AT's PBEM 58 Thread (or, AT Break's Bad)

[AutomatedTeller]

hmm. I had assumed it meant no espionage missions, mainly because I've been in games that banned spies explicitly. Now that I look back through the tech thread, it seemed like we were talking no spies and that morphed into no active espionage.

C-H has said he's ok with spies.

Good question, SevenSpirits. I'm unsure. I'll post in the tech thread.

[AutomatedTeller]

To answer commodore:

B4ndit and C-H are clearly losing. TT, eastway and I are pretty close.

Here is a breakdown of cities, with score in the bottom right:



I have the most (14)
TT is 2nd with 11
Eastway 3rd with 10
B4ndit is 4th with 9
and C-H is last with 6.

However, neither B4ndit nor CH have any wonders - I have 4 (Great Lighthouse, Pyramids, Oracle and Collosus), eastway has 3 (Stonehenge, Mausoleaum of Mausollos and hanging Gardens) and TT has 2 (Great Wall and Great Library). Plus, I have a shrine.

Everyone but C-H has a religion. Everyone but B4ndit is running bureau. C-H is the only one in despotism. C-H is the only one in paganism.

This is the tech situation:




On eastway, I'm up aesthetics and drama (apparently, we both got alphabet at the same time, who knew?) he's up meditation, construction, engineering and theology.

On TT, I'm up CoL, drama, Calendar, and Alpha. he's up med, construction, Lit and music.

On B4ndit, I'm up med, priesthood, feudalism, civl service, aesthetics, alpha and drama. He's up construction.

On C-H, I'm up monotheism, Feudalism, Aesthetics, drama, and HBR. he's up med and construction and apparently just picked up alpha, too.

Is it possible that these guys have had alpha for awhile and I didn't know because I didn't? It seems awfully coincidental that three players got alpha in the same turn.

It's hard to say who is winning - eastway is currently up, but he's also had a GA. TT is in one now.

I THINK I'm in a position to dominate the last part of the game - I have 3 strong economic wonders, the most cities and being spiritual is really beginning to pay off.


btw - unless a couple of people chime in and say that they thought spies were on, I'll just delete the spy I build next turn as my stupidity tax.

[AutomatedTeller]

Guess I don't have to worry abotu eastway attacking me:



I can't do much about that - eastway has a larger military than me and has military advantage from engineering - pikes and cats will rip apart an attacking force and he can react quickly. I might disengage my HA army and hit B4ndit, too, though.

one problem with my fairly rapid expansion:




I run a risk of losing the city here. Popping in the missionary will help, plus I'll upgrade the archer to make it less likely. Pavillion will help - this is, in fact, the exact game that china is useful in. Pavillion gives me a pretty big advantage in these border culture wars.

Last city for awhile:



This is just a little filler city to work collosus fueled coastal tiles, get some more trade routes and work a cottage along the way. It will never amount to much, but it will help the economy when it's up and roaring. It will likely get lighthouse, granary and court and maybe a martket to help defray costs with merchants.


Empire overview of the north:




This is where most of the action has been - I border eastway to the north, TT & C-H to the east and B4ndit to the NW. If I attack B4ndit, it will be here. B4ndit's got an HA running around in my territory checking things out, so it won't be easy to set up an attack without closing borders.

I'd like to drop a city N of Fuill Measure and pick up that cow and silk, and maybe I will, but it won't be cheap and will need serious garrison. And it will be vulnerable to attack from TT right from the get go.

The south:



More muddled. I border C-H to the SE, B4ndit to the SW and TT to the east. I don't expect any action this way, particularly not against C-H, who I am trading with. I do want to get 1 last 1 hex island up in that sea, but that's not a high priority for me right now. I have Bug to get up to speed.

[AutomatedTeller]

no pics - B4ndit lost a city. I'm going to swing some forces over to take edirne - look slike B4ndit is on his way out.

my tech path is now going med->philo->nationalism. I want the Taj, but I also want to be able to draft. plus, pacifism for a boost to GP production.

[AutomatedTeller]

b4ndit's falling apart - losing 2 more cities.

I can 2 turn philo now, giving me a nice boost into nationalism. I'll get a GP in say my name soon - a scientist, an engineer, a priest or a merchant.

if it's a scientist, I'll make an academy in my cap. An engineer, I'll save for Taj. The others will pop a GA in nationalism to help build taj. I might use the engineer for a GA, too - that might be overall better - if I can build taj easily in a GA, that would likely be a stronger use of my GP, since I get a bigger overall effect.

This is Edrine, b4ndit's city near me:



That's a pretty simply kill, though B4ndit does have x-bows, so it will require some cho-ko-nu support.



C-h forces. That's a concentration that could be used against me or may be defending against TT, I dunno. C-H and I are trading, so my assumption is that he won't attack me - I'm certainly not going to attack him, though he may dislike No Mas.


Some plans:

I'm setting up Globe in Breakage - that will be a good draft spot and it has a ton of whip anger anyway, so it will be nice to get rid of that. but it's near both eastway and TT, who I see as the biggest rivals. Nationhood is really good for a spiritual civ - can do some turns of drafting, and then some turns of science and back and forth.

I get philo in 2, then nationalism is 6 or 7 turns. Taj is either that turn (built in Mandala, for the extra culture) or some 8 to 10 turns later (built in Say My Name).

[AutomatedTeller]

eastway picked up philo the turn before I did - is he going nationalism or gearing up for a lib run? I'm guessing nationalism, which means he'll beat me to taj with an extra turn and a 50% bonus. A GA might help - an engineer will help more, though.

C-H has a lot of units:



that can curb-stomp my units. I didn't really think through the implications, but I definitely need to get some defensive units to ABQ and places nearby - that's very dangerous to me. I think he might be going after TT, but I can't take the chance. Praets aren't great vs xbows and maces, but 22 of them with catapult support will mess up your day...

[AutomatedTeller]

I can't tell if C-H is a threat or not - I'm going to move forces around some and stay in police state for now. He's accumulating 2 stacks, which seem to be in response to TT, but they aren't even on roads. He did kick off a GA, though.

Not a lot interesting - I'm up to 18 gold from the shrine, which is a nice return - with a market in Say My Name, I can kick up the science slider a notch.

I get an engineer next turn, so can rush the Taj, which is nice. I want to do it in Mandala, to get the extra 10 culture (12 with the pavillion) and accelerate making that city truly mine.

Holding off attackig B4ndit for another turn - he's moving forces north - might as well give them another turn to go.


Edit later:

Can't rush it in Mandala - the formula for hammers for GE on normal is 500 + 20/pop point and Taj is a 700 hammer wonder on normal, thus to get it in, I need to rush it in a size 10 or better city. So, I guess I'll add it to Say My Name, which is creating most of my GP point anyway...

[AutomatedTeller]

C-H is definitely in a defensive posture, defending against TT it looks like.

I am delaying attacking B4ndit for another turn, because I noticed this:



Gazientep is empty and I have a HA nearby.

picking up 2 cities is a nice thing.



My costs are high - one of the things that's happening is inflation - it's only 15% now, but it makes it worth while to start dumping expenses. So, courts in the bigger cities, as well. Courts in Breakage, Say My Name and Full Measure will save me 18 hammers, plus give more espionage, which I can put against TT and eastway and see what they are researching/building. I can already see the B4ndit is researching engineering.

[AutomatedTeller]

Quick update - declared on b4ndit, razed giazentep (mainly cause it wasn't holdable) and am moving in on his other city.

C-H is clearly moving soldiers south, so I don't have to worry about him hitting me.

I got espionage on eastway in the interturn - he has gone for guilds (will get it soon), so that is kind of a pain.

I switched to caste, philo and rep and am running a bunch of scientists. I should get nationalism is 2 more and kick off a GA, getting a scientist for my academy in 4 turns. I should get another GP from say my name in that period for a 2nd GA, by which I would expect to be pretty well caught up in tech.

Pics:

Gazientep was still undefended when I went in - I saw this:



And decided that I couldn't keep it, anyway. 1 xbow had a good chance of killing my HA and if he had more than 1, a very good chance, all of which would just help eastway.

In retrospect, taking this city was a dumb idea. Though, at least eastway won't get it, so maybe not so dumb.

This is b4ndits force disposition in this area:



as it turns out, eastway is geting guilds soon, so he's going to run over the rest of b4ndit with knights.

My plan is to get nationalism, kick off a GA with the Taj and kick off a 2nd GA with anothre GP.

I have set up Felina and Say My Name to make GP




Will make a scientist for my academy, due in 4 turns with some starving.



Is set up for a 7 turn GP right now. I think it will take a total of 8 turns (3 now, 5 with the GA), given the increase after Felina gets it's GS. It will be something not important.

18 turns of GA will help a lot, plus I'll try to build parthenon along the way.



my expenses pre-switch:







Substantially the same expenses, though with a very different makeup.

I'm now in Rep, Caste (allowing me to run all those scientists) and pacifism. Caste is a bit of a worry, since I can't emergency whip.

[AutomatedTeller]

Poor B4ndit - TT declared as well and moved 2 knights in on Erdine. He's got an xbow and a pike in there, with another x-bow near enough. I have 3 cho-ko-nu, 2 maces and a stack of HA, along with a LB.

He didn't kill my southern HA, so I pulled that back.

Nothing very interesting besides that - I get nationalism next turn and kick off the start of my 18 turns of GA action. Looking at the tech tree, I could get to econ in that time, though I'll probably get beaten there - if I do that, I could, perhaps, pick up the GM for that. But that would basically require me missing guilds and engineering along the way, and that's probably not smart.