks due soon for them, we don't give up much selling them horses)
not nice... 
