Out on the Rim [Mr. Cairo spoilers]

[Mr. Cairo]

Superdeath offered peace, asking for 50 gold. I seriously considered it, it would give me time to get to Grens, but then I re-checked civstats and saw that OH took another 2 of SD's cities, and panning around the minimap with the diplo window open I saw that they were mainland cities. So, I decided not to accept the offer. Next turn I'll move on another of his cities, he looks to have pulled a lot of the garrisons out, so ther's only a single Rifle there, and Oh has kindly bombarded the defenses down with Frigates.

On the other end of the world, I am growing concerned over Gavagai. He's very nearly finished up Superjm (with help from Krill burning some of Superjm's cities), and it's looking like the game wont end any more, with OH now replacing Krill as the main rival, and one who is still actually interested in playing. That means that I'm the only logical target of Gav's after Superjm is finished up (OH is too far away, and Krill is still too powerful and Gav doesn't want to wake him up anyway). I have city visibility on Gav so I'm carefully watching for movement towards me every turn, and so far not a lot is happening, a couple Galleons and one Rifle vaguely heading towards me. But for the most part everything is still staying up in Roman lands, so I don't think I have to worry too much just yet. Nevertheless, I've decided to keep my reinforcements for the SD campaign at home until they're gathered in enough numbers to be taken over in my fleet all at once (instead of piecemeal as I've been doing until now). That way, if Gav does look like he's going to attack I'll have an actual force at home to defend, and if he isn't I can still send them over and maybe land somewhere poorly defended.

I also have a pair of Great Generals I don't know what to do with, I'll probably use them to give Nav 1 to some Caravels for some 4-move sneak attack boats.

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

Where is your Heroic Epic city? Which civics are you running? Is it worth it to be able to get an extra 4xp on a unit every turn (or 3 units every 4, etc.)?

[Mr. Cairo]

I'm building it in my moai city, it's got the most hammers, and I want to use it for churning out ships. I've thought about settling them there, but I'm not sure. I'll have think next time I'm in-game and I'll post some pics as well. I'm running theocracy and vassalage, so I get lots of xp as it is, but I don't think I'm at all close to commandos, and if Gav attacks I'd rather save the GG's for sprinkling xp among the units I already have

[Mr. Cairo]

Here's where I'm building my HE:


And I think I will settle both the GGs here, eventually. With 3 GGs, Vassalage, and Theocracy, I can get Nav 2 ships from here. Which seem like they'll be pretty useful. I'm not close to another GG, but I am IMP so it's not like I'm far away either. I'm going to take another SD's cities next turn; it's got 1 Rifle in it, and the only other units in range are some Catapults that look to have been recently built (or he has a bunch of Rifles and stuff somewhere my Sentry HA can't see and I'm about to lose a bunch more units) so it should fall next turn. SD looks to have struck back against OH this turn, time will tell if OH retakes them when he plays this turn. Hopefully SD used up the last of his strength retaking them. And hopefully OH doesn't decide to give up the attack, letting SD focus entirely on me. I'd just evacuate if that becomes the case.

[Mr. Cairo]

I thought I took a screenshot, but apparently not, and I can't be bothered to log back in to retake it.

In any case, SD looks to have given up trying to fight OH and is instead sending everything towards me. ~ 16 Catapults and close to 20 Rifles heading my way. So, I'll probably end up having to retreat all the way back to my first city in SD land, Phyrexia. The latest acquisition, Carthage, is still in resistance, and once he takes that back his culture will let him move on Modern Masters without leaving himself vulnerable to a counter-attack. If it looks like I wont get a chance to hit his stack, I'll have to pull out of SD-land altogether, in a somewhat ignominious retreat, leaving all the rest for OH to take. OH sent me a Pig-Deer offer, I don't know why, or what he was trying to say, but I accepted it anyway. I'm teching towards Grens, with Astro after that. It doesn't look as though I'll be able to grab anything more from SD, so I guess my focus will be on defending against a potential attack from Gav? Not as exciting as attacking SD, but whatever.

[Mr. Cairo]

Carthage retaken by SD, but I can't figure out the placement of his stack:


I had assumed he'd move it to attack Modern Masters next turn from a position where I couldn't hit it with my stuff. But from there it can't go anywhere towards me without exposing itself. So I don't know. I've placed my stack such that it can hit any tile on out border, where the workers are on that screenshot.

I'm no longer interested in conquest here. Gavagai is moving yet more Cannons and Rifles built in his core towards me, and a bunch of the Rifles he was conquering Superjm with have vanished from sight while several Galleons in that area are moving South. He's also gathered into a pretty hefty stack all the Frigates and Privateers near my border. All told, I'm now super paranoid, and expecting an attack fairly soon. I might even evacuate from SD-land without a fight if it comes to it. I send SD a peace offer, doubt he'd take it. He's obviously not interested in focusing on OH, which I can understand. But, it's worth a shot.

Ideally I'd like ~50 Catapults and ~50 Muskets to oppose any landing by Gav, but idk if I'll manage to get that much by the time he attacks.

[Mr. Cairo]

OH sure is a nice guy:

That's all of SD's forces in Carthage that OH has just prevented from attacking Modern Masters next turn.
I could have done the same, not sure if I have the wherewithal to have thought of it at this stage of the game.

Gav swapped to Police State a little while ago and more and more units are heading my way and he's been putting EP into me for the last few turns, so I'm now 100% convinced he's going to attack me soon. So, depending on what happens over the next couple of turns I may just run away from SD-land altogether.

[Mr. Cairo]

Ffs, let the turn roll on krill. It's not as though it would make much of a difference

[Mr. Cairo]

Heh heh, and OH has come by to help once again:


SD must have taken that hill with 3 Rifles covering 1 worker. IDK why only 1 worker, but whatever. OH landed and killed two of the Rifles with Grens. Leaving me the injured one that killed the CKN. I didn't want to waste Muskets killing it so I sacrificed 2 War Elephants to injure it enough that a Guerrilla 2 Musket could kill it and retreat.

It's almost like OH wants me to get the rest of SD's cities. It's too bad I can't afford to send more units over there, I'm not sure if the army I have there atm is strong enough, unless OH begins to attack cities leaving only 1 unit in them for me to end up taking. Which seems a little like city gifting so would probably be frowned upon at the very least

2 turns from Mil Science, then at least some turns of cash to spend on upgrades before I go for Astro. Yet more of Gavs units heading my way and an increase in EP spending on me.

[Mr. Cairo]

Here comes Gavagai:


It looks like he's going after Remy. The question is whether he tries to keep it. It's a very nice city, but at this point he might be more interested in just burning it rather than giving me the chance to take it back.

Here's what I have right now to fight an invasion:



If he lands 27 Rifles within range of this stack I think I can kill it, but it would take most if not all of my Catapults. I was watching his invasion of superjm and he promoted his Rifles up the Drill line, so that's problematic for my army, as it's relying on the Catapults to allow my Muskets to actually do damage. I do have more units on the way, including my armies from SD's land, which I am giving up on.

I also asked OH for a 'loan' for more Gren upgrades. Hopefully he see's me pulling out of SD-land and whipping heavily and realises what's going on. Helping me fight Gav is clearly in his best interests.