Dark Savant has a few Knights visible here. His Workers didn`t move this turn. Some new reinforcements have come to Mist so finally we have a Knight capable of taking the Amphibious promotion. Mist came out of revolt, nicely helping out our science rate.
Take a look at Gavagai`s Galleons here. They are forking Mandukhai and Danashri. At least he double moved us so he can`t attack us right away. Why is he doing this? Our boats are taking care of the diagonal down from Gavagai`s ships to Danashri so that he can`t get down there. Both our cities will get an upgraded garrison in the coming turns. Oh, and Gavagai also has 3 Frigates (+another 2 right behind) and 3 Galleons able to hit D-mishi. Sigh, he`s really not being friendly here. I`d rather spend those resources on other things than defending against him..
As you can see, we now have a few buildings in the build queues. That`s because we sort of have to strengthen our economy now while our land neighbors are busy elsewhere.
Borte`s University completed eot, increasing our science rate to over 1120. Also, Carthage got 2 GGs and Krill built the Sistine Chapel.
Peace was offered to DS again. Hopefully he`ll offer something back but I wouldn`t count on it.. Just 3 turns until Gavagai can declare war. Unless he chooses another target for some reason.
What are you up to, Gavagai? Yes, that`s a lot of boats tight there. We are building quite a few ourselves to counter that. Military Science is just 4 turns away so soon we`ll have better weaponry.
Joey has Cannons. Scary indeed.
One final thing before I`m heading out: The AP resolution came up last turn. 2 options were available: Stop trading with Krill or religious leader. Well, we`re not getting a diplo victory, that`s for sure!
Of course Gav can capture Oghul Khoimish without much difficulty right now, and I guess he could land a stack on Mandukhai's horses and we wouldn't have any cats in range to hit it right away. Or he could be setting up for something else, or just assuming without checking that we won't be defending our port cities adequately. I don't know. What does a player like Gav do when he has ~no chance to win? Maybe he thinks he needs more territory (true) and knows he won't get it from Krill, found out the hard way that it's not so easy to get it from Dark Savant, and has decided we're his only remaining option. In that case, I guess we'll have to show him that we're not easy pickings either; I just hope he doesn't take things that far.
I should add that when I say attacking us doesn't make sense for Gav, I'm assuming he knows what he's up against. Daliyetimishi is a nice prize whose best tiles wouldn't be under our cultural pressure, and Oghul Khoimish, though not worth much to him, nor culturally threatening, is trivially easy to take right now. He could even talk himself into trying to raze our western ports just to make his sea holdings more secure. But he must know we have Frigates, even if he doesn't know we can get Ships of the Line and Grennies around the time he does (and likely sooner) and he can certainly see our caravel watching his preparations (to say nothing of the ships he's got right on our borders). He's also been observing a turn split with Dark Savant (and not with us) so ... I don't know. We ought to be ready for anything, I guess.
In other news, isn't there an option to choose "no proposal" with the AP? That's the one I'd have gone for, honestly. In fact ... how is a diplo victory vote even possible, especially at the same time as "stop trading with Krill"? The whole thing looks buggy to me. Fortunately, the AP's voting aspect should have no real impact on the game either way, but it's a bit annoying.
Also in the news of course is Carthage's continuing collapse. I'm just glad those cannons aren't pointed our way (not yet at least).
Dark Savant unsurprisingly turned down our Peace offer. So let`s teach him a lesson. Nighon still only had a single Longbow defending it. It was however a CG2 Longbow on a hill so we didn`t get close to 50 % odds. A few units were loaded on ships last turn and we went in.
C2 Amphibious Knight - Longbow - 28 % - Loss. The Longbow went down to 4.8 health. That could have gone better..
C2 Knight - Longbow - 38 % - WIN!! Nighon was razed and the Knight deleted. We got slightly lucky there. His Galleon slipped away and is S of the former city site along with a Frigate. We have a few Knights on ships in Mist in case an oppurtunity appears.
Gavagai played before us again. This time he moved his 3 Galleons inside our culture so that a War Declaration would teleport them away right outside of our territory where they can fork, well, basically all our western cities. Our cities are getting more quality defenders, as we`re not gambling with the safety of Danashri and Mandukhai. Danashri has 5 units and is covered by our Frigates. Mandukhai has 7 and will get another Musket at turn roll. Gavagai`s fleet of Frigates is now up to 8 visible ships (plus those 3+3 Galleons in range of D-mishi). D-mishi is is potential target for 18 Ottoman units on ships so it`s getting its 12th defender eot. Let`s play it safe.
Dtay`s GA is over. I think only Krill is in a GA right now. We`re getting another GP in 4 turns time. When should we fire our next GA?
Carthage is collapsing at an alarming rate. It`s really hard to defend against superior forces..
Graphs and demos: I somehow forgot to post those screenshots last turn. Our power is still solidly 3rd so I think we`re pretty safe until the big power`s wars are finished (unless Gavagai decides to intervene). Dtay`s crop yield is quite a bit worse than before he started to draft but getting more land is surely a good long-term investment.
Oh, and yes, you are right in assuming that we could have voted for no resolutions. Hopefully the others won`t be too annoyed with our diplo win attempt. It was never going through anyway.
The thing is, Gav doesn't have to use any fancy teleportation tricks to get his stack one tile outside of our culture: He could have just stuck his boats there. I don't know what he's doing here, but I wouldn't expect such a ham-fisted attack from him, especially with so little to gain. He's surely targeting somebody else, but I haven't the faintest idea why he's doing it this way. And of course we have to keep preparing as though he were going to attack us, which might be the whole idea. It might not even be hostile: He might be saying basically, "Hey, Khatunate: The world's biggest powers are on your borders! Build more ships and units!" while en route to trying to smash somebody else's face in.
On the Dark Savant front: Remember those eight workers? Let's assume they've been building a bunch of forts (next to lakes, not on the coast) to within one worker turn of completion, or will have done so soon. (Like I was talking about doing with our workers earlier.) He can then finish the forts with one worker apiece, move ships through, and rebuild the mines with another four workers for each one before ending turn. (He only needs two really, so ten total workers would do it even if he doesn't want to lose a single turn of production from a single mine.) That would let him get a stack of Frigates and loaded Galleons (from up to five spaces away) into the lake SE of Steadwick, whence he can attack out against our single-stacked Frigates. He doesn't have enough of his own Frigates to make headway with this yet, but that won't take too many more turns. Also of course, he can re-found Nighon any time he has a settler ready. It's still a setback for him that we burned the city, but that will likewise allow him to send ships through from the Harmondale region. (Fort chains would let him send ships through all the way from his eastern coast.) I don't know what the status of our forces in or (potentially) approaching the Dark Savant region is like, so I'm not sure what to advise for our next move other than "more military closer to the front is good." (Well, that and "hope Gav is gunning for him after all, at which point we can probably write our own exit strategy." Gav's forces to our west are obviously tying up units that might otherwise have been available to send east, I realize....)
Yes, you are correct in pointing out that Gavagai doesn`t strictly need to use teleportation to attack us. It`s just that he could move them to get visibility on our coastal cities and use the remaining 3 moves to get to a tile adjacent to Mandukhai. The path to Danashri is covered by our boats. It would be pretty hilarious if he`s forcing us to build more military to defend against the leaders but I think he`s looking for options. Perhaps he sees us, or rather me as doing a lot of mistakes? D-mishi can get an additional 5 units next turn if needed. I`m slightly afraid that he could out-produce us on the seas. He`s got a decent advantage over us already and will finish Military Science on the same turn as us. Also, he has about 2600 gold so potentially he could upgrade a few Triremes. He should stay away, especially as we`re clearly responding to his build-up..
We can`t really keep Dark Savant out of the eastern sea forever. Reinforcements are streaming in, there is another 3 Knights and 2 Muskets on its way. Iirc Mist has 4 CG2 or G2 Muskets, in addition to a lot of Knights, so he`s not taking it in the near future. Also, we should make sure that all the other island cities have enough defenders. We basically have to wait for Gavagai to show his hand. If he`s going for DS, then great. If not, at least the threat of Gavagai intervening should make us slightly safer. The two of them signing peace just when we were about to take those Ethiopian cities was bad luck for us.
Yeah, we definitely misread the Ottoman-Ethiopian war, and that's had serious repercussions for our own war. I wouldn't play Dark Savant's hand the way he's playing it now, but it's understandable under the circumstances (apart from all the silly tactical blunders) - but Gav's play lately doesn't make any sense to me at all.
Just out of curiosity, did you delete the Knight that razed Nighon? And move the Frigates that were previously blockading the now-ruined city?
Okay, Gavagai seems intent on continuing the pressure on us. His stacks merged and he now has 6 Galleons and a few Frigates in range of D-mishi. We`ve got 12 defenders, which should be enough to hold him off if he tries something. Maybe we should have moved out more troops, but Danashri is slightly vulnerable to 5 move Galleons. Gavagai could potentially do some tricks with that so our city kept a garrison of 7 units. Even Oghul Qaimish has 12 units now. Wouldn`t it be ironic if Gavagai were the one to raze it?
The Ethiopian front is all quiet for the moment. We`re waiting for Gavagai to move in on DS. He could declare war either on t188 or 189 iirc. Our C2 Knight that razed Nighon was indeed deleted last turn. Our Frigates near the city ruins moved a bit closer to Mist for more flexibility. Our 2 Frigates from Nambui teamed up with the lone Frigate S of Vulcania.
Joey`s units are sneaking around in our territory. His Sentry Chariot spotted all of our ships on the western sea. Also, dtay is researching Rifling now! The Grenadiers should counter that to some extent but we`re quickly falling behind now. Perhaps a well-timed GA could help us out..
Graphs and demos. Dtay`s power took a small hit but he`s chewing right through Carthage. This game is rapidly turning into a two horse race. Krill`s window is about to close.
Our cities are getting more quality defenders, as we`re not gambling with the safety of Danashri and Mandukhai. Danashri has 5 units and is covered by our Frigates. Mandukhai has 7 and will get another Musket at turn roll. Gavagai`s fleet of Frigates is now up to 8 visible ships (plus those 3+3 Galleons in range of D-mishi). D-mishi is is potential target for 18 Ottoman units on ships so it`s getting its 12th defender eot. Let`s play it safe.