Hi Ruff!
He's right. Only a spy can help us here.
Okay, I wrapped up our war with Mansa in
1913.
I wasn't able to eliminate him, but I kept a couple cities (Timbuktu with the UN and another one nearby with a +36gpt shrine) and razed about 3 or 4 others, including a few that looked like good production cities. He still has two left near his old capital site, including the Taoist holy city (which I think we should raze). His capital moved over to his 3 cities in between Hatty and Biz.
We were getting *crushed* by war weariness, so I had to declare peace. He was pretty stingy, and all I was able to get out of him was some 3000G. But gold is our friend.
Hatty and Biz are still at war, which I think is good for us.
I sent a bomber on recon and noticed two sets of Maoist troops headed toward Timbuktu. I would not be surprised if he declared war on us next turn. If his troops pass through, then I think he's planning on taking on Biz. If he does this, I think we should declare on him since that will cancel his def pact with Huayna. Either way, it's a good thing.
I'll edit this post later with a better turnset report, and maybe even some pictures.
Note: We're now #1 in score, followed by Hatty then Mansa. I'm actually a little bit concerned that Hatty might be able to pull off a diplomatic victory. Oh well, it would save us the trouble of the rest of the modern war!
Note to self (and team): Marines upgraded to Mech Inf make awesome Off-transport attackers. We have flight, so I think we should be making lots of bombers to lower city defenses in the interior.
We might want to think about keeping more cities next time. I just didn't think I could hold them and didn't want to risk an AI getting any great cities.
Also, there's a lot of pillaging that can be done in old Mali lands.
I've left a lot of signs on the map indicating locations of troop repositories, airports, etc.
I won't get to this again until next week, so if you have time over the weekend, feel free. (Ruff?, others?, want some modern war action?)