[Spoilers] Commodore as Darius of the HRE

[Commodore]

Turn 149, which means war horns are one more turn away. I have a couple nice punches due to hit him the first time, then it's battleship-pumping time. First of all, what's with this whole "pre-build a fort" thing? Why not insta-build?



These guys are going to spring a hopefully surprise fort for the weaker of the two punches, Force Rivendell. I had to really scrape the bottom of the barrel for this set, but it might well be enough.



This is what's currently in-town. I have a couple clean-up knights in range too, which with an airship or two should see him gone if he doesn't cover himself.



Raze only, naturally, for both of these attacks, because he's now got tanks on rails.



The bigger main punch is pretty sure to get into the target if he doesn't pour literally everything into this target city. Depressingly, I think he's just written off Dol Amroth, this is its pitiful garrison:



And this is my attacking force. I guess I could hold the place if the borders advance enough to ensure he cannot one-move the place with infantry/marines, but we'll have to see how that works.



Demos again. Still in second, but I think my second place is firmer. Hey, I now have more than 50% of Mali's soldiers!



They have to play a heck of a huge zone defense though. The hub is locked down tight, and once they have rail lines up I expect them to advance overland to me or Egypt. Note the knight...neither of us have Military Tradition, which makes for some funny anachronisms.



Their French holdings are more lightly-held than their mainlands, but note the lurking transports. Nothing on the outer-sea coasts will be held as long as that sea is controlled.



Yuri is less noticed now that Luddite and Seven Spirits are in a grapple. He's a little prickly too, I wouldn't want to invade that. Sadly, there's not a lot he can do to project his strength.



Next turn: Turn 150 Review. War Report. All live, all the time on Commodore's Thread...now with battleships!

[Ceiliazul]

Can't wait!

...I haven't heard you talk much about defense, other than Zingara. Are you figuring on breaking even blow-for-blow on city burning counts?

[Commodore]

Can't wait!

...I haven't heard you talk much about defense, other than Zingara. Are you figuring on breaking even blow-for-blow on city burning counts?

My defense is pretty good, core-wise. I have enough infantry in every outer-coast city to stop a single transport-load of marines from taking them out. The difficulty, of course, is that any determined push with their major battleship stack atop their transports will get through. I want to be less of a threat right now, which is why I'm happy about them watching my still unplatformed oil. I need to push out a solid battleship stack in my inner sea and try to command that area before pushing out.

I figure I'll break even at first, which is what Luddite is managing. We'll just have to see how many lost cities their economy can take before it starts dampening their ability to pump units. Chances are not great, in my estimation. Ah well, newbie game, right? For everyone not Seven Spirits.

[Commodore]

Well, I shouldn't have declared war, but here's where we're at. I expect to take some pretty bad losses next turn, but we'll have to see. Dol Amroth is pretty bloody reinforced.



I bombed it with airships and wounded a few machine guns with my marines, and then landed an annoyance pitance on his hill. I expect this will soon be gone, but it's no major deal, I'll slink back momentarily.



Rivendell was far more tempting, but I simmed the battle...I came close, but thanks to Mr. Bloody idiot here (me) not playing a lot of industrial, I didn't notice my knights couldn't make it there until I loaded the sim.



Ah, well, here's a more interesting outside-shot. I landed my infantry and moved in a cannon stack, hopefully looking like that was the full galleon-load. Meanwhile, on the second galleon (the empty promoted to CI to be stack defender), I'm keeping the three marines inside the boats. If he has another attack ship I'm screwed, and more's the pity, but if not I have an outside chance of springing a mild surprise next turn.



A second surprise is coming from Yuri, who'll be gifting me a raft of cavs/cannon as he stands down for a 10-turn peace treaty. Seven, fortunately, has zero reason to complain about unit gifting in the midst of peace.



Okay, so, it's more or less a stall in all things, don't get me wrong. My immediately-regretted moves above is going to nerf my offensive capabilities for a while and it's going to be zone defense for some time now. Still, gotta love my (gold-saving!) demos. First in population! Not that that means anything.



I'm thinking now...bee-line Radio, Mass Media, rely on Yuri and Luddite's disgust for Seven Spirits to hand me the diplomatic win.

[Ceiliazul]

I'm thinking now...bee-line Radio, Mass Media, rely on Yuri and Luddite's disgust for Seven Spirits to hand me the diplomatic win.

That's not a bad idea, actually. but with yuri out of the battle, Mali can turn up the heat on both remaining opponents.

[Mr. Nice Guy]

I'm thinking now...bee-line Radio, Mass Media, rely on Yuri and Luddite's disgust for Seven Spirits to hand me the diplomatic win.

Sounds like something I can root for Good luck on the execution!

[Commodore]

Sounds like something I can root for Good luck on the execution!

Thanks! As you can see in the UN thread, the propaganda campaign is rolling. It's going to be hard, but I'm at least not going to die in the next ten turns, which is when Mali can start eating Yuri again. Luddite might not be that long for the world.



Sigh, darn it. My best chance would have been if GES had stayed in command of Egypt...the galleon incident pissed him off enough that he would have abandoned borders to my conquering armies to pile everything again Seven. For reference, this is in the end what I did get from all that stuff, a nice city and a huge help in this mercantilism world, but not all that impressive.



So there was an extra ship to kill my second galleon at Rivendell, and thus, I have not enough to kill the city. I retreated the remaining cannon into my territory, hopefully to at least expose anything trying to kill them.



My core is spending one more turn saving gold/building defenders and it's then hell-for-leather for the UN. Aquilonia is amassing a big overflow to ensure maximal hammers into the wonder the turn I can start it.



In the relatively safe Lake Hyboria, my galleon stack is refilling with marines, enough to crush anything landing in most places, and possibly to potshot something Seven leaves open (doubtful).



IF: ELSE, defend. Zingara's garrison needs a little more umph.



Bosonian Mark, on a hill but with soon zero cultural defenses, will soon be popped like a pimple. Little do they know my Moai city is not a very old or rich holding.



On the Mali side, Dol Amroth ain't getting rocked, not with everything piled in there like that.



Likewise, Rivendell is pretty bloody secure. Good thing all these cities are my designated crumple zone...because if they keep amassing stacks like that, crap's about to crumble.



Already my demos show the pillaging and burning going on around my coasts. The good news is, my core is strong enough to keep researching radio/mass media at a reasonable rate.



Its not pictured, but I got a low-odds artist from Zamora...I briefly entertained the idea of pushing another and making a legendary city, but sadly you need more than one of those things to win. Radio is his bulb, so I'll be expending him for maximum overflow once Radio is 1-turn away. Boy that's a tiny ghost of a chance, though. It's killing me to have to keep huge garrisons in every coastal city. 3 Battleships next turn, though.

[regoarrarr]

I'm thinking now...bee-line Radio, Mass Media, rely on Yuri and Luddite's disgust for Seven Spirits to hand me the diplomatic win.

What is Seven's population? Seems like with all the city razing going on he'd have enough to block any votes

[Commodore]

What is Seven's population? Seems like with all the city razing going on he'd have enough to block any votes

Hrm, good question, what's the threshold? Interestingly enough I do have top population now.

[Commodore]

So, uh...no answer on the UN victory thresholds for their blocking? Because things do not look good for Homestar Runner.



No excuse for that one, I just missed the galleon. I had a pair of rifles in there I could have cheaply upgraded to infantry, too. I at least quickly upgraded nearby Xapur's garrison, and if I can scrape up something fast I think I can get enough marines to retake it quickly. My other battles went largely well, excepting the big "ouch" of losing a coinflip battleship fight.



The great general went to my cavalry stack, which contained two too many cavs to be a great move. Bleh, more will be coming soon.



That stack is where it is to both cover southeast France and also threaten Nurn, which saw some good cavalry skirmishing, cutting its garrison in half. He'll reinforce, naturally, but delay is good...assuming, of course, the whole cockamamie U.N. plan is even doable.



In my hungry, hungry core the naval actions continue. With any luck Seven will pull back that mauled stack north of Bossonian Mark, with its truly annoying CIII battlewagon escaping destruction. If not, that sucker is gone next turn. Or, um, he could just stack more on top of it.



I think I have his attention, at least. He's piling huge garrisons in the culturally knocked-back Dol Amroth. I expect to lose Cimmera next turn to amphibious assault, but he's got to respect similar threats from my still unmolested galleon stack. The safety of Lake Hyboria is critical to holding off these fellers.



I kind of hope he lands a massive stack wherever the core breakthrough is. I have enough cannon to make that an instantly-regretted decision. Also, see Great Artist. He's waiting for his bulb moment, which will be just before Radio is finished.



Still researching at a fine clip, although a glance at yonder MFG numbers will show why I'd have been a fool to try and "catch up" in peace. Hah, yeah, that's not going to happen, not with 100% more land churning out 100% more stuff.



Let's see what next turn brings. I wonder if poking in the UN thread will have Seven step back a bit in running poor Ranamar's empire. It's doubtful, but hey, we're living on faint hopes at the moment.