[Spoilers] Commodore as Darius of the HRE

[Ceiliazul]

Looking forward to seeing his defenses... but I doubt he's seriously 20 turns from gunpowder, so possibly exaggerating other info.

in return for avignon, you agree not to bomb avignon. If you negotiate it right you could still bomb yellow dot very soon.

[Commodore]

Yeah, currently, the garrison sits at one axe still. MNG claims a whip is coming in for city walls and another axe, a spear, and a chariot will be inside next turn.



So, current matchup if he isn't bluffing; 2 Axes, 1 Spear, 1 Chariot (all behind walls, one axe fortified) against 4 War Chariots, 1 Chariot, 4 Catapults. Yup, I'll be taking this place.

[COLOR="yellow"]Hey MNG,

Sorry, I had to reject the in-game offer. My peoples (random number) gods have been consulted, and they foretell great victories. I'd say play on, and may the yellowest player win. Seriously though, I'd be second-guessing this all game if I didn't at least try wave one.

Luck,
-Commodore

P.S. The poor unloved and unwanted chariot force that sat on the wheat field west of Zamora has been demobilized. The poor depressed men surrendered to nearby the spearmen jogging up with scarcely a mew of protest. I had known things were bad in France's slave-filled lands, but the stories they tell![/COLOR]

Here's the question, do I attack next turn, wait one turn, or wait two turns?

If I attack this turn, I can either bombard with a couple of the cats and send the others in, or send all in to suicide. The big deal is that spear, one WC should be able to take each axe and the chariot (the C1 WC taking on the fortified axe), leaving a WC and a chariot to take the spear. I have five workers in place to road to Avignon this next turn, the GA can bomb it...it will be nicely set up if I can be sure to take the bloody place, and secure enough with the upcoming reinforcements to hold.

Waiting one turn is kind of icky. I gain -32% defenses taken down, but no reinforcements are available and the workers stand around twiddling. Plus, eh, he might whip in something nasty.

The real other option is to wait two turns, bombarding as we wait of course. -64% defenses is awesome, and two more chariots, an axe, and a spear will be added to my attack. The only question is how many troops can MNG in turn add to his defense.

I'll add more thoughts later, meeting time.

[Commodore]

Gnnngh. Grrr. Graaaa.

Okay, so I was looking at the Nemedia shot I took, I moved in two extra specialists to get the GP in one turn (it was a Prophet, yay).



Firstly, you'll note why I need to secure crabs and deer soon, that unhealthy is nasty. But look to the far left...can anyone see what I've been missing the last forty turns? Hint, it certainly would have had me settle Blue dot sooner.

[Ceiliazul]

I assume you're talking about the flood plain?

[Commodore]

Yup. I've looked over the area with tile yields on, too. No clue why I missed it. Bit late now, though, as there's no way I'm settling that place while in a hot way with MNG.

On the subject of places I wish I'd settled earlier:



I like this city. It's about to grow onto the 1/3/3 tile too! Just needs, oh, a forge, library, market, and ~20 worker/turns and it'll be perfect. So, of course, I'll be using max overflow to make a 1-turn chariot, axe, spear, or 3-turn crossbow. War is hell, ain't it? The Zamorans actually witnessed the first battle of the war.



Darn spear had just good enough odds to only make it a 1xp battle, sadly. There needs to be just a little more gains from this conflict. I'm pulling up, but I'll still be locked behind without more edge than just Avignon.

[Commodore]

Oh, and Gaspar, was this intended?



This is both an opportunity and a threat. From Maestro, we do know there is at least one galley in this sea. Next turn Koth whips a lighthouse, which will overflow into a trireme. If any further offensive operations are going to happen against France, this city down here is the target. The jungle arm is just too bloody hard to fight up.

Sent an email to RL7,

[COLOR="Yellow"]Hey Ranamar/Lewwyn/Seven.

Just a couple quick notes:
As you can see, MNG and I are regretfully now at war, and although currently that's only accounted for one blue chariot, more fighting will be taking place unless I get a really good Danegild.
My first sugar is hooked up, and you can expect the next one soon to be available. Gems/Sugar still on? If you guys could spare a crabs of pigs to throw in along with those gems for a few turns you can have the first one.
Finally, I now have your graphs...and forgot to turn off EP spending. Care to make a limit agreement?

May all your ages be this golden,
-Commodore[/COLOR]

So, got back from Seven Spirits:

[COLOR="SandyBrown"]Hey Commodore,

Hope your war goes well! We'd talked about silks for gems, is that what you meant? If so, we are on, and we can send a pig your way for 10t as well to be able to trade for the first one. (Let's do that separately so we can cancel it.) Just let us know when you're ready or - simpler yet - offer the trades in-game. You can start your 10t of pig early if you like.

I suspect we switched EP spending over to you when we lost graphs due to you finishing up EP spending on us. (And then we forgot to move it off again, because EP spending is pretty hard to care about.) We'll move it off next time we remember (shouldn't cause you any trouble until then) and hope you do the same.

I'm not interested in an agreement though because, well, you get stuck spending all your EP on some random person who was just the last to suggest an agreement. We don't have EP agreements with anyone.

What does the military situation look like with MNG? I'm curious what kind of troops you both have.

Seven[/COLOR]

I caught up with him on chat long enough to confirm silks worked too, so I'll be getting pigs for for Nemedia. Question: Once civil service comes in, can I irrigate fresh water to Nemedia from the lake?

[Gaspar]

Oh, and Gaspar, was this intended?

While I don't think it appropriate to discuss my intentions, I'll simply state that I was indeed aware of the potential for that situation.

[Ceiliazul]

You cannot irrigate a city for the purposes of the +2 health. Not even after Biology (which seems stupid)

[Ceiliazul]

This is both an opportunity and a threat.

Actually, its just a threat. Your coast-borne vessels can enter the ocean controlled by your culture, but not French culture. Open Borders and war don't change this.

However, French galleys can travel thru their culture, and the immediately onto your coast. :-(

[Commodore]

So apparently, MNG and I got the same sim results last night:



I awoke to:

[COLOR="DeepSkyBlue"]Hi Commodore,

I figured I'd offer you one more treaty before real blood is shed. Having seen the force you're bringing, I'll be a little more generous than last night.

I give:
*Avignon
*Grenoble
*Permanent spice gift, once it is hooked up (due very soon)

You give:
*Permanent open borders, without restrictions
*Use great artist in a backlines city. That is, not in any aggressive way against France. Hey, you're smart, you know what I mean

I think this deal is pretty nice for you. You get two cities instead of one. You get a happy/healthy resource as long as we remain at peace, and you get peace now without having to waste time trying to fight both of those cities.

From here, the deals will become less generous. If Avignon stands, you may not get it at all, and you definitely will not get Grenoble. Weigh your options and let me know.
In game, I only offered Avignon, but if you offer Avignon+Grenoble, I will accept.

Hope you're beating the heat...

MNG[/COLOR]

Yeah, that's okay I guess.

[COLOR="Yellow"]Hey MNG,

The terms as discussed are acceptable, and I returned the offer in-game. Um, unfortunately, I had to play it on my wife's laptop today and the game loaded there has an odd bug where all the city names are just "TXT_KEY_CITY_NAME". I guessed which were the two newest, but if I got the cities wrong you can change them. Sorry for that inconvenience, and please don't be offended if you open the save to "Commodore wants your Moai city and the GLH". Avignon and Grenoble were my objectives for this war, and if they can be resolved without dragging both of us down, so much the better. Spices for OB is perfect, and my Great Artist is bustling his way back to his homeland.

So, again, terms accepted. Furthermore, I'll start work on both your missionaries, as Avignon's spread obviously no longer counts. We can also discuss the loan of a galley in the inner sea if you want to settle the IC-TR areas. My wheat is being traded for corn with GES at the moment, but once I hook up my own corn I'll be happy to start trading the wheat again. I look forward to working with you more.

Still in a sauna,
-Commodore[/COLOR]

It's a weird bug. Anyone know what causes it?

In any case, heck yes I'll take my war objectives handed to me on a silver platter without having to waste a Great Artist. I certainly hope I didn't communicate how excited I was to sign that dotted line ASAP. My demos, pre-new-cities, look rough.



It'll be instructive to compare them to next turn. I think the new maint costs should be partially defrayed by this.



St. Peter is makin' me a shrine.