[SPOILERS] Emporium For Sale. We Don't Rent Pigs.

[BRickAstley]

Holy shooting to the top of the scoreboard Batman!

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

T104

Since I did the comprehensive report last time, a quicker version this time.




While doing my typical NW/SE scouting move, I uncovered another fleet incoming. Rather than trap my entire fleet, I left the unit uncovered and just hoped for a clean 1:1 trade, although I rue the xp for the cleanup unit. Hopefully it's just 1/2, so no combat promotions to deal with. I'm not sure of that, though, since I didn't dig through to see how much damage was done. I withdrew my remaining 3 triremes 1S. I can be attacked, but that wouldn't be the worst outcome. Turns out, I wasn't attacked.




As expected, novice moved 1N to complete the blockade of poor Baxter Springs, which will now starve if I can't break the choke hold. I'll break this blockade before I can do anything about the north. Novice has 5 triremes but he's far from support. I'm bringing in more units every turn, gnashing my teeth and biding my time. Even if ultimately I profit more from the blockade mechanic than my opponents (which is certainly in doubt), I hate the mechanic. I know, I've already mentioned it...




The economy for the turn, and as a bonus, Zak with a slick play, getting a GM as well as the Artist from Music. That puts him 1100 beakers ahead of me on the top of the tree. With presumably easy access to stone/marble, he'll be working on epics, and probably nab the GL while he's at it. Dazed, go do something to him...

T105




Novice consolidated his fleets (5 triremes, 1 galley), I pulled up one reinforcement, renamed Alamo Reborn since he sunk The Alamo previously. Again, I left my units in range to be attacked. Novice will have ~33% odds in each trireme vs. trireme fight, so he could well eliminate my fleet. Or, he could die trying. Probably the best move would have been to continue withdrawing until the numbers were even. We'll see, I wasn't sure about this move at all. Also, I have my 4 move galley in this area. You can see the tile that notes the presence of 2 workers this turn. If they are still there next turn, I may snipe them with one of the maces. But, I'd rather get a shot on one of his cities. A worker capture would probably not be worth using my one time surprise opportunity, since novice doesn't know I have this boat yet. Anyway, we'll see how the units can move around down here. I think novice is setting up to plant a city here.




In the south, novice is becoming outnumbered. I'm up 7:5, and I'll have two more triremes finishing next turn. Almost time for some fireworks here.

I didn't take demos either turn. That's probably a first. I did finish IW at EoT. I'll do Calendar next turn and I'll evaluate after that where to go next. I'm not liking the idea of Zak clearing out all the goodies at the top of the tree, but I'm in a scrappy fight with novice and he may not be content to let me outproduce him on the seas for long. He has cats, I don't, so I'm at risk on land. I should probably take Construction as well, and start building some proper defense.

[Ceiliazul]

I will be out of town at (yet another) wedding July 3 AM hours through July 8 evening. I can probably get to a turn before I leave for a 10h drive on July 3, but getting it done the evening of July 2 is probably better. At least for this trip I get to go on a cruise. Xenu, worst ded-lurk of all time, will also be on this trip, so no turns from me for that time period. Apologies in advance.

See what happens? You pick up turns for a guy and boost him to the top of the board. Next time he goes on vacation, he doesn't trust you at the helm.

Loving the reports, those blockades are harsh not only for the marble/stone but commerce as well!

edit: that was a joke, I'm actually out of town as well. :-(

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

I will be out of town at (yet another) wedding July 3 AM hours through July 8 evening. I can probably get to a turn before I leave for a 10h drive on July 3, but getting it done the evening of July 2 is probably better. At least for this trip I get to go on a cruise. Xenu, worst ded-lurk of all time, will also be on this trip, so no turns from me for that time period. Apologies in advance.

See what happens? You pick up turns for a guy and boost him to the top of the board. Next time he goes on vacation, he doesn't trust you at the helm.

Loving the reports, those blockades are harsh not only for the marble/stone but commerce as well!

edit: that was a joke, I'm actually out of town as well. :-(

Yeah, I remembered or I would have asked. You're on an even longer trip if I remember correctly. Have fun, and don't forget the sunscreen!

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day for me at work, so this will have to suffice for a brief turn report.







Novice has a ton of triremes and so do I. He has more than I do my north, though I have 3-4 more triremes trickling in, and I outnumber him in the south. But neither of us has the ~2:1 ratio that is needed to ensure wiping out the defending stack, so we both continue to build up.




Novice has brought in some more boats through his fort, so I have to build up again here as well. With two galleys, he is perhaps thinking of making an attack against Tombstone. We'll see. I retreated 1SE and resumed the blockade. I'm happy if he attacks with his leading edge. When he gets all his forces together in striking distance, probably next turn, I'll fall back until I can be reinforced. Tombstone is yet another city that can 2t triremes forever if needed.




Here you can see me finishing Aesthetics with overflow. I'm raising cash to take Literature next turn so I can get started on the Heroic Epic. The entire game I've assumed I'll build the HE at Ogallala, but if I'm building boats constantly, it wouldn't be terrible to have it in a coastal city. In that case, Great Bend could do the job, as it is my Moai city. But, I think I get out enough boats just now with whips in low production cities and 2t slow builds in higher production cities. Knights will be more expensive, so getting the HE in my best overall production city really will be helpful. Probably I'll wring my hands a little more and put it in Ogallala anyway. I should start on it in 2t. Also, here you can see that I'm starting the Mausoleum in Lonesome Dove. Dazed has had Calendar for ages but hasn't built the MoM yet. I doubt I play this one for failgold with so many other wonders available at Aesthetics/Literature.




One other thought I entertained for this turn was starting/finishing Feudalism. I would have had to run about 2 more wealth builds and set my slider to 60% to knock it out in a single turn. Ultimately, though, I read the situation that novice is about to have all he can handle from Zak's knights and that novice will build up to defend against that. Zak's tech rate is pretty impressive. Either he's able to run a lot of wealth builds, or his tech capacity is far superior to mine without building wealth. Probably both are true anyway. I hope novice isn't going straight to Nationalism, but if I had to put down money it would be on that...or Engineering to counter Zak's incoming knights. Hey, it's my thread, I can guess as many times as I want. So, anyone think I'm not going to regret taking Feudalism instead on my way to Guilds?




My GNP tends to look better before I finish the tech, but I'm still not setting any records here. Also, my approval rate is a bit misleading. Half of my cities are at the happy cap or worse after EoT. Fort Smith is unhappy at size 4 and will double whip yet another trireme to send to the north and ultimately to act as an artificial reef for sea critters. Great Bend is also unhappy, but I'll shuttle another garrison unit in on time, so no harm there. In 2t (T109), I'll have spices connected, as well as my gems. At that point I'll reposition some of my garrisoning units into a better defensive setup. Probably, I'm going to need to send a couple units to Tombstone, just in case novice should break through my fleet on the inland sea.

Well, this report ended up being longer than I had thought it would. Guess you guys lose if you read all the way to here. :P

[spacetyrantxenu]

I think you'll regret not taking Feudalism on my way to Guilds if you get invaded before you go back for Feudalism. Otherwise you'll be perfectly happy with your decision.

Do you think Zak has any chance to win the game? If not, do you think he's going to try to spike Novice's tires just for the hell of it?

[Commodore]

Um. Isn't Feudalism required on the way to Guilds?

[spacetyrantxenu]

Well that's all the more reason to regret not researching it!

That's probably the kind of thing BGN would point out as being a reason I'm a bad ded-lurker. I'm not paying attention at all!

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

I think you'll regret not taking Feudalism on my way to Guilds if you get invaded before you go back for Feudalism. Otherwise you'll be perfectly happy with your decision.

Do you think Zak has any chance to win the game? If not, do you think he's going to try to spike Novice's tires just for the hell of it?

First... Circular logic FTW. Second, sure, Zak has a chance. I'm not sure how good his chance is, same as my chance. As long as novice and I waste hammers at sea, he's improving relative to our position. But, with him on the road to Knights, I'd say he's definitely going to either improve his standing in the game (knighting Dazed) or spike novice's tires. Now, using yourself as a comparison, which would you likely to in this situation? Eat Dazed or go grudge match with me? I know if it were me making the choice which one would be more fun. Hint: Dazed would probably enjoy the outcome.

Um. Isn't Feudalism required on the way to Guilds?

I should get my ded-luker to investigate...

Well that's all the more reason to regret not researching it!

That's probably the kind of thing BGN would point out as being a reason I'm a bad ded-lurker. I'm not paying attention at all!

...except my ded-lurker has the attention span of a three-year old, if that. Totally rhetorical answer, btw. I knew it was on the road to Guilds, I just didn't know if I'd rue the delay or if the diversion to get the epics up would be worth it. But, as always, Xenu has sold me on his brilliant analysis. So, the definitive answer is... maybe.

I don't know how I haven't wrapped this game up already with this sort of help, to be honest. Thanks Com for setting Xenu straight, kinda.

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

I suppose I ought to put up a report.

T109




Zak building those two triremes has probably saved me a city. I moved north again and stumbled across Mr. Charles Martel, 5 move galley extraordinaire. Positioned exactly 5 tiles away from Tombstone, it isn't hard to guess the goal. I think the settling party that novice dumped on the island is a smoke screen, so I'm anticipating the max, 8 units, being at my doorsteps in a couple of turns. I retreated my boats as seen, 2 on each tile. That way they're out of reach of novice's triremes, so he can't punch a hole in my defense this turn and boat the city, which currently only has a single archer. Next turn I will have 2 chariots (including the super medic), 2 impis, and a crossbow to defend. The following turn I should have 2 maces and an additional crossbow, plus whatever I can build in Tombstone, most likely another crossbow. I swapped the build from archer to crossbow after taking this picture.




Dazed has been relieved of a city (again) by Zak. Also noted, Zak appears to be blockading a large swath of Dazed's coast. I'm certain that it is impossible that it is Dazed blockading Zak. I hope Ichabod comes in and relieves Dazed of all of his suffering.




More boats. I'm sick of the fucking boats. Dueling blockades here.

Also, just visible under the interface at the top left, the city of Goliad (the name comes from the Mexican-American war and was used alongside The Alamo as a rallying cry. More here if you're interested). The city has bananas ready to work immediately, and I dejungled/mined the gems this turn now that the gems are in my borders. Elsewhere, I also finished connecting spices this turn, so I can now reposition my forces in a better defensive posture rather than needing garrisons everywhere for happiness.




More boats. I totally withdrew from the stone island until I could get an overwhelming force in place. I don't need the stone at all right now, so let it starve. Novice has 5 triremes here, I have 9 highlighted and 2 more coming up. When I get them all gathered up, I'll move in. Hopefully I'll be ~2:1 and can kill him and push north.




This looks a lot better than it feels. I don't feel like I'm winning. I feel like I'm behind. I'm almost certain to be third to Guilds, so I need to be very wary. As always, if you have questions, thoughts, comments, hate me, etc., just post. The echo chamber is quite lonely.