[spoilers] The 49ers: Sanctimony and Public Defecation

[Commodore]

Sounds like it's getting close to time for the pillage economy to get going again

Man, I hear that. But whom? The Pitboss 49 politics are wack.

This is such a confusing game to be in. Dunno how easy it is to follow as lurkers.

[Commodore]

Annoying habit of Cornflakes, he'll declare war, kill a galley or trireme at the cost of one of his own, then offer peace. That's not the wises course of action, I am top power again:

I'd like to war profitably, but I can *unprofitably* murder another Babylonian super-city if this keeps up.

Speaking of unprofitable:

For "trying something different", Superdeath sure seems to be devoting his game to massing vast swarms of ancient-era trash to ruin his neighbors' games.

[Zed-F]

SD actually did intend to start off without massing power to wreck another player's game. He just failed in that ambition pretty quickly for various reasons.

[Commodore]

Huh, seems I missed the beat last turn. Migeulito moved troops to retake his city with the expiration of the treaty. As a result, I declared first and moved in my doomstack, which could murder even his highly-defended city with his catapults. He seemed to get the message, because this turn...

Good boy. Fintourist ought to be able to capture Supeardeath's pyramids easily, by the way.

Fintourist is my chief rival. I think he takes Superdeath with ease, and can with difficulty smash Ruff via sheer size (Ruff is actually pretty healthy). If I could kill Miguelito, Mr. Cairo, and Cornflakes, I can easily make the population threshold for Domination, but without at least two, perhaps three Great Artists I don't think I can hit 60%.


So, I have a plan to move forward with better developments, but I'm curious Dear Lurker, what would you do in this situation?


Don't answer here, toss in in your lurker thread, of course, although I don't think my councils would be much swayed in any case.

[Commodore]

India and Persia have a *lot* of real-life war weariness, but they are also scared of me and my samurai. So...I wouldn't want to be Ruff right now.

[Commodore]

Well, the Random Event Generator has weighed in on the subject of what to do next. Build thee some Charismatically-discounted libraries:


I haven't done an awful job with cottaging my sweet riverside capital lands. I'll need Calendar and/or Monarchy to grow big enough to work them all in the capital, but getting Iceni Dawn up to size 21 ought to net me a fair few sweet economic returns. Eventually.


My neighbors are nervous, of course. I logged in while Cornflakes was as of yet unfinished with his turn, this here is a deterrence stack, not an attack stack.


Definitely would be foolish to attack Cornflakes with all those scary catapults, wouldn't it?

[naufragar]

Just watch out for horcher end runs.

[Commodore]

Just watch out for horcher end runs.  

I have to watch for horcher end runs now, or knight end runs in half a dozen turns. I know which I prefer to deal with.

I'm actually shocked that he hasn't already hit Guilds, it's Turn 125, if I had his economy and empire setup I'd have 7 knights in queue right now.

[Commodore]

This offer greeted me upon opening the turn. I think it means "let's not fight until I have knights, 'kay?" All I see is "Ivory (1)" so that's useful.


Declared war, moved in a quick scanning sentry. Okay, that's not so bad. Pair of wellies and a bowman 1S too, sure thing. His backstop HA/cat force, scanned by the fleet, isn't bad either.


All in baybee. I suspect this upcoming fight might be more than a little apocalyptic. If I can crack Cornflake's back here at Technic Analysis, though, I think I can conquer him in time. Having twice the build queues matters.

How much is in Babylon? Handy BUG feature to the rescue:

I'm going to pour over this screen with all the green-eyeshade parsimony of an accountant. 48 units is a lot of units but we're about to spend them like water. Plus side, means I'll stop losing money at 0% like I am currently.

The world diplomatic situation is...complex. Fintourist et al captured the wonder-full Wisconsin and *immediately* revolted to Police State, I fully expect them to clash with Ruff over the bones of Superdeath soon. And beat Ruff handily.


As an aside, I finally managed to get Enough Workers, guys. Heartland 2: The Other River is now fully improved and I am actually...laying off the whip(!?) in these cities. Still need a forge in Basque Rebout there but it's great to start working RtR watermills. I'll be Serfdom over Caste this game so eventually you'll see more mills but for not, what a great and pleasant land, eh?

[Commodore]

First off: Ruff is logging in before and after literally every single person in this game. I have precisely zero idea where he is in any turn splits. I won't complain too much, but I will cry foul if he snipes my uncovered city at whenever points. He's also lost a city to Mr. Cairo just now as you see despite double-moving.

Not shown, but the *other* Mr.Cairo island in the area is being (re)invaded by Migeulito at the same time.
Simple visual representation of Pitboss 49 diplomacy:


On the war front, I opted to sacrifice the great general to cut Cornflakes' ivory while scanning forward with the sentry horse archer. I...think I found out why little 7-city Babylon is managing to be top or near-top research:

It's nice to be able to fork TWO flatland cities, both of whom are better than any city I own outside of Iceni Dawn. Assuming Cornflakes doesn't get crazy luck next turn, I can probably move to a hill and be able to attack either/both city. I also might be able to take one or two of the cities next turn if the scattered substacks tempt Cornflakes out of his walls. I know the logic of stacks of doom, but I've really had excellent success this game tempting walled defenders out with ostensibly favored odds. Let's cross fingers for this next turn, hopefully some of those whips were war elephants that get cancelled.