[SPOILERS] yuris125 praying to RNGesus

[yuris125]

Feels like I'm spinning the wheels at this point. I'm up to 15 knights, and the power rating didn't even move




I need some kind of war to happen, any war (except maybe Krill vs Thoth, they're too far away), anything to help me make something happen. Otherwise I will get outscaled into oblivion (probably already am tbh)

Saving money for the upcoming golden age at the moment, GA should help me get to Rifling

[yuris125]

By the way, Krill is spending EP on me, to the point where I had to move some EP off Commodore to Krill to keep his graphs. Wondering about the reason to do it

[yuris125]

I'm seeing some Krill ships sailing across the ocean, but Krill is also the only player behind me in power ratings, so not sure if that's going to lead anywhere

My power rating is up to 0.6 of Commodore's, yay!

I'm happy to keep playing, but starting to get the feeling of hopelessness

[yuris125]

Tried going for Representation during the golden age, but no way to make it, and I really have to focus on getting to Rifling, seeing how we already are on T139

[yuris125]

Decided to go for Nationalism for drafting, can just about get it in time before the end of the golden age. Commodore will be at Rifling in a couple turns, and he can attack me then, which is not ideal. But I will get a great person in the golden age, who is 96% to be an engineer or a merchant, both would contribute to Replaceable Parts with a bulb. So I shouldn't be too far behind, at least on this research

Now if (or rather when) Commodore gets cannons, I'll be toast

[yuris125]

Golden age ended. I revolted to Nationhood / Theocracy, but forgot to switch from Caste to Slavery. Might be for the best tbh, don't think I would be able to effectively utilise both drafting and whipping

Up to 33 knights, and now building catapults while researching towards Rifling. I don't have a better plan than attacking Pindicator with rifles and hoping for the best. Pindicator signed open borders with Commodore once he was in Mercantilism, so doesn't look like the promise of going to war with Commodore together, which the previous diplo revolved around, is going to be fulfilled

[yuris125]

Commodore, unsurprisingly, is going for Steel. Sent him a fish for fish, which should hopefully clarify his intentions. If he doesn't send it back, I have expect an invasion with cavalry/cannons (which I won't be able to do much about, but have to prepare for the best I can)

[yuris125]

Guess I'm not dying yet




Current offensive stacks: 33 knights, 15 catapults, 2 trebs. I'm building more siege units while waiting for Rifling. Will take a few turns to move the units across the empire, I've been stacking them in the south, expecting Commodore's attack, if one came, to be in the Vienna/Mainz/Ulm area. But in 2-3 turns I will be ready to go if Commodore does, still need about half a dozen turns to get to Rifling (will take 5 turns at 100% science, but I'm out of money right now; on the other hand, I can build Research in some cities to speed it up)

[yuris125]

I built roads leading towards Pindicator's land, which prompted him to send a sentry chariot in




He will find my big knight stack, no helping that - I'm going to let him find it in Prague, where its intentions cannot be clear

Switched every city except the heroic epic one to wealth / research to finish Rifling in 4 turns

[yuris125]

T150 sees us preparing for an attack in Pindicator. Which, frankly, is likely to seal the game for Commodore, who will probably get more out of this war than I will, even if it is successful. But I'm guaranteed to lose the game if I don't do anything, and I can't attack Commodore (because he's far too advanced) or the players across the ocean (because Astro research is off the table, I can't afford to obsolete Colossus)

Meanwhile, I'm losing important tiles in the south due to Horserace Bet's overpowering culture (I didn't even realise the sheep at Vienna was at risk!)




All the more reason to draft the population into military rather than letting them die for no value




Attack plan is to hit Border Collie with rifles off caravels, while the main land stack sets up bombardment from the tile SE of Welsh Corgie. Looks like there's no option but to attack the city across the river - not great, but what can you do

Current military




I will draft rifles once research is done, although the problem is, out of my 14 cities only 9 are really draftable. Two are overseas and will just draft their defenders, and three are too food-poor

Tech situation




Graphs are too depressing to post