[SPOILERS] naufragar, Charriu, and Zalson's Threepenny Opera

[naufragar]

No time for an update. Commodore moved one unit out of his fleet. It was a CR2 Great General'ed Axe.



No clue. Don't ask me. I've used the knight to destroy the fort. There was a longbow and a couple archers in the city, but there was a galleon close enough to reinforce, so we'll see if Rusten brings units to kill the knight. I have no idea what Comm was doing with the solitary axe. Plus, don't generals get free upgrades? Why is that not a mace?

[Charriu]

What promos are on the general? If it's a medic he may want to leave it weak so that it is not the top defender.

[naufragar]

What promos are on the general? If it's a medic he may want to leave it weak so that it is not the top defender.

He's got City Raider 2 and Morale, which would be a really nasty unit 100 turns ago. Mysteries upon mysteries.

Rusten reinforced RedDot, so I couldn't harass it.


Forgot to take a pic with the garrison moused over. I think it has something like 3 archers, 1 longbow, 1 musket, 1 mace, 1 pike. Plus 2 frigates and a galleon. I've moved the southern knight to the tile 1E of Rusten's warrior. Will kill it next turn and get that knight his second promo.

After that warrior stops giving Rusten vision out west, maybe I can snipe Jujyfruits. Doubtful, but I'll check it out. If I were on my game, I would've thought to do this the first turn of the war.


Those galleons are unloaded, so I'll need to grab some troops from somewhere.

Comm had moved a frigate down. It was Combat 1 and on the coast, but Rusten won a low odds battle and now will have a double promoted frigate. Rough.


That fight (or others that I couldn't see) got Rusten a Great General in Marine Biologist. I don't think he can have any commando units yet, but I must worry about Morale shenanigans.

[naufragar]

Rusten deleted his warrior, so no XP for me.



Rusten has lifted his blockade, and Commodore could escape if he knew there's a fort to flee to.


That galleon could've picked up troops at a nearby city, so I'm a little wary. Three units shouldn't be enough to threaten any of the islands (unless they are amphibious  ). We'll see where the boat goes. There are no Commodore frigates to my north, but Rusten doesn't know that.

Comm's been taking a few blows.


Plus Rusten continues to play long, involved turns. I'm still waiting for the hammer to fall without losing focus.

[naufragar]

Rusten hasn't pillaged my nets or anything. Wonder if his heart's not in it. I would send a cease fire if I didn't already have boats coming down to peek into Jujyfruits. If that attack fails, maybe we give peace a chance. Here's his wayward galleon.


If it's loaded, he can snipe one but not both clutches of workers. Then we should be able to mop up. I'd be surprised if he does. I never thought I'd see an un-escorted galleon from him again, though, so I don't have navy of my own around to take advantage.

Just so you all know, Rusten and Commodore have many more playgrounds than my island.


I have no reason to think there's a massive war happening in the fog. But you never know.

[naufragar]

[naufragar]

We have "boots on the ground," as the military people say.


Jujyfruit's garrison is 3 archers and a longbow. Rusten has ~650 gold, so he can upgrade. He can also draft muskets. I'll need at least two turns, so that's two muskets. I doubt I take this, but hey, if he has to draft in a city that isn't shipping units to my coast and if he spends his gold on defensive upgrades, I'm happy. Also shown is a Commodore frigate bombarding defenses for fun.

Speaking of, Comm's fleet left.


He didn't retreat to the fort, and I have no clue why. The nasty thought occurred to me that maybe he can't use my forts? If so, um....sorry? It would be odd that foreign troops can police my cities but they can't stay in our forts. Yikes. It's gonna be a bloodbath.

[Zalson]

You can't use forts in neutral territory for ships, I think... so maybe that counts?

[RefSteel]

He can also draft muskets. I'll need at least two turns, so that's two muskets.

You can't draft a city if doing so would take the city below size 5 in base BtS, and RtR increased the requirement so you can't draft yourself below size 6. (Meaning you can't draft a Musket if you're below size 7, and can't draft a Rifle - whose drafting cost was also increased to 2 pop - if you're below size 8.)

The nasty thought occurred to me that maybe he can't use my forts?

It's been a long time since I tested this, but I'm pretty sure it's correct. Zalson is definitely right that forts don't provide canals in neutral terriotry, and I'm pretty sure the rule is that they only work for the player who controls their tile culturally.

[naufragar]

Thanks, Zalson. Boy do I feel foolish. And thanks Ref; I guess now everyone knows how little experience I have with drafting.   Note to self, read patch notes of the mod you're playing!

Opened the turn up to this.


This offer has no benefit for me. It teleports my units away from their siege at Jujyfruits and allows Rusten to re-declare the next turn. If he offered peace, I would have been sorely tempted. As it happened, I didn't offer peace myself. I'm not sure what ten turns of enforced peace buys me, seeing as he hasn't made any aggressive moves. (I mean that his invasion clock might still be ten turns away, in which case all I did was break my siege for nothing.) The rub is that once he does make an aggressive move, I'm not going to ever have enough leverage to bring him to the peace table.

The power graph for reference:


Drafting. It's what's for dinner. Rusten's looking good.

He's taken a slight crop hit from drafting, but nothing serious:



Commodore's fleet seems to have escaped. Took about 50% casualties, however.


I don't know what happened to Rusten's frigates. It's possible that he doesn't want to pursue in case Commodore has frigates of his own moving to rendezvous with the galleons.

We started our attack on Jujyfruits, which had gained a longbow on the interturn:


Didn't check the combat log. Think my third catapult got a lucky 28% withdrawal, but can't swear to it. I've got two maces on my galleons, so Jujyfruits is quite dead without reinforcements. Maybe this annoys Rusten and he starts ripping up my nets. (Still not sure why he hasn't. It was like the first thing he did in our earlier war.) So, after the attack, I did have a long hard think about peace. Am I happy giving up three fish tiles and more coastal food to burn Jujyfruits, or should I offer peace? I decided against peace for the reason stated above: I don't know how much better my position will be after ten turns of peace as opposed to the ten upcoming turns. After I raze the city, I'll send a peace offer. (Still puzzled by the ceasefire offer. Makes little sense.)


P.S. After rereading this post, I realize people might wonder why I'm even poking Jujyfruits at all. A couple reasons, none very good. First, it is Babylonian policy that everything on our continent and the adjacent islands is ours by natural right. The fact that these lands are currently held by the most powerful nation in the world does not change that fact. Second, it's an assertion of Babylonian will to fight, which might need demonstrating. The Celts declared war and violated our borders for little gain but at great insult to us. Finally, it's something to do in a game that has long since relegated me to the sidelines.