[SPOILERS] Kurumi & wetbandit serve you Hannibal's Breakfast Cocktail (of Persia)

[Commodore]

So what's the plan, Stan? What's the win path?

[wetbandit]

I'll throw up some pictures tonight.

Finished Corporation (big GNP boost), Steam Power in 3, and then onto Assembly Line. Ditched prior idea of getting MilTrad for Cav because it doesn't appear that WLP is actually heading my way. He is massing his cannons close to that border, but there aren't sizable amounts of his rifles anywhere in the vicinity. Get Infantry, try and carve out a piece of Molach, turtle a bit, then eventually try and take the rest of the Southern half of the continent with more modern things, or more Infantry/Cannon. Amusingly enough, I just now passed Oxy and his horde of horse archers for 5th in power.

Airships are arriving in the far flung reaches for recon. Picket Galleon spotted Retep massing frigates in the far west for an unknown reason. Trying to send some more ships that way as well.

[wetbandit]

Dump:






I don't have enough land to compete long term with the two superpowers and their crazy MFG and GNP.






Molach is at tech and power parity, militarily, so I'd like to get infantry to overwhelm his rifles. This is what I'd like to take, if not all of his land.

In other news, I'll be drafting behind retep on his way to Assembly Line as he'll get there in 2 turns. He's got more frigates, redcoats, and airships in the islands than me as well.

[wetbandit]

So what's the plan, Stan? What's the win path?

Shoot for Peace with Honor?

Situation becomes more grim. I just don't have the land to compete. I should have grabbed more earlier.




Some overview shots:



Backfilling the ice. This has two 2nd ring seafood.






Situation around the islands and home waters. WLP has quite a bit of navy around and garrison force on the finger-shaped island to the north. Retep also has quite a bit of navy in the west.

This brings me to the next "fun" point. I don't think I've ever built A) a drydock and B) an ironclad.



I built the drydocks in a few cities to take advantage of increased production and the XP. Moai city makes a frigate every 2 turns. Moreover, +4xp gets me 2 promo boats out of the chute thanks to CHM (which is really not doing much of anything at this point).

Once Steam Power was researched, I thought an Ironclad or two would make sense in the capital waters because I can make them 4-movers. While their coastal and culture-ocean restriction still stinks, I think that can be mitigated somewhat here with this map.


Sadly resting hopes on a low odds non-scientist for next GA:




I should probably fire the rest of the scientists for non-engineer spots.

[wetbandit]

Maybe it's time for a UN run.




You can see from that shot that my proud wooden navy is about to become hopelessly obsolete. There will be about a 7 turn window between the time destroyers are in the water and I hit combustion.




That MFG is absurd. I really should have got some more land earlier.










Decent shot at 3-man GA in 3 turns...

Here's WLP's stack:




Annoyingly, he is in Free Speech and taking tiles from Belvedere. I am getting 55 extra commerce from Bureau. I have 35 towns (7 in the capital), so while I would get 70 commerce, the fact that Tail is set up with +225% science makes me loathe to switch. I can comfortably run at 70% science.

Also started Wall Street in Sobieski and Pentagon in Grey Goose (Moai).

Tech:






I sold Marble to BXB for some happy resources. BXB has been spreading religion around like crazy and I expect them to finish Sistine. I would hope that this makes them a target for the bigger two players should they threaten with a culture victory.

[wetbandit]

Great Merchant born, which means it's time for Golden Age pictures!




Revolted out of Bureau to Free Speech because I have 40 towns in the empire, I may revolt back before the end of the GA. WLP is in FS and is flipping tiles around Belvedere.

I am considering heading to Democracy for UoS, but I don't know if 2-3 turns just for that detour will be worth it over Representation in the long run.




I'll be able to squeak out one GP by the end of the GA. The obvious downside to NE in the capital is that I want to work all of these tiles.




Standard GA Moai City Shot.




Not that great for a GA.




Heading to Combustion for the metal ships. I think if I do head to Democracy, I may pick up Theology for Theocracy. I'll end up in UoS/Slavery/Theo and then get Artillery.

[wetbandit]

Well that's discouraging, I was planning to revolt into war civics. With talk of ending the game, I think it will be viewed as a response to that.

[wetbandit]

Three turns left of GA, artillery coming in two, revolt on last turn to war civics. I don't know why I stopped settling cities around T170, should have pressed for all of the islands. Island cities generate 9-14 commerce on TRs alone, depending on the distance. Really bad play, to go along with all the other missteps by me in this game.








Oxy wins the game for his thread titles, city names, and keeping up in power with Industrial Era militaries with early Medieval tech.






Molach just finished Railroad and has one machine gun in his border city, along with five rifles and a modicum of cannons/cats. Theoretically, I could take it on the first turn of war with Cav plus Destroyer bombard and Airship strikes. I'd like to preserve as much Cav as possible to exploit any cannons in the field. Molach does not have a developed rail network.

[wetbandit]

Bad weekend to be out of town, this game is going to get complicated. I'll take the pictures, but don't think I'll be able to post them this weekend.

Finished up the GA and generated a GS and GM some turns later riding the benefits from the last gasps of GA pacifism. Got 1700 out of the GM trade mission (went to WLP's capital) and ~2500 beakers towards Biology. I've turned tech off and am using gold to cash-rush units. As may be reported elsewhere, there will be no more pacifism in this game.

I've been planning to invade and take Molach's land. I don't think that it's in my interest to attack either of the top dogs (retep and WLP). First, retep has decent defenses around his islands which would require substantial investment for me to 1) invest in a bigger metal navy; 2) organize logistics for quick invasions and 3) bring a big enough land force to fight through his entrenched land forces. These cities are quite far away from me and are somewhat closer to him and his power base. I don't think that any attack will affect his strength.

I don't wish to attack WLP as that would draw his focus away from retep or, at the very least, competing with retep over The Tyrant's land. WLP is forced to play kingmaker or World Policeman, and as a third place party, I'm gambling that he will choose to balance against retep rather than me.

Now in warring civics, I've been rushing, drafting, and whipping (sparingly on this one) up an army of Infantry, Artillery, and some Cav. I've been stacking on the border with Molach. I'm up to 2nd in soldiers. I've got ~25 Infantry, ~20 Artillery, 3 Cannons, and 17 Cav on the border, with about 8 airships in the area.

The decision to go to war with Molach was made when Oxy declared on his this turn. Molach has left a skeleton force in his border cities to deal with the 65 Knights, 25 muskets, and 50 or so cats coming at him from the east. I will assuredly be able to capture his border city with Cav after airship and destroyer bombardment as he has left only 5-6 Rifles in the city. From there, I will be able to reinforce with my Infantry and Artillery stack. The plan is to also capture his island cities, specifically his southern ice ball's gems, which I do not have.

[wetbandit]

A few helpful lessons were learned recently:

1. Calculate Culture

Molach's control of the tile 1W of Fortitude has impeded my war effort and has, essentially, caused me to lose this war. I have no flexibility to move troops out without losing the city, and I am worried about WLP now massing on my NE border.




Here, I sacrificed 13 Cavalry to attack the Rifle stack guarding 19 cannons and some smaller amount of catapults. I was able to kill all of the siege here.




2. Should have Sent the Cav at Fortitude North




See #5.

3. Careless Moves

See #5. Should have captured the city with one unit, or at least left enough units to defend the weakened stack. Major :smoke

4. Don't Rely on Others

I initially declared due to the war Oxy declared on Molach. Oxy subsequently withdrew his forces and peaced out Molach. Oxy has about 50 Muskets and 90(!) Knights in his territory. Molach has moved essentially all of his forces to my border. There is one (1) praet guarding the WLP border city. WLP has 30 cannons and about 20Rifles/Infantry on my border which, if he desired, could be used to pick off this city which is swamped in his culture.

Molach's ability to concentrate his forces further impeded my progress.

5. War Turns while Sleep-Deprived in Las Vegas Increase Difficulty

I won't claim that I am a master tactician, but even the most novice chess players perform better on more than 3 hours of sleep. I didn't think it was fair to ask for a pause for the weekend, but maybe I could have got away with a day considering this is the most significant part of the game, for me, in some time.

Results: I offered peace for Fortitude, the only major city I captured. I fear WLP's stack of Cannons and troops on my border, so we're back to a stalemate. He can also build tanks, which if you're not aware, are 28 strength and have 2 movement. He's also teching artillery so I won't be able to flank away most of his siege.

Well, this was fun, I've managed to put myself in a worse position.

other junk: