T211 - Commodore hath again blessed the world with war and (surely) the attempted ruination of the Zulu state.
I'm not sure what he amphibiously attacked with from the two galleons (including the 6 mover Regoarrarr's Flotilla) but there is currently only a catapult on the ground. Unless the Zulu have two movers in the area, and I don't think they do, they can't even hit the catapult without risking emptying the city. That mace is too wounded to attack.
Now, I've obviously been asleep at the switch in this area and should have had units loaded onto my carracks in port in case an opportunity arose. But I've been so paranoid about having to constantly repel an invasion that I didn't spare units from their defensive position in Mad Fish. With Commodore attacking, though, I assume the Zulu will have more interest in assuring their survival than in attacking me at the moment (maybe not a safe assumption, as a wounded beast is a dangerous thing). Anyway I've loaded an inconsequential force onto the three carracks inside Mad Fish, which the Zulu will no doubt notice as they disappear from my defensive stack in the city.
So if I attack, what can I hope to gain from a war with Zulu now? I'm going to guess that I'd only be able to safely claim back my own previous holdings, so Qdoba here and then the island city to the east, south of One Fish. However, my navy cannot compete against the Zulu's (as long as Commdore doesn't kill their sea power, and I don't know if he's in a position to do that or not right now) so taking any island cities would be damn precarious to hold. Then there's the matter of Serdoa and his massive army of (presumably) cuirassiers. If I declare on the Zulu and give an indication that my attention is down there, Serdoa may take that as an invitation to try my defenses in the north. Now is not a convenient time for that, for me, since I'm beginning a five turn run at Gunpowder, which should very temporarily make me a bit safer. At least until these guys all tech Rifling soon. Muskets aren't great but PRO muskets are still a pain in the ass to kill inside cities. Serdoa, I'm not tasty enough, leave me alone.
So, back to the matter at hand...to attack the Zulu or not? If Commodore is making a real invasion here and isn't just out for a crime of opportunity, I'd rather not risk drawing his ire by taking or razing cities he's gunning for. If he can sweep aside the Zulu's defenders he can probably do the same to mine. With all his land and economy I have to assume he's close to an era ahead of my in military tech by now. I don't plan to rattle the bear's cage unnecessarily. So I'm stuck in a bit of a passive situation. So which plan, attacking or not attacking, suits my game goals best? (And what are those anyway???)
I'm not winning this game, obviously, I suck, these guys are good, and they've all done better than I have in this game leading to the current positions we're all in. So I can't win. But what can I do? I can try to survive, and see how long I can hold out (survival isn't the
worst goal ever, even though many lurkers would probably prefer I attack out and die in a blaze of glorious battle and death). This game is like playing a SP games where Sitting Bull is woefully behind the leading civs who are out conquering the globe, but even though Sitting Bull is defending with LBs and trash he has so many of them that conquest would take too long to be worth it. That's kind of what I'm going for here. I don't want it to be worth it to attack me. I really don't have a better strategy than that, in my plan to survive. The ship sailed long ago on having enough tiles to compete based upon tech and economy, so winning is right out. So what's next? Finish as well as possible? That means living as long as possible. (Lurkers are closing this thread and moving on in droves right now, because this boring shit isn't what you guys signed up for!)
So enough of all that...back to the current turn. I have units loaded up in a few boats in case I change my mind next turn and want to interfere in Commodore's fun, if I end up acting aggressive I'll probably just burn whatever I capture and hope I can help the Zulu die. It would serve them right for attacking me earlier. Since I don't have the navy to support and protect island cities at this point in the game, burning them would be a good alternative since it would at least hurt the Zulu.
In a fairly useless wide empire shot you can see some of what visibility I have on the map right now:
I have a pair of units in Plako's land to my northeast waiting to get an early glimpse of a future invasion force. I'm shadowing one of his caravels out in the eastern sea, too, mostly just patrolling those waters looking for an armada. I have a pair of carracks with a chariot each on them to the E of Starbucks (Nakor's final city location), those guys were keeping an eye on the Slowcheetah/Zulu war but are being sent home now. I probably should have kept one of those carracks near the bulk of the Zulu fleet but I lost contact somewhere along the way during peace time double moves/turn order. I'll probably look around for them next turn some more, but I'm also tempted to bring those boats back to my shores since I'm so lacking in naval power. I just finished Moai in Red Fish and it would be a pain in the ass if I got blockaded just as soon as I start to get some benefit from the statues.
As usual I'm building military everywhere. Longbows, catapults, and I finally whipped the no food city of Mad Fish to overflow from the crossbow that has been building there since time immemorial. I'll overflow to (something military) next turn.
Current power graph:
I'm still sixth in power. My unit costs are ridiculously high paying for all this obsolete trash I'm defending with. Economy fail! But I'm still alive.
Saddest news of the turn: I'm running 100% science on Gunpowder which I assume almost everyone has to have by now. And I'm still last in GNP.
Go get 'em Commodore, I'm rooting for you! I don't really care who wins the game but since the Zulu attacked me they may as well be punished!
![[Image: HaloGangnamStyle.gif]](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/44346970/HaloGangnamStyle.gif)
In news of games I'm winning...the family can't hang in Halo. Undefeated so far in two nights of carnage. Guys, you really should work together or it's never going to work! 
I just got through writing an essay about how it was probably a terrible idea to do that anyway, but now I regret having missed the opportunity. Razing someone's size 16 Moai city at zero cost (well, there would be fallout I'm sure...!) is a bad opportunity to miss. But who knows, maybe it isn't over. Maybe Commodore is committed to a real attack, not just taking potshots here.
