Suboptimal IV: Indonesian Insanity

[suboptimal]

Turn 96

Time to see how pear-shaped things are going to get. The zoomed out view of the north and east:




Hmmm...not too bad yet. Looks like it’s setting up as a pillaging run. First things first….policy changes now that Theology is in. Maneuver and Urban Planning are out. With no rams in sight I skip Bastions and take Limes to get walls up quicker. I don’t mind getting pillaged out if I can hold onto most of my cities. Professional Army goes in as well. That leaves me with an economic slot. I leave Caravansaries in place and policies are done (I only need a 3-charge builder at Barbarian Island). My civics choices are Recorded History or Naval Tradition. I take Recorded History.

Sound’s chariot is complete. It fortifies in place and I start walls. Those will be done in three turns. Up at Boxer I harvest the crabs and upgrade two quads to jongs. Income drops to -4.2 per turn. The knight I brought over from Old Friends crosses the river and moves over to the Holy Site. I’ll be able to attack if he moves past the city to threaten the Campus. The jongs would be attacking at 60 and the knights at 53 thanks to DotF. The crab harvest also gives me almost enough faith to buy a jong at Punky’s or Boxer. In theory I could do that in three turns as there will be enough faith generation and harvesting to buy the next chain settler at Barbarian Island.

Regarding my gold income (or lack thereof) I’m not worried too much. I can make peace with Lisbon in two turns, at which point I’ll also declare war on Stockholm. That will end the trade routes and I can redirect them to Lisbon for more cash. I will also move the trader from Punky’s to the Barbarian Island settlement. One other thing to keep in mind – if Sound looks to be threatened with capture (particularly if Punky’s is razed) I’ll need to make sure I get a missionary out before the city falls and use one of my island settlements to crank out a Holy Site instead of a Harbor.

Speaking of Barbarian Island my colonization fleet moves to the coast and the land units will disembark next turn. I’ll found the city on Turn 98 and move Magnus there. I move the galleys and come across a Scottish galley southwest of Port Damali. In moving closer to Barbarian Island with the settler I find whales 2N of the planned city center.




Time for some city-state messery. I’ve now got two envoys to play with and can move Amani. Two envoys into Carthage breaks Woden’s suzerainty, I get 2 era points () and Amani moves to Carthage. Suzerainty in 5 turns.

Hattusa’s units have spotted my fleet moving north, which means Woden has spotted them (though that might not be the case as they weren’t there when my last turn ended). The fleet moves northeast along the coast towards Dion. Woden has done me a favor here:




He’s chopped out the Commercial Hub. It’s a shame I didn’t put Raid in, but the district would be worth 194 with a pillage. He’s also building walls. They’re not done yet but good thing I’ve brought the battering ram along. At a minimum I’ll be able to pillage that district and, if I’m willing to put the ram ashore, still be able to raze the city. I’ll find out next turn. I do expect him to chop out those walls as soon as his builder can get over there. None of his other cities have walls going up yet. That makes me think it might be worth skipping Dion altogether and going straight for Methone. That’s another three turns of travel plus one turn to disembark.

[Cornflakes]

If you head to Methone, expect GG-powered horsemen. Pillage of the CH and and razing of Dion will be a big blow. I wouldn’t hesitate putting the ram ashore if walls are built. Does Jong get +5 CS for a unit in formation? You could leave the ram in formation until the walls get built.

Down at Boxer, would putting the slinger in formation with the Jong give it +5 CS?

[suboptimal]

I had completely forgotten about the +5CS bonus for jongs in formation. That makes things a bit faster up at Dion as the strength increase means that without walls the city could be felled in two turns (four with walls). At Boxer I can embark the slinger and then use the jong's movement to pick it up, bring it north and attack. I could also, in theory, bring one into the city center, go into formation with the knight and then attack. Both would get the bonus, as would a jong in formation with a battering ram (they just need to be in formation with a unit of any type).

As for Methone, yeah, Woden's got a third general around. However, I don't know that he'd be ready for an attack from the coast and would need to be in close position to react the turn that I land. Referring back to the Turn 85 Empire lens:




I'd land knights on the deer tile and the tiles NW and SE of there. On the turn after landing all three units could attack as it's only 3 MP to move adjacent to the city, leaving MP for attacks (the city is on flat ground). In running the numbers I've determined that three knights attacking at 48 (well, two at 48 and 1 at 45 due to marsh) could take the city in one turn if the garrison strength stays at 30 or below. If GG-powered hetairoi show up on the turn I land I've got two options. The first would be to press the attack if all three knights could still get to the city (and he hasn't garrisoned to increase city defense). The other is to re-embark and immediately move on Aigai.

[Cornflakes]

Also due to turn order I don't think that Woden gets vision from Hattusa's units as long as you don't end your turn out of sight. You move > Woden doesn't see anything > Hattusa moves to reveal your troops > you move out of sight again.

I think raze the city in the north first. Then you can make an attempt at Methone, maybe Woden will focus on Carthage and leave the east coast open. Worst case you take some damage on the knights but re-embark and continue to Aigai. Are there cliffs east of Methone? I can't tell for sure one way or the other from the screenshot.

[suboptimal]

The turn order with respect to Hattusa occurred to me while I was typing up the report. He knows there's at least one jong in the area because his warrior was killed by one and two of Hattusa's units have disappeared over the last two turns. He'd also have no reason to build walls at Dion unless he was expected bombardment, which can only be done by one jong. I don't know that he realizes just how much firepower I have at sea up there (it's 309/711 of my milpower).

There are no cliffs in my intended LZ east of Methone. There are cliffs from the tile E-E-NE of Pella through the tile 3NE of Methone. Aigai has cliffs (and a mountain) but can be shelled by three jongs.

I am curious to see what Woden does with Carthage, especially if I can get Amani in there before he can get another envoy in there.

[Cornflakes]

Aigai has cliffs (and a mountain) but can be shelled by three jongs.

Your knights may still be able to capture Aigai amphibiously even with cliffs. In PBEM 11 I captured a Russian city with a caravel even though there were cliffs. Might be worth a test game to confirm if land units can also attack cities through cliffs.

[suboptimal]

My recollection is that land units can always attack into a city regardless of cliffs being present. However, with pindicator giving my galley passage through his territory I shouldn't need the knights to attack Aigai as the galley can do the dirty work.

Another thing is that up at Boxer there's another unit up in the fog that hasn't advanced (the GG escort had a +4 support bonus). If Woden was planning on pillaging during his Turn 96 he might have changed his mind when the jongs showed up -- pillaging in that case would allow me to outright kill a hetairoi and send the Great General all the way back to Macedonian territory. He might go deep into my territory to scout it out but unless he gets more units to the coast (or a ram) I should be able to protect the coastal areas from pillaging with the two jongs.

[suboptimal]

Watched the patch first look. Of important note is that pillaging will only provide gold, faith and healing. Science and culture pillaging is eliminated unless you are Norway. Raid is being nerfed from +100% yields to +50% yields. Note to self: pillage Stockholm's Campus before the patch hits.

Now to wait for the patch notes for details...

Edit: change only affects improvements, not districts.

[suboptimal]

Turn 97

Overview of the situation at home:




In the east Woden is sending at least two units (probably both hetairoi) out to spread my forces. In the south he’s snuck two units through the tundra to threaten my capital. I’m going to start losing the Holy Site next turn. If I could find 20 gold or so I’d be able to upgrade that chariot to a knight and cause some problems. At Boxer he’s pillaged and retreated. I also note that Woden’s been sneaky and dropped two envoys into Grenada, so he’s now suzerain up there. Good, that means I’ll be able to suzerain Carthage, which I think is more strategic at this point in time.

Up at Dion:




Walls are up. I’ll have to disembark the knight and battering ram, then shell the city with a different jong to get the +5 CS bonus. I’ll deal with this first. Ship moves into position and I find a Great General and a hetairoi in the city with another hetairoi to the SE. Not entirely unexpected. I decide to move past, especially since taking the knight out of formation now means I can’t disembark this turn. With the general up here Methone is a sitting duck, especially since he’s not building walls there. That is now the primary target. I also now know that I’ll need to park next to the coast for a turn and then disembark, so he’ll have a bit of warning. I don’t know if it’d be enough for him to respond to, though.

Over at Boxer, a closer look:




The Great General cannot be shelled from the coast due to the mountains. Its coastal friend, however, can be. That warrior also has a +6 support bonus, so there’s another unit in the fog. I bring the southern jong into the city to see if it gets the elevated position vision and...it does:




I bring the southern knight up to the pillaged mine and bombard the units with the jong for 45 damage. I find out the knight can’t attack since it was in formation and now has no movement left (). I attack the other hetairoi with the other jong, doing 40 points of damage to it. I’ll see if any promotions turn up on these units next turn. I should be able to contain or repel the forces up here over the next couple of turns so that the knights can head south to help deal with the threats there.

At Old Friends there are at least two units to the south and two to the east. The question is how many units are actually in the fog? I also need to get some sort of help down to Sound before things start getting pillaged out (in particular, that iron mine). What to do? I decide to send the knight in Old Friends SE towards Sound. It should be able to chase away the units or threaten some serious damage.

Over in the far west I move the warrior down towards Stockholm. I’ll do the peace/war swap between it and Lisbon next turn and send the warrior in to pillage the district. I also faith buy a builder – if/when Woden pillages my iron mine at Sound I’ll need to get this one connected so that my knights can heal and I can upgrade the remaining chariots. I’ll remove the mine once Macedonian troops are removed from my territory. North of America I disembark the settler and warrior. I also kill the barbarian spearman with the quad. The gold from the camp will let me upgrade Sound’s chariot next turn. I also get the inspiration to Naval Tradition. The settler’s disembarkation also reveals a crab resource NE of that rice.




That would make a harbor in that location a +4 adjacency. I’m going to delay one turn on settling, move the settler NW and put the city there. I’ll get the harbor chopped out with Magnus and then build a monument while I wait for cultural expansion. Once I’ve got the stone I’ll harvest it into a lighthouse. It also puts the whales first ring for a possible extra amenity and some additional gold income.

In moving the galleys around I’ve realized that I’ve got another problem that didn’t exist before – Port Damali blocks the galley from proceding to Aigai. I should have noticed that before. I’ll hang tight here and see if I can get Cartography in a reasonable time via pillaging.

[suboptimal]

Turn 98

The overview…




The shrine and alcazar at Sound have been pillaged. Woden is heading south of Old Friends and may be going direct for the capital. His forces in the north have retreated. Woden and Alhazard have both proposed deals. Let’s see what’s what here….first up, Alhazard:




I take it. Amenities good. Now for Woden, he comes offering white peace. I could take it. The issue, of course, is that he regroups in the tundra and then launches an attack on my capital. He’d get first crack at me in ten turns’ time given how the system works. However, I should have time to get prepared by getting my economy more in order (not losing cash) and getting a few warriors out (and ready for upgrades to muskets if I can find the cash). I take it, full well knowing that in ten turns’ time I’ll need to be ready for another attack from Woden.

Along the eastern front I spread out my forces to set up some pickets. I also send one knight southeast to see what he was packing :




That makes force counts 5 hetairoi and one hypaspist in the south, three in the north and two more at home. Good to know, though he’ll probably build more.

Up at Boxer I move the knights up a hex away from the city and send a jong up the coast. He’s retreated the hetairoi and general into the fog and left the warrior in position as a picket.

The invasion force north of Macedonia is going to continue around the continent. I can park them off the coast east of Methone away from the coast and hold them in reserve in the event he decides to get frisky. The alternative is to bring them back home to provide additional defense in the event Woden decides to regroup and attack. I could still use the jongs and galley to raze Aigai. Given that defense is the best option here I start recalling the fleet. They’ll be back in 5-6 turns. I’ll be able to rotate the two knights at Boxer south, as well as send an additional knight from the fleet southwards as well.

Now, what to do about my pillaged improvements? I don’t need the builder in America so I send it across the island. I’ll use it to repair the pillaged improvements at Sound, harvest the cows for the 10th population and then return to America to be ready to mine the iron. I faith buy a builder at Boxer – that will repair the pillaged mines and then get some additional improvements down.

Boxer will continue to build out the walls to one turn and then switch back to the harbor. Punky’s has one turn left on its wall build but that would increase to two turns without Limes. I’ll let the build finish and then get the Government Plaza out of the way. Sound has one turn left without Limes, so I’ll get the shrine repaired and, start the temple build and then finish the walls as peace runs out. Old Friends has 5 turns until its Encampment is complete.

America has completed another warrior. For the time being I start it on walls as well. Can’t hurt at this point and since I’ve got Limes for another five turns I might as well get them out of the way now. I keep one warrior in the city and the other moves adjacent to the Campus. There is a builder out and Stockholm is set to repair the mines. I will hold off declaring war for the time being – the mines, post-patch (which is expected Tuesday) will provide instead of . Even if it’s repaired I probably won’t be able to get the warrior onto the mine to pillage it until at least Tuesday, so I can’t get one last science squeeze out of it. I do declare peace with Lisbon, though, and will declare on Stockholm in a turn or two.

Up at Barbarian Island I move the settler into position for next turn. I also eradicate the camp, get two more era points and 50. The quadrireme heads around to the west coast of the island for defogging. I've also realized that my galley isn't stuck - Port Damali is going to flip to Australia in two turns, at which point I'll move past it.

After I passed the turn along I went back into the EoT save just to do some pondering. I’ve decided that I’m going to complete Engineering next turn and pillage science into Machinery and then work to complete it. My reasoning for this is straighforward – city defense. Right now my cities with walls have a ranged attack of...15. . If I upgrade that slinger to a crossbowman (NOT CHEAP – 230 without Professional Army, 115 with) they’d be attacking at a 45, which should help deal with any shenanigans that Woden wants to pull. I’ll also be putting in Bastions once Recorded History completes.