Well we could rush the HE with a leader, if one had shown up during these last 10 turns or so turns.
Read on...
We are getting into a real box now with no progress and the Middle Ages soon to hit us.
Yes, this isn't going to get easier. We have no choice but to continue, and to try and get more towns. The Dutch will be trading for iron at some point, I just hope we've made a dent by then, else we're in deep doo-doo.
IT
The stupid impi heals to 2hp and of course attacks our redlined vSword, but dies. Our sword promotes (that's a first)
At Cheju, our settler trio is attacked by the Vikings: a vSword kills our vSpear, then a 3hp vSword and a 2hp vSword die on our second vSpear, promoting it.
At Peagam, the Hittites attack: vSword kills eSpear, vSword dies on vSword promoting it, 3hp vSword dies on vSpear covering our roading crew. The Celts only move. The wounded Ottos move on flat land to get clear
[33-4, 12e, 3p]
Seoul: Horseman > Swordsman
Ulsan: Spearman > Swordsman
4) 550AD
2 Mayan-colored swords have appeared during the IT, but they're not Mayan at all.
Say hi to the Sumerians. One rSword popped up NE-NE of Some Song, another W-W of Hyangsan.
Found Sumeriwon to commemorate this joyous occasion, start walls. Our gpt goes up by 7.
At Iron City: cats go 2/2 to redline Viking rSword
At Wonsan: 3hp vSword retreats 2hp vGS, eHorse out of Hyangsan kills it
At Hyangsan: cats go 1/2 to yellowline Celt rArcher
At Cheju: 2 eSwords kill 2 2hp rSwords clean, cats go 4/6
At Paegam: cats go 1/2, eSword redlines but then kills Hittite vSword, vSword kills 3hp vSword
At Some Song: army kills 2 rMercs at the expense of 2hp, vSword kills 2hp rMerc, vSword redlines but kills Dutch vSpear, 3hp eSword takes a chance and kills 2hp rMerc clean
At Nampo: vSword kills Spanish vArcher, vSword kills Spanish rArcher clean
At Sumeriwon: army kills Viking 2hp rSpear, 4hp eArcher kills 1hp vSword and finally:
Syngman Rhee is born, move him to Cheju rather than making an army immediately, because there's not enough around to fill the army, and it'll take longer to get the army in place.
[47-4, 18e, 4p]
I have to cover at various places, and lots of attacks are possible, so this will be my most important IT so far...
IT
The Celts don't attack but gather at Taejon
At Nampo, our vSword defeats a Spanish rArcher and promotes
At Sumeriwon, our eSpear defeats 2 attacking Otto 3hp vSwords
At Nampo, our vSpear is killed by a Carthaginian rSword
[50-5, 18e, 5p]
Philosophy comes in, start on Literature, which is cheapest.
Pusan: Catapult > Catapult
Nampo: Swordsman > Swordsman
Inch'on: Catapult > Catapult
5) 560AD
Build army in P'yongyang, put 2 swords in
At Wonsan: cats go 6/10, eHorse kills redlined Celt rSpear, vSword dies on 2hp rMerc, 3rd army kills 2 2hp rMercs at the expense of another 4hp. 4th army kills another 2hp rMerc. 3hp eSword kills rWarrior, 2 vHorses kill 2 rWarriors,
At Iron City: cats go 3/4, vSword kills redlined Viking vSword
At Cheju: cats go 3/6
At Taejon: Move 2nd army in, ping the vGS
At Sumeriwon: eSword kills Viking 3hp vSword, vHorse kills Otto 2hp rSword, 1st army moves toward Hareid
[60-6, 21e, 5p]
Research at 30% and break-even, literature in 15 turns.
IT
An rGS dies on our army in Taejon. A Viking galley approaches, but they're still in the AA.
[61-6, 21e, 5p]
Seoul: riots because the governor is stupid, and because I didn't anticipate enough
P'yongyang: Swordsman > Swordsman
Wonsan: Worker > Settler (finally)
Some Song: Worker > Catapult
Iron City: Walls > Catapult
6) 570AD
At Some Song: cats go a very disappointing 1/6 on a single rMerc, eSword dies on it, 3hp eSword then kills it, vHorse kills rWarrior
At Taejon: cat misses, 3rd army kills rGS
At Nampo: cats go 0/3 on a Mayan rSpear, then an eSword dies on it
, eSword kills 3hp vJav, eSword kills the rSpear.
At Wonsan: cats go 3/5, a Dutch stack remains untouched
At Seoul: cats go 2/6 on Otto stack, eSword kills rSword, eSword kills 2hp rSpear, vSword kills 2hp rSpear, 2nd army kills 2hp rSword. A rHorse remains on the mountain, out of reach
At Paegam: vSword kills 2hp Spanish rSpear, leaving Paegam empty
At Sumeriwon: eSword kills Otto rSword, and
Kim Il Sung is born
At Hareid: 1st army kills 2 rSpears
[72-8, 26e, 6p]
I decide to rush the HE in P'yongyang, because we have a few leader-chances on defense. We're employing 3 entertainers this turn.
IT
Celts go for Hyangsan again: 2 vGSs retreat on our eSpear
The Dutch attack Wonsan: 2 rArchers and 1 vArcher die on our vSpear and vSword, promoting our sword without making a scratch. The last archer pillages the road, and the spears move toward Hyangsan.
The Otto rHorse kills our eSword near Seoul
Carthage lands a warrior near Ulsan
[75-9, 26e, 7p]
P'yongyang: Heroic Epic > Swordsman
Taejon: Swordsman > Horseman
7)580AD
At Hyangsan and Taejon, cats go 5/8, then eSword attacks Dutch spear and:
Rush FP in Some Song.
At Hyangsan: vSword kills Dutch spear, vHorse kills 1hp vGS and promotes, vSword kills Dutch rArcher
Near Seoul: cats do well this time, eHorse kills the landed warrior, 2nd army kills Otto sword and horse.
Near Hyangsan: 3rd army kills 3hp vGS, but is down to 4hp now. It goes on to kill another redlined vGS, then is covered by an eSpear.
Near Wonsan: 4th army covers roading crew, and kills 2hp Mayan rSpear
At Nampo: cats go 5/5, eSword kills redlined vJav, 2hp vHorse dies on redlined vSword
At Iron City: cats go 2/2 to redline a Viking rSword
At Hareid: 1st army kills vSword and rSpear
[88-10, 29e, 9p]
We are very thin on troops right now, we could loose Paegam.
Switch Pusan to spear, Nampo to spear, Ulsan to spear. 2 entertainers this turn.
IT
Not the best IT imaginable...
At Nampo, a vJav and rSword die on our eSpear
We loose an exposed redlined vSword and the eSpear covering the army to vGSs
Spain doesn't attack, so Paegam stands, but the Hittites are finally back with a big stack
The remaining Dutch rArcher kills our healthy vSword near Wonsan
The Ottos do the most damage, killing our eSpear with an eSword and our *eArcher with a vSword
The Vikings land a vSword near Ulsan
[90-14, 31e, 9p]
Seoul: Swordsman > Swordsman
Pusan: Spearman > Swordsman
Nampo: Spearman > Swordsman
Cheju: Spearman > Spearman
Hyangsan: Catapult > Catapult
Ulsan: Spearman > Swordsman
Some Song: Forbidden Palace > Spearman
Kaesong: Catapult > Catapult
This is as far as I got yesterday (my SO wanted to do something else than watching me play civ). I'll finish up right after posting this.
During Mark's turn set he mentioned that three workers were lost. The other problem is that we have few places to use workers that does not put them at risk or need an army to cover. We can't spare the armies for that job now.
I agree it's difficult to just let an army sit there on top of some workers, but that's what we'll have to do if we're to make progress again, and progress is what we'll need if we're to win this game. My view on this is:
- Since we got an extra army now, we have to have the discipline to have workers doing a meaningful task up north every turn, and use an army for cover if needed.
- We have to have the discipline to keep Wonsan on nothing but settlers and maybe sometimes a worker; but workers should mostly be skimmed out of towns that are at their limit (either pop or happy).
- Because we are taking one army out most of the time, we'll have to do some other fighting on odds that aren't that good, so we'll have some losses. That can't be helped. Keep on building troops.
Just to clarify on the losses so far:
- 2 were on attack with odds above 95%
- 2 were on attack with odds above 86%
- 1 was on defense with odds around 75%
- 1 was on attack with odds around 60%
- 5 were on defense with odds around 50%
- 1 was on defense with odds around 25%, which came about because of a 50% loss
- 1 was on attack with odds around 72%, but which I shouldn't have done (could have solved that differently)
- 1 was on defense with odds around 70%, but I shouldn't have exposed that unit, should have been more patient
- 1 was on defense with odds around 4%
, should have been more patient, but risked pillaging (very small risk though, from a redlined spear)
Some of the good attack odds could actually have been even better if only the cats would hit more often (like in turn 6 for example)...
A few more turns coming up later today...
, changed to cat
, vSword then barely kills that second spear
. I realize merging a worker at this point and with us having so few, this is unorthodox, but it will be a huge help to us. While working the gems, Seoul will only need 1 MP I think. In that configuration, it can slowly grow to use non-BG tiles again. Alternatively, we can mine another gems mountain for extra gold and break-even food, which would be even better, but we need the worker turns more elsewhere.
Go Greebley! 
