[pb72 spoilers]: the esteemed gentleman's literature and book club

[greenline]

Since we both agree the situation at neapolis was sketchy, here's what I did:




Cut the road NW of Neapolis and moved our stack so he can't hit it if he retakes Neapolis. I am thinking if he retakes it with a light garrison, we burn it down and refound a city 2Wish. If he doesn't retake... not sure.

[greenline]

Xist retook with 4 pikes. These are the odds we get on the offense - would take 8 phracts or more. Not sure if it is worth immediately razing, or if we should move up to bombard, or just back off.

[Tarkeel]

Given that he already has 25+ catapults and obviously focused on harming us, I think we need to play zone defense until we a) get 30 or so cats of our own or b) get a lasting peace. Xist is out of it, but can still take someone down with him.

BTW, looks like we've lost graphs on the other two? Be wary of a reverse dogpile incoming!

E: Sacrifcing some phracts now to burn it before he can reinforce more also sounds good, but do we have a settler ready?

[greenline]

I think us losing graphs is a function of not having any courthouses. We are still #1 in power. Aetryn has all his troops tied down in Xistland.




Pillaged the road and retreated to where he can't hit us without exposing his units. Let's see if he offers peace.

edit: missed your own ninja edit. Unfortunately, we don't have a settler handy. I hadn't expected I would have been able to take Neapolis without a climactic battle.

[greenline]

one more thing... i may not be able to play tomorrow. will probably be away from a computer most of the day. will try and sneak in a turn if it is ready by morning but if not i will needd you to cover, tarkeel. is that OK? in terms of action the main thing is consolidating the forces around the captured cities and reacting if Xist pushes forward, or just sending peace if he holds his ground.

We will get the GP for the next GA next turn. We can pop it nor or wait until banking comes in to grow our cities a bit more.

edit: also, on reflection, WTF was Aetryn doing this whole time by not moving his forces to Neapolis? Instead they were dicking around that like capturing some size 2 city and now they're swamped by Xist's culture.

[Tarkeel]

I'll try to keep a look out for the turn, but might not be available until the evening myself.

[greenline]

I thought that'd be it for turns tonight, but Xist played again, so one more.




Xist moved a pair of workers up near Neapolis. I finished pulling our troops back. They can be moved south if Xist pushes in that direction. Offered Xist white peace again. Not sure if we are locked to a fight to the death, but I doubt he can make much headway with his 6 cities whipped into the ground already.

Ultimately, it was about as much a mistake by me not to raze Neapolis as it was for Xist to abandon it in the first place. If I had known Xist would be able to get to engineering as fast as he did I never would have tried to hold the city. Alas. That leaves me with a big salient to deal with instead of a nice front city to pile in. Good thing I have so many 2 movers.

I decided not to pop the GA until we research banking. I want to grow my cities more and make a push for Replaceable parts. Then we can look at how quickly we can get to Steel. I think going for Lib is a lost cause, but Statue of Liberty may be worth considering. It would be very, very good on this map.

If you have to play the next turn: just shuffle our troops if Xist pushes in a direction, and keep the workers building windmills. Have cities build enough wealth to get to banking in a reasonable timeframe, otherwise they can start prebuilding infrastructure.

[Tarkeel]

Neapolis should have been burned unless you were sure Antium would go as well; the culture from that city would always make holding Neapolis a challenge.

[greenline]

Xist played early so I could fit a turn in. No pictures because I am heading out soon. Xist didn't take peace but hasn't advanced. My stack is playing zone defence between the two captured cities. Banking in 3 with wealth builds.

[Tarkeel]

T156 (920 AD)
Xist declined peace, and I'm not reoffering for now, but there's other stuff happening: In order of happening, Xist retook Setia from Aetira, two GGs were born in the fog, and Bing has declared on Aetryn. We see no movement of Xist, so our forces stay put outside Arpinum. Added a few courthouse builds, Banking still due in 2.