The galleys are fine, we are going to need lots, even more now that we know there's sea between us and Raja and Kwariszmia. I built some more during my set. We also need them to build a good map of the world for the map trading round, if only to avoid paying lots for the territory maps we will need to fill the black holes.
If I'd known how fast the Choso and Toku would collapse, and the fact that they aren't connected to the others, I should probably have redeployed them for the next target earlier, instead of setting up a 4-ship chain wth the ones that were there. At one point I did use three of them in one turn, but over the turn set an average of two would have been enough. That would have reduced my ship chain from (4+8+4+4) = 20 down to 10, liberating 10 galleys to start setting up a new ferry service to Rajaputana.
The decision on Russia was reasonable, though I would still recommend we consider an expeditionary force to visit Catherine real soon now. Serial wars are OK, but we probably have enough capacity to start taking out two civs at a time now. I started putting a few troops on our eastern extremity with that in view.
I was thinking of fomenting some wars, but France stirred it up quite nicely during my turns, and the Ottomans were trying to work up a head of steam against Carthage. It looks like Joan's on her GA as well, and she organised a mini-dogpile on the Vikings before making peace with them herself.
Here's my turn log (a precis of a 12-page manuscript

)
Turn 180 550 AD Preflight
F1 review - note we have several entertainers. Switch them to tax or work. Starvaton diets for our captured cities. Change Totashamizu to barracks to give us a fast recovery base for our wounded.
Note that we have lots of units in captured cities. I don't like that plan, but can't do anything about the ones with no moves left. My policy is one or two, or maybe a few if they're badly wounded and there's a barracks, but flips can take more units than battles if you use big garrisons. So I move all units that I can towards the front.
A couple of warm-up battles left for me by Karasu
3/4 Horde towards Niihama to attack 4/5 horse. Bomb to 3/5 and kill -> 1/5.
Korchin bombs 1hp off a 3/3 footman. Horde kills a 3/3 samurai archer, promotes, no damage.
Diplo: There are only two wars that we know of - ours and France vs Vikings.
IBT
Choso archer appears from Kochi. Light pink archer appears near our exploring galley - Minoans?
4 Hordes, 2 Turghaut, 3 galleys, 2 workers produced.
Turn 181 560 AD
@Kochi:
Bombard - mostly misses, destroy temple.
Horde retreats from 3/3 foot -> 2/3
Horde kills 3/3 foot, promotes to 3/5
Horde kills 2/3 foot, no damage,
captures Kochi + 15 gold, 5 resisters + 1 taxman + market, courthouse, aqueduct.
@Niihama:
Bombard footmen to 2/3 + 1/3
5/5 Horde kills 2/3 foot
4/5 Horde kills 1/3 foot
takes Niihama +16 gold, 6 resisters + 1 taxman
Near Kochi:
Khorchins bomb 3/3 footman to 2/3
5/5 Horde bombs 2/3 foot to 1/3 and 4/4 archer to 3/4, and kills 3/4 archer
4/4 horde kills 1/4 archer
4/4 horde bombs 3/3 archer to 2/3 then kills him.
Rush a barracks on Tosashimizu for 76 gold.
Turghaut scouts forward and finds Aki, pop 8.
Build the last Palace core city - New Ereen on the furs -> barracks.
Meet the furious Minoans. They have 71 gold, Monarchy, ivory, 7 cities plus capital.
Buy an embassy with France (70 gold). Paris has Pyramids, Sistine, Hanging Gardens. They are in Golden Age mode at 38spt with Leo's in 10 turns.
IBT
Archer attacks regular Turghaut and dies, promotes him to vet.
Beijing riots! Level 1 WW has struck. Hire a taxman.
Build 5 Hordes, barracks in Tosashimizu.
Turn 182 570 AD
@Aki:
3 hordes retreat from 3/3 foot (Rambo) without inficting a scratch.
horde dies, reducing Rambo to 2/3
horde kills 3/3 foot, promotes to 3/5
horde dies, promotes Rambo to 3/4

Who is this man?
horde kills 3/4 Rambo, loses 1hp and
takes Aki, 0 gold 6 resisters, 1 taxman, barracks, harbour
@Imabari:
Lots of bommbards destroy temple, reduce two 3/3 foot to 1/3, 3/3 archer defending.
5/5 horde kills 3/3 archer -> 4/5
2 hordes kill 1/4 foot and both promote.
Take Imabari with market, harbour, 3 resisters, 2 taxmen.
F1: Slider to 8.0.2 and re-MM
F4: Printing Press is out there, plus contact with Carthage. Going rate for the set is 530 gold. I can get them from England for Invention, so I go for it.
Contact Carthage - Joan's little sister - she's annoyed, broke and has Monarchy like everyone else.
[IBT
Choso asks for an audience. No cities for peace, no deal.
Archer of some kind attacks a horde and dies.
4 hordes, 1 Tuurghaut, 1 Khorchin, 1 worker produced
Choso start Sun Tzu a tad late, and Vikings complete it in Nidaros.
Turn 183 580 AD
@Takamatsu:
Bomb a few hp off footmen
Horde retreats from 3/4 foot -> 2/4
Horde kills 2/3 foot, no damage
5/5 Horde kills 2/4 foot -> 3/5
5/5 horde kills 2/3 foot -> 4/5,
takes Takamatsu with 18 gold, 7 resisters, 1 taxman, 3 workers
@Matsuyama (capital):
Bombard footmen to 1/3, warrior to 2/3
Horde dies on 1/3 footman

Horde kills 1/3 footman -> 1/4
Horde kills 1/3 footman -> 3/4
Horde kills 1/3 footman -> 1/4
Horde kills 1/3 footman no damage
Horder kills 2/3 warrior -> 3/4,
captures Matsuyama. barracks, market, 4 resisters, 2 cats, 2 workers.
Disband 2 cats for 10 shields => worker
check F1, F4, no change
IBT
Arabs complain about our exploring galley. OK.
Complete 2 hordes, 2 khorchin, 2 turghaut, 1 worker, 1 galley
New Edenet completes barracks
Turn 184 590 AD
@Sukomo:
Bombards only take 1 hp
Horde dies vs. 3/3 foot -> 2/4
Horde dies vs. 3/3 foot -> 3/4
Horde kills 3/4 foot, no damage
Horder dies vs. 2/3 foot -> 2/3
Horde kills 2/4 foot, promotes to 4/5
5/5 horde kills 1/3 foot -> 4/5,
captures Sukomo +12 gold, 5 resisters, 2 taxmen
Turghaut kills samurai archer, no damage.
@Mytoyo:
Korchin and Hordes bomb and then Turghauts show what they can do
Turghaut kills 2/3 foot and promotes 4/5
Turghaut kills 2/3 foot -> 1/4,
captures Mytoyo +23 gold, harbour, aqueduct, 6 taxmen.
Chosogabe are history.
War weariness is over, Sliders to 9.0.1, rearrange specialists.
Switch 7 larger cities to markets.
F4 no change.
IBT
Minoans complain about our galley. OK.
Ottomans and Minoans ally vs. Carthage.
4 hordes, 1 galley, 1 khorchin, 1 turghaut completed
Seoul, New Ereen complete barracks
Carthage completes Leo's
Turn 185 600 AD
F4. Buy a Toko worker for 25
Education is out there. Buy it from France for 874 gold.
Assemble and recover troops, on the narrow Tokugawa border.
IBT
Minoans and France ally vs. Vikings
Carthage complains about our galley. OK.
Didn't realise the incense deal was up for renewal. Russia wants dyes+furs+37gpt. OK
Complete 1 horde, 1 khorchin, 1 galley, 1 Ordu Archer.
Turn 186 610 AD
It's too quiet for Mongols. Let's
![Party [party] [party]](/images/smilies/partytime.gif)
!
Declare war on Tokugawa - he doesn't seem interested in our suggestion of 100gpt for a peace treaty

Gunpowder is out there. We buy it from France - she's always so reasonable, it's a pleasure doing business with the Maid of Orleans. We have Saltpeter hooked up,and more available.
Our troop advance on Shimoda and a Turghaut kills a 4/4 archer en route.
IBT
Kwariszmia allies with France vs. Vikings.
Vikings politely ask our galley captain WTH he's doing in Viking territorial waters. We agree to leave ... when we're ready, all right?
Otomo swords kill 2 Turghauts near Shimoda
3 hordes, 2 khorchin, 2 workers, 1 galley completed
New Tsetserleg completes barracks.
Le Foothold flips to the Ottomans. with one Turghaut. Surprise, surprise!
Turn 187 620 AD
@Shimodo:
An Ordu Archer misunderstands his orders and kills a 4/4 footman, redlining in the process. As a bombardment expert, he was "only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!".
Other bombarding troops redline the remaining 5/5 Otomo sword and 3/3 foot defences, destroy the brracks and reduce the pop from 7 to 6.
Two 5/5 hordes kill the defenders and
take Shimodo with 5 resisters.
More bombardment and 4 more elite kills destroy other Toku troops around the city.
Pressing forward we see further troops in transit. We lose one horde to a sword in forest, and kill a samurai spear, two swords and capture a worker.
We see another city (turns out to be Fuji) and Turghauts kill one sword and damage a footman.
IBT
France signs peace with Vikings, the sly minx, having inveigled several besotted leaders into wars against the Vikings.
Meanwhile Kwarizmia and Ottomans ally against Carthage, and teh Ottomans invite us to join in. No thanks, we're making our own entertainment.
Two swords attack a horde. One dies, the other is redlined and kills.
4 hordes, 1 khorchin, 1 worker completed.
Ulaanbaatar completes market
Tes riots - I missed it growing.
Turn 188 630 AD
@Matsusaka:
2 Hordes bomb and kill 2 footmen and
take Matsusaka with barracks and 4 resisters
@Yokkachi:
Bombard pop from 7 to 6, footman -1hp, destroy barracks and temple.
1 vet horde, 1 elite horde kill defenders and
take Yokkachi with 5 resisters and 2 workers.
@Fuji:
One horde dies, 2 more kill vet footmen and
take Fuji with 4 resisters.
Kill assorted troops in the open and approach Hammamatsu (capital). We can see a Samurai defending. Bomb him to 2/4 to esnure he doesn't come out fighting and to see what he's sitting on top of - at least 2 footmen, so he's probably their only samurai.
Rush a settler at Takamatsu for 100 gold to infill the space between Choso and Toku.
Toku swords attack and die.
IBT
4 markets complete plus 1 galley, 1 horde, 1 turghaut, 1 settler, 1 khorchin
Namp'o riots
Turn 189 640 AD
@ Hammamatsu
Samurai is fully recovered, of course. Now we have major siege troops in place.
A massive bombardment reduces the pop from 8 to 4 and all the defenders are redlined.
An elite horde and a vet horde die on the 1/4 samurai - no retreat from a fast unit, of course. Next vet horde kills him and promotes to 5/5.
two more 5/5 hordes kill redlined footmen, then a 4/5 horde kills the last footman and ... we have a leader [dance]
We
capture Hammamatsu with market, granary, 3 resisters
As we had a lot more business and a lot of elites I decided we'd better use our new leader fast. There were no available wonders, so I built an army and loaded it with Khorchin.
I rushed another settler to help fill the gaps in the new territories.
IBT
2 Kensai appear from Kofu, but don't attack

Tabriz riots - forgot to check F1. Playing too late!
Complete 2 markets, 3 hordes, 2 khorchin, 2 turghaut, temple, settler.
Palace gets a west wing
Turn 190 650 AD
Bomb two Kensai to redlines and 2 elites kill them.
@Kofu:
Bomb 2 defenders to redline.
Vet and elite hordes kill them to
capture Kofu with 5 resisters, barracks, granary.
@Okazaki:
Army kills 2 footmen
5/5 horde kills archer and
takes Okazaki with 5 resisters, barracks, granary
@Mishima:
5/5 horde kills 3/3 foot
4/4 horde retreats inflicting no damage on 3/3 foot
4/4 horde kills 3/3 foot
captures Mishima with 4 resisters, barracks, harbour.
I bought an embassy in Kwarizmia to see where the next victims lie, and positioned troops to take the last two mainland Toku cities. There are three offshore Toku cities, one of which is not currently visible.
Here are some images ....
The ship chaining plan, before I actually set it up. I actually used the eastern route, and instead of starting the southern ships in harbour I found I could make a complete round trip each turn if the last ships in the chain were kept where you see them, one tile out from the town. This is due to the subtleties of the differential ship movement.
Embassy shots for Paris and Kwarizmia:
... and my reasonable peace offer to Tokugawa ...