Turn 80, plus a round-number roundup of my cities as of turn 75 (to go with turn 50):
Absolutely flying through techs now. I haven't built any new libraries or universities, though I have several slots available, but natural population growth is just pushing my science into the stratosphere. I make 2.5x as much as India, who is still getting his basic cities down. In fact, I'm obsoleting units almost as soon as I upgrade! We can hit cavalry in 2 turns - screw hitting India with Coursers, we'll come at him with Cavalry/Muskets/Knights->Cuirassiers. The big bottleneck now isn't science, but gold to upgrade these troops. Especially since as new men come out of the training yards my economy will start to slip...
On the religion front, the anti-Catholic persecution is up and running. My two most important cities, JRTI and OCISLY, have been purged of Catholicism in consecutive turns, and Friendhsip is taking a firm hold across the empire. My faith income is steadily climbing, though nothing at all to compare to India's, so I can afford a missionary to spread the good news to a few more cities. Holy Sites are poor man's industrial zones with Work Ethic (although I have a few IZ's down, too...I don't think I'll hit the inspiration for Industrialization simply because my science so far outpaces my production right now, though).
India is fortifying the passes, though. My horses can still pass, but the infantry will have a tougher time. I can pass them north, through Kandy's territory, since I hold suzerainty. I figure Kandy might be a useful irritant until Madurai is taken. Right now, I have 10 turns until I can declare, and it'll take more than that to get my muskets, crossbows, and Cavalry (hopefully!) there. Every city is alternating military builds with one piece of useful infrastructure, keeping 90% of the empire on knights or coursers (since I have Chivalry slotted).
A look at the tech screen. India just finished Cartography, so he doesn't have square rigging. Probably Metal Casting, given his crossbows, but Astronomy is not out of the question. It's going to be very tough going against him.
See, in Online speed, you can produce everything in just a few turns, but movement speeds remain the same. So he can build units faster than I can walk them over, plus he'll quickly catch up in tech as my units will literally obsolete during travel. The solution, I think, is surprise - if he has no army ready, I should be able to take a few cities to start - and weight. I'll need to keep pumping out military more or less nonstop until the game is over. Thankfully, India is the only civ with the horses to hang with me right now. Germany has clawed into 3rd due to Hungary and Japan slapping each other more than any real effort on his own part, and he's getting some hansas online. 'course, they're matched by my holy sites, so he'll find no real advantage there.
Poland has grown rapidly in the last 25 turns, almost at a dizzying pace. The gap between me and everyone else has widened, with only India left to pose even a semblence of a threat. Here's a look at the cities - I don't have overview screenshots at the moment.
The core
My four most important cities, all settled by turn 25, and the main sources of Polish strength. They have been the sources of our settler waves that have pushed Polish expansion well beyond any other power in the game, and the resulting high pop and solid infrastructure has us lapping the field. With another 25 turns to develop, these are all mature, well-established cities:
Just Read the Instructions.
Turn 50:
Turn 75:
The capital's main addition in the last 25 turns has been a fully developed campus with library and university, plus some mines. Due to low food and limited housing, population growth has been slow here, growing only 1 size. The capital has been mostly a settler pump in the intervening turns, sometimes knocking out traders or military units, too. While it's actually lost a point of production (due to amenity crunches), it's nearly quadrupled its science production. However, the other cities in Poland are steadily passing the capital by.
But Who's Counting:
Turn 50:
Turn 75:
Our second city posts double the faith, more than 4x the science, and fair increases in gold in the last 25 turns. It has not grown, due to limited available food and housing, and a pair of settler builds, but it has added a university and a temple since we last checked in. With no ability to further build infrastructure until size 7, I use it as a builder pump with Liang+the Pyramids in place. The builders travel from here all over the empire, ensuring I have the most highly-developed land in the world. Note the drop in culture, mostly due to Pingala relocating to OCISLY and Liang setting up shop here.
Of Course I Still Love You:
Turn 50:
Turn 75:
While OCISLY has only added 2 pop, a granary, and the Oracle in the last 25 turns, it has posted significant gains in all major categories - nearly twice as much production, 4x as much culture, more than 2.5x as much food, mostly due to dedicated builder effort here. Its 40 science is only triple what it was making before, but OCISLY alone accounts for nearly 20% of all Polish science production and singlehandedly outproduces Japan, nearly matching Hungary's entire output, too. To take advantage of Pingala's GP promotion, paired with the Oracle, I do want to get a theater square down at size 10. Size 7 is a Holy Site, which will give dramatically improved faith and production.
It Builds Character:
Turn 50:
Turn 75:
It Builds Character has been my eureka hub, building ancient walls, a water mill, and an aqueduct all for the relevant inspirations. It's added a fully developed campus, industrial zone, aqueduct, and granary too in the meantime, plus a settler (and another half-built before I had to cancel it and repair some flood damage - the settler was intended for the Nurnberg site). Nearly twice the production, 7x as much science, and slight increase in food, culture, and gold. The city grows rapidly and its only limitation is available housing. If I can hit size 10, I can place a holy site adjacent to the plaza. For now, it's on military builds.
New Poland
As of turn 50, most of these 4 cities were young and immature, having been founded within the last 10 turns or so. Now they've had time to grow and develop on their own and are solid second-tier cities. Some of them even rival the core for production and research generation!
Gravitas Shortfall:
Turn 50:
Turn 75:
Just west of IBC. Gravitas Shortfall has grown rapidly in gold, science, and food, but is decidedly a weaker city than many of its sisters. The main limitation is poor production, with only a single 2-cog tile in its area. Camps and plantations mean it grows rapidly and generates lots of gold, and it gives good science for all that it has no campus, due to Free Inquiry and its Commercial Hub. The factory coming online at It Builds Character will really help this city, when I get around to it. I keep it to limited builds, like traders and the siege tower, to avoid taxing the weak production too much.
Me, I'm Counting!:
Turn 50:
Turn 75:
An interior city due north of IBC. Founded at the same time as Gravitas Shortfall, MIC has dramatically exceeded expectations. It has a higher population, a monument, and a fully-developed Encampment over GS, with triple the production and identical gold and science. I made good use of Crassus here to pick up some good second and third ring tiles (the cattle and deer), plus it's had a bit more builder labor. I should pin a lumber mill at GS, in fact, to work on rectifying its production issues. Anyway, MIC is a prime candidate for a MIlitary Academy in a few turns and then will likely become a Corps-producing center to give us the muscle for our final push to victory. Note also the Polish culture bomb at work! I can use it offensively in Canada (and at BWC, if I ever had the pop for another district...) to convert enemy cities, too.
Ask Your Mother:
Turn 50:
Turn 75:
This city is at the moment my furthest western frontier, with 2 different German cities near its borders. A solid city that has added all of the basic infra in the last 25 turns, plus a fully developed Holy Site. A missionary is en route to convert the city to Friendship and get Work Ethic, uh, working. It's a great gold engine and solidly contributes to science, as well. Lots of builder love has given strong production, too, but it needs more TLC still. Walls and an Encampment are possibilities in case the Hun gets frisky.
Home By Christmas:
The former Bandar Brunei. Just northwest of JRTI, west of GS and southeast of AYM. While the boost to gold generation was nice, this city was too close to mine and Germany's core to leave independent. It was conquered ~15 turns ago. As usual, the AI gave it an abundance of farms. I gave it Work Ethic. The result is a powerful city with great production and a decent holy site. It has a CH placed but not built, and room for one more district - a campus? An encampment? I dunno. For now, it's on the "build military phase" of my build up, but as other cities finish it'll get its turn to finish the CH+Market.
The Southern Frontier
All of these cities are on salt water, and are settled mostly to contain Canada and grab land. They'll serve as useful bases to launch my own invasion and conquest - er, "liberation" - of Indian Canada soon, though. All are receiving encampments in addition to the ubiquitous CHs (or, in one case, a harbor for discount purposes!). These are garrison cities.
Screw Loose:
A frontier city on the far side of the mountains, keeping Canada away from the Chocolate Hills and controlling access to Lisbon. Unexpectedly strong, mostly limited by lack of housing. The culture bomb from the district finishing pulled in some sheep and rice, though, so it just needs a builder down here from BWC to fix that problem. It'll build military units, eventually getting a Military Academy, and serve as base for both Canada and an eventual German invasion.
Look Out Below!:
This city is south of OCISLY and JRTI, controlling an isthmus that gives the only easy approach to the core from the south. While numerous hills give good production, it has been slow in population growth due to a lack of food. After a granary, it is going to build its encampment and culture bomb Vancouver, converting it to Friendship in the process. I also have a builder queued for this site, to mine the hills further and push its production as high as I can get it, so it can become a unit pump later. Victor is here until I use him to establish loyalty in conquered Indian cities.
Flexible Demeanor:
Southeast of OCISLY on the far side of the mountain pass, just across the sea from LOB, Flexible Demeanor is an outpost guarding the Palestinian plain. The niter here is one of the most important sources in the empire. Otherwise, though, the city is very immature. It is still working on initial infrastructure, paused for a courser build, and needs a second builder to get it fully developed.
The North Coast
A mixture of late-settled cities and a few conquered city-states, this is still the Wild West - er, north. Foreign units like Hungarian, German, and Indian scouts still wander here, and to the northwest and northeast is unclaimed territory filled with barbarians. This provides Poland's only access to the sea (as is appropriate).
Youthful Indiscretion:
It lies on the river, north of Me, I'm Counting! and IBC. This young city provided Poland's first access to flat desert, so we banged out the Pyramids rapidly. Now it's working on its basics. The CH was very expensive, but I really don't know why I built a water mill here. A builder is needed to really get this thing going. Note that it still dramatically outproduces GS, though. Also, Nazca, just to the north along the same river, was conquered the next turn and incorporated as So Much For Subtlety.
No More Mr. Nice Guy:
A bit to the north of AYM, northwest of YI. The former Cardiff, NMNG has just finished repairing the damage from its conquest. The AI built no districts whatsoever and basically only spread farms, so it has a ton of food and good pop but not much else. A harbor might be good to help grow Polish sea power, along with SMFS and ITHWWY, but I'm not sure yet how to develop it. It also could use some lumbermills to bring its production up to acceptable levels. For the moment, the city is the northwestern frontier, with nothing but barbs beyond, but I have two cities planned in that direction.
I Thought He Was With You:
The northernmost self-founded city in Poland, ITHHWY is our only other source of niter besides FD in the far south. As a coastal city, its first builds have been granary -> Harbor -> Lighthouse to fix housing and food issues. Between the pastures, the niter, and the fish it has fantastic food and limited production capability now. It might build a galley or two for the era points and to explore after the lighthouse. Beyond the niter and sea access, though, it's an unimportant colony.
The Indian Frontier
The last area of Poland are the two cities, soon to be three, lying along the border with India. These cities were initially frontier outposts to establish our sphere of influence, but both have grown itno valuable contributors and will be our jumping off points for the northern arm of the Indian campaign.
Just Passing Through:
A jewel of the empire. JPT lies far to the east of IBC, northeast of ICISLY. Profiting from 3 fantastic volcano tiles, JPT produces monstrous amounts of food, science, production, and gold for very little investment. Note that it doesn't even have a library yet! It's finishing an Industrial Zone -> Aqueduct -> Workshop which will synergize to push housing and production even higher. How is it building a third district iwth only 6 pop? Because I placed the IZ before finishing Wonderville's settler, of course. It's regrowing quickly. This city could realistically have been settled by a more aggressive India, but I'm very pleased we landed it. After the core 4, it's the best city in Poland.
Look Ma, No Hands!:
Just north of JPT, LMNH sits in a quiet mountain valley with the river tranquilly winding through. Its economy is mainly reliant on a series of quarries, and the unique mountain chain offers intriguing prospects for campuses or holy sites in the future. For now, it's been working on initial infrastructure and now military support builds for India.
If you compare the screenshots, at turn 50 I was nearly tied with Hungary in science and with India in culture, with no religion of my own and a weak military. Since then, in the last 25 turns we have founded 7 cities, conquered 3 more, and have 4 settlers on the map (I guess we'll meet those cities in the turn 100 roundup). That has pushed us from 8 cities (which was well more than anyone else's 3 at the time) to 18, soon to be 22, while our nearest competitor has 13 (India). Science has increased sevenfold, from 33 to 220. Culture has more modestly tripled or so, from 24 to 66, mostly from population growth since I rarely build monuments. Similarly, gold income has tripled, but that's WITH a massive increase in our military - we are now tops in the game while everyone else has stayed stagnant (and our score has doubled in the 4 turns since these screenshots were taken as Coursers and Knights come out of the training fields). Score has gone from 220 to nearly 600.
On the whole, we are roaring along, and have I think developed our early edge in expansion well into a runaway snowball. The time ahs come to convert that into a military edge to put the game away.
Matthias comes calling with this offer, mostly because his scout is trapped in my borders now. I send back a counteroffer for a trade of luxuries - I can use the open borders to finally enter Hungarian territory in about 5 turns. His capital is the only enemy capital I haven't yet scouted, and once I get vision, I'll have perfect knowledge of all my opponents. The luxuries are nice because I'm in an amenities crunch, and I assume Hungary is, too.
He has founded 2 cities in the last 5 turns, giving him a total of ~7 with the conquered Fukuoka.
The army is en route to India, although I might be wise to call back the Coursers and upgrade first. My gold is ballooning, and at a suitable time I'll swap into Professional Army again (probably drop maneuver) and mass upgrade all these coursers, then go into a melee building phase, I think. In the meantime I spit out knights and coursers as fast as my horses and iron will allow. India's two Xbows are the only units in sight, and account for 80 of his 177 points, leaving him approximately 100 elsewhere. I know of 1 archer near Germany, scouting, so that's only 75 - about 2 swordsmen in all of Canada? Dunno. I field 710, with multiple knights and coursers in the queue, and upgrades still to come.
My intention is to hold the pass with these units until everyone else arrives, keeping India from blocking it. Then I will push through. Cavalry will slaughter his crossbows.
After a long walk, Wonderville will be founded next turn, in williams' preferred location. No trade routes available immediately, but they'll come. I still like Petra here. This will completely lock down the border from the volcano in the south all the way to the sea. Beyond here is naught but devils and barbs, and I have no intention of developing that area.
India has been building settlers, too - these two cities are young, 5 and 1 turn old respectively. Chennai is the only native Indian source of niter that I can find, with another in Canada. He will struggle to field muskets, for sure. These cities can be taken after the capital, or if I feel confident I can detail some horsemen to come this way.
In the south, I have open borders, so I send horses racing through Canada, mapping the terrain out while I can. I also run a trader from Screw Loose to Winnipeg, which will serve to bridge the rivers in Canada and speed things up. I can declare the turn after it crosses the river at Winnipeg. I'd also like to run traders from LOB and FD to Vancouver and Winnipeg, but that might have to wait until after the fall of those cities. Thankfully, the terrain around FD in particular is flat and open, my cavalry can race across it.
Hungary is winning the race to the Renaissance general, so I might see about a faith/gold/project snipe here soon. I need to decide quickly. The next general will be Industrial, possibly! Long wait.
A look at the core:
My arrival in the Industrial era has trigged the end of the Medieval Era. I can build a Winged Hussar and research a tech for a normal age, or just accept the Dark Age. Not sure what Renaissance Dark Age policies exist but they're worth exploring, probably. Not stressing about the little details now, just the big picture.
Winged Hussars do have a neat little ability good for dealing with choke points: If they do more damage than they receive while attacking, they push the defending unit back a tile and occupy it's original tile themselves (or do a extra damage if a withdrawal is impossible). Might be worth building a few regardless of era score considerations.
As for dark age policies, Twilight Vallor (+5 CS for melee line units, no healing outside your territory) and Isolationism (+2f2h to domestic trade routes, cannot build settlers or settle new cities) could conceivably be worth your while. Given yoru military plans, I suspect you'll get more benefit from the loyalty pressure of a normal age than from either of those cards.
6 turns until we declare, although I don't think I shall strike right away. My military score is close to 10x India's, and he has just settled 5 cities. In online speed you can crank out a military quickly, though, so I plan to keep units in the pipeline at all times. As soon as my muskets can get in place at Madurai, I will declare then. In the south, I'm building up a strong force of cavalry, but I'll add in some siege and infantry to give a bit of anti-city muscle. I've also been scouting out the terrain and it's very favorable to conquest, unlike the mountainous, jungle-ridden north.
A good look at Canada for the first time. Vancouver is exposed, but Poutine is pretty defensible from the northwest. It might be wiser to instead strike due east, envelop Winnipeg from the north and the west, then attack down that river valley. Quebec is very exposed from the west and won't be a challenge assuming I can beat the Indian army in the field. Of the Canadian cities, Poutine is a prize, but the rest are mediocre to awful (Vancouver is just terrible and makes no sense).
Hyderabad might be a challenge forcing the river and moving on the coast. My only shipbuilding facilities are the three cities on the northern coast, and it'd take ages to sail around, so we have to brute force the city over the river. The north is the new city of Bangalore, currently fog-enshrouded. India has founded 5! new cities in the last 10 turns - most of them in the wildlands to his east. They won't be developed enough to matter when I strike.
In the north, he's fortified a Crossbow in the mountain pass, and my visibility on his capital from my embassy lets me know he's building crossbows there, too. Those won't do much against cavalry. If they're still there in 6 turns I'll probably declare and wipe 'em both out. Indian strength is 194, so these two crossbows are about a quarter of his entire military. He's got a Varu, sword, and archer in the south around Poutine.
Down at Screw Loose, I start the Terracotta Army, due on turn 96 (I can declare on 89). I figure that will come right on the heels of the initial wave of fighting and give me a bunch of free health for my promotions. Hungary is the only possible rival for this wonder - no idea if he's building it or not. If he does, I'll channel the fail production into a bunch of units and go take my anger out on India (will I lose the overflow after the first unit? I have no idea anymore). Also note that Industrialization is at one turn. I planned to swap off at the end of the turn, but forgot that I'm suzerain over Fez. I convert another one of my home cities to Friendship, and accidentally get a burst of science from the city-state:
Damn. I am finishing my 3rd IZ next turn adn just needed to crank out the workshop really quick. Oops, waste of some science there. Oh, well.
The tech tree has all kinds of possibilities. I am close to steam, to flight, to infantry, to artillery...I am trying to avoid finishing techs, since I know the era advancing will lower their cost a bit. Soon I'll be out of techs to sandbag, though. Then it's going to be Military Science -> Ballistics [engineer in training] -> Steam Power (work on Steel eureka) -> Refining (for oil) -> Replaceable parts (Infantry coup de grace on India, with oil) -> Steel (artillery) -> Flight (observation balloons make walls useless). That will all take a little longer than I'd like, since I'm losing a big chunk of science in a few turns as I lose Free Inquiry.
India just finished Castles and Naval Tradition, so we know exactly where he is in the tree.
Looking down the road, with traders going to all relevant cities in my empire, I decide to start working on Germany. I will lay roads and trade posts in his cities to speed his conquest as soon as I can train up a new army after India.
Domestically, I'm settling 3 new cities in the next 2 turns. With Cargo Cult (the natural wonder city), these will be my last self-founded cities since I'm entering the final push for victory. They'll get up their trade hubs, then work as unit pumps, most likely. I don't have names picked out yet, but you'll find out next turn.
Overview of most of Poland.
Abroad, Hungary places Nagoya under siege. Japan will last perhaps 20 more turns, tops? My military power equals all 4 other players' combined at this point and it will continue to grow. My massive economy, as you can see, can support a far larger military even than what I'm fielding now.
India's military power is climbing and walls are going up in his cities. He's also signed an alliance with Germany, while Hungary isn't returning my calls. I did offer a DoF with Germany, so with luck he'll be locked out of war for 30 turns, giving me about 25 to smash most of Canada. If I can get India locked away, then I can grind him down while defending my western frontier against Germany and Hungary.
Hungary has taken Nagoya, and is pausing and regrouping for the final push on Japan's capital - Japan may not have TEN turns left, forget 20. Loyalty is no longer an issue for Hungary, and I doubt he'll be dumb enough to attack Germany...so things are getting interesting! I have a huge tech and gold lead, so I can continually upgrade my units, and all my strength is internal. I'll need police forces on the western frontier, maybe even make 'em strong enough to take the offensive there at Germany, who is backwards. We'll probably raze, so that Hungary is left to face us alone on that front.
At home, as infra finishes, except for factories and power plants (to boost everyone's production) I'm swapping over to all military. I have enough cavalry, so I'm going to switch to Feudal Contract and begin mass-producing muskets to counter Indian pikes.
My enemies conspire against me - Germany, despite being allies with India, has rejected my DoF! It's possible they're communicating via map pin, like Hungary (inadvertently?) communicated with me earlier. India and Germany have grown to 300 military points - I'm over 1000 with more troops coming down the pipe every day. I'll get 3 factories and power plants covering my core, which will fuel every city pumping out units. I have a much, much stronger economy - I can afford to upgrade, they will struggle. I can even do flights like levying the CS here against Germany. I would do it THIS TURN if I had a siege weapon ready to go after those walls, but I don't.
That will give Germany and India +5 against me, and I sent a DoF to Hungary, but I strongly doubt he'll cooperate - he's rejected several favorable amenities deals lately. No worries. Hungary is far away - he could bring his entire 300 point army and find me iwth a freshly-trained, more advanced army waiting. In online speed the distances just make conquest tough.
I'm also getting James of St. George next turn. With 3 charges, I'll throw up walls on my German borders. With Medieval Walls and Cuirassiers garrisoned Germany's muskets and crossbows won't make many gains. He could pillage, but that's about all, and all the while reinforcements will be coming to chase him off.
Decided I will declare on India as soon as I can to hit his isolated crossbows. He's training more, frantically, but I should be able to overwhelm Madurai. Patna is going to be a hell of a slog now though that I have Hungary nad Germany on my rear - harder to keep up the flow of reinforcements. Still, I'm all in to win at this point.
Final points - note the flood. I settled the city last turn, built the plantation as my first improvement, and it was immediately destroyed. Sigh. At least I still have the builder, and I have my extra Pyramids charge, but that's just rude, game.
I should be able to swing a Golden Age, between enhancing my religion, building a Hussar, GP recruitment, and the first Industrial Tech in the world in Flight. That will let me keep Free Inquiry into the Renaissance, which I'm pleased about. If Germany or India hits a dark age, even better! My loyalty pressure will become intense on German cities.
A look at the demographics:
India is my only real rival in science and culture, hence why he's my target - because I'm strong enough to win. Knocking Germany down would be easy (and it'll happen), but won't do much to enhance my chances vis a vis India, while punching out some Indian cities should effectively knock him out of the running. From there I can grind out a conquest (harder now that it looks my enemies aren't stupid) or just tech ahead to space.
Turns come in fast now, just a few hours turnaround. Hungary and Japan are locked in battle over Kyoto, while Germany, India, and myself seem to be careening towards conflict.
The southern front. We'll take Vancouver fairly easily. I'll have a large force of knights, courses, and muskets - and if you look at my tech, I'm going to rattle off Ballistics, Military Science, and Flight in short order around the era swap (to conserve science). Then my massive war chest will deploy cuirrasiers, cavalry, and muskets, while I begin training bombards and observation balloons at home. No walls will be able to stop me, crossbows will be useless against cavalry, and even pike & shot will struggle to do much against cuirassiers. We'll crush Vancouver in the opening turns, hoping to lure those Varu and any Indian defenders over the river. More likely, he'll dig in behind the river line, so I'll consolidate, bring up my bombards, and move on the former Canadian capital in strength. That should be accomplished around turn 110 at the latest.
I conclude I have enough cavalry units and begin swapping empire production over to muskets, bombards, and a handful of crossbows.
More so than gold, niter is my big bottleneck, making it hard to produce gunpowder units in strength. That's good news, actually, since no one else generates nearly as much niter as I do, so I shouldn't face too many muskets myself. I expect ineffective Xbow opposition (India seems to be mostly producing those, mostly due to resource shortages?) and knights/coursers - a generation behind, for a short while. India's best plan is probably to yield Madurai and Vancouver, while building up second lines at Delhi/Trivander and Poutine/Winnipeg, trying to put together a modern force there. If he saves his gold and resources he should do be able to do it, but I see no way to save his outer cities. -knock on wood-
Anyway, I'll swap in the niter/coal boosting policy, and I've got a builder en route to two undeveloped 3rd ring niter stocks in my borders. 10 turns from now I should ahve all the niter I need - just as oil becomes the new bottleneck!
4 turns to D-Day at Madurai. I'll have two muskets, 3 cavalry, 2 knights, and 2 crossbows in the initial attack, against 3-4 enemy crossbows and Ancient Walls. Only the xbows will take any significant damage from enemy crossbows, and India has no way to hold the terrain, so I should be able to isolate the city and reduce it with muskets by turn 95. At that point, I have traders ready to immediately drop in and begin establishing roads to the core, and I'll gather for a new thrust at Delhi, which is still unwalled. Beyond that I have no concrete plans - a strike north at isolated Mysore, or a push south into the Indian core are the two main options. We'll need to take stock there, but the Canadian front will have higher priority for reinforcements until Hyderabad is reached.
At that point, down 7 cities, Indian science should no longer be a danger and I can outproduce and outtech him to grind down his core, while holding off the backwards German and Hungarian militaries with garrison troops to the west.
I feel a little like Germany in WW2 - facing a 2-front war and vast distances...here's hoping it turns out better for Poland than it did for the Wehrmacht.
How much longer until your culture progresses to the point that you unlock corps? It seems like the One Unit Per Tile limitation is a serious bottleneck with breakneck online speed production and combining units together would help alleviate that pressure. Any chance that you'll be upgrading those musket builds into infantry corps at 80 combat strength in the near future?
That's my next goal on the civics tree. Once I grab Diplomatic Service, the Enlightenment is a 1-turn research, and then Nationalism is available. I actually played yet another turn since my report this morning and denounced Germany (who refused my DoF). Can't denounce India, but I might have the opportunity to declare some kind of war on Germany for the inspiration - he has played sloppily thus far. India's culture consistently keeps pace with my own, even if his science is only 1/3 Poland's, mostly due to his Choral Music-heavy faith economy. He also just finished Diplomatic Service 2 turns ago, per the Gossip Screen, and I believe has The Enlightenment researched as well - so he's only a few turns from Corps himself. Crossbow, knight, and Courser corps are in his range and would be a serious threat.
One other thing to think about is going to war with Germany sooner rather than later, like as soon as I can build yet another army. Germany's Hansa economy is starting to come online. His latest settler out of Aachen is a 2-turn build, according to my delegate, which is pretty impressive even with Colonization and the Ancestral Hall slotted. If he's given time to build up, he'll be limited only by resources in what he can produce. Still, not a threat in the immediate or even medium term - he can't 1-turn infantry without oil, for example, and he won't be reaching infantry for ages yet.
