[Spoilers] Woden takes on the World (PBEM18)

[Woden]

Turn 159-World Congress
This game is about to become a bloody mess. Here are our options for the World Congress...
   

I really have no say in the matter since I am generating negative diplo points because nobody likes me   It is really going to depend on what everybody else votes for but I don't see anybody not picking cheaper units for production. The big unknown is what units get the +5 bonus. I figure ranged is the best bet.

[Woden]

Turn 160
What are the results of the World Congress...



Okay? This is really a WTF moment. Ichabod and Kaiser (who went heavy on it) voted for +100% cost for units. Not sure I understand this thought. Ichabod is way behind on production, I think he has only one Industrial Zone and I don't think it even has a workshop. As for Kaiser, he is fighting 2 wars and doesn't have an edge in military power. He does look to have decent production in a few cities but still. Suboptimal gets bonuses for Industrial Zones and probably has them in nearly every city, so he should have decent production. I guess they figure I was going to build a large army, so may slow me down but it also hurts them.  Whatever, I can use this time to improve my infrastructure and let Ichabod attack me and lose some units.

As for the other one, -5CS for ranged makes sense and Kaiser went heavy in votes on this one too. It lowers the attack strength of Frigates, so his coastal cities are probably in better shape but it also lowers attack strength of cities, so not sure if they thought this through.

Anyways, what does the turn look like...



Ichabod didn't take out my encampment and may be looking to hold right now. This is good it gives my field cannons time to get down to Misty Mountains. I do activate the Admiral that gives an Ironclad and mover Victor to Misty Mountains. The Ironclad raises the city strength at Misty mountains, from 66 to 72.

Since units are going to cost more, I decide to switch builds until I can at least get some production policies in place. I also decide to start the Jebel Barkal at Rivendell...



This will be worth 20 and +6 iron. I don't think I need iron anymore but the faith will help for buying units. I am also contemplating if I should be shifting my trade routes from domestic to international to jack up my gold. I could also slot the +1/+1 card to boost both. I need to send at  least one to Kaiser since he has a trading post in at least one of my cities and would have a +3CS for a higher level of diplomatic visibility against me.

I earned the Great Merchant that gives 200 and 2 envoys. I put the 2 envoys into Venice and retake suzerain. This will help my income. I will earn a few more envoys in a few turns and will hold on to them in case Ichabod dumps a couple back into Venice.


Turn 161
Start turn off with...



Looking over the war front before I do a policy swap...



Encampment at Misty Mountains still survives but Erebor is going to get pillaged next turn. I move my Field Cannon by Rivendell back to the plains hill and take a pot shot at one of his units. Pretty sure he is looking for some free gold and will pillage 2 mines and a lumbermill next turn. I should be able to kill one unit but the others will probably retreat before I can kill them.

As for the policy swap...



I take out Natural Philosophy for Bastions. This will help negate the World Congress nerf on my city attacks. I also will get another swap when the Forbidden City finishes in a few turns, so no need for military production cards right now.

Looks like we are going to have a little break this week, so I need to sit down and figure out what I need to do to win this game.

[Woden]

Turns 162-166
We are back with the turn going around after our Christmas break and I am a little behind in reporting. Not much has been going on, so I will just summarize the last few turns. I finished the Forbidden City on T163 and Ichabod has pretty much been in a holding pattern along our shared borders. He has been probing a little bit here and there but retreating once I shot his units with my field cannons. On T165, I did finish...



Also on T165, I spot this...



Kaiser is building the Casa de Contraction. Not sure if 3 governor titles are worth it for him, he only has 1 or 2 cities on another continent. I was planning on using the next GE to build it myself and it is way more useful to me. My plan is to build it and then move my capital (I can do that) to Moria, then grab all 6 governors and place them in my core. If I run the card that grants 15% and +10% I could get +30%, +25%, and +15% in my best cities.

I think I have a plan where I can beat him though. It looks like he just started it a turn or 2 ago but I am not sure of the production potential in Kelly Grayson. Pretty sure it is not to the level of my capital but might be close.

In other news, I have made a few trades with suboptimal for luxuries, spice for ivory and gypsum for wines or something like that. I sent another one for jade for dyes for a little buffer on luxuries. Canada took over suzerain of Venice and I lost my dyes form them. Ichabod took over as suzerain for Bologna this turn, so I retaliated by retaking suzerain of Venice and take away any gold he was getting from them. The deal with suboptimal is a little insurance in case Canada reclaims suzerain. No need for the extra jade anyways.

This turn, Ichabod sent his cavalry to Belem...



Not sure if this is a pillaging run or he is looking to invade. I shot his Cavalry with both Field Cannons and the city center, taking away half his strength. Only the Cavalry can move and pillage on the same turn, so next turn I will focus on the heavy cavalry units because they will be stuck in my territory a few turns if they look to pillage. Best bet here is that he is looking to hit a few of my mines/lumbermills for gold and the heavy cavalry are there just for reinforcements. We will see what happens next turn.

Finally, you will notice that Ichabod has now dropped to 4th place in score.

[Brian Shanahan]

Any updates?

[Woden]

Turn 167
Start off turn finishing...



I figure I can get Casa de Contratacion in 5 turns and then move my capital to Moria. Not sure the timeline for Kaiser but by the looks of his construction, unless he chops it out I should be able to beat him. I slot the wonder card in to help when I start building it. Plan is to run a project at Gondor and then start building it. I will run more projects at my other cities to grab the GE and finish it when I get him in 5 turns.

All is quite on the front with Ichabod. Not sure if he is posturing or getting ready to raid my border improvements.




Turn 168
Well, he did raid my lands...



Pillaging a few improvements and killing one of my field cannons. More bummed about the field cannon than the improvements. I was able to swap tile around and finish the project at Erebor next turn. I bring some of my units up in case he is looking to launch an actual attack but my best guess is that he will retreat.


Turn 169
Ichabod did indeed retreat back to the safety of his lands...



Three projects complete and I start 2 more in Osgiliath and Erebor and start the wonder at Gondor. The 3 projects were worth...



153 points minus the 18 I earn each turn. Three more projects will grab me the GE and Casa de Contratacion in 3 turns.


Turn 170
I hate this game!...



Massive flood wipes out my Industrial Zones in Osgiliath, Erebor, and Rohan, down to the District itself, meaning I will have to repair the district and each building. No way I can get Casa de Contratacion before Kaiser now. I switch Gondor to an amphitheater and start repairing the IZs. I will need about 6 turns to repair everything and I lost all productions into the projects I already had.

Looking over the game a little bit, I decided I need to do something about Kaiser. It doesn't look like suboptimal is doing much of anything against him, so I will have to slow him down before he gets an advantage against me. My plan is to hit him with Battleships and Tanks. I am about 3 turns from Battleships and 15 turns from Tanks. To get a decent number of tanks, I am going to need units to upgrade but the +100% production for combat units, thanks to the World Congress resolution right now, makes building them a no go. I can however faith buy them at regular price but Cuirassiers are fairly expensive. However, if I put enough into production, I can buy heavy chariots for 110. I slot enough cuirassiers into production so I can start buying heavy chariots. Next turn, I will swap the discounted gold upgrade card and then be able to upgrade the heavy chariots to keep my iron low enough to be able to buy a heavy chariot every turn and be able to upgrade one every other turn. I should be able to get a bunch of chariots out to actually get a decent army going.

There is an exploit where I could slot the cuirassiers into production, buy the heavy chariots, then remove the Cuirassier from production and get the iron back to upgrade them but I consider it an exploit and am not doing it. I will put a turn into each one I slotted into production to lock the iron in. I bring this up just in case somebody thinks I am using it, I am not.

Additional, I am planning on building a bunch of units to their normal cost and then switching to another unit. This will mean I can get a bunch of units out when the resolution ends and their costs decrease to normal. 


Turn 171
Start turn off with...



I swap policies...



I drop the wonder card and opt to go with the Harbor doubling card over Conscription. It is a little more gold right now but as I get more heavy chariots out, it will not be. I do it more for the added production as I get more shipyards online. I am also thinking of going for Alhambram at Gondor for the extra military policy slot. I can use the GE on that plus the Huey Teocalli at Moria.

Nothing happened on the front with Ichabod. He is looking to do a little pillaging at Rohan or Porto Alegre. Not much I can do right now.


Turn 172
Yep, he pillaged both Rohan and Porto Alegre...



I swap a few units around to prevent more pillaging. If he decides to go after my units, I shoudl be able to take a few out. I think I need to look at get a few more field cannons out, even if I have to build them at double the cost. Here is what it looked like at the end of my turn...



I did also bring the GG over to the cuirassier on the CH. Still have 3 turns to get the factories and power plants at Erebor and Osgiliath up and running and then I may build a couple of field cannons. He will probably retreat again and then find another place to strike again. I am half tempted to build a Cothon in that small lake and then build a battleship for added protection. I can also build one at Porto Alegre. Still not sure though. They would only add a little bit of protection. Need to think about it.

Refining finishes next turn and then onto Steel. Then onto Combustion. I will need to extract an artifact to get the boost and is why I am researching Natural History. I am still pondering if it is better to try and finish Ichabod off or start a war with Kaiser to slow him down. The Kaiser route looks good because I can use my ships to take his northern city and capital fairly easily without committing to much of an army to the campaign. Maybe it will also give suboptimal and Canada some help in their campaigns against him.

[Woden]

Apologies for my non-reporting. I have been busy with work and not much has been going on in the game as I set up my end game strategy to finish this game off. I think I have 14 turns until a new world congress. My plan is to get a bunch of units built to what they will cost once the +100% ends and then put out a massive army. Until then, I am currently faith buying heavy chariots (1 per turn) and upgrading them as needed to keep my iron low. As of the next turn (T177), I am going to switch to faith buying catapults. I will reduce my niter by starting musketmen in my cities so I can have a bunch to upgrade to infantry down the road. Right around the time the World Congress reconvenes, I will have a huge spike in MP and then launch an attack on both Ichabod and Kaiser. Suboptimal has not made any gains against Kaiser, so it looks like I might have to step in to slow him down. I should be able to easily take Alara Kitan and Ed Mercer (his capital) with support from Battleships. I will also focus on taking Bologna out to hurt his science rate a bit. Maybe if I launch an attack on Kaiser, it will kick England and Canada to push a little harder against him. While I attack Kaiser from the coast, I am going to push on Ichabod, starting with razing Curitiba. I will use a battle ship to knock down its walls and health and then raze it with a cavalry unit. This will hopefully force him to reposition some of his units ad then I can strike his capital. Anyways, that is my current plan. Here are the last 4 turns.

Turn 173
Start off with...



I have 4 oils in my territory and another one that will be grabbed soon. Three are on land, one at La Venta, one at Rivendell, and one at Grey Heavens. The water ones are at Porto Alegre and Grey Havens and I have one that Weathertop will grab soon.

Ichabod has retreated his army from his pillaging mission...



Workshop is repaired at Osgilaith and Erebor and I star repairing the Aqueduct at Erebor and Factory at Osgilaith. I slot Steel into research.

Turn 174
All quite on the western front...



Workshop is repaired at Rohan and I see that my project's production is still there, so I go to complete the project. I will run one at Osgiliath to grab the GE and get Alhambra going ASAP. With Alhambra, I will be able to run Conscription and the melee production card at the same time. Otherwise, I will need to chose between building units faster or upgrading them faster.

Canada comes asking for a trade, my whales and jade for his wines and spices. I am getting both those from suboptimal at the moment but decide to accept the trade anyways. I want to make sure he can still be a thorn in Kaiser's side and Canada is not a real threat to me. Plus, if suboptimal decides to stab me in the back when our friendship ends, I can still have the luxuries. It is a little bit of insurance on my end.


Turn 175
Not much going on here on the front with Ichabod. I have moved a courser done to Fez and wanted to look and see if anybody is keeping watch done here...



He has a pike and shot keeping an eye on the southern approach. I move my Courser back. I suspect there are more units on the road to the capital. If there wasn't, I could use my courser to hit the city if I started on the niter tile, which would prevent it from repairing its walls and then I could launch an attack with some cuirassiers. But, it looks like Ichabod is not stupid enough to leave his capital undefended.

In other news, a new barb camp spawned in the northwest...



I am going to have to send my frigate up there to take out the pike and shot, then capture the camp with a cavalry unit. Osgiliath repaired its Factory and rather than have it fix its power plant, I put a project in there. That will be enough to complete the GE. If I waited until the power plant was finished, I would delay the GE and I would overshot the points needed to get the GE.

Turn 176
Open the save to find Ichabod has finished his encampment near Misty Mountains. Looks like he is planning to put a bombard in there to weaken the walls at Misty Mountains...



I am bringing my bombard corps down to start blasting it and get it ready to attack Kaiser's when I declare on him. Kaiser has finished Steel, as all his cities have 400 defensive strength. I am going to delay Steel and finish Scientific Method first so I can get a few catapults out.  I have 5 heavy chariots now plus a few that I already upgraded. Next turn, I buy a builder at La Venta to harvest the wheat tiles at Osgiliath, which will bring the population above 15 and boost Urbanization. Then, I plan on doing a few rounds of catapults. I should be bale to get enough for 2 or 3 corps that will help take out Bologna and Kelly Grayson. 

Down by Fez, Ichabod has sent out a cavalry and pike and shot to chase off my scouting unit. I have my unit run to the ocean where I have my frigate come down to protect. Now I know he is watching his capital approach regularly and need to figure a better approach into his lands.

In other news, suboptimal has finished the Great Library and there is a rumor he has cleared land from the colossus. I wanted to get that one for another trader route and more gold but not a big enough deal to try and race for it. Better to get the Alhambra and Huey Teocalli. I do still need to look at getting an industrial wonder for the boost to Flight but it might be better to hard research it and build military. I can look to pillage Bologna's campus for free research.

[Woden]

Turn 177
Start off by finishing...



Time for some policy swaps...



Drop Professional Army for some more gold. I will need lots of gold for some upgrades coming up. Not much else going on this turn. Didn't even take screenshots of the front. I will have the wonder GE as the project in Osgiliath finishes.


Turn 178
Open the save to a waiting GE...



Not the one I was expecting. As you can see, Ichabod poached the wonder GE for the second time this game. At last I get the one that provides +2 factories. After some contemplation on if I use him at Rohan or build a +8 IZ at Rivendell, I go with Rohan for better production at Rohan and Gondor.

I noticed last turn that Ichabod would probably pillage my CH at Misty Mountains and he did, losing me a trade route...



I am very disappointed that the +2 does not get transferred to other cities, although nothing in the text of the game states such. This is either another bug or poorly implemented descriptions. Neither surprises me...



This means not getting an additional +6 at Gondor and +2 at La Venta, Helm's Deep. Rivendell, and Moria. Complete BS. I do start Alhambra at my capital, hoping Ichabod doesn't go for that wonder. He would be better off with Chechen Itza with all his jungle but not 100% sure if he would chose something that benefits him over screwing me out of something. My fingers are crossed.


Turn 179
End of an era! Ichabod and I are in dark ages, Canada has a normal age, suboptimal is in a golden age, and Kaiser is in a heoric age. I go with "To Arms!" as my dedication...



I figure I am going to do some battling in the near future and a bunch of my trade routes are going to suboptimal and not sure if they will end in time to get much out of "Reform the Coinage". The other 2 are fairly worthless right now.

Looks like I am going to have some loyalty issues in the near term...



I move Victor to Rivendell and bring Liang down to Misty Mountains because Victor's promotion that provides an additional +4 loyalty doesn't apply to the city he is located in (stupid). I also need to get an Inquisitor to get Misty Mountains and Rivendell back to my religion. That should be enough to keep them loyal as long as I can keep them content.

Ichabod did pillage my campus this turn. That hurts a little but not much I can do right now. My bombard did make it to the city and I start to attack his encampment. A few turns of bombarding will drop its walls pretty quick.


Turn 180
Finish my first spy and send it to Curitiba...



I will use this one for mostly vision to bombard the city with a battleship. There is also several tiles to pillage for gold, so I think I will send a few units down here to get some upgrade gold. My frigate is helping with the barb camp in the north and I will kill it next turn. Then my frigate will move south to get upgraded once Urban Planning finished. I will then bring a cavarly and cuirassier along to pillage and raze the city.

Looks like my campus helped Ichabod get Steel...



All his cities have 400 defensive health. It will take a little longer to kill the encampment with my bombard. It will take less time once I can upgrade it to an artillery.

I need to seriously think about my next moves. Although attacking Kaiser soon while ne is not the strongest is a good move to slow him down, I think focusing on taking Ichabod out might be a bigger priority. I can grab some nice cities and lose all my war wariness, I should be in a winning position. Ichabod and I are about evenly matched in MP right now. I have been making a few corps and fleets as I buy more units to hide my addition units, so I might have a slight advantage right now. I can continue with this process and have mostly corps fighting his units, which could give me enough advantage that I can take him out. I need to sit down and come up with a battle plan.

[Woden]

Turn 181
Start the turn off with taking out the barb camp in the northwest, earning me 50 and a promotion on my cavalry. Down at Misty Mountains...



I hit Ichabod's encampment again, shaving off 102 HP in 2 turns. Should take another 6 turns to remove the walls. I need to get a cavalry unit down here to be able to pillage it by then. Ichabod also has a cavalry unit looking to pillage my cocoa tile. I saw it last turn and moved a few units to prevent him from pillage it. I will finish Urbanization next turn, the screenshot shows Scorched Earth but I switched back to Urban Planning after some thought. I will have a little more than the civic minus boost researched at the start of the turn and will harvest the last wheat at Osgilaith to get the boost, so I will lose a little bit of culture but would rather have the civic change next turn.  I need to upgrade the archer in the encampment at Rivendell to kill Ichabod's cavalry if he tries to pillage the cocoa.

Suboptimal completed the Colossus and his war with Kaiser seems to be a fairly fake event. I might need to step in if I don't want Kaiser to start running away with the game. He is fairly weak right now and I could easily take Alara Kitan and Ed Mercer. And once those fall, Kelly Grayson should be fairly easy to take. It is a fairly flat approach.

A few issues with starting a war with Kaiser. First, I really should take out Ichabod first and lose my crushing war wariness...



For full disclosure, I reopened the save and took that screenshot today because I decided to discuss this. Twenty-two war wariness right now. I have spend a bunch of production getting my cities back to content and if I start another war, it will only add to it. If I take out Ichabod, all that war wariness instantly disappears and I am free to start collecting more.

Second, Kaiser and Ichabod have a military alliance and suboptimal and williams482 have a military alliance. If I attack Kaiser, their +5 CS comes into play and I can't get one of my own. If I can get a military alliance with either Canada or England, I can at least get the bonus against Kaiser. Doubtful either will declare on Ichabod and I believe both have friendships with him anyways.

An issue with focusing on Ichabod is that it will not be quick and Kaiser might be able to get a significant lead in techs before I can take Ichabod out. Also, it will give Kaiser some time to build up his defenses. I can see only 1 oil in his lands and it is not hooked up. Right now, I have 3, making +9 per turn. Plenty to upgrade tanks, infantry, and artillery. I could use this advantage right now to make gains once I can get either infantry or tanks. I would look to declare in about 10 turns, the time it will take to get to one of those techs. I am thinking infantry, since I can faith buy a bunch of swordsmen after I buy 4 catapults.

I am also losing loyalty at the Black Gate. I am also losing loyalty at Misty Mountains but that should change next turn, once Victor establishes at Rivendell. Taking out a couple of Kaiser's city might be useful in the loyalty department.  Another benefit with going after Kaiser is that he has a few luxuries I don't, where Ichabod and I are on the same continent and have the same luxuries. My hope would be if I start hurting Kaiser, it will wake suboptimal up and he will be more aggressive against Kaiser.

This is a difficult decision and I have not made up my mind yet. Still need to think about it and figure out the best path. Take out the guy I have been fighting all game and hope the tech leader doesn't become unstoppable, or hurt the tech leader, become the man in the middle, and start a world war. I have about 10 turns to decide before I can launch an attack, less since I need to get into position.

[Woden]

Turn 182
Sorry, no screenshots for T182. I added a new hard drive to my computer for a dedicated gaming SSD and had to reinstall Steam, which deleted my screenshots. Only real news is that I completed Urbanization and swap a few policies around. I took out the double harbors card and the +1 amenities for military units for the +2 for renaissance walls and the -50% upgrade (gold and resources) card. I upgrade my fleet frigate to a battleship, my archer to a field cannon, and my courser to a cavalry at Fez. No new action on the Ichabod front.

Turn 183
We are officially in our first full world war. Kaiser declared war on me and Ichabod declared on suboptimal, which triggers a declaration from Canada on Ichabod.

Open the save to a slew of notifications. I have a bunch of war declarations, 8 cities are bitching about happiness, 3 cities are starving, I get the boost to Economics, my friendship with suboptimal has ended, I have 2 deals waiting, and I have a drought that destroyed the farm I fixed last turn from another drought...



The trades are from Canada and England. Canada offers 126 for 181 Not sure what this means but I my best guess is that he is trying to point out my science rate to Kaiser's, since I think that is what they were last turn (no screenies to check). Okay williams482, I am playing the game. Not much I can do about it at this moment. I think Kaiser did what Canada wanted me to do, bring me into this war. I don't think Kaiser is planning anything with me right now and probably declared to give Ichabod a CS advantage, like he doesn't already have one with DotF. I will get to a few thoughts in a little bit.

Suboptimal comes asking for a new friendship. I accept and send him...



Can't get a military alliance, so I go with a research one. I currently have 5 trade routes going to his cities for gold and figured some additional science would help. After thinking about it, maybe an economic one might have been better for upgrade gold.

Let's look at the potential front with Kaiser...



I am not sure what he was thinking. I don't see any units coming. You would think he would have something in the encampment. I am going to upgrade my 3-promoted frigate to a battleship next turn and start working on his encampment. The other frigate will sail around (already started) and upgrade in a few turns and start working on the city center. I started a bunch of muskets so I can use all my niter and faith bought 3 catapults. I will buy a 4th in a few turns and then start buying/building swordsmen to use all my iron, so I can buy heavy chariots. I want to get as many heavy chariots and swordsmen out as I can to upgrade into infantry and tanks when I have the gold and techs. Give me about 10 turns, I will have a bunch of tanks rolling into Egyptian lands.

Here is the front with Ichabod...



He has a bombard in his encampment and able to take out ~25HP of the walls per turn. After Alhambra complete, I will start renaissance walls in Gondor and switch to Steel. As long as I have a turn of production into them, they won't disappear from the production menu once I have urban defenses online and I can complete them afterwards.  Actually, now that I think about it, I can easily build a Military Academy in Gondor and would rather put the production into that than walls, so I will switch to Steel next turn. Then, I think I will go for Combustion and tanks.  After Combustion, I might slot Plastics to get more oil for more modern units. I can support 9 right now, 12 when I hook up my 4th oil at Weathertop. With plastics, I can have 5 more sources of oil if I found a new city on my west coast (north of Weathertop), by 2 sources. That will let me support 27 modern units, corps, or armies. If I were to settle a city just south of Ichabod's capital, I could control another 3 sources and lock Ichabod into only 1 source. No telling what is hiding in the fog but I look to control the most oil, I don't even see any coastal oil near suboptimal.

One thing I will have to do in the near future, test out modern units, especially airplanes. I haven't played a game using modern units for awhile, I usually give up on the game by now since the AI is no challenge and I have a huge lead around this time in SP games. In fact, other than balloons, I don't think I have ever built an air unit. Kind of strange, since I have over 2,100 hours of play time.

[Woden]

Turn 184
Start turn off with...



I slotted in Economics for a turn because I want to get another catapult out before I can't. I will switch to Steel next turn. I get a notification that the tech boost for Plastics was stolen at Misty Mountains...



I have suspected that Ichabod had a spy in the city and using him for vision. Best guess is he will go for the governor or unrest (-25 loyalty) mission next. I think they take 6 or 8 turns, depending on the promotions. Also, he was building the Intelligence Agency in the city where rebuilt his GP, so he may have up to 3 spies in my cities. I may have to move Liang in 5 turns to another city before moving her back the next turn. I will lose a turn of loyalty from her but it will abort the spy mission and he will have to start a different one. Also, I think it only takes the number of turns since she was last there to re-establish, 1 turn if I switch her back right away. Might have to that every 5 or 6 turns, at least until I can get another title and recruit another Governor in case she gets neutralized. Misty Mountains is losing a little bit of loyalty every turn, with no Governor I will lose the city in like 10 turns.

No new movements on the Ichabod front. Over by the Kaiser front, I took a peek with my ironclad...



He has an ironclad of his own in the city. I upgraded one frigate to a battleship and will upgrade the other one in a few turns. I decided to for go the encampment and focus on the city center. Plan is to capture the city with my boats, let it revolt, and then raze it. Hopefully during that time I can pillage all the tiles for some upgrade gold.

Elsewhere, a new barb camp spawned in the northeast. Nothing I can do about it now. I should be able to 1-shot the scout if it comes close to La Venta but maybe a while before I can get a unit up there to kill the pike and shot and take the camp. Suboptimal did accept my alliance request. I didn't get any kind of notification but I noticed both of our science rates increased. I gained 16 in total after I sent another trade route his way.

Alhambra finishes next turn and I will have Gondor start an archaeologist for the boost to Combustion. Looking over Ichabod's lands, it looks like he is close to finishing Chechen Itza and has placed Oxford University. Looks like those are the 2 wonders he is using the GE for. Six turns left for the +100% unit production costs expire. All my cities are going to go into military production mode. I want to get as many cuirassiers and heavy chariots out as I can before Combustion completes and then I will focus on muskets and swordsmen before I get Replaceable Parts finished. I want to get a bunch of old units out for upgrades as I pillage tiles for gold. I hard I push when I do, I stronger I will get with more units. I am going to start with Alara Kitan, then go after Ed Mercer and Bologna before pushing further south. Plan is to pillage and raze anything I can. I don't have the luxuries to keep anything and if I hurt him bad enough, I should come out on top. I can keep Ichabod's cities because it will be a school yard brawl to make any headway and once I do, he will be spent and should be easy to keep his cities.