SGOTM 10 - Wotan

[MacBaldrick]

Kulko,

Byzants - I agree with your plan of making peace, landing on island and atacking next turn. First time round they invite you to leave, only on the second do they kick you out, but even them only if you do not declare war which is your intention anyway. Until they are gone (and their dromons) we cannot engage in any significant naval operations this side of having Man-o-war. Perhaps that's why we are the English ?

I would use our gold to upgrade all galleys and MH then restart research for Magnetism to get M-o-W (and golden age) then Military Tradition for Cavalry. Continue on for steam power (rail continent for easy defence) then go for Repaceable parts to get Artillery. With enough Arty you can smash any attacking or defending stack although the super cannon range is going to be a big problem.

Best of luck over the next few turns. I am in Italy for the next week (Thursday - Thursday) walking in the Dolomite mountains so I will be unable to contribute for that period.

 

[Wotan]

Sound good Kulko. And I too favour plan 1.

 

[Killer_Klein]

As to the point on if the Barbs get the same techs as us, there is no way that can happen unless the very fundamentals of the game were changed.

In the editor, you can only give a Wonder the ability to learn a tech if two other people have it. Not just one.

I think that the time of the Caravels was just a coincidence. After all they have an entire continent to themselves that they didn't have to conquer. They will have the Libs, to boost the research.

I think that we need MilTrad simply because by the time we get a sizeable force over there going straight to Mag, they will already have the super cannons.

 

[Kulko]

Good Point killer, I think that changes things a bit. I will upgrade and then turn on research again.

 

[Ansar]

I choose option #1. Its straightforward.

 

[Kulko]

Sorry, major ****up at Work and now Germany is playing at the World Cup. I will play a few turns tonite, but the bulk will come tomorrow.

 

[Wotan]

@Killer: Thanks for the input re. GW techs.

@Kulko: No rush, take your time. RL is always a priority!

 

[Kulko]

We have taken most of the Dutch and reached the Barbs.

I will make a break here, so we can say if this changes our strategy.

Turnlog:
Preturn:
I make peace with Babs for 8 gp 2gpt and RoP.
Spent 1 hour micromanaging.
We seem to have money galore, so I look at the tech Screen to see how it develops.

IBT:
Barb lands a MI and send over another Caravel.
Dromon Stack moves northwards.

Turn 1:
Newly build Knight takes out the MI (-1hp)

I declare to the Dutch.

Battle for Utrecht.
vHM --> rSp retreats (-1hp)
vKn --> rSp Kills (-1hp)
Ekn --> rSp(2) kills
Utrecht falls.

Battle for Rotterdam
vKn --> rSp Kills (-1hp)
eKn --> rSp kills (-3hp)
Rotterdam falls.
Upgrade 2 HM that can't reach any battles in Rotterdam to have a garrision too.

Battle for Groningen
vKn --> vSp retreats to no effect.
vKn --> vSp kills (-1hp)
eKn --> vSp kills (-2hp)
Groningen falls

Battle for Eindhoven:
vKn --> rSp kills (-2hp)
I realize the second elite Unit waiting here is a HM. Rather than risking him, I upgrade and attack again next turn.


Battle for Amsterdam:
vKn --> vSp dies (-1hp) after hit by a Treb
vKn --> vSp retreats (-2hp) no hit by Cat
vKn --> vSp retreats (-2hp) hit by Archer
vKn --> vSp dies (-3hp/promotes)
vKn --> vSp retreats (-2hp)
vKn --> vSp(3) kills (-1hp)
vKn --> rSp kills (-1hp)
eKn --> vSp(2) kills (-1hp)
vKn --> vSp(2) kills
vKn --> vSp(2) dies (-1hp)
There are 2 Spears and 1 Archer and 2 Bombards left in the city.

Stack next to Amsterdam2Sp + 2Ar)
vKn --> vSp retreats (-1hp)
vKn --> rSp kills
vKn --> vSp(3) kills (-2hp)
eKn --> vAr kills
eHM --> rAr kills (-2hp)

The Barb Ship was a Pirate Ship (Privateer buildable at Astronomy.) So the Barbs have offensive Power on the sea.

IBT:
Dutch kill a VKn with an Archer and a Warrior
Lots of Warriors are moving between our Kn.
Dutch triremes moving against Adrianople.

Turn 2
Battle for Amsterdam 2
vKn --> eSp retreats (-1hp) after defensive hit.
vKn --> eSp(4) retreats (-2hp) after defensive hit.
vKn --> eSp(2) kills (-3hp) after defensive hit.
The dutch moved out the second spear, so I will hopefully take it now with my elite Knight.
eKn(4) --> vAr(2) kills
Amsterdam falls.

I kill some more Warriors and Spear in the open, but no leaders appear. not even one promotion.

Our first Caravel reaches the Barb land.
We are valid for the Spoilers.

IBT:
Nothing really.

 

[Kulko]

Situation:

Dutch have only 2 mainland cities left. but are not talking yet. Afterwards its get that tedious shipping again.

Barbs:
They have privateers at Astro. And will be sending small parties all along the way now.
We can reach them from the northwestern peninsula, so right next to our productive core. Only our Military is right now at the other end of the world.

Tech:
We have upgraded everything but 3 galleys, so I started research on Chemistry due in 6.

 

[Ansar]

Knock William off the mainland. Get the troops safely across the water. Have fun.

Once we land in the Barbarian Nation, the Barbarians will stop sending ships overseas so we better send the whole English army. im guessing the research is for Magnetism, but will we research after Magnetism?

 

[Kulko]

Turn 3

Battle for Eindhoven
eKN --> rSp kill (-1hp)
Eindhoven falls.

IBT:
Rotterdam flips back.
Barbs switch to anarchy. (have they researched Democracy?)

Turn 4
Cat takes 2 hitpoints of the new defender in Rotterdam.
EKn retakes it for no loss and no leader.

Battle for Den Haag
vKn --> vSp dies no effect
vKn --> vSp kills (-1hp)
eKn --> rSp kills (-3hp)
vKn --> rSp dies (-2hp + promo)
vKn --> rSp dies (-2hp)
eKn(4) --> vSp(2) kills (-1hp)

Turn 5
Battle for Den Haag (2)
eKn --> rSp kills (-2hp)
Den Haag falls leaving us a settler behind.

Dutch will talk but not give up any sizeable cities.
Especially Middlesburough is growing like hell.

Turn 7:
Amsterdam Flipped and is recaptured.
I redeclare on Babs, but he has 4 spears already in the Cap. So taking it will have to wait a turn.

Turn 8:
Byzanz has fallen.
I start the attack on the Dutch Islands.
Wotan is probably right, we wouldn't get Middlesborough if it was the only city left at size 4 with a harbour. So I start starving it.

Turn 9-11:
Take some more dutch cities, but he is not giving up anything.

The Dutch have landed 2 warriors near the new Ex-Byzanz Capital. Maybe we make peace to get one more city, and the resume when we are in position to take the rest. We can't capture Arnhem now, as Middleburg would become Capital.

 

[Killer_Klein]

Hey all,

I had something ready to post, something I did btwn calls at work but there was problem when I attached in an email to myself.

I have paper copies of a my first couple of installments of our SGOTM story. I hope to have the first section complete in the next couple of days.

Here is a rough outline of the sections I want to do.

Part One: War with Inca

Focus on a young man, forced to become a scribe after his father passed away and the farm he lived on was taken away but the local Duke. That duke then requires a scribe to write of the great deeds his son will accomplish in the up coming war. The two young men, nobleson and scribe, train and fight together and become good friends.

Part Two: Knights of Valor

Focuses on the creation of Her Majesty's Knights. The sport of jousting is all the rage amoung the young nobility. Inspired by this the Queen believes that this resources should be tapped and against the complaints of some of her most powerful nobility creates the Knighthood that will she believes will crush her foes.

Part Three: Two Brothers

The story of two brothers, one a pioneering ship captain and the other a devout priest upcessed with bringing the word of God to the heathen barbarians from across the water.

 

[Wotan]

@Kulko: I think you have done a great job of claiming the continent. The problem is the one tiler. I have had this problem in the past and the only solution I know is to starve it to size 1 or 2 to get it from a peace treaty. lets focus on doing this now.

@Killer: Good outline! I am confident you are a brilliant scribe for us. I have read your "Roman moments" and anyone on the team that have not read it I urge you to do it since it is a really amusing piece of work. If you can even come close to this in the spoiler thread I would be happy.

@Ansar: If you can play, please take the next turn set. We all do mistakes and this is a learning experience so even if the last attempt was a bit questionable I think you have understood what went wrong and am able to not repeating the same mistakes. If you cannot play I will take the next set of turns.

 

[Ansar]

I seem unable to play, AP work as taken over all my free time.

Sorry all...

 

[Wotan]

OK Ansar. Will post my thoughts on the next turn set tomorrow and await discussions to end before playing.

 

[Wotan]

Warplans: Finish off Netherlands and shift Knights north to build an invasion force.

Tech: Magnetism, then on to get Rail for fast movement both on our own continent and on the barb mainland.

Minor: Rush enough Caravels to starve Middleburg to size 1. Another 5 needed.

Questíon: We have experienced some Barbs landing on our continent, right? Where did they land? I know I am a bit lazy since I could easily read back through the thread to find this info but if someone could give me tha answer I would really appreciate it.

 

[Kulko]

Just short, long answers not before sunday evening:

Barbs land in old Sumer. in the northeastern Bay of the continent. I expirienced two landings, one MI and one stack of MI,War,Ar all Elite.

I have send all newly build knights and all Caravels to a stack near Erech. Maybe we need a few more caravels southwards to starve Midleburg,right now we only have 4-6 caravels there.

There are large swathes of the Barb Continent unsettled in the south. Maybe its smething planing our invasion around. From the prices of Techs I would guess the Barbs did not have Chemistry or Physics, I think they went for democracy insteadt.

So I am off for the weekend again. Godd luck to you Wotan.

 

[Killer_Klein]

Hey all,

RL has seems to rear it's ugly head. Was going to post the first chapter yesterday, but the new job called and asked if I could work and then today my parents are coming down for visit.

At work, I should be able to finish the first and maybe the second chapter and will post at least one before I go to bed ... I hope.

Oh yeah and GO OILERS GO!!!!!

 

[Wotan]

Will not be able to finish tonight. Hopefully tomorrow evening though.

 

[Kulko]

Since this is a learning experience no player should play his turn set without first posting a plan based on the joint discussion of the turns he is about to play. We should all chip in with ideas and discuss the progress of the game. When we have a joint plan the "active" player plays his turn set. This will probably be dealt with with more relaxed as the game progresses but lets stick to it for the first 10 to 15 turn sets.

I think this is a point, where extended discussion would be quite helpful, if only to have us Newbies to learn something. I think the main task of your turnset, will be the preparation of the first landing on Barbaria. And I think it would be a much better preparation, if we as a team discussed first when and where we want the landing to be.

For me the following questions are open, and I would learn a lot from an open discussion here:

A) when do we attack? Wer could probably send a force of 20-30 Knights after your turnset, but that would probably be grounded down quite fast over there.
Another Option is waiting for research on Cav and upgrade our existibg Army first. But that maybe to slow compared to teams like klarius.

B) Is it worth to set up a diversionary attack?
The barbarian core seems to be in the lands directly above us. The ships landing in Sumer always come from the west, and that is also where most of their cities I have found are. On the other hand the southern shore of their continent contains empty pieces. On Tactic would be to send a small force of defenisve Units or warriors there, together with a settler maybe. The force should be able to survive the frist 3 or four turns. This way the AI will draw its main force towards the south. We then can land our main attack right into their core and only bother about their defensive units.

C) How many ships do we need? Do we have to wait for magnetism to have supporting MAn O'Wars?

D) Usage of Man O'Wars. Since this was something I saw in another SG I was in a lot I would like to remind people to use them in fleets of 4 or more ships. That way the first can bombard the enemy and the last can attack a redlined enemy making it an almost sure win. If we do this for a while, we should have a sizeable fleet of 20-30 ships soon, with our enslave abaility.

E) Too Late, but something I would have liked somebody to come up before my turnset. The turn I killed Babs, I should actually have them sold Astro and then traded for their World Map. Since they would have died that turn anyway, no harm to gift them and it would show us, what they have already found of the Barbs.