RB PBEM #1 - Charlemagne [SPOILERS]

[Swiss Pauli]

Going out with a bang...priceless

:icemirr:

[athlete4life10]

Congratulations MH!!! You've done a fantastic job and am proud you refuse to let the damned ottomans worship anything but the one true Buddha!

Enjoy the rest while you're still around!!!

Athlete

[mostly_harmless]

Here is the latest diplo exchange:

Hi,
well, for a start I hoped you would hold back on playing the turn before negotiations.
For example, I would have happily signed over my Bursa attack force to you.
Vienna is kind of a symbol for me, holding out against your forces for so long. Also it is a core city and holds two national wonders (which you won't get if I hand it over, right?).
But I can see that Vienna is probably a symbol for you as well???
From a game play point of view, Vienna will not be able to use a lot of it's good BFC tiles, because they are still under my culture. So what are you interested in with Vienna?
Same with Medina. Unless you take Prague, Medina is not that useful and might even flip back.

I guess it also depends on how you want to win this game.
By my estimation my territory is not going to push you above the Domination threshold, so you will have to either take a chunk out of Greece quickly or you will have to backstab Ruff eventually.
I assumed by some of your latest actions that you were going for a cultural victory, although Edirne is pretty unimpressive in that category at the moment.
Racing Ruff to space? In which case you should probably stop trading with him soon, switch civics, and get that war weariness under control (I assume).


So what is on the table and up for negotiations:
Game long NAP.
Disbanding or gifting of military units.
Tech trades/gifts. Can only offer MilSci at the moment.
Open borders for trades / switching to Free Market maybe
Do you need Buddhist missionaries for a cultural victory?
I get a Great Person of yet unknown profession next turn. Interested?
Resource trades:
My sole northern Fish for say Banana. Should help your Sushi.
I have spare silver and wine.
The city of Vienna.
The city of Medina.

Basically I have no ambitions to win this game, but I might be able to help your victory along. As far as I could see from the two latest turns in the east, Ruff broke through soooo's defenses.
So Ruff is already ahead of you in the little war game. Whereas you just lost your biggest city holding the Heroic Epic.
In my book I have already won this game. Every additional turn I last is cream on top.
If we agree to peace, I can focus again on building up my cities and re-settle the coast.

Regards
mh

So, yes, I even put Vienna on the table, the city he was so obsessed about in the last diplo round.
What I got in return is this:

mh,

I guess you're waiting to hear back from me before playing the turn?

I've thought a lot about your offer today. I may be Don Quixote, deluded and tilting and windmills, but I just don't think I'm ready to call time on our war yet.

Regards,

Dreylin II.

So we obviously have a severe case of injured pride here, or what?
I apologize for holding back on playing the turn hoping to get a sensible response from Dreylin. But he is not even willing to discuss what is on the table. Will try to play later this afternoon.

I wish I had one more free Great General around to rub it in his face how easy it would be to re-take Medina as well (see Option Medina in last turn's post).

mh

[mostly_harmless]

Ok, finally found time to play the turn.
Almost all my army sits in Vienna, right now, because of having only one Super Medic left.
Vienna is still safe from destruction, as only 2 movers can attack it at the moment.
I expect Dreylin to move his mixed stack through the hills next to Vienna next turn and also move his other forces next to Vienna in the east in parallel.

Got a great person at the end of the turn. Had mixed odds on Prophet, Engineer, Scientist, Spy.

mh

[mostly_harmless]

Errrrrrr.... no green units in my land???
Dreylin pulled back his mixed stack west of Vienna behind his borders??
He also gave up the fort and pulled all units back into New Bursa????

I puzzle a lot over that move and try to find out what he is aiming at. I don't know to be honest. I guess he wants all his tanks to heal in New Bursa and assemble even more troops.
Hmmm, and there I was prepared to lose Vienna next turn. Not going to happen now. Not that I particular care about Vienna any more. Size 2 and only one improved tile left to work, a farm. If Dreylin takes Vienna, that farm will even stay under my culture.

Anyway, I got a Great Spy in Aachen this turn. Yay. Burn him on Dreylin and steal Radio. Only Dreylin tried the counterespionage mission against me as well and he also got a Great Spy this turn. Grrrrrr. If he burns that on me, I guess he must have enough visibility to see the pant size of my city mayors.
We will see. If he is not using it on Ruff to get an advantage in the end game, then he really got a unhealthy fixation on the HRE.

With none of my units in the open, the Ottoman air force resumed its tile bombing with devastating results. Vienna, Prague, Aachen, all get hit. Augsburg ran out of tile improvements long before.

Since the destruction of Bursa, there were three tiles uncovered by interceptors south of Konya. In the last three turns, I ran 10 (!) attempts to destroy a mine there. Only the last attempt this turn succeeded! Are those normal odds? Judging by the success of Dreylins tile bombing missions, I just got a streak of bad luck there. Hmmmmm.
Better news from my top aces in the west. I am close to getting a Combat V and another Combat IV Fighter.

In other news, Dreylin parked his healthy paratroopers in Medina, so I had to shuffle around my three explorers a bit to keep the rail roads to Vienna open, just in case.
Apart from that there is not much happening in a civ that is crawling on its teeth.

There are only a few plans to pursue for the remainder of this game:
- getting my hands on Radio for cheap Cruise Missiles
- focus on spies/espionage to make Ottoman's way to victory as painful as possible / there are no useful techs in reach anyway
- scorched earth tactics as I retreat back through my land

Ottomans out-GNP me by more than 5:1 and outproduce me by 7:1 for the statistics.

mh

[Rowain]

If Ruff wins this game he has to thank your great defense and Dreylins stubborness for it.

[mostly_harmless]

Not much to report. Looks like Dreylin will try another attempt to jump into Augsburg. I can see 5 paratroopers. I assume he is going to complete his fort and then instantly jump.
I covered some of the nearby hills with explorers and pulled three fighters to Nuremberg.
He is probably going to time this jump with his overall attack, but then again, maybe not. A lot of his units (inf and tanks) arestill injured and need to heal, so I think his push to Vienna is still two turns away.
My top aces manage to return victorious once again. Two enemy fighters shot down! Both fighters are eligible for promotion next turn.
Burned my Great Spy on Dreylin. Can see his demographics again. Nice dents I put in there lately.

In other news, I had another Global Warming Event turning a riverside farm into a dessert. I would like to know what triggered Global Warming in the first place. We have not used nukes nor do we have nuclear plants in the world. Where is it coming from?

mh

[Krill]

Coal.

[Kristian95]

IIRC global warming is triggered by a couple of things:

Deforestation
Number of unhealth generating buildings (forges, factories, coal plants)
Nuclear fallout (both from war and plants)

I think coal and oil also contribute as well...

[mostly_harmless]

OK. Thanks for the clarification.

mh