[Spoilers] Elkad is stuck in a car somewhere in central Wyoming

[Elkad]

Well this is awkward.
tautau has kicked off his own war to his south, so REM is secure on that flank.

Commodore is flat folding up. I have no idea what is going on over there, but it's bad. REMs power isn't dropping at all. Commodore has a mobility advantage as the defender (or at least a match, roads vs HA), and catapults, and he's losing multiple cities a turn.

I'm the logical next target, and letting REM consolidate gains and troops is a bad option. His economy was in shambles, but he's burning cities, so he'll have cash to fuel a couple techs, and if/when he gets Pyramids, he can get out of a hole on scientists alone.

So I attacked. Hit his city S of Raiders (forget the name), but the attack went poorly. My medic chariot won the fight, with nothing to defend the city. Had to burn it due to a single axe in counter-attack range.
Oh well, the gold speeds up Construction by a turn, and all my swords survived. If he doesn't reinforce Vladistock fast enough, I can take a shot at it too.

I hoped to take some pressure off Commodore, but he lost more cities this turn. Commodore asked for Iron, which I gave him, no idea what good it will do though.

I have another little stack near the REM/Commodore border, currently sniffing just inside REMs territory. If there is an attack opportunity in an hour when the turn flips, I'll take it, but that stack may need to run home to defend Outlaw instead.

Realistically, the rest of the continent probably needs to be prepared for REM to have 40 cities and Pyramids shortly.

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

Thanks for the update. Any chance of screenshots showing the battlefield in the near future?

[Elkad]

No screenshots again. Playing before work doesn't leave a lot of time.

REM offered a treaty last turn. I countered with treaty and 150 of his conquest gold. He declined.
It's pretty much a stalemate, as he has shifted some HA back from the front (or diverted new production). Enough I can't win a battle, not enough to beat my stack. My stack near Outlaw is pillaging and staying on hilltops.
West of Raiders I'm standing in my own culture staring at Vladistock 2w. He has a river for defense to worry about, and my stack is injured.
I was considering going around the north end of the river, but it's flat and he has workers in range to road a key tile and allow his HA stack to reach me before I attack. He'd lose the battle, but injure me enough I wouldn't be able to assault Vladistock, and I'm sure he has more reinforcements on the way. Good thing I brought a sentry, or I wouldn't have seen that. It's possible he won't see it either and the workers will go away.

Construction is in, queued about 8 catapults to be whipped next turn, but many of them will have a long walk. Set to HBR, need a turn at 0% for cash. 3t total, then I can stiffen my stacks with a couple jumbos.

And in the back of my mind, taking Peace and racing him to resettle Commodore's land is tempting as well. I'd be strung out all over though. If I could get a longer guarantee, even 20t, I'd take it for sure.

[Elkad]

T126
Nyles declared on me. He'll get 2 cities before I can get my stack over from REM's side of the map. Maybe a 3rd filler, depending if he heads south towards my new cities, or west towards my capital.

This confused me. I've never seen an enemy unit left inside territory on a declaration before. Tried to wound it with my chariot so he couldn't just kill the lone warrior in front of him and take a city, got lucky and won the fight at 20%.




The bigger issue is the fact that REM will likely dogpile me. Oh well, first guy to declare is the one my stack kills, so REM will only get stopped with whatever new production I can come up with.
Which won't stop the 30ish HA REM was pushing around killing Commodore.

[GermanJoey]

Interesting about that chariot. I think I can comment on what happened since you were able to kill it. I believe the sequence of events was: 1.) on the turn before he declared, he moved the chariot onto a neutral tile between your cities, then 2.) he declared war, 3.) your culture expanded.

Sorry to hear about your troubles though... good luck in your war.

[Elkad]

Upon checking again, it's a display bug.
I don't actually have any culture in that tile.




Incidentally, I logged in after REM played to take this shot. No war dec yet.
He's dumped a couple hundred EP on me in the last few turns, so should have visibility in Outlaw. Which means he knows my stack isn't in the city any more.
Whether he's not attacking or positioning troops (and giving me more time to get mine farther away) is unknown.

[Elkad]

T127, Nyles takes Hunter. I left 3 spears and a couple archers there, only got 2 kills.
Stack in Hunter



Leftovers behind it.



T128. REM is positioning troops to take Outlaw. I expect he'll declare this turn.
I've got a total of 7 units (3 spears (including stripping the 2 from Explorers and Guardsman), 2HA, Chariot, Axe) that can be there next turn, vs 13HA, 4 chariots, and a morale Axe. Not enough.
My troops I pulled from there are too far away to make it, so they will continue to stop Nyles. I should be able to beat him, but depending what he does, maybe not in time to loop back and save my capital.




Crossbows next turn, but no cash to upgrade archers, so they will be too late.

[Elkad]

T129

As expected, REM declared.
Since my stack is east, he could split his troops all over.
I'll lose Explorers, Outlaw, Priest-Kings, Guardsman to him next turn, and more the following.

[Elkad]

REM now has most of my land. Nyles has none. His total accomplishment was drawing my troops away from REM's side of the map (giving REM 15 more cities) and burning my capital (with Academy). The capital was my own mistake. He had a galley in range, I didn't see it until after I pulled all but one defender out of it.

Nyles offered me peace. I declined, it's too late to matter. Plako has declared on him, so I might as well keep the pressure on.
Killed 7 more of Nyles' units, at a cost of 4 of my own. His stack is now five badly wounded units. Mine isn't much better, and all my other cities have 1-3 units in them.

Also picked off some REM units that were exposed. Trying not to just give away my land to be fair to others, but the conclusion is foregone. I'll cost REM a few units and turns, but I can't stop him. My mountain of REM-stopping spears had a hard time killing Nyles' swords & crossbows, there aren't many left

[Elkad]

Well that was fun.