[Spoilers] Ibuprofen and Eyeglasses: Thoth plays a Middle Aged game

[Thoth]

Use the worldbuilder.
Hill3, flank2, (taktik) for 110% retreatchance.
Attack a mechinf.

Might give that a try. 


But if Commodore comes calling in 10-15 turns with Knights it won't matter.   He just swapped to Caste/Pacifism so I'm expecting a GM in 4-5 turns from him to bulb towards Guilds after he completes teching Civil Service via normal means.  So I'm figuring 6-7 turns to Guilds and then a whipping storm to get a dozen or so 3 promo knights on the board.   I'm not sure if he's building enough navy to transport a sizeable force or if he's planning on using them via land vs Pindicator or Scooter if Commodore and Pindicator peace out.   They're both evenly matched in terms of power graph so I'm expecting a stalemate over there followed by a peace treaty and an invasion of either Scooter or myself with Knights in about 10t for a land strike,  closer to 15 if he's coming at me by sea.

[Thoth]

T54:  Yuris unoaded a Maceman on the island and loaded a crossbow onto the galley pair.  He's still got 3 maces and an archer left in Well-Rounded but that doesn't tell me how many are on the galleys.  I'm assuming they're both loaded with 1 xbow and 3 maces but we'll see. 

I reinforced the forest and offloaded a couple of swordsmen into Voulge.  Shuffled the navy around to block a potential amphibious attack on Voulge and be in position to ferry reinforcements if needed.





Demographic stuff:

Crop yield reflects Commodore running a bunch of Caste specialists.  Pindicator is back into serfdom.




Power showing that there has been significant fighting between Pindicator and Commodore. 




GNP also reflecting Commodore running mass specialists and researching Civil Service with 2 pre-reqs and a hefty KTB.





Manufacturing:





Demographics:





Which do not include the 24 hpt from the Heroic Epic. 

[Thoth]

Quiet turn. Yuri unloaded a crossbow to cover his mace, I responded by unloading a crossbow into Voulge.

Commodore birthed a Great Merchant but doesn't have CS (yet).

[Thoth]

Yuris finished Optics at the end of his turn so caravels are incoming.

So it's time to push the pace on the land war.  I deployed a Barrage 3 cat against his Mace/Crossbow stack and followed up with a C1/Cover Crossbow vs Mace at 85ish% odds and took down the xbow with my garrison Longbow at 73% odds.  Covered the longbow with a C2/shock swordsman in case he actually does have units on his galleys, which I'm beginning to doubt.    But we shall see.  He's still at 3 maces and an archer in his capital so an amphibious assault isn't in the cards unless I can tempt his units out of the capital.

[Thoth]

No sign of a caravel in Well-Founded but I expect to see a Trireme to Caravel upgrade next turn.

Scouting shows a couple more macemen coming in from Yuris hinterland cities so I advanced a pair of galleys to the east with an amphibious swordsman on board to give him something else to think about.

[Thoth]

Commodore has had Guilds for a couple of turns and has been whipping up a storm.

Scooter sent me "War with Commodore" on his part for "Stop trading with Commodore" + Iron, Fish, and Clams on my part.

Not quite sure what he's trying to say here?. Could be a warning that Commodore is on his way with an invasion fleet but I would expect Scooter to sit quietly and let Commodore smash into me if there was a fleet on the way. Or Scooter is asking for naval help vs Commodore and wants me to launch an amphibious assault when Commodore invades Scooter.

Hmmmm. I'll think about it today and if I can't figure it out I'll send back "War with Commodore" + Fish for Fish on my part.

GNP is looking better with some growth and completion of Colossus. 4 more turns and I'll join the Optics club along with Yuris and Pindicator.

[Thoth]

Ok, Scooter's diplo message makes more sense now.


Commodore DOWed him and is presumably inbound with a large stack of Knights and Keshiks. 

So Scooter wants me to boat Commodore's island city and his capital.    I saw a couple of Scooter's triremes in the central sea between his and Commodore's lands 5-10 turns ago and Scooter got the free combat 1 on all triremes event a long time ago so he may have naval superiority in the area.  I've got an (empty) exploring galley nearby so I can check things out see what's going on.


I'm not sure I could do anything here even if I wanted to.  A nicely laid trap went awry when an annoyingly moved maceman meant I attacked with a horseman at 86% odds instead of an elephant at much higher odds.  And lost the damn horseman.  So I won't have enough troops to assault Engineer next turn like I was planning and I'm needing to divert more replacements north than hoped for so I don't have additional troops to spare for courtesy calls on impending threats.  Not helped by a mis-moved worker who wound up on a hill next to a maceman and needed covering with a crossbow (damnit).  I should still be able to mount a successful attack on Engineer so long as Yuris has to keep units covering his capital but it'll take a few more turns to get the units built and in place.  


And I'm don't think I want to intervene in the Commodore/Scooter war.  Best outcome for me is a high casualty for both sides war and I'm not feeling enthusiastic about helping out the guy whose capital I burnt to the ground 25 turns ago just so he can rebuild to the point where he can exact his revenge.

I need to end the stalemate with Yuris to free me up to either continue peacefully expanding or take some direct action wrt to Commodore and/or Pindicator.     Commodore has Charismatic Mongolian Knights on the field now and Pindicator has been playing an excellent game from the looks of the demographics.  He got set back a bit by the war with Commodore but not by very much from the looks of the demographics.

[Thoth]

This could be fun.

Yuris whipped an Elephant in Engineer last turn and I promoted a crossbow to G1/2 and advanced to find his newest city empty. So I advanced my damaged W2 axe as well.

I'll be able to burn his new city or pillage his iron depending on what he does with his elephant.


No news on the Commodore/Scooter war front other than noting that Commodore's island city is walled and guarded by two longbows, at least one of which is CG1/2. It's takeable but not cheaply.

Might come back once I've removed Yuris' navy from the board.

Optics due at end of next turn.

[Thoth]

Took a bit of patience and some more bait units, but the city formerly known as Engineer has been liberated. 





The set-up from a couple of turns ago:

[T-hawk]

I see a Great General in that log too, what's the plan for him?