SGOTM 12 - Smurkz

[ControlFreak]

Nobody said I was OK with wasting 2 workers for 2 turns. I just haven't had a chance to look and if you were going to play, I believed that you have the right "to do" list, just maybe not the most efficient way to get the list accomplished. (Oh, crap, I sound like my wife.)

I'll look at it and see if I can " ".

 

[CommandoBob]

I was planning to wake 2 workers this turn. One makes a marsh road and one goes to Ozzy. The remaining five keep planting the forest, due in 2 turns.

In two turns the third forest completes and we build another worker.

The five can make a fourth forest and the sixth can...?

Hmm.
Or maybe once we have all four forests planted, we let 1 worker per forest chop and send everyone else to help with the marsh road?

 

[zyxy]

The reason that our towns are unhappy is not that we lost a lux - you renewed the deal, so the dyes are still being delivered. The reason is War Weariness.

I don't think that Lisbon and Oporto are worth a 10% increase in lux tax, so I would reduce the lux rate to 10%, and hire a scientist in Oporto and Lisbon for one turn. Next turn, an MDI can serve as MP there and they'll be fine.

I don't understand how come we're suddenly losing a lot of money again, but there's not much to do about it. Selling tech or lux won't help much as there's not much cash or gpt around, but perhaps a good deal will show up in a turn or 2.

I don't understand what you are trying to do with the workers around KZ. But maybe you didn't know that if you cancel a worker job, then the turns that that worker invested are lost?
Planting a forest takes 9 worker turns. So if you let 7 workers do the job, it will take 2 turns. If you let 5 workers do it, it will take 2 turns. Meaning that currently at least 2 workers are wasting their time...

 

[CommandoBob]

What happened at KZ was just this: I got confused. I have gotten into the habit off trying to determine the best use of a worker within the worker's walking distance. So six workers around KZ must have something to do around KZ. It did not occur to me to send one to Ozzy.

Gee, I was confused enough to think that Gandalf ControlFreak had made a mistake in counting workers.

 

[ControlFreak]

The reason that our towns are unhappy is not that we lost a lux - you renewed the deal, so the dyes are still being delivered. The reason is War Weariness.

I don't think that Lisbon and Oporto are worth a 10% increase in lux tax, so I would reduce the lux rate to 10%, and hire a scientist in Oporto and Lisbon for one turn. Next turn, an MDI can serve as MP there and they'll be fine.

I don't understand how come we're suddenly losing a lot of money again, but there's not much to do about it. Selling tech or lux won't help much as there's not much cash or gpt around, but perhaps a good deal will show up in a turn or 2.

I don't understand what you are trying to do with the workers around KZ. But maybe you didn't know that if you cancel a worker job, then the turns that that worker invested are lost?
Planting a forest takes 9 worker turns. So if you let 7 workers do the job, it will take 2 turns. If you let 5 workers do it, it will take 2 turns. Meaning that currently at least 2 workers are wasting their time...

I agree that war weariness is going to start becoming an issue. we are losing lots of units to France and will continue for the near future. Lisbon and Oporto can an should hire scientists at this point, especially if we're pursuing the Worker farm in GB, keep the unhappy towns to low growth rate and then add workers quickly after france is eliminated. For now the lux tax should be at 10% because without it, FS and StF are unhappy and that does justify lux.

Troops waiting for a ride to France can MP while their waiting but they should not be considered "locked into babysitting".

I think we got some decent gpt payments when France was strong and buying things from the other AI's who in turn paid us for old techs. But now France is past their GA and suffering under the load of their large army. I also think that things get bad quickly because we're over the allowed limit and making 2 or 3 new units every turn. I don't see a way around this until France is eliminated so just keep checking for per turn deals. By the way, if a civ has gpt, I would rather sell them luxuries than techs. Selling luxuries to our allies makes them happy which makes them research faster and earn more gpt. Giving them luxuries ruins our rep if the trade route is broken so don't give luxuries away, but rather, sell them for cut rate gpt deals.

I agree that you have been waking a lot of workers, some perhaps unnecessarily (why can't GB have finished the irrigation on the spices?). You have admittedly not moved the workers as I would have. But sometimes it's better to reassess how you can continue on, rather than "undoing" mistakes. In the case of the KZ workers. You should have moved one of them to Ozzy. You didn't and started a forest. Once the forest was started, the next turn there were 8 turns left so you only needed to join 3 workers to the 1 worker and it would have been perfectly completed in 2 turn. You didn't and joined 6. That means there is exactly one worker turn left. If KZ's worker was due in one turn, it could move to the tile, finish planting the forest and free all 7 workers to do something else. If we don't want to sacrifice KZ's growth even further, then the next best thing is to wake the THREE extra workers so they can do something productive next turn.

What happened at KZ was just this: I got confused. I have gotten into the habit off trying to determine the best use of a worker within the worker's walking distance. So six workers around KZ must have something to do around KZ. It did not occur to me to send one to Ozzy.

Gee, I was confused enough to think that Gandalf ControlFreak had made a mistake in counting workers.

I make plenty of worker counting mistakes.

 

[CommandoBob]

[After even more feedback, all of which was useful]
Raise science to 90%, luxuries at 10%.
StF is fine, Oporto still cranky.
Hire a geek in Oporto. zero growth.

Didn't think about Lisbon hiring a geek. Do so now.

KZ's worker due in 2.
SW of KZ, wake a worker than can move and send him towards Ozzy.
Wake two more, one to road the marsh, the other to begin to forest the mined BG NW of KZ.

Hit Enter.

[IBT]
Longbow kills our Mace in France (9 of 18).
French galley moves to zyxy's blue dot.

Iroquois want to talk. We do not.


Bad News

Spain and Maya make peace.

06 310 AD

Operation Torch
The French galley actually works to our advantage by occupying zyxy's Blue Dot.
Zecond Wave and Righteouz Flamez can end their moves 1NW of the galley, which means their units will unload not due E of Orleans but 1NE of it, and out of range of first turn attacks from Paris by Longbows.
These two ships move SW (ocean/1 MP), W (ocean/2 MP), W (sea/4 MP), W (ocean/5 MP), W (ocean/6 MP), W (ocean/7 MP), NW (ocean/8 MP) and W (sea/9+ MP), ending 2E and 1NE of Orleans.

Pillager1 and Deadly Flamez move W (ocean/1 MP), W (ocean/2 MP), W (sea/4 MP), W (coast/7 MP) and W (coast/9+ MP)

Pillager2 and Shot-Dark move E (coast/3 MP) and SE (coast/6 MP).

ReturnOTPP sails S (sea/2 MP), S (ocean/3 MP), S (ocean/4 MP), SE (ocean/5 MP), E (sea/7 MP) and E (coast/9+ MP), 2 W of Orleans.

Pillager2 and Shot-Dark unload 5 units (2 AC, 2 Knights and a Mace).
Both sail E (sea/8 MP) and pick up 3 Maces each.
Both sail W (coast/9+ MP) and unload 6 Maces.

Deadly Flamez and Pillager1 unload their units, 1 AC and 5 Maces.
???
One of the Maces loaded into these boats was redlined from Old India. I thought it would heal on the trip overseas, but both turns ended in Spanish waters, which I overlooked, and so it did not heal. Let's hope we don't need that Mace.

ReturnOTPP unloads its three units, an AC and 2 Mace. A Longbow and Pike are in the forest to the SW.

So NE of Orleans are 17 units; W of Orleans are 3 units.

France

Old India
Spice irrigation completes.
GB works that spice.
Those two slaves move W onto a BG, to mine and road.

Old Japan
Name on active worker Marshwiggle; he goes to make a marsh road (W and N).
Name the other active worker Johny Appleseed; he moves N to start a forest.
Move a worker (Ozzy Pop 12) into Ozzy, join next turn.

Add a worker to Ozzy, now at size 11.
Move 4 workers to Theo, will enter and join next turn.

Four slaves NW of StF head to KZ, several turns to get there.

Smurkz
Hit the space bar by accident and Pink Panther stays at sea for an extra turn; has 3 Maces headed to Old India.
PPSA sails N (coast/3 MP) and NW (coast/3 MP), in place to pick up the Mace in FS next turn.

Trading
Get the Mayas to another MA vs. Spain for no cost.
Maya declare war on Spain (again).

Sell Monarchy to Zulu for 3 of 3 gold.
Almost sell Monarchy to Vikings for 2 gpt, until I see that we have no trade routes with the Vikiings.
Our MA expires this IBT, so we'll keep Monarchy back for one turn, in case we need bait for the MA.
Now I regret selling Monarchy to Zulu; it makes it that much easier for the Vikings to learn it.
Won't sell anymore this turn.
​

The Orleans Battlegrounds 310 AD

[IBT]
On the west side of Orleans, we lose our AC to that pesky Longbow (9 of 19).
On the east side of Orleans, some Crusaders show up. A Longbow dies to our Knight (10 of 20).

Kommando Zentral worker -> worker, 2 turns.
Furzt Smurkz vMace -> vMace, 2 turns.
Ozzy Smurkz vMace -> vMace, 5 turns.


07 320 AD

France

Old India
Two slaves begin mine on BG SW and S of GB (6 turns).

Two slaves begin to road the grassland S of Lisbon (3 turns).

Old Japan
Add Ozzy Pop 12 (worker) to Ozzy, now at size 12.
New Mace in Ozzy moves northward.

Add four workers to Theo, now at size 12.

Marshwiggle begins marsh road, only 6 turns.

Forest did not complete SW of KZ. Four workers still there.
New worker from KZ move SW to add to and hopefully complete the forest. And he does.

PPSA, with one Mace already aboard, moves NE (sea/2 MP) and NE (coast/5MP) and waits.
New vAC in StF loads.

Forest chopping slaves begin mine 2NW of StF (3 turns).

Smurkz
New Mace tries to boards PPSA, but my finger slipped.

Elsewhere
Pink Panther N (sea 2/MP), N (ocean/3 MP), NW (sea/5 MP) and W (coast/8 MP) and unloads 3 Maces.
Moves E (sea/9+ MP).

Battle of Orleans
vMace vs. vPike, Pike wins (10 of 21).
vMace vs. vPike, Pike wins (10 of 22).
vMace vs. vPike, Mace wins (11 of 23).
vMace vs. vPike, Mace wins (12 of 24).
vMace vs. vPike 3/4, Mace wins (13 of 25).
vMace vs. vSpear, Mace wins (14 of 26).
eMace vs. vPike 2/4, Mace wins but does not promote (15 of 27).

Good News

And Orleans is ours!
Orleans has 10 resisters (no surprise).
Change the clown to a geek.
We liberate 1 Viking slave.
Orleans lacks a barracks, but has a harbor and market.
​

[IBT]
The turn is not finished, but it is too late for me to continue, so I'll pass it on at this point. Two fumbel finger mistakes and a bunch of typos convince me to end this turnset and go to bed.

Some units and workers can still be moved.

There is a Crusader SE of Orleans protected by a Pike. I think it is a new arrival from Paris and not part of the New York wrecking crew.
We have two slaves to capture just S of Orleans.
No Knights or Horseman attacked us after we invaded, so the Horses are still unconnected. Or Paris is still building Copernicus' Observatory, which is just as good.

Only Pink Panther has used all its movement. PPSA has some left; the other caravels have not moved yet.

We have six caravels off the east coast of France and in theory we could ship chain 6 units at a time. We just need to have 6 units ready to ship.

I don't see a way to ship chain from Smurkz and Old Japan to Old India. This route has three end points: Smurkz for FS, Old Japan for StF and Ozzy and Old India to unload. This may work better as a loop (Smurkz -> Old Japan -> Old India) than a straight line ship chain, which has only two end points.

And the save is >>HERE<<.

 

[Niklas]

Nice going, not a single lost unit in the battle for Orleans!

And nice going team, to keep up the discussion and play in my semi-absence. Unfortunately I don't seem me coming back any time soon. I'm officially on sick leave now, and I really can't risk anything in my recovery. But keep up the great play!

 

[ControlFreak]

The tavern was quiet, only the sound of scribbling pencil murmured softly in the background. ControlFreak was once again busily writing "to do" lists and then promptly crumpling them up, throwing them on the floor and starting another as if he knew no one would be reading them, but he couldn't help writing them.

zyxy was leaning back in the chair looking pensively at the ceiling and Niklas was staring at the table, his arm in a sling that made him look mortally wounded. His injury was not life threatening but it had kept him away from the group for a long while and did not seem to be healing as fast as anyone would have wished. sercer and the rest of the locals had been busy for a few weeks and had not stepped into the bar in quite a while. Something about studying or testing or something like that. So it was just the three amigos for the moment.

Abruptly the silence was broken as CB crashed through the swinging doors. His face bore a huge grin that was at once elated and at the same time exhausted. His left arm was raised, fist clenched, in a pose of victory that you could smell from across the room. The team knew the pose was one of success, but also wished the arm would be lowered soon so as not to replace the bar comfortable musty, meady smell with the putrid body odor eminating from CB's exposed pit.

Under the other arm, clenched in a tight lock, was a small, bald head. A slight body trailed behind it, bent over at the waist, and following CB's seemingly random path. The man was so small and frail, he could not be the culpit of CB's staggering. No less than 5 chairs a table were overturned in CB's drunken walk from the door to the teams table. Finally, his arrival at the teams table resulted in a collision that sent the teams tankards to the floor, a loud crack emmenating from the seat CB dumped himself into, and several muttered cusses from the team.

"What' have you been drinking, who the heck is that and what's with the goofy smile?", barked zyxy, wiping beer from his lap.

"I have not been drinking!" shouted CB in a loud, boisterous, obviously intoxicated voice. CB raised his right arm to release his prisoner who arose, gagging for air and looking for a place to either run to or pass out in.

"Don't you remember our "friend" Ghandi? I found him in the back room of the post office. He has apparently gotten bored with nothing to do after his people who wanted him to build their spaceship off their stinking island held a coup and exiled him. Angry at our success and his failure, he's come to our neck of the woods to stir up some trouble. He's been reading our mail, forging new orders to troops and governors, even to the work teams. Evil spy indeed!"

"Well, what do you have to say for yourself?" asked zyxy.

Ghandi opened his mouth as if to reply, but as the team paused for his answer, he took off like a deer through the forest. CB, being the closest to the door tried to pursue. The first fallen chair knocked him off balance, the second splintered as he put all of his weight on it, and the third held his right foot that he had inadvertently placed through the slats of it's back. With his lower body held fast, his already uncontrolled upper body began a slow motion decent that ended with a loud thud has his head hit the edge of the overturned table.

He awoke to the faces of his team mates. He had a lump on his head the size of a grapefruit and a splitting headache. "Did you catch him?"

"Heck no, we were too worried about you." said Niklas wincing as he helped CB up, forgetting about his bad shoulder.

"Oh well, no biggy." slurred CB flippantly. He was still quite loaded from what the team members could tell. He turned and staggered his way back out the door to the disbelief of the others.

"Hey! If Ghandi wasn't your big triumph, why were you poluting the air with you upraised arm when you came in?" called ControlFreak.

"Oh, yeah. We took Orleans from the French ... with no losses!" replied CB and he turned to go again.

"That's terrific. Where are you going, we should have a drink to that." zyxy instantly regretted his words as one more drink may put CB's stomach in reverse based on his behaviour.

"No, thanks. I've got to get back to Katherine's place to finish painting her bedroom. She asked me to help her and there's no way I'd pass up that opportunity. I just wish the paint fumes weren't so bad. I had to take a breather and went to get the mail. That's how I found out about Orleans as well as that little bald gremlin. Anyway, carry on without me and good luck taking Paris!"

 

[CommandoBob]

Nice going, not a single lost unit in the battle for Orleans!

We lost two Maces to Pikes in the first two rounds of fighting. But after that it was all Smurkz.

@ControlFreak: Great Story!

 

[Niklas]

Doh, I just saw the endless list of "wins", didn't stop to look at who that was aimed at. Oh well, no big deal, it was still a great outcome, and of course no shadow on you. You don't control the RNG after all.

 

[zyxy]

Alright, well done! One city down, four to go!

Fun story, CF .

Who's up now?

 

[ControlFreak]

sercer said he was taking finals Tuesday and had asked for a "Swap" so I think that means he's up now.

Roster:

sercer88 - Up!
zyxy - On deck
ControlFreak -Warming Up
CommandoBob - Just Played

McLMan - lurking
Niklas - on sick leave
​

We are still in very important phase and should have a fairly detailed plan to move forward. Our next objective is to wilt Paris and take it, followed very closely by the other french towns. I also think we need to let Paris focus on Cop's for at least three turns so it can lock in as the build. If they continue to build LBs, the we need to forget about Cops and just take the town ASAP. Orleans is a big flip risk so we need to reduce the number of troops at risk in there. We will need to cut the roads south of Orleans so that mounted units can't attack Orleans since we're going to have few defenders there. And if it flips back, we don't want them to be able to move a bunch of defenders on top of their free spear. Orleans should sell it's harbor if it has one to help reduce the resources available if it flips.

 

[ControlFreak]

I'd like to keep the game moving and Sercer's 24hrs to "got it" are past. zyxy, if you can "Got It" before sercer, it's yours. I know that we unfairly skipped sercer last turn, but I think it's better for the team to keep moving. Plus zyxy usually plays quickly and it can go back to sercer after that.

 

[sercer88]

sorry guys. (jeez, it seems there's always something to say...) when I joined this SGOTM, I thought it wouldn't last until the summer. The reason I say this, is because I will not have regular internet access over the summer, as I will be going home to my parent's house (which does not have internet.) That means my "life" here at CFC will officially be gone on Saturday, May 12.
I'm really sorry for any and all of the trouble/problems I have caused, and will cause by not being able to finish this with you guys, but (as I said) I did not think it would come to this.
That being said: I don't think I should play this next set because I will not have enough time to get all of the info as to what I should be doing for the set in time before I leave. So, zyxy: it's yours.

 

[zyxy]

Hi Sercer, sorry to hear that you'll be leaving us. But: enjoy your summer holiday , and maybe we'll see you again after summer?

(Oh, and you didn't cause a lot of trouble. Not that I know of, anyway.)

Got it. Will check the game and hopefully have time to post a plan tonight, and play tomorrow or the day after.

 

[ControlFreak]

Thanks for the update sercer. Tell you parents they need to get with the program!

How did finals go?

Looking at the save, I think we can get Orleans defensible right away. The key to defense is to A) make sure no offensive units are next to Orleans and B) make sure no offensive units can attack Orleans.

To do that, we need to:

• (Red Dot) take the slaves with the 1HP Medi who's not good for anything else at the moment.
• (Yellow (EDIT: looks orange) Dot) kill the crusader (and his escort) with Maces.
• (Blue Dot) kill the pike holding a road into Orleans with Maces.
• (Green and Blue Dots) pillage the roads leading to Orleans with ACs/Knights.
• In rainbow order of priority, Green comes before Blue, but because of a potential shortage of units, I wouldn't do Green until we've done Yellow and Blue. Yellow and Blue should be accomplished by units in the following order: Maces from West of Orleans, Maces in the Stack, 3/4 Knight in the stack, ACs.
• If all goes well, Red, Yellow and Blue will be accomplished by Maces, leaving a Mace on the Blue dot with his moves exhausted. Then the three ACs move to the three SE green dots and pillage this turn. The 3/4 Knight moves to the Western Green Dot and the 2/4 Knight moves to Blue dot. Both pillage this turn. The reason for moving and pillaging this turn is two fold. A) if the units die IBT, the road is cut anyway. B) if the French galleys land, units near Orleans, the Mounted units can reenter our land and still attack this is true of Orleans flipping as well. So it's important to save the 5 mounted units for pillaging the 5 roads unless absolutely necessary for killing Yellow or Blue dots.

The six ships should form a two boat ship chain over the next three turns, with 3 units ready to load the first turn the ships arrive near Oporto, and three more the turn after. This means that boats will be sitting in spanish waters which will lead to war weariness. Perhaps two boats of units should divert to Barcelona to take that city, but I'm afraid that the French legion will be returning from the Viking/American front and will have a lot of units. We need to get some reinforcements there first above all else.

KZ is STILL messed up having worked the hill for the last turn instead of a BG. Now that the forests are planted there is no way to recover. We might as well switch to 3fpt/3spt and plan to build the worker on growth, keeping it at size five a turn longer. One of the workers can be joined back in when the fourth forest is planted (there will be five workers and only 4 forests to chop).

I think Theo should start building things besides Caravels. We have enough transports and need more units, so maybe a barracks next? The only reason to continue building Caravels would be to create a second fleet to attack the eastern continent. BTW, Babylon is a French ally against the Hittites and now owns Tarsus. They may soon be a useful research partner.

The innersea transport should be run as a four turn cycle since that's how often units are produced.

1. Pickup Caravel move to the load tile of StF, StF new unit gets on board. Dropoff Caravel moves to transfer point, forfeiting extra MovePts.
2. Pickup move to transfer point, transfer unit (or units if AC produced too) Dropoff moves into StW and units move towards Oporto.
3. Pickup Caravel move to the load tile of FS, FS new units get on board. Dropoff Caravel moves to transfer point, forfeiting extra MovePts.
4. Pickup Caravel move to transfer point, transfer units, Dropoff moves into StW and units move towards Oporto.

That was the best I could come up with. Trying to move farther up the northern coast requires us to end in Roman territory which would eat into our warhappiness.

We might want to reup the MA with America for the sole purpose of giving them horses and luxuries. They need help to fight france. I don't want to gift the resources because it might get broken by elimination or trade routes. They don't have any gpt to offer so the ROP/MA is the best per turn thing to put on the table.

Hitites, Greece and Carthage have some gpt that we could get with luxuries. Beware that the wool is not truly ours yet since we run the risk of a flip in Orleans.

 

[sercer88]

Oh, finals....................yeah. Um, I think I did alright. I don't know for sure, yet, but I feel like I did alright (no bombed finals, that is ) I probably won't know for sure for another couple of weeks.

 

[ControlFreak]

sercer@ Feeling alright usually means doing OK. Good luck with the results and enjoy your summer! Hopefully you can get online occationally to check in. You have friends near home living in this century right?

So this isn't spam...
Roster:

zyxy - Up!
ControlFreak -Ondeck
CommandoBob - Just Played

sercer88 - Getting a tan for the summer.
McLMan - lurking
Niklas - on sick leave
​

 

[zyxy]

Strategy

Long term: Hm, what was it again? Send Ghandi to t.. no. Become the leader of the free world and win the UN elections.

Mid term: liberate the unfree world, leaving only two civs alive: the opponent, and the supporter. Keep scientific civs alive until near the end.

Short term (this set and somewhat beyond):

Trade
Ai's will probably be little help researchwise. I think it's wise to gift a few up to Chemistry, in the hope they will do Metallurgy (but this won't happen on my set).
We can sell spices to Babylon for 6 gpt, to Hittites for 3 gpt, and ivory to Carthage for 2 gpt. I would make these deals.
I will not sell Wool, it is too dangerous because Orleans (the location of our Wool supply) can flip anytime.

Research
Gunpowder -> Chemistry, full speed.

Economy
If we get one more MP in FS, Ozzy and Theo then we can lower lux tax to 0. In fact we can do that now, if we hire some scientists. Scientists in other cities can be fired now that we have wool. This means that there's some risk of riots if Orleans flips, but I'll do it anyway.

KZ builds one more worker, then go to uni, using chops and worker merges to speed it up.
GB is groomed for a worker factory.
I am not certain we need more ships from Theo, perhaps one. Oporto is probably better off doing a lib.

If we get a GL, he'll be saved for an FP in Paris.

Orleans will sell its harbor. I would sell the market as well, it just costs money.

Battle for France
France will be eliminated. We currently have 17 units in France. I think we need a few more to safely take Paris. The quickest reinforcement I can see will land 8 more units next to Paris on turn 5 (current turn is turn 0), with an attack on turn 6, as follows:

The picture uses CF's color coding: red = turn 0, orange = turn 1, etc.
There are 3 MDI near Oporto that are picked up by one caravel on turn 2. Pink Panther Strikes Again can unload 1 MDI and 1 AC in StW on turn 1, and together with the 3 MDI already present they can march to the bg NW of the horse tile on turn 1, and board ship on turn 2. Picking up on more unit will delay by 1 or 2 turns, so that isn't worth it IMO.

The remaining 4 ships near France can pick up the 12 slow units present and drop them at Paris on the same turn. The fast units can march over land to the Wool Hill 1 turn before the attack, and charge from there.

The Paris attack will consist of 25 units (if all units near Orleans survive). After Paris, we'll charge Bergen, using ships to bypass the forts if needed, and that's it for my turnset.

France seems to have iron. It must be import (from Zulu maybe?), so I'll send one (loaded) ship to block the harbor of Paris (this takes 3 turns).

I would like to attack the French units we can see. I don't want those pikes to turn back to Paris, and I don't want a crusader attacking me. I'll put soem troops into Orleans for 1 turn, to try to suppress the red faces. But not longer than one turn, because of the flip risk.

Other targets
I think that one group of reinforcements should be enough to take Paris and the rest of France. That means we can start to think about other targets. Now that we're allied to Maya for another 19 turns, we could go for Spain, Egypt or Inca. The latter has my preference: they are closest to home, so their land should be productive. Inca have iron, but should be weak none the less. We have a deal for 6 more turns. Egypt is a decent second choice - they are selling us a lux (deal ends in 5). Either way, I will not attack on my set I think (at least not without express consent), but would like to know which one to prepare for.

(x-posted with the last three posts.)
I took a different take on caravel use.
Concerning the pillaging operation, it would indeed make Orleans safe from horsebased attack, and hence is probably needed. Though France has no horses, she could have some knights left over.
If we really with America, gifting her horses, then what happens if the trade route is broken? Don't we get a rep hit for breaking an alliance? Besides, do they need horses? AI's don't really know how to use fast movers...

 

[CommandoBob]

The remaining 4 ships near France can pick up the 12 slow units present and drop them at Paris on the same turn.

When I read this the first time, I took it to mean that they would load and unload on the same turn and I wondered how you could pull off this little bit of magic.

Then I realized that 'same turn' referred to the units coming from Old India in the caravels, and that the foot sloggers would load the turn before and unload with the reinforcements.

Other Stuff
If we starve Orleans to less than six our number of units with free support increases, but I forget by how much.

I only saw one Knight in all the attacks from Paris. Everything else was a Longbow. But we can't be too careful.

Have a good time in the sack of Paris!