RP, Our Vassals

[Dominae]

By the way, I'm with Aeson on this one. We make sure RP is being really serious about this whole "vassals" thing, then make them prove it to us by requiring them to let us coordinate their defense. Back home, we do almost nothing but build military units and ferry them over to Bob until GoW and ND cry "uncle".

Think of it this way: if RP are truly our vassals now, we've just doubled (or more) our power in this game. We must protect our newly-gained interests to secure the eventual win.


Dominae

[Arrian]

Originally posted by Aeson
But then we have RP to help kill GoW. From the E, RP is dead, almost guaranteed.

Couldn't we manage an eastern landing within say, 4 turns? You don't think RP can hold out that long? Sure, they could lose a couple of cities, which would hurt them badly, but they would still be there.

More to the point, wouldn't landing forces in Bilbao take almost as long? Maybe 2 turns less?

-Arrian

[Arrian]

Smokey, smokey. Be right back.

So right now, it's Dominae & Aeson favoring defending RP first, then advancing. Theseus and I (and zeit, in the other thread) seem to approve of a landing due east of ND and direct attack.

Right now, that is.

-Arrian

[Aeson]

I think we should leave Tempest on the Smiths pre-build, probably giving shields over to Arashi for military production. Smith's is our ticket to dominating the Industrial Age, worth far more than the 8.57 Knights production it requires IMO. Cyclone and SS stay on pop to build up every new city (or Aquaduct city) ASAP. Everything else on units.

That will allow us to keep rather far ahead of even ND's GA production, and coupled with RP's production should put us ahead of ND+GoW production capacity.

Regardless of what we choose to do militarily.

[asleepathewheel]

What if we are gifted bilbao and toledo, forcing GoW to attack or not attack. If they attack, then we ship everything north to take them out and then move south to ND. Their north is far more susceptible to attacks than nd's core.

[notyoueither]

Arrian, I have studied the map and your use of the desert to mountain route. Could we keep that plan for a little in the future? Here's why.

At this point it would be very uncertain if it would be successful, given we lack intel on ND and GoW dispositions, and ND has had no time to take losses and thus to thin out reserves at home (they surely have some). Also, wouldn't it be better used a bit later?

Scenario. 17 knights and a worker go by galley to the desert landing spot. A worker disembarks. If the coast is clear (no one sees him) the 17 knights unload on Turn T.

T+1 17 knights appear on the mountain 6 of Stonedina.

T+2 knights take Stonedina and if most are still combat capable, the unused knights pile onto the iron 9 of Anagramaskus.

T+3 Anakramaskus falls with any luck, and we have dealt a crippling blow to ND from which they likely could never recover.

If preceded slightly by a major offensive from the South, and perhaps the North (depending on GoW's actions) it could very well succeed and end the war against ND at an early date.

[Arrian]

Hmm.

17 knights? Where are you getting that number? Upgrades, plus new production?

Does that not leave us VERY thin back home?

Second, does that also mean that the forces we land in the south to help RP are all slowmovers?

-Arrian

[Arrian]

Asleep:

Hmm, yeah, but if GoW takes those cities, and then we move north, by the time we land any real blows, RP is probably toast...

Basically, Aeson's previous point re: how long can RP last? But with a far north attack, it takes us even longer than my proposed attack on ND's core. So RP would have to fight 2 v. 1 even longer.

-Arrian

[Dominae]

With the recent developments, I doubt our homeland defense needs to be anything more than skeletal right now.


Dominae

[Arrian]

I think we have to have enough to block any 1-turn landings from Port Isolation, no?

-Arrian

[Arrian]

Oh, before I forget, I have a suggestion for Roleplay's defense (immediate):

I note that Zaragosa is on a river, and is (or was, based on the last screenshot I have) at size 6, with walls.

Is the wall bug still in the latest patch? If so, and if RP can get a worker up there prior to ND's main attack, they should boost it to size 7. That way, their defenders get a 50% wall bonus, plus a 50% city bonus, plus the 25% fortification bonus. That's a defense of 6.75, IIRC.

Edit: same with Toledo, too, btw (no walls, but size 6 as of my last screenie).

-Arrian

[Aeson]

Couldn't we manage an eastern landing within say, 4 turns?

Our Second wave would be able to land in 8 turns I think, and not have any movement. Then they'd be another 2-3 turns away from helping against ND.

We may or may not be able to help against GoW, who will probably have razed Toledo, and gotten into the S (if they are smart they just bypass NM, pillaging a few tiles, hit Barcelona) or over to help in the W. They would be in a good position to block us off from getting to the W with our second wave if they go that way.

[Aeson]

Yah, we only need 7 units to block first turn landings. We can't upgrade most of our WC's at this point, so they might as well be helping that way. Workers too, as some of the tiles certainly need to be improved anyways.

ND's "navy" couldn't get to us for quite a while. GoW's doesn't look to be too big either. After we drop off the first 2 waves, we can probably send 3-4 Galleys up to the crossing to keep watch and sink any second turn landings... or just blockade and route to the S. We'd still have 5-6 Galleys in the S which would be able to keep up with our flow of reinforcements.

[Arrian]

We could use some catapults too. We do have 14 of them, and likely won't bring them over until later on in the war.

-Arrian

[Arrian]

Oh dear, Nathan appears to have posted something private in the public forum. Edited by the time I got there, but I wonder if anyone else saw whatever it was...

Nathan, what was it?

-Arrian