Turn 251: 1305AD

[DeepO]

Originally posted by Aeson
We could keep the RP cities as they are other than Santa Barbara.

The main reason to move Monterrey is so that it can expand it's borders before we get rid of Santa Barbara so that GoW can't culturally claim any tiles on Stormia. Without that we can't get rid of Santa Barbara because if GoW has culturally claimed tiles on Stormia it could be difficult to deal with diplomatically.

Can we move Monterrey without moving the rest? All I asked is if we could somehow keep some cities, I don't say we need to keep all of them. It's just a matter of economics, we can't expect to build a factory and market in those cities, even if we wouldn't be in mob. It just takes too long with the corruption, and rushing won't help us as our money would be better spent elsewhere, e.g. in building up RP asap.

Those cities, even if moved, can always serve as drafting cities of course. Plus, most of the ground has never been forested, so we can gain another few shields there (PS: don't forget the 2 other tiles which still can be forested)

DeepO

[DeepO]

Something else: Do we want to remove the threat/risk of Santa Barbara? Diplomatically I agree, however it does serve as a focal point. If GoW attacks us, they have very little choice other than through SB. So... we can defend the city to the max, and will take out a lot of units doing so. We could also put e.g. 1 vet, and 20 conscript MI in the city: under investigation it would show as 21 vet MIs are defending...

DeepO

[Aeson]

The problem is we are less than 10 turns away from Nukes. Too many units in one city could be fatal if they get Nuked. Also, if we force an invader to have a fleet exposed for a turn, our own nukes can decimate their forces before they ever land.

We have to defend Monsoon from 1 turn rolling invasion by ND too. Moving it 9 would eliminate that risk.

[Aeson]

The Conquistadors will probably be more useful on Lego rushing improvements (and MI) than at sea, and can help weight the city for the Palace jump.

[DeepO]

Originally posted by Aeson
The problem is we are less than 10 turns away from Nukes. Too many units in one city could be fatal if they get Nuked. Also, if we force an invader to have a fleet exposed for a turn, our own nukes can decimate their forces before they ever land.

True. So we remove the city

We have to defend Monsoon from 1 turn rolling invasion by ND too. Moving it 9 would eliminate that risk.

Yeah... but we can't rebuild it properly without ending our mob somehow. We could benefit from a precise eta of the end of mob... seeing as GoW did it (most likely with Vox), we should be able to do it ourselves at the time of our choosing. We only have to chose.

DeepO

[DeepO]

Originally posted by Aeson
The Conquistadors will probably be more useful on Lego rushing improvements (and MI) than at sea, and can help weight the city for the Palace jump.

The PJ is no problem in any case. RP only needs a couple of workers added to Ft Spinebreaker, if there are no cities of them left on Stormia when they jump, it will be the only choice. And as we take those cities, they can offer them the turn before we 'conquer' Monterrey.

Rushing improvements is at this moment probably the best use of their conqs, at least if they keep a couple to start a GA if possible. However, if possible I'd like to wait one more turn before telling them for historical reasons. They just had to let go of the cities they built up for many turns, and I'm sure it hurts them, and makes them think we're just ordering them at will, as slaves. If they now also have to hear their conqs are just fodder, I fear they will take another emotional blow. They have build long and hard on those conqs, even if from our perspective they were icing on the cake at most.

So let's wait another turn before 'suggesting' another use for the bulk of their army. I hope that with their new territory to build up, they will see this as an opportunity to mean something again in this game. Which was also why I stressed their comparitive size to Vox: Vox will always remain stronger than RP, at least if they play it well. But by giving RP the goal to surpass Vox in the short term, it will put some meaning back in their game, even if they can't win. Besides, wouldn't it be cool if RP draws some attention from GoW and ND on Legoland when they decide to invade Stormia, it would make our lives a lot easier.

DeepO

[DeepO]

Could we arrange for RP to sail towards the Southern tip of Legoland (after unloading their troops, obviously), and somehow threaten ND from the West? It will take a while for them to get there, but even a couple of empty transports would pressure ND a little when spotted...

DeepO

[Jon Shafer]

I will try to take care of this in the next day or two. I recently got a new job and have been very busy lately...

[DeepO]

take your time, Trip. I only have to warn you that if you wait 2 or 3 turns, it will be harder to enforce your ruling in case ND (and we) have to stop abusing the mob bug.

DeepO