Some advice needed

Dr. A. Cula · November 21, 2003, 07:40

I need some advice on my current game.
I'm using PTW 1.21f (no Conquests yet!

), and playing with the Ottomans, large world, against 7 AIs. Well, they used to be 7.

Now, my problem is this: I have 2 neighbours and don't know which one to take on first. The Mongols are quite backwards (they asked me for Nationalism in exchange for their world map), while the Greeks are more advanced (they tried to force Electronics from me, but I told Alex to take a hike). Now, I'm a few turns away from getting Tanks, but I don't have any Oil. The Mongols are sitting on one deposit, and the Greeks have at least 2, because I'm importing from them (this deal is about to expire). I have an MPP with the Mongols (about to expire, also), whose only purpose was to keep their Archer hordes off my back while I eliminated the Russians and the Vikings.
Here are my stats (I'm the orange blob, Greeks are green and Mongols are yellow):

Dr. A. Cula · November 21, 2003, 07:42

This is my military advisor's opinion on my neighbours' strenghts:

Dr. A. Cula · November 21, 2003, 07:48

Also, my entire empire is railroaded. I think the Greeks also have railroads everywhere, and the Mongols have just started to do the same. My Sipahis have just recovered from wiping out the Vikings (they were between me and the Mongols) and I want to press further as soon as the agreements expire.
Mongol Oil is very hard to get, on the other side of their empire, while one of the Greek Oil sources is 2 tiles away from my border.

CerberusIV · November 21, 2003, 07:59

Geography suggests that you roll over the Mongols since you have a bigger land border with them and they could be a problem if they attack whilst you are committed against the Greeks. As long as they don't have infantry you should be OK, they presumably have stacks of obsolete units.

Usual issues I suspect, get allies, preferably including the Greeks, then take out the Mongols completely to ensure you don't lose any cities to culture flips.

Can you trade oil from anyone else to build a spearhead force of tanks?

If you go for the Greeks you need the Mongols allied with you, otherwise they may extract enough techs from the Greeks as the price of attacking you to catch up.

Just my thoughts.

Dr. A. Cula · November 21, 2003, 10:42

Thanks, I was thinking about that myself. The Mongols do have a huge number of Archers and some Cavalry, they like to parade them along my border. The reason I signed an MPP with them in the first place was that I didn't want to bother about that.

There is some oil on the other continent, but I don't think any of the natives know how to use it.

Right now, my Battleships and Destroyers were built with Greek oil. However, I need to dispose of them fast, because they are approaching Tanks. I need to teach them a lesson for the audacity of finishing most of the medieval wonders exactly 1 turn before me. Although, in all fairness, the Americans grabbed Smith's Co. 2 turns before me.

On the other hand, the Greeks did show one bit of honesty when dealing with me: they asked for 1 (one)

luxury in exchange for that oil. Perhaps the price will change when they'll find out what to do with it.

Cookie Monster · November 21, 2003, 10:48

I agree with CerberusIV, get the Mongols. But before that make sure you have renewed the oil deal with the Greeks and be buddy buddy with them. This way they won't threaten you in your war against the Mongols plus you'll still build oil dependant units.

Dr. A. Cula · November 21, 2003, 10:53

Of course. That was the obvious course. Plus, by the time the Mongols are history, I'll have my own oil.
I forgot to mention that the Mongols are also sitting on one luxury that I miss. That will make 5 luxuries I control, and with most of my cities having marketplaces...
I already saw that effect during the russian war: 10 size 15 cities had continuous WLTKD for the whole war, and that was with 4 luxuries.

Theseus · November 21, 2003, 19:53

DEAR GOD, MAN!! You have 147 Sipahi!!

And the Mongols have ARCHERS??!!

Get busy!!

That's prolly the most lopsided match-up I can remember (except for my MA invasion of Babylon (Longbows!) in one of the very early AU games). Go get'em!!

Dr. A. Cula · December 5, 2003, 06:07

Thanks for the advice. I went first after the Mongols and then the Greeks. They are now both gone and I have all the Oil I need now.
The interesting thing was that the Mongols didn't just have Archers, they had TONS of them. "Saddam" Gengis had insane amounts of Archers stationed in every city and on patrol everywhere in the empire.
However, this was not the finest hour of my Sipahis. This was more like a slaughter. The really interesting part came a few turns after I eliminated the Mongols: Alex declared war on me. Riiiight. And the 150 Sipahis, 50 Artillery, 100 Tanks and 100 Infantry gathering at his borders were there to help with the harvest...

Anyway, in the Greek war, the Sipahis performed better than even the Tanks: my hordes opened a large corridor right through the middle of the Greek empire, capturing their largest (size 15-20) cities, defended by Cannons and Infantry, including Athens. The Tanks took over the flanks, dealing with any counter-attacks and taking over ports. When the Sipahis reached the southern tip of the Greek peninsula, the Tanks were still half way through. I lost about 100 Sipahis in this war, but they did the most fighting, even provided the 2 Leaders I got from this conflict.
All in all, this was the best war I had in a very long time, and I used units that were supposed to be obsolete at that point in the game.

Cookie Monster · December 5, 2003, 12:33

I'm glad everything worked out for you

Sounds like it was 2 exciting wars you had there!

vmxa1 · December 5, 2003, 13:41

400 units, man that is a lot of moving around. Sounds like it could be fun, but I will never have that many to deal with.