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I PMed Vondrack yesterday about getting a war update and he said he'd send one today. Looks like Lego is kicking butt right now. 
1265ad
1265ad
Hi, Jared! 
Hi, Bruce!
Sorry for the lack of information, guys. It's not intentional, but...
well, I would prefer warring in July or August, when the business and the whole real-life thing are less intense...
Anyway... feel free to post the following in your forum - just make sure that nobody tells anyone outside Vox. We do not want GS to know about what exactly happened to GoW this turn.
You read about the big naval battle in 1260AD in the public forum.
What was not posted was that GS lost 5 settlers, 8 marines, 2 tanks, and 1 explorer in those 2 transports... it was very foolish of them to put all their settler eggs into one basket. I assume that by sending these GS settlers to the bottom of the sea and by blocking the weakest city within the striking range of their surviving transports with 4/x BBs, we pretty much spoiled their plans for a landing around Sandonorico.
GS then joined their fleets (up until to that battle, GS had their invasion forces split into two fleets - we crippled the one heading towards Sandonorico, the other was approaching Abilene) and landed - you can see the situation in the public forum. The landed stack is
impressive:
4 workers
1 settler
2 explorers
12 mechanized infantries
22 infantries
57 tanks
8 marines
===============
106 units total
If we had to defend two cities against those 57 tanks, we would be screwed this turn and have to abandon one of them. Fortunately, we saw the threat and heavily defended the only landing spot allowing such a double-check (the fortress you can see in the picture posted by DeepO in the public forum), forcing GS to land where they landed, being able to threaten only one city (Abilene).
GS kept most of their marine corps (39) out at sea, threatening three cities total (Q.M., Abilene, and Tipperary). We were able to seal Q.M.
by stuffing three 4/x BBs W of the city - as GS cand only attack with transports, this is as good as impenetrable. Tipperary was abandoned, since it was only an outskirt city with little value/production - not even worth the war weariness points we'd get for losing it.
Abilene is thus the only target within the GS' reach. They can throw all their tanks at it. However, I doubt they'll do it (they may do it, though, if they failed to re-plant their spy we exposed in 1260AD). It would help us immensely, since they would not be able to take the city (there is 54 vet infantries in Abilene), losing much of their tank forces without really doing much damage to us.
There is a slight chance that GS could try breaking through our naval defenses around Abilene. The coastal tile W of Abilene is defended by a 2/4 BB, 1/4 BB, 1/4 DD, and a 4/4 transport, the tile SW of the city by a 4/4 DD, two 1/4 DDs, and two 4/4 transports. With quite some luck, they might be able to sink all our ships in one tile (GS have two 2/4 and one 1/4 DD to attack with, then a crapload of transports - plus up to 2 fighters). But even then, 54 infantry should be able to hold the city even against 57 tanks and 47 marines (that's how many they can muster), just that our losses would be higher.
We are actually not sure about what GS will do... to quote Kloreep:
"GoW is hurting so bad I'm sure they'll retreat, but GS's options look almost equally bad to me". As overly optimistic as it may sound, it may actually be true. GS can attack Abilene, but only to be fended off with their noses bleeding. They can move eastwards - but only to waste one turn, since they will not be able to attack anything but Abilene again. We called some ents (=planted forests) to help us around Q.M.
(SW) and Ahhmyfoot (SW), so all they would be able to attack in 1275AD would be Abilene again.
They could also try grabbing our workers SW of Abilene, using them to immediately chop the forest down. But to prevent us from taking them back, they would have to split their forces, leaving the infantry escort behind (using only 2-movers, MIs and tanks). That would give us a golden opportunity to blast these to smithereens, possibly even killing a good number of them - though we will not have much tank forces available this coming turn, as most our tanks will have to heal, being currently at 2/4 or 1/4 (and only 6 fresh new ones will be finished). Plus, whatever they'd move next to Q.M. would be unable to reach Abilene, so we would have to defend two cities, but against less tanks.
I spent quite some time trying to figure out what bad GS could do to us this turn, but nothing I was able to come up with was really scary.
Their forces still out at sea must fear our navy - with a handful of battleships around, we need like two turns before we start sinking the rest of GS ships in that area (and they have almost all their ships there).
Now on to the other coast... as mentioned in my PM yesterday, GoW made a colossal mistake. This is what the stack they landed looked like (not sure if you have the map of the area between Jackson and Dye Fields - GoW landed N-N of Dye Fields, meaning their tanks would be able to strike at Jackson or Dye Fields in 1270AD):
1 settler
42 infantries
27 artillery
16 tanks
34 marines
===============
120 units total
It may look impressive at the first glance... but in fact, was a total disaster. I'm completely puzzled by why they landed all those marines and why they landed only 16 tanks (when they had 52 of them total).
They probably intended to build a fort, load the marines back to the transports and use them against Jackson or Dye Fields in 1270AD...
which would be sort of smart... if only we had no ace up our sleeve. A strategy discussed well before the war started: counter-forts. Suffice to say that one cannot build a city right next to an existing city...
The plan was to use our artillery to knock at least an hp off every infantry (a 3/4 infantry will not defend a 4/4 tank, it will be the other way round), being able to engage the GoW tanks with our own ones - we had 35 vets and 3 regulars to attack with. After heavy shelling, all their infantries lost at least an hp and we sent our armour in - and kept attacking until running out of 3/x+ tanks.
We lost 11 tanks. GoW lost 11 tanks, 23 infantry, and 5 marines, plus their best defender now is a 4/4 marine (no 3/4 infantry survived, we killed them all). After crippling their stack, we plopped a city SW of their stack, stuffing it with 20 infantry, 20+ artillery, and few tanks preventing GoW from building their own fort. Now they are trapped, at least for one turn.
They can throw everything they have at our fort - but even with a lot of RNG luck, they should not be able to take it. And even if they did take it, they would not be able to use extreme combat settling much, since we planted several defensive forests blocking access to our interior.
They can try holding their ground by landing the remaining tanks. But then, they would expose their 4/4 tanks to our artillery and tanks. We would simply shell them, not worrying much about what would be left (so they'd not be able to take our fort next turn, remaining unable to build their own fort, still stuck at the invasion beach).
Even though they may try something else, we expect them to pack it up and go back to the sea. Everything else would be quite a bit of risk, which they do not need to take.
Plus, with so many units lost, they may have a problem keeping their economy running. It's likely they suffered close to 100 war weariness points this turn. That's a lot to cause riots in some of their cities.
So - that's the situation now. Before this turn, I was really worried.
Now, I believe we are in a pretty good shape. The war can still turn against us and be over quickly, but the initial momentum that was with GS and GoW, is now gone. It's now them, too, having to think hard about what to do. No more parading along our coasts.
Oh... one more thing. We got a great leader, Hamilcar. Used it to create a 3-4/4-infantry army, now fortified in Abilene. No big deal, though - as we had to mobilize our economy, we would not be able to use a GL to rush anything meaningful. But that army looks cool.
Despite our resources being drained by destroyed city improvements and pillaged terrain, we still hope to finish Radio in 4t total (actually, it's a pretty much sure thing we will make it), which is in 1275AD, so you should have it in 1280AD. From that moment on, things will be much brighter. Civil Defenses and Radar Towers will boost our power. All we need is to survive at least mostly intact until that moment. After this turn, I actually believe we will make it and not crumble fast.
Speaking of drained resources... could you send more gold, please?
There is no limit to how much we can use to rush production. And maybe few workers, if you have spare ones (we could use them to block the GS explorer from running around). Sorry to suck so much from you now, but we are fighting for survival. If we lose this war, it will be over for all of us.
Well, that's it, I guess. I will do my best to keep you updated, but don't hold your breath, my spare time is severely limited these days.
OTOH, I do not expect the save to make it back to us too fast this time...
Take care and
Best regards to your teammates,
Radek aka vondrack
Hi, Bruce!
Sorry for the lack of information, guys. It's not intentional, but...
well, I would prefer warring in July or August, when the business and the whole real-life thing are less intense...
Anyway... feel free to post the following in your forum - just make sure that nobody tells anyone outside Vox. We do not want GS to know about what exactly happened to GoW this turn.
You read about the big naval battle in 1260AD in the public forum.
What was not posted was that GS lost 5 settlers, 8 marines, 2 tanks, and 1 explorer in those 2 transports... it was very foolish of them to put all their settler eggs into one basket. I assume that by sending these GS settlers to the bottom of the sea and by blocking the weakest city within the striking range of their surviving transports with 4/x BBs, we pretty much spoiled their plans for a landing around Sandonorico.
GS then joined their fleets (up until to that battle, GS had their invasion forces split into two fleets - we crippled the one heading towards Sandonorico, the other was approaching Abilene) and landed - you can see the situation in the public forum. The landed stack is
impressive:
4 workers
1 settler
2 explorers
12 mechanized infantries
22 infantries
57 tanks
8 marines
===============
106 units total
If we had to defend two cities against those 57 tanks, we would be screwed this turn and have to abandon one of them. Fortunately, we saw the threat and heavily defended the only landing spot allowing such a double-check (the fortress you can see in the picture posted by DeepO in the public forum), forcing GS to land where they landed, being able to threaten only one city (Abilene).
GS kept most of their marine corps (39) out at sea, threatening three cities total (Q.M., Abilene, and Tipperary). We were able to seal Q.M.
by stuffing three 4/x BBs W of the city - as GS cand only attack with transports, this is as good as impenetrable. Tipperary was abandoned, since it was only an outskirt city with little value/production - not even worth the war weariness points we'd get for losing it.
Abilene is thus the only target within the GS' reach. They can throw all their tanks at it. However, I doubt they'll do it (they may do it, though, if they failed to re-plant their spy we exposed in 1260AD). It would help us immensely, since they would not be able to take the city (there is 54 vet infantries in Abilene), losing much of their tank forces without really doing much damage to us.
There is a slight chance that GS could try breaking through our naval defenses around Abilene. The coastal tile W of Abilene is defended by a 2/4 BB, 1/4 BB, 1/4 DD, and a 4/4 transport, the tile SW of the city by a 4/4 DD, two 1/4 DDs, and two 4/4 transports. With quite some luck, they might be able to sink all our ships in one tile (GS have two 2/4 and one 1/4 DD to attack with, then a crapload of transports - plus up to 2 fighters). But even then, 54 infantry should be able to hold the city even against 57 tanks and 47 marines (that's how many they can muster), just that our losses would be higher.
We are actually not sure about what GS will do... to quote Kloreep:
"GoW is hurting so bad I'm sure they'll retreat, but GS's options look almost equally bad to me". As overly optimistic as it may sound, it may actually be true. GS can attack Abilene, but only to be fended off with their noses bleeding. They can move eastwards - but only to waste one turn, since they will not be able to attack anything but Abilene again. We called some ents (=planted forests) to help us around Q.M.
(SW) and Ahhmyfoot (SW), so all they would be able to attack in 1275AD would be Abilene again.
They could also try grabbing our workers SW of Abilene, using them to immediately chop the forest down. But to prevent us from taking them back, they would have to split their forces, leaving the infantry escort behind (using only 2-movers, MIs and tanks). That would give us a golden opportunity to blast these to smithereens, possibly even killing a good number of them - though we will not have much tank forces available this coming turn, as most our tanks will have to heal, being currently at 2/4 or 1/4 (and only 6 fresh new ones will be finished). Plus, whatever they'd move next to Q.M. would be unable to reach Abilene, so we would have to defend two cities, but against less tanks.
I spent quite some time trying to figure out what bad GS could do to us this turn, but nothing I was able to come up with was really scary.
Their forces still out at sea must fear our navy - with a handful of battleships around, we need like two turns before we start sinking the rest of GS ships in that area (and they have almost all their ships there).
Now on to the other coast... as mentioned in my PM yesterday, GoW made a colossal mistake. This is what the stack they landed looked like (not sure if you have the map of the area between Jackson and Dye Fields - GoW landed N-N of Dye Fields, meaning their tanks would be able to strike at Jackson or Dye Fields in 1270AD):
1 settler
42 infantries
27 artillery
16 tanks
34 marines
===============
120 units total
It may look impressive at the first glance... but in fact, was a total disaster. I'm completely puzzled by why they landed all those marines and why they landed only 16 tanks (when they had 52 of them total).
They probably intended to build a fort, load the marines back to the transports and use them against Jackson or Dye Fields in 1270AD...
which would be sort of smart... if only we had no ace up our sleeve. A strategy discussed well before the war started: counter-forts. Suffice to say that one cannot build a city right next to an existing city...
The plan was to use our artillery to knock at least an hp off every infantry (a 3/4 infantry will not defend a 4/4 tank, it will be the other way round), being able to engage the GoW tanks with our own ones - we had 35 vets and 3 regulars to attack with. After heavy shelling, all their infantries lost at least an hp and we sent our armour in - and kept attacking until running out of 3/x+ tanks.
We lost 11 tanks. GoW lost 11 tanks, 23 infantry, and 5 marines, plus their best defender now is a 4/4 marine (no 3/4 infantry survived, we killed them all). After crippling their stack, we plopped a city SW of their stack, stuffing it with 20 infantry, 20+ artillery, and few tanks preventing GoW from building their own fort. Now they are trapped, at least for one turn.
They can throw everything they have at our fort - but even with a lot of RNG luck, they should not be able to take it. And even if they did take it, they would not be able to use extreme combat settling much, since we planted several defensive forests blocking access to our interior.
They can try holding their ground by landing the remaining tanks. But then, they would expose their 4/4 tanks to our artillery and tanks. We would simply shell them, not worrying much about what would be left (so they'd not be able to take our fort next turn, remaining unable to build their own fort, still stuck at the invasion beach).
Even though they may try something else, we expect them to pack it up and go back to the sea. Everything else would be quite a bit of risk, which they do not need to take.
Plus, with so many units lost, they may have a problem keeping their economy running. It's likely they suffered close to 100 war weariness points this turn. That's a lot to cause riots in some of their cities.
So - that's the situation now. Before this turn, I was really worried.
Now, I believe we are in a pretty good shape. The war can still turn against us and be over quickly, but the initial momentum that was with GS and GoW, is now gone. It's now them, too, having to think hard about what to do. No more parading along our coasts.
Oh... one more thing. We got a great leader, Hamilcar. Used it to create a 3-4/4-infantry army, now fortified in Abilene. No big deal, though - as we had to mobilize our economy, we would not be able to use a GL to rush anything meaningful. But that army looks cool.
Despite our resources being drained by destroyed city improvements and pillaged terrain, we still hope to finish Radio in 4t total (actually, it's a pretty much sure thing we will make it), which is in 1275AD, so you should have it in 1280AD. From that moment on, things will be much brighter. Civil Defenses and Radar Towers will boost our power. All we need is to survive at least mostly intact until that moment. After this turn, I actually believe we will make it and not crumble fast.
Speaking of drained resources... could you send more gold, please?
There is no limit to how much we can use to rush production. And maybe few workers, if you have spare ones (we could use them to block the GS explorer from running around). Sorry to suck so much from you now, but we are fighting for survival. If we lose this war, it will be over for all of us.
Well, that's it, I guess. I will do my best to keep you updated, but don't hold your breath, my spare time is severely limited these days.
OTOH, I do not expect the save to make it back to us too fast this time...
Take care and
Best regards to your teammates,
Radek aka vondrack
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