[SPOILER] Kyan + thestick. Is that the best you can do?

[thestick]

In domestic news, Juno was settled on the northern islands:



Fish will be netted next turn, and the Worker is already chopping the forest.

In foreign news, Shoot the Moon declared war on TheMusicMan.

SevenSpirits is marching on Nakor's capital:
[spoiler]

[thestick]

On the last turn of the Golden Age, I swapped to Nationhood/Slavery/Theocracy. Mercantilism seemed like a bad idea since I'm getting money off of trade routes. I burnt my cash into Engineering, since I'll definitely need the extra road movement. It looks like Rifling comes in in 2-3 turns, depending on if my cash runs out. Note to self: pump Galleys and Triremes out of Ceres for Nakor's islands.

TheMusicMan lost two more cities. Nakor lost his capital. At this rate, there won't be anything left to take. ad hoc currently has a monopoly on the continent's supply of jungle resources.

Another option is a naval invasion of the central islands to acquire some Fur and Silver... no one has Optics so Caravels will be fine for ships...

Not quite sure what's after Rifling. Current thinking is Military Traditions for Cavalry, then heading for Chemistry, Steel, and Communism. Or maybe Constitution for Mercantilism/Representation... Free Market doesn't seem so good anymore, since I'm running out of foreign cities to draw trade routes to.

[thestick]

...I'll make this brief.

SevenSpirits declared war on me and is invading. Hi'iaka's doomed, so I decided to use my 3 units per turn of draft elsewhere. Rifling comes in 2 turns.

He has a stack of 18 Cuirs 2 Knights ready to hit Pluto in 2 turns. I half-hope he'll use some of those to attack Hi'iaka (I have more defenders than he has attackers outside of that stack), but I doubt that'll happen. I should have 1 Rifle 8 or so Muskets 1 Pike and a handful of Cats in Pluto by the time he attacks. Next turn I'll whip Muskets that will auto-upgrade to Rifles.

If he bypasses Pluto and heads for Nix, that gives me more time to amass Rifles, plus forces from Pluto can hit his stack. Hope that'll be enough...

If for some reason I don't have the cash to complete Rifling, I'll pop the Golden Age. If that doesn't work, oh well.

[thestick]

Just realized I forgot to promote my defenders in Hi'iaka

[thestick]

Quickly, Rifling came in. I whipped a bunch of Muskets that autoupgraded to Rifles, so now I have 7 of them, including ones in Pluto and Hi'iaka. SevenSpirits spent last turn bombarding down Hi'iaka's defences. I don't think Hi'iaka will next turn unless Seven turns his superstack of Cuirssairs around. At Pluto I have 1 Rifle 8 Muskets and other outdated junk, which I'm hoping will be enough on a 85% defence city (60% culture and on a hill).

Best case scenario would be Seven realizing that suiciding Cuirs into my Rifles is a bad idea and retreating, but I doubt that'll happen. Second-worst case would Seven running towards Nix, as my Muskets can't easily get odds attacking his Cuirs. Worst case scenario would be that Pluto doesn't hold, then Seven can just turn his stack around and take Hi'iaka.

[Qgqqqqq]

Good luck!
Does he have collateral (and if not, what are his odds)?

[thestick]

Well, I lost. Seven took Charon (should've suicided another Worker to get visibility last turn instead of two turns ago...) and with it, the Colossus and at least 25% of my economy. He turned his stack on Nix, and Hi'iaka was going to be captured next turn. Seven offered peace for Hi'iaka, which I accepted.

He had 3 Trebs at Hi'iaka.

Yes, I didn't seriously consider what would happen if Seven attacked before Rifling and yes, I overestimated how much of a defence I could pull out in a turn or two. And yes, I definitely farmers gambitted too hard.

I'm storing up cash, not quite sure what to spend it on. Nothing left to do now but draft and take some of Nakor's cities, then draft more when ad hoc comes knocking in 10 turns. Nakor has Chemistry but not Military Science, so only Muskets from him. I'll concede, but it seems like a tossup between ad hoc and Shoot.

[thestick]

dont have enoigg forces to crack nakors cities. postponing attack, plus ad hoc will get there first. next plan, build swarms of.junk to take back twiddlefilm (charon). colossus, i need it.

[thestick]

Pretty much given up on any chance of winning. Still drafting Riflemen, still 4th in Power. ad hoc's still taking cities off of Nakor. My economy's still in workable condition, though. I hit Military Science to unlock Grenadiers. A Great Engineer comes out of Makemake in 8 turns; I'm thinking of heading up to Democracy to whack down the Statue of Liberty.

[thestick]

SevenSpirits is about to completely eat up Nakor, while Shoot the Moon is eating up TheMusicMan and Sian. New plan: Astronomy. No one has Compass, much less Optics. I'd like to claim those island cities to get Silver and Furs, and Sian doesn't have Rifling or Military Science yet.