[BTS] Shadow Game: Monarch w/ Charlemagne

The big question at this point is, what Boston looks like? Does it have it's own metal? Anyway, try the NW3 Washington approach, then roll back and try NY if attacking the former doesn't work. (i.e. overstretched, reinforcements from Boston.)
 
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Taking Wash would cut off copper (unless he has another one, or Iron) so that looks very tempting.
At least 1 Chariot makes sense in case you can catch solo Axes.

I wouldn't recommend loading when bad RNG happens..Rusten once said once you start you cannot stop.
 
I didn't say keep rerolling RNG for Wash, I said go back and try NY if Wash doesn't work. OP has already reloaded earlier, and I don't think going back and trying something new when the current approach isn't working is bad.
 
@danjuno Replaying for rerolling RNG is completely different than replaying for learning how to make better decisions.
 
I didn't say keep rerolling RNG for Wash, I said go back and try NY if Wash doesn't work.
And deciding between going for the capital or border cities doesn't count? :huh:

Fine, I'll remove the word RNG, since that's what y'all seem to be latching onto.
 
Not sure if I misunderstood the conversation. By replaying I meant the replaying that happened earlier in the game, not the one possibly done while at war.
 
@Fippy @danjuno bit of a moot point, I missed this page of discussion and played on :)

Spoiler T84 :

  • DOW T81, captured New York immediately, no losses
  • Lincoln's wandering axeman holed up in Philly with Spearman + Archer
  • Captured Washington T84, lost 3 HAs, captured a worker
  • I think this is good results; what say the more experienced voices?
  • 9 total HAs remaining: 2 full strength at Washington, 2 at low health; 1 good strength garrisoning New York; 3 full strength near Prague, 1 freshly build at Nuremberg
  • 4 HAs in production: 2 complete next turn, 2 some turns later
What now? Try to nab the two tasty workers, I bet, but then? Punch for Philly? Push towards Boston? Heal up and catch breath?

T84_Events0000.JPG



 
I wonder if he will disband those workers (they sometimes do that if there's no path home) :)
Maybe you can attack Shaka soon? Would make sense with his border cities close. Got any screenies of his city garrisons?
 
Very nice!

I’d take the workers if you can this turn and also try to get a peak at Boston. I see he’ll take peace. Therefore, if you can’t get enough well healed units in a position to attack Boston next turn, one option would be to take a ceasefire (definitely not a 10 peace treaty!) to get him out of war mode so he doesn’t build any more units to defend Boston.

The downside of a ceasefire is resetting war success if you’re planning on using alphabet to take techs off him for peace. I don’t fully understand how it works but basically, the more war success you have, the more tech they’ll give you for a proper ten turn peace treaty. So the other option is don’t take a ceasefire, take Boston, extort techs for peace, come back to finish him off later.

I’d abuse the ceasefire because I doubt he’ll have any good tech and I think the motherland unhappiness would make me want to just wipe him out but others may disagree.

Definitely don’t target Philadelphia next though. It’s not a great spot, reasonably well defended and will auto-raze unless it’s gotten to size 2 and been whipped down. Cities that are captured having never reached size 2, are auto-razed. And hopefully targeting Boston will cause him to move units out of Philadelphia so you can kill them in the open.

Shaka is definitely looking likely to be next in the menu. I see you’ve gone alphabet. I’d probably have beelined construction but you’re probably not too far from that anyway with capture gold. Whether it’s worth waiting for that to attack Shaka will be clearer once you’ve finished with Lincoln.
 
Get a look at Boston's defense and finish up Alphabet. That will let you know whether you can take Boston now, need to heal for a few turns, or it's outright undoable without major reinforcements; it will also let you know what techs you could extort out of Lincoln in exchange for 10 turns of peace.

My offhand guess would be that you can probably blitz Boston, peace for 10 turns with Lincoln while you take the barb city, heal up, and reposition, then finish him off and I suspect the timing would work out about right. But I could be wrong about that.

Once Lincoln is gone you're going to need to decide whether you want to just keep the war machine rolling, or shift back to a more peaceful footing. You'll definitely have enough good cities that either one should be a pretty smooth path to victory. If you aren't planning on carrying on to hit Shaka after Lincoln, let your current round of horse archer builds finish but shift to stuff like workers, granaries, libraries, maybe more settlers after that.
 
The attack seems quite successful :clap: Lincoln's double corn + copper capital is a very nice prize of war :trophy2:. Once Alphabet finished, you'll probably get IW through trade or extort it from Lincoln. As coanda suggested, both war and peaceful development are possible options after Lincoln is gone. You already have maths and HRB, so you only need masonry-construction to unlock war elephants if you want to keep warring; if you prefer to stay at peace, your tech situation is also quite close to currency-CoL.

Just a small note about monarchy technology: with gem, ivory, and gold, you have a high happy cap, so Monarchy and HR are not very urgent for now. However, if you decide to go for wars and want to accept AIs' capitulation later, then at some point you'll need monarchy, as it's the prerequisite of Feudalism.

then use the capture gold to get to construction to elephant/catapult Shaka
Very good point. Since Elepults against Shaka is much safer than throwing HAs onto Impis, getting some capture gold from Lincoln is an efficient way to spend the time while waiting for construction.
 
Definitely could go down the more peaceful route from here but I’d still want to deal with Shaka on my terms first before teching towards whatever you want for your chosen victory conditions. It wouldn’t be the end of the world by any means if he attacked you while you were (say) teching towards lib but it’d be annoying and, when you’ve got elephants, it’s almost rude not to!
 
Spoiler T86 :

  • Boston has 1 archer? Two appear in the city, but one says 'Elizabeth' (who has appeared), though also 100% American? See pic below
  • Barb city has 2 archers
  • @Fippy Shaka's Bulawayo defended by archer + axeman, uMung- 2 archers + 1 axeman, see pic
  • 11 total HAs, still producing more
  • decide whether you want to just keep the war machine rolling
    I've got the taste now, I'm thinking what you suggested above: Boston falls, extort 10 turn peace and take barb city.
  • Assuming the above, after 10 turns peace, I should then target Philly to wipe Lincoln?
  • And, after Alphabet, Construction to prepare for Shaka
T860000.JPG

T86_shaka0000.JPG


 
I would prolly skip Boston, take some techs for peace (if he has any) and prepare all HAs for Shaka.
Motherland unhappy isn't so bad with gold & gems, Boston far away and just costs gpt. He also built no cottages there yet.
Can always come back vs weakened AIs at any point.

Mixing cats with HAs can be fine if longbows (or Jumbos) appear, but usually you want your horsies move fast until they run into too strong opponents :)
Attacking Shaka fast should at minimum give 2 more nice (and closer) river cities, can always make peace later.

Maybe MC has good value here for +2 forge happy.
Or CoL with an eye on CS. Or currency which i keep forgetting ;)
 
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Spoiler T91 :


reading different possible approaches, will try Fippy's suggestion, because 1) Lincoln is no longer a threat, 2) Boston is far and not so impressive 3) Shaka is close, strong, and snackable
  • Teched Alphabet, started Construction
  • Peaced Lincoln for Sailing + Masonry
  • Ramses and Egypt appeared
  • Gathered the horde at Shaka's border, connected roads to Shaka
  • Economy is a dumpster fire - units striking, but
  • DOW Shaka, captured Bulawayo
  • Forgot to count current HAs, but it's many - too many? Capture gold will help for a few turns, but state of the economy is stressing me out
  • Shaka is sending 1 Impi towards me - also has an axeman near Nuremberg - not so threatening, but will need some attention
T910000.JPG



 
Nice but it's why an Eco tech like Currency (or CoL for a great merchant via Caste) usually makes more sense than Construction, after HAs :)
They are very strong units and can even win wars on deity, so don't expect too much resistance on lower than Emperor.

Make sure to not whip more units for now if that costs you working cottages (or worse tiles like gold).
 
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