[SPOILERS] Churchill of Portugal: Gallipoli Part II

[novice]

In that case the answer to ceil's question is no. We only see who is earlier in the turn order in the event of a tie. I'm going to guess that this isn't really information the player should have access to during the turn anyway

I would think so. It's probably randomized as the turn rolls, it would have to be reimplemented to be randomized as the turn starts instead, and the info would have to be kept somewhere until the turn rolls, which probably requires extending the save format as well.

[spacetyrantxenu]

T115 - I logged in to find another trade box waiting for me. This one was from Commodore, so we have contact!



Horses for 80 gold. That doesn't sound like a bad deal, but trading away 80 gold would delay Currency for several turns. On the other hand, building chariots would be very nice in case Serdoa wants trouble. On the other other hand, chariots aren't going to do a lot of good on defense so I'd have to attack with them, and he has holkans running around. If the price was right this deal would be worth making, but I want Currency badly. I countered with an offer of 40 gold, that's only 2/3 of a turn of research. I'll have to run some breakeven to finish it off anyway. If I can get horses though, I'll take it.

This is where Commodore met me:



Commodore doesn't have four promotions on that GG axe, so I don't know if he has unlocked the Heroic Epic yet or not (surely he has by now). If not, there are three axes waiting to die in that barb city, he can farm it up to 10 XP if he needs to on that, he has at least 8 XP on the unit already with the three promotions (he is not CHA).

Speaking of trading, here is a look at our trade scene:



Highlighted of course is the soon to expire peace treaty with Serdoa. I think I've mentioned the clam for fish swap with Brick from a while back, and open borders with Scooter/Pindicator (not worth a lot, as they're almost out of cities). The interesting one is the crab I'm getting from Nakor/Jester. I basically begged it off them, I kept looking for a trade to make but they have all the resources I do already. So, thanks guys! I'll have to remember to not ask more frequently than once every 25 turns, lest I reset the cooldown on getting a freebie again.

In annoying news, Serdoa has broken our unspoken EP detente and is spending against me again. So now I'm spending on him as well, just trying to keep graphs. I'm still spending against Nakor/Jester because they're spending a small amount on me, which I can't blame them for. I'm their only nearby neighbor, why not spend against me? But they should go meet more people, I'd rather spend my points on someone else where it's productive (graphs on Commodore would be great).




As for playing the turn, my galley is circling back to pick up more units, bound again for New Fish. I really want to make the idea of attacking unappealing since I don't have any units right now that would be effective on the offensive against Serdoa. I have axes, he has axes. I have a few spears, he has holkans, who cares either way. Neither of us have horses (unless the deal with Commodore goes through), but as I already mentioned, I don't see that as a tremendously effective means of attacking since my chariots will die to his holkans. Swords? Well, no thanks. OK for attacking cities, otherwise too expensive. But you know what gives me good value? Cheap PRO archers. If we don't get a war I still need HR garrison everywhere (if I could just spread them out instead of playing tiny town defense). So I'm working on an archer build. Hey, who put all these cities to building libraries?

Red Fish actually can use one now, it has decent commerce output. New Fish is doing it for the culture, although I could have done a monument there (but I hate monuments, no more monuments!). There's also the quest I'm vaguely working toward completing. When I've finished these four libraries, I'll have six in all, only three short of the number required before the Renaissance. It may be possible, if I ever get to nine cities. Now, if it turns out Serdoa comes gunning for me and I didn't build enough units, well....oops.

Borders pop soon at Old Fish (two turns away), so I have a worker roading a jungle tile in preparation. The road will finish the turns borders pop and I'll swarm the tile for yet another farm, same plan as before, just keep growing.

Demographics:



I should have mentioned this earlier, Commodore and Scooticator are not at war right now. They settled for peace within the last few turns, though, because it hasn't been long since my intrepid work boat scouted through the Zulu city of In 'n Out, which is now under Commdore's management. Looking at the graph, maybe I see a reason. I assume Commodore is the #1 military power, I could be wrong, but with the way he has rolled them up he has to have had a good force to do it. But look at rival worst, 97k. That isn't bad when you consider Scooticator only has one city! I don't have graphs on them, maybe it's someone else, but I seriously doubt it. Commodore has taken their capital and eliminated them as a threat, he has the lion's share of the land now, too. He can leave them for now (and mercilessly force them to continue logging into the game! ) and finsh the job at his leisure later, or he could maybe push now at a higher cost and just get it over with. I don't know what the better course would be, but killing them would be merciful at this point. Commodore, go for the throat! (but let me research Alphabet first, OK?)

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

OK, I'm finally caught up on this game. You're focusing most of your thought, it seems, on Seroda. Maybe right, maybe wrong. But don't get tunnel vision and forget other priorities. Keep expanding, and if you aren't going to use the horses, don't pay blood money to Commodore.

Do you have all foreign trade routes? Even if you do, it might be worth throwing down some island cities. As you mentioned, you'll need to have some visibility in the south, but more importantly, you don't want Nakor taking all the land without being contested.

[spacetyrantxenu]

Well, Serdoa is the tall poppy around these parts, he bears watching. Though I'm a bit curious what's going on that has Jester so hot. He says he's being attacked, I can only think that it's Serdoa, but the geography doesn't fit. Scooter/Pindicator are the closest to him (besides me) and I didn't declare war on them this turn. No idea what it is, I guess I'll find out when I play the next turn.

Anyway, I think buying the horses isn't a bad move, it didn't cost that much, it won't get Commodore that much. I lose 2/3 of a turn of research, he probably gains about that much or less, he has to have high costs with all those cities. In the meantime I can build chariots, which are really useful if I need them. Then there's developing a trade partner in a no diplo game, that idea isn't completely without merit.

Regarding trade routes, I have Scooticator's full compliment of routes, with his one city going to my capital. And yeah, I'm going to start expanding as soon as Currency is in. I should have probably already had the settlers in motion but I'm waiting to see what happens with the end of my enforced peace with Serdoa. If he behaves himself and doesn't force me to whip an army I'll whip setters and galleys instead. The galley in Two Fish is due to be whipped soon, actually, but that'll come out in a turn report eventually. I'd do that now, but apparently one of my offices (Hawaiian time zone) doesn't realize it's after 10:00 PM in my time zone and that I really don't feel like working right now.

[Qgqqqqq]

HE only needs 3 promos (unless he's aggresive?).

[spacetyrantxenu]

T116 - At login Nakor had offered OBs again. I took a peek at F4 before making a decision. On the one hand I don't see a reason to give advantage to the guy with the Lighthouse, but if he already has routes with other civs there's no reason to deprive myself of additional trade route income.



Well, either they haven't met enough teams or people know a good embargo when they see it. Offer declined!

Commodore is shameless, he'll obviously do anything for lurker posts. Check out the moves (and name) on this galley.



I'm assuming that galley got sprinkled with some great general sauce, not that he was won that many battles. Note to self, Commodore has a speedboat. That guy will be upgraded, not left as a galley, so we'll be seeing him again no doubt.




Nothing interesting domestically, Blue Fish is preparing HR happiness for One Fish, One Fish is sending back a Buddhist missionary to Blue Fish. Workers are savagely hacking away at jungle. One worker burns a movement point and builds a road on a new tile, the swarm follows when the road completes. Rinse and repeat.



Still mediocre.

[spacetyrantxenu]

T117 - My enforced peace with Serdoa is over, he can come back and try to cause problems now if he wants. So what'll it be?




No signs of an invasion. It would be good to get a mounted unit up here though, if he never bothers to cover his galley with a ground unit it would serve him right to have it burned inside the canal/fort. Everyone seems to take care to guard their workers when enemies are nearby, why not protect the boat? It's just as vulnerable.

The big news from the turn is the newly minted war between Scooticator and Nakor/Jester:




Thar she goes, the city of IW now belongs to the Zulu and hopefully now has a better name. It's a blow to India, that was their only source of iron, unless someone is kind enough to offer them a replacement source (or unless they've found a way to militarize their four sources of crab). In other news, there's not a snowball's chance in hell that I'm giving up my iron. I hope this war gets nasty and protracted, and I can see it happening. Scooticator desperately needs something to drive them forward in this game, given the outcome of their ill-fated attack against Commodore. They need safe land. If they can take land from Nakor then that's a win for them. The downside for Zulu is now they have furious enemies on two fronts, but it beats giving up on the game. I give them credit for continuing the fight.




Borders popped at Old Fish, so the worker swarm prepares to absorb two more tiles. I'll need a new city over here before too long to give these guys something to do. Well, actually they still have a lot to do. Many of these farms will be replaced with cottages (or workshops if I ever get that far).

Buying the horses from Commodore had the effect of requiring a research pause a turn earlier than otherwise I would have required. I've learned my lesson about draining the treasury completely with these goddamn random events, so I'm holding back some cash in case I get another terrible event. Then there's also the matter that I'll have two libraries completing at the end of next turn (Red Fish and New Fish), so two turns at 0% and then running 100% to finish Currency is a better value.



Middling little cities, I wish they'd all output more of everything. I'm reasonably happy with my capital's science output, but at T117 it seems I should be making more than 53 beakers at 100% science (this is before I turned down the slider).

Demographics, before and after adjusting the slider:

100% science:


50% science:

I think I ended up running 0% slider for the turn, so the actual GNP number was more terrible than the 50% number.

[spacetyrantxenu]

T118 - Libraries whipped in at Red Fish (excess of population on hand, crackalack!) and at New Fish, purely for culture up there. At New Fish two workers moved outside my borders to begin chopping forests that will be inside the BFC by the time borders pop in a few turns. The missionary arrived to spread Buddhism into Blue Fish, so I've begun a 3 turn missionary there to get religion and the OR bonus into Black Fish, finally. When that happens I'll have a worker standing by to get a chop into BF immediately.

However, that brings up a micro question:



I've already prechopped that tile down to being a 1 turn chop, but I'd like to leave that tile unchopped until I'm almost finished putting a mine on it, too, as it is a useful enough tile at 0/3/0 that I'd like to keep using it until the mine is ready. My understanding is that I can start mining the tile with the forest still on it, put three tiles into the mine, cancel, 1t chop to clear the forest, and then still be 1t from finishing the mine. Is that accurate? If so it seems better to keep getting the extra hammer from that tile as long as I'm going to be working it. If I have that wrong (or if someone wants to sandbox it) let me know.

I'm still running 0% science this turn, with the two new libraries next turn I'll add a few beakers to the tally and get on with finishing Currency. I really need to pick up this economy, it's awful. I've been limping toward Currency ever since that spat with Brick 30 turns ago. Remember back then when my economy didn't suck and I could finish a tech within a reasonable period of time?



Then again, it could be worse I guess. Poor Brick. Cottages my man, you want cottages! They're tough to grow on all those brown tiles, though. I'll be picking up graphs on Merovech/Ad Hoc soon (why? because I met them before the other civs I know now and already have half as many EPs as I'd need to get graphs, so...why not finish it?). That should give me some more perspective on how I'm doing, since I assume they're not doing great in GNP with their low city count.

Speaking of numbers:

That 71,000 population number looks like 4 cities to me: Sizes 4, 3, 1, and 1. That's...not good. I really think that's Merohoc, but I forget exactly how many cities they have at this point. I know it isn't Scooticator, because that's too many for them. That means their remaining "core" city (if you can call it that) was at least size 5 because on its own that would be good for 90,000 population and avoiding last place. Plus they've added IW to their roster (woot, I picked up another ICTR!) Maybe they'll grab a few more cities from Nakor by the time Currency is in.



I just grabbed this screen to show my military composition and the infrastructure I've completed so far. What's missing from this page is the 3 panthers I slaughtered mercilessly back in the stone age. Also, I <3 cheap granaries. Add two more libraries for next turn's count.

[spacetyrantxenu]

T119 - You know it's a new turn when Nakor offers open borders again.



I didn't even check the foreign relations screen this time. Declined!




New Fish is beginning a barracks build for the additional culture, as well as the fact that I'll probably just build military units up there to defend the city against Serdoa's front without having to constantly ship over troops from the mainland. If I can just wrest away control of the lake tiles this city will be very useful, so I'm going to cram in every cultural building I can. One day New Fish may end up with a Hermitage, unless I do some napkin math and find it costs less hammers to remove the offending blue cities instead.

I don't know how many turns of horse hide I've bought from Commdore so let's build some chariots while we can.

Oh, and my workers keep on swarming. They've started laying down the first cottage along the river, that will be done next turn for immediate use. 100% science this turn, we'll be almost broke next turn (I have to take a chance on a bad event and hurry up Currency, I need more $$$$$!). Two turns to Currency, finish it next turn running break even research.



What is that -7 rival worst GNP, someone's revolt? That wasn't there last turn, so that's all I can come up with. Otherwise I think someone's units are going on strike.



I got Merohoc's graphs but I didn't have time to screenshot everything. I picked power to display -- I thought their number would be higher considering they've been Plako's punching bag in this game. Or maybe Plako has left them alone after sealing them off on their peninsula? If that was the case it seems like they'd want to power up and try to take back some land. Anyway, their power is lower than I thought. And you can see Nakor's power dip from where he lost IW. That's...not a lot of units he lost. That must have been a small city and an even smaller garrison. What was Jester so pissed about in the tech thread?

It would be like if someone captured Old Fish from me, since I haven't bothered to garrison the city yet. I really should do something about that, but anyway, if someone sniped the city it would be my own fault for not protecting it. That's the whole point of playing humans instead of AIs, you usually get punished for bad play. No one has called me on failing to protect Old Fish yet, but Nakor got called on not protecting IW properly. Maybe it's no coincidence that India has been whipping like mad lately? I'm guessing they want to push out the invaders. I wish I had Scooticater's graphs so I could guess what their losses were in taking the city. It would be even better if I had eyes on the fight down there. Too bad my scouting work boat is stuck between two of Commodore's cities down south of his peninsula (that's why it has disappeared from these reports, it's out whaling or watching penguins or something). Anyway, here's hoping for stalemate and lots of wasted hammers down south.

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

Have you put 1t into some kind of unit build in Old Fish? That would be useful so you don't have to whip from scratch in case something comes out of the fog. It looks like you would have a full turn of advance warning (4 tiles to the fog down the coast), so maybe you don't need to. Just watch out for Com's speedboat galley.