510 AD - I suffered no new attacks during the IBT, but the situation in the south continues to look grim.
Rudder will likely fall, and the Commercial will probably head to Broken Mast after that. Seeing how hopeless the situation is there, I switch Broken Mast to a Spearman and Oar to an Archer - walls in Broken Mast would help my enemy more than I. Ah, Broken Mast - how little triumphant the name seems now!
Bills comes under attack this turn. The odds should be narrowly in my favor.
But it turns out the odds are 100% for the Commercial this turn. They have at least 3 Spearmen and an Archer in the city. I win half of the two battles I opt to fight, and have the third Swordsman fight and lose to the Spearman northwest of my attacking stack. My reinforcements fight their way forward, and find more Commercial reinforcements.
Three Swordsmen and an Archer - they could kill my entire stack. I again opt to take the river-crossing penalty on the attack, and move my force directly west across the river and out of the enemy Swordsmen's range. More reinforcements continue to move in behind them.
The battle then turns to Profit, a city I've been wishing to raze ever since its establishment.
Losses are small, and the city is burned. A Settler is on the way to resettle and restore the region to its rightful rulers.
Finally, up north, the Commercial Warrior is dealt with.
Their Swordsman will weaken himself against Bright Future, or Lack of a Future as it is to him, and if he survives, will be finished off by my Swordsman.
Rudder, sure enough, comes under attack the next turn, and despite a decent defensive showing, falls.
The Sailors also land an Archer near Greek Fire.
The city is near hopeless - the Dromons will redline the poor Spearman before the Archer attacks. The river prevents my Swordsman in Mizzen Sail from attacking the Archer, and even sending the Swordsman to the city probably is a temporary solution with that many Dromons around. I try it anyways - where's a Chariot when you need one?
On the good side, the culture pop in Greek Fire this turn exposed a coast across the way. There could be more civilizations there! Or just a huge Naval colony. But I won't be finding out till this war's over - the eastern seas are thoroughly off limits for me now.
My Swordsmen are attacked outside of Bills, and one falls. I still have four ready to attack. The Commercial Swordsmen that I thought would go after Broken Mast seem to be coming this way instead - Bills could well become the epicenter of this war.
Mountain Wheat fends off another attack, and while my Spearman at Bright Future loses, their Swordsman is redlined. Things seem to have stabilized somewhat.
The western seas are still Dromon-free, and my Curragh completes its circumnavigation of the Militarists this turn! The poor land-dwellers are islandbound!
So much for free units being a blessing - the whole point of it is to conquer on land. The Seafaring, meanwhile, are forced to do just that. Starting location has dealt both a cruel twist of fate.
I attack Bills again in 520.
After two losses to start the combat, I decide I don't want this river penalty anymore. My reinforcements fight to gain the far shore.
Eight Swordsmen and a Spearman are revealed upon my advance. I decide I don't actually want to give up the river penalty after all, and move my troops into river-penalty position once more.
The greek fire attack on Greek Fire turns out to be less damaging than I feared, and my units aren't all redlined. But the Swordsman still dies in defence, and another Archer is landed. The city isn't safe yet.
So long as they're on an island, I won't fear them that much. Sure they'll be a pain to invade, but I won't bother trying that.
I manage to kill two enemy Swordsmen in the desert, but they retake their ground. This battle is far from determined.
And out west, the Commercial capture my Curragh. Capture? Since when could you capture a ship? Enslave, sure, but capture? Well, apparently you capture any zero defence unit you can build. So the Commercial captured my Curragh.
The Third Battle of Bills begins in 530 AD. I am fairly confident in my ability to take the city, if not settle the battle.
That changes when my first three Swordsmen all die to little avail. Only three more remain within attacking range. Crikey those Spearmen are good! I switch strategies to attacking their offensive units.
I lose one unit in the offensive. Another four Swordsmen and two Spearmen are revealed. I defeat the units immediately NW of Bills as well, and can do no more there this turn.
My only other military move is to attack one of the Archers outside Greek Fire and to reinforce it with a Catapult.
My Swordsman loses no hitpoints, and I'm beginning to think perhaps I can fend off this threat.
So with no other means to advance my cause, I found the city of Incensed Hills on the old site of Profit, and end my turn.
Near Bills, the Commercial manage to take out three of my Swordsmen the next turn.
They do not attack my forces directly north of Bills. If I ever start winning there, I might take the city yet.
They also are greatly lured by my forces advancing from Incensed Hills.
They lose one Swordsman to my stout defence. Looks like this could become a new main front.
At this point I'm still unsure whether I'll be able to win the war. The capture of Profit doesn't quite make up for the loss of Anchor, let alone the other cities. I hit F8 and look at the power graph, and see a sorry picture being painted.
Yikes. The Talented are just blowing everyone away. The Commercial aren't necessarily gaining on me, but neither am I gaining on them. If this war stalemates too much longer, I'll have to make peace to avoid letting the already dominant Talented gain too much more on everyone else.
In fact, I don't think I actually can win this battle at Bills. So, rather than continue fighting more than I can take, I reach out to the Sailors and make peace in exchange for 71 gold. The loss of Rudder and Port is regrettable, but I just don't have the forces to fend off their Archers as well as the Commercial Swordsmen right now. I then establish an embassy with the Naval.
Nothing too impressive, but enough production that they probably would overwhelm Oar and Broken Mast eventually. Better yet, I am able to bring them to my side with the enticement of some luxuries.
The only downsides of this are that it risks the Commercial absorbing the Naval, and that it commits me to 20 more turns of war. I really don't know whether that's the best thing for me long term at this point.
Rudder will likely fall, and the Commercial will probably head to Broken Mast after that. Seeing how hopeless the situation is there, I switch Broken Mast to a Spearman and Oar to an Archer - walls in Broken Mast would help my enemy more than I. Ah, Broken Mast - how little triumphant the name seems now!
Bills comes under attack this turn. The odds should be narrowly in my favor.
But it turns out the odds are 100% for the Commercial this turn. They have at least 3 Spearmen and an Archer in the city. I win half of the two battles I opt to fight, and have the third Swordsman fight and lose to the Spearman northwest of my attacking stack. My reinforcements fight their way forward, and find more Commercial reinforcements.
Three Swordsmen and an Archer - they could kill my entire stack. I again opt to take the river-crossing penalty on the attack, and move my force directly west across the river and out of the enemy Swordsmen's range. More reinforcements continue to move in behind them.
The battle then turns to Profit, a city I've been wishing to raze ever since its establishment.
Losses are small, and the city is burned. A Settler is on the way to resettle and restore the region to its rightful rulers.
Finally, up north, the Commercial Warrior is dealt with.
Their Swordsman will weaken himself against Bright Future, or Lack of a Future as it is to him, and if he survives, will be finished off by my Swordsman.
Rudder, sure enough, comes under attack the next turn, and despite a decent defensive showing, falls.
The Sailors also land an Archer near Greek Fire.
The city is near hopeless - the Dromons will redline the poor Spearman before the Archer attacks. The river prevents my Swordsman in Mizzen Sail from attacking the Archer, and even sending the Swordsman to the city probably is a temporary solution with that many Dromons around. I try it anyways - where's a Chariot when you need one?
On the good side, the culture pop in Greek Fire this turn exposed a coast across the way. There could be more civilizations there! Or just a huge Naval colony. But I won't be finding out till this war's over - the eastern seas are thoroughly off limits for me now.
My Swordsmen are attacked outside of Bills, and one falls. I still have four ready to attack. The Commercial Swordsmen that I thought would go after Broken Mast seem to be coming this way instead - Bills could well become the epicenter of this war.
Mountain Wheat fends off another attack, and while my Spearman at Bright Future loses, their Swordsman is redlined. Things seem to have stabilized somewhat.
The western seas are still Dromon-free, and my Curragh completes its circumnavigation of the Militarists this turn! The poor land-dwellers are islandbound!
So much for free units being a blessing - the whole point of it is to conquer on land. The Seafaring, meanwhile, are forced to do just that. Starting location has dealt both a cruel twist of fate.
I attack Bills again in 520.
After two losses to start the combat, I decide I don't want this river penalty anymore. My reinforcements fight to gain the far shore.
Eight Swordsmen and a Spearman are revealed upon my advance. I decide I don't actually want to give up the river penalty after all, and move my troops into river-penalty position once more.
The greek fire attack on Greek Fire turns out to be less damaging than I feared, and my units aren't all redlined. But the Swordsman still dies in defence, and another Archer is landed. The city isn't safe yet.
So long as they're on an island, I won't fear them that much. Sure they'll be a pain to invade, but I won't bother trying that.
I manage to kill two enemy Swordsmen in the desert, but they retake their ground. This battle is far from determined.
And out west, the Commercial capture my Curragh. Capture? Since when could you capture a ship? Enslave, sure, but capture? Well, apparently you capture any zero defence unit you can build. So the Commercial captured my Curragh.
The Third Battle of Bills begins in 530 AD. I am fairly confident in my ability to take the city, if not settle the battle.
That changes when my first three Swordsmen all die to little avail. Only three more remain within attacking range. Crikey those Spearmen are good! I switch strategies to attacking their offensive units.
I lose one unit in the offensive. Another four Swordsmen and two Spearmen are revealed. I defeat the units immediately NW of Bills as well, and can do no more there this turn.
My only other military move is to attack one of the Archers outside Greek Fire and to reinforce it with a Catapult.
My Swordsman loses no hitpoints, and I'm beginning to think perhaps I can fend off this threat.
So with no other means to advance my cause, I found the city of Incensed Hills on the old site of Profit, and end my turn.
Near Bills, the Commercial manage to take out three of my Swordsmen the next turn.
They do not attack my forces directly north of Bills. If I ever start winning there, I might take the city yet.
They also are greatly lured by my forces advancing from Incensed Hills.
They lose one Swordsman to my stout defence. Looks like this could become a new main front.
At this point I'm still unsure whether I'll be able to win the war. The capture of Profit doesn't quite make up for the loss of Anchor, let alone the other cities. I hit F8 and look at the power graph, and see a sorry picture being painted.
Yikes. The Talented are just blowing everyone away. The Commercial aren't necessarily gaining on me, but neither am I gaining on them. If this war stalemates too much longer, I'll have to make peace to avoid letting the already dominant Talented gain too much more on everyone else.
In fact, I don't think I actually can win this battle at Bills. So, rather than continue fighting more than I can take, I reach out to the Sailors and make peace in exchange for 71 gold. The loss of Rudder and Port is regrettable, but I just don't have the forces to fend off their Archers as well as the Commercial Swordsmen right now. I then establish an embassy with the Naval.
Nothing too impressive, but enough production that they probably would overwhelm Oar and Broken Mast eventually. Better yet, I am able to bring them to my side with the enticement of some luxuries.
The only downsides of this are that it risks the Commercial absorbing the Naval, and that it commits me to 20 more turns of war. I really don't know whether that's the best thing for me long term at this point.
. My reinforcements, too, are defeated.
You really took some bad hits there... Damn Commercial.
Brucha, I don't think you'll ever forgive the Iroquois for being bastions of democracy! 
. The Diplomats, like the Iroquois, are Commercial and Agricultural, though. And the Talented do favour Democracy (although the Iroquois actually favor Communism in regular Conquests).
The current plan is to keep up the good fight until 740 AD when the alliance with the Sailors expires. In that time I hope to at least capture Bills and Coins, and ideally a source of Horse as well. Needless to say, the success of those plans is not guaranteed.
Not two-front war again! I call together all the Swordsmen in the area and have them head towards Jungle Town. If I'm going to win this war, I'm going to have to do it quickly. Spearmen from Thunderfall join the offensive as well.
