IT 1625AD: Four arty shots from the fort disconnects Egyptian saltpeter. Renegotiate Iro deal: was Wines for Incense and gpt; now Wines for Incense, Spices and gpt. Lux taxes to 0. Buy Refining then Combustion from America, leaving us ~850g. Start lone scientist on flight. Decide to run some shore blockades: the mountain at Texcoco, the rubber, the oil (we have one oil), and some shore near the choke. Rethink this and increase shore blockades to ALL available spare units.
1630AD: Egyptian 'clads bomb some of our shore defenders -- better some units take a few hits than the rails. One Egyptian tank attacks the fort, loses, our defender 1HP left. (BTW, not having artillery in there was
as the arty shot won this fight for us). Treasury is back above 1k.
1635AD: Iro's start the UN. Another Egyptian tank dies attacking our fort, our defender 2hp left. We have built our first destroyer. Artillery disconnects Egyptian roads leading to the border.
1640AD: Three Egyptian tanks cross the unroaded area into the kill zone. Our arty reduces them to 2-1-1 hps. I use an inf to attack, he loses four of four, 2hp tank promotes to elite.
1645AD: Wounded tanks retreat. One new one comes along. We bomb it to shreds, then lose a horseman attacking. Then our regular longbows succeed, scratch another tank.
1650AD: Our destroyer sinks a yellow 'clad escorting a transport. Our arty bombs some foot troops who are approaching the fort.
1655AD: Four tanks, including the healed elite, move into the kill zone. Our arty minimizes them, then longbows knock off all four tanks with no losses (well, except for the sacrificial lambs stuck out in the open now -- but hey, I REALLY wanted that elite to suffer). Buy Mass Prod from Abe, start some battleships. Cleo will now talk to us and pay us a bit for peace, although all she can pay at the moment is a discount on a tech buy. Since we'd be right back to war next turn, I let her stew a bit. Maybe we can pop a leader in here somewhere. Also, we could buy saltpeter cheap and make some cavs. I seriously consider it, but that would mean the battleships wait. We don't have a lot of shields here.
1660AD: Egyptian government has collapsed. Bwahaha. Egyptian bomber
attacks our longbow, then elite cavs finishes. An Egyptian battleship picked up their unescorted transport (our destroyer had been wounded and I didn't risk it).
NOTE: once we get a fleet, keep it together! Looks like our north shore is where all the heavy action is, so keep the fleet up there (in port, where they can't be ambushed -- WE want first strike, ships really suck on defense), where you can also dip quickly through the canal if need be. Tlat looks like the best port site.
Late Rounds: little action. There's a wounded tank at the fort. Next player's choice to let it go or spend a longbow to try to finish it. I have not been retraining new longbows, so... when we run out, we run out. I was hoping the current supply would last us until we get our own tanks. Try to use the elite ONLY when there are multiple 1hp targets, so that win or lose, the unit is not hung out to dry. Each time it knocks off a battered enemy, is a chance for a leader. Also, there has been no weariness as yet, but it could come soon, so keep an eye out.
Judging by our current income, we will be done buying the four techs before Flight comes in. Be patient! The cash we gather while waiting for it can go to modern techs, tech theft, etc, after Flight arrives. And yes, the Iro's are the biggest threat. Well, that and Egypt getting hold of modern armors, but that's a way off yet and we ought to have mechs by then. I say hold Egypt at bay until the MPP expires, cancel it, make peace (make sure to get full value if possible), and keep on keeping on. Even if we lose, the closer we get, the more impressed the fans will be.
War with Egypt (us with tanks prior to them getting mechs) might be worth pressing, once we can field some offense, but the window will be pretty narrow. We can't get bogged down in hamstringing Egypt while Hi runs away with the game, so keep that in mind in weighing the value of further war with Cleo. Also, perhaps in future it would be better to sign Iro's to Alliance instead of MPP. The MPP is cheaper but locks us in for the duration. The MA way we can run T-Hawk "minimal war" and make peace ASAP, which may ultimately cost no more, as we weasel out of the alliance before it runs its course, thus pay less than it may appear.
Finally, keep the shore blockade in place! There have been all kinds of Egyptian transport pairs roaming around, looking for a place to land. We'll be better off if they don't. A stack of 8 or 16 in the back lines could cause serious (avoidable) problems. Note that by RBE rules, you cannot use noncombatants (workers, settlers, artillery) as shore blockade units.
RBE2 - Aztecs - 1675AD
- Sirian
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