Gavagai climbs the chaos ladder

[Gavagai]

Some figures.
Knights beeline: 4186 beakers
Knights + Lib into Nationalism: 9624 beakers
Cuirs beeline: 11234
(Does not include the cost of bulbable techs and the cost of techs outside of beelines that I am going to research anyway)
The way I read this data is that it only makes sense to combine Knights with Lib if I am really in a rush to conquer or really worried about my safety.

[Gavagai]

I did not include Music in the Knights + Lib option but I think it is pretty much mandatory as free artist is too strong. So it is almost +1000 beakers.

[Gavagai]

Lol, Iron Working from the hut. On the one hand, the best possible effect by far, on the other hand, I don't need the tech for any of my immediate goals. Well, at least, extra hammers in Antium are nice.

[Gavagai]

Scooter signals he wants to attack GT on T110 and expects my help. I sent back a copper for copper signal, probably too hastily. Contemplating what to do.
My main strike force consists of a dozen HAs. GT has a garrison of an Impi and two Axes both in Bukit Timah and Lucky Plaza. Impis can be moved between those two cities in one turn. Pessimistically, I expect to lose half of my current strike force at Lucky Plaza alone.
Investing in serious war at that point is a bad idea, I am in th middle of a massive infrastructure push. Probably, the most practical thing to do is to declare war after Scooter attacks, move in my troops and ask Lucky Plaza for peace. GT would be a fool not to accept and I will end up with a good city for zero cost. The potential problems here are 1) GT could call my bluff and decide to be a fool, 2) Scooter might take this as a betrayal.

[Gavagai]

We have some important developments.

Scooter declared war on GT. GT reacted very nervously: he emptied Lucky Plaza and is now moving everything towards the frontline. I think he was caught unprepared. GT offered me that he converts to Islam in exchange for me attacking Scooter but I think I have a better offer. I moved my units at his border and offered this:

So, we operate under the good faith deals rule when it comes to city trading. I think this is in good faith but if any lurker thinks otherwise, please speak up. For context: GT has Construction but no Ivory. He has Iron in his territory that can also be used to build War Elephants in this mod but no Iron Working. No idea if he has HBR.
If GT rejects this deal, I will declare war, invade, and ask the city for peace. If he accepts, I will gift him Ivory afterwards. If he does not accept and puts enough defenders in the city (he has lots of units running around, so he will have no trouble defending if he prioritizes it), I will keep the war going forcing him to keep a part of the army here but will not engage. I have better things to do with my life than fighting a hot war:


Both wonders are scheduled to be finished on T115. After this, I will only need to finish National Epic in the capital to get my GPP machine going. And when it comes to expansion, I still have nice land available for which I don't need to fight:

In other international news - Piccadily finished Construction and immediately whipped a massive amount of pop. Mostly likely he is going for Greenline which is excellent for me. Wars are costly and Piccadily's economy is not great to begin with which means I might get a chance to fight him at significant tech advantage. Of course, if he decides to make a move against me right now, it would be very unpleasant, so I am sending a sentry chariot to keep track of his unit movements.
And two general info pictures to close out the report.

GNP is at 50 percent slider

Theology excepted, no one has any Medieval techs yet.

[Qgqqqqq]

I think that's fine.

[Gavagai]

GT made peace with Scooter after losing one city and is moving his army towards Lucky Plaza. Yeah, definitely bailing out here.
In other news - I think Superdeath is fucked. Plemo declared war on him and Piccadily's power graph looks like this:

If he coordinated a dogpile with Plemo, I really have a problem with this. Our understanding with Pic was that we work together against Plemo, not enable him. I can even go as far as trying to stop him if he attacks SD.
There is a brighter side to all this though. If everyone gets entangled in early wars, the continental tech rate would drop which would make my master plan all the more powerful.
And a random image to finish off the report.

[Thoth]

There are a few doubleplus ungood city names in there.

[Gavagai]

[Gavagai]

In international news - here is what I know about Piccadilly's unit movement if anyone is curious:

Plemo and Superdeath made peace and now Pic's army moves in the direction of Greenline. Not great but within the limits of acceptable.
Also, I offered this to GT on the previous turn:

I do not really want this war but frankly, I am paranoid about GT - Scooter situation. I fear I misplayed it by annoying both. If they decide to band against me, it would be one of the worst scenarios I could encounter at this juncture. So, my idea is to be proactive and distract GT with the possibility of dogpiling Scooter before he understands who his true enemy is. GT did not respond though, so maybe I am already doomed...