[SPOILERS] Four Score & Seven Dynasties Ago: Pindicator plays Lincoln of China

[pindicator]

Looking good! Gotta respect your naming scheme, but Moogle's ain't bad either.

I do agree, his is fun. But as his opponent, I can't let him just set up a proxy pylon in my backyard. Gotta take it out.

Of course, if he has more proxies then it could be difficult. (Yes, I'm switching memes there.)

[pindicator]

Turn 101

Demographic Before & After!

Before Currency:

After Currency:

So that's all I get for Currency? Why the hell did I waste my time rushing towards it instead of bee-lining Metal Casting?! Those values are all at break-even or near-breakeven slider settings, btw. I bumped the slider up from 30% to 40%. Woohoo

Oh wait, now I can Build Wealth?

Much better

[pindicator]

Turn 102

My military:



And how they are deployed. Most people not pictured here are either MPs, fighting barbs in the south, or in transit to one of my border cities:


[SIZE="1"]After the screenshot I changed Bob-Omb to a settler and Thwomp to a worker.[/SIZE]

I have enough in military to actually get me #2 in soldier points this turn. Frankly, it's too much. I should have built a few more workers instead of all these spears & axes. I need to send some guys off to their doom and harass SleepingMoogle's mineral line, or I need to grow larger so I can absorb their costs. And their costs are substantial...



All military production has been halted for the time being. I thought before that I may make some archers after 1-turning Archery last turn, but now I will hold off on those. I figure I have 2 options: use my large power rating as a deterrent, or shed some expenses and attack Sleeping Moogle. I'm leaning toward option #1 right now, because I wouldn't plan on replacing any lost units.

Demos are looking very, very good. My 2 top MFG cities are on Wealth; everyone else is building infrastructure.



I settle Bullet Bill next turn by the northern corn. I'll have my next settler ready to move on t106, the same turn Iron Working finishes. That will be city #10

[Bigger]

the solution to too many soldiers is easy! Send them to their death (they can take some fat moogles with them!)

[pindicator]

the solution to too many soldiers is easy! Send them to their death (they can take some fat moogles with them!)

Oh, it is tempting But if I attack now I likely have to switch off Wealth builds when Moogle counter-attacks. Better to wait, to lull him into thinking that his few axes are force enough, and then when I build my CKNs bring some extra spears, chariots and axes along as infantry alongside.

Hmmm.... how many CKNs can I raise and how quickly can I get them to Proxy Pylon?

[kalin]

Why Proxy Pylon rather than the capital?

Great reports btw, been following and really appreciating it!

Kalin

[regoarrarr]

Do cities building wealth get "counted" in MFG and GNP both?

[pindicator]

Do cities building wealth get "counted" in MFG and GNP both?

Oh man, just rain on my parade

You're exactly right though. My two cities that are building wealth, Hammer Bros & Goomba, make 17 & 16 hpt respectively. So go ahead and subtract 33 from my latest demo MFG. I thought about doing that in game and then snapping another demo screenshot just to give an accurate take on my MFG rank but I like the look of all those top 3 demo rankings.

Sadly with sunrise doing his "look at everybody but me" routine regarding demographics -- go on buddy, just advertise to the world that you're #2 in land area, just like you advertised you were #2 in GNP earlier -- it's going to be a hindrance if he thinks I'm stronger than I actually am. Oh, and good luck explaining this little nuance in the diplo thread; I can't think of a good way to do that and not look guilty. (Or in other words, like LP does when he tries to explain his demographics )

Actually, that's why I came out and said I was #1 in land area. I think Ichabod has the right idea: own up to it and celebrate in it. It's a fun game, so why not have fun with a little braggadocio? I don't think my reveal was as good as Ichabod's; he revelled in his #1 GNP and I cowardly tried to make my top land look like no big deal. What can I say, I'm scared of being attacked. Which is silly. So what if I'm attacked? It's a fun game. I should tell everyone I'm #1 in food and MFG too. Even better: I should switch all my cities to Build Wealth and then post a screenshot of my demos with the words "COME AND GET ME" underneath.

If only I had the balls...

[pindicator]

Turn 103

We met Rome in the west! I don't care if they kill the scout now, those 15 hammers have done their job.



That settler will be city #6 for Rome. More interesting to me are the yellow borders to the SW. Sunrise has sure expanded far to the west. No wonder he's been more than happy to leave me be.

(Oh, lurkers. You want to know why there hasn't been much bloodshed around these parts? It's because there's been decent land to expand into. Now that the decent land has been peacefully filled up about as much as it can -- well, filler cities, but who fights a war over a filler city? -- guess what it's time for...)

And I settled my 9th city. It only cost me 5gpt after unit costs deducted so it's not so bad. Not sure it's better to farm the corn or chop the granary straight away. Probably to farm the corn. Then chop granary. This city is so hammer poor that it's tempting to chop a monument next so it can get right to those flood plains. Then a chop and a 2-pop whip into a library. I also whipped a worker in Thwomp. The overflow will go into finishing it's barracks and then it'll start making some archers. I'm still short on workers: 12 total for 9 cities.



Down south, my scouting axe actually found something useful. Well, something that will be useful in around 100 turns. Cause I'm ignoring that part of the tech tree for a long, long time...



And finally, I made up some demos that show what my "true" MFG and MFG rank is. Yeah, over half of my empire's MFG is going into Build Wealth right now. Which means I should be careful not to continue expanding too much.

[pindicator]

I promised you guys graphs in that whole State of the Dynasty bit that got half-abandoned earlier, so here they are:


GNP

MFG

Food

Power

Obviously sunrise is top dog here. Just by going off techs I know he has over me, he has a 1500 beaker lead at this point in the game and I believe he is still at a better GNP rate even with me building Wealth in my two biggest cities. His Crop Yield is right behind mine, but keeping pace. Only his MFG is lacking. But my other neighbor isn't a slouch either. Moogle has one of the game's best GNPs and a power rating right up there with sunrise and myself. He's been ignoring food though, or the map did not give him good food to settle.

Now, Team FFH & Team Rome have been squabbling, but I think my best play is to hope they can team up against Sunrise. I can see Rome getting behind that because they only seem to border Ichabod & Rome. But Ichabod also ha boundaries in the east with Moogle & Lewwyn, plus who knows whom in the north. I don't think they'll be as eager to jump to war simply because they have a lot more border to defend, and because they are in a really good tech position as well, and don't have the need to conquer that Rome does.

Who knows whom:

Meanwhile, I need to start going after Moogle. I'm betting he has an Academy in his capital, which would do wonders for my beaker rate, not to mention all those riverlands. But inbetween those riverlands and myself are two cities: Proxy Pylon and whatever city he used to garb the horses to my north.

Why Proxy Pylon rather than the capital?

Great reports btw, been following and really appreciating it!

Kalin

Didn't want you to think I had forgotten this question, Kalin! It is a good one. Why go after Proxy Pylon when I could go for the throat? Honestly, I need to make a decision about what I am going to do but I still have time to decide so I am going to use it.

Here's the border with Moogle, circa 275BC (turn 104):



Notice that he chased my sentry chariot away with a spear this last turn. I moved him north to hopefully draw his spear away from my chopping worker (that he can't see) and because I don't want to lose eyes over the valley. Before I moved I could see an archer & shock axe inside Proxy, and another shock axe covering a pair of workers 1 tile E of the town. He's roading to his capital. A third worker is on the forested hill north of the town.

The light blue square is hidden from Moogle's sight, thanks to the trees SW of the copper. I can road that tile and stage a force of chariots (or HAs) along with 2 workers. On the first move I send the workers north and road the plains tile and then send my 2-movers to the light-blue circle. On the second move I go after the capital.

My only issue with this plan is that there are a lot of unknowns. What does Moogle have defending his capital? If he has as little as 1 spear, 1 axe, and 1 archer then I will need probably 3-times his number for a chance at victory. And then I would have no hope of holding the city. Considering there are good odds that Moogle used his first scientist for an academy, I think I want to hold that city. (That and the religion.)

So I thought if I show up with a sizeable enough stack heading towards Proxy Pylon, maybe that will sluff some defenders off of his capital. Show up with something formidable but not overwhelming, like half a dozen CKNs plus 6 more support in axes/spears/swords and take my time in moving them so he has plenty of time to react. Maybe this pulls troops out of his capital to help the defense. (Bring too many troops and he may just as likely abandon Proxy Pylon and send everything to defend his capital. Then the turn before assaulting Proxy we do our chariot double move.

The problem again is that i have no guarantee I'll be able to hold the capital and will likely have to raze it. I really don't want to raze it.

Another option: farm barbs or wait for Vassalage in order to get a number of guerrilla 2 CKNs. (4 or 6 should be enough for his current forces.) Then double move him over the hills with CKNs.

This can also be done to his capital, although not with as much surprise as with the chariot move. I set up on the blue square again, this time with CKN and 4 workers on the already-roaded blue-square. On the first turn the CKNs reveal themselves a turn north, showing moogle the stack but he will think he has time to muster a defense since they will be on an unroaded tile and far away. On the next turn I do my double move: a pair of workers roads the tile N of the blue square; the other pair of workers roads the tile N-NE of it and the CKNs then move to the blue circle. On turn 2 they promote to Guerrilla 2 and assault the capital.

However, the problem with these latter two plans is that they require 2-promo CKNs to pull off. And that means either waiting around for barbs to farm (I wouldn't want to broadcoast to Moogle that I have CKNs until the attack) or for Vassalage and then making CKNs.

So basically my options are attack sooner and raze the capital, or aim to keep the capital and attack later. I'd really like to keep the capital, but would it be worth delaying over? That would certainly weaken a lot of research power; maybe it's worth razing and set him up as an easier conquest later down the line.