Cyneheard's PBEM10 Thread

[Cyneheard]

Bwahahahaha

Hi,

I know about your embargo about me.Just an heads up from my part , I can easily ruin your game , so if when the save return to me you will have close borders with me , consider this like a war declaration from my part and be prepared to fight agins mighty Arabian Empire.
regards,
Mackoti

Yeah, that's going to go nowhere.

[Cyneheard]

Let me amend that:

Mackoti came back with a proposal.

Hi,
I am coming back to you with a deal, you can close them in this round but you open borders again in 5 turns from now, and we get a NAP until turn 130. I know you are online please answer me so i can play the save and move along the game.
Cheers,
Mackoti.

Three conditions, all minor alterations:

1) T111 for reopening the borders instead, which I believe is 7t? A NAP through T130 is fine; if you want to extend the NAP, that's also OK.

2) This deal cannot be disclosed to any of the other players.

3) I'm about to run out of targets that I can legally spend Espionage points on. So between about T106 (+/- one turn) and T110, I'd be spending 4EP a turn on you, which may cost you demographics visibility on me if you don't spend EP back. If you want to spend EP to keep demographics visibility, that's expected.

Cyneheard

Just a little bit evil, eh? I assume he'll take it, those aren't big changes.

And I feel like an idiot:

Sorry, on further reflection, I'm realizing that this would conflict with deals I've already signed. So I can't do that.

Specifically, my willingness to cover TT if a war happens.

[Cyneheard]

So, after that screw-up, I offered Mackoti 50gp as penance because that was pretty dickish of me to change my mind, and because he played his turn in between those messages, that's what happened.

Get this from Tatan:

Hmm, after attaching this, I'm beginning to realize I forgot to cut borders, whoops.

Has he decided to team up with Mackoti? But how does that work with Serdoa's situation? That half of the world is weird.

[Cyneheard]

So, Tatan "forgot" to cut borders again. Shocker. That will stay between me and him for now. I doubt anyone else will bother to double-check.

War Preparations, T106:
Operation: Iron Man
9 out of 12 knights in position.
3 remaining knights:
Knight #10 finishes EOT106 at the capital, boards T107
Knight #11 finishes EOT106 at the Moai Crabby City, loads onto a Galley, unloads inside CrazyCow T108 (no MP cost), and then boards T109 (5 tiles to move)
Knight #12 finishes EOT108 at the capital, boards T109.
T109: Capricious unloads all 6 galleys. It's 6MP away, so they'll be able to land in Cold County and unload T111 with all 12 knights.

Current Monopoly Defenses:
0% culture!
1x Mace
1x Pike
1x Crossbow
2x Combat I Spears
2x Archers

Against 13 Knights, 1 Numid, and 5 chariots. Unless he can materialize a LOT more troops between now and then (I get odds on every last one of those except 50-50 vs. the pike (Combat II Shock vs. Fortified Pike w/ no culture bonus = 12str vs. 12 str) unless he gets walls or culture up between now and then. Then, I lose odds on the Pike (Spears would need to get to +225% strength to be even with Combat III Knights. +100% Mounted, +10% Combat, +25% Fortification leaves 90% to go. Only Walls + Castle or Walls + GA bomb would be sufficient. Size 5 city with no stone? Not a chance. The Mace needs walls for 50-50, walls and culture for it to have odds)). Oh, and if the odds are against me with the knights, send in the suicide units! I'm sure a Combat II/Shock Numid can do plenty of damage to even a pike.

Operation: Punic Punishment
Troops in Covenant, southern border:
Crossbow, 2x Chariot, 3x Spear, 1x Archer
Units to be used in assault: At least the XBow and Chariots. Spears unlikely given composition of enemy defenses. Archer will also remain back.
Troops in Calimari:
5x Crossbow, 1x Longbow, 1x Sword, 7x Catapult, 1x Chariot, 3x Spear
All units to be used in assault except Spears; Longbow being transferred to the more-vulnerable Covenant.
Troops en route:
4x Crossbow, 1x Longbow, 1x Catapult, 1x Sword; all barring the Longbow will be in the assault.

So, projected assaults, for the two cities of Canasta and Axis and Allies:
10x Crossbows
3x Chariots
8x Catapults
2x Swords

Current Napoleonic Defenses:
Canasta:
Mace, Spear, Archer. All 3 are XBow meat.
Axis and Allies:
Pike, Axe, Spear, Archer. Also all 4 XBow meat.

Tatan's going to need a few more troops in those two cities if he expects to hold even one of them; there's no way he has the numbers to hold both.

Oh, and after hitting End Turn, my power:
633k.
Next on the list: 504k (TT).
Last on the list: 395k (Tatan).
So I've got a larger lead over 2nd than 2nd does over last. And that's 248k difference between me and him, and he's got an active war down south...yeah, he's in trouble.

[Cyneheard]

Demographics:

Crop Yield:


Power:


The hard part's telling me apart from Tatan; I'm the lighter orange.

[Krill]

You could have just said higher orange in the important graphic.

[Cyneheard]

Not on crop yield. Tatan was blowing the field away, but he under-built his military and lost 2 cities (so far...) for his trouble.

[Cyneheard]

Random late night pondering:

So, I'm going to have one 9XP Knight in my Green Island stacks. Ideally, his job is going to be the stack protector against Siege. Since my troops are going to spend 1t in the open, I don't want the catapults to wreck my ability to sack Tatan's city. Since my units are mostly crossbows, they don't have great strength on flat to quickly eliminate catapults. Therefore, I want to make sure that the Knight goes first against Catapults, but not against anything else so that he can't hit the Knight first.

Well, anything except archers of any stripe. There's not much I can do about those: The Knight will be strongest defender against those, period.

But against melee units, including macemen, there IS something I can do.

So, a Combat I Shock Crossbow will have 6+85% strength (unless the Mace is Cover, but he can't get 5XP on his units without them being veterans. I don't think his veterans can afford to leave Serdoa alone. If he does, then I just kill a badly needed Cover Mace with my Knight). 85% of 6 is 5.1, or 11.1 total. So if the Knight is at 11.0 strength, he won't get red-lined by an enemy mace.

Therefore, a Combat I Charge Knight (with one promotion in hand) will get defensive odds on crossbows, longbows, archers, and catapults. At an effective 13.5 str, the knight will survive with 82HP on average against a catapult (which, if it takes any promotions, should be Barrage). I suspect that my anti-Monopoly stack will be something like this for promotions:
Knight, Combat I + Charge, promotion in hand
~4 Crossbows promoted to Combat I/Shock
Other Crossbows, keep their promotions unused
Catapults: Unused promotions
Swords: Not sure. May want them as CR Swords, so they'd also keep their promotions.

Essentially, the goal is to make attacking out of Monopoly unattractive for Tatan. Barring something like 5-7 more catapults showing up in the next 3t, I don't see how he can possibly do so.

[Cyneheard]

Serdoa's doing some interesting tactical work:

Hey Cyneheard,

I don't have much time till the weekend. What is unfortunate, because as you will see I have moved some galleys up to that island. I will land them next to Axis and Allies and wreck havoc on T111 (yeah, I timed it so that Tatan will hopefully be stunned by not only having you declare war but me coming from an unsuspected angle). I will also move troops (several Knights and some cats) up at Ehrlitan at T111.

Sorry that I didn't tell before, but I was fearing that my surprise-attack would not work if it somehow would have leaked.

Kind regards,
Serdoa

Hm. This worried me, because I do want that city.

That's going to make things interesting.

I've got a stack of over 2 dozen troops (~26-28?) ready to go for sacking A&A. They can't one-move the city, since it's a slow-mover stack (mostly XBows and Catapults, they'll get the job done). They'll be 1SW of A&A on T111. Depending on the #s you're bringing, and Tatan's defenses, I'll be splitting my stack to hit both A&A and Canasta. Also, I can give you detailed updates of the troops in both cities.

There's one condition: If you capture A&A or Canasta, either raze them or sell them to me once captured & secured (I think we can work something out: Say, 75g for not having to build a settler, hammer cost in gold of any buildings left intact, and 20g/pop left alive). That island's land is the key goal of me entering this war.

Why did I put a price on that??? That was foolish of me. . Didn't need to do so.

I sent him my stack composition:

Last count for me for offensive forces in the sector (estimate from a few turns back):
10x Crossbows
3x Chariots
8x Catapults
2x Swords
1x Knight

All units except the chariots (0XP) and the knight (9XP) are 2-promo

He's got 7 knights on the way. I'll end up with the city, and figure I'll put most of my stack (with most of the catapults) next to A&A. Engineering is helping Tatan out quite a bit.

[Cyneheard]

T110. Next turn, I invade Tatan in three spots. Serdoan assistance will be helpful. The interesting one, the Southeast



I've got 26 units there that are going to go in:
1 Knight, 9XP
11 Crossbows
8 Catapults
3 Swords
3 Chariots

With 7 Serdoan knights, they'll be up against:
Axis and Allies:
Pike, Mace, 2 Catapults, Axe, Archer

Canasta:
Pike, Mace, Spear, Archer.

Notice the various signs I've got; those with lots of #s and abbreviations are for the units inside the cities. Because Tatan has Engineering, he can 1-move them from one city to the other, which means that a Canasta strike force must be solid if it's going to do anything.

I think the Crossbows are going to have some fun with that arrangement. I may use a CRII sword when it's down to just Spear and Archer? Not much use before that, I think.

Up North, the Iron Strike Force is golden. Tatan doesn't have any possible reinforcements available between now and then. Worst-case scenario is a whipped pike and a culture pop. Even that just means the body count's higher, but no real chance of not cracking that city. Suicide Chariots (and a suicide Numid: Combat I/Shock/Flanking II is more than enough on a Numid to make a dent on even a Pike at +195% vs. Mounted (100, 25 fort, 70 walls/culture). Yes, that's the only Numid that I've built in my entire empire. My unique unit will be used...once.



That's 13 knights, 1 Numid, and 5 Chariots against a Pike, 2 Macemen, a Crossbow, 2 Spears, and 2 Archers, who are behind City Walls, mostly un-promoted, although fully fortified.

This picture below's cute: Tatan's got a Caravel that he's been using to scout me with. My 4XP Caravel (and there's a nearby Galleon to assist, if needed) is sitting right on top of him. Wherever he goes, I'll be more than able to hit him next turn. The Galleon can clean up if something goes wrong in that 70% fight.



Alphabet Summary to follow.