[Spoilers] It's time to play the music

[Old Harry]

Turn 202

Interesting offer from TBS. I offered back for 20 gpt.


Com fell back to his capital, will he attack out this turn?


This confused me until I realised Mack's had two turns since I last logged in. Looks like he landed some Cannon to assist in taking the city, which makes me think he's massacred most of OT4E's forces (rival worst power is 500 000, down from 870 000 four turns ago - his war weariness is 291, which seems a lot to get in a couple of turns - TBS is only at 477 vs Com after ten turns at war and a lot of battles.) I wondered if taking Machu Picchu would allow us to burn Cuzco, but the culture from the Shrine city to the south should stymie that idea.


This makes me think Mack's forces might be depleted enough that we have a chance of pushing to take Ollantytambo and Corihuthingy and making that our new border with Mack. He gets the capital and the shrine (with a buffer around the more-important shrine) and everything to the south. Then we stay at peace while he attacks and gets bogged down vs TBS and we take out REM easily allowing us to vault into the lead... Sounds likely right?


I declared war! Dropped Vilcas's castle walls to 68% and then used some obsolete Swords to soften up the Musket - they have a 75% chance of scratching it:
- CR1 Sword vs CG3 Musket - <0.1%... LOSS (1 hit)
- Sword vs CG3 Musket - <0.1%... LOSS (1 hit)


So the LB defends now:
- CR1 Sword vs CG3 LB - 0.1%... FLAWLESS LOSS
- CR2 Sword vs CG3 LB - 0.3%... LOSS (2 hits!)

Now the Mace defends vs our swords, so I'll attack with Maces instead:
- CR2 Mace vs injured CG3 Musket - 3.2%... WIN!!!! (3 hits and up to 15XP!)
- CR2 Mace vs shock Mace - 1.3%... LOSS (3 hits )
- CR3 Sword vs injured CG3 LB - 26%... LOSS (4 hits )
- Shock Crossbow vs injured shock Mace - 75%... WIN (4 hits and our next Great General is born in Waldorf )
- 9XP Knight vs redlined CG3 LB - 99%... FLAWLESS WIN
We get 41 gold - and while I'd planned to burn the city if just facing OT4E I think it's best to keep it as a beach head into his culture since he's not likely to strike back at us...


Next to Cutthroat where a couple of Frigates take the defences down to 33% (or 84% for the Knights):


- C2 Cavalry vs Spear - 95%... FLAWLESS WIN!
- C2 Cavalry vs Spear - 95%... WIN (2 hits)
- C1 Pinch Cavalry vs Axe - 98%... Wow... WIN (5 hits!)
- C2 Knight vs Axe - 64%... WIN (1 hit)
- C2 Knight vs Axe - 64%... LOSS (2 hits )
- C1 Knight vs Axe - 95%... WIN (1 hit)
- Knight vs Chariot - 99%... WIN!
152 gold and a Granary and again I'm thinking we might want to keep the city...


Then Machu Picchu.

- Sword vs Quetchua - 67%... WIN! (2 hits)
136 gold . The Granary, Lighthouse and Forge are tempting, but Wetbandit and I thought that might tempt Mack a little too much so I burnt it.

Finally I'll farm some XP for our Cavalry on a Galleon north of WeDemandFood:


- 9XP Cav vs Quetcha - 99%... WIN (2 hits)
- 9XP Cav vs Quetcha - 99%... WIN (1 hit)
- 9XP Cav vs Quetcha - 99%... WIN (1 hit)
That's got us five Amphi Cav and one Amphi Mace now...

Domestically we've started building some dry docks and setting up the Ironworks is going to take a little while. We're saving cash on Sci Meth for a while, to see if REM heads for Physics to snag the great scientist.

[Old Harry]

Turn 203

Oops - lost two Pikes and four Catapults because I didn't cover them properly...


Revenge is a Rifle:


- Rifle vs injured Musket - 98%... WIN (1 hit)
- Cav vs C2 HA - 99%... WIN (1 hit)
- Pike vs C2 HA - 98%... WIN (1 hit)
- Pike vs C1 HA - 98%... WIN (3 hits)
- C1 Mace vs injured C2 HA - 96%... FLAWLESS WIN
- Longbow vs injured C2 HA - 96%... FLAWLESS WIN

Next up we'll go for WeDemandFood:


- Sword vs Quetchua - 67%... FLAWLESS LOSS
- Sword vs Quetchua - 67%... WIN (5 hits!)
We get 135 gold a granary and a forge . Easy choice to keep it.

Being at war with OT4E slows Max down (he doesn't have Commando), so we can't see what Mack is up to, but I'm going to assume that he's happy for us to take Olly and Cori. If not then he'll take them before we can. We have four Knights and six Cavalry that can hit Cori next turn. OT4E can probably reinforce to some degree and has a couple of 2-movers to attack us with, but I'm betting we just face three muskets there. If the attack looks too expensive then I'll call it off because 4 Cavalry and 3 Knights which are potentially amphibious are involved. Loading them onto boats to take Com's island seems like a better use than suiciding them. Meanwhile we'll advance slower on Olly, with Catapults and Maces and a handful of gunpowder units.


Com's back is broken. TBS's war weariness is up to 730.. I think he'll be happy if we take Com's island.

[Old Harry]

Turn 204

We got a Great Scientist. Which may allow us to win the race for the Physics GS, but doesn't help the 5-man GA plan... Abandoning that plan means we can use our two great Scientists to bulb 4600 beakers towards Physics (cost 11960) which leaves 7358 beakers to research at 1815*1.2=2178 bpt. With a decent amount of overflow from Sci Meth that's three turns of research. We'll get research visibility on REM in about four turns, but that'll probably be too late to help the decision :/. REM hasn't got another tech since Communism, so he might be after Physics.

Before abandoning the GA plan we have some GPPs in several cities - can any of them make enough to get us more GPs in the next golden age? Big Bird will get the 1800 GPP person, then can anywhere else get to 2000? (This list assumes Pacifism and Caste.)

City	Current GPPs	Max Rate	Total
Animal	761	21*3.5*11 = 808	1 569
Beaker	828	27*3.5*11 = 1039	1867
Bunsen	588	12*3.5*11 = 462	1050
Dr Teeth	595	21*3.5*11 = 808	1403
Rowlf	609	27*3.5*11 = 1039	1648
Big Bird	1391	39*4.5*11 = 1930	3321
Ernie	856	14*3.5*11 = 539	1395

We have 2 Great Scientists, a Merchant, an Engineer and a Spy with an Artist/Prophet due from Big Bird in five turns. Launching the GA with Sci/Merch/Engy/(Artist/Prophet) leaves us with a Scientist and a Spy. BB can pop another (Artist/Prophet) in the Golden age easily. Beaker would produce a GP that would be 25% Scientist/15% Engy/60% Merch. Rowlf could get 1600 GPP toward a Merchant/Engy. That seems like too much overlap in probabilities to make it worth the gamble . Getting back into Serfdom seems like the thing to do...

At least we don't have to make a decision right away.

I moved a small stack next to Olly to start bombarding walls while waiting for the real hitters to arrive.




Turn 205

OT4E threw a bunch of stuff at our stack, I'm pretty happy with the exchange as his units would have got much better odds on defence. I added the selected units to the stack this turn and will think about attacking next turn, or we'll have another five Cav to attack with on t207...


I called off the attack on Cori so we'd have eight Amphi units ready to hit The Wall and Bilot City next turn. Why fight one opponent when you can fight two!


As part of our NAP Mack signed open borders - so we can get a proper look at his capital (I never sent the great spy this far as I wanted to know what his boats were up to).


Whose do you think is the best capital? TBS?


Commodore?


Pindicator? I'm not actually sure which was his capital.


Us?


REM? (forgot to take a pic)

[Ichabod]

I like the barb capital best, personally. (former Ainu)

[wetbandit]

I like the barb capital best, personally. (former Ainu)

Winner!

I think I'd take Mack's cap given his traits and full map knowledge. That is a fast starter. TBS though on average. Ours isn't too bad, but wish we had a river like TBS.

[Old Harry]

Turn 205 (replay)

I think we lost one more cat and a couple more maces to OT4E's attack this time . Otherwise things are as they were.

I like the barb capital best, personally. (former Ainu)

Winner!

I think I'd take Mack's cap given his traits and full map knowledge. That is a fast starter. TBS though on average. Ours isn't too bad, but wish we had a river like TBS.

Agreed on all points.

I forgot to include OT4E's cap in the comparison - looks similar to Commodore's, which I'd place just above Pindicator's . REM's is alright, but the isolated island start is a bit boring. I also never uncovered 2metra's cap so can't give an opinion about that.

[GermanJoey]

TBS moved his palace. The original capital is the city 1NE of the plainshill sheep in that screenshot.

[Old Harry]

Turn 206

I declared on Commodore, but one Frigate was teleported unexpectedly from Bilot City to 1E of the c sign, while last turn's reload and re-play meant I'd left the others out of range to hit The Wall . I simmed the attack a few times and the odds are just too bad, so I'll wait and see how he reinforces next turn - bombing down the culture should give me odds. In answer to Fintourist's recent question I'm not playing precisely enough or planning well enough to win this game...

[Old Harry]

Turn 207

Mack poached Olly .


Attacking The Wall this turn... Taking the culture down from 40% to 24% means our Cavalry will get odds on the three G1 Muskets. The Knights won't get odds on the Mace or Longbow, so I'll use them to scratch the top Musket (80% chance).


- C2 Amphi Knight vs CG3 Musket - 1%... FLAWLESS LOSS
- C2 Amphi Knight vs CG3 Musket - 1%... FLAWLESS LOSS
- C2 Amphi Knight vs CG3 Musket - 1%... LOSS (2 hits)
- C2 Amphi Cav vs G1 Musket - 65%... WIN (2 hits)
- C2 Amphi Cav vs CG1 LB - 70%... LOSS (4 hits)
- C2 Amphi Cav vs G1 Musket - 67%... WIN (1 hit)
- C2 Amphi Cav vs injured CG3 Musket - 69%... WIN (2 hits)
- C2 Amphi Cav vs C3 Mace - 69%...WIN (5 hits!)
Which leaves us looking like this. Maybe we'll take it next turn...


Managed to kill a Privateer nearby, presumably TBS's.

Following that incompetent vulturing I'm happy to concede to whoever comes out on top - it'll be interesting to see if TBS can overhaul Mack.