[SPOILERS] Serdoas and Nobles Thread with a little bit of Gaspar sprinkled in

[Donovan Zoi]

Turn 157 - 940 AD

All Quiet on the Northwestern Front


This was thankfully an uneventful turn. I did lose the hill tile, but no war was declared and our cities are still safe. Which is good since the tiles in Mogor were redistributed and I did not get the Walls in a turn here after all. But I will have them next turn, along with 2 Garr II Muskets, and will start on a Theatre in the hopes of getting this tile back.



Even still, I am ready to retaliate if necessary, with over 20 Knights in the area and about 10 Cats ready to engage an attacker by next turn.

Queues


Here are the queues. Yes, I know I said earlier that I was going to go 50/50 on units/buildings, and am getting back to that once these last few Walls and Quays are built. I also will need to know how things are going to go with my new GP next turn with a non-helpful (for GA purposes) Merchant still favored 52-24%

Graphs

Let's check out some graphs, now that I have sight on 6 other civs:

GNP


Manufacturing


Crop Yield


Power


OK so there is no question where I stand on this continent. The biggest (and most pleasant) surprise was that I was on par with REM on the Powergraph. Now I just need to be sure that my sudden burst of EP points, along with my upcoming plans going public, does not get him worked up as I have no intentions against him for the near future. Right now, my only concern is with the Dutch...

[Donovan Zoi]

Turn 157 - 940 AD [Continued]

The Race to Rifling

I had intended to write a post here that would outline my tech choices and the benefits of each, but an update on taotao's research this turn pretty much changed all of that. Instead of weighing the pros and cons of Nationalism > Constitution for a bump in research and GNP. or an Astronomy/Chemistry gambit to commence exploration of virgin lands to my east (I'll get you a pic next turn), I had my decision made for me when the Dutch completed Printing Press this turn.

Now England has has PP for awhile and since I have taken over I have completed Gunpowder, Optics and Drama. All of these will yield decent benefits over the coming turns, but now my sole focus must be working the Replaceable Parts > Rifling path.

Once I have Rifling (and Redcoats!) this should hopefully dissuade any attempt by taotao or anyone else to attack, so that is why vigilance is so important over the next 15 turns or so. Securing my western front will also allow me to consider conquests to my east as long as I am not foolish about defending my borders elsewhere.

Let me give you a look at the map, and then you can also review the Powergraph posted above:

North


So to our east, we have Borsche and Yuri, with 16 and 11 cities respectively. Neither of these civs have Gunpowder yet, and even if they have it soon they would be defending against Rifles. There is nothing I can do in the short term but taking action here is likely the only way I will achieve parity with the other two monsters on this continent.

South


In the south, I have a similar advantage against CH/Fenn. I don't think I would be too greedy here, but would still like to have the 3-4 cities that lie south of my lands.

Long story short, I have opportunities, and am really the only one with a shot at them. I said when I picked up this game that this was the perfect time to be in control of England. Now I just have to put it all together and prove it.

[Donovan Zoi]

Turn 158 - 960 AD

I knew when I entered the turn this time out there were going to be fireworks, with Civstats displaying the fall of 3 Incan cities to taotao. Luckily I had a sentry Knight in the area to take a look at things:



So, 36 Knights to 8 in Machu Picchu, with only 4 Melee units hiding behind walls. This city was sure to fall, although the Dutch were going to experience some losses. From here, the aggressors can either head south to assault the Incan capital of Cuzco or head east to dig into the cities I want out of our neighbor. And the thing is, I am blocked from taking my cut for another 3 turns....



And so I am left with two options. I can either intervene on behalf of CH once taotao's Knight stack is weakened, then opportunistically playing both sides of this war once I am able to engage CH. Or I can monitor helplessly my diminishing returns while I wait my turn to jump onto the pile.

Well, there is no question that attacking CH/Fenn in the east is in my best interests. This was a canal region I had coveted back when I was a young Zulu, and driving straight south to claim it will be my best chance of avoiding a Dutch reacharound (makes sense when you think about it). But initiating against an army at least 50% larger than mine and nearly twice as many cities to mobilize? Probably not the best move on my part, especially when I did not get the GA roll I wanted.

What to Do Now?

Well, I had plans of revolting into Vassalage/Slavery/OR this turn, but I ran some numbers in my NE city of Variann Wynn and can get another GP here in 12 turns if I totally leave Merchants out. This is also the raw amount of turns left for me to get RP and Rifling, and I have not calculated how much gold I would lose by going out of Emancipation and Bureau.

And so I will wait. And during this time, I will slow build more and more units while trying to toggle wealth and research where possible to minimize the drag on research. I'd like to be halfway to Rifling by the time my GA starts, perhaps even farther. But I'd also like to keep the peace during this time, as I now have an extra merchant that has its sights set on Size 19 Moscow, on a mission of discovery and goodwill. I'll be taking two Knights along to escort (and meander) our caravan to its destination.

Besides that, I would rather make my big statement when I can summon proper firepower to back it up. Because my prize still lies to my east, where both conquest and new settlement abound.

[Donovan Zoi]

England is pleased to announce an end to radio silence. An update covering recent events will be posted later today....

[OT4E]

English radio lies....

[Donovan Zoi]

Hey neighbor!

Sorry, the TV is still at the shop. My problem is that I can never do just a simple turn report. I will attempt one of those soon, as there is much going on in this game.

Thanks for trying to keep me honest.

[GermanJoey]

maybe we could get a small text update?

[Donovan Zoi]

Hey all, 

I am still here and fully aware of the important role that England plays in this endgame.   I intend to keep playing, and have been holding out for others to finish their turns but:

1. REM never seems to finish his turns and waits for everyone to play before closing out. I kind of need to see what he is doing, as I am in a spot where I will soon need to choose sides between him and taotao.  But REM seems to know this, and is playing accordingly by not actually closing out.

2. I have been playing after Borsche for the last dozen turns because things are in motion on this front, and on the one turn I was compelled to play first due to a 10-day long delay and Borsche not playing yet --  a newer, savvier player in BGN has come in as replacement and now apparently wishes to wait for me to play based on the order this one turn.  My whole game plan rested upon surprising an uninterested Borsche and leaving him no response for that surprise turn, but that has been turned entirely on its head.   There is probably no way to get out of this now, though I was waiting to see if BGN would take the bait and just play.  

I'll play the turn tonight, and then going forward, will play as soon as possible after taotao (this peacetime order has been established for quite some time) regardless of what happens.  Things will lock themselves into place soon enough and much ambiguity will be removed, at least on our continent.

Sorry to be one (of many) that have been holding up the game -- I'll admit that I have tried to be selfish in game control as well due to my precarious position.   As I am perhaps the player least deserving of it from a game standpoint, I will get real and just start playing.