This is gonna be good: von Adlercreutz and Taotao

[taotao]

So, this was the turn... or was it?
Fenns units in Vilcas still got +26% defense from culture and I was starting to get cold feet...
But then I had another look at the units Fenn had available and figured that if I waited a turn he might just attack with his (now healed) knights and if I'm unlucky they might even target my cannons at about 50% odds. I was understaffed enough in that area (and any other that wasn't knights) as it was and didn't have any cannons en route, so such a thing might actually have delayed a capture for several turns. After much internal debating I decided to attack...

(hopefully I'll do a more thorough write-up after the weekend, but for now I'll just post my notes on the actual attack so I don't lose them).

Battle of Vilcas!
CR2 cannon vs CG3C1 musket (25,2%) … FLAWLESS LOSS (0hits, 7 collateral)
CR2 cannon vs CG3C1 musket (25,2%) … LOSS (1 hit, 7 collateral) GG born in Vilcas... oh mama...
pinch knight vs CG3C1 musket (7,6/9) (7,9%) … LOSS (1hit)
barrage treb vs G2 lb (0,1%) … FLAWLESS LOSS (6 collateral)
B1 cat vs G2 lb (0,1%) … LOSS (1hit) (6 collateral)
cat vs CG1 musket (0,0%) … LOSS (1hit) (6 collateral)
cat vs CG1 musket (8,1/9) (0,2%) … FLAWLESS LOSS (6 collateral)
cat vs CG1C1 musket (0,2%) … LOSS (2 hits)
B1 cannon vs CG2 lb (50,3%) … LOSS (2 hits) (7 collateral)
CR1 cannon vs CG3C1 musket (6,2/9) (53,7%) … WITHDRAW! (7 collateral)

shock knight vs C2 pike (4,9/6) (38,1%) … WIN!
C2 knight vs G2 lb (4,3/6) (63,7%) … WIN!
C2 knight vs form pike (3,7/6) (64,5%) … WIN!
C2 knight vs pike (4,1/6) (66,9%) … LOSS (3hits)
C2 knight vs C2 pike (3,7/6) (69%) … LOSS (2hits)
C2 knight vs C1 mace (5,8/8) (69,2%) … WIN GG Born
C2 knight vs CG2 musket (5,4/9) (69,8%) … WIN
C2 knight vs G2 lb (3,7/6) (71,6%) … WIN
C2 knight vs CG1C1 musket (4,9/9) (71,8%) … WIN
C2 knight vs C2 pike (3,2/6) (73,2%) … WIN
C2 knight vs CG1 lb (3/6) (73,4%) … WIN
C2 knight vs C4form knight (5,9/10) (75,3%) … LOSS (3hits)
C2 knight vs CG2 lb (4/6) (86,8%) … WIN
C2 knight vs C1 mace (5,1/8) (87,1%) … WIN
Form knight vs C3form knight (5,3/10) (96,9%) … WIN
C2 knight vs C2 knight (5,6/10) (97,2%) … WIN
C2 knight vs CG2 lb (2,4/6) (99,1%) … WIN
C1 knight vs C2 knight (5,3/10) (96,8%) … LOSS! (1 hit)
C2 knight vs CG3C1 musket (1,8/9) (99,2%) … WIN
knight vs C2 pike (1,6/6) (98,7%) … WIN
C1 knight vs C2 knight (3,2/10) (99,9%) … WIN
C3 knight vs pike (0,8/6) (99,9%) … WIN
musket vs C4form knight (0,1/10) (99,9%) … WIN

Total losses
Dutch: 3 cannons, 1 treb, 4 cats & 4 knights
Inca: 5lbs, 5 pikes, 4 knights, 3 muskets & 2 maces

[taotao]

Regular broadcasting is here interrupted by an urgent message from the defense council:

Less than a day after peace negotiations with the Incans have ended (by us annihilating their population) the peaceful Finno-Dutch people are once again AT WAR.

The treacherous English have crossed the border and taken one of our cities.
It is assumed that the city in question is Machu Picchu, but the information gathering bureau of CivStats is known for its sparse reporting of the details, and the intel is yet to be confirmed.

Finno-dutch leaders want to assure the populae that although the English possess one of the most fearsome present military commands in form of the drafted protective redcoat, no rest will be had until the English no longer form a threat to any nation on this earth!

Donovan, to thee I only have these words:
You chose... unwisely.


(I actually could log in now and check out the situation, but have literally been hit by a truck today (I'm fine though) and am not sure I'll deal with the situation in the most... "appropriate" manner at the moment.)

[Old Harry]

have literally been hit by a truck today (I'm fine though)

Sounds like a bad day all round! Did you have an appropriate response to the truck?

[taotao]

have literally been hit by a truck today (I'm fine though)

Sounds like a bad day all round! Did you have an appropriate response to the truck?

Sadly no, I was way too composed and reasonable
Guess I'll have to compensate for it somewhere...

In the game I won't get any immediate revenge though.
In fact, next turn DZ will capture Ollantaytambo and I need to do some semi-intricate chaining to have a chance at keeping Tiwanaku.
One clever thing that DZ did on his turn was sending knights out just to pillage a couple of roads between Ollantaytambo and my main Fenn-stack, which means I won't be able to reinforce with those units for a while.

In general the situation doesn't look too great for me. It's not an existential threat (as long as REM doesn't join in), but in the short run all ex-incan cities are in danger. Had he waited just two turns I believe I would've been in a much safer position, but alas, that wasn't meant to be and I'll just have to deal with the situation as best I can.

Safe to say is that the person who will benefit the most from this is neither me nor Donovan, but rather REM who will now completely lack a counterweight near by and will have an even easier time of running away with the game.

Currently I'm debating whether it'd be worth launching a GA with my saved GAr & GE. A golden age now would probably be better than one in 7t (when I'll get my next GP), but it does hand away most chances of me getting the SoL.
Another point to consider if I go into a GA is whether it's be worth it to switch to nationhood. Getting more units quickly would of course be good, but I won't really be able to draft many ex-incan cities as they're still too small or have too little dutch culture.
Besides, doing a nationhood switch now means delaying representation by a turn or three.
Also part of GA or not discussion is tech route, where the current war might mean that I want military tradition sooner rather than post-democracy...

[taotao]

In the end I decided to throw the golden age.
I figured my chances of winning went down a fair bit with the declaration anyhow, but if I am to have any shot left, then I need to win the war first.
I had a long and awkward border with DZ before the war.
That can possibly work if both parties trust in each other or the mutually assured destruction, but DZ attacking me when I'm momentarily weakened, but still number 2 in soldiers I believe shows just how much trust there is between us.

So, tech path:
Rifling (1t) -> Constitution (2t) (switch to representation)-> Music -> Military Tradition

I had my first dike complete this turn. Next turn 7 more come online. A few more the turn after.
Settlers (for challenging REM to islands) are interrupted in favour of military builds. I'm still finishing off started national wonders before full military though. And a few drydocks will be slotted in.

Partly because of this:



What? you might ask? Don't those demos look good? Hey, it even seems like REM did indeed run some wealth/research builds earlier
Well, yes, but why isn't he doing it anymore?
I've got a bad feeling that he might be smelling blood in the water and might seize the opportunity to take down his closest rival by a peg or two. It's not like he's just reached assembly line or any other such breaking point as far as I'm aware...

I'll post a pic of the main war theatre for the moment. Hopefully some other fronts will be established in 10t or something, but for now this is where the Dutch will die for the country.

[taotao]

Cats are overpowered.

Well, not really, but they did allow Donovan to wipe the stack I had protecting the worker NNW of Vilcas
He also took Ollantaytambo (expected) and Angola (slightly less expected).

Will have to see about when I'll get time to finish the turn and do a proper turn report, but make sure to check it out as it's bound to feature me running my medic 3 chariot into a knight and other such craziness.

For now though I'll just post my "current" view of the world. Some of the stuff is a couple of turns old and I had quite a few screenshots that didn't take, but if I don't post now I figure it'll be even more outdated when it hits the press and I'm not the fastest when it comes to stitching things together...

[taotao]

Howdie!
This post will probably have less screeenshots than optimal as my keyboard is acting weirdly and performing commands as if the ctrl-button would be constantly pressed down or something, but it's my impeccable and thrilling writing you're here for anyhow right?

As I said in the post above Donovan wiped my advanced stack last turn taking very few losses himself (basically just 3 cats). Not the best of situations perhaps, but thanks to my medic 3 chariot my secondary stack had somewhat healed up and I felt it was time to at least hit back a wee bit.

On top of poor Charlie the worker DZ had only left one knight that was fairly easily dispossessed of:
c2 inj knight vs c2 inj knight (81,5%)… WIN


Since all my stack (apart from one surviving cannon) consisted of 2-movers I could and decided to also take a stab at the units that had done all the killing last turn:
c3 knight vs inj redcoat (66,9%)… WIN
c2 knight vs pike (50%)… LOSS
c3form knight vs knight (95,7%)… WIN
c2form knight vs inj c2 knight (90,5%)… WIN
c2form knight vs inj c2form jnight (96%)… WIN
c2 inj knight vs inj knight (88,7%)… WIN
c2 inj knight vs c1 inj knight (88,8%)… WIN - cat killed by flanking
fl1 knight vs c2(shock) inj knight (99,6%)… WIN
c1shock inj knight vs inj pike (99,8%)… WIN)
c2 inj knight vs inj knight (99,6%)… WIN
knight vs inj pike (99,9%)… WIN
c2 inj knight vs c2 inj knight (99,9%)… WIN

This left one injured knight left where DZs stack had been, but killing that unit would leave me very open to a counter-counterattack (4 cats in visible striking distance).
But wait! I still hadn't used my GG medic3 chariot with one spare promotion. Would I dare? Well, the knight was indeed very beat up, so let's do this:
c1medic3 chariot vs inj knight (99,9%)… WIN
A sigh of relief and I could move the chariot back to the rest of the stack.



You can see that my units are pretty exhausted, but at least they can't be hit by any 1-movers and I don't think that DZ have that many knights left in reserve any more...

The eagle-eyed will also notice a knight of mine 1SW of Ollantaytambo. What unit is that?
Well, after having taken out the stack I realized that any 2-movers in Ollantaytambo could hit Cuzco that was only defended by 1 guerrilla musket. Not good.
Donovan had 4 knights in Ollantaytambo (2 injured) and I decided that something had to be done. Therefore the garrison in Tiwanaku was thinned out...

form knight vs fl2 knight (90,1%)… FLAWLESS WIN
form knight vs knight (90,1%)… WIN
c1 knight vs inj c2 knight (88,8%)… WIN

Those units are very likely dead after DZs turn, but I still think it was worth it. I could've actually taken back the city with a horse archer from Huamanga, but there's no way I would've held it. Besides, one good thing about the war so far is that DZ has kept all three cities he's taken. Meaning I'll have the chance of taking them back. I don't want to give him reasons for starting to raze stuff (and I doubt that he wants me to have a city with 3 settled GGs...)

Tiwanaku was now very poorly defended, but at least I had just enough movement on my EIs to add 1longbow and 1axe to the defenses. (In total I have 1lb, 1axe, 1sword and 2 knights in the city. Some quality defenders in the age of redcoats don''t you think? )

I actually did have one more unit in Tiwanaku last turn. That was a ha. However, next to Angola DZ had left an injured knight without cover...
c2(shock) ha vs inj knight (70,2%)… WIN
That meant that my ha reached 17xp, but sadly I couldn't run far enough away with it that it'd be any other thing than free xp, so had to be deleted



In Angola DZ currently has 2 knights, 2 pikes and 1we.
In Zinaar 1redcoat & 1axe
In Machu Picchu 1redcoat and 3 knights
In Ollantaytambo 1 (injured) knight

Looking at the power graph I doubt that he has an awful lot of units reinforcing...


Not really much of a build up is there...?
Actually looking at civstats I see two decreases from him during his turn, so I guess he must've started a GA and entered nationhood (or slavery), but for now that power isn't that terrifying.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot, but he also sent out 5 axes as scouts into my lands.
"I don't like scouts!" was my response:


cannon vs axe (95,6%)… WITHDRAW (6hits!)
cannon vs axe (99%)… WITHDRAW
cannon vs axe (99,6%)… WITHDRAW
lb vs inj axe (99,9%)… WIN
lb vs inj axe (99,9%)… WIN
knight vs inj axe (97,6%)… WIN
musket vs inj axe (99,9%)… WIN

"AWAY!" I said.


musket vs axe (88,7%)… WIN

and I also spotted a caravel close to my latest island settlements:
EI vs caravel (98,7%)… WIN

So all things considered a pretty good turn for me. I'm even quite close to my next GG...

Btw. last turn I wrote this:

...Hopefully some other fronts will be established in 10t or something

Bugger that! unless I see some heavy reinforcements or smell a trap I'm going in next turn.


Oh yeah, finally on the domestic front I should mention that I noticed myself being very close to 1-turning constitution. As that would mean quite a lot of extra beakers I decided that I needed to swap some specialists around and I actually built research in my Moai-city. Not optimal perhaps, but hey, in the grand scheme it should be worth it.

[taotao]

Just saw that OT4E has commented in Donovans thread. Given his reputation I'm almost a bit worried now about what I will find next time I log in

That wasn't what I was coming to the forum for though.
I came because I've got a question on EP and city visibility.



See this screen? I've spent 584 EP on DZ/Serdoa.
According to the screen 573 EP should be enough to have visibility on Darnassus.
So why does the area then look like this?




Needless to say, visibility would be quite helpful here...

Also what kind of visibility do I initially get? I believe its the first ring (9 tiles) + any hill tile in the big cross, but is that correct?

[Old Harry]

I think it delays a turn, so you should get visibility next turn (unless he spends enough to push you back under the threshold).

You're right about the amount of visibility. Its as if you have a unit on that tile.

[OT4E]

Just saw that OT4E has commented in Donovans thread. Given his reputation I'm almost a bit worried now about what I will find next time I log in

Lol, each my comment in thread gives +40k in soldiers, didnt you know?