[SPOILERS] Yuris125 tries to win a game of Civ5 before it fades away

[yuris125]

Realised that I could at least take a screenshot from the start of the turn. So here. I tried to show my moves with some arrows

Red arrows = units which killed the Bowman
Blue arrows = units which shot at the city
Magenta arrows = units which moved but didn't shoot

Solid arrows = moves, dotted arrows = shots

[T-hawk]

It's possible the crossbow was a ruin-upgraded composite bow and that he doesn't have Machinery.  Look at your tech cost for Machinery, does it have a discount from the original value?  (you can load an old save to see that)

If he did beeline Machinery, well, then he did the right thing to win this war.

It's possible he has one more ranged unit SW of Harar.  You can't see that tile, but a unit on that hill would be able to see and shoot your sword NE of Harar.

[yuris125]

Good call on the Bowman on that hill - I actually knew it was there, just slipped my mind (a little pre-occupied with Captivate the last few days )

And no, that definitely wasn't a ruin-upgraded Crossbow




I'm thinking about offering peace. With the amount of rough terrain around Harar, and Nic now having better units than I do, I don't think I'm taking it

[yuris125]

I decided not to offer peace. I don't think there's any way I'm winning this game without conquering Nic, and I don't think locking myself into 10 turns of enforced peace would be beneficial

I definitely thought I had to retreat and regroup however, as there were no remotely beneficial unit trades possible any more. So this is the situation after my moves




The circled Bowman will likely die anyway. But nothing I can do about it. Everyone else should live, and I'm now almost at enough faith to buy a unit every two turns after my scouting Bowman cleared a barb encampment which randomly made me friends with Katmandu (that's also the reason I have 50 more gold compared with the start of the turn). Will be at exactly 50 fpt once the Mud Pyramid Mosque finishes in Tombouctu. So I think I will be ok to spend a few turns preparing a new attack

I'm also thinking, now that we're in a prolonged war, that I should build a road from Hanoi towards Harar to make reinforcements easier, and possibly also road some of those hills between the cities. Will cost money, but will make manoeuvring a lot easier. Thinking about it, but for now switched research to Currency. This will delay Physics by 3 turns, which is a little risky, but I do feel I need to stop relying on random barb camps for income and get some Markets up, especially if I'm going to build more roads and pay extra maintenance

This is the current situation with research (pic taken before the switch to Currency)




I actually thought about continuing beyond Physics and beelining Gunpowder. Musketmen should be very strong in a world with strategic resources so limited. But don't think I have enough research output yet - 36 turns is a little too much...

Trouble with my research path is that I don't expect any military progress to come in any time soon. Physics will give me Trebuchets, but I keep remembering how useless Catapults were, and don't really see why Trebuchets would fare much better

Speaking of strategic resources, one more change the screenshot about shows is that I have a spare horse. This came from Mombasa, as I sent a trade route to them to fulfil their quest, and that made us allies. Only 64/60 influence for the moment, but they also have a culture quest, which is about to end and which I should win




The trouble is - let's have another look at the demos




My crop yield soared thanks to the alliance with Mombasa, but it's still so far behind Ichabod's... also compare city sizes




This is why I'm certain I have to conquer Nic to have a chance to win the game. I'm on the same number of cities as Ichabod, but his are a lot larger. And while food box progression in Civ5 means that it's not completely impossible to catch up, I still think Ichabod's advantage from being ahead for so long will be too big to overcome

By the way, Ichabod also completed Chichen Itza this turn. His supercharged golden ages are now even more supercharged...

[yuris125]

Bowman did die, but I think it's going to be a brief period of calm. I'm wondering if now is a good time to enhance my religion. Considering how I need to improve my crop yield and grow my cities, and with a shrine and a temple in every city, I think Feed the World would be amazing. There's no particularly good enhancer belief unfortunately, with Ichabod on the other continent it would be hard to get benefits from Just War, and most other options are even worse. I'm thinking Itinerant Preachers would be the least useless option. But I do want Feed the World

Didn't have to decide this turn, so will see what Nic does first, then will know if I can afford to spend faith on a great prophet or if I have an immediate need for more units

[T-hawk]

Itinerant Preachers is usually the best of that weak lot of enhancement beliefs. Just War just sucks, yeah you never have your religion where you're fighting (and you wouldn't even really want to give them access to Holy Warriors.)

Feed the World is very good if you already have the shrines and temples, yes. Better than Guruship, and Swords into Plowshares isn't likely to be on very often in multiplayer.

[yuris125]

Peace is in the house. Well kind of. Not an official peace




(The bowman of course moved back to the hill after allowing me to take this screenshot)

I'm now thinking if there's some kind of roundabout way of reaching Addis Ababa without taking Harar. Because Harar is a true stronghold with all these hill and marshes

But first, I decided to go for that great prophet. Getting +2 food in every city is too tempting

[yuris125]

Lost the great prophet roll. Decided to go ahead and buy a Horseman then. I want to minimise wasted faith when I do get the prophet (faith is reset to 0 when a prophet is born), and happy enough to get a roll every 2 turns and buy a unit every time I lose one

Otherwise a quiet turn. Finished Currency, back on Physics. ETA on Notre Dame is currently T101, although with cities growing I hope to shave a turn off research and get it on the nice round T100

Most notably, my thread is now leading in the number of views. Dave would say I'm winning the important contest

[oledavy]

Dave would say I'm winning the important contest

That I would

[yuris125]

Problem. Problem with gold. I can't survive until Markets with the amount of gold I have




I hate doing it, but I disbanded my Archers. They're near useless at this point, and with how limited the money is, I don't foresee being able to upgrade them any time soon

Positive news (kind of) - I'm leading in land area




I think it's thanks to recent border expansions, and actually very close between Ichabod and me. But at least I get to lead in something. Right?

I wonder if I can end the war, sign friendship with HAK, and try to use research agreements to keep up with Ichabod. Is there a chance of that being enough? Is there a risk of Ichabod and Nic working together to counter that? I'm still wondering if it's possible to take Addis Ababa, and likely will make an attempt once I dug myself out of the economic hole - but already considering my options in case I can't do it and have to work with the land I already have (new cities almost certainly won't pay off at this point, even if they claim unique luxuries)