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Kindly Indulge me in my little tale, there is a question at the end of it all 
(and the impatient can skip ahead)
Alright. My current game on Noble, perhaps my last game on Noble.
I'm in the lead, far enough ahead to be fairly sure that I'm going to win, but not far enough ahead to be totally comfortable.
It's between me and Isabella - I've been picking off the smaller Civs while keeping the #3 Civ, the Romans, happy (Caesar goes to the same temple as me
). But fear not, Isabella has been getting the attention she deserves. I've been extorting a few hundred coins from her every 20 turns or so, and generally making an effort to thwart her in her wicked doings.
For example: There's a little 5-square island about 20 tiles east of my mainland, and 15 tiles further east is Isabella's nearest colony. It's an undistinguished little rock, except for having some uranium on it. The rest of the island is desert save for one grass tile. And several turns ago, I dropped a little city on it, with the intention of keeping the evil little creep away from the uranium. I don't think she can be trusted with it.
So, fine already. This little city is a drain on my finances, but it keeps the uranium in responsible hands. And moreover, it serves as a sort of early warning system against Spanish tomfoolery. I parked a Frigate - one of my older vessels, I have a few Ironclads and Destroyers in commission - nearby to provide some additional scouting capability.
Well, sure enough, a few turns after I founded the city, a Spanish nautical stack appeared a few tiles away from my outpost. I clicked on it, and the unit list scrolled off the screen - 4 Frigates, at least 5 Galleons and a bunch of Riflemen, Cannons, and Cavalry. I've got Infantry, Redcoats, Cavalry and Artillery, so I'm not worried about losing the game right here. But still, that stack could cause some mayhem on my home island.
I debated on whether I should declare war, but my scouting Frigate couldn't do much anyway. So, I withdrew it and brought up 2 Destroyers from my home waters. I figured that if worst came to worst, the Destroyers could each take out a Frigate, two turns running, and then my remaining ships (2 Frigates, an Ironclad and some Transports) would make short work of the rest of the Spanish Fleet.
Not at all surprisingly, Isabella declared war on me the next turn - and landed her entire force on my little 5-tile uranium outpost. The battle against my 2 defenders there was a foregone conclusion, of course, but while the Spanish army was busy razing my outpost, my 2 Destroyers and 2 Frigates sank all 4 Spanish Frigates and 5 of the Galleons (which might have been all of them).
So, to this point, I've lost a marginally useful city and 2 units, but have sunk 9 ships (and caused some mayhem elsewhere
). Moreover... the Spanish army is stranded! I parked both Destroyers on either side of the island to keep an eye on the now-impotent, 15-unit stack.
Pretty clever, huh... well... 3 turns later, the stack VANISHED. All of it. With no sign of any vessels coming by to pick it up - and I think I would have noticed 5 Galleons coming by.
So my question is, what happened to that stack? I can't imagine that Isabella disbanded it. Was there some kind of cheat involved? Any guesses? Has anyone seen anything similar happen?
(and the impatient can skip ahead)Alright. My current game on Noble, perhaps my last game on Noble.
I'm in the lead, far enough ahead to be fairly sure that I'm going to win, but not far enough ahead to be totally comfortable.
It's between me and Isabella - I've been picking off the smaller Civs while keeping the #3 Civ, the Romans, happy (Caesar goes to the same temple as me
). But fear not, Isabella has been getting the attention she deserves. I've been extorting a few hundred coins from her every 20 turns or so, and generally making an effort to thwart her in her wicked doings.For example: There's a little 5-square island about 20 tiles east of my mainland, and 15 tiles further east is Isabella's nearest colony. It's an undistinguished little rock, except for having some uranium on it. The rest of the island is desert save for one grass tile. And several turns ago, I dropped a little city on it, with the intention of keeping the evil little creep away from the uranium. I don't think she can be trusted with it.
So, fine already. This little city is a drain on my finances, but it keeps the uranium in responsible hands. And moreover, it serves as a sort of early warning system against Spanish tomfoolery. I parked a Frigate - one of my older vessels, I have a few Ironclads and Destroyers in commission - nearby to provide some additional scouting capability.
Well, sure enough, a few turns after I founded the city, a Spanish nautical stack appeared a few tiles away from my outpost. I clicked on it, and the unit list scrolled off the screen - 4 Frigates, at least 5 Galleons and a bunch of Riflemen, Cannons, and Cavalry. I've got Infantry, Redcoats, Cavalry and Artillery, so I'm not worried about losing the game right here. But still, that stack could cause some mayhem on my home island.
I debated on whether I should declare war, but my scouting Frigate couldn't do much anyway. So, I withdrew it and brought up 2 Destroyers from my home waters. I figured that if worst came to worst, the Destroyers could each take out a Frigate, two turns running, and then my remaining ships (2 Frigates, an Ironclad and some Transports) would make short work of the rest of the Spanish Fleet.
Not at all surprisingly, Isabella declared war on me the next turn - and landed her entire force on my little 5-tile uranium outpost. The battle against my 2 defenders there was a foregone conclusion, of course, but while the Spanish army was busy razing my outpost, my 2 Destroyers and 2 Frigates sank all 4 Spanish Frigates and 5 of the Galleons (which might have been all of them).
So, to this point, I've lost a marginally useful city and 2 units, but have sunk 9 ships (and caused some mayhem elsewhere
). Moreover... the Spanish army is stranded! I parked both Destroyers on either side of the island to keep an eye on the now-impotent, 15-unit stack. Pretty clever, huh... well... 3 turns later, the stack VANISHED. All of it. With no sign of any vessels coming by to pick it up - and I think I would have noticed 5 Galleons coming by.
So my question is, what happened to that stack? I can't imagine that Isabella disbanded it. Was there some kind of cheat involved? Any guesses? Has anyone seen anything similar happen?
, 
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