Freedom of speech was always a bit overrated anyway. We quickly move back to Bureaucracy for the bonus output in Amsterdam as our forces consolidate around Munich. I leave the city to be garrisoned by the Sumerians as we continue towards Berlin.
But a German boat appears out of nowhere! Oh no! They sink our ancient, outdated trireme with ease and destroy the first of our clam boats. Grr, I’ll get you for that, Frederick! The siege of Berlin begins. You may destroy my fishing boats, Freddy, but I’ll destroy your empire!
Steel finishes at an opportune time and Amsterdam rushes out an ironclad. Come back, Frederick, you’re not getting away with this that easily! With Berlin’s walls gone, our trebuchets go in for a full bombardment. Unluckily, they all die but they did their job as was needed. We can now replace them with cannons anyway. The assault on Berlin will commence.
Berlin falls but it’s a hard-fought battle. The core of my empire will have to replace the losses and quickly. At least this decapitates Frederick’s abilities, I’m not concerned about losing the war even though Frederick peaced out with Gilgamesh.
Oh right, we’re still at war with Victoria! I decide to call her up and ask for peace. I got Warwick and I don’t want her to come down at a bad time to kill me. Everything needs to be focused on Frederick.
Skirmishing continues outside Rotterdam as the Germans attempt to be sneaky and move a grenadier and a rifle division past the city. I decide to attack outwards at them and win both engagements easily. Tough luck Frederick!
In the meantime, our canons and new riflemen are heading towards Berlin. It’s almost time to close out the northern front. Perhaps concerning, the Germans are amassing a force down south. It’s certainly not over yet. Constitution and Democracy finish, allowing me to move to representation and emancipation. Slavery served its purpose for rushing, but it’s time to start happiness squeezing the rest of the empires.
The Germans start using cavalry to try and disrupt my train of cannons flowing into Berlin. Thankfully our rifles are just strong enough to win most engagements, but one cannon is lost. Speaking of trains, Railroad finishes in just one turn. Time to really get moving!
The German cavalry raids continue and another cannon is regrettably lost. It doesn’t change the inevitable, however, as the army reaches the outskirts of Hamburg. The walls are pretty quickly melted by the cannons and I suspect that it’ll only take two turns for Hamburg to fall.
Gilgamesh appears and asks for Chemistry in exchange for Astronomy. And also that I give him nearly 200 gold. I politely decline the offer. Sorry Gilgamesh, that just isn’t a good deal for me.
Our cannons and the last of the trebuchets engage with Hamburg. The trebuchet and a handful of cannons are lost, but three survive! They’ll be quickly retreated and healed up to be joined with the other cannons waiting in Rotterdam for the southern offensive. The riflemen are now ready to take the city.
With the fall of Hamburg, Germany is certainly looking worse for wear. Cologne and Numidian is all they seem to have got left. One rifle will stay behind to guard Hamburg while the rest of the army is turned around to prepare in Rotterdam.
Victoria seems to realize that it’s better to be on the side that’s winning and not on the side that’s losing. She offers mutual open borders and I accept. I’ve gotten Warwick and that’s all I wanted from her anyway. Besides, I may need her for a war against Cyrus.
After Victoria’s window closes, I get a nice popup. Assembly Line is finished! Now we’re cooking! Infantry should hopefully speed up the foregone conclusion that is Germany.
Am I going crazy, or does the guy in the Infantry icon look like Dr. House? Probably just crazy. The bulk of the offensive force is upgraded to infantry as the cannons continue to heal up. I glance at the bottom right and realize we’ve moved all the way up in score from dead last to second place!
It was a rough start for sure but we’re not out of the game by any means. The invasion force, now healed, moves towards Cologne. At the same time, Amsterdam finishes its first factory and a coal power plant to go with it. Thankfully this isn’t Civ 6 where the ice caps can melt!
Cologne falls but not without incident. All of the cannons are lost. Guess we’ll have to make new ones…
Artillery finishes and I backfill Divine Right which only takes one turn before moving onto Communism. The first Artillery is produced in Aachen but I don’t think it’ll be necessary for the fall of Numidian so I keep it there.
Germany is no more! At last, the Netherlands is at peace again. And with a large swath of Pangaea claimed with it! Of course we still don’t match Cyrus in score, not even close, but we might be able to do something about that.