Shyuhe-6.5 - War!

[shyuhe]

Looking good Ralph

Nice to see us gaining some cities for once Once those come out of revolt, they should add to our base research rate which will be nice. I see that the western cities are building mostly suicide catapults. I would continue with this as it looks like we're going to be grinding against more advanced troops until we hit rifling, which is about 22 turns at break-even research.

I would cancel the WP build. Calix is 19 turns away from a GP with 75% chance for a GE. We should hire as many priests as we can in that city to speed up the birthing process. GP will be good, and GE can be used to build WP. I'd rather have 800 hammers of cuirassier's (8 of them!).

Some MM stuff:
Sippar should whip a library. It's running a citizen specialist from mercantilism right now. Babylon should work the watermill instead of the grassland farm. That will push the base hammer to 28, giving us an extra hammer from the forge.

Borsippa needs at least a barracks (and ideally stable) before military builds.

Yamamoto should definitely get woodie3 for the extra healing. After that, morale so that we can shift him to primary healing duty in the west. Hopefully that eastern stack is enough to take out Monty's last city (or two). It may need a few reinforcements but I'm not sure that they're available right now in view of the rifles marching towards us. Don't forget to upgrade those knights! It's a cheap upgrade

Roster
shyuhe
BurnEmDown
Ralph_Jackson
Paulus III - UP
GreyFox (on deck)

 

[PaulusIII]

The RNG will be the first against the wall when the Babylonian revolution comes.

Okay, let me take back my words.

The RNG will be the first against the wall when the Babylonian revolution comes.
The RNG will go against the wall ONCE I GET A HOLD OF THAT BLASTED *#%*@!%#!!!!

I mean, letting Boudica get away with a suicidal attack? Letting musketeers survive 80% odds time and again? Messing up our grand plan for obtaining Theology, because somehow 84% was not enough to steal it?

On the bright side... Babylon is still alive and kicking, and Team AI is finally one player short. Monty has been captured at his last stronghold in Tlaxcala, and the Aztecs are no more.

 

[PaulusIII]

At the beginning, all was well. Fred's stack only had one rifleman (and nothing we couldn't handle anyway, I think our Combat IV/Pinch Muskets would've been able to deal with them), and Camulodunum was facing the French but I really wasn't afraid at that point.

Unfortunately, that all changed IBT.



The next thing we know Camulodunum is in trouble, as Napoleon moves his stack on the hill and is joined from the west by a group of Spanish cavalry and Celtic grenadiers, all with their own siege. There is still time to heal up but we need more troops really fast. And we all know what that means...

I manage to kill Napoleon's troops while Izzy and Boudica are still busy dealing with the defenses. I whip out catapults and cuirassiers to deal with the incoming stack, whether by collateral or by raw strength. While Izzy is still busy with bombarding the defenses, Boudica attacks and somehow two of the three grenadiers and ALL HER TREBUCHETS get out alive at 30% odds. Audentes fortuna iuvat... DAMN YOU RNG!



The next turn however we have 17 cuirassiers and 7 cats to deal with it. Nothing is left of the attackers. Camulodunum wouldn't be bothered again this turnset.

As usual, Dur-Kurigalzu had a much easier time. Fred left his rifleman behind for some reason and sent only the knights/trebs to DK, where our cuirassiers cleaned them up. Gandhi sent a pathetic excuse for a stack as well, and was decimated as well. Apart from the odd lucky Celt (How does Boudica keep managing that kind of luck?) we didn't lose much there either. At one point I even felt safe enough to put economic builds in the queue again instead of more troops...

The plan for obtaining Theology went flawless until the RNG decided to mess it up.



We captured Tlaxcala on the other side of the Babylonian Empire, which also happened to be Monty's last city. Goodbye Monty, nobody will miss your madness... one down, five to go.

We have a stack of 7 cuirassiers and a few maces/cats/trebs, we can either wait a bit (I've queued up some more trebs for the stack) or begin the assault on France. Napoleon looks weak; Izzy and Boudica are still sending big stacks at regular intervals, I have the idea that Gandhi and Fred aren't putting much effort in the war but I don't see much trouble coming from Nap's side.

We might be in trouble, though. Fred is taking the war serious for a change and is sending more and more riflemen. And Spain just keeps on sending stacks as well...



We have 6 fearful turns left on Rifling. After that everything will become MUCH easier. And we still don't have Theology courtesy of the RNG.

 

[Ralph_Jackson]

We could trigger the GA now with confidence (but not certiainty) we could get Theology in before it ended (the spy looks one turn from being in a Boudi city) and let this GA boost help us onto rifling when the world would look much rosier...

Ralph

 

[GreyFox]

Got it. Triggering GAge now (can we? I haven't looked at the saved game, so wasn't sure if GAge is available) might be the best short term plan to survive the current onslaught (and bring it to Nappy). In any case, if we want Theology (presumably for theocracy), we need to first revolt to a religion. So a GAge is definitely far better as it save two turns of anarchy.

--

 

[BurnEmDown]

GA can be launched since we got a Great Artist in Babylon.

 

[shyuhe]

The GA will speed up rifling as well, so I say go for it. Depending on how bad the troop situation is, we may want to consider swapping into nationalism post-rifling to draft up some rifles for city defense.

Also, what tech are we going for post-rifling? We can either go for steel or for assembly line. I'm guessing we should pick up steel (and possibly military science?) before beelining for assembly line. I think we'll just have to live with emancipation unhappiness for nowl

 

[PaulusIII]

I think steel is the obvious way to go once we have rifling, it's only two techs away and highly useful for collateral. Plus it's only one tech not on the AL path; We need Chemistry as well for AL.

Oh, and make sure Zhukov gets CR3 before you give him a rifle. Rifles don't get CR promotions.

 

[GreyFox]

And so Golden Age it will be.

I adopted Confucian and revolted to OR. We have some missionaries to build, and it will be a while before we will steal Theocarcy, hence OR is better now.

Some manipulation of science slider and a little MM, we will get Rifling in 4 turns at a lost of 20 gold per turn. Seems okay to me.

Also noticed we have a GG in Dur. Sent him to capitol and merged.

Quite a few Currasiers died when repelling a stack of 3 cavs and rifles from Isabella. Nonetheless, we prevailed. Meanwhile, some dude told us we are the least advanced. Hmmm ... so be it, although I can't see how Napolean is more advance than us.

Speaking of him, he founded a new city just when our troops started moving towards Orleans.

Things are getting a little quiet, except for a lone grenie who choose to stay on top of a hill near Nippur. I let him be.

Finally, we got Rifling.

Just nice, when Zhukov has just enough exp for one more CR promo I was also forced to upgrade our medics ... but I think it shouldn't matter that much, since I have amassed enough money to upgrade other units as well. The only reason I am not upgrading them yet is for them gain exp to reach the next promo level. Hate to see a 23/26 unit suddenly become a 10/26 unit.

On the second last turn of the golden age, I activated our spy.

Yeah, I know, it is only at 40% discount. But I wanted to make sure we can revolt within the golden age -- if the RNGod spite us so much that the spy fails again, then at least we can get Theocracy in 1 turn and revolt in the last turn of our Golden Age.

But I am luckier than Paulus in this regard (though I did have my fair share of Curraiser losing to muskets at 80% odds) Why, we even catch a foreign spy on the same turn! (Note also on the screenie above that a second babylon spy is heading towards the Celtics.)

Hence, on the last turn of Golden Age, we adopted Theocracy.

I was contemplating on Nationhood, but decided against it. We do not have any high food city to merit drafting.

I played one more turn pass the golden age, and repelled this stack in the west.

Only one lone treb remains, but we are out of mounted unit to take it out. Note also that grenie on the hill in the above pic. He is the one I talked about, and have been there for 3-4 turns now.

In France, the situation is a bit more tricky.

It took me a while due to a lack of siege and also French city's annoying fast recovery rate of its culture. But they are now down to 3 wounded defenders. However, we are also down to 3 unmoved attackers (the 3 maces). It shouldn't be a problem for us to kill all 3 defenders (unless the RNGod really really hate the next player --- fortunately Paulus' turn is not yet up ). But that will leave us with only the last attacking mace defending Orleans, along with all the mounted units that have one movement points left. So it is a gamble the next player must take:

- either you attack on the inherited turns and hope that Nappy do not have enough forces to re take the city

- or you wait one more turn but risk suddenly 5 more CG3 grenies appearing in the city.

Oh, One More Thing (TM), we have a GE in Akkhad, feel free to do whatever you want with him. I read something abt WP, but not sure where we want it ... do we want to concentrate everything on our capitol?

 

[PaulusIII]

Good work Fox. Babylonia finally is safe from attackers... with rifles we can beat anything they throw at us.

And since musketeers always seem to survive at 80% odds.... let's see how they do against 90% odds!

 

[shyuhe]

Nicely done Fox. We're now safe until infantry or airships (I hate those things). Hopefully we can mop up some AI before either of those becomes an issue.

I won't push for Orleans this turn but I'll kill all but one unit. I imagine Nappy is gassed at this point as the stacks he was sending were pretty small.

Babylon should continue with its cavalry spam. It's base is now... 17 + 2 + 2 = 21? So it may be worth rushing the WP there now for 25 XP One more GG and we can start building commando cavalry. The other alternative is to save it for IW. IW in Babylon will be huge, as I think we have the health bonuses to plant it there. I'm not sure which would be better at this point. Thoughts?

 

[Ralph_Jackson]

since musketeers always seem to survive at 80% odds.... let's see how they do against 90% odds!

Don't worry paulus the RNG is still capricious enough to let them win at 10% if she feels like it (The RNG definitely feels female to me!!).

Nice work Fox; with tech parity and cities coming on stream things are looking up!!

Ralph

 

[PaulusIII]

Don't worry paulus the RNG is still capricious enough to let them win at 10% if she feels like it (The RNG definitely feels female to me!!).

Nice work Fox; with tech parity and cities coming on stream things are looking up!!

Ralph

Judging from the luck that Izzy and Boudica get, the RNG is definitely male.

 

[say1988]

Now be open-minded, it could still be female.....

 

[shyuhe]

Well I don't have too much to complain about the RNG after my set. Not that I took big risks, but I won most of my 80% odd battles and crushed lots of stacks with minimal losses. I think this game's going to be on auto-pilot soon, although an AI with more advanced weaponry can always wreck a good plan.

IT: Nada

Turn 309 - Capture Orleans. It comes with the Hanging Gardens and the Great Wall. Both very welcome additions to our growing empire

Turn 311 - Chemistry is in, I set research to steel. Marseilles also falls.

Turn 313 - We got another GG so I settle him in Babylon and rush the WP. Babylon is now building 27 XP mounted troops They're about as ridiculous as a UU at this point. Combat 5 cavalry out of the gate, or combat 3 + pinch + formation. Either way, they get ridiculous odds against pretty much everything in this era. I also steal compass.

Turn 317 - Steal optics. We get a free from some whales.

turn 318 - I capture Paris. I got bold and only bombarded the city down 50% but the mounted troops had 70-80% odds so I went for it, and took it with no losses I think this is Paulus's bad luck evening out.

Turn 319 - Steel is in and I stop here. Research is tentatively set for military science to open up commando and an academy. I really want to play with combat 4 commando cavalry and spy incited revolts... But feel free to veto this and actually choose a more useful tech.

I've queued the FP in Tenochtitlan. It has good production and it's pretty far from Babylon. After that, it can build some military units. Paris has some settled GG as well, so it can build units once it comes out of revolt and basic infra is in place. I've spread buddhism to some smaller cities. I wouldn't spread it to the big ones because of issues from fighting brothers of the faith. But we do need to make sure we don't lose a religious victory. It's unlikely, but possible:

Since we're capturing Buddhist cities at this point, I don't think it'll be an issue.

Sorry about where the stack near Paris is. My computer glitched as I was moving the units and ended up registering a click in a funny location. It may be better to go after Tours first, open trade routes with Paris, then upgrade those siege to cannons.

We can build IW somewhere but I'm not sure it's worth the hammers. I think it's better to wait for a GE at this point. If we strike fast enough, we may be able to gain a sizable land lead with just cavalry and cannons. I think we're finally over the hump

Roster
shyuhe
BurnEmDown - UP
Ralph_Jackson (on deck)
Paulus III
GreyFox

 

[GreyFox]

You kept Marseilles? Personally, I would have razed it.

Have we built the Moai? If not, it can be built in one of the ex-Aztec city as well.

Spreading Buddhism has the additional benefit of getting 2 free hammers per buddhism building as well.

Tech wise, military science is good. Alternative is to go for steam power + railroad for machine guns (and faster troop movement). The machines guns would allow us to shift some of the troops (like Zhukov) in northwest from a defending job to a more offensive role.

Psst, Psst .... the save ....

 

[shyuhe]

oops

I kept Marseilles to fill the gaps. It's on the coast and is (now) Buddhist so it'll help out pretty quickly. Just remember to whip a courthouse ASAP.

Moai is also open. The SE Aztec city is probably the best for that, but I wouldn't built it until stone is back online. We have the troops to defend the stone now (but not enough workers).

Also, we have the GW now so try to kill troops within our border if possible

 

[GreyFox]

I think there is a source of stone near Orleans, so we probably already have stones on line. By the way, we can probably remove the fort at the ivory and camp over it.

 

[PaulusIII]

By the looks of it Napoleon is nearly toast as well.

Behind France however lies Spain... the only nation which at least tries.

We have to make a choice whether we continue there or leave the forts at Camulodunum/DK and bring Boudica down, who by now also has run out of economic and military momentum. If we want to hold the Izzy line without her roading troops in or razing the French cities we have to remember to cut the roads leading to Spain from the former French border. We also need to build roads ourselves, we need one from Camulodunum to Tours.

I wouldn't take military science for the grenadiers... what I do like is a military academy in Babylon and... what, we get commando cavalry out of the gate? That is going to be sooo much fun

 

[shyuhe]

Boudica is nearly gassed as well. When our spies checked out her territory for espionage missions, I didn't see many troops. She doesn't have rifling either so she'll be easy to take down with cavalry.

Good point about cavalry coming through the French lands to attack our stack. I forgot about that because Izzy keeps on sending them after Camu. This may be a good opportunity to move our cavalry stack in Camu towards Tours. It will give us better line of sight and also help defend the ex-French (or soon to be) border.

And I never said anything about building grenadiers

So please save the next GG we get (in 240 XP ) for a military academy in Babylon.