[Spoilers] Grotsnot massively inflates his own View count

[Grotsnot]

Well, let's be honest, I'm pretty soundly beaten at this point. But thanks

Japan will never be relevant again as anything more than a pawn but if I'm not the first eliminated I'll be extremely happy. One of my principle goals for my first game was to at least NOT decide the game by dying. Which is a surprisingly tall order when you start next to Rome after passing on the Aztecs Without BC Freedom I'm pretty sure I would have failed that objective with a big ol' Roman snowball. But I've clung on long enough for Greece and Russia to dogpile on the leader so, while I'm sure Alhambram is upset with me, at least I'm making things a little more interesting

[Grotsnot]

Past turn 80!




The Romans have come down out of the hinterlands to attack again:



They shredded my walls and offer the same peace-for-Gypsum as before. Sorry, no, my demands remain the same. Try counter-offering in that direction and I might accept the return of only one city. But take this crap somewhere else. You're at war with Greece and Rome, if you want me to let you out of occupation you gotta give me something other than petty scraps.


(one potentially complicating factor is that since Saunders & Ooarai have Iron and Gypsum, the deal screen automatically includes those in the demand. Kind of interesting informationally but makes AI diplo trickier.)

Have at you! He can kill my archer if he wants to but it brings the Legion in range of the Encampment and gives the city proper a bit of a reprieve. I'm *pretty sure* I can survive enough hits to the city to finish at least one off... hopefully can do enough defensive damage to chase them off

[Banzailizard]

Any idea how many units Russia has?  The legions can probably hold off Greece if Russia is not seriously committing. This is sort of an interesting turn of events diplomatically as previously warmongers were not so quickly punished.  I think in PBEM 8 or 9 when the Archduke was the Mongols, he managed to pick off players one by one with very little intervention.  You could rename your city after Hiroo Onoda.

[Grotsnot]

Hmm, not sure offhand. I've had CQUI off for the past couple dozen turns because it breaks the Vikings scenario, so will have to reload the EOT save and check the Domination comparison. I've only seen one warrior of theirs but we're on opposite sides of Rome (presumably) so that's to be expected.

[Grotsnot]

We'll keep muddling through but I don't expect this civ to see 2019.

Welcome to 2019, everybody. We're as good as dead but still shambling along
For a nice little milestone, we've been huddled around BC Freedom long enough now for our Trader to finish his route and set up a trading post. We send him back to SSUUTB for more gold and beakers. I was tempted to swap to Aybabtu (AYBABTU?) for the cog, but considering we're nowhere near secure and putting together another refugee band, the flexibility of money is more valuable right now.


Also, we're getting close to paying off those loans I don't think anyone expected me to survive long enough to do so at the time


(subtract 5 from those turn timers because...)

Let's see... the 80s have come to a close, with turn 89 played this morning. Been an unsettlingly quiet few turns. We somehow eliminated Rome's expeditionary force, killing a pair of Legions, a Ram, and sending Hannibal back home. And didn't even lose my Swordsman in the process  

I'm kind of wondering if Alhambram wanted Hannibal back on the home front but losing a ram and a legion as bait to do so seems an awfully high price. Probably just impatient or underestimated the Sword?







Afterwards our Sword has to hang around home to heal. The Archer stays home too since there's no value to sending such a weak unit out on its own. Especially with Laozi doing our exploring. He finds a bunch of Greek troops, and the fog shows Saunders get injured, but it looks like Rome brought up some Crossbows to chase them off. Here's hoping Greece stays in the fight for my obvious selfish reasons, but I couldn't really fault them for calling it quits. I should check the demographics again, been lazy about that lately due to consistent morning turns and my general lack of relevance. Hoping they got their troops out of there and they're somewhere in that foggy region between Saunders and CATS. No idea whatsoever how the Russian front is doing. Rome has not taken or lost any cities, at any rate (at least as of a turn or two ago, I forget exactly when I checked last )









I have some power comparisons uploaded, and scores, but it's from back on T84. I'll make sure to get updated data for the big T90 Spoilered for space  

This morning (T89) the Settler is completed!


Unsure if the Sword will escort them further than the coast... Had a few cogs already invested in another Sword so I pick that build up again. I was going to repair my defenses but, with the policy card, the two take about the same time and I'm pretty sure a Sword is more valuable. Just look how well the wall did last time

Also, Shipbuilding is nearly finished and will be done in time for our new Settler to take to the seas and pray to any gods that will listen that there's an island out there somewhere. It's shit odds to pin everything on - but then so is sticking around waiting for the Romans to return (or the Greeks to reprimand Rome and then flip on me). It's a bet that's gonna take a long time to pay off, likely too long, but I still think it's my best shot at getting somewhere I don't need to live in constant fear of extinction. I'll never be a relevant power but if I can splash around in the kiddie pool long enough to not be the first eliminated, I'll consider that a win

Speaking of: with Hannibal regrouping in the east, any bets on whether we survive to T100?

[Grotsnot]

Speaking of: with Hannibal regrouping in the east, any bets on whether we survive to T100?  

Ha. Hahaha. Not a chance.






On the plus side we have Shipbuilding now. Not gonna have enough time to settle any islands, though



I give it 3 turns to demise. Mayyybe 4 if Rome moves their Legion suboptimally.

[suboptimal]

If it was me it'd be 5 or 6 turns...

[Grotsnot]

Anyway, god dammit, there's a landmass right there. And I might be dead this frigging turn.



Our Swordsman bravely (and futilely) sallies out to distract the crossbows. Attempting to buy time for the Settler (but won't succeed, there are so many )

[Grotsnot]

Time to live: 8-12 hours


Been a good run, folks, and far longer than it deserved to be o7

[TheArchduke]

Damn. 3 more turns and you could have created a pirate republic!