[SPOILERS] scooter, pindicator, and Huayna Capac try some fast Zulu cuisine

[pindicator]

So funny story tonight. Bigger went to play his turn (finally) but when he logs in he's stuck in a diplo screen. He asks Commodore to unpause, and Commodore is also in a diplo screen. So Commodore catches me on gmail chat asks me to unpause. I log in to this:



Somebody really wants us to play nice.

Scooter, I'm thinking if the situation is right I'm going to attack next turn ... whenever that is. Do you think we should try to milk him for something instead? I really can't think of what he could have that would make me want to take that over his city though.

Spekaing of his city, I didn't report this but he added another longbow in there last turn.

As an aside, aren't we already getting dyes from plako?

[pindicator]

Finally got to do this:



We sank all his galleys, and 1 trireme.  Lost a caravel on the last, so he has one trireme left, and good odds that he'll be able to sink another caravel next turn.  I whipped 2 more caravels, started on come catapults.  Goals are pretty simple:  keep control of the seas while we bring to bear enough siege and maces to take out the target cities.

Something to watch out for is his power...



And what we're building

[NobleHelium]

PYFT war on xenu, clearly.

[pindicator]

Played the turn and report coming later in the day. Xenu asked for straight peace, which i rejected. Thought about asking for both the cities that we are upset about in response, but he wouldn't go for that so there doesn't seem much point.

Tentative plan is to land troops in 2 turns: 7 maces and 3 cats. He's whipped the silk city and can whip another time at least. But we should be able to be patient and take it when we're ready

[pindicator]

Well, another turn and another peace request from xenu.  We haven't done much of any fighting, but next turn that will change.  Here's how things are arrayed:



I'm feinting towards the mainland city, but next turn we unload 7 maces & 3 catapults on the desert tile by the Silk.  There will be another 7 units (5 maces & 2 catapult) ready to board to follow directly after.  I'm quite confident we can take the city.



Slowcheetah is continuing to push more caravels towards us.  Which means I'm pushing out more caravels towards him.  Maybe when we reach Astronomy we upgrade our galleys and then wipe out his navy like we did to xenu?



GP due next turn.  Scientist for Education or a Merchant for a trade mission - which is our preference?



Commodore is racing ahead in tech.  He is the first to Astronomy, and on top of that has Printing Press and Education.  I'm guessing that was the result of a lot of bulbing, as Education -> PP -> Astronomy is the path for GS bulbs to go.  I should update our tech spreadsheet.

[pindicator]

You gotta hand it to xenu, he does know how to be persistent:



I dropped off our stack.  (No picture)  If I was xenu I would attack out with his axe - our CR3 mace is going to be top defender, so I didn't even bother to promote our other maces.  We may not have enough to take the city next turn, but the turn after we should definitely be good with the extra troops coming in.

In the east, slowcheetah is really setting off some alarm bells for me:



I stacked up our caravels, because he's now got 2 caravels for our 1 and I'm starting to fear he does a quick strike attack on our fleet like we did on xenu.

He could take some lessons from Commodore.  Commodore knows how to project a tranquil border.  (Oh, I guess I didn't upload that photo either.  But he's got 1 caravel and minimal garrisons.)  My effort to offer some cooperation between us instead of just posturing constantly:



Hopefully he realizes I'm asking him to hook up his other whale.  Oh, I just realized I forgot to check if someone was supplying him with wine already.

I've got our settler ready to go to the ice island, boarding in 2 turns and settling in 4.  But there's an alternative choice to settling in the ice island.  And that is this:



Low odds Great Artist.  Scroll back up to that Brick screenshot and tell me that settling on the horse island and bombing isn't tempting.  It may not be a bad idea to do that up northward instead, either on the captured silk island or maybe on the newly flipped city.

Or just a golden age?

[NobleHelium]

Okay, apparently pindicator means xenu when he said Brick screenshot. I predict minimal effectiveness from an artist bomb in the area north of Mad Fish. We can definitely bomb a core city of xenu's that we capture though if it has a lot of pop that we can immediately put to use via the whip. The borders may not budge much until we capture a second city however.

[pindicator]

Okay, apparently pindicator means xenu when he said Brick screenshot.  I predict minimal effectiveness from an artist bomb in the area north of Mad Fish.  We can definitely bomb a core city of xenu's that we capture though if it has a lot of pop that we can immediately put to use via the whip.  The borders may not budge much until we capture a second city however.

No, I mean slowcheetah, and bombing on the horse island.



I had thought about putting one out up north, but I can't think of where it would go to be useful.

[pindicator]

Turn rolled last night, so I took a peak, but won't play until tonight.

Slowcheetah pulled back his caravels, at least so that they're out of sight. I didn't check if he accepted the deal or not.

Events show plako has teched Economics first, and Serdoa built the Taj Mahal.


Do you think we have enough to crack the island? Or should I wait a turn and have more units?



I'll play tonight, or scooter can make the call if he gets to it sooner

[scooter]

With 3 catapults going first, that should be enough. I think I'll be able to be around tonight. After taking it, we may want to consider peace and preparing to cover ourselves from slowcheetah if he keeps looking to be dangerous.