SGOTM 10 - Xteam

[Mistfit]

Sorry for the delay... long story...

IT:
BTW I found our next target.. When I settled Bling I found a city 2 tiles away... It is nice enough to be next to our mountain for bombardment
I Will get this guy next Once I can move troops up to it.

lose one MoW to an ironclad (2/0/1)
one Cav impales itself on our city (3/0/1)

Amsterdam Inf to Inf
Chichen Itza Harbor to MoW
Hastings Arti to INF
Umma Cav to Cav
Humanga Inf to Inf
Eindhoven Inf to Lib???
Liverpool Inf to Inf
Appache2 Rax to Cav

Turn 2 (1360 AD)
lose 2 MoW killing a redlined IC (4/0/3)

Damage all 14 Barb Inf that showed up this turn with Arti

eCav kills redlined vInf flawless (5/0/3)
eCav kills redlined vInf -3 (6/0/3)

A lot of INF and some Cavs show up on Barb Isle

I really suck at ship chaining... I will try to get it back by the time I turn it over...

MM the hell outta this and Steel due in 1

IT:
Lose 2 MoW to IC's... (this is ruining my average) (6/0/5)
2 Cavs Impale themselves and 2 retreat (8/0/5)
Steel comes in Start REfining

London Cav to Cav
Sumer Inf to Inf
Copan Inf to Inf
Macha Pichu MoW to MoW
Tikal the same
Coventry Army to Army
Cori Cav to Cav
Vilcabamaba the same
Heraclea Cav to Cav
Zamalamadingdong MoW to MoW
Dover Arti to Arti

Production Sabotaged in Nicea

Turn 3 (1365 AD)
Bombard 3 Cavs outside of Barb ToeHold then Kill them off with my cavs (11/0/5)

Bombard New Olmec and find there are only 3 Inf there... nice Redlined them all

Attack city with both cav armies and kill three defenders and take the city (14/0/5)

Sell Market/Harbor and can't sell the Aquecuct

Redline all of the Units around again...

MM'ing... Can't get refining at better than 5 with everyone on scientist at 90% and losing big cash so I turn em into Taxists. Due in 6

IT: Lose another MoW
Loose a few points off the INF army no other losses.
Everyone builds the same thing as they were...

Turn 4 (1370 AD)
Bombard units around our new holdings

Kill off a couple of offending barb units and find our next conquest... Chanca size 12

Abandon New Olmec

MM'ing hell

Somthing has changed and I can put Refining at 4 hmmm.. did someone else learn it?

IT:
Have not checked it yet but somthing bombards the hell out of our Cav Army (must be those mountain bombard units)
Our MoW's do better this turn and kill 2 IC's a couple flee due to damage I've done to them

Turn 5 (1275 AD)
Holy Crap... The bombard thing did 8 points damage to our army...

Consolidate our holdings near Chanca and bring more arti close. I move off the Mountain in hopes of being out of range of the Mountain cannons

MM pretty well but you might wanna take a look thru


Pass Down Report:
I don't know if it was for this purpose but there are 2 arti (one forted) near Chichen Itza that I have not deported. I've kept them for possible landings or ship sightings on the main continent.

There is a load of Arti on the Mountain one tile NE of Bling. They have 2 movement points (on Road) left. If you want to move them up under the INF Army you can.

There are 2 or 3 settlers in Bling for Combat settlers. Unfortunately due to road bombardment I could not use em before disbanding the city

There is a large stack of MoW's off the east coast of the home continent comming home for repairs.

The army is active and can be filled with you choosing of troops in Barb toes

Refining due in 3

 

[DJMGator13]

I don't know if it was for this purpose but there are 2 arti (one forted) near Chichen Itza that I have not deported. I've kept them for possible landings or ship sightings on the main continent.

That is exactly why I left them there. I think there was originally 4 but I reduced it to 2. The unforted 1 is to remind you that they are still there. They're railed so they can be moved anywhere on our mainland and still shoot.

 

[leif erikson]

Looking good Mistfit!!

Don't like the sound of those Barb Bombard Cannons!!

Roster:
Leif - UP
Bugs - On Deck
Scout
Gator
Capt - On Vacation
Mistfit - Just thumped some Barbs!!

I'll try to start tomorrow evening. Listening for suggestions, but for now, off to

 

[Sir Bugsy]

We need to be careful not to develop a large salient here. We may want to move west of Toehold. Maybe even plant a city 2SW of Toehold and see if we can draw some of these Barb cannons out.

 

[Mistfit]

It is my guess that the Barb Arti are imobile. I think they are strategically placed and cannot move at all... btw I have no idea what salient is... off to dictionary.com


Edit: Good word Bugs...

A military position that projects into the position of the enemy.

for any other non military idiots out there like me

 

[leif erikson]

We need to be careful not to develop a large salient here. We may want to move west of Toehold. Maybe even plant a city 2SW of Toehold and see if we can draw some of these Barb cannons out.

Yes, I agree we should get something moving to the SW.

We now seem to have 2 "Armies" going. One to defend Toe and the other to attack northward. I think we can contnue the northward movement by taking Chanca, and should start a SWerly movement. I'd like to take the empty Army, load it with 3 Cavs and screen out to the SW, doing some recon as we go.

@Mistfit - Any idea where the Barb Bombard Cannon shot came from? My guess is that it was west or south of Chanca. If we know where it is, we can either avoid it or decide to take it out. Avoiding it would be my choice at the moment. A unit that takes 8 from an army is not something you want to hang around too long! However, with a range of 3, it doesn't seem like something we can avoid for long either. The Military Advisor screen shows that he has 18 of those things!!

It look like there is a mountainous ridge running down the center of this continent. I wonder if it would be wise to take and hold Chanca and shift our main effort to the south, towards that choke point?

 

[Mistfit]

The ones on the western side of the barb island were on mountains so I'd imagine that is where these are located as well.

I like the push towards the center of the continent because I have a feeling that is where the Barb Stronghold is. We take that out and the rest start to crumble..

 

[Mistfit]

btw 2 additional items...

1.) in my turnset a lot more barb infantry and cavs were produced than I killed

2.) you guys do not read my turn logs very closely as after my first turn I mentioned that research on Fasism was progressing nicely and no one screamed

 

[leif erikson]

1.) in my turnset a lot more barb infantry and cavs were produced than I killed

Just curious how you knew this? By the Military Advisor screen?

2.) you guys do not read my turn logs very closely as after my first turn I mentioned that research on Fasism was progressing nicely and no one screamed

I read that but figured you had imbibed a bit trying to get this moving along and with all the holiday spirit and what not!!

 

[Mistfit]

by the screenshot of their units from turn one versus the screenshot at the end of my turns... granted there is a full page of spam inbetween but you guys just do not read my stuff

 

[leif erikson]

by the screenshot of their units from turn one versus the screenshot at the end of my turns... granted there is a full page of spam inbetween but you guys just do not read my stuff

Nah, I read all of it. I just forgot what you said in the beginning by the time I read what you said in the end!!

 

[DJMGator13]

granted there is a full page of spam inbetween but you guys just do not read my stuff

I only read every 2nd or 3rd word. It takes too long to read every word in a sentence. Besides it was a Holiday weekend and I figured you just had too much whiskey as you we're playing.

I'm starting to think that their capital city is probably inside of circle of these cannon things. Which will mean there is no way in around them. Is it safe to assume they have lethal bombardment?

 

[leif erikson]

I'm starting to think that their capital city is probably inside of circle of these cannon things. Which will mean there is no way in around them. Is it safe to assume they have lethal bombardment?

I'm playing now. Their Capital is definately surrounded by those damned things!! Thus far, I have not suffered any lethal bombardment. However, as I approached Chanca, they were sure putting out some smoke, but not much damage. Could it have been RNG luck for a change??

I'll post more, with screenies a little later as I'm on a second computer. I think we'll prolly be going around these things for a while.

 

[scoutsout]

@Mistfit: I read every single word... (reaching for something to wipe the noseprints off the computer screen...) Seriously... looks like a good set in a slugfest. From the read it appears you did some pretty good MMing too.

Have we tried stealing the Barbarian World Map yet? It might be useful for planning... It's going to be interesting to see if we still have to fight with combined arms even after we get tanks...

 

[leif erikson]

Have we tried stealing the Barbarian World Map yet? It might be useful for planning... It's going to be interesting to see if we still have to fight with combined arms even after we get tanks...

Yes, I just stole their World map. When I finish this evening, I will post an intermediate save for you to have a look at. Wait until you see their capital city site, Gyathaar was sure generous!! You'd think he was trying to make this difficult for us.

I'm on my second turn (they take forever), so we can adjust. Give me another hour and I'll post.

 

[leif erikson]

The save is attached below.

Here is the turn log so far.
Turn 265 – 1375 AD
Pre-flight
Change builds:
Cuzco from Cavalry to Infantry.
Amsterdam from Infantry to Cavalry.
MM Corihuayrachina.
Eindhoven from Infantry to Artillery.
Smyrna from Infantry to Cav.
I don’t know what to do from Explorer to Artillery.
Norwich from Man-o-War to Harbor.
Refining went to 4-turns, check specialists. Change Cori and Adrianople Taxmen to Scientists and we’re back to 3 turns for Refining.
Everything else looks good, now to check on military in Barbaria!
Load three Cavs into the Army to form the 4th Cavalry!!

Move the 4th Cav to the mountain 4 tiles west, southwest of Bling and find 4 of those Barbarian Guard units. While they are called Regular, they have 8/8 hit points (super elites?) (The stats for the Barb Guard read Regular (8/8) Barbarian Guard (0(9).8) while our Artillery reads Artillery (0(12).0.1/1)) Hope our Cav Army survives the blast??

Time to press enter?

IBT
Those cannon thingies go off and they seem to affect every stack that is within range? The reason I thought this is a message appears over every stack that was within range. However, 4 fired at our Cav on th ehMountain and it lost only 4-HP. Our Infantry Army on the top near Chanca lost 2 HP.
We lose a Man-o-War to a redlined Ironclad!
The Barbs attack Toe with 8 Cavs, 3 die, 4 retreat and one kills one of our Infantry units.
Sumer Infantry => Infantry, Hire a Taxman.
The Hague Cavalry => Cavalry.
Copan Inf => Inf.
Palenque Cav => Cav.
Canterbury Cav => Cav.
Umma Cav => Inf.
Newcastle Arty => Arty.
Huamanga Inf. => Inf.
Varna Settler => Settler.
Bonampak Inf => Cav. Fire the Scientist.

Turn 266 – 1380 AD
The first thing I do is move the 4th Cav south and hopefully out of range of those monstrosities. I find 2-cities.

Bombardment of 7 units near Toe.
6 Artillery take away 8 HP from Barb Cavs and a Guerilla.
Attack them from Toe.
4/4 Inf attack 2/4 Cav, it retreats, no damage to us.
4/4 Inf attack 2/4 Cav, it retreats, no damage.
5/5 Inf attacks 1/4 Guerilla and kills him flawlessly, no leader.
5/5 Cav attacks 1/4 Cav and kills him flawlessly, no leader.
4/4 Cav attacks redlined Cav and kills him flawlessly.
4/4 Cav attacks redlined Cav and kills him flawlessly.
5/5 Cav attacks redlined Cav and kills him flawlessly, no leader.
5/5 Cav attacks redlined Cav and kills him, no 2/5.
4/4 Cav attacks redlined Cav and kills him, now 1/4.

Sea Battle SE of Toe.
Using 4 Man-o-War, redline 2 Ironclads.
4/4 Man-o-War attacks redlined Ironclad and enslaves it, losing 1 HP.
4/4 Man-o-War attacks a redlined Ironclad and sinks it.
4/4 Man-o-War attacks redlined Ironclad (that sunk our Man-o-War during the interturn) and sinks him, losing 1 HP.

Battle of Chanca.
Bombardment. There are 7 Infantry in Chanca and, with 8 Artillery units, we redline 5 of them and the last 2 are 2/4.
2nd Cav Army (12/14) attacks 2/4 Inf and we kill him, losing 1 HP.
3rd Cav Army (11/13) attacks 2/4 Inf and kills him, Cav Army now 2/13. (yikes)
4/4 Cav attacks 1/4 Inf and kills him, now 2/4.
4/4 Cav attacks 1/4 Inf and kills him, now 3/4.
4/4 Cav attacks 1/4 Inf and dies.
4/4 Cav attacks 1/4 Inf and dies, Inf promotes.
4/4 Cav attacks 2/5 Inf and kills him, now 1/4.
4/4 Cav attacks 1/4 Inf and kills him.
4/4 Cav attacks 1/4 Inf and kills him, promotes to Elite and we take the city with one worker.
The city has Newton’s University in it.
I go to take a screenie and press the enter key by accident.
The hills are alive with Barb Bombard Cannons!!
I sell the Barracks, Marketplace and Courthouse. That leaves The Great Library and Newton’s University.
Move the 3rd Cav back to Bling for rest and refit.
Move the 1st Cav back to Bling for rest and refit.

Move a Combat Settler north, north and northwest.

Move a fleet of Man-o-Wars into Chichen Itza for repairs.

Just found a whole stack of Artillery I didn’t know was there!! I’ll need that next turn… I decide not to bombard their units 2-tiles from Toe as I hope they come a little closer so I can clean them all up!!

Abandon Chanca. I did this because I have moved the settler and anything we put in the city will be subject to those bombard cannons and I would rather ensure Newton’s is destroyed that risk the Barb getting it back again. That should take a bite out of their research rate!

A little MM and we will have Refining in 2 turns.

The Barb Capital.

IBT
2 Ironclads move towards Toe, no combat.
A lot of Infantry and Cav movement. We lose one Cav in the only Barb attack, near Toe.
London Cav => Cav.
Chichen Itza Man-o-War => Man-o-War.
Machu Piccu Man-o-War => MoW.
York Cav => Cav.
Cori Cav => Cav.
Dover Arty => Arty.
Propaganda campaign against Richmond has upset its citizens.


Turn 267 – 1385 AD
Found the city of Ipswich north of Bling, start a Barracks and MM for an Engineer.
OH Boy, lots to shoot at this turn!!

From Ipswich, bombard 2 enemy Ironclads off the coast. Using 7 Atry’s, we redline both Ironclads (5 hits, 2 misses).
3/3 MoW attacks redlined Ironclad and sinks it.
3/3 MoW attacks redlined Ironclad and enslaves it.
Send wounded MoW into Ipswich for repair.

Battle around Bling. There are 12 Inf and 3 Cav units near Toe and 2 Inf and 3 Cav units near Bling. The goal is to take them out.
Bombardment. Redline the units around Bling, except for 1 Cav which is 2/4.
Attack up north.
5/5 Cav attacks a 2/4 Cav and kills him, no leader.
5/5 Cav attacks 1/4 Inf and kills him flawlessly, no leader.
4/4 Inf attacks 1/4 Cav and he retreats!
4/4 Cav attacks 1/4 Cav and kills him flawlessly.
4/4 Cav attacks 1/4 Cav and kills him flawlessly.
5/5 Inf attacks 1/4 Inf and kills him, losing 1 HP, no leader.

Battle around Toe.
Bombardment. Use 3 Arty in Toe to redline an Ironclad. The other 4 in Toe bombard a stack and all hit but one.
During bombardment, an Infantry pops up and I unintentionally disconnect the gems. Why the game doesn’t stay with Arty when you move a stack is beyond me, sorry!
Move Arty from the mountain near Bling to 1 NW of Toe. Begin bombardment of the 3 stacks. Redline 7 of the 15 units.
4/4 Cav attacks 2/4 Cav and kills him flawlessly, promotes.
4/4 Cav attacks 1/4 Inf and dies.
4/4 Cav attacks 1/4 Inf and kills him, now 3/4.
4/4 Cav attacks 1/4 Inf and kills him flawlessly.
4/4 Cav attacks 1/4 Inf and kills him, now 3/4.
4/4 Cav attacks 1/4 Inf and dies.
4/4 Cav attacks 1/4 Inf and kills him, losing 2 HP, promotes.
4/4 Cav attacks 1/4 Inf and kills him, losing 2 HP, promotes.
4/4 Cav attacks 1/4 Inf and kills him, now 3/4.
5/5 Cav attacks 1/4 Inf and kills him flawlessly, no leader.

Attack redlined Ironclad with a 4/4 MoW and sink it.

Move the 4th Cav back towards a safe city to heal.

Save game for the night and post save.

 

[Sir Bugsy]

OK, just trying to think like Gythaar here. I doubt there is anyway that he could have programmed the AI to build those forts and keep those Barb Cannons on the mountain tops. Conjecture #1 - Those things were there in their forts from turn one. This would explain why we're not seeing them in any of the cities. But why don't they move off those mountains? Do they have any movement points? Perhaps what we have are a limited number of cannon to deal with.

If that is the case we will want to try and eliminate their production and attack forces and then move into range of those beasts. Pummel them to redline and hope an army can take one out.

 

[leif erikson]

OK, just trying to think like Gythaar here. I doubt there is anyway that he could have programmed the AI to build those forts and keep those Barb Cannons on the mountain tops. Conjecture #1 - Those things were there in their forts from turn one. This would explain why we're not seeing them in any of the cities. But why don't they move off those mountains? Do they have any movement points? Perhaps what we have are a limited number of cannon to deal with.

I think your conjecture is exactly on the mark!! The only thing I can't check is that the Mil Advisor says there are 18 of them and there are only 16 forts on mountains. Can that mean there are 2 in the capital itself??

If that is the case we will want to try and eliminate their production and attack forces and then move into range of those beasts. Pummel them to redline and hope an army can take one out.

EDIT - I completed a resource count and that may invalidate this. Please see the next post.

I had a look at the screenie below:

I think we need to decide whether we can take this or whether it will be too costly. I'm looking real hard at trying to take it based upon the resources I see there. The city must have Iron Works as well as there is both coal and iron in the fat cross.

There are two strategies we could persue:
The first is take the cities around the capital and cut off its lux resources, which would work until they get to airports. We by-pass the capital and keep working to eliminate the surrounding cities. This would mean a city with only the local resources. I need to check what strategic resources are near by.

The second is to take out that capital and all the production associated with it. I think taking it would break the Barb's back, but it may also hurt us as well.

 

[leif erikson]

Double post alert!!

Just completed a survey of strategic resources. What I think I found, and someone should confirm it as my eyes are getting old, is that the Barb Nation has 1 source of Rubber and 2 sources of Saltpeter, and they all are near one another. In the south, of course.

Here is a screenie:

I think we should consider holding in the north and shifting some assets south. The Anasazi2, New Lupaca 2, Zapotec 2 area is his resource breadbasket. Without Rubber or Saltpeter, he can't build reinforcements. Also, Tanks and Mech Inf require Rubber and Oil. Next turn we'll get to see where the Oil is, but we know the weakness for Rubber.

BTW, he has plenty of Iron, Coal and Horses, so trying to take them would be futile.

EDIT - I'm holding until we discuss our next moves and strategy based upon the revelations of the map.

 

[Sir Bugsy]

How many sources of rubber do they have? I can't believe Gythaar would only give them one source. If that is their only source it is a no brainer.

One option would be to cut the continent in half. That would deny rubber and salt to the north and their core.

I think what we may want to do with the Barb cannons is move a stack of artillery under two armies within range of the cannon. Focus on one cannon, bombard it to one then attack it with an army. Rinse and repeat 16 times. Then move on to their capitol.