TMcC01 - Narcissistic Nehru (C3C, AWM)

[Greebley]

TMcC, I think going back and researching those earlier techs will be a lot faster - perhaps even 4 turns for the first few. Our economy is getting stronger.

Also it might be possible to get there by Astronomy. The AI didn't seem to have Navigation long enough for the full settling of the island with harbors, though it might require the lighthouse to do so.

Finally, domination will be non-trivial as we are actively razing all towns. Towns with real production might have to be switched from Cavalry to produce settlers.

On the other hand, I am not disagreeing that conquest could take longer. I just don't see it being quite as long as you suggest, bur rather 20-30 turns at most.

My suggestion is to try to find out if we do have to wait by sending out an exploring boat now. If we can reach it by Astronomy, I don't think conquest will be a bad option.

 

[T_McC]

Well, 60-80 turns is 12-16 per tech. That is definitely too high. 20-30 turns is too low, as Physics/Magnetism should be comparable in expense to Metallurgy/Mil. Trad, and those two are going to take about 30 turns for us to complete. So let's say ~40 turns, we may not get to research everything @last. One should also figure in 4-5 turns of cash after Mil. Trad. to get some military units upgraded. (Trebs--> Cannon, vet and Elite* Jumbos --> Cav. At most a handful of Pike --> Musket.)

Having said that, this is primarily an academic argument. Unless we go leader-happy and can put 3-4 Cav armies in the field, we aren't going to blitz Cleo and Abe off the continent in 20 turns. So we'll be able to reach the island by the time we clear the continent. To prepare for this, some of our coastal cites w/Harbors can start to build Galleys now. Might as well aim for at least a dozen boats, shock-and-awe and all that.

What we have to plan for is to be able to transport armies in Caravels. So we will have to start leaving new armies with only 2 members loaded. I would only do this after we get 3 Cav armies in the field. If we are short of cities to form new armies after this, and we have cleared our continent, we can disband the armies built from move-1 units and replace them with 2-member cav armies. It may not be necessary to have armies to attack the island, but I have to figure whatever Abe and Cleo can build on the continent, they can build on the island. So expect to see Cavs/Muskets/Rifles.

We'll make a more definite plan when we get there. First we clear our continent.

 

[Greebley]

You are right. I was just not being very concise or clear

The 20-30 turn guess was my guess on the difference in game length between a conquest game where we had to get to magnetism and vs a domination game. The total time after Mil Trad is 40-50 as you state. If we can get across at astronomy, I don't think it would be that hard to take out the other islands. They are very corrupt at the moment and so not building a lot.

Even if we don't have an army, I bet we could take out the island in short order assuming we had some boats to do so. They will probably have 2-3 riflemen guarding them which Cav + Artillery could handle fairly easily.

I guess I am interested enough in trying a conquest win to:

1) Send out a boat to find the other island now if we can.
2) Not stop research after Mil Trad.
3) Allocate a city to boat building at some point.

I also like the fact we don't have to build a bajillion settlers to fill to the Dom limit.

 

[Yom]

I'm sorry, I can't play tonight, I've been swamped with work from all my AP classes. Handy can play my turns.

 

[handy900]

Originally posted by Yom
I'm sorry, I can't play tonight, I've been swamped with work from all my AP classes. Handy can play my turns.

OK - I'll get the game when I get home and play 11 tonight.

 

[barbslinger]

Get 'em Handy!

 

[handy900]

Got it.

 

[handy900]

I got a late start tonight but can finish up tomorrow. Thought you may want to see a log of the first 4 turns.

So far 6 cities razed and 0 lost in 4 turns.
We look good in Indus.

Pre Turn

F4 check.
China – No salt; Up Republic & Theology, Down Chemistry
Joan – no salt no horses - Up Republic & Theology, Down Chemistry
Aztecs – no salt no horses - Up Republic & Theology, Down Invention
Cleo - – no horses - Up Republic & Theology
Abe – No Salt so if there is an island with salt he’ll have to boat his cavalry over
Up Republic, Theology, Military Tradition
Maya – no salt - Up Republic & Theology, Down Chemistry

So I guess the only cavalry will come from America by boat. We can deal with that. China can make Riders, and the Mayans can make knights. We can pillage the Mayan Knights soon. China’s horses look to have been previously unconnected, and they’ll soon retire to an island anyway.

We look to be in very good shape.
I see 4 settlers on F3.
Six Armies on F3. One in Eastbound, One in old Byz lands (need to settle those horses in old Byz lands. One pillaging America One in China, One in Indus (lots of Ai nearby); and finally one near the Mayan Capital.

Major Goals:
Pillaging Army to Cleo’s lands. If we keep one army in America and 1 in Egypt for the remainder of the game we will be in very good shape.
Raze where I can, guard our gains and try to settle a few towns. MT due in a few turns, then we can really got busy.

Pre-turn moves: Still 1540AD
Read Greebley & T_McC’s posts.
Army kills MI and Longbow at Indus, then moves to Pune. Pike in Pune moves to Indus. The Army is down to 2 hps.
There are 2 longbows, 2 MI and 1 archer attacking Indus next turn.
Raze Chichen Itzen with 14 hps to spare. Capture 9 workers. I’m anxious to ride “Dumbo’s Revenge” into Egyptian lands for some fast pillaging. If I can get the workers back home with minimal risk I’ll do it, but I won’t waste a jumbo escorting 9 workers. If I sent them home solo, they’d be captured for sure. I’ll kill them before I let the AI have them.

IBT
Indus holds. We kill an MI + LB, lose a Pike
Indy – settler – musket
Lose a WA and musket near Dacca. They were guarding 6 workers. Not a good trade to lose a musket & WE to protect 6 workers. We should be improving tiles further behind our lines that are safe from attacks. Stacking 6 workers on a border tile is inviting an AI assault.
Greebley – settler – musket
Sugar – WA – WA
Bengal – temple – settler (1 shield city)
Bang – musket – musket

Turn 1 1545 turn 299 on F8. I’ll go to turn 310.
Kill a spear near Punjab in Old China and Pop leader . Excellent luck! . First leader for me this game I think. Gosh I wish we could rush Leo’s. Anyway the ARMY of Ivory is created and heads towards the west.
Jumbo kills Chinese LB
Raze Los Angeles (old China)
Kill a LOB + Pike @ Indus. We are pretty thin, but can reinforce next turn.
Egypt has a settler headed for the Old Byz horses. I’ll kill with the army next turn, and send a settler to cover those horses.
Six settlers but only 1 musket escort, better safe then expand & lose the new cities.

IBT
No attacks.
Egypt founds on the horses
Yom – WA – WA
America builds Smith’s in Washington

Turn 2 1550 AD
Kill Mayan settler + pike trying to found on Chichen Itzen ruins. Kill the workers. We need to grab Those horses before anyone else does. Settler is on the way to do just that.
RazeEgyptian city on the Byz horses.
Our old 3-spear army continues to hurt America. They capture & kill a worker, then pillage the square.
Kill pike near Jeepers looking to Pillage. I wonder if Egypt has a city in the Byz fog.
Indus is okay on this IBT.

IBT
America wants to talk. Nope. They still have no salt.
Irontown – market – musket
Military tradition in 10!
One Elite American cav shows up.
1 pike + 1 MI + 3 LB move next to Indus.

Turn 3 1555 Ad
Raze French of Rouen city of near South Push
Army attacks & kills American Cav then begins assault on Quirigua – the new Mayan capital.
Indus – kill pike, kill MI

IBT
America asks to talk again, nope.
Indus defends & kills LB
Idiot Mayans move Pike (+ settler) out of the capital we are trying to raze.
Nehruvia – WA – WA
Delho – market – musket
T Ville – musket – musket

Turn 4 1560 AD
Raze another Mayan capital, this time it’s Quirigua. They are running out of capitals.
We are razing much faster than we can resettle (due to shortage of muskets).
The Pike army in China will be healed next turn.
Pillage Egyptian silks.
Kill Pike + MI @ Indus. Soon I’ll raze the nearby Aztec city and pillage roads to slow them down. Can rush the temple for 60 gold next turn. I may do that, and we need to get that forest chopped or it will be another Deerburg.
Raze Teayo (Aztecs)
Indus looks to be in real good shape, should hold against the current level of attacks. Should be able to raxe the nearby aztec cities before my turns are over.

Turns 5-11 coming up tomorrow

 

[T_McC]

Originally posted by handy900

Cleo – No horses - Up Republic & Theology
Abe – No Salt so if there is an island with salt he’ll have to boat his cavalry over
Up Republic, Theology, Military Tradition

So I guess the only cavalry will come from America by boat. We can deal with that.

To re-iterate something that Greebley has mentioned: A check of F4 only shows the status of the capital. If we have disconnected DC/Thebes, neither civ should show any resources. We now strongly suspect that Egypt is getting horses (seen any yellow knights?) and Abe is getting saltpeter from the mystery island, so cities with harbors may have access to different resources than does the captial. Don't be surprised to see more American Cavs, as Abe may be able to build them in his coastal cities. On the other hand, if the visible source of horses is his only one, we can stop his Cavs pretty easily.

Just keep pillaging and we'll sort it out later.

 

[Greebley]

One thing to do when you are pillaging is to disconnect inner cities from the coastal cities. That way only the cities on the coast can build them which limits their numbers.

If you can find a city to build a Galley in, I would like to try to find the "mysterious continent". It will be easier to do before the AI has frigates.

 

[handy900]

...so cities with harbors may have access to different resources than does the captial. Don't be surprised to see more American Cavs, as Abe may be able to build them in his coastal cities...

...One thing to do when you are pillaging is to disconnect inner cities from the coastal cities...

Gotcha.

I'll see if I can switch a coastal city to galley when I fire up the game tonight. I'll also make coastal with harbor cities a priority pillage.

edit Do not remember any yellow knights, but there have been lots of yellow MI + LB's. I'll keep a watch out and put it in the report so you can get a feel for who is sending what type of unit.

 

[handy900]

The Full Set of Turns

Pre Turn

F4 check.
China – No salt; Up Republic & Theology, Down Chemistry
Joan – no salt no horses - Up Republic & Theology, Down Chemistry
Aztecs – no salt no horses - Up Republic & Theology, Down Invention
Cleo - – no horses - Up Republic & Theology
Abe – No Salt so if there is an island with salt he’ll have to boat his cavalry over
Up Republic, Theology, Military Tradition
Maya – no salt - Up Republic & Theology, Down Chemistry

So I guess the only cavalry will come from America by boat. We can deal with that. China can make Riders, and the Mayans can make knights. We can pillage the Mayan Knights soon. China’s horses look to have been previously unconnected, and they’ll soon retire to an island anyway.

We look to be in very good shape.
I see 4 settlers on F3.
Six Armies on F3. One in Eastbound, One in old Byz lands (need to settle those horses in old Byz lands. One pillaging America One in China, One in Indus (lots of Ai nearby); and finally one near the Mayan Capital.

Goals:
Pillaging Army to Cleo’s lands. If we keep one in America and 1 in Egypt we will be in very good shape
Raze Chichen Itza

Pre-turn moves: Still 1540AD
Read Greebley & T_McC’s posts.
Army kills MI and Longbow at Indus, then moves to Pune. Pike in Pune moves to Indus. The Army is down to 2 hps.
There are 2 longbows, 2 MI and 1 archer attacking Indus next turn.
Raze Chichen Itzen with 14 hps to spare. Capture 9 workers. I’m anxious to ride “Dumbo’s Revenge” into Egyptian lands for some fast pillaging. If I can get the workers back home with minimal risk I’ll do it, but I won’t waste a jumbo escorting 9 workers. If I sent them home solo, they’d be captured for sure. I’ll kill them before I let the AI have them.

IBT
Indus holds. We kill an MI + LB, lose a Pike
Indy – settler – musket
Lose a WA and musket near Dacca. They were guarding 6 workers. Not a good trade to lose a musket & WE to protect 6 workers. We should be improving tiles further behind our lines that are safe from attacks. Stacking 6 workers on a border tile is inviting an AI assault.
Greebley – settler – musket
Sugar – WA – WA
Bengal – temple – settler (1 shield city)
Bang – musket – musket

Turn 1 1545 turn 299 on F8. I’ll go to turn 310.
Kill a spear near Punjab in Old China and Pop leader . Excellent luck! . First leader for me this game I think. Gosh I wish we could rush Leo’s. Anyway the ARMY of Ivory is created and heads towards the west.
Jumbo kills Chinese LB
Raze Los Angeles (old China)
Kill a LOB + Pike @ Indus. We are pretty thin, but can reinforce next turn.
Egypt has a settler headed for the Old Byz horses. I’ll kill with the army next turn, and send a settler to cover those horses.
Six settlers but only 1 musket escort, better safe then expand & lose the new cities.

IBT
No attacks.
Egypt founds on the horses
Yom – WA – WA
America builds Smith’s in Washington

Turn 2 1550 AD
Kill Mayan settler + pike trying to found on Chichen Itzen ruins. Kill the workers. We need to grab those horses before anyone else does. Settler is on the way to do just that.
RazeEgyptian city on the Byz horses.
Our old 3-spear army continues to hurt America. They capture & kill a worker, then pillage the square.
Kill pike near Jeepers looking to Pillage. I wonder if Egypt has a city in the Byz fog.
Indus is okay on this IBT.

IBT
America wants to talk. Nope. They still have no salt.
Irontown – market – musket
Military tradition in 10!
One Elite American cav shows up.
1 pike + 1 MI + 3 LB move next to Indus.

Turn 3 1555 Ad
Raze French of Rouen city of near South Push
Army attacks & kills American Cav then begins assault on Quirigua – the new Mayan capital.
Indus – kill pike, kill MI

IBT
America asks to talk again, nope.
Indus defends & kills LB
Idiot Mayans move Pike (+ settler) out of the capital we are trying to raze.
Nehruvia – WA – WA
Delho – market – musket
T Ville – musket – musket

Turn 4 1560 AD
Raze another Mayan capital, this time it’s Quirigua. They are running out of capitals.
We are razing much faster than we can resettle (due to shortage of muskets).
The Pike army in China will be healed next turn.
Pillage Egyptian silks.
Kill Pike + MI @ Indus. Soon I’ll raze the nearby Aztec city and pillage roads to slow them down. Can rush the temple for 60 gold next turn. I may do that, and we need to get that forest chopped or it will be another Deerburg.
Raze Teayo (Aztecs)[/b]

IBT
From out of the fog:
America sends knights, Egypt sends MI + LB, Mayans send pike + LB, French send croissants
Equinia – musket – musket
Dacca – temple – WA
Eastbound – worker – worker (1 shield city)
Palace gets a media room.

Turn 5 1565 AD
Kill Mayan Pike
Kill a few of the 9 Mayan workers in South Push to finish the temple. The remainder will continue their Death March to 7-11 to build a library.
Kill American Knight and LB with Army. Next he will pillage the roads the Ai is using as he travels to India.
Kill 2 Egyptian LB’s near Indus
Kill crusader near Dacca
Kill American Knight between Dacca & Gas Station
Kill Aztec archer near Indus
Switch Chittachong to courthouse
Switch Tville to galley

IBT
Our Muskets kill 2 American knights, One Pike behind walls loses to a knight.
Kill Aztec diplomat
South Push – Temple – WE
Chinese Build Leo’s in Hangchow on the island. very nice of them to do that for us.
America switches & completes Janet Jackson Theatre

Turn 6 1570 AD
Kill Mayan LB
Kill 2 Aztec archers @ Indus
No signs of Egyptian knights or American cavalry
Houston (harbor) is cut off
Starting the irrigation all around two cow Chittachong and make it a scientist or taxman farm.
Kill French spear near Jeepers
MI Army in Byz lands kills another Egyptian settler going for the horses.
Settle Horse Town I settled on a hill next to a river near the horses. Workers arrive next turn them next turn to chop a temple to get the horses in our borders.
I’ll keep the MI army in Byz lands for now to kill off the settlers that seem to arrive fairly frequently. Later we may want to move it, but for now we are quite thin on defense in the west. If the Ai dropped of a 3 stack we would be in trouble.

IBT
Egyptian LB dies in a futile attack.
Very interesting. Our army next to San Francisco (it has a harbor) sees a longbow leave the city. Perhaps they cannot build cav on the continent. There is an American Caravel nearby, Hopefully I’ll get to see what disembarks from the boat.
Indy – musket – WE
YOM – WE – WE
Dirty – musket – musket
T-vill – galley – musket
Ganges – worker – worker
Egypt starts Magellan’s
Hardly any AI showed up IBT.

Turn 7 1575 AD
Boy this is fun!
Double check dot-maps
Settle Bombay by the River and set to walls.
Settle Rivertown – After Temple we will have Dyes here. We can build a colony once we have units to hold the colony + city.
Both of these are in the west. Mayans founded a city near Bombay last turn, but it won’t last long.
Equinia is now lightly defended, so don’t let too many units slip thru between Dacca & the Gas Station. I expect Rivertown to get most of the pressure now. I’ll rush walls there next turn.
Switch Bangadrum to Courthouse
Kill 2 pikes in Beijing

IBT
Still no knights from Egypt, just Muskets, LB’s & MI’s
Greebleyville – musket – musket
Sugar – WE – WE
Calcutta – walls – worker
Punjab – walls – worker (not connected via roads)

Turn 8 1580 AD
Bomb & kill a musket by Bombay and we get another leader and build army
Military tradition is still 5 turns away, so I’ll probably load this one with jumbos.
Interstate to Indus gets pillaged.
Kill American MI near Gas Station
Kill American LB near Gas Station
Kill American knight near Gas Station
(Some of this was cleanup from unit’s bombed last turn)
Rush Rivertown walls. Egypt has a stack of 5 (3MI, Pike, LB) that can attack Rivertown in 2 turns, but I can’t tell for sure where they are going. Maybe to Indus. Once Rivertown gets Dyes in the city, it will be the target.
Meanwhile, Indus has a stack of 2 MI and 2 LB from Egypt that cam out of the fog. Temple there is due in 12 and will help a good bit.
Kill 2 MI and 1 LB near Indus.
Raze Beijing and get 5 workers.
Raze Chalco
San Francisco (harbor) gets disconnected
Switch Chinatown to aqueduct

IBT
Nehruvia – WE – WE
Take five – Temple – harbor
Rivertown – walls – temple (soon we’ll have dyes)
7-11 Library – WE
Hyderabad – courthouse – market
Palace gets a new wing
America is building Newton’s
We are #1 in land, GNP and Mfg. Goods. #2 in population

Turn 9 1585 AD
Raze Cempoala (Aztecs)
Settle Lahore in old Byz lands and set to worker
Kill Egyptian musket
Decide to load the army and send it off to India. Hoping we’ll get another one soon.
raze Coba which the Mayans had built next to Bombay with the new army.
FYI there are 2 settlers in Bombay ready to expand to the west.
I believe soon we can take & hold the narrow choke point between Egypt and us. That will give us a narrow front we can defend with 3 cities on hills (or 2 cities with one on the flats).
MM Indus to zero growth to get the temple twice as fast. Next player needs to switch back.

IBT
Hail Vishnu – library – musket
America drops off LB next to Hyberabad which only has a pike.
First Chinese Rider appears. He dies next turn.

Turn 10 1590 AD
Raze yet another Mayan capital, this time it’s Copan . Kill 3 workers on the spot.
Kill Chinese Rider & capture a settler.
Adjust Slider to still get MT in 3 and +62 GPT.

IBT
America captures our Hyberabad but is nice enough to not destroy it. We’ll get it back next turn
Slinger’s – musket – musket
Bengal – worker – WE
Egypt has a couple of stacks headed for Equinia. I guess they gave up on Indus. To bad for them they can’t attack from the forest anymore.

Turn 11 1595 AD
Not much action. I miss clicked & put an elephant next to the yellow long bow in Hyderabad. Hopefully it will survive.


Notes
Notice there are 2 Chinese Galleys + 1 American Caravel near Horse town (old Byz lands). There is an MI army nearby to greet them
There are 2 settlers in Bombay
MM Indus to grow when the temple comes in 4 turns.
Egypt has 2 stacks headed to Equinia, Dacca or the gas Station. There is a total of 5 MI, 2 pikes and 4 LB’s. There is artillery in all 3 cities and an army in the Gas Station. They will have to attack from flats with no forest cover, so you should hold them off without losing many (if any) units unless the RNG screws you.
Never saw Knights from Egypt, and haven’t seen any from America since my first turns. It’s mostly Pikes, MI and LB’s
There are 2 Jumbo Army’s with 4 WE in each ready both near the continental choke point. I’d start razing Egypt with these.
The spear army in America continues to do damage. I was working my way back to the capital to pillage all around Washington again.
MT is due in 2, that should be a lot of fun.
Watch happiness in T-ville, it grows in 2 turns.
The worker in Punjab due in 1 needs to connect this city to the road network.
I’d irrigate all the corrupt Byz cities. We can farm taxmen & scientists there.
There is lots of good land to chop & develop near Indy & Slinger’s. There are a couple of stacks of workers there for you. Workers are also near 7-11 and South Push. We have some good core land that is not yet developed. Now that we have pushed our borders out we can develop this land.
Only saw 1 American cav in 11 turns, but Abe is getting salt now from somewhere according to F4.
F4 check
China – no salt, no horses
Joan - no salt, no horses
Aztecs - no salt, no horses
Cleo – no horses
Abe - salt and horses
Maya – no salt – no horses

Cleo has 2 salts. Near Thebes, and under the city of Teotihuacan (ctrl + Shift + M). I’d guess Abe & Cleo hooked their capitals back up and cut a trade deal. The city of Teotihuacan is 3 tiles NW of one of the Jumbo Army’s in the choke point. I’d send both Jumbo choke point armies there and raze Teotihuacan, and double time the spear army to Washington to unhook the capital.

>> save 1595 AD <<

Pics are below

 

[handy900]

The West

The East

 

[barbslinger]

Go get em' guys. Looks like it is almost mop up phase already.

 

[Greebley]

I got it and will play tomorrow.

 

[T_McC]

Just a couple of notes from looking at the save:

Next leader should be saved for rushing the Military Academy. The Academy makes our Jumbo armies a much more viable force against muskets.

I think we have 37 cities, so we can support one more army. Driving a 12-attack 4-cav army up to Thebes will be a satisfying experience. OK, make it two cav armies hitting Thebes.

At Rivertown, we should occupy the mountain before the Egyptians do.

I think this is the choke Handy is talking about:

The Southern two dots are on Hills, and none of the dots has high ground on the side of the Egyptians/Americans.

 

[handy900]

IIRC there are Jumbo armies located in Indus, Rivertown, Dacca and the Ghandi’s Gas Station. I think all of these have 3 units in the army so they can transport to the island in Galleons when we find the island. I’m pretty sure there is sufficient artillery and forces to protect the Dacca, Equinia, Gas Station tri-city area from the coming Egyptian assault. It worked well in Indus my first few turns to attack from the city using jumbos and the army (after bombardment) before they have a chance to attack you. Offense was the best defense. This option will work best next turn after they clear the forest tile. During my turns I chopped all the forest contiguous to the gas Station so the AI has to attack from clear tiles now. The forest that was 2 tiles away from the Gas Station was too hot to chop. After the contiguous Gas Station forest was chopped, I sent workers towards Slingers Delhi where we have some core city tiles we can safely improve.

The two armies in the choke point each have 4 Jumbos in them. I hoped cavalry would not attack the 4 unit armies as they heal after razing cities. Perhaps you should pillage the roads around Teotihuacan prior to attacking. This may be the quickest way to kill the Egypt / American salt trade (if there is indeed a trade for salt between Egypt & America). It’s also possible America has reconnected their capital to a city with a harbor and is getting salt over a sea route. If America is getting salt from the island via the sea route, why did our spear army see a Longbow leaving an American harbor city, and why did I not see any American Cavalry during 11 turns? I think America traded for 1 of the 2 Egyptian salts after they both reconnected their capitals. We’ll know for sure after you pillage the roads around Teotihuacan.

Keep an eye on the old Byzantine lands. I was a steady stream of settler / pike pairs. After your coming battle with Egypt’s stack near Equinia is over, swapping the MI army for a jumbo army would be a good idea. There is a lot of ground to cover protecting the old Byzantine lands, and a jumbo army could do this more effectively. These old Byzantine lands can help us quite a bit if we irrigate all the tiles and grow a bunch of tax men and scientists in the corrupt cities. This was a very effective strategy for us in the Mayan Sherman’s War game.

Best of luck Greebley, you should have a lot of fun with your 11 turns. The balance of power seems to have shifted towards us in a big way. I was planning to kind of consolidate our gains and get prepared for the next big push, but the resistance was so minimal I was able to raze a bunch of cities and settle 4 new ones. The only loss was the American LB that snuck in the back door to a city I could not reinforce in time. Keeping a couple of jumbos or a jumbo army in the back areas will prevent this from happening again.

 

[handy900]

The blue circles below are a somewhat cramped city placement, but they are all on hills. If we occupy the three blue circle hills no one can pass through the choke without our artillery having a shot at them. Any AI attack on these three cities would have to come from flat ground. We would definitely want to chop the forest tile where the Aztec archer is fortified. A side benefit is we would settle on top of Iron and deny it to any of the AI’s. We also protect the hores behind the cities from the AI.

An alternative would be to build a fortress on the hill with Iron instead of a city. If we hold those three hills with artillery + an army on each hill I doubt anything can get through.

 

[Greebley]

Preturn: Decide to go for the higher science to get Mil Trad in 1 turn instead of 2. It means less money (-37 gpt), but I will get a few cav a turn earlier. Science may be slow at my turn start as I do some upgrading. Shift-U on a Trebuchet says we can upgrade for 330 gold (though a bunch are probably in non-barrack towns).

IBT: Egyptians appear to be targeting Equina (stack of 5 next to city this turn). See an American Cav leave Atlanta.
We get Mil Trad and start Theology.

1600 AD: Bombard Egyptian stack. Upgrade two veteran Jumbos and 2 Trebuchet
Lower science temporarily to 20% for upgrading (we could get theology in 4 (deficit) or 5 turn BTW.

E Jumbo wins vs MDI
E Jumbo wins vs MDI
Army kills Pike and MDI
This leaves a single bowman in the stack (which will probably wait for the rest of the Egyptians next turn (stack of 6).

Bombard an American Pike
E Jumbo wins vs Damaged Pike.

Rivertown army kills 2 MDI and a Longbow

Attack Hyperabad killing Spear (still has longbow)
Attack and destroy Shanghai I think it was. Last chinese city on the continent though I find a chinese Pike/settler just landed.

Jumbo army on front lines kills a Knight and an MDI while advancing to meet the other army.

Change Bengal and Pune to a settler (corrupt towns).

Bombard another Pike
V Jumbo kills damaged Pike.

Turn one of the chinese workers into an outpost in the old chinese lands. This is to watch for landings.

Start the Mil Academy in Yom's Folly.

IBT: Troop movement - no attacks, all slow units.
IronTown: Musket->Musket
T-ville: Musket->Settler (our biggest city)
East Bound: Worker->Settler (and switch Pune back to Temple).

1605 AD: Various Chinese workers become Outposts.

Army kills a Knight
Arny kills a longbow.

E Jumbo vs a Longbow wins
E MDI vs an MDI loses.
V MDI vs same MDI loses.
Army kills 2 MDI (including the annoying one) and a Pike
MDI kills a longbow.
2 Cav kill the remaining 2 longbows. This takes care of current Egyptian main stack.

Attack spear in Aztec Xochicalco with an army.

Kill a Pike in the (newly founded) Mayan city of Dzibilchaltun.

IBT: Cavalry attacks a Musket and loses. 2 longbow attack Muskets and lose.
Indianapolis: Cavalry->Cavalry
Dirty Dozen: Musket->Musket
Boot to the Head: Temple->Settler

1610 AD:
Army kills longbow
Cavalry kills Pike (bombarded).

Raze Atzcapotzalco after Army kills 2 Spear
Vet MDI kills longbow.
Army kills a Pike

Move stack to a hill. I was thinking of making a town, but it may have been a mistake. Many units can attack it. I needed more Muskets

Kill 2 musket in Teotihuacan.

IBT: Sure enough, the two Muskets are killed, elephant retreats, and settler killed.
Nehruvia:Cav->Cav
Indus: Temple->Settler
Greebley Heights: Musket->Musket
Ghandi's Gas: Aquaduct->Cav
Slinger's Dehli: Longbow->Cav (I switched to longbow as Hyperabad was building a spear every turn so I could never take it back, so I need 2 units.
Dromon FD: Harbor->Galley.

1615 AD:
Kill yet another spear in Hyperabad.
Kill Spear in Tlacopan
Kill Egyptian Musket with a Cavalry.

Attack and raze Teotihuacan as Army kills last Musket.
Kill American stack of 3 MDI, 2 Longbow, Pike

Ok, I am starting to forget to write battles down. I will stop with the invidual battle report.


IBT: Troop movement. No attacks.
Sugar Plantation: Cav->Cav
T-ville: Settler->Market
Attack and raze Tlacopan

1620 AD: I am making good progress on driving the front back to the narrowing of the continent.

IBT: Two Cavalry attack Muskets. One wins and one loses.
Karachi: Courthouse->Aquaduct
Ganges: Worker->Worker
Bangadrum: Court->Market

1625 AD:
An egyptian settler lands on old chinese territory. Army kills Pike and settler.
Set Sci to 30%. Theology in 2.

IBT: Cav attacks a Musket and loses.
MDI attacks a Cav on a mountain and wins.
Equina:Musket->Musket
Hail Vishnu: Musket->Musket
7-11: Cavalry->Cavalry

1630 AD:
Attack Xochicalco and Raze it
Finally take back Hyderabad
I am trying to settle the forward city a second time. Have an army to protect this time.

Here is a picture of our 5 converging armies to the choke point. Very pretty

IBT: No attacks
.
1635 AD:
Lahore: Worker->Worker
Palace expansion.
Build Coalhopper

IBT: Get Theology and start on Edu.
Nehruvia: Cav->Cav

1640 AD: Change Rivertown to a settler and rush it.

Attack and raze Grenoble
Attack and raze Calixtahuaca
Science to 40 Edu in 6.

IBT: Lose a Musket and Pike on defense
Madras:Temple->:
Indianapolis: Cav->Cav
Riveratown: Settler->Barracks
Bombs Away:Aquaduct->Market
PETA: Aquaduct->Market
Dirty Dozen: Musket->Cannon

1645 AD:
Build the first Choke city: Jaipur
Attack and raze Tlaxcala

IBT: Lose a Musket on defense
Greebley Heights: Musket->Cav
Punjab: Worker->Settler
Droman FD: Galley->Galley
Irontown: Musket->Cav
Horse Town: Temple->Settler
Chittagong: Courthouse->Barracks

I650 AD: Mostly a consolidate and heal turn.

Notes:

Our 5 armies coming together is going to greatly strengthen our attack. If I have a next turn, it will probably be mostly mop-up.

The Army in old Chinese lands is heading to join them, its city distruction mission is complete. I would send at leas 1 more Cav to there.

We could also use a Cavalry in our NE lands. We have no offensive units there other than the army and a single Jumbo.

We may not need a line of defense anymore but:
Here is what I was thinking on the choke (see pick below). The red dot is where that big stack is going to settle. It is on a hill and thus strong.

There are 3 options for closing off the north side (others might be possible as well, but these were the 3 I would consider

My favorite option is the two cities in Green. The city on the gold and iron hills are close, but that doesn't matter in corrupt cities. It takes an extra settler.

The other two dots are both possibiliries requiring a unit to pass near a city to get past.

The choke may not matter much as we may be able to simply plow forward. Still a nice defensive line means only those 3-4 cities need to worry about anything other than boat landings. It will take a bit to clean out all those units in the middle of the armies.

The files uploaded just before mine were called TMcC01_Choke or some such. I wonder what that could be a picture of

[edit: Make that 2 people posting choke pics. As I say I prefer the 4 city choke.]

I had fun with turning slaves into outposts:

The Save

 

[handy900]

Outstanding work Greebley
I'm at work so can't load the save file. Did razing the Egyptian city of Teotihuacan cause America to lose their source of salt?

Looks like we are all basically picking the same tiles to hold the narrow point of the continent. We can afford a tight build there since the cities will be corrupt anyway. Fortifications are an option until we can get settlers over there to build with. Should be lots of fun from here on out for the good guys.

I think we are ready for AWE!