The (Second) MGE Sailing Succession game

[-Jrabbit]

We should probably PM either/both Ben and STYOM or this game will languish.

OnS?

[Old n Slow]

Agreed -- give no more than a couple of days (allowing Stu to get caught up with anything else going on.)

[Scouse Gits]

Damn - forgot about this one - am quite busy at the moment so will get to it asap - probably Thursday :dreamer: - if anyone can get their turn in before then - please do so.

Stu

[Scouse Gits]

I'm on it!

Stu

[Scouse Gits]

Not a lot ...

Second Sailing 5-10 turns

1904 - A happyish Fundamentalist, Moderate in strength and Poor by reputation. Smallish warchest, many white goods slow burning, Yech! Robotics imminent . We have a lot to do. My predecessors have neglected MarketPlaces - this must be corrected. Readjustments in our Eastern Province include placing a defender in Cyclops. In our home islands: rush Circe's & The Institute's Banks to Palaces - only two turns left; employ 2 Elvi in Scylla to get celebration; Charybdian Offshore Platform is still a bridge too far - need money! Troy preps for vet Howie in 1906. Now to the West ... The proposed OP in Cimmeria would boost the city's maximum production by all of 1 shield! Perhaps a Bank would be more prudent - change and rush to Palace; 3 Elvi in Argo stimulate celebration; Re-arrange workers in Siren Call to give 10 production; Decide to allow Aristotle to grow to 8 before encouraging celebration; Wow - we have a submarine!5 Elvi in Ulundi trigger celebration; We're building an Aqueduct in Hlobane! a size 13 non-celebrating city - switch instantly to MP & rush; Sell Factory in Zimbabwe; Sell Sewer System in Mpondo and decide that a front-line Freight is not as good an idea as another embryonic Howie; The Carthaginians are under the walls of Intombe in force - and we are building an Aqueduct! We change to Walls and rush; Sell library to partially recoup; Our Cruiser bombards Naples and kills an Alpine; The Battle of Intombe starts, Armour from Ulundi destroys Carthaginian Artillery, a Spy dies sabotaging a Tank Regiment and our Armour avenges her death bloodily; two more spies severely deplete the Carthaginian Marines; It seems our reinforcments are stuck out at sea in the Straits of Polly Famous - ; A second Ulundi Tank regiment destroys one of these weakened Marines and a sally from Mpondo takes out the second; Discover that the Carts have Robotics - why did we not nick this! Spy sabotages second Cart Artillery which is then destroyed by Intombe Armour - there is no more Cart influence arround Intombe. Appoint Ein, set sliders to 7.3.0, press Enter ...

1905 = Spanish land on our Eastern Province; Zulus waste units against defences; Carts position for Second Battle of Intombe. Population of Naples flees on Transport. Robotics->Advanced Flight; Celebrations in Argo, Scylla & Ulundi; City Walls in Intombe; Market Place in Hlobane; All bar one Elvi fired. Naples(3) with port facility intact taken without a shot fired, 67g; Hides, Argo-Ulundi, 104g; Hides, Athens-Ulundi, 156g x2; Hides, Archimedes-Ulundi, 110g; Spy destroys Cunaxa's Colosseum as the city is already in revolt this may bring down the Zulu government;
1906 = More than a dozen Chinese Destroyers are now standing off our shores!!! Harbour in Near the End; Barracks in Cunaxa; Plato celebrates; Bank in Cimmeria, Circe & The Institute; Temple in Scilla; Offshore in Charybdis; Carthaginian all-out assault on Mpondo reduces the defence to one Spy! MP in Ulundi; Ngome still in revolt, but no fall of Zulu Democracy! ; Issus falls 48g plunder; Uranium(d), Mizzen-Troy, 264g; Salt, Argo-Ulundi, 107g; Spice, Siren Call-Ulundi, 87g; Several Cart units destroyed North of Intombe - but many more are coming!
1907 = Zulu navy sink two empty Transports - disrupt ship chain; MarketPlace in Galen, Archimedes, Poliphemus; Peace with Carthage - for now; Bapedi, 235g; The first victim of the Howie Powie.
1908 = At last - Zulu & Carts declare war! ... but RL interferes.

Sorry could not play more ...

[Scouse Gits]

My apologies, guys - SWMBO summoned me to attend a performance of Oliver in which Fagin was played by her 9 year old godson - yech ! How does the human race propogate itself?

Unlogged events include:
Carts & Zulus making peace again; we accept 500 gold & a tech (Laser) from the Chinese to 'smite the evil Carts' our navy positions to revenge the ship chain which is nearly re-established - we are short of materiel in zululand - but heavy on cash - even after building SuperHighways on the home islands - recommend more of these - the Chinese have a substantial tech lead and might easily win a space race - if we get the Howies rolling we should be able to finish off the Zulu and move on to Cartia, but watch the Chinese ... go get 'em guys

[-Jrabbit]

Originally posted by Scouse Gits
SWMBO summoned me to attend a performance of Oliver in which Fagin was played by her 9 year old godson - yech ! How does the human race propogate itself?

Obviously, through men currying the favor of their mates by attending events like this.

(My daughter's in a play this Sunday. Guess where I'll be...)

[duke o' york]

At the thirteenth tee, trailing rah by three shots with six to play?

[-Jrabbit]

I wish!

(If only I were that close to Rah! He's at least a dozen strokes better than me... I'm improving, but can't close the gap.)

[Scouse Gits]

I note that you don't deny the venue - just the score

[Bloody Monk]

Stu,

You have previously mentioned not having much experience with alliances. When the alliance is ended, both parties have their units sent back to the closest city of their color. If the human ends the alliance a reputation hit occurs. This can be avoided by nagging them for a gift until they have had enough. Let them end the alliance, if that matters.

Before you do this, build a city on their continent and send your attack force to a place closer to the new city than to your older cities. The game will do the rest. A bit of prep work before hand, such as defense in depth around the city to prevent a sneak before you are ready, is a good idea. If you end the alliance at the beginning of your turn, and you can take another reputation hit, you can attack them that turn.

The other side of this coin must be avoided. DO NOT let the ally build a city close to your cities.

This is one possible plan for taking care of the Chinese, when that time comes. If all of this is obvious, please disregard.

Monk

[-Jrabbit]

Originally posted by Scouse Gits
I note that you don't deny the venue - just the score

Again, I wish! But nay, I will be faithfully watching my little princess preform for her adoring public.

[-Jrabbit]

OK, I've lost 2 lengthy log posts with this stupid computer (accidental hotkey touches). So I'm going offline now, but wanted to let you know that it's 1916 and things are OK.

Zulus dead, Carths next. (French are dead too, but the Mongols did that.) Our air force is doing the heavy lifting.

More later. Gotta free up the phone line for now... (sigh)

More later.

[-Jrabbit]

-Jrabbit Log 1908-16 -- 3rd attempt

Wow. These big maps get unwieldy in late-game action. Let's see...

We're a Fundy of 34 cities, generating 863gp/turn under a 70-0-30 regimen. There's 2,520 in the treasury. We're studying Adv Flight (yum!).

We have a lovely group of transports arranged in a suggestive linear pattern. We have a dozen engineers and 10 freights. But our armed forces seem scattered and weak.

Offensive: 4 howitzers, 7 armors, and 2 cavalry, plus 10 spies.
Defensive: 5 jeeps, 2 marines, 21 alpines, 3 rifles, and 2 partisans.
Navy: 2 cruisers and a battleship.
"Air force": Well, we do have a Fighter.

Our forces have been depleted and disorganized in the wake of the spirited battle with the evil Zulu/Carth axis. I'm very concerned about the stacks of (allies) Chinese vessels outside our east coast, and the near-total lack of defense in our home islands and distant Athens Island. It's time to re-trench our defenses and re-arm the frontier fighting troops.

Our opponents present a wide spectrum of development. The French have one city, the Spanish (2 rifles) have 9, the Zulus 4, the Carthaginians 37 (!!) and the Mongols (6 rifles) have 55 -- of which we can see only 2!!! (I've never seen even one AI with over 35 cities before...)

Goals: take out the last 4 Zulu cities, map and attack as possible against the Carths, maintain alliance with Chinese, and hope to escape the wrath of the Mongols until we're ready for them.

Ending 1908, we take time to spend a pile of money (794 left), take out some Zulu-Carth units that pose an immediate threat, and experimentally screw up the ship chain a bit. Then press ENTER...

1909
--Chinese flex their naval muscles, showing about a dozen ships on our shores.
--New builds include 2 engineers, 2 banks, a market, and a superhwy.
--WLTxD in 2 more cities. Pollution at Circe.
--Kill a Zulu tank and partisan, plus a Cart howie.
--Deliveries/demanded: silk, Styx Crossing to Cyclops, 308. Dye, Athens to Bapedi, 242.
--Non-demanded: gems, salt, gold to Cyclops, Cyclops, and Ulundi for 394 total.

1910
--Zulus new govt, French go Republic.
--Chinese develop Rocketry. Their navy undergoes a split, with about half the units taking up position outside Near The End.
--Mongols take Paris, destroy French civ. (Hey, that's our job!! )
--2-ea. barracks, coastal fort. One-ea. harbor, market, bank, stock exchange.
--Our battleship empties Amatikulu. Transport delivers our troops, who waltz in and plunder 144gp.
--We read the rules, which state: "No city bribe before Robotics is discovered."
--We check our tech list for Robotics.
--Zunguin revolts at cost of 448, 116 of which is cheerfully refunded.
--Key city of Ngome (12) is pricey but worth it (1072 - 140). We destroy some nearby Carth offensive units, move in a bunch of offensive Sailing Sivver units, and say a little anti-bribe prayer.
--Zulus demand a chat. Reluctantly we accept their offer of 300gp for a cease-fire. (What the heck, our reputation is Poor anyway.)

1911
--Zulus now Fundy, too little too late!
--Tonnage of Carth tanks attack, killing about 5 units. They lose 8 units.
--Another barracks and coastal fortress come online.
--Ibabanago revolts at a cost of 742 - 60; Zulu civ (and all their icky Partisans) destroyed.
--This causes an International Incident. Our reputation becomes Atrocious and the holier-than-thou Spanish declare WAR!
--Encroaching Spanish cannon and settler killed outside Athens.
--Gems (d) to Zulugate 354. Hides and oil to Cyclops, 112 + 155.
--Our air force begins northern flyovers, mapping Swazi, a huge lineup of Carth tanks and howies, and an impassable mountain range that explains why all troop movements seem to happen in the Ngome Corridor.

1912
--Spanish learn Flight, Mongols and Chinese learn Combined Arms, Carths learn electronics.
--Carths capture Mongols city of Lisbon, take Advanced Flight. They also bribe Rouen.
--Two more barracks, a CF and a bank completed.
--Issus spotted by our spyplane.
--Spy steals Advanced Flight from Carths.

1913
--Carths get Combined Arms from Mongols, and we promptly steal it from them.
--Bombers come online. Ours spots Umtata and takes out a tank stack, making vet. They send two, killing a engineer and a howie.
--Swazi defenses sussed out by spy -- 6 various defensive units, a howie, plus walls, barracks. They are building a hydro plant and -- no fighter!
--Two more pollution tiles appear. Pop now over 13 MM.

1914
--Chinese develop Space Flight -- a tech every two turns for our allies!
--Carths bomb another engineer, then take Paris and bribe Verona from Mongols.
--Chinese kill 3 Mongol vessels near our shores.
--We need something to study, so we move to 60-10-30 and declare for Rocketry.
--Our bombers take out 2 armored divisions, and our fighters take out two Carth bombers.
--We rush an airport in Ngome, the better to cure the wounded (and to produce rushed vet bombers and fighters!). All warfront cities will now require a Fighter as part of its defense. Much cheaper and more effective than SAMs.
--Dye (d), Cerberus' Gate to Cimmeria, 332gp.

1915
--Rocketry is ours! Nuclear Power (for +1 ship movement) next.
--Stock exchange built. More planes and jeeps, too.
--Gold (d), Circe to Galen, 456gp. Gems (d), Troy to Ibabanago 786. Oil (d), Charybdis to Ngome, 464. Salt to Ulundi, 130.

1916
--Spanish learn Economics, Chinese Environmentalism, Carths Miniaturization, Mongols Flight.
--Turin mapped. Swazi captured (99 plunder). Tugela captured as well (minor plunder).
--Carths demand a chat. Demand we declare war on Mongols, we decline. Demand Rocketry, we decline. Demand cease fire, we agree. Demand peace, we agree. And since they are so demanding, we demand tribute -- and they declare WAR!

We have movement points left -- some engineers, and a spy with 1/3 of a move that could be used to bribe a Carth city.

Population = 15.03 MM
Cities = 40
Treasurey = 4,725 GP
70-0-30 = 1,195 GP/turn.

More later -- including the save.

[-Jrabbit]

I'll have some additional commentary and the save Monday morning Chi time. Also, looking forward to correcting the abominable typing in the above rushed post.

Unfortunately, bringing the work machine home for the weekend did me no good. Apparently our servers are on vacation this weekend, since I didn't get so much as a single piece of Viagra/Cialis/HGH/low mortgage/barely legal coed spam since Friday... Thus, the save is not yet available for me to post.

I'm hitting the road on business this week -- leave for Ciudad Mexico Monday night, returning Thursday. Should finish my business in this thread before taking off.