[SPOILERS] Don't mention the war

[plako]

Now I'm feeling even more stupid. I asked from WK a loan of 300 gold to finish Rifling and he thinks finishing Constituon is more important than Cavalries. Not very committed to our common cause it seems. I'm not gonna win this war with Mackoti for him so I guess it is back to economy build up then and getting a bigger lead over Serdoa so that we can finish fast later. Gonna finish Rifling though (was able to convince Mackoti to fund the effort) since Cavalries and Rifles will keep me easily safe from Serdoa's potential counter attacks.

MAckoti has to retreat also because of the threat that TMIT attacks.

[plako]

T134

Couple of shots from previous turn. I got 300 g from Mackoti and he also upgraded some trebs to Cannons so I owe him again close to 700 g. Carthage fell and my Lbow there died. I had also Lbow pillaging Serdoa's copper that he killed:



After ending the turn nasty drop in WK's graph reveals his mistake. He lost a lot and Serdoa only little:


My power is better than is visible. Mackoti has 5 of my Cannons that he should give me in couple of turns.

Now we're back in the drawing board. Also AP diplo victory is now a clear threat. Had to check if it is banned and what can we do about it now. It would be a shame end the game that way.

edit. Checked AP diplo vicroty is banned.

[plako]

ooh. There is life in TMIT's thread. My view on his current status assuming that was what Krill wanted to know:
* Drafted a huge stack of Janissaries (MAckoti mentioned number 60) - Virtually no siege - Bad army both defensively and offensively. He has positioned them so that they somewhat threaten Mackoti - Mackoti is nervous so he has pulled out his troops from Serdoa attack. Based on his actions I think they're mainly defensive in nature at the moment. They just don't have NAP and I think WK lacks it too
* According to Mackoti he is currently crawling towards Steel. He lacks a lot of basic economy techs. His economy is on par with Serdoa that tells a lot
* Culturally he is finally starting to get his cities to 60% so I'm soon starting to lose tiles
* We've a NAP until T150

[plako]

T135

Played the turn in a rush this morning. Hopefully didn't make big mistakes. I saved the situtation just before ending turn so I can later take screenshots.

I've suggested to WK+Mackoti to build a large SOD and then go straight against Serdoa's capital to get away from the stalemate situation. The obvious problem is where to collect the stack since everyone has their favoured direction. I've suggested south and I think it is best when looking at the whole picture.

TMIT had moved a stack of Janissaries to my territory apparently to attack against Mackoti. I closed the borders and sent him a message that I can reopen them, if he promises not to use my territory. I'm not sure how he takes it, but there is a chance that this was actually a favor for him. He has split his Janissaries to several smallish 10-20. That might give him a chance to raze something, if he could Surprise Mackoti. However Mackoti has known the threat for quite a while, so there is a fair chance those stacks would get hammered without accomplishing much more than a pillaged tile or 2.

[plako]

T136

I got this from WK after he played the turn:

No Serdoa attack this turn, however TMIT has decided to make his move and has declared not only on mackoti, but on plako as well. A shock considering he NAPstabbed, but I guess he's trying to go out in a blaze of glory (although he clearly went overboard).

As soon as I have the units to spare to send in his direction, I plan to declare on TMIT (if he doesn't declare on me before then). In the meantime let me know if there's anything I can do to help out.

So it seems that TMIT broke without much hesitation our NAP after I closed my border last turn. While opening the save I get this:


There is a high chance this is accidental so I send a message to TMIT to ask, if cease fire was intentional. I check the situation and there is a stack of 14 Janissaries threatening Regildo. There are also few units in the north, but they will be easy to deal with since most of my troops are there. Well after seeing what I'm against I decide just to proceed and ignore Cease fire. Those units won't be able to accomplish much more than generating a handful of GG points to me. Only Regildo will be in minor danger, but even there I can get half a dozen mounted units + draft + upgrade and there are 2 muskets that Mackoti can give to me so I should be alright.

[plako]

Between the turns TMIT has captured and disbanded couple of workers and attacked my new city Cahokia near his borders and lost a maceman in the effort.

Here are the main visible forces in the south:




and the norther stack:

[plako]

I'll start promoting a cavalry to Pinch and attack. 96.2% odds - I get a kill and Cavalry to 12.8 health. Then I upgrade 5 Cuirassiers to pinch and move them in the city and draft+whip the city. Finally I upgrade Mace and Lbow to rifles. I'm also getting 2 Muskets back from Mackoti. This city isn't falling.



I need a break so I'll continue turn a bit later. Made a mistake in updgrading too. Didn't rmember that I can't promote after upgrade so one of the Rifles could have had 50% more defender bonuses.

[plako]

Next step is to finally rename Cahokia to Nerto . I move a Rifle there too so it won't be that tempting to attack there. TMIT has ~5 Janissaries in the Neighborhood. Nerto is not too important in case he decides to attack.

Then I need to consider what to do in the north. At least I want to send something in the south that I can counter attack what is left from attack of Regildo. I might also want to attack against small Janissary stack even if I've no siege on range to hit them this turn.

I start with drafting Ardo. Promoted to Combat. It gets 88.5% and I take it. Rifle almost dies 0.6 health left. Sensible me tries to whisper that waiting for siege support would make most sense, but I decide to throw Cuirassiers against the Janissaries nevertheless. At least those Janissaries can't run away. I get odds ~80% and get pretty lucky losing only 1 battle out of 6. This nets me also a GG. from Plinho.

I could also attack Izmir that has just 1 Janissary defending, but Don't want to attack against any city that I can't keep at this point. I move remaining Cuirassiers so that they can hit units near Regildo next turn. Not much to report after this. Here is couple of shots after ending the turn.

[plako]

T137

Between the turns Nerto was captured and razed. TMIT lost only 1 Janissary in the effort. Here are the positionings of the southern stacks:







Also WK gave me 4 Knights to be upgraded to Cavs and I did got couple of Cannons from Mackoti that will be very useful when handling that stack of TMIT's.

In the north I see just few units in the cities and 4 Janissaries on the Mackoti's sdie of the border.

[plako]

I'll promote Cannons to Barrage and hit the stack on my territory. Both survive and leave mainly a clean-up duty, with just 2 Janisssaries in full health. I'll start attacking with Rifles

Rifle 90% WIN
Rifle 97% LOSS

Then Mounted
Cavalry 96% WIN
Cuirassier 78% WIN
Cuirassier 95% WIN
Cuirassier 95% WIN
Cuirassier 99% WIN
...5 cuirassier battles with 99% or better WIN
+2 clean up duties with spear and dog ~95% odds WIN

Then I draft Sevao and attack against the Janissary that razed Nerto and move troops so that I can defend southern cities in case TMIT's stack in Diyarbakir moves that direction.