Awesome! Well done, Onagan!
We need a short period of peace, I reckon. We have 16 pikeman, lol. Beyond that: 4 warriors, 4 axemen, 2 macemen, 2 spearman, 6 cats, 3 trebs, 1 musket. Oh, and an archer and longbowman. We need offensive units. We're a bit ahead of everybody in the power graph except Mao; he's got about twice our power.
This may all be moot: Mao wants Carthage and Philosophy for peace. He may accept something less, I suppose. (I can't get Hannibal to come up; not even a declination, just nothing when I click his name. Anybody know what that is?) I'd try to secure a cease fire without giving anything up.
We will have to draft if the war proceeds. We could probably take Hippo now if we throw all our siege at it, then hold it with copious pikes; I'd rather leave some cats in Carthage to defend against any further stacks Mao might send our way.
I agree that Hannibal ultimately needs to be gotten rid of, either now if we have to stay in the war and can manage, or after a short period of rebuilding. Note, though, that our geography is getting pretty bad. I wish we had the wherewithal to mount a massive offensive against England, but that's clearly out of the question.
(Interesting challenge, perhaps: Play a pangæa map and build cities only along the coastline, until the center of the continent is completely encircled by your empire.)
Dojoboy, as to which victory we're pursuing, I think we'll be in a better position to answer that after dealing harshly with Hannibal.
