[SPOILER] Fate/stay close (to home)

[Bobchillingworth]

Makes perfect sense to me, everyone knows that primitive firearms chewed through stone fortifications like tissue paper.

[Jowy]

Thanks for the reminders. Technical question: Will it double existing WW if you're in a war when you build it?

[Charriu]

Yes

[Jowy]

Ty ty. Going ahead with SoZ construction on the island.



Amicalola moved towards Civac this turn. The bad news is that he has a 10T enforced peace with Lewwyn, so he's free to attack us.
Well, not really. Lewwyn would attack him after that peace if his units are all tied up in a war against me or Civac.



I did some more whipping. Our military numbers are looking better now, but I'm worried about our front being 3 cities to Commodore and another 3 to Amicalola.
I can save gold for 2T and then tech Engineering in 2T. Whip some castles just in time.



Knight production has started. Just so happens we have exactly enough hammers to build one every 2 turns without overflow.

Here's the war plan:
Longbows will hold inside border cities, slowing down enemy advance and cutting their numbers by being extremely cost effective compared to what the enemy will have to throw at them.
This will buy us time to build a stack of Knights and/or catapults to clean up the enemy stack. We can also build maces if we face too many pikes.

[Jowy]

He's coming:



I tried to get vision on Commodore's stack too with a trireme, but it wasn't near the coast. I'm thinking he attacks south though, it's the only way he has pre-roaded.
I turned on tech already, we should just manage to get Engineering 1 turn earlier.

[Jowy]

The dogpile has come. War OST:



Now let's see what we're facing:



First is Amicalola. I managed to pull defenders from Enuma Elish because it was not targeted by Commodore.
I should be able to hold here. Amicalola might change direction to Cursed Crater, but that is a bad city and I would be happy about buying time with it.



Commodore targeted Qliphoth Rhizom. I think this city will fall and that will cause problems. The front opens even more with 3 core cities threatened.
I might have been able to hold it if I positioned defenders between cities last turn, or at least made it much costier to take. Not doing so was a mistake.
I blame my sloppiness on playing my turn after Divinity 2 co-op yesterday when I was already dead tired for the co-op 

We'll see what happens next. I have some castles coming up, but one turn too late for the initial attack.

I saw Civac moving units (scattered units, not sure about stacks) towards east. I also sent him an offer to declare war on Amicalola, which he might already be planning to do.
I think Amicalola is quite screwed, committing units to war against a peaceful neighbor and leaving himself open to be attacked by two aggressive neighbors.
For Commodore the attack makes sense and he will likely make some good gains by the looks of it. However without pressure on the three northern cities I could have fended him off I believe, so Amicalola was necessary for his attack.

SoZ will be ready in 2 turns. I can always change my mind and go for Gunpowder for muskets and obsolete the wonder, but I do feel that they arrive a little late for this.

[Jowy]

Qlipzoth Rhizom was lost:



Almost clean. Only lost a few cats and a longbow.
Would it have hold if the Castle had come up 1 turn earlier and the reinforcements were sent in? I wonder.



Amicalola realized he can't break through my defenses and went for another city. But I have defender's advantage, I can just move my troops around.
North front is secure. I sent him a peace offer. If I can pull everything to defend against Commodore, I might not have to become a pirate nation.



Neither enemy has too many 2-movers (hill promos notwithstanding). I can shift around defenders.
Still, the south is wide open. Unit wise I'd be confident in holding this even 1v2, but Commodore can probably pull some nasty moves against me.



Somehow after losing a city and whipping a ton, I'm still #2 in most demos. Just shows how far apart the pack is from Civac, and this war plays right into his hands.
Well, assuming I manage to defend. Let's say Commodore does manage to conquer me and Lewwyn conquers his neighbors. Maybe the two together can do something about Civac in late game.
I do hope this doesn't just lead to an early concession to Civac. That would be boring.

[Old Harry]

Rooting for you. What sort of nasty moves are you expecting from Commodore?

[Jowy]

Rooting for you. What sort of nasty moves are you expecting from Commodore?

Well he can target multiple cities, cut off my reinforcement routes between cities, and he might be able to do something with the hill double moves.
Alternatively he might throw everything at the capital first to really cripple me. For that reason it would be nice if Amicalola were to accept peace.

[Jowy]

Amicalola didn't take peace.



I wanted to get tricky because that city was empty last I looked. Well, sadly it was not any longer. Worth throwing away a knight like this? Probably not..
Tech tree shows someone got Philo, so Taj is Civac's as expected. I think I could have beaten him to it without the wars.



Capital will hold this turn. I left some units in Shimatsuken.
I did have to pull my reinforcements from being in range to defend against Amicalola. Those northern cities are whipped to the ground. The capital and the south is more important to keep.
That does now give Amicalola an opportunity to make gains, but I don't think he'd have taken white peace if he didn't take it in the last two turns.



Maybe some gold will help. I sent the same offer to both. I need one to peace out.

Oh btw we got SoZ so WW will be hitting hard. I don't plan to ever offer peace if my mainland falls. Let's see how high we can crank that unhappiness.