New Citizens

[rjmatsleepers]

Hi Erica - a new citizen is always welcome.

The current game is rather bogged down. We switched formats in the autumn and decided to continue as a "best ball". However, only Monk and I played the next 10 turns.

The best save to look at is Monk's - ap_a1904.sav in the "New Start" thread. We have some additional rules, the only relevant one as far as I can remember is to stay "spotless".

I think we should discover robotics as soon as possible and then capture Zimbabwe, but any thoughts you have would be much appreciated.

RJM at Sleeper's

[Broken_Erika]

i downloaded ap_a1904.sav
there are still horsemen around, are they being used as scouts?

that big zulu fleet doesn't look particularly trustworthy

[Broken_Erika]

i think you need more ships, subs are probably the best way to start, is there another thread i should know about?

[rjmatsleepers]

Originally posted by Broken_Erika
i downloaded ap_a1904.sav
there are still horsemen around, are they being used as scouts?

that big zulu fleet doesn't look particularly trustworthy

Originally posted by Broken_Erika
i think you need more ships, subs are probably the best way to start, is there another thread i should know about?

AFAIK the horsemen are there because no one has bothered to disband them. Are they useful to prevent disorder? I kept them because I assumed they were.

The big Zulu fleet certainly threatens any invasion attempt. Untrustworthy? I don't know. We will have to provoke a war in the next 12 years or so, but it would be better to do it at a time of our own choosing. I suspect there will be a war as soon as we make contact with them and there could be a sneak attack earlier.

I'm not sure about your suggestion of more ships, particularly subs. Our top priority at the moment is capturing Zimbabwe before the Zulu spaceship lands (eta 1918). I think that three transports loaded with spies, armour and howies should do the trick. My plan would be to learn robotics and then gather an invasion force off the coast; provoke a war; bring down the walls in a coastal city with the spies and capture it with the armour; use this as a base to send the howies to Zimbabwe on the Zulu railway system. I think Monk had in mind a smaller invasion force striking at Zimbabwe directly.

I don't think there is much in the other threads that will be helpful to you. There was an inconclusive discussion of whether we should be first to use nuclear weapons. In the end it was left as a matter for each individual player. But don't forget that we must remain spotless. As far as I can remember, all the other threads relate to tactical discussions much earlier in the game.

We can win by conquest or landing. Once the Zulu bird is back home, we might be able to build our own ship, even if we have to capture another capital in order to make sure it lands first.

If you are willing to play the 1904 save for 10 years and post your results, I will do the same.

Good luck,

RJM at Sleeper's

[Broken_Erika]

How is this idea, build up forces on the peninsula, gather units on the mountain near the zulu capital, get them to declare war, and hit them from 2 sides?
plus the fortress with the red dot on it should be out of their zone of control, might be a good gathering point

[Broken_Erika]

1905- egyptians and zulus cancell peace treaty
if we go to war with the zulus, we will have egyptian support
1906- zulu paratroopers take pi-ramesses
1906- egyptions retake pi-ramesses
1906- i have begun loading spies and armor into transports and moving them onto the peninsula
1907:zulus recapture pi-ramesses
1907- zulu paratroopers take byblos
1907- zulus demand 9000 gold i replied "go to hell"
zulus declare war
1907: first landing of armor on the peninsula
1907: our armor kills zulu rifleman near mpondo
1908: sneak attack by sioux forces
1909: armor force massacred by zulu bombers
armor still in transports massacred by zulu subs,
zulus have large air force and navy, i have begun production of helecopters to counter zulu fleet
1910: zulus incite rebellion in stoney lake
1911: wounded knee captured, guerilla warfare taken
1911: peace treaty signed with sioux
1912: zulus begin landing
i give up, screenshots and savegame in zip file
if we had an actual air force and navy, this might have gone better

[rjmatsleepers]

That was quick - and it looks like poor Apolytonia is in a bit of trouble. Will you be able to capture Zimbabwe in time? I won't download your save until I've had a chance to play the next 10 years myself. That might take me a day or two.

BTW, anyone who is lurking on this thread and would like to play 10 turns for comparison - please do.

RJM at Sleeper's

[rjmatsleepers]

Originally posted by Broken_Erika
How is this idea, build up forces on the peninsula, gather units on the mountain near the zulu capital, get them to declare war, and hit them from 2 sides?
plus the fortress with the red dot on it should be out of their zone of control, might be a good gathering point

Comments on this may mot be very helpful in light of your next post - however.

I'm not sure that we will have the luxury of building up forces anywhere. I suspect the moment we have any contact with the Zulus we will be at war. We will have to hit them straight away, preferably hard enough to capture Zimbabwe.

The reason I plan to capture a port city (probably Intombe) is so that my howies haven't used up any movement points on the way to Zimbabwe. If I can bring down the walls, a few armoured units landing on an adjacent square should be enough to capture it. The transports can them sail in and give the howies a free run at Zimbabwe.

Anyway, that's my plan. It will all be a bit pie in the sky if I find myself in an early war as you did.

RJM at Sleeper's

[Broken_Erika]

I still think that mountain square could prove useful, it should be out of the zulu cities zone of control and is 2 squares away from zimbabwe, i figure, put an engieneer there, nuild a fortress and give it some good defencive units, (assuming the zulus don't kill the engieneer) also, helicopters would be good in an attack, mainly to kill zulu ships and artillery before they can strike. basicly a large overcomplex plan is what i would do, but most of my strategies i think of need good air and naval support, both of which we lack.

[rjmatsleepers]

I've opened up a new thread - "the world in 1914" - on which we can continue the discussion of strategy.

RJM at Sleeper's

[Bloody Monk]

Welcome to Broken_Erika!! It is nice to have new players.

This is an odd-ball game because of the starting restrictions. I dare say, few of us have ever seen a situation like this one where we are so far behind so late in the process. If you were to go back a few pages and check one of the late 19th Century saves/threads, you might get a better handle on how we came to be where we are now. Recently, we have been researching by way of conquest. So, even if the tech is now there (for advanced ships for example) we have not had time to float a modern Navy. Also, the Horsemen are left over from an earlier time in Communism where cheap units were needed for martial law purposes. We only recently (1903) became Fundamentalists.

As to rules, I believe the only rules are the obvious ones relating to cheating, no replaying/reloading, no peeking at the map in cheat mode. The restriction about maintaining a spotless reputation is a guideline and not a bright line nono, although there may be good tactical reasons for doing so. If we were atrocious, it might make a marginal difference in some diplomacy situations, maybe. There was an earlier discussion about Spotlessness where I believe we decided that we had already been restricted enough.

Monk