A few questions to both candidates.
What would your plans be for our two neighbors, do you expect another series of wars, and if so what would your general strategy be?
What would you say is the most important new technology for our military?
What do you see as the role our navy will play in the short term and in the long term?
What would your plans be for our two neighbors, do you expect another series of wars, and if so what would your general strategy be?
Germany got 3 cities, and I could devise a plan to destroy the entire German civilization in less than a turnchat. I see no reason for Germany to exist, as they hate us, and they got no technology to offer us. Another problem could be that the other continent would colonize them first, with Japanese and Aztecs both being aggressive trait nations. I can see this German war taking place already this turnchat, or next turnchat. But I am afraid someone would let Germany live a bit longer for election purposes.
As I worked hard to get vassalage, I would like to send a new generation trained troops added with the old one to attack the three remaining German cities. The norm would be 7 macemen and three catapults, and that would even work for Frankfurt with 5+ longbows, as only one of them is a real defender with two city garrison promotions. Dortmund and Tartar will be much easier to take, and we will do exactly that.
Due to war weariness issues, I would like to see us declare War with Rome as soon as Frankfurt is taken, even though we still need to take another German City. I think the first phase should allow us to take the following cities:
Hamburg, the Tao Religious City, is a key target, to be taken in a pincer from Dortmund and Berlin. Some players would argue that pincers or "overcomplex" strategies are not needed, but I disagree. The reason why, is to take out Roman Iron more quickly and to cover more ground as AI tends to wander around. I would attack from primarily Berlin, and the spare troops to be liberated from then Mongol Dortmund. I want to keep that city due to the Isthmus placement, which may be useful in the future (producing ships in lakeside locations for example).
The New Roman City placed between Pisae and Neapolis has to be taken as well, this would happen right after the War on Rome starts. I see this war as driven by macemen and catapults until the end. We need to use the forces we have.
Antium is the third and final main target for the Roman War. This major city is pressuring Cumae culturally and is the city possibly delivering all the new Roman settlers. We should take Antium and thus reduce the NW border to a minimum length. Engineering would be quite useful in this plan, to allow double road movement for slow moving infantry and catapults, so I would urge the people to support that tech now.
We should declare peace after these three (potentially also Ravenna, if I can get people along to do this) and get theology and some other gains from the Romans.
vassalage has now given us 22 free unis, and with the average garrison of 1 per city and 18 cities, we got a surplus of 4 free units. I got clear ideas for how to max this trait out. The Aggressive Trait allows us to get to the promotions liberated by Combat, which we get for free. This allows us to give the promotion "Cover" which will be useful in the German War and "Formation" which will be useful in the Roman War. Yet, as soon as we see we got enough specialists, we should change to scaleable promotions that can be used in the industrial and modern ages, so we should at a point, possibly right after the next Roman War, only focus on promotions that can be used long term, this means that Shock, Cover and Promotion will be soon obsolete. Combat, Medic and others would be key.
These wars should in principle be placed in the early 1600s, over 15-18 turns or so (for both wars in one go, making the German transcend into the Roman one).
The final Roman war should be taken in the late 1600s. taking Rome and the unnamed NW city, and possibly also Ravenna if not already taken. Ravenna can be taken in both wars. In this war, we seek to get rid of units we do not want to promote, and to promote the units about to get a promotions. We can call the last war the Promotion War. These units would then be the core of the expeditionary corps, to take on overseas invasions, city assaults and so on. The Promotion War would be the last war to be fought with medieval equipment.
What would you say is the most important new technology for our military?
This question can be seen in three ways. The immediate technology, the technology needed for the next two wars and for scaleability.
The immediate technology would be Astronomy, as it allows us to set up forward bases on distant islands. We really need to get force projections overseas quickly, before these few and important islands are settled. The technology needed for the continental wars would be Engineering, as Pikemen would easily kill the Roman Cavalry, and the double road movement for slow infantry would contribute to reduce war weariness and to make those wars more expedient. We now see the need for fast and less costly wars. Vassalage and Heroic Epic gives us the expertise and production level, but Engineering is needed for the wanted deployment of same troops. The long term, would of course be Replaceable Parts, as we need infantry for an overseas invasion. I sincerely do not think Military Tradition would be important at all, contrary to our good friend Joe Harker. Cavalry would have no bearing in future naval assaults, which I intend to run by Marines, and double road movement would carry strong infantry to our objectives. Scientific Method is a key part in this puzzle, as it reveals oil, which would determine how we handle the other continent in general. I am certain we would have oil ourselves, but the nation without oil, can be the best victim for an overseas invasion.
What do you see as the role our navy will play in the short term and in the long term?
Short term, we need to take out the Roman Galleys, which we should use to promote our caravels to move even faster (there is a promotion that gives 1 extra move). Mid Term, we need to explore our Western and Eastern Oceans, and immediately settle strategically located islands with Galleons (why we need astronomy now, not later, as part of Liberalism gambit). I also see it as a problem that development of port infrastructure has been badly neglected. NOTB was for example my idea, same as Port Khan, the city Methos just polled. All these port cities will produce the navies we need to win the game. For a Space Win, we may need to raid the key city of the main rival, both cultural and space oriented cities. For Domination or Conquest, we need transports for a modern naval invasion, WW2 style. This is why I am already planning to gear promotions away from Shock, Formation and Cover to more modern orientated promotions.
Short term we only need caravels for the Roman War and for exploration. Mid term, we need Galleons with settlers and garrisons to take key islands. Long term, we need a combined naval force of destroyers, subs, carriers and transports, as well as a couple of battleships (if we want a domination win), customized to take on some objective. This navy would cost us dearly, which is why we should go for Nationalism after the last Roman War.
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