SGOTM 23 - Xteam

[Dhoomstriker]

but I reserve the right to advocate for a future increase in the EP rate.

I'm fine with minds changing when new ideas and new information comes to light. It's happened plenty of times already this game and is likely to keep happening.

After Civil Service I think we need to consider learning Metal Casting (unless Churchill is finally about to learn it) since it is on the track to railroads.

It really all depends upon Hatty. She might go for Civil Service herself, although I hope that she doesn't do so just as we're partway through researching it, as she did with Currency. Or, she might go for Metal Casting. Or, she might go for neither. If she goes for either Civil Service or Paper, we'd divert our research, but otherwise, we should stay focused on getting Bureaucracy + Education as soon as we can, i.e. Civil Service -> Paper -> Education. It's also arguable that we could consider stealing Theocracy, going for Paper, and Education while we hope for Hatty to go for Civil Service, but we probably can't count on her to go for it.

I added a reminder to ask Frederick to attack

Unless we have revealed the square on which Athens sits, we can't ask Frederick to attack it, even though we see the City on the world's Top 5 Cities list.

Chariot 7 moves 2 NE Wheat (1 NE of Munich); then 2 SE onto Russian Wheat

Try not to explore too deep into Russian territory. If we meet another AI, since Stalin knows Alphabet, he could feasibly bribe another AI to attack us--but, ONLY if that AI has met us. We are invincible from being attacked by AIs whom we have yet to meet.

Macau
Works: G For

We can work the GH For instead so that we'll earn a total of 6 Hammers, meaning that on one turn, we can put 1 Hammer into a Chariot on a turn where we are working the Wheat, leaving open the option to whip either the Spearman (if we don't have to gift Lyons) or the Chariot (if we have to gift Lyons and then will likely plan to recapture both Lyons and Macau using Chariots).

opens a casino

Haha!

Galley 5 sails 1NE joins the flotilla and stops

I suppose that it doesn't matter, but it won't hurt for us to move 2 NE.

Galley 1 trims sails

Nice joke. But, I wonder... is there somewhere where we can unload these 2 Chariots and pick up 2 more Chariots on Galley 1?

I suppose that we should push Axe 5 to the front lines, as close as he can get.

Also, could Chariot 7 instead move toward Russian territory, such as into St. Petersburg by T90, then, say, 2 NE of St. Petersburg on T91?

Thinking about it some more, could Galley 1 move 1 SE Fish and unload Units 1 SE onto the G Riv For at 1 SW of St. Petersburg and then move back 1 SW to pick up some more troops? The unloaded Chariots could move to 1 NE of St. Petersburg. Or, if troops can load into Galley 1 at 3 N of Munich on T91, then Galley 1 could unload Units at 1 W of St. Petersburg next turn and those Units could move into St. Petersburg, then Galley 1 could move back W > SW to 3 N of Munich to pick up 2 more troops, allowing the 2 Chariots to move to 2 NE of St. Petersburg. Then we would have 3 Chariots which wouldn't even need to amphibiously assault.

Why even take most troops on boats at all? Why not just march them by land? 2 Horse Archers and 3 Chariots inside of Hamburg can move to Munich's Wheat, then to St. Petersburg's Fur, then to 1 NE of St. Petersburg. If we do some teleportation testing, we might even be able to declare war on the turn after the Units arrive at 1 NE of St. Petersburg without needing to suffer from the amphibious assault penalty.


I suppose that we should also keep pushing Axe 5 to the front lines.



If Worker 7 is the one built from Argent, I think that we agreed that we are going to Chop out a Work Boat there, so we'd move to the Iron, which is a Grassland square instead of a Tundra square, allowing us to Chop out the Work Boat one turn faster.

Galley 5 sails 1NE joins the flotilla and stops

Maybe we should completely rethink our boats...
Hamburg 2-movement-point Units and Chariot 7 can get to the north-east of St. Petersburg
Galley 1's Chariots can unload at 1 SW of St. Petersburg next turn, then Galley 1 heads back, and Galley 1 picks up the 2-movement-point Units that are in Cologne on T91 at NE + E of Hamburg (1 NW + 2 N of Munich) and then sails 1 NE to 3 S of Yakutsk
Galley 3 could move to Cologne's Fish
Galley 4 could push toward the east 2 squares
Galley 5 could take Axe 4 (in Hamburg) and push toward the east 2 squares to 1 NE of Hamburg (no stopping)

Then, on the following turn, Galley 3 collects Axe 5, chains Axe 5 into Galley 4, and then Galley 4 chains Axe 5 into Galley 5, and then we have 2 Axes arriving by Galley

Suddenly, we have the whole army in the area.

Actually, we can do even better with Galley 1 by unloading the Chariots on the G Riv For that is 1 SW of St. Petersburg and picking up the 2-movement-point Units from Cologne at 3 N of Munich, then sailing 2 N, so that we're within range of dropping off troops at Yakutsk, and we could plan to drop off an Axeman at Yakutsk... hmmm, 3 Units is a bit weak, but the idea is there.

Maybe we'd find a way to get more of our Units on boats to drop off at Yakutsk while using a land-based attack on St. Petersburg, preferably after doing teleportation testing to confirm that declaring war when Units are at 1 NE of St. Petersburg will have those Units get teleported to 2 NE of St. Petersburg.

Basically, I think that we need to rethink the entire Russian logistics plan.

 

[Jersey Joe]

The Horse Archer and Chariot in Orleans need to Heal. Also there is a Horse Archer in Hamburg that needs to heal. Currently, I had the 3 wounded troops and the Medic on Galleys 3 & 4.

What about if after T89 Galley 1 moves 1 SE and the 2 Chariots unload 1 SE (1SW of St Pete)
(The 2 chariots can move into St Pete on T90 and neutral territory on T91)
Galley 1 then moves 1SE On T90 a Horse Archer and a Chariots board and stead of sailing 2 N the Galley sails toward St Pete enters St Pete on T91 unloads the 2 Units which can move 2 NE to neutral territory the Galley 1 then moves 1W out of St. Pete.
Galley 5 sails into hamburg and 1BE out of hamburg. On T90 the wounded HA should be completely heal and boards Galley 5 also Axe 4 boards galley 5. Galley 5 moves 2 NE?
Galleys 3 & 4 move empty to 1 e of Hamburg on t89. On T90 The Horse archer and Chariot in Orleans move toward Hamburg and board the galleys (3 & 4) also the Medic from Hamburg and 1 other chariot board galleys (3 & 4) Galleys (3 & 4) follow in the wake of Galley 5.

 

[Dhoomstriker]

The thinking is that we simply attack from land with all of our troops.

Attacking with a Unit that has, say, 5.8 Health from land gives us far better odds than attacking from a boat when that Unit is fully healed.

I don't currently have game access, but what if our Galley with 2 Chariots aboard drops off our Units to the north-east. Can that Galley get back in time to pick up the two mounted Units from Cologne and still be able to drop off those mounted Units next to Yakutsk when we are ready to declare war?

If yes, then we will have the 2 Chariots walk into Yakutsk's Culture, we'll have the 2 mounted Units from Cologne dropping off adjacent to Yakutsk, and out of the the two Galley-chained Axeman, one can drop off next to Yakutsk while the Combat II one can unload directly into St. Petersburg after our Units capture St. Petersburg from attacking at 1 NE of St. Petersburg.

If teleportation allows us to teleport from 1 NE of St. Petersburg, we can attack one turn sooner than if we had to walk our Units first to 2 NE of St. Petersburg and wait for those troops to have full movement points, but if we have to wait 1 extra turn to make it work, we wait 1 extra turn.

Attacking from land gives us far better odds and allows our mounted Units to retreat, and Stalin's lack of Cultural Buildings allows us to hit his mature City of St. Petersburg on the first turn of war from land.

 

[Jersey Joe]

The Hamburg 2 movement units can get to 1NE of St. Petersburg by T91

T89 Galley 1 sails 1 SE and unloads 1 SW of St Petersburg and then sails 1NW
Galley 3 sails 1E and waits for Axeman to load next turn.
Galley 4 sails 2E
Chariot and Horse Archer leave Cologne moving 1E G; 1NE Sheep; 1N boarding Galley 5
Galley 5 sails 1E, 1NE ending at 1 NE of Hamburg

T90 Chariot and Horse Archer unload 1N from Galley 5 They can travel over land to Yakutsk.)
Axe 4 moves 1N (out of Cologne), then 1 NE boarding Galley 3
Galley 3 sails 1 E and Axe 4 transfers to Galley 4
Axe 5 Boards Galley 5
Galley 4 sails 1E into Hamburg then sails 1NE
Axe 4 transfers to Galley 5
Galley 5 sails 2 NE and ???
Choice of what do do with the Axemen here.
(i) (My preference) 1 Axeman Transfers to Galley 1. Then, Galley 1 and Galley 5 remain here until battle of St. Petersburg is fought. This way we can send the Axeman to the same spot or to differnet spots. (Even reinforce St. Petersburg after it is captured.)
(ii) The 2 Axemen transfer to Galley 1 and Galley 1 sails 2E and will drop Axmen off at 1 NE of St Petersburg on T91
(iii) 1 Axeman transfers to Galley 1 and Galley 1 sails 2E and will drop the Axman off at 1 NE of St Petersburg on T91
Galley 5 can sail 1 W and drop amd drop an axeman off 1NW on GH Sheep were they can be joined by the Horse Archer and Chariot.
(iv) Galley 1 stays 2S of Yakutsk warching the battle of St. Petersburg before desiding where to land troops.

I did some quick testing.
Teleport works. Troops 1 NE of St. Petersburg get teleported to 2 NE of St. Petersburg. It looks like we are set to declare war on T92.

I also did some limited tests for attacking St. Petersburg.

The attack order I like is:
Healthy Horse Archer, Chariot, Wounded Horse Archer followed with a Combat 1 Chariot if necessary.

I always lost the first Chariot vs Archer attack but I never lost the second Horse Archer.
Looking at the damage taken by healthy Horse Archers I think that a few times the wounded Horse Archer might have been killed which is the reason I like the Chariot before the second Horse Archer.

Since we are emptying Hamburg of troops, I am going to send the Warrior from Cologne to Hamburg and on a newly whipped Horse Archer from Orleans to Cologne. This way we will have MPs in Cologne and Hamburg on the turn they come out of revolt.

What do we do with the Great General we are going to get?

 

[Dhoomstriker]

The Hamburg 2 movement units can get to 1NE of St. Petersburg by T91... Teleport works.

Great to hear!


Cologne won't have any Unhappy citizens because a City must be at Size 3 before it complains about a lack of a Military Police Unit. I don't think that Hamburg will have any Unhappiness if it is emptied of Units, since we get +1 Happiness from being Charismatic, we get +1 Happiness from Stonehenge, and we get +2 Happiness from our Resources.

Of course, we'll be wanting to bring new troops to the front lines, anyway, so if a troop passes through Cologne on the way to the front lines, that fact is okay. Even if troops arrive too late to help out with the first attack on Russia, those troops can help out with going after Berlin or Munich.

I don't see Frederick's Settler anywhere, so hopefully he'll settle a third City soon.

T89 Galley 1 sails 1 SE

Galley 1 has already moved on T89.

I think that the most important point to figure out is how many Units we'll want going for St. Petersburg versus going for Yakutsk. Both Cities have 2 Archers defending them, but Yakutsk could be trickier, since Archers get a Defensive Bonus on Hills squares, meaning that the Archers in St. Petersburg get a 20% Cultural Defensive Bonus, but the Archers in Yakutsk get a 50% Hills Defensive Bonus (25% for all Units on Hills and 50% for Archers on Hills). Yakutsk will also have a turn to whip another City Defender. So, Yakutsk seems like it will be the tougher City to capture, while St. Petersburg is definitely going to want our Combat II Axeman coming to defend it.

Where exactly we unload troops at Yakutsk won't matter too much since we'll have Galleys that can be used to shuttle the surviving troops to either defend St. Petersburg or to help out with capturing Vlad, with the only other useful job for the Galleys being bringing newly-built Units to the front lines.


Galley 1 has two Combat I Chariots that could be unloaded at either St. Petersburg or at Yakutsk, but since we can send multiple mounted Units over land to St. Petersburg, I would suggest using those two Chariots at Yakutsk.


Galley 3 or 4 could also take additional Units and be able to drop them off on the GH For at 1 SW of Yakutsk (1 E of the GH Deer For) on Turn 92, as long as those troops load onto the Galley on or before Turn 91.


I would suggest that Chariot 7 is better used in one of the attacks than being used to explore.


So, assuming that these Units will go to Yakutsk:
- Chariot 2 and Chariot 3 (currently on Galley 1)--they could even be unloaded on T89 on the GH For at 1 SW of Yakutsk and move to the GH Deer For at 1 W of there on T90
- Axe 5
- HA 5 and Chariot 8 (currently in Cologne)
That's still a bit lightweight.

Maybe we can also bring along Warrior 1 and use Galley 5 to land him on the GH For at 1 E of Yakutsk to act as bait for an Archer, letting Galley 3 or 4 drop off Axeman 5 on the GH For at 1 SW of Yakutsk.

So, it would actually be Warrior 1 who we would Galley-chain up to Galley 5, to join Combat II Axeman 4, with both of them being on Galley 5 at 2 S of Yakutsk at the end of T91, then on T92 we would sail 1 NE to drop off only Warrior 1 at 1 E of Yakutsk on the GH For (1 SW + 1 S of the TunH Iron For), then sail 1 SE to 1 NW of St. Petersburg to be able to unload Axeman 4 into St. Petersburg after we capture it, or to have Axeman 4 available to amphibiously assault St. Petersburg if we barely didn't capture it. We could make the attack on St. Petersburg first, such that if we barely didn't win, and Axeman 4 can capture the City, we'd bring Warrior 1 along with Axeman 4 to guard St. Petersburg, if for no other reason than to force Stalin to need to use 2 Military Units to be able to recapture St. Petersburg.

If Warrior 1 isn't needed at St. Petersburg, it acts as bait at 1 E of Yakutsk and also as a final clean-up Unit in case we barely weren't going to win the battle for Yakutsk.


That gives us these Units to use at St. Petersburg:
HA 4 (wounded)
HA 7
Chariot 1
Chariot 5
Chariot 6
Chariot 7
Axeman 4 amphibiously assaulting, if necessary
Warrior 1 also available to amphibiously assault, if it really comes to that


Does that make-up of Units sound reasonable or should we solely focus on capturing St. Petersburg and only worry about Yakutsk later?

What do we do with the Great General we are going to get?

Join him to some of our surviving troops for extra XP. We're not really at the stage where we need a Super Medic (we don't have enough troops that survive to warrant one) and we don't have a dedicated Unit-producing City, so settling a Great General is not going to do much for us. Whichever Unit gets the Great General attached to it can take the 30% Retreat Chance Promotion (called Tactics), which is one of the strongest Great General Promotions when it comes to fighting.


If we door poorly at St. Petersburg, are barely able to capture it, and it doesn't look like we'll be able to hold it, remember that we have open the option of gifting the City to Churchill. The City would remain in City Revolt for the same number of turns, so the population points wouldn't get whipped away.

The costs would be: 1 lost population point when capturing the City from Churchill and the chance to lose any Buildings that survived when we first captured St. Petersburg.

With us having paid Stalin to Close Borders with Frederick just before declaring war on Stalin, even if we were to lose all of our existing troops, with Churchill owning St. Petersburg, we would be able to recapture it at our leisure, after signing a Cease Fire with Stalin, but sometime before St. Petersburg comes out of City Revolt.

 

[Dhoomstriker]

If that approach of splitting up our troops sounds good, here's how we could do it. Of course, I think it's also a valid option to just throw nearly everything at capturing and defending St. Petersburg and worry about going for Yakutsk later--a bait Warrior might work a whole lot better if we don't have a stack of Units on the other side of Yakutsk if we were to do it later.

Since Chariot 8 (in Cologne) cannot heal to full health this turn, we could have Chariot 1 come from Hamburg to Cologne, then drop off one of Chariots 2 and 3 at Yakutsk at the other one on the G Riv For at 1 SW of St. Petersburg (1 NW of the Fur), to keep the same number of Chariots going to each side.

T89
Chariot 2 (but not Chariot 3) in Galley 1 (2 S of Yakutsk) unloads 1 NW on the GH For at 1 SW of Yakutsk
Galley 3 sails 1E and waits for Axeman 5 AND Warrior 1 to load next turn.
Galley 4 sails 2E

HA 5 (in Cologne) stays in Cologne
Chariot 8 (in Cologne) stays in Cologne

Galley 5 sails 1 E, 1 NE ending at 1 NE of Hamburg (Galley 5 remains empty of Units)

Axe 5 (1 SW of Cologne) moves 1 NE into Cologne
Warrior 1 (1 SW of Cologne) moves 1 NE into Cologne

HA 4 (in Hamburg) moves to the G Wheat Road at 1 NE of Munich
HA 7 (in Hamburg) moves to the G Wheat Road at 1 NE of Munich

Axeman 4 (in Hamburg) stays in Hamburg

Chariot 1 (in Hamburg) moves into Cologne to heal Chariot 8

Chariot 5 (in Hamburg) moves to the G Wheat Road at 1 NE of Munich
Chariot 6 (in Hamburg) moves to the G Wheat Road at 1 NE of Munich

Chariot 7 (1 SW of Munich) moves to the G Riv For that is 2 NE of Munich (1 W of the Fur)


T90

Galley 1 moves 1 SE to the Fish at 2 W of St. Petersburg
Chariot 3 unloads from Galley 1 to the SE on the G Riv For (1 SW of St. Petersburg)
Galley 1 moves 1 SW (to 3 N of Munich); Galley 1 will pick up two of the mounted Units from Cologne which can either be dropped off on the GH For at 1 SW of Yakutsk on T92 or can be used to amphibiously assault St. Petersburg if the attack goes horribly at St. Petersburg


Axe 4 moves 1 N (out of Cologne), then 1 NE boarding Galley 3
Warrior 1 moves 1 N (out of Cologne), then 1 NE boarding Galley 3

Galley 3 (with Axe 4 and Warrior 1 aboard) sails 1 E and both Axe 4 and Warrior 1 transfer to Galley 4
Axe 5 Boards Galley 5
Galley 4 sails 1E into Hamburg then sails 1NE
Warrior 1 transfers to Galley 5
(Axe 4 stays on Galley 4 to be dropped off on the GH For at 1 SW of Yakutsk)

Galley 5 (with Axe 5 and Warrior 1 aboard) sails 2 NE (2 S of Yakutsk) to be able to be used at either City


The mounted Units that are on Munich's G Wheat Road can move 1 SE G Road (Russian) > 1 NE G Riv Road (Russian at 3 S of St. Petersburg) > 1 N G Riv Fur For (there is a Road to the NE of there that they can travel on during T91)

Chariot 7 can move into St. Petersburg

Chariot 2 (on the GH For at 1 SW of Yakutsk) can move 1 W GH Deer For

Chariot 3 (on the G Riv For at 1 SW of St. Petersburg) can move 2 NE (to 1 NE of St. Petersburg)


HA 5, Chariot 8, and Chariot 1 (in Cologne) can move into Hamburg; they will board Galley 1 and Galley 4 on T91


Just to show what would happen:
T91
Galley 1 (at 3 N of Munich) sails 1 W (to 1 NE of Hamburg's G Sheep)
Two mounted of the three mounted Units in Hamburg get on Galley 1
Galley 1 sails 1 NE (to 3 S of Yakutsk), being able to help out with either City

The other mounted Unit in Hamburg joins Axeman 5 on Galley 4 at 1 NE of Hamburg
Galley 4 sails 2 NE to 2 S of Yakutsk, being able to help out with either City


I think that with so many troops that can help out at either City, we'll be safe with this approach, being able to commit extra troops to helping out with St. Petersburg, if needed, and otherwise can drop them off at Yakutsk.

The attack order I like is:
Healthy Horse Archer, Chariot, Wounded Horse Archer followed with a Combat 1 Chariot if necessary.

Sounds fine to me. Remember that at the time, click on our Leader/Civ in the Scoreboard to minimize the Scoreboard, and then you can select one of our Units, hover the mouse cursor over top of the City that you'd want to attack, and hold down the Alt key to see the total number of hits that either side would be required to make in order to make a kill, which is info that can be used to determine which Unit to attack with when you're deciding between Units with different Promotions or between Units with different Health levels. Of course, if your testing was done with equal conditions (the same Fortification level on the defenders being the easiest part to forget when setting up a test scenario), then just following whatever your testing showed to work well is also a valid approach to follow.

If our Horse Archers can survive, that fact will be great, since our Chariots are not very good defenders, but our Horse Archers, once they heal, can at least defend reasonably well against enemy Axeman and enemy Chariots.


Hammers in build items:
St. Petersburg 17 Hammers
Yakutsk 1 Hammer
Vlad 28 Hammers

 

[Jersey Joe]

With out going into all moves, 2 Horse Archers and 3 chariots from Hamburg arrive at 1NE of St. Petersburg on T91 Chariot 7 also arrives there.

Galley 1 sails 1 W, unloads the 2 chariots of on the GH Deer W of Yakutsk and sails 1E
Axe 4 and the warrior board the Galley 3 of Cologne, warrior does not transfer Galleys at 1 NE of Hamburg.

What about using the Scout as bait by Yakutsk? The troops moving close to St. Petersburg will provide some scouting.

Immediately after we Declare War On T92, We have at 2 NE of St Petersburg (2 Horse Archers and 4 Chariots); on the GH Deer west of Yakutsk (1 Horse Archer, 3 Chariots and a Warrior); Galley 5 (Axe 5) and Galley 1 (Axe 4) are 2 south of Yakutsk. Unfortunately, Yakutsk cannot be attacked (from land) until T93.

With average rng results, we should take St. Petersburg with the loss of 1 Chariot. Yakutsk will be bloodier.

 

[Dhoomstriker]

What about using the Scout as bait by Yakutsk? The troops moving close to St. Petersburg will provide some scouting.

The Scout could walk to next to Yakutsk instead of scouting out additional Russian Cities. But, then we wouldn't see the lay of the Russian land nor would we see what forces Stalin has in his nearby Cities for us to expect coming at St. Petersburg. We also wouldn't be able to see how much production Stalin is putting into build items if we haven't revealed his Cities. We also wouldn't know which flatland City targets exist for our reinforcement army either later on in this war or at the start of the next way.

On T90, I'd suggest sending our Scout 1 SW into St. Petersburg, 1 SE G For Road, then somewhere... preferably onto a Roaded square.

Baiting might not even work with a stack of Units adjacent to Yakutsk. If it does work, our Scout would almost certainly die, but our Warrior might actually win the fight. Losing a fight costs us War Success, which means that Stalin will take longer to Cease Fire with us. So, it would be best if our Scout could avoid getting into fights at all. At least if we lost our Warrior when baiting with the Warrior, we'd probably wound the Archer who attacked our Warrior, meaning not losing a different Unit in an attempt to kill that Archer.


One option is to simply ignore Yakutsk and go for another City more inland than St. Petersburg, but I don't feel that we have enough forces to go deep into Russian territory and hold a City there.

Maybe we should simply move Chariot 7 to scout out the City to the south-east of Munich before doing anything else. Chariot 7 would still be able to make it to 1 NE of St. Petersburg by the end of T91 if it moved there.

We could consider just going for St. Petersburg and that City to the south-east of Munich.

The concern that I have with that approach is that we can only get mounted Units to that City to the south-east of Munich, so a Combat I Spearman or a Combat I Swordsman would wreck our troops, and Stalin is Aggressive, so all of his Melee Units start with Combat I. St. Petersburg seems holdable because we can send Melee troops there and reinforcement Melee troops that we build can be Galley-chained to there.


If we send Chariot 1 to Cologne this turn to give our wounded Chariot a chance to heal to full health, then that leaves 1 less Chariot going toward St. Petersburg. If we want to still drop off the 2 Chariots on Galley 1 at Yakutsk and have an extra Chariot at Yakutsk we could do so, but otherwise the suggestion was to drop off one Chariot at Yakutsk and one Chariot at St. Petersburg, to make up for the fact that our Medic Chariot will arrive by boat instead of by land.

It's arguable that we are more likely to need the extra Unit at Yakutsk, but I also can't predict what Unit or Units Stalin might build in St. Petersburg or send to there over the next couple of turns.

warrior does not transfer Galleys at 1 NE of Hamburg.

The reason for transferring Warrior 1 ahead to Galley 5 is so that he has the option of being a bait Unit. Both Axemen will still maintain the option of going to St. Petersburg or to Yakutsk, but if Warrior 1 doesn't get transferred to Galley 5, Warrior 1 won't be able to act as bait.

Immediately after we Declare War On T92, We have at 2 NE of St Petersburg (2 Horse Archers and 4 Chariots); on the GH Deer west of Yakutsk (1 Horse Archer, 3 Chariots and a Warrior); Galley 5 (Axe 5) and Galley 1 (Axe 4) are 2 south of Yakutsk. Unfortunately, Yakutsk cannot be attacked (from land) until T93.

With the Unit logistics in Message 886, we will have:
Galley 5 with Warrior 1 and Axe 5 able to land at 1 E of Yakutsk to act as bait or reach St. Petersburg
Galley 4 with Axe 4 plus, say, HA 5 able to help out at either City
Galley 1 with Chariot 8 and Chariot 1 (our Medic) able to help out at either City

At Yakutsk, we would also have however many Chariots from Galley 1 we dump off at Yakutsk (I'd suggested 1 of those Chariots dropping off at Yakutsk, but it could be 2 of them dropping off at Yakutsk, to give us a greater chance of capturing Yakutsk).

HA 4, HA 7, Chariot 5, Chariot 6, and Chariot 7 arriving at 1 NE of St. Petersburg on T91.

Or, if Chariot 7 reveals that the City to the south-east of Munich is easy to take (on flatland, also lightly defended), we might simply plan to send more of our mounted Units toward that City, then have the rest of our mounted Units go for St. Petersburg along with our Melee Units, but seeing as how there are Forests diagonally NW and SW of that Russian City to the south-east of Munich, I have a feeling that we won't be able to capture that City with our current troop levels, so going for St. Petersburg and Yakutsk is probably the way to play.

With average rng results, we should take St. Petersburg with the loss of 1 Chariot. Yakutsk will be bloodier.

Yes, so that reason may be a good reason to change the logistics in Message 886 to dropping off both of the Chariots on Galley 1 to the Yakutsk area.

If St. Petersburg gets stuffed full of defenders at the last minute, we'll have the option of using some Units on boats to amphibiously assault or simply delay the entire attack until we've unloaded some of those Units from our boats at St. Petersburg and then declare war 1 or 2 turns later than the planned T92 war declaration turn.

 

[Cactus Pete]

Appreciate the extensive time and effort being put in, but we really do need to move the game along.

 

[Dhoomstriker]

Appreciate the extensive time and effort being put in, but we really do need to move the game along.

I completely understand. I think that we're pretty much there. The hope is that we're setting ourselves up for the next several turns to go smoothly enough to almost play themselves.


That said, we really could be using constant feedback at a high level from others. For example, we lost a couple of days because we were so focused on making an attack on St. Petersburg via Galleys work well that we didn't even think of sending troops by land to attack St. Petersburg. All it would have taken is someone to look at things from a high level, point that fact out, and we could have saved a lot of time. We even had a screenshot (for those people not loading the saved game) that could have made this point known, but no one thought of it until the 11th hour before we were about to play.


Or, when an item comes up as needing testing, if someone other than the Active Player could jump in to help out and provide an answer, the Active Player could stay focused on planning and playing, without having to lose time doing a task that another player could be helping out with.


Lighting a fire under others' butts helps a lot more if one is able to also contribute additional fuel to said fire.

 

[Jersey Joe]

Here is a PPP through T92.
It includes both the Ruby Bay workers micro and London build a missionary micro.

After Worker 2 finishes roading the Sheep, I am bringing him back to build a farm that Lyons could use to 2-pop whip Galleys quicker.

Diplo Policy

Spoiler :

Christianity? No
Stop trading with another AI? No
Give a Resource? Yes (There isn't an enforced 10 turns of Peace for saying yes)
Peace deal or Open Borders? No--we should be the ones to decide when these deals happen
Give Horseback Riding? No
Give a Tech other than Horseback Riding? No to Frederick (since we'll be attacking him
soon), yes to anyone else
Join a war? No
Trade a tech for a tech and/or Gold? No--let's discuss tech trades and put them in a PPP

Reasons for stopping:
We meet a new AI;
One of our Cities is threatened;
Something in the plan sounds wrong;

Turn 89, 650 BC (Completing the turn)
Research Rate: 0%
Espionage Rate 0% (on Hatty)
Do not Open Borders with Joao.

Paris
build: Spy
Works: Deer, Wheat, Copper

XO Cognac
build: Spy
Works: Fish, Cow, switch Horse to Fur

Orleans
build: Spy
Works: Fish, Cow, Iron Mine

Lyons
build: Chariot
Works: Fish, Fur

London
build: 2-pop whip Spy
Works: Fish, Horse,

York
build: Axeman
Works: Fish

Argent:
build: Worker
Works: Iron

Hamburg (in revolt) build Axeman:

Cologne (in revolt) build Axeman: (when out of revolt look at sheep + iron for 1 pop whip)

Ruby Bay
build: Granary
Works: Fish

Most troops movements to be worked out in separate Battle of St. Petersburg PPP

Chariot 7 moves 2 NE Wheat (1 NE of Munich); then 2 SE onto Russian Wheat

Axe 3 remains active on Fur

Turn 90, 625 BC
Research Rate: 0%
Espionage Rate 0% (on Hatty)
Do not Open Borders with Joao.

Paris
build: Chariot
Works: Deer, Wheat, Copper, Fur

XO Cognac
build: Spy
Works: Fish, Cow, switch Fur to Horse, Stone

Orleans
build: Horse Archer
Works: Fish, Cow, Iron Mine

Lyons
build: Chariot
Works: Fish, Fur, wine

London
build: Monastery
Works: Fish, Horse,

York
build: Axeman
Works: Fish

Argent:
build: Worker > Workboat
Works: Iron

Hamburg (in revolt) build Axeman:

Cologne (in revolt) build Axeman: (when out of revolt look at sheep + iron for 1 pop whip)

Ruby Bay
build: Granary
Works: Fish

Macau
build: Spear
Works: GH For

Worker 1 moves 1SE Wheat and Roads
Worker 2 Finishes road on Sheep
Worker 3 continues to camp Deer (1 N of Argent)
Worker 7 moves 1 SE Iron
Ruby Bay
Worker 4 Moves 1E to GH Gems and Mines
Worker 5 Mines GH Gems
Worker 6 Mines GH Gems

Settler 7 moves 1 S (3S of Paris) and Founds Macau and opens a casino

Most troops movements to be worked out in separate Battle of St. Petersburg PPP

Spies from all over converge on the big card game and Grand Opening of Macau.

Chariot 7 moves toward St. Petersburg

Axe 3 remains active on Fur

Turn 91, 600 BC
Research Rate: 0%
Espionage Rate 0% (on Hatty)
Do not Open Borders with Joao.

Paris
build:switch to Horse Archer
Works: Deer, Switch Wheat to Fur (so new city can work wheat), Copper, G For

XO Cognac
build: Chariot
Works: Fish, Cow, Horse, Stone

Orleans
build: 2-pop whip Horse Archer
Works: Fish, Cow,

Lyons
build: Chariot
Works: Fish, Fur, Wine

London
build: Complete Monastery with at least 4 hammer overflow
Works: Fish, Horse,

York
build: Axeman
Works: Fish

Argent:
build: Worker
Works: Iron

Hamburg
build: Spearman
Works: Sheep,

Cologne
build: Axeman
Works: Sheep, Iron (good time to steal Iron since Orleans cannot work it this turn)

Ruby Bay
build: Granary
Works: Fish

Macau
build: Change Spear to Chariot
Works: Change from GH For to Wheat

Worker 1 Finishes Road
Worker 2 Moves 1W GH; 1SW GD; Partial Mines Stop
Worker 3 continues to camp Deer (1 N of Argent) 1t
Worker 7 Chops
Ruby Bay (T91)
Worker 4 Moves to Northern Gems
Worker 5 Moves 1SE GH Riv For (1 N of the Fur)
Worker 6 Move 1 SW G For (1 S of Ruby Bay)

Most troops movements to be worked out in separate Battle of St. Petersburg PPP

Axe 3 remains active on Fur

Turn 92, 575 BC
Research Rate: 0%
Espionage Rate 0% (on Hatty)
Do not Open Borders with Joao.

Paris
build: Whip Horse Archer
Works: Deer, Copper, Fur,

XO Cognac
build: switch Chariot to Horse
Works: Fish, Cow, Horse, Stone. Coast

Orleans
build: Lighthouse
Works: Fish, Cow, Iron

Lyons
build: Chariot
Works: Fish, Fur, Wine

London
build: Get at least 10 Hammers going into a Missionary (4 H overflow plus 6 H)
Works: Fish, Horse,

York
build: Axeman
Works: Fish

Argent:
build: Worker
Works: Iron

Hamburg
build: Spearman
Works: Sheep,

Cologne
build: 1-pop whip Axeman
Works: Sheep

Ruby Bay
build: Granary
Works: Fish

Macau
build: Change Spear to Chariot
Works: Wheat

Worker 1 moves 1 NW G; 1 NW G For; 1 NE G For
Worker 2 moves 1W; 1 NW G Riv; Farms
Worker 3 finishes camp of Deer (1 N of Argent)
Worker 7 Chops and Stops
Ruby Bay (T92)
Worker 4 Pre-Chop the northern Gems
Worker 5 Pre-Chop the GH Riv For (1 N of the Fur)
Worker 6 Pre-Chop the 1 S G For

Orleans Horse Archer moves toward Hamburg.

Stop Here to discuss final War Preperations, what to trade to Stalin, etc.

Axe 3 remains active on Fur

 

[Dhoomstriker]

Overall, the plan looks really good! I only have a couple of minor comments.

After Worker 2 finishes roading the Sheep, I am bringing him back to build a farm that Lyons could use to 2-pop whip Galleys quicker.

We could certainly use that Farm. Should we perhaps complete the Road on the GH Copper (1 E of the Sheep) first, to keep us a bit more flexible as to what we can do with troops/Settlers in the area in the future? Doing so would mean a delay of 3 turns to getting that Farm up but I'm not sure when we'd have a Worker in that area again in the future, and if Frederick captures Athens, we may want the last-minute flexibility to send in troops or Settlers.

Cologne
build: Axeman
Works: Sheep, Iron (good time to steal Iron since Orleans cannot work it this turn)

Good call.


Maybe Lyons should put a turn worth of Hammers into a Galley at some point (on Turn 90, say?), so that it will be ready to 2-pop-whip it when we choose to whip that City.

Turn 92
...
Macau
build: Change Spear to Chariot

I think that that's supposed to say:
build: Change Chariot to Spear



EDIT: Do you also just want to move Chariot 7 first to see what's in that City to the south-east of Munich, do the non-Military-logistics PPP items for T89, then decide whether to stick with going for St. Petersburg + Yakutsk or to consider going for St. Petersburg + that other City say, attacking diagonally from the north-east or the south-east of that City if it is lightly defended? Axeman 4 would be able to garrison that City on T93 if we think that we can capture it and it's on flatland, although whether it is lightly-defended or heavily-defended will play a big role on whether we should attack it.

 

[Jersey Joe]

We could certainly use that Farm. Should we perhaps complete the Road on the GH Copper (1 E of the Sheep) first, to keep us a bit more flexible as to what we can do with troops/Settlers in the area in the future? Doing so would mean a delay of 3 turns to getting that Farm up but I'm not sure when we'd have a Worker in that area again in the future, and if Frederick captures Athens, we may want the last-minute flexibility to send in troops or Settlers.

Maybe Lyons should put a turn worth of Hammers into a Galley at some point (on Turn 90, say?), so that it will be ready to 2-pop-whip it when we choose to whip that City.

Okay, I will road the Copper first, then build the Farm. EditIn Lyons, this turn 15 hammers over flow into the next Chariot. If I work the wine I can finish the Chariot in 3 turns, T92 and whip a Galley T94. I built the Chariot to explore east along the road to Athens. However, if I do not work the wine I can whip a Galley on turn 93 and complete a Chariot on turn 94. Maybe I should change to Whipping a Galley on since the sooner I whip the sooner I can whip again.

I think that that's supposed to say:
build: Change Chariot to Spear

The old "lets copy this and forget to change it" typographical mistake.

EDIT: Do you also just want to move Chariot 7 first to see what's in that City to the south-east of Munich, do the non-Military-logistics PPP items for T89, then decide whether to stick with going for St. Petersburg + Yakutsk or to consider going for St. Petersburg + that other City say, attacking diagonally from the north-east or the south-east of that City if it is lightly defended? Axeman 4 would be able to garrison that City on T93 if we think that we can capture it and it's on flatland, although whether it is lightly-defended or heavily-defended will play a big role on whether we should attack it.

I will move Chariot 7 first. Can we get a cease fire if we take 2 of Stalin's cities?
If so I would say take out Yakutsk now cease fire. Heal and build troops. When ready declare war and take Vladivostok and the unkown city and get another cease fire.

What about I just move Chariot 7 now take a screenshot. Save but not upload the game and report what the Chariot discovered?

More about the battles to take St. Petersburg and Yakutsk.

Limited testing of attacking Yakutsk has shown that I could take it with 1 Horse Archer, 3 Chariots, and a Warrior. My worse loss was the Horse Archer and 2 Chariots. Based on these results (plus the tests of attacking St. Petersburg) I decided to send 1 more Chariot to Yakutsk.

Also, I believe we can use the 2 Axemen as defenders of St. Petersburg.

Troops for the invasion of St. Petesburg get there by ground here is how I get the troops into position to attack Yakutsk.

T89 Chariot 6 and Axe 4 remain in Hamburg after the other troops begin their ride to St. Petersburg.
Warrior and Axe 5 enter Cologne
Horse Archer 5 and Chariot 8 remain in Cologne
Galley 3 sails 1 E and Stops
Calley 4 sails 2 E
Galley 5 sails 1E; 1 NE (1ne of Hamburg)

T90 Warrior and Axe 5 move 1 N Sheep; 1 NE boarding Galley 3
Galley 3 sails 1 E and Stops
Warrior and Axe 5 transfer to Galley 4
Galley 4 sails 1 E; 1 NE
Either the Warrior or Axe 5 transfers to Galley 5 , while the other remains on Galley 4. (I prefer the warrior transfer so the rest of the micro will have the Warrior transfered.)
Chariot 6 boards Galley 5
Galley 5 Sails 2NE (2 south of Yakutsk)
Galley 1 sails 1W and the 2 Chariots unload 1NW GH For Deer; Galley 1 then sails 1SW
Horse Archer 5 and Chariot 8 remain in Cologne.

T91
Axe 4 boards Galley 4
Galley 4 with Axe 4 and Axe 5 (or Warrior) sails 2 NE
Horse Archer 5 and Chariot 8 leave Cologne and move 1E G; 1NE G Sheep, 1N boarding Galley 3.
Galley 3 sails 2 NE
Horse Archer 5 and Chariot 8 transfer to Galley 1
Galley 1 sails 1E; 1NE

T92 After War is declared
Galley 1 sails 1N and Horse Archer 5 and Chariot 8 unload 1NW onto the GH For (1W of Yakutsk).
2 Chariots (GH For Deer) move 1 NE GH For (1W of Yakutsk)
Galley 5 sails 1N and Chariot 8 unloads 1NW onto the GH For (1W of Yakutsk) while the Warrior unloads 1NW onto the GH For (1SW of Yakutsk).

After St. Petersburg has been captured, Galley 4 sails 2E and the 2 Axemen unload 1SE into St. Petersburg.

 

[Dhoomstriker]

Okay, I will road the Copper first, then build the Farm. EditIn Lyons, this turn 15 hammers over flow into the next Chariot. If I work the wine I can finish the Chariot in 3 turns, T92 and whip a Galley T94. I built the Chariot to explore east along the road to Athens. However, if I do not work the wine I can whip a Galley on turn 93 and complete a Chariot on turn 94. Maybe I should change to Whipping a Galley on since the sooner I whip the sooner I can whip again.

Since we don't (yet) have a 4th improved square for Lyons to work, I'd tend to go with your suggestion of whipping on Turn 93.

Sure, using such a Chariot to reveal Athens would certainly be nice.

Can we get a cease fire if we take 2 of Stalin's cities?

We can get a Cease Fire with Stalin after 8 turns if we have more War Success against him than he has against us.

I forget the exact numbers for War Success, but it's something like 10 for capturing a City, 3 or 4 for winning a battle, and 1 for capturing a Worker. I seem to recall believing that winning a fight while defending versus attacking gave different numbers, but I also recall someone disproving this belief.

If we're quite successful and Stalin is very unsuccessful, we can reduce the number of turns from 8 to lower. If we manage to be somewhat unsuccessful with terrible luck, we'd probably be able to sign a Peace Treaty after 8 or 9 turns.

What about I just move Chariot 7 now take a screenshot. Save but not upload the game and report what the Chariot discovered?

Fine by me. Even just describe what's in the City and whether it looks like we might be able to attack the City diagonally from outside of Stalin's Culture.

I'll look over your other notes while you do that.

 

[Dhoomstriker]

Chariot 8 remain in Cologne

We can heal 0.6 Health and we are at 3.2 Health. That's why I was suggesting bringing Chariot 1 back to Cologne to improve the healing rate of the Units that don't move in Cologne this turn so that we'd heal Chariot 8 in 1 turn instead of in 2 turns, allowing our mounted Units inside of Cologne to board Galleys on T90 instead of on T91, which allows the Galleys to get closer to Yakutsk at the end of T91.

None of the troops that march on St. Petersburg will have time to stop and heal, while we have a 6th spot on our Galleys 1, 4, and 5 where Chariot 1 could sit, so it's not like the marching Units will miss having the Medic with them.

EDIT: I'm not even sure where I got the number 0.6 from--I thought that I'd gotten that number from testing, but it's wrong. Testing again shows that healing inside of a City = 0.8 Health, while healing with a Medic inside of a City = 1.6 Health.

If I wake up Chariot 8 in the real game and hover the mouse over top of the Heal icon, it shows "1 turn," so actually, we don't even need a Medic to come to Cologne.

But, if we feel that we'll have more than enough Units to take St. Petersburg, it can help to put a 6th Unit on our Galleys from the Chariots inside of Hamburg, to give us one more Unit who could be used at Yakutsk.

Galley 1 sails 1W and the 2 Chariots unload 1NW GH For Deer; Galley 1 then sails 1SW

We have Open Borders with Stalin. So, we could unload Chariot 2 and Chariot 3 on the GH For that is 1 SW of Yakutsk, while being able to send Galley 1 SW > S (to 1 NE of Hamburg's G Sheep), which would allow Units to board Galley 1 on T90 and would allow Galley 1 to be at 2 S of Yakutsk at the end of T91. That position for our Galley is ideal since it gives the most flexibility for what we do with the Units in that Galley on T92. I.e. We can see how well the St. Petersburg battle goes and be able to help out amphibiously at St. Petersburg, if necessary, or be able to drop off troops on the GH For at 1 SW of Yakutsk while returning our Galley back to the mainland, getting faster into position to pick up reinforcement troops that we build.

Limited testing of attacking Yakutsk has shown that I could take it with 1 Horse Archer, 3 Chariots, and a Warrior. My worse loss was the Horse Archer and 2 Chariots. Based on these results (plus the tests of attacking St. Petersburg) I decided to send 1 more Chariot to Yakutsk.

Sounds like a good reason. The tougher part will be if Stalin whips a Unit of an unknown type.


I'd also suggest that we perform the battle for St. Petersburg before dropping off our Units that are on Galleys, so that if we need help in capturing or defending St. Petersburg, we can decide which Units on Galleys might best help out.

Or, it could even be a couple of turns before we'd be counter-attacked at St. Petersburg, so we could feasibly use all of the Units on Galleys in the fight for Yakutsk, then send most or all of the survivors to St. Petersburg, perhaps just leaving one badly-wounded Unit in the Yakutsk region to spawn-bust for Barb Units.


Of course, all of this discussion won't matter if we decide to go after the City to the south-east of Munich, which would have only a 20% Defensive Bonus for Archers instead of a Yakutsk's 50% Defensive Bonus for Archers.


Regardless of which two Cities we go for, if our fighting goes well, we might also take out Vlad in this war before Cease Firing.

 

[Jersey Joe]

Rostov is well defended:
2 Swordsmen both (Combat I, City Raider I);
1 Axeman (Combat I & II); and 1 Axeman (Combat I, Shock);
1 Chariot (Flank I);
1 Archer (City Garrison I);

You had a good idea with getting Stalin to close the borders with Frederick before the war starts.

Here is a screenshot of Rostov:

Spoiler :

Looks to me like we attack the northern Cities and need to build more troops

 

[Dhoomstriker]

Rostov is well defended:
2 Swordsmen both (Combat I, City Raider I);
1 Axeman (Combat I & II); and 1 Axeman (Combat I, Shock);
1 Chariot (Flank I);
1 Archer (City Garrison I);

So that's where he's been hiding his army. Let's hope that that's his main army.

Looks to me like we attack the northern Cities and need to build more troops

Agreed. There is also a City Wall in Rostov, which I hadn't considered as being a possibility, making it quite a formidable City to conquer. On the plus side, those troops won't be able to hit St. Petersburg until 3 turns after we declare war on Stalin, so we'll have time to drop off more Units at Yakutsk, attack Yakutsk, then have Units load onto Galleys and Galley-chain those Units directly into St. Petersburg, meaning less of a need to drop off an Axeman in St. Petersburg immediately.

Arguably, the Chariot could move on its own, but it is more likely to act as part of a stack, and even if it goes off on its own, our Axemen aren't useful defenders against a Chariot.


In the end, if St. Petersburg looks like it will be heavily besieged, we simply gift the City to Churchill to act as a temporary protector of the City (which will still be in City Revolt, so Churchill won't whip away population points, nor will he lose population points from having too many Unhappy citizens to feed), then once we get a Cease Fire with Stalin, we declare war on Churchill and retake St. Petersburg without anyone able to counter-attack us there.


A Size-13 City will be in City Revolt for 9 turns after it was captured, and if we were to gift such a City to Churchill, the City Revolt period would remain unchanged.



So, I guess the main suggestions for changes for the Unit distribution are:
- Drop off Chariot 2 and Chariot 3 on the GH For at 1 SW of Yakutsk (can be done on T89), to allow Galley 1 to move SW > SW on T90
- One of the Chariots in Hamburg can stay in Hamburg to board Galley 4
- Bring Galley 1 down to the northern coast of the mainland on T90 (SW > SW)
- On T90, HA 5 and Chariot 8 can then board Galley 1 (Chariot 8 will be at full health without needing a Medic's help)
- The Chariot that stays in Hamburg can board Galley 4 after Galley 4 has transferred a Unit to Galley 5
- On T91, Galley 1 (with HA 5 and Chariot 8 aboard) can move NE > NE to 2 S of Yakutsk

That gives us 2 HAs and 2 Chariots from Hamburg plus Chariot 7 to attack St. Petersburg from land and leaves us with 6 Units on Galleys that can be used at either St. Petersburg or Yakutsk, with us deciding what to do with the Units on Galleys after attacking St. Petersburg.

 

[Jersey Joe]

We can heal 0.6 Health and we are at 3.2 Health. That's why I was suggesting bringing Chariot 1 back to Cologne to improve the healing rate of the Units that don't move in Cologne this turn so that we'd heal Chariot 8 in 1 turn instead of in 2 turns, allowing our mounted Units inside of Cologne to board Galleys on T90 instead of on T91, which allows the Galleys to get closer to Yakutsk at the end of T91.

EDIT: I'm not even sure where I got the number 0.6 from--I thought that I'd gotten that number from testing, but it's wrong. Testing again shows that healing inside of a City = 0.8 Health, while healing with a Medic inside of a City = 1.6 Health.

If I wake up Chariot 8 in the real game and hover the mouse over top of the Heal icon, it shows "1 turn," so actually, we don't even need a Medic to come to Cologne.

From what I read a city in Resistance (Cologne) is "downgraded" to Friendly territory for healing purposes. Therefore the rate should be 15% (times 4 = 0.6) not the City rate of 20% (times 4 = 0.8). Easiest thing to do is check Chariot 8 on T90 to see if it is 3.8 or 4 .

Troops moving east from Cologne cross a river into Hamburg, which is why I move them onto a Galley 1W of Hamburg.

I'd also suggest that we perform the battle for St. Petersburg before dropping off our Units that are on Galleys, so that if we need help in capturing or defending St. Petersburg, we can decide which Units on Galleys might best help out. Agreed

Or, it could even be a couple of turns before we'd be counter-attacked at St. Petersburg, so we could feasibly use all of the Units on Galleys in the fight for Yakutsk, then send most or all of the survivors to St. Petersburg, perhaps just leaving one badly-wounded Unit in the Yakutsk region to spawn-bust for Barb Units.

Of course, all of this discussion won't matter if we decide to go after the City to the south-east of Munich, which would have only a 20% Defensive Bonus for Archers instead of a Yakutsk's 50% Defensive Bonus for Archers. Fighting from a forested hill must offset that advantage (I keep forgetting to look ). In the test fights our units had about the same change of winning as at St. Petersburg.)

Regardless of which two Cities we go for, if our fighting goes well, we might also take out Vlad in this war before Cease Firing.

Troops from Rostov can attack St. Petersburg 3 turns after war is declared.
Maybe Cologne should 1-pop whip a Chariot and Hamburg 2 pop-whip a Horse Archer
Also our woodie 2 Axe can join the Spy on a galley on T90. A slight change in Orleans build order instead of overflowing hammers from the whipped Horse Archer (T91) into a light house I will over flow them into another Horse Archer and 1-pop whip it on turn 93 If Stalin moves troops out of Rostov to attack St. Petersburg, we might have a shot at taking Rostov.

I am with you on Razing and Replacing Yakutsk. What about for the time being we "gift it" to Churchill?
Also, I hope to work out a micro for Argent, like we are using at Ruby Bay, to build Granary, Workboat, Lighthouse, and 1 settler.
We could get solve the Russian dissident problem by 3-pop whipping settler out of St. Petersburg.

 

[Dhoomstriker]

From what I read a city in Resistance (Cologne) is "downgraded" to Friendly territory for healing purposes. Therefore the rate should be 15% (times 4 = 0.6) not the City rate of 20% (times 4 = 0.8). Easiest thing to do is check Chariot 8 on T90 to see if it is 3.8 or 4 .

Even easier, I have already checked. You can hover your mouse over top of the selected Unit's Heal icon. The Unit has to be unfortified in order for the Heal icon to be active. Here's an image showing the answer.

Spoiler :

Troops moving east from Cologne cross a river into Hamburg, which is why I move them onto a Galley 1W of Hamburg.

That's a valid point; sorry for missing that detail. Another important point to remember is that a Galley can move either before or after troops load. So, Galley 1 can drop off Chariots 2 and 3 on the GH For that is 1 SW of Yakutsk on either T89 or T90. Galley 1 can then move either SW > S or SW > SW on T90. Units from Cologne can move into Hamburg on T90. On T91, before Galley 1 moves, those Units can board Galley 1. Only then does Galley 1 make its move back to the square at 2 S of Yakutsk.

Troops from Rostov can attack St. Petersburg 3 turns after war is declared.

It can be a valid approach for us to simply plan to gift St. Petersburg to Churchill. Stalin is Churchill's Worst Enemy, so they won't Open Borders with each other. We have Open Borders with Churchill, so our Units could remain safely in St. Petersburg and Stalin wouldn't be able to touch us while our troops heal there.

Doing so frees up our entire army. For example, we could leave St. Petersburg defenseless, then have our surviving troops try to capture another Russian City before Cease Firing by moving as one big stack out of St. Petersburg.

Maybe Cologne should 1-pop whip a Chariot and Hamburg 2 pop-whip a Horse Archer

Sure. If we plan to give away St. Petersburg, we won't need extra Spearmen/Axemen defenders and we'll want a more mobile army.

Also our woodie 2 Axe can join the Spy on a galley on T90.

That's an option, but when we declare war on Churchill to get St. Petersburg back, we'll probably want to steal Churchill's Worker, and our Woodsman II Axeman is the best Unit to do it. Otherwise, Churchill is likely to just disband his Worker. Our Woodsman II Unit would take too long to reach Russia but will be of use in both taking Churchill's Worker and helping out with the Nottingham razing.

A slight change in Orleans build order instead of overflowing hammers from the whipped Horse Archer (T91) into a light house I will over flow them into another Horse Archer and 1-pop whip it on turn 93

If we have enough Hammers to do so, then sure, that change sounds good, too.

I am with you on Razing and Replacing Yakutsk. What about for the time being we "gift it" to Churchill?

I don't think that gifting Yakutsk to Churchill would benefit us, since the City would be Size 2 when captured and Churchill could whip a City Defender. Even if Stalin first whips the City and it is Size 1, Churchill could work the Fish to a City Defender.

Keeping the City ourselves to whip out something (if the City is at Size 2) would cause us to earn Culture in the City, making it very difficult for us to be able to raze the City (basically, an AI would have to earn about 4 times as much Culture in that City as we earn, which would mean that the AI would own the City long enough to whip Units from working the Fish).

Stalin shouldn't be able to resettle Yakutsk because he'd have to move a Settler Party "past" St. Petersburg, and AIs are supposed to only be able to do so if they have a Galley. But, if there's something tricky about St. Petersburg's Culture not having expanded allowing Stalin to send a Settler Party there, all the better for us, as we could use our Galleys to drop off a Unit that would block the Settler Party and thereby trick the Settler from separating from its escorting Units, giving us a free Worker when we land another Unit on top of the unescorted Settler on the following turn.

Gifting Vlad to Churchill works because it will be Size 1 when we capture it and it will grow very slowly, so Churchill won't be able to build a City Defender in there for quite some time.

Also, I hope to work out a micro for Argent, like we are using at Ruby Bay, to build Granary, Workboat, Lighthouse, and 1 settler.

With Chops getting us our Work Boat and Granary, and possibly our Lighthouse, we could simply aim to grow until we can 3-pop-whip a Settler.

We could get solve the Russian dissident problem by 3-pop whipping settler out of St. Petersburg.

Ideally, we wouldn't whip St. Petersburg at all and would be able to keep the City sufficiently Happy to keep all 11 of its population points (the City Size that it will be after capturing it twice), since there won't be Motherland Unhappiness there and we have +4 Happiness from being Charismatic and having 2 Happiness Resources and are about to get another +1 Happiness from a third Happiness Resource.

That way, we can quickly pump out a Great Person when needed, say, optionally switching into Caste System in order to quickly get out a Great Person for our first Golden Age.

Fighting from a forested hill must offset that advantage

The terrain of the square from which you attack a City does not matter, except for the case of crossing a River.

An Archer has:
+1 First Strike
+50% City Defence
+25% Hills Defence (which translates into +50% Hills Defence since a Hills square gives all Units +25% Hills Defence)
It is also likely to get +25% Fortification

So, the defensive values will be:
St. Petersburg: 50% City Defence + 20% City Culture + 25% Fortification = +95%
Yakutsk: 50% City Defence + 50% Hills Defence + 25% Fortification = +125%

3 * 1.95 = 5.85
3 * 2.25 = 6.75

Horse Archer = 6
Combat I Horse Archer = 6 * 1.1 = 6.6

Having a modified Strength value that is greater than the modified Strength of the other Unit gives a significant advantage in terms of the number of hits required to kill the other Unit, due to passing a breakpoint when one Unit's modified Strength goes just above the modified Strength of the other Unit.

Being wounded will reduce our wounded Horse Archer 4's modified Strength. I think that the calculation for BtS uses half of the Unit's health and half of the Unit's original Strength. If true, that would mean:
6 * 0.5 * 1.1 (Combat I) + 5.5 (current Health) * 0.5 * 1.1 = 3.3 + 3.025 = 6.325

 

[Jersey Joe]

So that's where he's been hiding his army. Let's hope that that's his main army.

In the end, if St. Petersburg looks like it will be heavily besieged, we simply gift the City to Churchill to act as a temporary protector of the City (which will still be in City Revolt, so Churchill won't whip away population points, nor will he lose population points from having too many Unhappy citizens to feed), then once we get a Cease Fire with Stalin, we declare war on Churchill and retake St. Petersburg without anyone able to counter-attack us there.

A Size-13 City will be in City Revolt for 9 turns after it was captured, and if we were to gift such a City to Churchill, the City Revolt period would remain unchanged.

Would we and the city be safe from Attack?

So, I guess the main suggestions for changes for the Unit distribution are:
- Drop off Chariot 2 and Chariot 3 on the GH For at 1 SW of Yakutsk (can be done on T89), to allow Galley 1 to move SW > SW on T90
- One of the Chariots in Hamburg can stay in Hamburg to board Galley 4
- Bring Galley 1 down to the northern coast of the mainland on T90 (SW > SW)
- On T90, HA 5 and Chariot 8 can then board Galley 1 (Chariot 8 will be at full health without needing a Medic's help)
- The Chariot that stays in Hamburg can board Galley 4 after Galley 4 has transferred a Unit to Galley 5
- On T91, Galley 1 (with HA 5 and Chariot 8 aboard) can move NE > NE to 2 S of Yakutsk

That gives us 2 HAs and 2 Chariots from Hamburg plus Chariot 7 to attack St. Petersburg from land and leaves us with 6 Units on Galleys that can be used at either St. Petersburg or Yakutsk, with us deciding what to do with the Units on Galleys after attacking St. Petersburg.

Looking at the Great Wall suggests that either, Moscow or Novograd, or both are closer to St. Petersburg than Rostov.

How about also gifting Yakutsk to Churchill? That would supply a spawn buster until we have a settler ready to replace it.