[spoiler] Civac fixes it (again)

[civac2]

The troops advanced as I spotted a lot of Gavagai's military (20+) on the Commodore front. First couple knights will be done next turn. Legerity build 2 Knights in 3 turns.

Situation:




I also made a mistake and pulled the defenders out of the newly captured city with Amicalola's scouting warrior right beside it.



I also have two workers in the east he could snatch if he wants to. We have cordial relations and a fish-fish deal since forever but the temptation may be too much.

Demo ga/post ga (both at 60% research rate):

Not amazing though there was some whipping in between. The phenomenal GDP is Jowy. Amicalola also has a better economy than I do. The reason for the low savings rate are empire wide costs of 425 gpt. I will go Banking next instead of what I either Philosophy->Nationalism or Engineering. Banking is cheap and Banks costs us only 80 base hammers with all modifiers. Diegesis(?) will double whip a bunch of missionaries to enable building them and some other important buildings.

Lewwyn has researched Engineering and now has the biggest army in the world. This could be the end of SD but Lewwyn has Amicalola in his back who he already warred with.

[civac2]

We have well promoted units now. They make a world of difference.



Looking at the screenshot I forgot to bombard the defenses. The CR3 praetorian won anyway as did his CR2 colleague against the swordsman which also defended the city. I razed it and defended the victorious praetorian with the shock axe and an elephant.



The horse archer retreated and a second one captured the city. This one I kept.



His army is nowhere to be seen. It really can only be on the marked spot unless he built a road on the dyes just north of the marker in the mean time. The stack next to the copper consists of 6 horse archers and a chariot which should take the city SE of the copper next turn. He abandoned the city on the land bridge which should also fall but stacked some units into the island city.

[civac2]

Lost 4 of the 6 horse archers taking the city against an elephant and an archer. One HA won, one retreated. At the end I lost one of the sentry chariots at 95% too. Would have been embarassing if the second one hadn't managed to finish the job. I burned that city down too.

He has a new archer in the land bridge city so the chariot couldnt take it. Next turn there are two knights in range.

The island is fortified to the point that I need to bring serious hardware to take it. Something along the lines of 4 cats, 3 knights, 3 maces/praets. Probably overkill, but that is not a bad thing.

Gavagai keeps retreating with his main stack. I probably won't be able to advance any more but I have ships, scouts and sentry chariots looking for opportunities. Three to four razed cities can be resettled safely now with Gavagai's culture beaten back.

[civac2]

Commodore peaced out with Gavagai. I feel a bit hung out to dry. Clever move if intentional but maybe he just couldn't see any way to make gains.

I took the land bridge city with a knight. Gavagai's culture is still an issue, going almost up to the city. Unfortunately, it reaches the point where the land bridge reaches the continent, so that troop movement along the land bridge is not easy. Atm it's possible as Gavagai's stack is not in range.

After taking the island city I will try to sue for peace as well. We'll see if Gavagai accepts.

I badly need to take care of the economy. Jowy is running circles around me atm. The others are below me or in reasonable range though. Banking in 2 turns. After the current batch of units I will convert all important cities and build some banks and courthouses.

[Ruff_Hi]

Word of the day ... hobbledehoy - A clumsy or awkward youth

[Ruff_Hi]

Word of the day ... gewgaw - A showy thing, especially one that is useless or worthless

[civac2]

Hi Ruff.

Not much is happening. Army is standing in no mans land costing a lot of money. There hasn't been any actual fighting for several turns. Assault on the island city starts in 2 turns. After it is taken I will ask for peace. First settlers to resettle razed cities are also in the works.

Banking is done. First Banks and Courthouses are being built, alongside some missionaries. Jowy still far ahead. He has more than double our savings rate.

Lewwyn made peace with SD after taking a city and declared war on Amicalola. I have some sentry chariots to relay information.

[Cornflakes]

The reason for the low savings rate are empire wide costs of 425 gpt.

Can you post a screenshot of your financial advisor so we can see a breakdown of your costs?

[civac2]

Here you go.



The captured cities are incredibly expensive. Surprisingly so, since most cities have reached the number of cities cost limit of 6 a while ago.



I pulled the army into my culture this turn which saves 15gpt compared to the screenshot above. I was loathe to do that since it's now slightly out of position. Gavagai's army is nowhere to be seen though.

You can see the landbridge on the right hand side. Gavagai's culture would allow him to block any reinforcements coming through there. However, right now he is allowing me to reinforce. The northern path around the inland sea is much longer.

It's also a really dangerous attack vector towards Legerity. I may have to put army back on the mountain range in the middle of the screenshot.

[civac2]

Finally attacked the island city. We lost the Iron and a river grassland cottage culturally to Gavagai's city so this one is personal.



The first catapult retreated at 4.4% (screenshot got messed up).



The second also retreated at 39.7%. The first knight had good but not amazing odds



and won. The rest was cleanup. Now this was a lucky combat outcome. The second catapult, at least one knight (I think 2) and the maceman didn't even suffer a hit. We also got a third GG in Legerity of all places.


Moai are finally done.




The plan is to start the next GA in 3 turns (there's a small chance it's in 4). Depending on what Jowy does I will either go for Nationalism and build the Taj during the GA or go for either of Rifling/Steel (with 2 GAs). Steel is probably better though Rifling would also grant Printing Press. If I can get Nationalism first I will reevaluate the Rifling/Steel choice.



Diegesis is to hatch the Artist for the 3rd GA. Unfortunately, it picked up some Scientist points during the first caste system phase. We also lost the outer banana tile though the artists should take care of that in short order. If both the GArtist chance and the Taj don't work out I will have to do something silly like switch to Pacifism or make a GArtist in the capital. I'm also considering building the Partenon. It dpends on how many units are needed.

I have the largest army in the world but most of it is off near Gavagai.



Amicalola moved his army southwest after making peace with Lewwyn. He has 30 fairly modern units. This could be in response to a bunch of whipping by Jowy. But he is standing only 3 turns from my borders. I'm rerouting some units east to establish a second stack there. If he comes right now I would probably lose at least a border city before I have enough to stop it. But it is fairly unlikely he is going for me.