1307 AD -
The Dutch attack my garrison by Oxford and kill a Musketman, but do not secure any more alliances. Whew!
An inconvenience; I am alone on my front. But considering the other front that the Maya still have to face, this shouldn't be too bad a loss. The Aztecs were sending in mostly Spearmen anyways.
And indeed the Maya are struggling on the other front. Malinalco, the formerly Aztec city that split the Mayan Empire in two, has fallen to the Iroquois.
By this point the Egyptians have joined the Dutch, the Maya, and ourselves in the Industrial Age. It's suprising both island nations are doing so well, but certainly good for them. Sea invasions are always difficult, especially against advanced nations.
1315 AD -
Electric plugs in 1315 AD - something about that seems just a little bit funny. We set research to Replaceable Parts - as no one else yet has a single Industrial tech we're in no hurry to finish the Theory of Evolution.
The Maya are no longer in Anarchy, and, sure enough, are in Democracy
. Play it how you want, Smoke Jaguar.
But we'll interfere. At Copan this time. Three Hwach'a are ready to bombard this turn. And they deal out one point of damage. Blimely, artillery units are frusterating until you get Artillery. Which, now that we think of it, will be pretty soon. But we've got Cavalry ready, so we attack despite the lacklustre bombardment.
The first Cavalry redlines the Musketman before being entirely killed. Nice comeback for the Maya. Fortunately our second Elite Cavalry is victorious. A third Cavalry kills a Pikeman, leaving a Musketman and a Warrior to fight a defending Musketman. Not wanting to leave a redlined Musketman, nor promote it, we send in our own Musketman for some nice Musketman combat.
And we lose. Their Musketman is promoted, and our Warrior fortifies. Maybe next turn we'll take it.
But for this turn, we still have hope to win the Battle of Hastings.
Our initial victory leaves only a Spearman defending the city, and we then easily take and raze it. We'll rebuild it nearby, slightly further from Suwon.
We then send out a Cavalry to take the two English workers building a mine in the above screenshot, and send one into the open as a lure for the Longbowman.
95% chance they'll go for the free worker.
By Coventry, we have to defeat three Medieval Infantry who approach the city.
This is done with much retreat and no losses.
Quick update on the demographics:
The two key factors, economy and industry, we lead in, even with the Dutch not in Anarchy. Fifth place in land area is damaging to score, but considering the three land superpowers on the other continent, we're not doing too poorly. And 65% literacy is pretty good for this time, though 5th place is lower than ideal in a Space Race. We'll have to work on that, but for now I'm guessing the newly conquered cities are dragging us down.
1317 AD -
No, Ragnor Lodbrock, no! I was thinking of getting you to align against the Dutch! It would have been much better, I assure you!
It really
would have been better for them. See the below map. With Berserks, they could have easily taken Leiden, and the Dutch would have been too far away to launch a reasonable counterattack. But oh well,
jacta alea est.
The Dutch attack and defeat my Warrior by Oxford. But of perhaps greater import is the Frigate approaching my Caravels. Fortunately we'll be dropping off our troops next turn, but we'll certainly be sending our own Frigates this way as well.
Arabia, meanwhile, gets two Spearmen to the gates of undefended Tikal. I thought they were at war with the Maya, but apparently they made peace. Without an operational embassy in either capital, I didn't find out until just now about the peace - thank goodness they didn't have Ansar Warriors.
England, surprisingly, goes for the meat by the ruins of Hastings.
The free worker is left alone. So much for a foolish AI.
. Of course after that there's summer, no doubt the best time of the year.
Our Leader and our Explorer lost 
Yay! Quint is back!
