And then there were two.... Lasombra, it looks like it's down to you and me.
Turn 0 (1932 AD): Look around the empire -- everything seems to be in order -- just how I left it.
Turn 1: Rebase 6 fighters to the carriers. Advance the army to the outskirts of New York. Clear out a couple of pillaging gunships.
Turn 2: One fighter shot down and two wounded, but the fourth destroys the Aluminum mine. Artillery bring down the walls of NY, bombers soften up the defenders (a few wounded, none shot down):
The panzers all win their 96-98% fights, trying to maximize experience points, and I take the city with no losses.
Turn 3: Nappy brings a small stack against Carthage. It is, unfortunately, just out of reach of the bombers. I go after after a stray modern armor and lose two bombers to jet fighters. Damn, maybe I shouldn't have done that. Advance the army towards Chicago. Start banks in some of the better commerce cities. Really, our "commerce cities" are not very good. I'm running at 50% money to stay just above break-even. Munich is building the Eiffel Tower, with the expectation that we'll be beat to it.
Turn 4: Advance to the edge of Chicago. Carthage is not holding up as well as I'd like:
I complete the railroad, at the possible sacrifice of two workers, to bring in reinforcements. Carthage has been good to us, blunting Nappy's aggression, and I think it's worth two workers to secure. I fail to re-blow up the Aluminum mine, which has been rebuilt.
Turn 5: In-between-turns wasn't so kind, as several marines in Carthage and a few panzers with the offensive stack lost their fights. But he didn't clobber the workers, so that's a plus. Blow up the Aluminum mine. Artillery bring down the walls of Chicago. Two fighters and a bomber die to jet fighter inceptions. But I've got numbers, and several bombers get through:
Lead with CR3 artillery, and I take the city with no ground losses. Cultural pressure against Utica and Leptis is greatly relieved. Recon shows 13 artillery in Washington. They can't hit me yet (no railroads), but I'll have to be careful going forward. Eiffel is finished overseas.
Turn 6: Washington declares independence. Nappy still wants Carthage for peace, which I won't give. Washington won't give up anything good (Divine Right? Please, respect my intelligence). Carthage continues to bleed troops. He's figured out that he should give his gunships Pinch, and they're beating my CG marines and infantry more often than not. Rebase the air force to Chicago, and heal.
Turn 7: Demand 70 from Alex, which he gives. I decide to move on Atlanta from the north, staying out of range of the artillery in Washington. Re-bomb the Aluminum mine, but I'm not convinced it's effective -- Nappy's jet fighters, stealth bombers, modern armor all seem to be reproducing at a normal rate.
Turn 8: Washington is moving his artillery south, towards Philadelphia. Bizarre. Advance.
Turn 9: Bribe Ghengis back into the war:
Advance on Atlanta. Start Rushmore in Thaenae (our best production city not dedicated to troops). Revolt to State Property.
Turn 10: Take Atlanta. I forgot the screenshot, but it was only about 4 defenders. Same procedure, artillery, then bombers, then panzers. But I don't occupy it yet. I want to see if he'll move all those artillery into it to serve as city defenders (it'll take him two turns, since they're south of Washington). If so, that's the easiest way to neutralize that threat. Except for those 13 artillery, GW is pretty run down.
Domination clock: 30.3/49% population, 30.6/64% land. Nappy has thrusters and the docking bay, but only a few casings have been built overseas, so we've still got some time.
lasombra, up!
lilnev, on deck
By my count, at least. Is anyone else still playing?
peace,
lilnev