[spoilers]Commodore is Tokugawa of Zulu, or, playing for second place.

[Qgqqqqq]

So close...and yet so far...
Great updates btw, though the timing of that last was funny! ( Post game go to ~post 910 to see why)

eta on Byzantium? What are your priorities/plans post cyne?

[Commodore]

eta on Byzantium? What are your priorities/plans post cyne?

ETA...um, how long does it take to clear out all this crap? I'll be wiping out the defenses in two turns, but to safely take it, I'll need to gather a full dozen catapults at least. I might be a bit profligate with my knights, as in the Age of Rifles they're not too terribly impressive.


Post-Cyneheard? Well...building a ton of banks and filling up Cyneheard's criminally underutilized lands, mostly. As for general priorities...

[spacetyrantxenu]

Ha, I'll give him a pass on the criminally underutilized land, seeing as he lost the Hundred Turns War. He did have his hands full.

[Commodore]

A letter from the dye trader Bek Johan Timbu, written to his nephew in Tugley Wood. The trader was very powerful within the city of Bandersnatch and he built a very profitable business trading with Vikings of the New Territories, but his real legacy was in his sister's son Samel Bek Yulomba, who was eventually elected governor of the entire Bandersnatch Province.


Bek Johan Timbu

My beloved nephew S. B.

My dear boy, your most recent letter only arrived this morning, though I can see you sent it some weeks ago. The state of the roads out west are abominable! I am truly sorry for how difficult it is out there in the ridgelands. Even your grain-ary is less than a year old! How unsettled this wild new settlement must be. And I am indeed sure and certain that city will never amount to much either, for alas such is our fate in this world.


Tugley Wood, est. 1589

But know this, lad, what you are doing out there is essential to the fortunes of not just the family, but the whole of the Zulu Empire. The western coast dye plantations will enable us to open up wide-scale markets to the buyers of choice. What we are growing, my boy, is not sienna, not indigo, but influence. Certainly, Ethiopia has her own dyes, but do the Aztecs want to make her more powerful? Do the Vikings?


Advertisement for "Diamond Dyes", appearing in the Reigate Square Times newspaper

You see, dear S. B., we Zulu are poised on the knife's edge, a tiny power in the international Great Game. The Aztecs shake the world, and their foolish client state Egypt still trades with them, but the Vikings frequently war upon them and even Ethiopia has diminished her trading. The Vikings war upon the Ethiopes, and all of them compete for Zulu gold. And we trade and peddle influence, and all the while the empire makes itself a friend. In these hot lands, are we not at the mercy of Ethiopia? Yet they are friends, for the might of Azteca waxes in the east and Vikingland in the west. Why fight a small but tenacious northern foe as well?


The Bandersnatch Province. Note the surrounding Ethiopian dye plantations.

In short lad, you are at the forefront of Zulu's best garrison, and miserable as conditions are. Be of good cheer, and know you walk for the empire.
Love,
Uncle Bek

[Commodore]

For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. -Newton's Third Law



...for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Galatians 6:7



By Grabthar's hammer, by the suns of Warvan, you shall be avenged! -Dr. Lazurus



Revenge is a dish best served cold -Mafiosi saying



Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. -George Santayana

[spacetyrantxenu]

Congratulations! As a result of your military success you are now in last place!

Before you kneecap Regopin, take a moment to celebrate your victory. I'll let your historians figure out how this fits into the narrative:

[Mardoc]

Well done.

So...do the Zulu people know aught of peace, or will they be looking for more blood elsewhere?

Also, it's unclear what you know of the wider world, but I'm not sure who better to ask. Is this game winding down, or does it still have a ways to go?

[Qgqqqqq]

MOAR WAR!!!

Or y'know, wait and play kingmaker.

[Commodore]

Congratulations! As a result of your military success you are now in last place!

I noticed that myself. I'm reasonably certain with effort I could beat Nakor though!

Well done.

So...do the Zulu people know aught of peace, or will they be looking for more blood elsewhere?

Also, it's unclear what you know of the wider world, but I'm not sure who better to ask. Is this game winding down, or does it still have a ways to go?

The Zulu people know that peace is possible only in victory, and that this means war will come again sooner or later. It's hard to tell for sure how much longer the game has in it. It looks like Scooter is winding down his war with Nakor having conquered most of the Pacific, and Krill just beat Pingo to Communism (assuming, given Great Spy). It really depends on how each other player feels. Measure from least to most likely to start things:

-Nakor is reeling and terrified of Krill. He won't be aggressive, not that he has been before. I expect head-in-sand until someone DoWs him.

-I love a good war, but I have an obscenely well-promoted tiny army here. Actually, the best vector for a profitable war would have been North Pacifica, but alas, Scooter is much more war-prone than Nakor. Pingo would be suicide, Krill would be probable suicide...so right now it's rest, recover, and gear up for the next wave. Oh, and tech Military Science for Ships of the Line and Grenadiers.

-Pingo are strong second right now, but in a logistically nightmarish position to strike out for profit. Their capital and core are tiny, on the Krillian super-continent, so very vulnerable. They have a huge logistics train to hit Pacifica, and conquests there would be of marginal utility. Their only "easy" expansion would be me, but I'm a over-militarized backwater, North Korea if you will. Lots of blood for crap land, here. Plus, both Pindicator and Regoarrarr are smart and cautious players...they like a good 100-page plan before moving.

-Krill is winning handily, and needs to just play onward. Only reason I list him as more likely than Pingo to war is that Nakor has to be looking attractive right now. He might just play dominantly enough to score a bloodless win at this point, though.

-Scooter is in a fun place. Strong, well-blooded army, if a small one. Good navy. Nothing to lose. Everything to gain. He will attack soon, it's just a question of whom. Krill is the chance to win, but it might be too hopeless. I'm a silly option, but possible. Nakor maybe after their treaty expires, but he ought not have stopped if he intends this. Finally, Pingo makes little sense metagame-wise, but probably his best chance to "matter", if that's his goal. No clue which way he jumps, but he will jump.

Game will be called for Krill whenever everyone is tired. Thus far, though, we all seem to still be having fun.

[Cyneheard]

Ha, I'll give him a pass on the criminally underutilized land, seeing as he lost the Hundred Turns War. He did have his hands full.

GG. I had no clue how to handle a long bloody conflict like this one. At least I wasn't a cheap out; you're not in the driver's seat despite my (un)timely demise.


Those Impis were obnoxious.