The Devel's Workshop 1a - Beyond the Veil (After the Slingshot)

[Hermann the Lombard]

WAR! Cavalry reaches the walls of Boston with slow-movers a turn behind. WarE picks off a worker on the border who starts cutting a more direct route for me.

1158 AD – Galileo born in Washington; too bad we can’t capture him! After all, Michaelangelo and others changed loyalty (or ownership) with the fortunes of war and politics. Odd: the display of Boston went from +85% to +125% and back.

1160 AD – Boston back to +125% and 3 Cats bring it down to +46% (and +68 on the display, is the difference fortification?) 4 shots bring it down to 0% with nothing on the display. Prae Primus (City Raider III), leads the attack…and loses to a Longbow (2.4/6, damn that hill!). Next up, 2nd Cavalry (Flanking II) survives leaving a Pike (2.6/6). 3rd is Combat I Cav scoring first kill vs LB. Mace kills LB, First Mace (CR III) finishes the Pike and takes Boston. Cav destroys Mace and occupies American Iron adjacent to Washington.

1162 AD – No counterattack yet, leaving me to pillage his only Iron. Cheap mine: 1gp.

1164 AD – Ant Cav, Cav

1166 AD – Chemistry, start Stell. Tol Cat, Cat.

1168 AD – Expecting seaborne raid. Neap Cav, Cav; Shang Musk, Pike (cheap garrison); Atl Musk, Musk. Cats reduce Washington to 0%. Defer assault to get some collateral damage. Low 5 LB + Pike defending.

1170 AD – Etr Cav, Cav. Boston comes online and starts Theater. Santiago’s borders press 4 adjacent tiles. Forge sole survivor, no Courthouse unfortunately. 1st Cat survives to withdraw, damaging 4 units. 2nd Cat died but all 6 units are damaged. One more: 3rd Cat dies, crippled LB and further damaged the rest. Mace kills LB, First Mace (CR III) kills LB, Cav kills Pike (yay!), Cav kills LB, First Knight (Cav) kills LB, 3rd Cav kills last LB capturing a worker (formerly Settler), destroying Galley, capturing Roos’ capital. Headline: “Washington Falls!” Captured Harbor, Forge, Academy, Market, and Grocer. No Wonders, more’s the pity, but still a rich haul. If continuing the war, New York will be the next target, but I’d prefer to trim Spain. Well, the Toad No-Longer-In-Washington won’t talk, so maybe I need New York to stabilize the American cultural border. Our conquests seem to be out-stripping our culture!

[Hermann the Lombard]

1172 AD – Ten Million Romans. GNP 2nd (110/132/94) but 1st in everything else, not even close except Army (545/506/379). Single LB sallies from San Francisco, probably on a looting mission. I’ll whack ‘em when they’re NOT on a jungle hill. Spanish may be on the move: there’s a single XB on the border near Barcelona, another is outside Santiago, and there is still a huge force in Madrid (7 Cats + at least 13 combat units). We’re advancing at Cat speed toward Chicago.

1174 AD – Rome Bank, Cav; Sea Uni, Mace; Boston Theater (rushed), Court. American LB moves in odd direction, into the jungle. Sent Cav to destroy.

1176 AD – Tol Cat, Cat. Start bombarding Chi; isolated the city.

1178 AD – Bombardment done. WE kills Pike (to my surprise), 3 Cav finish the job, capturing Chicago with Lighthouse, Academy & Courthouse.

1180 AD – Headline: “Isabella has completed the Mahabodhi.” Why, thank you for building that for me! (In Madrid.) Just noticed that ALL religions were founded on this continent. I now control 3 Holy Cities (including Chicago for Islam) with Madrid on the hit parade after New York and Santiago.

1182 AD – Rav Lib, TMiss. 3 cities need Taoism.

1184 AD – Ameican Cat pinks my main body, damaging 6 units. Too big a stack.

1186 AD – Cumae Cav, Cav; Pis Uni, TMiss; Tol Cat, Cat; Barc Gran, Lib. New York completely surrounded.

1188 AD – With his new capital invested, Roos offers 390gp for Peace. Negative. Ant Cav, TMiss; Sea Mace, Cat; Atl Musk, Cat. Boston expands. Of all things a Barb Galley turns up off Washington. Switch Sea to Frigate. New York is on a hill, so this may hurt. Cats reduce, continue siege.

1190 AD – Shang Pike, Cat. That damned Barb Galley sinks fishing boats off Washington. The nerve! I only have one Galley nearby with the rest of fleet monitoring the American fleet in LA. There’s only one more fishing boat on the whole coast so ignore the little bast… Washington comes online but is starving; rush Theater, now stagnant and soon to grow. New York has Mace, 3 LB, Cat. My first Cat is wrecked but pinks 3 units; 2nd cat did a bit more so only 1 LB unhurt. 2nd Cav driven off by LB. New York falls; we lost only the two sacrificial Cats. Only one building captured, but it’s an Academy. Cav reserve assembling at Shangian vs Spain or San Fran/LA.

1192 AD – Rome Cav, Cav; Wash Theater, BMiss. From NY, easy access to Madrid…and its 20+ defenders! May be useful to pinch off Santiago first, but then NY is vulnerable to attack from Madrid. We can probably blitz Santiago. Roos is unreasonable and will not yield Constitution or Economics, and the city I want—LA—is his new capital. SF seems likely to fall to culture…but it HASN’T. Maybe if I send the reserves to take LA he’ll see reason, so start shifting toward LA.

1194 AD – Lost a Cav to attacking Pike. Neap Cav, Musk; Rav TMiss, Frigate (vs Spain); Ant TMiss, Musk; Pisae TMiss, CMon.

1196 AD – Killed lone LB outside Phila.

1198 AD – Washington expands; it’s commerce-rich with 7 Towns.

1200 AD – Etr Cav,Cat; Rome XB,Cav…no, switch to Oxford. Try to blitz LA, leading with Grenadier. [Must have been a promotion; I never listed his construction.] Lost one cav, took this prime site, unfortunately with no buildings…and incidentally eliminated a Caravel & 2 Galleys. TMiss fails in Boston.

[Hermann the Lombard]

1202 AD – Velociryx the Glorious is the Most Powerful, sayeth Thucydides (of course if he said otherwise I would have him put to death). Pillaging wineries outside Vandal; will the Toad see reason now? No, the fool is still obstinate. Finish him or prune Spain? Spain’s turn, I think. Oh, rats, Roos doesn’t even have any money! 1gpt? Preposterous! TMiss to Wash, but another fails Chicago.

1204 AD – Chi Theater, and already has Court, Lighthouse, and another Academy, so start Forge.

1206 AD – Sea first Frigate, start Versailles; Shang Cat, TMiss. Roos still obstinate.

1208 AD – The first Frigate (named Surprise with great originality) sinks the pesky Barb Galley.

1210 AD – Showing inability to learn, my siege train suffers collateral damage from a Cat in Phila. More shocking: Boston revolts in favor of SPAIN! Santiago becomes a priority item! Etr Cat, TTemp; Wash BMiss, Work Boat. Continue pillaging between Vandal and Phila.

1212 AD – Welcome to the Industrial Era! Steel, try Replaceable Parts still hoping to beat Econ or Const out of Roos. Ant Musk, TTemp; Neap Musk, TMiss. Phila reduced, sac Cat to soften. Lost Mace. Sacked Phila including Chichen Itza. Captured 3 workers and left smoking rubble.

1214 AD – Atl Musk,BTemp (chop=+112h); BMiss fails in Rome; Surprise bombards Vandal…but all right, all right, peace with America for NOTHING. To Do List: Eradicate Soon.

[Hermann the Lombard]

Fire sale on Liberalism: 180 from Monty, 20 from Isabella (why not?), 40 from Toku, balked at 10 from Nappy. I may be foolish diverting so much production to infra when war looms with Spain. Some cannon first!

Let's look at the State of the Nation:

[Hermann the Lombard]

Of course that assumes that you can still read fine print after too many hours staring at a computer monitor!

1216 AD – Pisae CMon,XBow; NY Theater(rushed),Forge. Boston calm again and expands. Promote many cannon. Promote “2nd Ship” to “Carthago.”

1218 AD – At behest of Monty, cancelled deal with Isab. Rav Frigate,CMiss. Units healing and resting pre-Spain. Isabella now refuses to talk; will she strike first? That would be such a pity.

1220 Shang TMiss,TMon; Boston Court,BMon. Eye Spanish XB on the border.

1222 Neap TMiss,TMiss. Now 15 combat units in Madrid incl 6 Conquistadores; it will be a fight. Now. WAR! Advance on Santiago. Bagged a couple of workers and killed 1 XB.

[Hermann the Lombard]

1224 AD Spanish army advances toward Barcelona: 6 Conq, 3 WE, XB, 2 Cats. 2 Conq heading toward Boston and my Santiago forces. Grab his only horses. Killed 2 Conq outside Sant. TMiss to LA.

1226 AD Outside Santiago, cat weakens my Cav Corps, as expected. Units dispersed but there are limits facing Conq army. Battle of Barcelona: Cat damages 6 defenders. Killed 3 Spanish cats while getting hurt. Killed 5 units, lost 2. My turn: cat sac damages 5 units. On ridge, traded my 5th Cavalry for 2 Conq & 1 Cat. At Santiago, reduced defenses with cannon, then sac’d 2 cats to soften and minimize counterattacks. Maybe I’ve divided my forces too much between Barc & Sant. I have frigates bombarding Salamanca & Bombay as distraction. Still 3 Conq, 2 WE & 1 Cat outside Barc vs Cannon, Musk, Mace, 2 LB & 2 Pike, so Barc is safe…and I have 7 Cavalry nearby.

1228 AD Battle of Barcelona continues as Spanish go 2 for 2 killing Pike and LB with Conq, but they didn’t press the attack. Cumae Cav,Pike; Rav CMiss,TMiss; Tol Uni,Gren; Barc Lib,Lighthouse. Spanish bombard Barc to 34%. Marauders wreck 2 Towns. BOSTON joins the Spanish! Treason during wartime! Back at Barcelona, 4th Cav kills WE, cannon attacks their weakened stack, killing WE and damaging the rest, Mace kills Conq, Musk kills Conq, Cav kills Conq, Cav kills Cat. Only 1 (marauding) Conq left. Santiago: defended by only 2 LB+Pike. Cannon leads, killing LB and damaging the other 2. Santiago falls! Send lone Cavalry and take back Boston from single LB; only forge and courthouse survive, of course. TMiss immediately fails in Boston.

[Hermann the Lombard]

1230 AD – Gandhi offers Econ+490 for Astro. That I don’t want to do. Dratted Conq pillages Rice Farm. Neap TMiss,Cav. First Knight destroys marauder.

1232 AD – Ant TTemp,Theater; Pisae XB,Pike. Consolidating & healing.

1234 AD – Found copper near Toledo; Boston expands borders.

1236 AD – All healed, on to Madrid! TMiss fails in Boston (for perhaps the 4th time). 12 Cav advancing.

1238 AD – Rav TMiss, TMiss

1240 AD – Battle of Madrid begins. Spanish XBow attacks across a river…and kills my Musketman taking only 50% damage! Spanish Cat damages 2 units. Counterattack that same XBow with a vet mace...and the XBow barely loses. Tough bugger. Cav with Combat II & Mounted bonuses attacks a Combat II War Elephant in the open: dead Cav. We then killed Mace and 2 Cats around the city, occupied their only Iron, and their only Ivory.

1242 AD – Gandhi tries to wheedle Astro; he’s now Cautious…and a marked man. Spanish Galley sails from Salamanca, giving the Roman frigates something to do. Carthago sinks the Galley. Bombard Madrid. Oops! Accidentally attacked with one when I meant to bombard [I *really* hate it when I do that with a stack!], but killed LB and did collateral to 7 units! The city is down to 0% and fully invested. Aside: CMiss fails at Chartres.

1244 AD – The Year of Antium: 15,000 culture, new theater, We Love the Monarch, start Observatory. Back to Madrid: Roman cannon kills LB and damages 5 or 6 other units. Flanking II Cav barely beat a Pikeman. When the dust settles, we captured Madrid! The city is a plum: Granary, Forge, Academy, Court, The Mahabodhi, and the Sistine Chapel! Inspired by the victory, a TMiss *finally* spreads Taoism to Boston. Rush Theaters in Santiago & LA.

[Hermann the Lombard]

We probably have enough firepower to take the four remaining Spanish cities, but we don’t have the garrison troops!

1246 AD – Barc Lighthouse, Pike; Sant Thea,Court; Etr Cav (chopped), TTemp; LA Thea, Forge.

1248 AD – The Stand of the 6th Cavalry: killed three attackers in turn, XBow, Pike, LB. Pisae Pike, TMiss; Shang TMon,LB; Atl Gren,XB. LA expands (as Washington did last turn). Leeuwenhoek born in Rome! Choices: +6174 toward Sci.Method (10,700 needed), or an Academy in Antium. Probably go with the tech, but there’s no hurry. In fact, I don’t want the tech yet; I have Monasteries to build. I could burn the GS and not complete the tech, of course. [Looking back, if I’m going to take the Academy there’s no reason to wait. Nobody is going to trade Sci Meth to me.]

1250 AD – Rome completes Oxford U, starts Grocer. *** Pike,CMiss; Rav TMiss,TMiss; Tol Gren, XB; Wash Lib,Court. Conf to Avignon on its own.

STATUS: GNP 3rd (138/176/104), Prod 1st(247/108/58), Food 1st(399/214/125), Army 1st(712/575/374), Land 1st(340/145/89), Pop 1st(15.8M/6.9/3.5). GNP surprises me, but presumably that rating is due to post-conquest maintenance and lack of emphasis on banks and other commerce improvements.

NEW GOALS:
1. Become #1 in GNP.
2. Review and plan Civics
3. Get Economics, Corporation, and Wall Street.
4. Decide: Steam & Railroad or another path like Democracy?
5. Conquer Spain (especially Cordoba, the Christian Holy City)
6. Conquer America
7. Conquer India (sorry, Gandhi).

Civic Thoughts. Free Speech vs Bureaucracy: I hate losing the bonuses at Rome, but cash from Towns should compensate and culture boost should help with new borders and nuisance cities (i.e. India). Probably wait until other changes are needed rather than enduring 3t anarchy just now.

1252 AD – Army is all healed; advance on Cordoba. The Spanish army is almost gone, with no more than 3 units + Cats anywhere.

[Hermann the Lombard]

1254 AD – Replaceable Parts, Constitution [Econ,Corp]. Etr TTemp,JTemp. Now a minor mystery: why do I have four non-removable specialists in this city?

[Hermann the Lombard]

1256 AD – Neap Cav,Worker; Toledo grows. Cordoba falls after light bombardment.

1258 AD – Spanish Cat kills TMiss. Nuts. Overlooked that possibility. Pisae TMiss,TMiss; Santiago grows. 4 Cannon and Seville falls, but there’s serious culture pressure here. Musk kills pesky Catapult. Two Spanish cities left and I’m not (quite) out of steam…even though we haven’t invented steam power yet. A concern: invasion from the other hemisphere when I have few reserves at home. Yes, they love me…now.

1260 AD – Rav TMiss,CMiss

1262 AD – Pretty good offer from Toku: Sci Meth+60gp for Steel, but I don’t want to lose my monasteries just yet, when I lack monasteries for Islam, Christianity and Hinduism. On to Salamanca: 6th Cav is driven off by a Longbow (these are the heroes of 1248 AD?) Cannon kills LB. With the LB gone it’s like shooting Cats in a barrel (3 of them). Salamanca falls. On the tech front, since Toku already has Astro, let’s make some gold: to Gandhi for Econ, WM & 400gp. Turns out that almost everyone had Astro, so that was a good deal!

1264 AD – *** CMiss,Pike; Shang LB,LB; Atl XB,LB. [You see a theme of garrison troops.] Tol XB,BTemp. Pisae & New York expand. Gathering army in Seville: 7 Cavalry and Spanish Bombay has only 4 defenders…but of course someone has to defend Seville…and it won’t be the TMiss who just failed at Seville.

1266 AD – Suicidal Maceman advances to Seville to protect the Spanish Copper. Yeah, right, Fogcutter III cuts him down. Now plunder that mine. We have 3 undigested Spanish captures. First lumbermill comes online for Atl, another for Rome. Significant unhappiness now…and now that I look up. I’ve been so focused on conquest that I lost track of happiness. Just because *I’m* happy conquering doesn’t mean that those doing the bleeding are happy. The worst is Etruria at -7, with 4 more in the 2-4 range. Need Temples and maybe a touch of the culture slider for Theaters. Etruria has -10 War Weariness (net -7), so let’s finish this war!

1268 AD – Madrid Theater(rushed),BMon; TMiss to Madrid, finally. We don’t need cannon for Bombay, we have 3 Frigates. Now poised to finish Spain with 8 cav in range.

1270 AD – Neap Wrk,LB;Rav CMiss,CMiss. Wait one turn for Frigates to finish their work.

1272 AD – Spain KIA. Now, can we hold Bombay against Indian culture?

1274 AD – POOF! No more War Weariness and even Etruria is happy. STATUS: GNP 3rd(141/180/122), Prod 1st (300/87/55), Food 1st(460/218/138), Army 1st (765/646/434), Land 1st (404/147/93), Pop 1st (16.8M/7.3/4.0). So we’re not closing the GNP gap, but we’re running away with the rest. I suppose that Forbidden Palace would make a big difference, perhaps in Madrid? Constitution in 2t, then Demo, then anarchy for Rep/Free Speech. America is next on the hit parade with only 2 small cities left: Vandal, next to my main army and San Fran, wrapped in my culture.

1276 AD – Rome Grocer, Court (OK, I can drop Bureaucracy now). Upgraded units all along the eastern border.

1278 AD – Constitution, Corporation (then Demo, looking back at my goals of 1250 AD). Revolution! Rep/Free Speech/Free Market…and SEVEN turns! Shades of Civ III. Boston Thea,BMon; TMiss to Cordoba (that’s 18/23 cities).

1282 AD – Toku cancels Open Borders. Try a gift of 100gp.

[Hermann the Lombard]

1286 AD – Diplo Toilet Time as Gandhi demands that we cancel with France after we refused Toku about Gandhi. Bombay comes online. Hmm…just noticed that Lahore got its gold back in the face of Seattle’s culture.

1292 AD – Emerged from long Anarchy.

1294 AD – Shang LB,CMiss; Borders grow at Rav, LA, Seville.

1296 AD – Ant Obs,TMiss; Neap finished *something* (LB?), starts CMiss; Atl BMiss,BMiss; Sant Court,Forge.

1298 AD – *** Pike,Harbor. BMiss to Rome.

1300 AD – Wash Court, IMon.

Some thoughts on National Wonders…paired National Epic and Oxford in Rome, that seems good. For another high prod city I’d like Heroic Epic and West Point. For a Holy City I want Wall Street, with another slot open. For another high prod: Iron Works & Red Cross? For high culture: Hermitage & Globe Theater. So who has high prod? Rome 22, Atl&Tol 18, Ant&Etr 17, Neap 16. The Holy City should be Antium. The Culture City? Maybe Washington. The “High Prod” city may well be Neapolis because that terrain isn’t good for anything else.

1302 AD – Etr JTemp,Thea;Tol BTemp,CTemp

1304 AD – Rome Court,BTemp; Pis Thea,CMiss; Atl BMiss,BMiss. [Finishing some theaters that were conceived during war unhappiness…which will be returning!]

[Hermann the Lombard]

1306 AD – Corporation, Democracy; Ant TMiss, Wall Street? No, need 2 more banks, so start TMiss; Neap CMiss, Heroic Epic (here we go!). Now let’s see…Rome has a big lead in score: 3281 to Japan’s 1845 and France’s 1615 (half as much). STATUS: GNP 1st (263/186/114), so about 50% higher than 2nd place and 150% higher than the average. Note that GNP jumped from 141 to 263 since 1274 AD. We’re first in everything else that matters, so how do we convert this into VICTORY? 40.3% of population vs 44% so we’re closing fast, but 46.7% of land area vs 64%. It seems unlikely that conquering India (and the rump of America) will give +17% of land area. That means a trans-oceanic invasion if the goal is Domination. Culture? Our Big 3 are 17/16/14K, a very long way from Legendary (150K on Marathon, I think). Forget it. I’m sure this foundation would be good for a Space Ship victory (and perhaps a diplomatic one), but I seem to be following the Way of the Conqueror. In any event, patience is required to turn this lead into a victory.

1308 AD – Shang CMiss,LB; Chi Forge,Lib. BMiss to Antium. Toku enters his Golden Age.

1310 AD – CMiss-->Santiago. Open Borders again with Toku gives +20gpt in Trade.

1314 AD – Sev Gran, ChMiss (Christian); Ant TMiss,TMiss; Atl BMiss,Uni; TMiss fails Bombay.

1316 AD – Pis CMiss,TMiss; Rav TMiss,CMiss; Etr Thea,Obs; CMiss fails Sala, BMiss fails Pis

1318 AD – *** Har,Uni; Sea VERSAILLES, JTmp; Rav CMiss,CMiss

1322 AD – Rome BTmp,BMon; Tol CTmp,Bank; Barc JTmp,JMiss; Mad BMon,BMiss;Cor Thea,CMon. CMiss to Sala; TMiss to Seville.

1324 AD – Ant TMiss,BMon;Shan LB,LB

1326 AD – Pis TMiss,Harb; Bom Thea,Court

1328 AD – Democracy, start Steam Power. CMiss to Sala[22/23 cities]. Neap Heroic Epic, start West Point. Last gasp of Slavery: rush Court in Bomb, CMon in Cord, Court in NY, Lib in Chicago, Forge in Santiago, JTemp in Seattle. Now start revolt to USuf & Eman (5t).

1330 AD – NY Court,Gran;Cord CMon,CMiss;Sea JTmp,TPagoda;Sant Forge,BMon; Wash IMon,ITmp; Bom Court,Forge; TMiss to New York, the first 5-religion city. CMiss fails Bombay.

1332 AD – Rav CMiss,CMiss

1334 AD – Rome BMon, Statue of Liberty; Ant BMiss,BStupa; BMiss fails Neap. [SoL now 96t with little chance of GE.] Pre-revolution we have +115gpt. Revolt for USuf & Eman (but not for Pacifism, keeping the +25% building bonus while assimilating and planning conquests). TMiss to Sala.

1336 AD – Interrupt JMiss in Barc & CMiss in Pisae

1338 AD – Tokugawa declares war on Roosevelt…who has only two cities, one inside Roman territory. Toku lands a small force at Vandal, the capital. CMiss fails Bombay, the last holdout.

1344 AD – Government reestablished with USuf & Eman, +105gpt at 70%. Now do a spate of cash rushing: ***, Sea, Sant, Wash, Chic, Bost, Cord, Sev.

[Hermann the Lombard]

1346 AD – Pis Harb,CMiss; Etr JMon, JSyn; Sea Tpag, Harb; Barc JMiss,Harb; Sant BMon,BTmp; Wash ITmp,HERMITAGE; Chic Lib,HMon; Bost BMon,Gran; Cord CMiss,CMiss; Sev CMon,CMiss; Sala Thea,Lighthouse. Sell Econ to Toku for 1080gp and to Nap for 850gp. Sell Chem to Gandhi for 350+WM and to Monty for 210gp. This cleans out all the cash that all the AIs had.

1348 AD – Decline “gift” of Rep Parts to Gandhi. Toku asks for a declaration of war against Roosevelt. Darn, he twisted my arm! WAR! Toku must have lost at Vandal, his force is gone. Roos has new city (new to me, at least): Portland, north of Vandal. Madrid BMiss,BMiss. JMiss to Pisae [that’s 6 cities with Judaism].

1350 AD – Oops. I rather forgot about San Francisco, and an American catapult nails a Roman worker. Meanwhile Portland is “defended” by a single Cat and falls to the lone 7th Cavalry. I could be overextended as the American cultural border engulfs Portland, but the 2nd Cavalry joins. ChMiss to Shang[3 cities]. Prepare to rush some units, especially garrisons.

1352 AD – Shan Lib,Gren; Sea Harb,Cav; Montezuma declares war on Gandhi. Gren kills intruding catapult but is taken down to 2.6/12.

1356 AD – Rav CMiss,CMiss. Aztecs capture Bangalore. Continue slowly bringing Cannon to Vandal (it’s on a hill). Could take it without cannon, and may do so when Toku lands troops. Took SanFran without casualties. It may be silly to keep it, but it only cost me 4gpt, and we also captured 3 workers just before the arrival of steam power. BMiss to Neap[17/25]

1358 AD – Portland comes online, starts the inevitable Theater. There’s an American revolt in Portland! We’ll put a stop to THAT as cannon arrive on the hill next to Vandal. It’s overkill: 7 Cavalry, 6 Cannon and 1 Grenadier vs 4 Longbows…entrenched on a hill though.

[Hermann the Lombard]

1360 AD – Monty asks us to declare vs India; we’re not ready, so we decline (and he still shows “Pleased”). Atl LB,Uni; Tol LB,Bank. Japanese frigates soften up Vandal (thanks, Toku!) and our cannon finish reduction. 2 Cannon destroy 2 LB, to my surprise. City falls to Third Cavalry and First Knight (Cav). Keep the city, renaming it to St. Hermannsburg, captured Lighthouse & Forge.

America is destroyed! Drop back to 60% research (still Steam in 3t) at +186gpt. Mass rushing.

1362 AD – Toku attacking Delhi, but apparently with a single Catapult. Sala Lighthouse,Court; *** Uni,Obs; Neap Cav, resume West Point; Etr Musk,JSynagogue; Barc XB,Harb; Sant LB,BTemp; Chi XB,HMon; NY LB,Gran; Cord CMiss,CMiss. Switch Barc from Harb to Work Boat.

1364 AD – Monty seeks gift of Nationalism. Declined, he becomes Cautious. Madrid BMiss,Lib. We discover (or rather confirm) that Bangalore was razed.

1366 AD – Steam Power, Railroad in lieu of Rifling. Sev ChMiss,ChTmp. Discovered FOUR deposits of coal with 2 already hooked up (one is UNDER Neapolis which just missed the double header: Iron is only 2 tiles away, but on the diagonal). CMiss fails Bombay (~4th time). BMiss to Portland

1368 AD – Pisa CMiss,CMiss; Rav CMiss,TMiss; ChMiss to Madras.

1370 AD – Montezuma treacherously declares war! He would do such a thing to his co-religionist? How low, how base, how…OK, I would do it too. CMiss to SF [24/26] There’s no reasonable way to come to grips with Montezuma for now. Can kill his units in India. Can kill his frigates offshore. Send 10 Cavalry into India (hoping for no really significant attacks on my coast). CMiss to Kohlapur (which will be silly if I raze it).

1372 AD – Barc Work Boat, Harbor. Cav blunders into Aztec Grenadier outside Delhi and accidentally kills it. Prepare to rush an Ironclad in Wash to protect resources (also a Frigate in Seattle).

1374 AD – Shang Gren, ChTmp. The frigate Carthago sinks attacking Aztec frigate and a 2nd frigate flees. That Aztec Gren last turn seems to have been his last unit on land. Rush south coast warships. ChMiss to Cumae

[Hermann the Lombard]

1376 AD – Portland Thea(rushed). Aztec frigate destroys clam fishery off Wash so it’s time for revenge. Sea Frigate, resume Obs; Wash Ironclad, resume Hermitage. Ironclad RSS Washington sinks Aztec frigate without damage.

1378 AD – Pis CMiss,CMiss; Chi HMon,WBoat; RSS Washington sinks 2nd Aztec frigate and the Carthago sinks another, so the Roman Navy is 4 for 4 in recent actions.

1380 AD – Rav TMiss,CMiss; Cord ChMiss,ChTmp; Napoleon enters Golden Age. Prep for 3 Drydocks, one NE, one SE, one West. Oops! Monty has Rifling and will trade it! Might be time for peace…but not according to Monty, who won’t talk. [Look for site for Forbidden Palace.]

1382 AD – Etr JSyn,Drydock; Barc Harbor,Drydock; Vand Thea,Court; Chi WBoat,WBoat; NY Gran,Lib. CMiss fails Portland. Toku “urges” Mercantilism, declined but gave him 50gp.

1384 AD – Atl Uni,Barr; Sant BTmp,Gran; Port&Vand expand, filling in gaps. ChMiss to SF. Yes, we have Monasteries for all 7 religions, so go ahead with Sci Method.

1386 AD – Pis CMiss,CMiss; Tol Bank,Barr. 20 Million Romans!

1390 AD – Ant Bud Stupa, Cav; Wash HERMITAGE, Drydock; SF Thea,Court; TMiss to Portland

1392 AD – Rav CMiss,TMiss; Sev CTmp,BMiss; Chi WBoat,HTmp; Cord Gran,ChTmp. CMiss to Lahore.

1396 AD – Madrid Lib,Bank; Michael Faraday born in Rome (alas! A GE would be so much more useful). Burn immediately: +6588 toward Sci Method, will be ready in 4 turns…but finish Railroads first.

1398 AD – Nappy demands Xcl with India, decline but grant Rice for 1gpt. Pis CMiss,CMiss; Shang ChTmp,ChMon; Sea Obs,Barr; Sant Gran, Barr…several barracks under construction for near-future use.

1400/1402 AD – Atl Barr,Obs; Tol Barr,Grocer

1404 AD – Rav TMiss,TMiss; CMiss to Tours(1st overseas missionary in a while, now 8/9 French cities). CMiss fails Portland (so 24/26 Roman cities).

1406 AD – Railroad, Scientific Method; Pis CMiss, CMiss

1408 AD – Sea Barr,Drydock. TMiss fails SF