Pong 8: Nubia

Greetings, and welcome to Pong 8!

This time around, my choices from the draft were Nubia, the Netherlands, and Sumeria.

I waffled a bit between Nubia and the Netherlands, but ended up going with Nubia. Mostly because of their super-awesome Archers, which are stronger and get an extra move. That third point of movement allows them to move onto forests or hills and still take a shot, which is obscenely powerful if you use it right.

The bonus to District production is nice. It's not something you really notice during the game, but it's a constant bonus you'll be using the whole time.

I'm not too thrilled with Nubian Pyramids. They can only be built on deserts, which greatly limits where they can be. They take a shitty tile and make it less shitty if you have districts nearby. The tile yields never really get all that great, and the tile you build them on needs to be worked by a citizen, as opposed to a district that you could drop there and increase adjacency bonuses.

Still, making the district Production bonus +40% means I'll at least be plopping one near by desert cities!

Session 1

Pretty solid start. Two visible luxuries, lots of food.

Most of the hills are deserts, which isn't great, but I'm hoping to dive for Petra.

With that in mind, I decided to move down a tile, to get more desert into my capital.

Standard build order for me, Slinger > Builder.

Teching for Archery ASAP.

I got a Scout from a hut, and he wanders into the vast desert.

I meet the Nipponese. They're pretty close, and very likely going to be an early target of an Archer rush.

The next turn, turn 6, the Nipponese forward settle up the river between our capitals. This decides it: There will be war, and it will be soon.

I'm fishing for that eureka, trying to get a kill with my Slinger. The barbarian Spearman moves out of his camp and the scout retreats, making it a little more difficult, but Discipline means I'll win the battle.

My Warrior found a lot of jungle, mountains, and wheat before running into a Barbarian camp.

My Slinger continues working on the Barbarian Spearman after the Scout took his camp and ran off.

There are 5 luxuries visible now! They're a bit spread out, but not too terribly!

Got it! One turn left!

My production in Meroë isn't too great. Moving away from the rainforests bit me in the butt a bit. The city is still working on the Builder, and I'll only have the one Slinger to upgrade.

No worries. The Nubian production bonus to ranged units will help.

In addition to having too little production, it also has too much food! I'm really starting to think that moving south may have been a mistake.

Another free scout from a hut!

This is a real boon, because I'm generally pretty bad at building scouts in all my games, and my low-production capital has much better things to do.

I meet AI-Gorgo while slaughtering barbarians at a chokepoint.

Yeah. Too much food, barely any production. And it doesn't look like it's going to get much better any time soon.

I meet Pete's India on the other side of the great desert I've come to call the Sea of Crypts.

He's far enough away that I don't worry much about him trying to forward settle me. The big desert also acts as a natural buffer.

There's some real nice land north of my capital! I've got to get some Settlers out once I get some Archers out.

Also, note I changed my civic from Craftsmanship to Foreign Trade. This is due to my habit of wanting to pop all the eurekas I can, I finished Craftsmanship to the boost and then swapped it out.

But in this case, it was a mistake. I really wanted the Agoge policy card from Craftsmanship, for an production boost to the Archers I'm spamming. I totally forgot, and wouldn't notice until much later the session, when I had wasted a bunch of production.

Talk shit? Get shot.

I'm not as ready for this war as I'd like to be, but I figure my pair of archers will be able to pick off his units and gain XP while I build a few more.

I'm quite surprised how quickly that city is going down. I've got my Warrior walking back from the west to actually take the city when it's ready.

My capital is growing too fast, and I don't have Irrigation to get those Sugars yet. I keep my worker around, waiting for Irrigation (further delaying the Craftsmanship eureka, and my Agoge card!)

THEMS IS SOME NICE HILLS!

Mount Kilimanjaro adds two food to surrounding tiles. I figure if I'm lucky, I can get 2 cities west of that, and they and the two Nipponese cities can share the yields.

I always rush buy a trader. Trade is just so important.

This time though, I didn't really think about what my options were for trade routes. With no second city and being at war with my nearest neighbor, I was limited to sending it across the desert to India. Risky, at best, and I wouldn't have enough archers to secure the route.

Pretty! Faith and Science for India!

... or maybe for Arabia, whose borders I can barely see across the mountains.

That city is ominous. I don't know about about my northeast. Arabia could be right on top of me, and I wouldn't know.

Weird flex, but okay.

I wonder where Babylon is.

The Nipponese settlement in our desert falls, with a scout rushing in to finish it off. My archers have been earning promotions off the city, and the few Warriors that trickled north.

That's an odd thing to be building during a war for the survival of your people!

I figure I'll let him finish it and farm XP off his units while he does.

Finally, Agoge.

One of my Archers has the Incendiaries promotion, to help burn down the walls of Kyoto.

I meet Arabia, led by Tel. I'm happy to see that his capital was further north. Maybe he won't be breathing down my neck!

Bloodthirsty savages! I half-expected this when I sent it off. What a waste of gold.

I killed all the wandering units I saw, so I started in on the city. XP is XP!

Sorry Hojo, I'm playing for keeps.

The siege of Kyoto continues, and Gorgo beats Hojo to the Hanging Gardens. Oh well.

I was foolish, and thought that damaging a Spearman to half health would prevent it from charging my Archer in the south. It did not, and I lost it. Banzai!

The war well in hand, I build a Settler and wander west with it, settling Kerma. Another luxury, and still desert-adjacent. Should have better production than my capital, too.

I probably should have headed north with settlers sooner, but it's alright.

One of Zar's scouts from Georgia met me at my borders, and he knows someone I don't! I wonder where he's from.

Arabia wants friendship, and as I have no plans (or means, really) to invade him, I accept.

Nate's Scythia also approaches my borders. There appear to be many people in the north.

With Agoge and some rainforest tiles with production, my capital finally starts producing archers at a decent rate.

As the session ends, Japan begins to mount a defense, but I have enough archers now to win. My two oldest archers are nearing their fourth promotion, which lets them shoot twice a round!

I focused on Archers, my Nubian Pyramids, Irrigation, and am now looking towards Currency.

Arabia appears a bit ahead, but I have some decent breadth so I'm not worried.

Seems like a lot of people already have their first government. I'm definitely a ways behind there.

I don't have any districts, and as such no Great People.

This was a great failing on my part last game, and after seeing this again I vowed to work harder at getting them starting next session.

I stationed Liang in Kerma, and will be spamming Builders there for a while.

I've got another promotion, but couldn't decide who I wanted more. I dislike having unspent points, but most of the abilities wouldn't really have mattered this session anyway.

History

The World

Session 2

The state of the Nubian-Nipponese war at the start of the session.

With this many three-move archers, I should have this very much in-hand.

I missed a Golden Age by 2 points. Ugh. Normal ages are the worst.

I choose Monumentality because I plan to build a bunch of districts once the war with Japan ends.

I meet some more city states north of Arabia. I don't care much for Grenada, but Muscat is pretty good. It gives an amenity to any city with a Commercial Hub, and I plan to have lots!

Pete had to sit this session out, so an AI took over India.

I normally don't like human players getting more information and/or combat bonuses to me through diplomacy, but I wanted to stay on good terms with India, so I accepted the delegation.

No thanks, Hojo.

That is a surprisingly good resistance! Whittling down the only melee unit I have down there would prevent me from taking the city. He'll have to retreat while I finish off all these archers.

Confident I have the war in hand, I begin the Pyramids.

I really like the Pyramids. It's a wonder that pays dividends all game, giving your builders an extra charge.

Gorgo likes me!

The siege progresses. He's going a decent job defending, but there's little he can do to stop me.

AI-India builds the Oracle.

My first double-shot archer!

This is why I was so excited about playing Nubia. The three-move archers are insane enough, but Nubia's bonus to XP for ranged units makes it so much easier to reach this top-tier promotion.

Three moves and two shots is brutal.

BUILD WONDER FASTER.

I'm a self-admitted wonder whore. Autocracy + Corvee will get me where I'm going.

With a powerful army and enough land to settle, I plan to spam a bunch of early wonders.

An archer I sent north to scout finds a barb camp near a horse. I better deal with that soon.

My northern archer uses its speed and the terrain to its advantage, moving into a forest and shooting at the warrior. Foolishly, it attacks us in the defensive terrain and dies.

On Discord, Zar of Georgia and I agree to a shared border, "where the three rivers meet above the stone."

I've got a second 2-shot archer. One is built to damage cities (Incendiaries) and the other to damage units (Volley + Arrow Storm.)

I've mopped up all the Nipponese troops, and am burning down their capital's defenses. It's falling extremely quickly.

As you'd expect based on their abilities, Zar's Georgia has founded a religion. Papal Primacy is an interesting choice for Georgia, as they get double envoys when they send them to city-states with their religion.

He should be able to convert a lot of city-states and have a strong number of envoys.

Continuing to make AI-India happy with some barbarian cleanup.

The Nipponese Barbarians are subdued. Nubia is whole.

AI-Gorgo finishes Stonehenge, ensuring she will have a religion.

After conquering Kyoto, experienced Nubian archers spread out to explore the south.

They soon find the fabled Babylon, spoken of by the Nipponese.

Drunk with bloodlust, the soldiers cry out to attack the peaceful scientific people.

Nate's Scythia has the Giant's Causeway nearby, which will grant units that pass by +5 combat strength. It's sort of in an awkward area, but if he moves all his horsemen past it, it'll be a decent bonus.

AI-Gorgo is spamming wonders!

I don't much care for Jerbel Barkal, especially as I'm not planning on a faith-based strategy this game.

Behind Babylon is Hong Kong.

There is an interesting pair of lakes that separate these city states from India to the north.

With a powerful army and nowhere to point it, I'm considering conquering them both to secure the southlands.

Being scientific and industrial city-states gives me pause, but I think owning those cities and setting a firm border with India with a solid choke point would be good.

The city-states of the world.

I was moving units over and planning to wait a bit, but seeing a worker hanging out there was too tempting. Nubia declares war on Babylon.

Keeping AI-India happy, and getting some gold to boot!

An age of colonization and growth is about to begin in Nubia, as the empire has become unified and safe.

The Pyramids are complete! Praise be!

I haven't been focusing on faith, and don't plan to pursue a religion, but my Nubian Pyramids have generated enough to trigger a pantheon. This won't do much, but I'll take a little production.

I hook up a second sugar, and shop it around with the AIs. This is the best deal I can get.

The age of colonization and expansion will continue in earnest.

Pyramids + Ancestral Hall is pretty great, as all the free workers generated when cities are settled will have that extra charge.

Nubia will master the southlands.

The defenses of Babylon fall quickly. Too quickly. My warrior hasn't made it there yet!

A new faith is born in Scythia.

AI-India will found Hinduism shortly after.

While waiting for my warrior to reach Babylon, I ponder pillaging their mines for some bonus science. I decide to wait a bit, and adopt Raid temporarily to double the yields. Each mine generates 32 science.

Babylon falls. The captured worker begins repairing mines.

LET IT RIDE! The conquests continue.

Another trade with AI-Gorgo for a luxury. Not so great.

Ouch. AI-India doesn't like me beating up on the city-states.

Looks like Zar's Georgia is also attacking city-states!

Back to wonder whoring! It's Petra time!

Looks like Zar has some cities near our agreed upon border. I'll have to get a settler up there to ensure I don't miss out on some of that good land.

Hong Kong has a lot of warriors, but they can't stand up to Nubian archers.

*Shrieks in Nubian*

I really should have dove harder for Petra. I waited for too many eurekas along the way instead of just finishing off the techs, and Zar got it first.

This stings a lot, but it could be worse. I had only invested a handful of turns into it.

Gorgo like. Gorgo friend.

Back to expansionist policies.

As a note, I like Autocracy a lot, but I hate the legacy card. I guess it would make sense to be in another government when I finish the government plaza building and then switch back to Autocracy.

Georgia has conquered their city state, and I've well-overshot a golden age.

Yeah, sure. I don't mind selling AI-India iron.

Everybody is getting into the City State killin' game.

A solid Great Merchant. An extra trade route is great, and it incentives other people to send me trade routes.

The world.

Tech-wise, I was going for Petra (failed), then Crossbows, then Industrial Zones, and now Pikemen.

Civic-wise I meandered a bit, but wanted Feudalism for the farm bonuses.

The faiths of the world. There's still an open spot! Arabia hasn't founded theirs yet.

I've got some districts down and have started generating Great People points. Nothing spectacular, but I'm on my way.

The govs.

Only real note is that I got Magnus promoted to Provision and plopped him in Kyoto, which will be churning out settlers for the foreseeable future.

History

I've never really been good at (or cared about?) watching who has recruited who. I've tried to make a better effort at it this session, but nothing really seemed that interesting.

Darren is playing as Alexander this game, and he's got two Great Generals already. I wonder who he's going to lash out at!

Reports.

Session 3

Faras is my nothernmost city, and I crammed it pretty close to Georgia. It's still south of the river that we declared our border, but it's right up in there. I immediately build an encampment and walls there, because Zar has proven himself an accomplished warmonger in our previous games.

That said, I was able to secure friendship agreements with both he and Nate's Scythia.

Having solidified my grasp on the south, I'm working on rapid expansion. Friendship agreements, and the fact that my army is still among the strongest in the world, will allow me to focus on that.

I roleplay this up a bit on Discord. Nubia is a friend to all, and is excited at the prospects of international trade! Come visit the markets of Meroë!

Greece is going heavy on religion. Doesn't matter much to me.

I'd also like to point out some of my district placement in this screenshot. It's another thing I was consciously working on this game: Factoring in not just the adjacency bonuses on the map, but also clustering things together to increase the bonuses even more.

There's a cluster of Commercial Hubs between Kerma and Meroë with the Government Plaza, and another two in the old Nipponese territories.

Another friendship secured.

I'm completely carefree now. My archers/crossbows hunt barbarians in the south while my cities churn out settlers and districts.

Another city state falls. Scythia conquers Granada.

Also pictured: Well-promoted archers. 2x6, 1x5, 1x4. All with double-shots.

Upgrading them to crossbowmen is a bit of a mixed bag at this point. They're well-promoted and not having any issues with the barbarians they're hunting, and their extra move is arguably worth more than bonus combat strength.

As I said above, I seriously overshot the Golden Age this time around.

I love Free Inquiry's Golden Age effect. As someone who usually builds Commercial Hubs and Harbors as the first district in a city, the bonus science is usually huge.

I like sending internal trade routes around early in the game to ensure I get a good network of roads set up, but the fact that Meroë is already giving me +4 production is pretty huge.

I end up shifting the majority of my trade routes to be sent from new settlements to Meroë.

Nubian traders build roads through the heartlands that will become Nubia's breadbasket.

And trade between Arabia crosses the plains where wild horses still roam.

No official border has been set between our people.

Continuing my rapid expansion. Napata will make use of those fertile tiles around Mount Kilimanjaro.

Pyramids + Serfdom = 6-charge workers. All of my new cities are getting extremely well developed, but Napata will be a crown jewel!

The continental split is interesting. It seems that nearly everything south of my capital is on a separate continent from my capital, which will let me benefit from various policy cards.

Promoting my boy Pingala, focusing on science and great people.

Pass. Not a good Great Merchant. I don't have a lot of use for envoys at the moment, and that's not a lot of gold to me.

The Scythian hordes have chosen a target. Arabia rises to defend itself.

Friends to both, Nubia maintains neutrality.

AI-Gorgo floods Nubia with Apostles. Our cities will quickly be overrun by their Sikhism, but we will pay it no mind.

Oh, and I'm building Apadana. As a wonder-whore, it's a good thing to have. I don't have much of a plan for envoys currently, but they're very useful throughout the game.

+4 adjacency Commercial District added to that cluster I mentioned previously.

Interesting! Just like the one I recruited before! I dump him in Meroë as well, giving other civs a +4 gpt incentive to send their traders to my capital.

Nubia will grow rich if they take us up on it!

Part of my rapid expansion takes me to the narrow mountain pass near Greece. I apologize to Gorgo, but am happy to have the pass secured with a city.

Zar/Georgia has a bit of an army going on now!

Also note the desert hill with 2 food, 4 production, 2 gold. That must be his Petra city!

Gorgo finishes the Colossus while I work on figuring out where I want to settle.

There's still land to settle, so I'm in rapid expand mode. However, I start working towards a Great General, fearful of Zar's army and Scythia's hordes.

Yes, please. I'll always take a governor title.

I'm generating a lot of Great Merchant points with all my Commercial Hubs!

Zar turns his growing army on Gorgo! Rumor has it that she had sent a legion of Apstoles into his lands as she did mine, and he had to go to war to resist her.

I go to renew our friendship as Gorgo gears up for war, but she snubs me.

Macedon, an unknown entity from where the maps end, conquers Kumasi, putting them on the Indian and Arabian border.

This conquest triggers an emergency! Nubia declines, publicly declaring on Discord that they believe the Macedonian annexation legitimate.

I do not believe that anyone joined in the emergency.

Even post-nerf, I love me some Magnus.

With Colonization and the Audience Chamber, one chop shaves off 5 turns from a settler.

The age is coming to an end, and I'm 9 points short. That's a tall order for 9 turns.

Nate's Scythia proposes a trade for some of my sugar. Eh. Not great, but I'll take it.

I'm not sure why Gorgo went to war with Nate's Scythia, but they did.

Tech-wise, I got Education and better walls, got Printing to the eureka boost, and am diving for Banks now.

Civic-wise I got my Merchant Republic and am filling out the mid-medieval civics.

Gorgo is running away with civics, two full ages ahead of me, and three ages ahead of 2 of the civs.

I'm churning out Merchants, and doing decently on Scientists. Not bad.

Govs.

History.

Reports

There aren't that many city-states left in the game.

I invest my envoys to get 3 in both mercantile city states, for the bonus gold in markets, of which I have many.

Muscat is closest to Nate's Scythia, and he seems content to keep them alive. Bandar Brunei is close enough to Georgia for me to worry, but we'll see.

The majority of Nubian trade is internal, from the edges of my empire to Meroë. We shall all grow strong together.

Session 4

As the next session starts, I once again secure friendship agreements with Georgia and Scythia.

My army is starting to become antiquated, and I have a lot of land to defend, but my power score large enough to deter most invaders.

The name of the game is still rapid expansion. There's still plenty of land left!

I finally meet Rome, the last remaining civ, and secure a decent deal for olives!

There are a shit-ton of mountains to the west, so I grab Galileo.

Nubia is a friend to all! Look at all those friendships!

You can also see some of the crazy yields from Mount Kilimanjaro, and some of the Industrial Zones being placed in very hilly areas.

It pains me to see Meroë's yields without Petra. So many desert hills!

I missed a golden age by 2 points. UGH! Normal ages are the WORST.

I chose Reform the Coinage, because I have 10 trade routes currently, and plan to build a bunch more Commercial Hubs and Harbors.

I explore the island of Nan Madol, find a good number of barbarians, and a Greek Fleet of Privateers! She's really far ahead in culture/civics!

Scythia and Georgia sign an economic alliance. The north has grown tighter.

I only took this screenshot to laugh at the name of my delegate, Pongita!

You can also see some of my newer settlements to the east. The terrain in the southlands is pretty flat, icy, and boring, so I don't feel pressured to cram cities in tightly or colonize every square inch of it. My colonization efforts begin to slow down about now.

This was a pretty huge Great Merchant for me. I was already using internal trade routes heavily, having my outer cities send them to Meroë, and Raja Todar Mal will make it so these routes also generate gold. It's not a TON of gold, but it helps balance things out for a mostly-internal-trading empire.

Timur is a pretty solid general. Really useful if you save him to pop one of the later promotions on a unit, which would require a bunch of XP to attain.

As I've been all but ignoring culture in the early game, I decide to start investing in art created by other cultures. 53gpt isn't cheap, but I'm kaing about 175gpt at this point and can more than afford it.

Wiselbanken was a mistake, I'm not sure what I was thinking. I signed an alliance with Arabia (Scientific, I think?), but I'm pretty much all internal at this point.

My economic policies are all about gold and city growth. Now that the expansion is all but done, we are building cities up.

India (played by Pete again after missing last session) went to war with Gorgo, because she was swarming him with Apostles and threatening his Hinduism.

The Apostles were primarily coming through my land, so he asked me to join the war against her.

Ill-positioned and not interested in going to war with someone who I know has Corps and Fleets, I decline.

Gorgo denounces me the next turn, for being a friend to her enemy. I'm not sure which; She's at war with more than half the civs in the world, and has denounced the rest.

As the session begins to wind down, Scythia made peace with Arabia.

I wasn't privy to it, but apparently the isthmus north of Homs (barely visible in the top right of this screenshot) was a focal point in their war, and proved impossible for the Scythian hordes to penetrate.

After making peace and trading open borders with Arabia, they sent their horsemen scouting. I began to get irked at the number that appeared randomly at various points on my border.

Checking the diplomacy window, I note that my friendship agreement with Scythia expires in just four turns. With so many horses appearing from the fog, I started planning to build Pike and Shots, lest Nate get any ideas.

Wisselbanken is STILL a mistake, I'm an idiot.

I noticed that Town Charters would give me more gold than Caravansaries, so I swapped them.

Techs: I got Printing (Forbidden Palace OP!), Muskets/Pike+Shots, and Scientific Theory. The next thing I want are Field Cannons. With the super-experienced archers from my early wars upgraded to these modern weapons, I'll be sitting pretty.

Civics: I'm kind of just meandering, focusing on civics that help my economy or give me housing. Gorgo is still running away with it.

I swapped a wildcard from +2 Great Engineer Points to +50% melee, anti-cav, and ranged production, due to fears of a Scythian invasion.

Chugging along, but I'm still not generating ANYTHING in terms of writers/artists/musicians.

Looking pretty bare. The Palace houses the Illiad, bought from Rome.

The Govs. Reyna got some upgrades this session for more sweet sweet gold.

History

Reports

The World

Session 5

There was a lot of discussion about this in Discord, and I'm not certain what happened, but I believe that Scythia was moving horsemen around Arabia, as if setting up for a second invasion after the last one failed. Arabia declared war preemptively, to assault the amassing forces before they were fully in position. While tactically prudent, this move brought Scythia's ally Georgia into the fight.

There's always profits in fighting barbarians! The island of Nan Madol is the latest front in Nubia's efforts to tame the uncivilized lands.

I was worried about the Scythian horsemen and began preparing to rebuke them, but it seems as though Arabia will be dealing with them.

I assume they will be able to hold the isthmus unless something changes in that power balance.

A bunch of my friendships expire, but Scythia is quick to offer a renewal. They do not want us involved in their war with Arabia, and we agree.

Not the best Great Engineer, but I plan to have a bunch of Industrial Zones and I'll take the extra culture. The tech it ends up boosting is Combustion, which is a decent eureka to get.

... I can steal Computers?

We talked about this on Discord a bit, and apparently the tech you can get the boost for doesn't have to be one the other civ actually has. Weird, but whatever.

I mostly just placed the spy here to watch Georgia's advances in the ongoing war.

Eh. I'm good for gold and I don't much need the envoys, but I take him anyway.

Although equipped with superior weaponry and fortified on a defensive isthmus, Telrenaur's Arabia has been talking to me on Discord and expressed worry. While the Scythians have not breached any of their city defenses, they have attacked traders and pillaged the Arabian countryside.

They claim that they are going bankrupt trying to support their army, and asked for a loan of 15gpt.

This sum is nothing to Nubia, and although we maintain a friendship with both sides of the war and have an official policy of neutrality in their conflict, we choose to support the Arabian resistance to keep the Scythian hordes further from our borders.

Telrenaur later told me he also sold his holy relic to Gorgo for extra cash. I totally would have bought it if I knew it were for sale!

Gorgo is really crushing it. She's miles ahead culturally, churning out wonders, and has a really strong religious game.

Zar's Georgia is making some progress in the war against her, though, and I've begun coveting her wonders and great works.

You can see in this screenshot that I've begun building a navy, composed of a small number of Frigates, Privateers, and Caravels. I'm also moving a pair of field cannons and a pike+shot over to that front.

A Great General just as I'm pondering a war with Greece. How fortuitous.

Georgia captured Pergamon and burns it to the ground.

Preparing for a war against large cities with a small occupying force, I stack my policy cards to help with any loyalty problems. I want to ensure that I can tear quickly through their cities without getting too bogged down trying to keep cities from revolting.

Gorgo denounced me last session for being friends with one of her many enemies, so it gave me the justification for a Formal War.

Seriously, look, she's denounced or is actively fighting everyone in the game.

I know she's got those Fleets of Privateers around somewhere, but I can't find them. The opening salvo of the war goes fairly well, I'm able to chip a decent amount off the city walls with some boats and a double-shot field cannon. Another field cannon (6 promotions!) is coming to back them up.

Cash money!

Zar has corps of field cannons and musketmen, which is disconcerting. Most of his troops are injured and holding outside of Buenos Aires, but he's definitely in the area and making an effort to take it.

5gpt is about as much as I've ever gotten from Nate for a luxury. :shrug:

The war continues. It only took 2 turns to tear down the walls, and I took minimal damage to my ships. They heal up by pillaging the nearby fishing boats.

India goes into a Theocracy! Are they planning a war?

I already have the eureka for Chemistry, so I pass on this Scientist.

When our Scientific Alliance expires, Arabia offers to change it into a Military Alliance.

Wary of being dragged in to a war with Scythia or Georgia (or the Theocratic India?), I decline, and ask him to offer another type of alliance.

Rhodes falls, and even with a governor, a garrison, and two +2 Loyalty cards, it's still rebelling.

15 turns is long enough that I'll take Sparta and relieve some pressure, but YEESH!

My navy quickly moves on to the next city as my land units play catchup. The double-shot field cannons with Incendiaries are absolutely tearing down walls.

Greece has only presented a single Knight in their defense so far. The narrow mountain passes make it hard for them to reinforce, and they've probably invested most of their forces fighting Zar in the north.

Gorgo is suzerain of A LOT of city states. Bandar Brunei is the only one I really care about.

I hate James Young. I don't care much about seeing oil early. Especially with all the desert and tundra in my land, I'll definitely have it. Pass.

Pete's India told me on Discord that they would be colonizing that isthmus. and I promised not to challenge it.

They've also been working on converting me to Hinduism. All in all, I don't care much about whatever faith my people follow.

I'm still churning out wonders! The Taj Mahal is about to finish in Babylon.

Sparta falls, and I have enough sea power in the area to rebuke the Greek Privateer.

Now settled (and promoted for +2 loyalty to friendly cities), Amani has rebuked all of the Greek rebels.

This Golden Age vs. Greece's Normal Age is the nail in the coffin for the loyalty issues. If I can take the cities, I can hold them.

Heartbeat of Steam is where it's at. Wonder whoring, and bonus production from Campus districts? Sign me up.

My ships can't do much else, as Megara is behind hills and jungle. They head south and sink some Nan Madolish ships.

Zar makes peace with Gorgo, either unwilling or unable to take Buenos Aires.

I really like the choke points the mountains are creating, and would be happy to end my conquests in Greece with Myceanne and Megara.

Zar tried to steal from me!

Capturing spies is so much better than killing them, because unless you trade it back you permanently deny that spy slot to the opposing civ.

Kerma is still dutifully churning out Liang+Pyramid Workers.

Yes. I will always say yes to a governor title.

In taking Myceane, I acquire the Patola Palace, and get a free Diplomatic Policy slot. I decide to make my spies better and faster.

Oh, hey, the island of Nan Madol actually has some decent land! I should get some settlers over here.

The borders of Myceane are insane. I can see so much.

The Greeks don't seem to have an organized defense, just a few straggling knights. My units docus on Megara, but Buenos Aires is in my sights.

Always paranoid, I had assumed that India's Theocratic leanings were meant for me. However, Pete agrees to a declaration of friendship, and helps to put that fear at ease.

I kicked myself several times for the placement of that encampment. I really don't know what I was thinking. I'll blame it on the time crunch of timed turns.

Speaking of friendships, I check with Scythia and Georgia. Less than 10 on each.

I don't plan to send caravans to them, but I accept India's offer of an economic alliance in the interest of fostering friendship between our people. If trade with us makes them rich, they'll be less likely to fight us. And if they send caravans to Meroë, I'll get 4gpt for each one.

Techs: Factories, Stock Exchanges, and (just recently) Infantry. I'm just barely ahead of the pack on Infantry, but I'm feeling pretty good about my positioning technologically.

Civics: I want Mobilization for armies, and then I plan to change up to a more cultural strategy. Eking out Zar's Georgia, and blowing the rest of the humans away. Gorgo is laughing at us all in the world's first Democracy, but her civics can't stop me from conquering her cities.

Still shitty in all the arts, but I'm aiming to change that starting next session.

My Greek conquests have netted me 6 Great Works and one Holy Relic (which Arabia sold to Greece.) I've got a lot of slots left to fill.

Amani got the titles this session, largely to help me shrug off the loyalty issues going against Greece. I also wanted to have her ready to grab Puppeteer in the event that I want to make a play for a city state against a human later in the game.

Reports!

The World.

Session 6

My allies, India and Arabia, have formed their own alliance.

During the course of this session, Telrenaur officially dubs this tripartite agreement the IAC, The -IA Coalition (India, Arabia, Nubia), and it will last until the end of the game.

My navy has joined in the efforts to quell the barbarous natives of the island of Nan Madol.

Megara falls, and I've taken every Greek City that's behind the cover of the mountains.

Having lost the majority of their horde after pillaging Arabia in the last war, Scythia now seeks to recreate itself as a peaceful neighbor. It strikes a friendship with its old enemy.

That's so cute, Gorgo! A swordsman!

I designed my border with Zar's Georgia to be fairly militarized with walls and encampments, but didn't stack too many troops there. It seems like a bit of an arms race has started now. Bombards aren't for defense!

I've purposely left most of the tiles north of Faras undeveloped, and the (rain)forests unchopped in an effort to slow him down, and prevent healing from pillaging farms.

I have no idea what those Arabs are up to.

Darren's Macedonia hasn't had much in the way of formal relations with my empire. We're on opposite sides of the world, and he's refused all open border and friendship requests. Aside from their conquest of Kumasi, Macedon is a mystery to Nubia.

Also, check out the Nubian breadbasket. It's not even fully done, but I've got a few 7-food tiles already.

My loyalty issues sorted, I swap out those policies for a new focus on gold and military unit production.

B

The entire IAC is now at war with Macedon.

When I ask what's going on in Discord, they explain that Arabia made a move against a Macedonian border city, but was surprised to find many muskets and great generals. Rebuked, Arabian troops fled into Indian territory, and Macedon followed them, declaring war on India to do so, and pulling me into the war as a result.

I explain that I do not have any troops in the area to help, and they sound like they have things well enough in hand.

Double down on that Mercantile Legacy, son!

My spy in Buenos Aires is doing work! As the city walls crumble, he manages to steal the secrets of electricity.

Buenos Aires falls, and I intend to liberate it. Their suzerain bonus is solid (bonus resources act as luxuries), and being industrial helps me with my districts and wonders.

However, before I give the city back to its rightful owners, I ensure that the four Great Works housed there are moved to other Nubian museums.

I could probably finish her off quickly enough, but there's no real reason to at this point, and I'm starting to worry about Georgia, so I decide to make peace.

Gorgo is Gorgo, so she won't give anything up in peace deals. I was surprised she agreed to cede the cities I took.

Rome comes to me with an offer for an alliance, and I accept. Again, I don't plan to send many traders their way, but I love being friendly this game.

Arabia wants some Niter to help resist the Macedonians. A fair price! What a great ally.

Shortly after, my other ally comes asking for Niter. No money from them, though! Since I have infantry, I'm fine giving away one of my last 2 sources.

I'm happy to do what I can to help my allies defend themselves without having to actually commit forces in that part of the world.

I already have the eureka for Computers. Pass.

As my paranoia and arms race on the border had led me to expect, Zar refuses to renew our friendship agreement. War is coming to Nubia.

I may have gotten to Infantry first, but Zar beat me to Artillery. Just by a bit though, four turns or so.

I begin turning my units into corps and armies.

Dammit, Trajan, I JUST liberated Buenos Aires! Leave them alone!

SOLID. I probably won't need the oil (lots of desert + tundra), but that +2 gp per strategic resource in a destination applies to internal routes! Should give me even more crazy amounts of gold.

Zar has a Supply Convoy, which grants an extra move to adjacent units and helps to heal them. Combined with a General, and he has some very fast-moving units on my border.

I'm very worried. His two encampments are within 3 tiles of Faras, and if he gets Artillery with Observation Balloons stationed there he'll be able to shell the city from relatively safety.

I need more troops.

Arabia pays off their loan.

I had written the money off a while back, but it felt good to receive this.

Terrified Georgia is going to declare war on me any turn now, I convince Nate to sign a Military Alliance, bribing him with some gold and luxuries.

At this point, I mistakenly believe that this means Scythia will declare war on Georgia if they attack me. After that fails to happen (later) I did some research, and apparently those triggers don't go off if you have a friendship agreement or alliance in place with the aggressor.

So this was pointless, since Scythia and Georgia were long-time Economic Allies, but I didn't know that at the time.

Trajan ain't playin'. He's sending a sizable force to take Buenos Aires, who has no defenders of their own.

Also note Zar's three corps on the right of the screenshot! I've still got my troops in Myceane with a wonderful mountain chokepoint, so I'm not too worried about him sneaking around the side.

Georgia officially denounces Nubia. Scared of the Greco-Nubian fusion culture, they believe that war is the only way to preserve the uniqueness of Georgian traditions.

He beat me to Tanks by 2 turns. I'm right on his heels!

Tanks are worrisome. Corps of tanks are even worse!

Between that and the potential shelling from his encampments, I feel the need to position my troops in front of the city to prevent a blitz.

His Defender of the Faith bonus is also problematic. Poking into his territory and fighting there will have me always at a fairly large disadvantage, so I'll have to make him come to me.

I'm quite irked at the whole situation.

I stay Golden, while the rest of the world goes Dark (or Normal, for Scythia.)

The loyalty difference between me and Georgia might dissuade Zar from attacking, but if he's planning to raze my cities it doesn't much matter.

I decide to opt for To Arms! to help churn out more units.

Zar has taken Bandar Brunei from me. I definitely want to keep them on my side when war breaks out, both to keep their bonuses and to deny them to Zar.

Techs: I went for Flight first, and have been playing catch up on other weapon techs ever since. I'm just barely behind Zar.

Civics: I dove for Democracy!

Finally generating some artists and writers!

At this point I decide that I'm going to go for a culture victory. Haven taken so many works and wonders from Greece, I'm well-positioned for it.

It's also one of the victory types I haven't had yet in Pong. I've had recent wins with Science (as Korea in Pong 4) and Religion (as Egypt in Pong 5.)

Amani got Puppeteer in my battle for Bandar Brunei.

Reports!

History!

The World!

Rome conquers Buenos Aires right as the session ends.

Session 7

The Georgian-Nubian border at the start of the session. My spies are doing good work revealing his troops.

He has a bit of an advantage at this point, especially considering I don't have Tanks or AT Crews, but I'm quickly reinforcing my defenses.

As noted last session, his Defender of the Faith belief is problematic, and makes me favor defensive strategies.

The multi-shot Field Cannons are powerful enough to put some serious hurt on anything foolish enough to move adjacent to my city, but I'm still worried about being shelled from afar with Observation Balloons.

Rome's conquest of Buenos Aires triggers an emergency!

Trajan has been a good friend, and even an ally at times, but I prefer Buenos Aires free, and under Nubian influence.

The reward effect of +1 gpt per envoy is a nice bonus, even though the pot of gold to split is negative for some reason.

Eh. Pass.

Going for a cultural victory, maybe this is worth something, but I didn't think enough of it.

Nubia moves from a Merchant Republic to a Democracy, and we ready ourselves for war.

The +1 movement if starting in friendly territory card helps me get newly produced troops to the front line.

Colonial Offices was a mistake. I meant to choose Colonial Taxes, which gives bonus gold and production to cities on other continents. As noted earlier in a screenshot, nearly all of the cities south of my capital are on a different continent.

I have the eureka for Computers. Pass.

My defenses are a bit more shored up, but still a bit outdated compared to Georgia. We're both consolidating troops into armies.

Only a few turns from AT Crews though, with a couple of Pike+Shot corps to upgrade.

Georgia joins the emergency with me.

Hilariously, right before we go to war, we end up allied and sharing all vision.

Behold, Georgia.

He doesn't have many troops that aren't already on the front, which is good news for me. I have a fairly constant stream of reinforcements on the way.

I didn't get any screenshots of it, but we manage to take Buenos Aires back in about 3 turns. Georgia and I arrived outside the city at the same time, and we both seemed to be waiting for the other to make the first move with bombarding units so we could snatch the city out from the other.

He won, liberating the city and claiming the suzerainty.

LOL, no.

I don't know how Gorgo thinks she has the upper hand in that relationship, or why she declared war on him after passing on the emergency, but okay.

Note the Theater Squares in the desert! One of them is adjacent to 3 wonders!

Eh. Pass.

Border looking a bit more in my favor now, with Anti-Tank armies and a good deal of other troops, but that's still an imposing amount of Georgian units.

Zar also gets his Observation Baloons, which I've been dreading.

My plan is to station troops outside of Faras to prevent a blitz of the city. Make him come attack my troops, and then hopefully bombard the piss out of them with Field Cannons and Artillery.

I'm working towards Advanced Flight for Bombers as well.

I don't know how much this stings, but I figure reducing the border city's production and forcing him to waste turns repairing it is worth it.

Techs: It was all about catching up with weapons this session. I got Tanks, Supply Convoys, and AT Crews. I still need to build the Tanks though, as I wasn't smart enough to pre-build Knights, despite watching Zar do it.

Zar is one tier of techs ahead of me. I don't know if that means Plastics, Uranium, or Machine Guns. Or all of them?

Civics: After Democracy, I back filled a few older civics I had skipped to grab envoys, and then got Professional Sports for the happiness boosts. I'm thinking about grabbing Class Struggle for the Defense of the Motherland card (no War Weariness from battles in your territory), and then it's all about civics that will help me win a culture victory.

I'll take that scientist! I have a decent number of Universities, and that's just the boost I need!

Not excited about the other types of Great People coming up.

Filling things out, finally. I also got one of my museums themed!

This session's titles went to hiring Victor, and giving him Garrison Commander. It's sort of a mini Defender of the Faith for myself, +5 STR when defending around Faras, where I expect the majority of the battles with Georgia to take place.

History

Cities

Session 8

YAS PLEASE, both of these. Excited for the extra tourism and science.

Georgia's gone Red.

While stressing out over the arms race on the border, I watched Zar send a Builder in to remove a farm.

I've been intentionally leaving a bunch of the farmland on our border undeveloped to prevent him from pillaging it for health, but wasting builder chargers to remove them in advance of a war is some next-level warmongering shit.

I've started building forts on the border. They're +4 STR to the units inside, make units inside count as being fortified for 2 turns (+6 STR.) This will be useful if I want to swap in fresh units as he begins to damage the ones on the front line.

At this point, I don't know if enemies gain the benefits from forts in your territory. I find out later that they do.

Indians love Nubian literature and Greek art. The first of many.

Qalidurut does not mess around. He's killing it on his missions.

Composites is a great tech to steal the boost for. Modern Armors and Modern ATs.

Helicopters now?!

He's also still building Knights, and upgrading them to Tanks. It seems like he only has one Oil, and has a city without an Encampment. Very smart if he has more gold than production!

It only took that guy 2 turns to blow up a factory and workshop! GETTIN SHIT DONE!

Modern Armor. Those will blow my Infantry out of the water.

I'm sorry Trajan, I only wanted Buenos Aires to be free. I accept your peace.

Both of my IAC allies are buying my blue jeans and listening to my rock music.

I have achieved tech parity with Georgia, at least boost-wise, and can no longer steal boosts from them.

Georgia declares war on Nubia, and the IAC responds automatically.

It is the beginning of the first World War.

A number of brave Arabian peacekeeping forces are slaughtered by the ranged weapons of Georgia.

In the resulting chaos, Zar has an Artillery Corps+Balloon within range of Faras, but outside of an encampment. His 3-range artillery are my greatest concern, so I quickly move a Field Cannon and Infantry army to destroy it. My infantry dies, but that's a trade I was more than willing to make.

His other Artillery Army is stationed in Batumi, out of range of my city, and is less of a concern at the moment.

Defender of the Faith OP! I can barely scratch it with artillery. The Field Cannon does a bit better.

Oh. Modern Armors are pretty fucking tough.

I'm getting a bit worried at this point, but there's a good deal of meat between his Armors and my cities, and a line of well-promoted ranged units. I just need to keep his artillery away and focus-fire anything within range of my units.

Macedonian joins the World War on the side of the Georgian Axis by declaring war on India, dragging the entire IAC into that conflict.

I have no doubt that if Nate were playing this session, Scythia would have joined them as well.

Another Artillery Corps showed up outside Mtskheta, within range of my own artillery army in an encampment. I was able to blow it to bits before it fired on me.

This is the name of the game. Keep the artillery away.

My other units are holding their ground. The Infantry in forts with a Supply Convoy nearby take all the ranged attacks he can muster and still heal to full that same round.

His Modern Armors are beastly though, and there's little I can do to stop them other than have my units stand in the way and retreat when they take damage.

It's at this point that I learn enemies get the bonuses of forts in your territory.

I also learned that a low-HP encampment functions as a city when it comes to being attacked. The unit inside doesn't defend itself, and gets killed when the encampment falls. Lost an AT army without it firing a shot. RIP!

A few turns later. The defenses in my west have fallen, but I made Zar bleed enough for him to fall back and consolidate.

I rush buy Bombers as I have the cash to do so, and quickly get 4 or 5 of them within range of the front.

As always, my primary goal with the Bombers is to attack Artillery. With their range, I can strike pretty deep into his territory.

Modern AT! I may just survive yet!

My bombers also take some shots at one his Modern Armor Armies, forcing them to hide in an encampment.

Having softened up his troops a bit, I begin bombing Batumi, Georgia's only source of Uranium.

I wasn't smart enough to bomb the Uranium itself to pillage it. Shows how little I've used planes in Civ 6.

Another one bites the dust. Even while at war, the Macedonian people can't stop singing Nubian songs.

I manage to kill another Modern Armor Army with bombers, leaving just the one army left visible.

Amenities are solid. Gimmie!

Aftter an especially bloody battle, one of Zar's Modern Armor Armies breaks through my defenses and occupies the fort outside Faras, while two Artillery Armies are stationed in encampments to the west.

I shell it with Artillery, Bombers, and Fiend Cannons, but it's too strong. It survives long enough for him to promote it and heal.

This is a very dangerous situation. I don't know how many turns it will take for him to shell Faras' defenses down. That armor needs to die.

I just got Machine Guns. I hate upgrading from Field Cannons to them and losing the 2-range units, but I think I need to if I want to have any hope of dislodging that Modern Armor Army.

Georgian ships shell and conquer Cairo, securing a second source of Uranium, but he seems to be having trouble maintaining loyalty there.

Nubia vows to defend its allies.

Techs: I got bombers, Machine Guns, Uranium, and Modern AT/Armors. Heading for nukes.

I've finally surpassed Georgia in scientific output, but we're still neck and neck.

Civics: I never ended up getting Class Struggle, and went for Cultural Heritage and Rapid Deployment.

No real changes, except for After-Action Reports for some bonus XP.

I'm going to grab that Space Race Engineer just so Zar doesn't.

Filling up nicely!

I rush-bought an Archaeologist in Megara to get those artifacts. I'll need to buy another in Meroë.

I earned a title this session, but didn't spend it. War is hell, and timed turns make you forget things!

History

Reports

Session 9

THIEF! I have enough spies to spare one to defend my capital's Commerce Hub, and do so at the next opportunity.

The front at the start of the session.

I've bombed/shelled Batumi real hard, and Zar has shifted his army that way to compensate. His troop placement is more defensive than it has been in a while, but I'm still wary of that Modern Armor Army sitting outside Faras.

The first turn of a session has no turn timer, so you have time to actually change civics, apply governor titles, and check out the diplomacy screens.

I went to each AI to see what it would take to bribe them into joining the IAC on the right side of the World War. I have a booming economy, and was prepared to offer large sums of gold, but they all joined for one luxury each. I was shocked.

I got Scythia and Greece to declare war on Georgia, and Rome to declare war on Macedon.

Scythia was a long-time Economic Ally of Georgia, but apparently he had let that (and their friendship agreement) lapse when Nate took two sessions off.

Scythia declaring war on Georgia triggered a betrayal emergency! I pass, for obvious reasons, but Georgia accepts. It's too big of a reward for him not too, especially after I've taken most of his viable trading partners away.

I flatten an encampment with some artillery and a Modern Armor Army.

I don't have a screenshot of it, but I was finally able to dislodge the Modern Armor Army from that fortress, using 2 double-shot machine guns and 2 bombers.

Failure! There's a first time for everything. He escapes, though!

Arabia's capital has revolted from Georgia, but he lacks the troops to retake it as he's committed them to his eastern border, where Macedon is attacking with Infantry Corps.

My allies don't have Infantry OR Corps yet, and are slowly losing ground. India has lost Agra and Hyderabad already, though he does not have the loyalty to hold them.

I promise them any resource they need, but without the technology to use them there's not much point. Nubia will have to send aid in the form of troops.

He's shelled Faras a handful of times, but the walls are holding. I continue bombing his troops and making one-for-one trades occasionally. My economy is better and I have vastly more cities producing units, so I'll win the war through attrition if need be.

Unable to hold Agra, Macedon re-takes the free city and razes it.

This atrocity will not stand.

After a session and a half of my bombers being unchallenged, Zar builds his first Anti-Air Gun.

It's too little too late, as my airforce has laid waste to a lot of his army.

Hrm... I need to start focusing on building Wonders again.

But first, nukes.

I rush-buy a Modern Armor Corps in Hong Kong to help rebuke the Macedonians. It takes 2 turns to liberate Hyderabad, and I quickly move to mob up retreating infantry.

With the War Department, every kill heals my units for 20 HP, which allows my Modern Armors to run down infantry all day.

After luring his army west by bombing Batusi, I change tack and bomb/shell Mtskheta. It takes 2 turns before it's low enough to conquer.

It seems like he lacks a decent road between his cities on the front. After the first turn of my bombing, he started to move his units from west to east, but could only make it half way. The artillery out in the open, my bombers rejoiced.

It's yo boy, Pingala, with the nukes.

I can't prove that was Zar, but it was TOTALLY Zar, right?!

Georgia, Arabia, and Rome all swing from Dark to Heroic. I stay Gold.

Georgia getting three dedications stings, but the options in this era aren't too amazing, and I'm pretty sure the war with him is already over.

I opt for Wish You Were Here, to speed up my cultural victory. I really need to build more National Parks and Seaside Resorts.

I break off a pair of Modern Armor and Artillery Armies to liberate Cairo from the Free Cities.

Killed one of Georgia's thieves!

You can also see the front between Arabia and Macedon, where not much has changed.

My armors in the south have driven his infantry northward, and I'm now moving more armors through Arabia to meet up with them.

Keeping the peace is hard work, but the Nubian army is up for it!

Batumi is razed, and Rustavi begins to fall as Nubia's first Drones appear.

Georgia's army is destroyed or routed, and his reinforcements are diverted to Scythia, om hopes of taking their capital and earning the major gold reward.

The Macedonians are in full retreat.

With no artillery or bomber support, it will be difficult to actually take any Macedonian cities, but for now I'm content just beating them back from my allies.

I lessen my war posture just a tad as I swap into Democratic Legacy for the bonus Housing and Production throughout my empire.

I'm building my first two nuclear devices, and they're going pretty quickly.

ANOTHER THIEF!

I keep Rustavi, as I'm not worried about loyalty or Zar retaking it easily, and I need a closer base to move my bombers to eventually.

I begin shelling/bombing Kutusi and Telavi simultaneously.

I don't see anything nearby capable of challenging my forces, but presumably he has some Modern Armors and Artillery near Scythia.

I don't think anything other than nukes could really slow me down at this point.

Techs: I got nukes, drones, and jet bombers. Computers also boosts my tourism. Going for Modern Infantry next, and then Rocket Artillery.

Civics: Almost all done! I've got Social Media for the tourism policies, but I didn't have time to make the changes on my turn. Will have to do that soon.

I've got a decent cultural game going now, churning out artists, writers, and musicians.

I need to rush-buy some Archeologists!

I've got another unspent title. Not sure where I want it.

Reports

Scores / Victory

I'm on my way. Zar said I was getting 6 tourists a turn, but I didn't notice myself. If that's true, I'm about 15 turns from winning. Less if I change up my policies and build some parks and seaside resorts.

Bless my little Indian allies, they've converted the entire IAC to Hinduism.

Session 10

I was cramming a lot of attacking and building National Parks + Seaside Resorts into this session, and missed a bunch of screenshots.

Zar's Georgian forces were all but destroyed last session, and I was mostly mopping up that conquest and taking all of his Great Works.

My Jet Bombers are all but uncontested in the skies. City walls are falling rapidly, battleships were sunk in a single round. I split Georgia in half by taking Kutaisi, finally claiming Petra as my own!

My first nuke is complete!

I ended up not using any, because they weren't needed to finish off Zar, and I didn't want to piss off any of the AIs or trigger an emergency due to my bonus tourism from trade routes,

Speaking of that... Another 25% from this Merchant. That's a total of +75% now.

I lost a 6-promotion Machine Gun! It had a promotion too, but I got greedy and wanted to shoot once and upgrade for the heal. I was too slow, and Zar got it!

I'm well on my way to a culture victory, and it's only going to speed up from here.

Eh. Pass. My core cities don't have problems with housing or amenities. I'm a Democracy with New Deal!

Meroë has a decent number of works, Reyna will help amplify that.

I forgot to do this at the end of last session due to war, but with the next civic I popped I changed up my Economic Policies to benefit Tourism a bit.

Fuck you, Gorgo. You're not getting anything back.

Looks like I'm making 9 Tourism a turn.

Telrenaur couldn't make the session tonight, and an AI took over Arabia. They offered Macedon peace and it was accepted. It's ally at peace, Nubia also offered a cease-fire.

This large lake had a few good spots for Seaside Resorts.

I rush buy a few Archaeologists and start digging shit up.

Jet Bombers are real powerful, and I've got a bunch.

Overall, I think the bombers were critical in my victory over Zar's Georgia. I certainly had the upper hand in terms of number of units and the economy to reinforce it, but the bombers turned the tide in a meaningful way.

I really wish you could create Corps/Armies (Wings/Squadrons?) of air units though. Both to make it quicker to bomb cities (one click instead of 3), and to allow bombers to compete with land troops in Armies, which can usually have a higher strength than any plane.

That's his capital. He's only had a handful of troops defending this session.

Getting there...

Why not liberate another city state! They're even cultural! :)

Churning out wonders, still.

Almost...

Taking Tblisi triggered an emergency, but only Zar joined in.

Hooray! The Greco-Nipponese-Nubian culture has dominated that of all the other civilizations! The greatest treasures, artifacts, and works of art are displayed proudly in our museums!