[spoilers] Commodore rolls it lolrandom.

[Mousey]

The EP is already dubious even with spies enabled, without them it's a complete dud.

The others are both good, between the dogpile threat and the middling-access to luxuries I'd probably pick the happy face. Unless you have a tech to rush for or some desperately needed unit upgrades.

[xist10]

The passive benefits from EP are insane, if you get to them.
Research visibility alone allows much cleared decisions - and as such maybe save a few research points.
Why chase after music if another one is faster and will get the Artist ?
And when you reach city visibility ?

There is a cutoff point where you can't use the additional production and maybe the point is, when you have research visibility on all 3 others, but EP is at a first glance the best option for a longer game for me.
Of course, all 3 options are good and you need to have a better look at the empire and your actual situation.

[Cornflakes]

EP city visibility is nice, but with blimps available it is less valuable. That gold amount is half a Great Merchant mission, I’d take the gold.

[Commodore]

This is a very brief window before it becomes extremely stressful in these waters.


Unfortunately, I lack the transport capacity to capitalize on this, so the profit direction is here.

I would have rather had a friendly Yuri, but he's positioning himself to tie down a massive part of my army. So...


The north is no big deal, I just want to tie up the local garrisons enough to be able to not fall under threat, there are 6 Thoth galleons so need to be able to withstand 18 infantry on this coast.


This was the first blow. Only had to lose two cannons to get things very nicely spongy.

...spongy enough to kill with maces/crossbows/axes, actually.

Ulm's been over 50% Incan for a while now, so not much loss for Yuri yet.


I may regret this, but I offered white peace. Just having ten turns of freedom might be enough to hit some Thoth bases in the island.

Thoth just landed Biology, so he gets Cereal Mills a turn before me. Wonder if Krill opts to leave the dogpile when Thoth lands that second massive boon and is defacto top dog for CV.

[Commodore]

As you can all see, I took the gold from the event. Lot of long-term reasons to like happy more, but I'm racing to try and land both the Physics GSci *and* the Communism GSpy.

[Commodore]

Yuri solves one problem for me by splitting his stack. That's 32 knights in my territory, could be potentially troubling.

Cannons are nuts. Lost just, um, none while shredding this 31-knight stack.

My real problem was that I didn't have enough ancient-era trash to clean up with maximum efficiency. Axes, longbows, spears...needed the low stuff.


...because the main need for modern units this turn was down in the southeast. Mainz has a pretty solid garrison, but same thing happens.

Lost a single 95% axe fight, so it was actually a noble spear that took the city.

Mainz is already size 11 and can work five mines, it'll be a legitimately decent Destroyer Port. As with all ports, must make ships from now until the end of all time or it burns.

Not a low-stress position.

Vienna is not an easy capture, being out of cannon range. My ~30 cavalry in range can take it though.

Lost about 1 cav per rifle, expected outcome more or less. Another decent port, love these fertile coastal strips.


Much better feel about the advance right now. Need to consolidate, then push, while losing no more than 3-4 coastal cities at the same time.

I'm going to be doubling my coastal exposure through this, sucks.

[Commodore]

Darn it, I miscounted. Should have been able to completely wipe out this stack, but I'm one short of bringing the workers onto the oil for railroading.

But...I do have a fair number of G2 infantry and rifles...

So this was funny. Only two actual hitters remain after this, despite the horror of all that siege. If I had my cavalry here, I'd have been able to wipe out the stack totally.

Instead, here I am chasing glory I guess. Took a very nice city here.

...and the follow-up with G2 rifles nails another pair of workers. I can roll up the next city here unless he reinforces hardcore, but then it's a slog.


...which means that the city I need to threaten next turn is Welsh Corgi. Have destroyer support even.


I...don't think this worked out well for Yuri. That's not a shark fin, that's a freaking base jump off a cliff.


Thoth and Krill both have better potential than me, so I need to lean in to the "own one entire continent" plan. If Thoth snipes Physics with a Great Scientist, I'm going to be annoyed.


I have a 4% shot at landing Mining Inc next turn. I had been building this to a GM assuming I'd found Cereal Mills. Sucks, but that's what makes this kind of game a lot of fun.

If stressful.

Anyone have any questions/screenshots they want to see?

[scooter]

I'm going to be doubling my coastal exposure through this, sucks.

Looks to me like doubling your naval production capacity.

[Commodore]

Yep, pulled out the garrison, probably smart. Took it.


The bigger battle is up here. Not all that troubled by what's in view, but if all the trebs/cats come in from the south then I'm weathering a nasty storm...while if he's moving the stack south, that's hard too.

...Thoth is also aiding. I wondered if this was going to happen, 4 galleon's worth of infantry or cannon would suck.


Wiped this destroyer stack instead. 4 destroyers, 5 frigates, 2 galleons, privateer.


This is my favorite season of the game, I love biofarms for making otherwise useless land actually worth settlement.

Plus, tundra farms now.


Won Physics...

...and WHEW, I have one Uranium at least. Matters less in RtR, but still.

I'm going to be doubling my coastal exposure through this, sucks.

Looks to me like doubling your naval production capacity.

Indeed, long-term, if I can conquer the remaining 11 Yuri cities and keep them, it's over for the rest of the field.

The biggest issue is that each one is 6-9 turns to come out of resistance. I REALLY want airships scouting the ocean for Krillian transports post-haste, that's a fear.

[Commodore]

Wanna see something terrible?



One hitter short...A .4 HEALTH SCOUT SHORT.

The events felt sympathetic for me.

I won't hold you in suspense, went with the coal plant this time. I'm the elephant, not the whale.


Okay, fixed it this turn, much better to kill just a rifle.

Someone's coming in to visit me over in this ocean, I see.

Border Collie is the next target, but I'm also forking Poodle with all these G2/G3 infantry and rifles.


Sharp-eyed viewers will notice another big score swing, though. That's because I've got an infantry-laden transport too...

Kept it, because I'm also forking the two north cities, while also pushing against the south with my ragged lower stack.

Nervous about that siege stack but right now I'm just trying to keep his hitters low.

Krill's being sneaky. I have this covered, but it's something that shows why I need more airships. Flight vs. Artillery next is a hard one.


...because this turn. Landed Great Spy at Communism, which is on the bomber path, so I can sensibly go for TWO more golden ages this game.