[Spoilers] Whosit is playing for second

[Whosit]

I really wish I had a second spy. Will be going for that Civic as soon as I can. Again, something that never seemed important in SP, but the vision provided by a spy in a city is really useful. That would allow me to see if a land invasion is coming from the sea, but like I said, I'm going forward with plans to strike at Japan and just crossing my fingers that I can survive any ground assault that Krill might throw at me. As long as he has no siege units....

[Whosit]

Turn 140

Era ends next turn. If I have calculated things right (doubtful), Khmer gets Golden Age, China and Japan get Normal Ages, and Korea gets a Dark Age. I hope that I am right about China, because that could be very important for the fates of Burmese and Mo Li Hua.




This is from last turn, but this is the extra panel on the loyalty "tab" that I discovered. I compared these values to this turn's, and it looks like Krill and I are applying about equal pressure. So I'm running Bread and Circuses in Bengal for the extra loyalty pressure. If China does indeed get a Normal Age, the drop in loyalty pressure from Krill combined with the increased pressure from Bengal might flip Mo Li Hua to me.

Maybe.

It may also make it harder for Krill to hold Burmese but I am sure he will find a way to hold it. I mean, greenline held on to Mo Li Hua this long....

If Korea does fall into a Dark Age, I can probably pry Tourdion away, especially if I plop a settler down close. I don't have such a settler queued yet but the era is young....




Lacking an extra spy, did some recon the old fashioned way. I don't like seeing land units, but at least ranged units probably mean garrison force, not attack force, but I will remain prepared for anything. I'll have to hope that a musketman, 3 field cannons, backed by cities with walls can hold anything Krill can throw at me on land.




Spy has been getting me some good intel. Interesting that CMF has kept some of his ground army in his core, but they do appear to be heading towards his newest colonies. He is aware of my troop movements, of course. There's also another Samurai near my eastern border (plus the one garrisoned in Takenaka Iruka). I know at least one horseman is down south.

Japan's power went up by 48, so I think Fet built another samurai. This is what I'm talking about with my window closing. I was wondering how long it would be until he starts building up his forces.... Probably should have gone for Japan instead of Zanzibar I guess? Idk. Zanzibar/Abyssinian is still important, since it gives me more pop, districts, and another source of niter.

Splitting up my forces might benefit me more than Japan, though. His newest cities are small and poorly defended, at least currently. He will be forced to divert troops there if he wants to keep the cities. My strike towards his core will consist of: 2 Musketmen, 2 Man at Arms (with great general still), 2 field cannons, and 3 bombards. I'll also have a single Horseman of my own, but that's mostly for scouting, opportunistic raiding, and dying as cannon fodder.

I estimate the Japanese forces have.... hm. Either Fet actually lost units at some point, or a lot of them are currently injured. I know he had 3 Horsemen at one point, and I know he has at least 4 Samurai currently, probably 5. Surely he has at least one Xbow (and thus his walls will do Xbow damage).

It's going to take me about 6 more turns to have everything healed, upgraded, and in position. I expect Japan to pop out a few more units. I will have completed Terracotta Army, though, so each of my siege units will have the Crew Weapons promo for +7 strength on the defense. With better planning than my attack on Zanzibar, if I get all 3 bombards in range on the same turn, I should easily be able to blast down walls before they can take much return fire.

Anyway, I'm trying not to peer into the numbers too hard. Don't want to get overconfident here. I expect Japan to shift hard to a war front once the fighting starts proper, and I may have difficulty keeping up at first because my military tech has exceeded my civic policies.

Lastly.... Notes for self.

When Era flips, choose:

Professional Army, Colonization, Land Surveyors, Colonial Offices, Merchant Confed (until I get something better), Retinues.

Immediately upgrade 2 trebs > bombards, and buy the two tiles by Abyssinian I need for Niter and Campus.

Then, finish castles and cash in the 1-turn Divine Right that I just prepared, for:

(but first, upgrade Horseman out of Chartreux to Courser)

Chivalry, Colonization, Triangular Trade, Colonial Offices, Merchant Confed (until I get something better), Limes.

I'd reallllly like logistics to help get everything in place faster, but I need to get stronger walls up, and Cuirassiers are probably the best thing I can train right now that I can get a production bonus towards. Still, that's 8 turns out of Chartreux, and 6 turns out of Bengal. I'll probably have Persian and Aegean build a Cuirassier each just to get more troops on the ground. Probably even one out of Bombay to help protect that flank.

I'll be blowing most of my money on these tile purchases and unit upgrades (296 for tiles, 295 for units, so 591 gold total).

Sphynx will use Limes to get Medieval Walls (still a 6 turn build with the city's low production) and Minskin and Abyssinian will get at least Ancient Walls for some level of protection.

So, fingers crossed that I'll be able to hit hard on the opening turns of war, and can use cavalry reinforcements to keep up the momentum. I would not be surprised if Krill attacked again during this time. Also, Japan is allied with Khmer, so that will trigger a war as well. In vain, I sent a gift and another offer of friendship to Korea just in the hopes I might have one front I don't need to worry about.

But I'm probably going to end up in an active war with every other player at the same time.




Adding this here for record keeping. I'll need to compare it to next turn's numbers to see if B&C is doing anything.

[Whosit]

Turn 141

So, my guess about which ages the players would get was right.... based on the info I had. As I suspected, Krill got +6 era score out of somewhere and crossed the threshold. However.... Korea IS in a Dark Age, AND bread and circuses is pushing Mo Li Hua to me:




Oh, sure, there are other things I might like Bengal to do with its production turns, but flipping this city to me rather than Krill would be HUGE! I mean, I'd have to defend it, but that could end up putting enough loyalty pressure on Burmese to flip it back....

And, the Korean empire is crumbling....


 


 




Like, this is wild. I did not think existing loyalty pressure would be enough to break Tourdion away without planting another city. And when Urtin Duu flips to Krill, Scarborough Fair will fall. If this goes long enough, we might actually see Korea lose its capital to loyalty pressure.....

Besides that, Krill is buying/upgrading his Army. He's had another large power spike. I'm still convinced that this means land invasion, sooner or later. Defenses are still a priority.

Realized I have to delay Castles and my Civic swap a turn, or the horseman I'm producing would be upgraded in queue. Slight pain, but shouldn't be that big a deal.

Japan had another power spike. Although looking back... I want to assume that +48 power spike was a new unit, but Japan's power has gone up and down a TON and its hard to tell what's unit damage and what's a new unit.

Japan, China, and myself lost our Science cheat. Japan is the worst off and I'm not much better. Krill lost a LOT, maybe a little more than me, but he's still way ahead. And Archduke lost nothing because his science and culture are just that good.

Oh, I did select Sic Hunt Dracones as my Golden Age boon, and my first new settler is out. Persian is going to put a couple turns into a Comm Hub project and swap to a Cuirassier when the production bonus is in play. Seems a happy balance there. I'll drop a harbor in the capital next turn but finish the Settler. I'll have it also put a turn into Comm Hub project until I slot in the Horse card. I do want to make a play for the next Great Merchant, and Archduke probably has it in the big if he wants. I could prrrrobably get this Merchant if I reallllly put my all into it, but I know if I am going to do this war, I have to put my focus there first. And this Merchant is a "nice to have" not a "vital to my strategy" one.

I guess that's it about the turn.

Ah, right. Fet's Samurai ARE heading west, so he is anticipating my attack on his border city. Not shocked he knows..... I was also able to determine, through loyalty bonuses, actually, that Japan's Victor DOES have Garrison Commander for the +5 bonus to defending troops. And I can see a Missionary on the way with state religion, which gives another +5 to his units around the city. That means his Samurai will be effectively 58 strength units that do no suffer damage penalties. I can still kill them, with the Field Cannons. Positioning will be key in this engagement, so I expect to fail spectacularly.

[Whosit]

I (barely) had enough time this morning to play the turn. Short update now.

Completed Terracotta Army. Promoted most units since there's little reason to save promos (can't earn XP while a promotion is available). Tough choices on a couple promos. Next hardest choice is naming all the units. We'll see if CMF appreciates any of the names.

Japan put down another city, that Settler I had spotted many turns earlier. Walls going up. I expect them to be complete in about 6 turns if they have Limes. Or much sooner if Fet buys a tile to chop the woods. This city invalidates one of my settling spots, and grants Japan Niter, so it must be destroyed. I have to try and strike before the walls go up. I can probably hit it with my advance forces in 3 turns, but I expect at least a few enemy units to be defending the city. A Japanese galley in the lake spots one of my man-at-arms.

Japan is also cranking out units. Not surprised. I'll be leaning hard into my technological advantages.

Krill show a Knight and Courser on the edges of Burmese. I expect he's unhappy that Mo Li Hua is flipping to me. I think I need to keep investing in B&C out of Bengal to ensure it flips to me. The one thing I'm not certain of is if Krill's frigates can fire over the hills to hit the city. If that's the case, I doubt I can hold it. If hills block LoS for the ship batteries, I think I can hold it.

Knights and Coursers will die quickly to Field Cannon shots. I will have to put up Walls in Bombay next turn to make sure a cavalry lance can't simply take the city.

Harbor placed in Bombay, but will be ages until I can finish it. Settler done next turn. Changed tech to Castles and civic to Divine Right so I can do my policy swap next turn. Probably could have lined it up for this turn. I probably meant to. Oops.

No idea what greenline is planning to do, if anything. It does not appear that he's trying to retake Mo Li Hua, though.

War will start with Japan first in the south-eastern regions. Attack at the north will begin a few turns later. I have to try and burn that newest city before the walls go up. Worst case, I pillage the niter mines. My fighting force will be: 2 Man-at-arms (battlecry, commando, great general boost), Shot and Pike (or whatever), and a Courser. Man-at-arms are a bit weak, but will be very fast with their promos and great general boost. Courser also has 5 move. Speed is my ally.

Archduke has been periodically gifting me niter for... reasons unknown. I'll ask for some next turn to see if he'll give it to me, since we'll be at war soon.

[Whosit]

Turn 143

The next few turns are going to be tense. I think I'm on the clock in all theatres of war. I got the save in the morning but didn't have time to complete it. Glad I didn't rush it, because I'd have made several mistakes.




Up north, my loyal scouting Great Writer detected barbs. This is why scouting is important. Going to have to send that Field Cannon north to clear the way for my Settler.

I ended up burning the 275 to upgrade the Archer (last old unit, I think) in Minskin to a Field Cannon to move it towards the western front with China to make up for the other cannon having to go north.




I think that this probably answers the question about whether or not Krill's frigates can hit the city. Guessing his cav went down to the city, but if so, they must be keeping to the coast to stay out of range of my cannons. If Krill can hit the city with his navy, there's probably nothing I can do to contest this right now. I'm considering putting my musketman in the water once the walls are down to try and just burn the city with an amphibious attack.

Not super confident in that, but not a lot of other options.

I'm getting walls up in Bombay (ancient), Sphynx, and Bengal (renaissance). Need to stick to my "don't die" mantra when dealing with Krill. I also realized that Coursers still get prod benefits from Chivalry, so will be building more of those than Cuirassiers. They are a lot weaker, but can be produced much faster. If they survive, can be upgrade to Cavalry when I get the tech.

Krill has dumped a ton of money into his army. If am going to assume he has ground-based siege units, so I definitely want the tougher walls on my most vulnerable cities. Because he's so much further ahead on the top of the tech tree, I'm worried about how soon he could get to flight and start making those Balloons to boost his siege units' ranges.


 

I also noticed that Krill has 2 universities, so double-checked, and he most likely has printing press, thus the +3 intel bonus he has vs me. Not much I can do to counter that right now since I need to get to Factories as soon as possible, myself.




Getting good intel on troop movements. I'll need to be very thoughtful on how I approach the city. My Field Cannon can 1 or 2 shot xbows out in the open. Japan got a new tech but I was able to confirm it's not gunpowder, so I don't have to worry about Japanese muskets.... yet. Because CMF does not have an encampment, at the very least he will have to research it at full cost.





New civics.




Eastern front. Japanese horseman showed up just south of where the image cuts off. Fortunately, there is a break in the cliffs where I can move some troops amphibiously to land west of the Japanese city there. Both M-a-A have Commando and another +1 movement boost from the Great General (I will never stop lamenting my stupid, stupid decision to pass on Boudica--I'd be in a MUCH stronger position with more Great Generals). It's clear that most of Japan's army is moving to defend the northern part of the front, and Japan is training more troops rapidly. I'll have to hope that my superior tech gives me a strong enough edge until my mounted reinforcements are trained.

I'll have to contend with Hong Kong as well. I don't mind capturing it but I don't want to waste much time on it if I can help it. I want to break through Fukushima as quickly as I can, because my (future) mounted units will do better in the flatter terrain beyond that.

So, my general plan is to harass, pillage, and burn in the south, while pushing hard up north. It's clear Fet is putting more defense up north, where most of MY strength is, but I'm hoping that my southern strikeforce can still overpower the defenders there and start causing a big headache and maybe get some more forces diverted.

I sent Archduke a request for 10 niter, the amount he's been gifting periodically. No idea if he'll accept or not, but never hurts to ask. I think I will be declaring war on Japan next turn, or maybe the turn after.

Not really sure why Archduke has been assisting me. My only assumption is he wants me to put up a decent fight vs Krill so we wear each other out. I've noticed he's already got Ren Walls up on his border with China, land and sea. Krill has no walls along his border with Khmer. They have an alliance right now, but I don't know when it expires. I'd bet that Archduke plans to attack Krill at some point.... but I know the meta is to try and conquer the weakest players first if at all possible. China's power has ballooned and I'm sure Archduke doesn't want to attack into that if he can help it.

Japan is allied with China and Khmer. I realized that one of those alliances could be military, which means Japan would get another +5 bonus against me. That would suck but there's not really anything I can do about it.... If the have that alliance, I wouldn't see that modifier until I'm at war.

Although I must declare war soon, I want to hold off as long as possible.

I've thought about my history of warfare, both in this game and in older Pitboss games.

I think it is safe to assume that my war against Japan will fail. But I'm still going to try. Maybe it will entertain you all?

Oh, last note. Korea is finally in Monarchy, and they're running the +2 loyalty from Gov card. I don't think they're running the +loyalty for garrison card, though. Scarborough Fair is stable again, but it may fall as Korea's other fringe cities break off. I'm almost tempted to not contest Krill's conquest of Mo Li Hua because that will put extra pressure on S. Fair and it will almost certainly go to me. It's a good city, and I'd like to have it. Somehow, I doubt things will work out for me like that, but who knows....

Oh, yeah, one other project on my back burner. I've wanted the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus from the get-go, but I never had a harbor city I could build it at. The harbor I threw down at Bombay will give me a location to build. It's queued up after the walls and Courser. I have that Great Engineer hanging around. I plan to put in just enough production for the Mausoleum to finish it. That should give the Engie another charge, which I would use to complete Alhambra at Bengal. That +1 Military Policy slot would be BIG for me, and it also provides +2 amenities and acts as a fortress.

It also gives great general points but ah.... not so useful. Not unless Korea keeps Scarborough Fair for 30 more turns and greenline takes Boudica for some reason....

Anyway, that's at least a dozen turns away, but it's in the pipeline. I think if anyone else was going for the Mausoleum they'd have built it by now. 'Course, I half expect Archduke to build it a turn before I do.

[Whosit]

Welp.

Game over man, game over.

All worst case scenarios have occurred.

Krill took Venice. Not shocked.... The bigger problem is that Korea formed an alliance with Japan. Must have happened last turn and I didn't notice? I had been checking the diplo most turns but guess I overlooked it. And, as I expected, one of Japan's alliances is a military one (I didn't check, but probably with China).

So I am literally at war with everyone, as I predicted  

At least I don't need to bother tracking everyone else's scores and stats anymore. Knowing the dimensions of the bus that's going to run you down doesn't stop you from getting run down. That also explains why Archduke was pushing so hard for the Great Merchant that grants bonuses to internal trade routes. Well, it's a decent Merchant in its own right, so denial may not have been the only reason.

Ah, and Korea formed what must have been a cultural alliance with China, so there is no longer loyalty pressure from China against Korea.

Guess I did my usual job of being overly yet ineffectively belligerent, though I was always surprised that Krill went after me. Early on, I had hoped that we might split Korea, but with no diplo I had no way to try and coordinate that. Guess I just seemed the bigger threat.

Still.... NOT going to war would just mean a slow decline and loss.

I took pictures, might put them up later. Only good news for me is that my Anti-District Musketman with the battering ram (lol, musketmen using a battering ram) was able to take off about 40% of the city wall. I hadn't intended to move in this turn except I misunderstood another one of Civ 6's mechanics. I thought I could do something cheeky by moving my missionary into Japan's territory before the war and remove his state religion, but I thought that declaring war would boot the missionary out. Because I thought when war gets declared any unit gets pushed out of the enemy's territory.

Guess religious units don't follow that rule. So, in order to prevent the missionary from being killed, I just had to advance.

CMF has a bunch of samurai in the hills around the city, took a potshot at it with a field cannon, but with alllll the bonuses stacked up there, it didn't do very much. I should have pushed for the Diplo civic earlier, because if I could have neutralized Victor this would be much, much easier. Fingers crossed that he doesn't have Embrasure or whatever the promo is that lets the city shoot twice.

I wonder who will actually win the game. Will there be any wars between the other players, or will it be a peaceful race to space?

I'm considering asking if I can join the PBEM 24 game that seems to be restarting, but I should probably stick to my guns and only be in a single active game, even if this one is basically over for me.

Down south, we'll see how things go. Horseman is well entrenched and is blocking land access. I can probably push past in a couple turns and just gotta cross my fingers that the city walls don't go up for a few more turns.

Oh, and with all my trade routes eliminated, I'm basically making 0 gpt, so I'm broke on top of everything else.

[Whosit]

Lol, Archduke just posted. Must have peeked at the save.

I know it's defeatest, but I feel like I can do a post-mortem on my game right now. If I could change one thing I did, it would be that failed, wasteful attack on Korea. I believe that it was my lack of experience with real MP warfare that led me to do that. I knew that greenline had a large force of Archers and some warriors, but I did not appreciate how strong combat bonuses and force multipliers would make them.

If I had instead, say, put that production and gold into settlers, builders, and districts, I think I would be in a much stronger position. Maybe not a winning position, but stronger.

Second thing I'd change is building up a bit more navy out of Burmese, although since Krill had at least double the production, I'm doubtful I could have actually saved the city even if I were better prepared.

[Whosit]

Quick war update: It's going.

I'd say that I'm losing so far. I think Japan and I have traded the same number of units, but Japan's units are cheaper, so they got the better of the trades. Somehow, I didn't lose units last turn, so I pulled my wounded melee units back. Cannons pounded the Japanese city, brought walls down, but are vulnerable to counter-attack if CMF decides to attack out with Samurai and xbow. Still, I think I can take the city at this rate, though it's not much of a prize. (Bomb the city down to 1 hp and take it with a cav unit is the plan.)

2nd new Courser is trained out of Bombay, which begins Harbor next. Chartreux finishes Cuirassier next turn, and onto another.

On a more "amusing for me" note, I HAVE picked off two Korean units (warrior and archer) with the field cannon that was hanging around Abyssinian. I'd love for it to get a 4th promo for 2 attacks (could have killed TWO archers this turn). Will see how greenline reacts. He prrrrobably can't kill my field cannon in one turn.

New niter city gets founded in the north next turn. 3rd Settler complete out of Aegean, and it's starting a trader next. I decided I should at least max out my trade routes and get whatever scraps of coin I can. Since my attack at Japan's southern and newest city failed so badly, this settler is going to a backup spot near Tourdion.

I've confirmed that Japan has castles/coursers, so things are probably going to get dicier, and I expect Japanese Samurai to become musketmen very soon. I'm sure the other civs are happily donating niter and gold.

Plan going forward: Keep up the pressure on Japan and take whatever I can grab. Try not to lose too many units. Secondary: Harass/raid Korean territory and kill their units because I can.

[Whosit]

Turn 149

Well, I had a pretty decent turn so you get to hear about it. Shockingly, none of my units died this turn.




First, new city settled. Paid for the Niter tile. I marked where I want the Comm Hub but I am not making enough cash to buy more tiles unless absolutely necessary. City can have a bath and they can like it. I now have 3 sources of Niter, so I can make a new round of Musketmen when enough accumulates. I don't think I'll bother upgrading my remaining Man-at-Arms unless absolutely necessary.

On the war front, Fet did what I had half expected him to (moved Xbow into city, attacked out with Samurai at Bombard), but thankfully my Bombard took a lot less damage than I'd feared. My two uninjured Bombards were enough to blast the city down so that my Courser could take it. Giving us this:




Honestly, once the walls went down, I'm kind of surprised that Fet didn't fall back to make a new defensive line. I feel like he lost his units for nothing. Once his Samurai moved forward, he should have been able to see the Courser waiting to take the city. Anyway...

That Samurai was weak enough that, now without Victor, my M-a-A was able to kill it. And because Fet had not retreated that Samurai from the hill 2 SE of the city, I was able to kill it with two Field Cannon shots.




So that's 2 Samurai and 1 Xbow dead this turn, plus the city. And 3 turns until Victor can re-establish. I have my first Heavy Cav on the field (you can see near the bottom)--7 turns until the next, unfortunately.

I just realized I should have moved the wounded Bombard FORWARD, not backward. Ah, well.

So, my plan is to push forward towards Fukushima and see if I can block that city from getting the Crabs religion for the bonus defense. I don't think I can begin assaulting it before Victor comes into play, but maybe I can get into position. Losing my battering ram kinda sucked but I'll just have to make due. I also realized that I didn't end up pillaging anything, but momentum was more important.

My strategic goal is to take Fukushima (and try to avoid fighting Hong Kong too much) to open up Japan's core cities. When Fet no longer has chokepoints to use against me, I may be able to fork cities and out-maneuver him. Hopefully I can keep trading well and win in a war of attrition. That said....




Krill is rebuilding the Industrial Zone (complete) and Workshop. I'm hoping these Knights are defensive right now.

Also noticed that Khmer have ballooned in power over the last few turns. Will I be seeing Khmer units in my lands? Or does Archduke have other plans...?

I'm just hoping against hope that Archduke is just waiting for his alliance with Krill to run out.

[Whosit]

Turn 150




As expected, CMF pulled his forces back and created a new defensive line, and Victor is being placed in Fukushima. I have 2-3 turns before he's established. Great General is meant to be bait but 1) doubtful that CMF will go for it, and 2) tbh I can't remember if attacking ends a unit's turn in Civ 6. I've been playing some Civ 4 again and getting my wires crossed. Either way, I should be able to start assaulting that formation next turn, and hopefully on T152 I can take out a unit or two before Victor comes into play.

I stopped my spy's action for this turn in order to promote them. I'm not expecting that I will need that +3 combat bonus until next turn. That crossbowman could move forward to attack my light cav, but that would leave it vulnerable so I'd be cool with that.

Also, more samurai approaching.




This is what I ended up going with. I only have 3 Industrial Zones, but all are in important cities so I figured I'd take a prod boost. I've abandoned my plan to get the Mausoleum immediately because I want that 2nd spy and Bombay is the best place to produce it.




I've realized that this great merchant is important to me. It looks like Archduke is still running commercial hub projects, which is why he's ahead of me. I've got one such Project going in Abyssinian (taking forever) and I've queued it up in 3 more cities, all should start next turn. It'll take me like 7-8 turns to finish all, precious turns when I'm at war with everyone, but if I can wrest control of Hong Kong back, that's going to be a huge boon for me, for a number of reasons.

Persian and Bengal both finish a Courser next turn, and Chartreux will take until T156 to train the next Cuirassier. I don't have more units queued up yet.... Commercial Hub projects and Bengal needs to build its workshop so I can go into Factories when Industrialization finishes.

Krill already has Coal Plants up so

That sucks for me.

Krill has fully repaired the IZ and WS in Burmese, and pulled his units back. Hopefully he does not launch an attack on me for a little while. I do think I can hold my cities unless he brings artillery, but my improvements are very vulnerable. I'd love to have 2-3 more Field Cannons on my western front, but that's not happening any time soon.