[SPOILERS] Will the Sun(rise) Ever Set on Washington, Mongolia?

[spacetyrantxenu]

Did you know you could see that people are at war with people you don't know? I didn't. Until now.

I'm not sure if it's a bug or an intended feature, but I noticed that in PB18 once everyone started fighting everyone else in the early phases of the game. It kind of makes sense, like you could maybe hear a rumor of a war in a far away place even if you had no idea who it was or what was happening. Anyway, between checking F4 for that kind of thing and reading the portal log I could keep an eye on foreign affairs, like who is getting his brains beat in by who. It makes for a fun diversion until it's your turn to either kill or be killed.

Sort of related, I don't think you can see active trade deals between two players on the F4 screen unless you've met both of them. So you can't as easily identify players working together until you've met them both.

[Whosit]

I recall a couple players had deals going on previously, but now not so much. A few people have open borders with Rome (they are still the only ones with Alpha, I think). Not sure how long that'll last.

By the way, I am not sure if this is "playing clock games," but since I'm playing my turns after Grimace, I assume I'll get the second half of the timer for war. The one advantage here is that I can attack before any whips complete by nature of the pitboss, unless he happens to log in after I've played and sees my boats. Not having to deal with whipped spears is preferable.

[Whosit]

Everything is ready to move into position next turn, I've just had a second thought about where that will be.



Red X may be a better spot than splitting into pairs into the cities. Hiding in the cities might afford me surprise if Grimace does not pay attention to his borders at all, but really, I should assume that my opponents are competent. So if I assume he'll spot the boats anyway, I might as well place them in a location where they can a) fork, and b) backup the other attack if the dice go against me.

[Whosit]

Turn 135 played. The real excitement starts next turn, and I hope that I will be prepared.



Images like this make me wish I had been prepared to attack CH this turn.... Chances are that when I do attack, I won't be so lucky to catch any Workers, but I'll cross my fingers.



Ships are in position, and I have, like, 10 Keshiks available to reinforce by land. I'm more worried about Scharnhorst and wonder if I should have loaded a Keshik onto the northern Galley, but to be honest if I capture Akagi I can probably take Scarnhorst, too, though it will have the advantage of being on a hill.

As nice as it would be to add the GLH to my empire, I think Yamato would be a stretch. Even if the attacks went perfectly in my favor, geographically, it would be too hard too hold when I have my eyes on the west.

Alternatively, I could see if razing the city was possible, but that's still a far greater commitment of troops than I want to do over here at the moment. If all goes well, I'll show the world that I am a force to be reckoned with, and perhaps put CH at ease for a few more turns, although it could backfire as he'll know I have a 10-turn enforced treaty with Korea. Oh well. Time will tell.

[Whosit]

Less than 5:30 on the clock and no Grimace. I forget what times he usually plays.... A lot of people haven't played yet, actually. I guess I'll ask for a pause in a couple of hours if he doesn't show.

[Whosit]

WAR! Turn 136, 520 AD

A cool breeze swept across the deck of the Stanowar, moored off the north coast of the fishing town Pacifica, as the Captain gazed at the glowing dawn sky. Spring had come to banish the winter cold, and the campaign season had begun. The Captain could hear the horses below decks, snorting and stamping their hooves. They were skittish--the beasts didn't enjoy being on a boat--but they were bred and trained for this sort of warfare, just like their riders. The fleet carried eight companies of the world's finest horsemen, each a graduate of the grueling training grounds at Soos. As soon as the sun cleared the horizon, the fleet would move out and his men would see their first real fight.

They were confident. There was no reason not to be. The soldiers joked about the Ottean's inferior intellect and manhoods, and each boasted about how many enemy soldiers he would slay. Indeed, the Captain wondered if this attack would be too easy. Though the fleet was in clear sight of Ottean shores, their intelligence had shown no indication that the enemy forces were arming militia, building fortifications, or were otherwise aware of the intentions of Gravity Falls. No matter. Soon all the Otteans would know would be the stamping of iron-clad hooves on the ashes of their homes.



War is declared! Hard-to-pronounce Sharnhorst is the first city targeted.

Battle of Scharnhorst
C1 Chariot vs Axeman, 20.9% odds: LOSS
Chariot vs Axeman, 99.4% odds: WIN! City razed.



The battles went just as anticipated. Chariot division #82 struck the final blow and destroyed the newfounded city. Trapped in enemy territory, the survivors of #82 were ordered to disperse or take their own lives rather than face capture. "The time has come!"

Battle of Yorktown
Amphibious Keshik vs Axeman, 35.5% odds: WIN!
Amph Keshik vs Chariot, 98.2% odds: WIN! City razed.

This battle went better than planned as the first Keshik won the battle at low odds. The upshot means that I only needed to move one Galley to Yorktown and I'd have the other three to handle the real prize. Few buildings survived the attack and the city would be choked by enemy culture, so it was razed as planned.



It seemed like a halfway decent coastal hybrid, but now it's just rubble. I did not delete the victorious Keshik as it was fairly healthy and could probably survive an attack from a Chariot.

Battle of Akagi
Amph Keshik vs Axeman, 43.6% odds: LOSS
Amph Keshik vs Chariot, 98.2% odds: WIN!
Amph Keshik vs Warrior, +99.9% odds: WIN!
Keshik vs Axeman, 99.7% odds: WIN! City captured with Granary, Lighthouse, Courthouse!

I'm very pleased with the infrastructure that came with the city. Although the city has Confucianism for some base culture, I'm thinking of whipping a Theatre and running some artists as well, and perhaps putting a City Wall in as well to help defend against possible counter-attacks.







So here is the war theatre as it stands. I have not offered peace this turn because I want to give myself the option of scouting out Yamato. I have 4 Keshiks that can hit it next turn from boats (1 badly wounded), but if it's lightly defended I might just attempt to raze it. Yeah, it feels a bit icky to raze the GLH city when I could possibly still make use of the wonder, but Yamato's culture is still blanketing the region, and removing it would help secure my position. Grimace made no whips this turn, as I alluded to in my narrative. I'm not sure if he just didn't notice my fleet, or is checked out of the game, or what, because I've seen him play 5 minute turns. So there will be no whipped spearman in the city next turn, and unless he started to reinforce it this turn, I'm not expecting an awful lot of resistance. (Any non-spoiled lurkers want to give their opinion on razing the city?)

Since I earned a couple hundred gold from my attacks, I put research to 50% to finish Alphabet in 1 turn. I'd like to get some more Open Borders with people (probably just Johns at this point, though. Not sure if trading with Elum is a good or bad move?). This turn I also realized I messed up Micro at Blendin and didn't have a WB ready for when the borders popped. Changed production this turn, will whip next turn, and can have the fish their hooked up on T139. Oops.

On the other hand, I do have a WB ready to hunt the Whales when Stanford Pines finally pops borders in a couple of turns (one good use of that academy, actually).

One way or another, I hope to end the fighting next turn. Then I'll shuffle units back to the west and hopefully can strike at CH within half a dozen turns or so. I'll be running up against spears this time, but despite his overall power catching back up to mine, his border cities remain relatively undefended.

[GermanJoey]

Nice update, and congrats on your victories so far!

One question: what does your total power look like relative to Grimace's? Do you think he'll trying suing for peace?

[GermanJoey]

I guess that's actually two questions but I'm stickin' to my guns here.

[Whosit]

I can grab graphs next time I'm in the game, but I am pretty sure I outclass him by a fair margin. I doubt he has any units stronger than what I can field, and though I'm sure he has at least one galley, I am not sure if he has enough to try for an invasion. I have no idea if he'll try to sue for peace himself, though. I'm not familiar with his playstyle, and if he really is checked out, he might not want to bother trying to get peace. I'm hoping he'll accept my peace offer when I give it, though.

[Whosit]

Turns like this are why I wish I had a dedicated partner: To tell me if I'm doing something unbelievably stupid because I lack self-restraint. But first.



Yeah, he's not really a threat to me. The biggest danger is he actually has a galley in the right place and could hit one of my under-defended cities (I'm a bit worried about Blubs, actually, but if nothing happens next turn it should be fine). Now, on to the main event for today.

I moved a galley forward to see this:



Oh hey, I guess he did have boats. Hm. And that's a Spearman in the city, but no promotions (looks like none available) and no fortification. Looks like he reinforced the city this turn. I can't launch an amphibious attack, but I could try to stick a landing. THIS is where I would have wanted a chance to talk it out, but... it was not to be.



I decided to land with an unpromoted Keshik and give it Sentry, just to see if it looked like anything else could reinforce the city next turn. Unless he has Chariots enroute, probably not. I went ahead and landed the other Keshiks that were on the boat. Not sure if he'll try to kill my fleet or not, and I'm not sure sacrificing all these units would be worth it.



Not sure if it would be best to hit first with the Shock Keshik or the Sentry that has Flanking. Shock is more likely to do damage, but the Sentry could get away. Probably best to do Shock, though. I guess I can test it out in WB depending on what I see next turn.

ANYWAY! Here's some more deets:



So here's one reason why there were no whips: Grimace had been sitting in Caste System this whole time and I had forgotten about that. He's in anarchy this turn, so any whips he does next turn matter. As long as he can't get any more units into Yamato, I still have a chance! I debated about trying to rush my other Keshiks into his territory, but to be real, it would take 3 turns to get to the city and by the time I got there it would be a slog. If I can burn the city next turn, cool. If he reinforces and I have to sue for peace, also cool.

Also, let's talk about how the Zulu have at least, what, 12 swordsmen that pop with C1 and CR1! That's nice. Stop being at war with people that don't matter so I can bribe you to go to war against CH!! Sheesh. With our power combined, we could carve him into pieces and rule the world together! I really wish some basic diplo was available.

And demos:



I kinda wish I knew why my GNP was so bad. I thought I was running a good amount of cottages, but I guess not?? It probably doesn't help that even now, Mabel is still struggling to regrow after the many, many whips that poor city has suffered. Maybe it's because that half my cities are either new and small, or were basically semi-useless land/resource grabs that just barely pay off. This war vs Grimace was really just to give a couple more of my cities breathing room. Some time later I'll go for his island holdings, but I'm sure he'll be better prepared then.

But, yeah. Crossing fingers that he doesn't manage to get anything else into Yamato, but I figure there's a fairly good chance he gets another Chariot or two into the city. Hm.... y'know, even if I can't talk to people, maybe I should at least not play the turn in such a giddy hurry. I just realized that I could have loaded a couple more Keshiks onto the boats, so even though I couldn't drop them off this turn, I might have had the chance next turn to sail around that little blockade and bring a couple more units to bear. Having 6 units instead of 4 available would have given me a chance to take the city even if he brought in reinforcements. Oh well.