Ah, as if an ad for AT using an ax in AW. Am thinking AP, ay?

[Commodore]

Smart move! Explorers can be gnarly to dislodge pre curs/grens/rifles, largely because no counter promos.

[AutomatedTeller]

Celiazul apparently didn't like my explorer and killed it with a CII LB.

So, that didn't work great....

the disputed border with KJN:



the 3 tiles in cirlced red are ones I just lost. I'm going to lose more if I don't kill that city - Sistine Chapel is a serious problem - I basically HAVE to kill that or I'm very vulnerable.

That force is:

5 maces (2 are upgrades axes)
5 cats
1 crossbow
1 spear
8 war chariots. An archer, too, but it will stay where it is.

In other news:

I have 3 theaters up, will whip in 1 more next turn and a cat in Be, then set Be to Globe. Be will whip out units and, when I get to nationhood, draft heavily.

I also built MoM in Pitch a couple of turns ago - I don't really know why it was available all this time, but I ain't complaining and I got National Epic in Interjection.

An overview:



I'm planning on another city or two in the south, as buffers for Pitch, which is an important city. Be is the unit pump for the north - sticks has been pretty quiet up there.

[AutomatedTeller]

Here is the battle field with latest intel:



5 Maces
5 catapults
1 crossbow
9 war chariots
1 spear

He has (showing)
1 skirmisher
3 GII crossows
1 unpromoted xbow
1 WII pike
1 axe

that's not frightening - why GII crossbows? I guess he was thinking of raiding me?

I didn't promote the maces, which might be an issue. One of them is C1, I think. If he hits me with the xbows, the maces may defend over the warcchariots and I want those to be my hitters. My guess is that he turtles and builds walls. But I don't know - Hanging Gardens hasn't been built yet, so maybe he doesn't have stone? he built pyramids, though.

Took a glance into Achilles (former Patilipurta, otherwise known as the First Battlefield) shows this:



He's moved forces out, which is nice - if I can ignore that part of the front, that will help. And I think I can, because of this:



KJN killed an indian city over this way. This is an odd site - a unit sitting next an empty enemy city. Presumably, it ran out of movement before getting there... but why is the city EMPTY? Odd.

Well - I am rolling the die here a little - pretty sure I can take Rameslatt, but if I can't, that's probably game for me. I doubt I can defend my city with that culture.

So, the question will be (if I take it) - do I keep it or not? Almost certainly, I won't - too much culture, and it's going to cause quite the reaction by KJN...

[Cornflakes]

It's too risky to keep it. It'll be surrounded by kjn culture and you can't really reinforce it ... plus if it gets re-captured all that culture will pop back and cramp you again.

[AutomatedTeller]

This is probably a decisive turn for either me or KJN

He's got a good chance to kill my entire stack.



He hits me with the cats - fortunately, I have a lot of units and they don't do a LOT of damage vs. maces.

After that, it really depends on whether the crossbows hit the maces or the chariots after the crossbow. I think they hit the chariots, but if they hit the maces, the chariots will get killed by the pikes.

[AutomatedTeller]

decisive it wasn't. I lost 5 war chariots, he lost 3 catapults and 2 crossbows. Overall, I came out ahead, though he killed my healer chariot, so that sucks.

That said, he has a LOT of crossbows in the area that are basically undamaged and he has walls.

I have to think - I think I'm retreating, because I don't think I'm taking that city after all. Which means I have to rethink my strategy. Oh, and hope his crossbows leave my retreat alone...

[AutomatedTeller]

ok - I can't take the city - he has more defenders than I have hitters, plus he has a bunch more crossbows in his cap. if I attack, i kill some guys and lose my stack. if I bombard, he'll rip me apart with crossbows. Thus, the only reasonable plan is to retreat and build culture in that city to try to, you know, have it not be overwhelmed. Come back later.

*sigh*

[AutomatedTeller]

well, now what? I guess I have to expand with settlers more. I'll add a monastery and temple to article... maybe build a cathedral? Dunno.

Also, HG is still available, so I'll build that (or fail, more likely)

I did get a scientist, so will be able to bulb education.

stick is, currently, winning in tech - has philo and is 2 turns from education, which means liberalism and, probably nationalism. He's 3 techs ahead of me in that regard. that's a problem...

I can't catch him from behind, so he's got liberalism. that's not, in itself, a major problem. But it's a small one.

[AutomatedTeller]

Building HG in my cap, got a new settler for Non-Primordial (which will be down by the gold by Pitch). Can't settle it yet, don't have the defenders (need a crossbow or two).

Getting a monastery in Article, will run some artists there.

Am having 2 culture wars - one with KJN at article, one with Stick at Be. I'm fighitng a holy city at one place and the sistine Chapel at the other, so that pretty much sucks.

I'll do an update with the progress soon.

Pulled my units out of kjn's land, pillaging his spices along the way. Pics later.

[AutomatedTeller]

Pics:

Lava:



HG in 4. Might get it, might not.

new city:



Need to wait a little, though, to get a crossbow down there. mainly, it's a bulwark against KJN, allowing pitch to build infra - will get granary, rax, units. Court, eventually. Plus, get me gold, which will be another happy boost.

Culture wars:



These 5 tiles are disputed. The litte chart shows the % they are mine. As you can tell, the whale is becoming his (it's under pressure from the Taoist Holy city which also has Heroic Epic. I may have to run artists to combat that.

Down in Article, I'm doing a little better:



I'm holding my own on my whale and the very important hill tile next to article, and gaining ground on the spice and the grass tile north of the horse - that flipped a couple of turns ago, but flipped back.

I'll update these tiles every so often.