Lurker > Emeraldegg

Carthage and Mongolia have teamed up against me and declared war, but...I don't see any soldiers near any of my cities? Jenne, the outpost city, is most in danger just because it's on the same continent, but I'm working on building that army up as well, and I'm going to have one of my cities start on a navy posthaste.

Meanwhile, we have beaten back the Indonesian siege and are approaching their capital of Jakarta. They will rue the day.
---

I'm a greener egg than the eggs from dr. seuss

It's as I suspected, Indonesia was ready to swoop in while I was exhausted from the Aztec Wars. They have declared war on us with an army in the plains. Unfortunately for them, I anticipated this. Our cavalry from the previous campaign has recovered, so the plan is for the smaller force that's guarding the capital to hold the line, and we're building more units to support them. Meanwhile, our cavalry will ride up on their flank to take the rear where their ranged units are. This open terrain gives my more nimble units the advantage.

https://i.imgur.com/ZBa04SF.png
---

I'm a greener egg than the eggs from dr. seuss

ShatteredElysium posted...

Yeah, I never got to that part because I had always defeated all the other nations by that point.

Which is something you should be doing Emerald. Don't know how you manage to show so much restraint, I would be full on warmongering all the time.

It's not that I'm showing restraint, it's that I just don't have much experience playing war civs, and my natural inclination is to be friends with everyone, so it's a bit out of my comfort zone. However, fear not, for I feel if Indonesia continues to ramp up hostilities then I will be forced to erase them and take sole control of the continent.
---

I'm a greener egg than the eggs from dr. seuss

At last, those filthy aztecs have been wiped from the earth. After the first Aztec War, we proceeded to launch another attack on their capital, but they decided to placate us by offering up Tlaetlolco. We accepted and waited for the peace treaty to expire again, before launching the final attack on Tenochtitlan. Eventually, after a good deal of resistance, we emerged victorious! Times were very trying, with our unhappiness reaching record highs, but we managed to get it somewhat under control. Our economy is booming, with us bringing in nearly 100 Gold per turn.

Our initial plan was to keep Tlaetlolco and raze the capital due to lolco having a good deal of resources, and having both cities would catapult our unhappiness up again, but upon capturing the capital we realized you can't raze capitals. But I don't want to raze lolco, so we devised another plan. We are keeping both cities, and we ceded the our far east city to Morocco, both as a means to cut down on our population (and therefore unhappiness) and to maybe curry favor with them and keep them off our backs. They even gave us a good haul of resources and gold in exchange, and the only reason I settled there was because they took my original spot anyway. I'm not attached to it.

Our relationships with other civs are degrading some. Indonesia continues to hold our preaching against us for that ONE TIME, and we got intel at some point that they were plotting against us. Meanwhile, several other civs believe that we are expanding too rapidly/worrying about our warmongering. It could be prudent to invest in a navy once I get our empire back under control and stable again. I will likely send the army, once recovered, to guard the indonesian border.

https://i.imgur.com/NNHEZ4I.png
Here's the state of what used to be Aztec territory. We now control the entire bottom half of the western continent.

https://i.imgur.com/Z8G6q0k.png
Taghaza is the territory we ceded over to Morocco. Fes was the area I had planned to settle before they beat me there (specifically on the horses southeast of Fes). Now we don't have to worry about Mongolia wanting our territory, it's Morocco's problem now. Meanwhile, our city of Jenne on the eastern continent is flourishing well, we just have to make sure to build up the army there a bit to protect against any possible moroccan invasion.
---

I'm a greener egg than the eggs from dr. seuss

Our war with the Aztecs has ended for the time being. Just as we were successfully laying siege to Teotihuacan, they decided to offer it as a sign of peace, which is preferable to forcibly taking it over as it loses all sorts of infrastructure that i'd have to rebuild. However, our aggression is not through. We currently have a defensive line blocking the chokepoint next to the Aztec Mountains, until we're ready to continue our offensive. The peace treaty has already expired so we can proceed at any time, but we're taking some time to get our empire under control as we were pretty unhappy for a while, and our treasury was suffering as well. We also want to get some scouts near Indonesia and Mongolia, as we angered Indonesia by preaching to them, while we received intel from Morocco that Mongolia was plotting against us. We just want to be sure that we won't be leaving ourselves vulnerable by continuing our campaign against the Aztecs.

https://i.imgur.com/Qt6Q2yN.png

Here is a picture of our defensive wall. You can see where that enemy crossbowman is, there is a huge mountain range blocking off Teotihuacan from Tenochtitlan. That gives us an advantage until we're ready to go on the offensive.
---

I'm a greener egg than the eggs from dr. seuss

The Battle of Teotihuacan is proving more difficult than expected. Just as they had trouble laying siege across difficult terrain, we are having the same issue. However, as we end for the night, we are on the verge of a breakthrough with 2 trebuchets in firing position, supported by a force of Mandelaku Cavalry, Pikemen, and Crossbowmen. Even with its now boosted defense, I believe we can finally take the city.

Meanwhile, I'm starting to build up a small force on the Moroccan border, as they have a few units near our border and it's worrisome. There are no red indicators, but there were none with the Aztecs when they backstabbed me, so fool me once...

Economy wise, we were struggling with happiness for a bit, but we have since stabilized and are enjoying game-high approval rates. We finished the Honor tree which has been helping our coffers every time we kill an Aztec. Meanwhile, across the oceans, we discovered the last civilization, Babylon. They and the Zulus are at war. And because we discovered every civ and finished the Printing Press tech, we get to be the first host for the world congress! Our first proposal was going to be embargo Aztecs, but it would upset morocco and I don't want to antagonize them, so we settled for Scholars in Residence (civs get techs 20% faster if someone else has researched it, useful for us as our science is lacking.)
---

I'm a greener egg than the eggs from dr. seuss

Those backstabbing Aztec fools. I shouldn't be surprised, they declared war on us under the guise of friendship. Their forces are fierce, but they underestimated the power of money. While I initially only had a pikeman manning the Citadel, soon I had several Cavalry and Archers backing him up, and the Citadel itself proved to be an utterly prescient decision as it's helped us fend off and push back the charge, to the point that now we have the advantage. I will use this time to fortify my army, then I will push ahead and take their city of Tenochtitlan. They will regret double crossing me.

Also Morocco pissed me off by settling an area that i had a settler in on the eastern continent, so I've been forced to move northward between that new city and the Mongol capital. It's not a bad spot, it will allow us more resources and has a diverse tileset, but it's just annoying.
---

I'm a greener egg than the eggs from dr. seuss

We're good friends with the Mongols, but god damn is it annoying when you spend 20 turns on a wonder, that 2 city states want you to build, only for your friend civ to complete it 2 turns before you.
---

I'm a greener egg than the eggs from dr. seuss

This world has quite a lot of yet-unsettled land. We send a warrior east past morocco and discover Genghis Khan and the Mongolians. Further north of him is the Zulus.

Meanwhile, Carthage launched an attack on Morocco and ALMOST captured their capital, but a last minute defense boost managed to stave off the attack. Glad carthage wasted that army cause it was a good size.
---

I'm a greener egg than the eggs from dr. seuss

Our 2 cities continue to grow well. We completed the Statue of Zeus, which will certainly come in handy when we decide to get more aggressive (+15% combat bonus when attacking cities). After some overseas exploration, we discover another continent to the southeast where Carthage and Morocco reside. There's also some prime real estate with Lake Victoria (Natural wonder providing +6 food, where were all these wonders last game?) unclaimed, so we decided to buy a settler and get down there before either civ claims it. Thus, the city of Jenne has been founded! Some good resources around it as well. The one downside to my civ right now, is I have no source of iron.

https://i.imgur.com/hIeTxu4.png

Meanwhile, we are somehow good friends with the Aztecs. They asked us for gold and we gave it to them to try and keep them off our backs. Tombouctu is well protected by the natural landscape, so to further facilitate its defense, we generated a great general via social policies and placed a citadel to where it didn't steal Aztec territory, but it put our border right on theirs. Now if they want to attack (not that there are indications but, you know, trying to be proactive) they'll have to march all the way up the left side across 2 rivers. I can set up quite a defensive line in the future.

https://i.imgur.com/VzY0g5h.png
---

I'm a greener egg than the eggs from dr. seuss

Things are going pretty well so far. There's been plenty of barbarian encampments so we're pretty rich for the early game. We discovered the Aztecs to the southwest of Uluru a decent distance away, and we discovered Indonesia to the west. We got a free worker by clearing out an encampment with a settler that belonged with indonesia, we kept it to ourselves.

We started out the Honor policy tree for the barbarian bonus, but then pivoted to Liberty for the free settler. After marching down to the coast near uluru, settled TIMBUK---I mean, TOMBOUCTU right on some horses in the area. The placement will allow us to eventually have more wine, some marble, and Uluru. There is considerably more productive tiles than Gao has, along with some fish for growth, so I anticipate our 2nd city to grow quite quickly.
---

I'm a greener egg than the eggs from dr. seuss

We begin our game next to a river surrounded by wine. Although we almost settled immediately, our warrior discovered the coast east of us, so we decide to hold off a couple turns and get a coastal city. The terrain is mostly plains, so production will be a bit tough to come by early on, but we'll try our best to make it work.

We discover Hong kong to the south, and behold! Uluru again! AND a barbarian encampment! We are currently trying to clear that encampment, and if there's no one else to the west of Uluru I'm thinking the coast near there would be a good spot for a 2nd settlement.

https://i.imgur.com/VXlOf2e.png
---

I'm a greener egg than the eggs from dr. seuss

So now that I've cooled off a bit and thought more about what went wrong, I'd like to just throw my thoughts out here.

I think in general, and it really bit me this game, I have a bad habit of completely ignoring military needs until it's too late. I knew the Shoshone were mad at me the moment I settled Barcelona, and yet I decided to focus on city development the entire time, and I was powerless to stop their attack. I need to be careful that even if I'm not an aggro civ, it doesn't hurt to at least have a token force early on to help ward off enemies. It helps with barbarians too. I also made a big tactical mistake I think, blinded by anger at losing barcelona, in continuing the war after taking Goshute. Even if I was unaware of Poland's impending offensive, it would have been better for me to do a cease fire, then perhaps try to move my units through/around the city states so that I could strike Barcelona more directly without having to take Milan. It really did a number on my forces and I had to spend several turns recovering them, while poland marched on my capital. Taking Milan was itself also a poor move because it was under several civ's protection, so had I lived i"d have been faced with the ramifications of that later on. Now I know at least that I can't raze city-states.

I also tend to look at the scoreboard too much and let it affect my decision making, same with demographics. The score is meaningless, especially early on when the AI has so many advantages. I need to focus purely on my surroundings and not "oh man I need to build a wonder so I can not be last on the scoreboard." There were a couple times that game where I devoted 20+ turns to wonders (namely pyramids) when I might have been better working on the other basic civ needs, like libraries and markets and trade routes.

I also should have made a 3rd settler much earlier. I kept putting off doing that because I was trying to find one more good coastal spot, and by the time I saw it was all taken, the Shoshone had worked their way there and settled it.

Overall, I need to just keep a better head and not get irritated when things don't go like I want. Even the fact that this was basically a land only map tilted me a little bit (though that's mostly because I feel like the game lied about the type of map it would be). Another scenario, was that the water up north was blocked on one side by ice, but the area to the east by the ottomans was blocked by their borders and unexplored, so I spent many turns waiting to get open borders, finally get my trireme over there, and it's...ice. Completely blocked in. Another example, after the Shoshone demanded I stop settling near them, I agreed and fulfilled that promise. So I decided to be cheeky later on, right before they settled goshute in a last ditch effort to stop them from settling it, and I demanded they not settle near us. They got all offended like HOW DARE YOU ASK US TO DO THE SAME THING WE ASKED YOU TO DO. It just pissed them off more, and maybe war could have been avoided if I hadn't OFFENDED them like that. Just little stuff that I need to keep a better eye on and not let it get under my skin so much.

So yeah, that's my analysis of that game and my playing habits in general. Gonna try to do better from now on.
(A side gripe, I wish the extra maps that were DLC had a random option so I didn't know which was played right off the bat, most of them are based on real life landmasses, aka like earth, and I don't wanna know exactly how the landmasses are as I feel it detracts some. I might just do random on the basic maps after this, at least that provides a little more suspense, we'll see.)
---

I'm a greener egg than the eggs from dr. seuss

Songhai! Another aggro civ. Let's take a look at their traits:
Passive: River warlords - Gain triple gold from barbarian encampments and pillaging cities. Land units get the "Amphibious" (No penalty when attacking from water) and "war canoe" (embarked units see farther and defend better) promotions.

Units: Mandekalu Cavalry (replaces the knight) - No penalty attacking cities like other mounted units, cheaper production cost, other normal knight traits
Mud Pyramid Mosque (replaces the temple) - No gold upkeep cost, +2 culture, other normal temple benefits

So yeah, guess I'll be hoping for horses early on.
---

I'm a greener egg than the eggs from dr. seuss

Welp, I'm ending the game. I was gonna play to turn 200 before stopping tonight, and in that time from 187, Poland took the capital, has way too many troops that are a tier ahead of mine. They have it completely swarmed. Poland has earned my eternal ire in any subsequent playthrough. Not gonna waste any more time, that game seemed doomed from the get go tbh. The breaking point was like, I guess I could have stopped the war with the Shoshone after Goshute and had troops more ready to go, but although I saw Poland amassing troops, I thought they were going after America because they asked us to go to war with them. And even if I had my whole meager army, Poland's army was just too massive. So let's start anew! We'll play this new game on the "continents plus" map

Beaten the game:
Germany
Netherlands
Sweden
Poland
Denmark

Failed:
Aztecs (2nd place)
Spain (Last place)

Rolls
---

I'm a greener egg than the eggs from dr. seuss

So it turns out you can't raze city-states, so that sucks. Stuck with a city I don't really want now. For now, I'm going to make it a puppet to help with happiness. Gonna stop here for the night, but when I resume I must decide if I want to end the war now and allow for a breather, or continue on and try to take Barcelona back. I really miss Uluru.

Oh well, guess the decision is made for me. Poland has backstabbed us and declared war, and has an army very close to the Capital. I'll have no choice but to end the Shoshone war, pull my army back and try to fend them off.
---

I'm a greener egg than the eggs from dr. seuss

Goshute is ours, after a long standoff while we were waiting for reinforcements and additional siege units. Unfortunately, both Bratislava and Milan stand in our way of retaking Barcelona. We have decided to, after allowing for some time to rest and recover our soldiers, to take Milan and burn it to the ground to allow for Barcelona to grow once we retake it. We can't go between them, it would be suicide to do so.

https://i.imgur.com/3KFcXfa.png

It's a good thing I select tithe as one of my beliefs for my religion, as it's been the only thing keeping our economy afloat right now. And even that is reaching its limits as the Ottomans have been busy religiously.
---

I'm a greener egg than the eggs from dr. seuss

Well that went poorly. Somehow, the Shoshone turned Milan against me and they squished Barcelona and took it over. Tremendous, game's going great.

For now, I'm going to build up forces and go directly south for Goshute, in the plains that should have been mine in the first place.
---

I'm a greener egg than the eggs from dr. seuss

Okay well, after some time building up an army of catapults to seige the Shoshone with, they decided THEY needed more living space, and are trying a hostile takeover. Guess it's a good thing I built those units, and now I have an excuse to wipe them from the face of the continent.
---

I'm a greener egg than the eggs from dr. seuss

oh my god
---

I'm a greener egg than the eggs from dr. seuss

Hmmm, interesting. According to the internet, you can either hit "ctrl+r" or at the bottom right of the screen next to the map, there should be some sort of icon that looks like paper or a list and you can toggle it from there.

Edit: Paulg to the rescue
---

I'm a greener egg than the eggs from dr. seuss

If the icons for the resources aren't physically showing up in the picture where I described them, there's not much I can do. They show up for me. I can of course take another one later but like, if it's in the picture, but they aren't visible to him for some reason, then I can't really fix that.
---

I'm a greener egg than the eggs from dr. seuss

I'm not sure quite what you mean? If you're asking how to tell which are luxury resources, afaik you just kinda have to know if you aren't playing the game which ones are. In game, it tells you what's what when you hover over it.

In that picture, right below Barcelona is Spices. Immediately to the top left is Sugar. The gold rings are Gold. The oranges off to the left are Citrus. At the very top next to the gold is Furs. Everything else is strategic resources, which are still useful but they are more for improving your empire's food/production than they are about granting happiness.
---

I'm a greener egg than the eggs from dr. seuss

Well, I probably waited too long to get a worker and improve some resources, cause I spent a good chunk of time unhappy last night, so I wanted to get my empire under control before I focused on military. Also, barbarians, despite my downplaying them, had been a real nuisance as well.

I think part of the reason I was so frustrated last night, besides the Shoshone, was that I was expecting multiple continents (as the ingame description of Fractal says "often forms long, snaky continents) but instead this appears to be one giant landmass with nary an island even, so I spent all this time searching the coasts for a suitable spot and there's literally no room to do so. It's just not what I'm used to. But I will persevere, part of this project is getting out of my comfort zone, need to get used to land-only play.

I'm also at a crossroads on where to proceed policy-wise. I maxed out tradition, I'm torn between Honor or Piety. Honor to help with my hopefully imminent invasion of the Shoshone, Piety to help press my current religion advantage. I'm a bit timid on a faith build because I never really make faith a focus, I usually get it all from city states and just use it to purchase great people or happiness buildings, I've never really been in a spot where I could press it before.
---

I'm a greener egg than the eggs from dr. seuss

Yep, this game is very frustrating so far. Just as I start working on a settler, the shoshone settle the plains south of Madrid. They are so dead.
---

I'm a greener egg than the eggs from dr. seuss

So we discovered the final 2 civs, Japan and China off further west of America.

We've been having some barbarian trouble, and one stole one of my workers. The Shoshone then managed to garner and eternal grudge by swooping in at the last second, clearing the encampment, and taking my worker and not returning it. They will pay in time, but I am not happy.

I'm not super thrilled with any remaining known locations for our 3rd city. The plains below Madrid look like the best/easiest option, but I really want a coastal city that borders the lower waters, as we appear to be landlocked by ice in the waters near Madrid.

We also founded the first religion, thanks to Uluru granting +20 faith per turn (we took the pantheon that goes off natural wonders, which I read stacks with Spain's passive).
---

I'm a greener egg than the eggs from dr. seuss

Uluru is ours after all!...but at what cost?

https://i.imgur.com/YuCUVqo.png

That is a heckin cramped city. I hope it works out, I have a feeling the Shoshone will not be very happy with me. How did I get the settler fast enough you ask? Thank the liberty policy tree!

We ran into America, The Iroquois, The Ottomans, and Poland (again!) in short order. My capital is to the northwest, the Shoshone to the southeast, America to the west, Iroquois to the southwest, and Poland to the south. Quite a populated continent! I have several scouts out, and I went ahead and researched sailing to send a trireme out, to hunt for more natural wonders.
---

I'm a greener egg than the eggs from dr. seuss

Alright so let's get started! We spawn on the coast with quite a good tileset in the immediate vicinity. Flood plains for lots of food, 2 gold tiles, and 1 marble tile. There is desert farther out but hey, good for the short game. We send out warrior south east and OH HEY IT'S ULURU (for those not familiar with Civ, it's a natural wonder that gives food and faith).

100 gold

...oh. Someone found it already on turn FIVE. We continue on that same direction and discover that it's the Shoshone. Great. Gonna be starved for territory early on unless I can pump out another settler pronto.

In addition, While there appear to be fertile lands to the east of Uluru, Uluru itself is squished in between city states to the north and south of it. I really doubt I'll be able to get a city in that location fast enough and be able to buy the tiles necessary fast enough. We'll see I guess. It's only turn 10!
---

I'm a greener egg than the eggs from dr. seuss

Is there a particular thing the gold should be used on that early?
---

I'm a greener egg than the eggs from dr. seuss

Indeed, the power of wireless headsets compels me!
---

I'm a greener egg than the eggs from dr. seuss

Isabella of Spain! Not very familiar with them, let's take a look!
Civ ability: 7 Cities of Gold -- Get 100 gold each time you discover a natural wonder, 500 if you're the first to discover it. Double happiness, culture, and tile yields from discovering natural wonders.

Special units:
Tercio (replaces Musketman): Extra combat strength (26 v 24), bonus vs mounted units (like a pikeman), slightly more expensive in production. (so basically a combo of a pikeman and a musketman, though the pikeman trait is lost when the unit is upgraded)
Conquistador (replaces Knight): Mounted, extra sight (2 extra spaces), double strength when in water, no penalty attacking cities, slightly more expensive in production. CAN SETTLE CITIES!!

Holy cow, a combat unit that doubles as a settler, that sounds super neat. They sound like an exploration based civ which, as I pointed out in the previous post, I like exploration! I hope I get some use out of these units, as the denmark game I not once used either special unit. I am pretty psyched about this.
---

I'm a greener egg than the eggs from dr. seuss

THE DANES ARE VICTORIOUS

We did it! We completed a spaceship and won the game! France was making a powerplay for a citystate so I guess we'll never know if they'd have taken Almaty/Heliopolis. Still amazed at China just going ham at the end. We ended the game 3rd in score behind Austria and Portugal, who took a huge jump after taking Beijing and their like 20 world wonders.

Thoughts on the game, I think that's the last time I'm gonna play on Earth because it's predictable, unless I do random. It kinda took some suspense out of my favorite part of the game, exploration, because I could guess the general locations of the landmasses. Key moment, definitely managing to get France/Portugal/Indonesia/Denmark vs Portugal going, as that reined in Austria just enough for the win. They were pretty close as it was to a science AND diplomatic victory, there's no telling how much 4 extra cities would have helped.
Updated standings:

Beaten the game:
Germany
Netherlands
Sweden
Poland
Denmark

Failed:
Aztecs (2nd place)

So what next? I won't be starting a new game tonight but let's go ahead and roll for the next civ! I already decided I'll be playing on the Fractal game map for this one:
*rolls*
---

I'm a greener egg than the eggs from dr. seuss

The game is nearing a conclusion, as I am closing in on the last tech I need to complete a science victory. On top of building the hubble space telescope, which gives me a free spaceship victory, I've got Copenhagen and Thebes ready to go with Nuclear Plants to help with production once techs are ready. Meanwhile, a lot has happened in the world.

Portugal, indonesia, and india all declared war on China, and Portugal has them down to their last city. China is done for, so what do they do? NUKE THE HELL OUT OF INDIA. Holy **** they nuked 2 of their 3 cities, good riddance China. I would be pretty scared of Portugal at this point because they own most of Asia, but with them so far away from me and me being so close to a spaceship, they wouldn't have enough time even if they hated me. On top of that, Maria v Maria round 2 is gonna be happening soon, so that'll be the perfect distraction.

Edit: AND THEY JUST NUKED THEIR OWN FORMER CAPITAL OF BEIJING

Double edit: Noooooo, our uber spy that basically stole all of China was finally killed trying to steal from Austria. Dude almost made it the whole game. o7 Mette, o7
---

I'm a greener egg than the eggs from dr. seuss

Portugal must have been stomping China because China's city where Russia would be was at half health before China negotiated a cease-fire. Soon after, Austria turned against its former ally and declared war, prompting China to cease war against Indonesia as well.

We are the first to get a spaceship part! I am pretty much devoting most of my cities to research at this point, we are raking in 300+ gold per turn and we still have our navy near Ragusa, as well as a couple of scout ships over by hong kong, thebes, and copenhagen. If someone tries to sneak attack me, I will simply buy out units to counter. Also, China threatened us with an atomic bomb so we built one of our own, just in case. The Alliance showed fear in response, but we have done more than should be necessary to gain their favor, so they should be fine. We are starting to get a couple of "They covet lands youc urrently own" though, so it's a situation to monitor.
---

I'm a greener egg than the eggs from dr. seuss

Okay everyone, you can laugh at me for this. Usually when I play civ, my capital is my main trade city. However, in this game, Aarhus has the east india company so I put all the cargo ships there. As a result, because there's no trading in the capital, I neglected to build a harbor until it clicked in my head a couple of turns ago...I didn't realize that the capital needed a harbor with the other cities in order to form a city connection. I thought my game was legit bugged because I had harbors everywhere but the capital...so I built a harbor and lo and behold, like 4 city connections happened! I'm so friggin dumb.

Also Indonesia and Portugal declared war on China, and Portugal took China's coastal city where real life china would be.

We got the 3rd tier of the Order Ideology, though I was tempted to go with +34% tourism to order civs (aka everyone but china) with less happiness than me (I have 60+ happiness), we decided to go with the ability to finish spaceship parts with great engineers, as Austria and us are the only ones who have completed the apollo program. So I think we're gonna officially go for a science victory.
---

I'm a greener egg than the eggs from dr. seuss

So with us transitioning into the endgame, let's take a look at the state of the world shall we?
Score order:
China > Austria > Denmark > Portugal > France > Indonesia > India
China and Austria are neck and neck, as are Denmark and Portugal, and France and Indonesia. India is in a bad way, I feel like their starting spot up in the north pole basically was atrocious.

Politically, we are still friends with almost everyone (including austria!), but China has denounced everyone. Even Austria, it's labeled them as having backstabbed Austria, so maybe they will turn on each other.

In terms of victory conditions, we are a few techs behind Austria, but not massively like we were with Poland. We currently have the 2nd most delegates in the world congress, and we are seeing some continual jockeying from several civs, so that should be interesting. We are in the lead for domination since we destroyed Egypt, but I don't anticipate going for a dom victory. The resources needed would be too high. Culturally, we are a distant 3rd behind Austria and China, but we are no slouches ourselves, so I don't anticipate either of them achieving a culture victory before science/diplomacy happens. If I absolutely have to, I have an advantage culturally because I have maxed out the Aesthetics policy tree, so we get bonuses to our tourism that most other civs won't.

https://i.imgur.com/qJOEBRQ.png

Here is a shot of the main battleground of the Alliance War, btw. You can see Ragusa at the top left and Lyon in the middle, the issue I was running into was that I initially tried to sail my forces in that narrow channel next to Florence, but I didn' realize that cities stopped unit movement the same way enemy units do. So what ended up happening was my ships would get pounded in a neat line before they could cross florence into the channel's safety. I managed to sneak one frigate and one submarine in there before calling off the attack and focusing on Hong Kong, then Ragusa. Meanwhile, I sent up some artillery and gatling guns up from Thebes (located in south africa) through friendly french territory to pelt Lyon and help defend Paris until I decided to move a scout there and take Lyon and end the war.
---

I'm a greener egg than the eggs from dr. seuss

Logged in and happened to check the ezas, cause I had like 11 stages of agl rose to do, and saw I had like an hour left, managed to power through them. Whoops
---

I'm a greener egg than the eggs from dr. seuss

North coast of real life europe
---

I'm a greener egg than the eggs from dr. seuss

The Alliance War has come to a conclusion. Portugal abandoned their attack on the real-world equivalent of Australia, seemingly content with their earlier acquisition of Bogota from Austria. France left the war soon after, ungrateful curs. I spent many turns bombarding their former city of Lyon, and rather than press the attack and take it back themselves, they retreat to lick their wounds. Eventually however, I was able to move a melee unit (a scout) over to take Lyon over, which I promptly ceded back to France, if for nothing else than to let them take the brunt of any potential further conflict. Additionally...

We succeeded in taking the coastal city of Ragusa, formerly a city-state wed to Austria. Breaching their defenses was no trouble at all, however they had a rather large amount of military forces ready to re-take the city once i captured it the first time. It took several turns to get another ironclad over there and take it back, this time with the full naval might of my battleships ready to mow down the Austrian army as they approached. Once we took ragusa for good, and took Lyon, we immediately negotiated a cease-fire to prevent retaliation. In total, Austria lost Bogota, Hong Kong, Lyon, and Ragusa from their territory. A successful campaign!

The World congress has graduated to nominating world leaders on alternating sessions. Austria was going to become host, with ourselves being 2 votes short, so we decided to put our votes towards keeping Indonesia host, as they are among our closest friends, and doing so keeps Austria out of the seat of power.
---

I'm a greener egg than the eggs from dr. seuss

Indonesia has left the war, but I do not begrudge them as the entirety of their conflict was against Hong Kong. Now that Hong Kong is no longer under Austrian control, they don't really have any other forces near the conflict.

Meanwhile, the embargoes passed congress, so now Austria and China are embargoed, which is a double whammy because it means they can no longer trade with each other either. They are pretty much limited to city states that aren't at war with them, the total of which can probably be counted on one hand.
---

I'm a greener egg than the eggs from dr. seuss

Picking up where we left off, we diverted our navy to attack the coastal city of Hong Kong and help our Indonesian allies. We ran into a bit of a bump after stumbling on a small force of Austrian submarines, but they were taken care of in short order. Although most of the work was done by Indonesia, we decided to finish off HK and take it for ourselves. We have done much for Indonesia, so although they may eventually covet this land, they'll just have to get over it.

In the meantime, the Alliance may be starting to fracture, as Portugal is plotting against Indonesia. Hopefully we can stay together a while longer, long enough to rein Austria in. The upcoming world congress votes should help us, as the 2 proposals on the table are to embargo both Austria and China. That should force them to be more limited in their trade options, which will hopefully affect their economy.

Also, Austria was so unhappy due to everyone else but China following the order ideology that they revolted and forced their government into order.

https://i.imgur.com/RSDHzxj.png
---

I'm a greener egg than the eggs from dr. seuss

pezzicle posted...

HE DOES GO ON A RAMPAGE

he literally murders like 20 Fireflies at the thought of them killing Ellie. Of course if she had died in another context he would have done the same

You must have joined late but I put out in the open earlier in the topic that I've never played tlou, merely that I was invested. Please don't get so ill with me.
---

I'm a greener egg than the eggs from dr. seuss

Oh sure, I don't disagree that he would be a psychopath should he do those things, but that's not really what I was asking. I was asking if his character traits would make him do what abby did in the first place were the roles reversed.

Either way, it sounds like the devs are trying to push the narrative that abby is somehow justified, when in reality it's quite plausible that joel and abby could BOTH be villains. Like, having one villain kill another doesn't really make the 2nd villain more sympathetic imo.
---

I'm a greener egg than the eggs from dr. seuss

So I'm curious. The dilemma here seems to be that Abby acted out irrationally, not even asking Joel why he did what he did and going above and beyond what he seems to have "deserved," and for that she is being labeled as a psychopath. Would Joel have done the same thing if someone had actually killed Ellie? Would he have gone on a rampage against anyone involved, or would he have listened to their reasoning, especially if it was for "the good of the world"?

Basically I'm asking if joel were in abby's shoes, and ellie died in place of abby's father, woudl joel have acted the same way?
---

I'm a greener egg than the eggs from dr. seuss

Having not played any of these games but being invested in this ****show, is there any reason given why joel killed her father?
---

I'm a greener egg than the eggs from dr. seuss

Couldn't you still get vault progress towards wildcards?
---

I'm a greener egg than the eggs from dr. seuss

Sorry that came off as like, "lol you guys wasting your time doing cubes" I didn't mean it like that. I meant it for me personally.
---

I'm a greener egg than the eggs from dr. seuss

I won't be doing any cubes as the big message that tells me I don't get to keep the cards is like...why bother
---

I'm a greener egg than the eggs from dr. seuss

We haven't made much headway in terms of territory in the Alliance War, but we have made quite a dent in their logistics, as we have ships cutting their territories in two, with the ships sitting in the canal between them picking off units.

The issue is that Ragusa and Florence, two coastal city states that were our primary targets, suddenly ramped up their city defense to where our current forces were inadequate. However, we now have battleships, and have switched our target to Hong Kong, which currently sits north of us and next to Indonesia. Indonesia has been pelting Hong Kong consistently, so we have decided make that our new immediate target for our remade military to speed that invasion up, as we have deemed it wiser to focus on targets one at a time as a group.

Meanwhile, Portugal took over the city-state of Bogota, who was allied with Austria. Hopefully our new strategy leads to better results, before our allies decide to end the conflict.

While all of this is going on, the International Games are going on! We have decided to dedicate two of our cities to that, we should be able to reap some good rewards from that. Meanwhile, Copenhagen will continue battleship production, while Thebes will continue building itself up as a city. It still has a bit of catching up to do after its conquering.
---

I'm a greener egg than the eggs from dr. seuss

The time has come. Austria overran France's front lines and captured their city of Lyon after a long time starving them. Portugal and Indonesia both approached me about going to war with them, and I agreed in 10 turns. Luckily I have some funds built up in the treasury, and the overall production of my empire has really gotten higher since I've built factories in them. I feel liek I can pump out at least a token force in those 10 turns. That will make France, Indonesia, Portugal, and us Danes all against Austria. Now is the perfect time to try and take back some of Austria's overwhelming territory.

As for the strategy, I think I'm going to make my primary target the former city-state of Ragusa, as they're easily accessible on the coast for my already existing navy.
---

I'm a greener egg than the eggs from dr. seuss