Chinese charge Freeport!

[Ben Kenobi]

We have a large invasion force of once cheery chinese off our outpost of Freeport.

This force contains 2 destroyersn one partially weakened, and 1 ironclad, as well as a loaded transport carrying an undetermined number of obviously aggressive units.

In Freeport, we have 2 spies and 2 fortified riflemen.

I propose that we complete the RR connecting Freeport to the rest of the continent as proposed by SCG.



I owe you a HUGE thanks for spotting the opportunity of the railroad just a few turns ago.

Once this railroad is completed, we should transport 3 riflemen and all excess calvary on that continent to Freeport.

This will allow us to resist any attack the chinese could launch next turn, as well as to crush the units that fail to attack.

I also recommend rushing a cruiser in Freeport to punish the remaining destroyers.

What say the people?

[SCG]

Re: Chinese charge Freeport!

Originally posted by obiwan18
I propose that we complete the RR connecting Freeport to the rest of the continent as proposed by SCG.



I owe you a HUGE thanks for spotting the opportunity of the railroad just a few turns ago.

Actually, it was Vice President High Tower who first proposed completing the railroad - I just championed it so that we could more easily transport freight to the chinese, and other units for exactly this sort of situation Next turn we can move 8 of any ground unit from virtually anywhere on our 2 main islands to freeport in addition to any on Freeport-shady trees continent itself thanks to the transport ferries we finally got set up. And since a transport in Freeport is still several turns away, there isn't yet a huge demand for freight going east to west, and we can still send freight the other direction

I still like the idea of a coastal fortress first in Freeport since we can build military elsewhere and get it there same turn

[SCG]

And just to avoid confusion, a crusier after the coastal fortress is a good choice

[Ben Kenobi]

I want to sink those chinese ships next turn.

A coastal fortress will not protect Freeport next turn, even when rushed.

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

Depending on the terrain, we may want to move a couple of riflemen onto the shoreline outside Freeport to deny the Chinese a landing spot. Then we can kill their soldiers on the Transport at some point in the future.

If the terrain is defensible, riflemen moved there should be able to resist destroyer attacks.

If the terrain is flat and +0% defense, we'd probably do just as well to move all defenders into Freeport.

Just a thought.

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

And of course, if the transport has Marines in it we'll look pretty stupid

[Ben Kenobi]

The terrain is mostly flat, while Freeport is on a forest, that's the main reason I want them in the city. Then marine and calvary attacks have to hammer defenses on forests, while cannons have to wait outside.

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

If Freeport is a forest, we're probably better off in it. I don't build cities on nonrivered forest often (is this rivered? ) but it seems to have been a good choice in this case

Downside of letting the Chinese land is that they then may get several free shots at the city with Cavalry. Often, when I have a large continent and a barb ship appears, I'll take units from faraway cities and use them to block all available coastline. That saves me from the 5-barb-dragoons-land-and-attack-and-capture-your-SSC AI trick. Same technique would work well here, were it not for the destroyers and the potential for marines onboard the transport.

[SCG]

Originally posted by Six Thousand Year Old Man
If Freeport is a forest, we're probably better off in it. I don't build cities on nonrivered forest often (is this rivered? ) but it seems to have been a good choice in this case

Downside of letting the Chinese land is that they then may get several free shots at the city with Cavalry. Often, when I have a large continent and a barb ship appears, I'll take units from faraway cities and use them to block all available coastline. That saves me from the 5-barb-dragoons-land-and-attack-and-capture-your-SSC AI trick. Same technique would work well here, were it not for the destroyers and the potential for marines onboard the transport.

Not rivered, no city walls, no police station, no coastal fortress, so if units land, they could destroy the city, even with all those units in there. I really would like to see coastal fortress or city walls even if it costs us several military units. Like i mentioned before in the save Kazan thread, only Freeport can build structures for Freeport. Virtually any city can build ground troops for it and have it there if not this turn, next turn. And we have a much better transport infrastructure than we did by Kazan

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

Riflemen fortified on forest ought to have a lot of survivability vs anything short of Artillery. And Artillery can't land/attack on the same turn.

It's a calculated risk I suppose... blocking the shoreline is another option. I like our Riflemen on forest vs. Destroyers.

[Ben Kenobi]

It takes two turns to build a citywall. If Freeport is attacked next turn by unloaded calvary then rushbuilding the wall will not help.

If Freeport is not attacked by unloaded calvary next turn, then the citywall will help, as will calvary stuffed inside Freeport smashing the unloaded units.

BTW- attacks from Destroyers will not reduce the city population even if our units lose. I use this tactic to capture small, well-fortified AI cities without having the city collapse.

Another option is to use our excess engineers to construct fortresses along the shore blocking Chinese troops from unloading.

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

It's going to be amusing when ixnay plays, and next turn the Chinese reveal that their Transport carries a single Cannon

[SCG]

Originally posted by obiwan18
It takes two turns to build a citywall. If Freeport is attacked next turn by unloaded calvary then rushbuilding the wall will not help.

If Freeport is not attacked by unloaded calvary next turn, then the citywall will help, as will calvary stuffed inside Freeport smashing the unloaded units.

BTW- attacks from Destroyers will not reduce the city population even if our units lose. I use this tactic to capture small, well-fortified AI cities without having the city collapse.

Another option is to use our excess engineers to construct fortresses along the shore blocking Chinese troops from unloading.

I basically look at it this way. Freeport is an old city on an enemy front. It should have city walls to protect against land attack size reduction. It should have a Coastal Fortress as there is a large naval presence in its harbors, and barracks would be nice as well. The sooner we get those structures in, the sooner we can get back to building other needed items. Preferably we should rush one of those this turn, since we seem to be using almost all of Freeport's production on support. Side note - if we finish the CfC, Freeport will grow to 4 as is, giving it 1 more shield.

Reguarding the engineers, we need to finish the railroad first so we can reinforce at will. After that, if we still see a need for fortresses, then great, build them, but the city is more valuable than the units inside it.

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

If we fear having the city reduced in size due to enemy action, we can always 'b' some engineers into it and pump it up to size 5 or even 8.

[cavebear]

Well, here's my thoughts on Freeport.

The only thing we can do before the Chinese move next is to move 2 Rifles from Panama Canal to Freeport *this turn*. That will put 4 Rifle and a Cavalry there, and even the 2 Spies have *some* defensive value. We can also rush a structure this turn so that it available next turn (1881).

The next turn (1881) we can have a structure rushed, and that would be built before the Chinese second turn (1882). I would think that should be either City-Walls or a Coastal Fortress, but which one?

Well, when I "wrong-click" on the Transport, I see a Chinese Settler. Is that a game-trick, or is that real? Maybe the ships are just sailing past and we are worried over nothing. Perhaps they are just going to re-establish that small city we recently destroyed...

I suggest we move the 2 Panama Canal Rifles to Freeport and rush Coastal Fortress. Since we can't protect against bot naval and Land attack at the same time, this balances our defenses.