Suboptimal IV: Indonesian Insanity

[Cornflakes]

How confident are you of sacking Pella? As the Macedonian original capital you will not be able to raze that city. If Woden keeps Nan Madol alive then may be better to crush his army in the south with overwhelming force of knights, liberate Nan Madol, and then brute force your way north with knights. That would be my recommendation if he keeps Nan Madol, maybe even holding off on most of the Jong upgrades in favor of more immediate knights to push through Carthage and rendezvous with your southern force around Alexadroupoli.

[suboptimal]

I haven't opened the save yet (though it is my turn, which I'll be playing as soon as I get done here). However, Nan Madol can be liberated via the sea if he keeps it (he'd be smarter to raze it and not risk it).

As far as Pella goes, I think that's now a secondary target. My current planning is as follows, all turns counting from Mercenaries, which finishes in two turns:

- M+0: upgrade 3-4 jongs & chariots
- M+1 to M+5: sail to coast N of Dion
- M+6: one knight disembarks and then pillage out his Commercial Hub (if finished) and raze the city. One jong can give fire support during this process.
- ~M+15: Land three knights E of Methone. That should give me enough time to take and raze that city before he can respond militarily.
- About the same time: Conduct naval assault and raze Aigai. I might need a knight for this if Australia's borders block my galley and Pindicator doesn't give me open borders.

After that I see where we are in the game. If Woden keeps Nan Madol I'd move to liberate that with the navy after taking out Aigai. The one advantage I have is that I can reposition units along the coast very quickly.

[suboptimal]

Turn 89




Nan Madol has fallen and Woden has razed the city, as expected. My culture yield has dropped to 20.1 per turn, though I’ll have a monument next turn and a shrine in three turns. Mercenaries is due in two turns. Construction just finished and I start Engineering. I’ll put three turns into it and then switch to Military Engineering. I’ll need to build two archers at some point, perhaps one at America and one at Sound. That’ll get me the eureka for Machinery which, in turn, will let me upgrade one archer to a crossbow so that my city ranged attacks could be meaningful against Woden’s army if he comes calling.

Down at Old Friends the barbarians are getting frisky. (Forgot a screen shot before the action). Time to shuffle some units around and start killing barbarians. The chariot in the city itself heads to the NW. I bring in a knight and attack the western swordsman, doing 48 points of damage. The chariot then attacks for another 27 points. The knight across the river attacks the other swordsman and the chariot finishes it off. I might lose that chariot to the archer over the course of the turn, but I don’t want that barbarian pillaging the farm. The barbarians will be dead next turn. I also bring my own swordsman back towards Old Friends. As for the builder, it moves W and puts down a mine for Sound. The scene there after my moves are complete (as well as the rest of my turn) :




Speaking of Sound, it’s gained a population. I move the popuation from dumb cows to the kampung on the coast. That trades 2 for 2 1 and 1. The city has a chariot due out in two turns. Up at Punky’s the quadrireme is complete and moves up to Boxer. With the force complement here it looks like I’ll be sending 3 jongs and knights up and around. That’s fine as it keeps two quads around for jong upgrades if I need to defend the coast at all. The builder here puts fishing boats on the pearls and I relocate my farmer citizen to the kampung. Boxer changes its build to a quadrireme and the builder chops it out. The decision is whether or not to chop out the monument next turn or put the chop into a chariot so that I can have four knights to go up and around the coast with.

At America the builder moves to the jungle plains hill and chops it into the granary, getting it to 57/65. That will finish next turn and then I’ll complete the warrior the turn after that. The new citizen is initially put on the rice but I don’t need excess food until next turn, so to the coast it goes. I’ll put down another Alcazar here and then get another builder later on whe

My traders are both active, so I start two trade routes to Stockholm for 4 and 6. Out at Lisbon I pillage the Harbor and move to the fishing boats. The galley is slightly damaged so I figure I’ll pillage those on my way out of Lisbon’s territory. I’ll loiter nearby and see if the AI rebuilds the district while we’re at war. Gold on hand is 1141 and gaining 23.8 per turn.

My current short- to intermediate-term plan remains to send 3-4 jongs and a corresponding number of knights around the continent to the north. That keeps 5 chariots at home that I’ll upgrade when I need them, with more chariots on the way from Sound (I’ll see if I can slot Maneuver when Mercenaries completes or if I’m waiting for Drama & Poetry to complete).

Woden is three turns away from getting his third Great General. This one will be Sun Tzu.

It goes without saying that my biggest challenge over the next 5-10 turns is going to be overcoming my military incompetence and holding the front at Old Friends. In two turns I should have everyone lined up to defend. Curiously the religion lens no longer shows when Old Friends is going to convert.

Australia's borders do block my galley's return - I'll need Pindicator to grant me open borders or bring a knight to attack Aigai amphimbiously (if I get that far in my plans).

[suboptimal]

Turn 90

The big question is how close is Woden to Old Friends? If I can’t see his units when I open the save he probably can’t cross the river on his next turn, meaning I can save my upgrades until next turn when Mercenaries kicks in. Otherwise I have to try to find his Great General, see how far his troops can move and determine if I need to do an upgrade or two now in order to hold the line. If that’s the case I have enough gold to upgrade one or two chariots now and be able to upgrade everything else (3 quads, 3 chariots) next turn. I could increase that number to four if I harvest the crabs at Boxer this turn, but I’d rather not.




No sign of Macedonian troops. (phew). Magnus is established in boxer (governor notification) and the other continent is now a 2 v 1 as Pindicator has declared on Banzailizard. The barbarian swords have suicided themselves and the archer is about to be killed. Knight in the city moves SE then attacks for 87 points. Redlined chariot bats cleanup and earns a promotion. The knight across the river moves to the farm vacated by the chariot and fortifies while the swordsman moves to the floodplain just outside my territory. The redlined chariot can’t quite make the city but will get there next turn. The religion lens is back to working (the pop growth last turn might have tossed it for a loop) and the city will convert in 4 turns. I don’t think there’s any need for a missionary. I’m also going to hold off on unit upgrades until I see Woden threatening my borders in order to keep my income up.

I have a two charge builder at Sound. Originally it was going to put down mines at Old Friends. However, both of those would be frontline tiles. What I can do, however, is place a mine to the E of the iron and then swap the tile I just mined over to Old Friends. That boosts the city’s yields by 11. The debate is what to do with that last builder charge. In theory I could harvest the cows now but I’d rather wait until Sound grows naturally since getting to Pop 10 will be done with the housing penalty in force. An Alcazar by the Holy Site might be a better option (MOAR CULTURE!). I’ll ponder and decide next turn.

Up the coast at Punky’s I bring the quad down to the coast SW of the city. This quad will upgrade on Turn 93, along with Sound’s chariot (after it embarks ) to follow the main fleet. The builder at the city moves to the spot the quad came from and puts down fishing nets, with a kampung to follow next turn. Up at Boxer I need to decide to chop the jungle into the monument as it’s not enough to get a chariot out by itself. That completes the monument with 3 overflow, grows the city a population and lets me plunk down a +4 adjacency harbor directly west of the city center. It has 39 turns to completion (ouch). I swap a citizen from the grassland hill to the plains hill for an extra production and I’ll mine the grassland hill next turn. While I’m here I move up a quad to check out the neighborhood picket…




Still there. The way the lay of the coast is I’ll be able to move 2 jongs past the picket without Woden knowing, as they can get to the coast adjacent to the stone in the north in one turn from their current position. I can run them by in 2-3 waves and meet up north of Dion.

Out at America the granary has completed and the city no longer has a housing crunch. Last turn I said that I’d build an Alcazar on the plains hill. I still think that it’s a good idea and do so. That now becomes a 122 tile. With the granary complete the city would grow in 12 turns and I could work both Alcazars for the culture. The city sets up to complete its warrior for further pillaging and I’ll get to “could” in a bit.

Southern galley continues heading for Australian borders – I’ll ask Pindicator for open borders when I get there. The other galley at Lisbon sees that the city-state was flush with cash...




and has upgraded all its warriors to swordsmen. I pillage the fishing boats and then leave its territory for the time being.

It’s also time to start working on one of my intermediate plans – settlement of the oceans around America. My first stop will be Barbarian Island. There’s no luxuries up there except sugar and a potential third ring whales, but my amenities situation isn’t critical yet (4/5 cities are happy). If I buy a settler now and set out with the warrior, settler and quad I could disembark at my chosen location in four turns, found on Turn 95, have Magnus active on Turn 100 and be able to chop enough out of the forests and stone for a Harbor, a lighthouse and 2/3 of a monument. The warrior would take out the barbarian camp, the quad could shelter in the city while dealing with the barbarian quad in the area and then return to America with the warrior in tow (or go see if there’s a coastal bridge west towards Grenada).




I buy the settler for 280 and call it a turn. America will regrow to pop 5 in 3 turns and I’ll work both Alcazars then.

[suboptimal]

Turn 91

I’m now on “Woden Watch” while I wait to see if and where he brings his forces to bear. I’ll be ready along the approach to Old Friends, though need to be mindful that he might cross the river and then head west. The forces at Nan Madol are only half of his current milpower (434 as of last turn) and with the Great Generals he’s got he could bring another force around towards Boxer. Unfortunately my current forces there will be upgrading and heading north to attack his rear and I’ll build out more to take their place over the next few turns. I’ll also have two quads along the coast for upgrades to jongs – that would effectively limit his approach to Boxer at one hex wide. Open the save and take a look around…

Mercenaries is in. Clear out the pop-up and get a new message – the Classical Era will end in 10 turns (Turn 100). Interesting. That’s only 40 turns in this age. Look around, no sign of Woden anywhere. Interesting. Start Drama & Poetry – three turns to completion. Change policies:

- Maritime Industries is out, Professional Army is in.
- I take out Raid as I have nothing to raid for the next 4-6 turns. I put in Maneuver.
- I take out Serfdom – I won’t be getting any builders over the next few turns. I put in Caravansaries for the time being.

Over at Old Friends…




One redlined chariot to the city center, the other swaps places with the yellow-lined knight, who then fortifies. Swordsman moves to the NE farm and fortifies. The key approach to watch will be along the tundra in the south. The just-finished chariot at Sound will head north to Boxer via the coastal route while Sound starts another one. I’ll crank a few more out while I get Drama & Poetry and Theology completed. Builder at Sound uses its last charge on an Alcazar.

Up at Boxer the chariots on land cannot embark and upgrade, so they upgrade in place. Chariot at sea also upgrades. The three northern-most quads also upgrade...and I get another 4 era points. Gold on hand is now 500 even at +13 per turn. Builder moves up and mines the hills east of the city center while the one at Punky’s puts down a Kampung. I’ve got one charge left on each builder. The Shrine will complete next turn and I’ll shift tiles around for some population growth while I work on getting the Government Plaza completed. With the upgrades completed and the knights still on land it would be funny if Woden’s troops showed up at Boxer next turn. My forces at Boxer post-upgrade (screenshot taken at EoT, actually):




At America the settler and quadrireme are joined by the new warrior and sail for Barbarian Island. Looks like this will take a while as I thought the MP bonus from Mathematics also applied to embarked units. No matter. Disembarkation will now be on Turn 97. America starts another warrior. The galley at Lisbon heads east to the small island. I’ll park it here while I wait to see if Lisbon will rebuild before war is over. The other galley continues westwards towards Australian territory.

Woden has taken his Amani out of Carthage and put her in Hattusa. He’s left with three in Carthage. I’ll get another envoy in 6 turns when I complete Theology and will put two into their to break his suzerainty and then send Amani over to prevent him from moving her in (my Amani will take over before his Amani and the city-state would declare war on my turn).

Woden’s milpower is up to 466. I’m “at” 431 but the upgrades should push me well north of 500 if not up to 600. Banzailizard has already crossed the 500 threshold and sits at 514.

[suboptimal]

Turn 92

Given the chatter on the tech thread I don’t know how many turns we have left in this game. I’d prefer to continue playing, more as a matter of time invested and to see where this game goes, rather than just stopping. Regardless, I don’t know that anyone is in a situation where they could pull far enough ahead to get a concession anytime soon, if ever. Anyway, on with the turn….

At Old Friends Woden has brought up a hetairoi:




It’s got two adjacent friends and a Great General. I upgrade the three chariots in the area and gird for potential battle next turn. For reference, my milpower after last turn’s upgrades was 611, Woden’s is showing 512. Everyone fortifies and if he continues to close I’ll take the available upgrade on the knight SE of the city center to get it healed a bit faster. The city converts the turn after next. These upgrades drop my income to 6 gold per turn. Need to keep an eye on that.

Up at Boxer I move one of the jongs up to check out the picket. It’s moved to the NE, so I re-pin it. Getting past the picket without Woden seeing my movements is now out of the question. I bring that jong back and put it back into formation with the ram and knight. The knights embark to their escorts and create their formations. The jongs, though, show their full range of movement being available, even after forming up:




Looks like the game is coded to ignore the available MP of units in formation, rather than adding and subtracting as usual when a unit changes movement modes. I move up the first jong to the fish and take a shot at the warrior, redlining it. The second one kills it. The third jong also advances with its escorts in tow. Barring any other interruptions these forces are on their way. After some thought I use the builder’s last charge on another mine. That’ll help with production of the Harbor.

At Punky’s I move the chariot into the city en route to Boxer. The quad goes up the coast. The city starts working on the Government Plaza – 6 turns to completion. I’ll put the governor promotion into Liang and then build the Tier 1 building. At Punky’s there’s no really useful improvement to make with the builder, so I bring the unit onshore and move it towards Old Friends. I’ll put down a mine there next turn unless things go pear-shaped.

Naval forces elsewhere continue on their merry ways, with the galley that pillaged Lisbon staying in position at the small island midway between there and Stockholm.

With Engineering at eureka-1 to completion I start working on Military Engineering.

Over one the other continent the first city has changed hands – Pindicator took Nicodranas.

[suboptimal]

Turn 93

The immediate concern is Old Friends. Is Woden just bringing his forces from Nan Madol over or is he bringing everything he has. If the former I think I’ll be able to hold at Old Friends. If the latter, I don’t know that I’ll be able to because it’d be about 270 milpower against...500 or so with Great Generals in tow. Of course, he’d open himself up to invasion from the other direction.




Huh. He’s holding tight there. Good. The longer he waits the harder things get (and the more my units get to heal). Drama & Poetry completes next turn which would let me slot Bastions instead of Maneuver. The city’s walls will also complete and the city will convert. That delay could wind up hurting him. The only thing I do here is to send the builder up to Boxer – I want to be able to harvest those crabs for extra cash (should be around 291) . His milpower is at 501. Mine has dropped to 583 despite no combats taking place and units healing.

Up at Boxer I begin moving the fleet northwards. There do not appear to be any more Macedonian pickets. I bring my two jongs up the coast, putting one next to Boxer (in case I need to upgrade for defense) and the other one a little up the coast (to keep an eye out for units. I also move the chariot at Punky’s up to the campus and will put it on sentry duty next turn.




Over at America my convoy continues moving northwards towards Barbarian Island. It’s regrown to 5 population and I’m now working both Alcazars. The city will grow in 27 turns. The galley by Australia is closing in on his coastline. I’ll send an Open Borders request next turn and see if I get it.

While I’m over here, with the taking of Nicodranus the city of Port Damali is threatening rebellion and will go to free city status in 9 turns.




It’ll probably remain as a free city for 4-5 turns and then flip to Australia. Oddly, the gossip for Australia says that Nicodranas was the capital but the city banner and the score screen (and prior screenshots) clearly don’t reflect that.

In other international news Stockholm has rebuilt its Campus and Library. Without Raid they’d each be pillaged for 110. With Raid I’d be able to fully pillage-research Cartography once I get a second Harbor completed. That’ll probably happen at Barbarian Island as there’s enough harvestables there to complete a Harbor + Lighthouse. Something I might need to consider for policies when Drama & Poetry completes.

In thinking about my going around the continent the problem will be Woden’s suzerainty of Hattusa. If any of the city-state’s units are along the coast I’ll have to avoid them or kill them on my way by. I also see that he’s put a unit in Dion as its defense value is now 36. That’ll take 3 turns of shelling with a jong to wear down the city defenses. However, he’s not putting walls in and if I’m fortunate he’s building a builder to chop in that Commercial Hub and a Market so won’t have choppables for walls.

[Cornflakes]

Your military power went down because of the Knights you embarked last turn. Embarked units only count for their embarked strength not full strength

[suboptimal]

Turn 94

Drama & Poetry completes, start Theology, 2 turns to completion due to overflow. Take a look around, Old Friends is status quo, though the walls are complete. Woden has fortified his unit so he’s not even scouting. Lisbon has made peace with Scotland as Alhazard has moved Amani elsewhere (a city-state I haven’t found yet, in all likelihood). Likewise, Hattusa is now at war with me as Woden’s Amani has taken effect. Going up the coast around Hattusa will be challenging, though I can always kill off a unit if I need to. I could always put my two envoys into Hattusa rather than Carthage, though Carthage is the more strategic holding to get.

I also see that Woden’s income has now gone negative, though his milpower has one up to 545 (mine’s at 605 now). That last upgrade he did has put his cash flow negative but he’s got time (and Commercial Hubs under construction). He’s also got a builder out at Dion as the forest SE of the city center has gone missing...I expect the other forest and possibly the stone to likewise disappear shortly.

Send the first jong up the coast...find no city-state units. I send the other two up the coast and cross my fingers:




Next turn will tell if I can get by undetected or not. Hattusa’s also beefed up on defense – garrison strength of 47.

At Boxer I run the quad east to check for any new pickets and find none. I move the builder up to the crabs for future considerations and the chariot moves to the mine NE of the city center. At Sound the chariot has completed and I start moving it north. I also start another chariot. That’ll complete the same time as Theology

At sea the ships continue their intended courses. I send Pindicator an open borders request as my galley is now at his borders. He’s also not waiting for Port Damali to flip as he’s taken the city garrison down to 55/200. Unless he’s weakening the city now for taking when it’s free I think he’s making a tactical mistake there. If he waits he should get the city free and clear of any occupation penalty.

Regarding policy decisions, part of the consideration with policies will be the state of Lisbon – I’ve got four turns until I can make peace and after Theology I’ve got 6-13 turns until I complete another civic (depending on Recorded History and Divine Right, plus the inspiration for the latter). The other part is that I’ll need Serfdom in for when I settle Barbarian Island. For the time being I take out Professional Army, move Maneuver up to the military slot and put in Urban Planning for a little extra production.

The last thing to do is get Old Friends started on its next construction project. Time to finish that Encampment – 9 turns to completion.

[suboptimal]

Turn 95

The two immediate concerns are the situation east of Old Friends and the position of any city-state forces at Hattusa:




Not a problem at Old Friends. Problem up at Boxer. There are at least three units there – the coastal hetairoi has only one supporting unit but the inland one has two. The crabs can be harvested for 270. That gets me to 530. Enough for one jong and one knight now or two jongs and a knight later. I embark the slinger, withdraw the chariot into the city and upgrade it to a knight. I also bring a knight around from Old Friends, though that will be another turn or two. Chariot en route to Old Friends continues in that direction. The good news is that Theology will be in next turn so I can slot Bastions and Professional Army and upgrade the two jongs. The bad news is that my jong fleet is three turns from getting back to assist. It’s too late and probably something I should have done earlier, but I switch Boxer (8 turns) and Punky’s (6 turns) to walls. This is going to go pear-shaped. If I could come up with 350 I could buy a jong. I do hold off the crab harvest until next turn.

Of course, if his army is split on my fronts there shouldn't be much in his back lines....

Up at Hattusa there is no sign of city-state units. Given the distance and position I continue pressing onwards. The fleet is actually closer to Dion than to Boxer at this point in time. I pass a Macedonian warrior (but have no line of sight once movement is complete) and kill a Hattusan swordsman.

Out at America one warrior is complete and I start another. My settling fleet is two turns from disembarking. Pindicator has graciously allowed me passage through his territory and the galley begins making way for Macedonia.

On tap for next turn – hang on for dear life at Boxer, kick Woden out of Carthage and continue for Dion, where I can start the attack the turn after next.