The Ghorid-Rajput war

[ramsesiicp]

I'm not sure why he waited, but EF finally attacked. He caught about half of my infantry out in the open and used the surround trick to kill them all. I responded by killing about 1300 of his men with my elephant crew, but it's no joke when I say he has about seven times as many total soldiers as I do. Unless he's completely incompetent he cannot lose this war.

I won't be abusing any exploits to fight, not even the surround trick, so that's another tick against me.

I'm not really sure there's anything anyone could do to help. Obviously I hope the Ghazni immediately attack him on the other side, but he may have the troops to fight us both, although most of his armies are obviously in India.

Oh, my diplomat has reached Baghdad. If anyone wants to gift me a city I should be getting a noble adoption next year that I might be able to manipulate into appearing at the new city. I'll devote myself like a vassal to the cause of anyone who gives me a spot.

Err, and if anyone wants to check the save and make recommendations, my password is the same here as in all the other hotseats 456789.

[ramsesiicp]

Just an update. He has two full stacks in my territory that I know of and possibly one more that I couldn't find. He moved to lay siege to my most distant city knowing that I couldn't reinforce it, so rather than let him sack it on his turn I forced him to occupy it on mine (Although I couldn't sally for some reason). I still have 4 cities and my castle capital, all of which are in approximately in reinforcement range of each other. If he lays siege anywhere I will break his siege no matter the cost and maul his forces.

There won't be any more easy victories for him.

[barcamartin]

I wish you the best of luck in your endevours.

[Flax]

I just captured Van and I'm still ready to give it to you Ramses, though my diplomat near Baghdad vanished , I'm recruting a new one. Tell me where you want to met him and I'll get him there ASAP.

[zim]

Maybe someone did the surround and destroy trick on your diplomat? If there were a ton of agents around there (it was beginning to get a little crowded when mine made it) someone could even have done it on accident.

[ramsesiicp]

Nah, agents can't squish agents, only troops. I don't think Phonics is out there squishing agents, so it's probably an assassin. My money would be on the KoJ.

I think ATPG made me an offer that might help, so let me get to my turn and we'll see. If something happened to cancel it I'll set a place for us to meet.

[tristan]

The Georgian diplomat could have been bribed, with so many of them around, it might be a better explanation...

It doesn't cost much to bribe a diplomat unless he is highly-skilled...

[Flax]

Thanks for the replies, bribe seems most probably as nothing I have is highly skilled

I'll be waiting for a message from you then, Ramses

[ramsesiicp]

Just to update this, I eliminated his top troop army, which he left in siege thus allowing me to hit the sally AI with every bit of my troops. Unfortunately I'll lose my northern most city next season, but with any luck he'll advance again and lay siege again, giving me the chance to eliminate another of his armies.

I was not able to accept an offer from the Turks which would've left me with an empty castle and no ability to recruit, and no generals spawning (For some reason ). I don't think a castle will work for my purposes, just a small town with a limited population might be best.

The slate gets tilted ever more in EF's direction too, as evidently some sort of BC script actually spawns public order buildings for him when he takes my settlements.

[ramsesiicp]

I retook Mumbai this turn (Lost Gwal as expected), and I'm pumping out spies as fast as possible, but either EF or Phonics has withdrawn his third stack and he appears to want to settle down for awhile at Gwal-whatever. I think this is significant because it may mean that he's turning in the direction of Ghazni. Given the news about Samarqand in the Kwaz war thread, you may want to build some forts to block passes next turn Zim.

I laid a bit of a trap for them in that I hung my Maharaja out in the open to bait an attack force forward. I need a new family member anyway, and I'd love it if he sent a significant force forward.

My plan right now is to build up a number of spies and get better intelligence. I want to bypass Gwal, where he no doubt has 3-4 spies holding the line, and sweep around towards Delhi, which is still rebel, to possibly go on the offensive. There really aren't any other options. Once I have my ships built I'll be launching an attack at the Sindh territories as well.

I'd love it if the Omanis could prepare a little something to join me in attacking the former Sindh territories in, say, 4-5 more turns.

Any other suggestions? I sacked Mumbai for the funds to build brothels at my tiny, useless cities.

[zim]

Crap. I did beat a Ghorid force this turn, but it wasn't much. I suspect he was probing to see how my defenses were. Bad news, since they aren't much at the moment. All my FMs are on the front with the Shah, so it could be a turn or two before I can build forts to protect my starting cities.

I'm putting together a stack te defend my land/attack the Ghorids, and now that the Kwarezhm war is coming to an end I should be able to get more on the front. If they do turn forces back to attack me I should be able to prepare a surprise for them. The war with the Shah has taught me that taking down a major faction is far easier if you can get them from two directions.

How are you doing for spies, Ramses? I probably won't need mine for much longer against the Shah. I could send a couple towards India to help you scout out Ghorid stacks, while keeping enough at home to maybe open some gates.

[ramsesiicp]

I have two spies, and I'm just now getting facilities constructed to put more out there. The offensive I've planning is essentially to send a longer range sneak attack around his current line. Right now he is denying my mercenaries by virtue of being first in the turn order; he can't be buying up all of the ones in India though (Well, maybe he can, but he isn't attacking me with them) so if I can get out of this zone with a noble, some cavalry, and some cash I'll snag a quick army and hopefully hit Lahore or something.

I think EF got distracted by his school stuff recently, because his conduct of the war during his last turn was sloppy. Phonics made me a vassalage offer at even odds, no cash or cities exchanged. That's crazy (Just look at the scrolls for our relative positions), so I know something is up. It almost has to be turning towards you.

My advice is just to put one or two spies in as scouts and use the rest to support an overwhelming advance. I would not try to go in against his main bases in the north, slip through at that pass halfway along the mountains and exploit his newly conquered lands if you can. It's too easy in the north for him to build 4-5 forts in a row to slow you down.

[askthepizzaguy]

It brings me great pleasure to see the Ghorid scum being crippled... keep up the good work.

Jerusalem is near death, my friends.

[ramsesiicp]

War update:

First off I made the offer to exchange cities with the Georgians. My preference is that you only accept if both of us get a garrison at our respective positions; if we don't both get a garrison decline the offer and make it or a similar one back to me so I can see if I can spawn a family member over there. Thanks! (Oh, and if anyone is worried it's obviously not an exploit to accept a diplomatic deal to see how the game implements it, as such details would, realisitically, be worked out as a part of the deal first anyway)

Secondly I hung my faction leader out as bait again, we'll see if they accept. I have also discovered that, oddly, not only do the Cha-whatever people still hold Delhi, but the cities east of there are still rebel. If my FL doesn't get killed I'm going to sneak him around wide and grab one or two of those before I start my offensive into Ghorid lands.

Thirdly as an FYI to my Omani friends, the cities east of you along the coast on the mainland are still rebel as well. If you can train troops at your castle there you shouldn't have any trouble taking those two.

EF/PH isn't doing much to take advantage of his cheap recruitment options, either that or he's massing a couple of huge stacks to go after Ghazni or the Seljuks. Be on your toes Zim, at a guess I think he is pulling all his substantial forces in your direction. I am also starting to be concerned about a naval invasion of my lands, but not too concerned. I'm just about to start training my own ships.

[askthepizzaguy]

I have fully backed the Omans, as they could come in and take Sindh and arrive to reinforce the Hindus. My priority is making sure the Hindus do not perish. I know the Seljuks and the Ghaznavids can handle taking the Ghorids down, and if not, when the Hindus are safe and Oman is more powerful I will switch my support to the Ghaznavids and if the Seljuks need it, them as well.