[spoilers] - pindicator is excited for the next Realms Beyond league mechanics

[pindicator]

I know you're saying that as a joke, but if he takes the city then that's exactly what I'm going to do.

[pindicator]

183

Lots of new cities this turn. First of all, I filled in some spots down south a couple turns back with Ascendancy and The Awakening but didn't let you all know:




Then this turn I added 3 more cities.

First I put down Sacrifice of (the) Vaal on the plains island that I've been meaning to put a city down on since forever:




Then I added Forsaken Masters and got into the unique map names with Acton's Nightmare up towards where Mouse used to control:




There are 2 more settlers currently running around to other filler spots, and 2 more still in production. I hit 45 cities this turn and should probably end up close to 55 by the time the war is done.

Speaking of war, everybody is building units. I found Gavagai's knight stack:




Refreshingly this is out east and quite a ways from our border. The units on his galleys were swords and trebuchets. By the way, he double-turned me and took Mouse's city. If I had actually been threatening that city I would have been livid. Instead I'm just going to take it and burn his ships and not cause a stink in the tech thread.

Old Harry's frigates have almost finished off Elkad. His capital stands alone:




And TBW has decided to finally put naufrager out of his misery:




The entire stack disappeared shortly after the war declaration; all of those redcoats heading to do what OH could not.

And then there's my little war:




Mouseferatu had a few units which he put back into Hinata. All my stuff is so beat up that I decided to just sit back and wait for reinforcements. There are two galleon groups with units. The one on the fort is heading west to take out Mouse's western cities before Gavagai does something really stupid. Or if Gav does something really stupid then those units will attack Gav. The northern galleon group with the extra siege is heading to reinforce the wounded units outside Hinata.

In addition there's a stack of Mouseferatu privateers lurking in the fog up north. 5 privateers and 2 caravels, and I'm hoping to play my cards right and never fight them before the war is done.

First frigate came off the line this turn. Making them everywhere I can think to.

[superdeath]

Still routing for ya!

[Cornflakes]

Still routing for ya!

 I couldn't imagine playing a game where you have 45-soon-to-be-55 cities and NOT be the clear leader. Your reports are closely followed and appreciated!

[pindicator]

184

Well, I don't think my cities are quite the same quality as some other civs. Places where I have good production or commerce tiles are devoid of food, and places with food have coast to work. I've been relying a bit much on Nationalism to give me a production edge in conquering Mouseferatu, and that has hampered my GNP as well. I'm being a bit more targeting in my drafting, but I still am drafting because I need to produce those units still. And then I need to build lots of infrastructure - lots of places still lack even the super cheap madrassas and markets.

But we still need to wrap this war up first!

Mouse killed my top defender on his turn, a knight at 70% odds. Aside from that, he also moved his knight that was Azumane and replaced it with a CG2 musket. I was not deterred:




The odds were awful. I did not care. 4 maces were sacrificed for speed with the middle 2 attacks not even landing a single hit. But the city fell and we unloaded a few units but also kept about half of the troops in galleons to move north for the next target.

On the main battlefield he had 5 units inside Hinata and I threw in my 3 trebuchets outside the city which badly damaged everything inside. Then we mopped up with maces.




I also unloaded all the troops for the eastern galleon group rather than leaving them on boats. Next turn we'll move that whole stack up to the capital and I expect Mouse to guard that with everything he has left. I'll keep the galleons around though; after the capital falls we'll put some units on boats and try to shuttle attacks quickly to the last 3 cities. Hopefully we can finish off Mouse within 4 turns.

One complication to all this is he still has a little bit of a navy around:




A bit of a composite image here; all my units later moved to where the blue circle is. I moved 2 caravels to the city and upgraded them to frigates out of an abundance of safety. At 110g apiece these are very good upgrades for me and I plan on upgrading a few more over on the Gavagai border.

I also plan on getting one of them for free, thanks to the newest GG:




Finally, I've been trying to think about what to do about the Gav situation. I have a tech advantage in navy - he still does not have Astronomy (although I forgot to check this turn, so maybe he just picked it up). Going all out against him seems like a losing proposition, not because I don't think I could win but because it would be a prolonged affair and OH would be able to either hit me from the other side or tech away in peace. (EDIT: Although I think Rusten has the better overall chance to win.)

I could just let him have the island which again seems like a losing proposition because it lets him know he can push me around and Gav will push as much as you let him.

I could also settle the other location on that island and just hope he takes it as a demilitarized border. Not sure how Gav would perceive this; if he sees this as "his" island then he's deluded and we're not going to get along at all.

Finally, I could just attack and take the city then threaten his others and offer peace, hoping that he'd realize that I'm not interested in fighting him but that taking Mouse's spoils was not acceptable. This of course means that if he does not back down - something I don't expect easily from Gav - then I think we may just be in that protracted war.


So to which of these 2 marked locations does this settler go?

[pindicator]

All right, am I or am I not in a 3-way turn split with Gavagai and Mouse?

I'm not going to hold up the turn to play pissing matches with the turn order, but I swear if Gavagai double moved me on Mouse and then turns around and is now waiting me out to take advantage of going after me in turn order this turn I am going to lose my shit in the tech thread.

Playing now because I really hate turn clock games.

[pindicator]

185

Capturing another city




I moved up to hit his capital and I've got a galleon full of troops to hit the city-that-i-don't-yet-have-sight-on-in-that-pic.

But I really need to get this war wrapped up quick:




I thought about starting jails last turn, but I'm gambling that I can wrap up the war before I would be able to finish the jails. That gives me the time now to get better infrastructure in now and jails in before the next war.

[pindicator]

187

Last turn:




And now this turn:




So we get one final one of these for this war (i hope):




There's 2 cities left and I think I can get them both next turn. Mouse whipped twice so there's 2 more units coming, but I still think I got enough in the area.  2 frigates from the south will bombard Sakura to get it close to 0 and then the catapults and muskets go in there. Then for Tendou the two frigates that are by Sakura will shift west and bombard that city, and we'll use catapults and our hitters here - and hopefully we have enough. I'm worried I have overprotected the cities I've taken and that I'll be a little short. It won't be awful - just another turn of having to bear this war weariness. 3 muskets are on a galleon as a bit of a flex, to hit either city by sea should one of them go wrong.

In the meantime I used up my 2 settlers:







It's up to Gav if this stay demilitarized. I'm going to do so and leave a sentry out west. If he does the same then we both get some middling cities that act as a bit of "trust but verify" for a border. Neither of us can go north against the other without the other person getting plenty of warning this way. Hope he sees it the same way.

And down south I stuck Cortex on Gemling island with no food. You can see it already is making money.

Replaceable Parts finishes, then I probably need to get Steel next. But I want to get Democracy and build the Statue of Liberty. I'll make that decision next turn.

[superdeath]

How many cities are we upto?

[pindicator]

55 now that I just finished taking the last of Mouseferatu's cities. I have filler spots for 4 to 6 more depending on just how tight i want to pack them.

EDIT: But if they're all profitable right away then I probably want to pack them in.