[Spoilers] All rho21s lead to Rome

[rho21]

Of the three Greek units that assisted in the battle for Arausio, two are hanging around conspicuously on my borders, the other is scouting towards my core. They're definitely no longer interested in helping me against the Aztecs, and I'm pretty sure they're going to attack me when they can. Timing for that is about 11 turns. Which makes a good point: this is a pretty pessimal time to ask for peace because both treaties would be ending at about the same time.

The trouble with attacking the Aztecs south of Arausio is that there are two lines of defensive terrain: first the hills running SW from the city, second a large river system (with an encampment under production behind it too). It would be nice to kick them off the hills, but that doesn't really get me very far forwards. I very much doubt I can kill more units than they can produce.

Anyway, assuming my army will still be engaged south of Arausio by the time the Greeks can attack, I need to make sure my defences are prepared for whatever they might bring. I'm planning to chop the walls there in 10 turns. They will only be about half complete before the chop, but hopefully there will be enough overflow to get the encampment fixed up too. That should provide them with a little bit to worry about, though doubtless they'll bring a ram and will quite likely destroy the encampment again with their first strike advantage. Certainly they'll at least knock its walls down.

At around the same sort of time, I could have crossbows researched (delaying apprenticeship again). I'd probably only be able to upgrade one, but that's still a huge improvement to city attack power.

[rho21]

Turn 66

Big news this turn: the Aztecs have retreated behind their river and sent me an offer of peace. I remain sorely tempted to accept just to sort out the occupation problems at Arausio. But you guys are right: I should be using these 10 turns to see how much more ground I can take, and how weak the Aztecs actually are.

They have 224 military strength right now (to my 402). I know they have at least 4 eagle warriors and 2 archers, which comes to 162 of that strength; I suspect they also have a scout somewhere. So that doesn't leave room for more than about 2 more units.

Now that we are allowed to talk again, I can see that they have 58 and are making 10/turn. Before the war they had 151:gold with 7/turn, so they must have been spending a bunch on something!

Score tracking
Not all that much happened this turn: just Germany and Brazil gaining a population each.
I have noticed that last turn the Aztecs started getting 2 great general points per turn and Brazil went from 2 to 4 great scientist points. I'm guessing that both of these are by using the appropriate wildcard policy, but it's possible Brazil has built a couple of libraries.


Military
As mentioned, the Aztecs have fallen back behind their river. I take the opportunity to claim the hills on this side of it for myself and promote the archer by Arausio. Actual attacks can hopefully start again next turn.


Housekeeping
Nothing to report really. Doing a little micro to get walls to the perfect place to chop when builders become available.

[rho21]

Turn 67

Score tracking
Another quiet turn internationally. Brazil gained a couple of population.


Military
The Aztecs have swords. Well, one anyway. I'm not overly concerned for now, just makes it a little more difficult to push them back from their river. The problem they have is that my archers can shoot at their defensive positions, but their archers have nothing to return fire at. The terrain working in my favour for once.

Anyway, I shoot the sword with an archer for 14 damage. Next turn I can hit it with two archers and can possibly do enough damage to force them to think about retreating it.

Here's how things look near Arausio with my forces advancing again:

Off to the SW, my archers are scouting ahead of the second army's advance. One of them has run into an Aztec archer (slightly damaged, perhaps it has been defending against barbarians). Hopefully they will think my archer just a scouting mission rather than the vanguard of a full-blown second attack.

If I'm counting strength correctly, the Aztecs have just one unit I can't currently see.

[rho21]

Turn 68

Score tracking
Brazil built a carnival district.
Germany finished a civic.
Germany, Russia and Greece all grew a population.


Military
Here's how things look in the east:

I'm going to concentrate fire on the sword to try to drive it back. Running the numbers suggests attacking with the better archer first gives a fraction better average damage.

37 v 50 gives 14 damage. Dead minimum, bah.
29 v 49 does 17 damage. Dead maximum. Works out to average damage in total.

The legion has nothing like good attack odds (44 v 58), so remains still. The other archer is difficult to position. I can't really move it up without leaving it open to archer fire. There are no good shooting spots at the other pass either. Oh well, it's more intended as a defender for Arausio than as an attacker anyway.

The legion SE of Arausio suffered archer fire last turn. I can move it SE-E to force the archer back, but it doesn't really achieve much. Would let me move the spare archer up into a firing position, at least. Alternatively, the legion could fortify and soak up damage for XP: it can easily heal what the archer can do to it. It could even place a fort.

I think I'm going to go with the advance. I know there's a damaged eagle down that way somewhere, which I'd like to keep up pressure on. It will also generate more information on the land in that direction. Could be very valuable.


There's bad news off to the west: there are suddenly two barbarian swords just outside the borders of Lake Trasimene. Their camp is probably just off to the SW, in the one fogged tile. Do I need to remove a legion from the second army's attack on the Aztecs to deal with it? Should I build a new unit back in the core? Can I just rely on the walls (once I can get a builder produced and there to chop them)?

Expecting to build new units any time soon is a bit much to ask for, I think. I'd love to make more archers (particularly with crossbows on the horizon), but I can't run both Limes for the walls and Agoge to boost the archers.

The walls can be finished with a chop on T71, if the barbarians don't get in the way. That would certainly be soon enough to defend Lake Traismene. There's a bit of a big if in there though. Also, without a unit I won't be able to go and clear the camp.

I do have a couple of outdated units I could send over from Beth Horon, but I can't afford to upgrade them right now and they won't do much against swords without that. I had them earmarked to defend Beth Horon if the Greeks attack (by then I should have cash for upgrades), or to escort settlers if not.

So, regretfully, I turn one legion around and march it quickly back towards Lake Trasimene. The second army is still a strong force, hopefully it will still be enough to break the Aztec resistance.

Mentioning the second army, the Aztecs attacked my archer as expected, doing 33 damage. I have retreated it to heal for a turn or two. Hopefully they will push forwards trying to regain contact and be easy pickings.


Housekeeping
Military Training is complete. I have misread the civics tree for Mercenaries: it requires Feudalism. So I need to get a bunch of farms built to boost Feudalism before I can head that way. Yet another thing for this wave of builders to work on.

Anyway, that means it's Drama & Poetry next, due in 5 turns.

The walls are chopped at Cannae, giving 5757 and an overflow of 112 towards the Commercial Hub, now due next turn. It also boosts Engineering, perfectly timed to finish next turn. I must remember to place Baths everywhere I can.

Time for the government change. I could drop Limes, precluding the possibility of a further chop for 5 turns. Not a huge amount of time in the grand scheme of things; the only city inconvenienced would be Arausio, which wants to get as much progress towards its walls as it can before a possible Greek attack. Furthermore, it's not as if I have builders to do the chopping right now.

So that's settled: Ilkum and Urban Planning for now, Limes can return at the next switch. I may have to keep Ilkum then too, as builders will mostly take about 6 turns to finish. I'd also love another wave ready to complete just after Feudalism is done, when they can benefit from the +2 charges policy.

Builders are started everywhere except Cannae with its chop overflow and Arausio where into the walls still pays back well: anything there now will increase the overflow when the chop happens.

[rho21]

Turn 69

Score tracking
The Aztecs completed a civic, as did Germany. Germany also finished a tech, so did both Brazil and Russia.


Military
Another Aztec archer has shown up on the border, plus the encampment is complete. Handily it doesn't have walls yet, but it does still mean I have to retreat one of my archers. It's going to be a nuisance as a shooting position for an archer.
The swordsman has taken a second promotion (Tortoise) rather than retreating. I bombard it again with one archer and promote the other. It's not going to be able to stay there in the long term.
My legion that threatened the archer last turn continues to the east, chasing the damaged eagle warrior and providing more scouting information. It has found a bay on the eastern coast and more Aztec borders off to the SE.

No sign of the Aztec archer near the second army, I wonder where it's gone.

The barbarians have split their forces: one is adjacent to Lake Trasimene while the other looks to be going south of the mountains towards Trebia.


Housekeeping
Engineering completed. Time to place Baths everywhere they aren't planned to go where there's currently a forest. Baths currently cost 52.
Next tech is Apprenticeship, due in 10 turns. I considered Machinery, but I won't have Mercenaries done by then for the upgrades, so there's not much advantage.

The Commercial Hub is complete at Cannae, boosting Mathematics. The city still has more overflow, which goes into a trader as my economy badly needs a shot in the arm.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

I'm really enjoying this tactical showdown at the river, especially with your roundhouse punch of the second army coming from the other direction. I think this shows off the tactical wargame side of Civ VI really well.

[RFS-81]

I'm really enjoying this tactical showdown at the river, especially with your roundhouse punch of the second army coming from the other direction. I think this shows off the tactical wargame side of Civ VI really well.

Oh yes, definitely!

That swordsman will be very hard to kill now. What do you think is the best spot to break through the line? Would it make sense to call the Legion back from hunting the damaged Eagle and try an attack on the encampment with two legions and archers? Attacking it across the river will hurt, but it will hurt more when it gets walls.

[rho21]

I'm pretty sure I can't break through the line effectively: there are just too many archers behind the lines which will render my legions too weak to attack if I move them onto flat land. My best hope is to grind down the fortified enemy melee units using archers, forcing them to retreat and heal or be vulnerable to legion attack. The Aztecs don't have an inexhaustible supply of units to swap out for healing, so vulnerabilities must inevitably appear eventually. The sword has been positioned at the keystone of the defence, the position I must attack if any. But it's certainly not invulnerable. Several turns of bombardment will weaken it enough, after which I'll either get a chance to kill it or to target a weaker unit in the same place.

On the flip side, the Aztecs are no doubt working towards walls and extra swords. Walls in that encampment will be a right pain, and an extra couple of swords would be enough to solidify the defences indefinitely. Well, if it weren't for me second angle of attack. That's going to be what breaks me through this line if anything does: the Aztecs having to send units south to fight the second front.

Anyway, turn 71 has just rolled around so I'd better get on with reporting turn 70, which was played when I got back from holiday a few days ago.

Turn 70

Score tracking
Greece had a big turn, finishing a civic and a tech and growing 2 population. The civic was Political Philosophy, and the switch has established and Autocracy with Strategos back in, maintaining the Greek lead on the first great general. It's now due in 10 turns. Rather concerning, as all the signs point to an attack on me. Not a threat against my full force, but a problem if my troops are forced to remain pointed at the Aztecs.

Elsewhere, Brazil put on 12 points of empire score! That makes it pretty hard to track. It's 6 points for a city, 6 for a unique district, 3 for a regular district and 1 for each population. The only change to great people points income is one more great merchant point per turn, which could be a new commercial hub or a market for the existing one.
I'm going to guess that's a commercial hub built and 3 extra population grown. And the rest is either a city or a carnival, really tough to say. Either way, Brazil is clearly in the lead in this game now.

Military
Over to the west, the barbarians have an archer to go with their pair of swords, and they've made it clear they're heading for Trebia rather than Lake Traismene. My defending legion goes to the city; hopefully it can take up a fortified position on the jungled hill just to the west and let the swords break against it.

The second army continues to advance. The sight rules in this game are weird. For some reason I can see the archer on its hill from this position, while my legion couldn't see it from its intermediate position NE of where it currently stands.

Anyway, that means the archer has (presumably) sight on my legion, meaning the Aztecs will know for certain there's an attack coming this way. The archer can't safely advance to take a shot though, and I should be able to drive it back shortly.


Over with the first army, my legion to the east has suffered one more archer shot but has now moved out of range, finding a barbarian camp. The 50 for clearing that (assuming I can do so without losing the legion) would be a lovely bonus.

My archers can hit the sword at a disappointing 37 v 62, meaning 8 to 13 damage with the first shot, slightly more with the next. Enough to gradually wear the sword down, but barely. I could instead hit an eagle at 37 v 44, but only with one archer. That would drop its health much quicker (average net 12 damage per turn after healing instead of 7), but it has the big disadvantage that the eagle is unpromoted and will probably become much stronger before it has to retreat.

So two shots on the sword it is. They do 13 and 14 damage. Great rolls!


Housekeeping
I now have a third point of war weariness, for whatever reason. Thankfully it's not causing problems.

---

It's a round number once more.

Civ Comparison

Civ	Cities	Pop	Techs	Civics	Districts	Military	Gold
Aztec	3	11	10 (11.3/turn)	8 (6.5/turn)	1 (Encampment)	244 (3rd)	51 (8/turn)
Brazil	6	27	12	9	7 (2 Campus, 2 Commercial, Industrial, 2 Carnivals)	4th
Russia	4	15	12	9	3 (2 Lavras, Campus)	2nd
Greece	3	10	10 (10.9/turn)	7 (7.2/turn)	1 (Encampment)	196 (5th)	115 (8/turn)
Rome	6	19	12 (16.2/turn)	11 (19.1/turn)	4 (2 Encampments (1 pillaged), Holy Site, Commercial)	403 (1st)	107 (4.1/turn)
Germany	5	16	11	7	2 (2 Campus)	6th

My focus has clearly been on military these past 10 turns, shooting into a large lead there. That's at the expense of a certain amount of infrastructure, naturally. I really need to get districts finished and get working on more cities.

Germany has recovered a fair way thanks to capturing a city state, while Greece and Aztec continue to lag behind.

The big story is Brazil's rise to a clear lead, with a significant population lead and a strong economy. I continue to lead culturally and militarily, but I'm not going to be in contention unless I can pull myself back up by conquest.


Great People
Claimed:
Russia: Prophet, Writer

Up next:
General (Hannibal Barca, 60): Greece: 30 + 3/turn, Aztec: 12 + 3/turn, Rome: 11 + 1/turn
Engineer (Isidore of Miletus, 120): Brazil 6 + 1/turn
Merchant (Colaeus, 60): Brazil: 13 + 2/turn, Rome 1 + 1/turn
Prophet (Zoroaster, 60): Rome: 36 + 2/turn
Scientist (Aryabhata, 60): Brazil: 56 + 4/turn, Russia: 40 + 2/turn, Germany 17 + 2/turn
Writer (Murasaki Shikibu, 120): Russia: 19 +2/turn
Artist (Michelangelo, 240): Russia 79 + 2/turn

The first scientist is about to go to Brazil and I haven't finished a campus yet. Not too far away now, at least.
I'm hoping to be able to make a play for the second great merchant (the first is pretty weak).


Research and boosts

Tech	Cost remaining (* if without boost)	Boost	Turns until boost
Sailing	25	Coastal city	15?
Astrology	25	Find natural wonder	??
Irrigation	25	Already boosted
Celestial Navigation	60	2 improved seafood	10?
Shipbuilding	100	2 galleys	30?
Mathematics	100	3 different districts	5?
Construction	100	Water mill	15?
Military Tactics	300*	Kill with spear	Never
Apprenticeship	112	Already boosted
Machinery	150	Already boosted

My rate hasn't increased to match the increasing cost of techs as yet, so the rate is slowing down. Still, Apprenticeship isn't too far away, and I'm thinking about Irrigation and Machinery next after that.

Civic	Cost remaining (* if without boost)	Boost	Turns until boost
Drama & Poetry	30*	Build a wonder	Never
Recorded History	87.5	2 campuses	20?
Theology	120*	Found a religion	12?
Naval Tradition	200*	Kill with quadrireme	Never?
Feudalism	137.5	6 farms	12
Civil Service	137.5	Size 10 city	35?
Mercenaries	145	Already boosted
Medieval Faires	192.5	4 trade routes	30?
Guilds	192.5	2 markets	30?
Divine Right	290*	2 temples	Never?

Drama & Poetry will finish shortly, after which I should be heading for Feudalism and Mercenaries. I'm going to have to take a close look at how long it will take me to get the 6 farms to boost Feudalism (I have 1 right now), and how many builders I can get nearly complete so they can be finished with extra charges. Feudalism is one of the easier mid-game civics to get boosted, and I'm not sure I can afford to pass up the cheap culture that offers. On the other hand I don't want to delay it too long as there are a lot of interesting civics waiting behind it, particularly Mercenaries and Medieval Faires.

[rho21]

And straight on to:

Turn 71

Score tracking
Correction to last turn: looks as though Brazil finished an encampment then. Phew, that's a bit less population growth.
This turn Brazil finished a civic, grew a population and recruited the first great scientist.
Germany finished a tech, drawing level with me. They have a higher science rate, so I'm down in 4th place now on the rankings.

The new scientist is Hildegard of Bingen (Medieval, 120), who gives 100 and makes a single holy site give from its adjacency as well as . Pretty rubbish.


Military
The barbarians continue to advance on Trebia, and my legion has secured a defensible position just west of it. It's well protected from the archer thanks to another forested hill, and should wipe the floor with the swords if they attack (+10 strength even before it fortifies).

The archer near the second army has neither moved nor fortified. Time to cause it some problems. All my units move up, leaving the archer with the choice of falling back, suffering attacks from both my archers before it can get away, or getting off one attack against an archer then dying to the counterattack. The former seems more likely, but it'll leave the archer out of the fight unless it has a promotion pending.

Behind the archer is what looks like another narrow pass through the mountains. Wow, the Aztecs have insanely defensible terrain. I suspect there might be a larger gap to the SE, if needed, but who knows. Hopefully I can blast through quickly.

My legion detached from the first army attacks the barbarian camp, causing 64 damage to the spearman and suffering 11 itself. Next turn should bring the much-needed 50.

Back at the body of the army, the news is less good: the walls have been finished in Army of Darkness and the encampment has bombarded my archer, dealing 31 damage. I'm not sure what to do here. I want to keep up the pressure to prevent the Aztecs redistributing forces to deal with my second army. That's tough though, as my archers can't stand up to much punishment.

For this turn I can afford to leave the archer in place and get a little more damage in on the sword.
The western archer attacks at 37 v 61, doing 11 damage; the damaged northern archer joins in at 34 v 60, causing another 10 damage. Every little helps, though frankly the XP is probably more useful than the damage right now.

A little north of there, Greece's forces have finally fallen back from my border. Perhaps they have barbarians to deal with or a settler to escort. Or perhaps they're reforming for an attack when our friendship expires.

[rho21]

Turn 72

Score tracking
The Aztecs finished a tech, as did Russia. Russia also finished a campus; so did Germany.


Military
At Trebia, a barbarian sword attacked, causing 15 damage to my legion and suffering about 50 in return. No particular reason to attack, so I'll just get the legion to fortify in place for the moment.

The Aztec archer by the second army has retreated, so I advance and shoot it with both archers. The first archer (30 v 21) does 37 damage (a bit below average), the second (24 v 17) does 42 (a bit above average). That archer should be out of the fight for the time being.

Over at the first army, my archer is down to 27 health and has to retreat out of range of the encampment. The other archer continues to do small amounts of damage to the sword, this time 12.

Finally the detached legion destroys the barbarian camp for 50. The legion has 49 health left after its exertions.


Housekeeping
Cannae has completed a trader and starts on a builder, which I'm expecting to finish in 5 turns. Route options for the trader include 122 to Arausio, 14 to Athens or 31 to Mohenjo-Daro. Athens feels like the best deal here, though it will lose a turn of benefit if the Greeks attack. There's also a risk they won't attack until the trader has passed outside where I can protect it. Can they even pillage it as a declaration of war? As soon as they declare war it will disappear, after all. I don't think it's practically at much risk.

So what am I going to do about civics in the short term? Drama & Poetry is due to finish next turn, and my initial plan had been to continue running Ilkum for builder production, slotting in Limes as well, dropping Urban Planning. That lets me work towards Feudalism next while preparing most cities to pop out a boosted builder as soon as it's done.

On the minus side, that will be quite a long government, not ideal for running a builder actions boost. It also means spending more time on builders right now rather than infrastructure.

I can't find another good option though. I could delay the Drama & Poetry swap by a turn to finish the three builders currently nearing completion (at Lake Trasimene, Trebia and Allia River), then swap to Limes & Urban Planning. Or possibly get started on the next wave of settlers with Limes & Colonization. That would be great if I had another civics swap or two before Feudalism, but I don't have anything lined up at all.

Sorry, forgot to take any screenshots this turn.