[SPOILERS] A new Thread [SPOILERS]

[Mardoc]

The more I think about what Nakor just did (by proxy), the more impressed I really am. I'm still not convinced it'll work, but that's mainly because of the empire's total state, not this move in particular. Strategically it makes sense. He was likely to have to fight Zanth sooner or later; doing it now means he's got at least one ally. Demonstrating feet of clay in Babylon might attract more allies - witness my reaction . He seems to have gotten full surprise, too.

The tactical timing is good, and he clearly brought enough to make the initial strike work well. It can't be a coincidence that Persia kicked this off the very turn Zanth committed his main stack to the Dutch - while being watched by an Immortal. His secondary stack, guarding s'Hertogenbosch, is probably usable to defend against Nakor, but his primary stack is as far away from the Persia front as it could possibly be. Ironically, the fastest way Zanth could free his stack is by going forward, taking Rotterdam - but that requires him to use up either his cannons or his rifles. And Zanth can't even pull too much from either stack, or Slowcheetah will be able to hit back. I don't have any information on what Nakor brought, because I was surprised too, so we'll have to wait and see just how good.

And, oh yeah, this is exactly the sort of thing that will help Nakor's overall RB reputation, too. Maybe he's not actually the neighbor you can ignore right until you're ready for more land, then go conquer. At least not any more. . From that perspective only, his timing is lousy, as some of his credit may be attributed to Krill. But give me the choice of RB rep or RL vacation and I know which I'd choose .

[flugauto]

Wow, everyone is at war, except us. Good.
We have the best economy, but we are half the power of the power leader. I would go Nationalism, Rifles to be safe, would get a cycle of drafts.
And I would get out of Mercantilism ASAP, it costs probably 100 commmerce worth trade routes per turn.

[Mardoc]

Wow, everyone is at war, except us. Good.

Yeah, just about. I do intend to change that, just...hopefully on our own terms. I think having the world's best navy will give us a lot of options.

We have the best economy, but we are half the power of the power leader. I would go Nationalism, Rifles to be safe, would get a cycle of drafts.

I know it's a risk, but I want to put this off a while. A full cycle of drafts will cost us a lot of our lead. 3-4 gpt per pop spent, in addition to the 100ish GNP we'd lose from Bureaucracy. And it would delay Oxford, which looks to be worth another 100ish at breakeven. And going Nationalism/Rifling is by its very nature a delay on getting into State Property - possibly a loss of the free Great Spy/Great Scientist at Communism and Physics, too.

We do have about 130 hpt going straight into military between Bursa and one more hammer city. And there are a couple more hammer cities that will start adding to that any turn now. We've accumulated a nice reaction stack of about 10 knights and about 15 cats, that's still growing, on top of the solid Medieval garrisons in border cities. That's enough to stop either Furungy or Gawdzak's mostly medieval forces. It wouldn't stop Zanth; I'm relying on him feeling that two enemies is enough.

But basically - the only reason we've got the world's best econ is that military's been on the back burner. We won't be able to stay there if we don't keep pushing the economy along.

And I would get out of Mercantilism ASAP, it costs probably 100 commmerce worth trade routes per turn.

Yes...on the other hand, it enabled the golden age and is going to help us get the next one. Swapping out this turn would put off the next GA by at least five turns. I'm not going to get out of it for decentralization (or whatever the no-effect civic is in that column) but it'll be worth it for State Property, certainly. Assuming nothing goes wrong, we'll be in State Property within 10 turns.

[flugauto]

Then 10 turns State Property it is.

[Mardoc]

So, TBS made peace with 2metraninja. How'd he do?




He's up to seven cities now? Wow...quite a turnaround from the three cities he had when Sian left us. The names indicate this is all recapture for now, so he's probably got culture on his side, but it's still quite impressive. Furungy may be able to shrink him back down...or else a focused TBS may cause great difficulties for Rome. Wait and see, I guess. Certainly I'm rooting for the Cartoonies.

The world's violence level...not as bad as I first thought, but still pretty violent.




Finishing up Liberalism this turn, we're looking pretty solid. Zanth picked up Optics, so I expect he's probably going for Astronomy next. We'll be going for SciMethod, which should put us ahead of him. Maybe not enough to snag both Great People, but then...well, it depends on if we can keep that demographics lead solid enough, doesn't it? Astro will shrink his GNP due to obsolete Colossus, but if he wants Physics, he's got to go there.

Or, I guess, he could just want to secure his coastline from potential Ottoman raiders . We'll know in a few turns.

I've got a Grocer and a Courthouse finished at EOT, so no significant change expected. Still eight turns to Oxford.

Our next GP is currently due in 10, but I expect that to speed up when Angkor Wat finishes, and again when Edirne grows. So the limitation on our next GA is whenever we get to Communism or Physics for the other half. Probably about the same time, 8-10 turns or so.



What're we currently working on? Mostly banks. They're a better deal than markets and grocers, except where we need the health or happy. But all in all, our beakers edge only has Oxford going for it, everything else is to push the average slider up.

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

Things are looking quite respectable here!

[flugauto]

What happens if we close borders with Zanth/Gavagai? Do they lose all the foreign trade routes?

[Mardoc]

Things are looking quite respectable here!

Why, thank you, my good man! Respectability is the key to civilized success.

What happens if we close borders with Zanth/Gavagai? Do they lose all the foreign trade routes?

Looks like no, not a chance. They'd still have trade with 2metra, dick, Jowy, Gawdzak, and TBS, which should be enough to fill their cities. And I'm not really sure that's a precedent I want to start, right when we're leading in GNP and are about to get out of Mercantilism...

[flugauto]

They have closed borders with slowcheetah, Nakor, BaII and they do not have Astronomy. So their trade routes go through the Ottoman land. If we close the borders, they can not trade with 2metra, dick, Jowy, Gawdzak and TBS. Right?

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

Things are looking quite respectable here!

Why, thank you, my good man! Respectability is the key to civilized success.

Indubitably! Carry on, good sir!!