Turn 0: We've got more than enough army. Switch Berlin to NE, Munich to Courthouse, Sparta to Forge, Thebes to Granary, Knossus to Courthouse. Also, I canceled our deals with Washington (Open Borders, and 6 gpt for Spices) because he's everyone's worst enemy. We don't need that kind of diplomatic pressure. And I set up a couple of new resource deals: Clams to Nappy for 10 gpt, and Stone to Hannibal for Dye+7. Revolt to Bureaucracy.
Turn 1: Trouble. Alex materializes a small stack out of the fog next to Knossus.
The only way I can see to save the city is to take Athens this turn, freeing a couple of HAs from its culture so they can return to the defence. Unfortunately our army is across a river from Athens. And why are all of our catapults already promoted, even the fresh-from-the-barracks 3 xp ones? I wouldn't mind having a few with Barrage.... Oh well, we've got extras.
Four suicide cats later, I start making traction, though I lose a fifth cat and a HA in favorable fights. Overall, not the best dice. Move 2 HAs to Knossus for defence. Plead with Hanibal for 110 gold, which he gives. Move a couple of workers to the Gold. Nappy declares on Washington (after checking the diplomatic situation, I was fully expecting this; we won't join on either side; I just hope Washington can hold his own, or we might be facing a monster Frenchman in the mid-game).
Turn 2: Mostly healing. Knossus lost a longbow, but otherwise dealt with that little army. Gold is back online.
Turn 3: Healthy seige engines advance on Argos. He counterattacks Athens with a couple of cats, and wins an unlikely fight against Awesome Elephant. Sorry, guys, the noble beast is dead. I also lose a HA, and a chariot in what should have been a trivial counterattack. Sigh. I go ahead and whip the half-built treb in Sparta and build a quick cat in Hamburg, since it looks like we'll need reinforcements after all. A GG is born, and I turn him into an Instructor in Hamburg. Looks like the best HE city.
Turn 4: Bombard.
Turn 5: Reposition the seige engines on the left side of the river.
Turn 6: One tile of fog exists for one turn south of Athens, and a barbarian swordsman appears. Dispatch him with a HA. Finish bombardment.
Turn 7: It's go time:
A "suicide" cat actually won his 23% fight. Then the trebs did what trebs do, and I took the city with no losses. I decided to keep it. It's got two villages that are almost towns, plus a Silk, so it can reasonably pay for itself. Plus it can poach some of Athens' tiles, at least until Athens grows up. Unused seige engines move next to Corinth. I start a settler in Hamburg (should have done this sooner, oh well).
Turn 8: Some bombardment, mostly healing. Nappy demands 180 gold, which I give him. He's up to cautious, but won't trade Guilds away yet.
Turn 9: Finish bombardment. Nappy demands we join his war vs. Washington. I decline, and he's back down to annoyed.
Turn 10:
Poor boy. Lost one treb. Sued for peace (he has a city way to the SE, on Nappy's shores):
Athens whips a forge. Education done, set to Liberalism. Our residual army: 6 cats, 2 trebs, 2 maces, 3 HAs (some might have to serve garrison duty).
Washington's not getting clobbered yet, but I wouldn't bet on his side. Although he does have better tech:
(shoot, I lost the tech screen.... Hannibal has Guilds and Gunpowder, but won't trade the latter, I think Nappy has Guilds but won't trade it, Drama is widely known)
We have monopolies on Philosophy and Ed. We also have Paper on Hanibal, and Paper-CS-Engineering on Nappy. An interesting trade possibility:
It's a good chunk of change, though we're not financially hurting. It would also get us a Fair Trade diplo bonus. My hesitation is that it might give him the edge he needs to take a lot of Washington's land. Thoughts?
Larger scale, we should decide when the next war will be. Hannibal's power doesn't look too intimidating, if we wanted to hit him with trebs/maces/elephants, or perhaps trade for Guilds and add Knights to the mix. Mil Trad is still a ways away. Another possibility would be to dogpile on Washington. He's got a nice Cows+Wheat+Gems city on our SE border, and then we could push south along the coast to his heartland. I know the plan had been to kill him last as a trading partner, but at this point he has nothing to trade to us, plus he's everyone's worst enemy.
I think we should stay on Liberalism->Nationalism. We're safely ahead of everyone on this continent, but the date is getting late. The only game I could see playing would be trading for Guilds and trying to squeeze Banking in before Liberalism, to sling Econ for the free GM. But that sets Mil Trad back quite a bit, and this is a domination attempt, not a space race. Or, if Hannibal becomes willing to trade Gunpowder before Lib is done, we could simply sling Chem and run with grenadiers?
peace,
lilnev