[Spoiler] Desperados: The Black Sword & Agent

[agent427]

I don't know if there are any geopolitics honestly, I keep checking the event log every time I log in expecting to see a wardec by anyone against anyone, or an army building up in Vienna, but it's been quiet.
I took an Open Border deal with Old Harry (Old Rome), hopefully cooler heads are prevailing there and he's not going to vendetta attack me...

As to war possibility..
CH is leagues ahead of me in tech and economy but so what? It's only going to get worse if we do nothing, so let's war away. I'd rather go down fighting then biding my time for a bunch of bombers to wipe me off the face of the earth.

[agent427]

I have a question on visibility around Il Merc though-- shouldn't he see the area 2N normally (since it abuts his border), then see an additional 1 tile in every direction due to the natural sight bonus on water? Same way we have visibility on the tile 1E of Regensburg, for example.

[agent427]

Spy has spotted a buildup of chariots in Vienna, and CH has ~3500 in spare gold to upgrade them. I see he hasn't researched Aesthetics -> Music yet so at least they won't be Cuirassiers.
Sent Whosit a 4 gold offer to let him know I'm on board.

[The Black Sword]

The extra sight over water only comes from a land tile. So a land tile with your culture/unit on it can see 2 tiles over water, a water tile with culture/unit on it can only see 1.

So for example we don't have vision on the tile 1SE of Vienna despite having culture over a water tile two tiles away.

This is all pre-Optics obviously.

[agent427]

For the last ~20 turns, every time I've logged in, the screen goes black, I hear the little build sound effect of whatever completed last and I wait for the game to load, I've been expecting to see that telltalle red "War" next to CH's name. But nothing. What is he doing???


Anyway I've put together 25 knights & 25 cats for the land forces and have the boat knights ready to do their thing. Just have to hope Whosit holds up his end. Maybe he'll decide to attack me instead, I think that would be the wiser move for him, but maybe thousands of years of peace override that.

[agent427]

Here's CH's visible build-up. In Vienna:

In Magdeburg:


A good army, and more rifles than I'd like to see.

Here's what I see moving around in Whosit's territory:

A sizable force but I hope he has some siege engines to support it.

[agent427]

Whosit declared war and razed Mainz, on their border.



I could have held off a few turns on the war declaration, hoping that CH would pull out his western garrison to go after Whosit, but that'd be pretty mean to GW. He's been a good neighbor so far, so I owe it to him to honor our unwritten agreement.

I declared but have taken no movement yet. I can't boat Regensburg even with 3 galleys of Knights, he's put 2 rifles in there.
I'm going to wait 1 turn to finish gunpowder-- a little embarrassing it's taken me this long but I blew a bunch of cash promoing my Horchers-- and then I can put Pinch promotion on a bunch of my new Knights before venturing into the fray.

[agent427]

For reference I declared before CH took his turn so I'm in first half of split

[agent427]

War Turn 2,
CH has drawn down the Magdeburg/Sabata garrison significantly. Hoping to lure me into open-ground for a counter-attack? I don't think so. My spy in Vienna sees all his 1 movers that used to be there, but no sign of the 2-movers. He is rushing them to Whosit's front.

Vienna:


Magdeburg:


Simmed it out in worldbuilder before heading in. Used 5 catapults to break down the walls, then spent 8 collateral catapults. I lost 4 knights ( ) but took the city.



This'll be the what, 3rd? 4th? time an army has taken the city in this spot? Maybe next time its built they ought to call it Boot Hill.
I was hoping the cultural borders would peel back a bit at the loss of the city but no change. Still, assuming he moved all his 2-movers as far as possible in their trip towards Whosit, I think those units of mine still on open-ground are safe from counter attack and can fall back onto the hills next turn.

I've lost sight of Whosit's army with my scout worker, he'll probably get smashed by one of CH's units so I won't have more to report from over there.

[agent427]

War T3,
Moved units back into Badman's river to heal.
Can't attack Vienna directly. The terrain forces units to bunch up and approach in single direction, where his 22 catapults will pounce-- it'd be a meatgrinder. I'm commissioning a spy to check out Augsburg, the border city on my NE edge. Culture means it'd take 2 turns to move catapults into attacking position. If I see that it's weak enough, I'll shift my units there.
Alternate strategy is a reverse Hannibal: Using my open borders with Old Rome, I pass through their territory, to the other edge of the giant mountain range that divides HRE from Rome, then attack the border city between those two empires. I don't have visibility on that city but I figure CH has to be spreading his troops towards me and Whosit and praying for peace on the Old Roman front...