[SPOILERS] naufragar, Charriu, and Zalson's Threepenny Opera

[naufragar]

Would've been nice to get the second half of the timer...



Here's how I moved the troops. Also me forgetting that Rusten has the Pyramids.


Rusten whipped an axe into RedDot. It's G2 from the Dun. Why am I attacking the game-leading Protective Celts, again?

I was tempted to retreat the three swords that were lagging behind, but not taking RedDot would've been bad. Probably could've used one more sword headed towards Jujyfruits, but we shall see.

Here's the power graph.



But bad news. We are no longer first in power.


Get ready for the counter punch. I've whipped a few defensive units and will continue to do so. Factoring in travel time, I think we can defend from Rusten for now, although he just got a tech. We don't like it when our opponents get tech. Once we take RedDot, we can protect the soft underbelly that is the area around Cathedral. He can strike at that area very quickly, so we're a bit defenseless, although if I have a couple of turns... (Since when does anyone get a couple of turns?)

Attack on RedDot is looking good. Being in slavery + police state means Rusten should be able to hold Jujyfruits for longer. I had wanted this war to be a slap on the wrist to get him off the continent, but he had to go and make things serious.  

Edit: Oh, can anyone explain this?


I thought in RtR opponent techs were never visible. Maybe I'm forgetting something.

[Krill]

Visible at Paper, which enables tech trading, which is then disabled by game option.

[naufragar]

Visible at Paper, which enables tech trading, which is then disabled by game option.

Thanks. I had misunderstood what disabling trading did.

[naufragar]

Opened the turn up to this.



I checked some screens to see if I could see what was prompting his confidence.


Interesting. I had worried that the tech Rusten got was Feudalism or Optics. I was incorrect.

Rusten shipped in more units to RedDot.


I believe I simmed the combats correctly. Next turn, we should have an average shot at taking the city, albeit with horrific casualties. Perhaps I should have retreated. The road back home is very long and beset by pirates. We're whipping crossbows and cats everywhere. (Now I'm waffling about retreating. Those units would be useful on defense, but they'd take forever to get there. Charriu and Zalson, if you've got thoughts, we still have a turn.)

Here's power over the last 50 turns.


In the words of the poet, "Zoinks, Scoob."

I just didn't expand enough. No excuse for not claiming my own continent.


Look how far people are stretching. Lesson learned. But next game I play is going to be a greens game on a handcrafted flat Highland Plains map.

Edit: Last thought about surprise attacking: I don't know how the vision boost from Optics works with borders, but it's possible Rusten saw this attack from forever out. Note to self, more C&D!

Edit again: Not retreating was idiotic. The point of this whole campaign was to prevent him invading us before Astronomy. He now has Astronomy. Having a city on our continent versus galleon two moves away really makes no difference.

[Charriu]

I think keeping on the attack is the right move. Your retreating units could never get back in time for a meaningful defense especially when he has galleons.

[naufragar]

I think keeping on the attack is the right move. Your retreating units could never get back in time for a meaningful defense especially when he has galleons.

I think this is correct. Unfortunately, Rusten made our choice for us.


He had another galleon/galley pair on hand for yet more reinforcements. This we couldn't break through. Round 1 to Rusten (and Hitru who has been logging in a lot. Don't mean to snub him). No sense staying there so, I started backing up. The silver lining to this is that he's been ferrying over archers, and I haven't seen really scary stuff. This hopefully means he's a decent ways out from longbows or similar.

I burned Jujyfruits. The catapult lost its 68% battle, so that's annoying, but then the sword cleaned up easily. There's a worker when I've labeled. I've sent Rusten a white peace offer. I don't expect him to accept, but if he doesn't, I'll see if I can murder the worker before the rescue galleon shows up. He sent another "peace for all your gold offer." There actually is a world in which I'd accept an offer like this. If I was hard pressed by an opponent, who himself had neighbors biting at his ankles, I'd consider it. Unfortunately, Rusten is very safe, so blood gold just makes him stronger for his next attack.



The number one and two powers are going to slug it out. Rusten's power is greater than ours by roughly the amount that ours is higher than the average. Our MfG is still abysmal.

Here's a domestic overview.


I don't know if I really have time for the barracks and forge builds you see, but they're needed in the long term. Cathedral and Bafford's are both hellishly exposed. I've seen three galleons of his, two currently unaccounted for. I don't think 6 units can amphibiously take either city, but nine could. Reinforcing as fast as I can.

I've kept research on optics, although Rusten has too many galleons for massed caravels to be effective. Plus our cities are too close. We could never cover adequately. Our western holdings can build caravels in the event we lose our mainland. After Optics, I don't think we push for Astro. I think we go for Engineering first, expecting Rusten to hit knights before we hit galleons. If we hold Bafford's, which is not terribly likely, we have a Great Scientist in 25 turns. I could muddy that down to 17 with merchants, but 17 or 25 it's still very far away.

[naufragar]

I don't know if I really have time for the barracks and forge builds you see.

I absolutely did not.


I did not realize how vulnerable Bonehoard is. It completed a barracks; this should have been a crossbow. If the city falls due to that blunder, it'll sting. Sheer stupidity.

We're building crossbows as fast as we can. That worker near Bafford's might be dead, but I chose to have him complete his watermill. Eh. When I initially invaded I said something like "I wonder if not roading all the way down to RedDot will come back to bite me." It doesn't really matter. It doesn't even save a full turn to any city, and galleons are far faster than my army anyway. It's a decent little force. We'll see if the cities can hold out until it arrives. I'm a bit uncomfortable thinking that I'm two for two in getting caught with my army far from my core after I declare war on a stronger power.

Here's the power graph.


Police State is a good civic.

Here are the demos.


Rusten and Hitru have built a lot of troops. They have to eat me to get the benefit of them. I don't have a good global image, but my suspicion is that Commodore and Rusten are roughly even right now. Comm/Pin have more land and easier expansion. Rusten/Hitru have a great GNP base. Let's see what happens to me.

[naufragar]

It was a paranoid turn. Opened up to absolutely nothing.


No foreign troops on our shores. One galleon sitting a tile off the coast, looking like it was headed away. Fine by me, I guess. Every turn Rusten waits brings him that much closer to knights lets me build more crossbows. I had changed tech to Engineering, despite being 1 turn away from Optics. This was a panicky move. I logged back in and switched back to Optics while writing this. My thoughts still aren't clear. 14 turns from Engineering, which is ghastly.



Do you think there is a Guilds discovery in there? He hasn't revolted to Vassalage, so maybe no Feudalism. I'm waffling. I'm a waffler. I just had this horrific vision of six knight getting dropped off on my shores next turn. Gah. Optics is still probably necessary if Rusten keeps giving us this breathing room.

It also would make our West more defensible.


Had another bout of paranoia in which I imagined him sneaking a fleet around the cape and attacking our west, so I've put some military builds in place. After these complete, the cities over here go on caravel duty for a little bit. I think.

The demos.



And lastly, here's an ugly pic.


Rusten's blockade forces us to work a blank grassland tile. And a city (Cragscleft, I think) just got its first war unhappy.

[naufragar]

Less commentary this time.

Rusten and Hitru building an army worthy of Mordor over there.


We have to assume knights are inbound.

Commodore & Pindicator aren't as far ahead in Crop Yield as I thought.


I'd go so far as to say that Rusten's GNP and Power advantage has them beating Commodicator's Food one.

Galleons are a nightmare on archipelagos.






In the first pic, I've marked the most important tile in the empire, our only iron. [Edit: No, I haven't. It's next to Moira's.] If we lose the island or that tile gets pillaged and an immovable enemy garrison placed on it, we're finished. Should've reached claimed the south before Rusten settled RedDot.

In both pics you can see caravel builds. [Edit: No, you can't. One caravel is underway at Receiving. The other is off the map at The Maw.] I don't have time to get a third, I think. I have to whip crossbows everywhere next turn if I don't want to lose cities to galleon raids. (And that's just the raid. I'm still dead if he parks 6 crossbows or swords on my iron, e.g.) Those two caravels will try to ambush Rusten's wounded galleon. We shall see. Once he realizes we have caravels over here, he'll group his galleons and make taking them out with smaller ships prohibitively expensive. Just want to shank one.

Lastly, sour grapes.


See that galleon? That galleon is almost certainly ferrying RedDot's reinforced garrison back to the mainland. He was able to cram so many more units in there very quickly.  

[naufragar]

Rusten razed Shipping.


No excuse. Only had a bowman there. The crossbow would have completed next turn, but I should've finished one earlier. No clue why I didn't. Shame that he won the 30% battle and shame I can't destroy the crossbow he left. Quite a gut punch.

In world news, last turn Rusten burnt the big BGN city nearest to us. Don't know what to make of that. Opportunism? Idk.