Chevalier Rides Again: A City Lights exploration

[williams482]

I suspect the problem with damming Minas Morgul's river isn't a lack of flood plains, but a lack of flood plains with two adjacent river segments. The tile containing the aqueduct could have supported a dam if the the aqueduct wasn't there, but it is there and you can't remove it so sucks to be you. Same problem Woden was having with his core industrial cities in PBEM18.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Yeah, I'm still learning things about this game. I didn't quite grasp which tiles could and could not hold a dam until I looked up a few weeks ago why I couldn't build a dam next to the industrial zone at this very city. In retrospect, the aqueduct could have gone on that still-unimproved woods tile to the west and the dam on the aqueduct tile, but at the time I was hoping to get beaucoup adjacency for the IZ.

Oh, well, keeps me on my toes.

Another thing I finally learned this month was the exact difference between coal, oil, and nuclear power plants as I was debating ways to solve my energy crisis! :D

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Randoms 225: Operation Olympic Begins

To quote Woden, "start the turn with..."



Economics is on the road to Chemistry, which hides behind Replaceable Parts and Sanitation. Chemistry lets me build Research Labs, the ultimate science building, and I think the next real power spike available to me. 

Anyway, what news over the interturn? Well...


Our alliance level with Norway increased, granting us a level 2 Military Alliance - that comes with shared vision, in addition to the combat bonus against shared enemies. We see that Norway is still besieged by that Samurai army which has been raiding his lands, and that he's assembled a small fleet of caravels and quadriremes (not pictured). In fact, Norway now has more power than Japan does. 

In negative news...



Japan pillaged the Oslo canal, preventing any ship transport until it is repaired - which the destroyed, blasted city cannot do in any respectable timeframe. I'll give Japan this credit - he learns quickly. Sending an ironclad to clean out my caravels, then counter-pillaging and burning the bridge behind him as he withdrew was an inspired move. Oslo is completely useless now and I can't counterattack from that direction for the remainder of the war, effectively. Seriously, look at these repair times:



14 turns to get the Shipyard and its 4 production back online, 20 turns for the Industrial Zone, 40+ for the Canal...obviously those times will fall as I repair the production facilities, but as it is the city is effectively out of the war and the game (no worries, that, since it's going back to Norway in less than 20 turns!). In fact, I could probably gift it back to Norway now since there's no danger of attack via canal...eh. I'll wait and decide still.

Anyway, Japan is a formidable opponent and I am seriously lucky to have done as well as I have. Had he paid more attention to the Venetian Arsenal, or been a bit quicker to conquer Norway after I took England, well, this would be a different game - one I'd likely be losing.

But it's not, and Japan is out of time. He has finished no new ships, and I move into the Arctic Ocean this turn. Operation Olympic, the decisive assault against the remaining Japanese Empire, begins, as Escort 3 leads the way into the ocean:



No opposition yet, but Japan could come at me with ironclads and privateers next turn. It seems safe enough to move up Bombardment 1, though I made a mistake in my movement and left a small gap, leaving a BB a bit vulnerable:




Oops. Japan may punish me for it, or he may not. We'll see next turn. I move up the rest of the fleet and am poised to move towards Takamatsu on 226.



2 ironclad fleets are visible and we know he has 1 privateer armada available, possibly a second one up from Oslo as well. I can handle that with my forces on hand, no problem. 

Core area builds are almost completely economic now:



Island areas also are getting their long-delayed basic infrastructure in place:



The Industrial Zone in particular is an important snowball piece, as the factory will cover all these outlying areas, and I'll build an Oil plant to tag them with a further +3 production. Then campuses and entertainment districts, before going back to ships for the endgame most likely.

With battle likely breaking out next turn, here's one of my last city overviews. Minas Morgul, the economic heart of the empire:





The Black Gate was hand-built, Umbar was a pantheon, and finally Minas Morgul was a gold-purchased settler to let me hit 6 cities before anyone else was even at 3 cities. Morgul has an excellent campus, harbor, and industrial zone, making it a strong production engine. The constant flooding is a downside as I have to repair the IZ every so often, but that's not a major problem. It produced more ships than any city save Osgiliath for the war, including a majority of our battleships. It's also the main port of embarkation for the settlement of the islands, facing as it does the northern seas. It was severely damaged by barbarians in the early '60s, and back at the start of the war there was a small Japanese raid here, but otherwise it's a fairly nice place to live.

Plans here are to build out the campus buildings (interrupted by flooding) and the entertainment district, as well as replacing the coal plant with an oil plant when time allows, since I learned oil plants share their production bonus but coal plants don't.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Randoms, 226: The Battle of the Arctic

Japan opens the ball as we move into the Arctic, striking one of my exploring privateers with two armadas of his own:



He also uses his Great Admiral as a scout, again, and finds the fleet coming down on his head, but opts not to move either ironclad fleet, which both remain in place. 

Well, I have 6 privateers and 5 battleship armadas that can fire this turn. We reply to Japan with a fairly hefty fusillade of our own:


Privateers do nearly as much damage to the armadas as they receive when Japan fires, and cost only 1/3 as much (1/6 with the Venetian Arsenal)...Find the position of the second armada.


Fun fact: between this oft-seen achievement and my Dark Age dedication, which grants era score for sinking ships, I've overshot the mark for a golden age next era by 20+ points already.

With the two armadas sunk, we focus our battleships on the more dangerous double-promoted ironclad fleet that's still holding position near Stavanger.


He has Reinforced Hull, which makes him pretty tough to bring down, but I have six armadas shooting.


And down he goes, with 1 BB to spare.

A few surviving exploring privateers spot his final armada exiting the Nidaros canal and take a potshot:


Any shots at the privateer is a shot not at one of my more valuable battleships. Since those battleships are exposed already and can't be fully covered, I use the last one for a potshot at the ironclad fleet in Kyoto, leaving us with this final setup:



a damaged privateer armada and damaged ironclad fleet, against, well, a lot more than that. 227 should see us finish off his navy and begin the siege of Takamatsu.

[Erasmas]

I see Oslo has the Mausoleum. Is there a Great Engineers coming up?

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

I see Oslo has the Mausoleum. Is there a Great Engineers coming up?

Well, somehow we all got stuck on having passed a great engineer for AGES (I don't remember ever having done this), so we were all waiting for Indonesia to finish an industrial zone and save up enough points. He just recruited it last turn and I rolled James Watt when my turn came around.

James Watt can insta-build a factory and grants all factories +2 production, a nice improvement from +3 to +5 hammers to all cities within 6 tiles (9 for me, since I am suzerain of Mexico City). He's gone to Moria and will pop the factory and workshop as soon as they finish the district there in roughly 10 turns.

[Erasmas]

You are aware that the Mausoleum gives you another Engineer charge right? So two free workshop / factories and +4 to all factories. You may delay giving back Oslo for that...
Edit: And reading your comment, you misunderstand the guy. The +2 (+4) bonus does not spread to nearby cities but it does count for all factories in your empire.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Yes, I know about the Mausoleum's ability. Sadly I don't have another IZ planned anywhere, so can't double-dip on the free workshop/factory, so probably I'll just fire him twice for the +4. I haven't settled on that yet - Durthang and Nurn, I believe, have no IZ covering them - so I might save his second activation for that. I think as long as I hold Oslo when I recruited him I should get both charges, but I'm not certain.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Randoms 227: The Siege of Takamatsu Begins

I brace myself for Japan's counterstroke as I open the turn, but it looks like the fight may have gone out of him. Japan turtles up instead, not striking out at the Grand Fleet as it bears down on him. Probably the right choice, but I am grateful, and he leaves a few openings. 



No units even attacked on the interturn. Spies in Kyoto report that an enemy battleship, the first of its kind, has dropped anchor in Kyoto harbor, while the enemy ironclad fleets guarding the city have pulled back into the inner harbor. The ironclad certainly boosts the city defenses more, but the battleship would have been able to fire out of Kyoto from safety, so I might have swapped those two. Otherwise the fleet is intact, so I can go ahead and establish my planned blockade of the Arctic and begin the reduction of Japan's cities at last.

Here's the Great Engineer fiasco:


The last Great Engineer taken before the current wave was James of St. George, taken by Japan for his ability to instantly build medieval walls around several cities (probably where Tokyo and Nagoya got their defenses!). That was back in the medieval era, then there's a long gap before Indonesia claimed Mimar Sinan last turn. Sinan allows culture bombs when completing an industrial zone, so I must have bypassed him sometime in the long interregnum in reporting from May to September, as he was useless to me. But Japan and Phoenicia bypassed him, too, so Engineers were soft-locked until Indonesia finally scraped enough points last turn. That unleashed hte floodgates - Japan had enough points for two Engineers in one turn, I guess? He claimed Eifel for Wonder construction (he won't get the chance) and Ada Lovelace, who inspires computers and enables him to build more districts - again, he won't get the chance. I wouldn't have minded Eifel to speed along the Colosseum or something, but ultimately it doesn't matter much as amenities are unsolvable until the war ends, anyway. Maybe 20 turns left on that?

Speaking of.

I move one of my armadas, that led by the IGS Devastation, into range of the Japanese battleship, and holy shit look at the combat differential in an otherwise "fair" fight:


104 vs 75. Japan is boosted by his civ ability, the Great Admiral, AND his Defender of the Faith religious belief, and it's only all three of those combined that prevent Devastation from one-shotting his brand new battleship. It's as good as, anyway. I have my own Great Admiral (negating his Admiral), I have a military alliance (+5, negating his DotF), I am Sparta with 4 military policies (+4, nearly negating Japan's bonus), and then I have Rajendra Chola, the Armada, and other bonuses. The promotions on the BB are for city bombardment, by the way, not fleet combat - my BBs are for city-cracking, not for ship to ship action. They do fine, anyway. Devastation, er, devastates the enemy battleship and a privateer sails up to the flaming wreck and pounds in a few final shells to send her to the bottom:



Oof. That's 430 production that never even fired its guns in combat. 

The enemy privateer fleet has vanished, probably into Stavanger, and there's no other enemy ships at sea, so we begin to pour into Takamatsu and open our naval siege of the city.



My lead armada, Task Force Tokyo (yes, the fleet that razed that famous old city) places the city under close blockade. An enemy ironclad armada is lurking inside, but won't be able to move past TF Tokyo to hit the battleships besieging the city. Two BBs are in range to begin shelling, and I move up as many privateers as possible to begin pillaging out the shoreline around Takamatsu Bay. Escort 1 will do most of the in-shore pillaging, Escort 2 is outside the Bay (and will reinforce 1 as casualties are suffered). Escort 5 is formed near Gundabad and sails for the warzone - its role will be to replace casualties in the other 3 squadrons as needed, forming a strategic reserve. 

Escort 3, joined by 2 scouting privateers, forms the blockade south of Kyoto, preventing any reinforcements from Norway joining the fight for the Japanese capital. It will also pillage the shoreline here. Final setup sees our fleets hugging the Japanese coast entirely:



Japan could kill 3 privateers on his turn (1 with city strikes near Kyoto - he is certainly doomed) but getting all 3 would require sacrificing his two remaining combat units, which I will gladly take (a privateer apiece for an ironclad fleet and an ironclad armada is a great trade for me!). He may also be able to damage one of my battleships, but since the coal crisis is over that's not such a big deal. I can't even fire on Takamatsu with all my BBs yet anyway.

At home we finish 2 more DDs (and 4 more privateers, lol) to join up with Battle 2, which is sailing through the Gundabad Channel now for hte battle zone. That gives Battle 2 six ships - 2 single DDs and 4 caravel fleets. Not sure if I'll join the DDs to make fleets or armadas yet. I need 5 more to fully finish a roster of 6 DD armadas, which is probably overkill against my remaining enemies. Anyway.

After those military builds, everyone is on civilian infrastructure - universities, workers, industrial zones, etc. I have placed several entertainment hubs but amenities are on hold until the war ends and I can get a look at my empire without war weariness. 

Sure enough, I did indeed teleport Watt to Moria, where in 13 turns he'll pop the factory here:


Next to him you can also see a builder repairing my pillaged niter mine - the only source of Niter in the empire! I am building a line infantry to replace my lost soldier at Takamatsu (he died defending the coal mine - long enough for us to take Tokyo and Nagoya so I consider his sacrifice worthwhile), and I need to upgrade 2 warriors to line infantry to eureka Replaceable Parts, which I'm researching at the moment. All that will take 60 niter total. I had 45, which dropped ot 25 after ordering the infantry, so I need 15 niter or about 5 turns' of production from this mine (and a lot of gold, but Takamatsu will answer for that.  ). 

Next turn should see mass pillaging and shelling of Takamatsu, we'll see if Japan makes a fight of it.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Turn 228: Japanese Counters

Since being refused his attempt to concede the game, the Japanese player really has been very creative in his efforts to fight back against the reckless hate of my orc hordes. This turn, he pulled three very clever moves that won't make a bit of difference but they're tricks I hadn't thought of.



All three moves are visible either on the map or in the notifications at right, to the eagle eyed. We'll get to them in turn. First, only one privateer died - that means he did the wiser thing of keeping his ironclads in their cities, safe from annihilation by my battleships. He did attempt an attack on the blockading TF Tokyo, which didn't go well for his armada:



He's redline (the city is, too, since this was my end of turn map survey that I spotted this). 

That's the advantage of being an entire tech level ahead, over-promoted, AND supported by a great admiral. 

Two of Japan's moves are visible, again. First, note that he finished an Encampment at Takamatsu! It's on the north shore, near the Great Barrier Reef. I checked, and it was only placed on 226, probably the same turn he finished the ironclad armada as I was moving into the Arctic. So he was able to 2-turn this district using Japan's abilities and his still-absurdly threatening production.  Then, he used the adjacency of the Encampment and his Great Engineer to 1-turn slingshot the Terracotta Army:


That wonder nabs every single surviving unit in his empire a free promotion - that would have been very bad 28 turns ago. Now, though, only the two ironclads and a privateer, to my knowledge, benefit from it. The Encampment is clever, though, as it denies two of the three safe spaces to my battleships for bombarding Takamatsu. So, I shrugged and moved everything I could into range - if you have one unit in range, you may as well have them all, since he's only got the one shot. 

The siege of Takamatsu proceeds. 


Privateers swarm the coasts, their raiding parties hitting the beach, carrying off anything valuable within a day's ride from the shore, and putting everything else to the torch, while TF Tokyo does the same in Takamatsu's civilian harbor. I net over 1300 gold and 150 faith in one turns' looting. Then IGS Thunderer followed by Eruption and Inferno move in to bombard the city. By the time the dust clears, smoke billows into the sky from all around Takamatsu Bay, and the city is a flaming wreck, certain to fall next turn if I but stretch out my hand.



The Siege of Takamatsu, 228.

Knowing it will cost me privateer casualties, but accepting that he can't get all the little bastards, I also send in Escort 2 to Kyoto, determined to put the IZ and the Campus to the torch as much as I can for the science. Kyoto is closely beleagured as well, and under preliminary bombardment (nothing serious yet), and can provide no help to Takamatsu. The death throes of Japan are upon us!



And a view of Kyoto in Screenshot Mode. Civ VI really is a gorgeous game:



Anyway, I expect to lose anywhere from 2-4 privateers next turn, but I have 7 in reserve already and 2 more completing next turn, so I can lose 9 before I have to train more. I'm halting all ship production and swapping to full economic mode at home, need to catch up with Phoenicia. 

The only other war news is that 2 brave privateers who have been supporting our Norwegian allies finally succeed in bringing down that marauding Samurai army on New Norway:





That army had 4 promotions and was probably composed of the original Samurai units that conquered Norway's homeland 100 turns ago, so a nice bit of vengeance for our ally there. He's dispatched his own squadron, 4 caravels and a quadrireme, to raid the southwestern Japanese coast. 

Domestically, I forgot to do my overview of Osgiliath last turn, and Henneth Annun this turn, so here you go:


Osgiliath was probably the most consequential city in the game. Originally London, England's capital, she sits exactly 3 tiles from Barad-Dur itself! On the same landmass, even. She completely controls the entrance to the channel from Barad-Dur to the open sea, as well as dominating the central plains of the island we share with Indonesia in the far east. So, my gameplan was dictated for me early on - England had to die, or I would. When England lost its only units to barbs and failed to build more, while I kicked out 2 galleys apiece from Barad-Dur and the Black Gate, well, it was an easy execution. 

Osgiliath is a fantastic city, with a 6-adjacency IZ the heart of my industry. A 6-adjacency harbor and 3-adjacency campus complete the set. She is fully built out industrially and can crank out anything we need, but Japan's last move was using his spy to successfully sabotage my Industrial Zone. I've made one offensive spy move, a neutralization of Magnus jsut before the battle of Nagoya, and my spy was captured, damn the luck. So I only have 2, and both are busy spotting in Japan rather than playing defense. Another 15 turns and this won't matter, so I'm ignoring the pest for now. We'll repair our IZ, finish the campus build, and then build whatever we want. 



Henneth Annun was formerly Newcastle, the only city England managed to settle before its execution by the forces of Mordor. It has suffered all game from low production and low food, but is finally rounding into maturity. I've mostly used it as a shipbuilding center, but it has a good Commercial hub as well, built for the Eurekas. It needs to finish its campus buildings and then I think I have a water park intended. Also need a builder for its offshore oil rigs. 

Questions/comments? Do y'all like the icon-less screenshots, or are they confusing?