Well, that's a musket volley dodged. Onwards to Oxford and hope!
I can imagine that actually getting your hands dirty with some real fighting might have come as a bit of a relief though - waiting for someone to swing your way when you're behind must get a bit wearing.
It may have looked easy, but that is because it was done correctly - Brian Moore
Somewhat bafflingly Thoth didn't advance the Settler or put any Janissaries in range of Lewwyn. Perhaps there's an Ethereal standing just out of sight working in ways that are too complex for my puny mind? Or he could be waiting for Mil Trad to upgrade his Knights to Cuirs - he has 250 gold saved - but wouldn't his Jans get better odds on the crap I have in Lewwyn? Perhaps finishing Gunpowder last turn put him off? He's investing EPs against me, but shouldn't have city visibility on me yet.
Also in the picture Oxford completes this turn, after that I'll probably go for Printing Press but Literature for the epics is a possibility as well. (I'm also missing Poly and Monotheism to the left of the image.) I'm gambling that skipping the Monarchy-Feud-Guilds-Banking section of the tech tree will pay off when I hit Rifling before Thoth...
Thoth is up Poly, Mono, Monarchy, Lit, Drama, Music, Philosophy, Nationalism, Engineering, Alphabet, Printing Press, Feud, Guilds, Banking and Theology. I'm not going to hit Rifling before Thoth.
Cairo is up Poly, Mono, Monarchy, Lit, Drama, Philosophy, Nationalism, Mil Trad, Engineering, Alphabet, Printing Press, RP, Rifling, Liberalism, Chemistry, Feud, Guilds and Banking. Maybe he needs some Cannons to kill Auro, but he should really just point his stack at me...
On Demos my crop yield isn't bad, everything else is. With tech turned on my GNP goes up to ~600, perhaps more next turn with Oxford complete.
(September 22nd, 2017, 05:38)Old Harry Wrote: Also in the picture Oxford completes this turn, after that I'll probably go for Printing Press but Literature for the epics is a possibility as well. (I'm also missing Poly and Monotheism to the left of the image.) I'm gambling that skipping the Monarchy-Feud-Guilds-Banking section of the tech tree will pay off when I hit Rifling before Thoth...
But you need Banking for Replaceable Parts for Rifling.
It's been a quiet few turns while on holiday, but adding Oxford and Printing Press doubles my GNP to over 1000 - its in second place this turn! (Well, Auro isn't teching right now, but I'm definitely within 20% of the three leaders - only a few thousand beakers behind now). Last turn I was making ~850 beakers and losing ~300 gold at 100% and making ~240 gold at 0%. Then last turn I built the forbidden palace in the far-flung east and now I'm making ... exactly the same. Oh well.
This turn I have good news and bad news. The good news is that I'm fairly sure Thoth will be attacking after I play turn 141 - the bad news is that he'll be artist-bombing Dirty Work and hitting Molach with (possibly) 6 Janissaries and 20 Cuirassiers. He may also move enough catapults (there are 9 around at the moment) into DW the turn before to take out Molach's defences. I need to check first that the mine SW of Molach will flip to a culture bomb, but I'll assume it will for now. The signs give the location of the artist if he bee-lines Dirty Work.
So I think I have two choices:
1. Stuff Molach with Muskets and counter attack Thoth's injured stack with Horchers and Catapults after he burns the city.
2. Hit Dirty Work on t141, killing enough Jans, Cuirs and Cats that he then doesn't have enough stuff to take Molach. In fact he may only have Jans and Cats in the city, which would perhaps help even more...
Option 2 would be preferable - and with 17 cats available it may be possible - but I'll have to get Engineering and a bunch of hitters to make it work. I think Engineering is the next tech anyway since Pikes are okay against Cuirs.
So what is the situation? Molach is at 849 culture (60% defence) and will have walls after this turn to make it harder for Catapults to bombard it down.
Units that can't attack DW but can garrison Molach:
2 Muskets
2 Pike
1 Cat
1 Holkan (can upgrade)
Units that can attack DW or garrison Molach:
from Lewwyn -
2 Musket
1 Mace
from Gaz -
1 Musket
1 Mace
1 Holkan (can upgrade)
From Ref Steel
1 Musket
1 Cat
1 Holkan
around Molach -
17 Cats
17 HA
2 Muskets
1 Holkan (can upgrade)
1 Warrior (can upgrade)
Total for attack
18 Cats
6 Muskets
2 Mace
4 pikes (if upgraded)
17 HA
Total for defence
19 cats
8 Muskets
2 Mace
7 Pikes (if upgraded)
17 HA
Thoth has
9 Cats
8 Muskets
4 G2 Jans
20 Cuirs (assuming 6 upgrades)
That all sounds okayish to me - I'll need some luck to come out ahead. Let's move on to some simming. I have a city in another fast speed game with a similar amount of culture as Molach and when I plant a 20% city next to it and Artist bomb it ...
Not much happens! I might only lose the peak and the flat grass tile!? Panic over then.
So what do I do if he just flat-out attacks with all these units next turn? Well Lewwyn is indefensible so I'll abandon it. His Cuirs and Jans will all sit on a hill 2S1W of Molach, so I'll pile a bunch of cats into them and then use muskets, pikes and HA's to polish them off.
Turn 140
Foreign affairs:
Mr Cairo (replacing Khan) has been bouncing his stack off Chaco Canyon for the last five or ten turns. Whenever his stack looks big enough to take the city Auro brings up reinforcements in the nick of time and Cairo withdraws to heal up. I don't know how many units have died, but their forces look pretty even now, so they must make peace soon, right? Hopefully they keep wasting hammers on each other and give me a chance to catch up.
Techs:
Cairo (Catherine) has bee-lined Communism, so doesn't have Cannons yet. Auro (Caesar) isn't far behind but doesn't have Scientific Method. Thoth (Pericles) hasn't got RP or Chemistry yet, but does have Constitution, so could rush to Democracy for Statue of Liberty, but will most likely go for Rifling.
Alhazard is badly behind. Lacking Paper and even Calendar! He's got a lot of cities but is lacking in development and crashed his economy pretty badly. How he's nearly on a score par with the leaders is puzzling - if he sorts out his economy he'll be a monster.
My tech picture is somewhat threadbare. Not being able to get Replacable Parts without Banking is problematic. I think I can get to Grenadiers in 9 turns or Cannons in 11 turns or both in 16 turns. Thoth (and everyone else) is Cavalry-oriented rather than Rifle-oriented, so heading to Cannons could be better than Grenadiers. Although a 12-strength unit to tidy up after the huge stack of Cats I have would be useful too.
I could go for Drama->Music->Philosophy->Nationalism->Mil Trad instead to get Curassiers, but that's probably ~16 turns as well.
Or I could go Mono->Monarchy->Feud->Guilds->Banking->RP->Rifling to improve the economy and get Rifles, but that's at least 20 turns away. I suspect I need to rush to something because of Thoth, so I'll save cash on Chemistry for now.
Tactical situation:
You can see the great artist at the bottom of the screen, he's gone the southern route, but can still bomb DW after I play t141. Alternatively he could bomb Lewwyn after it's captured, or Thoth can settle 2N after burning Lewwyn and bomb there. I'm fairly sure that all those sites waste the bomb.
The danger tiles for me (ignoring how screwed Lewwyn is) are the grass hill 2SW of Gazglum and the hill with my worker on. If he puts a stack on either hill he can hit those cities with 2-movers. I have my Cats and HAs in range of both hills, and, if my worker completes the road next turn I *could* hit DW. I think that's probably a really bad idea, so he'll probably just build a windmill, but I could if I wanted to, right?
Of course if Thoth decides to hit GSGT Hydra then I'm pretty badly screwed... Hydra isn't so important (sorry THH!) but it leaves MSGT Steel exposed and that city is vital.
Domestic situation:
The Heroic Epic went in LT Spirits, which will 1-turn Muskets for a while. I stupidly built it without Marble because of the Oxford stone/marble trade with Cairo, but it'll get the hammers back quick enough.
I'm building Chichen Itza in MSGT Steel (my Moai city) because I don't think I'm getting Rifles any time soon. When it's done I'll cancel the Marble/Stone trade with Cairo and build the National Epic in MAJ Hazard. When that's done (and if I'm not at war with Thoth) I'll launch a golden age, adopt caste/pacifism and try to pump out enough GPs for a third GA and perhaps some bulbs.
I quit! 
- only a few thousand beakers behind now). Last turn I was making ~850 beakers and losing ~300 gold at 100% and making ~240 gold at 0%. Then last turn I built the forbidden palace in the far-flung east and now I'm making ... exactly the same. 
Oh well.![[Image: t139.JPG]](https://dl.dropbox.com/s/fl209q4n2oeuyz3/t139.JPG)
I think I can get to Grenadiers in 9 turns or Cannons in 11 turns or both in 16 turns. Thoth (and everyone else) is Cavalry-oriented rather than Rifle-oriented, so heading to Cannons could be better than Grenadiers. Although a 12-strength unit to tidy up after the huge stack of Cats I have would be useful too.
