Turn 134 - 110AD

[Rik Meleet]

We have the safe; I have distributed it along the team.

The C3B ers are playing "catch me if you can"
We are still Feud ahead and nothing else caught my eye (I only looked for a few seconds).
C3B lacks horses and Ivory.

 

[Cheetah]

It looks much like it did last turn. We're still number one in production, and our military is average to them.

 

[Rik Meleet]

Turn 134:
Fanta: MDI -> MDI
Boro: horse -> horse
Charnel: Aqua -> pike

Horse in Borodino to EMP (1 tile away).
AC in Emp towards KD.
MDI in Fantazuma to KD.
Loaded MDI onto galley near Kamina.
AC in Savannah to KD
Conscript Warrior in Ryttyla to Cheetahpolis (now in Fanta).
N. Horseman south one - fortified.
Galleys towards KD, except far northern. It is fortified to spot C3B's.
Settler in Charnel to far western Iron Island via galley. Dropped off in duck pond and marched on.
Kamina to (13-2) 11 spt. worker rushed and switched back to horse.
UH: cat rushed and switched to Galley.
MM-ed Charnel and EMP.

Our MDI carrying galley can't reach the safety of KD this turn. So I fortify a 4/4 empty galley on that tile; there still is a C3B galley somewhere there.

Screenshot of the C3B-ers following us.

 

[Rik Meleet]

The Khazad Region. The "?" indicates possible location of C3B Galley.

 

[Rik Meleet]

Our settler will go far west onto Iron Island.

 

[Rik Meleet]

some stats.

We do Monotheism in 5 turns @ +6 gpt. We can also do it in 4 @ -14 gpt. I've kept it at +6 gpt, but this can be increased.

 

[Rik Meleet]

And finally our army (compared to C3B).

 

[Rik Meleet]

While we increase in power, C3B drops.

 

[Rik Meleet]

Khazad Dum has 10 galleys and 13 units loaded. 1 settler, 5 MDI's, 1 sword, 1 JT and 5 AC's. Next turn all galleys are safe in KD and ready to go in 2. If we get enough units. Do we need pikes in it ?

 

[Provolution]

We may need a couple of pikes to take out potential counterattacks and denying their GA for a little longer. I believe in mixed formations. We can add on one JT en route, making it 14 units aboard. Please add on 5 Ancient Cavalry if possible and the remainder a mixture of pikemen and horse (depending on galley availability).

 

[rcoutme]

I would like to launch next turn, but believe that we need two turns for the AC's to arrive...so turn 136 is the tentative launch date. Add at least 1 pikeman onto the galleys. We are leaving the JT in the east to be picked up...so that will be one slot that must be left open.

We want as many Med. Inf. on as possible also. They are our heavy hitters.

 

[akots]

Might be better not to rush and prepare everything. We also need to load troops on regular galleys and have at least 2 veteran galleys empty running on top of the stack. This would enable our troops to avoid drowning if C3B attacks us with galleys and wins. This is very likely since why they have built the Lighthouse if not building a navy afterwards.

Rushing too fast unprepared or poorly prepared is not good IMO. By delaying the assault we are making sure that Golden Age to C3B is denied for as long time as possible and we are able to accumulate more gold and troops.

Certainly pikemen (veteran) are better be included in the assault as well. The thing is that C3B does not want to research Feudalism is actually having a certain reason behind it. They might be going to kill us only with Immortals.

Please also note that we better have a few galleys left in KD to intercept a possible C3B naval strike. It might be that these troops of theirs are not chasing our poor horsemen but instead are preparing to load onto galleys and go for a landing in our territory.

 

[RegentMan]

Where would this invasion force land at?

 

[Provolution]

I would place the JTs, swordsman and a horseman in the expendable spearhead, just in order to get more potential units to the front, without risking our core units.
Germans did this during the invasion of Norway with major success.
However, we should have two veteran galleys in the front, but please fill them up with expendable troops, and I would lean heavily on calling 2 JTs, swordsman and a horseman for expendable.

 

[Hygro]

This is so much more interesting than the other MSDG

 

[rcoutme]

I agree with Provolution about the possibility of putting 'more expendable' troops in the front galleys. I disagree that we should wait to attack. My calculations show that C3B's top cities produce 1 immortal every two turns. They will not increase that immortal production in a GA. Other cities may do that, but, the sooner we attack, the few immortals are there to greet us. It will take some 7 turns to reach destination as it is. I am hoping to lure the main C3B army south by a horseman assault ruse, but that is no guarantee.

As for the troops chasing our lone horseman, there are only 3, two immortals and a spearman, so I am not too concerned about those troops launching a seaborne invasion.

We have left one of the galleys as a scout in the north. We are currently building another galley in UH and have one healing there (I hope...not sure if Rik moved it). The others are planned to carry troops to Fortaleeza.

 

[akots]

I still hope that C3B have replaced their ambassador to CDZ since he screwed big there and CDZ would wish to reconsider their attitude towards the war. This might mean if not tech trade but then luxury trade so that our cities can grow even slightly bigger. And it might be a reasonable idea ideed to sail from KD now since it takes 7 turns to get to the destination which would mean that arivial will coincide with a peak of our Golden Age benefit. Second wave would surely include knights.

Regarding possibility of luring C3B Immortals into a raid, it might be clear next turn whether they stay on the hill or move further south. It might be they are reluctant to split their forces and weaken their defensive stance.

Apparently, they are indeed building no more than 1 Immortal/2 turns in their core cities and this would marginally increase with Golden Age. However, they might still have some warriors and their GA would enable to upgrade a few. Though hopefully they would be mostly regulars like in our case.

 

[Provolution]

We surely need to increase the mortality rate of immortals.
Therefore, we need to send all the ships available on the Expeditionary force, to the point the ships are filled. And yes, we need to have pikemen to counter immortal counterattacks at choice locations (high defense terrain at crossroads), supplemented with Ancient Cavalry to flank and ambush stray immortals coming for these entrenched units. This will be a heavy tactical operation, where every margin counts.

Again, this Group will target a very target rich environment, so we can just observe how the decoys work out, and how much they have left to spare.
Our prime afvantage, besides the qualitative and mobile, is one of surprise and projection of force. We decide turn, destination, unit count, follow ups, decoys, we decide on the pace of diplomacy, we decide on what they see and not see after the first strike and finally we have the strategic initiative.

 

[Rik Meleet]

We have left one of the galleys as a scout in the north. We are currently building another galley in UH and have one healing there (I hope...not sure if Rik moved it). The others are planned to carry troops to Fortaleeza.

the galley is healing in UH.

 

[RegentMan]

But won't C3B see a fleet of galleys sailing on by and wonder what's up (and I mean fleet; I've never seen this many galleys; I'd be freaked!)?