[SPOILERS] Mardoc gets back on the horse

[Mardoc]

Small chance that I might raze one of the cities THH conquered next turn. Current garrison is 2 pikes/1 mace, I could hit it with six shock knights. Depends on whether he sees the risk, mainly.

Otherwise just teching toward the rifle era. I'm not going to make any progress against THH's castle-guarded cities until then. So far he's leaving me alone, anyway.

[flugauto]

Any pillaging? Any cities burnt?

[BRickAstley]

Still thinking no chance to win?

[Mardoc]

Any pillaging? Any cities burnt?

Nope, THH covered the vulnerable city with three extra knights. He asked for peace, I offered him a cease fire. I want the option to pile on with Alhazard, we'll see if he has the confidence to let me.

Still thinking no chance to win?

Yep. Stick a fork in me.

THH pulled off a successful war while I failed at mine. Miguelito is down to 5 cities, presumably his home island, so it's just a matter of time before THH's new cities make him best in everything. Logically he ought to pause to consolidate, tech up an era, and then either finish Miguelito or take my mainland holdings. I don't think he can be stopped anymore.

Maybe if I had waited an era to fight, I'd have a small chance. Or if I'd sent my 20 Knight force to THH instead of getting annihilated by Alhazard; maybe I could have gotten 2-3 cities and kept him from getting all of Miguelito's stuff. But probably I lost this in the land grab phase, researching Priesthood and building Oracle instead of going for sailing and more cities.

Alhazard might maybe perhaps have a small chance, but realistically I don't think he does either. Maybe if I'd realized he wasn't as behind as he appeared, we could have 3:1 dogpiled THH, but I hurt him somewhat and distracted him, which blew that chance.

And of course Miguelito is a dead man walking, only waiting for THH to build a navy in his home sea and finish him off. He might be able to make that more expensive than THH wants to pay if he just spams galleys/triremes for a while, but THH just needs to get to Astro or something to be able to win that too.

[Mardoc]

As it happens, I'm travelling from the 19th through the 29th myself. So I'd be happy with an extended pause.

Or a concession to THH.

[Mardoc]

Nothing much is happening. THH continues to consolidate, but the other two strangely seem to have hope.

Well, I've picked up Nationalism, and am going to rifling next, maybe I can make something happen with rifles.

[flugauto]

Picture no. Me Sad.

[Mardoc]

We'll see how I feel after that; if I don't feel up to it, I'll pass it off onto someone else.

Just to reiterate, I'm still ok with conceding to THH.

I won't be able to make anything happen with rifles, THH's queue-upgrades were rifles himself, and I'm still four turns away from the tech. Maybe I can pile on if everyone else is already attacking him.

[Mardoc]

I may not have to play this one much longer. Alhazard invaded with something like 30 cavalry + a whole bunch of medieval and older stuff. Already took one city, will certainly take the rest of my mainland holdings. Then it's just a question of whether he or THH puts forth the effort to finish me. I'll certainly be raiding to attempt to make that a priority for them.

[TheHumanHydra]

Hey Mardoc, good game again and thank you! Like I said in the tech thread, of all the nations, I think ours had the most convoluted relationship, which added a lot of interest to the game, at least for me. I hope you enjoyed it too and that you'll have the best of luck in your current and future games on the site!