Rescue my thwarted plans!

[TravellingHat]

Dear Civvers, I seek advice.

I'm playing a hotseat game with my brother: I'm Boudica; he's Kublai. He's doing rather well (obliterated the truculant Alex with a horde of keshiks), but I'm languishing.

My nearest neighbour is Mansa, so I rubbed my hands with glee thinking what a pushover this would be. Oh, how very wrong I was. Those skirmishers of his are laying waste to my Gallics. I've managed to take out two of his cities, but I'm really after his capital, which is on a hill, surrounded by gems, and looks in every respect to be a perfect Celtic city!

I only have three cities, having concentrated on churning out Gallics for conquest, but despite some successes, the real prize eludes me and I've paid dearly for my greed. My economy has gone to pot, my research is dragging, and I'm concerned he's going to be fielding longbows before I can take his capital.

I've founded Christianity and am running theocrasy, so I can get Guerilla 3 Gallics straight out of the gate. I'm hoping throwing a mass of these at him will do the trick (Guerilla 2 CR 1 have failed, but I'm hoping the withdrawal chance of Guerilla 3 may tip the balance). I don't have construction (not even mathematics yet!), but luckily he doesn't yet seem to be building walls (though his cultural defences are hurting).

If my last Gallic mob succeeds, then I think I'll be alright. Timbuktu has three gem sources around it (alas, blinded by my Celtic greed!) so if captured should help me get back on my feet. However, no one needs "best case scenario" advice... so if I fail, any advice on how I can pull my fat out of the fire? Or will I need to concede temporary defeat and lick my wounds.

I can't recall the exact year, but it's low ADs and medieval techs cannot be far off. I can't post the save file, as I'm at work.

 

[Sjaramei]

Why aren't you making CR2 Gallics, and why do you have Theology and not Construction?

Get catapults as fast as humanly possible! They are the key to city conquests, (especially vs Mansa's skirmishers, it's like rushing a protective civ... you just don't do it without cats ) Half stack gallics and a couple of spears rest catapults and you should take the cities even if he gets longbows. (just expect to lose a lot of suicide cats then)
I expect you have to have at least twice the amount of gallics as mansa have skirmishers to take his capital. (thats if you are lucky, three times as many is more likely) Unless you can manage that before he get longbows, sue for peace and get cats.

 

[TravellingHat]

I got theology through bulbing a GP, hence having it before construction. I am of course regretting not going straight for construction, but I thought Mans would fold like a cheap suit. That'll teach me for being complacent!

The area is quite hilly, so I've been promoting my Gallics Guerilla 2 first, and then CR 1 or Shock (have a few shock promoted Gallics to guard the stack). This has helped as I can rush new units to the front, but has the downside that they're a bit lacking in beef.

If I go Guerilla + CR 2, I lose the movement bonus and the withdrawal chance, but get +55% vs city (CR2 + swordsman's bonus), so should be 6 + 55% = 9.9 Str.

If I go Guerilla 3 I get the movement bonus and get +25% hill attack, with the swordsman's bonus is 6 + 35% = 8.1 Str (vs hill) and 50% withdraw.

His best units are CG1 skirmishes fortified in a hill city, so they're getting I guess +25% (hill), + 25% (fortified), +75% (archer in hill city), so 3 +125% = 6.75 Strength.

My maths must be out (or he has better than CG1) as by my reckoning I should be pasting him. Mind you, I'm no min/maxer and I don't usually get into the nitty gritty of the mechanics.

My gut feel is the increased move and withdrawal is worth more than the raw Str, as I can bring more units to bear, save some casualties and replace loses quicker. However, events seem to be proving me wrong!

Maybe I should mix them up a bit. I have a city very close to his capital, where I could build CR 2s, and bring up some Guerilla 3s from my other two cities. Throw the Guerilla 3s in first to soften them up (and hopefully withdraw some casualties) and finish of with the city raiders.

 

[Sjaramei]

The area is quite hilly, so I've been promoting my Gallics Guerilla 2 first, and then CR 1 or Shock (have a few shock promoted Gallics to guard the stack). This has helped as I can rush new units to the front, but has the downside that they're a bit lacking in beef.

If I go Guerilla + CR 2, I lose the movement bonus and the withdrawal chance, but get +55% vs city (CR2 + swordsman's bonus), so should be 6 + 55% = 9.9 Str.

If I go Guerilla 3 I get the movement bonus and get +25% hill attack, with the swordsman's bonus is 6 + 35% = 8.1 Str (vs hill) and 50% withdraw.

His best units are CG1 skirmishes fortified in a hill city, so they're getting I guess +25% (hill), + 25% (fortified), +75% (archer in hill city), so 3 +125% = 6.75 Strength.

My maths must be out (or he has better than CG1) as by my reckoning I should be pasting him. Mind you, I'm no min/maxer and I don't usually get into the nitty gritty of the mechanics.

You don't understand how city raider works. It doesn't boost your unit strength, it reduces the enemies. So a city raider 2 gallic reduces the enemies strength by 55%, not boosting your strength. Thats why i asked for more CR2 gallics (i'm not very fond of math myself, but hard learned lessons taught me that city raider is good )

 

[TravellingHat]

It doesn't boost your unit strength, it reduces the enemies.

I had absolutely no idea of that! As the saying goes: you learn something new every day.

Well, the next session won't be until Monday (we only play once a week), but if I remember I'll post the outcome back here.

 

[JujuLautre]

And Mansa's skirmisher are 4 (not 3) strength with frigthening bonuses... don't forget that