"Vive l'Empereur!": another D+3 Succession

[TimTheEnchanter]

Notes:
Freights: Peugeot Gold next to hieraconpolis to be dumped there for decent payout. Strasbourg Dye to deliver to Heliopolis. Amiens Hides made it as far as Toulouse - dump on Hieraconpolis for decent payout. 4 trucks in St. Emilion to be used for Hoover Dam.

Obsolete units have pretty much been upgraded. All Galleons, Pikemen, Crusaders, Dragoons and Diplomats have been disbanded toward more modern units. One musket has yet to be replaced in Leeds. Our "Homeland Defense" is paper thin. We could still use a few mobile response units in case any AI civs want to pay us a visit.

I thought about rushing Hoover on that last turn by using the 4 vans and paying gold for the rest, but nobody is researching Electronics still, so I spent money on some other priorities first.

Ship-Chains:
- Two boats allow 2-way traffic between london and Cunaxa
- Boats can sail one way between Fayette-Cremona-Chablis-Reading to connect mainland to England. Just sail back and forth each turn.
- 3 boat chain allows delivery of freights to the shore E. of Hieraconpolis, or near Giza for delivery to other cities each turn. (Once RR out of Roquefort extended, this can be shortened to just go to Roquefort)

I tried to get working on Andu's plan to get transportation to the south through a series of RR connected cities and transport hops. Trade payouts down south could be massive, even for undemanded goods. The Engineers in egypt should continue RRing down the East side of Heliopolis and Elephantine to Marseilles, then build a transport so they can start building colonies reaching farther south.

We just jumped up to Supreme on the power rating so AI attitudes turned sharply against us. I would NOT try to get any gifts from our allies at this point. The right-of-passage through Egypt is too valuable to risk at this point. And ending the mogol alliance will force our southern exploring units back home.

Our Reputation actually improved due to the capture of the Eiffel Tower.

China keeps sending cavalry and cannons toward Nanking. During my turns, they would withdraw the troops when asked, but I doubt this will last much longer. Hopefully the defenses there can hold if attacked. Once some ports on the S. Shore of England are taken, they should build transports to help support chinese effort.

Several freights have been rushed in england and on the island W. of london. Those cities can build goods demanded by Egyptian cities like Hieraconpolis (see turn 5 comments) By using the ship-chains, they should be sent back to the main island and delivered to Egypt for decent payouts.

Ideally, I would have built barracks, and waited until robotics before going on the offensive, but I figured I only had 5 turns...might as well go for broke. While all the armor were built without barracks (except the ones defending in Nanking), many have been upgraded to vet status in battle.

We should complete miniaturization research next turn. Some cities with lots of ocean squares (Gaulish Village in particular) should switch to Offshore platforms and rushbuild it.

 

[Kev]

Another terrific set of turns. The use of tanks and cav with spies for the walls is always a good option. Looks like the English are not long for this world, and some of their more southern cities can be launching areas to get the units - that will be vets for the most part - into the Chinese theater to mop them up.

The only other issue with being Supreme is that we're bound to see more pacts to contain our 'aggression', and that might inspire a good deal of tech trading. Still, I think Tim (and golem before him) started the ball of death rolling quickly enough so that the civs that are well to the south - the Zulus and Mongols (and Romans, but they are practically dead anyway) - will not be able to get any spaceship parts together before we arrive.

I meant to comment on the interesting map size. That was pretty cool.

Would it be worthwhile to gift techs to the Mongols to help our science along to get the end-techs like robotics, environmentalism, and stealth? Would this be too risky in that they may be able to advance quickly and take the Zulus with them to become spaceship threats? My own thought is that we can advance pretty quickly right now with freight, so maybe it would not be worth it.

Anyway, great job - I wonder if I'll get a second shot at playing...

 

[Jayne]

iirc it's me next. Should get to it in the next day or so

 

[TimTheEnchanter]

Originally posted by Kev
Looks like the English are not long for this world, and some of their more southern cities can be launching areas to get the units - that will be vets for the most part - into the Chinese theater to mop them up...

That was the plan! I think one of the most important achievements of my turn is our ability to move fairly quickly around the north end of the globe with transports. Now we can start extending southward using resources from anywhere , instead of having to rely on "local sources".

Originally posted by Kev
...Still, I think Tim (and golem before him) started the ball of death rolling quickly enough...

I like that one. The players ahead of me got the ball rolling... I just gave it a nice shove. Having Reading and London under our control made it all possible. Beating rifles up with armor is easy. I don't usually have the guts to take on gunpowder cities with dragoons and ironclads so I have an appreciation for what they did.

Originally posted by Kev ...I wonder if I'll get a second shot at playing...

I'm pretty sure you'll get another shot. There's still a lot of ground to cover.

 

[Andu Indorin]

Yes, a very nice set of turns.

On the reputation and non-aggression pact front, we should consider repairing our relations somewhat. I agree with Tim on the Egyptians; indeed, I'd gift them some money to improve our relations. After rush building more improvements and/or units to reduce our treasury down to 200 to 250g, we can give them the maximum amount to start repairing our relations. I wouldn't be surprised if we were to lose that alliance, we'd have a war on our hands mighty quick!

With the Mongols, I'd give them techs. They're still researching Masonry (!), so we should be able to gift them at least a few meaningless tech. It'd be nice to maintain this alliance against a counter-weight against what may be an inevitable "Rome-Beijing-Zimbabwe" axis.

As for the map, I kind of like stretching north-south axis; it does create problems of crossing distances that one doesn't usually find in a Civ2 game.

Let's go Jayne! Let's see what you can do against the English

 

[TimTheEnchanter]

Originally posted by Andu Indorin
With the Mongols, I'd give them techs. They're still researching Masonry (!), so we should be able to gift them at least a few meaningless tech. It'd be nice to maintain this alliance against a counter-weight against what may be an inevitable "Rome-Beijing-Zimbabwe" axis.

My only concern there is that they may be researching Masonry, but you know the first things they will ask for will probably be Mobile Warfare (armor), Auto(BB's), and Machine tools (Artillery), and I wasn't sure if it was a good idea to give these out since I seem to recall all of the southern nations were somewhat lagging in tech. That's a pretty big boost to give them those at this point, considering the mongols just learned how to build crusaders

 

[TheViking]

Great set of turns and the situation has changed completely since I played. We are no. 1 in population instead of no. 6, we are building armor and battleships instead of dragoons and destroyers and we are starting to destroy other civs.

 

[Andu Indorin]

Originally posted by TimTheEnchanter
My only concern there is that they may be researching Masonry, but you know the first things they will ask for will probably be Mobile Warfare (armor), Auto(BB's), and Machine tools (Artillery), and I wasn't sure if it was a good idea to give these out since I seem to recall all of the southern nations were somewhat lagging in tech. That's a pretty big boost to give them those at this point, considering the mongols just learned how to build crusaders

Well, they'll ask for the Mobile Warfare (9); but they have neither Conscription nor Metallurgy (both 8) at present, so those should be the alternatives that they would accept (followed by Tactics and Automobile, both 7, but opening the research to Mobile Warfare).

Of course, if we gift them Conscription, then they could start researching Fundamentalism as an alternative to Democracy ...

 

[Jayne]

Sorry for the delay, but I think I'm going to have to pass my turn this time as I've not been well.

 

[TimTheEnchanter]

Sorry to hear that. I hope things get better soon.

Looks like we go back to the top of the order with Andu...

 

[Old n Slow]

Sorry for the delay, but I think I'm going to have to pass my turn this time as I've not been well.

Heal.

I have a daughter taking a course in England right now, so perhaps some of the warmth from us may pass by & help (at least an atom or two )

 

[Andu Indorin]

Sorry for the delay, but I think I'm going to have to pass my turn this time as I've not been well.

Get well soon !

 

[Kev]

Jayne:

I hope that you are well again soon.

 

[Andu Indorin]

A Conversation overheard in the Salon of Madame Geoffrin,
Hotel de Rambouillet, Gaulish Village, December, 1766

Mme. Geoffrin: "M. Gouverneur-Generale Dupleix, so good of you to join us. I trust that your voyage from the Oriente went well. M. le Comte de Rochambeau was just beginning to recount his experiences on campaign with the duc D'Aiguillon in Angleterre. ..."

M. Francois Marie Arouet (Voltaire): "I shall never get used to women participating in our political discourses. One wonders whether we should have followed the example of the English after our capture of York and granted the fairer sex suffrage."

Mme. Geoffrin: "Le raison d'Etat, M. Voltaire. It is a matter for all Frenchmen ... and Frenchwomen! But come, M. le Comte, please continue."

M. le Comte de Rochambeau: "As you know, fair hostess and guests, this business in England has been drawn out affair. Ever since 1710 we've been at war with the English. As you know, following the capture of York, Nottingham, Coventry and Dover in 1752, our leaders decided to consolidate our positions and enter into negotiations for an arrangement, but the English failed to offer adequate compensation for our efforts. ..."

M. Voltaire: "The English are a most reasonable people. It is unfortunate that their King Henry lacks the enlightened attitude of M. John Locke ..."

Mme. de Geoffrin: "Yes, M. Voltaire. But as you yourself once said, `Marriage is the only adventure open to the cowardly.'"

M. Voltaire: "Touche! Mme. de Geoffrin, your wit is as delicious as the table you set."

M. de Rochambeau: "As it became apparent that peace with the English was not in our best interests, and as recent battles had battered our armored forces, the new French commander in England, the Duc d'Aiguillon, demanded increased artillery support before resuming offensive operations. After refitting the Armee d'Angleterre, we resumed operations in the spring of 1758. Led by the Corps d'Ingenierie, our forces assaulted Hastings. The combination of artillery bombardment and armored attack proved most effective; the city's garrison of three Rifle brigades was quickly destroyed, and English Partisans were quickly defeated by the end of that year.

"Thence, in 1760, campaigning shifted to the north. Supported by the Battleship "Revanche," based out of York, a land and naval bombardment reduced the Oxford garrison of four Rifle brigades, resulting in the capture of that city. Later that same year, an Armored corps under the Marquis de Montcalm defeated a force of English Cavalry and Riflemen advancing on Dover from Brighton.

"As most of you can guess, events in the Orient, of which M. Dupleix can inform us, forced upon us an acceleration of the Armee d'Angleterre's operations. In 1761, the Duc d'Anguillon determined upon a dangerous course of action. Following the capture of Canterbury, underdefended by a single Rifle brigade, d'Anguillon pressed on at once for Warwick, ignoring English Partisans swarming along our line of communications. By 1762, desperate fighting was occurring before the walls of Warwick, where a battalion of Artillery and a regiment of Cavalry were initially lost. But subsequent attacks by Cavalry and Artillery succeeded in eliminating the garrison of one Alpine and two Rifle brigades, thus securing that city.

"With English Partisans controlling the countryside all around us, our situation seemed dangerous indeed; it was beginning to look like a terrible winter for our forces. But then word came from the north. Montcalm's Corps d'Observation had launched an improbable assault against Brighton -- the last bastion of English resistance. By trickery and deception, the walls of that city were destroyed ... and Montcalm's forces stormed into the city, defeating the garrison of one Rifle and one Alpine brigade commanded by General Wolfe. With the capture of Brighton, all English resistance collapsed. It is regrettable that Montcalm died in the assault; but he died a hero ..."

M. Voltaire: "Enough of this, I say! It's forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished, unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets. Come, M. Diderot: How comes the Encyclopedie?"

M. Denis Diderot: "It is often most exasperating, M. Voltaire. This Age of Reason is also an Age of Progress. I can hardly keep up with revising entries for the Encyclopedie while composing the new entries. No sooner had I completed an article on the art of Miniaturization than the acquisition of Mass Production from the Chinese opened an entirely new area for our scientists to conduct research. Even as they had fulfilled Pascal's dream of the Computer, we learned from the Egyptians that Man can indeed achieve Flight, much to chagrin of the brothers Montgolfier. And now I have recently learned that a paper will soon be presented to the Academie des sciences concerning the development of what is being called Robotics. Honestly, and with respects to Mme. de Geoffrin, I simply do not know how I'll ever be able to finish the Encyclopedie in my lifetime."

M. Voltaire: "No doubt M. Rousseau is suffering indigestion over all of these changes. But, if we can't find something pleasant, we will at least find something new."

M. Anne-Robert Jacquet Turgot: "And the new may ameliorate some pressing concerns for our nation. New Harbors and Supermarkets, and new farming techniques will soon help us resolve are continuing food crises; the days of the bread riot may soon be over. And the pending completion of Hubert Dam in Carcasonne as well as the potential benefit of Mass Transit systems should aid in overcoming the growing problem of pollution. Maybe then we can exploit the new technology of Offshore Platforms, and continue with our project of building Superhighways throughout the nation, thus increasing the volume of trade that is so vital to our economy."

M. Voltaire: "Ah, you and M. Quesnay: When it is a question of money, everybody is of the same religion."

M. Francois Quesnay: "M. Voltaire, you do us an injustice. Everyone is not of this same religion of yours. The French are the leaders; others follow. You cannot deny that our mercantilist policy has greatly improved the finances of government. We Physiocrats know the benefits of trade with foreign nations. Why, over the last ten years, foreign trade has brought in almost 9000g to our treasury. Were it not for the efforts of French merchants, it would be the Egyptians who would build Hubert Dam, and not France! We must never, never stop greasing the Wheels of Commerce."

M. Turgot: "Yet for trade to increase, a free and equal access to the seas must be assured. Failing that ..."

M. Joseph Francois Dupleix: "Failing that, the seas must be ruled by France and her fleets."

Mme. Geoffrin: "Ah, now we come it. The Affair in China ... M. Dupleix?"

M. Dupleix: "Having just returned from the Orient, and having presented my report to the Council of Ministers, I can relate somewhat of our current dispositions in that part of the world. If you will recall, back in '58 the Chinese signed the Shantung Pact with the Zulus, completing the Rome-Beijing-Zimbabwe Entente; and as if to back their pact with force, the Chinese navy suddenly appeared in force off the coast of Tientsin and, even more alarmingly, off of Poitiers. An ambassador to the Chinese requested a withdrawel, but their response was limited to their land forces near Nanking.

"These developments caught us somewhat off guard. It had been our hope to fully achieve a rapproachment with our Egyptian and Mongol allies, as M. Turgot can tell you, before resolving our affairs with the Chinese."

M. Turgot: "Yes, we of the Council had decided that, now that we wore mantle of the world's greatest power, we should make some diplomatic overtures to our allies to assure them of our good will. Hence, our gifts of financial aid to the Egyptians, and financial aid and technology to the Mongols. With the bulk of our military engaged in England, it seemed especially important to maintain our Egyptian alliance and prevent them from being attracted to the Entente."

M. Dupleix: "But the naval movements of the Chinese were ominous. And so, 1760, the Council of Ministers determined that we could not afford to await the Chinese striking the first blow. Consequently, our Ambassador to the Egyptians met with Cleopatra, and at her "request" we declared war on the Chinese. At once, the Destroyer "Lutetia," commanded by La Galissoniere, engaged the Chinese fleet off of Poitiers, heroically defeating two Ironclads and one Frigate.

"I was at once dispatched to China to conduct our affairs in the Orient. An agent in our intelligence service determined that not just one, but two Battleships were based out of Tsingtao, as well as a Submarine. To meet this threat, I commandeered four Armored regiments from the Armee de Angleterre and landed with them outside of Tsingtao. Once our spy breached the walls of that city, our veteran Armor made quick work of the garrison of two Rifle brigades. Leaving the Comte de Bussy to suppress the Chinese Partisans around Tsingtao -- which would not be acheived until late in 1762 -- I proceeded to Nanking to strengthen the defenses.

"Until the arrival of the duc d'Aiguillon, I engaged in limited operations defending Nanking. But with the arrival of reinforcments from England, our forces went on the offensive. In 1764, our Armor and Artillery defeated the Hangchow garrison of three Rifle brigades, plus two Partisan cadres following the capture of that city. In 1765, our Armor defeated the Tatung garrison of one Rifle brigade, resulting in the capture of that city. And at Tsingtao, our Armor defeated a Cavalry brigade advancing on that city.

"This last year, our intelligence reported a potential Chinese invasion of England from the city of Xinjian. Thereupon, I resumed command of the Tsingtao front. With the completion of a railline to Xinjian by the Corps d'Ingeneirie, our Armor defeated that city's garrison of two Alpine and two Rifle brigades, and that city was stormed; an attempt by a Chinese ambassador to negotiate a cease fire met with a chilly rebuke from our Senate.

"And just before I departed to return here, I learned that the duc d'Aiguillon successfully captured the Chinese capital of Beijing following a massive bombardment from our Artillery that reduced the garrison of two Alpine brigades, two Rifle brigades, and one Partisan cadre."

M. Turgot: "Yes, matters proceed nicely against the Chinese. With the fall of the northern Chinese cities, plus Macao to the south, we may be in a position to benefit from a cessation in the hostilities. ... There is that small matter of the Cleopatra's theft of Electronics from Roquefort after we provided them with the technology of Miniaturization. That has forced us to commit 2200g toward the completion of Hubert Dam. Though ... they haven't shown any other acts of unwarranted behavior, and they did provide us with Flight in exchange for Mobile Warfare. Perhaps we may still draw an advantage from our alliance with the Egyptians."

Mme. Geoffrin: "And what of our other allies, the Mongols?"

M. Turgot: "Ah, further aid in the form of Conscription and Tactics may very well have improved our relations on that front. In the short run, their assistance may be of value; but our Ambassador to the Khan's court reports that they are pursuing Fundamentalism, so ..."

M. Voltaire: "And so ... God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh. I say, my dear Mme. Geoffrin, another cup coffee?"

* * *

And a few quick notes to the next player.

1. Last unit active is a spy; I was planning to sacrifice it in order to get the Mongols into the war with the Zulus; and then, with luck, into war with the Romans and Chinese as well. But I'll leave that foreign policy decision to my successor.

2. Robotics next turn. Our barracks are in: Nottingham, Dover, Brighton, Tsingtao, and Nanking

3. Hoover completed in Carcassone, so as to beat the Egyptians next turn.

4. WLPD current in all cities; I've been running Lux at 40% to promote Engineer construction; ten more Engineers set to be completed next turn.

5. Cities w/ Pollution issues: Nanking, Tsingtao, London, Nottingham, Oxford, Gaulish Village, Saint Emilion, Peugeot, and Cheese Valley; all these cities currently have circumscribed production and a bit of hunger while waiting for Hoover/MTs.

 

[TimTheEnchanter]

M. Voltaire: "Enough of this, I say! It's forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished, unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.

It certainly sounds like the trumpets were blaring during this set of turns! Nicely done. Good to know there's another level of proficiency to which the rest of us can all aspire. Nice lesson in the use of spy reconnaissance to identify targets.

At once, the Destroyer "Lutetia," commanded by La Galissoniere, engaged the Chinese fleet off of Poitiers, heroically defeating two Ironclads and one Frigate..

A destroyer taking out two ironclads and a frigate??? A single ironclad is usually a tough match for a destroyer. Veteran or not, taking out three ships is heroic indeed!

 

[Andu Indorin]

A destroyer taking out two ironclads and a frigate??? A single ironclad is usually a tough match for a destroyer. Veteran or not, taking out three ships is heroic indeed!

I was surprised it survived; indeed, somewhat surprised it had one movement point left after knocking out the first Ironclad and then the Frigate. I was just hoping that to damage the last Ironclad enough so that it would turn back to port -- 12 turns to Ningpo?

 

[Old n Slow]

Great, great, great! I'll do the first look tonight & start accordingly.

 

[Old n Slow]

I've started and am partway through (mild activity so far.)

I tried something new -- given the expectation of Robotics on the click, I decided to see if an IRB arty (with at least 70 shield's worth pumped in) would come out as a howie.

It did.

 

[Prof. Garfield]

You would just have to make sure that robotics was discovered before that city got proseced.

 

[Old n Slow]

Yes, it happened on the first city (as expected.) I think that this feature, although minor, might be of use in some situations -- I'll need to exploit this better.

I'm still working through my turns (although RL and other distractions have popped up, they seem to have waned away.)