For the screem shoot. To the death. Mack spoilers.

[Mr. Cairo]

So, as per usual, the turn before I was going to attack Nauf, Amicola made peace with him:



But, I'm not going to just go and be passive, like I'm sure everyone expects me to do. This turn I fired my Golden Age:



And planned out my tech path:

(plus Theology at some point with overflow)

Next turn I'll swap to Merc and Org and convert to Buddhism. During the Golden Age I'll spread Buddhism to my main military cities, build a few more courthouses and other infrastructure.

And at the end of the Golden Age, I'm going to swap to Theocracy, Slavery, Vassalage, and Police State (thanks mack for building the Pyramids). I'm going to go all out to try and conquer my continent. I'll start with Nauf, since hopefully at that point Amicola will still think we can split Nauf amicably. But I want to use my current military advantage to its fullest, before the costs to my economy draw me too far behind.

[Mr. Cairo]

Status update: Extreme Measures edition.


What a high GDP, food seems a little off though....




Turns out with Representation, scientist specialists produce more beakers than almost every tile. So, it's time to Starve for Sciencetm! Yay!


The goal is to get Economics this turn, get Theology next turn with overflow and some specialists while getting enough cash for one last turn of maximum science, without wealth builds, and getting some food back in my cities for more starving the following turn to get Nationalism.

The idea is to swap to the following civics at the end of my GA:
Police State/Nationhood/Slavery/Free Market/Theocracy

But is this even doable?


Here is what we get with 100% science, not a single gold from anywhere.
Not enough to get Nationalism in one turn right now. I'd need some overflow from the previous turn's research to get it on 1 turn. But can I still tech all three techs in three turns and get enough overflow to complete Nationalism in a single turn?



Here is what we get with the slider maxed, but all cities on Wealth builds, and all Scientist specialists swapped to Merchants.
It's less efficient, but it'd leave me with 750 gold next turn, and produce enough overflow to get Nationalism in a single turn with the max science of the last image. But would it leave enough gold (and food stored for more starving) the turn after that to get Economics? I actually don't think it will.

However, the more I look into it the more it seems like a shot in the dark. I don't actually know if I can get all three techs in three turns.
Which civic is least important? Probably Theocracy, so maybe I shouldn't even try for that, and just focus on getting Economics and Nationhood? I don't have my religion in most of my cities, and I'd need to build Monasteries to spread it, which is a waste of time and hammers. Nationhood would save me 55 gold/turn just from civic upkeep alone but cost me 35 commerce/turn and 20 hammer/turn from my capital. Of course, it would generate vastly more hammers via the drafting, and as the Ottoman I have a decent musket UU to draft right away, especially since Knights are still the main offensive tool. One thing is clear however I need to get out of Merc once I'm in Police State, even if that means going back to Decentralization. But Free Market would be a lot better.

I think I have managed to talk myself out of Theocracy. I'm going to get Economics this turn, and get Nationhood over the next two turns. I also have to consider the lost growth potential from so much starving. All in all, I don't think that Theocracy is going to be worth it.

Here's how I'm going to leave it:

I've managed to squeeze a few more GNP out of my cities. Nothing should change to increase my costs, so there shouldn't be a problem there.
Next turn I unstarve my cities and save enough cash to get Nationalism the turn after.

If it turns out that next turn I see a way of getting Theology, making enough cash for 1 turn at max science, and producing a decent amount of overflow, then maybe I'll still go for it.


In case you're wondering why I'm only getting to this plan midway through my Golden Age, well, I forgot that CtH was different from RtR in just one specific area. That Mercantilism takes away foreign trade routes. I swapped to Merc and I think I lost GNP. So now I really need to get out of Merc as well as prepare for a lot more warring.

So I do think that Mercantilism probably needs some sort of buff, because on a map like this with multiple continents and lots of people willing to sign OB, Mercantilism is worse than Decentralization. And that's with Representation. Perhaps some sort of boost to internal trade routes to compensate?

[Mr. Cairo]

OK, so what exactly is this supposed to mean?

A few turns ago he sent a message suggesting joint war with Naufragar soon.

Now he seems to want me to fight Nauf, while he invades two people over the ocean? Whatever, it really doesn't matter much to me, I'm attacking Nauf next turn regardless.


My army


Nauf's army.

It's 7 tiles away from Pataliputra, my first target, so I can take the city next turn with my Knights without having to worry about a counter-attack by all his forces. Unless I get really lucky I don't see how I can avoid letting Nauf slam his entire stack into mine. Fortunately, only his Knights have any real killing power. So losses shouldn't be too high, especially if I keep to hills. I should be wary of Nauf ignoring my stack and sending his Knights into my territory to do as much damage as possible. I'll collect all the reinforcements into a defensive stack to counter that if he tries it.

Overall military situation:





Nauf does have Chemistry for Frigates, but has only built a couple of them, and every Frigate he builds means less units that actually matter.

If Amicalola does join in the attack on Nauf, he'll probably have an easier time of it, but that's ok, someone has to take the brunt of Nauf's forces after all.

[Mr. Cairo]

WAR       


Took Pataliputra with no losses. His stack has to be in the tile marked, I can see pretty much everywhere else, and that's three tiles away from their previous location.

He has probably around 14-15 Knights that can attack me next turn, so I put a bunch of my Knights into Pataliputra. I'm willing to take a bunch of 50/50 fights with his Knights. I also covered the injured Knight and two workers 1N of the city with some Pikes, so it'll cost him to use his Knights there. My stack is positioned to be able to hit his stack if it appears next to Pataliputra next turn.


Burned this city. I lost 1 Janissary, and I left that Mace because if he kills it with a Knight, I might be able to kill that Knight with a Jan.

And lastly took this city:

I'm pretty sure those Galleys have HAs on them, he hid them in my territory during the previous war with Amicalola, and they only just arrived there. Or he offloaded the HAs and ran through my lands a while ago. Either way, I should be able to keep the city.

Demos:

[Mr. Cairo]

Alright. No time for subtlety here, no time for hesitation:

I did a small sim to see what might happen if he attacks my stack, I didn't feel like spending hours so I didn't bother with promotions on either side, and I ended up losing ~12 Knights or so, and a few other units. But in the end, it doesn't really matter. He can win every single Knight battle and I'd still be massively ahead of him in power.

He could go around and attack Pataliputra, with his cats as well, but that's fine, I'll just retake it. I can afford to be inefficient with my units, he cannot.

[Mr. Cairo]

As I had expected/hoped, Nauf took the opportunity and hit my stack with his Cats and Knights.

He lost 21 Catapults, 1 Musket, 2 Pikes, and 11 Knights.

I lost 1 Mace, 2 Janissaries, and 10 Knights.

Overall, I came out way ahead. I did then mess up a little bit and moved my stack back into the city. I should have just sat there for a turn and healed, since I had a GG medic, but when I looked at my units I didn't see the Medic 3 promo, so I thought I had to move back. It shouldn't make much of a difference overall.


See how in my unit box the Medic 3 promo is listed after the GG and Morale promo? That's why I thought I had to move back, I didn't look closely enough and thought I only had Medic 2.

Nauf also declared war on Amicalola to kill a Galleon of mine in Amica's territory. But he probably then asked for peace. It'll be interesting to see how Amicalola responds. He hasn't been maintaining any kind of turnsplit with either of us lately, and his stack hasn't moved in a while (still by Nauf's borders).

I'm going to have to slow down a bit on the whipping, although I'm still drafting 5 units a turn. But I'm getting near the happy cap in a lot of cities, and WW will eventually become a thing.

[mackoti]

there is NO WW so sending units to detha is more then welcome.

[Mr. Cairo]

there is NO WW so sending units to detha is more then welcome.

Oh, really? I don't even remember the set-up
that's great

[Mr. Cairo]

So far this war, my luck has been pretty bad every time it was most inconvenient.

Last turn these two battles:





And this turn these two battles:



Both resulted in me failing to take islands from Nauf. Now all of Nauf's more powerful navy is protecting his remaining coast there from my ships, and I'm only getting my first couple of Frigates next turn. By the time I have enough to challenge him it'll be pointless. But in the meantime those cities can still whip units that he can send to defend his mainland.

Otherwise things are going well. I'll hopefully get rid of two more mainland cities next turn, and I'll be able to begin the advance on his capital. Where there'll no doubt be another big fight. He'll have some Cannons this time, but it wont really make much of a difference, since he lacks units that can actually kill. But it'll still be bloody. Hopefully I'll have some Cuirs myself, which will make it a little better for me.

Amicalola still hasn't intervened. I think I'm going to slow down a bit on the drafting and whipping. I might need some pop and happiness in the future.

[Mr. Cairo]

Nauf seems to be moving units to his remaining islands for some sort of last stand.




It makes sense, only so many units can be unloaded at once so there's more potential for the Cannons to have a serious effect. However, without WW there's no incentive to actually invade those islands once his fleet is gone. Maybe my earlier bad luck resulting in these islands still being in Nauf's hands is a good thing. Means less stuff to fight through at his capital.


Also, note that Amicalola has finally moved in. There might be a race to claim Nauf's Moai city south of his capital. I'll probably burn it given the opportunity.