Genghis Machinates

[The Black Sword]

There's got to be some peacetime turnsplits going on right now, this game is moving so slowly.

I revolted into Representation and Theocracy for another big 200bpt boost.




I decided to stick with Bureacracy in the end, just too much of a bonus when Vassalage's xp won't hit any thresholds and I don't want/can't draft.

My GP roll was the scientist, so I bulbed Education and I'm 1 turning it. Next turn I think I can 1t Gunpowder with the overflow too. Completing a round of catapults right now and then I can start on some muskets next. I'm not entirely sure about building Universities. Con: It's 1400h not going into military. Pro: I reckon I have about 4 good university cities and then the final two Unis would be worth it just to unlock Oxford. So maybe I just go with that and delay the invasion slightly until I have rifles.

Continuing my empire tour, here's the not-so-bountiful homeland of our great civilisation:




Bothawui is a great capital of course, only Mack's size 21 monster is bigger. Kashyyyk is the only other major city in the area. It controls all the shared river tiles with Alderaan, mainly because it's coastal and makes for a great port. Alderaan and Polis Massa are productive hybrids working all the windmills they can find. Finally Rodia, Qilura and Dagobah just make the most they can out of the land.




Currently making 350bpt at 100% research, so that'll probably go up to 500 with Oxford + PP - GA bonus. The only worry is how future war could affect our health and happy supplies.




The Zulu birthplace on this world. Not so important anymore but it makes decent use out of its land. It's just going to pump military for quite some time now.




I think Kashyyyk needed to be the big city compared to Alderaan. I have very few ports compared to the other nations so I need the coastal production. And this location is great, pretty sheltered and only one little cove to access the city. At the moment it still needs a garrison because of REM unfortunately. Kashyyyk is the 4th 'good' university city if I go that path.




Polis Massa lives on Deer and windmills. It's been growing that cottage for the capital for a while and can give it away now soon. Again it can just focus on military now.




Qilura is actually a really important city because of the Spiral Minaret. I'm going to need to keep a good garrison up here because I can't afford to lose that. Talking about Castles before courthouses GJ, how about Castle before Granary? We'll actually stop growing here at size 5, working the ice windmill and giving the grass one to Polis Massa. Like Rodia to the south it felt like the other buildings were a better investment than a granary on 2-3fpt.




Slowly growing to size 5 here for that last windmill and again no Granary. Another Castle going up here because it's coastal, and Comm used the peace to build a road up to the border too. Maybe I can pillage it with a G2 Unit. After the Castle we can build military for a while.




Finally we have Dagobah, which isn't as efficient with it's land as my other cities. It built a granary early to use the capital's corn for whip cycles but then it was stuck at a low size when Bothawui took that for good. It then couldn't really grow until I got access to Irrigation. Still it should probably be a bit bigger. For the current golden age, I just couldn't trade the windmills for the farms, but we'll switch back when the GA is over.

[Haram]

As I can see, you basicly moved the capitol back to the spot, where you initially started, but moved away from.

From the perspective - do you consider moving a mistake or the initial spot was sooo slow, that it would ruin the beginning?

[The Black Sword]

Yeah, I think SIP would have been the better option in hindsight. We didn't have full map information though, so I'm not sure if given the information we had at the time I wouldn't do it again. I did underestimate the cost of having to move the capital though, which is something to keep in mind in the future. Even just having the extra happy and commerce from the Palace running through the Lib and then Academy earlier.

[The Black Sword]

So we have a new turn. When 2metra goes on holidays for a week and mack still waits to play after him, you can be pretty sure that's his next target.

Meanwhile I had a tech choice to make, 3t to Mil Trad and Cuirs or 10t until Rifles. I decided to go for the Rifles in the end. I'll have almost no pre-built Cuirs if I went that way, so the extra delay doesn't seem too bad. Rifles will be slower getting into position but they'll be just as fast with G2 once they reach the front. I'm pretty sure I'll go for Mil trad afterwards for Cavalry reinforcements.




Here's the current state of my ice balls. Utapau and Zygerria were captured barb cities, I don't want to spend settlers on places as exposed as this until after Chemistry. The other 4 all had some frozen forests to start them off and should be pretty easy to defend. Build order is fairly uniform for these guys: Monastery -> Temple -> Library -> Ikhanda. Tatooine is the furthest along, almost ready to start prebuilding a Rifle:

[GermanJoey]

10T to Rifling, so how many till RP? 5? that's gonna be pretty damn juicy...

edit: ack! it's right there in your first screenshot. 5 turns!

[The Black Sword]

Yeah, good catch, I'm hoping to 3t RP with a slight scientist emphasis. Should be worth about 100hpt!

Mack just captured 5 cities from 2metra, which is unfortunate. My output is far higher than any of my competitors right now I think though. I'm not sure whether to feel optimistic. If Mack moves quickly he could be able to interfere with my attack on Comm, which would be disastrous. I hope 2metra has kept his army inland away from the berserkers, I doubt he ever gets odds defending his coastal cities at such a tech disadvantage.

[The Black Sword]

I really enjoyed that 1 whole turn I was on top of the scoreboard.

Still, there are reasons to feel hopeful:




Comm is the only 1 in a golden age at the minute. Mack has a lot of cities coming out of revolt but I am making an extra 250hpt and probably 400bpt over him. And we'll make RP in 3. Commodore revolted back into Vassalage and Slavery btw, which means he won't reach Economics by the end of the golden age and FM will cost him a revolt turn when he does make it. I'm feeling pretty good about that. Main worry for the future is Mack interfering. But he won't gain anything besides setting me back and he has OH to worry about and a number of good opportunities elsewhere(steal the Comm/Pin islands, steal the Ot4E islands, essentially conquer the entire southern hemisphere). I'll possibly go straight to Frigates after Rifling but I'm not sure I can make any other concessions. I need to invade either REM or Commodore at some stage and I don't think I'll ever have a bigger relative advantage.

[The Black Sword]

Comm is a little spooked.

[The Black Sword]

Still leading in GNP and hammers despite 3 different golden ages.

Mack is just moving a lot faster than I expected though. I thought Rifles was the best path to go against Commodore but that assumed no interference. The Grenadier path seems a lot better to deal with Mack, upgraded CR3 Gren will get odds even against C1, CG2 Riles in hill cities with full fortify. He's about 4t away from them right now, if REM picks up Chemistry I might attempt to buy some frigates off him.

[The Black Sword]

Saving a bit of gold in anticipation of Oxford. I didn't want to delay any key tech goals in Rifling or Chemistry though, so it's only moderate. I hope to 2t Astro then 2t Chem. Mack getting Mil Science on the same turn I hit Rifling was an unpleasant surprise. I think he's making about 300bpt more than me in his golden age, though I'm not sure if wealth building is involved.




I had a spy looking around here. I haven't really had time to come up with a Comm invasion plan yet, but it would be great to pivot a horse stack up here while my Rifles stare down his cats in the south, take Fole T2, Mingo T3, Frobish T4.




Pre-building Frigates here. My coastal production is limited, so I'm willing to build triremes then upgrade them, despite the cost. If I don't need frigates then I think I'm in a really good position, if I do then I'll need a lot in a hurry. I figure by the time I get my first scouting frigates searching for Mack, I can be ready to go against Comm. If Mack is coming then we probably shouldn't declare war and deal with him, otherwise the Frigates will be pretty useful against Comm's Carracks anyway.

Comm is still whipping very hard btw. He has to do it, but these are outdated units while has about a third of my bpt I think, so despite his land advantage I'm still happy enough with the long view against him.