Super quickly, I'm currently just mostly working and sleeping.
- That scout thing, I don't think there is anything wrong with it. Gifting a concrete unit with the ability to get valuable info is completely different from sending iron-for-iron trade with some city gifts added in. However, I'm not sure whether this will work in practice and I'm fine with waiting for more lurker input and deciding when we have a clearance.
- The more I think it the stronger my opinion is: If dtay attacks pindicator we want to react. Even if the only thing we achieve is that dtay needs to tech Astronomy, build a navy and put rifles in every coastal city. That's still resources that won't be thrown against pindicator, who I fear will collapse way too fast given his Cyneheard campaign. Currently we still have the land position to win this long-term and resources to stop someone from reaching a winning position (or realistically try at least). I'm not comfortable at all with watching when dtay takes control of the continent north of us, that may lead into a position where we have limited options in 50 turns. If our neighbor position would be better we could make an argument that we try consuming someone else (as BGN I would do it), but with BGN, pindi and dtay being practically our only neighbors, we don't have that option. We could try to eat Cyneheard while pindi is busy with dtay and divide the northern option with dtay, but it seems problematic. We are behind in schedule when it comes to that and if dtay's attack is a slam dunk, we just find ourselves in a position where dtay controls the eastern half of the continent and pindi+Cyneheard turtle in a bunch of cities in the western half with decent stacks of warm bodies.
- Based on current info I think dtay attack is reality, he gets Rifling in 2, upgrades a bunch of units and strikes, let's say in 5 turns. This means that we need to attack him asap, if we give him 15 turns, dtay has taken hindu shrine + other good stuff, pindicator is demoralized and we find ourselves staring at rifles in every coastal city (dtay must understand that attacking pindicator is an invitation as well) --> Consequently, I think our attack date should be T170 (+/- 1 turn), which means that preparations need to start immediately
- Based on above, let's raze that D'oh next turn and start immediately moving our troops towards east. I think we need to take Astro on ~T166/167 and unload first troops immediately so that we get everything into position.
- Regarding current turn: I think we should consider switching our research to Gunpowder. That tech already has maxed out known-tech bonus and we can probably finish it with break-even research or even less (it's not an enormous commitment away from the economy path, but keeps the military beeline alive). If it comes to dtay attack, I have to say that our Democracy path is a mistake, as much as I would love having SoL. If we do the attack, let's do it properly. With our current gold reserves + GS, we might be able to tech Astronomy+Gunpowder+Mil Trad + RP + Rifling in ~ 9 turns (need to calculate that properly, but pretty quick anyways). If we have already some cuirs when we boat and the ability to upgrade our troops to Cavs more or less immediately after our alpha strike there is a chance that we can actually keep ~half of captured cities. With just knights and being >5 turns away from Rifling it does not sound too realistic or at the very least we need to count on pindicator/krovice achieving something.
EDIT: Yeah, Englebert switch sounds good, I don't like building navy in Marmalade as the city is visible to dtay, let's use the whip in other places.
EDIT2: Reducing our EP spend to dtay is fine, but we want to keep that city visibility. We want to know where his troops are located and what kind of defenses cities have when we attack
- That scout thing, I don't think there is anything wrong with it. Gifting a concrete unit with the ability to get valuable info is completely different from sending iron-for-iron trade with some city gifts added in. However, I'm not sure whether this will work in practice and I'm fine with waiting for more lurker input and deciding when we have a clearance.
- The more I think it the stronger my opinion is: If dtay attacks pindicator we want to react. Even if the only thing we achieve is that dtay needs to tech Astronomy, build a navy and put rifles in every coastal city. That's still resources that won't be thrown against pindicator, who I fear will collapse way too fast given his Cyneheard campaign. Currently we still have the land position to win this long-term and resources to stop someone from reaching a winning position (or realistically try at least). I'm not comfortable at all with watching when dtay takes control of the continent north of us, that may lead into a position where we have limited options in 50 turns. If our neighbor position would be better we could make an argument that we try consuming someone else (as BGN I would do it), but with BGN, pindi and dtay being practically our only neighbors, we don't have that option. We could try to eat Cyneheard while pindi is busy with dtay and divide the northern option with dtay, but it seems problematic. We are behind in schedule when it comes to that and if dtay's attack is a slam dunk, we just find ourselves in a position where dtay controls the eastern half of the continent and pindi+Cyneheard turtle in a bunch of cities in the western half with decent stacks of warm bodies.
- Based on current info I think dtay attack is reality, he gets Rifling in 2, upgrades a bunch of units and strikes, let's say in 5 turns. This means that we need to attack him asap, if we give him 15 turns, dtay has taken hindu shrine + other good stuff, pindicator is demoralized and we find ourselves staring at rifles in every coastal city (dtay must understand that attacking pindicator is an invitation as well) --> Consequently, I think our attack date should be T170 (+/- 1 turn), which means that preparations need to start immediately
- Based on above, let's raze that D'oh next turn and start immediately moving our troops towards east. I think we need to take Astro on ~T166/167 and unload first troops immediately so that we get everything into position.
- Regarding current turn: I think we should consider switching our research to Gunpowder. That tech already has maxed out known-tech bonus and we can probably finish it with break-even research or even less (it's not an enormous commitment away from the economy path, but keeps the military beeline alive). If it comes to dtay attack, I have to say that our Democracy path is a mistake, as much as I would love having SoL. If we do the attack, let's do it properly. With our current gold reserves + GS, we might be able to tech Astronomy+Gunpowder+Mil Trad + RP + Rifling in ~ 9 turns (need to calculate that properly, but pretty quick anyways). If we have already some cuirs when we boat and the ability to upgrade our troops to Cavs more or less immediately after our alpha strike there is a chance that we can actually keep ~half of captured cities. With just knights and being >5 turns away from Rifling it does not sound too realistic or at the very least we need to count on pindicator/krovice achieving something.
EDIT: Yeah, Englebert switch sounds good, I don't like building navy in Marmalade as the city is visible to dtay, let's use the whip in other places.
EDIT2: Reducing our EP spend to dtay is fine, but we want to keep that city visibility. We want to know where his troops are located and what kind of defenses cities have when we attack