Just dumping this chat I had with Old Harry a few days ago that Caledorn asked to see.
Quote:YossarianLives:
Hi Old Harry, thanks for your post!
Old Harry:
Hey, no problem, hope it doesn't sound too much like instructions!
YossarianLives:
No, it's awesome
I need an outside perspective slapping me around a little bit
Old Harry:
Heh
I'll try to be meaner then
YossarianLives:
You mentioned planting a new city to share Server Problem's corn
Are you thinking southwest of SP?
Old Harry:
Yep
YossarianLives:
We can't get a city east of the inland sea that would share the corn
Ok, interesting
Old Harry:
It'd only share one cottage
unless you cottage those hills
YossarianLives:
I wasn't putting a lot of priority on getting a filler city there until all the unclaimed lands were settled
Old Harry:
Fair enough
Don't forget I haven't looked in-game, so you've got the best view of what everything is doing...
I'm just throwing ideas your way.
YossarianLives:
Well I really appreciate the suggestions, like I said
YossarianLives:
My in-game view is that Rome will not attack us. But I might be somewhat blinded because I don't want them to attack us.
Old Harry:
I was wondering about that.
YossarianLives:
The spears are in queue because Rome has a lot of chariots that could eat through all our axes on their front
I had a paranoid moment where I thought they would do well by throwing all their praets at Dinos and all their chariots at us, so I started production on the spears
Old Harry:
If they do attack then you aren't going to win the game, so the temptation is to assume they won't
YossarianLives:
Then I got lax again and put them all aside in favor of other builds
Old Harry:
Yeah, spears are needed...
How many chariots do you think they have?
YossarianLives:
It's hard to remember exactly because of the long break, but I think the allies and I have spotted some 5-10 chariots acting as sentries around their land
Old Harry:
It'd be hilarious if all this time that you've been building axes to defend against Praets they've been building chariots to kill axes...
YossarianLives:
The reason I'm convinced that they'll go for Dinos is because Dinos settled right up on them and they have touching borders, whereas we've stayed away from Rome and there is still empty lands between our empires
And I have sentries in those empty lands to spot them if they do decide to go after us after all
Old Harry:
Plenty of warning is very good.
YossarianLives:
And we have EggHeads on our side of Rome that can help us out if they a ttack, while the Dinos are slightly more isolated.
Old Harry:
Cool
And you think they'll go for dinos on t130 when your pact runs out?
YossarianLives:
Some 50 turns ago I had a moment of panic and set ourselves back by whipping out a bunch of axes. Then an attack didn't come at all, so now I think I've also been jaded and lulled into a false sense of security
Well supposedly they shouldn't know when our pact ends
I had posted earlier that I thought Asterix knew, but when DMOC denied telling Asterix, I went back to review my chat logs and couldn't find any evidence to show why I actually thought that Asterix knew about the date
So I think I just made that up
Old Harry:
Ha!
I dunno what's taking them so long then
They should have attacked already!
YossarianLives:
Yeah, I think we made them think twice when we told them about the defensive pact. That is what has delayed them
But instead of changing course and starting up diplo, they apparently decided to dig in and just whip / chop praets for the next 50 turns
So they now have close to 50 of them, while all the other teams have raced ahead in tech
Old Harry:
Crazy. How far are you from Maces?
YossarianLives:
Pretty far...
Old Harry:
Actually, can they invade all of you at once?
YossarianLives:
We need IW=>Machinery=>CS
They might be able to...
Old Harry:
That would be funny too.
YossarianLives:
I only hope they split their stack and try that
I think we should be able to stop some 10 praets with enough warning
And all our allies should be able to, also
Old Harry:
Construction...
YossarianLives:
Yes, still need construction
6 turns away at current tech pace
Should I skip Monarchy and just go straight for construction?
Old Harry:
I'm not sure
Have you got Wine?
if not then it's just +1 for your cities
(happy)
are all your cities at happy cap?
Do they have good tiles to grow on to?
YossarianLives:
Yeah, I have 2 wine
So one for us, and one to trade for another happy resouce
Old Harry:
If the answer to any of these questions is no then Construction might be best
YossarianLives:
Many of the cities are at the happy cap. I am trying to use religion now to grow them, and then HR + Wine to keep growing them
But of course, the bigger they get, the worse the tiles they have to grow onto
We have plenty of workers to be improving tiles, but all resources and most riverside tiles are already being used
So we're just talking about mines and non-river, non-financial cottages, or lakeside farms, that we can grow onto
Old Harry:
Let me just count them up
YossarianLives:
I've got to run (conducting an all-day training at work), will you be around in a few hours to keep chatting?
Old Harry:
Can silent neighbor work the copper instead of a cottage and still grow?
Cool
cya
I'll be around later
YossarianLives:
Yeah, Silent Nieghbor can work the copper
I went back and forth on that one, then decided to go for the food+commerce as more depsarately needed than hammers
Ok, I'll catch you later
Old Harry:
cya
Just for later - I only count five improvements to grow onto (not counting Moai water).
I think your choice is:
- choose construction and move your workers to chop units (especially catapults) until GG attack or you hit Bowavio, or
- keep the workers building improvements and go for monarchy with your fingers crossed and hit Bowavio a bit later...
YossarianLives:
I prefer the fingers crossed approach, but I guess really it should be up to Cal since he is the one who will have to deal with the consequences
You counted five tiles that are currently improved but have no population to work them, you mean?
If we ditch the wealth builds in favor of units, I think construction will take 7-8 turns to research
So we can get axes and spears for now, then switch to cats everywhere once construction arrives
Old Harry:
Hey
Those five include the two scientists somewhere. I'm inclined to agree that the fingers crossed method is the better one... All or nothing!
YossarianLives:
It's tough...
If Rome doesn't attack us, then it's obviously the best choice
Old Harry:
And if Rome does attack you've lost the game anyway...
YossarianLives:
But, like you said, not preparing might be exactly what prompts/invites an invasion
Old Harry:
Catch 22
YossarianLives:
So maybe building troops is what prevents the attack and thus prevents ending the game
Old Harry:
Do they have tech visibility on you?
YossarianLives:
Damn Rome!
At least my user name is appropriate!
Old Harry:
Or alphabet
Heh, yeah
YossarianLives:
They shouldn't have tech visibility
But I haven't actually crunched the numbers
Old Harry:
Shame
You could save money on construction, so that they think that's the tech you're going for and are less likely to hit you.
Then switch to 100% on monarchy and get it quick
