[SPOILERS] Woden and ljubljana like boats

[ljubljana]

With Bastions + a fleet ironclad existing, defensive strength will be 80ish. Abjad and Abugida will get Medieval Walls next turn as long as their city centers are not attacked. I think they can hold out for 3-4 turns rather than 1-2, and in that case a fleet frigate with LoB in the city trades for 3-4 of Russia's. Also, in the long term the only way to wear down his fleet's ability to take our cities is to kill the frigates, and the only way he will expose them to attack is if he has to (because he is attacking a city). I think frigates in the cities is the most effective way to keep them alive long-term - the individual cities will fall a bit faster at first but overall I think I will hold out longer.

[ljubljana]

Turn 171 - Phoenicia

Today is a good day to die:



I get aggressive with Australia, condemn a few heretics, etc:



Sad privateer here was one tile too far forward and got promptly one-shot by everyone's favorite proto-battleship. First blood goes to us. Last blood is very unlikely to go to us. But I'll take one for two at this point



Here is the line. If it collapses next turn (eg if more than 3ish ships die and I can't kill the interlopers), I can retreat that mass of frigates past Mitla-Abjad to relative safety. And I will upgrade the caravel fleet on top of the GA in the city center at Mitla to boost its city defense strength by, uh, 40 points (from 50 to 90 with Bastions). I don't really have any delusions of holding this position longer than 2-3 turns, but if I only lose, say, 2 ships on the interturn, I might feel comfortable striking back and rebuilding the line using the trickle of reinforcement caravels.

Naturally, I should have upgraded a single ironclad this turn instead and turned it into a fleet next turn, but despite all my pre-turn planning I forgot. The joy. At least it is (IMO) quite unlikely that they will manage to kill the GA caravel this turn. I will need some more coal and perhaps gold to do that next turn, if you can spare it.



We do have a fair few reinforcements en route, and will get a wave of 3 more next turn. Rebuilding the line with non-fleet caravels will probably not buy me much time, however...

[ljubljana]

You know, the sad thing is, if I had all my ships over on the Russian front right now, and none at all by Australia, I think we'd win this war. Australia has just a handful of frigates (my guess is they have been shipping niter to Russia), and is in no position to take any of your Steel-enhanced cities. Meanwhile, the extra ships would be just what I need to actually hold that defensive line I set up. In retrospect, I think we should have tried to extend the DoF with Russia by 10 more turns so we could be repositioning now, and, failing that, perhaps let Kaiser live in the north so I could bring all my ships back home. This Australia attack is just a distraction now, and if we get blown out at home (as is very likely imminent) we'll have to concede regardless of how much damage it does.

Oh well, you live and you learn, I guess. Or, in this case, you die and you learn

[Woden]

Please tell me you gave Australia 10 turns of +100% production for more than a single privateer and a missionary? Were you able to hit anything on the Russian front?

Edit: I guess it prevent Russia from sailing passed you, so probably the right move.

[ljubljana]

Yeah, that was why, if I hadn't declared they could sail past me and surround me to death. Not sure if it was the right move to give Australia 10 turns of boosted production just for that, but it seemed required to move the fleet up - if it was wrong, I think moving the fleet up itself was also wrong...

I only had one frigate fleet in range to hit something belonging to Russia, but it would have been in an exposed position that would have worsened the coming first strike, so I chose not to take it.

[Woden]

Thrawn, Here is the last save I played, it is the start of T171.


  DIDO 171 1100 AD.Civ6Save (Size: 2.32 MB / Downloads: 1)

[Woden]

I hope the 3 day delay on roland's turn means you messed up some planning on their part. I also hope Kaiser plays his turn today. Before the turn comes around, I want to get your opinion on a strategy here...
   

Depending on what Russia does, I think the best play here will be to shift my navy towards Balder. If I can get them to the city, I can use the city canal to attack both north of the island and west of it and hit him where is hurts most. The downside will be I could get surrounded if he has a bunch of reinforcements lurking in the east. 

I am expecting him to form a defensive line against my ships and try to focus on your ships. He might sail south and hit me first but I think that is unlikely, as it allows you to hit him from behind. His main objective has to be to capture a city, so I think hitting you is going to be his main objective. I guess we will have to wait and see what he does but I wanted to throw this strategy out there to get your thoughts.

Edit: The other option I see is hugging the coast and using it to protect my flank.

[Woden]

A couple other musing as I impatiently wait for the turn to move.

The encampment at (W)Odin finishes next turn and I am going to chop out the +5 IZ. The IZ will give me the last point I need for a golden age and take only 1 turn of city production to complete. I looked at the era screen and the lower number on the range was 11 turns, meaning that we could get the 10 turn count down on my next turn Did you see it on your turn? I am debating on what dedication to take. Do we go for the extra movement or the +15% production to all military units? Not sure what is going to be more helpful but I am leaning towards the extra movement. I can use faith to buy units if needed and not sure how much +15% actually helps, especially since we already get +150% with press gangs. 

I was looking over the map and there seems to be a few good locations for cities with good choppable features, especially the island between my mainland and former England that you have all pinned up. I might buy a settler when I have the faith and send it there. I should be able to chop out 6 ironclads or 3 fleet ironclads if I send Magnus there. There is also the coal city I was planning on settling soon.  It has a few forest and a stone resource that I can transform into ships.

[ljubljana]

I'm fine with the plan of shifting over to Balder, hopefully in conjunction with surrounding the lower part of his fleet if it remains in roughly the same position as this turn. I think that's a little unlikely though, probably he will attack my ships as hard as he can while surrounding you with caravels to prevent you from helping me defend. We will see, though.

I did indeed see the 10-turn countdown on my turn, sorry I forgot to mention it. I think extra movement is probably the best if you still have a significant number of ships left in 10t. Agreed about the choppable cities, and totally fine with you settling them and chopping ships if you can spare the faith.

If he does go for me with all his ironclads this turn, I expect him to crack my defensive line in 2-3 turns, tops. My fleet will be pretty dead at that point, at least in terms of its caravel component - what should our plan be then? I still think the most effective thing I can do at that point is save some frigate fleets and hide them behind Medieval Walls (which I will have in place next turn) to try to thin out his frigate numbers and limit his gains to 2-3 of my cities. Then I can have my other cities work on Pike/Shot to counter his Cossacks until the cities flip back (quite possibly to you since you have more loyalty pressure). But I am not sure that plan, or any plan for that matter, will do more than slow them down...

[Woden]

Turn 171-Vikings start
Let's see what Russia was able to do...
   

Ouch! Not what we were hoping. Looks like he broke your eastern flank and was able to get more ships around you to hurt you bad. The biggest problem I see here is that you don't have a fleet caravel that you can upgrade to a fleet ironclad. You may have to upgrade 2 ironclads in your backlines (safe from his ships) and merge them next turn. Then pray Abugida survives until then. 

Over by Australia...
   

He didn't engage, playing it safe. I think your best option on this side of the world to to work towards opening up his lands to my units for pillaging. Sail your fleet down to The Marshall Mathers Lp and clear any ships around it. Then, my berserkers can sail to the desert and cause havoc. I am going to need faith to buy berserkers to defend against Russian Cossacks.

Back to Russia, I think his play here is going to capture any city he can while out running me around your civilization. All my next ironclads that I will start chopping out next turn will have to sail around your north, in hopes to pinch him. 

One thing I noticed in the score is that Russia has only 142 era points versus my 162. He has had golden ages every era, so he is far from another golden age (since I have only had 1 and 2 normal ages). You only have 123 but also have had a few dark ages. He has 9 more turns of extra movement, then I will have equal movement to him if his GA is around. Also, he won't be able to hold cities in a dark age. We just need to limit the damage he can do between now and then. 

I think the best strategy for me is to move up and pressure him. Part of me says the bets move would be to sail half my navy to his coast and pillage a defensive force but I think that would leave you too exposed and we can't have him running around unopposed around your civilization. I will have to rely on my berserkers by Australia to provide some extra faith. 

Let me know your thoughts.

Edit: I am sending you all my gold (163), 2 coal, and oranges this turn. I will have amber to send next turn.
Edit2: I think I can kill the Fleet Caravel east of the marble. I can reach it with the ironclad in Balder and hit it with my 2 crossbows and the encampment. Probably won't help you out but it is a kill rather than redline the one closest to (W)Odin and have him promote if you want to retreat some.