If nothing else, I guess that the razing of YeeHawdists was a morale victory for us. But if Mr. Cairo is FIVE turns or less away from winning it might not matter much in the great scheme of things. Let`s see if we can get some units in position to help out Superdeath and Wetbandit here.
Superdeath razed Natty Isis on the northern coast and Wetbandit moved in his mighty fleet. He doesn`t have any Transports in range of any of Mr. Cairo`s culture cities, though. It`s just extremely annoying that you`d need 7 mover Transports to fork VanillaIsis and Yallqaeda.
Wetbandit`s main army is marching on and if Mr. Cairo doesn`t attack it this turn, Wetbandit could move in range of Yallqaeda later this turn. He`s got almost 250 units still. We are actually marching NE, through Wetbandit`s territory in hope of helping out in that last-ditch effort. That could be a questionable play if we`re not in time to join in but I think we`ll be in time to threaten Yokol Haram before it`s too late. Another Great Artist would be curtains. There isn`t many turns left of this game if none of us, Superdeath or Wetbandit can engineer a breakthrough. Yokol Haram will go Legendary end of turn. We upgraded a couple of Galleons to Transports and started three more in the SE (yes, I should have thought of that last turn). So, that`s 12 units that can threaten Yallqaeda at least. We`re going to load those ships with Marines. This turn, our Fighters were very successful and we pillaged a number of strong tiles.
The power graph shows that some heavy fighting took place over the last few turns. Mr. Cairo is no longer the top power. Does he attack out or is he just trying to sit out the siege in Yallqaeda? I think he should be careful about turtling up here as 80 (!) Artillery are no joke on offense.
And I almost forgot to tell that we built another city this turn. Texcoco (barely visible, west of Messenger) is another good long term city. Our brave city razing Archer is still alive, trying to get back to to our culture.
(April 20th, 2020, 11:53)JR4 Wrote: Texcoco (barely visible, west of Messenger) is another good long term city.
I love the optimism inherent in a move like this: There may yet be a long term, and our cities may yet be relevant to it, and that can only be a good thing!
Also, the Toroidal Tank Maneuver of racing to the front by going around the world through wetbandit's territory makes me smile. Good luck with the coming turn(s), however many or few it/they may be!
It feels so weird that this game will (well, most likely) end within 10 days, perhaps even before the weekend. We`re still able to keep up a turn pace of a turn per day with several turn splits so that`s good.
I think that our only chance here is to hope that Wetbandit can somehow break through the defenses at Yallqaeda and our goal is to force Mr. Cairo to split his troops. I`d much rather do that by building Transports but that`s too late now. Let`s see if our desperate lunge through Wetbandit has the desired effect..
We`re still playing as if the game will last for another 100 turns as every city gives us another build queue. Superdeath`s lead in points isn`t really as frightening as it looks and we`d have plenty of time to think about overtaking him in points.
Yokol Haram is the first Legendary city and all Mr. Cairo needs to do is to get the other two cities over the line.
Wetbandit opened a second front, moving in a few units through Donovan`s territory. Our first two units were able to join in. Also, we`ve moved Fighters into Zairobi and Nidaros. Yes, I actually took the liberty of trying to use one of Donovan`s cities as a base from which we can attack Yokol Haram. Surely, Donovan won`t mind..!?
Our two movers are in Nidaros and the rest of our units are right behind.
Wetbandit`s main army is marching on and later this turn it can move to the hill next to Yallqaeda. I think that Mr. Cairo will attack this turn - and it will be an epic fight. Mr. Cairo has got enough units to literally destroy that stack but that might just open him up for an attack from someone else. Superdeath still has 26 Transports that surely are loaded so that`s a bit more than 100 units and we can add another 4 Transports next turn.
@Shallow_thought: I`m afraid that our record of winning the biggest fight in RB history is under real threat here.
(April 21st, 2020, 12:46)JR4 Wrote: @Shallow_thought: I`m afraid that our record of winning the biggest fight in RB history is under real threat here.
You'll just have to start a bigger one then!
I think that an epic battle found place this turn and if Donovan could just play his turn I could log in and report the carnage. I thought a bit about it yesterday, and if Mr. Cairo did go all-in, the losses could easily amount to 300 or even 400 units. And the bloodthirsty lurkers want even more violence?
Wow, Mr. Cairo did not attack last turn and Wetbandit`s main army is now adjacent to Yallqaeda! As it`s currently on a hill I can`t imagine Mr. Cairo attacking it this turn. So, Mr. Cairo is actually trying to sit out the siege here. I must say that attacking out looked like a stronger option but he`s got an awful lot of strong defenders in his capital.
As WalMartyrs NW of Yallqaeda was left undefended, one of our Tanks razed it.
Our 220 unit plus unit stack entered Mr. Cairo`s territory this turn. We`ll try to link up with Wetbandit`s forces just north next turn. But, well, we`re running out of time. Mr. Cairo`s culture cities are getting closer to Legendary status by the turn. If Mr. Cairo somehow manages to squeeze out another Artist shortly, then it`s game over. If he can`t - well, our two movers will be in range of Yokol Haram next turn already.
Fwiw, Mr. Cairo did get a Great General last turn. He killed off our only Destroyer.
Great heavens, Vanilla's starved down to size seven! I honestly don't know if Mr. Cairo can bring this off! There's going to be time for the battles to take place ... and that may well mean we're playing this game out to in-game 2050!
