[Spoilers] Commodore as Darius of the HRE

[Commodore]

Gah! That's why I never picked up Civ 5.

Joking pictures aside, this is serious business time. Mali certainly believes so, making a nightmare civics set and commencing the slaughter of a whole lot of Turks.



Does it irritate me that they used their privateer to get that great general? Yes, yes it does. Am I at least happy to see an awesome demo screen or two before I go screaming into that dark night? Yes, yes it does.



This turn's theme is: How to prepare for a reaming.

Step 1: Build Bunkers. Ideally, those bombers will be driven off by Egyptian fighters and all of our machine guns. Not entirely sure that's what to expect though.



Step 2: Figure out what's in Malinese strike range, turn 1. Oh, yeah, I'll need to be massing quite a few infantry in Hyperborea, at least enough to stop any insulting 1-transport marine jobs like poor Yuri's recent reaming. My southern port cities, likewise, are getting reinforced.



Step 3: Look for vulnerabilities. Honestly to have a good chance here I need to raze these three Malinese cities ASAP. Once a lot of this territory is under my control I'll be much better off , able to focus almost exclusively on landing vulnerabilities, rather than Stack o' Doom pushes.



Step 4: Need more cowbell (but also, more infantry). Infantry vs. marines is going to be the order of the day, with a salting of cannon making landing anything a really bad idea. My railroad network is in excellent shape, and any core city can reinforce any other in one turn, so this last batch of infantry will be followed with a ton of marines.



One little side objective is to make it clear that I cannot effectively threaten core Mali. Egypt, meanwhile, really really can. If I can get Thing 1 and Thing 2 over there to duke it out while I look dang prickly and snipe French countryside, I have an outside shot at this.

*cue screams, gunfire, bombs, and death.

[Commodore]

Oh, yeah, the cash-bomb plan worked, too, with that Great Merchant you see born. Interestingly, he could also bulb the rest of Industrialism, although that would not have been the most efficient use.

[COLOR="Yellow"]Hey Luddite,
Just a quick note, I assume it's okay for me to run my GM over to Stone and use him for a cash bomb? He'll get there in time for me to use him on T149 and upgrade all of my border units. I lost track of your GM, but if he wants to run to Aquilonia, he's welcome.
-Commodore[/COLOR]

Should be helping that mass-upgrade plan, eh?

[novice]

Cash bomb. Kids these days...

[Mr. Nice Guy]

Still loving reading this game. I'm happy to see that the pace hasn't slowed and that it's still fun to play. Good luck in your coming war turns!

[Commodore]

Want to see a depressing turnlog?



So, last turn of this form of domination. Weird...I'm...in...second place? A loooooot of soldier points, although a fair number of those are LKs and other old-trash. Still, I'll be mass-upgrading soon too. This might actually be winnable, despite the tech advantages my rivals have.



I tossed a few pitiful dregs to the eastern hub in the hopes that Yuri could do something with them. The city of Nurin can actually be retaken if it's not reinforced. We'll have to see how that goes.



Yuri has counterstrike forces built up and infantry in most of his remaining critical cities, so the Malinese cakewalk time is over now. Man I wish I had those cavs for my own offense, Plastics will be critical after Fission.



Not, please note, that I ever expect to own the seas. Seven's got battleships, which will soon be fighting Luddite's own battleships, and subs which I still can't see. Plus fighters, which means bombers are in the offering and anything he wants to sink, will sink.



I'm going to have to make a hard push early, so I swapped Aquilonia to making a marine along with the rest of my core, just enough to get one on each attacking galleon with any luck. Oh this is gonna be painful. For everyone.



I'll miss my GA production, shown here boosting everything to a ridiculous degree. At least my aluminum mine will help Zamora. I need moar everything!



I'll be attacking in three turns, and I'm praying that the treacherous Seven, who just pillage Luddite's oil, doesn't strike first.

[Ceiliazul]

What?! Pillaging oil is a declaration of war... so Luddite can jump into the war before yuri is fully maimed. That means the battle will be fully joined by the time you jump in.

Have you talked to Seven about it? Is he keeping any pretense of honorability, or just using slash and burn tactics at this point?

[Commodore]

What?! Pillaging oil is a declaration of war... so Luddite can jump into the war before yuri is fully maimed. That means the battle will be fully joined by the time you jump in.

Have you talked to Seven about it? Is he keeping any pretense of honorability, or just using slash and burn tactics at this point?

I believe the pretense is that he didn't have to DoW to do it, using either a privateer or a sub. Like popping my caravel for a Great General. Haven't seen Seven on and I'm actually waiting until after he finishes sitting on this 24-hour turn. Don't want to spoil the Luddite surprise, although I'm not trusting Seven to avoid hitting first. You better believe I'm going to be watching for him to hit me Turn 149, too.

[Ceiliazul]

That's cracked. The Mali deserve to finish in last place based on crummy diplomacy... I hope that can still happen.

[Commodore]

That's cracked. The Mali deserve to finish in last place based on crummy diplomacy... I hope that can still happen.

I hope so too, but I'm not betting in that direction. Actually, I'm expecting a first-place finish based on skilled (if amoral and bastardy) diplomacy. In any case, turn 148 has rolled by and it's time for war.

First off, here's what's been happening in the world at large. Yuri's pushing for some culture, resulting in the era-apropos Miles Davis being born. His first native hub city has fallen, meaning RL7's acquisitions there are quite safe. Meanwhile, Luddite razed an okay coastal city, nothing particularly special.



Here's a trivia question for you; if I'm able to secure my borders by razing the French threat lands, how much should I push? I'm in a really, really nice position right now. This is researching at 60%.



The most critical city for my security is Dol Amroth. I can't do much if they rush in a battleship to guard the bay, but otherwise, I think my ironclads will be pretty important to bombard those defenses/kill a smaller ship.



Rivendell (GLH city) here is covered if they just move that battleship out. Conversely, if I can burn it in-port, that'd be a massive coup and encourage me to push harder.



The hub is going to be a more-or-less stalled front for the good guys. Bomber support + border control + rail network = security. I should not have given Yuri that ironclad.



Airships, nice as it would be to use them for bombing, are much better served scouting. For instance, check out these transports I spotted. Circumnav + Nav promotions. They are currently forking my entire southern coast and the hub city of Hyberborea. Naval is beyond all-important on this map.



So quick question, can a unit land and pillage the same turn? If so, my Uranium is toast. If not, my green-rocks based navy was very much the right choice.

[Ceiliazul]

Don't know the answer to the pillaging question, but isn't it more likely he'd use bombers or carrier-based fighters to try to bomb it?

If you're concerned about possibly losing your uranium, assign some workers to partial-build a fort. If anything unfortunate happens to the mine, finish the fort... and use it to further defend the uranium.

As for how hard to push, you need to come out of this war strong enough to fight off whoever is left. You probably aren't going to get a tech advantage big enough to protect you. So the answer is to push as hard as you can. Unless you do that, unless you *all* do that, mali wins the game anyway.