[C3C] The Nine Conquests

[Lanzelot]

Age of Discovery, part 1

T0, 1490 AD: As indicated in the preflight, the Caravel from Bristol sails westwards to meet the three northern New World nations, another Caravel with a settler and a scout sails southwards to settle my first colony in Brazil and meet the Incas. The scout can cross South America from east to the westcoast.

Researching Printing Press at full speed, though I won't be able to keep the -38gpt for long, unless I meet those rich American nations...

Trade world maps to everyone for some change and sign a RoP with everyone except France, who want some gold for it. But the Netherlands give me 36 gold for RoP. Great, that's another turn of research...!

Spain and Portugal are now gracious towards me. Nice

With my amphibious Medevial Infantry I attack the barb Camp near Dublin, and also sail my Trebuchet over there. This camp needs to be eliminated, before the barbs cause trouble.

And indeed, in the following turn I can defeat the remaining two barbs and collect another 25g.

In 1493, turn 3, we reach the New World and are the first to meet the Iroquois:



Strange that they only have 125g, I thought all the American nations start with 200?

Next turn we meet a Spanish Caravel coming from the south, so they will probably have met the Aztecs before me?! No, a quick check in F4 shows otherwise. Trading my map every other turn proves to be a steady source of income, everyone has now nearly spent it's starting capital of 200g, while mine increased to 305, despite running a deficit of -38gpt...

In 1497 my Caravel meets the Mayas and the Aztecs and collects another 198g. How on earth did they manage to spend their money? Looks like everyone is running deficit research?!




In 1500, turn 10, my scout meets the Incas. They still have all their gold and I get it for two ancient techs.



Spain gives me wines and some gold for my world map?! And of course more gold from everyone else. After 10 turns, I have Printing Press almost finished, and I'm swimming in gold.

In 1503 the Portuguese know Printing Press, saving us 1 turn of research. The following turn I start Banking, still at full speed, due in 13 turns.
And my settler finally reaches its destination, my future Colonial Capital in prime location:



1505, turn 15, Lisbon finishes the Sistine Chapel, and Jamestown is founded, starting a Courthouse.

After one turn, I rush the Courthouse (still swimming in gold, map-trading covers my deficit...), and Jamestown is now building a Temple (turn 17). The plan is to get it big and productive as quick as possible.



We have pretty good maps of the world by now, thanks to the information of the native tribes and thanks to my scout, who meanwhile reached Cap Horn.

We can see the four European colonies, the Dutch and the French in the north, the Spanish in Louisiana and the English one in Brazil. I think I can develop quite undisturbedly down there. My ship chain already goes down to the Canary Island, almost half the distance to Jamestown and the first Colonist is soon to be shipped to Brazil as well. London will finish my Naval Academy in 11 turns, increasing ship speed by two and therefore extending the length of my ship chain by 10 tiles. One more ship and then upgrading the Caravels to Caracks, should already suffice to connect Plymouth with a harbour in my Brazilian colony.

Interturn Paris finishes Leonardo's Workshop, and Madrid cascades into Copernicus' Observatory.

In 1509 Portugal and the Netherlands know Magnetism. If I can trade that for Banking (due in 7), I can already build better ships: Carracks, which are 2-3-5 compared to 1-2-4 Caravels. So as seafaring nation and with the Naval Academy, my Carracks have speed 8.

In 1511, France also knows Magnetism, and Spain is the only European nation without Printing Press. I sell it to them for 15gtp and a renewed RoP.
Great: the next turn, Spain knows Gunpowder and Magnetism, the Netherlands as well. Hopefully I can pick up both with Banking!

In the interturn of 1515, turn 25, Banking is finished, and I can sell it to Spain for Gunpowder, 36gpt and 109g. France then wants Gunpowder and Banking for Magnetism. I also sell Banking to Portugal for 73g and 3gpt, but the Netherlands simply don't have anything to offer...

Start Colonization now at 90%. (Some time ago I had to raise lux to 10%, as London and another city had grown. Oh, I see there is another ivory resource available at the west coast of Africa. So I'll send the Colonist, who is currently on its way to Brazil, that way.



I have now founded my second settlement in the New World, while Spain, France and the Netherlands have only one and Portugal has three in Africa. Strange, if you consider that Brazil is the furthest away and the AI grows much faster than me?! Probably still busy building wonders?!

1518, London completes my Navigation School.

And my ship with the second Colonist arrives down by the ivory resource, but looks like the Portuguese beat me by one turn.



But why are they still building Settlers? They know Printing Press!
Ok, what I could try is settle to the north of the ivory, rush a Temple and hope that Portugal quickly builds a Harbor in Africa that I can use. Or I continue with the original plan of founding my third Brazil colony by the tobacco and sugar, and then in 14 turns, when Colonization finishes, I can build the first plantations there and use the gold from the Treaures to buy ivory from the Portuguese, once it becomes available on the market.

(BTW, there are only four lux resources in this scenario: silks, dyes, wines and ivory. Furs, gems and spices are strategic resources, and there is no incense.)

I'll do that (meaning: sending the Colonist to Brazil as originally planned, instead of competing for the ivory), as the other plan requires a lot of effort to keep the cultural dominance over the Portuguese town, and is not guaranteed to yield any return on investment, if the Portuguese take forever to build a Harbor for me...

I renew my RoP with Portugal, as otherwise they would constantly disrupt my ship chain, which needs to run through their waters.

In 1520, my wines deal with France expires. As I don't think I will be building Knights anytime soon, I sell them my horses for wines and some gold.

 

[Lanzelot]

Age of Discovery, part 2

In the interturn of 1529, I am the first to finish Colonization. I rush two Tobacco Plantations and a Sugar Plantation immediately, so the first Treasures will soon be shipped home to London. Argh, I disbanded my scout in Jamestown, when I still thought I would require a Cathedral there to get it big. Later I decided I rather use it as a prebuild for the Colonial Capital, but now I cannot switch! Should have rushed that Cathedral ages ago... Ok, doing it now. Darn that delays my Colonial Capital quite a bit.

After the first 40 turns, my Colony in Brazil is slowly taking shape:



While the three northern colonies are still in their infancies:




Portugal has a sizable colony in Africa, and some holdings in the Caribean:




So in the long run, the French will be able to build one Trapper Camp, the Spanish a Sugar Plantation and a Gold Mine and the Portuguese a Sugar and a Tobacco Plantation, a Gem Mine and a Gold Mine. I already have three Plantations and two more in two turns.

The Iroquois have reached the middle ages 1-2 turns ago, amazing! The other American nations still have 2-4 ancient techs to go.

Spain, Portugal and France finished Naval Ordnance this very same same turn that I finished Colonization. The question now is, should I trade it for Colonization, or keep Colonization back a while to get a head-start on Treasure production? I can wait at least a couple of turns, perhaps I can even get Naval Ordnance for Metallurgy, which I am now researching at full speed. Then the AI doesn't need to know Colonization for quite a while...

In 1531, Spain declared war on the Portuguese! That'll be an interesting war... I watched a few fights from my ships and noticed that Conquistadores are also amphibious!



The Netherlands come up with Protestantism. Looks like I can keep my head-start on Colonization for quite a while, and will also be first to Mining. While the Colonial Capital in Jamestown is slowly finishing, I will set up a ring of towns around it, four of which will have access to the gold mountain. That would mean 5 Treasures every 3 turns! I need to prepare now enough ships and units to ship all that stuff home. I remember from earlier games in the past, that I always produced more Treasure units than I could transport, so they were stockpiling in the colonies, some even until the game was over. I hope I can prepare this better this time around...



In 1534 I sell Portugal my spare resources of iron and saltpeter for 100g and 55gpt. I hope that doesn't affect my good relations with the Spanish...

Guess that came too late: in 1535, Spain captures Lisbon! The Portuguese capital escapes to Madeira.



With a Conquistador win, they might also have already started their GA (while Portugal's is long over), so Spain threatens to become a powerhouse here. They already gained a decent VP lead in the war.

Not sure, whether I will have to do something about this later?! At the moment my troups are much too weak to take part in a European war. Good is, that the Spanish colonies still consist of only two size-1 towns in Louisiana and one in the Caribian. So they are a long way from bringing home treasure.

In 1537, the Portuguese know Metallurgy, reducing the time I have left for it to 7 turns. Should I buy it for Colonization and speed up my time to Gold Mines by 7 turns? I could also get things like Naval Ordnance and Protestantism in a 3-fer, but that would speed up the general research pace quite a bit, and I don't want that.

Note by the way, that the Mesoamerican tribes cannot handle this game well: Tenochtitlan is size 3, Chichén Itza size 2 and Cusco size 1, 47 turns into the game! They are by now building the nice cultural wonders like Temple of the Moon and Temple of the Sun, but at that rate, it'll take them forever. So I don't think a cultural win by the Americans is a threat here.

 

[Lanzelot]

Age of Discovery, part 3

And in 1538 finally the big moment: my first two Treasures!



My ship chain from Bristol to Brazil is meanwhile complete, and two Pikes are ready to grab the two Treasures, but they'll have to wait one turn, because first I want to use the chain in the opposite direction to send another Colonist down south.

In 1539, Spain and Portugal sign peace. I thought the Spanish would capture Oporto as well, but they didn't. And the first two treasures arrive in London, but Spain gained so many points in this war, that it is not enough for first place.

The money will soon be invested into our colony, hoping for even more RoI...

Darn, France, Spain and Portugal now all know Colonization. I hope I didn't miss the point for cashing in on it... Let's see whether I can at least get something from the Netherlands.

Well, I have been offered better deals for Colonization, but before I'm left behind in the tech race, I better take it.

1543 is another eventful year: Metallurgy finally finishes, the VPs for that let me overtake the Spanish and I can get at least 255g back from the Netherlands. I start Mining at 90%, due in 11 turns. Ok, it's about time to connect my gold near Jamestown!
Also the second treasure fleet returns to Bristol (a year late, as last year my ship chain was blocked by a Spanish fleet...), 3000 points put me firmly in the lead, and I'm again swimming in gold...

Two more Treasures are returned in 1547. Spain knows Professional Armies in 1549, another optional tech that doesn't do them any good. (2-3-1 Pikemen instead of 1-3-1, honestly, who wants to attack with Pikemen??) A turn later, the Netherlands must have researched Piracy and traded with Spain.

1552, the next three Treasures arrive in London, almost one third of the way, and Spain knows Mining! Fortunately only Santo Domingo can have a gold mine. I will finish Mining next turn and then rush 2 Mines (red), with 4 more to follow in 2-3 turns (green) and 3 more long-term:





I buy Piracy from the Netherlands for Mining , 700g and 12gpt. They don't have any gold or gems. Piracy now allows the Seadog, the English UU, so I can trigger my GA. Only need to find a suitable victim, as actually I don't want to get into any war against a major power. Perhaps the native American tribes have some ships scouting the shores?! All of them, except for the Aztecs, have Map Making (amazing, that Mayas and Aztecs are still in the ancient age). I sell Map Making to the Aztecs for 31g.

Start Ship Building at 90%. Don't know, whether I still need another tech for winning this game, but gold will come via Treasures, so I might as well invest the commerce into science and get some extra points that way.

In 1555, my Colonial Capital is finally finished in Jamestown. In terms of corruption it indeed acts like a second Palace, even towns in second-ring distance are pretty productive now.

First build project is now a Gold Mine. Jamestown had been the only town around the gold mountain, which didn't have a Mine yet...

In 1557, T67, the next shipload of three Treasures arrives in England, score goes up to 15360. And the first Seadog sets sail towards the Caribean, looking for a native ship to capture and starting the Golden Age of England!

Meanwhile, all European nations know Fortification, not that that is particularly useful... The American nations have now all entered the Middle Ages, still no big Temple was built, but Tenochtitlan is now over 1000 culture (1166/4000). Need to watch that a bit.

Three more Treasures in 1560 and four more in 1561. Treasure production and shipping them home now really gets going, and I still have two more Mines to build in Brazil.

In the interturn, I see two Privateers attacking someone elses ships and one of my Carracks. Unfortunately no Seadog within reach. I need to build more of those and use them to protect my ship lane. I wonder whether a victory over a hidden nationality Privateer triggers the GA, or counts as a victory over a barbarian (which do not trigger GA)? And Portugal declares war on Spain! They are brave indeed. I guess they want to take back Lisbon.

1563: four more Treasures arrive in London, six more are in stock waiting to be shipped home. Score is now at 26375. The end is near.
1564 and 1565 both see another four Treasuries arrive in London, raising the score to 34375. I could now buy Fortification from Portugal, if I give them my gems resource, my horses and my cash (985g). But I think this would not suffice to push me over 35000: tech price is 2140 beakers, and I think we get 25% of the beaker price as victory points. (Or even less, now that I think about it: for the 9 techs I already researched and traded, I got only 1320 VPs so far.)
So I skipp that deal and wait for next turn. I still got three Treasures waiting for a passage.

In 1565, Portugal and the Netherlands sign an MA agaist Spain. The following turn, the Netherlands sign up the Mayas and the Incas. But Spain razes Oporto! This is getting ugly.



In 1566, the big moment has finally come: two more Treasures put me at 36375 points, way ahead over Spain with 5815 points. The best cultural city, Tenochtitlan, also still has a long way to go: it's currently at 1244/4000 points.



In retrospect I have to say: even though I was very afraid before the game, that the Deity AIs would run away with the game on victory points, this scenario after all is much too easy. As England, you are safe from attacks, just set up a good colony and bring home Treasures via ship chain, and it's a guaranteed win. Even though my colony in Brazil was not yet quite finished (one last Colonist was waiting for the jungle to be cleared up, so it could found another town near the gold resource and set up another gold mine), treasures were produced really quickly. In the end I had 5 gold mines, 2 gem mines, 2 tobacco plantations and 4 sugar plantations. In the after-game replay, I saw that the other European nations had only picked up a handful of Treasures and returned home only 1-2 each, while I had returned 36. The AI obviously can't handle this treasure mode correctly.

VP victory in turn 77 -- the game went by so fast, that I didn't even get a chance to start my GA...

 

[Lanzelot]

Sengoku, part 1

I still have very fond memories of the Sengoku scenario, having played it three times in PBEM matches against human opponents 2008-2010. However, the multiplayer map for this scenario is quite different from the singleplayer one, with more space, more islands and more opponents. After studying the map a bit, I decided to go with the Hojo, because they start on a river, are close to a location with two food boni, and are not as cramped by nearby neighbors as some of the other starting spots. I think I will walk my settler three moves to found the capital directly by the cow.

This game has basically three possible victory conditions, besides the usual tie breaker on points after 540 turns:

• Domination: own 35% of territory and population
• Diplomatic: build the "War Council" and get elected as sole Shogun of Japan
• Conquest: eliminate all rivals

What else is important to know about this scenario, before jumping into it?

• Every one starts with a king unit, the Daimyo, a 2/2/2 unit, which can be improved/upgraded over time as you progress along the tech tree. Each level adds another attack and defense point, until you reach the Level-10 Shogun at 11/11/2. So your Daimyo can become a powerful unit, but if you lose it, it's instant game over...
• The early barbarians are ordinary 1/1/1 Ashigaru, but later on, barb camps spawn Ronins, who at 4/3/1 are quite annoying buggers... And they usually appear before you have the appropriate counter weapons...
  I remember one "funny" incident from one of the multiplayer games: Calis (a top notch PBEM player, with quite a number of victories in multiplayer matches under his belt, and also a #1 HoF player with many high-ranking entries in the HoF tables) had gone on vacation and had asked Chamnix (one of the top GOTM players at that time) to be his substitute. On his first day as a substitute, Chamnix parked his Daimyo outside a barb camp, with the intention of clearing it next turn. But in the same turn, I finished the last tech of the first era and traded it with my ally. This triggered the general barb uprising, and each barb camp spawned 24 Ronins... The first player of the next turn then got the pop-up message that the "mighty Calis empire" had been eliminated.
  It took us quite a while to figure out what had happened, and whether we wanted to replay that turn, because it did not seem fair that Calis, who had been well in contention for first place at that point of time, was eliminated from the match due to an unfortunate slip of his substitute, who might not yet have been completely familiar with all the subtleties of the scenario...
  Anyway, a decent military is required in this game, because the barbs are much stronger than in the standard game, and come in bigger numbers: there are around 60-70 barb camps on the map, and they keep re-appearing until the map is pretty much settled, and the barb uprising at the end of an era spawns 24 units per camp instead of the usual 16. (Although these 24 we saw in the PBEM games were on Emperor level. Could be that on Deity the number is even higher?!) Anyway, looks like the party-town approach will be needed here at the end of the first era...
• Ronins can later also be built by the non-barbarian civs, and they have hidden nationality, so can't be distinguished from ordinary barbs... This might come as a useful tool for paying your next-door neighbor a little visit and causing some havoc there without having to declare war...
• The Ronin later upgrades to the Ninja, which additionally is invisible and has stealth attack. At 6/2/1, it poses a serious threat to any only half-way upgraded Daimyo. However, as I learned in one of the PBEMs, despite having hidden nationality, it is not possible to assassinate a rival Daimyo, without first declaring war?! (Must be a bug in the game.) The Ninja is also amphibious and treats all terrain as roads.
  The only counter against the Ninja is the Yamabushi Warrior Monk, who can detect invisible units.
• The game goes the full 540 turns, so I expect it will be a bit more "forgiving" with respect to early mistakes. It is still possible to catch up later without running the risk of quickly losing a victory point race, like for example in the rise and fall of the Roman Empire games.
• Chopping forests takes 10 turns, that slows down making forest areas productive quite a bit.
• Max research time is 40 turns, but the tech costs aren't that high, that research will become problematic, not even at Deity.
• No tribe has any unique traits, so building any one great wonder will trigger the GA! (Which is by the way the only way to trigger the GA, as there are no unique units either...)
• And as we all know, on Elvis' birthday, Jan. 8th, all king units in the game get replaced by a little Elvis unit! I considered delaying this game a bit longer so as to make sure that I would still be playing it on Jan 8th, but I have to use the Christmas vacation time now: early January will probably be a bad time again for continuing this series.

As this is the only one of the nine conquests with a UN victory enabled, I will try to go for that. The research strategy for this game then becomes quite simple: in the first age one needs to strive at researching and trading all techs as fast as possible, because the last tech of the era is Feudalism, which finally allows you to get out of Despotism. Note that the Feudalism government of this scenario is very different from Feudalism in the standard game! It is more like the standard Monarchy with a much higher unit support (4/6/8 for town/city/metro). Also, we have cash-rushing instead of pop-rushing. And (as I re-discovered while playing the second session of this installment) two improvements of the Feudalism government are not even mentioned in the Civilopedia of this scenario: it boosts worker speed to 200% and it adds +1 commerce to each tile (so it's in fact an improved Republic rather than an improved Monarchy!) In any case, it's a huge improvement over Despotism.



In the second era, we have an upper tech tree, which allows most of the more advanced military units, and a lower tech tree, which leads to Diplomatic Finesse, allowing the War Council and "Shogun elections". The good thing here is, that Philosophy grants a free tech, like in the standard game, so if I am fast enough (and the AI goes for the weapons first...) I will only have to research three techs in the second era and have a pre-build for the War Council ready. The bad news is, that if the plan with diplomatic victory fails, I will have no advanced weapons... Perhaps in that case I could go for the remaining two techs in the lower tree and use Ninjas for eliminating some rivals, before their Daimyos become too strong?!



The third age basically provides access to gunpowder-based units. This will probably not become relevant in this game, unless it turns into a long-drawn stale-mate kind of struggle, where the extra punch of the gunpowder units (10/8 compared to the 7/7 of the strongest non-gunpowder unit) really matters.

There are a few great wonders in the game, but non that really matter. Perhaps I can go for the Great Library (Literature) in order to catch up in case the diplomacy plan fails. On Deity (and with so many AIs, a total of 17!) it may be quite useful, and in this game it never expires...

I guess that's all there is to say, so let the fun begin!

The first phase (turn 0, Jan 1450 - turn 36, Jan 1468) went pretty much as outlined above: I moved the settler three tiles, irrigated the cow, chopped and mined the deer, built two warriors (Ashigarus) and a granary and got a 4-turner running quite early.



I sent my starting Ashigaru northwards and the Daimyo southwards to get a number of contacts quickly. First tech was Pottery, and I was able to trade three slaves and 50-60g for it. Next, I researched Alphabet and got Metal Working, half of Sword-Smithing another slave and further gold for it. (The good point about the barbarians in this scenario is, that the AI often moves their first worker into the capital for shelter, where it is available for trade then...)
Invention is almost finished, and then I will probably collect some cash for Ashigaru -> Bushi upgrades, while waiting for the AI to come up with a few second-tier techs, which I can trade for Invention.



Libraries ("Archives") are a whooping 100s in this scenario, so they are probably not useful in the early game. But I am building a few barracks (50s) in order to upgrade to Bushis (3/2/1), once iron is connected. Some better defense against the barbs will soon be needed.

In turn 36, I have the first three towns settled and getting up to speed thanks to the four slaves:


As you can see, iron and five luxuries are within reach, Jade, which is required for Ronins and Ninjas, is available further north, but probably too close to the Takeda for me to claim in time. If I really need it, I can hopefully trade it, or start the first war against Takeda.

Out of the 17 AIs, I have already met 9. Three more or further south on our island, and the remaining five are on different islands, so I will first need ships to get there. (I wonder, whether an election will have any chances of success, before knowing all the nations on the map?!)

In turn 37, I manage to trade the remainder of Invention for Alphabet and some gold from Takeda, then trade Invention for Mysticism and some gold with someone else, and then get my gold back from Takeda for Mysticism. Instead of shutting down research, I start Masonry now. Perhaps I can get a little head start on Construction and then build The Great Wall as a cheap starter of my GA?! Get 50 more gold for a first-tier tech the following turn. The AI is astonishingly slow for Deity.

Meanwhile it is turn 67, Jul 1483. I have researched Masonry, Wheel, Construction and Shinto Precepts and traded for Mathematics, Code of Laws, Ancestor Worship and Sojutsu, and of course lots of gold and a couple more slaves. Still have a monopoly on Construction, trying to get the Great Wall, though the town that's building it, is progressing only slowly. Hopefully someone will finish the Oracle soon, that would break any possible cascade.



I connected iron and upgraded seven Bushis for 60g a piece. Still the treasury is over 700 gold. The first ring is settled, and the first few Archives will finish soon. I think I can then race to Feudalism alone, leaving the AI despotic for a little while longer.



I have met all twelve tribes on the main island, and my Daimyo is on his way back home from the south, so he can finally get upgraded from level 1 to level 4. We have a decent view of the map now:

 

[Lanzelot]

Sengoku, part 2

The build-up phase continues. Map Making is done in turn 70, Jan. 1485. I trade the world map around to all known 12 tribes on the main island, collecting their spare cash in the process. Despite more upgrades and deficit research, the bank account is still at ~800g. We now have a complete map of the main island.

One of my coastal towns is switched to a galley, but still needs a few turns. The plan is that the galley can meet the remaining 5 tribes on the southern islands, before the Shogun election.

Currency is finished in turn 75 and Horseback Riding in turn 80, Jan 1490. In the same turn, the Oda finish the Oracle, and many other Oracle builds are switched to the Great Wall. Chiba (where I had joined a worker to speed things up) still has 15 turns left on the Great Wall. Let's hope I can make it. The next possible wonder would be the Great Library, but at that time a Golden Age is no longer that useful, if two techs later the election can take place. Or I use the prebuild already for the War Council, but then I would play the game without GA...

This is also the turn, when Grandmaster Daimyo Hojo Ujiyasu returns home from a long journey through the southern lands and gets his promotion from Shogun-1 to Shogun-4, for 177 gold.



Meanwhile I'm pretty much squeezed in from all sides. If I want to expand further, I need to do it by force. At first I thought, I might be able to play this game completely peacefully, but the Uesugi to the north only have a handful of small size 1 towns, and their military is rated average compared with mine. I think I still have time to take over their empire before the election.



In Jul 1490, the Miyoshi complete the Great Wall in Kyoto, darn. I switch to palace. Let's see, what will become of it... My first galley sets sail along the south coast.

The fourth luxury resource is now connected, the fifth will follow in 3 turns, and I have already snatched the sixth from the Uesugi, as can be seen on the map of their lands, though connecting it will still take a while. Anyway, with 6 luxuries, I can soon grow my towns to large cities and use the military police for a quick strike against the Uesugi...

Turn 82, Jan 1492: apparently the Uesugi peasant worker has not yet noticed the change of ownership of the incense hill and sticks to his orders of building a road on that hill...



I wanted to ask the Uesugi now to "leave or declare", but I guess I still wait a while until that road is finished. I can assemble a few more troops in those 6 turns.

Turn 86, Jan 1493: we are the first to finish Feudalism and immediately start a revolution -- and draw 7 turns of anarchy! I am pretty sure, the Oda (currently in GA due to their Oracle) will also finish Feudalism during that time and establish a better government before us...

Jan 1494: as expected, the Oda have finished Feudalism and already are a Feudalism. They must have completed it immediately on the following turn and then drawn one turn of anarchy. We still have 5 turns of anarchy left So much for being first to Feudalism... At least everyone else is still in Despotism and lacking between 1 and 6 techs.



In July 1495, the Urakami have also entered anarchy.

Turn 93, Jul 1496, we finally become a Feudalism, after the Oda and the Urakami. We have 9 turns left on Calligraphy, and currently 42 turns left on the 400s needed for either the Great Library or the War Council. I guess it's going to be the War Council and no GA for me (or rather: a GA kicked off on the last turn of the game...)

And I notice two effects of Feudalism, which are not mentioned in the Civilopedia: worker speed is doubled (200% instead of the 100% mentioned in the Civilopedia) and each tile gets +1 commerce, like in Republic! Ah yes, I remember this now from the multiplayer times back then... Feudalism was really a game breaker...! I'll update the introduction accordingly.



In turn 95, the Oda know Bojutsu, that was fast... In any case, they are going for the military techs...



In Juli 1499, turn 99, two more tribes know Bojutsu. I guess I will be able to trade it for Calligraphy, once I get that. My galley finally meets the Chosokabe, the first of the southern island nations.

A turn later, I finish Calligraphy and get Bojutsu plus contact with one of those other southern island tribes for it. I take that deal, although my galley would soon meet them anyway. Bojutsu now allows the Yamabushi, at 2/5/2 the best early defender and a detector of invisible units.



I spend all my money on embassies, over 500g. Interesting is Nagoya, the Oda capital. They are going to finish Sun Tsu's soon, breaking any cascade for the Glib or the War Council...!



My galley meets the Ichijo, that makes 15 out of 17, and in 9 of them I have already established an embassy. For the Uesugi, I don't need an embassy, as I'll attack them soon. I trade my world map around for some more gold and the remaining two contacts. We now know all of Japan:

I use the gold for three more embassies, and agree to a right of passage with all these twelve tribes, making them polite towards me.

The Oda and the Matsunaga now know Suieijutsu, which is not particularly useful: it allows harbors and caravels, which I don't think I need for finishing this game. The plan for the remaining phase of the game now looks like this:

1. Finish two more techs, Literature (1200b) and Philosophy (1600b), and then pick Diplomatic Finesse as freebee.
2. While doing that, swallow the Uesugi.
3. Save some more money for the remaining four embassies.
4. Sign a RoP with these four tribes as well to make them polite.
5. Join a few more workers to Chiba, so that it can finish the remaining 200s for the War Council faster. At the moment I need 8 turns for Literature and 11 turns for Philosophy, but with more towns growing to cities and 2-3 more Archives, I think I can shave off 1-2 turns from that time. Chiba currently needs 29 more turns for reaching 400s, so that definitely needs to be sped up. At size 8, it is currently doing 7spt. It will grow in 3 turns, then I can join 3 more workers. Chiba can then use 3 forests and a mined grassland for 7 more shields, but 1-2 will probably be lost due to corruption. Also happiness might become a problem: It doesn't have a marketplace yet, and with 6 luxuries and 3 military police, it will remain happy only up to size 10. Running 10% lux tax would be ok, but if I'll have to increase that to 20% only for this single city, it might slow down research too much... I need to find the right balance for finishing the last remaining techs in about the same time as the prebuild for the War Council...!

 

[Lanzelot]

Sengoku, part 3

Turn 102, Jan. 1502: the war with the Uesugi begins. I declare and march in. I considered gifting them up to Feudalism first, to prevent them from pop-rushing, but I would have to gift them like 4-5 techs in order to do that, so I thought what the heck. All their towns have enough culture, that they don't autoraze. The following turn I take Soma, but just barely, and all units take so much damage, that I need to pause a turn healing in Jan. 1503. I collect another round of cash and slaves for maps and out-dated techs, so that I can establish another embassy and a RoP.

Chiba is pushed to size 10, making 10spt with the palace prebuild now due in 18 turns.

Turn 105: the Daimyo takes Sukagawa alone, defeating two Ashigarus. I didn't know so far, that Daimyos have the blitz ability?! And one of the first Grandmaster victories generates my first MGL. I debate with myself, whether I should use it for rushing the Izumo Shrine in a coastal town, but I think the game is too short for that to pay off, especially as I would also need an aqueduct first and grow the city to size 12 in order to get the full benefit of the Izumo Shrine (+1 food, shields and commerce for each water tile of the city). The game will hopefully long be over, before that will make a difference, therefore I decide to form a Bushi Army instead. The Uesugi do have quite a few units they are throwing at me, and I need to beat them down before the election.

Turn 108, Jan. 1504: Literature is finished, Philosophy due in 9 turns, however, the prebuild still has 14 turns. I guess, that gives me enough time for buying the last remaining votes and for eliminating the Uesugi. Due to high losses, my advance has stalled. I need to let the Army heal and then send it on a mission to kill the Uesugi Daimyo, who will hopefully be sitting at home...

In turn 109, the Oda know Bujutsu. But as long as Philosophy is not yet secure, I hold on to Literature.

In Oct. 1505, turn 113, the Oda and two others know Literature! I still have three turns left on Philosophy. I hope that this scenario has minimum research of 4 turns...

In Jul. 1506, turn 116, I finally finish Philosophy, get Diplomatic Finesse as freebee, switch my prebuild to the War Council -- and notice it still needs 16 turns instead of 6! Ah, it's 500s! I'm getting old... What a well-planned game... At least that gives me enough time to clean up the mess I created by starting the Uesugi war: it might not be so easy to get their Daimyo in a town well-protected by lots and lots of Spearmen (defense 3) -- unless they upgraded it and it is now top of the stack...

I only hope, that no one will cascade into the War Council during that time! There are currently three GLibs and one Kabuki Theatre being built. But no one has Philosophy nor Diplomatic Finesse at the moment, and I can still join two workers and perhaps get the time down to 14 turns.

A turn later, I finally establish the last embassy, by coincidence in Kobe, and see that it will finish the Great Library in six turns. Another noteworthy fact is, that their capital is protected by seven Yamabushi Warrior Monks! Without any of the advanced weapon techs, any military victory would be quite difficult here...



To my big surprise, my capital grows to size 13?! Hmm, I checked it in the editor: none of the improvements in that city (palace, granary, archive, marketplace, barracks) allows city level 3, and level 2 has the usual limit of 12 citizens?! Anyone any explanation for this?

I join two more workers to Chiba, and the War Council is now down to 12 turns. Just as a test, I move a third worker into the city and -- the join button appears as well! The city center gets an extra shield, and build time goes down to 11 turns. I can still build another mine.



Very interesting. That city has no improvments whatsoever (been wonder building basically from turn 1, after 1-2 ashigarus), so it must be the river that allows level 3?! Strangely enough, none of the AI capitals has reached metro size yet, they are all between size 4 (pathetic) and 10. On Deity I would have expected them to grow fast, especially when building a wonder?!

And of course the very next turn, Chiba is hit by pollution... Cleaning it up takes 2 turns, so I need to switch a tile with the capital to prevent starvation. Here the state of the empire in Jul. 1507. The Uesugi keep throwing their forces at Shirakawa and I just manage to hold the balance there, no progress possible, even though four of my cities are now building troops. Meanwhile the Bushi Army has reached Sendai and will try to eliminate the defenders, until the Uesugi Daimyo can be caught. Sendai is on grassland and only size 6 and defended by spearmen (1/3/1), perhaps this will be possible in the remaining 9 turns.



Oct. 1508, a victory with my Daimyo spawns another MGL! I form another Bushi Army and will send it to Sendai asap.

And a turn later, the third MGL! I'm running out of units for Armies... I think I will try a Yamabushi Army and see, whether that can also treat all terrain as roads.

Turn 127, Apr. 1509, the Oda build the Kabuki Theatre, after Kobe had already completed the Great Library a few turns back. The War Council is now safe!

In turn 128, all three Armies at Sendai try a final attack, killing 6 spearmen and a Stone Crossbow. I should have gifted the Uesugi up to Feudalism, before starting that war, that would have made things much easier: they pop-rushed Sendai down from size 6 to size 1 by now... Five extra spearmen to kill. Top of the stack is now a regular Ashigaru. Their Daimyo must still be regular and level-1!



But I don't think, I'll get another chance for an attack, as the War Council is going to be completed interturn, and I'll immediately trigger an election. Everyone is polite towards me, and I have gifted maps, techs and gold to everyone the last couple of turns, I will hopefully win the vote without the Uesugi. However, a big stack of Mori Stone Crossbows arrived at my southern border. I hope they won't try any funny business on the last turn, depriving me of their vote. My rival will probably be the Takeda. But I'm trying to win without the military alliance trick.



Oct. 1509, turn 129, the big moment:



I think this War Council looks pretty much like the "Scourge of God" that the Huns built a while ago, doesn't it?!

And of course:



Never had such a well-timed GA...

Then the vote starts, and as expected, Takeda Shingen is my rival.


But the result is overwhelming!

I realize that this game felt much too easy and not very interesting: build a decent core, research fast, meet everyone and trade like crazy, start a senseless war, mess up the timing for pretty much everything, the GA, the research, the prebuild -- and then just hold an election and win...

But I can promise that friends of exiting military action will be delighted next game: I will definitely play the Napoleon scenario for a domination victory, anything else would not be fitting! I still have 3-4 days before the release of next quarter's GOTMs, and still some spare time, so fighting will commence soon...!

 

[Lanzelot]

Napoleonic Europe

This scenario is another favorite of mine, and this time, no map studying is needed to pick my nation: France! Many of you may say that this is cheating, France is way too overpowered, and I should pick one of the minor powers like Prussia or Austria for some extra challenge... But this time, I just want to have fun and re-enact the Napoleonic Era! Also you need to consider, that this scenario is pretty short, only 96 turns, and that might be too short for an uphill struggle that would definitely be required to win with one of the minor nations, all the while the AI is ramping up victory points by killing each other's stacks...

Which already brings us to the first point: the victory conditions:

1. Victory Points: the first to reach 60000 VPs wins
2. Domination: the first to reach 40% population and 40% territory wins

And that's it already, except for the usual tie breaker on points after 96 turns. As I have already four wins by VP and only one by Domination, I want to go for Domination this time.

Victory points can be achieved in only three ways:

1. Holding a VP location: 25 points per turn that you hold it with one of your units. VP locations are basically the capitals of all European nations (including e.g. Budapest, even though Hungary is part of Austria in this scenario) and a few important locations like Gibraltar.
2. Killing an enemy unit: 5 * shield cost
3. Capturing an enemy city: 100 * city size

Other things, that used to give VPs in earlier scenarios, like completing/trading a tech, completing a wonder, sacrificing slaves or cashing in treasure units, don't count here. Nevertheless, as we have seen for example in the Fall of Rome scenario, the Deity AIs can rack up quite an amount of VPs quickly, if they go to war with their big stacks... Therefore I am a bit torn between signing up some other nations on my side (so that I don't have to face the full brunt of the British alliance alone) and keeping things as quiet as possible (so that the VP pace is as slow as possible and I have enough time for reaching the domination limit). But as the rich English merchants will sooner or later sign up the remaining powers (in particular Prussia, Austria and Russia) against me anyway, I might as well have them fight on my side rather than having them fight on the other side... For the VP score it'll make no difference, on whose side they fight...

So how does the diplomatic situation look like at the beginning of this scenario in Jan. 1800? There is a locked war between two alliances:

• On one side there is France and Denmark (though Denmark with only 3 towns will not be of much help, it will rather be an obligation, if I have to defend them...)
• And on the other side there is Great Britain, Portugal, the Kingdom of Naples and the Netherlands (though the Netherlands is only one city and can be neglected like Denmark)

Then there is a number of neutral powers, who might join the fight on one side or the other at any time: Russia, Austria, Prussia, the Osman Empire, Spain and Sweden. France is a Republic (pretty much like in Vanilla/PtW: +1 commerce, war weariness, no free unit support, no military police), while the rest of the world is a Monarchy (slightly higher corruption, no war weariness, 2/4/8 unit support, 3 military police). For some strange reason, France already starts with war weariness at the beginning of the game! Never noticed that before. That means, importing luxuries will be important to keep the country afloat and the research going. One more point pro signing the neutral nations up against the British alliance right away.

The points in favor of France are:

• France is the second largest nation. Russia is bigger, but with the capital St.Petersburg up in the far north, I think that due to corruption Russia's production and research is lower than France's. (Not taking the Deity bonus into account, that is.)
• France starts with an extra tech: Nationalism, which allows drafting as well as the second generation of powerful foot soldiers. The standard foot soldier of the time is the Musketman at 2/4/1. It is no match for the new type of volunteer soldiers motivated by patriotism, which Nationalism allows:
  

  Nation	Unit	Stats	Cost
  France	Voltigeur	6/5/1	90
  England	Redcoat	5/6/1	90
  Russia	Jäger	4/5/1	80
  Austria	Grenzer	4/4/1	70
  Prussia	Füsilier	4/4/1	70
  Osman Empire	Sekhan	3/4/1	65
  Spain	Soldado	3/4/1	65
  Everyone else	Musket Infantry	3/5/1	70

  
  
• France has the best cavalry units (but also the most expensive ones... )
  

  Nation	Unit	Stats	Cost
  France	Imperial Cavalry	8/4/2	140
  England	Household Cavalry	7/4/2	130
  Russia	Cossack	5/2/3	100
  Austria	Hussar	6/4/2	110
  Prussia	Kürassier	5/4/2	110
  Osman Empire	Sipahi	5/3/2	100
  Everyone else	Cavalry	5/2/2	90

  
  
• France has the best elite units (third generation foot soldiers, allowed by the Advanced Tactics technology)
  

  Nation	Unit	Stats	Cost
  France	Imperial Guard	8/8/1	150
  England	Lifguard	7/7/1	130
  Russia	Guard	6/6/1	110
  Osman Empire	Janissary	5/5/1	90
  Everyone else	-	-	-

  
  
• France can immediately start it's Golden Age with a Voltigeur, however, this may also be a drawback, as the French cities are not yet fully grown and improved. (Workers are desperately lacking at the beginning.) The Brits on the other hand, need a naval victory with one of their Man-Of-War units. (The other nations mainly start their GA with their cavalry type unit, e.g. Cossacks, Hussars, Kürassiers.)

However, there are also a number of drawbacks:

• Great Britain is only slightly weaker and cannot easily be attacked due to the very limited see power of France at the beginning of the game. Building up a fleet that could stage a successful amphibious landing, will take a while and will divert resources that might bitterly be needed for land units...
• Denmark is not of much help, while two of the British alliance partners may indeed put up a stiff resistance: Naples and especially Portugal, if England gets enough time for enforcing the Portuguese positions with Redcoats.
• Also, if England manages to sign up a couple of neutral powers, France might end up in a dog-pile, surrounded by enemies from all sides... This is something that needs to be prevented.
• France already starts with war weariness, and it is never going to end, because the war with Great Britain will last until the game is over. Revolting back into Monarchy is probably not an option in such a short game of 96 turns and with (hopefully) such a big empire...
• Britain starts with Smith's Trading Company, which pays the maintenance for things like harbors and markets.

Research strategy is pretty simple for this game: there aren't any governments to shoot for and no wonders, so the important things are mainly better weapons...



I have marked the ones which I will go for first:

• Advanced Tactics for the powerful Imperial Guard unit
• Artillery Tactics for much better artillery: any Canon (bombard 8, rate of fire 1, 40s) can be upgraded to a Grand Battery (bombard 12, rate of fire 2, 50s) for only 30g a piece! That is basically a "triplication" of firepower!
• Military Logistics for the General Staff School (250s), which increases Army size to 4 (like the Pentagon)
• Code Civil, which doubles worker speed (may be desperately needed to improve the growing cities)

These are the most important to start with. If I go for the upper tree, I hope I will later be able to trade for some of the lower techs. (Getting Code Civil in a trade early on, would be great!)

Other noteworthy special features of this game:

• Settlers cannot be built. So let's hope the AI doesn't raze too many cities, otherwise reaching the domination limit may turn out difficult...
• Choping forest takes 7 turns instead of 4. Well, at least not as bad as in Sengoku... There is a lot of forest to clear to allow some of the cities to grow.

The game plan looks like this:

• Use Nationalism to trade for everybody's spare cash, luxuries and a military alliance against Britain (or one of her allies).
• Take Amsterdam quickly, before it becomes a nuisance (while at the same time delaying the start of the GA as long as possible... Hmm, let's see how that goes... )
• Then turn the attention south for a quick conquest of Italy (Kingdom of Naples).
• Then the immediate threats to the French borders should be taken care of, and I can make a new assessment of the diplomatic situation. Perhaps I can then turn towards Spain to finally reach Portugal and kick the last British stronghold off the continent, or I take on one of the other smaller countries like Prussia or Austria, increasing my empire eastwards.

Now for me it only remains to say:
Vive la France!

Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité!​

(or translated into English for those of us who are not that firm in French: "Infantry, Artillery, Cavalry!")

 

[Lanzelot]

Napoleonic Europe, part 1

Turn 0, my first day on my new job: "First Consul of France", and there is so much to do...
The money-bags in London have formed another coalition against our young Republic and are trying to re-establish a Monarchy in France, re-instating a fat and incompetent King in Versailles! That needs to be prevented at all costs, we didn't decapitate our old King for nothing! I need to be quick now and set up good relations with our neighbors, before the Kings in Wien, Berlin and St.Petersburg rejoin forces with London, like they had done 10 years ago.

Also there is a lot to be gained by peaceful trading with our new friends: a total of 1700 gold as well as nice furs and useful dyes, which are urgently needed to keep the people happy. (They are already beginning to doubt, whether it was such a good idea to get rid of the King - how quickly they forget how much they were suffering and starving back then!)



I think I can sell them our new ideas of "Nationalism", allowing a re-organized and much more effective army. Perhaps it will help to spread the idea of freedom and equality throughout Europe. And if I can get them to declare war on the British coalition, that will prevent them from sharing this new knowledge with our enemies! The deal with Csar Alexander was a very promising begin:



Russia declared war on all our four enemies and is now gracious towards us. Similar deals were signed with Austria, Prussia, Osmania, Spain and Sweden, while our old friends, the Danes, also supported us with 200g.

With a bank account of 2100g I can now fund our research for better weaponry, keep the people happy and later shortrush a couple of urgently needed Imperial Cavalry units. Because the danger is not yet over: the Brits have established a bridgehead in Amsterdam, threatening our borders from the north, while the Neapolitans threaten to invade from the south.

Napoleon forms a first Imperial Cavalry Army in Paris, which will try to take Amsterdam, while Davous also forms an Army, but still needs to wait until three more Cav units are ready for action. We started this year with three Cav units scattered in cities around Paris, but didn't have enough for a second Army. And I don't want to waste our great leader Davout on a Voltigeur Army, he will carry much more punch leading a mounted Army! I shortly considered using Davout for rushing a Forbidden Palace in Lyons as I didn't want him to sit idle for a long time without an Army to lead, but with all the gold we just earned, it'll take only 2-3 turns to provide him with the necessary men and horses.

Next I have to go into each French city and send all the entertainers back to work in the fields and tell them what to produce. Now with 10% lux tax, the economy is finally thriving:



Moving the troops northward towards Amsterdam and southward towards Milan, but I hope I won't have to employ our new Voltigeur units yet, which would surely motivate all of France to work twice as hard. And that would not yet be effective, because the country is still recovering from the deprivations of the monarchistic times and growing quickly. Having this boost of motivation at least 2-3 years later, would be much more beneficial.

We also stil have 14 old-fashioned Musketmen units from the days of the King, but upgrading them to the new Voltigeurs would require 120g a piece, money that is currently much better invested in research and mounted units.


The first turn didn't see much action, except for the Dutch attacking Hanover with a Cavalry. Had they attacked Brussels instead, it might already have meant a GA for me... Further troop maneuvering, but no action from my side as well. And nothing important also in the second turn, except for the Dutch declaring war on Sweden?!

Turn 2, May 1800: Napoleon is ready to lead the attack on Amsterdam. The Prussians are there to help as well!



One Dutch Musketman defeated, but at heavy losses, I need to retreat with 5/10 and cover my Army with three Musketmen and a Cannon. Hopefully the Dutch will not counter-attack, or if they do, they rather choose the Prussian Kürasiers...

After Napoleons victory, Paris switches to the Military Academy. Armies is what will decide this game...

Turn 3, July 1800: the first two Imperical Cavs which had been shortrushed two turns before, are finished. I rush a third one in Turin, and next turn they can be assembled and make their first attack on Milan. I have now spent almost 1000g on these three Cavs, I have gold for one more turn of research (at -154gpt) and then we need to slow down or find additional funds...

Interturn I can see, that the Austrians are attacking Milan from Venice, good.

In Sep. 1800, Davout defeats the first Musket in Milan. A quick look at the VPs shows that, surprise, surprise, the Spanish are leading! They must be doing some successful fighting against the Portuguese and Gibraltar?!

Many cities have grown now, and the bank account is almost empty. I need to increase lux to 20% and lower science from 80% to 50%. Let's hope that Davout can quickly conquer Italy, as there is a nice silks resource down there, which would be our 6th luxury.

I sell horses, gems and wines for some spare cash and gpt and can research three more turns at -43gpt.

Turn 5: Napoleon is completely healed and rides another attack on Amsterdam, defeating two more Muskets, but again going down to 5/11. I move in a Voltigeur and a Canon for cover.

Interturn, the Prussians are back as well, killing another Musket and moving two more Kürassiers into position. Napoleon retreats back to Brussels the following turn, while Davout after one turn pause, runs another attack on Milan, reducing the number of defending Muskets by 3. But still no decisive result.

Turn 7, Mar. 1801: need to lower science rate to 40% now. The Austrians had run another unsuccessful attack on Milan, killing only one Musket at heavy losses to themselves, and this turn Milan is now protected by at least two Musket Infantry (3/5/1), one drafted. Ok, the enemy now also knows Nationalism, that was rather quick. Davout heals a turn.

Turn 8, Milan has drafted two more Musket Infs... The AI will never learn, that it is no good to draft down to size 6... The defensive bonus of a city is now gone, and Davout kills 3 conscripts, but going down to 6/13. Sending two Voltigeurs for cover. Napoleon kills two Muskets in Amsterdam. I move in the Voltigeurs now, as I want to take Amsterdam, before they also start drafting Infs, even if it's at the cost of a GA. Paris has now reached size 12, and a few more cities size 10, so a GA would not be that bad anymore. At least it would speed up research again as well as the FP and the Military Academy.

Interturn, the Austrian Hussars capture Milan! In Jul. 1801, Napoleon finally takes Amsterdam, I even don't need to use the Voltigeurs yet. He immediately gets on his way southwards to help in the conquest of Italy. It's good that the Austrians helped us here, but I don't want them to capture Rome and the silk resources. I sign RoPs with Austria (and Prussia) and send the Voltigeurs from Turin past Milan. Italy now needs to fall quickly...

And I realize now, that I made a big big mistake on turn 0: I tied the lux deals with the Russians and the Ottomans to the military alliance against the Dutch -- and now with the capture of Amsterdam, the Dutch have ceased to exist! (And with them the lux deals...) Darn! Buying the dyes again from Osmania costs 28gpt! But I don't renew the furs deal with Russia, as I have my own furs near Boulogne, and a worker there who is mining a wheat. Should have prioritized connecting that furs resource...

Increasing lux to 40% and shutting down research for a while.

Turn 10, Sep. 1801: our troops move into position at Florence, soon to be joined by Davout and Napoleon.



Over the next turns, I will cash-rush some slaves in Amsterdam and then rebuild it as a French city.
Everyone signs peace treaties with each other...

And interturn, our GA begins, as the Italians attack our Voltigeurs at Florence.

Nov. 1801: before joining Davout in Italy, Napoleon has to make a detour to Nantes and deal with a surprise landing of the Portuguese:



Thanks to the GA, the Military Academy will now be done in 5 turns, the Forbidden Palace in 6.

The following turn, the Brits also land at Nantes, but with a bit more firepower than the Portuguese:



Good luck that Napoleon already is in that area, otherwise that could have meant the loss of a city, if I didn't have enough units around. Thanks a lot, Portugal! For the future, I will keep at least 2 Imperial Cavs on the west coast as "fire-fighters" for emergencies... And the Muskets there are upgraded to Voltigeurs.

Meanwhile (Jan. 1802) Davout storms Florence, the rest of the troops advance towards Rome!

 

[Lanzelot]

Napoleonic Europe, part 2

In Mar. 1802, turn 13, all bigger neutral countries know Naval Tactics. In two turns, my furs are connected, and then I can fire up research again, finish Advanced Tactics quickly and hopefully trade with one of them.

In May, the diplomatic situation gets more involved: Osmania declares war on Sweden, and Russian Cossacks arrive at Rome, together with Napoleon and Davout...



And interturn, this happens:


This makes things more complicated. I was already toying with the idea of taking over Spain after the Italian campaign in order to secure my backside before turning eastwards. But this may change things a bit. Looks like Prussia is going to be the next lucky country to be liberated from monarchic rule...!

With the concentration of French forces at hand, the battle of Rome poses no difficulty: Davout and Napoleon take the Eternal City without leaving anything to do for the 6 Russian Cossacks that meanwhile arrived in Italy. The rest of the army advances towards Naples.

Turn 17, Nov. 1802: as there are already 14 Cossacks in Italy, 3 of them ready to strike Naples next turn, I decide to storm Naples already now, even though the Armies are not yet fully healed. We defeat 5 Musket Infs, losing 4 Voltigeurs, but Naples still stands, thanks to countless conscripts. My furs are now online, but I desperately need the Neapolitan silks, so if they fall into Russian hands interturn, I will have to take the bull by the horns already at this early stage of the game and declare war on Russia, perhaps with the help of the Austrians and Prussia. La Grande Armée, nine years earlier than expected... We'll see.

Meanwhile, the Military Academy and FP are finished, Advanced Tactics needs three more turns, so it might be a good time for another picture of the French empire:



In the interturn, all three Cossacks retreat from Naples, so I give my Armies a turn of rest and will try again next turn. There are four new Cossacks now at Naples, but with two more conscripts inside, it will certainly withstand another attack...

Turn 19: this time, the Cossacks even manage to defeat two Musket Infs! Davout and Napoleon defeat 5 more, and Naples with its silks is finally ours! I can reduce the lux tax to 20%.

With the Isthmus to Palmi blocked, the last Italian city will also be mine, and the Cossacks will probably return all the way home...



Portugal has now sent a lone Cavalry across the Pyrenees. We'll welcome it with two Imperial Cavs...

As expected, the Russians sign a peace treaty with Naples interturn. Advanced Tactics finishes, and I trade it with the Spanish, who have the best offer:



And I get more cash and gpt from a few other neutrals. With 823g in the bank account, I can now run a bit of deficit research again and finish Military Logistics in 8 turns. Time to start a prebuild for the General Staff School. I pick Nancy for that, but I'm letting it finish one Imperial Guard first.

Darn, the turn after I traded Advanced Tactics around, every one now has Seapower as well as Espionage. Hopefully I can trade those, when I get Military Logistics.

Not much happens in the next couple of turns, except that Medicine and Code Civil are now also known to some nations. The Brits are landing the occasional Household Cavalry at Nantes, and a few more wars have restarted, probably because of Mutual Protection Pacts and Spain fighting a hot war against Portugal again.

Turn 24, Jan. 1804: the Spanish have taken Lisbon and conquered all of Portugal! (This means my gpt from Spain is no longer coming in...) And the French troops have finally taken Palmi and liberated all of Italy! Now let's turn east. A third Army is almost finished in Paris and will be filled with three Imperial Guards. Once the General Staff School is finished, I can add a fourth one, resulting in a monstrous 20-HP unit! (I think that's the best use of new Armies, as a 16-HP Imperial Cav Army might have a higher risk of dying against entrenched enemy Guard units. Don't know, whether the extra speed is that important here.)

War weariness is significantly reduced now, thanks to Portugal and Italy being eliminated! I can even reduce the lux slider back to 10%. A look at the current map of Europe might now be in order. Great Britain is deprived of all its allies, Gibraltar being her only bridgehead left on the continent. Perhaps mighty Spain (they are the tech leader now together with Russia, and are four techs ahead of me...) might be able to deal with that alone. I am preparing for a quick push through Prussia, liberating their three VP locations at Frankfurt, Berlin and the mis-spelled Königsberg...



After selling wines and silks to Austria and Russia, I can again increase the science slider to 70% and finish Military Logistics in 4 turns.

In turn 25, Sweden has Espionage, but they are not willing to give it for Advanced Tactics?!

Turn 27, Jul. 1804, Military Logistics finishes, but neither Russia, nor Prussia nor Spain is willing to give Code Civil for it!! I have to add 145gpt to the deal in order to get it. I buy it from Prussia, as I plan to declare on them soon anyway. Once I traded for the other three techs, I no longer need my trade reputation...

In the remaining deals, I get Espionage, Seapower and lots of gold, but no Medicine. Going for Artillery Tactics next, currently due in 7 turns at a high deficit (-311gpt), but my GA will be over soon and my treasury empty, so it'll take much longer. Denmark now has Medicine too, but won't part with it for Military Logistics. Hey, you are supposed to be my ally!

The Austrians are sending many units towards Gibraltar and blocking my southern roads...



In Sep. 1804, three Armies and 5 Imperial Cavs are ready to start the offensive at Frankfurt next turn:



But of course, interturn this happens:



So how can I get out of this dilemma? First of all, I sign MPPs with Spain and Austria, so I don't need to worry about these fronts. Then I renew my dyes deal with the Osmans (for 46gpt instead of 28gpt ), so that it still runs for 20 turns, even after I break my trade rep. (In 20 turns, I can perhaps capture the Ottoman dyes town across the sea from Italy.) Unfortunately, Russia is unwilling to sign an MPP with me, so that will mean war!

I declare on Prussia and attack once, so that the Russians declare on me. I leave an unprotected worker near Brussels, which the Kürassier will certainly catch, triggering my MPPs with Spain and Austria. There is still a Russian Cossack at Florence, which will also attack, triggering my MPPs as well. So in the end it will be me and Austria (and Spain, though this is probably negligible, as they are too far away) against Prussia and Russia!

And everything went as expected, Spain, Austria and me are now at war against Prussia and Russia. A bit unexpected, however, this happened:



Not a big deal, but we were still getting a bit of gpt from Sweden, and I was hoping to eventually trade Medicine from them.

Taking Frankfurt was not difficult, although I lost a Voltigeur and an Imperial Cav in the counter-attack.

As the GA is about to end, I increase lux tax to 20%.

 

[Lanzelot]

Napoleonic Europe, part 3


Turn 32, May. 1805: here go my dyes... Darn.



Fortunately (because there were lots of Sipahis in my territory on their way to Gibraltar), the Ottomans moved before the Russians. These Sipahis could have done quite a bit of damage. Hopefully they will trigger my MPPs with Spain and Austria, and then chaos will be complete...

And our Armies will now carry quite a bit more punch...



And yes: having units inside the foreign territory is apparently enough, even if they don't attack?! Austria and Denmark also declare on Osmania.



However, the situation in the south is dire now, with the Ottoman Sipahis suddenly trapped in my borders:



There are 15 Sipahis shown on this picture. 5 are in the mountains in Spain and cannot attack, but the other 10 are dangerous. I can kill the one at Turin with a Guard, and another Guard, two Imperial Cavs and a Voltigeur can attack the stack of 7, taking it down to 3. But that still leaves 5 Sipahis who could cause damage next turn. I can only hope, the Austrian Hussars move first and come to my help, and that the Sipahis go after the workers I left as bait, instead of attacking Bordeaux. Spain has over 300g, but I have nothing to trade, otherwise I could perhaps get 120g and upgrade the Musket in Bordeaux to a Voltigeur.



At the Prussian front, the situation doesn't look too good either. I already lost a couple of Cavs against Kürassiers, and this turn, 4 Kürassiers and 2 Cossacks appeared on the border. I managed to defeat them all, but my Guard Army went down to 5/16 (and no 4th Guard yet within reach) and Napoleon down to 8/17. Only Davout at 14/17 is still in good strength. And a 5th Kürassier becomes visible in Austria.



Holding my breath and pressing enter....

This was the most gripping interturn of my life! First of all: yess! The Austrians move first and defeat all 5 remaining Sipahis! They are true friends, I will honor our alliance for the rest of the game! Then the remaining Sipahis in Spain attack and capture Pamplona, but the Spanish Cavalry immediately retakes it!



In Prussia, my Armies don't get attacked, but instead 2 Kürassiers move towards weakly defended Frankfurt. Then out of the fog 8-9 Cossacks appear and attack Prague. About four of them win, some die and some retreat, but Prague holds! My Armies will certainly help the Austrians out there.



And finally, for good measure, the Brits drop off another Household Cav at Nantes (as can be seen in the Pamplona picture above)...

Turn 33, Jul. 1805: first a Cav and a Voltigeur defeat the remaining two Sipahis at Pamplona, and a Guard throws the Brits back into the sea. But how to deal with the situation at Frankfurt? I have the three damaged Armies, a Voltigeur, the now healed Cav in Frankfurt and 4 Cannons, and I also want to help out Prague (there are 5 Russian survivors of the battle, which need to te taken care of...)

But I decide that helping the Austrians needs to wait until I have secured Frankfurt. First the Cannons retreat into the city and bombard the Kürassiers. At def-4 they are more dangerous than the Cossacks at def-2. We score two hits.
Then the Guard Army retreats to the barracks of Frankfurt for healing (and getting its 4th member) and kills one Kürassier on its way back (the one E of Frankfurt).

The Cav kills the other one, and the Voltigeur attacks the Cossack on the hill, but loses. So I let Napoleon take care of that, and then Davout is free to kill at least the elite Cossack at the top of the stack N of Prague. Sorry, that's all I could do, Austria! More to follow soon!

Next turn, the Brits drop of a Lifeguard and a Redcoat at Nantes. With defense 7 and 6, these are tougher nuts to crack, but I still have enough troops nearby. Or so I thought... An Imperial Guard dies without making a scratch, but an eCav defeats the Lifeguard, spawning my first leader (for some strange reason called Davout, but I rename him Murat).

At Prague, the Austrians defeat one more Cossack, the other ones retreat, and at Frankfurt 3 new Kürassiers and a Cossack appear.

Artillery Tactics dropped in price this turn, even below of what I have already researched, but none of my friends has it, so probably a couple of civs from the British alliance learned it this turn. I finish it with a lone scientist, and will now collect cash for upgrading my Cannons and short-rushing more units.

Interturn I sell Spain Mil Tactics for 540g and 30gpt. We are afloat again...! But nobody is willing to give me Medicine, unless I throw in over 1000g and some gpt. I wonder why, since Medicine doesn't do anything, except for allowing the next tech?!?

Anyway, I shut research down now (turn 35) and will use the gold for upgrading and short-rushing. I don't think I need Hospitals that urgently.
Upgrade my first Grand Batteries (wish I had built more Cannons earlier, but there was always something else to do...)
My Guard Army is joined by its fourth unit and advancing towards Leipzig, Murat forms the fourth Army, this time a Cav Army again.

After the Austrians and the Osmans, now the Spanish send lots of Cavalry (over 20) through southern France, only in eastern direction... Why don't they first clean up their backyard and take Gibraltar?? I only hope they stay true to our alliance.

In Jan. 1806, the Prussians attacked Prague with 4 Kürassiers, the Russians then took it. My advancing Armies take out three Kürassiers and a Prussian MGL: a misspelled "von Blucher".



Turn 37: the Imperial Guard Army and Napoleon take Leipzig! Davout marches towards Prague, killing two Russian Guards on the way. (One was red-lined by our new Batteries fist.)

Interturn, 3 Kürassiers from Berlin attack Leipzig, but our Imperial Guard defeats them all!

Meanwhile, some naval action is also taking place: last turn, our two Mediterranean Frigates accidentally ran across an Ottoman Ship-of-the-Line and sank it, then the Spanish sank a British Frigate at Brest, and now two Ottoman ships turn up at Brest?!



We have a Ship-of-the-Line and five Frigates there, which sink the Ottomans.

 

[Lanzelot]

Napoleonic Europe, part 4

But back to land: the Spanish have now arrived at Prague in large scale:



I have Davout and two more Cavs there and try to storm the city. We succeed, and keep it to ourselves for now. More units reinforce Leipzig, and I will be ready for a first attack on Berlin next turn.

Turn 39, Jul. 1806, all four Armies and two Cavs storm Berlin, defeating 8 Füsiliers, losing one Cav. Interturn, the Spanish attack Hanover and block the road from Berlin, so they will probably take it next turn. I still have some firepower left, so I decide to attack Posen with five Batteries, Napoleon, 1st Army and three Cavs, defeating 7 Füsilliers and taking Posen.

The next two turns are mainly defensive actions and consolidating the front in Germany. The Brits now land their units at Brussels instead of Nantes (perhaps because of all the Spanish Ship-of-the-Lines protecting my west coast...

Noteworthy is, that the Swedes are willing to sign peace give me Medicine (for three techs of mine, but at least without any extra gold payment...). Prussia, Russia, Osmania, Austria and Spain both have General Education as well as Sanitation, the last remaining techs in the tech tree. Perhaps I can later get Sanitation in a peace deal, if I beat the Prussians or the Russians badly enough...



Turn 42, Jan 1807: Stettin is taken by two Armies and a couple of Cavs. The war in Germany will soon be over, and then I can turn my full attention to a march on Moscow!



Meanwhile, Paris has finished the Second Army (Imperial Guards) and will rush the Third one with Cavs soon. These two Armies are meant to lead an expedition to Osmania to secure the dyes resources once and for all. Too bad that Denmark had made peace with Osmania interturn, and now we are at peace with them, too! Hopefully they don't make peace with Prussia now, before I can extort Sanitation from them...

"Austria and Spain have signed a mutual protection pact". I already have one with Spain, but perhaps I should join the one with Austria as well, if it's not too expensive. Interesting: they are willing to accept an MPP as is.

Lot's of peace treaties going on again in the interturn: Spain signs peace with the Ottomans, but re-declares on Prussia (due to the MPP with me...), and Denmark signs peace with Russia, which ends the hostilities between France and Russia as well. Doh. I need to tell my good friends in Copenhagen, that this is not in the interest of the French Emperor... But Austria declares war on Britain now, though I doubt that that will be of any help: by the time the Austrian Navy reaches England, the Napoleonic Wars will be over...

In May 1807, Russia and Britain also sign an MPP. That shouldn't matter much... And because of our new MPP with Austria, we have to re-declare on Russia. Would have done that soon anyways...



Turn 45, Jul 1807: Davout and Napoleon take Hamburg. And in turn 46, we are back at war with the Ottomans, because they attacked our Austrian brothers!

Turn 47, Nov 1807, The Brits land three tough units (Lifeguards and a Redcout) next to undefended Hamburg. Fortunately Davout was still healing there from the attack on Hamburg and can take care of that invasion.
The Spanish have just taken Danzig, so I offer the Prussians the following deal:



With only one city left, they will not last long... No idea, whether it will be useful for the rest of the game, but a few cities with surplus tiles build a Hospital.

Two Armies and a couple of Cavs take Warsaw. For some strange reason, the people here are Austrian?! So the Russians must have taken it early on in their war with Austria, and I haven't even noticed... But this looks to me like a slight historical inaccuracy to me: wasn't the area of Warsaw Russian during the Napoleonic time? It is true that Austria occupied parts of Poland at that time, due to the Three Polish Partitions 1772-95, but that was further south. Ok, Wikipedia still knows what I have forgotten from my school days... Warsaw was in fact part of the piece that went to Prussia. So in either case, it is wrong in this scenario...!

And already in the interturn, our MPP with Spain triggers the next war with Prussia... our gpt payment to Prussia is over...
The Russians attack Danzig several times, but it holds with a redlined Cav as top defender. Perhaps I am lucky, and the Russians are able to re-take Danzig from the Spanish, and then I can "liberate" it again...


After the heavy fights, all Armies need a bit of healing.

Mar. 1808: the Russians have indeed taken Danzig from Spain. Murat attacks once, but it is already well-defended. I move in more troops and hope to take it next turn, before the Spanish take it again. Why do they have to send their Cavalry all over Europe, but Gibraltar is still British??



Meanwhile my Ottoman expedition corps has reached the first target, Mostar. Imperial Guards to hold the liberated territory are on their way as well.



Interturn: the Spanish have one single Cav that can attack Danzig and that is enough to kill the lone Russian Guard there! Darn, Danzig is Spanish again... But fortunately, the Russians can easily re-re-take it. Phew!

So in May 1808, turn 50, I finally take Danzig and move everything in for defense. The two Armies at Mostar are also successful. I think I will send the next two Armies to the Balkans as well. This seems to be a softer target than Russia.



Paris has meanwhile finished the Hospital, grown and then been bumped up to size 15 by worker joins.

In July 1808, the Brits drop a real invasion force at Amsterdam!



I have only 4 defenders within reach, and three more Cavs in Brussels, Hamburg and Frankfurt, which can attack the beachhead this turn. Perhaps I can use the workers as decoy again and stave off the worst...

The three Cavs attack the Lifeguard at the top of the stack, one loses, the other two retreat, but at least the LifeGuard is down to 3/6. The other units dig in. For some reason, I need to increase lux rate to 30% now.

Interturn, not one of the Brits attacks Amsterdam. They kill my Cav in the open, chase the two workers and destroy a tile improvement. But they drop off two more Lifeguards.



But my relief troops, who arrived on the scene meanwhile, (including Davout from Danzig) are able to kill four of the invaders.
And two more Armies manage to storm Königsberg -- Preußen is no more! And I can reduce the lux rate back to 20%.

The Cav Army on the Balkans arrives at Skopje, the location of the dyes resource!

 

[Lanzelot]

Napoleonic Europe, part 5

Turn 56, May 1809: on the Balkans, Skopje and the dyes are taken, lux can now be reduced to 10%! And just about in time: the Austrian Navy had landed 4 Hussars at Skopje this turn.



And on the Russian front, after a siege of several turns, two Armies finally take Vilnius. We have entered Russian soil three years ahead of time. And for the fist time in the game, I have overtaken Russia in the domination stats:



However, at the moment it looks like due to all the fighting, my VP score is growing faster than my territory, so I have no idea, whether domination will be doable in this game?! I just rushed Army no 7, which will join the action on the Balkans. If Domination is possible, then by gaining territory & population in the Osman Empire, where it does not involve the same heavy fighting as in Russia.

Turn 57: It is very difficult to get reinforcements to the Balkans: the Spanish Cavs block the roads in Albania, and a Spanish Ship-of-the-Line is blocking the Isthmus between Italy and Greece for already half the game! I wonder why? Did they forgot, they have that ship fortified there?! But perhaps I should prepare a few ships now in Italy and ship troops directly to southern Greece or Turkey?

The happiness about the newly acquired dyes didn't last long: this turn all cities went from 50-50 to this:



So from 8-1-8 it went to 2-5-10! I have to increase luxury rate back to 30% again. And in the more corrupt southern cities, even that is not enough anymore, and I have to hire entertainers.

Turn 58, Sep. 1809: Denmark has signed a peace treaty for me with Russia again, right when my troops have closed in on Minsk! But I have no time to lose now, if I want to reach the domination or VP limit by 1815, so I just re-declare right away. Who cares for his reputation in times like these...

But before I do, a quick look into my cities: no, the happiness situation is still the same as before the peace treaty with Russia, so the war weariness is not coming from that war. And there wasn't that much going on in my war with England, so it must be the units I have in Ottoman territory?

Minsk is taken, the attack on Riga begins. And interturn, the Spanish take Sofia.

Next turn, we take Riga in the north and Thessalonika in the south. As the Spanish still want lots of gold for an MPP, I sign an MA against Britain with them for dyes and 3gpt. That will give my southern border in the Pyrenees some protection, where British Redcoats have appeared last turn (did they come all the way from Gibraltar?!)

Rushing another Army in Paris.

Turn 60, Jan. 1810: the Brits apparently got an MGL in Spain:



I can see that the Spanish are now going after Istanbul. If I want to get this door into Asia Minor, I have now rush there myself, and leave Athens for later. There is another lux resource in Asia Minor: incense! That would be my 7th, so would provide 4 happy faces! The Second Army (Guards) is ready to march, but the Third Army (Cavs) still needs to heal a turn in the barracks of Thessalonika



Very funny: first the Ottomans sign up the Swedes against me, and then the Danes sign me up for a peace treaty with the Ottomans...

In Mar. 1810, Napoleon and Murat attack Pskov (size 14). I can already see the increased defense bonus of a metropolis: both Armies can attack only once and then have to stop: they go down to 6/17 and 3/18! Beating down the Russian counter-attacks with Batteries and elite Guards finally results in my second MGL, Bernadotte, who will form an Imperial Guard Army.
Interturn, the Russians and the Austrians sign peace, and the Austrians do not re-declare right afterwards, even though the Russians moved troops into my territory?!

Turn 62, May 1810, thanks to the RoP I signed with the Ottomans interturn, I can now attack Istanbul 5 times. And the Fifth Army, which is marching down the Balkans as reinforcement, takes Belgrade.
In the north I see that the Russians have drafted twice at Pskov, bringing it down to size 12... The AI makes the same mistake over and over again. Once my two Armies are healed Pskov will then pose no problem anymore...

At Nantes, the Brits seem to be up to something again, I better move some troops there.



Turn 64: But the Brits turn around and go back north?!
6 more attacks on Istanbul, they are now down to conscript Sekhans.

Turn 65, Nov. 1810: the AI indeed uses Espionage.



And the Ottomans apparently listened to me: they did not draft from 8 to 6, but only to 7?!



In any case, I will heal a turn again, and then try next time. But meanwhile my northern Armies have taken Pskov, and the Russians are closing in on Minsk:



These are 25 units, mostly Guards. (I wonder, why the Russians no longer build Cossacks, those would have been quite a bit more dangerous and would force me to defend my captured cities?! They still have two horses connected.) Anyway, I will dig in with two Armies, 10 Grand Batteries and a few loose units, and then bombard and attack the stack SE of Minsk. Shouldn't be a problem.

Paris has produced our 10th Army (two starting leaders, two MGLs and six produced by the General Staff School, numbered one to six). Now it can no longer produce Armies: we reached the city limit, in fact we even overstepped it: currently 10 Armies, but only 39 cities. When we got the second MGL (Bernadotte) and used it for an Army, Paris was currently working on an Army and was allowed to finish it, even though the number of cities was no longer sufficient. But now we need to capture 5 more cities, before we can build another one. I shortly considered using the Intelligence Agency as prebuild for the next Army, but I still need 5 more cities, before I can form the next, and at the rate I'm progressing in Russia, this may take longer than the 10 turns required for an Army.

And guess what: in the defensive fights at Minsk, I get my third MGL, Friant. And have nothing to do for him...

Turn 66, Jan. 1811: with virtually the last hitpoint, my force of Fourth Army (Cavs), 4 Batteries, 2 Voltigeurs and a Cav capture Orsovo, 3 workers and 2 Batteries! 4 Austrian Hussars would otherwise have captured the city next turn, so that was good luck.

Istanbul is now size 6, so the Second Army (Guards) kills two Janissaries with less effort, Third Army still heals another turn.

At Amsterdam, the Brits cause trouble again, landing 3 Lifeguards. The fresh Sixth Army (at the moment 3 Guards) coming from Paris on its way to the east, can kill one.

And in the interturn, they land four more on the other side of Amsterdam. Without that Army in the area, the situation would now already be critical...

Mar. 1811: the Army and a few more units clear 4 of the invaders, losing one Cav. The other two had marched away into Spanish territory at Hanover.

A look at the stats shows the following picture:



Reaching domination in the remaining 29 turns looks pretty hopeless, but the missing 11220 VPs shouldn't be a problem. If not, it depends on how fast I'm catching up to the Russian's on score. At the moment, the tiebreaker would still go to them. The reason, why domination is so difficult in this case, is that on Deity the capture of cities requires so much fighting, that the VPs go up much faster than the gained land and population... I have already been thinking, whether I should not repel all those tons of units that counter-attack, but instead just gift the captured city to a neutral nation (like small Sweden), until Russia is eliminated, and then just re-take them from Sweden on my way back. But then the VPs for capturing a city would be applied twice, and that would probably result in even more VPs than those for the defeated units... (e.g. a size 20 city would give 4000 VPs, when capturing it twice, and the Russians have several of them...) So that's no solution either.

I think, it might be possible to go for domination, if playing the Russians (who start with the biggest territory), take a few of the minors (Sweden, Prussia) and then join forces with France and take Austria and/or Osmania. In my fight on the Balkans, the Spanish and Austrians did a lot of the fighting, so if one can repeat that with the French, they would kill most of the units in the open (getting the VPs for that), while the human player concentrates mainly on the cities (getting pop and territory towards a domination win). Perhaps some time I will try that strategy.

In the south, the two Armies kill another 5 units in Istanbul, but still no decision. At least they can't draft any more conscripts here now...

 

[Lanzelot]

Napoleonic Europe, part 6

In turn 69, Jul. 1811, Istanbul finally falls into our hands, next target will be Afyan for the incense at the end of the world:



In Sep. 1811, we take Staraya Russa, another size 12 city. The plan is to take all productive cities around St.Petersburg, but not the capital itself. Then the rest of the empire will be far away from the capital and suffering from severe corruption...



The danger at Amsterdam is finally cleared, but I'm not sure, whether I can now continue letting the Sixth Army march east as intended, or keep it at Amsterdam for home defense against future British landings?!

Turn 72, Jan. 1812, the continuous stream of Russian Guards at Minsk has finally ceased. The "ordinary" units were enough to repel them this turn, so I move the Armies to Polatsk, trying an attack there next turn. The northern Armies attack Novgorod three times, but will need to heal now.

Mar. 1812: only 4 attacks were necessary to take Polatsk, as it was defended by one guard and three Jäger?! Apparently they sent all their Guards on these futile attempts to retake Minsk...

I thought I would also be able to take Bucharest this turn, after the Spanish had just taken Varna, but a single 3/6 Janissary took down my Cav Army from 17/17 to 2/17!?! I tried a few more attacks with ordinary units, killing that two Sekhans, but losing 2 Cavs, and then had to abort the attempt. The Spanish and the Austrians have also killed various units in Bucharest over the last 6-7 turns, so it is astonishing that the city still holds. At least it went down from 15 to 8, otherwise this attack would have been even bloodier... The whole Balkans is a real mess right now...:



At least the Guard Army has now reached Afyan, and I have detached 6 units to Athens, which is defended only by Musketmen, so might be easier to take.



Turn 74, May 1812: Afyan was only defended by one more Sekhan, they moved the Janissaries to Istanbul...



And this is now my 44th city, so I switch Paris to Army, and then let use the MGL to form another one, Friant. This little trick allows two more Armies...

And the incense allow reducing lux to 20%, and just about in time, as the food box of Montauban only had two bushels of grain left...

In the domination stats, I have now reached 30%, but the next major city will push me over the 60000 VPs:



And indeed, I keep attacking Novgorod with three Armies, take the city, and after cleaning up a few more units near Istanbul and Novgorod, I am now over 60000 -- the game is suddenly won.



I think, this game confirms that the VP scoring system is not really well-balanced for the higher difficulty levels.

Last world map:



Points that surprised me:

• No cities got razed the entire game! But then, the AI didn't do that much city conquering, despite the fact that a lot of heavy fighting took place, especially between the Spanish/Austrians and the Ottomans. Spain captured six cities, Russia two and Austria two (one in the very last interturn, after I had removed most of the defenders in Bucharest...)
• Spain did really well, considering they only had the standard Cavalry unit at 5/2/2!!
• Even though the Spanish and the Austrians kept building and using their Cavalry type unit, I did not see any Cossacks nor Sipahis for about the second half of the game?! Why? Could it be, that the AI no longer builds the Cav units, once it is able to build the Guard-type units, because of the extra hitpoint? (Note that France, England, Russia and Osmania are the only nations that can build these Guard units!)
• England never played any significant role. They have a huge navy, but only dropped a handful units on the French coast once in a while...
• And nothing happened in Scandinavia?! In the games I remember from the past, Denmark and Sweden both got into deep trouble early on...

 

[Lanzelot]

WWII in the Pacific
Most experts seem to agree on, that Japan is the easiest nation to play in the WW II Pacific scenario. Therefore I will take up the challenge and chose the United States for the final game of my series. The drawback of the US start location is, that the productive base is rather meager and not what one would expect from the US during WW II: only a handful of cities on the West Coast and a few islands. Perhaps this is to simulate the fact, that during WW II, the US had to split it's resources between the European and the Pacific Theater of War? Anyway, in contrast to reality, where the US was easily able to out-produce Japan in terms of ships, planes and supplies, we'll have to take on Japan on equal terms, especially when taking the Deity production bonus into account.

There are only two victory conditions active, besides the usual tie-breaker on points at the end of the game:

• Domination: 66% of the territory and 46% of the population. However, considering the shortness of this scenario (only 50 turns), I think that this will not be possible, despite the fact, that the allied already start with 54% territory and 67% population. During the first turns, we will probably lose a lot to the Japanese (if the AI uses its trumps...)
• Victory Points: The first to reach 40000 points wins the game. Here I think, we have better chances, since I have three AIs on my side, whose points will contribute to my victory. The Dutch will probably not contribute that much, but let's hope that the Chinese and the Australians will put up a fight!

There are three ways to score VPs:

• Location: holding one of the VP locations provides 25p per turn. The Japanese start the game with 10 locations under their control, the Allies with 17
• Unit kill: shield cost multiplied by 5 (according to the Civilopedia, but this cannot be, see below)
• Conquest: 100 points per population of captured city

Based on my experience from the earlier games with VP scoring, the VPs by unit kill will go up very quickly, thanks to the mass of units the Deity AIs will throw at each other...


Research strategy
The tech tree is very simple:

There are only eight technologies that can be researched, and some of them are clearly not worth it... For example, "Naval Tactics" provides only one benefit: it allows building the Naval Academy, a small wonder that produces a Destroyer every 12 turns... This is clearly a joke... The Naval Academy costs 400s, which means, even if I start a prebuild on turn one, my most productive city (Portland at 40spt) will finish it in turn 10 at the earliest. So I will get exactly three destroyers, before the game is over... And the last one will probably not make it to the front before the end of the game... There are obviously better ways to spend the research money and the 400s.

Airborne Warfare provides Paratroopers. I don't think, these are very useful, neither in the standard game nor in this scenario. Divine Wind allows Kamikazes. These may actually be a nice unit (at only 50s), but it doesn't feel right to use Kamikazes as the US...

So that leaves 5 useful techs. The main question here is: will the atomic bomb be the solution? Fission is the most expensive tech, almost twice as much as any other tech. At my current research rate, it'll take me 23 turns, if the cash reserves last that long. Then we need to build the Manhattan Project for 600s, and each bomb costs 300s. But once we have it, it might be an easy way to rank up the VP score by conquest: drop a bomb, move in with a Marine. Though on the other hand, dropping the bomb will reduce the population (and therefore the points you get for the conquest) by two?! Perhaps it is more effective to take that city with lots of Marines?!

I think that bombers will play a crucial role in this game, so starting with Advanced Flight probably makes sense, to get the Heavy Bombers asap. After that, I will see how the game develops and whether better Tanks, Marines or the Bomb will be more useful. (Advanced Flight is on the way to Fission anyway, so I can still make up my mind later on.)

Atomic Theory is a very expensive non-tradable tech known only to the US. (I guess that is for making sure no one besides the US will have the capability to build The Bomb before the end of the game.)


One noteworthy point of this scenario is, that the allied nations can't move on the first turn. So we will have to sit tight and watch, whether the AI will be able to launch a successful Pearl Harbor attack or not. I think, because of that strange feature, on the first turn it looks like a Harbor is not a link in the trade network (no resources visible in the resource box of a town with harbor), but on the second turn, we will see that in fact it is. For some strange reason, an Airport already functions as link in the trade network on the very first turn?!

I nice tactic I discovered while checking my available towns & cities: you'll notice, that there is still a lot of construction work to be done for our 6 core cities: railways to speed up their growth, and then later, when the cities have reached their optimum size, irrigation needs to be changed to mines, and also more mines are needed on hills & mountains for maximum production. However, there are only two workers available at home! These two will need longer than the game lasts for all the work that has to be done... And of course, you don't want to build a worker in a 30+ spt city or metro...! So here is the solution: Hilo is a nice size 6 town with a granary and enough food, so it can be run as a 2-turn worker factory from day one on! And it already has an Airport, so the workers can be flown home!

In the following, I will use the standard abbreviations for ship types:

DD	Destroyer (8(4)/6/7, loads 1 unit)
CA	Heavy Cruiser (12(6)/10/6)
BB	Battleship (18(8)/12/5)
CV	Carrier (1/7/6, loads 3 planes)
SS	Submarine (8/4/4)
-	Transport (1/4/6, loads 4 units)

 

[Lanzelot]

WWII in the Pacific, part 1

Turn 0:
Set research to Advanced Flight, rearrange some citizens, switch production to civilian projects -- military will have to wait till later, first I have to speed up research:


That bonehead Chiang Kai-shek is not willing to trade silks for spices!! Hey, we are allies! Would help both of us!

Interturn all hell breaks loose... Honolulu, Manila and some ships in the open are heavily bombed, many units damaged, but none killed, as far as I can tell. Manage to shoot down a bomber at Manila, hurray, the first victory of the war!
Aparri (north of Manila) and Guam are captured by Japanese Marines! And Japanese paratroopers drop near Davao and Puerto Princess. I think I can hold Davao for now, but the other town will be lost as well... :-(
An Aussie DD manages to sink a Jap DD.

Turn 1:
Well, Puerto Princess might hold after all: I can bombard the paratroopers from Manila with Artillery and DDs and also ship a light tank over. Good that DDs have transport capacity!

The tank and another GI shipped over from Manila kill both paras. My damaged cruiser bombards the paratrooper at Davao -- lets hope the single conscript GI will hold...
My DDs, a submarine and a bomber sink 2 Jap DDs and 2 submarines!

And then a big chance: the Imperial Grand Fleet has retreated to Midway, and SS Argonaut gets a shot at the Soryu!

Attack 8 vs defense 6, I can't resist... Yes! VP score goes from 1020 to 1285. A Jap CV is 270 shields, a Zero is 80 shields, a bomber 100, so a fully loaded CV would be 510 - 570 shields. I don't get it, why do I get only 265 VPs? Even if we take the 60% Deity discount into account, it would be 306 - 342 shields. I suspect, the Soryu was loaded with 2 Zeros and a bomber (530s), and we get shield cost divided by two!

Enterprise and Lexington are on their way to Midway, Yorktown and Saratoga are loaded in San Diego and set in march.
A Wildcat makes a reconnaissance flight north of Honolulu and discovers the Zuikaku and a BB. Our BBs, badly damaged but still floating, leave Honolulu to bombard that fleet. The BB goes 1/3 and the Zuikaku is now on top.

I still have the Oklahoma (2/2), Pennsylvania (2/3) and a CA (2/3), so I risk an attack. Oops, there is more, among them the Kaga and the Hiryu:

Anyway, I can't go back, so let's at least take out that carrier. Oklahoma promotes to 2/3. That was close. VPs now show 1510, so we got 235. According to my theory that would be 470s. A CV + 2 bomber? Did they lose a plane in the attack on Honolulu? I didn't notice anything.

The Oklahoma is probably doomed now, but if the IJN stays at Honolulu, they'll be in for a rough ride: 4 major ships are currently under repair there, and I stationed two fresh bombers from the homeland in Honolulu. Now moving 11 planes from my 4 CVs also to Honolulu. (A bomber on the Enterprise has already moved for sinking the sub.) To make sure, they won't storm Honolulu with Marines, I fly in another MG Battalion form Seattle.

An eventful first turn: Soryu and Zuikaku sunk, Kaga and Hiryu are spotted at Honolulu and Akagi at Midway. 5 bombers, 9 Wildcats, 4 major ships and 2 subs ready to attack, if they don't retreat.

IBT: I lose a sub, and a bomber sinks a DD at Manila, and a sub sinks the Enterprise! Good that two of the planes went to Honolulu...!
The 2/3 paratrooper attacks Davao and takes it
Lot's of ship movement, but mostly westward. The 1/3 BB attacks our Oklahoma and sinks...!
The Netherlands are willing to hand over 500g for furs and gems. (Completely forgot them in the first turn...)

Turn 2:
Here is the situation after the Japanese retreat westward:

The Hiryu is still there, covered only by two heavy cruisers! I have 4 damaged BBs, which can still bombard, 2 healed BBs, two healed CAs and 14 planes! That's going to be a Midway...!
After bombardment of the stack by 6 BBs, a bomber sinks the Hiryu! Let's now test the VP scoring by unit kill: current score is 2270 and a CA is 180s. It takes two bombers to sink the 1/3 CA, but then my score is 2810. 540 points?!? Now this doesn't make any sense at all?! After sinking another DD (150s), the score goes to 2885. 75 points. And I spot the stack with the Kaga:

I bombard that stack with 3 more bombers, but the only effect is that I loose one and promote the BB to vet.
Sinking 2 subs, but loosing a sub and a Wildcat trying to sink a 1/4 DD!!
Sinking 2 DDs while losing an SS.
At Davao, I red-line a CA to 1/4 and then lose a 4/4 sub and a 3/3 DD trying to sink it!

At Manila, the Japs have advanced with an Inf and a Marine. I ship my two units from Puerto Princess back, and bombard the Japs with an Arty and two DDs.

IBT, Manila is heavily bombed by half a dozen bombers, but the two Japs retreat back north?! The temple is destroyed, and Manila goes into riot

Turn 3:
The battle of Midway. In March 42, the Kaga group is still visible at Midway, within reach of the bombers at Honolulu, but just outside the reach of the Wildcats. However, I also have a number of BBs and CAs close by (8 in total), which start bombarding that stack. The two healed 3/3 BBs are reserved for direct attacks on damaged ships, hoping for a promotion.

The plan works well, the entire stack (including Kaga) is sunk at the coast of one bomber. This means, like in real history, I have now sunk 4 Japanese carriers by early 1942!
Now I have only three bombers left, need to produce a few more urgently, but first the civilian buildup must complete in order to increase the research output.

I consider shortly, whether to move all my Wildcats to Wake Island, but the IJN group there has a transport, and if that transport is loaded with a few Marines, I could lose a lot of planes, as Wake Island is only lightly protected... So I wait until my carriers get closer to the action.


In the Philippines, however, my naval forces are by now hopelessly outnumbered...

I still have 3 DDs and a sub. I will at least try to sink that damaged cruiser.

IBT Manila is again bombarded heavily, reducing the population from 9 to 4! :cry. That's my zero-corrupted FP site!
Wake Island is indeed attacked by two Marines, one is defeated, but the other one kills the GI. Now Wake is only defended by an anti-aircraft gun... That was close... They unload an Infantry. Looks like Wake is doomed now: the bombers are still out of reach, and the ships don't have lethal bombardment...

 

[Lanzelot]

WWII in the Pacific, part 2

Turn 4:
Here is now my rescue plan for Wake Island:

The ships in the south managed to bombard the IJN group that tried to take Wake, but they were not close enough to actually bombard the Jap Infantry. However, one DD was close enough, and I also have an arty and a Wildcat stationed on Wake. The DD and the arty will fire first, hopefully redlining the Inf, and then the Wildcat with its lethal bombardment will hope for a lucky shot...

Well, guess what: plan didn't work... The DD missed, the arty hit once and the Wildcat hit once.


Meanwhile the situation in the Philippines has become critical. The Japs just sunk my SS, which is now sorely missed as it could sink that transport, which is probably loaded with a Marine that will walk into Puerto Princess. If I ship the defenders from Manila to PP, the Jap marine will just walk into Manila...


At least I can kill that Guerilla, promoting my tank to 4/4, and then move all my ships into Manila, hoping that the AA fire of the destroyers will take down a bomber or two.

IBT: During the expected bombardment of Manila, I indeed shot down a bomber, but the rest killed all 4 ships... Hmm, perhaps that was not such a good idea after all... Strangely enough, they did not attack Puerto Princess?! Was that transport empty after all? But a second transport appears just outside Manila.


However, as expected, the Japs take Wake Island. Only I don't quite understand, why the Jap task force now marches north instead of retreating to Kwajalein?! That transport must now be empty! They are walking right into the US main fleet assembled ad Midway...

Turn 5, May 1942:
Well, the US main fleet is not exactly covering itself in glory... The 3 bombers from Lexington sink 3 ships, but then a 3/3 BB loses against a transport!!! But in the end, the complete Japanese stack is wiped out.

IBT: The second Jap convoy near Manila also doesn't attack anything?!?
But the Dutch come to my help: one SS sinks a Jap destroyer, while another SS goes down trying to attack a transport. Man, these Japanese transports are made of steel!!

After 5 turns, we can take a first look at the score:

I'm no experts in this scenario, but to me it looks like a Japanese failure?! MacArthur is still in Manila, Hong-Kong, Singapore, Rabaul and Guadalcanal are still in British hands, and now I'm trying to do something against the "0" in the "Points by Conquest" department:

Turn 6:
Counter-attack at Wake Island

I'm trying to kill the sole 1/3 Inf with bombers, so that next turn my two light tanks will be able to roll into the town, but the first bomber kills our own citizen, the second one destroy the courthouse and the third one misses!! After that, all 6 Wildcats miss... Looks like the USAF is even worse than the Navy...

But the Army is up to the task: at Manila, the arty and the light tank defeat a Jap Inf.

IBT: The Marine at Manila attacks, but our GI with arty backup wins!
However, the southern transport now finally unloads a Marine into Puerto Princess.
My allies' subs sink a DD and a transport - unfortunately after that transport had captured Puerto Princess...

Turn 7:
Finally, unit production starts to kick in at home: Seattle built a transport (and can now build 2-turn transports, the "3" will change when it grows interturn), Portland built a bomber and can now build 3-turn MGs. The Factory in Frisco will take only two turns (like Seattle picking up just enough shields on growth) and the final two Commercial Docks are also almost finished. Let's see, how many turns that will shave off Advanced flight (currently 8 turns left, but it could go down to 7). That would mean that instead of the original 17 turns, it will have taken me only 14 turns.

The plan with the transports is to set up a ship-chain between Honolulu and the current front and use Honolulu's Airport to fly in fresh troops from the homeland.

At Wake, a BB hits the 3/3 Jap Inf twice, and now I save all my bombers and Wildcats for an attack on Kwajalein and take Wake with a tank:


A reckon flight by a Wildcat shows no ships near Kwajalein, and the island protected by an MG. So I move my fleet near. Plan is to kill the defenders with ship and plane bombardment and then use the tanks for taking it. The transport heads back to Honolulu, and two DDs already brought two more units to the front, an MG for protecting Wake and another GI for the invasion of Kwajalein.

After bombardment by a few Heavy Cruisers, who were just within range, the MG is already red-lined, so I give my air-force the chance to do better than last time:
The bombers kill two citizens and hit the AA gun, the 5 Wildcats destroy the harbor and otherwise hit nothing :-(

At Manila, the Artillery damages a Jap BB. Let's hope the British Sub (which is still 3/3) manages to sink the other transport, and perhaps the Dutch also still have an ace up their sleeve.

IBT: Oh my goodness, a sub out of Kwajalein attacks one of my carriers, but we mange to fight off the attack!
At Manila, the transport attacks with a Marine, killing our GI and spawning an MGL, which now floats in the water... Then the stack retreats north and unloads three more units. That probably dooms Manila... All Jap ships went out of reach of the British subs, so they couldn't attack anything.

Turn 8:
The fleet keeps bombarding Kwajalein, redlining both units. And I didn't know, that radar towers could be destroyed by bombardment!

Now I debate with my Admirals: should I also attack with the air-force? I would love to kill those two defenders in Kwajalein, but also I would love to take that Airport intact! That would be the perfect base for future westward expansion.

I check the map and see that Guam and Saipan also have Airports. I should be able to take on of these three intact, right? So I give it a try and continue the attack with planes.
Our 4 bombers hit the barracks, the Marketplace, the Airport and another citizen, the 6 Wildcats hit nothing...
Ouch.

At Manila, the Japs have landed two Infs and a tank. My allies meanwhile have 3 subs operating in these waters, but that won't safe MacArthur's butt...
At least I manage to wound an Inf and destroy the tank. Now it's two Jap Infs vs a 2/4 tank and an AA gun...


My allies now all know Amphibious War. Hopefully they'll trade it for Advanced Flight.

IBT: Manila falls.

 

[Lanzelot]

WWII in the Pacific, part 3

Turn 9:
Same picture as usual: the navy red-lines the defenders in Kwajalein with just a few shots, but the aircraft hit nothing... I begin to doubt, that they have lethal land bombardment at all, so let's check the bic: aargh, indeed, bombers and Wildcats only have lethal sea bombardment! I could have saved all those buildings in Kwajalein, especially the Airport... Well, at least the Japs can't fly in reinforcements from their homeland any longer...

Let's quickly check the Heavy Bomber: oh no, it also doesn't have lethal land bombardment!! Does someone appear to be badly prepared for this game? I just assumed, bombers would be like in the regular game...

So I need more units for attacking Kwajalein. I won't risk attacking even an 1/3 MG with just two tanks. I have two combat engineers in preparation, but it'll take some time, before they'll arrive at the front. Until then, I can't do much except fiddling my thumbs...

IBT: Nothing that I can see. But the Japs certainly ain't fiddling their thumbs at the moment, as their lead in VPs just jumped from like 500 points to 1300 points.

Turn 10:
Portland has reached 40spt and can now build 2-turn GIs.
I land another tank and an MG on Kwajalein.

IBT: The Japs must have cash-rushed a unit in Kwajalein. Not sure which one, it could be a Guerilla. Anyway, it attacks my MG and kills it!

Turn 11:
The usual bombardment, then I decide to attack with my tanks after all. Can't let them play "sitting duck" and get killed as well like the MG.
Now I can see, that it was indeed a Guerilla:

How can an A-4 unit defeat a D-9 in a forest? That's like the BB losing to a transport...
Anyway, my second tank defeats it, and as tanks have blitz, the island is mine!

The fleet advances to Truk. Reconnaissance by the Wildcats reveals the following picture:


The Brits are there already as well! Perhaps they have a marine? But they don't know that tech that long yet?! Decide to help them with my bombers anyway.
Three bombers red-line the MG (3/3 Inf now on top), kill a citizen and destroy the courthouse.

IBT: The Brits land an Anzac on Truk.

Turn 12:
I decide to give them all the support they can wish for and red-line two Jap MGs and an Inf in Truk. Unfortunately, I can't land there now, so the rest of the fleet moves on to Guam.
A GI and a combat engineer are flown to Honolulu.

Reconnaissance reveals that Saipan seems to be the softer and more juicy target than Guam, so I'll change plans accordingly.


After a year of war, the situation is still unchanged: we are trailing behind slightly in points.

IBT: The Japs make a counter-attack at Truk, killing the Anzac at the cost of one imperial Inf. The landing spot would now be free again?!

Turn 13:
Truk is protected by two MGs, so I decide to bomb Saipan a bit to see how heavily it is defended. Turns out there is only an Inf and a Flak.
So we'll go for Saipan first. I could land a GI and a tank this turn, but I decide to wait for the second tank, which is still in Kwajalein. A DD is picking it up.

IBT: nada

Turn 14:
We finish Advanced Flight and sell it around.
Winston is quite generous:

Chiang Kai-shek finally gives me silks and a few coins. And Wilhelmina can still contribute 78gpt to my war effort.

I can now go 100% research and still make 71gpt plus. The question now is: do I want better tanks or The Bomb?
Fission would be 15 turns, Armored Tactics 10 turns. But I expect, my allies will be going for Armored Tactics, so the dice have fallen: Fission it is!
(Also, I'm dying to see the Oppenheimer movie, but still have to wait 4 days, as my wife and kids also want to see it, and they are still on vacation.
(Guess why I'm playing Civ now, instead of doing something useful...) I'm a bit surprised, they are interested in this topic, but a family night at the
movies is something special, so I'll wait for them and meanwhile build my own Bomb...)

Thanks to some ship-chaining with transports and DDs, I manage to land 4 strong units on Saipan, A GI, a combat engineer (A-11!) and two tanks. Everything looks ready for the first major Allied victory in this war:


IBT: zzz

Turn 15:
Los Angeles finishes the first war-time carrier: I name her Enterprise II as a tribute to the first lost carrier.

Darn, the Japs flew in (or completed) an MG in Saipan, just when I was ready to pick that easy fruit! Also the size dropped to 10. Did they draft two more units? Hopefully my force is still strong enough to take Saipan.
Bombardment reveals that Saipan is now garrisoned by an MG, 3 Nipponese Infs and a Flak. The Infs are not that strong at D-5, especially after shelling and bombardment has red-lined all units. So I can still take the island, thanks to the fact that light tanks can attack three times. The other tank is also promoted to elite in the process.

A major allied victory indeed, and the icing on the cake is that barracks, harbor and airport are all captured intact! I can fast-forward all my transports now to Saipan and shorten the supply lines considerably. Next targets will now be Truk and Guam, as Iwo Jima is a one-tile island, so I first need to build up a marine force, before I can continue my advance on the Japanese homeland.
Question is: once I have enough Marines, should I then move on to the Japanese homeland directly, or first retake the Philippines, so that MacArthur can keep his promise ("I'll be back"...)?

After flying in 4 more units from Honolulu and the mainlands, Saipan is now heavily defended:

And we have now almost closed the gap to the Japs in terms of VPs: 16725 to 16825.

Fission is due in 13 turns (Apr 1944). The most expensive pre-built would be the Battlefield Medicine, and Los Angeles would need 9 turns for it. So in 4 turns it's time to start the prebuild...

Turn 16:
Winston now knows Airborne warfare. Can't afford it and also don't need it...

My DDs drop off 1 MG, 2 GIs and 2 CEs at Guam. I am prioritizing Guam over Truk, because it has an Airport, which I want to take asap, before the Japs fly in more reinforcements. Truk is cut off and will fall into our hands soon enough.

Turn 17:
Bombardment of Guam starts. The Japs have flown in a third MG, so it's going to be a bit harder. But the BBs, CAs and bombers at the site are up to the task and red-line all defenders. One citizen is killed.

I lose one CE in the attack, but a Marine from Saipan can also attack, and in the end it's enough to capture Guam.
For the first time, we have taken the lead in the score:

The usual reconnaissance shows that Iwo Jima is deserted!

I still have a Marine in Saipan, and a transport, but the Marine just flew in from the homeland, so can't move anymore. That would have been a very cheap victory at Iwo Jima indeed!
Let's keep our fingers crossed for next turn...

So I keep the transport and other units in Saipan for now, instead of moving towards Truk, but I prepare another transport for a ship-chain and position the rest of the fleet in such a way, that the invasion of Truk can nevertheless take place next turn, if Iwo Jima should then be defended again. (After all it has an airport.)

The war effort has now really kicked in at home, all cities have reached a good magic number of spt.

 

[Lanzelot]

WWII in the Pacific, part 4

Turn 18:
A Wildcat scouts the area of Iwo Jima and finds it still unprotected. So in June 1943, American Marines occupy that strategically important island without meeting any resistance! Unfortunately, the boys appear to have been slightly drunk after the victory party and accidentally destroy the airport!!

Somehow this doesn't feel right. I know that in reality, the capture of Iwo Jima was one of the bloodiest battles in the Pacific War. The AI is definitely not up to the task in this game.

The transport takes with it a captured artillery from Saipan and a GI. An MG is flown from LA to Saipan and will be shuttled to Iwo Jima by a DD next turn.

We are now within striking distance of Tokyo, some two years ahead of time! I'll station some Wildcats on Iwo Jima, and once they'll have established air superiority (meaning in two turns -- thanks for the tip, @tjs282), I'll station my first Heavy Bombers there (which coincidentally just rolled of the assembly line this turn). Together with some ordinary bombers, I'll probe the defenses of Tokyo and then decide on the further strategy. As much as I would like to "re-enact" history, it may be best to just stop research now, skip the construction of the Manhattan project and 2-3 bombs and just short-rush units left and right and get this war over with...?!



Whatever the decision will be, capturing Truk is still a good idea. It's a VP location and probably not that hard to take. The invasion has to be delayed a bit, but the bombardment already takes place. It destroys 2 Zeros and discovers that Truk is defended by 3 MGs and a Flak. A DD already drops off an MG from Guam. But I need to assemble more troops, before I can start the attack.

The Enterprise II has by now reached Midway.

I shutdown research for now and see what happens. Could even be that capturing the large Japanese metros (sizes 15-19) with conventional means gains VPs faster than capturing them at half size.

IBT: three of my subs hunting for prey in the seas between Okinawa and the Philippines get run over by Jap destroyers. I have been wondering, where all the IJN ships have gone, as I haven't seen any in quite a while... Now I know... Probably preparing the invasion of the Dutch Indies, while I am after the Tenno's buttocks...

Turn 19:
The first aerial view of Tokyo:


Isn't that a beautiful sight? And somehow I feel relieved, that it will not deliver the most brutal weapon mankind has devised!


In preparation for the coming invasion, 2 tanks, 2 CEs and a GI are dropped off at Truk. The usual bombardment, this time assisted by two HBs, makes sure the Japs won't stage a counter-attack.

Spent 1000g on short-rushing a BB in Honolulu. Together with the Enterprise II, it will still reach the front to make an impact. Also use short-rushing so that every core city can produce a unit every other turn.

Turn 20:
Two more zeros have been stationed in Truk. My BBs destroy them on the ground. Then the CAs and bombers go in to red-line the defenders, but in the process destroy the temple, marketplace and harbor as well as kill another citizen

Then two Combat Engineers, a Marine and a GI storm the town, spawning our first MGL: MacArthur! (Now I kind of feel sorry, I made fun of him earlier... )


What would be the best use for him? A CE-Army would carry the most punch, but a Marine-Army also has its charm...

Turn 21:
All bombers and heavy bombers are now stationed at Iwo Jima. The first marines and combat engineers also arrive there.
The fleet with the battleships as back at Saipan. A storm is brewing for Tokyo, but first I need more bombers, more marines for taking the city and more MG battalions for actually holding a beachhead. Also I think I will build a few fighter-bombers to engage any Zeros possibly stationed in Tokyo first, before sending in the expensive heavy bombers.

Turn 22:
Assembling more troops...


Turn 23:
More of the same...

Turn 24, Dec. 1943:
Two years of war have passed by. The last few months have been quite event-less, still no change at the Chinese front, no Japanese progress towards Hong-Kong or Singapore nor towards the Dutch Indies. However, no the time has come to try a first probing of the strength of Japanese home defenses. Let's see, whether they are prepared for what I've been building up in the last couple of turns. The almost complete US Navy and Air-Force is assembled for an attack on Tokyo: 4 BBs, 5 CAs, 5 bombers, 4 heavy bombers, a fighter-bomber and 6 Wildcats. Should they succeed in weakening the defenses, 7 Marines are on standby to exploit their gains, supported by 3 MGs, 3 CEs, 2 tanks and 2 artillery pieces.


At sun-dawn, the battleships and cruisers open fire, trying to catch the fighter crews of the enemy asleep. In fact, they destroy one Jap fighter-bomber and damage another one, as well as an MG battalion. Best defender now is a 4/4 Inf with only D-5.
Next we send in the fighter-bomber to engage the enemy in air-to-air combat. But it destroys Tokyo's harbor instead... This raid is follows by a massive Wildcat raid. One of them is shot down by a Flak, while the others damage the Inf and the MG. Hmm, the enemy fighter-bomber didn't engage?! Has it also been destroyed in the battleship barrage without me noticing?

Anyway, it look like Tokyo is only defended by a 3/3 MG, a 4/4 Inf (which already lost the first hit-points) and a Flak! We really caught them with their pants down... !!

Next I send a bomber to destroy the Tokyo radar tower to make it easier for our boys, and then the heavy bombers attack. Two hit nothing, one is shot down, and the last one shaves a single HP off the Inf... Great... Now lets see, what the bombers can do: two are needed to red-line the Inf, I keep the last two in reserve and now load the LCMs with 4 Marine units.
The first one kills the 1/3 MG. A 3/3 Flak is now on top. I send another bomber to attack it, but it misses. So an elite Marine has to engage it at full strength.
But no problem for the boys. A third marine defeats the 1/4 Inf, and Tokyo is ours! Barracks and airport are captured without a scratch!

Next I load MacArthur and 2 CEs on destroyers and ship them into Tokyo. (Darn, I miscalculated and the 4th destroyer doesn't have enough movement left to ship the 3rd CE into Tokyo. Otherwise I could have formed a size-3 CE Army now and use it for attacking Osaka. Will have to wait till next year, but perhaps it's better anyway to use the Army against a metro only with prior bombardment...
The next transport unloads 3 MGs and another CE, and three more MGs and a CE are flown in from various airports in the US. That should be enough defensive power to hold this beachhead!
Also fly in a worker from Hilo to form a radar tower next turn.


That's a nice way to end the year, and probably a rude awakening for the Tenno and the Japanese Top Brass... While up to now, the allied lead in VPs has been very small, give or take a few hundred points, this decisive victory enabled us to take a clear lead of ~3000 points. 28000 point, 11000 of which are contributed by the US, 17000 by our allies, China, GB and the Netherlands, which should not be forgotten in this hour!

I think, going directly for the throat (and the Japanese production base) instead of going for the Philippines, has been the right decision.

IBT: nothing, no counter-attack at Tokyo, nada?! The Japanese are already toast? What's happening here? Glad I didn't waste any money and shields on things like Fission, Manhattan Project and Big Bombs...

Turn 25:
So I continue with the attack on Osaka. The usual procedure, BBs and CAs first, no planes were detected. Then the heavy bombers and bombers (the heavy bombers have been a real failure so for, two hit nothing, the third one got shot down by Flak...). Another bomber got shot down too, two citizens got killed (and they must have drafted two), and now a 2/4 medium tank is on top. I also noticed 2MGs and a CE, which got red-lined
So I assemble MacArthur, who will lead the attack:


The tank is defeated no problem. The next attack is carried out by 6 Marines, 2 of which die, while the other kill an MG, a Flak and the two drafted Infs. The 1/4 CE must be the last defender now, but no more Marines in reach. But I can unload the two light tanks in Tokyo, which should hopefully do the job.


One dies, but the other one captures Osaka!
Next I lost 4 Wildcats to interceptor, trying to destroy a radar tower on Komi! I think they cam from Nagasaki. But I stationed 2 more fighter bombers in Tokyo, they can engage the damaged Jap Zeros and fighter bombers next turn.

I moved 2 CE and the remaining Tank covered by an MG in position for an attack on Nagasaki next turn.

Over the last couple of turns, didn't notice exactly when, the Japanese finally made some progress in Indonesia and captured Kuala Lumpur and Ketapang. Too little too late...

Score now reached 30000 VPs, Japan is at 26000.

 

[Lanzelot]

WWII in the Pacific, part 5

Indonesia in Jan. 44:


Turn 26:

Attack on Nagasaki according to the well-proven strategy. Strangely enough, neither the ships not the fighter bombers discovered and enemy planes in Nagasaki?! But they rushed or air-lifted an MG and drafted two more Infs. One fighter bomber was lost to Flak, so we are dealing with at least 1 MG, 3 Infs and a Flak, all red-lined after the bombardment of 10 ships and 10 planes. As usual, MacArthur takes care of the MG, a CE kills the Flak, the other one dies, the tank kills two Infs, before going down to 3/5. I still have two healed Marines, the elite one dies, the other one captures Nagasaki!


I was considering shortly, whether building the Military Academy might be worth it. I have tons of gold to cash-rush Armies. But they can't be airlifted, so it's not worth it. But San Francisco is building the "History of WWII" (equivalent of Heroic Epic). It's only 200s, and with 70spt, San Francisco can build it in 3 turns. I'll just cash-rush a couple of units in Saipan, to make good for the missed production of Frisco.


In Feb 1944, the Main Island of Japan is almost under American control.



I think I will need 1-2 turns for gathering new strength and re-grouping, and then I can take Akita and Sapporo and then move my attention to mainland China. Liberating 2-3 cities there should then push us over the 40000 point limit. (Current score is 32900 to 27500.)


Turn 27:

Interturn I saw a battleship and a transport leaving Akita. A scouting Wildcat finds them again, and while I still need to bring land troops into position for the attack on Akita, I decide to try and sink that convoy with heavy and normal bombers.


Two HBs sink the BB, a HB and two fighters sink the transport.
Gifting gems to Wilhelmina.

Turn 28:

My battleships probe Akita and discover a Zero, which is destroyed on the ground.
Preparations for the next offensive are finished: 11 heavy ships, 5 HBs, 4 bombers are ready to shell Akita next turn, MacArthur, 2 CEs, 6 Marines and a light tank are in position to storm the city.

The Japs finally captured Singapore this turn (April 1944). Score is now 34990 to 29755

Turn 29:
Los Angeles completes the "History of WW II". Better chances for MGLs now.

The Japs send a single Guerilla north of Tokyo, right where I wanted to erect a radar tower for the attack at Akita. A BB bombards it and a Marine defeats it, so the spot is now free again, and I can build the radar tower as planned.


There is another Zero in Akita, which my BBs first destroy, before I send in the air-force.
One HB is shot down by another Zero that came out of no where But the rest destroy the Police Station, the Barracks, kill a citizen and then red-line the two defenders, an MG and an Inf. MacArthur and the light tank take Akita (there was another Flak).

I immediately push on and let the ships shell Sapporo. They damage a transport and destroy the Zero that shot down my heave bomber over Akita. Should have bombarded Sapporo earlier, but I didn't know how many defenders I would meet in Akita, so I wanted to keep my ships in reserve.
5 units are landed outside Sapporo by transport.

Score is now 37115 to 30430.

Turn 30:
The storm on Sapporo begins. Ship bombardment shaves off a few HP off the defenders, 6 heavy bombers destroy buildings and kill two citizens, but the ordinary bombers red-line an MG and an Inf, while one gets shot down by Flak. So we can expect three defenders. Ah, no, there is a drafted Inf there as well. The three combat engineers defeat three of these units, two marines are then necessary to kill the last Inf and take Sapporo.
These four units and the 1900 points for the metro, together with a couple hundred points my allies earned interturn, now put us over the 40000 VP limit.
Nevertheless, I land MacArthur and another CE at Pusan and check, whether any interceptors are stationed there. In the ensuing air battle, I destroy two Zeros and lose one bomber.


Meanwhile, the mines and railroads at home are almost finished and every Metro except San Diego can build 2-turn units without short-rush:


The Army that managed all this, is surprisingly small: 10 Marines, 7 CEs plus a CE-Army, 21 MGs and 8 GIs for protection, and then 6 of each of BB, CA, DD and heavy bombers, and some odds and ends, like transports, submarines, Flaks and fighters.

Press enter for the final victory screen (and quite curious, what Sid Meier will tell me in that video...) -- Wow, it still plays nicely on my Win11 desktop with QHD monitor! (I half expected the game to crash now... Then I would have re-activated my older PC and copied the penultimate .sav files over there for a replay.)

The strategy to win this scenario as the US is actually pretty simple:

• Build a few workers in Hilo and airlift them back home to build mines and rails. This gets the production rolling. (In the end, the main metros were making between 60-80spt.)
• I had good luck with picking the right tech to research: Advanced Flight. My allies all got Amphibious War, so I was able to trade and then build heavy bombers as well as marines. The heavy bombers were quite disappointing, except when used against enemy ships, but marines are important! More techs are not needed, so after that, shut down research and use the money for short-rushing and for rushing additional units at the front line. (I spent a couple of turns on Fission, which in retrospect could be saved and used for units instead.)
• At home, build mainly units that can be sent to the front in one turn, meaning land units that can be air-lifted and planes. If you need ships, either build them really early (like the two transports and the carrier I built in the first turns), or later cash-rush them where you need them. You will need replacements of all types of units, as casualties are unavoidable. But if you always keep a right mix of units, you can start pushing back the Japanese before turn 10.
• The Philippines are doomed in the long run. Try to put up some fight there and kill a few Japanese units and get some points, but when the inevitable comes, just let it go. It's not that important.
• Instead, concentrate on defeating the Japanese main fleet at Midway and Wake, and once that fleet is destroyed, the way is basically open to proceed along the line of islands up to the Japanese mainland. Concentrate all forces on the invasion of that mainland, and the game is basically over.
  Up to Iwo Jima, you can land a few combat engineers for taking islands. At A-11, these are formidable units and almost a sure win against red-lined defenders. However, at the latest when reaching Iwo Jima, you need marines. Tip: use marines for attacking from ships, not from land! I think I ready somewhere, that amphibious attacks are calculated without taking the fortification bonus of the defender into account! So even though the marine has only A-9, its chances for example against a defending MG are better (9 to 9), than those of a combat engineer (11 to 22.5 against an MG fortified in a metropolis). I noticed this whenever I had to use a marine in a land-based attack, when I didn't have enough ships space at hand.

The final score:

So it's a victory by VPs in turn 31, July 1944! I wonder, whether a domination victory here is possible at all: by the end of the game, the allies still were at only 55% territory, while 66% are required for a win. Maybe on the lower difficulty levels it is possible to capture that much territory whithout overstepping the VP limit in the process, but probably not on Deity, due to the big amount of VPs by unit kill?!

And finally my campaign record:

So ends an endeavor that started more than a year ago, on June 17th 2022, when I played Mesopotamia. Interesting that I should finish the Pacific War scenario on August 6th, the day of Hiroshima?! (Wasn't planned, really... Just had some time today to finish it...) The penultimate .sav file is attached as usual.

 

[need my speed]

Could you put down a post when you add an update, so that we get a notification? You actually inspired me to play these scenarios as well!