[SPOILERS] Cornflakes PB53

[Charriu]

So, I grabbed a screenshot to show Charriu the "bug":



BLOCKADE IS BLOCKING MY TILES!@#$%^&*

*tries to assign citizens to the two land tiles, doesn't work*    Charriu, you messed up working land tiles when you implemented this blockade change!

Buuuuuuuutttt ... when I uploaded the screenshot and hit preview, I looked closer. Yep, there's a reason I can't work those tiles, and it's not the that the blockade is bugged. Look really close ... why can't I work those tiles?

The blockade is blocking the happiness resources, and without the resources I have more unhappiness than citizens due to whips/drafts

Way to shock me in the morning. 

About the pillage village. I can fix that with a mod update.

[Cornflakes]

Why is Maastricht now a size 2 city?  How did you manage to slaughter six citizens in less than a turn?

Oof, poor Maastricht-ians.

The poor citizens were starving so my actions were those of a benevolent dictator putting them out of their misery  ... 

Started at pop 8 > one pop was drafted (7)
Then I 2-whipped the catapult that was queued up (5) 
Then I realized that I could dry-whip a trireme for 2 pop (3) to break the blockade and prevent it from creeping forward to cover more of the capital's tiles. 
Sitting at 3 pop with one starving at end of turn I thought maybe it would be better to just whip them away instead, so I dry-whipped an archer for 1 (2)
Then I remembered that I was going to break the blockade so I could have starved from 3 > 2 and worked both of my seafood resources (once the happiness resources come back). Now I'm going to starve down to 1  so I might as well whip that 1 into a warrior when I log back in, which should queue-upgrade into something better once the resources come back.

[superdeath]

That poor city lol

[Cornflakes]

Thanks for fixing the village pillage, Charriu! Due to the blockage at Maastricht I was a significant chunk off beakers short of Liberalism this turn, instead of just a sliver as planned. I used gold last turn to upgrade spear > pike and archer > crossbow, and really wish I had that gold this turn. As-is I was scrounging every penny together in order to complete Liberalism this turn. Assuming nothing happens between now and the turn roll I will still be on schedule. I went on a massive whipping spree throughout the empire and I have a bunch of units completing this turn:

   

Mostly I'm building Catapults since those will be rapidly used up at the front once we engage in real combat. I already have the largest army in the world. I just hope I'll be quick enough with this conquest to stay even with Scooter and Commodore who have already split their neighbor.

   

Here's the current military action. Oea only has 2 spears and 2 archers. I'm trying to force TBS tow choose between defending one city or the other.

TBS has built a lot of War Elephants. I don't mind that at all. They don't get defensive bonuses, and Cuirassier get odds

[Cornflakes]

T109: Cuirassier unlocked! And another border city captured

   

   

TBS left a single freshly-whipped longbow on defense at Oea. I lost musket at 17% doing only a single hit, then the follow-up mace at 17% won! Only 4 HP left but earned 5 XP for CR2! Most of my units have no XP. I only built 2 barracks in my starting 2 cities, as my only decent hammer locations.

   

All but one of these horsemen will complete as Cuirassier this turn. Leiden (the northwest corner island) had production output too high to 2-whip the horseman, but not high enough for the 1-whip to complete it.

   

I noticed that TBS's island city of Sicca birthed a GScientist, and it only has 2 defenders. Next turn I drop off 3 muskets + 1 cat, and load up 4 more units that can hit amphibiously. If I can prevent Carthage from launching another GA, that would be a huge production swing and a giant blow to TBS morale. I will be landing in two locations, on the east side to prevent TBS from buying another turn by running into Khmer territory (or trying a close-border teleport), and on the west side because that's where the other galley can reach.

[Cornflakes]

TBS birthed a 2nd great person (engineer) so he will be able to launch a GA or maybe he will bulb Engineering and give me a chance to kill the scientist?

I move my stack in next turn with 4 Cuirassier, 2 more join the following turn, and at least 2 more will be able to attack the city when I Iaunch the attack. It will be a bloodbath. Our stacks are equal in size but I have 1 era of tech advantage (TBS just whipped his first round of Knights). I think (I hope) that will be enough

[Cornflakes]

Well, scooter backstabbed me, the top power by 15% with 2/3 the number of heavily whipped cities, who was already engaged in a hot barely-scraping-out-victory war I hope his plan is better than snuffing out any sliver of hope that I have remaining. Or does Scooter really see Commodore (who has 80% more cities and 2.5x the population than I and just declared war on Mr. Cairo who has half his power) as a bigger threat?

[Cornflakes]

According to PBSpy, Scooter razed Rotterdam (Great Lighthouse + MoM). I have no path to victory and am ready to concede to Commodore (or TBS ). This is a huge strategic blunder by scooter. I was eking out the slimmest of progress as it was, now I have no hope. And no hope for me means scooter has no rest, and no long-term path to victory either. Carthage and I have barely clashed militarily so my entire army is still intact. Scooter should at least have waited until our stacks collided in an inevitable showdown. I will begin withdrawing from Carthage effective immediately, offering to return any and all captured cities for peace.

I'll have close to 15 Cuirassier when I open this upcoming turn, and the two stacks of moderately-relevant 1-movers from the Carthage war. I will consolidate into a Stack of Doom to pillage and burn anything that I can in China. I will capture Sicca this turn from TBS for the capture gold ,which I am counting on to get me to Feudalism for the free civics swap at the end of the GA. Sicca will also be an extra bargaining chip to help ensure peace with TBS by giving back more stuff.

[Hitru]

Out of curiosity, which cities you are planning to offer for peace?

[Cornflakes]

Out of curiosity, which cities you are planning to offer for peace?

Sabratha, Oea, and Sicca (if I can capture this turn), and if TBS doesn’t capture anything back on his turn.