Military Architect Thread

[ZargonX]

[vondrack]

Z, I believe that frigates are next to useless... I do not actually believe we'd manage to build any before being able to build ironclads, which deliver much better punch. Frigates come with Magnetism, which will be our last medieval tech. Ironclads come with Steam Power, which will be our first industrial tech (unless we get it for free from Vox), to be discovered no later than 5 turns after discovering magnetism.

I would strongly discourage building any frigates - but once we are able to build ironclads, then agreed, let's go full steam ahead and add - after a layer of early warning - a layer of actual naval protection.

EDIT: on a bit humorous note... I hope everybody can see that keeping one's directions right is a difficult task. It's not just me mixing East and West...

[ZargonX]

EDIT: on a bit humorous note... I hope everybody can see that keeping one's directions right is a difficult task. It's not just me mixing East and West...

Must be something in the Legos water...

And, actually, you are quite right about the pending development of ironclads. It really is closer than I've been thinking. In that case, just replace "frigates" in the above post with "ironclads," and I stand by my case

[vondrack]

Yeah, I replace 'frigates' with 'ironclads', 'West' with 'East'... and you could replace the image link so that the image displays directly, not just after being clicked on...

But otherwise, agreed - once we can build ironclads, let's build a fine fleet of them.

[ZargonX]

Yeah, I replace 'frigates' with 'ironclads', 'West' with 'East'... and you could replace the image link so that the image displays directly, not just after being clicked on...

Somebody is feeling saucy today, aren't they

[Kloreep]

Now now you two, don't fight in front of the men.

Agreed, Ironclads (and perhaps some more harbors for building vet ones) should be our next military investment once we have steam power.

[Tiberius]

Speaking of harbors, I'd like to see one soon in Jackson ( a good ship building candidate), followed by a name change: Port Jackson. After all, this was the original proposed name, being delayed at that time for security reasons. But now everyone knows that Jackson in a coastal city, don't they?

[vondrack]

Well, it's been some time since this thread was last used... this is something I have been thinking of for quite some time, but have been postponing. But with the discovery of Mass Production last turn, it's entirely possible that marines come into play within 4 turns. We have to get prepared - at least making sure nobody catches us with our pants down.

Look at the following picture:



It shows what I privately call the "Orange Perimeter (pre-nuclear)". The orange water tiles are ones which enemy transports (move:5) must start a turn in to be able to reach a tile NEXT to a city of ours - allowing marines aboard to attack it. Any enemy transport inside the Orange Perimeter (let's call that area "Red Zone") poses a serious security threat, as units from such a transport would be able to unload in a city taken by a seaborne attack, carrying an invasion even further inland.

ANY enemy vessel capable of carrying units, which happens to appear on or inside the Orange Perimeter must be accounted for and appropriate security measures adopted - ranging from an attack on such vessel to just strenghtening defenses of cities within the range of the potential seaborne attack (the number of defenders must be higher than the maximum number of potential marines aboard offending vessels).

Looking at the picture, it's obvious we must start with improving our surveillance coverage to include all of the Red Zone and Orange Perimeter. I am going to take care of that over the next few turns, using some of our newly upgraded transports.

I have created a handy Photoshop overlay and will be checking for threats every turn from now on.

[Tiberius]

I updated the first post in this thread with the latest military figures. I will try to update it (almost) every turn.

I am not able to download the latest save, therefor the numbers may be a bit incorrect. I will update them as soon as I will have the save.

PS Maybe I'd like to get every save after all. Now I have the internet connection that allows me that. Radek, can you ask Vox to include me in the mailing list? tkerekes at gmx dot de

[vondrack]

Will do. Latest save uploaded, btw - sorry for the omission.

[Tiberius]

Np and thanks.

[vondrack]

Pondering about how to best deploy our growing navy (I admit I haven't been sure what to do with all those new BBs/DDs recently), I've realized we should concentrate it. Not talking about pickets here, of course, but about the "fighting core" - BBs, non-picket DDs, and carriers once we build some.

I fired up PhotoShop, loaded the latest maps and looked for good spots to deploy a "task force" capable of striking at an incoming armada. For the moment, I am only considering one spot - I don't think we're ready to deploy 2 task forces, with both capable of making a difference ATM.

I was looking for a spot which would cover as much of the Orange Perimeterâ„¢ (OPâ„¢) as possible, because that's where we need to be able to strike immediately, while staying as far from the currently deployed GS DDs as possible (to deny GS the first strike advantage). Not really trying to hide our task force (I guess it would only help us if GS spotted it, likely prompting them to either delay the invasion, or sailing through elsewhere, ending up at invasion beaches posing less of a threat to us).

Considering how much of an area can be covered with a single task force (TF), we have to make a choice: North or South - we cannot effectively cover both. I consider North a much more problematic area - we are going to spot/sense anything coming to our Southern shores at least 2t in advance (the Southern part of the Western Ocean we have pretty well covered), which is not the case up in the North. We are only going to have a 1t warning before invading troops land around Invoice - whatever we cannot strike at on the turn we spot it, will get through.

So... considering all this, here goes the picture of what I believe is optimal ATM:



The spot S-SW-SW-SW of Invoice covers all of the Northern part of OPâ„¢ (the heavier central overlay) and with a 2t warning (the lighter "outer diamond"), leaves only the Southern third of the Western Ocean uncovered. It is, at the same time, outside of GS DDs' range as of last turn.

Unless someone comes up with a better spot or something I have oversought, I will start moving our heavy naval firepower to the coordinates shown above.

Task Force North to be formed of:

U-K1 (currently sailing through Invoice)
H.B.S. Panama (currently W-W-W of S'haven)
H.B.S. Kloreepville (currently SW-SW of Invoice)
H.B.S. Karina (currently anchored in S'haven)
H.B.S. Tipperary (currently W-W-W-NW-NW-NW of Q.M.)
H.B.S. Legopolis (currently anchored in Port Hammer)
H.B.S. Jackson (currently anchored in Port Hammer)

This will leave only one BB (H.B.S. Red Bricks in Jackson) to cover the Eastern Coast. But there is another BB to be commissioned in 1220AD (in Jackson), which should balance that. To be honest... GoW landing in Voxtavia or around Jackson worries me much less than GS landing around Invoice... and their (GoW's) current troop rooster does not really suggest a seaborne invasion (rather a strike at ND, if you ask me...).

After finishing the current BB build in K'ville, I believe we should do at least one carrier there (with vet bombers coming from Legopolis).