CH's Through the Ages Report Thread (currently Public games)

[Cheater Hater]

RB Game 3: Turn 9


Nothing special here--Monarchy and upgrade Philosophy went as planned, and my 3 actions of taking cards were for Revolutionary Idea and Cannon. I'm glad that was a short turn, since I'm already up again. Unfortunately all the events were played, so Uncertain Borders took one of my Yellow tokens, putting me into famine, revolt, and corruption all at the same time

The key is that I'm fine with this, as worst case I can use Selective Breeding and Theology to solve those problems--however, that takes all my actions (since I need to use Revolutionary Idea to get enough science). However, my political phase can try to help ease that blow, as I've proposed an International Trade Agreement with rho to solve my food problem for now. That would allow me to research Theology and Cannon this turn instead and take Cavalry as well (allowing me to use my Mobile Artillery tactic I drew). Regardless, I'm so doomed right now

[Cheater Hater]

Wait, did I forget to post Turn 10 here? My International Trade Agreement got accepted, and I did mostly what I wanted to do.

RB Game 3: Turn 11


Well, this turn certainly could have been much worse than it was--as you can see I got Raided by Viktor, which cost me all my defenses. Thankfully I managed to avoid problems through the rest of the Event phases: rho passed, while chumchu flipped New Deposits, which actually benefits me the most by far (of course, just as I was about ready to talk about how Iron doesn't seem like it's that great, and that I'd much prefer to stay with 3-4 Bronzes and hope for an early Coal in Age II). Overall everything is fine, as I got Cavalrymen down along with Mobile Artillery, which means my military is respectable now (though still only third, but more on that in a bit). The annoying thing is that I still only have 5 science, which is now my main limiter (other than food/pop, which isn't that big of a deal and can be solved whenever I want). New Deposits also isn't quite as flashy as I want it to be--it basically went to finishing Taj, as Age III might start by my next turn (which will cause more happiness problems, though most of that will probably just be disbanding a Swordsman). My final Civil Action was an interesting choice, as I had to choose between taking Robespierre, Scientific Method, or Riflemen--I chose Scientific Method, though a lot of that is dependent on either getting Newton or an early Age III leader (though I'm pretty sure of Newton, since rho feels like he wants Cook--more on that shortly). I have no idea what I want to do next--I'm one science short of Scientific Method and have no spare pop to work with--next turn is almost certainly Selective Breeding and upgrading one or both Agricultures, combined with a couple card pickups, and then I'm out of options for T13 again

Now that we're near Age III, we can take stock of what's going on--Viktor and chumchu seem fine (especially since we'll be basically tied in military at the Age Transition), but what's going on with rho?


This is mostly for the record for the end of the game--what is his plan? I guess he's supposed to go into Colonies, but he's gotten basically no techs (only two non-blue techs). Obviously he's going to catch back up militarily with Cannon+Wave of Nationalism, but that means another two turns without Scientific Method. He's also getting Raid IIed by Viktor as we speak, and while he has the Military cards to possibly get out of it, he needs 2 Defense II's exactly. Otherwise he might be resigning this turn.

[Cheater Hater]

RB Game 3: Turn 12


Surprisingly the age transition didn't happen quite yet, as a single Cannon remains in the Civil deck.  That means I don't have to disband a Swordsman yet, but unfortunately I don't get to draw Age III military cards.  Otherwise this turn was simple--I chose to go the Newton+Selective Breeding route rather than saving my science for Scientific Method; hopefully that doesn't delay me too much.  I also picked up Constitutional Monarchy (maybe I was supposed to go Republic instead?  It would let me Revolution next turn, but it doesn't seem good without any extra military actions) and Rich Land, the latter being the reason why I only upgraded one Agriculture.  Next turn will be taking a lot of cards (maybe I'll be able to reach for an Air Forces) along with the Swordsman disband and the second Agriculture upgrade.  I'll also play my first event in a while now that I'm not bottom-power (either Cold War or Economic Progress; probably the latter).

Now that the turns are slightly boring, let's go over the other opponents--not much else has happened (just Viktor triggering Foray for himself and rho), so this isn't out of date much:


Viktor seems like he's doing fine--the double-Journalism helps, but he needs to avoid Famine this turn (meaning this turn's science is going to Selective Breeding).  His production isn't great, but he'll probably take Coal this turn (though again, his science isn't great).  His biggest strength by far is the actions, with Constitutional Monarchy, Pyramids, Napoleon, and Warfare being great. Don't forget he's getting three more resources or food from Foray, and I'm not sure which he'll take--food gives him a grace period on famine (meaning he doesn't have to Selective Breeding this turn, though he still can't Coal), while production is generally good.



Speaking of lack of urban development, we have yet another under-fooded board. Yes, Ocean Liner solves that easily, but he still has to avoid famine (even if it's just building a Agriculture with that spare pop). More importantly, the production seems much more dire--there might not even be a Coal left if rho is smart enough (and has enough actions) to take it. We also see a Republic without any extra actions--don't be surprised if he snaps up the Strategy (especially since double-Breakthrough means he has plenty of science). We also see a surprising Theater development coming--Bach lets him "upgrade" those Religions to Operas, but again, he needs the production to do so.

Overall, this is very interesting as we head into Age III.

[Cheater Hater]

RB Game 3: Turn 13


This is a pretty boring turn, especially for Age III. I don't have the science to do anything, so instead I'm just taking a couple cards (Modern Infantry and Einstein), did the Swordsman->Theology swap I planned, and upgraded the second Agriculture with Rich Land. This would have been the best turn to take some yellow cards, but there weren't any accessible ones. Next turn (assuming I don't get messed up by events, but only chumchu is left), I think the plan is grow, discover Sci Method, upgrade one Alchemy, disband a Swordsman, build a Cannon and Cavalryman (which leaves me without drawing any cards unfortunately ), then take 3 actions worth of cards (or 2 actions and Einstein).

However, I think there's a better path: Computers is on the board right now, and if chumchu doesn't take it I can get it for two actions. In that case I could research Computers instead, upgrade one Alchemy (which actually nets me 5 science instead of the 2 upgrading to a Sci Method would do), grow, build a Cannon (or Cavalryman), and possibly have one action left (if I keep Newton around). That actually works perfectly, since it would give me 12 science, which lets me research Constitutional Monarchy on T15, do the Swordsman->Cavalryman/Cannon while still drawing lots of military cards, and do some other things--once I have double Mobile Artillery I can possibly use some of the Plunders in my hand. I also don't know when I can get my Coal down, so I can build an Age III wonder (only Internet has just showed up).

As for everyone else, nothing is that special. Viktor hasn't done much, rho picked up Chaplin to solve his happiness issues (and he picked up Movies), and I'm not entirely sure what chumchu's doing--I guess he's just going to take the 4 culture penalty for Famine each turn? He did the last turn, I guess because he can't afford the two resources to build an Agriculture.

[Cheater Hater]

RB Game 3: Turn 14


Another two-turn day!  And the biggest surprise that not only was Computers not taken, it dropped all the way down to the 1 action section!  That means I can afford to play Einstein first and get that three culture (and unclog my hand, now that I have multiple techs I likely won't play), and otherwise the key points of grow, build Cannon, take/discover Computers and upgrade Alchemy haven't changed.  After that I have one action left, and it's a choice between Oil and Tanks (though not playing Einstein and taking Professional Sports was up there)--I chose Oil since I don't need military that much (I'm going to gain 8 strength next turn after building the Cav), and I'd rather spend the actions going from 2->5 than 2->3 (though I'm not sure about that--the upgrade pays for itself in two turns either way, and I'm going to play it T16 at the earliest unless I delay Constitutional Monarchy).

Before I get to the plans for next turn, I need to focus on transitioning to culture production. Let's start by going over all my opponents and their current visible culture plans:
Viktor: 37 Culture, 4 CPT (2 Journalisms), going for Libraries
rho: 42 Culture, 3 CPT (Hanging Gardens, Universitas Carolina, 1 Religion), using Chaplin-fueled Movies (though they seem very far away)
chumchu: 47 Culture, 4 CPT (St. Peter's Basilica, 2 Religions), using Bach to upgrade Religions into Operas
Again, this isn't concrete, as it doesn't include hidden information (Aggressions, Wars, Impacts) or things left in the Civics deck (the Wonders, other Age III leaders, Multimedias). I can affect these somewhat (notably I've discarded Impact of Progress, since I suck at it), but I have to just guess (and doing something like calculating all the Impact results seems like overkill even if it's technically better). Now, let's look at where I am:
CH: 40 Culture, 6 CPT (Taj Mahal, 3 Theologies), using Einstein, actually having enough production to complete a Wonder
That's actually better than I thought--Taj is helping a lot with my CPT, as are those Theologies I'm relying on to keep my civ out of revolt. And I know I keep harping on the lack of production from everyone else, but I can't see how 3 Bronzes is enough to keep up with all the large hammer expenses in Age III, no matter how many yellow cards you pick up. Of course, the main thing is that I need to make sure I actually get the Wonders, as First Space Flight and Fast Food Chains have similar results for all of us, and I can't build it if someone else takes it first. It also needs to be one of those two specifically, as I almost certainly won't get Internet (it'll go away if more than one extra card is taken in the gap or if someone else wants it) and Hollywood is worthless to me.

As for the turn, Internet might have to be my play if it's available, but I doubt it will be there. If it isn't, the plan is Constitutional Monarchy, grow+Cavalryman, and either taking a Wonder, Air Forces (something that might be worth delaying the Constitutional Monarchy for and building that instead, especially if that Revolutionary Idea falls to me somehow), or a bunch of Yellow cards (or possibly denying important cards, like Viktor's Multimedia).

[Cheater Hater]

RB Game 3: Turn 15


Unfortunately our turn pace had a blip for the first time, mostly since there were multiple interactive events (first Refugees making me disband a Swordman, then Historic Territory II prompting a round of bidding). Of course, the biggest political action was Viktor declaring War on Territory against chumchu. That resolved after my turn with Viktor taking 3 yellow tokens from chumchu, and now Viktor's following-up with an Raid II. Assuming chumchu can't defend (he needs double-Defense III exactly), that gives Viktor 11 Resources, which could set up another Multimedia, but is much more likely to get Air Forces, which will give him 12 more power, and that's extremely dangerous (especially since he'll get 10 more next turn after building the second Air Forces). As for chumchu, he'll be able to fix some of his military by adopting Conquistadors, but he'll still have no science, no military actions, and almost no production (and a clogged hand to boot). He got Historic Territory II, which seems fine (as War over Territory didn't really hurt him between Basilica and Ocean Liner) and put him in the lead, but I have no idea what else he can do--I think he wants Fast Food Chains (or maybe Hollywood), but he needs to find 12 more Production after his Engineering Genius III.

That's getting ahead of myself, since I still need to talk about my actions, but I didn't actually do that much. I adopted Constitutional Monarchy as expected, grew and built the Cav, but my most-important thing is what popped up at the end of the card row: First Space Flight. Yes, I spent all four remaining actions on it, and I need to figure out how I'm going to get it completed. I have 9 production currently, and am probably only going to get two more production cycles (Turn 16, then hopefully my Economic Progress event triggers before Turn 17--this assumes the Age Transition happens sometime during Turn 16), so that's 12 more (minus a possible Corruption round on Economic Progress). This means I have plenty, but I only have 5 to spare, giving me no room for error (or for bolstering my military against the Viktor menace). I seriously think I might reach for a 3-action Reserves next turn, since I don't have much to use actions on other than researching superfluous techs (though both Military Theory and Satellites help--Military Theory being 11 hurts though ) and finishing FSF. I also have Plunder III and Raid III available to try to get me more production, but the only reasonable target is rho, and I'm only a couple power above him. Overall I'm back to being worried again

[Cheater Hater]

RB Game 3: Turn 16


Oh boy--let's start with the events.  Economic Progress did show up this turn, but then I triggered Prosperity, which is nice, but means I have to worry about Corruption.  There's a lot of stuff I want to accomplish this turn, but they fall into two main categories:
a) Make sure I can finish FSF if nothing else changes.  This means either building some of it this turn or keeping 16 Production for next turn (almost certainly the final turn).  That involves avoiding Corruption as much as possible (again, don't forget the blue tokens "stored" on the wonder) and possibly reaching for Reserves.  It also means I want to save two actions somewhere to research two more Age III techs.
b) Not looking like an appealing target to Viktor's menacing army.  This has two parts.  An Aggression doesn't seem that awful, but a Plunder would be devastating (even more so than Armed Intervention or Raid)--I currently have 19 fewer strength than Viktor, but I can make up 9 strength from discarding cards (and possibly more if I draw another Defense card).  Then I have to worry about a War over Culture (the others are irrelevant since they won't resolve until after I'm done making actions), but the buildup gives me more options.

So what to do?  Remember, I have 6 Civil Actions, and there's no penalty for using the 4th Military Action (since I can only draw 3 Military Cards max).  The most important thing is that I don't want to build any of FSF yet, since it'll hurt my corruption (the first two don't reduce it at all) and ties up my production in something I possibly won't finish (if Viktor comes after me with a War on Culture--though even then it might net me more; I'll need to do the math there).  I also want to improve my military if I can, and there's two ways to do so: building a military unit (which necessitates taking Reserves so I can finish FSF) or playing Military techs (Cartography or Military Theory).  Finally, I need to "waste" actions growing so I don't go into corruption (and as a bonus it gives me more workers for military units).

So, here's what I want to do:
a) Grow twice
b) Build a Cannon (Cav would be the same)
c) Take Reserves

The question is what my last Civil Action is?  I basically have two choices: take Military Theory or research an Age II tech.  Let's look at the choices I have:
Peaceful:
a) Play Reserves (for resources)
b) Research one tech
c) Build 4 stages of FSF

(This path actually can diverge slightly if I get to take Engineering; if it's 2 actions I can research it, research another tech, and still build FSF all at once)

Military:
a) Research one or two military techs (Military Theory, Rockets, Cartography, Modern Infantry, Air Forces)
b) Build a new unit (Cav or Air Force)
c) Play Reserves (for resources)
d) Disband civilian units to make more military
e) (optional) Upgrade units

Wow, that Engineering line changes things a lot--the reason not to hedge by taking Military Theory (which is basically my military help in the Peaceful path and the backup plan to Air Forces in the Military path) is to make sure I get two techs out, and it's only worth two culture.  Engineering actually increases my ceiling (since I can research it and another Age III tech with 20 Science).

After the turn rolled, here are the important card locations:
a) Engineering is 3 from the right, guaranteed to be 2 actions or less on my turn (if it's there)
b) One Air Forces is two from the right; the other is still in the deck
c) My military draw was 1 Defense and 2 Armed Intervention; I unfortunately can't defend against a Viktor aggression then.

It feels like Viktor needs to declare War on Culture against either rho or chumchu, and if I had to guess, the other person will win. Chumchu is currently leading in culture, though his culture production (counting Churchill) is slightly less than rho, and he has more military (both current and potential). Not only does rho have less military, his base is much easier to disrupt (Raiding the Movies would basically end his game).

[Cheater Hater]

RB Game 3: Turn 17
Sorry, no picture today since I'm on my Wii U, but the important things are no one took Engineering, nothing was done to me, and Viktor declared War of Culture on rho (which resolved for 21 Culture).  That means the peaceful path is fine--the nice thing is that Military Theory lets me keep all my military cards, basically letting me survive one aggression (even from Viktor, just barely).

Edit: Turns out I'm not done with this game quite yet--Wealthy Territory II flipped on Viktor's turn, and while the production is literally useless to me, the key is who's fighting for it: chumchu with a current bid of 9. One thing I didn't mention in that extremely quick recap of last turn is that chumchu picked up Fast Food Chains, and his combination of 3 production waiting+9 from Wealthy Territory II+4 from Engineering Genius III lets him complete it. That's currently worth 22 Culture, and while it won't be that much (as he'll have to sacrifice some military units if he wins, and he has no spare production to rebuild anything), that's still a sizable amount for the current leader (maybe 20?). Right now I've bid 11 (Cannon+Cav with Mobile Artillery), but chumchu can easily outbid that (just sending a Rifle and two Knights would be 15 with Conquistadors and Navigation). Of course, the bidding is very interesting, as everyone is still in it, and Viktor not only can still bid a ton, he has incentive as well (the production lets him build a Multimedia, and he can grow twice if he sends two units), though unfortunately Gandhi doesn't really help protect him. As such, I probably don't need to win it, and I hope I didn't dissuade Viktor from bidding (my upper limit is probably 16, as I don't want to use my Defense cards for Colonization if I don't have to since they're more-efficient on Defense).

Edit 2: Wait, Viktor passed? He does realize this gives chumchu Fast Food Chains (and probably the win), right? Again, I can't outbid chumchu, and I also don't want to fall out of the range where I can defend against rho if possible (which is 16), since not only is an attack from chumchu unlikely (he only has one Military card), it wouldn't be as bad as FFC (especially one where he doesn't sacrifice that much--that's honestly the point of these bids right now: to decrease the benefit from FFC). This is where communication changes the game; if I knew that rho was ready with a Plunder to take chumchu off FFC (which would give him a second Movies), I wouldn't need to win this bid. There are a lot of unknowns here (mostly the Impacts--note I haven't played a single one) that I hope will be explained after the game (and I hope we finish today, as unlikely as that seems at this point)

[Cheater Hater]

RB Game 3: Final
Well, the game is finally over--I had to give up Wealthy Territory, but rho did have the Plunder to stop chumchu from building FFC. The impacts were Agriculture, Population, Competition, Science, and Architecture, with the major wins being Viktor in Population and Competition (probably the reason why he didn't try to stop chumchu). Overall Viktor won by two points over me--and it turns out I would have won if I would have seeded Impact of Progress instead of the meaningless Cold War. That's annoying, but I had no reason to think I would get two Age III blue techs on the last turn, and chumchu was the leader at that time. Overall it was a fun game, and I felt like I did well--the ensuing debate over whether production is worth it is interesting though. Hopefully I get some comments from the other competitors in the near-future

[chumchu]

Well played! You got very close to victory this time and got a taste of the frustration that I felt in the first game =)

You played a solid science strategy. One advice: I would have tried to squeeze more blue techs in instead of picking constitutional/coal/oil/sci meth. They give their bonus direct without a worker which makes them very good as long as you have science. They also score very well on impacts which is what you need to catch up to culture players (progress/variety/technology/goverment). A good example is turn 13 where Architecture is superior to Coal. There are only a few turns left which makes investing in coal very sketchy, the payback time is just too long even with economic progress. Further there is a hefty alternative cost as coal does not generate points. What you will want to build is urban buildings and wonders which is helped by architecture. You can get enough production for a wonder with just iron. As you have economic progress in the deck, the limit for you in wonder production is probably going to be actions.

This can be hard to see with the impacts but I certainly did not feel like the leader at the time. Viktors raid really hurt me. I had seeded two impacts that were better for Viktor and you than they were for me to get the points for seeding and to get wealthy territory asap. From my perspective the FFC gambit was the only chance I had to be close to you two. Thus I had to bid even if I was almost certain that Rho had an attack, I was only hoping that it would not be one of the two plunders.