[spoilers] Commodore and Dtay are Sitting Bull of Inca, somehow.

[Commodore]

Thirteen catapults, eleven muskets, eight crossbows, two swords, a couple chaff. Enough to take the Hungarians by storm unless they majorly reinforce, always a possibility. Why are we moving in now? Frankly, motivation. Gavagai has slaughtered a ton of HAK's forces in the last few turns, but both Retep and Donovan are heading south to take some bites, and unless “Merc Tasunke” gets a payout I'm pretty sure he'll be joining in too. HAK needs to be dropped now, not in 4-5 turns...we'll have a second wave of cannon and mass musketry very very soon, no worries at all. Sure would be good to crack this choke point first though.

Keep fighting, brave Gavagai. You da bear!

[dtay]

Hak stuffed more units in.

I switched all the Trebs set to finish this turn to muskets. We probably want to switch some of those muskets to wealth, as you can see we only finish chem with a margin of 1 gold, so probably want to add some slack.

[dtay]

Hak stuffed more units in.

I switched all the Trebs set to finish this turn to muskets. We probably want to switch some of those muskets to wealth, when running slider as low as it can go and still finish chem we end up at -190, so only have a 1 gold margin of inflation/elkad. So probably want to add some slack.

[Qgqqqqq]

I find this more fascinating than most double posts because it gives two slightly different versions of what is being said, and actually gives some insight into your posting/editing style.

So probably want to add some slack.

[Commodore]

I find this more fascinating than most double posts because it gives two slightly different versions of what is being said, and actually gives some insight into your posting/editing style.

Agreed, it's interesting. Also, Dtay, agreed with you...sims didn't fill me with joy, so I just bombarded and added more cats. HAK might be able to hold, but given the huge stack of crossbows, pikes, and muskets on these hills I'm not concerned if he opts to strike outward.

Nice animation. The graphic design on Civ4 was really very good.

Unfortunately, the ENTIRE WORLD is dogpiling Gavagai right now, so I think HAK is about to get a reprieve over there. Retep takes the island, Tasunke and Donovan race down the neck (spoiler alert: Tasunke wins because he's not an AI stacker), HAK has eight billion maces...alas poor Gavagai. We stand to gain...nothing at all. But hey, I just realized, our caste/merch artists have won us a clear spot for a potential filler! What do you think, Dtay?

Would it piss off Retep? Who the hell knows.

Steel is so close I can taste it. I moved around a few tiles/specialists/etc and we're now finishing Chemistry with a comfortable 30g margin and ~80 beakers excess. Let's not get Elkaded. Throughout the empire, a ton of trebuchets sit at one turn to completion; I do believe production resolves before the Liberalism tech so let's not screw up and get ourselves a dozen trebs next turn. It's fine, not like 5xp Protective muskets are bad builds to build in the meanwhile.

Still not forgiven, Warhorse-failuretown.

Cannon are great, and if things remain as they are they should win this for us by breaking the back of HAK, but winning de facto is not the same thing as winning de jure, as certain other games of mine are making agonizingly clear. Particularly if they're eating big chunks of Gavagai Tweedle-de-Donovan and Tweedle-de-Diplomerc are probably not going to be willing to concede unless we can shred our way through all of HAK and/or maul them. Ergo, we need a path forward. From chat with Dtay, the gist:
-Snag Economics (GM) and let Herdsman finish its pool (GA) and fire a golden age.
-Revolt Nationhood, Theocracy with the addition of Representation by the end of the Golden Age (Constitution).
-Conquer HAK with muskets/cannon, or at least start killing off the 6952951910 maces...
-Accept that Steam Power takes too long, so research or steal Astronomy to defend vs. Tasunke.
-Then, (post-Golden Age by this point), just start walking up the tree Printing Press, Replacable Parts, Rifling.
...lather, rinse, repeat until the Tasunke manic phase ends and he flakes into a concession.

[Krill]

Wrong picture.

[dtay]

I find this more fascinating than most double posts because it gives two slightly different versions of what is being said, and actually gives some insight into your posting/editing style.

So probably want to add some slack.

Yeah, I noticed after writing it that the screenshot did not, in fact, demonstrate the narrow margins cause tech was at 100%.

Whats the plan if HAK keeps boosting defense at the choke? Just hold out on the hill until cannons? Take a risky shot with the stack? I tend towards the former.

[Commodore]

Whats the plan if HAK keeps boosting defense at the choke? Just hold out on the hill until cannons? Take a risky shot with the stack? I tend towards the former.

I'll be able to fully report a bit later, but sims showed we weren't cracking the city, however, we could trade our cats to basically snipe out HAK's entire knight force; as potential cuirassiers those are the worst threat to cannon stacks. So that happened.

[Commodore]

Alas, poor Gavagai. We knew thee, dear bear. Your knights and your catapults will make some of them pay, but when the whole world dogpiles you...he gave HAK a city for peace.

Can't blame him at all.

Anyhow! As mentioned previously, sims told the story; won't be able to crack at +3 draftee muskets per turn, but will be able to wipe out the knight of HAK. And so we were, largely; killed his GG, all but two knights, and a handful of muskets/maces...


...and then promptly misclicked our supermedic general. So we'll need to retreat to heal while the cannon mass. No point in asking for a reload, just a brain fart on my part.

Power numbers after the turn. I'm actually amazed at the worldwise average, we're carrying our military in Vassalage and it still ain't cheap, I have no idea how the lesser economies are managing (GNP is 40% research). But, they do nonetheless advance, Retep and Tasunke both finish Gunpowder very soon.

Sweet holy Vishnu, Brahma, and Shiva...this is going to take forever.

Thank Retep for that tremendous MFG edge, by the way. The Celtic Inca aren't much for the town life, but in the sweaty workshops through South Inca, boy howdy do they output some hammers:

Retep troll is best troll ever.

[Zed-F]

How did you do on the hammer exchange?