[SPOILERS!] I am Molach. This is my thread. Kublai Khan of Rome

[Molach]

I'm not very good at updating, but in a way it is good - RL has been hectic this fall, so probably a good sign that I focus on that rather than witty turn reports.

General state, for me, is stagnation - no more land to grab. Still teching decently along, did another golder age to draft a horde of riflemen. Got assembly line now, so I can build infantry to go with my cannon.

I was first to facism, so I could get a great general, so I could attach him to a unit, so I could then build the Heroic epic. With a bonus Medic III. Building factories, researching railroad, will try to use my spare GE to found mining inc. Due in 2 turns.

Politically, all is quiet. Kuro is getting beat up. Many players maintain large armies, so balance of power (or terror) means noone dares attack. WillLP and wetbandit and retep are contenders for the title, but game might be called a draw soonish.

[Molach]

Okay, some minor things have been going on.

Oxy declared war on me. He did not move or pillage or do anything, I think he thought it was high time I made a move against him and put him out of his misery.

Now the idea, to attack him, has always been stopped by my fear of wetbandits response - if I commit too heavily, he can attack from the rear. With infantry and machine guns I think I finally had the tools to take on his catapults + musketmen + knights without heavy loss, but I guess we can wait on that.

I shifted my forces east on my brand-new railroads, but then the horns of war sounded again. Wetbandit declared war.
The Vodka Brawlers are coming!

He came towards my western boarder city, Fortitude. Large stack of artillery and infantry moved into my culture next to the city. His navy bombarded. I left a token force, with orders to delay the enemy by forcing them to deploy their artillery in firing positions around the city.

Next turn, wetbandit attacked my city.
I kill 2 artillery on defense.
He kills 7 machine guns and 8 riflemen.
City (globe city) is taken, not razed.

Just played my turn again.
I counterattack. He left over half his units inside the city, a bit less outside, covering the artilleries who withdrew when he attacked. So I had to attack now when he was split up. I smacked my entire force into his city.
I lost 10 cannon and 1 rifleman.
He lost 19 infantry, 1 cavalry, 1 cannon and 8 artillery units, and I took the tile, cutting off his units in my city.
Sceenshot of his garrison:

I staged & attacked from this tile to be safe from counterattack from my former city. He can his the stack with 16 cavalry, but I hope my riflemen hold them off without too much flanking damage to my surviving cannon.

However the south seas are irrevocably lost. He’ll take these island cities at will.

Earlier in the game I decided to go with land power over sea, colonize the islands but knew it would be hard to defend them. I think they gave me enough commerce and troops (draft and some whip) to have been a net gain for me. I've whipped a round of whatever they were building and told them to bow down to their new masters. Their courage shall not be forgotten.

My navy was a trireme and a galley and an ironclad (I was gonna use that to sink Oxy's galleys, heh.). Without combustion I have no response to wetbandits destroyers, or even transports, so I'll just have to garrison my coastal cities. Damn. My GP farm has about served its purpose, so I'll stack troops in my Moai/HE city.

Got two great generals from the fighting, settled them in HE and ironworks city to make 5-xp units.

Let's see how many I can kill before my lands are overrun.

[Molach]

Okay.

"He can his the stack with 16 cavalry, but I hope my riflemen hold them off without too much flanking damage to my surviving cannon."

Scratch that. Each & every cannon died to flanking attacks. They missed a catapult, though. I killed his cavalry, total 16 dead. My losses were all surviving cannon, about 10 or so. And a rifleman or two.

I gathered up troops, upgraded catapults to cannon, revolted to nationhood and police state. My plan was to continue the build up until I could hit my former city with my entire military. Wetbandit could not reinforce the city (from land anyway) because he'd have to move troops one tile into my lands, where they would be hit, so I think I would have taken the city back. Heavy losses on both sides guaranteed.

Wetbandit offered peace. I countered, demanded fortitude for peace. This at least left him with my island cities but kept my mainland intact. He accepted. Peace has broken out.

Except that while I was logged in, oxy logged in too, and declared a war against suttree (!). He had a defensive pact with retep, so Oxy is at war with retep too. Perhaps he'll redeclare on me when our enforced peace is up. I think he declared to force the ending of his country, and made peace so I wouldn't be distracted from fighting against wetbandit with full force - so as not to be kingmaker for wetbandit, but make him earn it through.

Wetbandit's power rating took a noticable dive, my own took a far more noticable plunge, so I'll draft my cities hard & heavy from now on. I'd like artillery and destroyers, but need a few more round making cash for upgrades, so not sure how far I'll get. Currently on physics.

[Oxyphenbutazone]

Around ~t130, I had about 2 axes on your border. If you had attacked with 10-12 praets, you would have taken everything west of my capital pretty easily.

If I had invaded you concurrently with Wetbandit, could I have made any headway? I had about 100 knights, 50 cats and 60 muskets/maces/axes.

Done skimming your thread, nice updates

[wetbandit]

If I had invaded you concurrently with Wetbandit, could I have made any headway? I had about 100 knights, 50 cats and 60 muskets/maces/axes.

Yes

I am Wetbandit and congratulate Molach on an entertaining thread.

[Oxyphenbutazone]

He paid me 50gpt to go away and he had an ironlad in my waters, so I decided to go harass suttree. Sorry if that affected your war plans

[Molach]

Fear the mighty Ironclad! First one I've ever built - I wonder how many galleys he could have sunk. Was imagining a Battle of Hapton Roads here if I was lucky.

I think I messed up with techpath, had perfect traits for early landgrab & warfare but stayed peaceful and teched instead. Too low happy cap (no monarchy) meant I fell behind anyway, and couldn't whip stuff without crippling me. Or so I thought, I had perhaps read one too many tale about early praet-rush leading to victory but a crippled economy.

In hindsight, being left with my starting territory doomed me to obscurity so should have fought in the west.

And Oxy, you would have taken eastern roman empire pretty easy with such a stack. Much of my collateral was gone, and I needed the rest to ensure that I destroy wetbandits forces in my city, or any relief force entering my lands.

One thing I learnt about modern warfare - I did not know the degree that cavalry kill cannon, even when guarded by a big enough stack of riflemen. Ow.