Gandhi of France: The Non-Violent Warrior

[oledavy]

One of those new ones the ICTR one?

Yes, due to be founded on t146.

[oledavy]

Been awhile since I did any sort of comprehensive update, let’s see if I can’t change that.

What’s going on? Well, it’s Turn 147, I’m now up to 14 cities, and in the middle of a huge infrastructure push. I’ve been in slavery + organized religion for four turns now, and have been whipping like crazy. I’m sure the other teams think I’m starting some sort of mobilization. Oxford should be done by t151 and the Globe shortly afterwards.

[oledavy]

[SIZE="4"]Turn 147[/SIZE]

So, we circumnavigated the world, but still haven't gotten the +1 Movement Bonus? Odd....

I the meantime, I moved my explorer NE to get a closer look at what Sunrise was doing, spotted a Mongolian Knight, and pulled back.



Seems he was using those workers to road into range. He can kill me next turn if he wants, but he'll probably take enough hits such that the knight will be weakened enough for WK to pick him off with the HA on the following turn. In the event that he doesn't kill the Explorer, I'll continue poking around in the Team #1 backlines.



Meanwhile, one of Thoth's HA's appeared near the nexus, and I moved my longbow to block him from coming farther west. With the discovery that Nabaxo has settled a city in the equivalent location to Sluys, I'm accelerating my efforts to settle the marked spot to control the northeastern choke point.



I planning to settle the white dot. With my worker support moving north, I should be able to have it settled within the next 10 turns, then I can backfill. One idea I have been playing with is settling a city past the chokepoint on the hill that controls the Sulla's approach to the nexus, firing the GA bomb, and denying him a lot of juicy terrain. There are three problems with this:

1. It's vulnerable to an attack from Team #4, splitting defenders between the two cities.
2. It's a LONG ways away from my core, and holding it against a determined Indian attack would be difficult.
3. It backs Sulla into a corner, leaves him without much more land to settle, such that he may go on the warpath

Still, I'm considering it. The location is defensible, I'm about to have a lot of Musketeers that can move quickly to garrison the city. The other idea is to use my GA in conjucntion with my northern settling effort towards Nabaxo. He's a lot closer to the jungled area than I thought.:



Note my conjecture on the location of his capital. That tile right above the tip of the purple arrow is the Dien Bien Phu mirror. Fortunately, Team #4 is so far behind on expansion that I think I can beat him there. If not, I'll have a GA, Musketeers and Knights. I think I'm going to try and kill Nabaxo when we run out of room to settle peacefully. However, it all depends on how aggressive Sulla decides to be. I have no intention to ever embark on more than a harassing naval campaign against him until the modern era. The geography just makes it really hard for us to attack each other successfully, and anything either of us did take we would have to raze.

That longbow is checking out the area before I start roading north. The white arrows mark the direction my settling efforts are going in the coming turns.



I still have a couple sites in the East, South and Southeast to settle, but they're mostly backfill locations. Right now, I'm working on building up culture in Verdun and Damme (note the Hermitage build in Verdun). I would like to deny Sulla his own ICTR islands, since it would be foolhardy for me to settle them myself.

I'm going to be hard pressed to keep him from blockading mine and costing our team a lot of cpt. I desperately need to keep up with Sulla in naval tech. Fortunately, our tech path is headed for cannons and therefore frigates, so I should be able to keep the seas open and maybe do a little blockading and raiding of my own. Having the islands as safe harbors for my ships to strike out of in addition to +1 movement will give me a couple nice advantages in the upcoming naval struggle. Nonetheless, I'll feel a lot happier when Shoot settles his ICTR island to make our trade routes less vulnerable to attack

I pressed end turn, and...



Optics - CHECK!
Eight Universities - CHECK!
Eight Theatres - CHECK!
Missionaries for Max Overflow in Sedan and May, 1940 - CHECK!

May, 1940 is banging out Oxford in four turns:



The Globe is going to take a little longer:



So, now I have four national wonders built or being built.

Barracks and stables are now going up everywhere while I still have the OR bonus. After t151, I've flipping into theocracy and nationhood, and building/drafting a slew of Musketeers, Knights, Catapults and Pikes. After that, probably going into CS + Pacifism.

Got a nice event in Abraham Plains:



I just built a CH there! Still 4gpt saved is 4gpt saved.

Trafalgar is getting to work on navy and pumping out a great prophet:



I'll need another sojourn in Pacifism to finish him off. I'm going to try and complete an additional three great people (an artist and two scientists) at the same time. Shoot and WK are going to need golden ages pretty soon. Bulbing part of printing press or chemistry would also be nice.

I would kill for a 10xp unit so I can throw up the HE here. Would make my naval struggle with Sulla a lot easier.

Lastly, the demos:



I like that I'm not far behind Sulla in MFG despite him being in a golden age. When I get Oxford up, I should be able to crack 450 bpt.

End Turn.

[oledavy]

Micro for Dien Bien Phu:



The plan here is to farm all the grassland and run five specialists with the +10 food bonus, in addition to working the three mines. This city would obviously benefit a lot from representation. My issue here was what to do with the plains. Since I'm not building cottages here they're rather worthless, and it's not worth growing to a larger size and delaying running specialists to pick up a 2/1/1 tile. I may farm one and work it just to get up to 12 base hammers per turn though (2 GMM + 1 PHM + City Center = 11 hpt). That plains tile 2S 1W of the city is getting farmed to spread irrigation to Trafalgar's rice. So, the idea here is to pick up all the farms and mines and grow into running specialists, capping growth at size 18.

Whenever we get to communism and I revolt into state property, this city will change dramatically. Everything, including the plains, will be getting workshopped/water-milled. Like I've been saying all along, I'm planning on turning this jungled subcontinent with all it's grassland into the industrial heart of my empire, provided we survive into the late game.

[oledavy]

During my last round of settling, I went ahead and settled one of my backfill locations in the south: Vigo Bay



The settler for Vigo Bay was originally intended for the wines in the north, to serve as my middle front city against Sulla. Then I found this:



I imagine Sulla's already tilted a bit about that mountain in his thread, I would probably do the same. With one poorly placed peak, I get two decent city sites - one that should have been a front city, the other that should have been Sulla's - more or less guaranteed for me. Sure, Sulla can embark a settler and found a city on my side of the peak. But it will be impossible to defend. I even get his sources of wines while I'm at it. This peak also serves to make it even harder for us to attack each other. With only two land connections in the far north and far south, the only way for us really to get at the other is across the water.

So, with the need to settle the middle immediately gone, I briefly considering settling in the north in the jungle, but decided to settle this site instead. So, why settle such a weak spot right now that I could easily backfill later? Well, there are three reasons:

1. Whales - We just finished Optics. I can now improve whales for +1 happy across the board, and this is the city with the easiest access to whales.
2. Navy - With Team #1's completion of optics, I need another city with decent hammer potential besides Trafalgar to pump out navy. Damme and Aboukir Bay are worthless to that end, and Verdun is wound up in infrastructure builds for right now.
3. Workers - Most of my workers have been tied up in the south until recently, why?



(Yes, I am intentionally running that spy, we need EPs on Team #1 and short of running the slider, this is the only other way we have of getting some - WK and Shoot have not built any courthouses yet).

That's Abraham Plains, now completely denuded of forests, with a forge, library, university, courthouse, theatre and soon to be a temple standing in their place. I didn't have the workers on hand in the north to support a new city in the jungle, and those improving Abraham Plains would not be able to get up there for a couple turns. However, getting Vigo Bay completely improved takes only 17 total turns of worker labor (not including moving) - imho a worthwhile diversion on their way north.

So, here's what I have in mind for the city:

http://i1211.photobucket.com/albums/cc43...igoBay.png
(Photobucket not cooperating with me, we apologize for the inconvenience)

A missionary will spread Hinduism to the city next turn to pop the borders for the whales. The sheep is the key tile here. I'll shuffling it between Aboukir Bay and Vigo Bay as needed to grow each to pick up coast and then get whipped down again. Vigo Bay can potentially work six coasts, marked with the while circles. The plan is to rapidly grow Vigo Bay to pick up the four hammer tiles (PHM, GHM, Whale, Horse), chop a workboat for the whale, build a forge, and then build nothing but caravels and later galleons/frigates. Between a forge and running an engineer as the free specialist, the city can achieve 17 hpt, which isn't half bad for a backfill city like this. The city is never going to be anything great and will get a lot less useful as the game goes on and stuff gets more expensive, but for right now, it is a really fast start-up to help deal with current problems. That's a win in my book.

[oledavy]

(Note: The following excerpt was shamelessly stolen from Commodore's PBEM5m Thread)

So, Sulla has thrown me one of these:



What do I mean by that? Well...



He's not screwing around. I expect those are just the first couple caravels of many more to come. This is where lacking a HE qualifying unit really hurts. I would guess he's 1-turning those things out of his Trafalgar mirror with his Heroic Epic. Why do I think his HE is there? Because there is no better hammer location for the Flood Plains Start, unless the mirrored map hypothesis is incorrect, or his start was heavily edited to give him a better location. The only spot that comes close on my side of the ocean is Quiberon Bay, and it simply lacks the utility in terms of location of the Trafalgar spot. Without my own Heroic Epic, this naval fight is going to be an uphill struggle. Thank god caravel's can't blockade. So, let's look at the battle zone.



Without accompanying triremes or galleys, he can't do much more than pillage my sea-based resources (highlighted in orange) and scout out my cities. That's really good for us since a blockade of those cities would cut off a significant amount of our team's GNP. He's probably going to be able to pillage Aboukir Bay's crabs again. Fortunately, I haven't improved Damme's fish yet, so I'll move the WB from Aboukir Bay to Damme and leave it in the harbor until I chase off Sulla. I will have difficulty improving Vigo Bay's whale until I secure the area. Trafalgar's fish should be safe, it's far enough back that he would be foolish to push that far. To the south, Verdun's crabs are also under threat. I'm hoping he doesn't head down there to pillage them, as there is not a whole lot I could do.

I was not planning on it anytime soon, but I will not be able to settle the backfill location marked in red until I secure control of the waters. The city would be dependant on the crabs.

So, Sulla has the edge of a presumed Heroic Epic allowing him to 1t anything he wants. What do I have going for me?

1. Home field advantage - shorter lines of reinforcement.
2. Circumnavigation - faster ships.
3. The island cities as bases for my ships to heal and hide in.

If we can manage to stay at naval tech parity, I have a distinct advantage for any naval fighting. My problems come at the production level.

Trafalgar is really productive, but it can't 1t caravels like Sulla's city can. It's not at full hammer potential right now since I'm running priests for a great prophet instead of working the plains hill mines. Lastly, I would rather not dedicate the city to navy at this point, there are still a few infrastrucuture builds I want to slip in. However, it looks like I have no choice. Vigo Bay just simply isn't up and running yet to help me make up some of the hammer disparity.

However, I eventually will have the Heroic Epic. As long as we can keep tech parity I can defend successfully thanks to our advantages.

My concern here is that he loads up a galley with a pair of knights and comes after Damme; landing beside the city and attempting to take it. Here's hoping I can draft the city and whip in a third defender before that happens.

[Commodore]

Wait, caravels can pillage?

[mackoti]

Nope.

[oledavy]

Just a quick note to explain my mix of tile improvements. I’m running something of a hybrid specialist/cottage economy at the moment. In general, I’m focusing on production and specialists. Given the nature of the medieval start, new cities need to get up and running as quickly as possible. However, I’m not ignoring cottages, as they help to offset expansion costs when running less than 100% science (vs. scientists) and to take full advantage of cheap universities. When I’m not in Caste System for mercantilism merchants, I have a bit of trouble funding expansion with no way to directly create gold. Without any gold modifying buildings, I’m currently running a 3.5 = 1 beaker to gold conversion. At 100% science (funded by WK), the only ways for me to reduce costs are running merchants, building wealth or building courthouses. As a general rule, my southern cities are working mines and cottages, while my northern cities will be running farms and specialists - and and later workshops/watermills.

Tile Improvements
(Not Including Improved Resources)

Cottages: 28
Mines: 27
Farms: 3

Here’s a break-down of how my current cities fit into this:

Commerce-Focused Cities
May, 1940
Abraham Plains

Production-Focused Cities
Trafalgar
Agincourt
Vigo Bay

Hybrid Cities
Crecy
Quiberon Bay

Specialist-Focused Cities
Waterloo
Dien Bien Phu

Flexible Cities
Sluys (Specialists/Commerce)
Aboukir Bay (Specialists/Commerce)
Damme (Specialists/Commerce)

Other
Sedan (Globe Drafting City/Specialists)
Verdun (Front City)

Right now, I have three priorities:

1. Expansion.
2. Building a respectable military.
3. Produce more great people.

I’m going to address all of these in the next 15 turns or so. After I finish my current infrastructure push, I’m going to draft/build a military while in nationhood and theocracy. After five turns of that, it’s back to caste system and pacifism to crank out more great people. All the while, I’ll be pushing expansion. Here’s a breakdown of the sites I have to settle:

The North: Eight Sites
The East: Two Sites
The South: Two sites
The Southwest: Three Sites

A total of fifteen sites in addition to about a half-dozen potential backfill locations. So, provided I do get to settle all these sites without a fight, I’m looking at having 29 cities total by the time I’m done peacfully expanding. WK is about to start sending me settlers, so I’ll be able to rapidly expand into the north and lock down the front line cities in short order. I stand to become the largest territorial empire in the world. On this map, faux-ICS is the way to go. New cities are always a great investment on Medieval Starts (due to starting with a granary and lighthouse), and with mercantiliasm and an instant 4cpt from trade routes, they’ll be making a profit and contributing to the empire within a dozen turns or so.

My Empire’s Strengths:
- Largest normallized MFG (double that of the rival average)
- A strong 100% beaker amount (380, ~450 post-Oxford)
- A strong crop yield (currently 4th)
- Defensible borders with Sulla and Nabaxo

My Empire’s Weaknesses
- 8th largest military, with no offensive capability at this point.
- Large expansion costs.
- Potential vulnerability of the long overseas front with Sulla.

I’m working right now to rectify these weaknesses. I’m going to need workers before long to support my expansion. Right now I have enough (16), but there is a lot of jungle to clear in the north.

Just looking at the long-term, my hunch is that I will be able to aggressively expand – first peacefully and then at the expense of Nabaxo – until combustion. I don’t plan to go after Sulla any time soon, and I doubt he’ll be coming after me. It’s just too hard to attack each other at this point and he would be better served teching away or supporting his teamates against their neighbors in the north. However, once we get destroyers and transports online, it’s going to be Sirian doctrine fleets going after each other’s coastal cities. Hopefully I don’t lose this time

[oledavy]

[SIZE="5"]State of the Empires[/SIZE]

I had some time to burn this afternoon, so I decided to give everyone an idea of how developed our empire is. I'm giving the numbers for each team member, then the composite statistics at the conclusion of the post.

A couple notes before reading further:
1. The infrastructure hammer totals do not take into account doublers or other hammer modifiers, as these are impossible to account for. Just keep them in mind (For example, my hammer count is inflated by the eight double production speed universities).
2. No granaries, lighthouses, academies or world wonders (The HG, The SP, and AW) were included in the infrastructure hammer totals for obvious reasons.

Without further ado:

[SIZE="4"]Dave - Gandhi of France[/SIZE]

Total Population: 83
Total Cities: 14
Total Land Tiles: 183

City Improvements

1 Walls (33)
1 Castle (67)
2 Barracks (66)
1 Aqueduct (67)
9 Forges (720)
1 Academy -
9 Libraries (540)
8 Universities (1,072)
8 Theatres (254)
1 Courthouse (80)
2 Monasteries (80)
1 National Epic (168)

Total Hammers Invested In Infrastructure: 3,147 Hammers

[SIZE="3"]The Average French City[/SIZE]

5.9 Population
13.3 Land Tiles
224.8 Hammers of Infrastructure


[SIZE="4"]Shoot the Moon - Pacal of India[/SIZE]

Total Population: 101
Total Cities: 11
Total Land Tiles: 159

City Improvements

5 Barracks (165)
1 Stable (40)
1 Aqueduct (67)
6 Forges (480)
1 Academy -
8 Libraries (480)
1 University (134)
1 Theatre (33)

Total Hammers Invested In Infrastructure: 1,399 Hammers

[SIZE="3"]The Average Indian City[/SIZE]

9.2 Population
14.6 Land Tiles
127.2 Hammers of Infrastructure


[SIZE="4"]WarriorKnight - Temjun of Rome[/SIZE]

Total Population: 91
Total Cities: 12
Total Land Tiles: 178

City Improvements

1 Walls (33)
7 Barracks (231)
1 Stable (120)
6 Forges (480)
8 Theatres (254)
5 Forums (500)
3 Grocers (300)
4 Banks (536)
1 Monastery (40)

Total Hammers Invested In Infrastructure: 2,494 Hammers

[SIZE="3"]The Average Roman City[/SIZE]

7.6 Population
14.8 Land Tiles
207.8 Hammers of Infrastructure


[SIZE="5"]Team #3 Overall Stats[/SIZE]

Total Population: 275
Total Cities: 37
Total Land Tiles: 523

City Improvements

2 Walls
1 Castle
14 Barracks
4 Stables
2 Aqueducts
21 Forges
2 Academies
17 Libraries
9 Universities
17 Theatres
1 Courthouse
5 Forums
3 Grocers
4 Banks
3 Monasteries
1 National Epic

Total Hammers Invested In Infrastructure: 7,040 Hammers

[SIZE="3"]The Average Real Men of Genius City[/SIZE]

7.4 Population
14.1 Land Tiles
189.2 Hammers of Infrastructure

Analysis of the data to follow.