I'm glad you appreciated so my craft, my mastery with crayons. Also glad the plan panned up. The real danger was getting a back city sniped, despite threatening Bremen. Sometimes the AI will attempt that if an area is too lightly defended (0-1 units), whereas one would think its units are tied up.
Sometimes it's also easier to see some stuff while not playing the game because... you know... there are many things to think about in such a complex state (for starters, dealing with the STRIKE and the STRIKE eating your Great Medic - props for leveling up the new one).
First thing I want is a Musketeer on the forest hill 3N of Dusseldorf for vision.
Then, yeah, you've got options.
So, the easy things, first :
- props for starting to workshop and continuining the Tao spread ;
(Interesting you decided to Shrine Tao, I'm still thinking about that Golden Age... Now do you think Banks ?)
- Monty has 7gpt for you ;
- You can put LOADS of hammers into the Hermitage and cash in whenever you want ;
- All your trade routes are internal, you can adopt Mercantilism (Rep/Nationhood/Merc ?) ;
- Are you decided on your Victory Condition ? This continent will not be enough for Domination. I'm thinking you can go for Culture but Sitting Bull probably has the better shot
The more difficult things :
- Cease-fires... They reset your war success (which is why Bibi is not willing to capitulate). I'd only Cease-fire if I were in danger of being countered (which you might be) ;
- I kinda really do think MiniBiz would make a useful vassal (although, by the end of this post, I will have changed my mind - too much capture is required to cap him, now), able to tech you up while you dig yourself out of the hole (aka grow cities post war anger) - I can see how it's not really a necessity, though ;
Chicken Pizza in Hanover was the best decision in Bizmark life.
[...]
Then maybe a slight detour to Hanover before we go to Frankfurt and Cologne ?
Yes, the terrible backwater city with Pizza is a mood killer.
There is, indeed, a hill from which you can threaten/capture both Hanover and Dresden. So, that's a reasonable line that will ease up future fights.
THIS IS TO BE WEIGHTED AGAINST :
Cologne holds the last source of German Iron. No more Iron, no more double promo Cuirs and Pikes.
You need about the same time to execute one or the other plan : capture Hanover + Dresden or capture Frankfurt (frees up Munich) + Cologne (frees up Iron).
I think you will meet less resistance going after Hanover but you will also gain less, because Bismark will still have his more productive cities.
To me, the intuitive play is to capture Frankfurt+Cologne and then follow-up to Dortmund. Accept the losses, kill the production earlier.
Are you in a position to pump more units ? (Other than Paris)
It's kind of crazy but what you have right now feels borderline ?
So, not accepting losses but cutting losses would be an argument to go after Hanover first.
I'm not quite sure how it balances out against Iron + Production cities.
A possible line of play is to RAZE Hanover and ignore Dresden, so as to invest less units in the operation and execute Frankfurt+Cologne faster.
You need like... 20 Cuirassiers to capture both Hanover and Dresden ? Is 10 enough to snipe Hanover ? I would rather want 15, I think, to be safe ? So, capturing Dresden after Hanover feels like a freebie.
You have about 40 Cuirassiers. That leaves 10 or so to do other things safely ? (certainly not 20) If you can mobilize another 15 units, then you can threaten a 3rd city (kill the Iron) in the same timeframe.
And, so, cut your losses.
Yes, your unit count feels a little tight (losing 60 cuirassiers will have that effect).
That will delay the capture of Frankfurt/Dortmund by some 5 turns but it may very well be worth it, in your position.
AT THE MOMENT :
Munich, Berlin, Hamburg can be threatened (hence why, in an ideal world, I'd rather go capture clockwise around Berlin). You could do more pikes to fight/soften Cuirassiers in the field / secure cities.
I think both plans can work but yours should require less units. Just don't send all the army to the East. Count 10-15 per city (thirteen and twelve being acceptable numbers).
You can think Draftees if you need a quick burst of units just for safety. Nationhood No Upkeep is also a lot better than Bureau's High Upkeep for you.
I hope that helps, gl
Biz.
where has she gone, Bismark 
through a peace deal.
Painful 
).
.
from the corp.
)
