So here are the 3 possible attack routes:
1) Send troops from Loki 1 SW and then 1NW. This leads to the jungle SE of Charity. I'll have to wait a turn in his territory on the jungle where the cats cat hit me. Possibly I send one wave onto the jungle first and absorb the collateral. Then have the cats bombard and send in a second fresh wave of troops to the same jungle tile. Then turn after sac and take the city.
2) I wait for engineering and send my troops NE, NE, NW to the grassland SE of diligence in one turn. His stack of cats CANNOT hit that tile from where they are. Alternatively, before engineering, I can move the attack force to 1 tile SW of Freya and then head to the same tile. I believe that tile is in the fog. Even more alternatively, I can sit my troops back on the hill and then go for the grassland tile. That's faster but shows my hand quicker.
3) Seven's getting astro in a turn. I gave him gold to speed the research. Now I can gift him my galleys and have him upgrade them into galleons. Load up some berzerkers and go raiding back line island cities. I think I will do this anyway in conjunction with one of the two previous plans.
Pros/Cons of plan 1?
Pros:
1) It's a deep strike into TRD's heart. Helps cut his empire in two.
2) I get my gems and spices back +2 happy in cities without a forge +3 in those with. currently the source of gems that is in my possession is being shipped to Seven for incense.
3) Of the two attacks, this one provides Jungle cover.
4) May force TRD to counter attack before he's really ready.
5) Can attack directly from Loki
Cons:
1) Cat stack is big. It'll do some heavy dmg and I might possibly take some heavy losses.
2) Charity is in the heart of TRD's land and exposed to counter attacks from all sides. Could easily lose the city again right away. And my army.
Plan 2?
Pros:
1) Whittles TRD's strength along the outside of his territory.
2) As long as the cat stack doesn't move I can land my troops next to diligence without worrying about collateral first turn.
3) Easily assimilated, not as easy for TRD's troops to surround or approach.
4) Possibly land on grassland tile out of the fog.
Cons:
1) Takes an extra turn or two to stage the attack.
2) Sitting on a grassland tile.
3) Difficult to reinforce because its further from Freya than Charity is to Loki.
So there is some serious decision making to be made. Charity attack looks more profitable but more risky. Diligence looks less risky, but slightly less profitable. I also have to consider speed here, and whether I want to time my attacks to coincide with naval attacks. I think the best would be if I got galleons and smashed Kindness (refer to naval feint pic) at the same time that I took on of these two cities. Kindness is too far from where the cats are to react to a surprise taking of the city. It would take TRD 2 turns to hit Kindness with those cats. In other words I could take Kindness and he would have to choose between counter attacking at either diligence or charity or retaking his back-line city. Indeed, if he choose to come back for Kindness I can move all my troops out of the city on the galleons and just retake it after he comes back for one of the other two. Hot potato style. This would work really well in conjunction with Diligence as he wouldn't be able to hit that stack with the cats that first turn. In any case my main force must heal a bit, and I still have to wait for galleons and the new zerkers that are being pumped out to fill the galleons. (That's right I'm not pulling troops from the main force for the naval strike :D )
Lurkers, I don't believe TRDs updated his thread in a while so you're probably not really spoiled in terms of his war plans or tactics. Opinions?
1) Send troops from Loki 1 SW and then 1NW. This leads to the jungle SE of Charity. I'll have to wait a turn in his territory on the jungle where the cats cat hit me. Possibly I send one wave onto the jungle first and absorb the collateral. Then have the cats bombard and send in a second fresh wave of troops to the same jungle tile. Then turn after sac and take the city.
2) I wait for engineering and send my troops NE, NE, NW to the grassland SE of diligence in one turn. His stack of cats CANNOT hit that tile from where they are. Alternatively, before engineering, I can move the attack force to 1 tile SW of Freya and then head to the same tile. I believe that tile is in the fog. Even more alternatively, I can sit my troops back on the hill and then go for the grassland tile. That's faster but shows my hand quicker.
3) Seven's getting astro in a turn. I gave him gold to speed the research. Now I can gift him my galleys and have him upgrade them into galleons. Load up some berzerkers and go raiding back line island cities. I think I will do this anyway in conjunction with one of the two previous plans.
Pros/Cons of plan 1?
Pros:
1) It's a deep strike into TRD's heart. Helps cut his empire in two.
2) I get my gems and spices back +2 happy in cities without a forge +3 in those with. currently the source of gems that is in my possession is being shipped to Seven for incense.
3) Of the two attacks, this one provides Jungle cover.
4) May force TRD to counter attack before he's really ready.
5) Can attack directly from Loki
Cons:
1) Cat stack is big. It'll do some heavy dmg and I might possibly take some heavy losses.
2) Charity is in the heart of TRD's land and exposed to counter attacks from all sides. Could easily lose the city again right away. And my army.
Plan 2?
Pros:
1) Whittles TRD's strength along the outside of his territory.
2) As long as the cat stack doesn't move I can land my troops next to diligence without worrying about collateral first turn.
3) Easily assimilated, not as easy for TRD's troops to surround or approach.
4) Possibly land on grassland tile out of the fog.
Cons:
1) Takes an extra turn or two to stage the attack.
2) Sitting on a grassland tile.
3) Difficult to reinforce because its further from Freya than Charity is to Loki.
So there is some serious decision making to be made. Charity attack looks more profitable but more risky. Diligence looks less risky, but slightly less profitable. I also have to consider speed here, and whether I want to time my attacks to coincide with naval attacks. I think the best would be if I got galleons and smashed Kindness (refer to naval feint pic) at the same time that I took on of these two cities. Kindness is too far from where the cats are to react to a surprise taking of the city. It would take TRD 2 turns to hit Kindness with those cats. In other words I could take Kindness and he would have to choose between counter attacking at either diligence or charity or retaking his back-line city. Indeed, if he choose to come back for Kindness I can move all my troops out of the city on the galleons and just retake it after he comes back for one of the other two. Hot potato style. This would work really well in conjunction with Diligence as he wouldn't be able to hit that stack with the cats that first turn. In any case my main force must heal a bit, and I still have to wait for galleons and the new zerkers that are being pumped out to fill the galleons. (That's right I'm not pulling troops from the main force for the naval strike :D )
Lurkers, I don't believe TRDs updated his thread in a while so you're probably not really spoiled in terms of his war plans or tactics. Opinions?
