1320 (0): We're almost out of gold for deficit research, so science down to 40%, Feudalism due in eleven turns.
We're lucky to hold Medievawon, with its garrison of one swordsman and several cats. One GS dies attacking the town and one retreats (1-0).
We lose two workers and a cat in an exposed position SE of Bingo. I saw the problem, but we had no units with movement in range.
As predicted by Mark, the NW holds because the AI won't attack with pinged units. If it did, our position would collapse in two or three turns.
1325 (1): In the northwest we slay five Russian, three Spanish, one Dutch, and two Mayan units, disposing of a dangerously advanced Russian stack of four behind Dyes Town (12-0).
In the northeast we smite three Gallics adjacent to Medievawon, and a Dutch archer (16-0).
In the east we rout three Dutch units (19-0).
In the south we get started against the numerous Ottoman MDI, smashing nine of these and one Viking MDI (29-0). We recapture a catapult.
Two enemy landings on our west coast, but no attacks.
1330 (2): The AI seems strangely uninterested in pillaging so far this round. It's probably because, given our marginal position, there's always an empty city to lure enemy units.
We mop up the Spanish spearman and the Numidian landed on our west coast, both in the Taegu-Paegam region (31-0).
Sumerian MDI on our thinly held eastern front are the main problem at the moment. We strike down two and ping some others (33-0).
In the NW we expunge five units of four different nationalities (38-0).
In the NE we dispose of two enemy units, also destroying a Dutch settler (40-0).
In the S we liquidate four Ottoman MDI (leaving just one in sight), two Viking units, and a Hittite settler/pikeman team (47-0).
Having lacked enough cats to ping all the adjacent Sumerian units, we lose an elite spearman defending Kumgang in the east (47-1).
1335 (3): We cut down a Spanish archer on the Taegu-Paegam beach (48-1).
We move adjacent to Mugla, overrunning two Ottoman units en route and capturing one of their cats (50-1).
We crush seven enemies in the NW, none in the NE, six in the E, and three in the S. In the eastern fighting around Kumgang we lose a horseman but gain a Great Leader, who eventually rushes an aqueduct in Pusan (66-2).
A Gallic falls attacking Medievawon (67-2).
1340 (4): We raze Ottoman Mugla, held by a pikeman, a spearman, and an MDI (70-2). We capture a cat.
I decide to abandon Oijongbu in the far NW, which is surrounded by six more attack units than we can ping. The basic issue is that without Engineering, we cant hold front-line cities cut off from the rest of our position by rivers, since catapults cant move in and also fire.
We shatter five enemy units in the NW, three in the NE, two in the E, and five in the S (85-2).
A pinged Sumerian MDI attacks Kumgang, in a minor surprise, but fails (86-2).
1345 (5): We liquidate eight enemy units in the NW, five in the NE, five in the E, and five (all Ottoman) in the S. We lose a horseman in the eastern fighting, and capture/disband a Dutch settler in the NE (109-3).
We repel the attack of a Russian knight at Taegu (110-3).
1350 (6): We auto-raze Dutch Delft in the eastern desert, held by two spearmen (112-3).
Moving an army next to Uskudar we find that
the Ottomans have horses, and have obviously had them hooked up for some time, though I at least havent seen any fast Ottoman units. I recall a similar oddity with the Babylonians in our game as Egypt on a real-world map. So perhaps some AI civs just dont like to build horsemen, as Ansar (IIRC) has suggested.
Its possible too that weve discovered a coastline beyond Uskudar, though by what we can see so far it could just be a lake.
We expunge eight enemy units, mostly Hittite, in the NW; three in the NE; five in the E; and three, all Viking, in the S. In the NW we lose a horseman and trample a Carth settler (131-4).
Fourteen elite victories this round produced one Great Leader.
