[Spoiler] Suboptimal's Next Attempt at Lurker Frustration

[suboptimal]

Turn 145

Suzerainty of Geneva has kicked in for now and the city-state makes peace with Canada. That will last all of 3 turns as Kaiser’s own governor goes active on his Turn 147. I do get a look at Geneva’s forces:




it’s those four plus the trader up by Howard and a caravel off the east of Nora Batty. The muskets will be a problem and I’ll need to keep my knights clear of them. (I’ll have the same problem in Egypt). As can be seen in the screenshot I’ve also got a deal pending from Ichabod – 100 from me for gypsum and marble from him. That sets me back slightly but he’s likely got a specific upgrade in mind. I still have to wait a couple turns on my intended quadrireme upgrade, especially with Mercantilism completing next turn. That also helps to solve my upcoming amenities situation. I accept.

Production has finished at Foggy and Pearl. Foggy starts a caravel. I think the next build after that needs to be the Intelligence Agency. The spy from that can go to Geneva and run some missions there. Pearl’s lighthouse is complete and the city is now running a 11 surplus. It’ll get to 4 pop in 2 turns, 5 pop 5 turns after that and 6 pop 6 turns after that. Nice. What to build, though? Granary. More + more housing = more pressure and the faster I don’t need a governor here. Marina has grown to 8 population this turn.

Start moving the builders and troops on the interior. Up at Cleggy I move the entire navy just north of its borders, 4 tiles away from the city. I’m going to assume that Woden has a spy in the area (he hasn’t gotten to Mercantilism’s column in civics yet) and might be watching the city. I’ll hold them there until I’m ready to move out. I go to move my caravel forward and see that Recife has been razed by Woden. Wonder if he’ll do the same to Sao Paolo next turn? (I believe he will) I move the caravel east then southeast, finding nothing:




I’ll find out next turn if they’re tucked in at the coast or not. I should be able to scout and then move away undetected. Hildegard hasn’t seen any ships and I decide that I want to bring her south as an advance scout. She’ll steer clear of Fez’s borders and station midway between Fez and my coast. I also bring back the caravel near Isaac. If Woden has decided to pick a fight on my coast I’m going to need it. The scout caravel off Cleggy moves out and back by three tiles to check the ocean and finds it empty.

My horseman cuts through Bruins’ territory en route back to Pearl. I go to move my scout and see something….funny, at least, if you’re not Kaiser:




What’s funny about this is that the battering ram will be ineffective against Kings and Bruins. They both have medieval walls up. There’s a chariot archer north of the two muskets but that ram is useless. He could be bringing it over to Charly Burke for upgrading. I’ll find out shortly.

[suboptimal]

Turn 146

Mercantilism is in. There are notifications that Venice has made peace with Ichabod, declared on Woden and Bologna has declared on CMF (er, Canada). Pearl’s river “has flooded and devastated the area as never seen before.” Well, it didn’t kill any citizens and look at those tiles:




Got an extra and 2 out of it. Nice. Look around the map, Sao Paolo is razed.

Start Diplomatic Service. Professional Army and Feudal Contract out, Press Gangs and Triangular Trade in. Income jumps to 114.7 per turn, caravel build times at Foggy and Compo down to five and four turns respectively. Cleggy’s first caravel will take two turns thanks to factory overflow; its factory will complete on the coming turn. The next caravel would be three turns then a couple at two turns. Nora Batty’s Campus has completed; it starts a library. That’ll get me some much needed science.

I’ve realized the trader from Geneva is a problem as Kaiser will get its vision when he regains suzerainty. I back everyone off the coast (including El Cid) and will move to embark them once the trader has cleared the city. Howard is now manned by a crossbow. The forces are largely in position now, just waiting to embark.

I slightly rearrange the fleet at Cleggy. Now for the turn’s big question – the Phoenician navy. Slowly advance the caravel and…




I don’t see any other units around here yet. If that’s all he’s got I’m not too concerned. However, I’d rather have too much firepower than not enough. I also think he’s got another 2-3 frigates in the fog based on my counts of what went by at the northern passage. Additionally, those frigates are likely promoted for district attacks, not ship to ship attacks. That works in my favor a bit. Hildegard finds nothing as she creeps along the ocean.

Out at the Egyptian/Canadian front Charly Burke got walls up but not before Canada got in some fire of their own




My scout is a bit stuck as I’m caught between the forces. I move northwest, take a screenshot




and then move west → southwest to try to get out of the way. I find the pike on the oasis-adjacent incense. Right now this situation over here seems to be a lot of hullaballoo and positioning and not much fighting. I’m going to cut through The Blues, take the pass between the lake and Rocky Mountains and get the scout up to Pearl.

Kaiser spent about 800 last turn, I’ll be curious to see how that reflects in his milpower in a turn or two. He didn’t buy any Great People with it. Speaking of Great People I should have Li Bai (writer) in three turns and hopefully Francis Drake in two turns (thanks to the extra GAP from Pearl’s lighthouse). The era score increase when I retire him immediately will tip everyone and their father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate (so, no one ) that there’s a sea dog on the map.

The Blues’ population went down a point. Looks like Canada has a settler out. There’s some fertile ground on the eastern shores of Lake Huron – silk, deer and coal in the first two rings; niter in the third. Canada’s not aware of coal yet, though.

[suboptimal]

Turn 147

Printing is one turn from completion. Cleggy has completed its factory and is now complaining about a lack of power. I also have a diplomatic notification from Woden. The tooltip says that he’s requesting a declaration of friendship between our civilizations. Things that make you go “Hmmmmmmm”.

The request turns my attention immediately to the former Brazilian coast.




I start out by moving Hildegard towards the coast of Fez. I want to see what’s lurking up there. She doesn’t find anything. The caravel moves in a northerly direction and finds one more frigate two tiles directly north of the other one. My northern scout caravel moves east and southeast and finds nothing. That leaves three possibilities. The first is that Woden has relocated the bulk of his navy to the center of the ocean. The second is that he’s moved a pocket of frigates southeast to go harass either Canada or the Encampment at Curitiba, down around the bend. The third is that I can’t count and that his navy consists solely of the three frigates and caravel that were here and one or two frigates at Fez.

Regardless, this also means that he’s not interested in attacking me directly. That’s fine by me. The question is “what now”? First of all, I don’t know what happens if a DoF is in place when a Defensive Pact is called upon. When I declare on Kaiser, according to the alliance rules, Woden is going to declare on me, whether or not he likes it or wants to. A DoF, however, prevents him from declaring war. So, what would happen with this scenario? Well, turns out it doesn’t currently matter:




He’s not in an alliance with Kaiser. I also just learned that you can enter the diplo screen with a deal pending, as long as you don’t hit the deals button.

However, what about that 15 iron for 15 iron with Ichabod? Well, I’m still declaring against Kaiser 15 of my turns after that deal. Actually, I could do it sooner if I don’t need to build out a navy against Woden. So, technically I wouldn’t be invalidating the meaning of the deal; just the assumption that I’d be going after Woden. OTOH that might be taken as…backstabby? There’s another complicating factor here. Check this out:




Ichabod is now in an alliance with my intended target! . My DoF with Ichabod runs out….oh, look at that. It was started on Turn 117, so, like, now-ish. So….what are my options?

- I could refuse the DoF with Woden, make the boat printer go BRRRRRRR, declare on him and Kaiser in 15 turns and be at war with everyone but Canada.
- I could take the DoF with Woden, make the land printer go BRRRRRRR, declare on Kaiser and be at war with Kaiser and Ichabod.
- Do something else that disguises my true intentions from everyone.

What I ultimately decide to do is to not take the DoF with Woden now and send back a 10-for-10 gold deal. That should tell him two things if I understand the meta correctly: I mean you no harm and ask me again in 10 turns. By then I’ll be in position to attack Kaiser, it’d be too late for Ichabod to provide warning and Woden should keep to himself for that time period.

With that out of the way I can rearrange my priorities and plans a little bit (just a little bit). The two caravels will be allowed to go to completion at Compo and Foggy. I’ll hold off on the quadrireme upgrade at Nora Batty until I either absolutely need it or I get Professional Army slotted. At Cleggy I move a citizen from the unimproved fish to the factory. That puts the city at 60 on the nose. So, what to build? I decide to go coal plant → sea dog. That will push the city’s to 77 per turn. That enough to get out a sea dog in two turns and then after that I’ll decide if I build a shipyard (for MOAR ) or switch over to troops. Getting the shipyard first would allow me to build just about anything in two turns with the right policy card in place.

Down at Truly I put down a junglemill. Over at Smiler the builder moves to the next mine site and the amphitheater is complete. The city doesn’t have a monument but it will have one in another four turns.

Troop time. Boats first. The caravel at Cleggy unlinks from Chola and heads east. I’m going to set up a close-in caravel picket about 5 tiles off my eastern coast to keep an eye on things. The caravel currently at Nora Batty plus the one off by Brazil will set the picket up. The caravel returning from the Egyptian coast does a u-turn and heads back in that direction..




He can’t see me because I’ve got +1 sight range. I’m going to need to keep an eye on that one as it’ll affect my embarkation plans. The armada can’t one-shot it, even in the company of an admiral, but it’d reduce it down far enough where it could be captured by a sea dog. I move the armada into Cleggy and the city’s defense rises to 74 . Chola moves into Cleggy and relocates to Howard. I leave the other frigate at Cleggy out in the open to monitor the pass up here. Artemsia continues for Cleggy but I’ll hold her outside – she’ll travel near the armada and I’ll promote when I need to. Remaining ships at Nora Batty hold tight.

On land all troops hold tight for the time being. If that Egyptian caravel moves closer to Howard I might have to back off the coast further. Actually, most of the coast east of Howard blocks LoS, so I start repositioning over there. I can’t embark for 3-4 turns yet anyways given the trader in Howard. Knights and horses all remain in place, except for the one traveling back from Canada. Scout heads south along the Canadian border. From my current land position at Howard it’s likely two turns to muster everyone embarked, two turns transit and then I can declare and show up on the coast (and start pillaging with sea dogs). I have to assume that Kaiser will have field cannon by that point.

As stated earlier, Printing completes in one turn. Options would be Steam Power, Ballistics, Banking, Astronomy and Siege Tactics. I’ll be able to boost Steam Power with shipyard building. Banking and Astronomy, right now, are not the part of the tree I want to research. Ballistics unlocks curassiers and I’ll need those for Egypt. That’ll be 12 turns from next turn, 11 if I get enough overflow, which, given how little of Printing is left, is likely.

[suboptimal]

Turn 148

Printing is done, start Ballistics. That’ll be 11 turns to complete but I’ll be wanting to upgrade my knights around that time. Woden has accepted my deal and Kaiser is now suzerain of Geneva once more. My friendship with Ichabod is over but I’ll leave it to him to offer renewal. I’ve got a great person waiting for me. Francis Drake appears in Cleggy. Horatio Nelson is up next for 545 GAP (retire to instantly build a lighthouse & shipyard, gives all naval units +50% flanking bonus).

Out at the former Brazilian coast Woden is sending his frigates north to or past Fez. The swiss frigate has rounded the turn and is about 4 tiles east of Nora Batty. My caravels move towards their intended picket positions. I’ve got four out in the ocean and I’ll fine turn their visual radius next turn. Hildegard will head for the nearest city, relocate to Pearl and retire there. Up in the Tethys Ocean the Egyptian caravel has disappeared from sight. My caravel moves to the east and I don’t find it. I’ll move back west next turn and start looking for it again.

The swiss trader at Howard is now embarked on the return leg to Geneva. Next turn I’ll start getting units out onto the sea. Everyone shuffles one tile north, staying out of visual range of the trader. I move Chola out onto the sea and out of view of the trader and bring Francis Drake over to Howard. I’ll retire him for the sea dog next turn. I also bring the armada out of Cleggy towards Howard to meet up with Chola. Once I locate the Egyptian vessel I’ll maneuver the sea dog and armada into position and declare once the land troops are in position or I’m at risk of having them be detected by Kaiser. Hopefully I’ll be able to capture the ship with the sea dog.

Ranged ships on the southern coast hold position. They’ll be joined by caravels in two turns. Depending on where that swiss caravel goes I might need to do something about it.

Out at the Marina-Smiler line the wandering horseman has returned. All other units remain where they are and the builder puts down a mine at Smiler. Further afield the scout enters the territory at The Blues. I’ll pass just north of the city, through the fog between Kings and The Blues, then head for Pearl. I also notice that Canada has chipped away at Charly Burke’s walls, having done 10 damage to them. The Encampment at Bruins is redlined but the city center remains untouched. If I could get Magnus out of Pearl I would send him over to Truly. That city will be able to get out a settler in 6-7 turns once its factory is complete. However, I need some more population pressure first. Of course, once war is declared and Amani is booted from Geneva I’ll have a little time to use him (maybe I’ll prebuild a settler).

I’ll be picking up Li Bai next turn. He’ll go to Smiler and put his works there for some more pressure on Canada. I looked at the Great Engineer...”race”...and Woden will likely get Leonardo da Vinci in 13 turns. That’ll put me in the lead for whatever engineer follows him, whom I’ll likely pick up two turns later. I’ve got a 50/50 shot at Filippo Brunelleschi (315 towards wonders, 2 charges) or Mimar Sinan (+1 housing, +1 amenity, completing an IZ causes a culture bomb). Sinan is useful for the amenities but with Brunelleschi I’ve got options. Colosseum (Foggy), Colossus (Cleggy) and Terracotta Army (Truly) would all be useful and quick to build with a single charge plus city production. I could use two of his charges up at Cleggy and spend 5 turns of city build time for the Forbidden City.

Woden’s empire score dropped by 13 this past turn. That doesn’t appear to be for Recife or Sao Paolo since those are already accounted for in his score. He must have lost a city in the fog. Diplomatic gossip doesn’t show anything. After that initial spurt many turns ago Ichabod has gained one more tourist and is now at 5/85 to win a cultural victory. Canada picked up 3 empire score and 5 era score last turn, though I don’t know what they could have done for the era score. Wild has hit 8 population so it’s unlikely that my best efforts will be enough to flip that city unless I can reach a normal age, neutralize the governor there or get a great artist for some museum pieces. The first artist is still 47 turns away for me, though that’ll speed up with the museum at Howard and one at Smiler or Marina (likely Smiler).

[suboptimal]

Turn 149

There are minimal notifications this turn. Li Bai is waiting to be recruited, Cleggy wants more housing and Nora Batty wants more amenities because it grew in population this turn. I just noticed this turn that with Printing completed I can now see which governors are where in Canada. That confirms that Victor is in Bruins; Magnus is in Wild, Pingala is in The Blues and Liang is in Kings.

I start out with Li Bai; he appears in Howard and immediately transfers to Smiler for great works production starting next turn. Builder at Truly puts down another junglemill, one to go. The builder at Smiler starts for Compo – 6 turns to arrive on site for a junglemill.

I set up the caravel picket in the ocean and have a good 6-tile wide corridor of visibility from the northern ice cap to the fog just north of the southern map edge. Navy at Nora Batty sits tight, as usual. Frigate north of Cleggy likewise sets up a picket in the channel. Caravel goes west, looking for its Egyptian counterpart and finds it north of Geneva, up near the ice cap. Wonder if Kaiser is just fogbusting with it? I park just out of its sight range. The armada moves up to a spot 4 tiles east of my caravel. Depending on what Kaiser does I’ll consider attacking early. Francis Drake retires, giving me a sea dog and four era score. I hold onto the promotion for the time being. The 50 bonus for coastal pillaging is tempting but the second level +10 vs. naval units might be worth picking up (vs. +1 movement). However, it can move this turn and I do so, sending it west along the coast. Artemsia moves towards Howard – I’ll keep her “centrally located” in the ocean in case someone needs a promotion out here.

On land the troops around Howard start moving out. El Cid and his escort embark, as does the crossbow in Howard proper. It’s replaced by another crossbow (nothing to see here ). Everything else moves up to the coast, staying out of sight of the swiss trader. Everything at Marina/Smiler/Pearl holds tight. Scout attempts to move northeast and gets roadblocked:




They got that settler out a while ago, relatively speaking, from The Blues. Wonder why it went north? Actually, never mind. That’s another settler out of Kings because that city has dropped in population.

Looking around elsewhere it seems that both Woden and Ichabod are having cash crunches. Ichabod has been -10 the past few turns and Woden has been +2. Canada and Kaiser are doing OK with cash, appearing to be about +45 and +70 respectively. Canada’s alliance with Brazil is over; the only diplomatic arrangements in the game are my DoF with Canada and the Brazil-Egypt alliance. A concern here is that the alliance is a military one – that’d give Egypt a combat bonus against me. I’ll find out the hard way, I guess (or perhaps I’ll check the combat UI next turn )

[suboptimal]

Turn 150

Open the save to Kaiser requesting an embassy and Ichabod requesting a deal. Hard no to the former. What’s Ichabod want?




Um, no. You’re allied with Kaiser and you’re offering me no inducement. Granted, I also offered 15 iron for iron 7 turns ago so if you wanted my help you’d have some patience.

Caravels complete at Foggy and Compo. Start the Intelligence Agency and a factory, respectively. Smiler’s monument has also completed, I start walls. It is a front-line city, after all. While I’m there the builder moves out of the Theater Square and Li Bai creates his first great work – Drinking Alone by Moonlight. Almost appropriate.

New caravels sail for Nora Batty. I suppose I’m going to have to use them to shadow the swiss ship as it moves through the area. Northern group has lost sight of the Egyptian caravel. My caravel finds it fogbusting along the ice pack, then turns towards back and heads for the Egyptian coast to rescout Isaac. I’ll check out the city next turn and then patrol the area. I move the sea dog up to its east to keep an eye on it for the next turn or so. The sea dog, armada and picket frigate will take care of that Egyptian vessel when the time comes. Two muskets, a siege tower and a crossbow embark, a siege tower, one crossbow and three muskets to go. The plan will be to upgrade the crossbows once Isaac falls and Ballistics is complete.

Ichabod continues losing 10 per turn and Woden has dropped to zero cash flow. Kaiser’s military is up to 924 but I’m hoping this is mostly focused at Canada.

[suboptimal]

Turn 151

I love the smell of pollution in the morn….er…at the start of my turn….in Civ VI. Cleggy’s coal plant has completed, providing the city with an additional 17 - 10 from the coal plant itself and 7 more from the factory being powered. That brings Cleggy’s production yields up to 79 per turn. Since the factory’s bonus is now +10 the coal plant’s completion effectively provides Truly (50), Foggy (35) and Auntie Wainwright (16) with +7. There will be a similar boost once Compo completes its factory and coal plant – Smiler, Howard and Marina are all within the area of effect of that city’s Industrial Zone. It also means that the Craftsmen policy is effectively a permanent policy from here on out. I’ve also netted 3 era score from the build from having the first power plant on the map. Good to know.

I have a notification that Ichabod has completed Petra. That’s fine by me, I have little to no desert. Ichabod has also requested a DoF. I take it. I had no plans of attacking him if he declared war on me due to the alliance between he and Kaiser. It will be interesting to see how these interplay when I get around to it.

Taking care of city maintenance I start a sea dog in Cleggy to take advantage of the three turns remaining in Press Gangs. That’ll be a two turn build. I get a laugh at Truly’s factory – it’s 1 short of completion. The builder moves to the jungle for a mill next turn. Truly will finish the pike & shot it started (four turns) and then build its University and start working on settlers. The first settler should complete when the city has enough to not lose any population. Cleggy will get the sea dog out, then build a musketman (2 turns) and a spy (3 turns) and then I’ll see what my unit needs are (I’d like a third sea dog to monitor the Brazilian/Phoenician coast). I also need a shipyard out of here. The 8 is a bonus but the shipyard, along with the one at Auntie Wainwright, nets me the Steam Power eureka, which lets me build/upgrade an ironclad, which gets me the Steel eureka.

Elsewhere, the builder at Smiler continues its trek east and will put down a junglemill at Compo in two turns. Li Bai creates his second great work, Mountains on a Summer Day. I check loyalty in the region. If Magnus were to leave the city (or someone were to neutralize it ) the city would be in negative loyalty. Pearl has gained a population and I’m now free to move Magnus if needed – without him the city has +1 loyalty per turn due to “other effects”. The good news there is that the city will grow in a little less than 9 turns. It’s currently suffering a housing penalty but the granary completes in three turns.

Looking around the map I’ve lost sight of the Egyptian caravel in the north. My sea dog finds it about 5 tiles NW of the armada. Kaiser will likely run into the sea dog next turn, depending on how closely he hews to the ice cap. I leave the frigates where they are and send the caravel down to the Egyptian coast for a look-see. I notice immediately he’s got a chariot archer in Geneva’s territory. It can’t move past Geneva due to the city’s position in a mountain pass but it could embark. That’s OK – if it sniffs me out it might be too late. Besides, a sea dog with an admiral nearby or a frigate would be able to one-shot it. He’s got a crossbowman SW of that chariot and another chariot archer down on Isaac’s Holy Site but the city itself is empty and there are no other units around:




Next turn I’ll “swoop” in for a slightly closer look though I don’t think I’ll see anything further south – Isaac is on a hill and the tiles directly east and west are also hills. I continue embarking land units here. There’s a two-tile corridor between the swiss trader and the Egyptian caravel (until it moves further east) that I can remain in and be unseen. I also learn that El Cid is giving +1 embarked movement to all land units. Nice. Next turn my forces will be fully embarked and starting their journey. I do disconnect Chola from the armada and send him east. He’ll support the frigate and two sea dogs in their attack – that should let me declare war, kill the caravel, take out a land unit with the armada and land my troops at Isaac’s door.

Down south I link up Magellan with one of the caravels and have the two ships shadow the swiss one. They should be able to kill it on their own without issue. Frigate and quadrireme remain at Nora Batty. Land units all remain stationary for now. I’ll move the knights out as the attack on Isaac unfolds. Nothing much new in Canada though I see that Bruins and Charly Burke continue to exchange fire. Some serious leveling up by siege units going on there. I have decided that I’m not going to give Canada any warning regarding the war.

Ichabod has entered the Industrial Era on the civics tree. No one has progressed to the second column of the Industrial Era on the tech tree yet. I also notice that there’s something missing on the Brazil/Egypt front:




Sao Luis got taken out at some point. Guessing it was part of Woden’s navy that did it.

A picture of the Tethys Ocean theater. I expect to declare war in 4 turns and will outline the landing plans in the next two or three.

[suboptimal]

Turn 152

No notifications. The map opens to the Tethys Ocean:




I am assuming that I’ve been spotted. The caravel was three tiles due west of the sea dog and it’s now just a tile south of there. He’s got a musket and field cannon at Issac. Change in plans. I bring Chola back west to the armada’s position. The picket frigate also comes west and I send the sea dog around to the west side of the Egyptian vessel, partly to move behind it and partly to see if anything else lurks in the fog (no). I also see what Isaac may have been testing when I move the caravel up to check inland – he’s upgraded the chariot archer into a field cannon in Geneva’s territory (tile SW of the Campus). The crossbow is on the Campus. They can’t move through the city, though, but I’m aware of his coastal defenses. I pin everything for future reference. I don’t know if he’s aware that I know about his unit placements. I move the caravel offshore with the pinned units at the edge of the fog.

Now, what to do here? An immediate landing at Issac would be problematic with the field cannon there. He does have the money to upgrade those remaining crossbowmen. His units are positioned to be able to fire upon anything getting ready to disembark. I think what I will do is the following:

- If the caravel stays within range of the armada I’ll declare war and sink or capture it. If it doesn’t then I’ll track it down and hold off on the war declaration.
- The armada, a sea dog, Chola and Artemsia will travel down to the sea NW of Geneva. If the ranged units there remain in place I’ll use the armada and sea dog to kill one of the two units and then go after the other the following turn. Given the setup the crossbow (see pic below) will be killed first as that will strand the field cannon.
- The caravel will play the part of an AWACS unit. In the above screenshot the caravel can see all of Kaiser’s units from the tiles immediately E or SE of its position.
- The knights and Boudica will move north and work on killing any Geneva land units in the area.
- Once the Egyptian units are dealt with and the swiss units are occupied I’ll land my forces at Geneva, using the armada and frigate to cut off Egyptian reinforcements, then take the city.
- Once I’ve got Geneva controlled I’ll upgrade the crossbows and advance on Isaac. I will note that the city appears to have started building Medieval Walls. Not that it matters because I’ve got siege towers. He’d need Renaissance Walls to stop those. The plan would be to take Isaac, check the loyalty situation, set up a defensive perimeter and then consider advancing on Gordon Malloy (or let Kaiser come to me).


Right. I will leave the siege towers close to the coast. The remaining musket embarks and I rearrange troops slightly. The leading edge of the force remains unmoved, except for El Cid, who moves southwest in order to cover everyone but the siege tower escorts. Down at Marina the knights and Boudica move north. I find two of the Geneva units on the other side of the river:




I’ll need to bait them across and kill them one at a time. The one by Howard is likely to advance on the city where it should get eaten alive by the city defenses. For good measure I start walking Marina’s pike & shot along with the knights for support. I send Pearl’s courser west to see what the status of Egyptian units by Bruins is and find none. There is a big fat niter mine I could pillage once war is declared. However, the unit might get killed before it could pillage. . I’ll need to move south and cross the river through Canada first.

Elsewhere a junglemill goes down at Truly. Its factory is complete and I resume the pike & shot (3 turns to complete). Marina’s got an open queue, I start a trader (4 turns). In order to line up build times better I’m going to hold Diplomatic Service for one turn and put it into Divine Right (to get that down to one turn). That’ll give me two more turns of Press Gangs for a sea dog. I’ll likely get upgrades out of the way and then use Divine Right or Enlightenment to slot Raid before I let loose the sea dogs on the Egyptian coastline. I will note that Kaiser’s only source of coffee is right on the coast.

The swiss caravel on the southern coast has moved up to the coast near Auntie Wainwright. I move Nora Batty’s frigate to that city. From there it will be able to attack that caravel wherever it goes. Pickets see nothing of note.

In my closing move I offer Woden a DoF. We’ll see if he takes it. If he does that’ll give me about 25 turns to prosecute Egypt before I need to worry about Woden’s navy.

[suboptimal]

Turn 153

I realized after passing the turn that Woden accepting the DoF would remove any doubt from Kaiser’s mind that he was my target.  However, I also realized that if Woden had to make the DoF choice after I declared war (or Kaiser declared on me) he might not take it and I’d be facing a two front war.  Granted, that’s still a possibility if Woden didn’t take the DoF.  So….

- Did Woden take the DoF?
- Did Kaiser pre-emptively declare?

Well, Woden took the DoF.    I also have the following from Ichabod:




Sure, because either I’ll get 6 per turn while attacking your ally and you can do nothing OR I’ll take the deal, declare war and you’ll declare back because of your defensive pact and we all get nothing.  . 

Kaiser’s milpower is up to 1049. He’s been busy.  SEAWACS hasn’t moved and shows the musket and field cannon from Isaac on the move.  I go to move the caravel up to investigate and suffer a CTD.  RELOAD! 

I reaccept Ichabod’s offer and clear Woden’s DoF acceptance (in the same order I did the first time around) and go to move up the caravel.  This time it works.  I move down to the fish:




He seems to be sending his troops to Geneva in preparation for defense of the city-state.  Reasonable inference.  Both of the swiss units have crossed the Columbia River and are on my side.  I can outright kill one with two knights and redline the other.  Two muskets and a courser have shown up at Charly Burke but the caravel has disappeared.  I send the frigate north to investigate and only have to move one hex to find it:




Unfortunately it’s out of range of both sea dogs (Cleggy’s is complete) but not out of range of the armada.  So, what to do here?  Well, stall, obviously, and play out the rest of my turn that won’t be of large consequence to this situation. 

Builder at Compo puts down a junglemill.  Hildegard has reached my shores and will disembark next turn.  She’ll head to Truly and then on to Pearl for retirement.  Cleggy starts another sea dog. Courser near Charly Burke stays put for the time being because it appears to be out of harm’s way:




Horses at Smiler relax.  I shift the knights at Marina in order to get three units flanking the northern swiss musket and bring the pike & shot west for support.  There….that wasn’t too long to wait, was it?  The full (northern) battle theater:




So, Kaiser moving the caravel west has actually freed up my western sea dog to go off and start making some trouble.  The issue will be the fact that the sea dogs will be at CS 40 defending against CS 60 city shots.  However, I can wait until both sea dogs are in position (and I have raid slotted) in order to start pillaging the coast.  Swoop in, pillage some things, leave, pillage some health, repeat.  Time to make the donuts (or invite myself over to dinner, your pick):




PBEM 20 just got awkward since Kaiser’s dedlurker is my partner over there

Geneva and Bologna declare on me, Ichabod does not.   Amani is booted from Geneva and I’m down 18.5 since I'm at war with both scientific city-states (gotta find time for Universities to get built).  Income takes a hit until I can establish new routes next turn.  In the south my frigate emerges from Auntie Wainwright and in short order the Swiss caravel is sunk.  Unfortunately I make an error and the killing blow is delivered by a unit no longer in Magellan’s influence, so I don’t get the naval battle era score. Magellan heads to Auntie Wainwright and transfers to Howard. 

In the northern ocean I move the frigate armada north into firing range.  Armada fires for 61 damage, frigate makes the kill and I get two era score for Chola’s victory.  Western sea dog heads for Alara Kitan – I’ll check that coast for potential  reinforcements while everyone else advances next turn.  The sea dog at Cleggy heads due west – it’s movement is 6 (thanks to the RND) without an admiral in tow.  Land units begin moving northwest – I’ll stay out of visual range of Geneva.  If the sea dog doesn’t find anything lurking at Alara Kitan maybe I’ll change plans and land there.    If anything, a delay in landing at Geneva might make Kaiser pull back from the Canadian front.  SEAWACS checks Isaac, confirms it’s empty and then relocates one tile northeast of the fish, keeping all of the Egyptian units in view but safely out of their visual or firing range. 

On land I attack the Swiss muskets.  The promoted one in the swamp is dead-lined (0 damage left).  I’ll work on killing these two off and then arrange the troops for upgrades in six turns.  Amani goes to Pearl, Magnus to Truly.

The situation in the north after the action is over:




Once I can get the ranged ships gathered northwest of Geneva I’ll turn that sector into a shooting gallery. If he moves the musket any further east I’ll just take his units out from west to east while landing at Isaac.  That’ll trap all four units there and I should be able to kill at least a unit per turn.  I could, in theory, start shooting at them the turn after next as all units could be close enough.  However, I wouldn’t have enough movement to be in an ideal shooting lineup so I’ll spend two turns moving into position.  I also don’t know what Kaiser will do with those troops when he sees I’ve declared on him instead of Geneva directly. 

Note to eveyrone (including Kaiser) – if Geneva were the primary target it’s still better to declare on Kaiser since he’s the suzerain.  Because I didn’t declare against Geneva my envoys are preserved in the event my fuckery is like all of the other times I’ve declared war in these things I don’t take the city. 

Elsewhere, Canada has settled Red Wings on the coast five tiles south of Pearl.  It’s got plenty of loyalty and despite its presence Pearl would be positive loyalty (just) without a governor for the time being.  It is tempting to buy the 4 tile that is second ring to Red Wings and third ring to Pearl but 205 for strict denial purposes is not worth it.  I need that cash for cuirassiers and field cannon when the time comes.

I was going to change civics to Divine Right to hold Press Gangs until the sea dog is done.  However, I’m not in immediate need to put in Professional Army since it’s 6 turns to complete Ballistics.  I’ll complete Diplomatic Service, put in Machiavellianism and get the spy done and into Geneva and complete The Enlightenment.  That’ll also let me get out a frigate (or two) for further naval support.  The spy will attempt to fabricate a scandal so I can retake suzerainty by crook, rather than taking the city by hook.

[suboptimal]

Turn 154

No significant notifications, Geneva attacked two of my knights, lost a musket and nearly deadlined the other. Diplomatic Service is complete. Take out Diplomatic League, put in Machiavellianism, leave the other policies intact. Should probably have put in Merchant Confederation some time ago but I usually overlook the diplomatic policies in these games for some reason. Start The Enlightenment, four turns to go on that. Cleggy will finish the sea dog next turn, the spy two turns after that and then start working on some land units, I think. I call up Canada’s diplomacy screen and ask for a Military Alliance. We’re already both at war with Kaiser and could both use the +5CS against his units.

OK...non-battle stuff first. I’ve got two traders whose routes were cancelled by war – one each in Nora Batty and Auntie Wainwright. Routes from both to The Blues gets me 2011. SOLD! Hildegard disembarks east of Truly. Southern caravels retreat to the nearby cities to heal, Frigate goes to Nora Batty’s territory. Smiler’s walls have finished, as has Pearl’s granary. Pearl is now at 14 surplus and will grow in three turns. I’m a bit flummoxed at first on what to build, then start Medieval Walls. It’s the only city on the south coast without them and will finish them before my DoF with Woden expires. Smiler starts a +3 Campus on the jungle 2NE of the city center. I was going to do an art museum but I don’t need the great works slots or just quite yet. That’ll take 14 turns. Nearby horsemen fortify.

Have a look around near Charly Burke:




Everyone went away, likely headed north. Good. I send the courser southwest one hex and then cross the river. I find a musket on the sphinx SW of Charly Burke and a pike & shot SW of that. I move further SW to be out of view of both units. Next turn I’ll check the area and if nobody is home I’ll sack the niter mine.

Down at the Columbia River theater I use the northernmost knight to kill the musket. Two points for Boudica and I get the Military Science eureka. The other knights move back into Marina’s territory to heal and await upgrades. I’ll shuffle the pike and shot northwards to scout out for other Swiss units. Time for the main event:




Nope….nothing to see here. Nothing at all. I check admiral-boosted damage possibilities. The armada plus a sea dog could kill that field cannon from the northwest while the other sea dog and the regular frigate could do about 75 damage to the musket from the west. If Canada takes the military alliance then I can kill both units next turn. Kaiser would only be able to shoot at the armada with one of those other field cannon and he’d be at -17 CS (so, 33) against a CS of 67. I mark firing positions and start moving the navy. Friagates move first with the armada leaving formation with Chola once his movement maximum is reached. The two ships will get his movement benefit to start the turn. Eastern sea dog joins up with them. All three ships can reach their firing positions next turn and shoot. Good. Western sea dog moves towards Alara Kitan, finds nothing at sea, then turns southeast. Magellan also scoots northwest though he might be redundant. Chola can almost reach SEAWACS’ position next turn and provide fire support to everyone but the western sea dog. SEAWACS jogs south to check Isaac then returns to its patrol position, finding only a builder and a Great Scientist. All the land forces move west. The final positions:




Next turn I’ll shuffle the forces a little bit to get the muskets on the southwest quadrant of the fleet.

Geneva is off the target list for now as its garrison strength is now 76. I’ll move Magellan close enough to the city next turn to see what’s in the city. I do see that Kaiser’s dumped a bunch of envoys in there as he’s up to 10 (presumably counting Amani). I’ll see what I can do about that with my spies though it’ll likely be 15-20 turns before the first mission completes. The good news is that I’ll have a second spy in five turns once the Intelligence Agency completes. I’ll send that one to Isaac to monitor Kaiser’s supply routes, unless I’ve already taken the city by then.

Kaiser completed two techs last turn. Woden’s score sits at 666 and he’s back to zero income. No one else has built a coal plant:




I SHALL CONQUER THE WORLD BY POLLUTING IT! I’ll have to keep checking this to see if anyone else eventually builds one.