I was having an easy go of things over on the other continent so far, and that led me to get a bit too careless, underestimating just how strong the four-pack of Industrious civs really was. Things were still rolling along just fine on the surface, but the AI counterstrike began assembling in the years after 1870. The first indication I had of this was when Roosevelt dropped off a NASTY invasion fleet at Carib:
Ummm... help? 
The funny thing is, this was taking place just as someone was posting on the Realms Beyond Civ forums that the AI is totally incompetent at naval attacks, and that there's really no need to worry about defending your cities if the AI is overseas. It looks like FDR didn't get that message! 
I draft another defender, but it doesn't matter. That's a winning army in this position. Carib falls, and I can only plan to return later to wrestle control back. (I tell Cathy to attack Carib for me; we'll see just how much help the AI actually is during a war.)
Nevertheless, I'm still pushing forward and making gains on the other continent. Using my new tanks and bomber support, I capture Cologne on Germany's southern coast in 1874. This was an important location, as Bismarck had two water oil sources here, which I was able to prevent him from hooking up. (Yes, they already had Plastics tech too!) A German counterattack retook Cologne in 1876, but that left Munich exposed to attack for the first time. My naval and air forces were on it:
Fortress Munich finally falls, and Germany is increasingly looking gassed. The bulk of my forces have been coming down here against Bismarck; Gandhi has largely been left alone recently. So on the surface I'm still advancing along easily enough as before, but the northern AIs (Roosevelt and Napoleon) have yet to make their presence felt, and their influence will be decisive.
In another ominous sign, a massive attack between turns recaptured Delhi and returned it to India:
Even though I had a tank outside the city, I had no chance of taking it back thanks to the ridiculous cultural borders bug (which instantly restored the city's defenses to 80%). Nothing to do but load up my few surviving units and get the heck out of there. 
If you've noticed that my defensive position, with all these small and isolated garrisons scattered across the inland sea, simply cannot be held against significant forces - well, you're seeing more than I was at the time.
Am I worried yet? No, not really. I'm still sending tanks out to burn down more of Gandhi's cities: 
That deserves the special "pipe" smiley, for knowing that a move was weedy and making it anyway. At least I had the sense to RAZE this city, instead of trying to hold onto it in an impossible position like my other Indian conquests. Don't know what I'm talking about yet? You will in a minute. 
My thinking at the moment was that I would make a stand at Kolhapur, and then recapture Delhi a bit later on. After all, it was only a short distance to the east. The AIs were beginning to step up the pressure at Kolhapur, requiring additional attention on my part, but I still wasn't particularly concerned. Here was the situation in 1888:
I'm trying to hold the AIs at Kolhapur, but Delhi's recapture and instant border expansion has made the city extremely vulnerable to attacks from the east. You can see the stack Roosevelt was moving around; worth paying attention to, but nothing too serious. I kill off the exposed units and end my turn in the normal fashion.
On the interturn between 1888 and 1890 though... 
Roosevelt, Gandhi, and Napoleon pulverize me in a coordinated strike, running roughshod over my forward positions you saw above. What I thought was their main attacking force was merely the vanguard for MASSIVE American, Indian, and French stacks. I kill at least a dozen units on defense, but it doesn't matter. They roll over Kolhapur and obliterate it. Then, using the restored Indian cultural borders, Roosevelt leaps forward and crushes Bengal as well!
Oh my god, there are still MORE units coming! 
When the dust cleared, I found that my position had been completely overrun in the north. There are at least fifty units moving around up there, about to explode south and destroy my airbase, the most critical location on the map. In fact, there are so many units that I need two screenshots just to display them all. First Roosevelt:
And now for Napoleon's units north of Kolhapur:
I have three or four units in Eastern Airbase. Something tells me this is not going to end well.
Well, that's the worst spanking I've ever received from the AI in this game. 
And it's only going to get worse before it gets better. I go into damage control mode. The airbase MUST be protected. If that city falls, I'm not going to be able to fly in units at a fast enough rate to maintain my toehold on the eastern continent. Since I'm still running Nationhood civic, I do an emergency round of drafting and quickly pile up an extra eight infantry in the airbase. Hurt a lot to do it, but these were desperate times for me. Furthermore, I pull back most of my soliders on the German front to make a last-ditch stand at the airbase. I will conduct a fighting retreat, but retreat it is all the same.
To make matters worse, the AIs discovered Flight in 1894 and upgraded all their cavalry to GUNSHIPS (!) Can't say I was expecting that to happen... Now I can't even use my tanks to blitz their stacks until the gunships are wiped out.
Nappy ended up sending his forces around the lake and into German territory, to strike at me from the east. Even as his gigantic stacks began assailing me there, Gandhi and FDR were battering on the gates of the airbase in the north:
These stacks were located on the desert tiles two spaces north of Kolhapur. I used all my forces to take out the stack on the left (the smaller one), then sacrificed two workers to CHOP the eastern of the two forest tiles, so that the larger stack wouldn't receive defensive bonuses on the following turn. 1900 would be a decisive turn in the battle to hold the airbase...
Meanwhile, I was losing cities left and right to Nappy's attack in the south. Munich fell in 1900, and I saw the writing on the wall at Cologne, pulling all but one defender out of the city, essentially abandoning it to the enemy. It would fall in 1902. Here was the map at the start of the 20th century:
By the beginning of the next turn, I will have been pushed all the way back to Magyar and the airbase. And for all the damage I've done, I have not yet landed a knockout blow. These AIs are still researching faster than I am. If I get pushed off of the eastern continent, I'm going to have to start all over again, and I'm not sure I'll be able to stop them in time to prevent a launch. Furthermore, they're only two techs away from mechs (Computers + Robotics). If they get to mechs before I can get to Modern Armor, that will basically seal this thing too.
As well as I've played, I can still lose this game. The next few turns will be decisive.
