[Spoilers] Whosit is playing for second

[Whosit]

Krill put another envoy into Zanzibar, making it neutral. Krill also got a new civic, late Medieval. Possibly Mercenaries which provides an envoy? I haven't really been counting science and culture for a while because most players don't go straight for a tech or civic, and it's hard to know if they boosted it or not.

Anyway, loss of cinnamon and cloves, and addition of Bambino means all but 2 of my cities dropped to Content. This actually, effectively, cost me an entire turn. Exploration would have been 1 turn away, but is 2 now, and most cities effectively lost a turn of production going from Ecstatic to Content. I've decided to swap to Theology since it still takes me 1 turn and will give me an Envoy. I'm assuming that Krill only had 1 envoy, otherwise he'd have become Suzerain. I'm also going to slot Charismatic Leader back in until I earn another "natural" envoy, since I'm clearly fighting for my life with these City State Suzerainships.

I'm hoping that getting Zanzibar back next turn will boost enough cities that Exploration will drop back to 1 turn to finish. I'll definitely be slotting in Republican Legacy as I can change to Merchant Republic. Bengal could even use the extra point of Housing to keep growing to size 13.

Galley detected a barbarian camp on the coast, so I'm going to want to clear that out ASAP.

I did get a Man-At-Arms to Level 3, taking the Commando promotion, so this one will definitely be upgraded to a Musketman. Also got an Archer to Level 3, taking Arrow Storm. So +12 ranged strength vs land units. Will be a good Crossbowman.

Korea finished their Industrial Zone. Did not complete Aqueduct first, so only +2 adjacency, no Era Score from it. My workshop completed. Getting Imhotep would be a HUGE deal for me, so I will have cities run Industrial Zone projects when possible. Losing Hong Kong's suzerain bonus actually sucks. I want to use Imhotep to get Petra in the yet-to-be-founded city of Sphynx. Depending where I put it, that would improve 6-7 tiles. I can use his second charge (I think he has 2 charges by default) for TerraCotta Army in Chartreux. +1 promo level to all troops would be huuuuge for me. Because both these wonders are from the Classical Era, he generate 350 production (each wonder is 400 prod).

Look at the map again, I think I'll put Petra on one of the desert floodplain tiles south of Sphynx. That would allow the city to place a +4 Theatre later, between Petra and the Oracle.

I'm kind of marveling at how I have decimated the rainforests in my territory. I'm not done yet.....

Fingers crossed for another save later today, but I know weekends are generally pretty dang slow.

Krill has Friendship with everyone (except me). I feel like my Rome is in a cold war with China, lol. I'm curious how Archduke plans to handle China, or not. Krill has two cities at size 10 or greater, and is reaping some major benefits. I may be #1 position right now, by some metrics, but surely Khmer and China must come into conflict with each other at some point?

EDIT: Archduke has FIVE industrial zones under construction, compared to my three (I'll have four when Bengal hits size 13). Looks like I'm going to be in some serious competition for great engineers.

Krill's capital also completed an Industrial Zone. Everyone is racing to Industrialize!

[Whosit]

Glad I was able to work remotely today (besides the normal reasons) because this turn required a lot more micro than I was expecting.

The envoy from Theology allowed me to regain Suzerainship of Zanzibar, but I discovered I still needed to slot in Trade Federation as an eco card (rather than Serfdom) because it turns out those 4 points of culture actually make the difference between 2-turning and 1-turning the rest of Exploration. I burned over 1,000 gold on tile purchases, and that's WITH the 20% discount from Land Surveyors. I don't generally like dumping that much money into tile purchases, but all were necessary, and in most cases, at least led to an immediate improvement in yields, even before getting Builder improvements.





 




I actually spent a little bit more than shown, as right before I sent I double-checked my notes and bought a grassland hill stone tile in Minskin's 3rd ring, and I pre-placed its Theatre. It looks like Bengal's tile picker is going to grab that city's Dam tile in 5 turns, so I'd rather pay slightly more production than gold right now, if I can help it.

I'm not surprised to see that Japanese Horseman there. I think CMF is using them as Sentry's to spot an incoming attack. Best case scenario for me is that I can kill or badly injure Japanese horsemen while they are outside Japanese territory. But that's still like 15 turns away so CMF could certainly redeploy them by then. Japan has Samurai now, so the cities are going to be a lot tougher, but I don't think they have Victor or plan to pre-build walls. I realized in Retrospect that I should have known Korea would have Victor established where he was, because he was hired to try and keep Mo Li Hua loyal.

Again, this is going to be a slog, and I'm not sure that I'm 100% prepared for it, but.... eh. The main hole in my plan is lack of reinforcements if my losses exceed expectations, but there's just still so much else to build that demands attention. And my best unit producing city is on the other side of the empire. Chartreux should be a fine production city once I can get some more improvements put down.... It's currently doing 23 prod/turn.

Marble will be hooked up next turn. Salt in 3 turns. My own source of Turtles in 5. Then I will have every type of luxury on the map.

I'm going to drop 400-some gold on a Builder next turn, and I'll need to make sure I keep 280 gold available to buy a Shrine when Bombay's Holy Site is done. Spreading religion to Bengal and Persian top priority. Both will get +1 amenity (good) and the bonus yields from Sacred Places (also good). Will probably be worth spreading the religion to other cities with 2+ specialty districts for the extra amenity. The Civ wiki says that this belief is underpowered, and it may be true, but I think the person who wrote it undervalued amenities.

I will probably not have Ecstatic cities again for a long while, though, if ever. But I think most other civs have Content cities in general. Learning how to look at loyalty details also shows me if the city is getting happy or ecstatic bonuses to loyalty. I think I have been fortunate that my cities have been able to get a lot of amenity bonuses to yields. Every little advantage helps.

EDIT: Though looks like China is doing well on amenities, and Khmer's smaller cities are happy. Korea and Japan are struggling more on that front.

Unless Archduke plans to spend a lot of gold or faith on it, I should have the next great merchant in a couple of turns. 200 gold and an envoy, which I will save for a rainy day. Archduke has an encampment with barracks (barracks was finished in a single turn, I think) and is generating 2 great general points a turn. I expect that he will also pass on Boudica, and lock great generals out of the game, but who knows.... maybe he wants a future great general. (Wishful thinking, I know. )

So uh unless Krill can take Zanzibar away again, I should FINALLY have my tier 2 government next turn, and we should really get rolling.

[Whosit]

Krill is trolling me. He had another envoy, so was able to take Zanzibar back, and I'm left with Exploration like 1 point of culture from completion. I just want my goddamned Tier 2 government. So unless another player spends a lot to steal the next great merchant from under my nose, I'll have another envoy next turn. No more envoys for a while after that. Crossing my fingers that the NEXT great merchant isn't the one that grants a governor title, because I do not think I could snatch that from Archduke.

Anyway, this has thrown all my timelines out of whack again. I ended up choosing to delay settling Sphynx because I'm probably better off waiting 1 more turn to get 2 more charges on the free builder. And Burmese's builder is going to be a turn late because I had to swap it with 1 turn to go. I mean, everything's another turn late again.

Khmer is going to exceed my population sooner rather than later. I'm at 55 pop, and Khmer is at 49. Most of my cities no longer growing terribly quickly, but I hope to improve on that soon.

Oh and I ended up buying Bengal's dam tile anyway.

Ah, and Krill has 4 units of Niter. Dang. I expect some naval action out of China at some point, so I'm going to need to find time to build a few more boats and maybe build Medieval walls in Burmese to try and keep it safe from sea raids.

EDIT: I was holding out hope that Archduke would get the turn, but looks like not. I may have to wait until tomorrow evening for my turn. Merchant Republic.... I'm coming....

[Whosit]

I have had time to think, however.

Over the last few turns, I've been thinking that my plan of attacking Japan while they have their Samurai and crossbowmen on the defense, while I'm at peer strength, it was feeling more and more like this would turn into a repeat of my failed attack on Korea. I could wait for better units, but that wouldn't take forever, wouldn't it? But then I realized...

Now that I have Gunpowder, it's just a straight shot through Metal Casting and Ballistics. Own 2 Crossbowmen to boost Metal Casting. Build 2 Forts with a Military Engineer to boost Ballistics. Then I would have Field Cannon (Industrial Era unit!). Musketmen and Field Cannon could most likely overcome units from the prior eras. Did some back of hand calculations, and I should be able to get the boosts for both by the halfway mark. I think I could complete Ballistics in 13-14 turns, or maybe a little less.

I did a little more thinking, and thought that this attack would go even better if my units were even better promoted. I was planning to build the Terracotta Army, but was going to wait for the Great Engineer. That's going to take a while, isn't it? Well.... Persian is my only city to have completed its Industrial Zone.... which means it can run Industrial Zone Logistics. The power it generates is useless to me, but I believe upon completion it would give about 1/4 of the GE points needed. I run it 3 times (~18 turns total) and that should combine with passive generation.

I want to crank the two Trebs out of Chartreux, but then it only needs to get 50 production into the Wonder (likely 2 turns) and that'll do it. All my existing units gain a promotion. That's Level 3 for many, and Level 4 for a couple. I don't even need to complete the wonder before the troops start to march.

This does mean, however, that Persian will not produce any of the Builders I had planned. I'm going to get a better idea of how much gold is needed (I think 155 to upgrade a Crossbowman to Field Cannon with the 50% off policy, and then 85 gold for Musketmen, plus Niter), but I think I'm making enough gold per turn that I can just buy a Builder every 3 turns. That's probably my best use of gold right now, tbh, since many of my cities are under-improved. I probably need to save 6 turns to afford the final unit upgrades.

Ah... I'll still have some Archers. Hm. 10 turns.

I can probably only afford 2-3 Builders, then, but at least I can ensure they all have 7 charges. I think this also means I am going to want to focus on gold generation where I can.

Actually, I was going to drop Reyna in Burmese. With her second promotion, that's an extra 9 gpt there. At the same time, I can finally slot in Town Charters. That's another 18 gpt. So 27 total. Hopefully that'll help close the gap.

Also, capital must start on the Intelligence Agency ASAP. A spy to increase my intelligence level on Japan would also give me +3 in combat. So that's a must.

Anyway, I think that's my plan now. Crank a lot more resources into my attack. Hopefully a better shot at success.

Alternatively.... I could go for Korea again. Through Tourdion.

But, no. I'm more worried about getting backstabbed by Japan than Korea.

But maybe....

[Whosit]

Turn 113

Finally....





 


 

I got a total of 7 Era Score this turn, guaranteeing me a Normal Age, and putting me within spitting distance of another Golden (13 more points). I think we will only get the minimum of 28 turns, since it looks like enough other players will be hitting advanced ages.




Krill definitely got Cartography, since his fishing boats are worth 3 gold now. Not surprised he is doing top of tech tree stuff. He'll probably get to Industrialization before me since I am beelining the middle military techs, but ah well.

Welcome Sphynx into the fold:




Got delayed a turn, but here at last! Salt will get improved in 2 turns and then the city will have to fend for itself for a bit. I'm going to have it finish the Bath first just because it won't take absolutely forever, and it should increase Bombay's Comm Hub from +3 to +4 due to adjacency.




This is probably how I will be getting most of my builders for a while. Costly!

So, the next great person is apparently RNG.... When I played the actual turn, after claiming Piero de' Bardi, Ibn Fadlan was shown as the next pick (+1 TR capacity, +2 faith from TR to City States). When I went back in to grab some screenshots and info, Irene of Athens was shown! She's the one I want (+1 gov title). I guess it remains to be seen if Archduke will accept her, or pass.... He'll generate enough points a few turns before me. Of course, he may be shrewd enough to pass, hoping to get Irene. I've learned that I cannot afford to pass on these!

Uh, what else.

Krill has two encampments, and is build a barracks in his encampment on the west, and finished either a barracks or stable in his eastern one (3.4 general points now). Finished another building of some type this turn.

Khmer grew some pop. Japan grew some pop.

Korea has remained stagnant. I'm wary of guessing other players' headspaces after the last disaster, but it still feels like greenline is just going through the motions. Maybe my failure at war was due more to poor timing than vigilance on greenline's part? This kind of solidifies that I want to go after Japan first. I just have to look at the numbers I'm keeping.

Korea got a new civic this turn, but that's practically the only number that has changed in 5 turns (ok, they grew a pop 2 turns ago). Japan, on the other hand, increased Empire Score by 6 points in the last 5 turns. Fet has built a ton of farms to rapidly grow his tiny cities. He's definitely trying to play catch-up and it's showing. I think a Japan in 30 turns is more dangerous to me than Korea in 30 turns. I think time is on my side for a round 2 against Korea, but I think Japan is just going to keep getting stronger.

Oh, and Korea definitely has Crossbows. Spent 250 gold last turn and confirmed the +15 power bump this turn (25 > 40 ranged power). I mean, Japan is going to have crossbows. But Japan currently has a lot less invested in defense than Korea. Supposing I do manage to defeat Japan, I can easily come back to Korea later with units 2 ages ahead.

BTW, and this is optimistic talking about it now, but my plan for Japan is to do the Roman thing: strip the land and people for all they are worth. Crabs and Maize? Harvest for lump sum gold. Keep the cities small and just work Harbor projects to generate gold. I'll probably use one of the eastern coast cities to actually be a production base so I can have some naval units on that side of the world, but ideally I want these cities to generate the most value for me while using the fewest amenities possible.

Again... I still have to actually take them. But I'm feeling better about my odds with my new plan of attack.

Finishing Machinery to upgrade 2 crossbowmen next turn. That should drop Metal Casting to 6 turns. Getting the boost for Ballistics should make it a 7 turn research for me. So, if all goes to plan, I'll be ready to start mass upgrading in 14 turns. I should be able to have enough Niter for 3 Musketmen upgrades (I will actually have to gradually upgrade them, otherwise the Trebs that Chartreux is building will become Bombards and eat up 20 niter).

So, in 15 turns, if I can juggle everything, I'll have: 3 Musketmen, 4 Field Cannons, 4 Man-at-arms, 2 trebs, and a Great General that will boost the medieval units.

I'll face.... 3+ Horsemen (possibly Coursers), 2-3 Samurai, 4-5 Crossbows? Somewhat depends on how much funding Japan gets for upgrades. But Japan will also have the +5 religious bonus to combat strength, could swap to Oligarchy, could grab Victor, etc. Still... I feel optimistic.

Just need the turns to roll faster or you're going to hear me opine on this every day!

[Whosit]

I forgot to micro Burmese last turn, so I had to keep Serfdom slotted in. Fortunately, next civic is in just a couple of turns.


 

Krill upgrading navy. A bunch of caravels could wreck Burmese, but I'm not sure if Krill wants to go to war just yet. I sent a friendship offer that I expect him to reject.




Interesting choice of place to settle considering that greenline does NOT have Military Engineering yet (can't see the niter). It's going to work out for him, though. Greenline harvested some wheat at Arirang to put down a dam. Grew the city to size 7. Mo Li Hua's loyalty loss has been significantly slowed, but it's under 25% so I think it's basically got 0 yields.

Greenline also slotted in Natural Philosophy (2x campus bonus) so his tech has increased to a healthier level, but still trailing the leaders.

Domestically, all my cities are happy (Krill does not currently have the envoys to take away Zanzibar I guess). Turtle deal with Japan ran out, but I'll have my own source next turn. Salt in 2 turns because barbs.

Upgraded my 2 crossbows, so Metal Casting is 4 turns. After Ballistics I will finish up Cartography myself so that I can turn my single galley into a caravel. With 27 turns of the era left, I am reminded that a lot of my science is ephemeral. I'm not entirely sure what I will do to make up the difference, but I'll figure something out, probably. Minskin will finish its +4 campus in 7 turns. Bambino will be able to place a +4 campus in a dozen turns... will take another dozen turns to finish, so mayyybe will finish before the era ends. If I build/buy libraries in both, and run Natural Philosophy myself, that should make up for the science loss when Free Inquiry goes away.

For my next golden age, I want Reform the Coinage. It will be worth a LOT of gold to me, and making my traders immune to pillaging will be a big relief. I expect they will become targets once the other players get a little more frisky.

Archduke has gotten a big boost to science with Etemenanki. While still trailing me (82) and Krill (92), Archduke is at 61 science which is perfectly respectable and I think erases the one weakness the Khmer had. He's completed several aqueducts too, and has some very strong Industrial Zones about to come online. I sure hope that Krill sees Khmer as a bigger threat than Rome, because I don't want to fight the whole world at once.

It appears that the Khmer have run out of room to expand by settling, while I still have effectively unlimited space (but I don't want to push my happiness too far). Khmer, on the other hand, has unlimited builders. Making 111 faith per turn, with GA Monumentality. My lack of builders is a problem, and I just don't think I can slot any more into build queues, since I need to get all my Industrial Zones and workshops built, and prepare for war.

I'm hoping that connecting turtles and salt will keep my cities Happy even if Krill takes Zanzibar away again.

[Whosit]

Krill (now in Merchant Republic as well) moved 2 Caravels within striking distance of Burmese, which I can see because of my traders in the water. He rejected the offer of friendship, of course. I'm spooked. Changing tech to Castles (3 long turns). Even with Limes, Burmese would take 6 turns to put up Medieval Walls. I put my Galley in a spot that I think will require at least one of the Caravels to go through it before it can hit the city. Moving an Archer from Bengal to Burmese (will upgrade to Xbow if needed).

I don't think this is posturing for 2 reasons:
1) He would have already known that I could see he had Caravels, since I had a trader near his borders last turn.
2) He would only need to show 1 if he just wanted to show off.

A turn earlier and I'd have gotten Victor instead of Reyna lol.

I have a civic finishing EoT. If he declares war or still looks hostile I can at least slot in Bastions to try and buy some time. He can't put the city under siege. TBH I don't exactly know how well 2 unpromoted Caravels do against a City with ancient walls... maybe I can find a combat tester later.

It's possible this is still a show of force. But since he rejected Friendship, that means he wants to keep his options open for attacking in the next 30 turns. He's friends with everyone else lol.

Ugh. Well, this delays field cannons by the 3 turns required to get Castles, but unless China is sending land forces through Korea (no signs of that yet), the plan to attack Japan goes forward, just slightly delayed.

[Whosit]

WAR!!!

As was easily anticipated (because it was so obvious even I could get it right!) Krill attacked. Sank my galley. I think that the sacrifice was unnecessary in retrospect, because Krill's navy did a lot less damage to Burmese than I was expecting. More on that in a bit.

Japan also denounced me. I assume that it was just for fun, since managing warmongering diplo doesn't matter in MP.

The bigger issue is that all of my trade routes to China (read: all of them) were cancelled. I can't trade to Khmer because the traders would be plundered. I can't trade to Japan or Korea for similar reasons. So the only non-domestic I can trade with is.... Zanzibar. And I needed to move traders to my eastern cities to avoid having trade routes cut through Korean territory. Basically, the value of my trade routes have been cut in half.

In practical terms, that's probably 1 less Builder I can buy. Nothing for it, though.




Bastions here is a "better safe than sorry" choice. I'm hoping that I can drive Krill's caravels off and I can swap out of it in a couple of turns.




The good news is that Bastions lets my city hit reasonably hard. The bad news is that Krill can still pillage my Lighthouse and Harbor for gold, and cut off my turtles. I don't think that I'll be able to safely repair any of that until I can get a few modern naval ships of my own, so.... no time soon.




With Japan's denunciation, I shifted my eastern forces into "come and get me" positions. I don't think Fet actually will, but boy, I hope he tries.




Still bought the Shrine for a pretty penny. But now I can convert the faith I've banked into something useful. I might even be able to get cities to ecstatic again, especially if I run Republican Legacy, though I'm not sure when I'll have the chance to do that. At least I can get some bonus science, culture, faith, and gold from my cities that have Wonders.




West. I'm going to leave Castles one turn from completion since I can't build Medieval walls anyway until the damage from this attack gets repaired, and that's gonna be several turns out.




For one glorious turn, I have all the luxuries! Imagine if I had rolled up Aztecs..... But I'll lose turts next turn. Interestingly, I have some monopolies. Sadly, that means whenever the luxury Congress vote comes up, everyone else is gonna nuke my olives.

Lastly, I leave you with  this screen:




Now, my loyal yet silent lurkers, I can tell you want to ask "But Whosit, this is a screenshot of Korean territory in tactical view! What gives?"

It's because I'm going to fucking burn Korea down.

"But Whosit!" you cry, "You talked, at length, about why you thought attacking Japan was a better idea than attacking Korea!

Yeah, I did do that, didn't I. Well, I have two counter-points:

1)  

2) Krill's declaration of war has changed the game.

It now makes a lot less sense to march my army all the way out to the east when I have a real threat on my western borders. Yes, sorry, no Roman World Tour just yet. I have no idea if greenline plans to sit this out or not, but Korea and China are Friends, and no doubt have Open Borders, so Krill could, if he wanted to, sent troops through Korean territory to get me. But, basically, I think don't think Korea will be as tough a nut to crack as it seems.

Things will depend a bit on if greenline ever changes governments out of Oligarchy (surely he can't be far from Monarchy at this point?). However, because I've been preparing for an attack on Japan, I think my logistics for a second Korean war will actually work out better. Observe.




I can easily lay siege to Tourdion, especially since I learned that land melee units apparently DO exert zone of control from the water. Triangles will be my trebuchets, and the arrows are Field Cannon. Of course, I will have more units than this, but this is the minimum I need to put the city in siege.

I'll burn the city because it is rather useless to me. Then I'll have an easy pathway to attack Korea's capital, or at least do a lot of pillaging.

Korea does not have a road to Tourdion, so reinforcements will be slower. The city is relatively weaker because it lacks completed districts. The terrain is flatter, so I can move up more quickly. And keep in mind I will be attacking with Muskets, Trebuchets, and Field Cannon, which Korea cannot match. I'll also have a heavily promoted army, because I am confident that I can land Terracotta Army shortly before I strike. Korea still does not even have Military Engineering, so it's very unlikely that they could make it to Muskets fast enough. Plus, Korea is broke. Greenline cannot upgrade his large army of Archers to anything better unless Krill and CMF want to bankroll him. And tbh? I'm fine with that. Muskets and Field Cannon should still be able to dispatch Crossbows.

Sigh. My kingdom for a great general. I really shot myself in the foot. But hey.... Just a Realms Beyond variant, right? Be a warmonger without Great Generals....  

Additionally, by the time I attack, Mo Li Hua should have broken away from Korea, so they will be down a city. I'm crossing my fingers that I'm exerting more pressure than Krill, because if I liberate the city back to Venice, I immediately gain 3 envoys and becomes suzerain. That'll be a nice gold boost to all my Markets, and I'll temporarily have an ally on the front lines.

Now, of course, as soon as greenline sees my units coming, he'll no doubt build walls in Arirang and move Victor in. But like I said, I think the terrain favors me more here. Orrrr.... I just embark some of my units and sail down the sea to burn his southern cities. Gangneung I'd keep, for the Niter. (Though it might be more vulnerable to China's navy.)

IF I can deal this kind of damage, and reduce Korea to a core of 3 cities, I should be able to roll them up sooner or later. That's if all goes according to plan.... which it rarely seems to do for me. But it's better to have a plan than none at all!

"What of Japan??" I hear you all shrieking. Well, defense is easier than offense. Japan's army shouldn't be very scary on the offensive. If I leave a few troops behind, and get ancient walls up in Chartreux and Aegean, I should be fairly safe. A few horsemen and even a samurai or two won't take that on their own.

This is all many turns away. Like, 14+

Oh, and Archduke is running Craftsmen. Has a +10 IZ right now. Geez.

[Whosit]

Did some quick recon on Korean tech and civics because it will be good to know that for planning on what to expect.

Tech:
Korea's most recent tech was Buttress. Korea also possesses Apprenticeship and Machinery. Korea has no tech more advanced than those, currently.

Korea could be going for Castles as well. Although there's no way Tourdion would be able to construct Medieval walls in time, even with Limes. Arirang, though...? I'm more concerned about Korea getting Muskets. Korea would need both Stirrups and Military Engineering, each taking about 4 turns. Korea is 2 turns into something. Gunpowder would take Korea 14 turns with current science levels, and they cannot boost it. So fastest time Korea could have the Gunpowder TECH is 20 more turns. Accumulating enough niter and gold to upgrade? Well.... that's probably not an issue (for greenline). I should expect China and Japan to gift gold and resources.

So, Tourdion needs to go down before Turn 136. I think I can swing that....

Civics?
Korea's most advanced Civic is an early Medieval one. I know they have Feudalism. The last Civic I know they put time in was worth 105 culture, then they 1-turned another TWO civics. I suppose it could have been Military Tradition and Mysticism? If I'm right, that means that Korea doesn't even have Civil Service yet. Definitely won't have Monarchy by the time I attack, so Korea WILL still be in Oligarchy. Is this some crazy long play by greenline? Autocracy would have been so much better economically this whole time.

Anyway, that means Korean man-at-arms will be effectively 49 strength units, base. 54 if Victor is present. So they can match my Musketmen's base power, and should be able to tank a few shots from my Field Cannon as well. The Embrasure promo on Victor would be a problem, but... greenline has used all his governor promotions and will not have any more available in time. Also.... I realized I goofed on my battle plans....




Eliminating Tourdion will allow me to fork S. Fairs and Arirang. Only one can be protected by Victor. Granted, Victor DOES have a 3 turn establishment time, but I think that if I play my cards right, pick off Korean units where I can and don't over extend.... I might be able to whittle them down.

Musketmen will have to lead the charge here, but the Man-at-Arms I weren't able to promote should be able to sail south and cause some havoc in those Korean cities.

Hm.... thinking again.... Tourdion sucks, but burning it might be a poor tactical move, even if it's a better strategic one. If I keep it, that will give me friendly territory to heal and upgrade in. I may want to keep it for that reason. Guess we'll see.

[Whosit]

As expected, Lighthouse and Turtles are pillaged. Harbor next turn. I forgot losing the harbor would cost me a trade route. Krill brought Great Admiral up. I'm really uncertain if he's looking to actually raze Burmese, or just harass me. He's spent a ton of gold this turn, possibly another Caravel upgrade. Archer and Xbow will be in range to help defend city in a turn or two. Archer can be upgraded in a couple of turns. Man-at-arms can arrive in city in, like.... 3 turns. Might boost the defense a little.

I HAVE to drop Bastions in 2 turns, when Guilds finishes, because I need to run both Professional Army and Retinues for the gold and resource discounts to unit upgrades. I suppose if things are looking real grim, I'll hold off on upgrades for a little while? That's going to cause me some problems, though.

Oh, and Krill turned Zanzibar neutral again. New civic. I thought he had already exhausted every civic that grants a envoy, but I guess I hadn't calculated correctly.

Ah, and Korea just got Military Engineering lollll.

Japan upgraded another warrior to a Samurai. Full price. Unless it was two samurai at half price. Guess I'll know for sure next turn. Wonder if Fet is planning an attack or just playing defense?

My economy is in shambles. Only making 104 gold a turn now. Most cities only content. Swapped Burmese from the half-finished Industrial Zone to a Market (7 turns) just for the gold and to restore the lost trade route. I left myself way too vulnerable at sea, but to be honest, I really had no idea that Krill was going to go to war. Hopefully I can chase off the Caravels before they weaken Burmese enough to actually risk razing it.

You know, ironically, I'm starting to think that my mistake was actually NOT planning for a Legion rush. I thought that a city lead and early culture lead would put me in a position to stay relevant as the Khmer and Yongle-China's mid-game bonuses came into play, but I think I would have actually been better off trying to eat a neighbor much earlier.

I know that I'm not out of it yet. But I'm sick and suffering a series of military and diplomatic losses in game right now, so just feeling bad.

Turtles and Harbor are lost. My goal right now has to be to secure my cities, do what I can to fix my economy, and figure out if I can still launch an offensive in a dozen+ turns.