[spoilers] Commodore is actually pretty inept: August in Peru

[Commodore]

KA-click. -Last sound ever heard in many an alleyway within Caerbannog.

The Cave of Caerbannog is a dark and noisome grotto, within which a city was founded and then metastasized. The border city of the Good and Loving Empire, the criminal and violent city sends fort is garrison under the aegis of a bloodthirsty rabbit. Gangs and thugs from all of the six empires compete with one another, kept from ruling the city only by the iron lash of the Council Of The Holy Hand Grenade.

[Commodore]

You know it isn't easy living here on Skullcrusher Mountain
Maybe you could cut me just a little slack
Would it kill you to be civil?
I've been patient, I've been gracious
And this mountain is covered with wolves
Hear them howling, my hungry children
Maybe you should stay and have another drink and think about me and you...

Bastion of the Smooth Border, the city of Mt. Skullcrusher is a military camp and home of fishermen; the army or the navy will probably sweep through a draft you if you dwell in the city for long. But to those who would attempt to leave...

[Commodore]

The stronghold was a fortress of black ice, an enormous, shadowy cube sitting high up the slope of the highest mountain in sight. A single, elegant spire rose above the rest of the structure. Flickers of green and amethyst energy played within the ice of the walls. I couldn’t make a good guess at how big the thing was. The walls and battlements were lined with inverted icicles. They made me think of the fanged jaws of a hungry predator."

Squatting midst the tundra and ice of the cold sea, Arctis Tor is a black, ugly city of shipping, trade, and hypothermia. The Empire's plans for ships of black steel were first prototyped in the drydocks of the city. A little south of the city lies the Icechoke Canal, the first in the series of canals that leads out to the west. Silver and stone are exported from the cold mines and quarries of the city, while meager fish are gathered from the briny chill depths of the coast.

[Commodore]

"...I chose the impossible. I chose... Rapture. A city where the artist would not fear the censor. Where the scientist would not be bound by petty morality. Where the great would not be constrained by the small. And with the sweat of your brow, Rapture can become your city as well."-Governor Quint 'Big Daddy' Ryan

Long ago, the Zulu were lesser, and they were still expanding by farmers, not by ships and grenadiers. They founded a city; in a few short decades it was overwhelmed by the Good and Loving Empire, and renamed Rapture. Home of the dye export trade that pacifies thousands of subjects, and of artists who spread the hegemony of the Empire, Rapture is a great city, but also a terrible one, and doomed by the waves all around it. All who live there live frantic lives, for the Zulu will return in their ships, and through the Canal, they shall begin to crack the empire as a whole.

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[Commodore]

By the way, anyone have any questions? I checked out a while back and am just kind of killing time; Bigger and Cornflakes are the big boys and I'm pretty much helping/trading with Bigger entirely, because he can be really dumb and Cornflakes is smart.

[BaII]

Like what do u mean by really dumb? Are his trades, just not right in context despite being fine in beaker per beaker?

[Commodore]

Nah. I mean Bigger is dumb, his tactics are weak and most of his size has come from just piling on while Cornflakes does his little God of War thing with more competent foemen.

[MindyMcCready]

How to you rank him compared to TT?

[Commodore]

How to you rank him compared to TT?

Bigger? He's better on details, weaker on reality.

[Commodore]

So I'm mailing these in, but I have airships to scout, and when I see this mess...


Yeah. That can't stand. So I toss a dozen workers into railroading, set my knights and a cavalry and a cuir to deal with things, then next turn...


The sudden loss of the horse tile two south of Kazan was annoying; 2metra's Hermitage finally beat me back there. Fortunately, I was able to railroad the northern route, so I sent in the cavalry. And he lost. Against a zeppelin-bombed crossbow at 96% odds.


Although cavalry did very little damage the cuirassier who followed braved terrifying 97% odds to somehow take the city. And with that, ironically, I took back the horses. My horse!


Kazan, quickly dubbed Taiidan Base, isn't all that impressive but railroad hill mines and biology farms make anywhere worthwhile at this point in the game. A forge and a courthouse survived the capture, so that's a plus. This far area of the sea: Recaptured.


Almarikh was even simpler, guarded by just a chariot. I still bombed it and used a formation knight; it was the only unit that could capture the city this turn. To the southwest two Mongol workers were freed from oppression and hired into glorious service for the Good and Loving Empire.


Equatorial though it is, Icecrown is the city's new name. Only a forge survived, but plenty of population and lots of farmland/workshop land will soon set that to rights. Recapturing the recaptured captured city for the win! Lots of infantry, machine guns, and assorted bits and bobs defend the new holding on its hill.


New Sarai seen tucked behind the peaks to the northeast will fall soon; a bit more tenuous is a shot at big old Samarqand here. A galleon with three infantry plus five knights plus airship bombardiers should see it fall unless he's able to scramble a lot more down there. I offered him peace for the two cities; I shan't push in further and risk exposure to Cornflakes and Jowy on either flank. This is my planned gains from the war.


It's a pity. I think if I was paying attention I'd be in this to win this, actually. Artillery in four more turns; then it's time for Combustion and a massive Destroyer-building spree.