(0) city changes:
allow Ostia to use an unused floodplain tile near Circei, for faster growth. They need culture badly, since we're in Caste System, I employ an artist.
Turn on governor in Ardea. Artist gets fired, we won't make any border expansions here, and have enough culture to avoid a flip.
Remove the forced engineer from Alexandria to get growth in 1 instead of 2.
Build workboat in Arretium, which is working an unimproved clam tile.
Turn on/change a bunch of governors.
We got a ton of veteran praetorians used as garrisons. When military builds finish on the mainland, I'll build some longbows.
We should also change some tile improvements: some cities (Pisae at least) have food but need production, some watermills might be handy. The northern parts need some irrigation, and have tons of cottages. We are in a tech hole, but that's not the answer: if those cities don't grow to use their tiles, these improvements are worthless.
Sell rice for 8gpt to Mansa Musa. We are far below our limits in all cities, so I don't consider trading for resources.
Peter indeed has Gunpowder, but since muskets have to be built from scratch, not from upgrades, we should still have some time. Also, they don't get those bonuses for cities or the first strike that longbows do, they'll only be marginally stronger in a bombed down city.
Research to 80% with Mansa Musa's money. At -6 per turn now.
(1) Opportunity looks good, Yaroslavl' only has a pike and a longbow as defenders. Demand Gunpowder as tribute - he doesn't want to. Declare war.
Afterwards, I notice that Ostia is undefended. Hmm...oh. Bring a defender from Circei, which in turn is undefended now. We'll see what happens.
Attack stack moves to the hill outside Yaro.
Alexandria grew - I didn't forget about the merchants, but what do you want me to do with them? Oh well, I'll just leave them sitting there.
(2) Now I see why Ostia was empty - when I moved out the longbow I also moved the grouped praetorian.
Peter drops the settler in the north, I kill the archer with a knight, thanks for the free worker.
Almost forgot...Yaroslavl' falls, around 100g. No losses. Also kill a war elephant, losing one praetorian. Forces move towards Yekaterinburg, will hopefully go down in 3.
Contemplating switch to Mercantilism (no foreign trades anyway), but don't want the anarchy at the moment.
(3) Peter attacks Ostia with pretty large forces, kills the lone praetorian that was garrisoned. Our catapults that were bombing Yaro are still in the area, so I'll use them to get some damage in.
First cat miraculously kills a longbow, second goes down to an elephant. Lots of improvised combat going on (after all, our attack forces are already on their way to Yekaterinburg), but only lost 1 praet, 1 catapult while taking down 6 units and recapturing Ostia. I didn't raze it, I hope that wasn't against the rules. I actually had to use catapults to kill units here, not just for collateral damage.
(4) Printing Press finished, next will be Gunpowder. No, wait...Frederick gives it to us (and 40g) for PP. Nobody else we can trade with who doesn't have PP. Next will be Replacable Parts, then Rifling. Cavalry is 3 techs away, I consider that out of range.
Peter captures Ostia once again. This time it's 2 elephants, 2 crossbows, 1 longbow and a catapult. All we have are some heavily (50%) injured troops, 1 healed cat, praet and knight in range.
Promote a barrage II catapult that survived against that longbow earlier to barrage III and send it to death. I wanna see some badass collateral damage now.
So much for badass. A full 3.8 in sum, distributed over 3 units. Next cat, CR2, almost kills a longbow and retreats. Roughly the same coll damage as that b3 earlier. Next cat, b2, sent to suicide, but survives. Full HP praet gets killed (barely) by an elephant. Elite praet (CR3, C1) at 4.x HP kills an xbow. Next praet (5.x) takes down another xbow. Macer kills elephant.
That leaves us with 1 knight available, in the city there are a longbow (0.3), elephant (0.1) and a catapult (2.7). Kill the cat with the knight. Russian reinforcements next turn will be 2 muskets, 1 longbow, 1 macer. Ours are 1 longbow, 1 macer, 2 knights. We might be able to get Yekaterinburg next turn, freeing up our attack forces for defense.
IBT - Russians take out our elite praet and one of the catapults near Ostia.
(5) Yekaterinburg defenses at 0%. Lose an elite praet without making a scratch to a macer - even odds. Lose another praet redlining him. Kill a longbow, and lose a knight to the next (11:9). Only one attacker left, 3 defenders standing. Horrible defeat.
Knight kills a musket at Ostia. The next loses at overwhelming odds to a longbow without making a scratch. After some more fighting at good odds we take Ostia back. Garrisons are badly hurt though, no guarantee that we won't lose it again next turn. Our offensive forces will retreat from Yekaterinburg. I'll definitely make peace as soon as possible.
I never again want a turn of such horrible luck as this one.
IBT - Peter almost takes back Ostia with catapults. Loses one, kills an injured praet and longbow. All with cats.
(6) Our attacking forces retreat. Lost 2 praets, 1 knight, had to bring another knight back home for Ostia.
(7) Peter's golden age has ended. Good to know. Kill a musket in our territory. Licking wounds.
(8) Attack forces arrive back home in Ostia. Long time since we've seen any russian troops, he seems to be pretty burnt out too. We might be able to attack again in 1 or 2 turns. WW starts to get annoying.
(9) nothing really.
(10) military enters russian soil again, this time to Novgorod, which got a very annoying border expansion.
A settler has just arrived to resettle the area later (note: it's the one that was supposed to settle the empty - and worthless imo - space up north).
We got some bad WW in the new world, but Peter doesn't talk anyway, so we might as well go for Novgorod. Some caravels are being built to take care of 2 pillaging galleys.
Mansa Musa accepts to trade with us again, I get 2 lux from him. He has another, but that will cost us clam, which will soon be pillaged.