[SPOILERS] Bacchus and India's many gods

[Bacchus]

Another turn quickly. I complete an IZ in Apsheron, a trade route to the capital now makes 4 cogs. Overall, I have a ton of production.

I think I will switch to a two-pronged strategy. I have five knights, two of which will receive barding as a results of slaughtering Brussels' archers. I will build more, and go smash up Ichabod. Whilst that's happening, my Apostles will circumnavigate and infiltrate from the back. I am doing this because I think I have a window before Ichabod gets Military Science. Also because Rowain has two niter connected, and is in Oligarchy, so probably has a similar idea. I also have suzerainty of Preslav, which makes my knights pretty awesome. And I already have a Varu on the English theatre, which is currently helping Preslav live (very important, as its my only source of Iron).

[Bacchus]

4 districts in Apsheron, 3 in Titusville, 2 in Hattusa, Bobrka and Ploiesti, 1 in Mumbai and Brussels = 15, so I am hilariously close to getting a discount on the third copy of each district. A new settler is coming out onto a place with stone, a quick IZ there will do the trick.

[Bacchus]

Ichabod is bringing his considerable military (500 points) to capture Preslav:


I put a couple of knights on queue, so that I can complete them even if that iron gets disconnected. It will bring my total to 7, which I think is not bad.

More importantly, I think this gives me an opening. Look at this terrain -- Preslav is very tricky to capture, and I will use my Varu to make it as awkward as possible. I will then try to use my Knight army to outmaneuver this detachment and hit it's ranged units from an awkward angle, hopefully while English cavalry is still deep in Preslav's hills. Even more importantly, Rowain should be on the verge on Gunpowder. This English army is so out of position for a defense of the homeland, that I think America should be able to make some headway.

[Ituralde]

That's truly some nasty terrain around Preslav. Tons of mountains, hills, rivers, even swamp in the South. If it were held by a human it would be unassailable.

[Bacchus]

Yeah, what I should have done is levied Preslav's military to ensure its safety, but I thought that with two crossbows on the scene, even the AI will be able to manage defense. Apparently not, he already lost one XB by moving him out, and is instead keeping a horse within the city. :eye-roll: And as you can see, instead of keeping his other XB close to the city, where it would receive a support bonus and block an important tile, he planted it on the desert hill which would have been the ideal place for my Varu. In fact, that's what I thought would be sufficient to happen -- that I park my Varu on that desert hill, across the river, with Barding, and with Preslav's +5 bonus to cavalry in hill, and chill. But no such luck.

[Bacchus]

Ichabod has just spent 500 gold on something that's not Horsemen into Cavalry upgrades.

He is also making a mess of the siege of Preslav: he killed the crossbow, but failed to occupy the desert hill. He brought up two horsemen, both of which have been shot at and are now damaged to invest Preslav. He left the knight hanging back. This turn, I of course moved the Varu to the desert hill. The horsemen investing Preslav are now damaged (-3), next to a Varu (-5) and attacking across a river (-5), whilst the city is on a hill (+3), making for a 23 into 38 strength difference. They basically can't meaningfully attack. I assume what he will do instead, is now focus on my Varu, but again, the Varu is on a hill (+3), with Preslav's bonus (+5), making it a 28 into 48 proposition. The knight stands better, but has to attack across a river.

I'm just praying for Preslav to complete another crossbow. If it does, England is super screwed. My advance knights will be on the theatre in 3 more turns.

Edit: Also, Rowain finally obtained a late medieval civic, but he still doesn't have Civil Service. I really hope he gets it in time for us both to get the Diplomatic Service inspiration.

[Bacchus]

Another turn, 120.

Ichabod went all-out on aggression -- he purchased an apostle and evangelized Crusade, as well as a missionary, whose three charges turned Preslav to the English faith. That's not bad for me, it means Ichabod has little spare faith to launch an inquisition. It is very bad news for Preslav, of course.

I get Guilds and Castles next turn. My knights are repositioning to vicinity of Bobrka, but I'm not sure what they will do next. Some harassment of the horseman/crossbow army seems appropriate in any case.

Rowain still doesn't have a 6-slot government or even Civil Service. He is probably going for Merchant Republic, but none of this bodes well. He connected a third source of Niter. I offer him a loan of 160 gold for 6 gpt, hopefully just about in time to upgrade some muskets.

[Bacchus]

I build a new city:


Which immediately gets ready to knock out Colloseum:


Thanks, Monarchy + Limes!

I will build two IZ projects to grab the Engineer, and use him on the Colo, and Mahabodhi Temple for a couple more apostles.

My first Monarchy envoys pop, I have 3 to place. As I just finished a civic, I use the change to jump into diplomatic league, which lets me put 4 envoys into Yerevan. It takes Suzerainty away from Ichabod, for a swing of about 12 faith per turn, gives me the map of a crucial piece of English coastline, and, as a surprise, turns out Yerevan has an enormous military:



Sorry England! Too bad that levying this lot would cost me 950 gold. Had I known, I would have saved up, naturally, but I never figured faith CS can be so militaristic.

This map lets me check the religion overlay and find a crucial fact -- the English capital is not in fact in the English religion. I think he founded it in Kaiser's old capital. This is great news for my incoming conversion wave.

As you can also see, I'm finally making a ton of culture -- I was long delayed in jumping into Meritocracy. I am making more than double of Rowain's culture, and about 50% up on Ichabod.

[Bacchus]

In fairness, this Yerevan move actually hurts me -- now Ichabod will go and bring units right where I don't want them to be.

[Bacchus]

So, I somehow end up nearly drawn in Empire score with Ichabod, as well as in total score, with him ahead in tech, and me ahead in culture. It shows that tech is pretty much useless in the late Medieval-Renaissance period, whereas culture let's you power ahead nicely. I stuff the newly planted city of Calcutta full of trade routes, so it will grow nicely -- it's a city well endowed with hills alike to Bobrka, and it will work on the Colloseum.

In the far east, Yerevan is wrecking havoc:



Of course, the bulk of Ichabod's army is stuck somewhere around Preslav, so it will take a good long while to extricate that. Given that he had a whole bunch of crossbows forming his backline, just thinking of the traffic jam he is now facing there makes me want to retch. I have a couple of knights already in the vicinity, to make his extrication even more fun, having to fight some rearguard action.

A Hard Rain has two districts, which are unprotected, I'm hoping Yerevan is capable of pillaging these.

My navy has nearly completed it's circumnavigation:


One apostle will go from the south into the capital, the other two are going to circle around to come in from the north, maybe converting Yerevan on the way.