Help needed: ressources/strategy

[De Gaulle]

I am noticing something unexpected in my game, and maybe one of you can advise me on how to deal with it.

OK, here are the settings of the game:
Monarch, standard map, 1.29, All Random, Russia.

I started as Russia in one corner of the banana shape continent. The expansionist trait allowed me to locate the English quickly and I moved to expand towards them to secure the maximum land area for myself. I thought it had worked really well as the AI could only settle 2 towns north of London. And then came horseback riding and iron working: one of these 2 towns was located near a horse ressource while the other sat next to an iron ore hill...
OK, maybe I was a little too quick at self-congratulation...

It never happened to me before to lack BOTH horses and iron. Believe me, it complicates warfare a bit... I was busy building up my cities and my science so it took me a while to research these 2 techs and by then it was almost too late. Well, I actually planted a town SW of England next to an iron ressource one turn before the French.

I am now in the Mddle Ages and my economy/science are looking good. But a few turns ago Liz declared war on the French. Very bad idea on her part as they have great land while half of hers is jungle... She is getting a pretty bad spanking, they even took London a couple of turns ago.

Before this war my strategy had been to make friends with both countries and build up my economy to get ahead in science (built Colossus, GL). I was planning to wait until I could trade for some ressources before taking on England for some Lebensraum. Now however France is poised to conquer all of England within a few turns and I will soon be faced with a civ double my size while I lack iron&horses... Hordes of Knights against my few spearmen? I don't want to wait for that to happen...

So here is my problem: I need to take over the 2 northern british towns but I have only archers. I have built a bunch of warriors thinking that they could be upgraded once my faraway city would finally be linked to the Motherland by road (through foreign countries). Well, I just connected it but I can't upgrade my warriors!
I must add that the road goes through towns of both civs now. Can I do something quick (establish embassy, make deal,...) to get access to that iron? Or do I have to go in with my 3 archers and 5 warriors?

[De Gaulle]

Here is the minimap:

[De Gaulle]

And the 2 towns in question:

[Roadrunner]

Hi De Gaulle
Did you try to trade iron with the other civs? it would probably be better with france, but england would also be ok. then upgade your warriers and go for the iron city of england. when liz is allredy loosing against the french there probably wont be to many defenders in the city.
produce some more units and get as many english citys as possible.
i think it should be possible to get those two citys as they are no more connected to the others...

[Nym]

I would try to catch Nottingham with the 8 units army. It seems realistic and you could so benefit the iron next to it to upgrade your warriors. Then it would be easier to catch York and its horses.

[Sean]

Good sugestions so far. You could also produce culture, as York looks a distinct possibility to flip, if you culture is high enough.

[Bella Hella]

keep in mind that when you take york, the horses won't initially be within your borders until you build a temple there and wait until it expands.

[Nym]

Originally posted by Sean
Good sugestions so far. You could also produce culture, as York looks a distinct possibility to flip, if you culture is high enough.

Good and peaceful idea, but I think it would be to long for De Gaulle.

[sun_tzu_159]

De Gaulle,
Move your troops against Nottingham with all haste to secure the supply of iron. Upgrade your warriors if enough cash.
Then move as many troops as possible next to York and wait for the French to attack and soften up that garrison. If the first French attack fails move in against York. If the English take the town you will see how many troops they have there and can adjust your force accordingly.
The third possibility is that York may be wiped out by the fighting. For this situation have a settler ready to establish your town quickly.
Hope it goes well
Regards
Sun_Tzu

[sun_tzu_159]

De Gaulle,
I had another thought. It would be better if you have a settler available to erase York from the map anyway. A new settlement should be established one square to the north to take immediate advantage of the horses.

Regards
Sun_Tzu

[De Gaulle]

Thanks guys for the advice!
I took over England's northern cities without a hitch... with swordsmen...
I couldn't trade for iron with either civ as before but after France made peace with England I could finally upgrade my warriors!

It thus seems that if your cities are linked by roads going through 2 civs at war with other, they are not connected (resource-wise).
Anybody has seen this before?

[sun_tzu_159]

De Gaulle,
I have had instances where units cannot be upgraded in some cities one turn but can the next even within my own territories. I have not yet worked out why this should be so and I never gave it much thought as it was only a minor irritation. I will look more closely next time it happens.

Regards
Sun_Tzu

[Nym]

Originally posted by De Gaulle
It thus seems that if your cities are linked by roads going through 2 civs at war with other, they are not connected (resource-wise).
Anybody has seen this before?

I have not seen this yet, but it seems quite logical: too dangerous to trade through lands at war.
In fact I suppose you can only benefit a ressource if there is at least one secure trading route (see or land) between this ressource and the rest of your civ.