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Topic: The F Plus conquers ancient China!  (Read 21766 times)

Cheapskate

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The F Plus conquers ancient China! #45
A question about the Yangtze.

Could you briefly discuss how forces cross a river? Is it risky? Is controlling more of the river actually good for us, or does it simply open us up to even worse and worse, increasingly dangerous and risky, opportunities for our enemy's crossings?
chai tea latte, January 24, 2022, 09:55:15 pm

We cross rivers on boats, which is slower than crossing most other kinds of terrain, and prevents us from using some combat tactics while we’re in the water. We’ve researched assault boats, which would give us an advantage in naval combat against other forces that don’t have them.

Controlling the river means controlling the supply line, which allows us to send units transporting gold, supplies, and soldiers through the area. And so long as we have leaders with high Charisma managing the ports, any part of the river that enemies move through will revert to our control fairly quickly, potentially severing their supply lines and leaving their units confused and starving.

The bottom line is that if we crossed the Yangtze to Lujiang and took the city, it would be vulnerable for a while, but it would open up another front with the potential for us to drive towards the wealthy cities of north China and confront Tao Qian or Yuan Shao. Moving west towards Chaisang would give an option to take out Liu Biao and make the Yangtze act as a natural boundary.
chai tea latte Dr. Buttplug

Dr. Buttplug

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The F Plus conquers ancient China! #46
That being the case I would side with Chai and say we take Lujiang. Thank you for the explainer, this is really neat.
chai tea latte

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The F Plus conquers ancient China! #47
We're doing really well right now. I think opening a new front is not only 'not a mistake', but good. Let's do it.
Dr. Buttplug

Cheapskate

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The F Plus conquers ancient China! #48
Fire up the motivational music, because we’re going to WAR!

We’re moving our mightiest officers to Jianye to take part in the invasion, and handing out some promotions. Promoted officers get status bonuses and can command more troops, but they expect higher salaries (which is why I haven’t promoted anyone until now).


It’ll be an all-F Plus invasion team, as Sauce, Chai Tea Latte, K. Thor Jensen, and Jim and the Mammograms are going to rush across the Yangtze and grab Port Wankou to secure our supply line. Then they’ll head north to Lujiang and meet Princess Diana Memorial Ballpit Poster, who’s bringing a siege tower.


Liu Biao’s not even going to try to meet us in the field, and soon enough, the city falls.



Nearby, Kong Zhou, who controls Runan just to the northwest of Lujiang, drops dead and is succeeded by a fella named Xu Jing. This is an opportunity for us, because some of Kong Zhou’s officers aren’t so keen to serve the new guy, and we’re able to poach some officers. Notable new hires include the bandit Chang Xi, the strategist Lu Su, and the warrior Li Tong.


Now that we’ve crossed the river, we’re getting diplomatic missions from nearby warlords that border Tao Qian, such as the aforementioned Xu Jing and the poet-warlord Kong Rong. Neither has offered an alliance yet, but it’s probably just a matter of time.


Speaking of alliances, both Zhang Chao and Sun Ce brought gifts to renew the alliances, and with no instructions otherwise, we’ve renewed them. Zhang Chao was desperate enough to ally with us that he gave us territory: Port Hailing, just on the north side of the Yangtze, which means we have plenty of places to cross the river now.


We’re not done with Liu Biao, though. In a daring mission, he sent Wei Yan through the mountains to capture Jianan. We give chase, but can’t catch them, and three thousand starving and tattered men limp into the city.


And then Wei Yan heroically flees the city, leaving his men behind to be captured by our Shanyue warriors.


The year ends with Liu Yan, the warlord of the southwest, dying and being succeeded by his son Liu Mao.


Here’s China as of October, 195.



Yuan Shao remains the man to beat: he’s captured two more cities, he’s got twice as many officers as we do, and he’s got enough gold to keep them loyal. Speaking of officers, that’s going to be a constraint on our operations for a while: we have exactly one officer who isn’t currently working as a municipal administrator. If we tried to take new territory, we’d have a hard time governing it, potentially leading to bandit outbreaks and other nasty things. We’ll probably pick up a new officer or two in January, but we may have to rely on bribery for a while.

The situation on the front:


Liu Biao is facing simultaneous attacks in the west from Sun Ce and Yuan Shu, so he probably wouldn’t be able to reinforce Chaisang (south of the river) or Jiangxia (north of it). Conquering Chaisang would complete our mastery of Yang Province and give us an XP bonus (and bring us to the attention of the Emperor).

Lujiang is one of two cities in Huainan Province. The other is Shouchun, just to its north and controlled by Tao Qian. Capturing the whole province would give us an XP bonus, the favor of the Emperor, and let us use espionage at half-price. However, the further we move north, the sooner we run into Yuan Shao.

I mentioned espionage, and that’s another thing we could focus on while we recruit new officers. Espionage allows us to incite bandits, try to turn officers against their leaders (or even induce them to declare independence if they govern cities), tear down fortifications, or turn two forces against each other.

Questions? Thoughts?
chai tea latte

Dr. Buttplug

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The F Plus conquers ancient China! #49
Can we promote new officers internally, or do we have to hire from outside? I would definitely want to have enough loyal officers before we overextend ourselves. We don't want to leave ourselves open to attack from outside or within. As for espionage, that sounds like fun, let's do that.

moooo566 (taylor's version)

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The F Plus conquers ancient China! #50
Seems like espionage and building up internally is our only real option for now. Chaisang and Shouchun are going to be the priorities (barring some major diplomatic shakeups) and Liu Biao is already in shambles so I say we focus our efforts on breaking down Tao Qian for now.

That said, should we also be thinking about Yuan Shu? What's his vibe? He's not that far behind us on resources and especially after we make our next conquests and he makes his, he's going to be very close. Seems like he could have the potential to be a problem in the not too distant future.

Cheapskate

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The F Plus conquers ancient China! #51
New officers appear when they come of age to serve. If they have a parent who’s an officer in someone’s army, they immediately join that army. If not, they show up unemployed in their home towns, and we have to search for them. Officers might also become unemployed if their boss gets wiped off the map, or if their boss dies and they don’t like the successor.

Because our warlord Frank West is a Super Genius, we’re guaranteed to find any unemployed officer in any of our cities. I anticipate we’ll pick up one or two new officers at the beginning of the year.

As for Yuan Shu, his vibe is “unfriendly.” He’s enemies with Cao Cao (blue), Li Jue (black), Liu Biao (teal), and Zhang Lu (light green), and has poor relations with Yuan Shao as well. He gets along with Sun Ce but has no alliances. He’s got a decent team of officers, headlined by the great strategist Guo Jia and the fearsome pirate Gan Ning.

EDIT: If you’re really getting into this period of Chinese history, I should note that Total War: Three Kingdoms is on sale on Steam for 50% off, and there’s a free console demo of Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires that’s just out.
Dr. Buttplug
« Last Edit: January 31, 2022, 06:57:08 pm by Cheapskate »

Shell Game

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The F Plus conquers ancient China! #52
Encourage arts and generate capital through that. Spreads our cultural values, makes us look cool, and we use the windfall to fund officer recruitment. Outgoing artisans can be spies and *ahem*  asset repurposers.

Also we should start using subterfuge to stoke conflict between our rivals.
Dr. Buttplug

Cheapskate

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The F Plus conquers ancient China! #53
Internal development and cultural supremacy it is, and with thousands of years of knowledge of the future, we’re soon winning the hearts of ancient Chinese with universally-beloved stolen media like Shakespeare plays and Popeye comics. I’m now a level 5 nobleman, which means I can appoint another advisor. In accordance with this plan, I’m appointing one that lets us build music towers. Whenever our soldiers are in range of the music, they get a morale boost, so I suspect we’re teaching our musicians something like Seven Nation Army.




Our new cities are in a pretty shoddy state, so we’re having to bring in supplies from other cities for a while to help their development.



Meanwhile, recruiting continues, aided by a new crop of officers popping up in our cities in January. Top new guys include handlebar-mustache-rocking-barbarian Ke Bineng, alcoholic pirate Pan Zhang, and wise man Bu Zhi.

We’re trying some trickery out this year. Our spies have convinced Liu Mao that it might be a good idea to pick a fight with Liu Biao, and perhaps more importantly, our new folk song “Kyle’s Mom Liu Biao Is A Bitch” has inspired one of his city governors, Cai Mao, to break away and rule Wuling independently.




Tao Qian died. In real life, his territories passed to Liu Bei, but as Liu Bei is working for Yuan Shao at the moment, Tao Qian is succeeded by his most talented general, Zhuge Jin. He wastes no time in buttering us up with gifts, although we haven’t signed an alliance with him yet.




The alliance with Sun Ce expired, but we’re still on good terms. Shi Xie and Zhang Chao both renewed their alliances with us by handing over port cities. When combined with the ports we got as gifts from Zhuge Jin and Kong Rong, we now hold the coastline from Vietnam to the Shandong Peninsula. There’s no way we could defend the more far-flung ports if they were attacked, but for now, we’ll happily collect the money that comes from them.



The big news elsewhere in China is the fall of Cao Cao. The two Yuans pressed him from the north and south, only for Zhuge Jin to sneak in from the east and capture him. Zhuge Jin wasn’t able to hold Chenlieu for long, but he did get away with most of Cao Cao’s officer corps—including Cao Cao himself. Two of Cao Cao’s cousins fled the city and now work for us: Cao Xiu and Cao Hong.



It’s October of 196. Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu are getting ready to go Yuan-on-Yuan for control of the north central plains, while Zhang Chao prepares a desperate strike to capture Shouchun.




We now have enough officers to staff a newly-captured city. Liu Biao looks to be the easiest target, as neither Jiangxia (north of the river) nor Chaisang (south of the river) are in much of a position to resist an attack. Chaisang would get us an XP bonus if we captured it, but Jiangxia is a larger and more prosperous city. If we feel like rolling the dice, we could also march against both cities and hope that we’d capture enough enemy officers and/or recruit enough new ones in January to maintain control of both cities.



If Zhang Chao fails to take Shouchun, we could march north instead. It would ruin our good terms with Zhuge Jin, but we could team up with our allies to finish Zhuge Jin off within a few years.

The alliance with Zhang Chao expires near the end of the year. He’s not likely to be in a position to resist an attack, if we choose to come after him.

What do you think?

GirlKisser420

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The F Plus conquers ancient China! #54
Probably best to go for Jiangxia. More money is always good and its probably not worth breaking an alliance when other options are solid. Slow and steady wins the race.

chai tea latte

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The F Plus conquers ancient China! #55
I agree; Jiangxia alone. The double attack is foolish in a way we haven't really been so far.
jim and the mammograms

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The F Plus conquers ancient China! #56
Wait for the alliance to expire, but start a smear campaign against Zhang Chao so that we are free to take care of him not long after agreements are fulfilled and look justified in our sudden shift.
Dr. Buttplug chai tea latte

moooo566 (taylor's version)

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The F Plus conquers ancient China! #57
I'm nothing if not foolish. Go for both!

Cheapskate

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The F Plus conquers ancient China! #58
Jiangxia it is!

As the expedition is coming from Lujiang, which we’ve conquered fairly recently, we’ll have to spend some time stocking up on enough supplies to feed and equip our army.



And while we’re at it, Jianye is a little closer to the front and a lot richer than Wu, so I’m moving our capital there. Besides, Jianye is basically modern Nanjing, which has served as China’s capital several times. I’m bringing along my civil administration cohort of GirlKisser420, Lemon, Shell Game, and Frank West. (The Lizzard is already in the city waiting for us.)



The force to capture Jiangxia will consist of three high-mobility units and two siege engine teams. If the siege engines make it to Jiangxia, the city is toast.



Unfortunately, siege engines are slow, which gives Liu Biao time to send reinforcements to intercept.



Fortunately, we have CHAI TEA MOTHERFUCKIN’ LATTE, who absolutely goes off on the attacking army. First, she unleashes her Lone Horseman tactic, which she shares with the legendary Zhao Yun, throwing the enemy into a state of massive confusion.



Then she catches up with enemy general Chen Jiu and curbstomps him in a horseback duel, causing his army to lose nearly all its morale.




In the end, we’re able to hold off the reinforcements long enough for the siege engines to overrun Jiangxia.



For the first time, we’ve captured prisoners. They refuse to switch sides and work for us, and they’re not dangerous enough to execute, so we ransom them back to Liu Biao.




This year’s recruiting highlights include lovable administrator Cang Ci, dashing cavalry warrior Cao Chun,* scholar Zhao Yu, and genius chancellor Gu Yong.

*Heroku App says Cao Chun led the “Tiger and Leopold Cavalry,” which is probably a typo, but I prefer the idea of him running around with a bunch of white-gloved monocle-wearing European nobility.

Perhaps most importantly for my purposes, we’ve recruited Xushi. I’m not the kind of guy who will turn down the company of beautiful women. Now, she is “skilled at augury,” and I haven’t had good luck with women who are into tarot, but maybe this time it’ll be different.



In the diplomatic realm, we get a year-long alliance offer from Zhuge Jin (lime green), and extensions from Zhang Chao (purple), Kong Rong (magenta), Shi Xie (light red), and Xu Jing (forest green). As we’re not fighting them this year, I’m happy to take their cash and/or land for a year‘s protection.



Peace behind the lines brings prosperity. Both Wu and Jianye are now large cities. However, Jianan in the far south continues to struggle, as it’s been hit by a plague.




Liu Biao seems to think that we’re coming for Chaisang next. He’s built fortifications and traps along the river.



At the end of the year, we’re number one in China for territory controlled and in army size, but we’re probably not the favorites to take over China—that would be Yuan Shao, who could easily build a much larger army if he got a few moments’ peace from his constant warfare.




The local front is chaotic. Sun Ce’s men are crossing the mountains to strike at Chaisang, Liu Biao has nearly captured Xinye from Yuan Shu (pink) in the west, and Yuan Shao is sweeping southward.



Some options for this year include:

1. Strike at Chaisang. No matter who wins the Sun Ce-Liu Biao matchup, the city (a Medium one) will likely be poorly defended when our soldiers get there, although an attack would be supply-intensive as we’d either need a long march from Jianye or a river crossing from Lujiang. It would complete our conquest of Yang Province and give us a bonus.

2. Keep going west and take Xinye. This is another chance to clean up someone else’s mess, either Yuan Shu’s or Liu Biao’s. Xinye is also a Medium city. It would be more awkward to resupply Xinye than Chaisang.

3. Let the alliance with Zhuge Jin expire and move north to take Shouchun. He’s distracted fighting Yuan Shao in the north. This would complete a conquest of Huainan and give us a bonus. It’s also a Medium city.

4. Let the alliance with Zhang Chao expire and finish him off by taking Guangling. It’s a miracle he’s survived this long, really. We’d have to cross a river to get there, but a completed conquest would allow for two-front warfare in the north. Guangling is Medium-sized.

5. Make a daring strike against Liu Biao’s capital of Jiangling. We’d have to cross a river and risk counterattacks from both sides, but if the attack is successful, we’d cut his forces in half and potentially capture a lot of useful officers and/or have the chance to give Liu Biao a permanent headache cure.

6. Let the alliance with Shi Xie expire and move south through the mountains to Nanhai. Nanhai is a small and isolated city, but if we capture both of Shi Xie’s coastal cities of Nanhai and Jiaozhi, we’ll be able to use those cities as a base for lucrative trade missions with the faraway land of Tianzhu.

7. Turtle up, rebuild supplies and cash, support Yuan Shao’s enemies, and wait for the opportunity to destroy him.

8. Comedy eighth option.

You’ve advised me well so far: what have you got in mind?

Shell Game chai tea latte

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The F Plus conquers ancient China! #59
Zhang Chao's art sucks and his number is up. We take him out from the south.

It's unfortunate Liu Biao has taken the wrong message about our intentions. Start some kind of cultural exchange with him. Give him some of our nicest... whatever luxuries we may offer. He should know us as a friend. For now.

Locally, we should construct a monument to Chai and her unparalleled horsemanship. Champion of the People, Liberator of Jiangxia!
Dr. Buttplug
« Last Edit: February 13, 2022, 01:42:21 pm by Shell Game »