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I did some testing and turns out my initial thoughts on attacking Graz were wrong: on a test map, I only won 3 out of 12 battles, with 2-6 enemies (mostly Archers) surviving in the battles that were lost. The main reason for this is that a forest only gives +25% defense, as opposed to the +50% as I initially assumed. I think there should be a 2nd stack when we attack but we shouldn't allow the Austrians more time to reinforce the defenses further, so we should form this stack NOW.
Outline on how to do so:
Pedrunnia currently has 5 units. We can take 4 of these to form a 2nd army. To not leave Pedrunnia too weak, we can rush-buy the Archer there (cost: 532 Gold) and move a Hoplite from CL (which currently has 3 units with a Hoplite from mapfipolis on its way), giving the city 3 defenders in 2 turns time. Slightly risky, but only slightly, and well worth the reward.
Pressburg currently has 3 units. We should take 2 for the 2nd army, move the Warrior just outside the city inside and rush-buy the Archer (cost: 363), giving the city once again 3 units in the next turn. Safe.
H Town currently has 2 units defending it. We should take both for the 2nd army. The units won't have to leave the city for another 3 turns though (because the units from Pressburg and Pedrunnia need some time to move into position) and the city only needs 4 turns to build the next 2 units, so it'll be equally defended as it is now 1 turn after the units leave. Slightly risky, but well worth the reward.
The only problem here is happiness: with <3 units, the city has a happiness of <73. So it might revolt, delaying the contruction of units. To prevent this, we should increase wages or rations for the turns in which the city has less than 3 defenders (in the foreseeable future that will be the case for a total of 5 turns). Graz will have a very low happiness as well, so for 2 of these 5 turns we're gonna have to do that anyway (since Graz needs to pump out units ASAP as well).
This gives us 8 units to form a second army. According to the tests I did, that should always be sufficient to take Graz. This army can be formed on the grassland+river tiles east of Graz in 4 turns, with 1/2 movement point left - enough to attack the city. The stack of 12 can attack from the Forest north of Graz in 3 turns, so if we keep it where it is for 1 more turn, we can attack with both stacks 'simultaneously' (in the same turn). In the best-case scenario, we won't even need the 2nd army and can use it to hunt Barbs/Austrians, in the worst-case scenario we'll loose all but 2 or 3 of our total of 20 units in the attack - still a good start for a garrison in Graz.
The cost of this plan is 895 Gold due to rush-buying, some city growth or gold and science due to reduced sliders and a (very) small risk of a surprise attack from the Barbs at a time when we can't afford it. This is expensive in itself but since we'll get one of the best cities on the map in return I'd still call it a bargain.
Thoughts?
Outline on how to do so:
Pedrunnia currently has 5 units. We can take 4 of these to form a 2nd army. To not leave Pedrunnia too weak, we can rush-buy the Archer there (cost: 532 Gold) and move a Hoplite from CL (which currently has 3 units with a Hoplite from mapfipolis on its way), giving the city 3 defenders in 2 turns time. Slightly risky, but only slightly, and well worth the reward.
Pressburg currently has 3 units. We should take 2 for the 2nd army, move the Warrior just outside the city inside and rush-buy the Archer (cost: 363), giving the city once again 3 units in the next turn. Safe.
H Town currently has 2 units defending it. We should take both for the 2nd army. The units won't have to leave the city for another 3 turns though (because the units from Pressburg and Pedrunnia need some time to move into position) and the city only needs 4 turns to build the next 2 units, so it'll be equally defended as it is now 1 turn after the units leave. Slightly risky, but well worth the reward.
The only problem here is happiness: with <3 units, the city has a happiness of <73. So it might revolt, delaying the contruction of units. To prevent this, we should increase wages or rations for the turns in which the city has less than 3 defenders (in the foreseeable future that will be the case for a total of 5 turns). Graz will have a very low happiness as well, so for 2 of these 5 turns we're gonna have to do that anyway (since Graz needs to pump out units ASAP as well).
This gives us 8 units to form a second army. According to the tests I did, that should always be sufficient to take Graz. This army can be formed on the grassland+river tiles east of Graz in 4 turns, with 1/2 movement point left - enough to attack the city. The stack of 12 can attack from the Forest north of Graz in 3 turns, so if we keep it where it is for 1 more turn, we can attack with both stacks 'simultaneously' (in the same turn). In the best-case scenario, we won't even need the 2nd army and can use it to hunt Barbs/Austrians, in the worst-case scenario we'll loose all but 2 or 3 of our total of 20 units in the attack - still a good start for a garrison in Graz.
The cost of this plan is 895 Gold due to rush-buying, some city growth or gold and science due to reduced sliders and a (very) small risk of a surprise attack from the Barbs at a time when we can't afford it. This is expensive in itself but since we'll get one of the best cities on the map in return I'd still call it a bargain.
Thoughts?
arty:
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