I'm not sure I understand the point of declaring war on Brazil. Could you either explain with a bit more detail, or point back to the previous explanatory post that I obviously missed?
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[Spoilers] All rho21s lead to Rome
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The reason for war with the Brazilians is that they denounced me 6 or 7 turns back. This gives them the potential to declare war on me with a casus belli and secure the Nationalism boost, which I very badly do not want them to get. There's no casus belli they meet the requirements for as yet, but they will get one as soon as I capture a Greek city (conquered a city from an ally or friend). So I need to declare war on Brazil before that happens.
For the precise timing, it seemed best to look for possibilities to snipe Brazilian units. There turned out to be a vulnerable caravel on turn 120 which was ideal for the purpose... Turn 120 Score tracking Russia built its first encampment and improved its religion with Tithe, the weaker of the gold generating beliefs. Brazil built an industrial zone. Greece finished a civic (16). Military The Brazilian caravel has moved towards my ships rather than away. The scout is next to my knight. And the Greek hoplite hasn't been disbanded. All the omens are good, time to declare war on half the world. First up, my final envoy removes Greece's suzerainty of Mohenjo-Daro. Nothing to poach from the city state, and anyway I'd rather keep the quest they've offered if possible. Then I declare war on both Greece and Brazil. That reveals three more city states on offshore islands: Geneva, Seoul and Preslav. Two of those are scientific, which explains how Brazil has quite such astounding science. Knocking those out will have to be a priority for my navy. Note that the encampment did 33 damage to that hoplite, though foolishly I didn't have a crossbow close enough to move into the encampment and do more damage to it. The rest of the turn was all positioning units ready to attack next turn or the turn after. I also upgraded my last remaining legion into a musket for another 100  .Housekeeping Arausio has finished a builder. It plops down a mine immediately because Arausio is working unimproved hills right now. The city starts on another builder, for lack of anything really urgent to build. Beth Horon has built my backup ram and also gets started on a builder. Lake Trasimene finished its industrial zone and goes straight on to the workshop. Cap Bon has completed a quadrireme and goes straight on to another. Galileo now costs 1480  , so 40 down on last turn. With a few chops coming up, I should be able to recruit him on about T123.Civ Comparison
Note that district lists for the other continent have been corrected now I have good vision over there. This time my income has indeed decreased, thanks to using traders for  instead, and to paying for all those upgraded units and new ships. That does mean my military strength has doubled though.Of greater concern is the other continent's  rate. Brazil's is now known to be due largely to scientific city states, while Russia's is primarily thanks to excellent scientific infrastructure. They're still catching up the advantage I held over them in techs researched, but they'll be well ahead in 10 turns. For my part, I have a number of campuses that should be completed very soon. I shall be looking to unlock universities and get as many as possible up and running. So I'll be heading in the right direction, but I'm still behind in that department.On the plus side, Brazil's position isn't as dominant as it looks if I can raze the city states it's dependent upon. That will have to wait for frigates though. I can research them as soon as I like, but the more quadriremes I can have ready first the better. They cost under half as much. It continues to look as though Russia will aim to conquer Brazil with cossacks, while I aim to destroy their navy and offshore cities. The success of these ventures will largely decide the game. Russia has no naval presence at all to speak of, so I'm not too scared of them in the long term if they defeat Brazil. Still, there's plenty of inland area I'll be unable to affect from the sea, so I certainly need to be able to keep up in tech as far as possible. Great People Claimed: Russia: Prophet, 2 Scientists, 2 Writers, Artist Brazil: Admiral, Merchant, 2 Scientists Greece: General Rome: Prophet, General Up next: General (Ana Nzinga, 240): Brazil: 143 + 5/turn, Rome: 43 + 5/turn, Greece: 49 + 2/turn, Russia: 0 + 1/turn Admiral (Francis Drake, 240): Brazil: 26 + 4/turn, Rome: 27 + 2/turn Engineer (Isidore of Miletus, 120): Brazil: 99 + 4/turn, Russia: 2 + 2/turn, Rome: 0 + 1/turn Merchant (Raja Todar Mal, 240): Rome: 166 + 5/turn, Brazil: 125 + 4/turn, Russia 46 + 3/turn Prophet (Bodhidharma, 120): Brazil: 14 + 1/turn Scientist (Galileo Galilei, 240): Russia: 31 + 15/turn, Brazil: 112.2 + 7/turn, Rome: 107 + 4/turn, Greece: 80 +2/turn Writer (Miguel de Cervantes, 240): Russia: 110 + 8/turn, Brazil: 61 + 3/turn, Greece 44 + 2/turn Artist (Andrei Rublev, 240): Russia 42 + 7/turn, Brazil: 58 + 2/turn, Greece 44 + 2/turn Musician (Antonio Vivaldi, 420): Russia 282 + 7/turn, Brazil: 58 + 2/turn, Greece 44 + 2/turn I need to make a play for Francis Drake, I can't afford to face him fighting for Brazil. That's some way off yet though, not a major problem. The plan to purchase Galileo is in hand, as mentioned in the main report. I'll try to time it such that I can complete Education on the subsequent interturn and get a number of cities moving straight on to university construction. Research and boosts
Finished recently: Cartography, Gunpowder All the boosts are coming together nicely, with the possible exception of Industrialisation. I can only hope the same isn't true for my rivals on the other continent. I certainly need the advantage that would provide to keep up. Mentioning which, that's one of my favourite parts of the Civ VI design: it doesn't pay to get too much or  if you're just going to be failing to get boosts in time. It acts as a nice and fairly subtle means to rein in the leader a bit without feeling punitive, and it requires a fair bit of effort and skill to develop your civ to get as many boosts as possible if you have a good science / culture rate.Anyway, Education remains a priority, otherwise I expect to make gradual progress in other techs, delaying Square Rigging for the best moment. There are fewer standout techs in this section of the tree, so that's a reasonable approach.
Finished recently: Divine Right, Guilds, Reformed Church Things are going along pretty well here. Of course Brazil is a fair bit ahead but I have all the boosts I'm going to get lined up in plenty of time. Brazil is heading for its early super battleships at Nationalism, naturally, and probably isn't all that far away. There can't be too many of them. I will have to time my frigate upgrades to be ready to swarm them. Strategic Review and Planning
Turn 121
Diplomacy Greece has retaken suzerainty of Mohenjo-Daro. Oh well. Useless as the AI is, Mohenjo-Daro does have one or two dangerous units so I'll need to keep an eye out for any threatening moves. I should have new envoys and be able to retake sovereignty in about 8 turns. They might be better spent elsewhere though. Score tracking Russia dicovered a tech (25). Brazil built a workshop. Military There's a new barb camp on coast SW of Trebia. I missed it for a few turns; it has just scouted me. Shouldn't be a big threat. Anyway, on to the main business of the turn. The Greeks have left that hoplite still in range of the encampment; it's mostly healed last turn's damage. This time I can hit it with both the encampment and a crossbow, causing 67 damage in total. I could attack the encampment with a musket this turn at 60 v 50. That would be enough to kill the walls with a good roll, but it would leave my musket exposed to two crossbow attacks followed by a knight, all boosted by a great general. I don't think it's worth losing that musket without another to immediately step up and exploit the breach, so I'm going to wait a turn so my muskets just to the south can make it up here to support. (These were the ones that were going to swing around to the east of the mountain range, but that now seems like a bad idea due to walls everywhere). Here's how I leave myself set up, before Temujin moves to the best place to support the troops, 2W of his current location. The crossbows are the real problem, with their GG-boosted movement and power. Next turn I intend to try to break through north of the river and kill one if I can, while also knocking down the encampment walls. Housekeeping Reformed Church is done, Diplomatic Service is up next, currently 4 turns away but can easily be delayed a bit if needed. I upgrade two more archers to crossbows before I swap out of Professional Army, leaving just the chariot in Caudine Forks unupgraded due to lack of funds. Hopefully I won't regret that, say if Mohenjo-Daro comes calling. Professional Army and Serfdom are out of the government this turn. In come Meritocracy for 13 and Limes for the opportunity for a few more +150% wall chops. In particular I reckon I can get chops in Carrhae, Edessa, Teutoburg Forest and Caudine Forks. Would be Lautulae as well except it won't have a tile to chop in time.With that change made, I can in fact immediately chop the walls I pre-built earlier at Carrhae. This generates 93 93 and an overflow of ~231, enough to finish the Campus in 1 turn.Walls are started at Teutoburg Forest and Caudine Forks, Edessa will join them next turn once it's finished its baths. Drepana has finished its first quadrireme with a little overflow. I decide to use this plus the turn's production to finish the granary there. The quicker growth will pay that turn back soon enough. The campus is finished at Allia, it starts the library immediately. Libraries are really cheap at just 90 .Mohenjo-Daro, Teutoburg Forest and Corinth all converted to Defeatism this turn. Athens is expected to convert in 3 turns. Despite this my income is feeling rather low. I have two traders awaiting reassignment. One just finished a route to Mohenjo-Daro, the other was kicked off a route to Athens. I reckon I do need some gold from these routes, so one will run from Lake Trasimene to Amsterdam for 12, the other is rebased to Caudine Forks to help out with production there and make a road over the mountains into Azteca.
This one was played last night. Being at war, the turn took a pretty long time. Handily we're down to one turn per day at the moment for Thanksgiving week, so I've been able to catch right back up to date with reporting.
Turn 122 Score tracking Brazil discovered a tech (31) and a civic (24). Greece also discovered a tech (19). Military No sign of anything from the Greeks or Brazilians. A little advancing reveals that the Greek troops have fallen back from their previous locations, all except the crossbow in the encampment. No opportunity to blast through and kill a crossbow, unless I can knock down the entire encampment and catch the crossbow there. Here's a view of the defences after moving forward a few units to scout: I can hit the encampment from the south with 2 crossbows and a musket, with ram support. I can also potentially attack it across the river with the 3-promotion musket or the knight. Sadly not both. That won't be enough to destroy the encampment in one go. Better feels like knocking down the encampment walls with the southern attackers, then using the musket and knight in the north to kill the two hoplites. That decreases possible counterattacks and threatens the crossbow SW of Athens enough to perhaps make it retreat into Athens for safety. Anyway, this feels like a plan where I can expect to lose one unit on the Greek turn, probably the exposed knight, and take a little damage to some others. Sounds like a reasonable result. So first up, the attack on the encampment. The crossbows combine for 13 damage to the defences, then the musket (attacking at 60 v 50) destroys the walls, taking 17 damage in the process. The encampment is left on 86 health. (The other musket could do about 50 damage, incidentally, definitely not enough to destroy the encampment.) Continuing with the plan, to the north of the river the musket moves up and attacks the undamaged hoplite (with the general moving to support). Attacking at 79 v 47 offers about a 68% chance of a kill. The odds work in my favour this time; the musket suffers 7 damage in return. The knight now prepares to attack the damaged hoplite but discovers that the bug is still there that gives the hoplite its bonus for being next to another hoplite even when it isn't. Between that and the regular support bonus, the knight would be attacking at 54 v 45: enough to kill the hoplite but costing the knight 20 or so health. Bah, would be a very easy victory without that bug. I would still go for that except that the knight would be left in front of my lines and extremely exposed. While it will probably still die if it stays in place, that will hopefully require almost all the Greek attacks to achieve, leaving one or two of their units vulnerable in return, and keeping their fire off my more important units. Here's the situation at the end of the turn: Having seen the Greek defences, I think I have plenty to overwhelm them. The musket that was racing up from Gergovia to join the attack instead will remain at home to handle anything that comes out of Mohenjo-Daro or the barbarian camp. Off the east coast, my caravel and quadrireme have cornered the heavily damaged galley belonging to Vilnius. Should be an easy kill for the quadrireme next turn; I have taken care to ensure the galley cannot commit suicide on my caravel first. Housekeeping Research is changed from Metal Casting to Education. I want to be just shy of 50% so Education can be finished quickly once Galileo is purchased. I don't have the money to spare to upgrade catapults to bombards right now anyway, so no rush for Metal Casting. Carrhae has built its campus and returns to finishing off a quadrireme. Drepana completed its granary and starts a new quadrireme. Edessa finished its baths and gets started on walls for a chop. The trader from Caudine Forks starts a route to Arausio for 1  22 and a useful road.I decide to chop a rainforest at Gergovia this turn. It doesn't have a boost policy to multiply , but with current plans it probably never will. It's worth it anyway because I want a mine on the tile and the chop will help towards for Galileo. The 4646 both grows the city a size immediately and completes its baths. Overflow will go towards the campus.
Turn 123
Score tracking Russia gained loads of money from somewhere. Perhaps selling great works to the Brazilians? If so, that will come back to bite Brazil: I'm pretty sure the money is for Cossack upgrades, which won't be too far off if they're on a beeline. Military Looks as though the Greeks threw everything they had at my knight in order to kill it. The UI helpfully informs me that my knight earned a promotion before it died. In return, I should be able to pick off their knight and catch a crossbow in the encampment when I take it. Definitely an acceptable exchange. So let's begin by attacking that Greek knight. Ideally I want to leave the space free for an attacker on the encampment (though it's not strictly necessary). So I attack first with my own knight at 57 v 47, dealing 44 damage for 18. Now my crossbow on the north bank can finish the knight off (50 v 41). I use just one crossbow attack against the encampment (28 v 42), which knocks off 15 health. Next up, the single-promotion musket north of the river attacks from the spot the knight previously occupied, at 60 v 46. It does 44 damage in exchange for 18. Lastly the encampment is finished off by the musket south of the river (58 v 36), suffering 11 damage. Now for the other crossbow. First the second crossbow south of the river moves up and shoots it at 57 v 36, doing 77 damage. Then my best musket uses its 4 moves (2 base + 1 from the great general + 1 from commando) to finish off the crossbow at 68 v 32, taking 7 damage. Those movements reveal that the Greeks have upgraded the chariot that was sitting east of Athens last turn into a second knight. There's also a warrior SE of the tile my musket just took. Anyway, I'm very pleased with how that turn played out. I believe that's most of the effective Greek forces defeated. I reckon they now have 1 crossbow left (in Corinth) and that newly upgraded knight. They also own some hoplites. My quadrireme in the eastern sea attacks Vilnius' heavily damaged galley (25 v 18), sinking it and boosting Naval Tradition. Housekeeping Galileo is just available to recruit now, by 0.6 . I'm still a turn away from reaching 50% on Education though, so may as well wait and save 40. I will probably wait one more turn after that too, as none of my cities will be ready to start a university until then.Carrhae finished a quadrireme. It has excellent overflow, so I put that into the library along with a turn's production. Carrhae will return to quadrireme production next turn. Lautulae also completes a quadrireme. It gets straight on with another. I have 6 quadriremes now and am looking to double that in the next 6 turns. That's probably about as long as I'll have before needing to have frigates ready. I'm concerned I don't have that long. Current war weariness count: 2. I'm actually having more problems due to population growth requiring more amenities. That won't last though; I'm expecting most cities to be down to content by the time I've conquered all of Greece.
Turn 124
Score tracking The Russians built a seventh Lavra this turn and appear to be chopping out horsemen ready for Cossack upgrades. That's 15 now, which will cost 3000 to upgrade. They have about half that on hand at the moment.Brazilian strength jumped up significantly this turn. Hopefully that's land strength, not a bunch of Minas Geraes already.  Military The Greeks have largely abandoned Athens, with just a damaged hoplite remaining in the city. The warrior is running away SE towards Miletos; no idea where the knight's gone. The city itself bombarded the musket which captured the encampment, leaving it on 54 health. The plan then is to knock down the walls this turn, and take the city next turn. Accordingly the damaged musket falls back to my own encampment for healing while two crossbows move up and do 12 damage between them to the walls. My single-promotion musket then attacks at 58 v 48 to destroy the city walls, suffering 23 damage in the process. Here's how things look with the city health now standing at 184: I have two more units that can attack here: the best musket and the knight. They could do about 120 damage between them. Alternatively, the musket could cross the river and either kill the retreating warrior or put the city under siege. I decide to go for the city attacks. It's possible the Greeks have units waiting to pounce on a damaged knight, but I think making hay while the sun shines is the best play here. Between them they drop the city to 66 health, the musket taking 12 damage, the knight 18. The knight should be able to pillage the mine for some next turn, with a bit of luck.Mohenjo-Daro has sent a single catapult towards Trebia. It gets bombarded by the walls for 54 damage; I doubt it will stick around. Siege units are so rubbish without either spotting balloons or the move and fire promotion. Housekeeping Definitely gone slightly past halfway in Education, contrary to my tracked numbers. Oh well, I guess there was more overflow than I'd thought at some point. I'm going to want to put overflow into a university next turn, so that means I can wait until then to pay for Galileo. Anyway, research moves on to Square Rigging next to at least let me fight Brazil's expected battleships with ships from the same millennium. Both Teutoburg Forest and Edessa have been carefully microed as close to finishing the walls as possible without actually doing so. In both cases the builders are out of position and won't be ready to chop until next turn. Over in Caudine Forks, the opposite is true: the builder is ready to harvest the stone but the city is still a turn away from finishing its pre-build. But that means I'm ready for the chop next turn in all three cities, so I can let Diplomatic Service finish immediately and switch government straight after the chops. As I'm expecting to conquer Athens next turn, it's time to think about placing a couple of discounted theatre squares. I don't really have any great places for them, but I feel I ought to get them placed on some otherwise worthless flatland anyway. One goes at Allia River in a location where it will provide +1 and improve the adjacency of the commercial hub, the second at Beth Horon, again a +1 adjacency site.Up to 4 war weariness, and starting to feel the effects now a little. Most cities still happy though.
Turn 125
Score tracking Brazil has recruited the first great engineer, Isidore, who gives a couple of ~200 charges towards wonders. Next up is James Watt of the industrial era (420 points) who instantly builds a workshop and factory, then gives all factories +2. This is good, but not as great as it sounds because the +2 only applies to the city that hosts the factory, not to its wide-ranging effect.Russia has built a settler. Both Brazil's and Russia's military strengths continue to fly upwards; I'm hoping this is Brazil using precious on upgrades to fend off the threat of a Russian attack, thus leaving little to upgrade to Minas Geraes. Mustn't panic, by the way, Brazil definitely hasn't discovered Nationalism, so can't have super-battleships coming my way just yet.Military Brazil's great merchant has appeared SW of Trebia, presumably doing some scouting. I don't have a unit there to kick it back home, but perhaps the barbarians in the area will do the job for me. Mohenjo-Daro's catapult has retreated and not been replaced. Greece has moved a crossbow forward to attack my knight, which is left with 43 health. The UI claims I can shoot that crossbow with my own, so I begin by moving the crossbow next to the enemy crossbow so I can bring another one up and get a couple of shots in. But it turns out the UI was lying, that's a hill and there's no line of sight over it. Worse, there's a knight on the farm on the far side of the crossbow, ready to pounce on any missteps. Handily, thanks to the great general, I will be able to retreat my crossbow out of harm's way. I'm also going to be unable to keep the knight on that tile safely, so sadly won't be able to pillage the mine. [Actually, it turns out the knight has enough moves to pillage then run away anyway, but hey.] So to the city assault. I begin by plinking it with a couple of crossbows for 44 damage, leaving the city on 42 health. Now the knight can attack at +15, doing a theoretical minimum of 43 damage. But hang on a moment. If I attack with the weaker musket, I can move the stronger musket with its 4 moves right on through the city to kill the crossbow. It will take fire from Sparta in return, but should be fine. Accordingly, the knight begins by pillaging the mine for 25 . Then the 1-promotion musket captures the city at 56 v 32, taking 13 damage. That boosts Civil Engineering (7 different district types). Capturing the city also reveals a sword next to Miletos to the SE, supported by the great general.I've been wondering why Hannibal hasn't been used in the defence of Athens (he supports classical and medieval units), and had concluded he must have already been used for his retirement benefit. But that turns out not to be the case. Curious decision by the Greeks, and now he's almost worthless as I've destroyed most of their medieval units. Back at the front lines, the musket zips through the city and hits the crossbow at 66 v 32, getting the kill in exchange for 8 damage. That 4-move musket is a monster. The crossbow is now under no real threat, so takes a pot shot at the knight at 50 v 48, doing 32 damage. Time to set up a defensive line, heal up, and prepare for the attack on Miletos. Housekeeping To get things started, I buy Galileo for 1210 . That give the boost for The Enlightenment (three great people) and boosts Education (great scientist) to completion. The next scientist is Charles Darwin of the Industrial era (420 points), who gives 500 per adjacent natural wonder tile. As yet, there's no location worth more than 1000 from this.Then it's chopping time. Forests are worth 97 now, and the stone I will harvest is worth 121.
That's 412 added to the bank too.Right, with that all done it's time for a government switch, as Diplomatic Service finished this turn. Out goes Monarchy, in comes Theocracy, giving me an extra economic slot at the cost of a military slot. It also lets me buy land combat units with and discounts faith purchases by 15%. (I checked, this doesn't apply to patronage of great people.)So Limes has done its job and is out. As replacement, I'm considering:
I don't think I have space in my production queues right now for many settlers. As much as is valuable right now, is even more important. Natural Philosophy it is.Next civic to research is Humanism. This will take 9 turns at the current rate as it's unboosted and there's no way I'm getting a great artist to boost it. I do have Naval Tradition ready to finish whenever if I need a change of civics though. Seems quite likely if I suddenly need to upgrade quadriremes into frigates. Cannae switches production from the Terracotta Army to produce a scout. As Brazil has loads of wonder production now from the great engineer, I want to avoid investing any more there until I'm certain it's not about to be taken from under me. Also I could really use an expendable scout or three to keep a watch on the western approaches, rather than risking one of my ships.Athens is renamed to Heraclea and starts on the repair of its monument. It also places baths for future Romanisation. War weariness is now up to 5. Combined with the captured city and one that grew, that leaves me with just 6/15 cities at Happy, the rest at Content. I imagine a bunch of war weariness will relocate to Heraclea next turn and most places will be better off.
Turn 126
Diplomacy Brazil has declared war on Hattusa, and will conquer it next turn. Easy target, I guess, and its loss will significantly cut into Russian science. Of course Brazil had three envoys there too, so will also be losing some science. Score tracking It's perhaps too little too late though, because Russia has discovered Military Science and started upgrading horsemen to cossacks. 6 so far. That makes Russia first to enter the industrial era too. Nice beeline. Of course I've no firm date on when the Russian-Brazilian friendship is due to time out. I'm pretty sure it'll be within the next couple of turns though, based on moves. Military Mohenjo-Daro has a crossbow poking around near Gergovia. It's threatening one of my traders, so I hit it with the musket I left around to defend. At 62 v 33, it causes 93 damage and suffers 10 itself. Good roll, I didn't really want to kill it and leave my musket exposed to counterattack from the city. Colaeus (Brazil's great merchant) is now in my territory at Trebia. Really irritating that I don't have anything to kick him with. Maybe I can send the scout I'm building that way first. As predicted, Greece shot my super-musket with the city and otherwise did very little. The warrior has moved onto Heraclea's quarry, presumably with a view to pillaging it. Easy kill though, if I want to interrupt the healing of one of my units to deal with it. I decide to gain extra XP on my best crossbow, which sadly (as it removes a good place to heal other units) has to move to the Heraclea city centre to take the shot. 57 v 23 results in a one-shot kill. Anyway, my other units form up around Heraclea and start the healing process. While they spend a few turns healing, Genghis Khan uses his teleportation ability to move over to Beth Horon ready to lead a push against Corinth. I have three muskets, a knight, two crossbows, 2 catapults and, crucially, a ram over here now. With the great general I should be able to knock down the walls without them getting a shot off, which is hopefully enough to be able to take the city. That's a few turns away as yet though. Housekeeping Allia River has finished its library and gets started immediately on a university, which will take 15 turns. So expensive. The university is built at Edessa thanks to all that chop overflow. It provides the boost for Astronomy. The city resumes work on a builder. Caudine Forks has finished its harbour. It still has about 80 overflow, which I decide to just put straight into a quadrireme. It's inefficient, but I really want quadriremes quickly now as I don't think I can hold off on Square Rigging for too much longer. Cap Bon has completed its lighthouse. It has a fair bit of overflow left, but also straight back to quadriremes. Teutoburg Forest completed its entertainment complex with a vast amount of overflow. It's six turns away from being able to start on an industrial district, so the choice is between an arena or a trader (to fill the slot created by Caudine Forks' new harbour). In fact it's not really a choice, I should have enough overflow to build both before long. Anyway, this turn I go for the arena just in case the overflow disappears or something - it's much the more expensive item. I have 7 quadriremes right now, with 5 more due to finish over the next couple of turns. That's definitely a reasonable moment to consider finishing Square Rigging, but I might try to get one more wave out, especially if Brazil is going to be distracted with a defensive land war. Here's a view of the new front at Corinth:
Turn 127
Diplomacy Russia declared war on Brazil. The border city of Sushi Go fell immediately on the first turn of the war, as I rather expected it might. Cossacks are so deadly, you can just get so many attacks in along a narrow front. Not to mention that they have 5 more strength than regular cavalry and 5 more if fighting near their own territory. Brazil looks to be in real trouble: what the Russians can see of their forces amounts to a scout, a warrior, two horsemen, a crossbow, a chariot and a knight. I'm sure the Brazilians have plenty more units, but a quick look at their base defense strength of 40 (which must be thanks to the caravels) says they don't have muskets yet, let alone anything that can hurt a cossack. I don't think they have much hope of holding onto their continental possessions. I guess they must have been focused on naval power. Not great news for me, as that probably means a bunch of frigates out there. Mentioning which, Hattusa fell to the Brazilian assault. It comes complete with harbour and campus with library. Brazil does have a colony on that island, but I'm pretty sure that attack was mostly effected by the navy. Anyway, the science losses from those conquests combined with my own focus on science mean I'm now roughly level with both Brazil and Russia on science rate. Score tracking As well as capturing Sushi Go, Russia discovered a tech and built a theatre square and an amphitheatre. Military Well, my harbour at Caudine Forks lasted one whole turn. A barbarian caravel came sailing out of the fog and pillaged it. At least I can hit it back with the city walls and a quadrireme, doing a total of 35 damage. Meanwhile a barbarian musket has shown up at Trebia. Really wish I could have done something about the camps in the south west before now. I decide to bring a crossbow back from near Miletos. I don't think it will be critical to the war and I need more units in my core. It'll take a while to get there though. The almost dead crossbow at Mohenjo-Daro has stuck around to shoot my musket for a tiny amount of damage. I can't move the musket away because I need to defend the Gergovia-Teutoburg trade corridor, so I'll have to kill the crossbow. The musket takes 8 damage in the process. It reveals a healing catapult in Mohenjo-Daro, so hopefully not too bad a counter-attack. Up in Greece, a turn of positioning, with units moving slowly towards their positions near Corinth. My crossbows at Heracles (all of which were undamaged) move towards Miletos to force the sword there to retreat. My east coast navy (now fully healed) is moving towards the southern ocean to travel west and meet up with my west coast navy. Whatever happens I'm going to need them all grouped up to deal with the Brazilians. My current prediction is that Brazil will regard Russia as an existential threat and Rome as a minor nuisance and so will send the fleet to Russia's coastal cities or use it to defend its own ones where possible. It's still entirely possible a large fleet of frigates will sail my way before long though. Housekeeping Square Rigging has one turn left, so Metal Casting is set as the next research target. Caudine Forks finished its first quadrireme (which has already seen action) and gets started on another. Cannae has finished its scout and continues the Terracotta Army. No sign of wonder building with the engineer from Brazil; one of its encampments was captured and the other two are now under serious threat from the Russians, so I'm not expecting a Terracotta Army build. Lake Trasimene built a workshop and starts on its university. Trebia completed its campus and begins a library. Fair chance the campus will get pillaged by the incoming barbarian musket, but at least it shouldn't take too long to repair once I can deal with the musket. Building a unit is pointless, anything that can harm a musket would take far too long to be relevant. Teutoburg Forest built its arena and hasn't lost its overflow. Instead of the planned trader, it starts pre-building a builder because Beth Horon has just finished pre-building its own builder and doesn't have much else to build so looks like a good choice for the trader. Next turn four quadriremes complete and it's decision time on whether to get frigates quickly or delay for more quadriremes. While things are quiet in the Greek war, here's a look at the core:
Turn 128
Brazilian-Russian War Russia took a turn to stop and heal up, so not much happened on the main front. In the far north, a cossack with a bunch of supporting horsemen is approaching the Brazilian port city of Dominion. Score tracking Brazil built a new campus. Russia discovered a tech, while Greece picked up a civic. Military The barbarian caravel at Caudine Forks has moved off out of sight. Handily Caudine Forks has a lake, so the next quadrireme it builds will have a safe haven. My musket was attacked twice by Mohenjo-Daro (city and catapult) and despite its tortoise promotion is down to 48 health. It heads to Gergovia for healing. At Trebia, the barbarian musket hasn't advanced into city range, for whatever reason. Delay here can only help me, I feel. No sign of Colaeus now. Either he's teleported home or has headed off down the road towards Caudine Forks. Either way, can't chase him with my scout, so it will head back to Cannae and out to sea. In the western sea, one of my caravels comes upon a Brazilian trader, apparently trading with Preslav. This might bring a horde of frigates down on my caravel, but I think it's worth taking the risk to get the pillage, both for claiming 140 (an extra frigate upgrade) and for denying income to Brazil.Over in the Greek war, another quiet turn. I am now in position to attack Corinth next turn with 2 muskets and 2 crossbows. The only action that happened this turn was shooting the Greek sword near Miletos - it hadn't retreated. It takes 76 damage from 2 crossbow attacks. Housekeeping Carrhae, Lautulae, Cap Bon and Drepana all finished quadriremes this turn. That means it's time to decide whether to get one more wave out or to go straight for Square Rigging. Five more quadriremes can be done by turn 132. I've seen no sign of the Brazilian navy, which certainly doesn't have any Minas Geraes. And anyway it's probably a bit distracted right now. So let's go for the extra wave. I can always abandon this plan if a bunch of frigates suddenly appear to attack me. Though of course there's a bit of a lead time on that. Arausio has finished pre-building its builder and will build a scout next. I'll leave you with a view of the opening skirmishes of the battle for Dominion: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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