[SPOILERS]The 3 Muscateers playing Ragnar of Rome!

[Catwalk]

t108 semi-report

Nothing much happened, except University of Sankore being built I'm reconsidering Sistine Chapel, it seems like an expensive gimmick for a cultural problem that's getting to be under control. I still want it, but it'll be put on the backburner. Paid Waterbat 160 gold for 8 catapults and offered OB, they will be gifted next turn. I can two move Azza's new city, getting reserves in place to allow me to evacuate JJ for the invasion.

Researching Gunpowder next, will take 2t. Converting back to Christianity, since my western cities tend to be Christian. Azza doesn't seem to be cranking out many troops last few turns, bodes well.

[slowcheetah]

You bought 8 catapults for 20 gold apiece. Nice wheelerdealing there

[Catwalk]

Those catapults would have been worth 0 to him and 2 XP a piece to me had he refused to sell

[spacetyrantxenu]

I took a look at the save, have a few recommendations in general, not about the war in specific:

1. We need more workers. There are several grassland tiles that should have had cottages on them by now -- See AA, CC, HH (not critical here yet since those FIN GA Moai coast tiles are wtf hax, but you're still growing....I'd get this city to max size ASAP!), KK, OO (a FP tile!), PP (FP), and RR (FP). I know several of those are out on the edge but especially the ones that are working unimproved FP tiles, those have to be improved because you're always going to be working those tiles.

2. HH, your Moai city is also your largest and is taking the best trade routes in your empire. But it doesn't have a library despite being a great commerce city (especially in this extended golden age).

3. We're at war and our current builds look like this:

I count one unit active in a build queue. I say active because of this, for example:



I count five military units in build queues partially completed this turn. That isn't all bad, I like the 1 turn to build readiness of the crossbow in EE's queue and the 1 turn to go catapult in MM's queue, those are both on the border ready to be produced for defense when needed but they aren't costing you any upkeep sitting mostly built in your city build queues. Just keep in mind that hammers begin to decay 10 turns after you begin building a unit in a city queue (50 turns on non-units). I forget the formula for decay but it's not hard to find, but you'll lose at least 1 hammer per turn as the hammers decay. It doesn't sound like much but if you're counting on that catapult being 1 turn away and it turns out that it's really two turns, that would suck.

4. WB please? Or is this a casualty of one of the wars?



5. MM needs more food. I think you should farm over the cottage you haven't worked yet. I think a farm 1 NE of the city should chain irrigate to the two grass tiles SW of the city. That will get your food up to +7 if you weren't working the gems.



Overall you're doing a great job I'd say, doing well in the war and doing this to the demographics:

You can't criticize that too much. Yeah yeah, GA in effect (for another 13 turns!), but you're stomping these guys in the demos right now. Just make sure to not let up on Azza too easily here. If he is still the number two you should step on him as hard as you can without overtaxing yourself. You want to bring him down as hard as possible while not bringing yourself down.

Keep bringing the pressure!

[Catwalk]

I took a look at the save, have a few recommendations in general, not about the war in specific:

Thanks for taking the time! Now, let me see how I can best dismiss constructive criticism :P

1. We need more workers. There are several grassland tiles that should have had cottages on them by now -- See AA, CC, HH (not critical here yet since those FIN GA Moai coast tiles are wtf hax, but you're still growing....I'd get this city to max size ASAP!), KK, OO (a FP tile!), PP (FP), and RR (FP). I know several of those are out on the edge but especially the ones that are working unimproved FP tiles, those have to be improved because you're always going to be working those tiles.

I know I'm supposed to run more workers, but I think it works for me. Don't forget that I have Hagia Sophia, shaves 1t off all improvements (1t road, 2t cottage/mine, 3t farm). About those tiles in particular:
AA has a worker on it this turn, and I haven't yet needed that tile (CC will need it if I ever let it grow).
HH does actually need it very soon, but drafting and whipping has made good use of excess growth. Have idle workers around north of it, will get another cottage soon.
KK does indeed need more improvements, it's also been whipped and drafted into the ground and Azza's war chariots were intimidating for several turns. Also have workers available here.
OO cannot improve that FP There's no river by it due to a design flaw, so it's treated like a normal desert tile.
PP just had that farm pillaged by a bastardly War Chariot, I do indeed need to get a worker up there and none are near. Will probably whip one from PP after growing to size 5.
RR, same as KK with chariot intimidation. 2 workers are around, so both RR and KK will get their improvements fast.

2. HH, your Moai city is also your largest and is taking the best trade routes in your empire. But it doesn't have a library despite being a great commerce city (especially in this extended golden age).

That one is actually an oversight, it doesn't have a Forum either. I've been going back and forth on what to do with HH, since it's great at everything (food, commerce, hammers). One day I want it for units, the next day for wonders, the third day for commerce. Right now I'm leaning towards making it my unit factory, even though it feels a little like a waste with all that commerce. Also strongly considering moving my Palace here, although I'm currently in Nationhood. If I can do a quick campaign against Azza, I'll likely switch back to Bureaucracy for peace-time. Suggestions? It has an awesome 81 hammers next turn.

3. We're at war and our current builds look like this:

I count five military units in build queues partially completed this turn. That isn't all bad, I like the 1 turn to build readiness of the crossbow in EE's queue and the 1 turn to go catapult in MM's queue, those are both on the border ready to be produced for defense when needed but they aren't costing you any upkeep sitting mostly built in your city build queues. Just keep in mind that hammers begin to decay 10 turns after you begin building a unit in a city queue (50 turns on non-units). I forget the formula for decay but it's not hard to find, but you'll lose at least 1 hammer per turn as the hammers decay. It doesn't sound like much but if you're counting on that catapult being 1 turn away and it turns out that it's really two turns, that would suck.

But but... I NEED my flowery monuments to inspire my underlings! :D
I agree with you, but keep in mind that I just spent the last 6-7t cranking out units everywhere on overtime. I'm getting a brief respite now, and I want to make sure I keep up economically. I may be overconfident, but Azza has a fairly small army and I can bring my entire eastern army to bear against him very soon. You're probably right, I should crank out units a few more turns to time the unit peak with the arrival of the eastern army. Wow, I feel like Hitler who just smacked Russia around and is now going after France :P

4. WB please? Or is this a casualty of one of the wars?

Just got the border pop this turn, and if you look a little more closely you'll see that a work boat also completed this turn

5. MM needs more food. I think you should farm over the cottage you haven't worked yet. I think a farm 1 NE of the city should chain irrigate to the two grass tiles SW of the city. That will get your food up to +7 if you weren't working the gems.

Very good observation! MM has been an eyesore in forever because of low food, it's been difficult to share 2 food resources among 3 cities (EE, KK and MM). Your plan won't work without an extra plains farm north of it though, I need to connect through the lake as that river end doesn't give irrigation. For now, I can shift the pigs back over to MM as KK has good surplus with the lakes. Alternately, I can farm over the cottage SE of CC to not waste the worker turns. Or do I prefer a plains farm to a grassland farm? I do get the extra GA hammer, and I think I'll be able to do another GA after these 13t expire.

Overall you're doing a great job I'd say, doing well in the war and doing this to the demographics:

You can't criticize that too much. Yeah yeah, GA in effect (for another 13 turns!), but you're stomping these guys in the demos right now. Just make sure to not let up on Azza too easily here. If he is still the number two you should step on him as hard as you can without overtaxing yourself. You want to bring him down as hard as possible while not bringing yourself down.

Keep bringing the pressure!

Thank you I caught many lucky breaks this game, those wonders are a big part of my economic success. Colossus was almost snagged by waterbat (he told me that he could have beaten me to it but postponed it for some reason) and the Great Lighthouse was an afterthought. My expansion lead is dwindling, I'm keeping par in city count. Need to remedy that! As mentioned earlier, I will try to expand in the near future:
Superjm - 2 cities in the jungle. Settled one of them this turn, settler ready for the other spot.
Sareln - can only fit another 2 cities due to our border agreement:

I really wanted to put a city on the desert hill that's just out of reach according to the agreement. I'm wondering if I could offer Sareln military support against Superjm, it's definitely in my interests to ensure that Superjm doesn't eat him raw. Which seems to be happening, unfortunately. He's already converging on his horse city and his capital! I'll definitely need to be ready to move in to pick up the scraps with a string of settlers once Superjm is done rampaging. It would take forever to get troops down there, and I need them against Azza. I could try bribing Sareln with cash to release me from the border agreement, but he has little need for cash while he's busy being beaten up. I suppose I will activate NAP cooldown now, letting me settle in 20t. That's probably too late, but in case he does survive I need to be ready. I can send military patrols to the area to discourage Superjm from settling the desert, my NAP with him expires t115.
Azza - if I capture and keep both F and his new expansion, I will be able to fit a small fishing village south of JJ with 9 tiles available to it (including 2 food resources).
Xenon - he's shown little interest in expansion, and our current NAP expires t120. If he doesn't want it, I will grab the iron site and possibly the site N of the clams on the west coast.

That's another 5-10 cities for me, depending on how it all goes. Were I to grab all 10, I think I'd be sitting on 20% of the land value. So this is roughly what I plan on doing:
1) Invade Azza, hoping to capture 2 cities with my current army + a bit more over the next 5t. Depending on how it goes, either sue for peace after that invasion or try to push a little further. I might try to harass his lightly defended desert cities.
2) Whip 3 settlers for the desert as soon as realistically possible, don't need to wait for the war with Azza to be over
3) Once the war with Azza is won, under control or lost (with NAP agreement), build lots of infrastructure in my cities
4) Plan on heading for a hybrid economy with Representation and Mercantilism within maybe 20-25t?
5) Wonder wishlist:
- Spiral Minaret
- University of Sankore :@ (looks like Azza built it, I will keep building monasteries and temples and hope to invade it later)
- Sistine Chapel (if Azza has University of Sankore, chances are good he will also want this. Still, I can live without it)
- Statue of Liberty (already planning on going that route, and I want Universal Suffrage + Emancipation. Just realized that Suffrage will be awesome for me during GA, triggers the bonus hammer in grass towns!)
6) Military plans:
- not sure
- still not sure
- if I go for the economy plans outlined above, I might not be able to go for a rifle campaign early enough for it to pay off, but I'll give it a lot of consideration (drafted rifles is beyond awesome!)
- anyone is a potential target, I think I might go for a soft target in order to expand rather than a hard target in order to beat down a rival
- I need to make sure I don't get catpiled again, this one almost went way wrong!

[Catwalk]

Azza offered 20t NAP and both of us going after Superjm, I sent him a counter proposal that included him gifting me F (his big front city). Unsurprisingly, he declined. I thought about requesting his small new expansion instead + lots of gold, but he'll likely decline that as well. He's holding the save right now so we have time for further negotiations, Superjm is gone for the weekend anyway so the turn is lost regardless.

Lots of chatter with my favouritest dedlurker xenu (he wouldn't talk to me unless I said that, so there):

17.59
mig: Azza wants peace now

And both of us declaring on Superjm

I said sure
18.00
Provided he hands over F

Tyrant: hmm....i really would have liked to do some permanent damage to azza...what kind of military effort is he going to put against the mushroom kingdom?
18.01
mig: He's not going to hand over F

That's his big National Epic city that I'm going to invade soon

And he probably wouldn't do much
18.02
I

I'm not that interested in doing major damage to Azza, I mainly want to use this big army I have sitting around

If I get F, that'd be fairly major

Tyrant: if he wants peace without war he has to give you something

i'd say take F and then see if he wants peace
18.03
mig: Yep

He made that offer after seeing Waterbat's power sike downwards

But he hasn't seen my power spike up after the 8 catapults yet

I might be willing to consider getting his new expansion + lots of cash

I could also invade Xenon instead
18.04
But I doubt he'd even go for that

Tyrant: if xenon is down the threat list i wouldn't worry with him

mig: Yeah, way down

Tyrant: you need to whack whoever is your nearest rival

if you beat him down you may get a concession

mig: Oh no

Tyrant: well, if you can beat down numbers 2 and 3

mig: We're nowhere near a concession

Tyrant: well yeah, not yet

mig: All 4 top players are still in this

Depending on how wars turn out
18.05
Tyrant: but if you war effectively in this window where you have an advantage you can deal critical blows to your actual rivals (the guys who can still win this)

mig: All 4 of us can win IMO

Tyrant: if you cripple your competitors without doing much harm to yourself they'll either go for an all-in dogpile or give up

mig: Drafting much more would be harmful, though

I had a lot of spare happiness to draft and whip away
18.06
Reaching critical levels soon

Tyrant: yeah, you could do to lay off drafting as soon as you've prosecuted this current war effectively.

i'd say blast azza, just hit him as hard and fast as you can

mig: Hoping to do that
18.07
Sucks that my catapults are going to arrive a little too late

Tyrant: take what it makes sense to take and then force peace once he's unable to be a threat long term

mig: I'm thinking of doing a fake offensive on his small expansion

All but evacuating JJ

And having troops in the fog ready to reinforce it

Tyrant: how long will it take to get the cats to the front?

mig: 7-8t before they can attack

They will be gifted this turn

Tyrant: and when do you plan to attack?

mig: Then I think 5t to reach JJ

Soon as they arrive, I'm ready 2t before they arrive
18.08
Waiting for my eastern army

They need to heal, though

So yeah, in 7-8t I'm set

Will draft muskets until then

Tyrant: so you'd have to wait on the catapults for 2 or so turns, to add 8 cats?

mig: Wouldn't really have to wait

Also need the eastern army

Tyrant: i dno't see the conflict then...get your new catapults joined to the attack force and then rip him up
18.09
8 cats could kill a second stack, or take another city or two

mig: But I could attack 2t sooner

To divert him

Or trick him into going after JJ

While the rest of my army arrives

Tyrant: do you have enough collateral on hand already to make taking F efficient without waiting on those 8 cats?

mig: No

But I could attack Fisher

Tyrant: then i'd wait. fisher is the city south of F right on your border right?

mig: Yes
18.10
Tyrant: i wouldn't worry about that too much for now

mig: Solely for sake of distracting

But yeah

Probably best to simply mass in 8t

And whip/draft until then

Tyrant: unless you can trick him into pulling a stack toward it that you can catch out in the open

mig: Keep negotiating until then

I'm keeping most of my forces hidden, but he can see the power

Tyrant: yeah, keep negotiating, let him think you're interested in peace. you never know, you're a strange negotiator and they may buy what you're selling.
18.11
yeah but if he doesn't see it he won't know it was 8 cats that will be a shock.

mig: That is true

Tyrant: does he have a lot of HAs? you may want to build several spears to protect those cats from being flanked.

mig: And he can't see many catapults currently

I had 3 visible

No HAs

And maces eat HAs for breakfast

To say nothing of muskets
18.12
Tyrant: true...i forget where we are on the tech tree. i'm following too many games
18.13
mig:

I can either beeline Rifling or build big now

Constitution => Democracy for building

Tyrant: what do you mean by build big?

mig: Switch to builder civics, get NAPs, expand and improve
18.14
Tyrant: cats like sandboxes...

mig: I'm more into sand castles personally

But yeah

Tyrant: but you have a military advantage. i guess it depends on how you want to win this game. are you going to space or do you want to kill people? if you want space then tech, if you want to kill go get rifles and start wiping people out.

mig: I want to win pretty badly, by whatever means possible

And I'm not sure what gives me the best chances
18.15
Tyrant: i think even if you go for space you'll have to fight because when you start building parts (or long before then) you'll get dogpiled again

may as well fight now while it's on your terms

mig: I'm not averse to fighting at all, really

Starting to have fun with it

I just want it to be productive fighting

Tyrant: so rifles + cannons, if you can get to both of those first....:hahahahaha:

mig: I can very realistically get to them first
18.16
Tyrant: do it!!!!

mig: I have excellent research

Tyrant: + lurkers will love you.

mig: You're just teasing now

Tyrant: i know. you have a reputation for doing strange things in game, i'm just trying to steer you toward the path of violence. it's really the right move here, i think.

mig: If it's the right move, I'm all for it
18.17
Going after Azza now is definitely the right move

Tyrant: yeah

mig: How far to push it is a good question

I think it depends on how it goes

Tyrant: even if he just gave you F i think you still want to do more to him to cripple him

mig: His power curve suggests he's in for a rude awakening

He's been preparing for war and barely trained up for it

Tyrant: well his power curve isn't that bad, it's just that you're drafting and he isn't. it shows for sure
18.18
mig: Waterbat spiked more than Azza

Waterbat is a crazy whipper, you'd like him

Tyrant: the more worrying thing for him is the power drop you took to kill waterbat's units...not much

yeah, i think so

mig: I'm definitely a draft convert

First time I've tried it

Tyrant: you guys drafted a lot of maces in 29, but i guess that was cheetah
18.19
mig: Which is what really tempts me to get Rifles

Yeah, I was gone by then

Tyrant: yeah, i've never been a fan of drafting maces...they're usually attacking into LBs, medieval period, it's tough going in that era. but muskets and, much more so, rifles i love to draft
18.20
the good thing about drafting all these maces is that you can get CR promos on them and upgrade to rifles if you get some well promoted units

i <3 CR3 rifles

mig: Err...

CR?

Ah

Tyrant: city raider

mig: City Raider
18.21
Tyrant: if you read PB5 and saw what scooter did with his upgraded beserkers, it was beautiful
18.23
mig: Any suggestions on how to invade F?

Walk units up, knock on the gate?

That's as much planning as I know how
18.25
Tyrant: pile everything into a massive slow mover stack, including your 8 shiny new catapults. walk it slowly up to the gate 1 tile at a time. and then knock the city down

does he have walls/castles?
18.27
mig: None yet, can build them
18.28
Tyrant: if he doesn't put a castle in the city i'd consider bombarding the cultural defenses for one turn with all your cats....as long as that doesn't mean he could add a lot of units into the city tile or hit you with too many cats himself

i'd recommend barrage on the cats to do as much collateral as possible

mig: but first I have to run an errand for my wife...she requires booze, toilet paper, and tomatoes
18.29
Tyrant: in that order?

mig: of course

Tyrant: ha

happy friday

mig: That was my wife hijacking the keyboard

Tyrant: well happy friday either way.
18.30
mig: Indeed

I think he'll have both walls and a castle by the time I can invade

Tyrant: hmm, i wouldn't bother with bombarding then

just go collateral and consider your cats as expendable...keep in mind that those walls won't do anything against your muskets though

mig: How much would each shot reduce defenses?

2% in straight points?
18.31
Tyrant: with a castle like 2% if they don't have accuracy

so totally not worth it

mig: Yeah, that's low

Tyrant: yeah

mig: Think I could make some fancy moves passing by that city?

And cutting off roads

Tyrant: i wouldn't

mig: I have two chariots for pillaging

Tyrant: well, to what end? so you could bombard ?
18.32
mig: So I can invade the next city instead

And draft more troops to tie down his front troops

Probably getting too fancy

Tyrant: you'd have to burn the next city instead of taking it if he has a garrison between your army and your supply line

mig: Yeah

Well

Tyrant: and you don't want to burn the cities near your border, you want to take those and burn the ones that are too far to defend
18.33
mig: Any idea how many more troops I'd need to take a city with walls + castle on a hill?

He's still got +60% defense against muskets

Makes little difference

Tyrant: how many do you have vs. what he has

mig: + hill

Tyrant: i assume spies are banned for this game?

mig: Right now I'm thinking I'll have double his fighting units

Yes

Tyrant: ha, oh well it was worth a thought

mig: And mine will be higher quality

He has several axes still
18.34
I have only maces + a few praetorians

And some crossbows

Tyrant: how many units total does he have, with how many catapults?

because he's going to try to hit your stack before you arrive -- you'll have a medic in it right?

mig: Can get one, yes

Tyrant: you'll need that to repair after his cats hit
18.35
if he attacks out with cats and we can heal it off that's good for us, that's fewer units we have to kill and fewer units that can absorb collateral hits

mig: Actually

I'm thinking spend all 3 GGs on XP

Use them on 2 chariots and 1 praetorian

Gives me 2 knights and 1 musket for free to boot
18.36
I'm off though, have a nice weekend xenu

Tyrant: maybe but you want that medic

why on a praet? use it on an axe if you have any of those, or warrior, it will upgrade all the way to a mace

praets are already useful from the high base strength + CR

mig: Good point about warrior

Tyrant: but anyway enjoy the weekend!
18.37
mig: See you!

Tyrant: oh, and post the chat so it looks like your lurker helps

TL;DR

- Going after Azza is a very good idea
- xenu wants me to go straight for rifles after this campaign, rather than going the big builder route, I'm considering it
- we discussed how to go about invading Azza, we agreed that stepping one tile at a timy with a big army and knocking on the gate was the way to go
- we also discussed how many troops are needed, if he puts up walls + castle I'm guessing we'll need a 2:1 advantage for a favourable outcome

This is how an invasion will go:
1) We march on to his lands, 2 tiles away from his city
2a) He whips walls, if he doesn't have them already
2b) He marches all his troops into the city
2c) He marches more available troops towards his city
3) We march 1 tile closer to his city
4a) He bombards us with 6-8 catapults, doing around 30x collateral damage
4b) He probably won't attack if I have a numerical advantage
4c) He whips castle if he doesn't have it already
5) I heal my units for a turn and knock down defenses (will do very little if he has both walls and a castle)
6) He rallies even more units
7) or 9) I'm ready to attack after 1-2 bombardments of defenses

What concerns me is that he'll have around 10t to get a LOT more units in place, and I'll be lucky to achieve a 2:3 kill ratio. Time is on his side, as repeated whipping and drafting will start hurting me economically. He hasn't whipped all that much yet, so he has lots of capacity to produce more troops still. He also has very good production, almost equal to mine even though I'm in GA. Nevertheless, I'm committed to at least taking his front city and will keep whipping and drafting over the next several turns to make that happen. Not for sake of revenge or bloodlust, but because I think it's a good use (in terms of chances of victory) for that giant army they made me conjure

[Catwalk]

After a long talk with slowcheetah, I'm having second thoughts Yes xenu, you'll start pulling your hair soon. Summary as follows:
1) I try to get Azza to hand over his new expansion + either lots of cash or a bunch of units
2) I keep walking my army over to Azza while negotiating, may take several turns
3) I secure an extended NAP with Superjm
4) I also keep whipping and drafting troops in the meantime
5a) Azza agrees to concessions, so we invade Xenon instead
5b) Azza refuses to hand over enough, so we keep going after Azza

Xenon might be completely defenseless, as he's currently involved in war with Superjm. Our NAP with him expires in 2t and he's been slow to renew NAPs in the past, so we might take him by surprise. While Xenon is not a threat, this could secure massive territories for us with no further investment than the army we have already. With 20t NAPs all around, that gives us 20t of awesome farmer's gambit followed by an aggressive military buildup with superior military.

xenu, nothing has been decided yet. Would you be thoroughly disappointed with the above plan? Invading Azza is still part of it, depends on whether or not he'll agree to concessions. Sweeping all of Xenon's lands sounds very appealing.

Pros:
- Most likely easy/safe
- Will be profitable
- Will coincide with me getting 20t of peace to run a massive farmer's gambit

Cons:
- No guts
- No glory
- Will not weaken Azza much

[spacetyrantxenu]

You should do whichever plan puts you the furthest ahead of your opponents, relative to what it costs you. If you can get more land from attacking a weaker neighbor and can exploit it (at peace) and that allows you to increase your lead, then that is a good choice. If you can do enough harm to Azza to eliminate him as a real challenger to win, that would be a good outcome as well, but only if it doesn't cost you so much that you bring yourself back to the pack. We don't want to bloody ourselves against Azza only to see Superjm come out ahead.

If you can get what you want from Azza with diplomacy and free up your army to attack someone else that will be a great outcome.

[Catwalk]

There is no way I can get what I really want from Azza (F), but I might be able to get Fisher + assets. I'm thinking that demanding Fisher + cash first (I'm thinking 600) and then switching to Fisher + units (thinking 6 catapults), that might be within the realm of reason. He can see the peace treaty with waterbat and the following power spike, the writing is on the wall. My military will be roughly twice his size next turn, and I can keep growing it faster than he can due to drafting muskets. I also have a string of naval victories to demoralize him, I know I was demoralized when waterbat managed to raze my front city due to my own stupidity.

We don't want to bloody ourselves against Azza only to see Superjm come out ahead.

This is what I fear. Not afraid of fighting him, but I'm uncertain if I have enough to win a decisive victory (= one I profit from at a reasonable cost). I think I have enough to ruin his game if I go all out on him now, and I hope that is a big enough bargaining chip. He knows he can't expect help from anyone, with Superjm + Xenon being engaged and waterbat just signing over his army to me with a long NAP.

[spacetyrantxenu]

How much is this giant army costing you per turn? Maybe you could offset the cost of maintenance by offering Azza some protection* from unwanted aggression. He would have to give you something to make it worthwhile, otherwise you couldn't guarantee his safety. Probably in the form of a gift, and then an annual protection payment. Call it a lease on life.

*This sounds a lot like the opening to a particular movie Boldly was watching last night, I'm sure that's why I thought of it. But this isn't a very serious proposal...I still think we need to attack someone with this army, not just blackmail, to get full value from our investment. But a protection racket would be funny . It works best if you can sign up everyone in the neighborhood. Just how good is your diplo negotiating skill?